無常

我們的生命既脆弱又無常，因為死亡和死亡之因難以預測，因此我們任何時刻都可能死亡。無人知曉死亡將於何時何因降臨；無人知曉生命將於何時結束。世界上任何一件人事物都是短暫無常的。 

在過去，有佛住世之際，佛法極為興盛的年代，無數的阿羅漢圍繞著弘法的佛陀。不過到底需要為他們建設甚麼樣的房舍呢？這些，也都是無常的；現在所剩下的，也不過是一片空蕩蕩的平原。又如那瀾陀大學，當時成千的大比丘眾所結集的經典，也都是無常的。現在，此處連一個出家人，甚至是一本佛教典籍也都找不到了。 

因此，我們應該下定決心學習佛法，而不是毫無意義地虛度此生。我們必須善用這一人身完成佛法。這好比遠度重洋尋找寶藏，爾後獲寶還鄉一樣，那麼這一艱辛的旅程就很有價值了。倘若我們入了寶山仍空手回歸，那就真是一種恥辱。如果你了悟無常法則，那你就能夠修習這神聖的佛法，但若你認為所有一切都會永恆不變，那就意味著死亡的無常尚未觸及您的心靈；這可是一個錯誤，是我們的妄想。 

Impermanence

Our lives are fragile and impermanent, and because death and its causes are uncertain, we may succumb at any moment. No one knows when, or how, death will come. No one knows when this life of ours will simply cease. There is not one thing in existence that is stable and lasts.

In the past, when the Buddha was alive surrounded by multitudes of Arhats and when the teachings prospered, what buildings must their benefactors have built for them! It was all impermanent; there is nothing left to see now but an empty plain. In the same way, at the universities of Nalanda, thousands of panditas spent their time instructing enormous assemblies. All impermanent! Now, not even a single monk or volume of Buddha's teachings are to be found there.

Therefore we should make up our minds that we will practise the Dharma instead of throwing our lives away in meaningless activities. We should use our human lives to accomplish the Buddha-dharma.It is like crossing the ocean in search of precious jewels and afterwards returning home with every kind of precious jewels; the difficulties of the trip will have been well rewarded. It would be a shame to come back empty-handed! If we have understanding of impermanence, we will be able to practise the sacred teachings. But if we continue to think that everything will remain as it is, it goes to show that an uncertainty of death has never touched our hearts. That is our mistake, our delusion

 .................................【敏林堪千仁波切的開示：心 】

 心

心為法之根本。馴服它便是法的實踐。修行即是馴服你的心。當你調服了自心，便為解脫。 

心，除了思緒以外，更無他者。心識之流，亦屬空性；任由思緒流逝無存。不論我們作了什麼，是善是惡，心才是我們真正的主宰。這也就是何以心在六道中不斷輪迴；亦是心在不斷地製造輪迴。這是因為心還沒有清楚地認知到其本性。 

心是王；身和語只是執行其目標的工具。心支配人的信與疑、愛與恨，是一切雜染的根本；心令嗔恨之升起，造作傷害他人之業。心是長養所有一切之大地，它長養人之嗔惡、嫉妒、慾望、愚蠢、我慢等等。就是這些雜染，促使我們惡業的增長，阻斷我們脫離輪迴的道路。因此佛陀才一再告誡我們，我們定要完全征服自己的心。當我們知道心是所有一切苦因的根本，就必需進一切能力掌控它。

征服自心、讓心趨向正面需要堅定不移的意志。

倘若你征服了心，那麼即便面臨人生的大限，你也會清楚地了知，有一種心識，被稱之為死亡，然而自性本身，是超越生死的。

那些具有羞恥心的人，對自己所作所為便會小心翼翼。

因為對自己的業行小心謹慎，所以也就勇於承擔；

因為勇於承擔，便會堅守言諾；

因為堅守言諾，他們便能夠完成佛陀所說的：

「啊！輪迴由業行而生；

  緣於業行，苦與樂為之升起；

  無論任何業緣之聚集；

   都會促成業行 ；而業行，

   將促成苦與樂的再次輪迴。」 

 業是行為的因和果。所有眾生，若心存二分法，則必然會持續的造業。淨化此二分心業報的法門眾多，根據眾生的根器而有所不同。 

小乘修持者：透過對苦的認知，學習對業因的斷除；也就是斷除「我」以及「我所」升起的情感，達到自我內心的證悟與安詳。 

大乘修持者：努力於對「無我」和「無一切法」的修持。由此，觀一切現象即為虛妄、了不可得，漸而開啟對一切尚未證悟眾生的大悲心，最後升起為度無盡眾生而證涅槃。 

金剛乘修持者：透過對聖者的觀修，以不二心智轉換一切業，證得一切佛的無量純淨曼陀羅。 

 龍欽巴尊者說：

「象徵具德的白雲以及象徵失德的黑雲；

皆會蒙蔽如豔陽般的自性；

對接受或拒絕的堅持，猶如動盪不安的閃電；

虛妄的苦與樂如雨水般持續降臨；

輪迴的種子產出無限的六道業種；

喔∼所有受苦的眾生∼可憐啊！」

Mind

The root of Dharma is your mind. Tame it and you are practicing the Dharma.
To practice Dharma is to tame your mind- And when you tamed it, then you will be free! 

The mind is nothing but thoughts. The stream of consciousness, which is empty, is carried away by thoughts that are likewise empty. Whatever we do, for good or ill, it is our mind that is the true agent. This is how mind falls and remains in the six realms of samsara. It is the mind itself that fabricates samsara, and it does so because it fails to recognize its own nature.

The mind is king, and body and speech are servants which must do its bidding. It is the mind that conceives faith and the mind that conceives doubt; it is mind that conceives love and the mind that conceives hatred. The mind is the root of every defilements. It is here that anger is born; and from anger every kind of hurt and injury to others. The mind is the soil in which all this grows: all malevolence, envy, desire, stupidity, arrogance and so forth. It is because of these defilements that we accumulate actions that prevent us from escaping from samsara. That is why Buddha told us that we should completely subdue our minds and to get a grip on our minds. Having realized that the mind is the root of all affliction, we must be vigilant in keeping it under control, holding down our defilements as much as we can.

Taming the mind and making it positive needs perseverance.
If you gain control over your mind, then even if you are at the point of death, you will understand that it is only because of a particular thought that there is an impression of dying- but that the nature of the mind is utterly beyond both birth and death.

Those who have a sense of shame are careful how they act;
Careful in their actions, they are self-possessed;
Self-possessed, they keep their vows and pledges(Promise);
Keeping vows and pledges, they will have accomplishment.

Lord Buddha said: 

        Alas! Samsara is born from karma,
        From karma, happiness and unhappiness are made,
        Whenever conditions are gathered,
        They make karma,
        And karma makes happiness and unhappiness again. 

Karma is the activity of cause and result. All beings with dualistic mind are continually creating karma. There are many different methods according to different beings' capacities for purifying the karma of dualistic mind. 

Hinayana Practitioners: Through aversion to the suffering of samsara, try to abandon the cause of karma, which are ego and the passions that arise from ego, in order to attain the enlightenment of self peace. 

Mahayana Practitoners: Try to realize that there is no prossessor of a self and no possessor of phenomena, so therefore all phenomena become illusory with the freedom of nonattachment, which automatically opens immeasurable compassion towards beings who do not realize this, in order to attain enlightenment for the benefit of countless beings. 

Vajrayana Practitioners: Through the perception of deity appearance, try to transform all karmic phenomena through nondualistic wisdom mind in order to attain enlightnement in the immeasurable, pure mandala of all Buddhas. 

Kunkhyen Longchen Rabjam said

        Self-arising awareness, the absolute sun,
        Is obscured by both white and black clouds of virtue and nonvirtue.
       The effort of attachment to acceptance and rejection is a turbulent lightning  storm,
          The rainfall of delusion's happiness and suffering continuously descends;
          Samsara's seed produces the abundantly growing crops of the six realms.
          Alas! all tormented sentient beings are pitiful.