My dear friends,
The eighteenth precept under the seventh point in Geshe Chekawa's Mind Training in Seven Points is:
To be "liberated" implies bondage — and in the context of the Bodhisattva path, this bondage is not external but internal: We are prisoners of delusion. More specifically, we are held in captivity by:
- Self-Grasping Ignorance (atmagraha-avidya): The deeply rooted misconception that there exists a solid, independent, inherently existing "I" at the center of our experience. This is the fundamental delusion that keeps the wheel of samsara turning.
- Afflictive Emotions (kleshas): Anger, attachment, jealousy, pride, and so forth arise from this ignorance and further imprison us in suffering. They distort our perception and cause us to act in ways that harm ourselves and others.
- Habitual Patterns and Concepts: These include unconscious karmic imprints and fixed ideas about how things ought to be. We are caught in narratives that replay like dreams, over and over.
Examination and analysis are the tools the Bodhisattva employs not just intellectually, but contemplatively, to pierce these illusions:
- Examination means we look directly at our experience. What is this "I" I cling to? Where is it? What are its characteristics?
- Analysis means we apply logical reasoning: If the self is inherently existent, it must be findable — but it is not. If suffering is permanent, it would never change — but it does.
With these tools, we realize emptiness, the absence of inherent existence, and this insight cuts the root of bondage.
To be liberated by examination and analysis is to escape the prison of false appearances and enter into the freedom of Bodhicitta, the mind of Christ, where all actions, motivated by love and compassion, are guided by wisdom.
Contained in the First Dalai Lama’s Crowning Ornament of the Wise, we find eight verses(*) describing the “Eight Great Fears” as vivid and terrifying metaphors — inner afflictions personified as beasts, disasters, and demons. These are not literal dangers, but psychological and spiritual poisons that bind beings to suffering. The path of liberation is the path of insight — and here, examination and analysis become the sword and lamp that both cut through and illuminate these fears.
Who dwells in the mountain of wrong views;
And who is an inflated mentality holding itself better than others
And yielding a claw to degrade the worlds.
Examination allows us to detect pride in whatever form it arises. Analysis helps us to dissect this state of mind, revealing its dependence on judgmentalism and underlying insecurity. Seeing the suffering it causes, we shift to humility, recognizing the interdepencence that nullifies any ground for pride.
Who is not tamed by the sharp hooks of mindful alertness,
And who, from confusion caused by drinking the alcohol of sensual indulgence,
Leads us down wrong paths to the sharp fangs of pain.
The drunken elephant of ignorance tramples through our lives because we are inattentive to the causes and effects of our actions. Through examination, we identify patterns of habitual distraction. Analysis enables us to restrain our wild minds with the hook of mindfulness and to guide our actions with the rein of wisdom.
Which incite the wind of improper mental activity
And amidst swirling smoke-clouds of wrong action
Have power to burn the forest of goodness.
Anger flares up rapidly, often disguised as righteous indignation. Examination helps us catch its early signs: tightness and heat in the body, harsh thoughts in the mind. Analysis exposes its source in wounded self-grasping and unmet expectations. Seeing how it destroys our own peace and harms others, we recall the antidotes: patience, loving-kindness, and the understanding that all beings suffer delusions.
Who, attached to its nest of ignorance
Is unable to bear seeing the wealth or prosperity of others
And instantly infects everything with poison.
Jealousy poisons the mind through comparison and resentment. With examination, we become aware of this emotional undercurrent. Analysis shows us that another's fortune does not cause our pain—our grasping and aversion do. Cultivating mudita, sympathetic joy, through reasoning, we transform this poison into a medicine for our own and others' benefit.
Who created the dreadful wilds of inferior discipline
And the stark deserts of eternalism and nihilism
And destroys the towns and hermitages of virtue and joy.
Wrong views are particularly insidious because they masquerade as wisdom. Through careful examination of our beliefs, especially when we feel certain, we can identify views rooted in ego or fear. Analysis rooted in the Buddha's teachings on emptiness and dependent origination dismantles both eternalism and nihilism. This clears a path for faith grounded in insight and compassion.
That holds us in a lock of attachment difficult to spring
And bind living beings helplessly
In the unbearable prison of cyclic existence.
Examination brings us face to face with the self-grasping miserliness that traps the heart in fear of loss. Analysis reveals the self-centered delusion that giving diminishes us. Recognizing that generosity expands the mind and connects us with others, we loosen the grip of attachment and begin to give with joy, liberating ourselves from the prison of self-grasping delusion.
That carry us in the current of samsara so hard to ford
And that, conditioned by the winds of karma,
Toss in waves of birth, sickness, old age and death.
Desire is seductive and pervasive, often disguised as love or need. Examination allows us to perceive how craving drives our choices and emotions. Analysis unveils its root in the mistaken belief that external things can satisfy internal hunger. With this clarity, we cultivate contentment and direct our longing toward the ultimate source of fulfillment—awakening and compassion.
The malignant spirit who moves in the space of ignorance,
Attacking those with interest in ultimate aims
And disturbing the life of freedom.
Doubt is like a thief, stealing our confidence and leaving us in a state of uncertainty and hesitation. Examination allows us to catch the thief in the act, recognizing when doubt begins to erode our faith in the path, in ourselves, or in our spiritual practice. Analysis discovers that doubt often arises from fear and a lack of understanding. By deepening our study and reflection, we build a strong foundation of knowledge and trust, making it impossible for the thief of doubt to rob us of our resolve.
In applying examination and analysis to these fears, we do not merely suppress them but transform them into opportunities for awakening. Continuous mindfulness and vigilance is a spiritual discipline born of Bodhicitta, the mind of love, compassion, and wisdom. It is how we walk the path of the Bodhisattva, not in ignorance, but in fearless wisdom and active love.
(*) The translation of these verses is taken from the transcript of a five-day workshop by Gelek Rimpoche in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in May 1995.