Self-Destruction, Self-Kindness, and Correct Qualities

The Ten Ways to Destroy Yourself

Gampopa returns to the vivid simile form, painting ten portraits of self-sabotage. Each image captures a specific form of spiritual ruin with unforgettable clarity.

1. Like an imbecile eating a strong poison, you destroy yourself by living a family life without love.

2. Like a madman jumping over the brink of an abyss, you destroy yourself by engaging in unspiritual, evil deeds.

3. Like enjoying a poisoned meal, you destroy yourself by being a charlatan and deceiving other people.

4. Like an infirm old lady trying to herd cattle, you destroy yourself by foolishly acting as a leader for others.

5. Like a blind man roaming the northern plains, you destroy yourself by being self-serving and motivated by the eight worldly concerns, without acting for the welfare of others with pure motivation.

6. Like a weakling trying to carry a big load, you destroy yourself by grabbing for grandeur and unreachable feats.

7. Like losing the company of a powerful escort, you destroy yourself by arrogantly belittling the words of a sublime master or the Buddha.

8. Like a mountain deer descending into the valley, you destroy yourself by postponing your practice to rove through the towns of common people.

9. Like a garuda bird breaking its wings, you destroy yourself by getting carried away by distractions instead of sustaining innate wakefulness.

10. Like a small child trying to eat embers, you destroy yourself by heedlessly enjoying the funds of your master and the Three Jewels.

The Precision of the Images

Each simile is perfectly matched to its subject. The imbecile eating poison — a household without love becomes toxic. The infirm old lady herding cattle — someone who lacks the capacity for leadership but assumes it anyway causes chaos. The mountain deer descending into the valley — a practitioner who belongs in the high solitude of mountain retreat but wanders into the populated lowlands, where every distraction lies in wait.

The ninth image is especially powerful for the Mahamudra practitioner: a garuda bird breaking its wings. The garuda, the mythical bird that soars effortlessly through the sky, symbolizes the mind resting in its natural state. When distraction breaks the wings of awareness, the practitioner plummets. Gampopa is warning that the subtlest and most precious attainment — sustaining innate wakefulness — is also the most easily disrupted by carelessness.

The tenth point carries practical implications for monastic life: misusing the offerings made to one's teacher or to the Three Jewels is self-destructive. These are funds given with devotion for spiritual purposes; diverting them for personal comfort is compared to a child handling embers, unaware of the burns being inflicted.

The Ten Ways to Do Yourself a Kindness

Gampopa now reverses the lens completely. If the previous list showed how we harm ourselves, this list shows how we can genuinely be our own best friend.

1. You do yourself a kindness by giving up the attachments and aversions of worldly life, and practicing the pure Dharma.

2. You do yourself a kindness by leaving behind married life, family and friends, and following a sublime personage.

3. You do yourself a kindness by giving up distractions, and engaging in learning, reflection and meditation.

4. You do yourself a kindness by abandoning village people and neighbors, and living alone in secluded places.

5. You do yourself a kindness by cutting the ties of sense pleasures, and remaining stable in nonattachment.

6. You do yourself a kindness by being content with the bare necessities and not craving better things.

7. You do yourself a kindness by keeping a steadfast resolve without letting yourself fall under the influence of others.

8. You do yourself a kindness by pursuing the lasting happiness of enlightenment without regard for the temporary pleasures of this life.

9. You do yourself a kindness by giving up the clinging to things as being real, and bringing emptiness into your experience.

10. You do yourself a kindness by exerting yourself in the two accumulations as a unity, without giving in to ordinary thoughts, words and deeds.

True Self-Care

In a world that speaks constantly of "self-care," Gampopa offers a radically different definition. True kindness to yourself is not indulging your preferences but freeing yourself from the causes of suffering. Each point pairs something given up with something gained: give up worldly attachments, gain the pure Dharma. Give up distractions, gain the three wisdoms. Give up clinging to solidity, gain the experience of emptiness.

The ninth point is the culmination of the list and arguably the single most important act of self-kindness in the entire text: giving up the clinging to things as being real and bringing emptiness into your experience. This is not a philosophical exercise but a lived transformation — the moment when the practitioner stops treating the world as solid, permanent, and independently existing, and begins to experience its open, fluid, interdependent nature directly.

The tenth point ensures that this does not become a merely internal affair. The two accumulations — merit (gained through compassionate action) and wisdom (gained through insight) — must be practiced as a unity. Emptiness without compassion is sterile; compassion without emptiness is samsaric. United, they are the path to buddhahood.

The Ten Correct Qualities

This category introduces a systematic framework for understanding the path according to the three capacities of practitioners: lesser, medium, and highest. It covers view, meditation, conduct, and the sign of progress.

1. To trust in the consequences of karmic deeds is the correct view for the person of lesser capacity.

2. To realize all outer and inner phenomena to be the fourfold unity of appearance and emptiness and awareness and emptiness is the correct view for the person of medium capacity.

3. To realize that the viewer, the viewed, and the realization are indivisible is the correct view for the person of highest capacity.

4. To remain one-pointedly concentrated on the object of focus is the meditation of the person of lesser capacity.

5. To remain in the samadhi of the fourfold unity is the meditation of the person of medium capacity.

6. To remain in the state of nonfocus in which the meditator, the object meditated upon and the meditation itself are indivisible is the meditation of the person of highest capacity.

7. To be on guard against the consequences of karmic actions as carefully as you would protect your own eyes is the conduct of the person of lesser capacity.

8. To act as though all phenomena are like dreams and magical illusions is the conduct of the person of medium capacity.

9. To not do anything at all is the conduct of the person of the highest capacity.

10. The signs of progress for people of all three capacities is that ego-clinging and all disturbing emotions consistently decrease and subside.

The Three Levels as One Path

This list is a miniature lamrim — a graduated path — in just ten points. It shows how view, meditation, and conduct transform as the practitioner matures, while the sign of progress remains the same across all levels.

For the lesser capacity, the path is grounded in karma: trust that actions have consequences, focus the mind one-pointedly, and guard your behavior with the same care you would protect your eyes. This is the foundation of all Buddhist practice, and Gampopa honors it fully.

For the medium capacity, the path deepens into the recognition of emptiness: phenomena are the fourfold unity of appearance-emptiness and awareness-emptiness, meditation rests in that samadhi, and conduct treats all experience as dreamlike. This is the Mahayana insight beginning to penetrate daily life.

For the highest capacity, all distinctions collapse: viewer, viewed, and realization are indivisible. There is no separate meditator meditating on a separate object. There is no "doing" anything at all. This is Mahamudra — the Great Seal — where the practitioner rests in the natural state without effort, contrivance, or reference point.

But the tenth point is perhaps the most important: across all three levels, the sign of genuine progress is the same. It is not visions, bliss, or miraculous powers. It is the consistent decrease and subsiding of ego-clinging and disturbing emotions. This single benchmark cuts through all possible self-deception. If your practice is authentic, your ego-grasping gets weaker. If it is not, no amount of meditation experience matters.