by Patrul Rinpoche
འཛིན་ན་དགའ་བ་གསུམ་ཡོད་དེ།
Preferable to oneself, there are three things to control: ཚོགས་སུ་ཁ།
Controlling one’s tongue when one is with people
གཅིག་པུར་ལག
Controlling one’s hands when one is alone
ནམ་ཡང་སེམས།
Controlling one’s mind, at all times
ཚོགས་སུ་ཁ། Controlling one’s tongue when one is with people
Without wasting valuable ink and paper, Patrul Rinpoche tells us what we must keep in check. The first two he points out are behavioural. He says and I paraphrase: Watch what you are saying to people. Is that what you really want to say? Is that how you really want to say it? Are you accurately rendering your thoughts into the expressed words? Often we do not give thorough attention to our verbal expressions. Learning from our own past behaviour, we can clearly see where we can make improvements. Though words are not knives, they can cut people. Though words are not daggers, they can pierce through the heart. Wars were waged due to said words. We have plenty of examples of how others have hurt us using only their speech. We can also recall our own regretful behaviour toward others. Based on confusion and overpowered by unnoticed anger or pride, we feel the need to win or at least even-out an argument with the opponent, which is why we must always have the last word. Don’t we? When this is not achieved, we brood over the perceived failure. We watch the repeated telecast in our mind, conceptually replaying the event and toying with the different climatic endings. Who is continually playing this movie? Who else? The same old actors.
Working like minions, it is the disturbing emotions, under the unintelligent, false, and harmful dictator –self-grasping. Like being under the influence of a magical spell, we repeatedly die and re-live the perceived defeat, embroiled in anger and sadness. Sometimes we play the sequence with the preferred ending where we end up being the winner. We relish this absolutely hypothetical, conceptual, and completely diluted state of mind. Such a predicament we have as sentient beings in saṃsāra. The suffering, my goodness! All the disturbing emotions emerging then are identical to the disturbing emotions arisen in the original event, or even stronger. In the burst of moment, blinded by disturbing emotions, we become stupid and act contrary to our best selves. Similar to the saying, won the battle but lost the war, we can recall how many people had lost us completely because of their speech, and vice versa.
If we talk about negative karma of various disturbing emotions such as anger – especially when it is long-term brewing anger – it is regarded as the heaviest negative karma of all. Moreover, the negative karma manifested in words and actions, the long-held anger, those are extra toppings, if you will. Of course, there are the negative outcomes of the disturbing emotions in this life, but the karmic consequences of the described negative karmas in the future lives are unfathomable. No wonder how difficult it is for us to remain unperturbed, still. Imagine the immeasurable negative karma ripening in us in this life. Where does it all begin practically? It all begins, in this context, with the habit of seemingly harmless, uncontrolled speech. Thus, give up the unregulated, uncontrolled speech. Watch your tongue, says Patrul Rinpoche.
གཅིག་པུར་ལག Controlling one’s hands when one is alone
Next, Patrul Rinpoche underscores another negative behaviour which can manifest when we know we are alone. We may steal what is desirable to us. Patrul Rinpoche suggests that we control our hands. He tells us not to create negative karma.
Imagine the typical scene of a thief gingerly walking, stealing sparkling jewelry from the closet, and jumping out of the window. This, perhaps, may be limited to Tom and Jerry cartoons. Nowadays, we live in the so-called technologically-advanced, civilized society, so that we do not have to use our hands to steal. With the company of a crooked lawyer and a clever accountant, any ill-intended person can steal at the stroke of a pen. Companies can steal from other companies all sorts of valuable ideas and information. It’s a rat race out there. We can also do the same if we really want. Why should we not do it? Why should we care for our own inner compass? Karma bites back. Engaging in negative karma backfires on us. Even if the entire country becomes anarchistic, a dog-eat-dog society, we still must remember and trust in the karmic workings.
ནམ་ཡང་སེམས། Controlling one’s mind, at all times
Lastly, the author points out the source of all negative behaviour, which is what we must keep in check all the time – our mind.
སྡིག་པ་ཅི་ཡང་མི་བྱ་ཞིང་། ། དགེ་བ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པར་སྤྱད། ངང་གི་སེམས་ནི་ཡོངས་སུ་འདུལ། ། འདི་ནི་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་ཡིན། །
Commit not a single unwholesome action, Cultivate a wealth of virtue, Tame completely this mind of ours – This is the teaching of the buddhas.
Echoing the axiom of the Buddha Śākyamuni above, Patrul Rinpoche instructs us to focus on the basic postulation of the Buddha’s teaching. Honouring the karmic workings, do not commit negative action. And above all, know and keep in check the source of all negative actions, our wild, unbridled, discursive thoughts. Mind is the source of liberation as well as confusion, the source of all the remarkable insights and the beautiful qualities as well as all the delusions and the disturbing emotions. When we peer inside Buddha’s teaching, we become more and more aware of our own saṃsāric entanglements. Once the certainty dawns upon us that this is the path for me, then we ought to follow the path. An admired idea does not cause liberation. Integrating the teaching does. Whether we are alone as no one is watching or when we are in public amongst people; whether we have the company of favourable, like-minded people or the completely opposite; and whether we are on a cushion, in the temple, or in some shopping mall, WE are witness to our own thoughts and actions, and that alone should suffice as the sole reason. Not contingent on people and their opinions about us, but rather WE must not be ashamed of our own thoughts and actions. We may succeed to conceal our thoughts and actions from others, but no place exists in the world where we can hide from ourselves.
What was in the past was in the past. Forget about it, said by Patrul Rinpoche. But learning from the past and relying on the compass, the aforementioned maxim, let us give ourselves a sense of forward direction. If controlling, regulating our thoughts and actions gives us greater happiness, which is obviously preferable to all of us, then why not do it? Why not keep ourselves in check instead of policing the world? Why not take responsibility for our own potential happiness in the future, rather than blaming people and dwelling on our perceived defeats in the past? Instead of an afterthought (after a painful event), why not remind ourselves every morning when we get out of bed what is important in life and what is not? Why not be led by the inspiration of the exemplary living teachers? Apart from this, what is the point of relying on the teacher and the teachings?
Heed Patrul Rinpoche’s words. Let us not go astray.
The source text by Patrul Rinpoche you can find HERE.