The Complete Foundation by The Dalai Lama

Author:The Dalai Lama
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2018-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

19. THE DEFECTS OF CYCLIC EXISTENCE IN GENERAL

AS IN THE case of the earlier meditations, this meditation on the defects of cyclic existence should be preceded by the preliminaries.

As Lama Tsongkhapa said in his Lamrim Nyamgur:

If you do not contemplate the truth of suffering—the fallacy of samsara—

The wish to be free of samsara will not arise.

If you do not contemplate the source of suffering—the door to samsara—

You will never discover the means of cutting samsara’s root.

Base yourself on renunciation of cyclic existence; be tired of it.

Cherish knowledge of the chains that bind you to the wheel of cyclic existence.

Reflect upon the faults of true suffering and then the faults and destructive nature of true origins of suffering, and thus develop the wish to be free from the cycle of existence. And, as Lama Tsongkhapa explained in Lamtso Namsum (The Three Principal Aspects of the Path), you should overcome the attraction to this life and then rise above preoccupation with future lives. It is best to develop the wish to gain freedom from the cycle of existence by understanding the method of doing so, since a wish to be free from cyclic existence not based on a knowledge of method is not likely to be firm and stable. Such an understanding can be developed by recognizing sufferings as sufferings, identifying their origins, and seeking the path which will lead to their cessation. When you see the possibility and certainty of such cessation, by engaging in a path that leads to it, you should develop the strong wish to achieve liberation.

The training of the mind in the stages of the path common to the middling scope, as discussed earlier, is preceded by a loosening of the force of grasping at self-existence of the person. Eventually, by totally eliminating the self-grasping attitude within your mind, you will be able to achieve the permanent state of peace which is called liberation. Without liberation, even though you might attain temporary relief from the obvious sufferings of the lower realms of existence, thus enjoying worldly perfections, this attainment is only a temporary postponement of the sufferings of the lower realms; the moment you meet with the right or appropriate circumstances, you will again take rebirth in the lower realms of existence. The temporary relief from the lower realms afforded by taking rebirth in favorable states of existence is not only unstable but unreliable as well.

Furthermore, when you probe deeply you will find that no matter how high an existence a realm may be, even though it may be the highest state of existence, as long as it is in this cycle of existence the beings there are in the nature of sufferings, because they have the sufferings of pervasive conditioning and are therefore under the influence or command of contaminated actions and delusions. As long as one is not able to be free from such an influence, there is no place for permanent peace or happiness.

The obvious sufferings that are known as the sufferings of suffering

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