The real intent behind any Dharma practice is to train the mind for the moment of death so that the moment of death can arise with confidence and without regret—regret in the sense of non-awareness, or ignorance. As we develop awareness, we get a better understanding of the very subtle thoughts that constantly shift the mind into non-awareness.

Lacking awareness, we are unable to understand impermanence and the emptiness of thought, time, and a self—empty in the sense that they cannot be proven to exist.

Imposing solidity upon that inherently empty nature, we spend whole lifetimes struggling with ourselves and others.

When we look at all the sentient beings living like this, we can truly understand how difficult it is to become free from suffering in the midst of samsara. The only way to free yourself from ignorance is the path of awareness.

Training in awareness begins with you. It would be difficult to go outside of yourself to get this message—or to change the mind of anyone else. You are the one endowed with the qualities, teachings, and practices; you are the one with the genuine desire and ability to bring this to fruition. Therefore, you need to be the first one to transcend ignorance. Then and only then can you benefit others. This is the reason we contemplate impermanence. …

The path of awareness begins with the Four Reminders. Think carefully about impermanence and the preciousness of human existence, and not just in terms of “Yes, this is true, yes that happens.” Otherwise, you’ll spend your life saying, “Of course everything is impermanent,” and “Yes, he or she is dead,” and “Of course I’m not confident that when I breathe out I’ll breathe in again.” This kind of belief is not what we are talking about; these are just clues or steps to contemplation.

The important thing is to reach a point where our hearts are truly shaken by a genuine sense of fear—fear in the sense that impermanence arises with every moment. This brings a starkly naked awareness of just how silly this great arrogance is that we have about “my” life: my views, my understanding, my hopes and fears.

When that shift of the heart actually happens, we will glimpse for the first time the real importance of all the teachings and instructions. And from then on, we will not need anyone else to tell us about the truth of impermanence. This is the kind of confidence we need as an antidote to distraction and all its emotional and conceptual displays.

It is most unlikely that we will ever understand the real intent of Dharma or practice, however, until our mind matures through proper contemplation of the Four Reminders. In the Buddhist tradition, the Four Reminders are contemplated often. You will find some reference to them before every practice session and at the beginning of every single text in all 84,000 tenets and commentaries. The point of contemplating the Four Reminders is to see who and what we are as human beings …

Source: Khandro Rinpoche. This Precious Life: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on the Path to Enlightenment. Foreword by the Dalai Lama. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications, 2003.

---