The function of the mind is to perceive or understand objects. We normally say, ‘I see such and such’; this is because our mind sees that object. Because our mind understands things we say, ‘I understand.’ So our perception and understanding of objects are functions of our mind; without mind we are powerless to perceive and understand them.
Another main function of the mind is to impute things. Without a name things cannot exist. Names are imputed by mind through thinking, ‘This is this’. So things exist only because mind imputes them. Through this we can understand that everything including the world is created by mind. There is no creator other than mind. This truth is not difficult to understand if we examine it with a positive mind.
Thus, in summary, the mind is something whose nature is empty like space, always lacking form, shape and colour, and whose function is to perceive or understand objects. Through understanding the nature and function of the mind correctly we can understand that our mind is completely different from our body, and this proves that after our death, although our body will cease, our mind will not. The mind leaves the body and goes to the next life like a bird leaving one nest and moving to another. Or, for example, during sleep when we are dreaming our body remains on our bed while our mind goes out to the dream world and sees and experiences so many different dream objects. This shows that when we die our body will remain in this world but our mind will go to its next life and, like a dream, see and experience so many different things of its next life. Through understanding this we will have no doubts about the existence of future lives.
Immediately after our death we will possess a new body, the body of an intermediate state being, a living being who is between its past life and its next rebirth. Generally the life span of intermediate state beings is only forty-nine days. Within that time they will take their next rebirth as a human being, god or demi-god, or in lower realms as an animal, hungry ghost or hell being. If we are born as a human being we have to experience human suffering, and if we are born as an animal we have to experience animal suffering, and so forth.
We should know that we have taken rebirth as a human being in this world because in our previous lives we performed contaminated virtuous actions that caused us to be born in this impure world as a human being. This is why we are here. No-one sent us to this world saying, ‘You should go and live in the human world.’ In the same way animals have taken rebirth as an animal in their own realm because in their previous lives they performed non-virtuous actions that were the main cause of their taking that rebirth.
No-one has the power or authority to say to living beings, ‘You should go to the human realm, the animal realm, the hell realm, or the god realm.’ Because of our previous different actions, or karma, accumulated since beginningless time we all take different rebirths and experience different sufferings.
Buddha gave detailed explanations through which we can understand the connection between our actions performed in previous lives, either virtuous or non-virtuous, and our experiences in this life, either happiness or suffering.
To prove this connection Buddha also gave many examples. There was once a man called Shri Datta who committed many extremely negative actions. Later, when he was old, Shri Datta requested Buddha to grant him ordination. It is said that to receive ordination we need at least some small virtuous potential within our mental continuum that is a cause of liberation, the supreme permanent inner peace called ‘nirvana’; but when clairvoyant disciples of Buddha examined Shri Datta they were unable to find a single such potential and so they declared him unfit for ordination. However, these disciples could not see the subtle karmic potentials that are seen only by enlightened beings. When Buddha looked into Shri Datta’s dark mind he saw a tiny potential for virtue. He told his disciples, ‘Many aeons ago Shri Datta was a fly who landed on some horse dung near a stupa of Buddha. It was raining heavily and the water carried the dung, together with the fly, around the stupa. Although the fly had no intention of circumambulating the stupa, it nevertheless received Buddha’s blessings just by seeing the stupa, and this left on its mind a virtuous potential to attain liberation.’ Buddha then granted him ordination. As a result, Shri Datta’s virtuous potentials increased and he attained liberation in that lifetime.
In the Lamrim instructions it says that just seeing an image of a Buddha places in our mind a potential or mental imprint that is a cause of enlightenment. This is because Buddhas are completely pure, beyond the cycle of impure life, samsara. This potential is inside our impure mind; although the container, our mind, is impure, its content, the potential that comes from just seeing an image of Buddha, is always pure. This potential will give us great meaning, as we can understand from the story of Shri Datta.
Another question we need to ask ourself is, ‘Why do we need permanent liberation from suffering?’ It is because temporary liberation from a particular suffering is not enough; even animals can have such a liberation. At the moment we may be free from physical suffering and mental pain, but this is only temporary. Later in this life and in our countless future lives we will have to experience unbearable physical suffering and mental pain again and again without end. Therefore there is no doubt that we need to attain permanent liberation from all the sufferings of this life and our countless future lives. In Buddhism, this permanent liberation is called ‘nirvana’. We can attain this liberation only through practising Buddha’s teachings, principally his teachings on selflessness, or emptiness. An essential explanation of emptiness is given in Part Two of this book in the section Training in Meditation on Emptiness, and an extensive explanation can be found in the book Modern Buddhism.
Buddha’s teachings, or Dharma, are the practical method to find the real meaning of human life. Because Dharma is very profound, when we are reading Dharma books we should contemplate their meaning again and again until it touches our heart. This is very important for everyone.
Je Tsongkhapa
Essential Insights into The Three Principal Aspects of the Path to Enlightenment
Je Tsongkhapa gave the instructions of The Three Principal Aspects of the Path to Enlightenment as advice from his heart. I will give an essential commentary to these instructions.
WHO IS JE TSONGKHAPA?
From the point of view of common appearance Je Tsongkhapa was a Tibetan Buddhist Master and scholar, and the founder of the New Kadampa lineage. The Indian Buddhist Master Atisha founded the Kadampa lineage in general, and Je Tsongkhapa founded the New Kadampa lineage in particular. Both lineages are the very essence of Buddha’s teachings and are most suitable for people of this modern age.
In truth, Je Tsongkhapa is an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. Buddha emanates as Je Tsongkhapa to spread his pure teachings of Sutra and Tantra in general, and especially Highest Yoga Tantra, throughout the world. In the ‘Prediction’ chapter of King of Instructions Sutra Buddha gave a prediction about Je Tsongkhapa. He used Je Tsongkhapa’s actual name, Losang Dragpa, Sumati Kirti in Sanskrit, and the name of the monastery, Ganden, which Je Tsongkhapa founded not far from Lhasa; and he explained how Losang Dragpa would clarify Buddha’s teachings of Sutra and Tantra to prevent people from following mistaken views. This prediction indicates that in truth Buddha himself emanates as Je Tsongkhapa to spread his doctrine throughout the world.
In the Ganden Emanation Scripture the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri said:
Tsongkhapa, crown ornament of the scholars of the Land of the Snows,
You are Buddha Shakyamuni and Vajradhara, the source of all attainments,
Avalokiteshvara,