To really put our full energy into following this path, we need to take it seriously. The preparation, of course, is very important so that we have a proper state of mind to be able to actually work to develop these three pathway minds of lam-rim, the graded stages to enlightenment. Even more basic than the preparation is what we do at the very beginning, which is set the motivation. Within the state of mind of that motivation, there’s the motivating feeling or emotion, and there’s the motivating aim. However, what is so important to be able to take the whole thing seriously is to have the conviction that it’s possible to achieve that aim.
Of course, we have to understand what that aim is – not just a nice word like “enlightenment,” and having no clear idea of what in the world that means. If we have a clear understanding of what enlightenment is, then we can develop this second pathway mind, which is bodhichitta; it’s aimed at achieving that.
For instance, if we want to go on a journey and don’t have a clear idea of where it is we’re going, then our chances of actually getting there are very slim, aren’t they? We may not even be going in the right direction on the road. To aim for that goal, we need to really, really understand not only what the goal is, but understand and be convinced that it’s possible to reach it; otherwise, why make the journey? Furthermore, we need to be convinced not only that it’s theoretically possible to achieve that goal, but that we are personally capable of reaching that goal. Although many of us get involved in Buddhism and the Buddhist practice, we haven’t really looked very deeply into thinking, “Do I really think it’s possible to achieve enlightenment? Because if it’s not possible, what in the world am I doing here? Why am I sitting down to try to meditate and torturing my knees?”
In order to be convinced that it’s possible to achieve enlightenment, then we need this third pathway of mind, the understanding of voidness or reality. When we talk about these three principal pathways of the mind – sure, there’s a graded order in which we develop them – first renunciation, then bodhichitta, then the understanding of voidness. Particularly if we’re going to write a text and lead people along a path of development, we can only speak about and practice one at a time. Nevertheless, once we get a general idea of these three, we need to put them together and go back to the very beginning, and from every tiny step onwards, try to apply all three.
We start with reaffirming our motivation, which, as I said, involves a motivating aim and a motivating emotion driving us to achieve this aim. All three principal pathways of mind are relevant here. We need to renounce the suffering situation that we and everybody else are in, which means that we think, “I’m willing to give it up because it’s not only disgusting and terrible, but it’s also really boring.” It’s just walking around and around in a circle. We head to one problem after another, one unhealthy relationship after another, one episode of getting angry after another. It just goes on and on and repeats and repeats. How utterly boring!
When we’re going to turn away from that and we’re willing to give it up, and we’re determined to be free of it, that’s renunciation. Then we turn to looking at, “What do I want to achieve? What’s the aim? What’s the goal?” It’s not just to get out of it. The aim really is to reach enlightenment to help everybody else get out of it; that’s bodhichitta.
To aim for it, we have to be convinced that it’s possible to actually achieve it. For that, we need the understanding of voidness, that all these fantasies and projections and things that are causing all of our problems – none of them correspond to anything real. For instance, the fantasy that “somewhere there’s a Prince or Princess Charming on a white horse and they’re going to be an absolutely perfect partner for me. They’re going to complement me in every way, and the only thing they’re interested in life is me; me and complementing me and giving me every moment of their time and attention. They are absolutely perfect.”
Either we haven’t found somebody, so we’re constantly trying to find somebody like that, or even if we’ve found a partner, we’re always expecting them to be like that, and we get really annoyed when they’re not acting like that. This is a fantasy. It does not correspond to anything real. This is no different than believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. This is a nice fairy tale for children, but sorry, there’s no such thing.
However, we believe that there is such a person because of our unawareness, our ignorance – we just don’t know that such a person doesn’t exist. Because such a person does not correspond to anything real, there’s no basis for our belief that there is. It doesn’t hold up; it doesn’t stand up to any investigation, so our confused belief is something that can be eliminated.
Well, that’s a very superficial way of looking at the issue of voidness; nevertheless, it’s a good way to start. We need to start somewhere, so with this much understanding, we can start to think, “Well, maybe it’s possible to get rid of my confusion that is causing all my problems. I may not understand on a very deep level how that affects continuing from one lifetime to another lifetime and going around in a circle like this... but wait a moment, do I really believe in rebirth?”
This is not an easy issue. When we talk about our motivating aim at just this initial step of reaffirming our motivation, and try to apply these three principal pathways even just here, how seriously do we take the presentation of these motivating aims? What are we renouncing? It’s not just the problems of this lifetime. Tsongkhapa makes it quite clear that the first stage of renunciation is meditating for a better rebirth. “But hey, I don’t believe in rebirth. I don’t understand it, so what do I do now?”
Then, we go a step further in the lam-rim texts, and they say that we need to aim for ridding ourselves of uncontrollably recurring rebirth altogether. But then we think, “Well, how can I aim for that if I’m very unsure about this whole issue of rebirth?”
We go a little bit further, and we want to help everybody else get out of uncontrollably recurring rebirth – that’s why we want to achieve enlightenment, right? So, “What am I aiming for?” Wouldn’t it be a bit nicer to just say, “I just want to get rid of all my psychological and emotional problems in this lifetime and be able to really help everybody now? Can’t we just do that without this rebirth business here? Because I’m really not sure about that. I don’t feel comfortable with that. OK, renunciation, bodhichitta, understanding of voidness, let’s apply them within these limitations of just this one lifetime.”
If we examine ourselves honestly, even if we’re convinced that we can actually achieve such a goal in this lifetime, are we comfortable with that? If everybody is talking about rebirth here in the standard texts, is it really appropriate to just say, “Well, I don’t like that piece, so let’s throw that away? If I can throw out that piece because I don’t particularly like it, what about some of the other pieces?” Do we throw them away as well? What conclusion are we drawn to here?
The conclusion is that if we take this whole thing and ourselves seriously, then we have to take what Buddha said seriously. He was talking about rebirth; in fact, it seems to appear almost everywhere in the teachings, so we have to think, “Maybe that’s something that I should try to understand. Maybe it’s important.” This, I think, is a very major step, an important step that we need to make, because there are many things in the teachings that don’t sit very well in our Western mentality. These are things that we need to decide, and think, “Well, I have to examine and really try to understand what in the world is going on here and not just accept a superficial level of it.”