The Six Paramitas #2

From a series of seminar at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, 2002

Jigme Rinpoche

to practise out of necessity not just interest
As the previous example illustrated, you seek a cure when your life depends on it. You seek help not out of curiosity or interest in a remedy. You act in accordance with what you have discovered and understood. Likewise, you must thoroughly examine the Dharma and decide whether you absolutely need it in your life. During this period of inner introspection and reflection, more precise answers and a clearer understanding will gradually appear to you. An authentic practitioner practises out of necessity and not out of interest. To him, the Dharma is indispensable. He is not going to get bored and give it up. The Dharma is not a leisurely sport like skiing where you can get bored after some weeks and decide to go sailing instead. Ask yourself why you are interested in meditation, or working for others? Do you actually feel that they are both essential in your life? You may enjoy the practice yet it can be quite difficult. But even if the Dharma training proves very challenging, when you see, little by little, the real situation that you are in, no matter how hard it gets, you will put in the effort.

Therefore, reflect carefully, and question your true motives behind your commitment to the Dharma. First try to arrive at some understanding that your current way of perception and experience fall under the illusion of samsara. Use the Dharma as your reference. The Buddha told us that we are in an endless cycle of existence rooted in karma. Try to observe and deduce if karma, the law of cause and effect does play a role in your life or other people’s lives. Only you can judge for yourself. If you can see very clearly your conditions then you will want out. And the Dharma affords you the way out of confusion. This insight will come step by step. You will then understand why the authentic Tibetan practitioners spend so much time in meditation, why they have no attachments to worldly forms of entertainment, or material things.

begin with yourself

To really find sense and meaning in life, start with yourself! Unaware of how we function, we always think,“ Oh, things are like this now and that’s just the way they are. Everything is alright.”
This is called, “not knowing”. But to see very precisely and clearly is really not that easy. The problem is when we know the Dharma very well we may sometimes feel more disturbed. Here, “disturbed” means in the sense that the mind is actually more delicate. Because we see more clearly, we actually feel apprehensive about our situation. When you don’t know so much, more often than not, you feel that things are just normal.
“ It is like that!” you tell yourself.
For example, if you know the real condition of the food you eat, you will be concerned. Not knowing, you are ready to try everything, and you enjoy eating. The Dharma shows you your real conditions. You can no longer turn away and pretend you don’t know. You will feel concerned. The clearer you are, the more you realize the urgency to change. You will actually feel you must practise the Dharma. You can no longer continue in the same old ways.

a misconception: we are just the way we are by chance

The authentic practitioner understands how to use his present conditions to affect the future. He knows how he is subject to the endless cyclic process of samsara. This life is limited to this body with a given name. But the body is impermanent, while the mind is more permanent. In this respect, “permanent” means continuing on indefinitely. The mind will continue after this life. But we tend to think,“ Oh, I am like this right now, and I will have a next life where I will be a different human.”
We can only imagine in this very vague and limited way. But if you know more, you will understand that what you do today is the cause that will yield a tomorrow similar or corresponding to it, be it weeks, months, or years later. According to what you do now, a resultant condition will appear to you. Your present is the link to your future. This is the fundamental principle of karma, the root of samsara. If you can see how conditions are linked without exception, you will then appreciate how important it is to take care now.

The problem is a common misconception that most people have. We think things just happen to us, that we have no choice. An example, an ambassador of a country is sent to a foreign country on a diplomatic mission. The foreign country happens to be a very nice and comfortable place. However, after three years, he is asked to transfer to some place quite harsh like Bangladesh, or Africa. Like it or not, he has to go. Most of us feel that we are like the ambassador. Situations and conditions happen to fall on us. We have to play a certain role in life. We feel that we have been slotted into some sort of mission or job and we just have to go along. True, our mind has been transferred to this body now. After we die, we will transfer to another body, good or bad. If we are not careful now, we may end up in a life full of hardships. Then we would really feel trapped. We think we fall into bad circumstances quite haphazardly. This is a misconception. It is our own past that has brought us here to this point. The good news is that at this point, we also hold our own future. We are shaping our future now, and so we can make it a good one. If we understand karma, the chain of cause and effect, we will understand that by acting positively and planting good seeds now we can build ourselves a better future. To work hard in Dharma practice is not easy. It is quite difficult. But, it is really worth our while to do so.

avoid wishful thinking

Another misconception that we should be aware of is wishful thinking. In the face of difficulties, we often think,
“ I am like this right now. Things are a little difficult but better circumstances may be ahead so I’ll wait and see.”
As a result, we don’t change. We always think subconsciously, “ Even if I don’t act properly today, it doesn’t really matter.”
We give ourselves excuses so we don’t have to change our behaviour,“ I feel sick in my stomach today. I ate too many chocolates, but tomorrow I‘ll be well again so it doesn’t matter.”
We harbor such notions as we live every day. It is also the reason why we always do the same things over and over again. We commit the same negative actions, and entertain the same negative thoughts repeatedly. Because we cannot see clearly, we believe that the problems will go away naturally by themselves, or we believe that the consequences are insignificant. As a result, we don’t take care to avoid the harmful things. And we don’t change.

It is quite difficult to analyse how we are doing. Nevertheless, you can try. Take one day and analyse it. Ask yourself,“ How am I using this day? What am I thinking? What am I doing? How often am I positive during the day? How often am I negative?”
If you try to see, you will find that you are probably more negative than positive.

Actually, on our own, we don’t know what is negative. That’s why we try to learn from the Dharma what are the negative causes, and what are the positive ones. The Dharma instructions may tell us how to behave, what to do, and we try to follow the given criteria. But actually, if we really try to look, we will see that sometimes, we have our own feelings about things. During your analysis of a day, you will be more aware of what they are. You will see a little clearer than usual, and more open. Very naturally, you will see by yourself, it is not forced.

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