Waking up from ignorance which is the cause for our mistaken exaggeration of reality is the key to ending all misery, which is Samsara.

Like a dream, everything we perceive as objects of our attachment, aversion or indifference, lacks inherent, independent existence. Recognizing this emptiness as them having no essence or "thing-ness" is wisdom, when we see that things do not exist as solid, permanent, or truly real entities, we naturally reduce our attachment to them, and along with that, our anger, jealousy, and negative habits. This cessation of exaggerated projection leads to the end of ignorance.

But jumping into merely intellectual awareness of emptiness is not sufficient to end suffering. Let's compare the clarity of ocean water to the clarity of mind. Just as ferocious waves stir up sediments and bubbles in the ocean, afflicting emotions and contaminated actions caused by wrong attention disturb the clarity of our awareness. Only when the waves subside, the bubbles settle, and the sediments fall to the bottom can the water become perfectly clear. Similarly, the mind’s clarity can only manifest once the layers of gross emotions, subtle afflictions, and especially the deeply ingrained self-grasping ignorance have been thoroughly calmed and purified.

So in order to achieve this infinitely clear state in a true way we deal with the following points, each will be deeper than the previous one:

Contaminated actions and afflictions: These are like the turbulent waves on the ocean surface, manifesting as physical, verbal, and mental negative actions and emotions that harm oneself and others whenever we deal with them. Their mitigation requires conscious ethical effort.

Afflicting emotions (attachment and aversion): These are like bubbles in the water, subtler than physical actions but still disrupting mental clarity, they are the cause tainting our activities. Transforming them involves emotional management of our impulsiveness and intentions with vigilance and mindfulness.

Inappropriate attention: This layer corresponds to subtle mental exaggerations and distortions, the way the mind inflates the qualities of objects, people, or experiences, producing the bubbles of craving and aversion. Overcoming this requires special contemplation and habituation through the teachings of mental training.

Self-grasping ignorance: The deepest root, akin to the underlying current of the water’s movement, represents the fundamental wrong perception of self and phenomena as inherently existent. Overcoming this is the final step to free ourselves from Samsara with the antidote of the wisdom of emptiness.

Crucially, without addressing these four layers sequentially and with appropriate methods, genuine insight into emptiness and ultimate liberation is ultimate impossible, like building a house starting from the roof. Jumping prematurely to emptiness without purifying the prior layers leads to partial or distorted realizations, thinking the opposite is ignoring we still need the proper tools to progress in the path.

So the first thing we do is counteract the contaminated actions and manifest afflictions, with ethical discipline, specifically avoiding the 10 non-virtuous actions, which are the foundation of all karmic negativity. These ten are divided into three categories:

Physical: killing, stealing, sexual
Verbal: lying, slandering, harsh speech, idle
Mental: covetousness, ill will, wrong view

Recognizing and striving to abstain from these actions gradually reduces the karmic pollution that fuels our suffering and the stream of misery. This ethical foundation is not just external behavior but purifies the mental intentions behind actions.

The next step is to work on emotional transformation by carefully observing and moderating attachment and aversion. For example, instead of exaggerating the sweetness or delight of food, people and possessions we already have, there is no need not to keep them, what we have to do is to cultivate a balanced appreciation based on reality and health just as a practical way of seeing them as things that helps us stay fit for practice and mentally aware of the path, like allies.

Our habitual exaggerated or distorted mental labeling (inappropriate attention) contributes to suffering. Through ongoing study and contemplation, one learns to recognize these mental fabrications and gradually diminish their power. This at first is intellectual work, needed to deepen one’s understanding and prepare the mind for the direct experiential insight of meditation.

Meditation is the crucial stage where study and ethical discipline culminate in habituating ourselves towards direct experience of emptiness and the treasure trove of natural mind’s luminosity. However, meditation alone without a firm foundation in ethical behavior, emotional management, and intellectual understanding will not suffice. Only with all these elements combined can the root ignorance be completely cut through.

So in short, diligently avoiding the 10 non-virtuous actions to prevent creating new negative karma and to purify behavior so we can cut attachment, aversion, and inappropriate attention through mindfulness and contemplative method, developing a deep pre-experiential, intellectual understanding of emptiness and the nature of mind necessary to weaken the subtle ignorance of self-grasping and stabilizing our direct experience of emptiness and clarity of mind, leading to full liberation from misery.

Rahula, Ekajati and Dorje Lekpa

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