Franc was hesitant. “I’ve heard them mentioned.”
“The first teachings Buddha gave after he became enlightened were the Four Noble Truths. They are a very good place to begin an understanding. You see, Buddha is just like a doctor you go to see when you are feeling unwell. First, the doctor checks the symptoms. Then, he diagnoses the condition. Next, he says if it’s possible to deal with the problem—makes a prognosis. Last, he prescribes the treatment. Buddha took exactly the same four steps when looking at our experience of life.”
Franc was following the lama intently. “What symptoms did he find?”
“In general,” said Geshe Wangpo, “a high level of dissatisfaction, or dukkha in Sanskrit. Dukkha means everything from trivial discomfort to the deepest physical and emotional suffering. Buddha understood that much of our experience of ordinary life is difficult. Stressful. It’s hard to be us.”
Franc was nodding in agreement.
> “The causes of this dissatisfaction are many. The fact that we are born means we must face death and most probably the hardships of sickness and old age. Impermanence can be another cause of unhappiness. We can get things just the way we want them, and then”—the lama snapped his fingers—“change.”
Geshe Wangpo continued. “But the underlying reason for our dissatisfaction, the root cause, is that we mistake the way that things exist. We see objects and people as separate and independent from us. We believe them to have characteristics, qualities, that we are attracted to or repelled by. We think everything is happening outside us and we are just reacting to it—as though it’s all coming at us from the outside.”
They walked for several steps in silence before Franc asked, “Why is it a mistake to see it that way?”
“Because when we look very hard, we can’t find an essence to any person or object, including me. We can’t find any qualities that exist separate from our own minds.”
“You’re saying”—Franc spoke faster than usual—“that there’s nothing out there and we’re making it all up?”
“No. But that is the most common misunderstanding. This subtle truth is called ‘dependent arising,’ and it can take much study and meditation to understand. But it’s the most amazingly powerful concept—life-changing when we begin to comprehend it. Just as quantum scientists have confirmed, what Buddha taught is that the way things exist, how things exist, depends, in part, on our own minds. This means that the Third Noble Truth, the prognosis, is a positive one.”
“Because we can work on our minds?” ventured Franc.
“Yes, yes!” Geshe Wangpo nodded briskly. “If all this dissatisfaction, all this dukkha, were coming from out there, it would be impossible to do much about it. But because it originates in the mind itself, well, we have some hope. So the Fourth Noble Truth is the treatment—what we can do about our mental problems.” Again he regarded Franc with a daring smile.
But Franc was too absorbed in what the lama was saying to take offense. “So what’s the treatment?” he wanted to know.
“All of Buddha’s teachings,” Geshe Wangpo replied. “He is said to have given eighty-four thousand of them.”
“The Dharma?”
“Yes. Do you know what Dharma means?”
Franc shrugged. “Buddha’s philosophy?”
Geshe Wangpo tilted his head, “Broadly speaking, you could say that. In Buddhism we also interpret Dharma to mean ‘cessation,’ as in the end of dissatisfaction, the end of dukkha. This is the purpose of Buddha’s teachings.”
The lama paused for a moment as they reached a point behind the temple where a large tree formed an umbrella over the pathway. The ground beside them was scattered with leaves.
“You know, Buddha was once asked a mysterious question about the universe. The way he answered the question is very interesting.” Geshe Wangpo bent down to scoop up a handful of leaves. “He asked his students, ‘Are there more leaves in my hand, or on the floor of the forest all around us?’ The students said, ‘On the floor of the forest.’ So Buddha replied, ‘The leaves in my hand represent the knowledge that leads to the end of suffering.’ In this way”—Geshe Wangpo opened his hand, letting the leaves flutter to the ground—“Buddha was very clear about the purpose of his teachings.”
“If there are eighty-four thousand of them, where do you begin?” asked Franc as they continued the circumambulation.
“The Lam Rim, or graduated path to enlightenment, is a good place to start,” the lama told him. “It teaches us to become more aware of our own mental behavior, to replace negative patterns of thought with more positive ones.”
“Sounds like psychotherapy.”
“Exactly! Lama Yeshe, one of the first lamas to bring Tibetan Buddhism to the West, used to say exactly that: ‘Be your own therapist.’ He wrote a book with that title.”
The two of them continued in silence for a while before Franc asked, “Is it true that some lamas are clairvoyant?”
Geshe Wangpo glanced at him sharply. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m just wondering … what negative patterns of thought I might need to work on.”
“You don’t need to be clairvoyant to know that.” The lama’s voice was firm.
“No?”