What is meant by the four veils?

Lama Ole’s answer:

There are four veils covering our mind. Above all, there is basic ignorance—the inability to see that subject, object, and action are part of the same totality. Second, there are the disturbing emotions that arise from this ignorance. Third, there are the negative words and actions that arise from these disturbing feelings, and finally the habits that subsequently develop.

These four veils keep us from seeing the true nature of mind, from experiencing the real power and joy inside us. They are linked to one another like a chain. No matter where you break the chain, all of the links immediately become useless. If one tackles the disturbing emotions, one will also have fewer bad experiences. Then one will also be less and less interested in going against others, and the habits will slowly fade away as well. Or if, for example, one dissolves one’s own basic ignorance, the rest also falls away.

Whoever wants to eliminate the habitual veils should stay in meditation a bit longer and meditate on “space as joy,” on “space as freshness and possibility.” Here, we should especially hold the state of naked awareness, where we are not conscious of something but rather conscious of awareness itself. In this state, our habitual tendencies from beginningless time break up and dissolve.