Recently I was talking to the Sydney group – once a month the Australians pop up; it’s Vajrayana Institute, and then people in Melbourne and other places also join in – and what we talked about was this lovely phrase of Rinpoche’s: that we can mold our mind into any shape we like.
This is really the essence of being a Buddhist, you know, and it’s such a delicious way to put it. It’s so crystal clear: when we get it clear, it’s quite a revelation to us.
We actually know this: we know we can mold our mind into any shape we like. Meaning, if you decide to be a musician, you know that you’ve got the methods there and you can turn your mind into the most brilliant musician mind. We know this – we just don’t say it this way, that’s all. We know that we can turn ourselves into a cook, into a carpenter, into whatever we decide to do – and it always starts with the mind: molding our mind.
We know the methods are there, but I suppose the tragedy is, in our culture anyway, we don’t have methods so clearly laid out for how to be a happy, wise, fulfilled, content person. We actually don’t think there is such a method – well, there are a million varieties of methods, but there’s no certainty, no kind of agreement, no tried and tested methods like there are to be a musician.
My mother was a musician, and she tracks her knowledge, her methods, back for hundreds of years, you know? In our psychological views, there’s nothing like that. Of course, we have what we call religion, but these days, religion really is the lowest on the totem pole, and we think it’s a question of believing in something and crossing your fingers.
But the Buddhist approach is totally the same as the modern world’s view – except that his are methods not to turn you into a musician or a carpenter but, very simply speaking, into a wise, happy person.
Even if we do understand this is possible, what makes it so difficult? It’s much easier to become a mathematician or a musician than it is to become a happy, wise person. We have to look at the reasons why, because these are our stumbling blocks, you know?
The first point – the very first point – is to recognize that what goes on in our mind is the main player in becoming a happy, wise person in just the same way that we know that what goes on in our mind is the main player in becoming a musician. We know that without exception. We don’t say it that way, but we would absolutely agree: you could have the best piano on the planet, you could have the best music on the planet, but if you don’t learn musical theory you won’t become a musician.
We don’t think this for one second when it comes to being happy. We think it totally depends upon the person out there, the event out there, the things out there. That’s like believing that the main method to become a musician is to have a good piano and a good teacher, but my mind doesn’t count.
This is quite schizophrenic, actually, but that’s what we think: when it comes to happiness and suffering, we believe the mind doesn’t count, and that’s our tragedy.
The first job then is to be confident that our mind is the main player. This is pretty intense, and even among all of us so-called Buddhists – we go blah blah blah, Buddha this and Buddha that, and all these words – look at what happens the millisecond something goes wrong, look at what happens the millisecond the external event looms large: we lose all common sense and we blame the object, we blame the person, we blame the event – we totally forget that our mind is the main player.
This is such a simple concept, but it’s incredibly difficult to really have confidence that the main cause of what goes on in our lives in terms of our happiness and suffering isn’t the person who punches me in the nose, isn’t the person who gives me a million dollars, but is my mind. This is so hard to see.
When it comes to being a musician, we can see that even if you have the best piano and the best music teacher, still your mind is the main thing – but when it comes to happiness and suffering, we can’t see it. It’s very, very hard, and that shows the intensity of the depth of the delusions, the misconceptions in the bones of our being. That’s why it’s a difficult job.
How can we prove this to be true? I think it’s not difficult. We all know that one morning you can wake up and you feel quite content, and you drive the car, and the red lights are there, and you don’t mind so much, and the next day you wake up, neurotic and anxious, and the red light makes you have a mental breakdown. We know experiences like this continually, but we don’t join the dots. All that does is prove that our mind is the main player.
We have the Dalai Lama as our example: for however many years we’ve been around the Dharma, we can see His Holiness staring us in our face. He is the perfect example of every word we’re saying here, and yet we still don’t join the dots. “Ah, that’s just the Dalai Lama.” We forget it all tomorrow when our sister is mean to us: we lose the plot, we forget it all, because the intensity of attachment and aversion are so overwhelming, are so utter in our mind.
That’s our problem, of course: attachment and aversion, rooted in the most primordial misconception that asserts and believes in an intrinsic me.
It’s very powerful to think about this: it’s the essence – the fundamental essence – of being a Buddhist, from here to Buddhahood. What Buddha happens to be saying is that the potential of our mind is that these delusions, these neuroses, these misconceptions are not at the core of our being: they’re made-up nonsense, and therefore because they’re made up we can remove them; they have no basis in reality; they’re fantasies.
That’s the job of being a Buddhist, and it’s there in the etymology of the Tibetan word for “buddha,” sang-gye: the implication of “sang” is we can rid the mind of all the rubbish, and “gye” tells us that we can develop to perfection all the goodness. That’s it: that tells us the result – and Buddha’s teachings lay out the methodology of how to achieve it.
Knowing this, no matter how long it takes, we have the confidence to keep going, one step at a time.