37 practices

could be the thief who stole your stuff. It could be the person who scratched your car. It could be your kid who took the battery out of your car when you had to go to work. Whoever we happen to be upset with at that moment becomes our enemy. We burn with anger towards the people who disturb our peace and interfere with us getting what we want. Some people express their anger; others stuff it inside and become cold. Whether we explode or implode, it’s not a state of good mental health.

In the darkness of confusion, you forget what to adopt and discard. When we’re confused or spaced out, when we’re intoxicating ourselves with television and media, we can’t think straight, and so we forget what are the causes of happiness that we need to adopt and practise on the path. Likewise, we’re unable to determine the true causes of suffering, and so we’re unable to differentiate what we need to abandon and discard on the path. Our ethical conduct becomes nebulous; we practise the path incorrectly and then wonder why we’re not progressing. We begin to think that drinking and drugging bring happiness and that getting up early in the morning and meditating bring suffering. The mind is befuddled in the darkness of confusion, and although our wish is to be happy, we create the karmic causes for suffering instead.

These three lines—the first line indicating attachment, the second anger, and the third line confusion—point out the three poisonous attitudes. They poison our happiness because when they are active in our mind creating negative karma happens easily.

What is the solution to these three? The ultimate remedy is to realise reality, the emptiness of inherent existence. The temporary solution is to Give up your homeland. What does that mean? The 42