The following notes have been excerpted from the book, The Essential Nectar: Meditations on the Buddhist Path, by Geshe Rabten.
Meditating on Suffering
Our actions of mind, which determine our actions of speech and body, can cause us to experience either physical and mental suffering, or physical and mental happiness.
On the positive side, if we develop our mind through the practice of the Dharma, it can get better and better; one can attain the destiny of a human being or a god; one can become completely free of samsara and attain Arhantship; and ultimately, developing the mind to total perfection one can realize complete Buddhahood. These positive states of mind are described in many texts.
But it is also possible for the mind to become more and more habituated to negativity, in which case one’s state of being becomes increasingly degenerate. This degeneration can continue virtually without limit.
We know that developing the mind needs a lot of effort; but degeneration just comes naturally.
Looking into our mind, we can see that we have many thoughts coming up all the time, and most of them are negative rather than pure. These thoughts leave behind their own type of trace or imprint on the mind.
Subsequently, these imprints lie latent until one meets conditions that activate them; then they can ripen as a new state of existence, type of body and so on, or they can create one’s environment, or cause an unpleasant or pleasant experience.
Every suffering one experiences is the result of the ripening of a negative karmic imprint carried on one’s own mind. The worlds we find ourselves in are not separate from us but arise from our own mental imprints.
On our own mind there are a great many imprints of evil thoughts and actions. If we do not purify them by confession, they will certainly ripen in some future existence, and go on producing suffering until their power is exhausted.
But by sincere confession we can render them powerless to bring about a suffering result. To avoid future painful suffering, we must practise confession at once, and be careful not to add yet more negative imprints to our store.
“Alas!” (kye ma!) is an exclamation of sorrow and suffering at the thought that this rare opportunity we have gained, with a human body, will soon perish.
Certainly, we shall die; and after that, our future destiny is governed by our karma, we have no choice where to be reborn.
Moreover, negative attitudes and behaviour are very strong in us, while the positive is very weak; if this accumulated negative karma throws us into the realms of woe, shall we be able to bear the suffering?
In the present life, people engage in very heavy negative actions such as killing others, and even laugh while they are doing so, but in the future they may well be experiencing the result of this karma and crying and crying.
The causes for future painful suffering lie within us now, and if we cannot get rid of them in this life, as soon as possible, then in the future they will give rise to their result.
In our life, each action of body, speech, and mind leaves an imprint on the mind, which will produce a result of similar nature to the cause.
Just as a barley seed can give rise, after it is planted, to a barley sprout and after some months to an ear of barley with many other grains, so the imprints left on our mind by evil actions can throw us into an existence which gives rise to many sufferings.
If we do not purify them by confession, their power will remain and in due course they will produce their fruit.
Through our evil actions, we are just preparing to experience the same suffering yourself in the future.
The sufferings described in the text are only a few examples of the possibilities. In fact, there are countless varieties of evil actions, and countless forms of suffering result from their imprints.
Our life is very short, but we spend most of it just amusing ourselves or sometimes fighting with others. In this way we accumulate the causes for unfortunate rebirths.
We have to engage in Dharma practices to confess and purify these negative actions, using meditation, mantras and so forth.
Contemplating the sufferings of the realms of woe will, if we have faith in their existence, impel us to practise confession very strongly, so that we really can eliminate even the smallest negative imprints from our mind. There will then be no basis for experiencing such terrible sufferings in the future.
If we do not believe in the sufferings described here, then although we can still engage in the confession of evil, the practice will not be as powerful.
In reality, our situations of suffering are created entirely by ourself. There is no other person forcing us into them. We are free to engage in the actions that cause them, and we are free to engage in the practice of Dharma and rid our mind of such imprints.
It is entirely up to us whether we spend our life tiring ourself out with work, earning money, or amusing ourself, until one day we die and there is nothing more to be done, or alternatively, undertake worthwhile practice.
We may accumulate negative karmas light-heartedly and do not notice their imprints on the mind, but still, they ripen in the form of suffering.
Our mind is full of imprints that can lead us into situations of suffering, unless we practise now the means to be rid of them. The choice is ours.
We do our negative actions ourself, and we suffer the result ourself: no-one can share it with us.
Example of Suffering: Pretas
If, for example, we are reborn as a preta, it is not through someone else sentencing us to this destiny as a punishment, but through our own mental imprints alone.
The main causes are avarice, a form of clinging to one’s possessions, not wishing to let them go, whether they are large or small, and also the related attitude of covetousness, wishing to possess what belongs to others.
These attitudes respectively prevent us from practising Giving, such as helping others with material gifts, and provide us with strong desire for material possessions and enjoyments.
The result similar to the cause is thus that the preta, though obsessed with the desire to obtain food or possessions, is always prevented from obtaining them. The dominant result, or the environment into which the preta is born, is a featureless desert plain, without anything pleasant to see such as mountains, trees, grass, lakes or rivers.
If we look at our mind, we can see we have avarice and attachment to things. When we go to a restaurant, for example, we check carefully through the menu, rejecting what is not so good and trying to get the best for ourself. We should remember that the result of such an avaricious attitude is life as a preta. Already we have many mental imprints of this type, which will ripen unless we remove them.
Normally we cannot see pretas, but sometimes pretas who live in the same place as human beings can see and be seen by them. “Ghosts” can be manifestations of deceased persons who have become pretas and appear in a form similar to their previous one.
The great hells also are invisible to human beings, but there exist “individual hells” (pratyeka-naraka) on Earth, some of whose beings can be seen; some such hell-beings appear in the form of trees, other plants, or rocks.
Our mind is full of imprints waiting to give rise to future destinies, like a department store full of goods ready to be bought. If we wish to improve our situation, we must eliminate our negative imprints now, by confession with the four forces:
(a) Becoming strongly aware of the negative nature of the unvirtuous action.
(b) Determining not to commit such an action again.
(c) Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels and generating Bodhicitta for the benefit of all sentient beings, since any negative action is against the Three Jewels and sentient beings.
(d) Remedial practices such as reciting mantras.
If we have no confidence in this method but continue to be caught up in worldly involvements, these imprints will not go away.
Example of Suffering: Animals
We all see animals and know they exist. At zoos and in aquaria we can see many different types which live on the earth or in the sea. We may think that animals are a separate category of beings from us, that we cannot be reborn in such a state: this is a mistake.
They are beings like us, reborn as animals because of certain actions they committed. If we accumulate that sort of karma, we too are sure to take animal rebirth.
For example, if other people who have just eaten with us die of food poisoning, then we know we are going to die the same way, it is only a matter of time.
Likewise, we and other beings have created the karma for animal rebirth; they happen to have become animals before us, but it is only a matter of time before we follow them.
While many types of action can lead to an animal destiny, the main type is probably sexual misconduct – sexual activity with an improper object, in an improper manner, at an improper place, or at an improper time.
Although animals have a great many sufferings, their principal problem is being stupid. My dog, Norbu, for example, is always here when I am teaching; but although he is just like us in that he is constantly developing attachment, anger, pride and jealousy, he cannot understand a single word. If I speak loudly, he probably thinks I am scolding him.
Animals just have no chance to learn the Dharma. We should think about this point and understand that we must practise Dharma now in order to avoid falling into that state when this very short life is over.
Most animals live in the ocean. Some dwell in dark holes, or in insecure homes which are liable to be destroyed in a moment.
Not having houses, they suffer from heat and cold and from the wind. They are in a perpetual state of war with each other; sometimes large animals eat thousands of small ones, and sometimes an army of insects or other small creatures kills a bigger animal.
The animals living among human beings are usually very badly treated. We kill them so that we can eat their meat or wear their skins; we take the milk of cows, which was intended for their calves; we use them for our sport.
While in the West we have cars, tractors and lorries which we can use instead of animals, in poor countries like India animals are made to carry excessively heavy loads.
We are shocked to hear about the sufferings very similar to these that were inflicted on human beings in the Nazi concentration camps or by the Chinese in Tibet, but animals do not receive the same consideration.
A Buddha or Bodhisattva, however, is not partial like this, but regards all sentient beings, human, animal, or whatever, in exactly the same way.
Thus, animals do not have any peace or rest, but are always afflicted.
We often complain about our problems even in this human life – difficult family situations, illnesses, headaches and so on – but this is nothing compared with the bad experiences that other sorts of beings must undergo. We must consider that since we cannot tell what karmas we do or do not have, it is quite possible that we could be reborn as an animal; if we are, the many sufferings and the stupidity characteristic of animals will be very hard to bear.
Sever Attachments and Strive to Attain Enlightenment
To develop a strong desire for Liberation, it is essential that wherever we look in samsara we see no situation fit to stay in. If we have clinging to any state such as the human state or a divine state, we cannot wholeheartedly aspire to Liberation. Therefore, the teachings lay much stress on becoming aware of the faults of all possible samsaric rebirths.
For example, four great sufferings are bound up with human existence – birth, aging, sickness and death. In the course of our rebirths, we experience these again and again.
Suffering of Aging
Let’s briefly look at the suffering of aging.
With every day that passes we come closer to our death, the appearance of our body gradually approaching that it will have when we are dead. This gradual change is aging. We can all see the changes outwardly: we lose your youthful complexion, our hair whitens or turns grey, our body bends so that we cannot stand straight, and we walk unsteadily even on flat ground.
When we are young, our flesh is firm and fills out the skin, but as we age, this pleasant appearance is lost and our skin hangs down in wrinkles so that our face, limbs and body are like an uneven field. Our teeth fall out, so that although we crave for nice food, it is very hard for us to eat it. Our speech that was once strong becomes quavering so that others can hardly understand what we are saying; our mind is less clear than it used to be, and we tend to be forgetful.
All our faculties lose their power – we cannot see or hear clearly, sitting down and getting up are difficult. Wherever we go, people think “He’s just an old man,” and treat us with scorn. We can no longer eat the food we like, because our digestion cannot cope with it.
When we were young and good-looking, people were happy to be our friends, but now we are old and unattractive, no-one cares. We see that most of our years have fled and are constantly aware that death will soon be upon us. Maybe we still want to go out and have fun, climbing mountains and so on, but we are no longer able to – we are just stuck in a room in an old people’s home.
This is our situation – if we die, the problem is we do not know what kind of existence will follow; but if we live on as an old person, that too is difficult. Thus, samsaric existence is by nature difficult, and we must direct our mind towards Liberation.
Finally, such is samsara, and since no samsaric situation is satisfactory, we must turn our mind away from samsara and towards the attainment of Liberation.
Source: Based on Rabten, Geshe. The Essential Nectar: Meditations on the Buddhist Path. Edited by Martin Willson. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2014.
The Eight Sufferings of Human Beings
To get a better sense of the unsatisfactory conditions of our present situation, consider the difficulties we experience as human beings:
(1) Birth. Is being in the womb and then going through the birth process comfortable, or is it confusing?
(2) Aging. Imagine yourself as an old person. How do you feel about the inevitable decline of your physical and mental abilities?
(3) Sickness. How does it feel to get sick without choice or control?
(4) Death. Is death something you look forward to?
(5) Being separated from what we like. Think about the suffering involved when this has happened to you.
(6) Meeting with what we don’t like. How does it feel when problems come even though you don’t want them?
(7) Not obtaining the things we like even though we try so hard to get them. Think of examples of this from your life. Do you like this situation?
(8) Having a body and mind under the control of afflictions and karma. Reflect that the very nature of your present body and mind is unsatisfactory because you have very little control over them. For example, you cannot stop your body from aging and dying, and it is difficult to deal with strong negative emotions and to concentrate your mind during meditation.
Conclusion: Develop the determination to free yourself from cyclic existence and to practice the path to do so. While this aspiration is sometimes translated as “renunciation” (of suffering and its causes), it actually is having compassion for ourselves and wanting ourselves to have lasting Dharma happiness.
The Causes of Cyclic Existence
Our unsatisfactory experience of being in cyclic existence has causes—the afflictions (disturbing attitudes and negative emotions) in our mind. Think of examples of the following mental afflictions in your life:
(1) Attachment: exaggerating or projecting good qualities and then clinging to the object.
(2) Anger: exaggerating or projecting bad qualities and then wishing to harm or get away from what makes us miserable.
(3) Pride: an inflated sense of self that makes us feel we are either the best or the worst of all.
(4) Ignorance: a lack of clarity regarding the nature of things and active misconceptions about the nature of reality and about karma and its effects.
(5) Deluded doubt: doubt tending toward incorrect conclusions.
(6) Distorted views: wrong conceptions.
(a) View of the transitory collection: the conception of an inherent “I” or “mine” (grasping at the self as inherently existent).
(b) View holding to an extreme: absolutism (grasping at inherent existence; eternalism) or nihilism (believing that nothing at all exists).
(c) Distorted views: denying the existence of cause and effect, rebirth, enlightenment, and the Three Jewels.
(d) Holding distorted views as supreme: thinking the above are the best views.
(e) Holding bad ethics and modes of conduct as supreme: thinking that unethical actions are ethical and that incorrect practices are the path to liberation.
Conclusion: Seeing the damage these mental afflictions cause in your life, develop the determination to be aware of their arising and to learn and practice the antidotes to them.
Factors that Stimulate the Arising of Mental Afflictions
In brief, whatever you are doing,
Ask yourself, “What’s the state of my mind?”
With constant mindfulness and mental alertness
Accomplish others’ good—
This is the practice of bodhisattvas.
(Gyelsay Togmay Sangpo, The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas)
Contemplating examples from your life, understand how the following factors stimulate the arising of negative emotions and misconceptions:
(1) The latencies of the afflictions. Do you have the seed or potential to generate disturbing attitudes and negative emotions even though they may not be manifest in your mind now?
(2) Contact with the object. What objects, people, or situations trigger the arising of disturbing attitudes and negative emotions in you? How can you be more aware when you encounter these people, situations, or objects?
(3) Detrimental influences such as bad friends. How much does peer pressure or what other people think of you influence your behavior? Are you strongly influenced by friends or relatives who act unethically or who distract you from the spiritual path?
(4) Verbal stimuli—media, books, TV, Internet, radio, magazines, etc. How much do the media shape what you believe and your self-image? How much time do you spend listening to, watching, or reading the media? How can you have a healthy and reasonable relationship with the media so that they don’t control your life and your thoughts?
(5) Habitual ways of thinking, habitual emotions. What emotional habits or patterns do you have?
(6) Inappropriate attention. Do you pay attention to negative aspects of situations? Do you have many biases? Are you quick to jump to conclusions or be judgmental? What steps can you take to remedy these tendencies?
Conclusion: Understanding the disadvantages of the afflictions, determine to abandon them. Think of how you can avoid the factors causing their arising and determine to change your lifestyle accordingly.
The Paths that Cease the Disturbing Attitudes, Negative Emotions, and Karma
Through ethical discipline, concentration, and wisdom,
Achieve nirvana, an undefiled state of peace and restraint:
Ageless, deathless, inexhaustible;
Free from earth, water, fire, wind, sun, and moon.
(Nagarjuna, Friendly Letter)
The Three Higher Trainings—in ethical conduct, meditative stabilization, and wisdom—are the paths to cease our unsatisfactory conditions and to attain a state of lasting peace and happiness. For each of the higher trainings, reflect:
(1) What advantages accrue now and in the future by practicing this training?
(2) How can you implement this training in your daily life? Have some specific ideas and make a firm determination to do this.
(3) How does each higher training build upon the previous one? Why are they practiced in this order?
Conclusion: Understanding how the Three Higher Trainings will lead you to liberation from cyclic existence, make a determination to practice them and actualize them with joyous effort.
(Source: Based on Chodron, Thubten. Guided Buddhist Meditations: Essential Practices on the Stages of the Path. Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2019.)