Taking Dharma as the Path: The Qualities of Peace, Clarity and Remedy

When we talk about the Dharma as a path, there are three qualities. “Peace” is mentioned first. What do we mean by peace? It means a complete cessation of disturbing emotions. We know how unsettled and distressed we feel when we are engaged in disturbing emotions. So imagine having none of that, and having a sense of total peace in your heart, peace in the core of your being. This is what the path of Dharma provides.

“Clarity” is the second quality. What is meant by clarity? Clarity means beginning to understand something that we were ignorant about previously. We begin to know. We begin to realize. We have removed the ignorance, the confusions, the cloudiness. The path of Dharma, the scriptural Dharma, provides us with such clarity. It brings peace and clarity.

The third quality mentioned here is “remedy.” When somebody is ill, by taking medicine as a remedy, they overcome the illness, and perhaps live a longer life. If they don’t take the medicine, they might die. We might jeopardize our longevity because of pneumonia or bronchitis. But if we take antibiotics, they fight off the illness, and we become well and may live longer.

So the medicine is a remedy in that it fights off the illness. Like that, the truth, the truth of all things – particularly the absolute truth of one’s own mind and the realization of that – is a remedy against all ignorance, confusions, and disturbing emotions, because obscurations in the ultimate sense don’t exist.

We can regard ignorance as the essence of obscurations. When we speak about obscurations, we’re referring to mental delusions, as well as grasping and fixation to the ego, disturbing negative emotions, and the power of habitual tendencies. These are all obscurations. Because they don’t ultimately exist, they’re like a dream. A dream appears, but doesn’t absolutely, or ultimately, exist. Therefore we can awaken from the dream.

In the same manner, obscurations do appear, but absolutely and ultimately they don’t exist. Therefore we can wake up and never fall back to sleep, never lose the truth, as in the example of the enlightened ones.

The remedy here, is light working against darkness. Darkness is one thing and light is another, but in this case, the darkness itself contains the light as its essence. The remedy is nondual and therefore, it is an incredibly powerful and ultimate remedy. So when we take refuge in the Dharma, the qualities of Peace, Clarity and Remedy are always present.

Excerpt taken from Talk 2, “Like a Diamond: Transformation in the Three Yanas”