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The Four Thoughts That Turn The Mind To
Buddhist Teachings
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, translated by Ari
Goldfield
Excerpted from the transcript of "A Commentary
On What It Means To Be Lucky" (Vancouver 1998)
Originally published in
Bodhi
Issue 3
2 of
4 | 1, 2, 3, 4
First verse of Lucky:
Rinpoche explains the meaning of this verse as follows. "E ma
ho!" These are words exclaiming something to be a miracle,
proclaiming it to be quite miraculous. They are the introduction to
this song, which begins: "Now you have got what's so hard to
get, the precious freedoms and advantages." There are eight
precious freedoms and ten precious advantages or resources. These
eighteen qualities are what make the human life so precious. The
human life that is endowed with these eight freedoms and ten
advantages is compared to a wish fulfilling jewel, that can give us
whatever it is we wish for. That's how precious it is. And yet
it is incredibly difficult to find, difficult to obtain. Now
we have it, and while we have it, we should know that this one life
alone means so little. So why be so obsessed with it? When we
compare what happens to us in this life with our potential to gain
liberation from the cycle of existence, with our potential to go
even further than that and reach the state of complete omniscience
that is Buddhahood, then the mundane affairs of this life seem quite
unimportant. The things that we are so concerned with and that
we get so wrapped up with in this life are quite unimportant when
compared with that potential which we possess, the potential to
reach Buddhahood. Therefore, it doesn't do us much good to be
wrapped up in it, to be obsessed with it. What we need to do
instead is to practice the genuine dharma. And in the practice
of the great vehicle, we want to do some good for ourselves and for
others also. This is the motivation of the Mahayana: to
benefit everyone, and reach a state which falls neither into the
extreme of existence nor into the extreme of some one-sided peace
for ourselves only. Therefore we aim to benefit all. In order
to do that, we listen to dharma. If we not only listen to it, not
only take in the teachings, but if we also reflect, using our
intelligence to analyze the meaning of what we have heard, and if we
then know how to apply it, this is what it means to be fortunate,
this is what it means to be lucky.
Second verse of Lucky :
This life is quite impermanent
It will definitely
disappear
You think everything will stay just as it is–
How
to come out from this confusion into the clear?
Cut the root
of samsara's confused appearances
By meditating on the meaning
of what you've heard
If you do this, you are so
fortunate--
This is what it means to be lucky.
This life is something that only exists because of the coming
together of a particular set of causes and conditions producing it.
Therefore it is not something that is permanent or fixed, but rather
it is impermanent and it will definitely disappear. It will
definitely disintegrate and be no more. It is of the nature of
impermanence. However, our tendency is not to view things in that
way, but rather to think that everything has a fixed nature and will
stay the same. In this we confuse ourselves. How can we reverse that
thinking? How can we stop clinging like that and end our
self-deception? The way to do that is to cut the root of samsara's
confused appearances. If we can do that, then we will attain
enlightenment. If we can cut through these confused appearances, the
appearances which we perceive in a delusive way, then we will attain
enlightenment. The way to do that is to apply to meditation the
wisdom gained from listening to the dharma and reflecting on it
intelligently. If we do that, we are so fortunate. To meditate like
this is what it means to be lucky.
Third verse of Lucky:
If you do good, you'll be happy
If you do bad, you'll suffer
pain.
Think well about how karma works
And you'll gain
certainty that it's an unfailing law.
If then you act in a
rightful way
Doing what you should do and giving up the rest
Then you are so fortunate–
This is what it means to be
lucky.
Karma means "action," and the teachings about karma are about
cause and result. So if we accumulate virtuous karma, meaning
if we perform virtuous actions that are helpful to others, then the
result that we will experience by the power of our virtuous actions
will be happiness. On the other hand, if we accumulate
negative karma by performing non-virtuous actions, which are harmful
to ourselves and others, then, by the power of those negative
actions, the result we experience will be suffering. This is
something that we need to think about very well. We need to think
about it excellently, you could say. We need to really understand
that this is how things work. We need to gain certainty in the fact
that karma works in this way: that by performing good actions we
will be happy, and by performing negative ones we will suffer.
We need to gain certainty in karma being this cause and result
process. If, as a result of gaining such certainty, we can act in an
appropriate way whereby we adopt the causes of happiness,
virtuous actions, and give up the causes of pain , non-virtuous
actions, then we are so fortunate. That is what it means to be
lucky.
There are many, many different ways of explaining
karma. How does karma work? How do action, cause and effect,
work? If we want to understand it in a really condensed way that
conveys its essence, all we need to know is that it depends on the
mind. So if we have a malicious mind, a mind that has a
harmful attitude towards others, a selfish attitude, then whatever
we do with that mind-set is negative action, and leads to
suffering. On the other hand, if in our minds we have an
attitude of loving-kindness and compassion, then whatever we do will
be virtuous action, will be positive. So in short, it all
comes down to our basic intention, the intention we bring to
any action, and by looking at that we can understand what type of
karma we are accumulating.
Fourth verse of Lucky:
The nature of samsara is the three sufferings
When you know
this in your heart, and it's not just something you say
And so
you can free yourself and others from samsara's ocean
You cut
off suffering right at the root
If you can do that, then you
are so fortunate–
This is what it means to be lucky.
Samsara means "to go around," "to spin." It's a cycle of
existence in which we spin, and what is spinning us around is
ignorance. What is causing us to be confused is ignorance, and
this propels us to spin continuously in the cycle of
existence. This cycle of existence is of the nature of the
three sufferings. There is nothing else there but these three
sufferings: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and
the all-pervasive suffering of the aggregates. So the first step is
to know that samsara is of this nature. Not that we just say
it is like that, "Oh, samsara is of the nature of the three
sufferings, and samsara is just suffering." We should not merely say
that, but really know it deep in our hearts. When we know from deep
in our hearts that samsara is of the nature of three sufferings,
when we have that conviction, then we develop the motivation to free
ourselves and everyone else from this ocean of suffering. In order
to do that, we cut the suffering right at the root. The way we
do that is, first, by knowing the cause of this suffering, which is
ignorance. If we know the cause of the suffering, we develop the
potential to cut it off. If we can do that, then we are so
fortunate. That is what it means to be lucky.
Fifth verse of Lucky
:
In the first four stanzas, we have had verses on the precious
freedoms and advantages that make human lives so precious, on
impermanence, on action, cause and effect, and on the disadvantages
of living in samsara. These comprise what are called the Four
Thoughts That Turn the Mind. The first one, which is to
contemplate the preciousness of human life, is really the basis or
the support for contemplating impermanence, contemplating the fact
that all composite phenomena, all phenomena that are created by
causes and conditions, are impermanent and will cease to
exist. By meditating on this fact very well, by thinking about
it, by meditating on it, we cut off our attachment to this
life. Then by thinking again and again, not just one time, but
thinking again and again how it is that the nature of samsara is
only suffering, we realize that samsara really has nothing to offer
us. There is absolutely nothing in samsara with any pith, with any
essence, with any worth, with any value. It's all completely
worthless. Whatever our quest in samsara might be, it's worthless,
once we know that samsara is of the nature of suffering. So
when we realize samsara is of the nature of suffering we gain the
determination to strive for the liberation of nirvana. There
are three different types of liberation. There is the liberation of
the sravakas, the hearers, the liberation of the pratyekabuddhas,
the solitary sages, and the realization of the Buddhas, the
enlightenment or nirvana of the Buddhas. Whichever type of
liberation we strive for as a result of our contemplating the Four
Thoughts, we are fortunate, and this is what it means to be lucky.
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Selflessness And Compassion
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