The Essence of Refined Gold

[xenocross]

The Essence of Refined Gold

By the Third Dalai Lama, translated by Glenn H. Mullin (1982)

   
The Nature of the Instruction

To the feet of the Venerable Lama,
Embodiment of the Three Jewels,
Profoundly I turn for refuge;
Bestow upon me your transforming powers.

Here, for spiritually inclined beings who wish to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by human life, is a treatise on the Lamrim Tradition of meditation, a tradition known as Stages on the Spiritual Path Leading to Enlightenment.
   What is the Lamrim Tradition? It is the essence of all teachings of Buddha, the one path traveled by the high beings of the past, present and future, the legacy of the masters Nagarjuna and Asanga, the religion of supreme people traveling to the earth of omniscience, the unabridged synthesis of all practices included within the three levels of spiritual application. This is the Lamrim Tradition.
   Lamrim is an especially profound aspect of Dharma, for it is a tradition of practice sound in origin. It has neither fault nor shortcoming, for it is a complete practice perfectly uniting both method and wisdom aspects of the path. It provides all levels and grades of the techniques passed through Nagarjuna and Asanga, from the practices meant for beginners up to and including the final practice before full Buddhahood, the stage of non-practice.
   This graduated Dharma of taintless origin is like the wish-fulfilling gem, for, through it the infinite beings can easily and quickly accomplish their purposes. Combining the rivers of the excellent teaching of both the Fundamental Vehicle and Great Vehicle scriptures, it is like a mighty ocean. Revealing the principal points of both the Sutrayana and Vajrayana, it is a complete tradition with complete teachings. Outlining the main techniques for taming the mind, it is easily integrated into any practice, and, being a teaching combining the lineages of Guru Vidyakokila, a sage of the Nagarjuna School, and Lama Serlingpa, a sage of the Asanga School, it is a precious ornament. Therefore, to hear, contemplate, or meditate upon a Lamrim discourse is fortunate indeed. Je Rinpoche’s Song of the Stages on the Spiritual Path says:
   
From Nagarjuna and Asanga,
Banners unto all humankind,
Ornaments amongst the world’s sages,
Comes the sublime Lamrim lineage
Fulfilling all hopes of practitioners.
It is a wish-fulfilling gem,
Combining the streams of a thousand teachings,
It is an ocean of excellent guidance.
   
The Lamrim teaching has four especially great qualities:
1.   It reveals how all the various doctrines of Buddha are non-contradictory. If you rely upon the Lamrim teaching, all the words of Buddha will be effectively comprehensible. You will see that there are root practices and branch practices, and that there are direct and indirect teachings, all of which aim at creating helpful circumstances along the stages of spiritual development for a practitioner like yourself.
2.   You will take all the various teachings as personal advice. You will see the profound teachings of the Sutras and Tantras, the treatises and dissertations written by later masters, and all levels and branches of practice as methods to use to overcome negative aspects of the mind. The significance of all the teachings of Buddha and his successors—from the teachings on how to follow a spiritual master up to those on how to perceive the most profound aspects of reality—will come into your hand. You will learn how to practice analytical meditation upon the words of the teachings and stabilizing meditation upon the central themes of those words. Thus you will see all the teachings in perspective to your life and progress.
3.   You will easily find the thought of Buddha. Of course, the original words of Buddha and those of the later commentators are perfect teachings, but for a beginner they are overwhelmingly numerous, and consequently their meaning is difficult to fathom. Hence, although you may study and contemplate them, you probably will not gain experience of their actual essence; or, even if you should gain it, a tremendous effort and extent of time would be required. However, because the Lamrim tradition has its source in Atisha’s A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, which incorporates all the various oral teachings of the supreme Indian masters, even someone like you can easily and quickly arrive at the thought of Buddha through it.
4.   The great negativity of abandoning a lineage of Dharma will spontaneously be arrested. When you realize the intent of Buddha, you will see all his direct and indirect teachings as wise and skillful means for satisfying the diverse spiritual needs of the variety of beings. To say that some lineages of Dharma are perfect methods and should be practiced, whereas other lineages are imperfect and should be ignored, is the karma called “abandoning Dharma,” a great negativity indeed. However, if you study the Lamrim you will see how all doctrines of Buddha and lineages coming from him are non-contradictory. Then the great negativity of abandoning an aspect of Dharma will never occur.
These are the four great qualities of the Lamrim tradition. Who with any common sense would not benefit from hearing a discourse on it, a thing the fortunate of India and Tibet have long relied upon, a generously high teaching to delight the heart, the tradition known as the Stages on the Path for the beings of the three capacities. Regarding these four effects arising from hearing, contemplating, and meditating upon a Lamrim discourse, Je Rinpoche said:

(Through it) one perceives all doctrines as non-contradictory,
All teachings arise as personal advice,
The intent of Buddha is easily found
And you are protected from the cliff of the greatest evil.

Therefore the wise and fortunate of India and Tibet
Have thoroughly relied upon this excellent legacy
(Known as) the stages in the practices of the three spiritual beings;
Who of powerful mind would not be intrigued by it?

Possessing such strength and impact, this tradition takes the heart of all the teachings of Buddha and structures it into steps for gradual evolution through the successive experiences of the path, running through the three levels of spiritual capacity. What an approach to Dharma! How can its greatness ever be described?
   Consider the beneficial effects of hearing or teaching the Lamrim even once: an understanding of Buddha and his teachings arises and, by means of pure attitudes and application, the person who is a vessel suitable for Dharma collects benefits equivalent to those gained by having heard all the words of Buddha. Therefore abandon the three wrong attitudes—likened to a dirty pot, a pot with a whole in its bottom, and an upturned pot—and generate the six recognitions. In this way, you will be able to gather the wealth of having approached the subject properly. Whether you are studying or teaching a Lamrim text, do so purely and with intensity. Je Rinpoche said:

One session of hearing or teaching
This tradition embodying the essence of all Buddha’s words,
Collects waves of merit equivalent
To hearing or teaching all Buddhadharma.

[xenocross]

Qualities of a Spiritual Master and a Disciple

However, although merely hearing the Lamrim teaching with the proper attitude is an extremely dynamic experience, it is important to say something about the qualities of a Lamrim teacher.
In general, the qualities of the various masters of the Fundamental Vehicle, Mahayana and Vajrayana methods are manifold, and any Buddhist master is a worthy teacher; yet the specific qualities required of one who gives a discourse on the jewel-like Lamrim tradition are described in Ornament of Mahayana Sutras: he or she should have realization, i.e., his mindstream should:
1.   be tamed with realization of the higher training in ethical conduct
2.   be stilled with realization of the higher training in concentration
3.   be completely tempered with realization of the higher training in wisdom
4.   have authoritative scriptural learning, i.e., heard many teachings on the Three Baskets of Scriptures and so forth from competent masters
5.   be in possession of an awareness that can perceive emptiness
6.   have more learning and realization than the disciple
These are the six necessary qualifications of a Lamrim teacher. As well, he or she should have four altruistic attitudes:
1.   skill and spontaneous creativity in applying the methods to generate progress within the disciples, whom he teaches out of a pure motivation free from grasping for wealth, fame or power
2.   enthusiasm and joy in giving time and energy to teaching
3.   diligence and perseverance in teaching
4.   beyond losing patience with disciples who practice poorly
If you can find a guru possessing these six personal and four altruistic qualities, request him or her for teachings and then follow them well.
   
The disciple should have three fundamental qualities:
1.   sincerity
2.   intelligence able to discriminate between beneficial and misleading forces on the path
3.   intense longing to gain spiritual understanding and experience
As well, he or she should have a fourth quality—appreciation for the Dharma and the teacher.
   Sometimes six qualities are mentioned. A disciple fit to be led along the sublime path of Lamrim practice must:
1.   have great interest in the Dharma
2.   during the actual teaching be able to keep his or her mind alert and well-focused
3.   have confidence in and respect for the teacher and teaching
4.   abandon wrong attitudes towards the teaching and maintain receptive ones
5.   maintain conditions conducive to learning
6.   eliminate any unconducive conditions.
If you give a discourse on the Lamrim, try to maintain the qualities of a teacher described above, and if you listen to a discourse cultivate the above qualities of an ideal disciple within yourself.
   While training in the Lamrim under the guidance of a fully qualified spiritual master, try to live in a quiet place pleasing to the mind. Arrange an altar having images of your teachers, the Buddha, a stupa and a scripture, as well as fresh, pure offerings. In front of your altar, prepare a comfortable meditation seat, and either four or six times each day sit there in the seven-point meditation posture, perform the Lamrim Preliminary Rite and meditate as instructed. (The actually text has this rite in it, but Glenn omitted it from his translation.)

How to Rely Upon a Spiritual Mentor

The best way to rely on a spiritual master is to practice analytical meditation upon his or her excellent qualities and his beneficial function in your spiritual life.
   Consider the countless ways in which he or she is kind to you: he is the root of all attainment, the source of all goodness in this and future lives, the doctor who eradicates the disease of mental disturbances with the medicine of the Dharma. Although you have wandered in samsara since beginningless time, never before did you met a spiritual master, or if you did meet one you did not correctly follow the teachings, for you are not yet a Buddha. Think, “I have now met a spiritual master and will try to practice as pleases him.”
   It is more kind to give a bowl of simple food to someone dying of hunger than to give a handful of golden coins to someone who has every luxury. For this reason, it is said that your personal spiritual mentor is kinder then even Buddha himself. The Five Stages states:

The self-born Buddha
Is a being gone to perfection;
But kinder than Buddha is your own teacher,
For he personally gives you the oral teachings.

Contemplate how your guru is kinder than all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future.
   To receive spiritual instructions, Buddha made offerings of possessions, service, and practice. For example, in a previous life he offered 100,000 pieces of gold to a master to receive the half-verse, “If there is birth there is death; stopping this process is bliss itself.” In another life, as a king he sacrificed his wife and his only child for a single verse of the Dharma. On another occasion, he made his body into a lamp and burned it as an offering to his spiritual mentor. In these and other ways, he abandoned wealth, possessions, and other objects of attachment. Since you are a follower of Buddha, you should do likewise. If you have heard many teachings from your spiritual master, is his or her kindness not immeasurable?
   Some people think that a teacher should be revered only if he or she has many obvious qualities. They say, “I go to him to hear his words on Dharma, not to see him,” and “I can see no great traits in him, so there is no need for reverence.” What fools! For instance, even if your parents have no good qualities, you should appreciate their kindness, for, by so doing great benefits arise, whereas by not appreciating them only pain and confusion result. The same holds true of your attitude toward your spiritual mentor.
   You feel that someone who gives you a little wealth is very kind, but the spiritual mentor can give you every goodness of this and future lives. If you contemplate deeply, it becomes obvious that all stages of development—from that of a lay follower to those of a bodhisattva and Buddha—depend completely upon pleasing the spiritual mentor. There are many examples of people who have attained full enlightenment in one short lifetime by correctly devoting themselves to a master, and if you please your teacher with the offerings of possessions, service, and intensive practice, there is no reason why you cannot do the same. Thus the importance of correctly relying upon an all-kind spiritual mentor cannot be over-emphasized. Meeting with and being cared for in this and future lives by a spiritual mentor with whom you have a Dharma relationship is purely your responsibility, so serve your spiritual mentor well.
   Without following a qualified teacher, there is no method to actualize enlightenment. This point is stressed in sutras and commentaries. “Please practice as pleases the spiritual mentor,” is said repeatedly. Do not regard this as an undesirable task like a prison sentence, for who doesn’t want good fortune? As stated in many sutras, tantras, and treatises, there is no faster or more powerful way to increase your store of positive potential than by correctly following a spiritual mentor.
   When training under a spiritual mentor, be sure to maintain a correct attitude towards him or her. Whatever happens, do not permit the thought to arise that he has faults or shortcomings. Meditate in this way not with words alone but from the depths of your heart, until the mere sound of his or her name or a thought of him makes your hair tingle and your eyes fill with tears.
   In general, all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have said that you should never see the ordinary failings of a human being in your spiritual mentor. If you see something low or base in him, consider it as a reflection of your impure attitudes. How are you able to really know what is and isn’t base? Once when Arya Asanga did a retreat on Maitreya Buddha, he perceived Maitreya as a worm-ridden b***h. Naropa first saw his teacher Tilopa as a lunatic catching fish and eating them alive. In the Meeting between Father and Son Sutra, Buddha manifested as a devil in order to work for the good of the world. In view of these incidents, how can you believe that the faults you see in your guru are real? Generate conviction that he is a manifestation of the Buddha.
   It is taught in the Root Text of the Guhyasamaja Tantra and in Ashvagosha’s Fifty Verses on Guru Yoga that there is no graver negativity than saying or believing that your spiritual mentor has faults. Therefore, practice guru yoga as related in the biography of Lama Drom Tonpa—without doubts or wavering. Once you have accepted a spiritual mentor, meditate so as not to give rise to any disrespectful or unworthy thoughts, even if your life is at stake. Je Rinpoche wrote,

   The root of all causes producing
   Happiness here and hereafter, is the practice
   Of relying in thought and action
   Upon the sacred friend who reveals the path.
   Seeing this, follow him or her at any cost
   And please him with the offering of practice.
   I, a yogi, did that myself;
   You, O liberation seeker, should do likewise.

Je Rinpoche gave this advice purely out of great compassion, and not because he wanted his disciples to honor or to glorify him.

[xenocross]

The Human Situation

At this point the question may arise: “If one relies upon a spiritual master who points out the path to enlightenment and tries to please him by making him the offering of practicing as he teaches, what exactly is meant by ‘offering of practice?’”
   Practice means taking upon yourself the responsibility of continually living in accordance with the holy Dharma, the teachings given to you by your spiritual master. Through working with the teacher and with the laws of cause and effect, you can take advantage of your extremely valuable human life, a life-form hard to find and, once found, very meaningful; a treasure more precious than a wish-fulfilling gem. Other than doing this, there is no offering of practice. Grit your teeth, and do not let the once-attained opportunity afforded by human life slip away. If you do not utilize this tremendous potentiality, is your heart not vain?
   However, it is of borderline value to listen to or practice Dharma with a motivation mixed with white, black, or gray aspects of the eight worldly concerns, i.e., the motivation to outdo enemies and protect friends, which is praised by worldly people but actually is shallow; the motivation to obtain material benefit, a universally condemned motivation; and the motivation of impressing others, which some think good and some despise. If you do not meditate upon impermanence, death, and so forth, and thus pass beyond mundane thought patterns, you run the great risk of having negative motivations dominate your mind. On the other hand, if you practice the pure Dharma well and with no pretenses, you quickly and firmly lay the foundations of lasting happiness.
   Discard as the husk of a grain essenceless worldly pursuits—works of no positive consequences and spiritually of great peril. Take up the essence of Dharma, so that at the time this pithless human body is left behind, you will not depart from life with regret. Furthermore, think to practice immediately. Drink the waters of meditation now and relieve the thirst of wishing to hold life’s essence. Je Rinpoche said,

Human life, found but this one time,
More precious than the wish-fulfilling gem,
So hard to regain and so easily lost,
Is as brief as a flash of lightning.
Seeing this, discard worldly activity like the husk of a grain
And strive day and night to take life’s essence.   

The Three Levels of Spiritual Application

How should you take the essence of the opportunities provided by this human vessel?
It is extremely important to have an understanding of the ways of generating actual experience of the general foundations of the path and practices, and therefore I will briefly explain the process. This explanation has two headings:

1. How the Path of the Three Levels of Spiritual Application Condense All Teachings of Buddha

Buddha himself first developed the bodhicitta—the aspiration to attain perfect compassion, wisdom, and power as the best means of benefiting all sentient beings. In the end, to benefit all beings he attained full enlightenment. Then, solely to benefit beings he taught the holy Dharma.
   The practices he taught fall into two divisions: those aimed at the temporary benefit of a high rebirth as humans or gods; and those aimed at bringing the two ultimate benefits of liberation from samsara and the attainment of omniscience.
   The first group of practices is known as the practices of the person of initial capacity. Because they are used as a basis for all higher practices, they are called “Practices Common with the Person of Initial Capacity.” The nature of the practitioner of initial capacity is outlined in Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment:
   
Someone who by the various methods
Aims at higher samsaric happiness
With his own interests in mind,
Is known as the spiritual aspirant of initial capacity.

That is, the practitioner of initial capacity is one who does not work for the pleasures of this life, but instead sets his or her mind upon the practices leading to rebirth as either a human or a god.
   The practices that yield ultimate benefit are of two types: 1) those that bring nirvana or liberation that is merely a freedom from samsaric suffering and 2) those that bring liberation with omniscience. The former is known as the practices of the person of intermediate capacity or “Practices Common with the Person of Intermediate Capacity.” Atisha’s Lamp for the Path says:
   
   He who with the aim of peace for himself
   Turns his back on samsaric happiness
   And reverses all negative karma
   Is known as the spiritual aspirant of intermediate capacity.

That is, the intermediate practitioner turns his back on the securities and joys of higher samsaric rebirths and takes up the practices of the Three Higher Trainings—ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom—in order to attain that liberation which is free from all afflictions and karma that cause samsara.
   Finally, in addition to the Fundamental Vehicle practices outlined above, the methods that accomplish Buddhahood include all the practices of the Perfection Vehicle and the Vajra Vehicle. These methods are known as “Practices Exclusive for the Person of High Capacity.” Atisha’s Lamp for the Path says:

   He who sees suffering in his own life
   And, realizing that others suffer likewise,
   Wishes to put an end to all misery
   Is known as the spiritual aspirant of supreme capacity.

In other words, the supreme practitioner is one who, empowered by great compassion, takes up methods such as the six far-reaching practices and the two stages of tantra in order to attain full Buddhahood in order to extinguish the suffering of others. This is how the path of the three capacities of spiritual application condenses all the teachings of Buddha.

2. The Reason for Leading Aspirants through these Three Levels

Although the practices of all three levels of spiritual application are taught in the Lamrim tradition, this is done only because it is necessary to go through the two lower levels of practice as branches leading to the third and highest capacity. In the Lamrim tradition you do not take up the practices of lower capacity merely to gain the samsaric comfort of higher rebirth, nor do you take up those of intermediate capacity merely to benefit yourself by gaining nirvana or liberation from cyclic existence. You do both of these purely as preliminaries to the practices of high capacity. The actual body of Lamrim practice is that of the highest of the three levels.
   Why is so much emphasis placed upon the practices of high capacity? Because there is no door to the Mahayana other than bodhicitta, and bodhicitta is the unique quality of practitioners of highest capacity. You must therefore develop it.
   To do this, you begin by contemplating its benefits and thereby generate a longing to attain it. These benefits are of two kinds: temporary and ultimate. Temporarily bodhicitta guarantees the joyous fruit of a high rebirth. Ultimately it gives rise to the liberated, omniscient wisdom of Buddhahood. Hence it is indispensable.
As a prerequisite for bodhicitta, you must generate great compassion that is unable to tolerate the sufferings of all sentient beings. This great compassion for others depends upon an intense awareness of the undesirable experiences and sufferings of your own continuum, so first train in the practices of lower capacity by contemplating the miseries experienced in the lower realms. From contemplating this, arises a mind that longs for liberation from those rebirths.
   Then take up the intermediate practices by contemplating the transient nature of the joys of the heavenly realms. From this arises renunciation of everything in samsara. Finally, thinking that all mother beings face the same sufferings as you do, generate compassion (wishing them to be free from suffering), love (wishing them to have happiness), and bodhicitta, the aspiration for full enlightenment as the best means to fulfill that love and compassion. Thus leading aspirants to the highest capacity of practice by first training their minds in the two lower capacities is a supreme, perfect approach to Dharma.
   To take the essence of your human life, there are three actual practices, to be accomplished, namely, the practices of the three capacities outlined above.

[xenocross]

Death and the Lower Realms
   
You have attained this precious human form, difficult to gain and extremely meaningful and are now a human being. However, this life will not last forever, and it is definite that you will eventually die. Moreover, you do not know how long death will wait before striking. Therefore immediately exert effort to take life’s essence. You have had infinite previous lives in higher, lower, and intermediate realms, but the Lord of Death, like a thief in a rich market place, has stolen them all indiscriminately. How fortunate that he has let you live this long! Generate a mind so filled with the awareness of death that you sit like a man hunted by an intent assassin.
   At the time of death, money, possessions, friends, and servants will not be able to follow you. However, the traces of negative karma created for their sake will pursue you like a shadow. That is how you must go from life. Think it over. At this moment, you are content to eat, drink, and consume, yet life, wealth, sensual objects, and food just burn on and on, and you accomplish nothing of value. Fully direct whatever remains of your life to genuine Dharma practice. Do this from today onward, not from tomorrow, for death may strike tonight.
   You may ask: If, with the exception of Dharma, nothing helps at the time of death, then how does Dharma help, and how does non-Dharma harm?
   At death you do not simply evaporate. Death is followed by rebirth, and whether your rebirth is happy or miserable, high or low, is determined by the state of your mind at the time of death. Thus except for the power of karma, ordinary people are powerless. They take the rebirth thrown by the force of their positive and negative karmas—the karmic seeds left by previous deeds of body, speech, and mind. If at the time of death a positive thought predominates, a happy rebirth will follow. If a negative thought predominates, one is born into one of the three lower realms where one suffers intense pain. What are the torments of the three lower realms? To quote Acharya Nagarjuna,

   Remember that in the lower hells,
   One burns like a sun
   In the upper hells one freezes.
   Remember that hungry ghosts and spirits
   Suffer from hunger, thirst, and climate.
   Remember that animals suffer
   The consequences of stupidity.
   Abandon the karmic causes of such misery
   And cultivate the causes of joy.
   Human life is rare and precious;
   Do not make it a cause of pain.
   Take heed; use it well.

As Nagarjuna implies, the sufferings of the hot and cold hells are unendurable, the sufferings of hungry ghosts are horrendous, and the sufferings of animals—eating one another, being domesticated and ruled by humans, being dumb, and so forth—are overwhelming. Right now you cannot hold your hand in fire for even a few seconds. You cannot sit naked on ice in the winter for more than a few minutes. To pass even a single day without eating or drinking anything brings great difficulty, and merely a tiny bee sting seems terrible. How then will you be able to bear the heat or cold of the hells, the anguish of the hungry ghosts, or the horrors of animal existence? Meditate on the sufferings of the lower realms until you are filled with dread and apprehension. Now that you have gained an auspicious human form, abandon the causes of lower rebirth and cultivate the causes of a happy rebirth. Determine to apply yourself to the methods that cut off the path to the lower realms.

Taking Refuge

What are the methods to cut off the path to lower rebirth? These are awareness of the danger of the sufferings of lower rebirth, as explained above, and recognition that Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha have power to protect you from such rebirth. Generate awareness of danger by means of meditation and then take refuge in the Three Jewels from the depths of your heart.
   How do the Three Jewels have the power to protect you from the terrors of the lower realms? The Buddha Jewel is free from all fear. Being omniscient, he is a master of ways that protect from every fear. As he abides in great compassion that sees all sentient beings with equanimity, he is a worthy object of refuge for both those who benefit him and those who do not. Because he himself has these qualities, it follows that his teachings and the Sangha established by him are also worthy. This cannot be said of the founders of many religious schools, few of whom were transcendental; or of many doctrines, most of which are filled with logical faults; or of many religious traditions, most of which are fragmented. Because Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha possess these sublime qualities, they indeed are worthy.
   How do you take refuge in the Three Jewels? Chant three times, “I take refuge in the perfect Buddha. Please show me how to free myself from samsaric sufferings in general and from the lower realms in particular. I take refuge in the Dharma, the supreme abandonment of attachment. Please be my actual refuge and lead me to freedom from the terrors of samsara in general and in the lower realms in particular. I take refuge in the supreme Sangha, the Spiritual Community. Please protect me from the misery of samsara and especially from the lower realms.” While reciting these lines, generate an actual sense of taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha from the depths of your heart.
   However, taking refuge but then not observing the refuge precepts is of very little benefit, and the power of having taken it is soon lost. Therefore, always be mindful of the precepts. Having taken refuge in the Buddha, no longer rely upon worldly gods such as Shiva and Vishnu, and see all statues and images of Buddha as actual manifestations of Buddha himself. Having taken refuge in the Dharma, do not harm any sentient being or be disrespectful toward the holy scriptures. Having taken refuge in the Sangha, do not waste your time with false teachers or with unhelpful or misleading friends, and do not disrespect saffron or maroon cloth.
   Also, understanding that all temporary and ultimate happiness is a result of the kindness of the Three Jewels, offer your food and drink to them at every meal and rely upon them rather than upon politicians or fortunetellers for all of your immediate and ultimate needs. According to your spiritual capacity, show others the significance of refuge in the Three Jewels and don’t ever forsake your own refuge, not even in jest or to save your life.
   With awareness of the need to avoid wasting time on mere words, recite the following refuge formula three times each day and three times each night: Namo Gurubhyah, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sanghaya. While doing so, maintain awareness of the unsurpassed qualities of the Three Jewels, and of their individual uniqueness and commitments.

[xenocross]

The Law of Karma and Its Results

One may wonder: Granted, taking refuge in the Three Jewels can protect me from the misery of lower rebirth; but how can I create the causes that bring about a higher rebirth?
   For this, we must consider the four aspects of karmic law:
1.   positive and negative deeds plant seeds that will bear respective fruit, i.e., goodness produces future happiness and evil produces future misery
2.   one seed produces many fruits, each of which has many seeds of a like nature
3.   a deed not done produces no result
4.   every deed you do with your body, speech, or mind leaves a karmic seed in your continuum that is never exhausted (unless worked out or neutralized by purification).
When you have contemplated these four aspects of karmic law, the importance of living in accordance with the teachings of abandoning harm and cultivating good becomes obvious.
   To prove the laws of karma by mere force of logic is an extremely difficult and lengthy process, and only one well versed in logical reasoning could follow the process. So instead, I will quote a verse from the King of Concentration Sutra,

Moon and stars may fall to earth,
Mountains and valleys may crumble
And even the sky may disappear,
But you, O Buddha, speak nothing false.

Bearing these words in mind we can consider the following teaching from Buddha himself,

From evil comes suffering;
Therefore day and night
You should think and re-think
How to escape from misery forever.

And also,

The roots of all goodness lie
In the soil of appreciation for goodness.
Constantly meditate upon how to ripen
The fruits that can grow therefrom.

As explained here, abandon all negative activity in general and contemplate the four unpleasant aspects of the ten non-virtues of body, speech, and mind in particular: killing, stealing, and unwise or unkind sexual activity; lying, slandering others, speaking harshly, and indulging in meaningless talk; covetousness, ill-will, and holding distorted views. To show the four unpleasant aspects of karma by the example of the results of killing: 1) the main effect is lower rebirth; 2) the causally concordant experiential effect is that in a future rebirth you will be killed or will see many dear ones killed; 3) the causally concordant behavioral effect is that you will have the tendency to kill again in future lives and thus multiply the negative karma; and 4) the effect on the environment is that even if you gain a good rebirth the environment around you will be violent.
   The effect is also graded into minor, medium, and heavy degrees, depending upon the object. For example, killing a human results in rebirth in hell, killing an animal results in rebirth as a hungry ghost, and killing an insect results in animal rebirth. Keep in mind these words from Chapter of the Truthful One:

O King, do not kill,
For all that lives cherishes life.
If you wish to live long yourself, respect life
And do not even think of killing.

As said here, rely upon an attitude resolved not to entertain thoughts of any evil action such as killing and the other non-virtues. Abandon all forms of evil and strive with all your might to actualize goodness. Je Rinpoche said:

There is no certainty that after death lower rebirth does not await you,
But there is certainty that the Three Jewels have power to protect you from it.
Therefore, base yourself upon refuge
And let not the refuge precepts degenerate.
Also, consider the working of constructive and destructive actions.
Practicing correctly is your own responsibility.

By guarding the ethical conduct of avoiding the ten non-virtues you will have a good rebirth. But if you wish to go beyond that and gain the eight qualities conducive to continuing along the supreme path to omniscience—qualities such as high status, a good family, a strong mind, a harmonious body, and so forth—then also create their causes: abandon harming any living beings, make offerings of light and so forth to the Three Jewels, offer clothes, etc., to the needy, and by overcoming pride, have respect for all that lives. Take the responsibility of these practices into your own hands through the forces of mindfulness and conscientiousness.
   However, if occasionally strong mental afflictions overpower you, and you commit a breach of practice, do not be apathetic but confess the unwanted karmic obstacle at the proper time and place and, by means of the four opponent powers, cleanse all stains of body, speech, and mind. These four are:
1.   contemplating the shortcomings of evil in order to develop remorse for having committed negativity;
2.   relying upon the objects of refuge and bodhicitta as forces with the power to purify the mind of karmic stains;
3.   generating strong determination to turn away from such negative courses of action in the future
4.   applying positive counteractive forces, such as the Vajrasattva mantra and so forth.

Je Rinpoche wrote:

Should you not find a suitable rebirth,
It will not be possible to progress along the path.
Cultivate the causes of a high rebirth,
Appreciate the importance of purifying
The three doors from stains of evil.
Cherish the force of the four opponent powers.

By meditating in this way, the mind will turn away from the transient things of this life and take genuine interest in more lasting things. When this effect has been realized, you will be known as the spiritual aspirant of initial capacity.