Thoughts that we might finish this life’s tasks,
Within just a single month or year,
Only then to practise Dharma well
Are like harmful spirits that deceive us.

“If you are attached to this life, you are not a true spiritual practitioner;

If you are attached to saṃsāra, you have no renunciation;

If you are attached to your own self-interest, you have no bodhicitta;

If there is grasping, you do not have the View.”

Why would we choose to live in a dark, dingy and cluttered basement when a vast space of unlimited beauty, creativity and peace was also available to us? Without even realizing it, this is what most of us do all the time, when we limit ourselves unnecessarily by not seeing the true nature of who we are or the true nature of reality.

Given at the request of Jangchub Ö

When Venerable Atisha came to Tibet, he first went to Ngari, where he remained for two years giving many teachings to the disciples of Jang Chub Ö. After two years had passed, he decided to return to India, and Jang Chub Ö requested him to give one last teaching before he left. Atisha replied that he had already given them all the advice they needed, but Jang Chub Ö persisted in his request and so Atisha accepted and gave the following advice.

It is clear that, from the moment of our birth until our death, all beings are driven by, motivated strongly by, a search for what we perceive to be happiness. Every single thing that we think, say or do is designed to achieve happiness, whether we are consciously aware of this or not. The great irony is that most beings are unclear on what happiness actually is, and we spend endless time and effort searching for it where it cannot be found. Perhaps in the most ironic twist of all, we rarely see that looking for our own happiness actually keeps us from finding it.

The mind is the universal basis of all experience; it is the creator of happiness and the creator of suffering. The mind shapes and leads every single thing we do, as well as all that we perceive around us. In turn, the body and speech follow its commands. So, if we learn to recognize the true nature of our mind, and train our minds with mindfulness practice, we are on the way to revolutionizing our lives in the most positive whichever way as possible. With an understanding of what the “mind” really is, and the development of mastery over the mind, body and speech naturally follow suit, and our own and others’ suffering will come to an end.

The search for a spiritual path is often born out of, or at least accelerated by, what we perceive to be as suffering. And, to be even more precise, the search for spiritual meaning truly stems from understanding and embracing suffering, rather than aversion to it. The avoidance of, the resistance to, the suffering is actually worse than the suffering itself. Most people do not realize this. It is the corollary to the premise that it is not pleasure itself that presents obstacles to happiness, it is the clinging to, the craving of, such pleasure, that leads to our difficulties.