Lama Zopa Rinpoche

old age; although they have no suffering of illness, they show the suffering of illness;
although they have no suffering of death, they show the suffering of death.
Arhats are free from only the disturbing-thought obscurations, not the subtle obscurations
to knowledge, yet they are free from these four sufferings. So how can enlightened beings,
who are free from even the subtle obscurations, have old age, sickness, death and rebirth?
Since there is no cause for these sufferings, it’s impossible. The buddhas don’t have these
sufferings but they show the aspect of having them for our sake.
Take Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, for example. According to the Mahayana teachings, in
reality the Buddha achieved enlightenment numberless eons ago. He did not become
enlightened two thousand six hundred years ago in Bodhgaya. All the twelve deeds were to
show us what to do. Taking birth in Lumbini, achieving enlightenment in Bodhgaya,
teaching the Dharma and passing away in Kushinagar—performing all these holy deeds was
purely to show us the path.
In many universes at different times the Buddha simultaneously shows different aspects of
the twelve deeds. While the Buddha was taking birth here in this world all those centuries
ago, in another universe he was showing the aspect of becoming enlightened. Even now, in
one universe he is showing the aspect of passing away while in another he is showing the
aspect of sitting under the bodhi tree, and in yet another he is showing the aspect of turning
the Dharma wheel. He manifests in numberless aspects without effort and gives various
teachings in numberless different universes to numberless sentient beings. This is beyond
our imagination.
According to the Hinayana teachings, the teachings for that level of mind, his enlightenment
in Bodhgaya was the first time, but according to the Mahayana, the Buddha was enlightened
eons ago and he performed the twelve deeds just to show us suffering sentient beings that
although there is suffering that none of us want, there is both a cause for that suffering and a
path that leads to its cessation.
Rather than complaining that we are suffering and never doing anything about it, we see that
there is an evolution; that suffering is a dependent arising. Since any suffering we are
experiencing depends on causes and conditions, if we apply the correct method, the cause of
suffering—karma and delusion—can definitely be eliminated and we can become free from
it.
The Buddha showed us that our mind has this possibility, this potential. Because there is a
path we can actualize we can definitely achieve ultimate happiness, the blissful state of peace
for ourselves, liberation forever from the oceans of samsaric suffering. We can learn, we can
reflect, we can meditate on the path and we can actualize it.
Emptiness only, tong-pa-nyi
In particular, we can actualize the direct perception of emptiness, emptiness only. That
only—nyi—makes it a specific emptiness, not just any emptiness. The nyi cuts ordinary
emptiness.
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