Taking Suffering and Giving Happiness
Lama Thubten Yeshe |
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| This talk is the 8th
chapter of the book Ego, Attachment
and Liberation, which contains the teachings
and meditations Lama gave at a five-day retreat he led
near Melbourne, Australia in 1975.
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Contents
We are most fortunate to have been able to pinpoint attachment
as the greatest of all problems. When we speak of evil, demons
and so forth, it’s the inner devil of attachment we’re
talking about. Even though for countless lives we’ve
looked outside ourselves for the source of our problems, there’s
nothing external to blame. Therefore we should rejoice that
we have finally identified this inner cause of all suffering.
We can be quite foolish. Say you’re in a spooky old
house some-where with a couple of friends. It’s late
at night and you’re watching horror movies on TV. One
of your friends says, “Don’t go into the basement;
there’s something evil down there.” Then, if you
do have to go down to the basement, you feel scared: “There
really is something evil down here.” You’re so
easily prone to superstition. This is completely silly. There’s
no such thing as external evil and fear of it is simply a
projection of the evil in your own mind. If you speculate
enough your superstitious mind is sure to produce something
and where once you were unafraid you now feel fear. All such
foolishness comes from attachment.
Therefore finally recognizing that all these negative things—
demons, enemies, evil or whatever other terms are used in
everyday conversation, science or religion—come from
the inner demon of attachment and bravely changing attachment
to oneself into concern for others is both wonderful and wise.
There are countless living beings on Earth but very few
know about exchanging self and others. This practice may be
very difficult but it’s extremely worthwhile. If you
can do it, it will help solve all your problems. Changing
your outlook in this way transforms whatever misery you perceive
into the peaceful path of liberation.
We desperately need a method such as this. Life is suffering;
our minds are weak. Exchanging self and others is truly revolutionary
and this inner revolution, which has nothing to do with radical
external change, completely turns our mental attitude upside
down.
If you were to think that Buddhism was simply about sitting
in med¬itation practicing concentration, you might reject
it: “My knees hurt; my body wasn’t built for this.
Buddhism is just a Himalayan lama thing. Anyway, I can’t
live without working and taking care of my worldly affairs.
Dharma is not for me.” But Mahayana Buddhism is about
much more than just sitting in concentration. If you are wise,
you can practice twenty-four hours a day.
Whenever any difficulty or problem arises, instead of getting
depressed, be brave. Think, “Fantastic. If this problem
had not arisen I might have felt I had no problems. This problem
is my teacher; all problems are my teacher. They give me knowledge-wisdom
and help me recognize more clearly the nature of attachment.
This is so wonderful. May all mother sentient beings’
problems ripen upon me right now and may they receive all
my merit, fortune and wisdom.”
If you have difficulty taking the suffering of others onto
yourself, first practice on yourself. The next time your knees
hurt when you’re sitting in meditation, take that pain
onto your ego and let it freak out. Let your ego freak out
more and more. Practice that for a week.
Then practice taking onto yourself all the suffering you
have ever experienced in your life. Your ego and attachment
won’t like that either, but let them freak out again.
Then slowly, slowly extend your practice to take upon yourself
the sufferings of your parents, your friends, all the people
in your country and all the people on Earth until you are
receiving the problems and suffering of all sentient beings
throughout the universe. Then, without hesitation, send out
to them all your possessions, happiness and merit.
What is the technique for actually practicing this taking
and giving meditation, which Tibetans call tong-len?
You combine it with meditation on the breath in what is basically
a nine-round breathing meditation.
Start by breathing out through your right nostril. Visualize
the air you exhale in the form of white light, the essence
of which is all your positive energy and wisdom. This white
light radiates to all sentient beings in the six realms of
samsara and beyond. It enters their left nostril, goes into
their hearts and generates in them great bliss. Visualize
the air they exhale in the form of thick black smoke, the
essence of which is all their negativity, confusion and heavy
suffering. This dark, polluted energy enters your left nostril
and goes down into your heart. Don’t leave it outside
of you; bring it right down into your heart so that your ego
and attachment completely freak out.
The nature of attachment is such that when problems arise,
it blindly pushes them away. This practice trains your mind
to handle negativity, feel compassion for the others and take
their suffering and problems onto yourself, which in turn
helps you overcome self-cherishing and cherish others more
than yourself.
Do the above cycle of breathing white light out through
your right nostril and black smoke in through your left three
times. Then breathe out through your left nostril and in through
your right three times. Then breathe out and in through both
nostrils together three times. At the end of each nine rounds
concentrate for as long as you can that you and all other
sentient beings have been completely purified of all suffering,
negativity and dualistic mind and are fully enlightened, experiencing
everlasting bliss that pervades your entire body and mind.
When you lose focus on this, repeat the nine rounds once more.
Repeat this cycle again and again for the duration of the
session.
Don’t think that this is just a fantasy and that doing
this meditation makes no difference to the suffering of yourself
and others. Actually, it is a profound practice and each time
you do it, it brings you and all other sentient beings closer
to enlightenment. The greatest obstacle to enlightenment is
self-cherishing, and taking on all the suffering, karma and
delusions of all sentient beings and giving them all your
happiness and merit is best way of overcoming it. The most
effective way of training your mind to overcome self-cherishing
is to practice tong-len meditation.
Conclusion
Now we have reached the end of this short, dream-like course.
At the beginning I said that whether or not these five days
become beneficial was up to you. To ensure that they did,
you therefore dedicated them to discovering the true nature
of your own mind for the benefit of living beings throughout
the extent of space. But whether or not you benefit from this
course probably depends more upon what you do with what you’ve
learned from now on.
During our brief time together you’ve learned how
to do both analytical and placement meditation and it would
be wonderful if you could continue to practice these when
you get home. Of course, as the old Tibetan saying goes, “Meditation
without study is like armless rock-climbing.” In other
words, you have to have something to meditate on when you
do analytical meditation. For this purpose, we strongly recommend
the study and practice of the lam-rim teachings—explanations
of the steps of the path to enlightenment.
You have also learned some other meditation techniques:
the vase-breathing meditation, with attention to the feelings
throughout your body; dealing with distractions; listening
to your inner sound while chanting the mantra of Lord Buddha;
recalling your life’s experiences, going back all the
way to when you were in your mother’s womb; the equilibrium
meditation; and exchange of self and others with the taking
and giving meditation of tong-len.
You also know how to take the eight Mahayana precepts. It
would be fantastic if you could do this regularly throughout
your life. It is a powerful method of dealing with attachment.
In my talks, the main thing I have tried to do is to give
you an experience of how the two departments of ego and attachment
are the source of every problem and suffering you and everybody
else has ever had. These two minds are your worst enemy and
if you are ever to find true freedom and joy, you must get
rid of them forever.
Therefore dedicate your life to developing the wisdom understanding
the nature of your own mind and working for the happiness
of others. Try your best to avoid harming others and generate
a warm feeling for all sentient beings.
Thank you so much for coming to this course. I myself have
had a wonderful experience. Thank you; thank you so much.
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