This extract is from Lama Thubten Yeshe’s teachings during his and Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s tour of the United States in the summer of 1974, given as public and private lectures in San Francisco and Berkeley. It appears in chapter 3, “Searching for the Causes of Unhappiness,” of Wisdom Energy: Basic Buddhist Teachings published by Wisdom Publications. In the extract below, Lama Yeshe describes “Dharma logic” as a kind of inner experiment: “It deals with inner problems and looks for solutions to the most important question in life. … When you arrive at solutions using such Dharma logic, you find that you have not merely answered one isolated problem but have discovered the interrelatedness of many inner processes previously thought to be unconnected. This type of reasoning is very demanding, for you must continually check up and investigate the many ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ you uncover. But it is also ultimately more satisfying, because it affects the very quality of your life.” This spirit of inquiry resonates with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s longstanding work to foster dialogue between Buddhism and science for the benefit of humanity. This post is part of our Science and Buddhism series. Several FPMT centers have been actively working to bridge the fields of Buddhism and science. We rejoice in their efforts to bring this vision to life and to serve others through this meaningful work. If your center is bridging science and Buddhism, we would love to hear about it and share it in a future story.

Lama Yeshe in Berkeley, California, 1974. Photo donated by Judy Weitzner.

… It is a common mistake to think that a religious person is someone who is afraid of new and potentially challenging situations that might threaten his or her beliefs. Since true religion is the very light of wisdom, why should a religious person ever be afraid of darkness? The nature of light cannot be affected by shadows. Similarly the clean, clear light of wisdom-knowledge cannot be disturbed by confused and foggy states of mind. Nor is the spirit of scientific investigation in any way contrary to true religion. After all, scientific experiments do not contradict the light of the sun and moon, so why should they be opposed to the light of inner wisdom?

The weak-those who lack the discriminating eye of wisdom-accept religious beliefs passively. Having no background in philosophic thought and ignorant of the reasons supporting their faith, they experience great uneasiness when someone questions their beliefs. Such people often live closely guarded lives, fearful of encountering someone or something that might shatter their insecure spiritual foundation. This attitude, however, is not the fault of religion but of their own limited understanding. True Dharma leads in exactly the opposite direction. It enables one to integrate all the many diverse experiences of life into a meaningful and coherent whole, thereby banishing fear and insecurity completely.

Of course, the type of philosophy and logical thinking that underlies true religious belief is not exactly the same as that taught in schools. Mathematical logic, for instance, enables you to deal with a certain strictly defined external problem in a reasonable manner. The original problem is restricted in scope, and the solution that is found completely satisfies it. Dharma logic, however, has a much higher and all-encompassing goal. It deals with inner problems and looks for solutions to the most important question in life: how to find happiness and avoid suffering for oneself and others. When you arrive at solutions using such Dharma logic, you find that you have not merely answered one isolated problem but have discovered the interrelatedness of many inner processes previously thought to be unconnected. This type of reasoning is very demanding, for you must continually check up and investigate the many “hows” and “whys” you uncover. But it is also ultimately more satisfying, because it affects the very quality of your life.

How do you apply this inner Dharma logic? Perhaps you feel unhappy, and, as a result, the thought of hatred starts to arise within you. Rather than passively observing this process or being swept along involuntarily, you should investigate what is happening. Try to discover why you are unhappy, and consider whether hatred is an appropriate response. In other words, ask yourself if what you are about to express will improve your situation or not. Making such an analysis is not an act of neurotic self-preoccupation. Rather, it is a way to illuminate an answer to your problems.

Such questioning, then, is a process of causation in that it leads to a solution. It is the same process enacted by a scientist who tries experiment after experiment in order to come up with the best answer to his or her problem. While making inner experiments, you should ask yourself a series of questions in the same way. By doing this properly you will develop and mature spiritually, and as a result you will overcome the uneasiness and dissatisfaction gnawing at you. You will be able to analyze your growing hatred, for example, and discover not only its causes but an effective way to lessen and eventually eliminate it. […]

It is very worthwhile to look closely into the nature of your feelings and investigate what goes on in your consciousness, mind, psyche, or whatever you wish to call it. This is so worthwhile-who could ever deny it? Do religious doctrines teach a more effective approach for attaining true peace of mind? Are science and philosophy opposed to this method of investigation? Not at all. In fact, a background in philosophy, as stated before, only strengthens the realizations gained from such inner explorations. Without such solidity to your beliefs, you might feel you have an answer to a particular problem only to see it disappear when someone questions you about it. Psychological solutions should not be as flimsy as this.

Let us look deeper into the nature of feelings. Whether they are happy, unhappy, or neutral, most feelings arise from mistaken discriminations. Such discriminations are mistaken because they are based on false projections of the mind, which keep you from perceiving the true nature of reality. This is true of the reality of any phenomenon, outer or inner, animate or inanimate. Feelings do not arise only when one human reacts to another. They can occur in relation to anything. In most instances of conflict there is an object, and your disturbed feelings about it are the subject. These may be thought of as distinct and separate from one another as when one feels, “I hate that person”—but in fact your feeling has somehow created this object. By this I mean that the object of your feeling has nothing whatsoever to do with the reality of any external phenomenon. It is merely the painted projection of a falsely discriminating mind.

Therefore it is really quite simple to deal with potential sources of mental conflict. Merely remember that whatever arouses disturbing feelings within you is but a conception of a mistaken, superstitious mind. Investigate the object in these terms and you will be able to gain a clearer view of what is happening without resorting to a very complicated line of reasoning. Just experiment with your life. Whenever you are perceiving, acting, or feeling, check up immediately to see if you might be cheating yourself. Or, more accurately, see if your mind, projecting unreal discriminations onto the objects you perceive, might be cheating you by causing conflict and disturbances.

We always think that it is someone else who is causing our problems and robbing us of happiness. If we look carefully, however, there is no such enemy to be found. From beginningless time, throughout countless lives, and from the moment of our birth until now, we have been cheating ourselves. You may think, “I never act that way; I’m a good person.” But you will never gain absolute understanding if you look at things in such a simplistic way. Investigate your mental attitude toward things and discover how you impose your mistaken projections onto the people you meet and onto all other phenomena as well.

Most of the time, we paint: we put our own limited interpretation on everything. You can discover this tendency even without resorting to an analysis of the ultimate nature of reality. Merely taking into account the relative, conventional appearance of things, ask yourself, “Who am I? What am I?” A certain definite picture of who it is you think you are will appear suddenly on the relative level of truth. Now subject this self-image to close scrutiny. “Is this who I really am? Do I in fact appear this way to everyone all the time?” When you do such an investigation honestly, this painted image will fade. As you see it disappear into unreality, you will discover for yourself how distorted your perception of other phenomena must be as well. You will see that your painted, sensory world is but the product of mistaken projections, and that the feelings aroused by such a fictitious universe keep you shuttling back and forth between elation and despair. This circle of dissatisfaction, built on illusion, is samsara itself, and your investigation will show you that it is fashioned within your own mind.

If you train yourself to look at things in this way, you will never think that your problems are the fault of society, your country, your father or mother. You will realize that the problem is within you. In order to prepare yourself for this task of self-analysis, you first need some instruction in how to think clearly. This will help you put in order the many diverse mental phenomena you will uncover. In addition, as certain truths are not immediately obvious, they must be shown to you beforehand by a trusted guide. It is in this sense that there is a doctrinal aspect to this process of self-analysis as well. But the true force of this investigation is your own unmistaken wisdom-energy, which will give you powerful control over your life.

There is no danger involved in accepting this way of experimenting with your everyday experiences. There is nothing tricky or misleading about such a practical philosophy. You see that your mental problems arise from painted projections of an illusory world. Fooled by this illusion, you falsely discriminate certain feelings to be “good” and others to be “bad.” But this illusory world is no one’s world. Whose could it be? Investigate! My projection of “California” is no one else’s projection. That is why Buddhist philosophy says that in this respect, all phenomena are created by your own mind. These words have a profound, essential meaning that cannot be discovered by the hypocritical, intellectually polluted mind. You must experiment and experience yourself the illusory nature of your projections. Only in this way will you be able to perceive the underlying reality.

Investigation is active. Meditation does not mean sitting in a corner and doing nothing. It is not like that at all. No matter what you are doing or whose company you are in, you can always be checking, can’t you? This is something that is always possible to do. It would be a complete misunderstanding of Buddhist meditation to think that it is designed for lazy people who do not want to work. “All those meditators do is sit around, eat, sleep, and go to the toilet!” People with no understanding can think this if they wish, and even some meditators may feel this way. But a true meditator is someone who takes full responsibility for his or her growth and development. He or she should not be so afraid of everything that it becomes necessary to hide in a corner. Buddha never intended meditation to be anything like that. A small and imperfect understanding of Dharma or religion may give rise to insecurity and a desire to withdraw from reality. But true meditation is an active, alert confrontation that pierces through illusion to the very heart of reality.[…]

You have such a precious, powerful opportunity to do something truly meaningful with your existence. But before you accept the practice of Dharma, religion, or any other form of mental culture, you must clearly decide what offers you the most in life. Can you really expect to find satisfaction in the maze of worldly desires, or must you search deeper for the source of true joy? If you never discriminate and make a clear decision on this matter, your acceptance of a path-religious or otherwise will be merely superficial. There will be little spiritual growth without a foundation deep within your own personality. Nothing clearly beneficial will arise in your mind because it will remain covered in fogginess and conflicting emotions. So please look inward, decide what is truly best for you, and discover the pure nature of your mind.

Thank you so much.

This teaching is drawn from Wisdom Energy: Basic Buddhist Teachings, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe, published in 1976 by Wisdom Publications and edited by Jonathan Landaw. 

Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.