8) Samsara and nirvana are no more different
Than the two sides of one hand.
Abandon dualistic discrimination;
Pure lands are nowhere else! That is my heart advice.
This verse teaches the difference between samsara and nirvana. The word ‘samsara’, ‘kor-wa’ in Tibetan, ‘the round’, means uninterrupted. This refers to the uninterrupted torment of many sufferings such as birth, aging, sickness, and death. All sentient beings are tormented by the three root sufferings: pervasive suffering of karmic conditioning, suffering of change, and suffering of pain. Pervasive suffering of karmic conditioning is the source of the other two. As long as we are not free of the pervasive suffering of karmic conditioning we cannot escape the suffering of samsara. The only antidote to the pervasive suffering of karmic conditioning is none other than the path realizing the view of shunyata, selflessness. The view of selflessness is a term that refers to knowledge of the actual way things exist. When you see the way things have forever existed, without fabrication, at that point you can be rid of, or sever from the root, the pervasive suffering of karmic conditioning. Pervasive suffering and ignorance together are the root of building up karma and delusions.
Wisdom awareness is like the light inside a room, where pervasive suffering and ignorance are like the darkness. The word, ‘nirvana’ in Sanskrit, is translated as ‘nyang-de’, ‘beyond sorrow’ in Tibetan. ‘Nyang’, sorrow, refers to being under the affliction of all those above mentioned sufferings. ‘De’, beyond, means being completely liberated from those sufferings. If you can attain liberation from those sufferings you find real lasting, uncontaminated happiness. If you can cut through sufferings and their cause, ignorance, from the root, you can attain complete freedom from suffering.
…The root cause of wandering in samsara is attachment and aversion. Attachment develops towards people who are experienced as pleasant, and aversion develops towards those who are experienced as unpleasant. People who are experienced as neutral are regarded with indifference. Here, I express the imperative to completely abandon the negative, dualistic minds of prejudice, attachment and aversion towards friends, enemies, and strangers, which are the principal cause that has propelled us into samsaric rebirth from beginningless lifetimes. If you can abandon the harmful attitudes of attachment and aversion, what are called Purelands, realms of the Buddhas, are not at all someplace inaccessible and far away. ‘Purelands are nowhere else’ is my heart
advice.
Excerpt of text written by Khenpo Karten Rinpoche, from the book Precious Teachings, chapter entitled “A Door of Entrance to the Heart Advice Called A Ship Sailing to Liberation: A Commentary on the Heartfelt Advice of Dharma Nectar,” page 125 in the paper book, and page 133 in the PDF version.
Photo by Miles McBreen, used by permission
