be like a young man imprisoned together with his aged parents who makes his own escape but leaves his parents behind. We would not admire such a person. We definitely need to make an effort to liberate ourself from the mental prison of our deluded minds, but our ultimate aim must be to help everyone else do the same.
Thus our final goal is the attainment of full enlightenment, or Buddhahood. The Sanskrit term “Buddha” means “Awakened One,” and refers to anyone who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and is free from the dream of mistaken appearance. Because ordinary beings like us have not yet awakened from the sleep of ignorance, we continue to live in a dream-like world of mistaken appearances and do not see the true nature of things. This is the fundamental reason why we experience suffering and are of limited benefit to others. Through completely removing all traces of the darkness of ignorance from their minds, Buddhas attained omniscient wisdom and the limitless ability to help all living beings.
Their boundless and all-encompassing compassion gives Buddhas the energy to work without interruption for the sake of others. They understand the real causes of happiness and suffering, and they know exactly how to help living beings in accordance with their individual needs and inclinations. Buddhas have the power to bless the minds of all living beings, causing them to experience inner peace and they also have the ability to emanate innumerable forms for the benefit of others. Of all the ways in which Buddhas help living beings, the most effective is to teach them how to control their minds and follow the spiritual path to liberation and enlightenment.
The founder of Buddhism in this world was Buddha Shakyamuni. After attaining enlightenment, Buddha gave eighty-four thousand teachings, all of which are advice on how to subdue and overcome delusions by cultivating virtuous states of mind. Buddha’s teachings, as well as the inner realizations achieved through putting these teachings into practice, are known as “Dharma.”
In the text on which this book is based, Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa has condensed the very essence of Buddhadharma into eight short verses. Through contemplating the meaning of these verses we will see that they contain a step-by-step path to complete inner peace and happiness. If we sincerely put these teachings into practice we will gradually subdue our destructive and self-centered habits of mind and replace them with the positive minds of unconditional love and compassion. In particular, by practicing the instructions given in the chapter on training in ultimate bodhichitta, we will be able to overcome the fundamental delusion of self-grasping ignorance, together with its imprints, and thereby experience the bliss of full enlightenment. Through putting the instructions given in this book into practice, we will develop and maintain a peaceful mind all the time so that we will be happy all the time. This is the real meaning of seeking happiness from a different source.
Although Eight Verses was written over nine hundred years ago, it is as relevant today as it was then. Whether Buddhist or not, anyone with a genuine wish to overcome their daily problems and achieve permanent inner peace and happiness can benefit from Langri Tangpa’s advice. As mentioned above, happiness is a part of the mind that experiences peace of mind. It does not exist outside of ourself. Similarly, our problems and suffering are part of the mind that experiences unpleasant feelings. They do not exist outside ourself. If our car is broken, this is an outer problem, and we need to solve this problem by applying external methods. But our problems are internal problems, and we need to solve these problems by developing and maintaining a peaceful mind. It is only when living beings experience a peaceful mind that they are happy. Generally, by themselves alone they have no power to develop a peaceful mind. It is only through receiving Buddha’s blessings upon their mind that they will develop and maintain a peaceful mind. This is why Buddha is the source of the happiness of all living beings.
REBIRTH AND KARMA
Our sleeping is like death, our dreaming is like the intermediate state and our waking up is like rebirth. The cycle of these three shows us the existence of future rebirth. Since some background knowledge of rebirth and karma is useful for understanding the main practices explained in this book, there now follows a brief introduction to these topics.
The mind is neither physical, nor a by-product of physical processes, but a formless continuum that is a separate entity from the body. When the body disintegrates at death, the mind does not cease. Although our superficial conscious mind ceases, it does so by dissolving into a deeper level of consciousness, called “the very subtle mind.” The continuum of our very subtle mind has no beginning and no end, and it is this mind which, when completely purified, transforms into the omniscient mind of a Buddha.
Every action we perform leaves an imprint, or potential, on our very subtle mind, and each karmic potential eventually gives rise to its own effect. Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Positive or virtuous actions sow the seeds of future happiness, and negative or non-virtuous actions sow the seeds of future suffering. This definite relationship between actions and their effects—virtue causing happiness and non-virtue causing suffering—is known as the “law of karma.” An understanding of the law of karma is the basis of Buddhist morality.
After we die our very subtle mind leaves our body and enters the intermediate state, or “bardo” in Tibetan. In this subtle dream-like state we experience many different visions that arise from the karmic potentials that were activated at the time of our death. These visions may be pleasant or terrifying depending on the karma that ripens. Once these karmic seeds have fully ripened they impel us to take rebirth without choice.
It is important to understand that as ordinary samsaric beings we do not choose our rebirth but are reborn solely in accordance with our karma. If good karma ripens we are reborn in a fortunate state, as either a human or a god, but if negative karma ripens we are reborn in a lower state, as an animal, a hungry spirit or a hell being. It is as if we were blown to our future lives by the winds of our karma, sometimes ending up in higher rebirths, sometimes in lower rebirths.
This uninterrupted cycle of death and rebirth without choice is called “cyclic existence,” or “samsara” in Sanskrit. Samsara is like a Ferris wheel, sometimes taking us up into the three fortunate realms, sometimes down into the three lower realms. The driving force of the wheel of samsara is our contaminated actions motivated by delusions, and the hub of the wheel is self-grasping ignorance. For as long as we remain on this wheel we will experience an unceasing cycle of suffering and dissatisfaction, and we will have no opportunity to experience pure, lasting happiness. By practicing the Buddhist path to liberation and enlightenment, however, we can destroy self-grasping, thereby liberating ourself from the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth and attaining a state of perfect peace and freedom. We will then be in a position to help others to do the same. A more detailed explanation of rebirth and karma can be found in the books Introduction to Buddhism and Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Maitreya
Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa
The author of Eight Verses of Training the Mind is the Kadampa Buddhist Master, or Geshe, Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa. Reading about his life and good qualities will help us to develop faith in him and to appreciate the authenticity of Eight Verses, and this will strengthen our determination to put these instructions into practice.
Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa was born in central Tibet in the eleventh century AD. His actual name was Dorje Senge, but he became known as Langri Tangpa after Lang Tang, the area in which he lived. He was a disciple of Geshe Potowa, who was one of the principal disciples of the Buddhist Master Atisha, the founder of Kadampa Buddhism in Tibet.
Geshe Potowa was renowned throughout Tibet as a great scholar who showed an immaculate example to other practitioners, emphasizing the practice of bodhichitta, the altruistic mind of enlightenment. He wrote many profound scriptures of Kadampa Buddhism, in particular a text called The
