A Summary 

As Guru Rinpoche has said, once our mind poisons are finished, there is no more dharma practice to do. Only if our practice, at any level, is helping us reduce our negative emotions, can we call it a genuine dharma practice.

The opposite of the mind poisons are compassion and wisdom. Without wisdom we cannot uproot the kleshas, only subdue them. Developing wisdom is possible for everybody, because everybody has Buddha nature and the capacity to awaken that. By understanding the true nature of things we will attain the transcendental wisdom, which uproots the mind poisons completely.

Emptiness is not to be grasped. It’s free from all extremes, so any concept is wrong. It can be approached through three stages: impermanence, interdependence, and emptiness.

Change is constantly taking place, because we are not one. Everything is made of so many things, so many causes and conditions, that it is all interdependent existing; dependently and relatively arising; and thus changing all the time. Looked deeply, everything is almost like made of nothing. It’s like a dream. Emptiness is not nothingness, it’s how everything exists.

Since everything is like this, there is no need to react with these negative emotions. The past is past, and the future is not yet here; there is no use to worry about them. Even a little bit of understanding of this will make us much more relaxed.

In Vajrayana, the approach is more personal. I can only experience because of my consciousness, my mind, but what is the mind? It can’t be found. But the awareness is always there, and we have all these experiences. And these are not two things. It’s radiance, manifestation of our own awareness, a display of my consciousness. There is no subject nor object existing, which could be harmed or destroyed. There is nothing you need to get.  You are free from any hope or fear – totally free. When you have that wisdom experientially, you are enlightened. There are no longer negative emotions; the mind poisons are transformed into five wisdoms. Any arisings are self-liberated.

Q&A: Negative emotions in family and among our closest people; the power of prayer; how to uproot a negative emotion.

Photo thanks to Rigpa Netherlands sangha.

For more information, visit: https://rigpa.nl/