Excerpts from the Teachings of His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trizin

HIS HOLINESS THE 41ST SAKYA TRIZIN
A FEW SHORT EXCERPTS FROM HIS HOLINESS’ TEACHINGS

Our life is mind

“How do we come to understand that our life is mind? There are many examples of how to realise this. One important example is that of the dream. In our dreams, we have many experiences and, while we’re dreaming, it feels as real as this life. We can see colours, shapes, everything, and it can influence our mind. If it is a happy dream, we enjoy it, and our mind is happy. There’s no difference between our dreams and the life that we are living. It is we who experience the dreams, and it is we who experience this life. There is no difference between the dream and the present life. The only difference is that our normal life is influenced by very strong propensities while our dreams are not so strongly affected by them, but it’s actually all the same.”

Benefiting other sentient beings

“From beginningless time up until this moment, we have cared solely for ourselves and worked solely for our own benefit. Every exertion we performed was for our own benefit alone. But by acting in this way, all we have actually accomplished is more and more suffering. So, this time, instead of caring for ourselves, we must care for others.

“As Shantideva said, ‘All the sufferings that beings experience in this universe arise from caring for oneself, and all the happiness that beings experience in this world arise from caring for others.’  If we had already practised caring for others in our previous lives, we would not still be in samsara — we would have already attained liberation and enlightenment. The cause of our not having cared for others is the natural tendency to care for ourselves. This is a very gross mistake. The way to correct it is to ignore oneself and to totally devote one’s energy and efforts to benefiting other sentient beings.”

“Not performing any virtuous practice, or performing the virtuous practice incorrectly, is considered the wrong way.”

The cultivation of compassion

“On whichever path you follow — the Mahayana path, and especially the Vajrayana path, which includes visualisations, recitations, and foundation practices — all practices are of course very, very important. But the most important practice of all is the cultivation of compassion. Without compassion, no matter what you do, it will not be the direct cause of enlightenment. For a practice to be a direct cause of enlightenment, you must have enlightenment mind. And to have proper enlightenment mind, you need compassion. Without compassion you can’t have the other qualities.”

What are the causes of suffering and happiness?

“The Ratnavali of Nagarjuna says, ‘Every action arising from desire, aversion and ignorance produces suffering; every action arising from the absence of desire, aversion and ignorance produces happiness.’

“Now, there are three kinds of people: lower persons, middling persons, and higher persons. Like all other beings, the lowest person wants happiness and wants neither suffering nor rebirth in the lower realms of existence, so he practises Buddhism to create the causes of rebirth in the human realm or in the heavenly realms of the gods. He does not have the power or the courage to leave worldly existence completely. He only wants the best parts of worldly existence, and he wants to avoid the worst ones, and that is why he practises the Buddhist religion: in order to get a higher rebirth.

“The middling sort of person understands that the whole of worldly existence, no matter where one is born, is suffering by nature, just as fire is hot by nature. He wants to get out of it altogether and attain Nirvana, the state that is entirely away from suffering.

“The highest person realises that, just as he himself or her herself does not want to suffer, and wants happiness, so also do all living beings have the same fears and wishes. He knows that, since we have been born again and again from beginning less time into worldly existence, there is not a single sentient being who has not been our mother and father at one time or another. Since we are that close to all sentient beings, the best person is the one who practises Buddhism to remove all these countless beings from suffering.”

The most essential thing to do to attain Buddhahood 

“It is said that Avalokiteshavara was once asked by a disciple, ‘What practice is the most essential to accomplish Buddhahood?’ Avalokiteshavara answered that the most important thing, the most essential thing to do to attain Buddhahood, is to practiSe compassion. This is because when you practiSe compassion, all other qualities, such as loving-kindness and the enlightenment mind, are naturally accomplished and naturally gather.”

His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trizin

All images and quotes of His Holiness’ teachings are not from our own source, they have been shared through His Holiness’ website as well as reliable Instagram pages.