How to See Yourself As You Really Are

by Dalai Lama XIV

most of our troubles stem from attachment to things that we mistakenly see as permanent.

The fact that people and phenomena change indicates that they actually do not have their own individual status just as they are; they are not able to set themselves up. Because they are foundationless, they can transform.

1. The person is at the center of all troubles. 2. Therefore, it is best to work at understanding your true nature first.

When you get angry at your own mind, the “I” that is angry and the mind at which you are angry appear to be separate from each other.

if the self is inherently produced and inherently disintegrates, it would be impossible for the present moments of your life to depend on former moments, since each moment would be produced and disintegrate in and of itself, without depending on anything else.

Seeing people and things as existing like illusions helps reduce unfavorable emotions, because lust, hatred, and so forth stem from our superimposing qualities—good or bad—on phenomena beyond what they actually have.

By mistaking what disintegrates moment by moment for something constant, I bring pain upon myself as well as others.