THE DEFECTS OF SAMSARA continually amassing evil actions in an endless round of killing and being killed Hunters are expert in all methods of torturing and killing these animals They threaten their lives with all sorts of vicious devices-nets, snares, traps and guns Some animals are killed for their horns, fur, skins and other products of their body Oysters are killed for their pearls; elephants for their tusks and bones; tigers, leopards, otters and foxes for their fur; musk-oxen for their musk; wild asses and yaks for their flesh and blood It is a terrible affliction that the very body with which they are born is the reason for their being killed As for those animals domesticated by man, they are so stupid that when their executioner approaches, knife in hand, they can only stare wideeyed, not even thinking of escape They are milked, loaded down, castrated, pierced through the nose and yoked to the plough Not one of them escapes this continual round of slavery Horses and yaks continue to be loaded and ridden even when their backs are nothing but one big sore When they can go no further, they are whipped and pelted with stones The fact that they could be in distress or ill never seems to cross their owners' minds Cattle and sheep are exploited until they die Once they are too old, they are sold off or killed by the owners themselves Whatever the case, they are destined for the butcher and a natural death is unknown to them Animals, then, experience inconceivable torments Whenever you see animals tortured in this way, put yourself in their place and imagine in detail all they have to undergo Meditate with fierce compassion upon all those reborn as animals In particular, if you have animals of your own, treat them with kindness and love Since all animals, right down to the smallest insect, have feelings of pleasure and pain, and since they have all been our fathers and mothers, develop love and compassion towards them, combining your practice with the methods for the beginning, main part and conclusion No matter where in these three lower realms beings may be reborn, they experience all manner of intense and long-lasting sufferings Beings born there are stupid, ignorant and without any idea of Dharma, and can only create further causes for yet more lives in the lower realms So once reborn there, it is difficult to get out In this present life of ours, and in other past lives, we have accumulated numerous actions that are certain to lead us to rebirth in those states So we should apply ourselves with great sincerity to regretting our wrong actions in the past, confessing them 77 THE ORDINARY OR OUTER PRELIMINARIES and v.owing to avoid them from now on Thinking with great compassion of the beings who live in those worlds, dedicate to them the effects of all the positive actions you have accumulated throughout the three times Pray that they may be liberated from those evil realms: "Now that I have met with the Dharma of the Great Vehicle, and have the chance to practise the path that brings true benefit both to myself and to others, I shall practise that Dharma with courage, scorning all difficulties, and lead all those beings of the three lower realms to the Buddhafields." Having cultivated bodhicitta with that thought, pray to your teacher and the deities, asking for their help and support, thinking, "May my teacher and the Three Jewels bless me that I may achieve this aim!" Dedicate the merit to the benefit of beings, thus practising the three supreme methods Although rebirth in the three lower realms naturally entails suffering, one might expect that the three higher realms would be happy and pleasant But in fact even in the higher realms there is no happiness The human realm Humans suffer from the three fundamental types of suffering, and also from the four great streams of suffering: birth, old-age, sickness and death Other human sufferings are the dread of meeting hated enemies or of losing loved ones, and the suffering of not getting what one wants or of encountering what one does not want 4.1 THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL TYPES OF SUFFERING 4.1.1 The suffering of change The suffering of change is the suffering that we feel when a state of happiness suddenly changes into suffering One moment we feel fine, satisfied and full after a good meal, and then suddenly we are wracked by violent spasms because of parasites in our stomach One moment we are happy, and the next moment an enemy plunders our wealth or our livestock; or a fire burns down our home; or we are suddenly stricken by sickness or evil influences; or we receive some terrible news-and immediately we are plunged into suffering For indeed, whatever apparent comfort, happiness or prestige is to be found here in sarilsara, it lacks the tiniest scrap of constancy or stability, and in the long run can never resist the round of suffering Therefore, 78 THE DEFECTS OF SAMSARA cultivate disenchantment with it all 4.1.2 Suffering upon suffering We experience suffering upon suffering when, before one suffering is over, we are subjected to another We get leprosy, and then we break out in boils, too; and then as well as breaking out in boils we get injured Our father dies and then our mother dies soon afterwards We are pursued by enemies and, on top of that, a loved one dies; and so forth No matter where we are reborn in sarilsara, all our time is spent in one suffering on top of another, without any chance of a moment's happiness 4.1.3 The suffering of everything composite53 Now, some of us might think that things are going quite well for us at the moment, and we not seem to be suffering much In fact, we are totally immersed in the causes of suffering For our very food and clothing, our homes, the adornments and celebrations that give us pleasure, are all produced with harmful actions As everything we is just a concoction of negative actions, it can only lead to suffering As examples, consider tea and tsampa • Where tea is grown, in China, the number of small creatures that are killed while it is planted, while the leaves are being picked, and so on, would be impossible to count The tea is then carried as far as Dartsedo by porters Each porter carries a load of twelve six-brick packs, taking the weight on a band around his forehead which wears away his skin But even when his skull shows through, all white, he carries on From Dotok onwards, dzo, yaks and mules take over, their backs breaking, their bellies perforated with cuts, patches of their hair chafed away They suffer terribly from their servitude Bartering the tea involves nothing but a series of broken promises, cheating and argument, until finally the tea changes hands, usually in exchange for animal products like wool and lambskins Now wool, in summer before shearing, is crawling with fleas, ticks and other small creatures as numerous as the strands of wool themselves During shearing, most of those insects are decapitated, cut in two or disembowelled Those not killed remain stuck in the wool and suffocate All of this can only lead to lower rebirths As for lambskins, • Tea and tsampa, finely ground roasted barley, are the two staples throughout Tibet Tibetan tea is churned with milk and butter and consumed frequently during the day Tsampa is mixed with it to make an instant food 79 THE ORDINARY OR OUTER PRELIMINARIES remember that new-born lambs have all their organs of sense, and they feel pleasure and pain Just as they are enjoying their first instants of life, in perfect health, they are killed Perhaps they are only stupid animals, but nevertheless they not want to die-they love life and suffer as they are tortured and slaughtered As for the ewes whose little ones have been killed, they are a living example of the sorrow experienced by a mother who loses her only child So when we think about the production and trade of such products, we can understand that even a single sip of tea cannot but contribute to rebirth in the lower realms Now look at tsampa Before sowing the barley, the fields have to be ploughed, which forces to the surface all the worms and insects living underground and buries underground all those living on the surface Wherever the ploughing oxen go, they are followed by crows and small birds who feed incessantly on all those small creatures When the fields are irrigated, all the aquatic animals in the water are stranded on dry land, while all the creatures living on dry land are drowned Likewise, at each stage of sowing, harvest and threshing, the number of beings killed is incalculable If you think about it, it is almost as if we were eating powdered insects In the same way, butter, milk and other foods, the "three white foods" and the "three sweet foods" that we consider pure and untainted by harmful actions, are not so at all The majority of baby yaks, calves and lambs are killed Those who are not, as soon as they are born and before they have had a chance to suckle even a mouthful of their mothers' sweet milk, have a rope tied round their necks and stay tethered to a stake during pauses on the road, and to each other during journeys, so that every mouthful of milk-their rightful food and drink-can be stolen to make butter and cheese By taking the essence of the mother's body, so vital for the baby, we leave them half way between life and death When spring comes around, the old mother animals have become so weak that they cannot even get up from their stalls The calves and lambs have mostly starved to death The survivors, weak and skeleton-like, stagger about almost dead All the factors we now see as constituting happiness-food to eat, clothes to wear, and whatever goods and materials we can think of-are likewise produced through negative actions alone The end result of all those things can only be the infinite torments of the lower realms So everything that seems to represent happiness today is, in fact, the suffering of everything composite 80 THE DEFECTS OF SAMSARA 4.2 THE SUFFERINGS OF BIRTH, SICKNESS, OLD AGE AND DEATH 4.2.1 The suffering of birth For human beings here in this world, birth is from the womb 54 The consciousness of a being in the intermediate state first has to interpose itself into the union of the father's semen and mother's blood It then passes through the painful experiences of the various embryonic stages: the round jelly, viscous ellipse, thick oblong, firm oval, hard round lump,55 and so on Once the limbs, appendages and sense-organs have formed, the fetus, trapped inside the dark, rank and suffocating uterus, suffers like someone thrown into prison When the mother eats hot food, the fetus suffers pain as if being burned by fire When she eats something cold, it feels as if it is being thrown into freezing water; when she lies down, as if buried under the weight of a hill; when her stomach is full, as if trapped between rocks; when she is hungry, as if falling from a precipice; when she walks about or sits down, as if buffeted about by the wind As the pregnancy reaches term, the energy of karmic existence56 turns the baby's head downwards ready to be born As the baby is pushed down towards the cervix, it suffers as though a strong giant were holding it by the legs and banging it against a wall As it is forced through the bony structure of the pelvis, the baby feels as though it were being pulled through the hole in a draw-plate 57 Should the opening be too narrow, it cannot be delivered and dies Indeed, both mother and baby may die during labour, and even if they survive they experience all the pain of dying As the Great Master of Oc;lc;liyana said: Both mother and child go halfway to the land of Death, And all the mother's joints, except her jaws, are wrenched apart Everything the baby experiences is painful Dropping down on the mattress as it is born feels like falling into a pit full of thorns Having the encrusted slime wiped off its back feels like being flayed alive Being washed clean feels like being beaten with thorns Being taken on to its mother's lap feels like being a little bird carried off by a hawk Having butter rubbed on the crown of its head58 feels like being tied up and thrown down a hole Being put in the cradle is like being put into dirty mud Whenever the infant suffers from hunger, thirst, sickness and so on, all it can is cry From birth onwards, as we mature in our youth, we have the impression of growth and increase But what is really happening is that our life is 81 ... the womb 54 The consciousness of a being in the intermediate state first has to interpose itself into the union of the father's semen and mother's blood It then passes through the painful experiences... as they are enjoying their first instants of life, in perfect health, they are killed Perhaps they are only stupid animals, but nevertheless they not want to die-they love life and suffer as they... said: Both mother and child go halfway to the land of Death, And all the mother's joints, except her jaws, are wrenched apart Everything the baby experiences is painful Dropping down on the mattress