The Four Seals of the Dharma. Lama Khenpo Karma Ngedön
of the characteristics and the nature of samsara gives rise to spontaneous and authentic renunciation. Based on this, we must then settle into regular meditation practice and persevere with this practice. In general—even if we sometimes meditate with great enthusiasm—we quickly tire of practice, while the success of meditation practice lies in its continuity and vigor.
A story rooted in one of the sutras that the master Shantideva retells in a stanza of the Bodhicharyavatara14 illustrates this. This passage describes the conduct of the arhat Katyayana who lived during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha.
One day, a famous ruler invited this arhat to the palace. The king had carefully prepared a magnificent welcome ceremony to receive the arhat. He had stationed performers all along the boulevard leading up to the palace so that Katyayana was welcomed with song, dance, and a rain of flowers thrown across his path by a magnificent procession.
When he arrived at the palace, the king asked him, “Did you appreciate the welcome ceremony?”
Having attended to the most minute detail of the spectacle and décor, the king hoped for a positive response. The arhat replied, “I did not see anything on my way in. What ceremony are you speaking of?”
Very surprised, the king exclaimed, “How can it be that you did not see anything with all that we had organized?”
Facing the king’s surprise and great disbelief, Katyayana insisted, “Truly, I did not see anything! I neither saw dancing nor heard music. The ceremony surely took place; I do not contest that, but—as for myself—I did not see it.”
As the king continued to think it quite impossible that he had not seen anything, Katyayana asked him to bring a man who had been sentenced to death—the most dangerous criminal in the prison—to the palace and to restage the ceremony for him. However, he added one condition. The criminal had to walk while holding a bowl filled to the brim with sesame seeds, and he could not drop a single seed. If the criminal failed to fulfill this condition, he would be executed on the spot by one of the four guards walking with him.
Thus, the criminal set out on his walk. Knowing that his life depended on it, he concentrated all of his attention on not dropping a single seed.
The ceremony was exactly the same as that performed for the arhat.
When the criminal arrived at the palace, Katyayana said to the king, “Ask him what he thought of the welcome ceremony.”
The king obliged, and the criminal replied, “What ceremony? I did not see anything! What music and dance do you speak of?”
Now the king believed Katyayana and understood the teaching that the arhat was transmitting to him. When we focus on one thing, free from distraction, the sense faculties do not take in any other information. When we attain this level of concentration, the sense faculties no longer orient themselves on outer objects.
The goal is to develop the same level of concentration as Katyayana. Having meditated on suffering and on the unsatisfying aspects of samsara and having thus given rise to profound renunciation, his mind was completely and solely focused on liberation. Therefore, training consists in keeping the mind focused on a single point, like the criminal whose life depended on it. Having seen the danger and being aware of it—in his case not that of samsara but of the four executioners ready to take his life upon the most minute error—he was fully focused on the task he had to accomplish in order to escape death.
When we are aware of the suffering of samsara, we train ourselves to maintain the same concentration as Katyayana or the criminal with no thought other than that of freeing ourselves. If we truly take the measure of samsara’s suffering, and if we develop the aspiration toward liberation, we no longer experience attachment to outer objects. This is why the teaching emphasizes studying and understanding the characteristics and disadvantages of samsara. Strengthened by this understanding, authentic renunciation arises within us. Without this, meditation practice allows us to accumulate beneficial karma and merit, as it is a virtuous activity, but it is neither fruitful nor authentic—meaning that it does not lead to liberation.
There are various types of virtue, or beneficial karma, that we can accomplish and accumulate. Among them, there are three worth mentioning:
- The virtue that allows one to accumulate merit.
- The virtue that allows one to obtain liberation.
- The virtue that allows one to arrive at the path of seeing.
Let us look at these first two.
The virtue that allows one to accumulate merit refers to all beneficial actions that we carry out—free from any religious credo—such as acts of generosity or kindness that inspire us to help others.
These virtuous actions allow us to accumulate merit. As such, they constitute the causes for us meeting positive circumstances and experiencing well-being. However, it is not certain that they constitute sufficient provisions for obtaining liberation. Thanks to all the virtuous actions we have accomplished in the past (which fall into this category of merit accumulation), we have obtained a precious human existence today. Furthermore, we likewise benefit from positive life conditions. We are in the West; we do not suffer from hunger or thirst. Even though we are currently experiencing an economic downturn, our basic living conditions remain acceptable. This is due to beneficial actions that we have accomplished in the past.
As we can observe, these acts were, nonetheless, not a sufficient cause for us to attain liberation. They simply allowed us to meet with positive conditions today.
Actions that fall into the category of Buddhist practice constitute the virtue that allows one to obtain liberation. Buddhist practitioners accomplish beneficial actions that lead them to liberation. When we practice with the goal of attaining liberation, we can say that our conduct is Buddhist.
Several questions may arise. What is the difference between Buddhist practice and non-Buddhist? Between virtuous actions that everyone carries out and those that are specifically Buddhist? Which practices lead to liberation?
Actions that are causes for merit accumulation cover all beneficial actions carried out with the goal of obtaining a certain happiness and good circumstances for oneself. This refers to everything we do while thinking of our own benefit in this life and future lives. A somewhat egocentric thought accompanies our action. “May these positive actions help me to obtain a good rebirth and positive circumstances in this life!”
Virtuous actions that are causes for obtaining liberation are based on knowledge of samsara’s true nature, authentic renunciation, and the wish for liberation.
Understanding the difference between these two types of virtuous acts proves as vital as knowing what renunciation of samsara and the aspiration to become free from it mean. Without renunciation or the will to obtain liberation, the result of practice—be it mantra recitation, mandala offering, or meditation on a yidam or other deities—will be the same. If we carry out these virtuous activities appropriately, they constitute an accumulation of merit. If we do not carry them out appropriately, they can even contribute to accumulating negative karma!
A Buddhist must reflect on the following questions:
- What are the characteristics of samsara?
- What is samsara’s true nature?
- How does renunciation come about?
- What are the characteristics of liberation?
- What are its qualities?
- How does one realize liberation?
Reflecting on these questions contributes to developing the necessary renunciation to progress along the path to liberation.
The four seals of the Dharma lead us to an understanding of the characteristics of samsara as well as the qualities and characteristics of liberation. This allows us to both renounce samsara and to aspire to liberation.
This teaching has two names: The Four Essences and The Four Seals. It is titled The Four Essences insofar as the