October 1989

From a teaching by Geshe Doga, resident teacher of Tara Institute, Australia, 1989

On checking our current situation we will see that we have everything needed to sustain life: food, clothing, shelter and so forth. Because of this our suffering seems quite insignificant unless we are involved in acute physical illness or some specific mental distress. Yet underlying these favorable circumstances we always sense something is wrong. Why we are always so restless and dissatisfied is obviously because our phys­ical well-being and material resources cannot solve our underlying mental unease. They would have if they could have! We can only resolve a mental problem via internal mental remedies. However we won’t bother to do this unless we acknowledge that it is indeed an internal cause that is causing our mental unrest. What has been created by the mind must be solved by the mind. Teachings that bring about internal solutions to unhappiness are there­fore mental medicine.

We all pursue our goals driven by a blind faith in thoughts and notions that are highly deceptive in that they deliver us over and again into experiences of dissa­tisfaction. Yet remarkably we trust these thoughts so totally that we never stop to check their consequences. We don’t even notice how intention of the thought and what the thought actually delivers in terms of experience end up being vastly different. Initial promise and reality fail to coincide. To start working with our situation, we must start observing how our thought processes actively determine our life experiences. That certain thoughts lead to happiness and certain other thoughts lead to unhappiness clearly shows the interrelation of thoughts to self. But have we actually ever fully acknowledged this?

The challenge is to actively initiate mental counter-forces of thought to deal with those thoughts causing our restlessness and suffering.

We must inquire what is behind our thoughts – what kind of object is being held and maintained by the thought and how it is acting as a pathway of impulse towards another action. Such investigation will carry us deeply into the mechanics and nature of thought itself. We will discover their distorting power. We will recog­nize how the objects held by distorted thoughts have no basis in reality; they simply lack a solid ground.

In investigating such thought processes we generate inner wisdom. That we have been relying so heavily on misconceptions reveals how we are underestimating our wisdom power which is the foundation of personal pos­sibility, the great potential for positive qualities residing within. So the extent to which we experience ignorance and confusion precisely measures the degree to which our wisdom is being suppressed by the dominant force of misconceptions.

Just take a look around. We all know many people who are extremely depressed. They feel completely forlorn and hopeless and there is so much fear in their minds. The actual cause of such a condition is none other than the overpowering force of ignorance. It is the tangle of misconceptions that is completely blocking their aware­ness of their own worthwhile qualities. A viable sense of human dignity is continuously forfeited if our funda­mental potentiality remains unrecognized. It is in this way that people reach a stage where they contemplate taking their own lives.

We all can locate experiences within ourselves similar to this. If only we can begin to identify our positive mental qualities, we will see our innate goodness. This in turn enables us to generate and enhance more and more, productive states of mind. By relying on our inner wis­dom more and more the whole beneficial process escal­ates until we experience the full manifestation of our human scope and worth. From this point on we can control the causes of disturbance that seriously threaten our well-being.

In reality it is only our failure to practice Dharma that is perpetuating our problems. More particularly, it is our inability to maintain thoughts of loving-kindness, for it is this thought that produces happiness in both ourselves and others. Without loving-kindness we produce nega­tive, destructive thoughts which result in much unhapp­iness. All kinds of misconceptions, distorted emotions, mental problems, and finally pain arise in our minds and we then perform actions that upset the minds of others.

The loving-kindness thought should therefore be regarded as our foundation practice. If it is absent, we invariably must fail to practice correctly. Without it, even a good intellectual grasp of the essentials of Dharma will yield no tangible benefits nor signs of accomplishment. Dharma itself will remain distanced from our mind. There is no possibility of integration.

Considered from this point of view the cultivation of the precious mind of bodhichitta is crucial. In being directed completely towards the welfare of others, it naturally promotes positive and loving thoughts. The benefits of Dharma then flow continuously and there are no hitches in our development.

Although the main goal of bodhichitta is to benefit others, it leads to the perfection of oneself. Without generating bodhichitta, one cannot actualize the fully enlightened state of buddhahood, which is the furthest reach of our potential. And without becoming fully enlightened we cannot serve the great aim of ultimately assisting each and every sentient being.

Bodhichitta is therefore the most essential mind as it is the mental foundation of a great being who is always serving others whilst at the same time serving as the cause that will result in the achievement of one’s own future state of enlightenment. Recognizing this we should realize more clearly the importance of love and compassion for they are the essential causes leading to the generation of this most precious mind of bodhichitta. In this way they are integral in fulfilling the wishes of others.

Please investigate the importance of developing love and compassion and try as hard as you can to stabilize and maintain them. It is also very worthwhile making prayers for their growth in our minds. Even if we don’t have fully-fledged love and compassion, pray: “How wonderful it would be if I could have these qualities.” Such prayers are very beneficial as they leave a definite mental impression that will certainly give rise to bodhichitta in the future.