Simple Dharma. Complicated mind.

I recently heard something that made a big impact on me. It was Lama Pema Wangdak that said the following:

Dharma is simple. It is mind that is complicated.

Buddhist doctrine can seem immense and complicated, abstruse and impenetrable. But these are just formulations that are necessary not because Dharma or truth is complicated, but because mind is complicated.

Our minds refuse to accept the utter simplicity of the truth. That is why Buddha gave us the dharma as 84,000 different teachings.

One breath in mindfulness. That is really all that is needed.

But my mind is so enmeshed in delusions that it cannot accept something so simple as that. That is why dharma practice consists so much of removing destructive patterns, false ideas, and erroneous concepts.

I have this feeling that if I ever realize how simple the truth is, I will spend the rest of my life smiling about how much I used to complicate things...