(5.10) The completion of the perfection of giving is said to be
The thought wishing to give everything to all living beings,
Together with the merit that results from that giving;
Therefore, it depends only on mind.

Normally we think of giving as a physical action that transfers ownership of some object from ourself to others.  In reality, though, it is a change in mental imputation that transfers ownership, not any physical moving of objects.  Mentally we can give everything away right now by simply imputing “this belongs to others” on everything we own, indeed everything we encounter.

We need to stop thinking “mine”, feeling anything belongs to me to keep, to enjoy.  We need to feel like nothing is ours.  This is a training of mind, so we have to let go of this thought “mine”.  Perhaps we are unaware, but if we check we will find we are still imputing “mine” on many, many things.  If we check we’re still thinking this with respect to our clothes, body, friends, time, life, etc.  We need to look for and know that mind.  We need to ask ourselves the question, “what do I still consider to be mine?  Why am I still trying to hold on to this?  What good does it do me to have this attitude?”  We need to make a distinction between possession and ownership.  It is entirely possible for you to remain in possession of things, but you understand these belong to others, so you take care of their things for them and use these things for their benefit.

We must train in the thought to give everything, absolutely everything, to all living beings—even the merit we accumulate. We do this so that others can experience the good results of our virtues.  We must train the mind to give up everything.  If we don’t train in this mind now, then when we die, things will be ripped away from us. The perfect result of training in giving, we will find in the mind.

We need to train continuously in the mind of giving.  Venerable Tharchin says it does not matter how much we give, rather it matters how often we generate the mind of giving.  It is better to give a little quite often than it is a lot only a few times.  Why?  Because it is the mental intention we are training in, not the sum we give.  Sometimes we think our giving is so small, it is not worth doing.  But there is no act of giving too small.  Surely giving nothing is worse than giving at least something.

Sometimes we do one act of giving and then think we have done our bit and can go back to taking.  We do a few favors for others and then think, “now they owe me.”  Or perhaps we give to the center and think, “now I don’t have to give again because I have done my part.”  Giving needs to become a mental habit, where when we receive something we immediately think about how we can give it away.  What are the best objects of giving?  The three jewels, because giving to them gives to all living beings.  Giving Dharma means giving Dharma advice where possible and making teachings accessible to others, for example through helping our local Dharma center.  Giving to Buddhas means mentally offering everything we have to the Buddhas, sincerely requesting them to use these things for the enlightenment of all beings.  Giving to Sangha means helping support our teachers, retired monks and nuns, and helping our Sangha friends gain access to teachings when it otherwise would not be possible for them.

One of my old teachers used to say, “we should give until it hurts.”  Only then are we pushing the envelope and actually weakening our miserliness.  Miserliness feels pain and loss when we give.  This is one of the most deceptive of all delusions.  Miserliness convinces us that giving makes us poorer and hoarding makes us richer, when in reality it is the exact opposite.  Our miserliness condemns us to poverty and our generosity will make us rich.  This does not mean we should be foolish in the way we give.  For example, if we have a million dollars and transfer it out of our control, it will be a great act of giving.  But if instead we mentally transfer the money as belonging to others but keep it so that we can give away the interest earned on that money, it can keep on giving indefinitely.  It all depends upon the context, but one thing is clear:  mentally we should give everything away right now.  Afterwards, it is just identifying when is it most beneficial to actually physically transfer control.

Over the next several verses, Shantideva explains how each of the six perfections is an action, or training of the mind, not of the body.  We need to be very clear about what minds we are trying to generate.

(5.9) If completing the perfection of giving
Were eliminating the poverty of living beings,
Since hungry beings still exist,
How could the previous Buddhas have completed that perfection?

Many Christians struggle with the seeming paradox of God being both omnipotent and perfectly good.  If he is omnipotent, then he has absolute power over everything and can accomplish everything.  Yet if that is the case then why hasn’t he ended all suffering, such as poverty.  Surely, if he was perfectly good he would do so.  The doubt therefore arises, how can he both be omnipotent and perfectly good?  If he is omnipotent, he can’t be perfectly good because suffering exists.  If he is perfectly good, then he can’t be omnipotent because if he was he would have already ended suffering long ago.

In the same way, we might generate doubts thinking, how can a Buddha have completed the perfection of giving if poverty still exists?  Nagarjuna says for whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible.  Surely, then, a Buddha could emanate everything necessary to end all poverty.  Since poverty still exists, then either a Buddha hasn’t completed the perfection of giving (and thus could not have become a Buddha) or Nagarjuna is wrong and not everything is possible.

Shantideva explains the answers to these paradoxes.  First, giving is not perfected by having given everything to everybody, rather we perfect the mind of giving when we wish, without reservation, to give everything to everybody, including any merit we might accumulate from that act of giving.  In many of the Bodhisattva trainings, we need to set aside useless thoughts thinking there is no point generating virtuous wishes if we are we are unable to fulfill them.  For example, imagine 20 people come to you asking for help, but due to the constraints of having only one body you can only help one of them.  At such times, we could easily imagine wishing 20 people hadn’t come to us because we can’t fulfill all their wishes.  This is completely wrong.  Even though (at present) we lack the ability to help all 20 people simultaneously, we should nonetheless generate the desire wishing we were able to help all of them.  Just like Avalokiteshvara, our heart should burst forth with a burning desire to help everyone even when we can’t (at present) do so.  This burning wish will drive us to seek a means of being able to fulfill this virtuous desire.  The only way being by becoming a Buddha who has such power.  In the same way, we should not dim in any way our desire to give everything to everybody simply because we are unable to do so.  We should cultivate this wish to its fullest, and then seeing we can’t fulfill it, we will naturally feel pushed to find a way to do so – in other words, by becoming a Buddha.  The perfection of giving, therefore, is the mind consumed by the burning wish to give everything to everybody, including the merit that would flow from such giving.  This mind drives us relentlessly to enlightenment.

Nagarjuna is still correct because implicit within a correct understanding of emptiness is an understanding of the laws of karma.  Je Tsongkhapa explains that when the wisdom realizing emptiness confirms karma, and our understanding of karma reveals emptiness then our understanding of both emptiness and karma is correct.  The wisdom realizing emptiness does not bestow upon us some magical power with which we can break the laws of nature, rather the wisdom realizing emptiness enables us to harness the laws of karma towards any end we may wish.  One of the laws of karma is if an action is not completed, the effect cannot be experienced.  Poverty is the karmic result of miserliness and wealth is the karmic result of giving.  Even though a Buddha would want to give everything to everybody and thereby end their poverty, if other living beings have not created the karma of giving for themselves, their poverty will not end.  We might then wonder what is the point of becoming a Buddha wishing to free all living beings if living beings themselves still need to do all the work?  The answer is as a Buddha we will be able to be by their side for the rest of eternity, gradually helping guide them to the path of giving.  It may not be a quick fix solution, but who ever said such a solution existed?  (As a side note, from the perspective of a Buddha, once they attain enlightenment they will experience all beings as having always been enlightened, so it will be as if everyone instantaneously attains enlightenment with them.  They do not see things in this way because it is objectively true, rather they see things in this way because this view helps ripen living beings in the swiftest possible way).

(5.6) Buddha, the Able One, says,
“Thus, all fears
And all infinite sufferings
Arise from the mind.”

(5.7) Who purposely creates the weapons
That harm the beings in the hells?
Who creates the blazing iron ground?
From where do the tempting hallucinations arise?

(5.8) The Able One says that all such things
Come only from evil minds.
Thus, there is nothing to fear within the three worlds
That has not come from the mind.

Control over our life comes only when we have control over our mind.  Why?

Because our mind is the creator. We need to try to understand clearly how our mind is the creator of all fears, sufferings, and so forth.  Where do these appearances come from?  The mind itself.  Everything is like objects in a dream.  With the creation of a cause within our mental continuum, there’s also the creation of a potentiality, which will ripen as a mind and its object.

Since the mind and its object are the same nature, if we have an impure mind we will experience all objects as impure.  Why do we perceive and experience things as they do?  Since nothing exists outside the mind, they must be imputed by mind.  If we discriminate in ordinary, harmful ways, that’s how objects will be experienced.  If we regard someone as our enemy, that’s what they will be for us, through the force of discrimination.  At present we have many negative, impure, harmful states of mind.  What will arise from these?  All these states of mind must be bound, subdued, so that we can put an end to the fears and sufferings that arise from them.  All will be bound simply by binding the mind.  Why?   Because they come from mind.

We might object, “but even if I change my mind, my bank account will still be empty and my partner will still have run off with somebody else?  Changing my mind changes nothing.”  It is important we think deeply about this objection and come up with a definite answer to it.  If we don’t, we won’t be convinced of the need to realize emptiness.

There are two answers to this objection.  First, changing our mind can change our opinion about what appears, and therefore our experience of it.  We can view something as a “problem” or as an “opportunity.”  From its own side, the situation is neither, but it becomes these things depending on how we view them.  For example, imagine we have a bad stomach ache.  If we view things from the perspective of unpleasant feelings, this is a bad thing.  If we view things from the perspective of opportunity to purify our negative karma, train in renunciation or generate compassion, then our experience of the stomach ache is a good thing.  It may still be “uncomfortable,” but it ceases to be a “problem.”  The same is true or all things.  By changing our mind, we can change our opinion about what appears, and as a result change our experience of these things.

Second, we can actually change what appears, but with a lag in time.  It is true changing our mind will not give us our job back after we have been fired.  But why did we get fired?  It was the effect of karma.  Karma comes from action, and all action comes from the mind.  Kadam Bjorn said, “if you don’t like your karma, change it.”  By changing our mind, we change our actions, by changing our actions we change our karma.  From a very long-term perspective, if we stop creating negative karma, even if we engage in no purification practice, eventually all of our negative karma will exhaust itself and only positive karmic seeds will remain on our mind and we will know only pleasant experiences.  If all our minds become pure, all of our actions will become pure, and therefore all of our karma will become pure.  From this, eventually all of our experiences will become pure.  There is a lag in time between when we change our mind and it starts changing what appears, but it does eventually happen.  If we understand this, we realize if we change our mind we can change everything.  Nothing else can promise such results.  This is why Geshe-la says there is no solution to human problems other than Dharma.

As we go through our daily lives, we should make Shantideva’s questions our mental habit.  We can look at any object, any situation, any problem and ask ourselves the questions, “where do these things come from?”  “Who created these things?”  When we ask these questions with wisdom, we are eventually led to a clear answer of our own mind.  There is no creator other than mind.  If we remind ourselves of this again and again, day by day our wisdom will grow, and as it does the efficacy of practicing Dharma as the sole solution to our problems will become self-evident.

(5.4) Tigers, lions, elephants, bears,
Snakes, all kinds of enemy,
Guardians of the beings in hell,
Evil spirits, and cannibals –

(5.5) These will all be bound
Simply by binding the mind,
And will all be subdued
Simply by subduing the mind.

If only it were that simple.  It is! “simply by subduing the mind” we can subdue everything.

Everything that exists in the world is nothing more than mere karmic appearances of mind.  If last night we dreamt of tigers, lion, elephants, and so forth, where did they come from?  Where do they do when we wake up?  How were they created?  Who or what created them?  Geshe-la said, “there is no creator other than mind.”

Everybody wants to change the world, sometimes out of a child-like naiveté, sometimes out of purely selfish motives.  Virtually everything we do is aimed, one way or another, at changing the world.  The problem is the method we use will never work.  We try change the external environment to try set everything right only to be surprised when the same problems seem to come back, just with different faces.  Why does this happen?  Because it is the mind that creates the world.  If we try change the world without changing our mind, our mind will just reproject the same problems and patterns, just against a different karmic surface.

A movie projects its image on a blank, white screen.  Because the screen is clear, it can reflect any sort of image.  If we see something we do not like on the screen, but forget where the image is coming from, we might try block the image by covering the screen.  But when we do so, for as long as the movie is still playing, the image will just be reprojected onto this new surface.  In exactly – exactly – the same way, our mind projects all sorts of karmic movies onto the blank, clear-light screen of the clarity of our mind.  Because our mind is clear, it can reflect any sort of image.  If we see something we don’t like in the world, but we forget that the image is coming from our own mind, we might try to change what we see by trying to externally change the world.  But when we do so, for as long as the karma giving rise to that appearance has not exhausted itself, the same image will just be reprojected onto this new external surface.

We see this dynamic all the time.  I know somebody who once lived in L.A., convinced herself that her problem was all the crazy people of California, so she moved as far away as she could to North Carolina.  At first, things seemed better, but before long she found herself with the same sorts of problems she had in L.A., just with different people.  Geshe-la gives the example in Joyful Path that if we try to run away from our problems by moving into some cave, it would not be long before we start to prefer some parts of the cave to others, or like some bird songs and not others.  The reason for this is because our minds of attachment or aversion are not tied to specific objects, rather they are habits of mind that quickly reassert themselves regardless of which objects we have around us.  We all know people with addictive personalities, who finally manage to abandon their dependency on one drug to find themselves dependent on another, or maybe they fixate their attachment from one boyfriend to another, to another, always encountering the same problems again and again.

The bottom line is a deluded, negative mind will project a deluded, negative world.  Two people can experience the same restaurant as a heaven or a hell entirely based on their mental imputations.  Hamlet said, “Things are neither good nor bad, but thinking makes them so.”  When we think about it, this makes perfect sense.  Modern physics tells us all that is really around us is a bunch of electrons, protons and neutrons flying around in different combinations.  And according to Quantum physics, even these things aren’t actually there, but only come into existence when we observe them.  From their own side, these things are neutral at best (actually, from their own side they are nothing).  They are neither good nor bad, but it is how we think about them that makes them so.  Every “problem” we have is created by our own mind relating to these appearances in a “problematic way.”  There is nothing intrinsic about any appearance that makes it a problem, it is our mind that imputes “problem” onto these things.

But just as the mind can impute problem and samsara onto things, it also has the power to impute “perfect condition” or even “pure land.”  Whether we abide in samsara or in the pure land is purely a question of point of view.  Geshe-la says, “a pure mind experiences a pure world, and an impure mind experiences an impure world.”  If we contemplate deeply the meaning of emptiness, we begin to realize we can never change the external world with external methods.  It is like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube that has no solution, no matter how long we try, we will never solve it.  But, if we change our mind – if we change the way we impute the world – we can change everything.

(5.2) A crazy, untamed elephant in this world
Cannot inflict such harm
As the sufferings of the deepest hell
Caused by the rampaging elephant of the mind;

(5.3) But if the elephant of our mind
Is bound tightly on all sides by the rope of mindfulness,
All fears will cease to exist
And all virtues will fall into our hands.

It is no exaggeration to describe our mind as crazy and untamed. It goes wherever it wants with no real direction, no beneficial purpose. It goes all over the place.  And wherever it goes it causes damage.  We have to acknowledge that.  Don’t we feel damaged all the time?  Every day, especially at the end of the day, don’t we feel damaged?   Sometimes we use the expression “wrecked”. “I feel mentally and physically wrecked.” it’s our mind that has wrecked us in this way. What else has the power to do so?

Sometimes we want to say “stop” to our delusions, and our mind won’t stop.  It doesn’t take any notice whatsoever. It is like saying to an actual rampaging elephant, “stop.”  Even when it does stop, the effects of the damage it’s caused carry on way into the future.  We normally only think about the consequences of our negativity and delusions in this life alone, but generally their long-term effects are much, much worse.  There’s only one way to stop it—through force – the force of mindfulness. Only then will suffering, fears, and dangers come to an end.

It was discussed earlier the need to understand clearly the inter-relationship between alertness, mindfulness and conscientiousness.  Alertness is the ability to distinguish between faults and non-faults.  Mindfulness is the ability to not forget this distinction.  Conscientiousness is a mental factor that, in dependence upon effort, cherishes what is virtuous and guards the mind from delusion and non-virtue.  We need all three.  Alertness identifies the enemy, mindfulness doesn’t lose the target, conscientiousness acts on this by protecting our virtues and being on guard against delusion and non-virtue.  The three together are what is meant by “guarding alertness.”

In many ways, lack of mindfulness is our biggest problem.  We have been around the Dharma long enough to be able to distinguish virtue from non-virtue, wisdom from delusion.  Our problem is we forget this knowledge as we go about our day.  Because we are not paying attention to what is going on in our mind (because we are so busy paying attention to what is going on in the world), delusions and non-virtue roam freely.  When we are reading Dharma books, meditating or attending teachings, it all makes sense, we see it all so clearly.  But then, as we go about our day, we forget to even think about the Dharma, must less practice it.  But if we can strengthen our mindfulness remembering our Dharma wisdom, then it is not hard to practice it.

So how do we strengthen our mindfulness?  I am terrible with names, and as a diplomat who meets a lot of people, that is a real occupational liability.  Why do I forget their names?  Because ultimately I don’t think they are that important.  I have no trouble remembering the names of the people who I think are important in some way for accomplishing my purposes.  Why do we forget the Dharma?  Why do we forget the wisdom realizing what is faulty and not-faulty in our mind?  Because we are not yet convinced of its importance.

The primary reason for this is, despite many years of receiving Dharma teachings, we still remain convinced that our outer circumstance is our problem; and if we want to solve our problem, we need to change our outer circumstance.  We think our mental reaction to our external circumstance is something that occurs passively, without us having any control or influence.  It rarely dawns on us that we can choose to think and respond differently.  And when we are told we do have choice, we dismiss it as being “artificial” and “fake,” not “natural.”  Gen-la Losang explains what is natural is simply what is familiar.  Delusions feel “natural” only because we are so familiar with them.  Virtues seem “artificial” only because we lack familiarity with them.  But with effort, we can reverse this.  We don’t force ourselves to reject our delusions and follow our virtues, rather we see our delusions are wrong and deceptive and that our virtues are right and reliable.  Seeing this, we choose to not be fooled.  If we keep recalling our Dharma wisdom, we will slowly break the spell delusions have cast on us until eventually they have no power at all.  We may need to repeat this exercise again and again, many times over long years, but eventually we will reach the point where it feels “artificial” to get angry, and entirely “natural” to be patient.  The same is true for all our other virtues.

Alertness, mindfulness and conscientiousness.  This is how we tame the wild elephant of our mind.

CHAPTER 5:  Guarding Alertness

The emphasis in this chapter is on moral discipline.  Through introducing and following new codes of conduct, new disciplines, we will naturally change.  If in dependence upon our intention we adopt skillful behavior, and we try to think, speak, and act as a Bodhisattva, we will quickly become an actual Bodhisattva.

The very heart of moral discipline is mindfulness, which is why before describing the different types of moral discipline, Shantideva describes mindfulness and alertness.  The Chapter itself is called “Guarding Alertness”.   Our ability to maintain mindfulness depends upon alertness.  Without alertness we quickly forget.  Since there’s always a danger of losing our mindfulness, we must remain alert to that danger.  Therefore we must guard alertness, hold to it, guard it.  We need both mindfulness and alertness to practice conscientiousness.  By practicing all three, we will naturally develop pure moral discipline.  We should contemplate deeply the relationship between conscientiousness, mindfulness, alertness, and moral discipline.

(5.1) Those who wish to make progress in the trainings
Should be very attentive in guarding their minds,
For, if they do not practise guarding the mind,
They will not be able to complete the trainings.

Shantideva begins this chapter by explaining who he is talking to:  those who wish to make progress in the trainings.  We should ask ourselves, “is that me?”  If we were just told we had a terminal cancer, we would be very motivated to listen to the doctor when she describes the cure.  Do we feel an insatiable desire to learn more and make progress on the path, or do we view our Dharma life as a chore and a bore we continue to do simply because of inertia in our life.  When we first came into the Dharma, we eagerly went to teachings and were willing to do whatever it takes to make it to our first highest yoga Tantra empowerment.  Are we the same now?  How many of us go to the center just because we have always done so?  We go to the festivals because that is just what we do?  How many of us grow bored when we hear the same explanations again and again and can’t wait until the teaching is over?  Do we really see our delusions as the cause of all our problems?

We will never make progress along the path if we do not guard our mind.  Armies protect countries, police protect communities, guards protect buildings, cameras and safes protect precious possessions, but what guards and protects our mind?  When we are in an airport or crowded place, we take special care to watch our bag, especially if it has our iPad in it.  We know all it takes is a few seconds for somebody to run off with it and we will lose it forever.  Do we feel the same way about the priceless jewels of our virtues within our mind?  The thieves of our delusions stand ready to steal away our virtues as soon as we look the other way.  The enemies of our delusions are constantly posing as our friends trying to trick us into following their mistaken advice.  They never stop, they never rest.  If we are alone at night in a dangerous place, we naturally feel great fear and our alertness is sharp looking out for danger, but when we are safe at home we think nothing of allowing our delusions free rein.

Our mind needs as much protection as possible, considering its state.  Shantideva said earlier that our virtues are mostly weak, our non-virtues are strong and fearsome.  If we don’t make a point of guarding our mind from delusion, then virtue itself will never grow in our mind.  Then our virtues themselves will never become as strong as our delusions are, and we will be powerless to make progress on and complete the trainings of a Buddha.

Geshe-la explains in How to Understand the Mind that alertness is the mental factor that has the ability to distinguish faults from non-faults.  Quite simply it is the wisdom that knows what is good for us and what is not, and is aware of this distinction as things arise within our mind.  If we do not recognize something as a fault, there is no chance we will be able to avoid it.  This is why delusions are so harmful.  They convince us they are our friend.  If we cannot distinguish what is faulty and what is not within our own mind, there is no way we can make progress on, much less complete the trainings.

I think our fundamental problem is we do not realize the stakes at play.  We think it really doesn’t make much difference whether we are alert within our mind or not.  The wise enemy will wait until we drop our guard and strike when we least expect it.  If an army grows complacent while the enemy still has not been vanquished, it will just be a question of time before they are overrun and caught unaware.  Delusions will bide their time, laying low, luring us into a false sense of security and then they strike, sometimes a quick decisive mortal blow as we throw it all away in some sexual scandal, or slowly and serendipitously like being slowly poisoned every day when we take our morning tea.  If it was just this life at stake, it really makes no difference.  One life’s happiness is of no cosmic importance.  But even a small amount of importance multiplied by infinite lives is an issue of infinite importance.  Christians, in some ways, have it easier when they say what we do in this life determines our eternal fate.  They don’t then take false refuge in the belief that it does not matter if they practice in this life, thinking they can always do so in a future life.  If it was just our eternity at stake, then that too really wouldn’t be that important (to anybody but ourselves, at least).  But the welfare of countless living beings depends upon what we do.  Are we so cruel that we will allow them to remain trapped in samsara forever when we have been given the opportunity to set them free?

(4.48) Therefore, having considered this well,
I will strive sincerely to practise these precepts as they have been explained.
If a sick person does not listen to the doctor’s advice,
How can he expect to be cured? 

Shantideva’s advice in this chapter can be summarized into three things.  First, cherish virtue.  We cherish what virtue we have in our mind, such as Bodhichitta, our bodhisattva vows, etc.  We need to feel that they really do matter.  Second, to abandon non-virtue.  We realize that negative actions only harm us, and so we naturally want to stop engaging in them and to purify our old negativities.  And third, to abandon delusions.  The cause of all our negativities is our delusions.  They are our real enemy that needs to be destroyed.

My friend Taro who was in a psychiatric hospital for many years told me once, “I have turned my psychotic mind wishing to harm against my delusions.  As a result, I now have enormous power to overcome my delusions.”  We need to be like this.  We need to take sadistic glee in torturing our delusions and trying to destroy them and undermine them in every way possible.  Very often the best way to torture our delusions is to simply not believe them.  When we do, they lose all their power over us.  We don’t need to resist our delusions, we rather need to see through their lies.  Then, we will naturally not want to follow them, any more than we intentionally allow ourselves to be fooled.  The ultimate way to eliminate our delusions is to realize their emptiness.  Then, they dissolve back into the emptiness from which they came and we can purify completely the causes that give rise to them.

But at the end of the day, progress on the spiritual path comes down to one thing:  are we actually applying effort to go against the grain of our delusions?  If all the Dharma we have studied for so many years remains theoretical, and we don’t actually use it to think differently, then it is essentially useless.  As Geshe-la explains in Joyful Path, there are many Dharma scholars in hell.  Every moment of every day is an opportunity to train our mind because at present everything that appears to us gives rise to one delusion or another.  If we check our mind, every time we look at any person we generate some delusion, whether it be attachment for the hot babe, a judgmental attitude towards somebody, a feeling of superiority over somebody, frustration at how stupid everyone is, impatience that these people are getting in our way, friend, enemy, stranger, the list goes on and on.  Each time these delusions arise we have an opportunity to train our mind to think differently.

The opportunities exist, the question is whether we are seizing them or not.  Life passes very quickly.  Every old person you speak with says the same thing:  it all goes so quickly.  It will be no different for us.  Only the young delude themselves into thinking they have enough time.  I started practicing Dharma 22 years ago, and it has gone in a flash and I have very little to show for it for the simple reason that I remain complacent about the delusions in my mind.  I lazily allow them to remain, I arrogantly think I have no need to purify my negative karma, I fool myself into thinking because I “know” the Dharma that it is enough.  But delusions still maintain their dominion over me.  When will I finally rise up and say enough is enough?

Having a terrible sickness is not so bad if we know there is a cure.  Having a cure and not taking it is the peak of stupidity.  But if we are honest, we must admit to ourselves that we stand on this peak.  We have been given everything:  a flawless Dharma, a fully qualified Spiritual Guide, a worldwide network of Sangha friends, an all-powerful Dharma protector who can arrange all the outer and inner conditions necessary for our swiftest possible enlightenment and endless opportunities to practice.  Yet we do close to nothing.  We don’t like to hear this.  We like to think we do a lot, but do we really live our life as someone who stands on the precipice of the lower realms?  Are we filled with a heart-cracking fear of the negative karma that remains on our mind?  Do we view our life in this world as being like the lamb chewing grass oblivious to the fact that they are simply waiting their turn to enter the slaughterhouse?  If not, then we haven’t been listening and a terrible reckoning awaits us.

This concludes the fourth chapter of Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, entitled “Relying upon Conscientiousness”.

We continue with our discussion for how to actually overcome our delusions.  The first three steps were explained in the previous post.

Step 4:  “Choose” our strategy for dealing with the delusion.  I say ‘choose’ because normally we just respond reflexively.  Here we make an intentional decision to not do the wrong thing and to do the right thing.  In confronting our delusions, we usually fall into one of two extremes.  The first is the extreme of repression.  This is when we pretend, or try to pretend, that we don’t have a delusion (in reality we are very upset or really attached, but we deny it, even sometimes to ourselves).  The other extreme is expression.  This is when we follow the direction or advice of the delusion (in short, we give in to it).  Popular psychology recognizes the extreme of repression as harmful because it just causes us to push our delusions under the surface where they grow in strength until eventually they blow in some dramatic fashion.  Popular psychology’s prescription is to express our feelings – to let it all out, to get it out of our system.  They say we need to be in touch with our feelings and they think if we feel or think something, it is somehow important and valid.  Temporarily, it seems as if expression works.  When we give in to our attachment, the pain associated with being deprived our objects of desire is pacified and we feel better.  When we give into our anger and rage against other people, we feel as if we are getting the anger out of us and that we are standing up for ourself, so we feel better.  But in the long-term, by following the delusion and assenting to its validity, we are just feeding the beast that will ultimately devour us.  Every time we give into our delusions, they come back stronger the next time and it is even harder to overcome them later.  It is no different than a heroin addict.  The withdraw is terrible, and giving in will make the pain go away.  But it also guarantees it will come back again stronger next time.  Because we gave in before, we now have the habit to give in again.  It eventually reaches the point where we no longer even try, we will have surrendered ourself completely to our delusions.  We become their willing slave.  The middle way between these two extremes is to “accept and overcome.”  We accept the fact that the delusion is present within our mind (we accept that we are indeed sick with the delusions), but we clearly realize it is a treacherous mind, and we decide to confront it head on.  Kadam Morten said, “we accept the existence of the delusion, but not its validity.”  Yes, delusion is present within my mind, but I know it is a lie trying to deceive me.

Step 5:  Cut our identification with the delusion.  Other people’s delusions are not a problem for us because we don’t identify with them.  Our delusions are a problem because we do identify with them.  If we want to eliminate the problems associated with our delusions, we need to stop identifying with them.  Geshe-la explains in Eight Steps to Happiness that we are not our delusions, rather they are like clouds passing through the sky of our mind.  We cut our identification with our delusions by saying ‘not me.’  We can see them as clouds but we are the sky.  We can feel like we take a step back into the clear light Dharmakaya or as our self-generated deity.  We are the Dharmakaya or the deity, not the delusion.  Kadam Bjorn said if we try oppose our delusions while we are still identifying with them, then our wisdom wishing to be free from our delusions turns into self-guilt, which is in fact self-hatred.  He said because we haven’t actually “let go” of the delusion, when we apply the opponents all we really do is repress them and they will pop up again later.

Step 6.  Increase our desire to be free from the delusion.  Kadam Bjorn also said that our ability to overcome our delusions is not so much how well we know the opponents, but rather how strong is our desire to be free from them.  When our desire to be free from the delusion is greater than our desire to have the object of our delusion, then we will have enough power.  Otherwise, we will eventually give in (because we are a desire realm being) or explode in a form of spiritual bulimia.  To increase our desire to be free, we can contemplate that Geshe-la said “all delusions are necessarily deceptive minds.”  They destroy our inner peace and so make us miserable.  A good friend of mine once said:  either we are going deeper into samsara or we are moving out, there is no third possibility.  Following our delusions moves us deeper into samsara.  We want to get out of samsara for ourself (renunciation) or for others (bodhichitta).

Step 7:  Apply opponents to decrease the delusion.  The first thing we need to realize is that delusions have as much power as we give them.  We give them power by believing them to be true.  When we identify that they are deceptive, we are no longer fooled by them, even though they continue to arise in our mind.  Then, they have no power over us.  Once we have reduced their power in this way, we can then apply the various opponents explained in the Dharma.  Really, any Dharma mind can be used to overcome virtually any delusion.  But every delusion has its own principal opponent.  The principal opponents of anger are love and patient acceptance.  The opponents to attachment are selfless love and non-attachment or renunciation.  The opponent to jealousy is rejoicing, being happy for the other person.  The opponent to doubt is faith and wisdom.  The opponent to ignorance is the wisdom realizing emptiness.  When we apply opponents it is important we do so without any expectation for results.  If the causes are created, eventually our delusions will be reduced.

Step 8:  We eradicate the delusion with the wisdom realizing emptiness.  We eliminate our delusions entirely by realizing that ourselves, the delusion and the object of our delusion do not exist from their own side.  But in particular, Shantideva focuses on realizing the emptiness of our delusions.  At the end of the day, a delusion is just a thought in your mind.  Just as you can forget a phone number, so too you can forget your delusions.  Why has Shantideva launched into the true nature of delusions here?  We can know they can be defeated because they don’t truly exist.  Geshe-la says in How to Understand the Mind that just as the child of a barren woman cannot have problems because the child does not exist at all, so too the self that we normally see cannot have problems because such a self does not exist at all!

(4.45) An ordinary enemy who is expelled from a country
Will go to another and remain there,
Only to return when he has regained his strength;
But the enemy of the delusions is not like that.

(4.46) O delusions, delusions, where will you go
When banished by the eye of wisdom and expelled from my mind?
And from where will you return to harm me again?
But, being weak-minded, I am reduced to making no effort!

(4.47) The delusions are not in the objects, in the sense powers, between them, or elsewhere;
So from where can they cause harm to all living beings?
Because they are just like illusions, I should banish fear from my heart and strive to attain wisdom.
Why bring the sufferings of hell and so forth upon myself for no reason?

We need to have a comprehensive strategy for overcoming our delusions.  It is not enough to just know delusions are our mortal enemy.  Our wish to overcome them will never be strong enough if we do not think it is possible to do.  When we know such a method exists and we understand how to employ it our wish to overcome our delusions will be conjoined with a confidence knowing how to do it.

How the strategy works will be explained over the next two posts.  It all starts with having a problem of some kind.  We can take as an example an urge to smoke, but we can apply the same strategy to any other object of attachment, or indeed any delusion.

Step 1:  Analyze the nature and the cause of the problem.  We normally think our problem is something external, such as not having our object of attachment.  But the nature of the problem is not something external, rather our problem is the unpleasant feelings arising within our mind.  We identify clearly that the cause of our problem is not something external, rather it is the delusion of attachment within our own mind.  Just as identifying the object of negation is the most important step in meditating on emptiness, so too identifying the exact nature of our problem is the most important step in overcoming our delusions.  If we do not see clearly the difference between the outer problem and the inner problem of our mind, we will continue to grasp at the outer problem as being our problem.  When we think this, we will conclude it is the external circumstance that needs to change.  If instead, we realize clearly that our problem is our own deluded reaction to the external situation, then we will conclude it is our mind that needs to change.  This does not mean we don’t also try change the external situation, but we do so understanding external methods solve external problems; internal methods solve internal problems.

Step 2:  Ask ourself the question:  what kind of being am I?  If we are a worldly being, interested only in external happiness, then this strategy won’t work for us.  If we instead are a spiritual being, interested in gaining spiritual realizations, then everything works.  We can change what kind of being we are through the practice of Lamrim, whose main function is to change our desire.  The meditations on the initial scope change our desires from being worldly ones to spiritual ones concerned with the welfare of future lives, in particular avoiding lower rebirth.  The meditations on the intermediate scope change our desires to not being satisfied with avoiding a lower rebirth, but wishing to escape from any form of samsaric rebirth.  The meditations on the great scope change our desires to not be satisfied with merely saving ourselves, but we must also save all our kind mothers.  In general, the quickest way to change our desire is to recall death by asking ourself the question:  “Do I want to arrive at my death and realize that I could now be getting out of samsara but am not because I wasn’t motivated enough to overcome this attachment before?”

Step 3:  Make requests to Dorje Shugden.  Gen Togden explained this practice to me.  He said every time a delusion arises in our mind, we should request Dorje Shugden, “with respect to this delusion arising in my mind, please arrange whatever is best.”  After we make this request, there are two possibilities.  The first is Dorje Shugden blesses our mind with the wisdom to see through the lies of the delusion and it ceases to have a hold over us.  In this case, it is the end of the story.  If, however, the delusion persists in our mind, then it means that Dorje Shugden wants us to train in overcoming this delusion.  A wise and skilled teacher does not just make everything easy, rather they push their students to make progress.  Dorje Shugden knows our mind and knows exactly what we need to work on.  If the delusion remains, it is because we need to work on this particular aspect of our mind.  Either way, we accept with infinite faith that this is perfect for our practice, so you are happy.  We are happy because we are a spiritual being, and what we want is to practice.

(4.43) This will be my main objective:
Bearing a strong grudge, to do battle with my delusions.
Although such a grudge appears to be a delusion,
Because it destroys delusions it is not.

(4.44) It would be better for me to be burned to death
Or to have my head cut off
Than to ever allow myself
To come under the influence of delusions.

I love Shantideva.  To not put too fine a point on it, he just kicks our ass.  Reading his words, you can just feel his vajra-like clarity and certainty of purpose.  He does not hold back, he does not coddle.  Why?  Because he is at war.

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the devil taunted him, “do you really want to take on the sins of all beings?  Are you really ready for what that means?”  After a moment’s hesitation, he came to a decision and said unequivocally yes, and he crushed the serpent’s head.  Then, quite literally, a world of suffering came crashing down on him.  He accepted it all because he knew his purpose, and just before death some of his last words were, “forgive them father, for they know not what they do.”  When we read Shantideva, we can’t help but feel he has come out of his own Garden of Gethsemane armed with clarity of purpose.  He has not simply declared war on his own delusions, he has declared war on all the delusions of all living beings – and he is fighting to win.  He is playing for keeps.  He is taking no prisoners.  He is showing no quarter.

We know the path to freedom and happiness involves removing all trace of delusions.  We will be unable to lead anyone along that path in its entirety unless we have travelled it ourselves—unless we have freed ourselves from delusions.  This does not mean we need to overcome all of our delusions before we can provide any help; rather it means we will only be able to actually help people up to the extent that we have actually overcome our delusions within ourselves.  Until we have overcome our own delusions, we will have no power to free even one person from their delusions.  We may have knowledge of this path, but we must travel along it if we are to free others from their delusions.

Therefore, our main job must be to abandon delusions.  This is very easy to forget.   We have a lot of jobs, and things we do.  But we have to ask what is our main objective?  All of our other activities provide us with an opportunity to change our mind and our way of life, finally into those of a Bodhisattva.  Bodhisattvas have incredible influence on the world around them, incredible power to lead others.   They do not go around telling everyone “I am bodhisattva, hear me roar.”  Simply their presence in any community radically reshapes it.  In Eight Steps to Happiness, Geshe-la says that somebody who cherishes others is like a magic crystal the functions to heal any community.  What need is there to say of the power of a Bodhisattva, whose wish is to lead all beings to everlasting freedom.

We ourselves should want such influence and power.  But such power does not come from teaching or from working to flourish the Dharma, but rather from working on our own mind.  We need confidence that we can actively eliminate delusion from our mind, and confidence that once eliminated they will never return.  And we need this experience in the world of living beings.  For centuries, this was primarily a monastic tradition, but not any more.  Even monks and nuns in this tradition live in the world, even if their jobs are working for Dharma centers.  Venerable Tharchin said all it takes is a handful of true spiritual masters in a given country to make that country a source of peace in the world.  We need such Bodhisattvas in Dharma centers, but we also need them in our schools, in our corporations, in our hospitals, in the government, in the military, in the highest reaches of politics, and in the home.  Who will be these bodhisattvas for our country if not us?

We must do both – heal our mind and heal our world.  To do just the external or just the internal is an extreme.  In the past many practitioners have experienced many problems due to an unskillful approach, of either being extreme with their inner practice and no engagement with the world; or being extreme with their outer activities while neglecting inner transformation.  We must get it right with respect to our formal practices, informal practices, our work, our family life and our civic engagement.  We know there is no contradiction within the Dharma.  Our job is to realize there is no contradiction between practicing Dharma and living a modern life.  This is the task Geshe-la has given us.