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.ConclusionNow we have reached the end of this short, dream-like course.At thebeginning I said that whether or not these five days become beneficialwas up to you.To ensure that they did, you therefore dedicated them todiscovering the true nature of your own mind for the benefit of living.109taking suffering and giving happinessbeings throughout the extent of space.But whether or not you benefitfrom this course probably depends more upon what you do with whatyou ve learned from now on.During our brief time together you ve learned how to do both ana-lytical and placement meditation and it would be wonderful if youcould continue to practice these when you get home.Of course, as theold Tibetan saying goes,  Meditation without study is like armless rock-climbing. In other words, you have to have something to meditate onwhen you do analytical meditation.For this purpose, we strongly rec-ommend the study and practice of the lam-rim teachings explanationsof the steps of the path to enlightenment.You have also learned some other meditation techniques: the vase-breathing meditation, with attention to the feelings throughout yourbody; dealing with distractions; listening to your inner sound whilechanting the mantra of Lord Buddha; recalling your life s experiences,going back all the way to when you were in your mother s womb; theequilibrium meditation; and exchange of self and others with the tak-ing and giving meditation of tong-len.You also know how to take the eight Mahayana precepts.It would befantastic if you could do this regularly throughout your life.It is a pow-erful method of dealing with attachment.In my talks, the main thing I have tried to do is to give you an expe-rience of how the two departments of ego and attachment are thesource of every problem and suffering you and everybody else has everhad.These two minds are your worst enemy and if you are ever to findtrue freedom and joy, you must get rid of them forever.Therefore dedicate your life to developing the wisdom understand-110.ego, attachment, and liberationing the nature of your own mind and working for the happiness of oth-ers.Try your best to avoid harming others and generate a warm feelingfor all sentient beings.Thank you so much for coming to this course.I myself have had awonderful experience.Thank you; thank you so much..Appendix.The Mahayana Equilibrium MeditationThis meditation was practiced at the Dromana course.Meditate in the first per-son and pause for contemplation between paragraphs.Think: It is never enough to gain only self-liberation.Attachment to per-sonal peace and striving solely for this is both selfish and cruel.Visualize that you are surrounded by all sentient beings, with your mother seatedto your left and your father to your right.In front of you, visualize an enemy; some-one who dislikes you or wishes you harm.Behind you, place your dearest friend;the person to whom you are most attached.To the side, visualize a stranger; some-one for whom your feelings are neutral.Think: There is no reason at all for me to be attached to and help myfriend or to hate and harm my enemy.If I were to strive for only my own self-peace, there would be no reasonfor me to have been born human.Even as an animal, I could strive forthis.The various animals have the same aim as many highly educatedpeople self-happiness and also create many negative actions, suchas fighting with and destroying enemies, cheating others with politicalmind and so forth, all in the pursuit of their own happiness.There isalmost no difference between them except their shape.The main purpose of my having been born human is to strive for andachieve higher aims to bring every sentient being to everlasting hap-piness.This is something no animal can ever do.112.ego, attachment, and liberationJust as I wish to avoid suffering and find happiness, so, too, do all othersentient beings.Therefore, I and all other sentient beings are equal, andthere is no logical reason for me to care more about myself than othersor to harm enemies or any other sentient being.For countless rebirths I have been discriminating other beings as friend,enemy or stranger with the self-I consciousness.Chandrakirti said, Where there is self-I consciousness, there is discrimination of other.From discriminated partisanship between self and other, attachmentand hatred arise.All misfortune arises from acting under the influence of these nega-tive minds.The self-I consciousness causes attachment to self, which producesattachment to my own happiness.The entire range of negative minds arises from the above.Anger is caused by greed and attachment and makes me discriminateagainst whoever disturbs my happiness, producing the enemy.Attachment creates the friend, who helps, and determines the enemy,who hinders.Ignorance labels those who neither help nor hinder as strangers.Anger makes me hate and harm the enemy; attachment makes me clingto and help the friend; and ignorance makes me see the stranger as hav-ing a permanent self-nature.By acting under the influence of these neg-ative minds, I lead myself into difficult and suffering situations.Attachment creates danger and suffering for myself and others.Thewhole Earth is in danger of exploding.Attachment offers no peace andbrings only suffering.Since beginningless time, the two negative actions of helping out ofattachment and harming out of anger have thrown me into samsaric [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]