An Excerpt from the Book Change of Expression. Working with the Emotions published by Editions Dzambala The text on which the teaching is based is a work by Chagme Rinpoche, a learned and experienced lama of the 17th Century.

We are always ready to let our mind be taken over by these emotional states. But when it comes to actually experiencing the suffering that results, we are less enthusiastic

Those who practice the vajrayana, the secret tantric teachings, have a sacred commitment not to reject the emotions of attachment, anger, ignorance, pride and jealousy. The reason for this is that if they give them up, they will never be able to discover the wisdom which is intrinsic to them. In abandoning the five poisons, we abandon at the same time any possibility of realizing the five wisdoms, since they will never be found anywhere other than in the emotions.

That is why when we are engaged in tantric practice, we must work with the different objects that give rise to emotional reactions in order to experience the corresponding wisdom. The very objects of attachment, hatred and so forth, become the means to liberation from emotional conflict.

Practically, this means that when one of the five poisons appears in the mind, we have to look directly at its essence until we understand that in fact it has no real existence at all.

It is important to be clear about what we mean by the word emotion.

We use the word daily to describe something that can be readily identified, a definite feeling in the mind that is both a reaction and a driving force. In Buddhism however, emotion is much more than that. It is a mental state that starts the instant the mind functions in a dualistic mode, long before the normal person is conscious of it.

Emotion is the habitual clinging that makes us automatically categorize our experiences according to whether our ego finds them attractive (desire), unattractive (anger), or neutral (ignorance). The more clinging there is, the stronger our reactions will be, until we reach a point where they finally break into our conscious mind and manifest as the obvious feelings we usually call emotions.

The above reactions are termed the three poisons, to which are added those of considering our own experience as predominant (pride) and judging our own position in relation to the object perceived (jealousy), to give the five poisons. The word poison is used because these reactions poison our mind and prevent the appearance of its intrinsic wisdom.

In reading the instructions of Chagme Rinpoche as expressed by Lama Gendun, we must therefore be careful to understand each word for the five emotions in their widest possible sense. By not doing so we make it impossible for us to really grasp the full import of the teaching.

The emotions appear because of the conditions created by our confused mind. Our fundamental consciousness, which is in a state of ignorance at the present time, projects from itself the idea of a world experienced through the five senses, the five sense organs and their active relationship with external objects. Because of our previous habits, the mind projects from itself images which it considers separate from itself. These then become forms which act as objects for the eyesight, sounds which are objects for our hearing, and so on. The presence of these apparently independent objects causes the mind to become disturbed, allowing the emergence of the emotions.

For instance, when our eyes see a form, things do not stop there, we immediately react to it. When we find the form pleasing, we feel attracted to it. If we find it unpleasant or repulsive, we reject it and want to get away from it. The same applies to all our other sensory information, whenever we hear, smell, taste or touch something.

Each time the sensory organs function we should look directly at the real essence of what is taking place. Gradually we come to see that the object we are perceiving is actually only the mind in action. No different from the mind, the object is the mind, and there is therefore no need to create any artificial duality by maintaining a clear distinction between subject and object. If we look at the essence of this non duality, the true nature of both the object and the mind that perceives it, we will discover the essence of the mind itself.

This perception of the essence of mind takes place when all previous thoughts have come to a stop and the next thought has not yet appeared. The mind is in the spontaneous present, its own reality. It is mind which sees its own essence, and this is what we call primordial wisdom. The presence of primordial wisdom in the mind then clears away the emotions automatically. It is just like lighting a candle in a dark room: as soon as the light is present the darkness automatically vanishes. Similarly, the simple fact of wisdom being in the mind serves to completely banish all emotions. If we succeed in meditating in this way, the moment we detect one of the emotions in our mind, in that very same instant we see its wisdom and thereby become free of its emotional aspect. This is what is known as the simultaneous appearance and liberation of the emotions. Each of the five poisons is then recognized to be one of the five wisdoms.

If however we do not manage to see the wisdom aspect of the event taking place in the mind, we become once again involved in duality. We follow the thought, become influenced by it, and begin to react to the object, either accepting it or rejecting it, until the mind is invaded by confusion and emotion and we end up having to experience the suffering that ensues.

It says in the text that if we give up the five poisons it will be impossible to find any wisdom. The activity of the emotions is the activity of the mind. Each emotion that appears is nothing other than the mind itself in action, so if we reject the emotions we are at the same time rejecting the mind. Yet it is only through its activity that we will come to discover the activity of wisdom, so in rejecting the emotional activity of the mind we reject at the same time the possibility of encountering its wisdom activity. This will never lead us to realize the ultimate reality of the mind.

It is difficult for us to think of ignorance as an emotion, but if we think carefully, we can be influenced by ignorance just as well as by desire or anger. Ignorance is not a something neutral without effects or consequences, it is a definite state of mind which causes us to act in a certain way.

Ignorance is when we are incapable of seeing things as they really are. This may be conscious or unconscious, the inability to recognize what is happening, sometimes lauded as innocence, or a definite feeling of indifference, even deliberately not wanting to know. It can range from general confusion about what is really going on, to the formation of definite wrong views. There is also a certain element of attachment. Ignorance can even feel quite comfortable ('ignorance is bliss...') If we look at ourselves closely we will find this attitude in a lot of our behavior. From the Buddhist point of view ignorance is anything but bliss and innocence. Indeed, it is the main cause of our suffering, which is why we find it firmly included in the five poisons.

To abandon the five disturbing emotions is to take a less direct path to enlightenment. It is the way followed by the sravakas. But seeing into the true nature of the emotions as and when they occur is not an easy task. If we just allow ourselves to be look at the emotions one after the other as they appear in the mind in the usual way, we are no different than before. Nothing has changed. If we actually enjoy our emotions, deliberately increasing their strength until we feel completely intoxicated by them, we are behaving like someone possessed, with the result that we accumulate the karma of a demon.

It may happen too that we become the kind of person who grows more and more proud of his ability to deal with the emotions by looking into their true nature. Despite the fact that his understanding is not fully developed, he increases the power of the emotions. The stronger they get, the greater becomes his pride. Nor does it stop there. Even though he is not really free of emotional confusion, he says that he is, and sets himself up as an example to others of how to experience the emotions without getting carried away by them. Motivated by great pride, he searches constantly to improve his reputation, to be recognized as somebody very important, someone well known for his ability to work with the emotions. More and more out of control, ever more confused, he accumulates karma which grows more and more negative.