The body is not the real identity of a person. It is merely a guesthouse where our mind is residing for a while.
Upon the separation of mind and body, the body blends with the natural elements and soon disappears forever.
But our mind will not end. It will continue by taking rebirth with a different body and identity according to the chain of our past habitual tendencies, the law of karma.
Our future fate—whether we will be happy or unhappy—depends on our (1) habitual tendencies, (2) mental concepts, and (3) ingrained emotions, as well as the (4) ways in which we have expressed these habits in words and deeds.
Mind, in its true nature, is open and pure. Its innate quality is peaceful, joyful, omniscient, and benevolent. This quality is called the enlightened nature or buddha-nature. In Sanskrit, buddha means “awake” or “awakened one.”
Every being, each one of us, possesses this enlightened nature. It is a wisdom that is free from the self-limiting conditions of dualistic thinking, which divides experience into subject and object, “self” and “other.”
The true nature of mind is omniscient and sees all simultaneously and non-dually, as oneness without limit.
In our ultimate universal nature, not only is our mind omniscient, but space is boundless and time is timeless.
So how is it that most of us have no clue to the splendors buried within our minds?
The reason is that the authentic inner qualities of our mind have been covered over by our (1) habitual dualistic conceptions, (2) a discriminating mentality that constantly emphasizes dualities and opposites, (3) afflicting emotions, and (4) sensations of craving. In this way, our real nature has become unconscious and foreign to us.
Nevertheless, no matter what negative emotions of attachment or revulsion we nurture, our innate wisdom remains unstained and unafflicted.
In order to uncover the true nature of our mind, we must embark on vigorous meditation with total dedication.
We must recognize and meditate on the right ways of (1) viewing, (2) thinking, (3) feeling, (4) believing, and (5) being.
But even if we could just entertain the notion that we possess a pure and positive nature within—that alone will help us build confidence, enhance our spiritual practice, and propel us toward the right goal.
Some of us might think that the character of our mind is simply too fixed and solid to be trained in a new spiritual direction. We might believe that we have become too mired in our negative habits to adopt new ways of thinking, viewing, and feeling.
In reality, however, every moment is a chance to start, restart, or change the direction and quality of our life.
Contrary to what it seems, our mind is not one single, solid stream. It is not one piece, like an iron rod. It is a chain of separate moments that change every instant, the way rosary beads under our fingers change from moment to moment.
Every event is a flowing series of births and deaths, an experience preceded by the death of another event and followed by the birth of the next.
The impression that our life span is one solid, unbroken continuum is just an illusion—like the illusion of a solid ring of light produced by children twirling a flashlight or firebrand in the dark.
If we become discouraged or feel we’re in a rut, it is often because we don’t truly understand the momentary character of life, as it is.
We grasp at events as mental objects and conceptualize them as truly existing entities.
Actually, events have already changed before we can even think about them.
The events we ponder over are shadows, the reflections of what has already happened. Every event, every moment, is new and fresh, like childbirth. We are malleable and can educate and train ourselves as we would a newborn baby.
Through meditation we can improve at every juncture of every moment and thus uncover our enlightened nature.
Source: Thondup, Tulku. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2005.
Mind, in its true nature, is open and pure. Its innate quality is peaceful, joyful, omniscient, and benevolent. This quality is called the enlightened nature or buddha-nature. In Sanskrit, buddha means “awake” or “awakened one.”
Every being, each one of us, possesses this enlightened nature. It is a wisdom that is free from the self-limiting conditions of dualistic thinking, which divides experience into subject and object, “self” and “other.”
(Tulku Thondup, Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth)