Читать книгу Treasury of Dharma - Géshé Rabten - Страница 16

When someone is seriously ill he goes to the hospital for medical treatment. He does so because he realizes that he is sick and wants to be cured. We must develop a similar state of mind with regard to our present situation. We are suffering. And as long as we are controlled by delusions we will continue to suffer. Our aspiration to practise Dharma must come from a recognition of this suffering, from the resolve to free ourselves from it and from the understanding that the way to do so is through the practice of Dharma. The cause of unhappiness is within us and so, therefore, is the way to overcome it. This being so, it seems only logical that we should take advantage of our situation and work hard at it. The Dharma is for everyone, young and old, men and women. There are no restrictions on who can practise. If someone is ill, and has an effective remedy at hand he would be foolish not to use it. Or if a person wants iron and has mountains of iron ore he should certainly make an effort to refine the ore and extract the iron. Just as a person can smelt iron ore and obtain iron and then from that iron make countless different objects, so too with our mind we can extract the essence of life and practise Dharma to eliminate our suffering. It is very important that you should remember what I have said and think about this, comparing it with your own experience. Don’t be discouraged by any difficulties you encounter. Rather be happy that you can make this effort and experience these problems for such a meaningful and wholesome purpose, the practice of Dharma.

As long as we continue revolving in this cycle of existence there is no possibility of true and lasting happiness. Since this is so, it is very important to think deeply about our suffering and the nature of our predicament. When we realize that we are suffering we must decide whether or not we wish to continue doing so. If we reflect, we will see that no one likes to suffer. Even animals try to avoid unpleasant situations. Having decided that we do not wish to continue in this painful state we must set about finding a means of freeing ourselves. It is not enough merely to complain about our suffering, we must do something about ending it.

The first thing we must do is find the source of the trouble. Without first determining its cause there will be no way of stopping our unhappiness. If we travel from country to country, or even leave for another planet, we would not be able to escape sorrow. I need not explain this in great detail; it is obvious that we do not leave our troubles behind us by merely moving somewhere else. Hence we must find the cause of our suffering and then we must eliminate that cause. By doing so its result will automatically be extinguished as well. If our house has a hole in its roof, but rather than patching the hole we simply move to another room in the house, we don’t solve anything. As our overriding task is to rid ourselves of suffering we must find a way of doing so, and whether we call this method Dharma or not is of no consequence. What does matter is that we should apply it.

Suffering is the result of a main cause and of contributing circumstances. All conditioned phenomena are affected by these two factors. Even a flower growing in the garden outside is subject to these factors. Its main or principal cause is the seed from which it germinates, while its circumstances or conditions are such things as sunshine, fertilizer, the gardener’s care, and so on. All of these aid in its growth. In the same way, both happiness and sorrow must have a main cause and contributing circumstances, just as a beautiful flower and a poisonous weed must both have a seed and the proper conditions conducive to their growth. If we wish to have a garden free of ugly weeds we must get rid of the seeds that cause the weeds to grow. And if we want to be happy we must put an end to the causes for unhappiness.

The elimination of the cause of suffering and the growth and development of happiness depend entirely on our own effort. Through the combination of the power of the Dharma and our own effort in practice all goals can be achieved. But without this personal effort, although the Dharma may be very effective, it cannot uproot the cause of suffering. It is similar to a very sophisticated machine which, although it may be highly efficient and able to perform countless tasks, must still have someone at the controls. Without an operator, even with all its versatility, a machine will not be able to produce anything. It is through the combination of man and machine that production is possible. Such examples may make it easier to understand this point.

All the suffering and happiness we experience has a cause. The cause of happiness is wholesome actions and the cause of suffering is unwholesome actions. Because in the past we have engaged in negative activities we have built up the causes for our present and future suffering. If the causes were not present there would be no possible way in which an effect could arise. These same conditions apply to happiness as well. If we engage in positive actions, since they are the cause of happiness, we will subsequently experience their fruit. There is no other possible way in which experiences can come into being. They are solely dependent on their specific causes; our suffering and our happiness come about as a result of our own actions.

Some of you may wonder why, although you have not committed any extremely bad actions, you have suffered a great deal. It may be true that we have not done negative actions in this life, but we have in all likelihood done so in previous lives, and therefore the suffering that we go through now is a result of such actions. When we begin to speak of past and future lives, it may present difficulties for a person who does not understand this concept. But I will be explaining more about this as we go along. The fact that we have been born as human beings is dependent upon good actions that we have performed in previous lives. The concept may be subtle but it is based on the same principle that determines that a tulip bulb will grow into a tulip while an iris bulb will grow into an iris. The principal cause of our rebirth as a human being was our own wholesome actions. One of the circumstantial causes was our parents. The principal cause of the tulip was its bulb; the circumstances, sunlight, soil and water. The main point here is that particular causes give rise to particular effects.

The teaching is now becoming more complex and some of you may be finding it harder to understand. But as the subjects grow more complicated we must make a greater effort and think more deeply about them.