has two parts: reflecting upon the causal relationship of samsara and reflecting upon the causal relationship of liberation.
Reflecting upon the causal relationship of samsara
This also has two parts: reflecting on the result, which is suffering, and reflecting on the causes, which are the origins of suffering.
For this first part, you should ask, “If I succeed in escaping the three lower realms, will it be good enough to just be born in the higher realms?” Then analyze this, thinking, “There is no happiness there either, because if I am born again as a human, I will again be tormented by the eight types of suffering, of which the first is the suffering of taking birth. While in my mother’s womb, I will have to constantly undergo the three sufferings, because the womb is constricted, dark, and putrid.
“When my mother is full, I will feel like I am being crushed by a mountain. When she is hungry, I will feel like I am dangling over a precipice. When her food and drink are too hot or too cold, I will suffer from these extremes. When taking birth, I will feel like I am being squeezed through the eye of a needle. Even when wrapped in the softest cloth, I will feel as if I have been thrown into a nest of thorns. When somebody picks me up, I will feel as if a hawk is holding me with its talons. Thus, I will experience those types of suffering.”
In general, birth is accompanied by unbearable sensations; therefore, it involves suffering. These sensations are also the seeds giving rise to more negative emotions and negative connections. They are the source of further suffering, since they result in aging, becoming sick, dying, and so forth. They trigger other emotional states, when one meets with circumstances later on. In this way, birth is the basis for the accumulation of karma; thus, it is the source of negative emotions and the other seven types of suffering.
Second, since the body undergoes constant momentary change, it inevitably disintegrates. One has five types of suffering due to aging. First, one’s luster fades, the flesh loses its color, the skin becomes unattractive, and the hair turns gray. One’s shape deteriorates, one’s teeth fall out, the body slumps, the arms and legs become crooked, and the skin dries out. One’s strength also diminishes, making it hard to get up, sit down, or move about without help. Furthermore, the sense organs degenerate, as one’s eyesight blurs, one’s hearing fails, and so forth. Finally, one loses the ability to enjoy things, feeling hungry when lacking food yet unable to digest large quantities, and so forth. These five types of discomfort accompany aging.
Third, there are five types of suffering due to becoming sick. One experiences a painful sensation, a mental anguish. The muscle tissue degenerates, the skin dries up, and the constitution of the body weakens. One also loses the ability to enjoy pleasant things. In addition, one has to undergo painful medical treatment and so on. Finally, one experiences the fear and anxiety of being on the verge of losing one’s life. These five types of suffering accompany being sick.
Fourth, when the time of death arrives, one needs to part from everything one values, such as possessions, friends, family, attendants, and employees. Even this body is left behind. An intense feeling of mental uneasiness occurs at this time. These five types of suffering accompany death. Moreover, one will be completely preoccupied by trying to protect possessions, property, fame, good name, food, wealth, livestock, and the like. One toils constantly to first accumulate them, guard them, and then increase them. Day and night, one is busy with this. The slightest loss creates an intense, harmful anguish, which is also painful.
Fifth is the suffering of trying to achieve and find what one does not possess, such as wealth, food, property, and so forth. This requires constant laborious effort, even at the cost of being hungry and thirsty. Even at the cost of life and limb, one needs to exert oneself, sometimes going in want of food and clothing, which is also painful.
Sixth is the suffering of meeting with the unwanted. We never know when something or someone harmful is going to appear, whether it be an enemy, someone seeking revenge, bandits and thieves, carnivorous animals, and so forth. Also, if one is a subject of a local ruler or the servant of someone rich, one will have to do undesirable work for them, which is also painful.
Seventh is the suffering of being helplessly parted from loved ones, such as one’s father and mother, siblings, spouse, friends, followers, and so forth. One’s status, influence, and possessions disappear; money and articles get destroyed or vanish; cattle and horses die; or a plague occurs. When any of these happens to something one is attached to, there is also a deep-felt sorrow and suffering.
If one is born as an asura, a demigod, then from the very moment of having that bodily form, there is an intense sense of competitiveness and rivalry that spurs constant fighting and quarreling with others. Especially when contesting the devas, asuras always lose, get beaten, or get killed, since they have less merit. Since asuras are mostly negative-minded, they lack trust and interest in dharma practice.
If born as a deva, one gets accustomed to comfort and carried away by distraction, lacking the impetus to practice dharma. Even though one’s life span is so long, it feels like a fleeting moment before the omens of impending death occur and the light of one’s body starts to fade. One feels sad and doesn’t want to continue sitting, one’s flower garlands start to wilt, one’s garments become soiled, and one starts to sweat. Friends and companions start to flee. Seeing that the next life will be in the lower realms, one experiences unbearable, intense suffering for a very long time.
In short, no matter where one takes rebirth in samsara, whether high or low, there is not the slightest bit of real happiness.
As Guru Rinpoche said:
In samsara, which is like being on the tip of a needle, there is never any real pleasure.
Even when there is the slightest comfort, it always changes.
Every type of neutral sensation experienced by the five perpetuating aggregates is also the all-pervasive suffering of being conditioned. This first type of suffering permeates every samsaric state, without a single exception.
Suffering upon suffering, which is the second type of suffering, encompasses the three lower realms and the higher realms, with their disease and other kinds of evil influences and all their painful sensations.
The samadhi states belonging to the dhyana states in the rupa- and arupa-dhatus, the pleasure and joys of devas and human beings, and all pleasant sensations are the suffering of change, which is the third type of suffering. Therefore, one should develop the intention to attain liberation to be free from these three types of suffering.
Moreover, within samsara, one must wander with no certainty as to whether one is in a higher or lower state, whether there is pleasure or pain, and whether there are enemies or friends. There is no certainty about who one’s parent or child will be, where one will live, what type of body and enjoyments one will have, and so forth. The sense pleasures are never truly satisfying. Whatever suffering one experiences is always depressing, and yet one doesn’t get fed up. One has to shed the body time and time again, needing to be reborn time and time again. Every type of joy or sorrow, success or failure, whether high or low, all of these one must undergo all alone, without any friend or helper. One must undergo the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, death, and the bardo. Thus, seeing samsara as a pit of burning embers or as a death row sentence, where one is tormented by the six-fold suffering, engender this thought: “I absolutely must get free from all this.”
