In Buddhism, one basically distinguishes between conditioned and unconditioned happiness, between a relative and an absolute kind. Relative happiness has to do with experiences; absolute happiness has to do with the experiencer itself. When one watches the outer world — the factories, streets, houses and cars — it is evident they were made because beings wanted to experience something pleasant. Hospitals and prisons, on the other hand, were built in order to avoid certain types of suffering. Beings constantly try to change outer conditions with the aim of receiving pleasant feedback.

However, no matter how beautiful houses, cars or landscapes may be, they cannot feel happiness. The only thing that can ever be happy is mind. What looks through our eyes and listens through our ears right now is where it all happens. The usual attempts to base happiness on outer factors are misplaced because the cause of this conditioned happiness is transient in nature. It is as if one would try to move something from a distance with a wobbly stick. This is why every attempt to attain lasting happiness through conditioned causes simply does not work.

Especially at the moment of death it becomes very evident that "the last shirt has no pockets," as we Danes say. At this time one cannot take anything along and only lasting values count. Therefore, it is wise to use one's time to find the causes of a truly permanent happiness. Since everything conditioned, made or born — by its very nature — is relative and impermanent, it cannot last and must also fall apart again.

Beings who are unaware of their timeless minds encounter three different kinds of suffering:

First is the catastrophic state where nothing works. For example, when one is totally sick, half of one's family and friends are dying, everything falls apart, and life is dramatic, painful and tragic.

The second kind of suffering is often mistakenly considered happiness. It is the experience of newness; that things constantly change. We may think, "Oh, new pictures all the time, how exciting," until a moment comes when we try to hold onto them. This, of course, can't be done and in the end everything runs through our fingers and we feel lost.

Finally, there is a third kind of suffering that expresses itself as dissatisfaction or frustration. It arises due to the fact that mind is nearly always obscured. Most people don't even discover it since they are too pre-occupied with the former kinds. One can hardly remember yesterday and last week is already fading. There are no memories of birth or former lives, and one does not know what will happen in the future.

One or more of these three types of suffering is always present until we recognise them and start to exchange transient values with ones we can really trust.

What can one truly rely on in this world? Neither Materialism nor Nihilism. Today, both of these main extreme philosophies have lost their scientific basis. Both being and non-being cannot be proven and must be seen as two sides of the same totality. Outer and inner phenomena do not exist or non-exist. The way thoughts and feelings come and go, the parts of the atom can be made to disappear, while particles may appear again from apparently empty space. If one looks for a real essence, the objects disappear again. While if one tries to keep space empty, it fills up on its own. When this is the case, what can one truly rely on? What has the power to hold things?

There is only one thing we can absolutely trust – the potential of space. Space is much more than a black hole or nothingness. Often one knows who is calling before one hears the voice on the phone. Letters arrive from people whom one has recently thought strongly about. This is not due to improved eyesight or hearing, but to moments when we forget about being separate from the totality. When we are simply there, nakedly open and resting in whatever is going on, things happen. During such moments we not only experience via our senses, but also through the vibration of every atom in our body. Because space and energy inside and out are expressions of the same totality, we are always connected with everything.

In Buddhism, this is called the "truth state" – Dharmakaya in the Sanskrit language or Chöku in Tibetan. It means that everything is part of the same totality. On another level, a comparison can be made that space is like a container that we are inside. However, this feeling of totality doesn't do away with the necessity of judging the distance between things, which is necessary for survival. Over the millennia, whoever could judge the nearness of the tiger — or today, the closeness of passing trucks — could usually survive and pass on their genes. Many at first resist this understanding of totality.

However, there is clearly much more space behind things than between them. If one is aware of the distance between the stars in space, even New York is close. I advise trying to develop this viewpoint. It is very important to see space as something that connects beings and is alive; as a container which also conveys information between things.

Space has more to it than awareness alone and this is what makes it interesting – it is also joyful. The radiance of mind itself is much richer than the conditioned experiences of joy we all strive for. The best moments in life are actually gifts and appear when beings forget themselves. They are situations where feelings of separation disappear, like being in the arms of our loved ones – the timeless moment of "being one." Here mind's innate, timeless joy can manifest, and this will become permanent when one stays beyond hope and fear in the richness of immediate experience. This state is inseparable from mind's spontaneous insight and a transmission of wisdom. This is a joyful experience – the basis of everything outer and inner, and mind may even recognise itself in the process.

Finally, because space is unlimited, it expresses itself as love. This does not mean kindness, where a Westerner from a highly developed society may think one should help people in ghettos and other poor parts of the world. This, of course is very good, especially if it makes it possible for them to have fewer children. However, it is only a shadow of the limitless experience where love appears from the feeling of being one. When subject, object and experience are a totality and we cannot separate our own wishes for happiness from the wishes of others, one is in the absolute state. Observing the world, this view feels exceedingly natural. There can be no doubt that all beings want to be happy and avoid suffering; that they are countless while the observer is only one.

This full unfolding of mind is based on Great Way (Mahayana) Buddhism and obtained quickly through the countless skilful methods of Diamond Way Buddhism. The three old schools of Tibetan Buddhism that use meditation and transmission bring one especially quickly to the state of the Great Seal (Mahamudra) or Great Perfection (Maha-ati), where basis, way, and goal all become liberating. Especially in the Kagyu Lineage, which I represent, the mirror and its radiance are never separate. Space and bliss are understood as one. What looks through our eyes and listens through our ears is clear light and nothing external. However, it is not something shiny like the light produced by a projector. It is instead a constant state of freshness, an exciting 'here and now' where momentary insights appear in direct connection with the experience itself. When a steady "aha" is united with every experience, this is true joy and the goal.

Such a lasting state will only be fully realised by examining who we really are, and such analysis brings the conviction that one cannot essentially be a body. Bodies change all the time. They were born, will later die and are right now in a state of constant flux. Whatever has no lasting nature cannot be a “self” or something truly existent. The experience that they are not their bodies at first amazes people, then actually becomes quite a relief. Who wants to be something that gets old, sick and then dies? Evidently, no transient body can be the basis of true happiness.

Some people then identify with their thoughts and feelings, but this is even less convincing. Our mental states change even more rapidly than their outer containers. In Goethe's Faust during a dialogue between the devil Mephisto and Faust, the former states that nothing changes more quickly than the emotions of beings. Whoever identifies with conditioned states of mind cannot avoid deep confusion. The only feelings that are unchanging and timeless — like the ocean beneath the waves — are fearlessness, spontaneous joy and the compassion that motivates us to actually do something to relieve the suffering of others. This is so because these feelings appear from the one cause that never changes – mind’s radiant and limitless space. Only space is uncreated, indestructible and exists through its own power. Space is a limitless container. Rich and playful in its experiences, it effortlessly expresses compassion and unites everything.

This is the goal of Buddha's teachings. He wants beings to experience the mirror behind the pictures, the vast ocean beneath the waves. Whoever can experience themselves as aware radiance will be undisturbed by the stream of what is known. The limitless joy alluded to by the Buddha is attained by knowing mind itself. When we arrive at the understanding that mind is neither born nor created, everything in life is a gift.

When people have become able to trust their inherent Buddha nature — their natural state of mind — the Diamond Way Buddhist meditations give the possibilities of working with mind through identification, form or abstraction. The ones using “form” have two phases – a building up phase, and a completion or dissolving state.

Here different Buddhas or teachers appear in front or above oneself as transparent forms of energy and light. The feedback from these forms activates and influences movements in the energy channels of the body. This is extremely blissful and lays the seeds for beyond-personal qualities and abilities to emerge. As the inspiration of the Buddha aspect solidifies, one makes an additional vibration bridge — a mantra — between oneself and the light-form. Finally, one melts it into oneself as naturally as water flows into water or light shines into light. Then all form disappears and there is only awareness.

In its limitless space beyond the experiencer or what is experienced, awareness is without centre or limit, neither here nor there. Mind recognises its countless qualities through its own power. This phase is not intellectualised or forced. It is completely different from Christian attempts to only think good, or the Hindu way of trying not to think at all, which may dull mind. Evidently, it is the total opposite to Moslem subjugation and submission. By staying in the essence of what is aware, while allowing impressions to come and go naturally without evaluating them, one gains timeless insight. Before awareness becomes cloudy, one again lets a fresh, radiant and new world appear and shares the good impressions accumulated with all beings.

One aspect of Diamond Way meditation is most profound and easily accessible through the power of one’s wishes. It changes people on the deepest levels and I teach it a dozen times around the world every year. Known traditionally as ‘Phowa’, it is the practice of Conscious Dying. Nine hundred and fifty years ago, the Tibetan hero Marpa obtained the transmission for this practice from his Indian teacher Naropa, and today a method like this probably only exists in the three ‘old’ schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Here one learns how to control the process of dying while still alive, so that later at death one can send mind to the pure state of highest bliss.

This practice brings about three types of signs. The first ‘outer’ sign is on the body and consists of an opening about eight fingers behind the original hairline. It is usually a small cut, or drop of blood, nothing large, but most sensitive to touch. During the practice, many have the blissful experience of freely leaving their bodies. The second or ‘inner’ sign develops into unforgettable states of freedom and certainty. However, also mixed subconscious impressions appear while the powerful practice activates the magnetic axis that runs through the body. At this time, experiences of fear and insecurity may arise in people, but when their own maturity and the Lama’s power have evened the way, they report real fulfilment. The third or ‘secret’ realisation is the certainty that fear to a very high degree is no longer a hindrance. It is the awareness that one’s essence is somehow indestructible, that different kinds of suffering are now gone.

Through the practice of Conscious Dying, ever more people get to rest in their own centre and identify more with that which experiences, than with the many objects of their experience. This is nothing intellectual (everyone can very easily learn to say the right words) but a total thing. We know beyond any doubt that body and speech are our richness, and the means through which we can benefit many beings. In this way, this experience grows into an unshakable awareness of mind.

We understand there is nothing to prove or excuse. We are that which is looking and listening right now, that which experiences and is conscious. It is then meaningless to let oneself be drawn from one’s centre by fleeting events in the outer or inner ‘Disneyland.’ From a secure mental level, one uses body and speech to help beings in their many passing and confused states. Being useful to others from this level of fearless joy and compassion is the real goal.

Buddha taught different methods for getting there. For the less rebellious who would prefer avoiding difficulties, he advised the way of renunciation and becoming monks or nuns. This status gives social security; one does not have to stand up to confrontation and is really protected.

To those who aimed to conquer life, who wanted to have experiences and leave a massive track through the conditioned world, he advised the richness of a lay life. Here, Buddha did not focus on what to avoid, but on what is possible and attractive; on making life more exciting and meaningful for others and ourselves.

The highest level of teachings Buddha gave to the so-called “accomplishers”, those developing on the level of “view”. In former times they were called “yogis,” but this term made too many people think of Hindus with turbans so I chose a term that focuses on the result. This category includes everybody who fearlessly and unconventionally strives for enlightenment.

The point is to experience everything on the level of highest purity. Here one understands that it is not necessary to die to go to a pure land. That one does not have to go elsewhere to meet Buddha. It is a deeply satisfying insight that everybody’s mind is clear light, even including the limited consciousness of a small spider that can only react to a few square inches of web. On top of that, if increasingly good karma enables one to recognise everything as fresh and new, to feel every atom vibrating with bliss and kept together by love, mind will spontaneously express its joyful power. Happiness will be lasting and it is only then a matter of confidence. Whoever dares to trust their basic goodness, and jump from the images into the mirror, is given every gift. As consciousness shifts from the wave to the ocean, turning from the experiences to the experiencer itself, there is only self-arisen joy.

A simple statement sums it all up – “Behave like a Buddha until you become one.” This means consciously lifting the level of one’s perception, that it is only necessary to remove the dust from one’s eyes to recognise in everything an expression of love and self-arisen perfect wisdom. One will then see that mind’s limitless potential is playing here and now, as well as everywhere and always. Only this insight secures absolute and lasting happiness, and Diamond Way Buddhist meditations aim directly for that experience.

Two thousand five hundred years ago, in accordance with the understanding of his time, Buddha described his state as “the ending of suffering.” Today, this is the wildest of understatements and we would compare his experience to holding one’s fingers in an electrical outlet and pulling the voltage of one’s town through one’s bones. That intensity — inseparable from the highest clarity and bliss — is the state we’re talking about and this is also the reason why the Buddhas of the highest Annutara Yoga Tantra state are always shown in male-female union. This is the closest most people get to that joy.

Three levels of meditation co-operate to bring beings to this state. The first calms and holds mind. It is comparable to a cup of coffee that is no longer shaken – things naturally reflect themselves in it. The second level works with our motivation. Here compassion and wisdom nourish our absorption, involving more of our totality. On the third and highest stage of identification, nothing is left out. Its view and methods, blissful understanding, power and deep confidence bring all of mind’s inherent qualities to full maturation.

The first state reached is called “one pointed.” Here, mind is rich and needs nothing from anywhere else. It can stay happily wherever it is. Then, secondly, one becomes “non artificial” because the radiance of what is here and now goes beyond anything one could even imagine. Thirdly, mind rests in the experience of “one taste.” It is aware of itself in whatever happens and the unshakable experiencer is felt through every experience. The mirror is already more radiant than its pictures, and it is more important that one can be conscious than whether pleasant or unpleasant events occur. Finally, at the fourth level of “no-meditation,” no conscious effort is needed anymore. Without doubt or separation between subject, object and action, one automatically fulfils what matures beings in the long run.

As a bridge between cultures and epochs, there is one last point in Buddha’s teachings that must be quite liberating for psychologists and therapists – that highest truth is highest joy, that truth on a relative level is illusive. Most think that between rosy ups and black-grey downs must exist something real, a reliable level of truth. However, this was never discovered in the conditioned world.

If one looks for something really present and indestructible, one finds space. Only from space does everything appear. Through its clarity all things are known, and everything outer and inner returns to its unlimited essence. Highest joy, love, power, courage, energy, wisdom and insight all perfect each other. In other words, we have a real assurance – the highest level of function is the highest level of truth. The better one feels, the smoother everything moves, the more exciting aspects of mind appear, the nearer one comes to the Buddha-state. There is only one difference between a Buddha and others. He has developed all qualities of body, speech and mind. Everybody can do exactly the same, and both way and goal are good.