Jamyang Rinpoche
The most important practice in Dharma is the practice of impermanence. If this practice is not done well, Dharma practice will fail. If impermanence is practiced well, the mental afflictions are sure to be reduced by, say, at least 40%. For instance, if your mind is full of distractions, just by practicing impermanence, at least half of these distractions would fall away. The practice of impermanence is very powerful for dealing with afflictions.
The teachings on impermanence are not for frightening others. It is to be used on our own minds to increase our wisdom, for bringing our practice to the next level, and for countering the mental afflictions. We should check how useful this teaching is in our own lives.
For example, we may be very attached to our homes, or very attached to our ‘face’ and reputation when we are outside. These brings us so much suffering. When someone praises our outfit that day, how happy do we get? After spending much money on our makeup, fashion accessories and clothing, if we meet someone who insults our appearance, we get so offended. Where do these emotions of happiness and suffering come from? It comes from our idea that we are so beautiful today with a great makeup — it is a form of pride. The suffering comes from our pride, which is in the mind. If you address this pride and reduce it, then it doesn’t matter what others say.
Like my younger sister in Yarchen monastery. She has very little desires and seldom gives rise to any affliction. Really! This is what I observed of her. Even when my father flies into a rage, she would run to him laughing and upon seeing her, his anger would melt away. Many disciples have seen my sister. Even before she started practicing Dharma, she was like that. After practicing Dharma, it goes without saying. Since young, she had very little desires. My father even said that this girl will starve to death when she grows up because she had no agenda or selfish aims. For instance, when we give her the leftovers from our food, she would just take it happily and finish it up. It didn’t matter if the food was delicious or not, she would accept any food. She is the same now. She is always contented. After you give her food and she finished it, she would leave happily. It is the same for clothes, she would take any kind of second-hand clothing that people threw out. If people said she was crazy, she would imitate a crazy person to amuse them. Everyone was just helpless around her. She was always happy-go-lucky.
Nowadays, people get good and expensive clothing and other good conditions, but they are always unhappy and complaining. Their family is in chaos, their friends always see them with a grumpy face, is this a meaningful kind of life?
When people are easily contented, life is easy. Instead, being very narrow-minded and keeping a lot of stuff in their mind, then even a slight noise makes them irritated. You have practiced Dharma for many years, is there the slightest change in you? Has your thinking changed? Do you have a stronger interest and faith in the study and practice of Dharma? Is your desire for worldly things getting less and less? Otherwise, the more you practice Dharma, the more greedy you get, then your Dharma is completely upside-down. What you are practicing is completely opposite to Dharma…
When you practice impermanence, it spurs you on in your practice. When I was doing my ngondro prostrations, my entire body was in pain. When I sat down to take a break, I thought to myself, “Death comes anytime, what if I die soon? I have not even finished my ngondro. How can I die like that?” This thought gave me the strength to persist in my practice and finish the ngondro.
When I was 9 years old, I could do about 6000 full prostrations daily. We did not use wooden boards like people did now. We did our prostrations on the uneven ground with grass and stones. It was winter, about minus 20 plus degrees. We did not wear gloves or any protection. The palms, wrists, elbows and knees were scrapped raw and bleeding. Usually, I did 5000 full prostrations per day. But if I did not have to make food and my teacher made it for me, I could perform 6000 plus prostrations daily.
It was the thought of impermanence that drove me through these difficult practices. I always thought: what if I died soon, at least I should die while practicing, this merit would at least make me a Dharma practitioner in future lives. This thought sustained me and the pain and tiredness became more bearable. When I woke up in the morning, it was incredibly painful and I was tempted to sleep more. But I thought, what if impermanence came? All the suffering and exhaustion can vanish when the thought of impermanence truly arises. What if I died now and have to face the Lord of Death? Isn’t that going to be much worse? What if my negative karma dragged me to the hell realms? The small tiredness here cannot compare to the horrifying sufferings in the hell realms. So I did not dare to take it easy or be lazy.
The mandala offering was very hard on me too. My teacher went to find a very heavy mandala plate that was plated in gold. I was very small-built then. We were doing the Nyingthik ngondro and there were the 37 heaps prayer and the 3-kaya prayer. Each session lasted for 2 hours and you had to hold the plate for two hours continuously. When it was time for meals, you could hardly move your wrist, it was too stiff and painful. Sometimes, it got so excruciating that I wished to take a break.
But the thought of impermanence pushed me on. I pressed on, enduring it for one day, two day, three days, by the seventh and eighth day, the pain started to ease as the arm got used to the posture. At the beginning, the entire arm and part of the chest would become swollen. Without the practice of impermanence, it would have been impossible to persist, I may have given up.
Due to recalling impermanence and the suffering of samsara, it really felt like this suffering was very small, hardly worth mentioning. The real suffering is in the process of death and the lower realms. What if we end up in the hell or animal realms, what are we going to do? If we were born in the animal realms and people caught us and started slicing us up or boiling us in the water like the seafood is cooked nowadays, how terrible is that pain? How can we endure this if we had to go through it? We do not have the slightest confidence that we will not fall into such states in future. Compared to the torture in the animal realms, the pain in my arm is quite bearable. Thinking of this, all the tiredness and pain would fade away. This comes from habituation in the four thoughts that turn the mind towards Dharma.
When we have contemplated and meditated on these four thoughts deeply, the higher practices are not difficult at all. When the foundation is weak, then the later practices will seem very difficult and insurmountable. Because there are many inconveniences and hardships in Dharma practice. For instance, the prostrations and mandala offerings are the most tough in the ngondro. Many people fail or give up in these sections. Also, the visualization for Refuge and Bodhichitta is complex and quite difficult to concentrate on. Without a strong motivation coming from deep habituation in the four thoughts, it is hard for us to discipline the mind to do the subsequent practices correctly.
After listening to the teachings, you should not just leave it aside. When you go home, look over the materials again. It is not a lot. Just review it, sum up the main points and meditate on it for a short while. In your usual life, think about impermanence more often. Apply it to the situations you are in. Think of how precious your life is, you can also reflect on the lives of other people.
When you truly see how precious your life is and how impermanent it is, life becomes very precious and special to you. Time becomes very precious. Your longing for the Dharma intensifies. Your faith increases and you become a real practitioner.