Let’s look at attachment and anger and how they’re totally I-based. Let’s do the analysis. They are completely the voices of I, there’s the hubris of I – you listen to this.
If you look at Buddhist teachings, you’re going to always come up with this phrase, “the three poisons,” this seemingly cute little phrase, “the three poisons.” And these three poisons have a hierarchical relationship: they’re so connected. This is Buddha’s unique approach.
The root one, the root poison, assumes a concrete self-existent I in the first place. That’s the deepest assumption, that’s always there. Then attachment’s the main voice of that I, this massive sense of entitlement: “I only deserve good things.” And then anger or aversion, the third of these three poisons, arises when attachment doesn’t get what it wants, and it’s saying, “I don’t deserve this!”
Now, let’s look at “deserve”: this is huge! When attachment thinks “I deserve,” it assumes that there has to be someone out there who should give it to us. We look around hungrily, “Who’s going to give me the good things?” That’s what attachment does: it looks out there for somebody whose job it is to give me the good things.
So I dump all of that on, say, Jack, it’s his job: I deserve happiness and I decide that Jack is the person who is supposed to give it to me. This is how we are. It’s very shocking if you think about it, it’s totally self-centered: it’s self-pity, it’s hubris, it’s entitlement – and it’s painful.
I believe I deserve only the good. Then the second Jack slurps his coffee – not even hits me! – I’ll think, “How dare he do that! I don’t deserve bad things!” And that’s anger: “How dare that happen to me! How dare he do that to me, I don’t deserve it!” It’s clear that it’s the response when attachment – “I only deserve good things” – doesn’t get what it wants.
It’s a bit dramatic hearing it this way, it’s embarrassing, but that’s what it is psychologically. It’s rooted in the sense of an I in the first place – what Lama Yeshe would call the “self-pity me.” That’s how we live our lives!
We’ve got to analyze this. Now, if you look in your garden and you see weeds there, the point is you know it’s your garden, so you would never say, “Who put weeds in my garden? How dare there be weeds in my garden! I don’t deserve weeds!” Why would you never say that? You know why? Because you own it, it’s your garden! You know it is your garden, and you know that what is in there is your responsibility: the weeds are there because you didn’t pull them out.
And if there are no flowers, you don’t go, “Wow, I deserve flowers, where are the flowers?” You’d be laughed at. You don’t look in your bank and go, “How dare there be no dollars in my bank!” You’d be laughed at because you know it’s your bank – you have to put the dollars there!
Now that’s our life: from the point of view of karma, our life is our garden, and whatever is in it, you put it there, baby – that’s the point about karma.
But look how we think: “I didn’t ask to get born, it’s not my fault.” It’s either God’s fault or your mother’s – not even your father, it’s your mum, right? She did it. “I didn’t ask to get born, it’s not my fault.” Therefore we have this assumption – we even think it’s human rights, or something. No, that is not the way to put it. Everyone wants happiness, not everyone deserves happiness – that’s completely different. And you’ve got to cause it yourself.
If there are flowers there, you definitely deserve them! You put them there! And if there are no flowers there, then, honey, you get what you deserve. I’m not being mean, you know?
In other words, the view of karma brings this view of ownership: you’re not this innocent victim plonked on this planet by some other person. No wonder we suffer so badly, no wonder we are all insane: we really believe we are an innocent victim – that’s the philosophical view of materialism, and it’s the view of creator philosophies: that someone else put you here. It’s a very demented view, I tell you, in my opinion – it’s a conspiracy theory.
The philosophical view of materialism is that you have nothing to do with who you are, your parents make you: they give you anger, they give you psychosis, they give you being good at football. They make you, then chuck you out, and say, “Now it’s your job, deal with all this.”
And your therapist says you should forgive your mother. No! If she made you – I mean, I know I sound insane – if she really did make you, then she is to blame: I agree with that, I totally agree.
But she didn’t make you, Buddha says, you know? You got the mother you deserve, the father as well, and all the rest, all the good and bad.
When you realize that you’re the creator of yourself, that you came fully programmed at the first second of conception with your own mind, your own habits, your own experiences, then you’ve got the courage to own the good and the bad, and you know it’s up to you. You’re not this innocent victim who sits here waiting for Jack to make you happy – and then you blame him and sue him when he doesn’t.
This is attachment and anger, people. Do we recognize that they’re the symptoms of a demented person? I know I’m extreme, but it’s good to be extreme sometimes.
Giving up attachment and aversion is becoming your own person: you’re taking responsibility, you’re learning to own everything in your life because you put it there. That’s the view of karma very simply: you get the mother, the father, everything you deserve: all the good and all the bad, you created it.
When you understand this, you don’t ever look in your garden of veggies and eat them up greedily – “Well, I deserve veggies, give me more!” – eating them all up until you’re stuffed, and then wondering who’s going to give you more. No! You’d never do that once you realize that they’re your veggies: you’d never forget the hard work you did to make those veggies grow. You’ll eat the veggies happily and enjoy them, and you’ll make sure you grow more veggies because you’re in charge
This view of karma is profound. It causes you to grow up, stops the entitlement of attachment. It causes you to take responsibility, and you become a joyful person because you know you make yourself, you create yourself – and that you can turn yourself into the person you want to be.