Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal

76. “You may ask: If there is no sentient being, whose is the goal? We grant that desire [for liberation, etc.] is indeed delusive. Still, in order to eradicate suffering, effective delusion, whose result [is understanding of the ultimate] is not prevented.”–Shantideva

Objection: If sentient beings do not exist, who is it that attains the fruition of the spiritual path–full awakening? And while on the path, for whom does one cultivate compassion?

Response: Sentient beings do exist. It is for them that compassion is felt, and compassion is cultivated by existent people. Whatever is designated by delusion is to be acknowledged. Due to cultivating compassion while on the spiritual path, the fruition of full awakening is attained. Who attains awakening? That, too, is to be established conventionally, without [ultimate] examination or analysis. In order to pacify the suffering of oneself and others, impure appearances that arise due to ignorance are not to be rejected.

–from Transcendent Wisdom by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated, edited and annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications

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When we focus our attention on the passage of breath, we break the usually continuous flow of thoughts of attachment, hostility and so forth, whatever they might be. This causes such thoughts to subside for the moment. Thus, by occupying the mind with our breath, we cleanse it of all positive and negative conceptual thoughts and thus remain in a neutral state of mind unspecified as either constructive or destructive. This is the meaning of the line in the root text, “Thoroughly clean out your state of awareness.” This unspecified or neutral state of mind, cleaned out of all positive and negative conceptual thoughts, is the most conducive one to work with. Because an unspecified state of mind like this is unburdened and supple, it is relatively easy to generate it into a constructive state.

–from The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra by H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, published by Snow Lion Publications

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Taking the reins is the key to happiness

The state of mind of a Buddhist practitioner should be stable, and should not be subject to too many conflicting events. Such a person will feel both joy and pain, but neither will be too weak or too intense. Stability is developed through discipline. The heart and mind become more full of energy, more resolute, and therefore less susceptible to being blown about by outside events.

Deep within the human being abides the wisdom that can support him or her in the face of negative situations. In this way, events no longer throw him because he is holding the reins. Similarly, when something good happens it is also possible to rein it in. Taking the reins is the key to happiness. In Tibet we have a saying: “If you are beside yourself with joy, tears are not far behind.” This shows how relative what we call joy and pain are.

–from The Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Inner Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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On some occasions, people faint. Even when your breath temporarily stops, during that moment, there is a reduced level of consciousness. Consciousness is most reduced late in the course of dying. Even after all physical functions cease, we believe that the “I,” or “self,” still exists. Similarly, just at the beginning of life, there must be a subtle form of consciousness to account for the emergence of consciousness in the individual.

We must explore further the point at which consciousness enters into a physical location. At conception, the moment when and the site where consciousness interacts with the fertilized egg is something to be discovered, although there are some reference to this in the texts…. The Buddhist scriptures do deal with it, but I am interested to see what science has to say about this. During this period we believe that without the subtle consciousness, there would be a life beginning without consciousness. If that were the case then no one could ever recollect experiences from their past life. It is also in terms of Buddhist beliefs relating to this topic that Buddhism expounds its theory of cosmology: how the universe began and how it later degenerates.

Based on this metaphysical reasoning and other arguments, and based on the testimony of individuals who are able to recollect their experiences in past lives very vividly, Buddhists make this claim. I am a practitioner, so based on my own limited experiences, and the experiences of my friends, I cannot say with one hundred percent certainty that there is a subtle consciousness.

Scientists don’t posit consciousness in the same sense that Buddhists do. At the moment of conception, however, there has to be something that prevents the sperm and egg from simply rotting, and causes it to grow into a human body. When does that occur? Why does that occur?

–from Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism edited by Zara Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications

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What is meant by going for refuge is that you are seeking refuge from some fear. All the objects [Buddha, lama, guru, etc.] in front of you are what is known as the causal refuge, because they serve as the cause for bringing about the resultant refuge within you. You should entrust yourself to these objects from the depth of your heart, and you should see the objects as protectors. The resultant state of your own future realizations, becoming an arya being and attaining buddhahood–which depends on your own actualization of the path–is called the resultant refuge. Someone in difficulty seeking the assistance of a high official is analogous to someone seeking refuge in the causal refuge.

But depending upon others’ protection forever is not a courageous way of life; therefore, one has to try to achieve a state where one is no longer dependent upon such a refuge, and this is likened to taking refuge in the resultant buddha, dharma, and sangha. That is the process of taking refuge by a person of high faculty and courage. This practice should be done not for the sake of oneself alone but rather for the sake of all other sentient beings. When you cultivate such an aspiration focused toward the achievement of the omniscient state, it is very much like the generation of the bodhichitta mind.

–from The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the Practice of Guru Yoga by the Dalai Lama, translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications

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