All conflict and war stem from one source

This talk is a lightly- edited version of Rinpoche’s 2022 Losar Address in the Sangdo Palri Temple at Longchen Jigme Samten Ling Retreat Center, Crestone, Colorado.

As a deep mental fog manifests on an unimaginable scale in the world right now, Rinpoche encourages us in his Losar Address to make a strong resolution to deepen our practice and to pray for all beings. 

Seeing the conflicts that are unfolding in the world, Rinpoche emphasizes how important it is to work on our own minds. All conflicts start from internal suffering, which we can overcome only by cultivating the three wisdoms of hearing, contemplation, and meditation. To support our wisdom we need to cultivate a strong aspiration to practice and a firm resolution never, ever to inflict suffering on others.

May this new Water Tiger Year bring peace,  great harmony, and great health for all of you. And may it greatly deepen your spiritual path, enabling you to overcome the conditions in the world that are so difficult and challenging to comprehend.  In this day and age It is unimaginable and incomprehensible that such a war could break out in Europe.  And for us, as practitioners of the Dharma, it is important to reflect deeply on how all this aggression comes from the internal challenges and conflicts in one’s mind; it is important to be aware of these internal conflicts and do our best to tame and overcome them.  The attachments, aggressions, jealousy, and pride that are deeply rooted in our deep mental fog are manifesting on an unimaginable scale in the world right now. 

I know some people think that we shouldn’t see emotions as negative. But emotions like greed, aggression, and pride are by nature very painful and lead to conflicts with our family members, close friends, sangha brothers and sisters, and the larger world. And then, when they manifest on a global level, as they are doing in the world right now, it’s even more painful. They manifest on such a large scale that they can destroy a sovereign, independent, free, and  peace-loving country overnight. And for all the people who are being killed and injured, and all the people who are displaced, it’s very, very painful.  However painful it is, though, it is not surprising; it arises  from the same ego that we all struggle with and that overpowers our  body, speech, and mind. 

So this is very important to realize, even though it is very difficult to change on a global level because not all humans share the same mindset. The spiritual path is not everyone’s cup of tea. There are those  who just want to live well and look after their own interests.  Nonetheless, like all sentient beings, we all wish to be happy and to be free from suffering. We are not different at all in what we aspire to obtain. We all wish to be happy and to be free from pain and suffering. But because of our confusions and our afflictive states of mind, we all suffer. And that suffering is now being manifested on a global scale. 

So, in the New Year it is important for us all to resolve to be in greater solidarity with peace and with the intention to tame afflicting emotions. And most importantly, it is important to overcome our tendency to let our own ego get swollen to such a degree that we don’t pay heed to anybody else in the world, to think that we can do whatever we want. It is this kind of ego that is being manifested in the world right now. And I do not like to mention names, but everyone knows who is perpetrating this huge suffering. It’s alarming how one person’s ego can become so huge and have such a wrong aspiration.  To achieve such power, one must be supported by some positive karmic deeds. If one had done only negative things alone, then one would not have attained such influence and power in the world. So, this power must have come from positive deeds. But however positive the deeds were, they must have been perverted by the aspiration to seize power and assert oneself in the most gruesome and violent manner. So, in this way such a position and such conditions come together; and then, when the flame of the oil lamp is about to go out, it flares up before it dies out. In history it has been that way. And I think here also it’s going to be no different. But it is really important for us as practitioners, as Dharma students, to be wary about how ego can become so destructive for oneself and for the world. 

To counter ego’s tendencies, you need to have good intentions and a good, genuinely-grounded, altruistic heart. You need to see yourself as no different from any other human being and as equal to all other human beings. Even when you are temporarily supported by positive conditions, ultimately you’re not different. These conditions could change; you could fall and suffer just like anyone else. So it is important to be able to put yourself in the shoes of others, and really think from others’ point of view, and recognize how others are suffering in painful conditions. If you have a sense of altruism rooted in your equality with all sentient beings, and particularly with other human beings, then you will most probably never develop the senseless, stone- hearted mindset to inflict pain on others, let alone to inflict so much pain on so many human beings—to kill them, destroy their homes their country, and their livelihood. 

Even if a little mosquito, in trying to survive, lands on you and seeks blood and hurts you for a moment, it would be very hard to hurt that mosquito if you have a conscientious mind. This mosquito is another sentient being, just like yourself. In order to live in this world and to have the conscientious, sympathetic, warmhearted mind that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama always speaks about, you need the education of the Dharma to be able to know that all beings aspire to be happy and long to be free. 

If you cannot help, at least restrain from harm

With deep faith and conviction in that knowledge, one can begin to refrain from harming  others. And as His Holiness the Dalai Lama always says to all the people who come to seek his advice, “if you cannot be a help to others, at least refrain from harming them”.  That’s a good starting point for Buddhist practice. And then, if you have the means and conditions, you could help by promoting universal human rights, or animal rights, or anything that we value in the world. That aspiration has to come from being able to put yourself in others’ shoes, not from above, but really seeing them as if you yourself were in their position. Even if you’re not there right now, you can see that you could very well have been there in the past, or could be in the future. And you can see that your conditions in life might change right now. But because we feel immune and very far from being in their condition, it doesn’t actually affect us. It’s almost like we’re watching everything that is unfolding in Europe as a television show. But when the protective conditions that we enjoy right now fall away, we could be very much in the same position and feel the same kind of pain.

My parents were refugees. They experienced the same things that people in Ukraine are experiencing now. This could happen to anyone when conditions change. Conditions are not permanent, absolute and unchanging. They are always changing. There are no certainties. There are no guarantees that conditions are not going to change. Everyone has to die; everyone has to suffer from old age and sickness. That is a given. Therefore, try your best not to inflict harm on others, and try to benefit them. 

The events unfolding in the world show how important it is to work on your mind. This is what we’re  encouraged to do and what we must try to achieve so that we will never, ever perpetrate such affliction on other beings.

Beyond this, we can also pray for the wellbeing and freedom of sentient beings from suffering. This type of prayer is like the compassion of a mother who has no arms reaching out to save her own child from being carried away by the river. If we can help beings by appealing to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to liberate them from suffering, we should do it. In our own lives and in others’ lives we have seen how prayers can change conditions for the better; we have seen how world conditions have changed for the better. So we have to have faith in the power of prayer. And that’s what makes us different from atheists and those without a sense of faith, who only believe in what’s right in front of them. In any major religion, there is always faith that, by the power of our own sincere prayers, a higher power can intercede on behalf of those who are suffering. So I think we have to pray. And when we do, we have to pray not for one side and against the other. We have to pray for the whole world to enjoy peace and liberation from external suffering.

And even when you are liberated from one condition, if you’re not liberated from your negative mindset, you’re going to fall into another condition that will cause suffering. That’s what samsara is. So pray for all beings to be free not just from external sufferings, but from the suffering of their own ignorance and delusion. 

Pray for internal and external peace

This is what we have to make aspirations for this year. In this global conflict, with so much suffering, praying for one person alone seems so small-minded. When huge suffering is unfolding in the world, thinking only about your own sangha or your own community, or your own country  may be a little better than praying just for yourself and your immediate family; nonetheless, it’s still small and self-centered. So, really think about how we are all so interdependent and how we need to grow in our bodhicitta, and how this is really the time to pray as inclusively as possible.  As spiritual practitioners, being attached to one side and feeling aggression to the other side will only destroy our own spiritual path. Just as all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas pray for all beings without getting caught up in taking sides, we should pray for all internal suffering and all causes of suffering to be overcome.

But pray also for external peace, and for new conditions to arise. I’m quite encouraged by how many people in the world really agree about this. It’s very heartwarming. Pray for new conditions to come; pray for peace treaties and cease fires to be signed; pray for soldiers to return to their homes in good health, and for refugees to be able to go back to their own homes. Pray for countries to be in the hands of their own citizens; pray for them to be able to decide their future and have the liberty and the government that they choose. One person’s prayers might not have much strength. But I think if thousands and thousands and thousands pray for better conditions to come in the world—not just in Europe but all over the world—I think Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can actually make things be that way. In that way, new conditions can arise. And then, slowly, slowly, internal conditions will also change. 

We are fortunate to have the chance to put the teachings into practice and to work on our minds. Without working on one’s mind, a person loses control and can become destructive to oneself and to the world. This is being exhibited very clearly. Never think that power, fame, or wealth are great in themselves. What matters is what you do with them, and what you do with your heart and mind. And if you have an altruistic motivation, then of course you can be of service to mankind.. But if you only look after your own ego, it gets dangerous.

We all naïvely think “if I had this, if I had that… “ We  are always preoccupied  with the eight worldly concerns. But it is the eight worldly concerns that destroy our peace and do so much harm.  And this is now unfolding in a gruesome way on a massive scale that is almost unbelievable.  One man’s power can cause so much harm in the world. 

Aspire to a simple life

So, never be confused about the life of a practitioner. Sometimes, it is challenging to be just an ordinary human being. But a simple life is so much better. It is a great blessing to have the freedom to pursue what you want to pursue. How incredible it is just to be a simple man or woman enjoying the simple life of a practitioner instead of being in a position of power and influence in the world. We should recognize how precious this ordinary life is; it allows us to pursue the spiritual path. 

Craving unnecessary things distracts us from the spiritual path and harms others more than one could ever imagine. Being in the hands of the eight worldly concerns is like being anchored to a big stone that will drag you down to the bottom of the ocean. This kind of power, influence, and ego attachment will bring down any human being who doesn’t have altruism, bodhicitta, or warm- heartedness. 

 We haven’t arrived at the stage of Milarepa, who was able to see the phenomenal world as a teaching. But sometimes, even if you have not arrived at this stage, you can read everything as a teaching in certain situations. We can see how the sufferings of the world today are caused very obviously by territorial disputes, attachments, insecurities, fear, and paranoia, and how they manifest in our own aggression.

These things don’t happen on a global level but in our own mind. Sometimes they manifest in our own small life as paranoia and fear, which cause a lot of suffering and aggression. The root of paranoia and fear is deep attachment and insecurity. And the root of attachment is the self, which is relentless. We hold on so dearly to ourselves that we cannot really relax at all; we cannot be at ease. And this is what’s unfolding in the world on a much bigger scale and in bigger ways. So it all starts from this internal suffering, which we can overcome only by the wisdom of hearing, the wisdom of contemplation, and the wisdom of meditation. To gain the support of this wisdom, you need  moral discipline; and for the wisdom to take root inside of you, you also need concentration. This is the principle of the three trainings of Buddhism: the training in the Vinaya, the Sutra, and the Abhidharma. 

So in that way, this year we can deepen our practice and pray as much as possible for the beings, slowly and gradually, to find liberation from the suffering of Samsara.