The illustrations in this book depict the eight auspicious
symbols, a peacock, the mirror of Dharma, the sun shining
through clouds, and hands in prayer.
The symbolism of the eight auspicious symbols reveals
how to begin, make progress on and complete the Buddhist
path to enlightenment. Just as peacocks are said to thrive
on plants that are poisonous to other birds, sincere spiritual
practitioners can make good use of whatever circumstances
arise in their daily life. Through the mirror of Buddha’s
teachings, Dharma, we can see our own faults and have
the opportunity to overcome them. Like the sun dispelling
clouds, we can develop the wisdom that can remove all
delusions from our mind; and the hands in prayer holding a
wishfulfilling jewel symbolize that by following the spiritual
path we will eventually experience the completely pure
mind of enlightenment.
PART ONE:
Foundation
Come under the great umbrella of Buddhism
Introduction
Through practising the instructions presented in this book
we can transform our life from a state of misery into one
of pure and everlasting happiness. These instructions
are scientific methods to improve our human nature.
Everybody needs to be good-natured with a good heart,
because in this way we can solve our own problems as
well as those of others, and we can make our human life
meaningful. Every living being has the same basic wish
– to be happy and avoid suffering. Even newborn babies,
animals and insects have this wish. It has been our main
wish since beginningless time and it is with us all the time,
even during our sleep. We spend our whole life working
hard to fulfil this wish.
Since this world evolved, human beings have spent
almost all their time and energy improving external
conditions in their search for happiness and a solution to
their problems. What has been the result? Instead of their
wishes being fulfilled, human suffering and problems have
continued to increase while the experience of happiness and
peace is decreasing. This clearly shows that until now we
have not found a correct method for reducing our problems
and increasing happiness. The actual correct method
for doing this is changing our attitude from negative
to positive. We must understand this through our own
experience. If we check carefully how we are experiencing
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE
problems and unhappiness, we can understand that they
are all created by our uncontrolled desire, wishing ourself
to be happy all the time. By stopping this wish and instead
wishing for others to be happy all the time, we will not
have any problems or unhappiness at all. If we sincerely
practise every day stopping wishing for ourself to be happy
all the time and instead wishing for others to be happy all
the time, then we will understand from our own experience
that through this practice, which prevents attachment to the
fulfilment of our own wishes, we will have no experience
of problems or unhappiness at all. Thus, if we really want
pure and everlasting happiness and freedom from misery,
we must learn to control our mind, principally our desire.
With wisdom we can understand how our human life is
precious, rare and meaningful. Due to the limitations of their
body and mind, those who have taken rebirth as animals,
for example, have no opportunity to understand or practise
spiritual teachings that are methods to control delusions such
as uncontrolled desire, anger and ignorance. Only humans
are free from such hindrances and have all the necessary conditions
for engaging in spiritual paths, which alone lead to
pure and everlasting happiness. This freedom and possession
of necessary conditions are the special characteristics
that make our human life so precious.
Although there are many humans in this world, each
one of us has only one life. One person may own many cars
and houses, but even the richest person in the world cannot
possess more than one life; and, when that is drawing to an
end, he or she cannot buy, borrow or manufacture another.
When we lose this life, it will be very difficult to find another
similarly qualified human life in the future. A human life is
therefore very rare.
INTRODUCTION
If we use our human life to accomplish spiritual
realizations, it becomes immensely meaningful. By using
it in this way, we actualize our full potential and progress
from the state of an ordinary, ignorant being to that of a fully
enlightened being, the highest of all beings; and when we
have done this we will have the power to benefit all living
beings without exception. Thus, by using our human life for
gaining spiritual realizations we can solve all our human
problems and fulfil all our own and others’ wishes. What
could be more meaningful than this?
Maintain harmony and joy all the time
Inner Peace
Inner peace, or mental peace, is the source of all our happiness.
Although all living beings have the same basic wish to
be happy all the time, very few people understand the real
causes of happiness. We usually believe that external conditions
such as food, friends, cars and money are the real
causes of happiness, and as a result we devote nearly all our
time and energy to acquiring them. Superficially it seems
that these things can make us happy, but if we look more
deeply we will see that they also bring us a lot of suffering
and problems.
Happiness and suffering are opposites, so if something is
a real cause of happiness it cannot give rise to suffering. If
food, money and so forth really are causes of happiness, they
can never be causes of suffering; yet we know from our own
experience that they often do cause suffering. For example,
one of our main interests is food, but the food we eat is also
the principal cause of most of our ill health and sickness.
In the process of producing the things we feel will make us
happy, we have polluted our environment to such an extent
that the very air we breathe and the water we drink now
threaten our health and well-being. We love the freedom and
independence a car can give us, but the cost in accidents and
environmental destruction is enormous. We feel that money
is essential for us to enjoy life, but the pursuit of money also
causes immense problems and anxiety. Even our family and
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE
friends, whose company we enjoy, can also bring us a lot of
worry and heartache.
In recent years our knowledge of modern technology has
increased considerably, and as a result we have witnessed
remarkable material progress, but there has not been a
corresponding increase in human happiness. There is no
less suffering in the world today, and there are no fewer
problems. Indeed, it might be said that there are now more
problems and greater dangers than ever before. This shows
that the cause of happiness and the solution to our problems
do not lie in knowledge of material things. Happiness and
suffering are states of mind, and so their main causes are not
to be found outside the mind. If we want to be truly happy
and free from suffering, we must learn how to control our
mind.
The real source of happiness is inner peace. If our mind
is peaceful, we will be happy all the time, regardless of
external conditions, but if it is disturbed or troubled in
any way, we will never be happy, no matter how good our
external conditions may be. External conditions can only
make us happy if our mind is peaceful. We can understand
this through our own experience. For instance, even if we
are in the most beautiful surroundings and have everything
we need, the moment we get angry any happiness we may
have disappears. This is because anger has destroyed our
inner peace.
We can see from this that if we want true, lasting
happiness we need to develop and maintain a special
experience of inner peace. The only way to do this is to train
our mind through spiritual practice – gradually reducing
and eliminating our negative, disturbed states of mind and
replacing them with positive, peaceful states. Eventually,
INNER PEACE
through continuing to improve our inner peace we will
experience supreme permanent peace of mind, or ‘nirvana’.
Once we have attained nirvana we will be happy throughout
our life, and in life after life. We will have solved all our
problems and accomplished the true meaning of our human
life.
Since we all have within us our own source of peace and
happiness, we may wonder why it is so hard to maintain
a continually peaceful and joyful mind. This is because
of the delusions that so often crowd our mind. Delusions
are distorted ways of looking at ourself, other people and
the world around us – like a distorted mirror they reflect a
distorted world. The deluded mind of hatred, for example,
views other people as intrinsically bad, but there is no such
thing as an intrinsically bad person. Uncontrolled desire,
also known as desirous attachment, on the other hand, sees
its object of desire as intrinsically good and as a true source
of happiness. If we have a strong craving to eat chocolate,
chocolate appears to be intrinsically desirable. However, once
we have eaten too much of it and start to feel sick, it no longer
seems so desirable and may even appear repulsive. This
shows that in itself chocolate is neither desirable nor repulsive.
It is the deluded mind of attachment that projects all kinds of
pleasurable qualities onto its objects of desire and then relates
to them as if they really did possess those qualities.
All delusions function like this, projecting onto the world
their own distorted version of reality and then relating to
this projection as if it were true. When our mind is under the
influence of delusions we are out of touch with reality and
are not seeing things as they really are. Since our mind is
under the control of at least subtle forms of delusion all the
time, it is not surprising that our lives are so often filled with
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE
frustration. It is as if we are continually chasing mirages, only
to be disappointed when they do not give us the satisfaction
for which we had hoped.
When things go wrong in our life and we encounter
difficult situations, we tend to regard the situation itself as
our problem, but in reality whatever problems we experience
come from the mind. If we were to respond to difficult
situations with a positive or peaceful mind they would not be
problems for us; indeed, we may even come to regard them
as challenges or opportunities for growth and development.
Problems arise only if we respond to difficulties with a
negative state of mind. Therefore, if we want to be happy
all the time and to be free from problems, we must develop
and maintain a peaceful mind. Sufferings, problems, worries,
unhappiness and pain all exist within our mind; they are all
unpleasant feelings, which are part of the mind. Through
controlling and purifying our mind we can stop them once
and for all.
To understand this fully, we need to understand the relationship
between the mind and external objects. All objects,
whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, are mere appearances
to the mind, just like things experienced in a dream.
This is not easy to understand at first, but we can gain some
understanding by thinking about the following. When we
are awake many different things exist, but when we fall
asleep they cease. This is because the mind to which they
appear ceases. When we dream, the only things that appear
are dream objects. Later, when we wake up, these dream
objects cease. This is because the dreaming mind to which
they appear ceases. If we think deeply about this, we will
understand how we can cause all the unpleasant things that
we dislike to cease simply by abandoning impure, deluded
INNER PEACE
states of mind; and we can cause all the pleasant things
that we desire to arise simply by developing a pure mind.
Purifying our mind of delusions through spiritual practice
fulfils our deepest longing for true, lasting happiness. We
should memorize and contemplate the meaning of the following
words:
The things that I normally see in dreams do not exist.
This proves that the things that I normally see while
awake do not exist,
Since both of these things are equally mistaken
appearance.
I will never grasp at the things that I normally see,
But just be satisfied with their mere name.
By doing this I will liberate myself permanently
From the sufferings of this life and countless future
lives.
In this way I will be able
To benefit each and every living being every day.
We should understand that although delusions are deeply
ingrained, they are not an intrinsic part of our mind and
so they can definitely be removed. Delusions are just bad
mental habits, and like all habits they can be broken. At the
moment our mind is like muddy water, murky and polluted
by delusions. However, just as it is possible to separate
mud from water, so it is possible to purify the mind of all
delusions. With no delusions remaining in our mind, there is
nothing that can disturb our inner peace and joy.
Since time without beginning we have been under the
control of our mind, like a puppet on a string. We are like a
servant working for our mind; whenever our mind wants
to do something, we have to do it without any choice.
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE
Sometimes our mind is like a crazy elephant, creating so
many problems and dangers for ourself and others. By
sincerely engaging in spiritual practice we can reverse this
situation and gain mastery over our mind. Transforming
our mind in this way, we will finally enjoy real freedom.
For our spiritual practice to be successful, we need
the blessings and inspiration of those who have already
gained deep inner realizations, but we also need to give
ourself constant encouragement. If we cannot encourage
ourself, how can we expect anyone else to? When we
understand clearly that inner peace is the real source of
happiness, and how, through spiritual practice, we can
experience progressively deeper levels of inner peace, we
will develop tremendous enthusiasm to practise. This is
very important because to attain the supreme permanent
inner peace of nirvana we need to engage in spiritual practice
sincerely and diligently.
This does not mean that we should ignore external
conditions. We need inner peace, but we also need good
physical health, and for this we need certain external
conditions such as food and a comfortable environment
in which to live. There are many people who concentrate
exclusively on developing the material side of their life,
while completely ignoring spiritual practice. This is one
extreme. However, there are other people who concentrate
exclusively on spiritual practice, while ignoring the material
conditions that are necessary for supporting a healthy
human life. This is another extreme. We need to maintain a
middle way that avoids both extremes of materialism and
spirituality.
Some people believe that those who strive to attain nirvana
are being selfish because they seem to be concentrating only
INNER PEACE
on their own inner peace, but this belief is incorrect. Our real
purpose in attaining the supreme permanent inner peace of
nirvana is to help others do the same. Just as the only way
to solve our own problems is to find inner peace, so the only
way to help others to solve theirs is to encourage them to
engage in spiritual practice and discover their own inner
peace. This way of benefiting others is by far the best. If
through training our mind we succeed in pacifying – or even
completely eliminating – our own anger, for example, we
can certainly help others to control theirs. Then our advice
will not be mere words, but will have behind it the power of
personal experience.
We can sometimes help others by providing them
with money or better material conditions, but we should
remember that the greatest benefit we can give is to help them
overcome their delusions and find true, lasting happiness
within. Through technological progress and by organizing
society in fairer, more humane ways, we can certainly help to
improve people’s lives in some respects, but whatever we do
will inevitably have some unwanted side effects. The best we
can hope for is to provide people with conditions that bring
some temporary respite from problems and difficulties, but
we cannot give them true, lasting happiness. This is because
the real cause of happiness is inner peace, which can be
found only within the mind, not in external conditions.
Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. We all
wish for world peace, but world peace will never be achieved
unless we first establish peace within our own minds. We can
send so-called ‘peacekeeping forces’ into areas of conflict, but
peace cannot be imposed from the outside with guns. Only
by creating peace within our own mind and helping others
do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world.
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE
This book presents many profound methods of spiritual
training, all of which are practical ways to purify and
control our mind. If we put these methods into practice we
will definitely gain a special experience of mental peace. By
continuing to improve this experience, deluded states of
mind will gradually diminish and our inner peace will grow.
Eventually, by abandoning delusions altogether, we will
attain the supreme permanent inner peace of nirvana. Having
overcome our own delusions, such as anger, attachment and
ignorance, and developed profound spiritual realizations of
universal love, compassion, concentration and wisdom, our
ability to help others will be far greater. In this way we can
help others solve their problems not just for a few days or a
few years, but for ever. We can help them discover an inner
peace and joy that nothing, not even death, can destroy. How
wonderful!
How to Develop and Maintain
a Peaceful Mind
We can develop and maintain a peaceful mind by transforming
our mind from negative states into positive states
through engaging in the pure spiritual practices that are
presented in this book. Through this we can transform our
life from a miserable state into a state of pure and everlasting
happiness.
Happiness and suffering are parts of the mind; the former
is a joyful feeling and the latter an unpleasant feeling.
Since happiness and suffering are parts of the mind, if we
want to avoid suffering and find true happiness we need to
understand the nature and functions of the mind. At first,
this might seem to be quite straightforward since we all have
minds, and we all know what state our mind is in – whether
it is happy or sad, clear or confused, and so forth. However,
if someone were to ask us what the nature of our mind is
and how it functions, we would probably not be able to give
a precise answer. This indicates that we do not have a clear
understanding of the mind.
Some people think that the mind is the brain or some other
part or function of the body, but this is incorrect. The brain is
a physical object that can be seen with the eyes and that can
be photographed or operated on in surgery. The mind, on the
other hand, is not a physical object. It cannot be seen with the
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE
eyes, nor can it be photographed or repaired by surgery. The
brain, therefore, is not the mind but simply part of the body.
There is nothing within the body that can be identified
as being our mind because our body and mind are different
entities. For example, sometimes when our body is relaxed
and immobile, our mind can be very busy, darting from one
object to another. This indicates that our body and mind
are not the same entity. In Buddhist scriptures, our body is
compared to a guest house and our mind to a guest dwelling
within it. When we die our mind leaves our body and goes
to the next life, like a guest leaving a guesthouse and going
somewhere else.
If the mind is not the brain, nor any other part of the
body, what is it? It is a formless continuum that functions
to perceive and understand objects. Because the mind is
formless, or non-physical, by nature, it is not obstructed by
physical objects. Thus, it is impossible for our body to go to
the moon without travelling in a spaceship, but our mind
can reach the moon in an instant just by thinking about it.
Knowing and perceiving objects is a function that is unique
to the mind. Although we say, ‘I know such and such’, in
reality it is our mind that knows. We know things only by
using our mind.
It is very important to be able to distinguish disturbed
states of mind from peaceful states. As explained in the
previous chapter, states of mind that disturb our inner
peace, such as anger, jealousy and desirous attachment, are
called ‘delusions’, and these are the principal causes of all
our suffering. We may think that our suffering is caused by
other people, by poor material conditions or by society, but
in reality it all comes from our own deluded states of mind.
The essence of spiritual practice is to reduce and eventually
HOW TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN A PEACEFUL MIND
completely eradicate our delusions, and replace them with
permanent inner peace. This is the real meaning of our
human life.
Normally we seek happiness outside ourself. We try to
obtain better material conditions, a better job, higher social
status and so forth; but no matter how successful we are in
improving our external situation, we still experience many
problems and much dissatisfaction. We never experience
pure, lasting happiness. This shows us that we should not
seek happiness outside ourself, but instead establish it within
by purifying and controlling our mind through sincere
spiritual practice. If we train in this way we can ensure that
our mind remains calm and happy all the time. Then, no
matter how difficult our external circumstances may be, we
will always be happy and peaceful.
In our ordinary life, even though we work very hard to
find happiness it remains elusive for us, whereas suffering
and problems seem to come naturally, without any effort.
Why is this? It is because the cause of happiness within our
mind – inner peace – is very weak and can give rise to its
effect only if we apply great effort, whereas the internal
causes of suffering and problems – the delusions – are very
strong and can give rise to their effects with no effort on our
part. This is the real reason why problems come naturally
while happiness is so difficult to find.
From this we can see that the principal causes of both
happiness and problems are in the mind, not in the external
world. If we were able to maintain a calm and peaceful mind
all day long we would never experience any problems or
mental suffering. For example, if our mind remains peaceful
all the time, then even if we are insulted, criticized or blamed,
or if we lose our job or our friends, we will not become
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE
unhappy. No matter how difficult our external circumstances
may become, for as long as we maintain a calm and peaceful
mind they will not be a problem for us. Therefore, if we
wish to be free from problems there is only one thing to do
– learn to maintain a peaceful state of mind by following the
spiritual path.
The essential point of understanding the mind is that
liberation from suffering cannot be found outside the mind.
Permanent liberation can be found only by purifying the
mind. Therefore, if we want to become free from problems
and attain lasting peace and happiness we need to increase
our knowledge and understanding of how our mind
develops.
There are three different levels of mind: gross, subtle
and very subtle. During our dreams, we have dream
awareness through which the various kinds of dream things
appear to us; this awareness is a subtle mind because it is
difficult to recognize. During deep sleep we have only one
mental awareness, which perceives emptiness alone. This
awareness is called the ‘clear light of sleep’, and is a very
subtle mind because it is extremely difficult to recognize.
During the waking day we have waking awareness
through which various kinds of waking things appear to us.
This awareness is a gross mind because it is not difficult to
recognize. When we fall asleep our gross mind, or waking
awareness, dissolves into our subtle mind of sleep. At the
same time, all our appearances of the waking world become
non-existent; and when we experience deep sleep, our
subtle mind of sleep dissolves into our very subtle mind
of sleep, the clear light of sleep. At this stage, we have
become like a person who has died. Then, because of our
maintaining a karmic connection with this life, from our
HOW TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN A PEACEFUL MIND
clear light of sleep our gross mind, or waking awareness,
will arise again and various kinds of waking things appear
to us again.
The process of sleeping is very similar to the process of
dying. The difference between these two is that when we
are dying our gross and subtle minds will dissolve into
our very subtle mind of death, known as the ‘clear light of
death’. Then, because of our karmic connection with this
life ceasing, our very subtle mind leaves this body, goes to
the next life and enters a new body, and then all the various
kinds of things of the next life will appear to us. Everything
will be completely new.
Living beings experience countless thoughts or minds,
all of which are included within two: primary minds and
mental factors. A detailed explanation of these can be found
in the book How to Understand the Mind.
If we understand clearly the nature of our mind, we will
definitely realize that the continuum of our mind does not
cease when we die, and there will be no basis for doubting
the existence of our future lives. If we realize the existence
of our future lives, we will naturally be concerned for our
welfare and happiness in those lives, and we will use this
present life to make the appropriate preparations. This
will prevent us from wasting our precious human life on
the preoccupations of this life alone. Therefore, a correct
understanding of the mind is absolutely essential.
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