13 )Whether we are jumping for joy
Or crying in pain, during all highs and lows,
Whatever illusions of happiness or sadness arise,
Use them for your spiritual path! That is my heart advice.
The meaning of this verse is that we need to maintain our stability whether we are happy or sad. In general, as long as we have taken birth in a body of contaminated delusion we will have various changing experiences of pleasure and pain; this is the nature of samsara. The happiness of physical feelings, and so forth, that we sentient beings experience through our five senses, which we chase and favor, this temporary facsimile of happiness, is said by those who have direct insight into the nature of reality, to actually be the suffering of change. There are many types of suffering but root sufferings have three aspects: suffering of pain, suffering of change, and pervasive suffering of karmic conditioning. Sentient beings recognize suffering of pain as suffering, do not want it, and try to eliminate it by many means, medical treatment, ritual services, prayer, and so on.
I’m not saying this isn’t suffering; it is. If we only think of it as suffering, however, just something unwanted, to rid ourselves of, that is a shortsighted attitude. Still, we must stop the cause from which it arises. For example, if water is powerfully pouring into a family’s house through a hole in the wall and, wanting to get rid of it, they try to bail it out of the house with buckets, it would be foolish. Better than that would be to patch the hole on the outside and tightly close the opening by whatever means is best; then the water in the house will naturally stop pouring in. After that you won’t have to worry about things in the house being ruined by water damage. Like that, if you can sever the root of your suffering, the many hundreds of secondary subtle sufferings will be eliminated at the same time. As said in Guide to the Bodhisattva Conduct,
If you tried to cover the whole earth with leather,
Where would you get the leather?
But just putting leather on the soles of your feet
is similar to covering the whole earth.
Usually, when we experience a temporary slight facsimile of happiness we crow with delight and jump for joy; and when we experience a temporary slight unwanted frustration, we get unhappy and cry; some even commit suicide if it is too painful. Rather than being like that, we should make our mind immutable, whatever experiences, pleasant or painful, arise. As Dza Patrul Rinpoche said,
If I’m sick, I’m sick, but it is better to be sick
Because it uses up bad karma I created before!
If I’m not sick, then it is better to not be sick:
It will increase the virtuous practice I do.
Realizing that whatever hardship and difficulty we experience arises from our own previous actions, if we think about this, it will help tremendously if our mind is not disturbed by our physical suffering. That physical problem may be the result of past karma, but our mind need not be changed by physical conditions; we must realize that it can be under our own control at all times. Therefore, whatever suffering arises, try to experience it without it destabilizing your mind. That is my instruction here, given in the form of important heartfelt advice.
