Tibetan buddhism

Emptiness

 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises: "Bring your attention away from hallucination to the realities of life, the nature of which is impermanence and death. This frees your mind from delusion and karma so that you can bring an end to the entire round of suffering, the cycle of death and rebirth, and also eradicate even the subtle errors of mind, thereby attaining enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Reflect on the above … for a moment. Now bring your attention to the reality of the ultimate nature of the I, action, object and all other phenomena - emptiness. All causative phenomena - our life, our body, our mind, our self, our possessions, our relatives and friends, all other people - are changing, not only day by day, minute by minute and second by second, but every tiny moment. They do not last for a fraction of a second. Because they are under the control of causes and conditions, they are in a state of constant decay and can cease at any time. This is the nature of our life. If we can remain aware of this, we will prevent our mind from coming under the control of the delusions. This is the disturbing emotional mind that hurt other sentient beings, preventing us from transforming our mind and gaining realizations of the path to enlightenment. These delusions stop us from seeing the ultimate nature of reality. Therefore, First we must stop delusions from manifesting, and then, by actualizing the remedial path, we eradicate the imprints they have left on our mental continuum. By destroying the seeds of delusion, we attain nirvana, ultimate liberation from the six realms of suffering and its cause. This is the benefit of being mindful of impermanence. When we free ourselves of disturbing thoughts, we immediately experience peace and satisfaction. We free ourselves from samsara, and eventually attain enlightenment and then bring enlightenment to all sentient beings. Meditate on emptiness. This is the actual nature of all phenomena. Think how your I, actions, objects, and in fact all phenomena—everything that is called "such and such" and "this and that" are just names. Names have to come from the mind; they don’t exist from their own side. Names are labels applied by the mind. However, it is not just that phenomena are labeled by the mind - they are merely labeled by the mind. In other words, all phenomena - I, action, object, everything - are merely labeled by the mind, in relation to their base. Think about this.

 

How Things Exists