To be continued from Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche... Desire, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, and jealousy are the causes of suffering. As long as they are present in the mind, we are ensnared by them and suffer lifetime after lifetime. Negative thoughts alone can throw us into the hell realms. Therefore, the very purpose of our Dharma practice is to reduce them as much as we can, and finally uproot them totally. This will create a space that they cannot occupy. How can we expect peace and happiness while afflictions are in our hear? Our focus should be the purification of all mental afflictions through the practice of meditation. Our attachments to worldly concerns will only bring us suffering, so we use all these virtues to purify the afflicting emotions and attain complete enlightenment. When we pray for thought of fame, reputation, wealth, honor, and concern for this life not to arise, this means attachment to these thoughts. It does not mean that we should not become famous or wealthy, or that we should never be honored. But attachment to these things doesn’t bring any benefit. If we live our lives fully involved in worldly concerns like these, what will we have in the end? Nothing. They are mere mirages that trick us into thinking that they are worthwhile when, in fact, they are nothing more than lures that trap up in the depths of confusion and suffering. It is obvious that we are suffering helplessly through our entanglement in these illusions. So, we work as much as necessary to sustain our life with a right livelihood and to live harmoniously by respecting each other with love and compassion. After eliminating the negative influences, we next pray for the true causes of peace and happiness to moisten our mind stream. Everyone, even a completely ruthless person, desires peace and happiness free from suffering. But they are quite difficult to achieve because we lack their cause. So we also make every effort to cultivate love, compassion, and bodhicitta in order to obtain the limitless fruits of peace and happiness for ourselves and others. It isn’t enough to just think about being compassionate. We have to become an example for society, become good citizens, and decent people. Others will admire this kind of great practitioner, and can be more affected by their kind actions than by a hundred Dharma lectures. A human being who is a source of peace, wisdom, happiness and other limitless good qualities for others is very rare. It will take time and energy for us to reach that state. Once we have established a solid foundation by dispelling all our confusion and gathering infinite good qualities, we pray for the supreme attainment of mahamudra. This is the realization of the unfabricated nature of mind, the absolute state of peace and joy of buddhahood. For ordinary people, the time of death is extremely painful. It is the final departure from friends, family, belongings, and accomplishments. Even the precious body must be left behind. It is an overwhelming agony that beings must endure without choice. Here, in prayer form, is a skillful way to prepare for these conditions by facing them with a positive and enlightened attitude. Practice seeing everything as a manifestation and illusion to purify fixation and grasping. That way, when death comes, we can die peacefully without regret. Negative thoughts like anger or jealousy make us uncomfortable under the best of circumstances. Not only will they intensify our suffering at death, negative thoughts at the moment of death will make a strong connection for us to reborn in the lower realms. So we must watch our mind every moment to ensure that negative thoughts are not arising. If they do, it is important to apply the correct antidote right away. Wrong views are beliefs that disavow karma cause and result, deny the existence of enlightenment, or disparage the Three Jewels. These thoughts, especially if they arise at the time of death, also make a strong connection to be reborn in the lower realms. At this time, we have a precious human life and access to the holy Dharma teachings. Animals, for example, might possibly create a small amount of positive karma toward future lives, but we as human beings have every opportunity to create large amounts of good karma by utilizing our own human resources. If these resources are misused, they can cause much suffering, in this life and in future ones. The choice is ours alone. We will die anyway, so it is important to make our life useful for as long as we can. If we practice well and accomplish the practices described here, we can die joyfully and happily. It would be like returning home-no fear, no confusion, totally relaxed. Realizing the luminosity of the mind-as-such is realizing mahamudra, and to understand dharmata is to understand the constitution of all phenomena in pervading emptiness, their true mode of abiding. If you read the life stories of great masters who have these realizations, you will see that they are joyful when they are sick and they feel happy when they die. Such results arise through these contemplations and meditation practices. This is the purpose of our study and practice of the precious Dharma-to get ultimate refuge, free from confusion and suffering. So, in reality, it would be in everyone’s best interest to follow this path. Those who approach it and connect to it should take full advantage and rejoice in the opportunity. Finally, we dedicate all virtues to attain mahamudra, if not in this life, then at least at the time of death or in the bardo, the intermediate state between this life’s death and the next life’s birth. - Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 23:27:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015