THE DICTATORSHIP OF SELF-CHERISHING

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, The Door to Satisfaction: The Heart Advice of a Tibetan Buddhist Master, foreword by Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, edited by Ailsa Cameron & Robina Courtin (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001) ("The best way to train our mind is to expect the four undesirable objects rather than the four desirable ones. Expect to be criticized and disrespected. This practice of renunciation, which cuts off desire, is the best psychology. Having trained our mind to expect undesirable things, when something undesirable actually happens, it doesn't come as a shock to us; it doesn't hurt, because we are expecting it." "Before knowing about Dharma, before practicing meditation, you regarded discomfort, uninteresting sounds, criticism, and not acquiring things as undesirable problems. Now, if you examine well the nature of the mind that clings to material things, comfort, interesting sounds, praise, you won't find that it is happy; you will see that it too is suffering. It is not the happiness you thought it was before knowing about Dharma. It is not peaceful--it is painful." 'The mind that clings get stuck to the object of desire. When you receive praise--'You are so intelligent,' 'You speak so well,' 'You understand Dharma so well'--your mind get stuck to the praise and is no longer free. Like a body fastened with chains, the mind is fastened with attachment. The mind is tied, controlled, chained by attachment. The mind is stuck like glue to the object. Or like a moth flying into melted candle wax: its whole body, wings, and limbs become completely soaked in candle wax. Its body and libs are so fragile that it is extremely difficult to separate them from the wax. Or like a fly that gets stuck in a spider's web: its limbs get completely wrapped in the web, and it difficult to separate the form it Or like ants in honey. Attachment is the mind stuck to an object." Id. at 61-62. "Self-cherishing is a dictatorship. It is a dictatorship meant to benefit the self but one that results in only problems and failure.  It is not logical. Check, 'Why do I cherish myself? Why do I think that I'm more important than all the numberless other sentient beings? Who do I think I'm so precious? There is not one valid reason for self-cherishing. Though we can give many reasons why we should cherish others, we cannot find one reason why we should cherish our self." Id. at 118-119.).