Things to Inspire Yourself and Ways to Go Astray

The Ten Things to Inspire Yourself

There are mornings when you cannot remember why you started practicing. The alarm goes off and the cushion sits there like a reproach, and every excuse arrives dressed as common sense: I need more sleep. I'll practice this evening. What difference does one session make? Gampopa knows these mornings. He addresses them directly with ten contemplations designed not to scold but to rekindle — to remind you of what you already know but have temporarily forgotten.

1. Reflecting upon the difficulty of obtaining the freedoms and riches, inspire yourself to adopt the sacred Dharma.

2. Reflecting upon death and impermanence, inspire yourself to spiritual practice.

3. Reflecting upon the inevitable consequences of karmic actions, inspire yourself to give up misdeeds and nonvirtue.

4. Reflecting upon the negative characteristics of samsara, inspire yourself to attain liberation.

5. Reflecting upon the sufferings of samsaric beings, inspire yourself to train in the awakened frame of mind.

6. Reflecting upon the utterly deluded mental states of sentient beings, inspire yourself to learn and reflect.

7. Reflecting upon the difficulty of leaving behind the habitual tendencies for delusion, inspire yourself to meditation training and sadhana practice.

8. Reflecting upon the rampant disturbing emotions in this dark age, inspire yourself to apply the antidotes.

9. Reflecting upon the abundance of adverse conditions during this dark age, inspire yourself to be patient.

10. Reflecting upon the ease with which one can squander away this life in distraction, diverted by one thing after the other, inspire yourself to be diligent.

The Four Thoughts and Beyond

The first four points correspond directly to the "four thoughts that turn the mind" — the classical preliminary contemplations found across all Tibetan Buddhist traditions: precious human birth, impermanence, karma, and the defects of samsara. These contemplations are never outgrown. Even the most advanced practitioner returns to them when inspiration flags.

But Gampopa extends beyond the standard four. Points five and six shift from personal motivation to bodhicitta motivation — reflecting on the suffering and delusion of all beings, not just your own predicament. This transition from self-concern to universal concern marks the entry into the Mahayana.

Points seven through ten address the specific challenges of practicing in what Buddhism calls the "dark age" — a time characterized by strong disturbing emotions, abundant obstacles, and pervasive distraction. Gampopa is writing in twelfth-century Tibet, but his diagnosis applies with startling accuracy to our own era. The ease with which one can squander a life in distraction, "diverted by one thing after the other," might have been written yesterday.

The structure of each point is identical: reflect on X, inspire yourself to do Y. Gampopa is teaching a contemplative technique. When motivation weakens, you do not force yourself to practice through willpower alone. You return to reflection, to seeing clearly, and let the seeing itself generate the energy to act.

The Ten Ways to Go Astray

This is one of the most psychologically penetrating categories in the entire text. Gampopa identifies ten deviations — not gross moral failures, but subtle misalignments that can redirect an entire life of practice into a dead end.

1. When your trust is feeble but your intelligence sharp, you can stray into being a propagator of platitudes.

2. When your trust is strong but your intelligence weak, you can stray into close-minded stubbornness.

3. When your perseverance is great but you lack the oral instructions, you can stray into mistakes and pitfalls.

4. When you don't first dispel misconceptions through learning and reflection, your meditation training can stray into the perception-spheres of ignorant darkness.

5. When you don't bring an authentic understanding into the realm of experience, you can stray into being an insensitive "spiritual expert."

6. When you don't train your mind in great compassion, the method aspect, your path can stray into that of the lesser vehicles.

7. When you don't train your mind in emptiness, the knowledge aspect, whatever you do can stray into the ways of samsara.

8. When you don't equalize the eight worldly concerns, whatever you do can stray into embellishing worldly life.

9. When you receive a great deal of respect from others, you can stray into ingratiating yourself with the public.

10. When your virtues and powers are significant but your mind is unstable, you can stray into becoming a performer of rituals for common people.

The Balance of Trust and Intelligence

The first two deviations form a complementary pair that reveals Gampopa's insistence on balance. Too much intelligence without trust makes you a dealer in spiritual platitudes — someone who can talk eloquently about the Dharma but has no real connection to it. Too much trust without intelligence makes you a dogmatic zealot — someone with great fervor but no discernment. The path requires both, in equal measure.

The third deviation is a warning against practice without instruction. No matter how great your effort, if you lack proper guidance, you can fall into what Gampopa calls "mistakes and pitfalls" — meditation experiences that feel profound but actually lead nowhere, or worse, reinforce the very patterns you are trying to dissolve.

The fourth point introduces the concept of "perception-spheres of ignorant darkness" — meditation states that arise from cultivating concentration without insight. These can produce temporary experiences of bliss, clarity, or nonthought, but because they lack the penetrating vision of emptiness, they ultimately lead to rebirth in god realms rather than liberation. This is the "dead end" that many meditation manuals warn about.

Compassion and Emptiness: The Two Wings

Points six and seven form perhaps the most important pair in the entire text. Without compassion, the path strays into the lesser vehicles — you may attain personal liberation but abandon the bodhisattva's commitment to all beings. Without emptiness, whatever you do remains within samsara — even your virtuous deeds become fuel for cyclic existence because they are rooted in dualistic fixation.

This is the "union of the two streams" in miniature: compassion (method) and emptiness (knowledge) must travel together. One without the other is a bird with a single wing — it cannot fly.

The final two deviations target the spiritual ego at its most refined: being seduced by the respect of others, and using spiritual powers for worldly ends. These are the dangers that arise precisely when practice is bearing fruit. Success on the path creates its own unique temptations.