(http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/transform-poisons-into-nectar)
The meaningful jehad within!
Back from a profound month long Dzogchen (Great Perfection) retreat at Namdroling Monastery, i was recently invited to the engagement ceremony of the daughter of my friend from several years. Although i very rarely make it to prolonged social events, this one was an unavoidable. While the ceremonial proceedings were on, well attired guests mingled. The conversation, after initial pleasantries, naturally turned to casual talk. It surprised me to hear that the common thread in almost all topics of discussion was name, fame, power and money! After sometime, i retired to a corner with an old acquaintance and the evening was saved!
Name.Fame.Power.Money.
I call them the ‘Four Mirages’. Any and every action each one of does all throughout our life, we do so to keep us happy. The same is for all sentient beings, animals, insects, birds, worms, sea creatures. All beings want to be happy all the time. Some of us realize that life is not about accumulation of material things but there are higher aspirations of developing as human beings to be met too. Therefore, instead of making piecemeal attempts at being temporarily happy by pleasing our sensory organs and ego state - which can be compared to licking honey off the edge of a sword – we must find a reliable way to seamless and lasting peace and happiness. Due to their transient nature the Four Mirages really offer no help here, and are therefore unreliable.
A desert offers all kinds of mirages which only a trained traveller can distinguish from the real thing. Much the same it is with the Four Mirages that keep emerging from within which need to be first neutralized and then transformed to play a positive role in our life thereby improving the quality of inner life we so wish to live all the time. The mirages do little else than fuel the ego state – a label we give an illusory, non-existent state and get fixated towards that label - and in this process instead of realizing our true nature, they only help in burying it further under a facade of delusions. The ego has its own insecurites and it’s job is indeed to keep us occupied with pampering such delusions and in the process forgetting about it (ego). The very essence of our spiritual practice is to create chaos in the well-designed and systematic set up of ego. For this, it is essential to understand and realize the real nature of our mind which is bereft of ego, aversion, desire, envy, ignorance; the Five Poisons. They are mere cladding that we have ‘beautifully’ managed to construct around our pristine buddha nature. What this really reveals is that we are already primordially enlightened beings! The spiritual journey we have undertaken is to merely re-discover or uncover this pure state buried under what we have nurtured it to be. It is the frequent arising of these negative mind states which transformation into body and speech actions (karma) that have been the cause for our re-cycling in samsara and having to endure the four great rivers of suffering (birth, old age, sickness and death). If cause is addressed, the result will change too. The cause here is the way we think. Nagarjuna says: “Samsara is mere thought; if we’re free of that, we’re perfectly free.”
If we must nurture the poisons, especially the dominant one’s, it should be in a way where the result is positive inner transformation, making us a better person. This is the Mahayana path. For example, we can be mean or use anger against our sloth and lethargy towards our study and practice; we could take humble pride in the progress we have been able to make on the path towards self-improvement; one could develop desire towards nurturing a mind of enlightenment; we could be envious of the fact that each one of us is a primordially pure buddha and in comparison what we have reduced ourselves to in our present state; show ignorance towards others mocking at our diligent and sincere practice. Indeed, one must be careful in doing so without these negative mental states either manifesting externally nor clinging internally. Eitherway, it would be counter-productive on the path of liberation. We can transform all types of conditions into the path into nectar by being honest with ourselves and compassionate with others. Even if we can let go some of our old habits and habitual hang-ups we can rejoice that Dharma is entering our mind stream.
Never lose gained ground, Sanghamitras!
Back from a profound month long Dzogchen (Great Perfection) retreat at Namdroling Monastery, i was recently invited to the engagement ceremony of the daughter of my friend from several years. Although i very rarely make it to prolonged social events, this one was an unavoidable. While the ceremonial proceedings were on, well attired guests mingled. The conversation, after initial pleasantries, naturally turned to casual talk. It surprised me to hear that the common thread in almost all topics of discussion was name, fame, power and money! After sometime, i retired to a corner with an old acquaintance and the evening was saved!
Name.Fame.Power.Money.
I call them the ‘Four Mirages’. Any and every action each one of does all throughout our life, we do so to keep us happy. The same is for all sentient beings, animals, insects, birds, worms, sea creatures. All beings want to be happy all the time. Some of us realize that life is not about accumulation of material things but there are higher aspirations of developing as human beings to be met too. Therefore, instead of making piecemeal attempts at being temporarily happy by pleasing our sensory organs and ego state - which can be compared to licking honey off the edge of a sword – we must find a reliable way to seamless and lasting peace and happiness. Due to their transient nature the Four Mirages really offer no help here, and are therefore unreliable.
A desert offers all kinds of mirages which only a trained traveller can distinguish from the real thing. Much the same it is with the Four Mirages that keep emerging from within which need to be first neutralized and then transformed to play a positive role in our life thereby improving the quality of inner life we so wish to live all the time. The mirages do little else than fuel the ego state – a label we give an illusory, non-existent state and get fixated towards that label - and in this process instead of realizing our true nature, they only help in burying it further under a facade of delusions. The ego has its own insecurites and it’s job is indeed to keep us occupied with pampering such delusions and in the process forgetting about it (ego). The very essence of our spiritual practice is to create chaos in the well-designed and systematic set up of ego. For this, it is essential to understand and realize the real nature of our mind which is bereft of ego, aversion, desire, envy, ignorance; the Five Poisons. They are mere cladding that we have ‘beautifully’ managed to construct around our pristine buddha nature. What this really reveals is that we are already primordially enlightened beings! The spiritual journey we have undertaken is to merely re-discover or uncover this pure state buried under what we have nurtured it to be. It is the frequent arising of these negative mind states which transformation into body and speech actions (karma) that have been the cause for our re-cycling in samsara and having to endure the four great rivers of suffering (birth, old age, sickness and death). If cause is addressed, the result will change too. The cause here is the way we think. Nagarjuna says: “Samsara is mere thought; if we’re free of that, we’re perfectly free.”
If we must nurture the poisons, especially the dominant one’s, it should be in a way where the result is positive inner transformation, making us a better person. This is the Mahayana path. For example, we can be mean or use anger against our sloth and lethargy towards our study and practice; we could take humble pride in the progress we have been able to make on the path towards self-improvement; one could develop desire towards nurturing a mind of enlightenment; we could be envious of the fact that each one of us is a primordially pure buddha and in comparison what we have reduced ourselves to in our present state; show ignorance towards others mocking at our diligent and sincere practice. Indeed, one must be careful in doing so without these negative mental states either manifesting externally nor clinging internally. Eitherway, it would be counter-productive on the path of liberation. We can transform all types of conditions into the path into nectar by being honest with ourselves and compassionate with others. Even if we can let go some of our old habits and habitual hang-ups we can rejoice that Dharma is entering our mind stream.
Never lose gained ground, Sanghamitras!
