Signs of the Path
Through our practice, we must improve our ways of thinking and habits by reflecting: “What was my intention when I first started practising? How has that changed? How have my thoughts changed? If I continue on this path, where will it take me? What sort of person will I become in the future?”These are essential questions to keep in mind.
For instance, if someone who talks excessively is still chattering away after years of practice; or someone who lacked proper awareness and mindfulness carries on unchanged; or someone fussy about food remains so years later; or a difficult person stays equally troublesome—there’s little hope. If after years of practice one’s views, habits, and character remain the same, that person is certainly not a genuine practitioner.
Therefore, our views and habits must transform. How? We should become increasingly simple, able to accept any situation without difficulty. This means two things: First, our minds should be more open and accepting, by which we encounter fewer problems. Second, we develop inner strength and fearlessness. A narrow-minded person bound by limitations faces many troubles, whilst a broad-minded person fears nothing and can accept any circumstance. True fearlessness is largely the willingness to accept and accommodate—even death or illness can be met with equanimity.
The fearful, worry about everything and are resistant to change, and so forth. We mustn’t be like that.
The essence of the Buddhist teachings is this: whilst enlightenment may seem extraordinary, fundamentally it means becoming simple. When we become simple, our difficulties diminish.
What’s at the root of our problems? We lack simplicity. This complexity brings troubles, struggles, and unhappiness. Unable to accept or endure, we become peculiar, narrow-minded, easily troubled by problems, and develop distorted ways of thinking, dwelling on what we shouldn’t.
A true practitioner mustn’t be like this. They become simple.
Becoming simple is to become less attached to desirable objects and less averse to undesirable ones. When the mind becomes simple in this way, one is a genuine practitioner.
3rd October 2025, Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal