Immersion Study of Buddhism
The earlier instructions to be practiced in the Lam Rim (stages of the Path), are like a big scrub down with scratchy brushes, soap and hot water! Then we finally get to the Lam Rim portion where we read and think about, ‘These are the qualities which I want to develop.’ Like being in a clean room, we also will feel a little bit emptier. Maybe we might even feel a little bit lonely, because at this point, we might not know who we are anymore! Perhaps we used to think ‘Oh, I know who I am; I am who my father told me I was. Now I got it.' But then, in your teens, you realized that you are not who your father says you were, and that is when the problems started. Gradually we discover who we are not. Rejecting who our parents thought we were, some decide that we are who our friends think we are. That can also fall away, isn’t that so? Perhaps you realized that you have special qualities, you have things to do, places to go, and things to see that do not have any...