The Mirror of Dharma. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

wisdom eyes are. For most of our countless previous lives we have remained at the bottom of the ocean of samsara, in the three lower realms – the animal, hungry ghost and hell realms – surfacing only once in every one hundred thousand years or so as a human being. Even when we briefly reach the upper realm of samsara’s ocean as a human being, it is extremely rare to meet the golden yoke of Buddhadharma: the ocean of samsara is extremely vast, the golden yoke of Buddhadharma does not remain in one place but moves from place to place, and our wisdom eyes are always blind. For these reasons, Buddha says that in the future, even if we obtain a human rebirth, it will be extremely rare to meet Buddhadharma again; meeting Kadam Dharma is even rarer than this. We can see that the great majority of human beings in the world, even though they have briefly reached the upper realm of samsara as human beings, have not met Buddhadharma. This is because their wisdom eyes have not opened.

      What does ‘meeting Buddhadharma’ mean? It means entering into Buddhism by sincerely seeking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and thus having the opportunity to enter and make progress on the path to enlightenment. If we do not meet Buddhadharma we have no opportunity to do this, and therefore we have no opportunity to accomplish the pure and everlasting happiness of enlightenment, the real meaning of human life.

      THE OBJECT OF THIS MEDITATION

      The object of this meditation, or the object on which we focus single-pointedly, is our determination to practise Dharma purely and sincerely. We should learn to develop this determination through contemplating the above explanation of the purpose of this meditation. When, through this contemplation, a firm determination to practise Dharma purely and sincerely develops in our heart, we have found the object of this meditation.

      THE ACTUAL MEDITATION

      We should think:

      At present I have briefly reached the human world and have the opportunity to attain permanent liberation from suffering and the supreme happiness of enlightenment through putting Dharma into practice. If I waste this precious opportunity in meaningless activities there is no greater loss and no greater foolishness.

      Thinking in this way we make the strong determination to practise Dharma, Buddha’s teachings, of the stages of the path to enlightenment sincerely and purely, while we have the opportunity. We hold this determination in our heart without forgetting it and remain on it single-pointedly for as long as possible. Through continually training in this meditation we will develop a spontaneous wish to practise Dharma, the stages of the path, purely and sincerely. This wish is the realization of this meditation.

      During the meditation break we should put our determination into practice.

MEDITATION ON DEATH

      THE PURPOSE OF THIS MEDITATION

      The purpose of this meditation is to prevent the laziness of attachment, the main obstacle to Dharma practice. Because our desire for worldly enjoyment is so strong, we have little or no interest in Dharma practice. From a spiritual point of view, this lack of interest in Dharma practice is a type of laziness called ‘laziness of attachment’. For as long as we have this laziness, the door to liberation will be closed to us, and consequently we will continue to experience misery and suffering in this life and in countless future lives. The way to overcome this laziness, the main obstacle to our Dharma practice, is to meditate on death.

      We need to contemplate and meditate on our death again and again until we gain a deep realization of death. Although on an intellectual level we all know that eventually we are going to die, our awareness of death remains superficial. Since our intellectual knowledge of death does not touch our hearts, each and every day we continue to think ‘I will not die today, I will not die today.’ Even on the day of our death, we are still thinking about what we will do tomorrow or next week. This mind that thinks every day ‘I will not die today’ is deceptive – it leads us in the wrong direction and causes our human life to become empty. On the other hand, through meditating on death we will gradually replace the deceptive thought ‘I will not die today’ with the non-deceptive thought ‘I may die today.’ The mind that spontaneously thinks each and every day ‘I may die today’ is the realization of death. It is this realization that directly eliminates our laziness of attachment and opens the door to the spiritual path.

      In general, we may die today or we may not die today – we do not know. However, if we think each day ‘I may not die today’, this thought will deceive us because it comes from our ignorance; whereas if instead we think each day ‘I may die today’, this thought will not deceive us because it comes from our wisdom. This beneficial thought will prevent our laziness of attachment, and will encourage us to prepare for the welfare of our countless future lives or to put great effort into entering the path to liberation and enlightenment. In this way, we will make our present human life meaningful. Until now we have wasted our countless former lives without any meaning; we have brought nothing with us from our former lives except delusions and suffering.

      Our death is the permanent separation of our body and mind. We may experience many temporary separations of our body and mind, but these are not our death. For example, when those who have completed their training in the practice known as ‘transference of consciousness’ engage in meditation, their mind separates from their body. Their body remains where they are meditating, and their mind goes to a Pure Land and then returns to their body. At night, during dreams, our body remains in bed but our mind goes to various places of the dream world and then returns to our body. These separations of our body and mind are not our death because they are only temporary.

      At death our mind separates from our body permanently. Our body remains at the place of this life but our mind goes to various places of our future lives, like a bird leaving one nest and flying to another. This clearly shows the existence of our countless future lives, and that the nature and function of our body and mind are very different. Our body is a visual form that possesses colour and shape, but, as explained in Part One, our mind is a formless continuum that always lacks colour and shape. The nature of our mind is empty like space, and its function is to perceive or understand objects. Through this we can understand that our brain is not our mind. The brain is simply a part of our body that, for example, can be photographed, whereas our mind cannot.

      We may not be happy to hear about our death, but contemplating and meditating on death is very important for the effectiveness of our Dharma practice. This is because it prevents the main obstacle to our Dharma practice – the laziness of attachment to the things of this life – and it encourages us to practise Dharma purely right now. If we do this we will accomplish the real meaning of human life before our death.

      THE OBJECT OF THIS MEDITATION

      The object of this meditation is our thought ‘I may die today, I may die today.’ We should learn to develop this thought through contemplating the above explanation of the purpose of this meditation. When, through this contemplation, the thought ‘I may die today, I may die today’ develops in our heart, we have found the object of this meditation.

      THE ACTUAL MEDITATION

      We contemplate and think:

      I will definitely die. There is no way to prevent my body from finally decaying. Day by day, moment by moment, my life is slipping away. I have no idea when I will die; the time of death is completely uncertain. Many young people die before their parents, some die the moment they are born – there is no certainty in this world. Furthermore, there are so many causes of untimely death. The lives of many strong and healthy people are destroyed by accidents. There is no guarantee that I will not die today.

      Having repeatedly contemplated these points, we mentally repeat over and over again, ‘I may die today, I may die today’, and concentrate on this belief. We transform our mind into this belief ‘I may die today’ and remain on it single-pointedly for as long as possible. Through continually training in this meditation we will develop each and every day the spontaneous belief ‘I may die today’. This belief is the realization of this meditation.

      During the meditation break we think, ‘Since I will soon have to depart from this world, there is no sense in my becoming attached to the things of this life. Instead, from now on I will devote my whole life to practising Dharma