Cover Story

The Awakening Mind - Dalai Lama

The only entrance to the path of the Great Vehicle is generation of the awakening mind. Within the Great Vehicle there are only two vehicles, the sutra vehicle and the tantra vehicle. Whichever you wish to enter, the only entrance is with the awakening mind. When you possess the awakening mind you belong to the Great Vehicle, but as soon as you give it up you fall away from it. The moment you generate the awakening mind, even if you are bound in the sufferings of the cycle of existence, you will become an object of respect even for the Buddhas, who are themselves awakened. Just as a fragment of diamond is an excellent jewel that surpasses all other ornaments, the diamond like awakening mind even when it is weak outshines all the qualities possessed by those pursuing personal liberation. Nagarjuna says in his Precious Garland that if you wish to attain the unsurpassable state of supreme enlightenment, its source is the awakening mind. Therefore, generate an awakening mind as stable as the king of mountains.

Those who have not developed the awakening mind cannot enter into the secret practice of tantra. Access to tantric teachings is restricted to those who have received initiation and empowerment, and if you do not possess the awakening mind you cannot receive tantric initiation. This is a clear statement that entrance to the secret vehicle also depends on possessing the awakening mind.

The awakening mind is like a seed for the attainment of Buddhahood. It is like a field in which to cultivate all positive qualities. It is like the ground on which everything rests. It is like the god of wealth who removes all poverty. It is like a father protecting all bodhisattvas. It is like a wish-fulfilling jewel. It is like a miraculous vase fulfilling all your wishes. It is like a spear vanquishing the foe of disturbing emotions. It is like armor shielding you from improper thoughts. It is like a sword beheading the disturbing emotions. It is like an ax felling the tree of disturbing emotions. It is like a weapon staving off all kinds of attack. It is like a hook to draw you out of the waters of the cycle of existence. It is like the whirlwind that scatters all mental obstacles and their sources. It is like the concentrated teaching encompassing all the bodhisattvas’ prayers and activities. It is like a shrine before which everyone can make offerings.

Therefore, having found this precious life as a free and fortunate human being and come across the complete teachings of the Buddha, we should treasure the awakening mind. What makes the Tibetan Buddhist tradition so valuable is that it includes precious techniques for generating the awakening mind. The existence of this tradition of cultivating love and compassion and developing concern for the welfare of other sentient being is extremely fortunate. I myself feel extremely fortunate to be able to explain such teachings at times like these. Likewise, you are extremely fortunate to be able to read about such an invaluable attitude.

We should not think of the awakening mind merely as an object of admiration, something to pay respect to. It is something we should generate within ourselves. We have the ability and option to do so. You may have been a horribly selfish person in the earlier part of your life, but with determination you can transform your mind. You may become like the person described in a prayer, who "never expects to work for her own purpose, but always works for the benefit of others."

As human beings we have intelligence and courage. Provided we use them, we will be able to achieve what we set out to do. I personally have no experience of the awakening mind, but when I was in my 30s I used to reflect on the Four Noble Truths and compare the possibility of attaining liberation and developing the awakening mind. I used to think that attaining liberation for myself was possible. But when I thought about the awakening mind, it seemed quite far off. I used to think that even though it was a marvelous quality, it would be really difficult to achieve.

Time has passed and I have entered my 40s and then my 50s, and even though I still have not developed the awakening mind I feel quite close to it. Now I think that if I work hard enough I may be able to develop it. Hearing and thinking about the awakening mind make me feel happy and sad at the same time. Like everyone else, I too experience negative emotions like anger, jealousy, and competitiveness, but due to repeated familiarity I also feel that I am getting closer to the awakening mind. It is a unique quality of the mind that once you get familiar with a particular object, your mind gains stability in relation to it. Unlike physical progress, which is subject to natural restrictions, the qualities of the mind can be developed limitlessly. The mind is like a fire, which, if you continually feed it, will become hotter. There is nothing that does not get easier with familiarity.

The first step in actually developing the conventional awakening mind, which is concerned with the interests of others, is to appreciate the faults of self-centeredness and the advantages of cherishing others. A principal practice for developing this awakening mind is the practice of exchanging oneself with others. There are different explanations about how to engage in this practice. In all the explanations, one factor is common: It is necessary at the outset to regard sentient beings with affection. We should think of them as pleasing and attractive and try to cultivate a strong sense of affection for them. This requires generating a sense of equanimity that regulates our fluctuating emotions toward other sentient beings.

To do this it is very helpful to visualize three people in front of you: One who is your relative or friend, another who is an enemy, and someone toward whom you feel neutral. Observe your natural reaction to them. Usually, we are predisposed to feel close to our relatives, distant from our enemies, and indifferent to everyone else. When you think about your friend you feel close to her and immediately have a sense of concern for her welfare. When you think about your enemy you immediately feel uncomfortable and ill at ease. You might even be pleased if he were to run into difficulties. When you think about the person toward whom you feel neutral, you find you do not really care whether that person is miserable or happy. You feel indifferent. When you recognize such fluctuating emotions, ask yourself whether they are justified. If you imagine your friend doing you harm, you will find that your reaction to her will change.

Those whom we call our friends in this present life have not been our friends forever. Neither have those we presently think of as enemies been hostile forever. This person who is a friend or relative in this lifetime could have been our enemy in a past lifetime. Similarly, the person whom we regard as an enemy now could have been one of our parents in a previous life. Therefore, it is foolish only to be concerned about those we think of now as friends and to disregard those we think of as enemies. The aim here is to reduce attachment toward your relatives and friends while reducing anger and hatred toward your enemies. Reflect that there is no sentient being who has not been your friend. This is how you cultivate equanimity toward all other sentient beings.

It is also only in relation to other sentient beings that we can observe pure ethics, such as abstaining from killing, stealing, and sexual abuse. None of the ten virtuous actions can be undertaken except in relation to other sentient beings. Similarly, we can cultivate the practice of generosity, ethics, and patience only in relation to other sentient beings. Only in relation to them can we develop love, compassion, and the awakening mind. Compassion, for example, is a state of mind that comes about when we focus on the sufferings of other sentient beings and cultivate a strong wish that they be free from such sufferings. Therefore, without other sentient beings as the object, we would be unable to cultivate compassion.

All the realizations we achieve on the path are dependent upon other sentient beings. Although sentient beings themselves may not intend to help us achieve such realizations, that is not a reason not to value them. For example, we value and seek nirvana by pursuing the path, but neither the path nor nirvana have any intention of helping us. What is more, it is sometimes the case that beings with actively hostile intentions can help us to the highest realizations. Enemies are very important, because it is only in relation to them that we can develop patience. Only they give us the opportunity to test and practice our patience. Not your spiritual master, your friends, or your relatives give you such a great opportunity. The enemy’s antagonism would normally arouse your anger, but by changing your attitude you can transform it into an opportunity to test and practice patience. This is why the enemy is sometimes described as the greatest spiritual friend, because he affords us not only the opportunity to practice patience, but also to develop compassion.

Kindness is not confined to our friends and relatives; it is common to all sentient beings. Even when they have not been our mothers, all sentient beings have been kind directly or indirectly. The food, clothing, and shelter we enjoy in this life are possible only due to the kindness of sentient beings. We survive only due to the kindness of sentient beings. Our very birth was dependent upon the kindness of our parents. All the facilities we enjoy are due to the work of many sentient beings. They did not come about spontaneously as if we had discovered a hidden treasure.

Even the accomplishments of this life – fame, wealth, and friends – can be achieved only in dependence on other sentient beings. Fame depends on other people being aware of us; we cannot be famous in an empty, barren land. We need to appreciate that the kindness of sentient beings is not confined to when they have been our parents or friends; it extends to when they have been our enemies as well. This is something to be pondered deeply. It will serve as a great inspiration for cultivating compassion. When you recollect the special kindness of sentient beings in this way, your wish to repay them will be much stronger. You should ask yourself if it would be proper to neglect them now. The natural desire to repay their kindness gives rise to love, compassion, and the superior intention. This eventually results in the awakening mind.

After regarding other sentient beings with affection, we actually have to equate ourselves with others. This is the equanimity that sees all other sentient beings as equal to us because they desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering. The parts of our body – our head, hands, feet, and so forth – are distinct parts, yet we naturally regard them as parts of the whole and do not discriminate among them. Similarly, sentient beings are infinite and of many different varieties. Some help and some harm, but from the point of view that they wish for happiness and shun suffering, they are equal. That is how we cultivate equanimity. So, just as we have always tried by all means to establish our own well-being and happiness, now on the basis of this equanimity, we should try to benefit all sentient beings without partiality or feelings of closeness some and distance from others. This is something worth doing, as this verse explains so well:

As no one desires even the slightest suffering

Nor is ever content with the happiness he has,

There is no difference between myself and others:

Therefore, inspire me to rejoice when others are happy.

We encounter suffering and misfortune. We suffer the worse states of rebirth and the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death that afflict human beings. All these sufferings and misfortunes result from the undisciplined state of mind that is derived from self-centeredness. How is this? Because we are preoccupied with our own selfish welfare alone, we neglect the happiness of others and overlook their efforts on our behalf. Instead we kill, steal, and commit rape and adultery, we engage in rumor mongering, covetousness, malice and wrong view. The more self-centered we are, the more we ignore other people and the more susceptible we are to deceiving and bullying them. Even in the case of wrong view there is a great deal of selfish pride. We think of nothing but ourselves, and as soon as something does not conform to our preconceptions we reject it saying, "I don’t believe that." Self-centeredness is the basis for the ten unvirtuous actions. Consequently, all the faults of this and future lives are due to our self-centered attitude. Therefore the text says.

Banish the one who is to blame for everything.

We encounter countless sufferings we do not want and are unable to achieve success in what we desire. Without recognizing self-centeredness as the cause, we always pinpoint some external factor. Our taking birth in states of existence where we encounter unending suffering does not happen without causes and conditions. Unfavorable causes arise from actions and disturbing emotions. Actions arise mainly because of disturbing emotions. And among the disturbing emotions, it is the ignorance that clutches onto a misconception of self that is the source of all suffering. Therefore, all the harm, suffering, and fear in the world arise from the misconception of self. Of what use is this great ghost residing within me?

Those of us under the sway of disturbing emotions instinctively hold ourselves dear. We value the self-centeredness and misconception of self within us. We need to examine whether this natural feeling of looking after our own good is beneficial harmful. What we seek is happiness for ourselves, but as long as we are under the influence of self-centeredness, what we gain is suffering. The self-centered attitude and misconception of self, which function together like two great friends, actually operate against our own interests.

The misconception of self leads to a self-centered attitude residing peacefully at the very core of our being. Our consequent lack of consideration for others is like a sharp weapon of wrong views with which we cut off concern for good and bad deeds. In this way we kill off the possibility of attaining a better rebirth, liberation, or enlightenment. Wrong view arises because of our strong feeling of an intrinsically existent self. Because of that we ignore others, even to the point of ignoring the teaching of the Buddha and deriding the Buddha himself. This is due to our misconception of self. It is like having an evil butcher residing within us. This selfish thought holding a bag of desire, aversion, and ignorance is like a thief within who robs us of our crop of virtue.

The seeds of consciousness are planted in the fields of action. They are irrigated again and again with the waters of desire and craving by the farmer within us who cultivates the shoots of the states of rebirth. This, too, is because of our self-centered attitude. Although countless Buddhas and bodhisattvas have appeared in the past, we have been unable to develop a single one of their qualities. Because of the self-centeredness within us we remain naked, empty- handed, and slothful. Wherever we stay in the cycle of existence we are beset by suffering. Whoever we associate with is a friend of suffering. Whatever we enjoy is an object of anguish. Even though the Buddha has made this clear, still, filled with covetousness, we think only of accumulating wealth because of our self-centered attitude.

Not knowing whether something is good or bad, we entertain unnecessary expectations and doubts about it because of our self-centeredness. We go to war and risk losing our lives, thinking that somehow we will survive and live to fight another day, because of our self-centeredness. Faced with the slightest problem, we always blame our abbot or teacher, friend, or parents. Our sense of self-centeredness is shameless. We are jealous of our superiors, competitive toward our equals, and proud and disdainful toward those lower than ourselves. We feel happy when praised and upset when criticized. Like an unbridled horse, our disturbing emotions run out of control, all because of our self-centered attitude.

We are so self-centered that finding rat droppings on our pillow, we worry that a rat will nibble our ears. Hearing a clap of thunder, we worry that lightning will strike us on the head. In a haunted place our first worry is that we will be seized by the evil spirits who dwell there. Self-centeredness is the source of our fear. Some people suffer because they do not want to hear bad news, others suffer because they are unable to restrain their enemies or sustain their relatives. In all these cases selfishness is the source of all blame.

All our misfortunes arise because of our undisciplined mind. The mind is unruly due to our self-centered attitude. It is like aconite, the source of poison. It generates a host of emotions like hope and anxiety, and due to these we constantly face failure and calamity. Normally we point the finger at others, blaming them for whatever goes wrong. But the real root of problem, source of all trouble, the origin of all inauspiciousness and bad omens is the self-centered attitude that resides undisturbed at our heart. Throughout beginningless time we have loyally followed its leadership. So we should blame all our faults on it.

In order to transform our minds, we should follow the practical example of the great Kadampa masters. While chopping his brick-tea, one geshe would say to himself, "May I gain victory over the self-centered attitude," and imagine he was chopping it up too. Another would say, "I will stand guard at the doorway of my mind armed with the sharp spear of mindfulness. If self-centeredness attacks, I will attack. If he relaxes, I will relax, too."

Geshe Lang-ri Tang-pa would say, "Give profit and victory to sentient beings’. Why? Because all excellent qualities and happiness arise in dependence on them. ‘Take all loss and defeat upon yourself’ Why? Because all suffering and harm come from holding yourself dear."

It is important to recognize the faults of our self-centered attitude and regard it as the enemy. You may be surrounded by failure and in the depths of misery. But if you know that the source of the calamity lies in your misconception of self and self-centered attitude, you will be aware that your prime task is to destroy them. Then unfavorable external factors will cease to have a hold on you, and the unceasing stream of fear, hope, and anxiety will settle down. Freed from them, you can relax.

Unless you are able to do such a practice, even should you become a monk or a nun wearing out a yak load of robes or having the initiation vase placed on your head a thousand times or spending your entire life listening to the Dharma, you will not become a practitioner of the Great Vehicle. But if you can apply what has been taught, you will become a follower of the Great Vehicle. Your mind will become expansive. You will be able to elevate others, and you will develop great wisdom.

If the Buddhas of the three times, the past, present, and future, were to explain for eons about the disadvantages and faults of the self-centered attitude and the disturbing emotions it gives rise to, there would be no end to it. However, the brief explanation we have just discussed is sufficient to make you aware of the faults of the self-centered attitude. It should inspire you to remove it.

Our past experiences, stimulated by external events, and our various plans for the future, have a common basis in the mind. The nature of the mind is mere clarity and awareness. Past experience is now merely an object of memory. Our future plans are only speculation. Such past and future events are just creations of the mind. Therefore, all our experiences, whether positive or negative, harmful or beneficial, are created by the mind. The Indian master Chandrakirti says,

The various worlds of sentient beings and

Their environments are created by the mind.

All sentient beings are produced by action.

But in the absence of mind, actions too do not exist.

All our diverse experiences are manifestations of the mind. Depending on whether your mind is pacified or unruly, positive or negative, actions are committed. The internal environment, the individual’s physical body, and the place where it abides, the external environment, arise through the force of action. The quality of that action depends on whether your mind is disciplined or not. Therefore, the myriad levels of happiness and suffering and the very structure of the environment depend heavily on whether your mind is tamed or untamed. This is why advice about disciplining the mind is so important.

In general, religion can be practiced physically and verbally. But the essential practice is to transform the mind. It means restraining the undisciplined, unpacified, and unruly mind from running amok. It means gradually transforming the mind that does not know how to cultivate the causes of happiness or eliminate suffering, even though that is what we desire.

The mind cannot be transformed by force, using knives and guns. It may seem to be weak, having no color or shape, but it is actually tough and resilient. The only way to change it is by using the mind itself. For only the mind can distinguish between what is to be done and what is to be given up. This is how the darkness of ignorance can be dispelled. When the mind can see the temporary and ultimate benefits of engaging in virtue and the faults of unvirtuous misdeeds, we will be able to act accordingly.

When we Buddhists take refuge in the Three Jewels, we tend to take refuge in someone else, the Buddha, and his qualities. But the actual refuge is the Dharma of true cessation and the true path that are to be attained by ourselves in the future. In order to achieve these qualities ourselves, at present we take refuge in someone who has already achieved the realization of knowledge and elimination of negativity. We seek knowledge from Buddhas' experiences and ask them to guide us and shower upon us their blessings and protection. What is most important to understand is that your own future is in your own hands. As the Buddha has said, "I have shown you the path to nirvana, but nirvana is upto you"

In this context, blessing means improving our minds. When we ask someone to bless us, we are actually asking that person to help us improve our minds. Therefore, as religious practitioners the first and foremost thing we should remember is, "My practice is to discipline and transform my mind." Otherwise, we might think that Dharma practice means performing rituals or playing drums and cymbals or merely reading the scriptures. These things are peripheral to the main practice, which is to alter or change the mind.

There are historical accounts of Kadampa masters meditating on the stages of the spiritual path. They would start by reciting their prayers in tune. Then they would remain completely silent in deep meditation as if they had fallen asleep. Similarly, acquaintances of the late Khun-nu Lama told me that whenever they went to see him they would usually find him with his upper robe over his head, deep in contemplation. They would not find him reciting prayers aloud. And yet when anyone approached him he would immediately uncover his head and ask what that person had come for.

People like this are the real practitioners. Instead of reciting prayers or mantras aloud they watch their minds. When the trend is positive, they rejoice and try to promote it, and when the trend is negative they apply antidotes. This is how they spend their time, watching the mind and sustaining uninterrupted mindfulness. Of course, it is initially very difficult. Some practitioners of my acquaintance have told me that it is more difficult to watch the mind than remain in a Chinese prison. This is their own personal experience. Meditating one-pointedly, which means focusing all of one’s mental attention on one object, without analyzing it, is very difficult. However, it is difficult in proportion to your degree of familiarity with it.

If you sustain your practice for a long time, it is definite that the mind will gradually develop. I am sure there are some among you who have that experience.

Most of us are still on an ordinary level of development. But if you compare your present behavior to your past behavior when you were not influenced by practice of the Dharma, you should notice some difference. I am certain that if we make an effort we can all improve our minds. The text says,

Meditate on the kindness of all sentient beings.

Sentient beings are extremely kind to us. The great Indian master Chandrakirti praised compassion as important in the beginning, middle, and end of our practice. This compassion is generated by reflecting on the helplessness and suffering of sentient beings. Compassion is the wish that sentient beings be free from the suffering. If sentient beings did not exist, we would have no basis for generating it.

The faults of our self-centered attitude and the benefits of concern for others are explained in the Offering to the Spiritual Master:

This chronic disease of self-centeredness

Is the cause of unwanted suffering.

Perceiving this, may I be inspired to blame,

begrudge,

And destroy this monstrous demon of selfishness.

Caring for my mothers and seeking to secure them in bliss

Is the gateway to infinite virtue.

Seeing this, may I be inspired to hold them dearer than my life,

Even should they rise up as my enemies.

It is important to think again and again about the benefits of concern for others and the faults of self-centeredness. You can do so by reflecting on your own personal experience, by observing others, and by reading. Two people may read the same book, but because of differences in their attitudes they will each derive a different meaning from what they read. An ordinary person reading a story will tend to develop more attachment and hatred. A person with some experience of the awakening mind will be able to see the story in terms of the benefits of helping other people. And for someone who has actually achieved some mental transformation, whatever appears will become a teaching. For such a person even day-to-day experience will be a source of spiritual teachings. That is what is meant by being able to see an instruction in everything visible.

There are many ways of contemplating the faults of self-centeredness, the advantages of concern for others, and the actual mind of exchanging oneself for others. Again Offering to the Spiritual Master explains it succinctly:

In brief, the childish labor only for their own ends

While Buddhas work solely for others.

Understanding the distinctions between their respective faults and virtues,

May I be inspired to be able to exchange myself for others.

The difference between childish, immature beings who are intent only on pursuing their own interests and fully awakened Buddhas who work only for the sake of others is easy to see. Ordinary childish beings like us are completely and willingly dominated by the self-centered attitude. The Buddhas, perceiving the faults of selfishness, voluntarily concern themselves with the welfare of the others. Exchanging yourself for the others does not mean merely thinking of others as yourself and yourself as others. It means taking your attitude of regarding yourself as very precious and applying it to others, regarding them instead as very precious. Your previous attitude of neglect, which is how you used to regard others, should now be applied to yourself.

This does not mean that you should not think about yourself at all. But in the context of fulfilling the purpose of others, you should neglect your own interests. If you have to choose between your own interests and the welfare of others, their interests come first. In short, if you put yourself at the disposal of others, you will find happiness in this life and in future lives, and finally you will achieve the state of omniscience. If you use others for your own personal ends, you will acquire many enemies and people will speak badly of you. Your pride will swell. When pride develops, jealousy grows. You become competitive, disdainful of others, and insolent toward superiors. Therefore, if you think highly of yourself and disregard others, even in this life you will encounter an unceasing host of calamities. When you come to die, everyone who knows you will rejoice saying, "It’s good that this mean person is dead." Some people might even say that your death did not come soon enough.

On the other hand, if you make yourself available to others, regarding them as of primary importance and trying to help them by all possible means, everyone will regard you as a friend and hold you dear in their hearts. When we talk about others like this it does not necessarily mean all sentient beings, because we cannot actually relate to all sentient beings. What it does mean is that you should try as much as possible to help the sentient beings you live and associate with. If you then face difficulties, everyone will rush to help you. When you fall sick, people will come to look after you, even if they give you no more than a glass of water. Finally, on the day you die, everyone will feel the loss and say, "Alas, we lost a good friend, we’re going to miss her." This will be your experience in this life. And in future lives, because you have accumulated merit by concerning yourself with others, your happiness will only increase.

Therefore, there is no need to cite scriptural quotations and evoke logical reasoning to substantiate the benefits of concern for others and the faults of self-centeredness. It is evident from our daily experience. We have obtained a human intelligence, and, whoever we are, we understand the importance of doing what is beneficial in the long run. Although for a beginningless time we have thought only of happiness and the avoidance of suffering, our present plight is plain for all to see. Regardless of whether we enjoy high or low status, whether we are rich or poor, we are daily confronted with a host of difficulties and misfortunes. Whenever we greet someone we ask after each other’s health. The initial conversation will be pleasant and good, but if we have enough time to talk easily, inevitably complaints will creep in.

For time without measure we have selfishly cherished ourselves, but the way we have gone about it has been the stubborn way of the fool. Consequently, we achieved nothing we can now safely rely on. Now we have an opportunity to study these precious teachings and the potential to discriminate between what should be done and what should be dropped. We must recognize the self-centered attitude as our sworn enemy and not let ourselves be overpowered by it. We must wage war against it with all our strength. Recognizing concern for others as the source of all positive qualities, we must do whatever we can to cultivate it. So taking responsibility for the welfare of those you have previously neglected is called exchanging yourself for the others.

To increase fortitude, the practice of giving and taking is taught. By focusing on the practice of taking the sufferings of others onto yourself, you enhance compassion, and focusing on the practice of giving others your happiness, you foster a sense of love. This is how the practice of giving and taking is related to meditation on love and compassion. According to some instructions the practice of taking is done first and the practice of giving is done second. Some instructions present it the other way around. Whichever way you do it, the practice of taking with compassion and the practice of giving with love give rise to the special resolve to free all beings from suffering, and that leads to the awakening mind.

Part II will be published in the next issue.

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