Geshe la’s first teaching today began with a discussion of impermanence and concluded by showing how impermanence can be used to generate proper motivation. He mentioned the difference between “gross-level” suffering and “subtle-level” suffering. While it’s difficult for us to realize the subtlest forms of suffering, we can all begin by developing a clear conception of our lives as “momentarily disintegrating.” Nothing remains the same, moment to moment, second to second, although our conventional perceptions assure us that day by day things seem to remain relatively stable. We develop this sense of impermanence by gradually becoming more and more familiar with the clear certainty of death’s uncertainty, or as Geshe la said, coming to terms with the “uncertainty of death.” He then proceeded to ask the next and logical question: “Having understood these things, knowing that death is imminent and its arrival unpredictable, how do we prepare for it?”
The answer to that question begins by realizing how fortunate we are to be reborn as a human, where progress can be made comparatively quickly. A brief inventory of our potential assets, which Geshe la referred to as the Ten Endowments, shows why a human rebirth is valuable. As humans, we can agree on the following:
1. I am a human being
2. I have access to the teachings of the Buddha
3. I have all my organs
4. I have not killed my parents or bodhisattvas
5. I have the possibility to choose my life philosophy or religion freely
6. A Buddha has come in this era
7. He has taught the Dharma
8. The Dharma is still available in the world
9. People are still practising Dharma
10. Others generally have love in their hearts
The point is clear, and it speaks first of all to our motivation: once we understand deeply and thoroughly that death is coming, and once we join that understanding with the knowledge that our human rebirth has given us the most auspicious opportunity to overcome our suffering, we can certainly find ample motivation to live happy lives and develop our practice.
Geshe la reminded us of an old saying in Buddhist literature: “If you wish to know more about your past
lives, look to your present life; if you’re curious about your future rebirths, look as well to your present life.” Positive and negative karma follow us like a shadow, Geshe la said, and when we see this in light of impermanence, when we understand that from our grossest actions to our subtlest feelings, we are continually laying the groundwork for our future lives within a life that is momentarily disintegrating, then we can discover the motivation we need to live according to our best abilities.
In his second teaching today, Geshe la responded to the text for the day by commenting on the three kinds of compassion mentioned on p. forty-nine. His essential point was that just as we understand that there are three levels of suffering (suffering of suffering, . . . of change, and pervasive suffering), so too there are three kinds of compassion that address or arise in response to each of these kinds of suffering. The deeper and subtler our understanding of suffering becomes, the deeper becomes our compassion for that suffering, until finally we begin to understand that suffering is seen in its subtlest manifestation as the determining factor of samsaric life, and not ameliorated by wealth, power, status, or material possessions.
This prepares us to understand the equanimity meditations that follow soon—they are specifically designed, in a very practical way, to assist us in developing the three important points of Geshe la’s teaching today: an abiding knowledge of impermanence and suffering; the uncertainty of death; and the correct motivation for practice. All of these worthy goals are served and developed by the practice of equanimity meditation.
Sidney Burris
