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An Excerpt from the Book "Change of Expression" Working with the Emotions by Lama Gendyn Rinpoche published by Editions Dzambala
The text on which the teaching is based is a work by Chagme Rinpoche, a learned and experienced lama of the 17th Century. "We are always ready to let our mind be taken over by these emotional states. But when it comes to actually experiencing the suffering that results, we are less enthusiastic." Those who practice the vajrayana, the secret tantric teachings, have a sacred commitment not to reject the emotions of attachment, anger, ignorance, pride and jealousy. The reason for this is that if they give them up, they will never be able to discover the wisdom which is intrinsic to them. In abandoning the five poisons, we abandon at the same time any possibility of realizing the five wisdoms, since they will never be found anywhere other than in the emotions. That is why when we are engaged in tantric practice, we must work with the different objects that give rise to emotional reactions in order to experience the corresponding wisdom. The very objects of attachment, hatred and so forth, become the means to liberation from emotional conflict. Practically, this means that when one of the five poisons appears in the mind, we have to look directly at its essence until we understand that in fact it has no real existence at all.
What is Emotion?
It is important to be clear about what we mean by the word emotion. We use the word daily to describe something that can be readily identified, a definite feeling in the mind that is both a reaction and a driving force. In Buddhism however, emotion is much more than that. It is a mental state that starts the instant the mind functions in a dualistic mode, long before the normal person is conscious of it. Emotion is the habitual clinging that makes us automatically categorize our experiences according to whether our ego finds them attractive (desire), unattractive (anger), or neutral (ignorance). The more clinging there is, the stronger our reactions will be, until we reach a point where they finally break into our conscious mind and manifest as the obvious feelings we usually call emotions. The above reactions are termed the three poisons, to which are added those of considering our own experience as predominant (pride) and judging our own position in relation to the object perceived (jealousy), to give the five poisons. The word poison is used because these reactions poison our mind and prevent the appearance of its intrinsic wisdom. In reading the instructions of Chagme Rinpoche as expressed by Lama Gendun, we must therefore be careful to understand each word for the five emotions in their widest possible sense. By not doing so we make it impossible for us to really grasp the
Ignorance as Emotion
It is difficult for us to think of ignorance as an emotion, but if we think carefully, we can be influenced by ignorance just as well as by desire or anger. Ignorance is not a something neutral without effects or consequences, it is a definite state of mind which causes us to act in a certain way. Ignorance is when we are incapable of seeing things as they really are. This may be conscious or unconscious, the inability to recognize what is happening, sometimes lauded as innocence, or a definite feeling of indifference, even deliberately not wanting to know. It can range from general confusion about what is really going on, to the formation of definite wrong views. There is also a certain element of attachment. Ignorance can even feel quite comfortable ('ignorance is bliss...') If we look at ourselves closely we will find this attitude in a lot of our behavior. From the Buddhist point of view ignorance is anything but bliss and innocence. Indeed, it is the main cause of our suffering, which is why we find it firmly included in the five poisons.
A Cautionary Note
To abandon the five disturbing emotions is to take a less direct path to enlightenment. It is the way followed by the sravakas. But seeing into the true nature of the emotions as and when they occur is not an easy task. If we just allow ourselves to be look at the emotions one after the other as they appear in the mind in the usual way, we are no different than before. Nothing has changed. If we actually enjoy our emotions, deliberately increasing their strength until we feel completely intoxicated by them, we are behaving like someone possessed, with the result that we accumulate the karma of a demon. It may happen too that we become the kind of person who grows more and more proud of his ability to deal with the emotions by looking into their true nature. Despite the fact that his understanding is not fully developed, he increases the power of the emotions. The stronger they get, the greater becomes his pride. Nor does it stop there. Even though he is not really free of emotional confusion, he says that he is, and sets himself up as an example to others of how to experience the emotions without getting carried away by them. Motivated by great pride, he searches constantly to improve his reputation, to be recognized as somebody very important, someone well known for his ability to work with the emotions. More and more out of control, ever more confused, he accumulates karma which grows more and more negative.
These Buddhas also correspond to the different elemental energies in the body, each of which are related to one of the emotions. Seeing into the emotion produces not only the realization of an aspect of wisdom, it also transforms the corresponding element of the body into one of the five Buddhas. On this path we do not seek to abandon the five emotions, only to look directly at their essence or reality, upon which they are automatically transformed right then and there into the five wisdoms and we generate spontaneously the minds of the five Buddha archetypes. This type of practice is employed by those who meditate according to the mahamudra or the dzogchen tradition.
An excerpt from the book 'Change of Expression - Working with the Emotions' published by Editions Dzambala