IN-MINDFUL LIVING

In the past you have taken on countless lives, you have assumed innumerable bodies. There is no benefit in knowing what you were in a past life. It is important to prepare for the future, to strive for enlightenment.

From the ultimate perspective, past lifetimes are, in fact, illusions. On the relative level we talk about numbers and different lifetimes, but in fact there is only a single continuum of mind, that is beyond birth and death. From the perspective of mind-itself there is no past life, no present life, no future life, and no bardo. Past lives are illusions, unreal, so do not ponder over illusions. You don’t have to know about them, as they only belong to the relative level, not the ultimate truth.

What is important for you now is to destroy self-grasping and to see the nature of mind. Do not think about the past or the future. Do not even think about the present, do not cling to any thought. Look at your mind right now. Look at the pure natural state as it is.

Only hold on to bodhchitta, love and compassion, and nothing else, day and night. Always purify your mind by sustaining awareness of the natural state.

~ HE Garchen Rinpoche

Translation Ina Bieler

(Posted by jangchub.norbu, Instagram, 31 January 2026)