A Student writes:
In the book ‘Words of my Precious Teacher’ by Patrul Rinpoche it says ‘remember always that the activities of samsara are transient and without the slightest meaning’. What does that mean in regard to our daily lives, and where does this leave us in relation to Karma?
Lama Shenpen responds:
In this quote the way ‘samsara’ is being used in quite specific. It doesn’t mean everything. It is not saying everything is transient and without the slightest meaning.
I often see samsara being used to mean life in general. It doesn’t mean life in general. Samsara means the weary round of rebirth driven by ignorance of our true nature beyond thought, clinging to wrong views, getting caught up in the complications of our confused thinking that turns all we do into karmic actions that bring about further entrapment in samsara – the weary round of rebirth and falling into the sufferings of the six realms.
All of this that is meaningless suffering. If we could really understand our true nature, the nature of life itself, we could enjoy unalloyed happiness forever, working to bring all beings to that same state of truth and peace. That would indeed be meaningful wouldn’t it? Samsara is meaningless – Dharma is the path to ultimate meaningfulness!
Lama Shenpen Hookham
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