I gave a short but indepth teaching to a few that were in the room with me. I was inspired to speak about this subject. I asked them to write what they had learnt from the teaching, and below are their mini articles.

Excuse the grammatical and spelling errors… they wrote their articles in an hour! From their write up, you can gather what I have taught.

Tsem Rinpoche

1. How I fool myself into thinking I am happy

by Khong Jean Ai

Last night, Rinpoche spoke about the first of the Three Principal Paths which is renunciation. Rinpoche said that if we understand how we live in the false reality in our mind, we will automatically gain renunciation.

Rinpoche said how we know we are living in a false reality is because everything we do becomes a memory. What we did when we were 5 years old is now a memory, even though at the time it felt very real. Even as we eat, the food soon becomes a memory – at the end of the meal, the act we just engaged in (eating) has become the past, and is no longer our present reality. Our trips, our relationships, the clothes we bought, the people we saw, all of those now exist only as memories.

Actual, true reality however is very different. When we have achieved transformation and that becomes our reality, we have become one with that transformation; it becomes our nature meaning it is unchanging. If we abide in reality, things will not become a memory because we are living in the present constantly. This means that if our reality is compassion, kindness, generosity, etc., there is no instability. If we truly are compassionate, kind and generous, we will always be compassionate, kind and generous no matter the circumstances around us. Therefore how we know we operate from a false reality is because we are inconsistent in being compassionate, kind and generous.

I realized that suffering arises because we operate out of our memories. We cling on to the memories and want to replicate (or avoid) the feeling that we experienced at the time. For example, if we went on a fun holiday, we want to recreate that feeling of pleasure so we keep doing the same things again and again to try and recreate that “happy” feeling. On the other hand, if our memory is dominated by physical and emotional abuse, we will do everything we can to avoid the pain we experienced then.

To operate from our false reality / memories leads us to suffering because we do not realize that our surroundings have changed. We are no longer on holiday, and the people who hurt us are no longer around. Yet we continue to chase after moments that are no longer tangible, to try and recreate or avoid the same experiences, although the circumstances we are using or operating from are no longer the same.

When we cannot recreate or avoid a similar experience, we get upset, angry, hurt, frustrated, disappointed and take it out on the people around us. In this way, operating from false reality hurts ourselves and others. That is also how happiness arising from false reality is impermanent and unstable, and our moods go up and down.

It was an eye-opener because it made me realize how much I take Rinpoche for granted, and how silly I have been to continue to choose between life in my false reality, and liberation into the ultimate truth. I clung on to memories, instead of going after actual attainments, thinking that I would find happiness.

Not only that, but I assumed that I have infinite moments with Rinpoche when in reality, within this lifetime, those moments are finite – one day, I will pass away and one day, Rinpoche will manifest clear light. So where does my arrogance come from, that I assume I have the next moment (never mind the next day) to change? Hence, arrogance arises from my delusions and my ignorance of the true nature of existence, which is that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence.

Rinpoche also spoke about how the Guru approaches us as our limitless mind, without beginning or end. He instructs us from that basis, knowing how our future lives will be affected if we follow (or do not follow) His instructions. We, on the other hand, approach ourselves from the false reality that our being is permanent, meaning “I am Jean Ai”. From the delusion that our being is permanent, we find it difficult to fulfill our lama’s instructions. It helped me to understand that that is where the “conflict” between student and lama arises – that the lama sees me as my mind, and I see myself as my physical body. In this way, I limit my own potential whereas my lama sees I can achieve many things… after all, if I can achieve the ultimate which is Buddhahood, why can’t I achieve everything else that falls before that? 

Rinpoche’s talk helped me to realize how our mind is limitless. In the past, Rinpoche has spoken about Shantideva and how our mind is like a stream, flowing continuously without beginning or end. When we say “I cannot”, we are throwing rocks into the stream that is our mind. We block off certain sections of our mind-stream, and focus on those stagnant pools of water as our reality. When we act out of that basis, we find that we cannot do a lot of things because we cannot see beyond the dam of rocks. And when we say “I cannot”, we are telling Shantideva and all of our lineage gurus that they are wrong, that our mind is finite object.

Rinpoche’s talk was so simple, yet so profound and filled my mind with such clarity. On my way home, a lot of thoughts ran through my mind – is my Guru devotion real? How am I using my present rebirth to pull myself out of my false reality so I no longer keep creating the causes to live this kind of life again and again which is based on memories?

And how can I say I am happy? In one fell swoop last night, Rinpoche gave us so many teachings all at once. How our happiness is false, how we operate from our delusions, what gratitude really means, how to really show Guru devotion and how we should really uphold our lineage. Again and again I am amazed at the skillful means that my lama uses to deliver the Dharma. Thank you Rinpoche for another talk that I will never forget. From the merits of the talk, and being able to listen, understand and comprehend the Dharma, may it create the causes for everyone to receive the same clarity that so many of us experienced last night.

2. Get out of the fantasy, stay within reality

by Khong Jean Mei

Sitting amongst any group of people, whether in the Dharma or not, I’m never the most intelligent. At teachings, I would hear Rinpoche comment that this person has grasped that teaching – or that other person has realized the depth of that other teaching.

I would always tell myself, “Sit up straight, listen, absorb as much as you can, even if you don’t understand.” Last night that motto paid off. 

Memories. Fantasy. Reality. Realization.

“You live within a false reality in your own mind, and at times you use it to hide behind.”

Where we exist, how we exist, our current existence at this very instance, is not real. That concept is hard (yet so very easy) to grasp, but it was something that I realized yesterday enough to make my tummy turn.

Everything that we’re living in is within our own small perverted thinking. Not perverted in the sexual sense, but perverted in that it is not of its true existence. How can that be? I am living here on Earth, as Jean Mei, as a female, as a 24 year old. 

Our mind is a continuum. When Rinpoche explained it, I saw a timeline. A timeline with no beginning and no end, just a line with markers of when this life began and another imaginary marker of when my current life will end. Prior to that, another marker to signify where my previous life began, and another marker after that, and another after that.

That is me. That is my true existence. The alpha and omega. Not the Jean Mei that is now, but the mind of which we are to focus on developing. So what I experience now that is in relation to my physical self, is only but a fantasy.

An example that Rinpoche gave was: we see, we are attracted, we touch, we grasp – we perceive that this is reality. E.g. I see a man, I am attracted to him, I touch him, he is there, I grasp onto him. That is my reality. 

Then I think back on a relationship that I’ve had, and how when it was over, I felt an immense sense of pain. It hurt a lot to break up to the point where it felt that reality sucked. What I “had”, was no longer what I had. 

I think back on it, and I feel no pain, no anger, no sadness – no emotion to what is now but a memory.

If what I am living in now is NOT a fantasy, then why do I have so many memories? Realities should not end up in memories, realities should end up in the now.

E.g.

• “I was nice last week” – that is something that I remember I was, and that I am no longer. It has become a memory.
• “I have realized compassion, and am now a compassionate being.” – that is something that I have realized, and what I have no become and abide in.

I currently abide in fantasies, which results in memories. What I ate last week, the clothes I bought last year, the people I met a month ago, the call I made a few hours ago, the road I drove on with my friend in university etc. My life is full of memories. Where does that take me? What am I doing now, that will not just be a memory (to add to the millions of other memories), but is something that I can continue to have, and to bring to the next segment of my life on the timeline?

“Don’t look at people as how they are. It’s a shell. Look at their minds”

One thing that I find very hard to overcome is how I perceive people to be. I judge people based on how they look, how they are and how they act. However, Rinpoche mentioned that this person here “Martin”, will become a “David”, who will then become an “Andrew”, and then who will then become a “Jean Mei”.

Fixing my perception to their physical self and to the characteristics that I tie to them is a false fantasy. Looking at them for them, and not the shell that they are currently in, is a step up to help me gain equanimity for all. It is a step to treat everyone the same, and looking at everyone as having the same potential to attain Buddhahood, and giving everyone the same love as I would for my own mother. 

When I think back at how Rinpoche treats all of His students, I used to think that He would skilfully adjust to our current mindset, our current situation. I see that Rinpoche approaches us as a mindstream. With nothing attached, yet keeping in mind our current state. It’s not like how I do with others, not as my projected false reality of others. He approaches me as me.

This realization brought my respect for Rinpoche up another notch. The level of compassion Rinpoche has for every single living being is beyond (beyond) comprehension. When I think about it, it’s not something I believe that anyone could be.

Awesome, in all sense of the word sums it up very well for me.

“There is no good or bad, you are clear of luminescence.”

Rinpoche had a few students up in his room once and we were watching a series of videos of the worst men on Earth. Those who have killed thousands of people, those who headed genocides, those who carried our global religious wars etc. Rinpoche asked what I thought of them, and I replied, “It’s almost as if there was no point of being born as a human at all if you were going to be doing such horrible things on Earth.”

Rinpoche told me that there is actually no good or bad. When you die, it is just your karma that you bring along with you. I found that response very hard to grasp, but I didn’t doubt what Rinpoche said as He is my Guru. So I just accepted, and believed that there will one day when I will realize what Rinpoche had said.

Last night, Rinpoche mentioned that again. That there is no good or bad, you are clear of luminescence. If we realize the difference between fantasy and true reality – then all of our negative karma can be purified. Why? Because I don’t abide in the past, I abide in the now.

“Keeping your samaya clean, is the most potent and quickest way to gaining merits.”

Rinpoche always asks us, “Think about why you are here now in front of me receiving teachings. Think about why you are not in some cafe sipping coffee, reading another random magazine – but instead you are able to receive the Dharma, from a person from a true lineage that goes back to Lama Tsongkhapa, and from there Buddha Shakyamuni?”

If I want to continue receiving teachings, if I want to continue staying on the path to enlightenment, if I want to continue having more “mini realizations”, if I want to become one with my lama (in thought, understanding and realization) – the fastest way to achieve all that is to keep my samaya clean with my Guru. With that, I will have the merits to fuel my spiritual life. 

3. Living In A False Reality

by Martin Chow

The difference between watching a sad or fantastic movie and experiencing events in our lives is that we can tell what is real and what is a fantasy. Our mind registers that the movie as a fantasy and therefore although we may be deeply engaged in the movie, it is unlikely that the movie will shape our mind, our attitude and behavior. There is a filter in our mind that gives us that awareness so that we do not invest in the emotions that the movie generates and we don’t allow our lives to be governed by the fantasy. A sad movie is just that… a sad movie and recognizing that the sorrow is not real, we move on with our lives. We do not allow a sad movie make us go into a depression and seek therapy for the rest of our lives.

But the situation is very different in our lives where events of the past become cornerstones that shape our mind, our behavior, our character, mood and outlook, often to our detriment. But, is life as we live it real or is it really another fantasy, which we unknowingly make real simply because we feel that we are personally involved in it? And should we discover that life as we know it is also a false reality, then would we let ourselves be controlled by what is not real as we have been doing virtually all our lives? The difference between what is real and what is not is our realization.

In the next few minutes, my writing of this article will be a memory together with everything I feel this instant. Similarly, everything that has happened in my life to date is only memory now. But not realizing this, I treat these memories as still having a present reality so much so that I give them unprecedented influence over everything else and allow them to define my state of mind, my mood, my character, my appetite, my reason to live, my ability to sleep, my reason to get up in the morning… I allow things of the past to “become” me. We all do it without realizing it.

The good grades in school, the girl or boy we were going to love forever and without whom life did not have purpose, the joy of the first car, that special date when she or he said “yes”, the birth of the first child, the passing of a loved one that we were never going to recover from, the tragedy that “changed” us, and even drove some to end their lives, the dashed hopes, the gold medal, that one defining moment of anger or anguish… they are all mere memories. They are not real now. They seemed real before but not now, and yet emotionally and psychologically we still think of them as being real. We feel them only because we recall them and if we forget to remember them, they cease to exist immediately. In other words, in the Present and in the Now, they are but fantasies that we experienced previously but have passed. If we do not give them presence in our Now, these great and significant events are relegated into the same dark box as the memory of what we had for lunch last Tuesday. They rank equal in value that is but a passed memory… until we breathe life into them.

It would appear that life is a process where we unknowingly generate memories, live and swear by them, act on them until they fade as fresher memories take over. If memories can conjure up certain emotions that drive us to think and act one way or another so powerfully then, equally the absence of remembrance of the same memory does none of the above to us. That being the case, how can they be real? If it is real, it will be present this moment regardless of our recollection. And yet, it is us who makes them real.

The wonderful event in the past, that invalidated relationship of love that is no more. Is that not like a fantasy? It does not have form or substance now when we think about it, and yet it can still move us so tremendously. Some people can still be depressed and affected by a failed relationship 20 years ago! How did it obtain that power over us? The answer is, from us, from our desire of it, from our grasping at it and from our wanting and needing of it. Our desire, and our attachments to those fantasies transform them into a reality, which we allow to control us. When we fee like it is within our grasp, we are ecstatic and when we no longer have a hold over it, the ecstasy become a sad longing. A desperate longing that we carry within ourselves and keep searching for, that becomes our attachment which in turn keeps us so focused on fulfilling that craving that we become imprisoned by what is not real.

Our attachment is the memory of our cravings, not the memory of that event or the person. That is why, the craving can be satisfied by another person or thing momentarily. But cravings are not real and therefore cannot be filled and it just grows and so we spend our lives chasing mirages. Grasping at and longing for that sensation is what creates suffering.

We don’t remember people so much as we remember how they make us feel, be it happy or say, angry or morose. It is our attachment to those feelings that tricks us into living a fantastic reality. A false one, that is real only in our mind.

We do the same with sorrow derived from a “broken heart” How does a heart break? It doesn’t and instead we feel the pain from a rude awakening that we were not prepared for. Again that pain arose out of a broken fantasy – a fantasy that told us that it was never going to end. The pain comes from being forced to face what we have been denying.

Realizing that we live in fantasy frees us. This realization frees us from the grasp of delusions. It is not that we are to deny ourselves that relationship, that objects of desire and so on. These are not real per se and have no hold on anyone until we start to grasp at it. There and by themselves, void. We free ourselves by realizing that it is our mind that defines them, not the other way around.

4. Realization

by Joy Kam

Dear Rinpoche,

From the teachings Rinpoche gave last night this is what I felt and realised…

We have all been dreaming, asleep for the longest time… everything we do, how we have been operation is such a huge deception, it is a huge dream because everything we do will eventually become a passing memory even from the meal we had with Rinpoche. The evidence of this came so clear to me a few months after Justin’s death, and more recently during my close to death accident. The moment you meet with with something/someone/some experience is the beginning of the end of that thing, person, situation and I felt so disgusted with myself and all the attachments. If I realised this earlier my attachments from my perverted projected view will not arise and I will not suffer which also a false suffering. It was so hard for me to let go in the beginning because of the self-centered grasping which I now really really realise is not worth it. Not that it was not real at that time, but to hold on to it and not move on is what’s not real. Not real in a sense that ultimately the truth is we are born on this planet alone and we will eventually leave this place alone. We are always alone, so why the fear to be alone?

All those fears, insecurities, the excuses, the facade, and masks we put up to protect and reinforce of deluded dream is a like tricking ourselves that it will last. When it doesn’t, and it does not, that dream or fantasy we are so attached to is what makes us chase for more, suffer and feel pain when we do not have it or get it. But the truth is, it is all just a dream, will become a memory of distant past. So why do we cling and hang on to something so impermanent so tightly? What is the point of getting so worked up if you do not have a boyfriend, wealth, career, or when someone pisses you off and all the things we have been brought up to think that brings us happiness, when in reality it will all fade and become a memory.

It seems like we are in a constant struggle in being in this dream state and the “NOW” which is actually the “REALITY” If we realise this, our “reality” becomes clear, we operate in a different frequency, we are in the “NOW” zone and there is no depression. And this is how like what Rinpoche describes… how Rinpoche can be compassionate to everyone as Rinpoche sees the person for that person, that being and not the label Joy, Martin, Paris etc.

Hence I also understand why in every single “BF” Rinpoche looks for that tiny “shift” of realisation that changes the course of everything… our destiny, our karma. That is why in one single realisation, we can purify so much, and at the same time gain so much realisation. I guess this is what it means when we hear stories of disciples gaining instant realisation by having the correct view, motivation and clean samaya with the Guru, that allows the Guru to show you the true nature of reality. And no one can show this to us unless we have the merits, and if we have the merits to receive this from a qualified, experienced Guru, which is far kinder the all the Buddhas, because He is the one here and “NOW” teaching you, do we have the merits to understand and realise it? This then goes back to our own collection of merits, this is why Rinpoche stressed and push us hard in collecting merits through so many methods, it could be as simple as shopping for a candle for the Guru.

Everything is in a constant flux which means everything is impermanent and empty of true existence on its own independent side. That is why everything is so interconnected, how Rinpoche plays with us on the pick game, the Kylie and Cher song we sang, write up to the teaching on the 3 principle paths renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view of emptiness. Realising that is is all connected and also knowing that this very moment will also come to an end and become another memory, you gain a realisation that is liberating and somehow you are “CALM” about it all. This is the best way I can describe it. It is amazing and so profound yet so simple if only we abide in the “NOW”. Because all we can really have that continues is our mind stream which has no beginning and no end, they only thing we can truly take with us is memories, so the question is what memories do we want to create? What memories do we want to tap in to, open up and use to progress further?

Thank you Rinpoche for awakening us in just 9 hours!

5. The True Nature of Memories

by Sarah Yap

On 25th February 2013, early in the morning, a few of us had the great fortune and merits to receive a very simple and yet profound teaching from our Guru, H.E. Tsem Rinpoche on Renunciation, the first chapter of the Three Principle Aspects of the Paths, which was first taught by Lama Tsongkhapa. Whatever little merits that I have to receive such profound teaching from my Guru, I rejoice in it; and may from whatever I have understood from these teachings received from my holy Guru, may it be of some benefit others.

I do not claim to have realized the true meaning of renunciation, nor do I claim to have renounced all of samsara’s ‘delights’, but through the blessing of my Guru, I have had glimpses of the profoundness of renunciation, something that when we abide to will give us lasting happiness and peace.

It was said in the session “If you realized what I (Rinpoche) have said in this session, all of your negative karma and defilements will be wiped out in an instant, like snapping your fingers”. This is the power from the blessings of this holy teaching that we received from our Guru, a holder of Losang Drakpa’s lineage.

Rinpoche’s teachings have always been skillful to the point where lay people like us, can understand easily from the many examples that were given to us. Renunciation certainly is a large word, but at the ultimate level, it boils down to living in the NOW. One may think, isn’t living in the NOW merely means we start a new ball rolling and thus creating a new outcome in the future, be it near or far? On a smaller scale, that is the side benefit we receive from living in the now. So what does living in the ‘NOW’ has anything to do with Renunciation? I believe because it is through this very moment, that through our attitude and mind that we either create a memory or gain realizations.

Memories or realizations… you’re the maker of either one, for the mind cannot hold duality. So now we think to ourselves, what is the true meaning of memories? Memories is merely remembering things that has gone to past, but when we look in the Buddhist context, how did these memories benefitted you spiritually? Have these memories given you any spiritual attainments or realizations? After everything has ended and all that’s left are memories, did these memories continue to benefit others? One must think of these things, and because we are all spiritual aspirants, actions that produce no benefit to one’s growth in spirituality or in others… is an ultimate waste of precious human life.

The nature of samsara is very simple indeed. Nothing is permanent, everything is impermanent. Memories are the proof of impermanence for if it was something that had no end, how did it become a memory? So, because our memories have an end, it shows that the cause for the memory had an end which means the cause of the memory is samsaric in nature. And because the cause of the memory is the actions that we made, we have acted based on samsaric desires to produce such memories. Our desires that stemmed out from our wrong projections and fantasies has lead us to act in ways to fulfill these fantasies, thinking that the fulfillment of these falls realities will bring us happiness but instead it brings us more unhappiness and causes us to abide in samsara for the longest time.

So, what is renunciation? The realization that our memories are created by our false projection of reality. Our hang ups on relationship, money, work, and etc… will all one day be but a memory to us, and by the time we realize this near the end of our lives, we will feel a deep sense of regret because we know… this is not our true reality. Although we are all ‘stuck’ in our current mindset and renunciation may be a step too large for some of us, we must push ourselves to shift our priorities and make Dharma the main focus above all else, for everything else besides the Dharma is a fantasy that we cooked up and is fueling our desires and attachments… the very thing that makes us stay in samsara.

How do we gage ourselves if we have gone up spiritually and have practiced renunciation? When we realize our compassion increase, when we realize our guru devotion increase, when we are consistent with our Dharma work and never have ups and downs that would hinder our spiritual achievements. Why? Because then we know, we have placed Dharma above our attachments.

Never get discouraged when we slip… but be more inspired to push for more and practice Dharma with more passion and conviction. We are not enlightened at the moment and still have our flaws, use that as a reason abide in Dharma more to be one step close to Enlightenment.

6. Abandoning Fantasies

by David Lai

Renunciation is a teaching by the Buddha that seems to give the impression to some people of abandonment of luxuries and embracing of asceticism. This is not the case as Rinpoche recently explained in a most profound teaching on renunciation to a select few students of actually facing and living in the real world or in true existence. 

All of us live in a world shaped by our attachments and projections of how things should be. However, we get sorely disappointed because they never actually deliver on our expectations. Some of us expect our marriages and partnerships to bring us lasting happiness and we focus solely on it. However, more often than not, it disappoints us because our focus is not because we really love our partners but because we are just obsessed with our relationships and for some, it comes at the expense of our work or even our spiritual practice. Instead of making us grow spiritually, we become distracted by it. Hence, we are not living in the real world and seeing the relationship for what it is. That is just an example but this example can be applied with different projections and attachments like money, luxury goods, career, face – superficial image and so forth. At any moment of indulging in these attachments, we increase our projections and it takes us further away from being in the real world.

So, what is the real world? The real world is the realization that these attachments and projects lead us nowhere and we prioritize our spiritual practice as a means to end our attachments. This is not to say we give up all our attachments but it means that we prioritize spiritual practice and in our tradition that is symbolized by our relationship with our spiritual teacher. We realize that the only source of a higher thought or a thought that transcends our small petty attachments comes from our spiritual guide. Therefore, if we put our attachments ahead of the instructions of our spiritual guide or that we disrespect him or her in any way, we are going away from the real world and living in fantasies of a false reality. 

Hence, at one point, Rinpoche said that the very fact that we have memories is a fact that we hold on to false reality or as he called it fantasies. When we look at memories, we are looking at attachments and projections. If our memories were truly reality, why would they end up as memories? The very fact that they are not reality right now shows that we have been living in illusion or false reality. The bad thing is that we hang on to this false notion of reality and that brings about untold suffering and we keep feeding onto this false reality every time we indulge in it. The solution is to take on a different perspective or a different view of things by realizing what truly benefits us long term and what truly makes us grow and become beneficial human beings. Just realizing this fact, would therefore purify a lot of previously held wrong views and broken samaya. People who have realized this would act and behave differently and beneficially. They would not fall back to their old habits and in fact become lighter and happier individuals, which is what we all truly want. Deep down inside of us, all of us want to live in the now and not be trapped by false reality.

7.  为何快乐最终都成了回忆

by 符芳盈 (Abby)

我想，每个人都想追求没有完结的快乐，但追求快乐的过程必然是苦乐参杂的，而且往往是苦多于乐。这是因为最甜美的快乐，最终都只变成只能追忆的回忆。我们只求制造更多回忆，让回忆来丰富自己的人生，然而这也“丰富”了我们脸上的沧桑，却带不给我们内心的安稳及平静。

我们所拥有的回忆来自我们过去的行动，而促使我们去做某件事的，正是我们的执念——好比赚上很多很多的金钱、拥有世界上最美丽的珠宝、走遍世界各个角落、参观世界各地的美术馆，甚至可能只想拼了命地想找个伴侣来度过终生……只有这样做，你才会觉得快乐，你觉得做了这一些或其他的，你就会快乐。然而这个你自己认定的快乐源头，统统仅是你制造给自己的幻象。

事实上我们想要的，就是不会有完结的快乐，但你仔细想想，那些你觉得会让你感到快乐的事物，那些你苦苦追求的事物，它们真的能够永恒不断，一直给你带来快乐吗？生命有限，但我们的追求和欲望是无限的，这本身就起了冲突，这怎么能给我们带来永恒不断的快乐呢？而那些事物，那些美丽、美好的事物，最终也成了回忆，就像昨晚的狂热派对，天一亮了，也就成了回忆了。有谁能够将时间留住呢？

在修行的路上，我们渐渐理解这个道理，我们也理解世俗的追求无法给我们带来永恒的快乐。于是我们选择听从并实践上师、佛陀的教诲。我们对上师有着依止心，我们对众生开始有仁爱心、慈悲心。然而我们必须扪心自问，这种依止心及慈悲心是不是固定的，更不会有波动，也不会随着外境的影响而有丝毫的起伏呢？如果答案是“不”，这就表示我们活在幻象里，甚至不活在地球上，因为地球上的一切事物、景象，早已向我们证明，并没有什么能恒常不断地延续下去。这个幻象，是无法符合无常所带来的变化。

实相是不会有完结的。像菩萨的慈悲，不会随着外境的变化而有起伏或波动；像是上师不言倦的施教，那是不会随着世间流动的事与物而有起变化的。实相是永恒不断的，如同一颗证悟的心，不再受自身的喜怒哀乐所牵动。

当然这并不意味着我们不再追求世俗的事物，这不过是一个提醒——在追求世俗事物的同时，我们必须紧记，这些事物都终将成为回忆，它们都不给我们带来什么帮助，或许也只有越来越多的沧桑……毕竟有谁的回忆都是美好的呢？谁能保证所有你存留下来的回忆，都是能让你感到快乐，没有丝毫悔意的呢？

还未证悟的我们能做到的，就是紧记这个道理，透彻地理解它，并催促自己活在这个实相中。那么我们的追求，也会有更多的意义。至少在追求的过程中，你清楚理解一切都会有完结的事实而不再做不切实际的奢求，在最基本的基础上，这对你个人而言，还是有帮助的。在更高的层面上，它能促使你培养一颗平稳不变的心，不再受爱与恨牵动而有有无比快乐或无比痛苦的心。

8. 世间一切皆如梦幻泡影

by Pastor Lanse

尊贵的詹仁波切昨晚给了我们一场极具启发性的教诲，以下为我的整理报告，当中也包括了个人感想：

我们一直所以为的真实世界，其实都是一种幻象。我们甚至没有踏踏实实地活在这个世界，而一直都活在自己的奇异想法当中。我们对这种想法的紧抓不放，更进一步加强了这种幻象。

让我们摆脱不了幻象的，是我们的执念。出于对世间万物的执念，我们把虚幻的当成是真实的，继而紧抓不放，因而更强化了我们对虚幻事物的执着。

我们此刻所紧抓不放的一切，到了下一刻就只剩下回忆。我们今日所吃的食物，到了明天就只是回忆。今日所放不下的任何情感关系，也纯粹只是在浪费时间。事实上，我们所拥有的一切，所穿的衣服、所住的房子、所驾驶的车子，到了将来也就只是回忆，并不能带给我们任何永恒且真实的快乐。

如果我们的生活是一种实相，那为什么会有那么多回忆呢？回忆本身就已经意味着那一切皆是已经逝去，且不复存在的事物。实相是不会改变的，它昨天存在，今天也必然会继续存在。我们一直都活在幻象当中，所以才有这么多回忆。既然如此，我们为什么还要让自己安住在幻象当中呢？

我们的心之所以会如此浮浮沉沉，我们的慈悲、善念、承诺，我们对上师的依止之心之所以会如此不稳定，都是由于我们并不把它们建基于实相上，而是建基于幻象。幻象不断在改变，因而我们的心态也随之起伏不定。

我们的回忆，都来自过去的行为。过去的行为，都来自于我们的执念，而执念则来自于我们活在幻象当中。我们紧抓住虚幻的事物不放，全心全意地以为它能带给我们快乐。然而，由于那不是真实的，所以快乐也都是短暂和虚幻的。

回想过去所放不下的一切人、事、物，到今天都只剩下回忆。那些我们曾为它快乐过、哀伤过、愤怒过的一切，有些我们早忘了，有些纵使记得，也都只是回忆，再也勾不起同样的感觉和情绪。

那些曾经如此真实地发生过的一切，回想起来，其实也不过如同我们所看过的电影，所经历过的梦境。发生的时候感觉上是如此真实，我们为电影中的人物哭过、笑过、愤怒恐惧过，为梦境里的一切喜悦过、哀伤过、害怕过，然而电影散场后、梦醒时，那一切都不复存在。那跟我们的过去岂不是很相似吗？

我们之所以有情绪，是因为我们把虚幻的当成是真实的。反观上师眼中的我们，并不是他眼前所存在的这个个体，他看到的，是这个个体的心识。这个心识的存在，并不只限于这一世，而是生生世世。这一世，你可以是个男人，是个学者，而前一世，你却可能是个女人，是个尼姑，甚至是只动物。上师的眼中，你并不是外表上的这一切标志，因为那不是永恒不变的。由于洞悉了这一切，上师的慈悲是真实的，上师也不可能对我们怀有真正的情绪。谁会对虚幻的事物抱怀真正的情绪呢？

上师教授我们佛法的目的，就是要让我们洞悉那些我们所紧抓不放的世俗事物皆为幻象，如果我们能洞悉这个事实，我们就不会对之产生执念，继而就能生起出离心。体悟一切皆为幻象，也让我们体悟何谓空性。而出离心和体悟空性，正是《三主要道》的其中两项。

9. Shin’s Answer

by Shin Tan

Real Dharma practice is not the external work we do being part of a spiritual organisation, nor the act of religious rituals. It is important to integrate the teachings into our mind and hence why mind transformation is the best sign that we are practicing Dharma.

The kindness of our Guru who teaches and shows us the true nature of reality is beyond the kindness of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and far more than the kindness of our parents or anyone in our lives. Despite that, we should not then be attached to our Guru in a worldly sense as merely someone who showed us tremendous kindness, but ultimately merge our mind with the Guru’s mind – the mind of one who has understood the nature of his mind, the primordial awareness that is our true nature, the Buddha nature that we have. 

I do not live in the present, because I hold on to memories, MY memories. All these memories will be gone once I leave this body, and then I proceed to a new body and create new experiences which then become memories, again and again in many forms/ bodies. No matter how great or minute my samsaric achievements are – a Rock legend or a mama’s boy who leeches on to my parents’ wealth and achieve nothing on my own, at the end, all of them are memories and equals nothing as I have wasted my life to experience or pursue experiences that I thought will bring happiness to my mind. Hence, if I spend my life only to pursue fame/ wealth/ relationship/ material gains, it would be a waste as I neglect and wasted the potential of using my life to achieve realization on my spiritual path that will lead to enlightenment.

I live in a projection, a fantasy (delusion) – fantasy not because it doesn’t exist, but because it is not how things really are. All my experience through my senses: sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations in their totality, are like a big dream and at death, all these doesn’t matter and will lead me to take a rebirth that is again, crave all these sensation and be attached to them, spending a lifetime pursuing my fantasy in another form or body. Hence, the way out is renunciation, to be disenchanted with these experiences that lead me to experience unhappiness and create further causes for me to remain in this cycle of existence, the cycle of existence that arise and feed on grasping of impermanent objects and experiences that I perceive as happiness.

Renunciation is based on the attitude with which we turn our minds completely away from all wishes for samsaric happiness that does not last or not real, however, as we still have a lot of negative karma and have not attain higher stages on the path, it is best we practice some renunciation than using inability to renunciate fully as an excuse to not let go of our attachments/ hang ups. If I do not practice renunciation, then I am choosing to dwell in my grasping of samsara, hence I am not choosing the path of liberation. However, the good news is that this is not permanent either. The choice is in my hand and every moment is an opportunity to choose renunciation. Renunciation doesn’t mean throwing away things we have, but rather cultivate the attitude of craving less. 

If one practices Tantra, there is a possibility to attain enlightenment much more quickly than by simply practicing sutra. If one is serious about one’s Dharma practice and truly understood renunciation, then one should aspire to get enlightened sooner, and enlighten sentient beings sooner, so that they don’t have to suffer as long as they/ourself otherwise would.

10. False Reality

by Phoebe

False Reality, this is the real true and nothing but the truth. I heard this from someone long time ago but couldn’t understand the true meaning. After last night, the fact Rinpoche told us it’s was so clear and I realized there are no place I can escape anymore because I should knew this after years of Rinpoche teachings. In addition I’ve got the merit to stay closely with Rinpoche recently and received so many dharma teachings, I should have committed more and go all the way but why I still yet to be? I used to fool myself and hide inside my fantasy.

Stop wasting time and seek for the happiness which I defined in my own terms, it’s not real. The memory for past attachment just a dream.

11. Renunciation

by Sharon Saw

Last night Rinpoche gave us a teaching which was one of the most meaningful to me throughout the eight years I have been in Dharma. It was not a new concept but somehow, last night, it sunk in.

Rinpoche talked to us about the first of the three principal paths; Renunciation. Renunciation is a big word and something I have always looked at from an intellectual level, and with a great deal of trepidation. But last night, it fell into place for me. Rinpoche said that we should not operate from memories but to live in the now, based on reality. We normally abide in fantasies, which result in memories which are based on false realities.

Everything we perceive is based on false realities. Even our perception of ourselves is false – we define ourselves as this person, with these characteristics, this mindset and this physical description, yet who is the ‘I’? It is the mind which is vast and endless, and goes from life to life. Yet we try to pigeon hole ourselves into a small imaginary space and place all sorts of limitations on ourselves. This is why our emotions fluctuate and our minds are not stable.

I then realized that all my life, everything I had wanted to keep were memories – holidays, experiences, and relationships. Even the material things I treasured were associated with memories – a ring, a photograph, a song. And when I looked at these things or recalled certain memories, I would replay that incident fondly, or even revel in the pain of that memory, which is rather masochistic in retrospect. But all these memories mean nothing and are empty of existence. In a way, they are like little movies I replay in my head, which do not benefit anyone and are really just little self-indulgences.

Perhaps the realisation came after Rinpoche had recently asked us to think which would we choose between our attachments and our Guru. Society and many lifetimes of habituations have programmed us from young to nurture our attachments. We are taught to treasure our attachments to family, our self-esteem, to even what we should look like, relationships, material success etc. In fact, to most people, the epitome of success would be marriage to someone who is materially able to provide a comfortable life for you and both of you having 2.4 children and living happily ever after. This is a fantasy propagated by Hollywood and romance novels. Reality is the complete opposite.

Rinpoche mentioned that in reality, relationships are completely a waste of time because it does not bring us anything positive despite the amount of time and effort we invest into them. In the end, the relationship will end – either because of circumstances or because one of the partners will leave the other through death. It is not to say that we should terminate our relationships now but that we should realize that they do not bring us ultimate happiness.

Instead of seeking to create memories based on our attachments which are false realities, we can create realities based on Dharma. This way, we will create new habituations so that in our future lives, we will be born with less attachments and pursue the Dharma from an early age. So do I choose my attachments or my Guru? To me there isn’t even a choice. 

12. 记忆与幻象

by Adrian

在过去的认知当中，过去式｀现在式｀与｀未来式是有着紧密的联系。个人认为这样的一个联系是无止境和有着莫大的关联。所谓的过去式当中记忆的人物于事物直接的影响我们的‘现在式’，而现在当下所见到于发生的事物将会影响到未来。

但是过去已发生的事件虽然成为记忆，而记忆显然成为不真实或者幻觉。好比现在的你沉溺于享受现有的美味食物，当中的滋味是‘无与伦比’。但是此感觉随着时间飘过成为过去的记忆，不持久的感觉顿时变成了幻象。幻象是虚无的，不真实的，不实际的，不永恒的。无可否认，我们是曾经经历过与触碰过。但那只是给予我们五官上的感觉。过去式的已不是我们生命中重要的环节，它不能给予我们智慧的成长。幻象只会让我们继续的沉溺‘美好’的回忆从而让我们无法进一步了解人生的真谛。所以我们不应该活在过去。

如果－我们不是活在我们自己产生出来的幻觉，记忆就不应该存在。现时是当下所了解的，应该将之融合与现实。何谓现实？就算是我们的肉身都不属于我们自己，死后就无法带走任何的物品与肉身。无止境的是我们的思维，不停断的想法，和记忆／回忆是极大的对比。记忆／回忆的由来是源自我们的行为，行为是源自我们的执著，而执著的产生来自与幻象。

上师的教法直接的标点出我们所执著过去式的幻象。我们自己呈献自己虚假的现实，不是真实与觉悟。

13. False Realities

by Jamie Khoo 

Mostly, our lives are shaped by our memories – the good times, the bad times and the ugly. We spend all of our time in the present striving towards a future that is determined by these thoughts, recollections, fears, angers, sadness, happiness, the fairytale magic of Disney, urban legends and the beautiful media.

So why is it, that no matter how beautiful these dreams are, how shiny and glossy these promises of a bright future are, we never, ever quite get there? Why is it that everything that was beautiful and shiny way back when, are now only a distant memory, like a sick film we’ve watched on repeat a few tens of times? Why is it that all these ‘promised lands’ we’ve told ourselves about are never fulfilled?

Instead, we spend half our days time thinking back to the ‘good old days’ when things were this or that way; or we agonise over the painful times, carrying scars of yesterday into today when they’ve already long faded. We spend the other half of our days thinking about a future – praying, wishing, hoping and daydreaming about fanciful things, or fearing, worrying about frightening things that may never actually come to pass.

So where does that leave us in the now? We find ourselves trapped between the never-never land histories of days gone past and a shaky future of ‘ifs’ which we fabricate entirely in our heads – none of which are actually real.

And while it might seem obvious that these memories, expectations, attachments, fears aren’t quite real, they form entire whole worlds for us and we abide in these mirages of memories, fears, dreams and hopes as if they are solid and real and forever. Everything we do in the now exists falsely, based only upon memories of the past and dreams/fears of a future, neither of which are real.

Stop for a moment to think of everything you invested your whole being into – finding that perfect meal, being in that fairytale relationship, buying that exquisite piece of jewelry. How real and happy it was while you were in it, where every detail mattered. Then think of where all those things are now. You barely remember the taste of that meal; that fairytale partner turned into a pumpkin and you wonder why it is you fell so hard, so fast and so deeply for nothing; that piece of jewelry lays rusting at the bottom of a large pile of other trinkets.

If all those things had been real and permanent and forever-and-ever, then why are they only memories now? Why haven’t they lasted exactly the way we thought they were, bringing us exactly the same, constant happiness they thought they would? If they were real and true and lasting, shouldn’t we still be abiding within those things? The truth of the matter is that we’re not; we’re living only within the memories of them.

Worse still, we also carry these memories well into the future. As we grasp onto these things as real and promising – the happily-ever-after wedding, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the Happy Families, the career to end all careers – we box ourselves in and trap ourselves into yet another false reality. We think we’ll be happy if we do this or that, when really nobody ever really gave us a full guarantee that those things will turn out just the way we hope they would.

So we become disappointed when things don’t turn out the way we think they will. We get angry at the world – the job, the partner, the colleagues, the families – when really, the only person who set ourselves up to fall was ourselves. When we stop to take a long, hard look at who disappointed us, we’ll find that we really only have ourselves to blame – our attachments, expectations, hopes and day-dreamings were never real, no matter how much we had tried to make solid something that was actually only air. The Modernist Marshall Berman wrote, “All that is solid melts into air” – everything we believe to be true, well… it isn’t.

This is not to say however, that we cannot have the things we like. We just need to change the way we relate to them as forever and lasting; as things that will secure our happiness and determine who we are. The Guru helps us to do this, to see things for what they really are, not as we hope them to be. As flounce around with the false realities we put upon ourselves – “I am Paris, I am this way and I have these memories and hopes” – our teachers approach us for who we are right now, in the present. Like the frog in the well who thinks that the sky is his whole world, we sit still grasping on to the little space we think is forever, while the teacher peers over the edge of the well, screaming at us to just take that leap of faith, where we can have not just that well but enjoy everything else around it also.

So we choose – do we stay in that well believing with every last iota of energy that things are the way we insist they should be, peering out at a small circle of sky? Or do we embrace that possibility that perhaps everything we hold solid does eventually melt into air giving us spaceless, infinite other possibilities?

14. Renunciation – The first of the 3 principle paths

by Andrew Boon

Renunciation for me is not necessarily a physical manifestation of letting go of something physically tangible. It is something beyond that! My understanding of it is that, it is very much a state of mind, whereby our attachments can exist around us but we make a conscious effort not to be attached to it or let it rule our judgement or be the sole importance.

In fact having our attachments around us makes the renunciation real and tangible because it serves as a reminder of what we deem is important in the mindset we are in but it is NOT the be all and end all.

This deluded mindset is the illusion we create that makes us not live in the now. But realizing this empowers us to think beyond our perceived notions of our surroundings and actually creates a situation whereby we do not blindly tell ourselves our attachments are not real or unimportant but actually reinforces the fact that it actually is but we do not need it.

It is actually a very “subtle” shift in the perception. To coin Rinpoche’s phrase, Everything Changes, Nothing Changes best describes this immense feeling of lightness and clarity.

I do not profess to be an expert or claim to have realized renunciation to its fullest extend but I do know that when we “let go”, it is really not about physically letting go but about accepting that everything around us ends in time.

This is crucial as it reaffirms this seemingly simple realization that if we continue to put sole importance on our attachments, which inevitably ends, we are actually feeding an illusion that nothing ends and we will continue to live in a false reality which translates into living for mere memories. And what are memories but a reality that has ended and is merely something that WAS!

One can hypothesize on how one can achieve such a realization but I can state with some clarity and conviction that even those intellectual summaries and projections are but mere attachments in itself.

For me the best and most tangible proof that some realizations are had is in the fact that even when surrounded with all the attachments we propel ourselves into, it does not consume us and we actually feel lighter because of the realization and it can even urge us to further enhanced the realization by manipulating the attachments to best suit our mind in a way that brings about an equanimity that supports the renunciation. It reminds me of this profound and very apt sharing: 

“Peacocks thrive on poison like bodhisattva thrives on negativy. Peacocks live in forests with poisonous plants, they eat the poisonous plants that no other animals can eat, and instead of being poisoned, peacocks transform the poisons they eat into beautiful, colorful and vibrant plumage and thrive. Similarly, a Bodhisattva, while dwelling amidst all the negativities and sufferings of samsara, is not affected negatively at all, being pulled down, or drifting along the samsaric current, instead, a Bodhisattva thrives in it. Not only is he not being afflicted by the negativities, but he can help others who are in samsara to get rid of their negativities. Such is the unusual quality of a Bodhisattva, just like a peacock.” –Tsem Tulku Rinpoche

Another thing that is evident is the fact that in actualizing renunciation we actually live in the present and that in itself instills a calmness and a sense of being that keeps us focused and unwavering which in turn gives us consistency and integrity.

For me personally, renunciation is really something that is not tangible in its discovery but very precise in the realization of the duality and delusion of our attachments… which really serves no purpose and merely propels us into the vicious cycle of samsara.

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