WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

Mind training is essential to everyone, including me. Like all of you, I still have afflictions and continue to wander in samsara. Since we have obtained precious human birth in this lifetime, we should cherish the opportunity to practice; if we forgo this chance, I fear that we are giving up on an opportunity that comes just once in many kalpas.

Of course, I cannot say we will not get another opportunity. But just when this opportunity will arrive is difficult to say — perhaps one lifetime, perhaps one hundred lifetimes, possibly even one or ten thousand lifetimes, which is a very distant matter. Not only that, can we be clear-headed enough by then to seize the opportunity? We may, as in this lifetime, idle away our time in ignorance, waste our precious birth, and once again miss a great chance. That would be the same as having no opportunity at all.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

By way of meditation, let the mind rest first, since all realizations and positive feelings are attained when the mind is in a state of equanimity. We cannot experience realization of any depth if we are preoccupied with thoughts. Although renunciation and bodhicitta can be maintained and cultivated by contemplation, realization of emptiness can only be experienced when the mind is calm.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"

The Buddha once said that among his teachings on various topics, many do not reveal the complete meaning because they are directed at educating people of certain mental dispositions. However, there is one teaching which is definitive and invariable, a core concept repeated time and time again by the buddhas not only of the present but also the past and future– that of emptiness. Emptiness is ultimate truth. It is the essence of Buddhist doctrine, the underlying substance of the teachings of Buddha Sakyamuni as well as the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three times.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"

Before the practice, we must first have the corresponding view. Without right understanding, how do we practice? If we are not even clear about the direction, there is no point in talking about the practice. A lot of people will say “we want practice, not listening and contemplation.” Although practice is imperative in the end, so too are listening and contemplation up front. We can practice only after we have given sufficient time to listening and contemplation, that is, after these activities have reached a certain level.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

Even if our eyes can see, our ears can hear, there is nothing special about that since neither the eye nor the ear can apprehend the true nature of reality. Sound waves also change moment to moment. For instance, when we hear the two words “yan jing (eyes)” pronounced, we do not hear the arising and ceasing that take place within the sound, however hard we may try. We hear a continuous sound “yan_ _ _ jing_ _ _ ” but, in fact, what we hear is not one continuous sound, just instants of sound connected together.

Consider another example. If we light up a candle and make a circle in the dark with the candle, we will see a bright circle of fire. Actually, there is no circle to speak of. A circle does not exist at all. Because our eyes cannot capture each instant and step as the candle moves, we mistake all of these instants for one motion that is concurrent, continuous, and indivisible.

Similarly, when the two words “sheng yin (sound)” are pronounced, they too can be separated into many instants, each one thousandth of a second or one ten-thousandth of a second. These two words are not one continuous sound, but instants of sound that are pronounced in sequence. However, our ears are not able to make the distinction.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"

Why is emptiness the essence of Buddhadharma? Because all buddhas and bodhisattvas have but one goal in mind, that is, to help sentient beings attain liberation. How can this be achieved? We cannot resolve the question of birth, aging, illness, and death, or obtain liberation by way of clairvoyant powers, etc. There is only one root cause of cyclic existence and only one method that can eliminate it. The root cause of cyclic existence is ignorance. All afflictions such as greed, anger, and delusion stem from ignorance or from self- attachment which arises from ignorance.

How do we overcome ignorance? Only wisdom can cut through ignorance, since wisdom and ignorance directly oppose or contradict one another. There is no such contradiction between ignorance and other methods like generosity, moral conduct, patience, and meditative absorption.

The wisdom herein refers not to worldly knowledge; it is the unsurpassed wisdom propagated by Buddha Sakyamuni, the realization of emptiness of self in person and in phenomena. The essence of the teachings of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three times is none other than the wisdom that realizes emptiness.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"

What is nirvana? Liberation is nirvana. From the standpoint of Mahayana Buddhism, the three bodies of an enlightened being – dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya – and the five wisdoms are called nirvana.

What does true peace mean? After liberation, there is genuine freedom from the three types of suffering mentioned before; the seeds of the three types of suffering and their designations also cease to be. This pure and everlasting happiness is true peace. It is not the happiness ordinary people refer to; rather, happiness is just freedom from suffering that arises from contaminated actions. Because it is pure, it is deemed “true peace.”

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "Nirvana Is True Peace"

Also, a lot of people know that cosmic radiation, an electromagnetic radiation brought on by energy particles in the sky, is something very subtle which the eye cannot perceive. It penetrates our body all the time, including our heart and brain, yet we do not feel it at all. Although we do not feel it, it nonetheless exists. Hence, our sense of touch, that is, our tactile consciousness also cannot be relied on.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"

Nonetheless, the sutras also say we should all listen to the teachings on emptiness whether we have faith in it or not. Why is that? Even if a person rejects the teachings and declines into hell, it is but one rebirth in hell. Having listened to the teachings on emptiness, the person has planted the seeds of emptiness which will ripen in the not too distant future. Hence, after leaving the hell realm, the person’s journey in samsara will come to an end at some point just on account of this seed of virtue. Without hearing the teachings, there can be no end to the cycle of rebirth, no opportunity for liberation. Hence, Bodhisattva Manjusri believed this type of person should also listen to the teachings on emptiness.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"