WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

We should not think all is well just because our livelihood is taken care of. There are still a lot of meaningful activities that await us; these things are neither mysterious nor complicated, and are easy to understand. If we do not take up these activities, we will never be liberated.

Sakyamuni Buddha intended for us to fully realize emptiness and attain liberation, and thus taught us to examine form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness in that order. Since our attachment to the body is stronger, we start by examining the physical aspect, then the mental aspect. If we can establish the emptiness of consciousness, the fundamental problem is resolved. Therefore, we should place special effort in this area.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

 Take this book as an example, why does it have a thickness? Because many sheets of paper are stacked together. In the same way, even though a flower petal and a sheet of paper are very thin, their thickness is also comprised of countless dust particles or quarks. This thickness is formed by minute particles arranged in order from front to back. When the needle tip pierces the thin sheet of paper, our eyes cannot see the needle tip pass through these particles in that order. This shows that our eyes are unable to see the true nature of matter at all.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

Assuming the thickness of a sheet of paper or a flower petal is formed by one thousand or ten thousand particles (of course, this is just an example, the actual figure must be greater), then the time it takes for the needle tip to pass through a flower petal can also be divided into one thousand or ten thousand parts; but these one thousand or ten thousand parts can continue to be divided until time disappears without a trace, and nothing remains at the end.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

Although the scriptures contain a lot of practices on emptiness, in the end, whether it is investigating the feeling of happiness, the world outside, or ourselves, what we want is a moment of realization — a very strong sense that all of these things are non-existent, empty, and illusory. The more powerful this feeling is, the better. At that time, we must not “disturb” this feeling or state of mind but maintain it to the extent possible.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

One should know this kind of experience is hardly special. As it is likened to seeing a picture of the moon from afar – it is neither the picture of the moon up close nor the moon itself, we have not apprehended the true nature of reality, and are still quite far from eradicating our afflictions and attaining liberation. Hence, under ordinary circumstances, we should not take the early stage of realization too seriously.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

The so-called “aggregate of volition” includes the internal motions of the body, such as swinging the arm, walking, and so forth; external phenomena such as time, space, direction, speed, and sequence of things; and all kinds of mental states or thoughts which are stages in the activities of consciousness, even though these mental states and consciousness are inseparable, all part of one thing, just as the motions of the hand and the hand itself are inseparable. There are no activities associated with consciousness that are outside of consciousness; similarly, there are no motions associated with the body that are apart from the body. However, there is a difference; consciousness is a totality and thoughts are aspects of consciousness. For instance, consciousness is likened to a flower, while thoughts are like the petal, the pistil or the corolla of the flower.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

We have said before if something is infinite, we cannot establish if it gets bigger or smaller when divided; but all worldly matter, including the thickness of a sheet of paper, is finite. As such, matter will only get smaller and smaller when it is divided and eventually become empty.

By the same token, the feeling of happiness, the feeling of suffering, and so forth can also be broken down in this way until it disappears altogether into empty space.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

When emptiness is truly experienced, all of one’s afflictions and fixations are gone. But because our practice is not up to standard yet, we may only experience emptiness for an instant before our mind returns to its usual way. However, with repeated practice, we will be able to lengthen the time we dwell in this state and ultimately eradicate our afflictions completely.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

What is an instant? In the scriptures, it is said to first place sixty very thin flower petals in a pile; if an archer then shoots the petals with an arrow that has a sharp, fine needle inserted on the arrowhead, the needle tip will pass through the sixty petals in a flash. Relying just on our eye, we will think the needle tip pierces all sixty petals at the same time; actually the needle tip passes through the petals in an orderly way, that is, gradually a step at a time. When it passes through one petal, it is called an instant.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"