Uneasiness, depression, and anxiety appear to be the common ailments of modern man. People are often easily provoked and become red-faced with agitation. Others become frustrated and storm off the moment they are admonished by their department head. Some, due to inexplicable mood swings or an offhand remark from another, will set in motion some fatal disaster. Often, spouses and family members become estranged over some harsh words exchanged. Actually, if we look carefully, we will realize that all around, people have become increasingly unstable and intolerant to stress. When you see old friends that you have been out of touch with, you find them full of discontent and ceaseless complaining and even cursing the world. The elegant and gentle manner of days gone by has all but completely disappeared. These people are actually deserve our sympathy because they have, to different extent, depressive inclinations. Everyone knows anxiety or depression is a psychological disorder, and it is uncertain when it might flare up. When the illness becomes more serious it can be devastating for everyone around. Statistics show a rising trend in the mortality rate of depression. This is the modern plague, the Black Death of our times and it can't be taken lightly.
The cause of mental exhaustion can be traced back to our attachments and desires. Not only ordinary people relate to this problem, many great spiritual masters and practitioners invest their lives and their time in transforming greed and attachments. The great Vajrayana master Longchenpa spent a great many years in retreat completely exposed to the scorching sun and torrential rains, not even taking shelter in a cave. He practiced in a place where he could not stand up straight and there was barely room for him to turn around. This kind of ascetic practice was done entirely for the purpose of transformation. His only possession was a burlap sack that he wore during the day and, at night, it turned into his bed, and then during meditation practice it was his cushion. The interesting thing about the place where he would practice was the variety of prickly trees and grasses that would prick him all over, making of him a mass of bleeding wounds. At one point he had thought about cutting these down but it occurred to him that, while he hadn’t yet attained enlightenment, did he really have the time to waste on such things? Then he immediately dispelled the thought and persisted in his practice with even greater determination, eventually leading to his enlightenment.
The buddha-nature of practitioners and ordinary people is identical. The only difference is that practitioners are able to face their problems. Observing their afflictions incites their determination in attaining buddhahood, and so this aspiration is not an inborn quality. It only requires that a person to be willing to face their afflictions, manage and let go of them in order to reconnect with their own self-nature. For people nowadays, enlightenment might be a far-fetched notion but they should at least be able to transform their afflictions and frustrations. Please bear in mind that, when afflictions have not yet arisen, worry and fear are useless; and when something bad has actually happened, worry and fear will in no way ease the sorrow. No one can stop the hands of the clock. But if we are willing, we can always buy new and different clocks, wind them up and start afresh - wouldn’t you say?
Some people have been asking about the recent incidents in the news. The unpredictable and sporadic nature of these events have disturbed them and those around them so much that they feel tension in their whole body and are unable to rest secure and safe. Take the gas explosion in Kaohsiung for example, in which a lot lives were senselessly lost and homes destroyed overnight. They expressed their concern that, if this were to happen to them one day, they would not know how to go on with life.
The atmosphere clearly holds a growing sense of misgiving, hollowness, confusion and uncertainty. Many feel dispirited when social incidents or recent events are brought up in a conversation, and a lot of them even mull over the idea of emigrating overseas or at least moving away from the place for a period of time. I personally think all these are meaningless. Those with even the most basic grasp of Buddhist concepts can understand on some level that all phenomena are the product of karma, which explains why certain events happen to certain people and places. Some places are engulfed in a distressing and maddening gloom, while other places are blessed with peace and tranquility. It also explains why some misfortune may befall a certain group of people while others just manage to avoid it with some last-minute situation that pulls them just out of harm’s way. Actually, to spell it out clearly, this is exactly what the Buddhist teachings elaborate through the concepts of impermanence and collective karma.
If one understands karma, one will clearly see that every circumstance can be traced to a cause. There is no such thing as an accident. As for the question of tolerating stress, it has to do with one's habits and adaptability. From as early as primordial times, humanity has struggled to survive an incalculable number of natural disasters. Sometimes an entire region is swallowed by floodwater coming from nowhere; at times tectonic plates lying quietly under mountain ridges suddenly clash with such swift and overwhelming power that countless lives are destroyed in an instant. Doesn't the legend of Atlantis also inform us the omnipresence of karma and impermanence?
People live their day to day lives in an habitual fashion. Subsequently, if they are accustomed to a comfortable life, they will be unable to bear or accept any sudden setback or injury. This is a unique quality of humankind. Practitioners, however, should be thankful towards everything bestowed upon them by nature and by external circumstances, for these things are our homework in a classroom that demands we learn to face and study these subjects. Rather than shaking our heads in exasperation and curling up on the sofa, it would be better to let go of the past and to welcome a fresh start. I often feel that as long as we keep a warm and positive mindset, never arbitrarily forsaking the right intention and the right mindfulness (two aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path) that one has worked so hard to establish, performing what needs to be performed in the given moment with calmness and wisdom and getting rid of our karma as we follow the path it has set for us, we can definitely embrace a brand new life at any time. As for people’s deep-seated and nagging fears, there is no need to be overly anxious because everyone has the absolute potential to face up to the challenges imposed by external circumstances. By force of habit, people turn away from these difficulties, thinking that they are unable to resolve them, and so they stagnate in their established ideas and cement their feet to the ground. In actuality, once the dark night has passed, isn’t the breaking of dawn sure to come again?
From Shang Longrik Gyatso Rinpoche
Li Bai of Tang Dynasty, is considered one of the most colorful and romantic poets in Chinese history. He had a legendary life decorated with the ups and downs of his political career, and had been exerting great influence on Chinese poetry for over a thousand years. In his youth, he dedicated himself to Chan (Zen) for a long period of time. One day while he was walking on the street, he came across an old woman sitting by the road, grinding an iron stick. Li Bai watched her for a while, and couldn’t help asking her why. The old lady replied, " I am chafing the iron stick to make needles for sewing." Li Bai was greatly inspired by this encounter which aided his understanding and practice of Chan and later contributed to his literary success.
In my youth, I spent seven years studying and practising the Pure Land School of Buddhism, and delved deep into all kinds of contemplation methods. During that period, I was a strict vegetarian for many years, meditated all night without lying down, and read all the sutras of the Pure Land School as well as writings of achieved practitioners. All these only led to a glimpse of the surface rather than arriving at the ultimate truth. After realizing that reciting the Buddha’s name and mantras is but skillful means taught by the Buddha in countering illusions with illusions, I was at once free from my attachment to the means. This realization greatly expedited the progress of my subsequent study of the Mahayana and Vajrayana Schools.
Nowadays, many people are sloppy, self-limiting, disorganised, and hesitant in conducting secular affairs and in their pursuit of the Dharma. Actually, the same principles apply in handling mundane matters and in practising the Buddha Dharma. Those with a thorough understanding of the Dharma are well on top of their worldly affairs; conversely, those whose life is plagued with obscurations must be somewhat unyielding and inflexible in character. Therefore, apart from having single-minded focus and dedication, it is crucial is to apply Buddha’s teachings in both secular and non-secular context without differentiating between the two. In so doing, we will truly understand all of Buddha’s hard work.
From Shang Longrik Gyatso Rinpoche
While Confucius was traveling throughout various countries, he frequently had time to contemplate in solitude. One day upon finishing their meal, he and several close disciples went strolling through the fields, deep in thought and sighing quietly. After stopping by a lake beneath a waterfall, Confucius stood still for a long time before, in his melancholy, he said to them, “Thus things haste away, never ceasing day and night.”
Many students come to tell me about their plans to travel to Europe, a holiday in Spain or a sightseeing tour of the cherry blossoms in Japan. I reply in a happy, congratulatory tone, because some people spend a hard year earning money so that they can reward themselves with a holiday. Some go for a drink at various nightclubs after work, crowding into dimly lit spaces filled with smoke and noise, in the hopes of setting themselves free from the day's toil. Still others round up their friends for a scooter ride to the Waishuang stream where they spend all night shrimp fishing, just to feel the sense of excitement when the shrimp takes the bait. I am often dumbfounded by the unbelievable leisure activities modern people undertake.
Upon seeing the ways by which modern people escape stress and soothe their troubles, a certain (Buddhist) verse instantaneously springs to mind, "With the passing of the day, a length of this life is thus reduced; Just as fish in scant water, what enjoyment is there?" Life advances relentlessly, much like a beam of sunlight passing through a crack in the wall. Just like the blazing clouds at sunset are snuffed out in the blink of an eye, so too does life pass away, swiftly and unmercifully. Those with even a smattering of wisdom would not let their days pass wasted. For them, every second counts. Similar to the inspiration Confucius drew from the river, the flow of one's life is unstoppable once begun, and it can never be turned back. If you fail to come to grasp every moment, you will have no choice but to fall prey to the pursuit of Death. Those who do understand how grasp the current moment should also know that in addition to doing so, most significantly, they should not allow their thoughts to be limited by time. Those who are not restrained by time and space truly know how to seize the day and comprehend the true essence of this precious human life.
From Shang Longrik Gyatso Rinpoche
People often ask me, “Rinpoche, what do I have to do to find my true self?” My answer, “Returning to your self is finding your true self.”
There are many aspects to “self” of which you are mostly unaware. However, when external circumstances effect changes on your mind or when you are focused on something you like or to which you are attached, you might be able to catch a glimpse of the silhouette of the “self.” In most cases, it involves your attachments. For example: it could be someone you like, something you are partial to, an environment that pleases you, etc.—in other words, whatever draws you in, agitates and disturbs your mind as a result. These attachments are the favourite haunts of the “self.”
The search for “self” is like stripping off layers of clothes in the winter—peeling off layer by layer until you see your naked self. On the other hand, every time our eyes, ears or nose sees, hears or smells something we like, it’s like adding another layer to our outfit. In reality, when our heart’s desires become progressively insatiable, our mind has already been lassoed and harnessed by the object created from that longing. In this state, the true self becomes increasingly distant and blurred. Eventually, it disappears completely and can never come back again. Using phenomena as mind training is the only way to help the mind return to its dwelling place. When the mind is completely unaffected in any state that arises but, instead, transforms it—this is being in the moment. In another word, the moment lies in the dwelling place of the original mind.
From Shang Longrik Gyatso Rinpoche
What constitutes a horse of the finest quality? According to ancient Chinese text, " An excellent horse leaps as soon as it sees the shadow of a whip". That means the finest horse will instantly gallop full-steam ahead upon seeing the shadow of the whip in his master's hands, there's no need to wait for the the whip to fall on him. However, the truth is the horse is still kept under restraints and his mind is uneasy, therefore the horse is not really a first-rate horse. When selecting the finest horse from a herd, the horse breeder or trainer prefers to choose the most unconstrained horses, those that follow their instincts and jump wildly to and fro. Consequently, the horse turns out to be brilliant and exceptional. The same applies to people - with a free and unaffected mind, one is able to be carefree and enjoy oneself in worldly affairs. Only from being apart from desires and attachments can one have the ability to be free and at ease. An adept is someone who is sentimentally non-attached and is therefore naturally unhindered. The worst of human suffering stems from our mind being bound by attachments and soiled with concerns. Hence, the key lies in seeing our mind in the world over, then letting go after realising that the mind is nowhere to be found, and finally relinquishing even the thought of letting go. This is to reach a truly boundless, unhindered and carefree state of being!
From Shang Longrik Gyatso Rinpoche
