All quotes from
The 14thDalai Lama's book
The
dreams that are important are not the ones we have just after falling asleep,
but rather those experienced during the time of dawn.
Ordinary
people cannot remember past lives because the level of consciousness during the
time of death, the interval state between the previous life and the next life,
is most subtle. The subtle level of mind
on which those memories are based cannot communicate to our gross conscious
mind. A person who has some experience
of utilizing deeper consciousness has a better chance to have clearer memories
of past lives.
As the
root cause of suffering can be purged or eliminated, suffering itself can be
eliminated. Basically the root cause is
the delusions. All these delusions are
rooted in the self-grasping attitude.
This
table is devoid of elephant. The mere
absence of that thing, the elephant, is the same as the way in which reality is
empty of inherent existence and also devoid of delusion.
All
phenomena exist in the condition called dependent arising. When we try to discover their essence, we
find only labels posited by conceptual thought, giving them their designations
such as "book". Further, the consciousness which thus labels is
dependent upon earlier and succeeding moments of consciousness, the beginning
of which is nowhere to be found.
All
negative states of mind have their root in the self-grasping attitude, a
mistaken consciousness which can be shown to be distorted.
One
can say that this table is non-inherently existent because it is existent,
since it exists depending on other factors. The very fact of its existence
proves its non-inherent existence.
Bodhisattva
practitioners should deliberately and actively live in situations where there
is trouble, because they are chiefly working for the welfare of other sentient
beings.
We
need a purpose in this life to give it meaning beyond feeding this suffering
body.
The
only actual enemy is the self-grasping attitude and consequent distorted
mind.
