Jetsun Drolma, p1

As Buddhists, as people who call ourselves practitioners, how do we look into the idea of an enemy or a foe, what we usually perceive to be outside of ourselves? How do we deal with that as practitioners, and how do we see this as something that is also an inward concern, not just outward?

What is an enemy?

We have enemies that we consider to be outside of ourselves, as well as inner enemies. We have both experiences. Outwardly, however, as Buddhists, our job is to look closely at the situation and to analyze, to thoroughly investigate the actual root. Sometimes we can eliminate these enemies outside of ourselves, and these enemies occur for a variety of reasons and through a variety of circumstances that arise outside of ourselves. Sometimes we are successful, it seems, in taking care of these outward foes, these outward enemies. But other times, no matter what we do, once eliminated, they arise again. Taking care of outer enemies in this way only produces a short term, temporary result.

We need to understand that the true source of all of our enemies, all of our foes, are the negative or disturbing emotions, the kleshas. If we are able to defeat these, then we defeat all enemies, both inward and outward. All of the enemies inside of ourselves as well as the enemies existing in the three realms of existence are defeated when we understand that the source is the negative emotions that are ultimately inside of our own minds.

The root of the so-called enemy is inside of us; it is our own afflicted emotions. If we understand this, then this will be very helpful for us, it will be very beneficial for us to recognize and understand that the root of all enemies is within, inside of ourselves.

We can establish the fact that the suffering that we experience in our mind. This sense of mental unhappiness that we have, all of it can be traced back to internal kleshas or internal afflictive emotions.

We may have outwardly appearing enemies, but enemies are not enemies if they are beneficial to us, if they are beneficial to our side. If they're beneficial to somebody else, if they are favoring another side, then maybe we could view that as an enemy. There are different circumstances that create the idea of what is and is not an enemy: Is it something that benefits me or is it something that benefits another? Sometimes, that's all it takes to create the notion of an enemy in the first place.

We need to see that the root is in the afflicted emotions. We see outward enemies, but the root lies within us. A good metaphor can be seen in sickness, for example. If we want to cure an illness, one way is to look at the symptoms, the way things appear outwardly, and take care of the symptoms. But the best way is to understand the very root cause of the illness; then you can go straight to the root and you can really take care of that illness rather than just treating the symptoms. The same is true for our own mental suffering, our own sense of enemies whether outward or inward; if we are able to see that the root is the negative emotions, then we can eradicate that illness.

We are learning about the inner enemy. If we know the cause, if we understand how the internal enemy operates, then that knowledge makes it very easy to change. It makes it very easy to correct or change the situation of the internal enemy. Our enemies are a little different where we see them. If we try to deal with them outwardly, externally, if we try to eradicate them externally, they generally come back, they reappear. The inward enemy is different. If we have understanding, if we have knowledge of the root, then we can work with them more successfully.

Loving-kindness

If we were to fall under the power of an external enemy and under their control, this would create a great deal of suffering. And the same is true for the internal enemy. If we fall under the power of negative emotions, the kleshas, then the result is also suffering, similar to the outward appearing enemy.

The external enemies are understood to be forces that need to be dealt with, oftentimes with very strong, powerful weaponry, even nuclear weapons. Yet such weapons that have the power to completely destroy not only the enemy, but the entire earth. In using nuclear weapons, you may eradicate those enemies, but in some way or form, a new enemy will arise from that. You will not be able to fully eradicate those enemies, even with strong weapons.

To address the internal enemy, we don't need to use those kinds of weapons. We don't need to use nuclear weapons on the enemies within ourselves. Our weapons instead are the weapons of compassion, loving kindness, meditating on emptiness, Bodhicitta, giving rise to the heart of awakening. Those are the weapons that we use. And those weapons are actually very effective. When we use those, we are able to transform those internal enemies. Once we are able to combat or transform those enemies, then we experience happiness in the mind. Naturally, that happiness comes when we are able to fight or combat these internal enemies with the weapons of compassion and love and so on. We don't need to use these very powerful weapons, such as nuclear weapons, on the internal enemies of our mind.

Afflictive emotions are forces in the collective experience of this world as well. When the beings of this world fall under the afflictive emotion of anger, for example, then we can see the effects throughout the world. We can observe the results in very broad movements, collectively throughout this world of ours. When people are under such an influence, it has very real, tangible results and effects throughout the world. And at a personal level, if you fall under the negative emotion of anger, for example, if you are following after anger, then immediately we can see that this creates an experience of unhappiness, of not being well mentally.

To change these negative emotions, again, it does not require the use of any kind of external tool, external weapon or implement. If you were to try to change it that way, it would be very difficult to do. On the other hand, if you were to try to change this afflictive emotion, this enemy of anger with compassion, then that becomes very possible, that is very easy and applicable, it's something that we can actually do.