How to Understand the Mind - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

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samsara, which is the most subtle mind within the nine realms.

      To attain a mind of the first form realm it is not necessary to take rebirth in the form realm because we can attain tranquil abiding without abandoning our human body. Compared with the minds of the desire realm, form realm minds are more subtle, peaceful and concentrated. Although form realm beings still experience attachment to inner peace they have no anger and no attachment to external objects. Desire realm minds, on the other hand, are very gross and rough, and easily give rise to strong delusions. Without training in meditation it is difficult for beings in the desire realm to develop pure, virtuous concentration because their minds are so gross and distracted. However, if we train in meditation over a long period of time our mind will gradually become more ­subtle, our distractions less intense, and our meditation deeper. Eventually we will attain tranquil abiding and become free from the problems of desire realm beings.

      There are two types of concentration from the point of view of their effect:

      1 Mundane concentrations

      2 Supramundane concentrations

      Mundane concentrations are concentrations that are not motivated by at least renunciation and therefore cause only samsaric happiness. If our motivation for attaining tranquil abiding is to take rebirth in the form realm, for example, our concentration will be a mundane concentration because it will cause rebirth in samsara. Concentrations that are motiv­ated by renunciation or bodhichitta are supramundane concentrations because they lead us beyond samsara, to liberation or enlightenment.

      There is another twofold division of concentration from the point of view of its object:

      1 Concentrations observing conventional objects

      2 Concentrations observing ultimate objects

      Since there are many different types of conventional object, there are many different concentrations observing conventional objects; but since there are not different ultimate objects, from the point of view of their object there are not different concentrations observing ultimate objects.

      It is also possible to divide concentrations from the point of view of their duration. Concentrations can range from a few moments of single-pointedness to an absorption that lasts forever. Once we attain tranquil abiding our concen­tration will be capable of remaining on an object for as long as we wish. The concentration of a Buddha never weakens but remains focused on its object forever. Foe Destroyers are also able to remain in concentration on the same object for very long periods.

      WISDOM

      DEFINITION OF WISDOM

      The definition of wisdom is a virtuous, intelligent mind that makes its primary mind realize a meaningful object.

      We need to understand or realize meaningful objects such as the existence of past and future lives, karma and emptiness. The chapter on meditation later in this book presents fourteen meditations, and the book The New Meditation Handbook presents twenty-one meditations. The objects of all these meditations are meaningful objects. Understanding these objects will bring great meaning to this life and to countless future lives. Many people are very intelligent in destroying their enemies, caring for their families, finding what they want and so forth, but this is not wisdom. Even animals have such intelligence. Worldly intelligence is deceptive, whereas wisdom will never deceive us. It is our inner Spiritual Guide who leads us to correct paths, and it is the divine eye through which we can see what we need to know, what we need to abandon, what we need to practise and what we need to attain. Also, it is only through wisdom that we can understand the very extensive and subtle subject of karma, the special connection between our actions in former lives and our experiences in this life.

      FUNCTION OF WISDOM

      In general, wisdom functions to eliminate doubts and misunderstandings, and in particular it functions to dispel ignorance. If we understand the benefits of developing wisdom we will naturally strive to attain it. The opposite of wisdom is ignorance. Nothing harms us more than ignor­ance – it is the source of all our problems and the root cause of all our negative actions of body, speech and mind. There is no better way to use our precious human life than to strive to overcome our ignorance, and the way to do this is to develop wisdom.

      To attain enlightenment we need to eliminate ignor­ance and its imprints from our mind. The Tibetan word for ‘Buddha’ is ‘sang gye’, in which ‘sang’ means ‘purified’ and ‘gye’ means ‘accomplished’. A Buddha, therefore, is someone who has completely purified his or her mind of ignorance and its imprints. At present our mind is like the sky obscured by clouds. The only reason we do not realize all phenomena is that our mind is obscured by ignorance and other delusions. Once these are eradicated our mind will naturally become the omniscient mind of a Buddha, realizing all phenom­ena directly and simultaneously. The way to dispel the clouds of ignorance from the sky of our mind is to cultivate wisdom; therefore there is no more important task than to increase our wisdom.

      DIVISIONS OF WISDOM

      There are three types of wisdom:

      1 Wisdom arisen from listening or reading

      2 Wisdom arisen from contemplation

      3 Wisdom arisen from meditation

      Wisdom arisen from listening or reading is a wisdom that arises through listening to or reading Dharma instructions. Wisdom arisen from contemplation is a wisdom that arises through contemplating Dharma instructions, and wisdom arisen from meditation is a wisdom that arises through meditating on the meaning of Dharma instructions. The third wisdom is called ‘superior seeing’, which means that it is superior to the other two wisdoms All three wisdoms are necessarily valid cognizers.

      In the Vinaya Sutras Buddha says:

      You should generate wisdom in dependence upon concentration, which itself depends upon moral discipline.

      This means that to develop the wisdom of superior seeing we first need to attain the concentration of tranquil abiding, and to attain tranquil abiding we need to practise pure moral discipline.

      There is also a sevenfold division of wisdom:

      1 Great wisdom

      2 Clear wisdom

      3 Quick wisdom

      4 Profound wisdom

      5 The wisdom of expounding Dharma

      6 The wisdom of spiritual debate

      7 The wisdom of composing Dharma books

      All these wisdoms and special methods for accomplishing them are explained in detail in the book Heart Jewel.

      The eleven virtuous mental factors are all naturally virtuous, which means that they are virtuous through their own nature and not through the force of a specific motivation. If a spoonful of sugar is stirred into a cup of tea, all the tea becomes sweet because sugar is by nature sweet. Similarly, when a virtuous mental factor is present in the mind, that entire primary mind and all its attendant mental factors also become virtuous.

      The eleven virtuous mental factors are:

      1 Faith

      2 Sense of shame

      3 Consideration for others

      4 Non-attachment

      5 Non-hatred

      6 Non-ignorance

      7 Effort

      8 Mental suppleness

      9 Conscientiousness

      10 Equanimity

      11 Non-harmfulness

      FAITH

      DEFINITION OF FAITH

      The definition of faith is a mental factor that functions principally to eliminate non-faith.

      Without understanding non-faith we cannot understand faith. There are three types of non-faith: non-faith of disbelief, non-faith

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