The Four Mind Changings are essential for the practitioner. If we do not grasp the reality that samsara is pointless, we will be carried away by attraction to samsara’s deluded experiences. Without wearying of samsara, we cannot engage in authentic practice.
We must turn away from samsaric aims by taking to heart the Four Mind Changings: reflecting on (1) the precious human body, (2) impermanence and death, (3) the cause and effect of karmic actions, and (4) the defects of samsaric existence.
The first of the Four Mind Changings, reflecting on the importance of the precious human body, stresses the difficulty of obtaining a human body. The human body is the best possible support for practicing the Dharma. It is incredibly difficult to get a human birth and therefore very precious.
Merely having obtained a human body is in itself not enough; it is impermanent and does not last for very long. Birth certainly is followed by death. Right now we treasure our body — we give it the best food and adorn it with nice clothing. Yet when the energies that sustain the body disappear, it is declared dead, begins to smell revolting and is disgusting to people. Nobody wants to touch our dead body; it will be disposed of as soon as possible. It’s certain this physical body will die someday.
By reflecting on impermanence and death, we lose the confidence that we will live for a long time and feel the immediate need to practice. As a result we will not make long-range plans but try to use our time effectively.
What about karma? When we die our breathing ceases, the body is discarded and our possessions taken by others. All we retain is the karmic results of our past actions. What is the cause and effect of karma? What are the results of good and bad actions? These we must learn about. By understanding the relationship between the cause and effect of karmic actions — positive and negative deeds — we will be unmistaken about the way to practice the Dharma. That is called utilizing the law of cause and effect.
Where will our consciousness go after death? In which of the six realms will we be reborn?
As long as we are encased in the habitual patterning of a deluded state of mind, no matter where we are born within the six imperfect realms of samsara, we will never be beyond suffering.
Beings in the three lower realms of the hells, hungry ghosts and animals, experience only misery and suffering. Even the higher realms of gods, demigods and human beings lack perfect happiness.
The vital point is that as long as we retain dualistic fixation and ego-clinging, rigidly holding on to the idea of self, we are always involved in deluded experience which makes suffering unavoidable.
That which truly brings an end to the causes that perpetuate ego-clinging and deluded experience is the practice of the sacred Dharma. Therefore, to practice the Dharma is crucial. To study and apply the teachings is called utilizing our precious human body.
Source: Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. The Bardo Guidebook. Foreword by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1991.
This contemplative practice is called the “Four Ordinary Foundations.” It is presumed that once we have thoroughly internalized these thoughts, our interest will shift away from short-term worldly concerns and toward long-term religious [spiritual] ones, providing us with a basis for an ever-deepening involvement in religious [spiritual] practice. The four thoughts are:
(1) The precious human birth
(2) Impermanence
(3) Action, cause and result
(4) The shortcomings of samsara
(Jamgon Kongtrul the Great. The Torch of Certainty.)