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For us, deep down in our mind, there is a habit that keeps us from seeing, let alone accepting, our own true character: the suffering, changing, impermanent and dying character of our life.

Buddhism first asks us not only to see the momentary and suffering character of the world, but also to have tolerance in accepting suffering as natural and not negative.

However, Buddhism also believes that, while the true character of the samsaric world is suffering, how the suffering character of phenomena affects us depends on our way of perceiving and feeling it.

three root sufferings of living beings: ordinary suffering, suffering produced by change, and the pervasive suffering of conditioning.

According to Buddhism, there are eight major sufferings

four major experiences of suffering of human life: the suffering in the process of taking birth, of old age, of sickness, and of dying and death.

accompanied by four secondary sufferings of human life: the sufferings of worry about facing harsh situations, about separation from loved ones and desirable things, about not achieving what one wishes, and about encountering unwanted situations.

Karma and Emotional Afflictions: The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering

What is the noble truth of the source of suffering? It is craving [which produces] re-existence [as a being in samsara], and which is accompanied by passionate desire, and which is total delight with [or attachment to] this and that. —The Buddha

Every action we perform with our mind, or with body or speech inspired by mind, formulates and produces a commensurate effect on our future.

Tilopa instructs his disciple Naropa: Appearances [of phenomena] do not bind you [to samsara] but attachment [to them] does. So, Naropa, cut off attachment.

Buddhahood: The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

What is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the total abandonment, renunciation, purification and exhaustion of the craving [which produces] the re-existence, and which is accompanied by passionate desire, and which is total delight in this and that. It is the complete freedom from, cessation of, pacification of and termination of desire. —The Buddha

f nirvana is described in affirming or positive terms, since we are using conventional words connected with certain conceptual views, we will probably grasp a concept associated with them and reaffirm our usual conceptualization, and that will be wrong. If we describe nirvana in such terms as uncompounded and the cessation of passion, which are beyond the ordinary norm, there will be less danger of misleading people, and they might pause and think more.

According to Mahayanists, pursuing various trainings for realizing buddhahood, the true nature of our own mind, is the path.

Through this path we reach the perfection of training, which is the realization of the ultimate nature and the cessation of the cycle of samsara. It is not that we are achieving something new or that we are returning to a previous state. It is awakening or realizing what actually we have always been by uncovering the layer of conceptual and emotional traces.

The Noble Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering

What is the path that leads to the cessation of suffering? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right contemplation. —The Buddha

In Buddhism there are hundreds of different paths of training to reach the fully enlightened state, buddhahood. But whatever technique of training is given in the teachings, it has to be based on the view of the “four emblems” of Buddhism. If the teaching is based on and propagates these principles, whatever techniques are presented, it is the teaching of Buddhism.

The view of the “four emblems” of Buddhism is: all compounded phenomena are impermanent; all contaminated things are miserable; all phenomena are selfless (voidness); and nirvana, the goal, is peace.

The Theravada Path

This vehicle relies on the three divisions of scripture known as “the three baskets.”

vinaya, the code of moral discipline for the monks, nuns and lay devotees;

sutra, the discourses on various spiritual trainings; and abhidharma, the scriptures on wisdom, philosophy and psychology

One of the main emphases of Theravadins is on physical discipline, such as living in solitude and leading a celibate life in order to avoid the circumstances that cause emotional afflictions and evil deeds to arise in one’s mind.

The Mahayana Path

emphasis on developing great compassion—the aspiration and dedication to take responsibility for others’ happiness and to lead all beings to the attainment of buddhahood without the slightest self-interest.

their main emphasis is on the training of the mind. By training the pilot-like mind on the right path, they bring the vehicle-like speech and body onto the right path.

They do not try to avoid the sources of emotional afflictions but destroy them by using antidotes such as compassion for anger, knowledge of the impermanent character of phenomena for attachment, and the wisdom of realizing the nature of phenomena as the union of voidness and interdependent arising for ignorance.

the two ways of developing the enlightened mind.

develop the “aspiring enlightened mind.” In this training one generates love, compassion, joy and equanimity toward all beings by seeing and understanding them as one’s mother.

The second training is to put the “enlightened mind into practice” by following the six perfections (Skt. paramitas).

The Tantric Path

The unique character of the training of tantric Buddhism is pure perception. In it one sees and actualizes all as the buddha-realms. One sees, believes and experiences that all appearances are the Buddhas and their pure land, all sounds are the pure sound or speech of the Buddhas, and all thoughts are the wisdom mind of the Buddhas.

At the beginning of the tantric path, when the disciple is ready, the master initiates him or her into the training. At the time of initiation, the disciples experience the true nature, or at least glimpse the wisdom of their mind and the wisdom energies of their consciousnesses, mental events and physical elements.

After that the disciple goes through the training of the “two stages.”

development stage, one sees, visualizes and actualizes the universe as the Buddhas and their pure lands.

the perfection stage, by using the powers of the channels, energies and essence of one’s vajra-body, one attains and perfects the union of great bliss and voidness.

Generally, the ultimate cause is the mind; the mind that is influenced by negative thoughts such as anger, attachment, jealousy and so forth is the main cause of birth and all such other problems.

the Buddha taught that the root of the three sufferings is the third: all-pervasive suffering.

This third, all-pervasive, suffering is under the control of karma and the disturbing mind.

All our suffering can be traced back to these aggregates of attachment and clinging.

according to the Buddhist viewpoint, that’s not the case; your consciousness will continue.

f you really want to get rid of all your suffering, all the difficulties you experience in your life, you have to get rid of the fundamental cause that gives rise to the aggregates that are the basis of all suffering. Killing yourself isn’t going to solve your problems.

investigate the cause of suffering: is there a cause or not?

If it is a cause that can be overcome, is it possible for us to overcome it? Thus we come to the second noble truth, the truth of the cause of suffering.

Thus, through investigation we find no valid support for the grasping mind but do find the support of logical reasoning for the mind that realizes that the grasping mind is invalid.

All-pervasive suffering is the third type of suffering. It is called all-pervasive [Tib: kyab-pa du-che kyi dug-ngäl—literally, the suffering of pervasive compounding] because it acts as the basis of the first two.

which is then followed by grasping at things and becoming attached to them as “mine.”4

Thus ultimately, the problem is this feeling of “I”

There’s nothing good about anger and attachment; nothing good can result from them. They may be difficult to control, but everybody can realize that there is nothing good about them. This, then, is the second noble truth.

the question arises whether or not these kinds of negative mind can be eliminated.

The truth of the cessation of suffering

If, upon investigation, we discover many other, valid ways of looking at things and that all these contradict, or negate, the way that the mind that grasps at true existence perceives its objects, we can say that this mind does not see reality.

try to determine whether the mind that grasps at things as truly findable is correct or not.

Middle Way schools contain many lines of reasoning for carrying out such investigation.6

first there’s attachment to the self,

When we eliminate the disturbing negative minds, the cause of all suffering, we eliminate the sufferings as well. This is liberation, or the cessation of suffering: the third noble truth.

path to the cessation of suffering

In schools in North America and several countries internationally that have adopted the program, a mother and child visit the class once a month throughout the school year. The students form their own relationships with the mother and infant, noting their own emotions while observing the mother’s care for her child.

even more striking, is his commitment to logic, analysis, objectivity, and evidence

His logic begins with a simple but powerful comparison of the world today with previous times, how a world that is more complex, interdependent, and dangerous requires us to care for all humanity.

this is not stated as a moral dictum but as a practical requirement of our survival

“No one [in political leadership] takes the emotional level seriously,” he told the conference. “They just look at actions. But negative actions come out of motivations, and out of negative emotions. We have to look at the emotional level.”

The Dalai Lama points to two ways in which such universal, unbiased compassion can be developed and nurtured: through education and the cultural environment.

“This is the key thing: how to bring about a more peaceful, more harmonious society. It is like our body’s immune system: once you have a strong immune system, some small disturbances here or there won’t affect you much. But when your immune system is weak, the slightest violence creates a lot of problems. Similarly, in a society with a more compassionate culture, some disagreement, some violence here and there, may take place, but the whole society is basically strong and healthy. Creating that healthy society is everybody’s responsibility.

Mary Gordon, the creator of Roots of Empathy, speaks

“Empathy and compassion are caught, they’re not taught. You catch them by being the direct recipient or by watching and imitating.”

What is a problem is the deeper anger that remains for days, weeks, months, years, and then eventually both sides feel hatred toward the other.

“The agent for the learning, for building social and emotional understanding and compassion,” Gordon told me, “is the baby, and the baby’s relationship to the mother. That’s why we don’t work with just the baby. It’s the power of that very first loving relationship in life that nurtures us into humanity.”

He is offering practical guidance to society, not mystical revelations or realizations.

Biologically, compassion is the basis of our lives; it is not created by religion or education, but by nature.

“How do we change?” he asked. “It’s not through prayer. Throughout the centuries we have prayed, but I think the results have been limited. Maybe in individual cases it has had some effect, giving people some peace of mind, but for the whole society or the whole planet, the effect is very limited. Prayer is very limited, and the effect of meditation also is very limited.”

It was ironic that the robed monk from the exotic Asian land emphasized the intellect, while the Western Ph.D.s and education experts at the conference spoke in the “softer” language of emotions. Yet both approaches—brain to love, love to brain—represent a kind of mindfulness.

What we’ve found is that when children get a social and emotional learning curriculum, they improve their ability to stop and delay, not to be caught up in their impulses, to have more control over their reasoning abilities,” SEL researcher Mark Greenberg told the Dalai Lama. “That change explains why they reduce aggressive behavior and why they suffer less depression.

We’ve found that the brain changes that take place are very similar to the changes that Dr. Richard Davidson has shown occur when adults have mindfulness training.”

Greenberg outlined for His Holiness the SEL curriculum called PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies).

ive central goals (awareness of their own and other’s emotions; the ability to put emotions into words; the ability to calm oneself when emotionally aroused; the ability to plan ahead and consider consequences; and greater compassion and empathy)

One of the faults of anger is that when you lose your temper, then the part of your brain where you can judge right and wrong, where you judge short-term and long-term consequences, will not function properly. Because the normal function of our brain does not work properly, anger is always self-defeating.”

the program can begin as early as the third grade

“Anger is part of our nature,” the Dalai Lama told the students. “In order to survive we need two elements emotionally: one to attract things that are favorable to our survival and another to repel obstacles. Anger is supposed to repel obstacles, but in reality there are no absolutes. If obstacles were something permanent or absolute, then maybe it would be right to repel them. And if there were things that were permanently, absolutely positive, maybe attachment would be OK.

But that’s not the reality,” he explained. “Today’s obstacles may become favorable or positive factors in the future. Today’s enemy may in the future be your best friend. Things that are obstacles in one way may not be obstacles in another way. Generally our tendency is that when we confront situations, whether they are obstructive or positive, we tend to relate to them as if they were absolute and completely determined in themselves, and on the basis of that we react in a very disproportionate way, either through attachment or anger. The reality is that these are not absolutes, so our mental responses should also be like that.”

If anything, he said, what we need is a larger sense of self.

“The self is the center of our whole universe; that is reality. The problem is that my interest, my future with this physical body, depends on the other. So the whole planet should be considered part of yourself. It is the basis of your future.”

“If you don’t have the natural wish to be freed from your own suffering, you won’t be able to empathize with others’ experience of suffering. Therefore, the basis is compassion for oneself.”

What is in fact noble, though, is the person who fully realizes the four truths altogether.

Buddhism teaches us that if we cultivate the right attitude and are able to look simply into ourselves and our perspectives, predilections, and habit patterns, we can reduce and ultimately eliminate the avoidable forms of suffering.

there are two parts to the solution: looking at the causes of dukkha and finding the means of reducing or stopping it.

We are asked to settle our mind on that which is unchanging.

Settling the mind on the unchanging has a calming effect on the mind generally, but it also leads to a state that allows us to relate to what is transient and ephemeral with a mental attitude born of a more enlightened view, one that does not seek permanent joy and happiness from things that are impermanent

The first lesson we have to learn is that samsara does not deliver all that it promises. We have to recognize that transient pleasures are simply that and nothing more.

It is possible not to get upset when people speak ill of us. It is possible to be free of paranoia about what others are thinking of us. When we feel loss and we grieve, we can do so without the emotions overwhelming us, opening the door to despair and depression.

We can also learn how not to generate further suffering by accepting the unavoidable suffering of old age, sickness, and death.

The first noble truth reveals to us the meaning of suffering. Painful experiences can teach us a lot.

It is about utilizing our painful experiences, the truth of suffering, with fortitude and dignity, and thereby making ourselves stronger and more mature.

We cannot digest the powerful medicine of the dharma in one dose, but as we treat ourselves in a stepwise fashion, our capacity to absorb dharma increases.

Delusion arises when we don’t acknowledge that all compounded things are impermanent.

realize this truth, deep down and not just intellectually

The Second Seal: All Emotions are Painful The Tibetan word for emotion in this context is zagche, which means “contaminated” or “stained,” in the sense of being permeated by confusion or duality.

how are we to understand duality?

It is subject and object: ourselves on the one hand and our experience on the other.

The dualistic mind creates a lot of expectations—a lot of hope, a lot of fear.

Another Buddhist way of explaining this is to say that when a big pain becomes smaller, we call it pleasure.

This is why Buddhists conclude that all emotions are painful. It is because they are impermanent and dualistic that they are uncertain and always accompanied by hopes and fears.

The Fourth Seal: Nirvana is Beyond Extremes

To hold that an object is something external is ignorance

Put very simply, when we talk about emptiness, we mean that the way things appear is not the way they actually are.

The Three Turnings of the Wheel

can be summed up in a single phrase: “Mind; there is no mind; mind is luminosity.”

A correct understanding of emptiness leads us to see how things are related, and how we are responsible for our world.

When I’m talking about emptiness, everything that I’m saying has to do with this “image” emptiness. I can’t show you real emptiness but I can tell you why things don’t exist inherently.

Buddhists define a phenomenon as something with characteristics, and as an object that is conceived by a subject.

In many philosophies or religions, the final goal is something that you can hold on to and keep. The final goal is the only thing that truly exists. But nirvana is not fabricated, so it is not something to be held on to. It is referred to as “beyond extremes.”

If, when you try to abandon or transform attachment to your own experiences, you don’t understand these four seals, you end up regarding the contents of your mind as the manifestations of something evil, diabolical and bad.

When you have a clear understanding of these four seals as the ground of your practice, you will feel comfortable no matter what happens to you. As long as you have these four as your view, nothing can go wrong. Whoever holds these four, in their heart, or in their head, and contemplates them, is a Buddhist. There is no need for such a person even to be called a Buddhist. He or she is by definition a follower of the Buddha.

And the highest development of compassion is buddhahood.