Ngak’chang Rinpoche: In
sKu-mNyé there is great emphasis on the eyes. This is the case with
many practices of Dzogchen. The eyes are kept wide open and unmoving
whilst engaged in the exercise, and in the meditation that follows.
Sweeping movements of the torso, arms, and legs are quite
characteristic; but the most unusual aspect is ‘circling’
the head. Q: I believe there’s
head rotation in Hatha Yoga?
Khandro Dechen: Yes, but
the head circling in sKu-mNyé is kept extremely small. If you
imagine tracing a circle with your nose – the circumference should
not be more than an inch (2.54cm). It’s difficult to keep it that
small, because the tendency is to make larger circles. Unmoving
eyes in conjunction with circling takes time to perfect,
but it’s made easier by the ability to focus in space.
Focusing in space needs to be explained. It does not mean
going ‘out of focus’. Focusing in space means you are
in focus, but that there is no tangible object or surface to act as a
reference point upon which your focus rests.
Q: That sounds really
quite difficult. I imagine that you would have to spend a long time
in training to be able to do that. What purpose does circling
have in sKu-mNyé?
KD: There are two active
principles involved with circling. Firstly there is the
Dzogchen gaze. The method of Dzogchen gazing
disorientates the conceptual mind. Secondly, there’s circling.
Circling massages the rTsa, the spatial nerves, but it
does so through movement rather than through control of the breath.
When conceptual mind is disorientated, we become open to perceiving
extraordinary experiences, which are released through massaging the
rTsa. There are numerous rTsa in the neck that connect with
the eyes – so circling activates the rTsa and opens up a
subtle dimension of visionary experience at the same time.
Q: So you might start to
see in an unusual way?
KD: Possibly, but in
terms of Dzogchen the word ‘vision’ applies to all the senses.
Initially there would be tactile visions. Then the other sense fields
would gradually follow until visual experiences began to occur. It
might sound difficult, but anyone can experience their rTsa rLung
energy if they have enthusiasm and application. You do have to push
through sensations of dizziness and vertigo – but these sensations
tend only to arise when you’re not focused in space.
Learning to focus in space is crucial to sKu-mNyé, so it’s
very important to practise the gaze first. You have to do that
in order to keep your eyes from seeking forms upon which they tend to
settle.
Q: This must be a
valuable aspect of Dzogchen.
KD: Yes. This is
something which is central to Dzogchen long-dé. The eyes are
important in all the Dzogchen systems. The eyes always relate to what
is happening at the level of mind and the nature of Mind. You see,
it’s not really the eyes that seek out forms – it’s the
conceptual mind that seeks them out. In fact, the conceptual mind
seeks out forms through all the senses.
NR: In terms of Dzogchen,
we train through the senses and the sense-fields rather than through
trying to let go of thought. We learn to fix the senses. We
keep the senses unmoving in relation to the external world. We
employ the natural phenomena around us to become part of the process
that leads to the dissolution of reference points. We accomplish this
through the Dzogchen practices of integration with the moving
elements: water, fire, and air.
KD: This is because we
are always attaching to reference points. We grasp at reference
points in order to feel real; but this actually saps the vitality of
our being and obscures the vividness of our perception.
Q: So how would I
practise this integration with the moving elements, say, with
the water element?
KD: You would sit by the
sea. Or you would sit by a river. You would focus on the surface
detail of the water, so that you saw it very clearly and crisply. You
would then fix your gaze. You would achieve that by keeping
your eyes from moving. The eye muscles habitually track movements by
flicking backwards and forwards along the line of movement. This is
what stops everything from becoming a blur when you look out of the
side window of a car.
Q: Yes! I’ve seen that!
When you look at someone who’s looking out of the window of a car,
their eyes dart rhythmically. They seem to hop forward in the
direction the car is taking, and then flash back again. And that’s
obviously completely unconscious, isn’t it?
KD: Yes. But with
sKu-mNyé that habit is brought into consciousness. You become aware
of that darting movement, and you continually attempt to freeze it –
to fix your gaze. You know when your gaze is fixed
because the water blurs – the scenery from the car window blurs.
Q: So you could practise
this on the way to work every day.
KD: Quite.
NR: But it is especially
important to remember that the blur is a speed blur and not an ‘out
of focus blur’. So, in terms to gazing into the water, the
water would blur because your eyes were fixed.
KD: This wouldn’t be
because you weren’t focussing on the surface of the water. It would
happen because your eyes were not moving. This is a specific of many
Dzogchen practices.
NR: The impression you
would receive would be like a photograph taken at a slow shutter
speed. This is one of the best ways to train in fixing the gaze.
KD: The way to train in
focusing in space, in terms of Dzogchen, is to learn to feel
comfortable when your eyes have no object of focus. This seems
challenging at first, but it is by no means difficult. It is, in
fact, easier than learning how to fix the gaze. There is a
fairly simple method. You stretch out your arm and focus on your
index finger. Then, when you have settled your focus, you lower your
arm and maintain the gaze. Every time you find your eyes
settling on distant objects, simply raise your arm again and re-focus
on your finger. You just keep repeating this process until focussing
in space becomes a simple muscular reflex.
Q: Could that ever be bad
for the eyes?
KD: [laughs] No, it is
actually very good exercise for the eye muscles.
NR: Especially when you
develop the ability to fix the gaze and focus in space. In
sKu-mNyé you do both at once, so it is good to practise both before
attempting circling.
… NR: Prana, or rLung
in Tibetan, is the subtle breath or ‘spatial wind’ that flows in
the ‘spatial nerves’ of the subtle energetic body. These ‘spatial
nerves’ or rTsa form a pattern that spreads throughout the
body.
KD: There are rTsa all
over the body: in the armpits; the ‘elbow pits’; the inside of
the wrists; the palms of the hands; between the fingers; the soles of
the feet; behind the knees; the inner thighs; the stomach; the neck;
and in general, in all the areas described as erogenous zones.
Q: Are rTsa like
acupuncture meridians?
KD: Yes, in some ways,
but the pattern is sometimes very different from that of the
acupuncture meridians, and functions in different ways. sKu-mNyé
stimulates the rTsa and causes stagnant rLung to move.
When rLung begins to move, people tend to come alive or wake
up in surprising ways. To use the analogy of acupuncture meridians,
you could say that sKu-mNyé was like a system of acupressure.
Rhythmic physical movements affect the meridians, rather than
pressure. ... From here.
Kim's
comment: I have always felt that the simple and often striking
teachings of the zen buddhist masters, both from Japanese rinzai- and
soto-schools, describe well what spiritual practice is ultimately
about. The approach of the soto zen-school is very direct and simple,
and therefore often difficult to understand conceptually. What is
interesting however, is that the dzogchen-adepts say the same things.
However, the greatest difference between zen and dzogchen, I feel, is
that the latter uses concepts, techniques and pointing out
instructions as tools in going beyond concepts, stages and so on in
order for the practitioner to realise the empty nature of mind, while
zen doesn't. For this reason the quotes I've gathered below might not
be easy to understand. However, I feel, that they give valid advice
to one on the path of dharma. At the end, I have also included a
recommendation of another soto zen adept to study dzogchen. Perhaps
this recommendation was given because skillful theory, mapping and
study, together with committed practice, can make a real difference.
”People
love emotional confusion... Buddha-dharma means not putting yourself
at the mercy of emotional confusion. In the world, on the other hand,
a big fuss is made over nothing.”
”If
it’s even the slightest bit personalized, it isn’t pure,
unadulterated zazen. We’ve got to practice genuine, pure zazen,
without mixing it with gymnastics or satori or anything. When we
bring in our personal ideas – even only a little bit – it’s no
longer the buddha-dharma.”
”In
true dharma there’s nothing to gain. In false dharma there’s
something to gain.”
”The
way of buddha means that there is nothing to seek, nothing to find
[mushogu-mushotoku]. If there’s something to find, no matter how
much we practice, it’s got nothing to do with the buddha-dharma. If
there’s nothing to find [mushotoku], that’s the buddha-dharma.”
”What’s
zazen good for? Absolutely nothing! This “good for nothing” has
got to sink into your flesh and bones until you’retruly
practicing what’s good for nothing. Until then, your zazen is
really good for nothing.”
”You
say you want to become a better person by doing zazen. Zazen isn’t
about learning how to be a person. Zazen is to stop being a person.”
”As
long as you say zazen is a good thing, something isn’t quite right.
Unstained zazen is absolutely nothing special. It isn’t even
necessary to be grateful for it... Without knowledge, without
consciousness, everything is as it should be. Don’t stain your
zazen by saying that you’ve progressed, feel better or have become
more confident through zazen.” ”We
only say, “Things are going well!” when they’re going our
way.” ”We
should simply leave the water of our original nature as it is. But
instead we are constantly mucking about with our hands to find out
how cold or warm it is. That’s why it gets cloudy.”
”If
we don’t watch out, we’ll start believing that the buddha-dharma
is like climbing up a staircase. But it isn’t like this at all.
This very step right now is the one practice which includes all
practices, and it is all practices, contained in this one practice.”
”If
you do something good, you can’t forget you’ve done something
good. If you’ve had satori, you get stuck in the awareness of
having satori. That’s why it’s better to keep your hands off good
deeds and satori. You’ve got to be perfectly open and free. Don’t
rest on your laurels!” ”Even
if I say all of this about the buddha way, ordinary people will still
use the buddha-dharma to try and enhance their value as humans.” ”You
study, you do sports, and you’re fixated on satori and illusion. So
that even zazen becomes a marathon for you, with satori as the finish
line. Yet because you’re trying to grab it, you’re missing it
completely. Only when you stop meddling like this does your
original, cosmic nature realize itself.”
”You’ve
got it backwards if you talk about stages of practice...”
”Master
Dôgen doesn’t expect anything from us that’s not humanly
possible. It’s simply a matter of becoming natural, without empty
thoughts or peculiarities. Buddhism in general doesn’t demand
anything special from us, only that we become natural. Some verses in
the sutras might seem special to us, for example,
“The white hair
between his eyebrows illuminates the 3,000 worlds.” But that’s
only a literary symbol for the samadhi that is the king of all
samadhis.”
”Master
Dôgen’s whole life was one uncompromising, penetrating inquiry
into himself.”
”A
bodhisattva is someone who awakens suffering beings. He’s an
ordinary person who has the goal “buddha” clearly and decidedly
in sight.”
”When
you talk about Buddha, you’re thinking of something far away that’s
got nothing to do with you, and that’s why you’re only running
around in circles.”
”Ordinary
people and buddhas have the same form. Awakening and illusion have
the same form.”
”You
lack peace of mind because you’re running after an idea of total
peace of mind. That’s backwards. Be attentive to your mind in each
moment, no matter how unpeaceful it might seem to be. Great peace of
mind is realized only in the practice within this unpeaceful mind. It
arises out of the interplay between peaceful and unpeaceful mind.”
Translation
of Kodo Sawaki's teachings by Jesse Haasch and Muho Noelke, found
here.
Someone
wrote: "My first buddhist teacher was Kobun Chino Roshi*. In one
class, someone asked him how to get closer to his lineage or more
involved with his lineage. His answer was to look into dzogchen." *the
mentioned Kobun Chino was a student of Kodo Sawaki.
Discover
Your Innermost AwarenessBY
THE DALAI LAMA
In
his teaching on the essence of Dzogchen, the Dalai Lama describes the
shock that naturally accompanies an experience of innermost
awareness, which is actually the basis of all reality.
”I
have great interest in the statement by many wise persons in all the
orders of Tibetan Buddhism that their systems come down to the same
final principle, and I feel that this is what I should and must
explain. Such an exploration may be controversial, but in any case,
these great scholar–yogis say that all these systems come down to
the same final basic insight, the same principle, because there is
indeed a final basic experience on which they all alight. There is no
way they would say this just to be polite.
In texts we
inherited from India, the basic principle is sometimes called the
“fundamental innate mind of clear light” or the “fundamental
innate wisdom of clear light,” these two terms having the same
meaning. In other texts, it is called the “space-diamond pervading
space,” while in yet others it is called the “jewel mind,” as,
for example, when it is said, “Separate from the jewel mind, there
is no buddha and no sentient being.”
Then, in Tibet, in some
texts, it is called “ordinary consciousness” and “innermost
awareness.” These terms are used in the context of speaking about
freedom from thought, which is psychologically and experientially
described as “self-release,” “naked release,” and “unimpeded
penetration.” The innermost awareness is said to be the basis of
the appearance of all of the round of suffering (cyclic existence)
and also the basis of liberation (nirvana). Everything, without
exception, is complete in the continuum of innermost awareness. It is
even said to be naturally arisen, since it has always been and always
will be.
All of the phenomena of cyclic existence and nirvana
are, when you come down to it, not newly produced by causes and
conditions but integrally complete within the nature of primordial,
naturally arisen innermost awareness; everything is contained within
its sphere, within its scope. On the low end, the basis of the
dawning of all of the phenomena of the world of suffering is this
diamond mind of clear light; on the high end, the basis of the
dawning of all the pure phenomena of liberation is just this
innermost awareness, also called the diamond mind of clear
light.
This is a topic well worth exploring for the sake of
furthering our inner peace by opening our minds beyond our usual
stream of thoughts. We should look into this with the aim of creating
more peace with our neighbors and throughout our world.
Innermost
Awareness Pervades Every Type of Consciousness
No
matter what kind of consciousness we might consider, the clear light
of innermost awareness pervades it. Ice, even when it is solid and
very hard, does not pass beyond the nature of water. In the same way,
no matter how gross, tough, or coarse conceptions might be, the place
from which they dawn and the place into which they vanish when we no
longer think about them does not pass beyond innermost
awareness.
Conceptual awareness appears from within the sphere
of innermost awareness and finally dissolves into the sphere of
innermost awareness. Since this is the case, as the early
twentieth-century scholar–yogi of the Old Translation (Nyingma)
School Dodrubchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima says, just as oil pervades the
entirety of sesame seeds, so clear light pervades all consciousness.
He concludes that therefore even at the time of the manifestation of
the coarser levels of mind—both during thinking and during the
operation of the sensory consciousnesses associated with the eye,
ear, nose, tongue, and body—it is possible to identify, through the
force of a lama or guru’s empowering blessings* and quintessential
instructions, a subtle feature of clear light that pervades each of
these consciousnesses.
*Added
note. Lama Alan Wallace, Dalai Lama's direct student: "(There
are) two approaches to identifying the mind. We can receive pointing
out instructions from a qualified master, or we can just do the
practice".
Practicing
the Path Right Now
How
can we take innermost awareness into the spiritual path right now? It
is through being introduced to and identifying—in experience—the
clear light that pervades all types of consciousnesses and
one-pointedly meditating on this, sustaining attention to it within
nonthought, nonconceptualization.
Then, as the clear light
becomes more and more profound, the types of coarse thoughts diminish
more and more. This is why this practice is called “the essential
path through knowledge of which all states are released.” Coming to
know this single innermost awareness in our own experience, we are
liberated from all sorts of tense situations.
To identify
innermost awareness, the most difficult part is to make the
distinction between mind (sems) and innermost awareness (rig pa). It
is easy to talk about this difference, to say, “Innermost awareness
has never been infected by mistake, whereas mind is under the
influence of conceptualization and polluted with mistaken thought.”
This is easy to say, but in terms of actual experience in our own
mental continuum, it is very difficult. Dodrubchen said that although
we might fancy that we are meditating on innermost awareness, there
is a danger that we are actually, in fact, merely maintaining
concentration on the clear and cognitive nature of a more superficial
mind, and so we need to take care. It is helpful to do the latter,
but it is not so profound.
The
Innate Mind of Clear Light
All
Tibetan systems, in their final view, emphasize the fundamental
innate mind of clear light. In terms of the center of these systems,
all of the phenomena of cyclic existence and nirvana are the sport,
the effulgence, of the fundamental innate clear light. Hence, the
root, and foundation, of all of that is within the scope of cyclic
existence and nirvana is the fundamental clear light.
This
being so, when practicing the spiritual path, there is nothing else
needed to purify these impure appearances—which themselves dawn
from within the context of innermost awareness or clear light—than
to turn the fundamental innate mind of clear light itself into that
through which you practice the spiritual path. Manifesting the fruit
of practicing the path, the fundamental innate mind of clear light
itself, when separated from all obstructive defilements, is the
resultant omniscience of buddhahood, a state from which the greatest
benefit to others can be effected.
Introducing
Innermost Awareness
I
will now explain the first section of the text Three Keys Penetrating
the Core, from the mind of the great adept Dza Patrul Jigme Chokyi
Wangpo (1808–87). Patrul Rinpoche’s teaching, and thus his poem,
is organized around three keys for uncovering innermost awareness,
the Great Completeness. The essential meaning of how to place
yourself in the core of reality is cast into three sets of
quintessential teachings for the sake of severing the life, so to
speak, of self-ruinous mistake. Here, I will discuss the first
key:
The view, the multitudinous expanse, Is cast in
practical essentials of three keys.
I.First set your own
mind in a relaxed state, Not emitting, not withdrawing, without
conceptuality. In this relaxed state of total absorption, Suddenly
shout PAT, striking your awareness, Strong, intense, short. E MA
HO! Not any thing, astounding. Astounding, unimpeded
penetration. Unimpeded penetration, inexpressible. Identify
innermost awareness of the truth body. Its entity is identified
within yourself—the first essential.
I will try
to provide a little commentary.
Relax
The
initial introduction to the view of naturally arisen innermost
awareness cannot be made while you are involved in constantly
generating many conceptions, such as thinking about good and bad and
the like. For instance, it is difficult to identify somebody you
don’t know well in a huge crowd, but once you have been introduced
to a person and come to know him or her, it is easy to identify the
person even in the midst of a big crowd. Similarly, even though
innermost awareness pervades every moment of consciousness, including
every single thought, it is not possible to bring out innermost
awareness in its nakedness without being introduced to it first,
because it is bound and obscured by conceptual thinking. However,
after you have identified it, you can see it even in the midst of a
multitude of thoughts.
Therefore, without making any
adjustments to your mind, such as by conceptually working at
analysis, leave, among the various phenomena of the world, whatever
appears to your mind—people, buildings, mountains, your work, your
friends, your problems, and the like—as just an appearance, and do
not get involved and polluted with identifying it and thinking, “This
is such-and-such.” Since a state of mere appearance and mere
awareness needs to be sustained, do as the author of the poem says
and “first set your own mind in a relaxed state,” not allowing
the busy state of a multitude of thoughts.
Stop
Thinking for A While
Naturally
arisen innermost awareness naturally exists within you; it is
naturally there, not newly generated or constructed by superficial
conditions. Rather, it is original wisdom, naturally flowing
awareness whose continuum is itself fundamental, uncontrived. For it
to become evident to you now, do not allow new superficially
fabricated conceptions to develop. Do not emit new thoughts, and even
when you notice that conceptions have been produced, do not exert
yourself thinking that they have to be withdrawn; just let them
disappear. As the poem says, “not emitting, not withdrawing,
without conceptuality.” Rather, vividly stay completely within the
self-flow, the natural flow of nonconceptuality. On the spot, let go
of all conceptual thinking altogether.
Shock
Still,
it is not sufficient just to keep your mind from diffusing and
scattering. Even if bliss, clarity, and nonconceptuality dawn in
meditative experience, these interfere with being introduced to and
identifying naturally arisen innermost awareness. You need to avoid
even bliss, clarity, and nonconceptuality. You have to get beyond all
of these.
Therefore, in this relaxed state not affected and
polluted by the tightness of conceptuality, suddenly shout PAT
(pronounced “pat” with the tongue curled to the top of the mouth
behind the front teeth while saying the final “t”)—strong,
intense, and short—for the sake of immediately clearing out any and
all of the commotion of thinking It is so-and-so, It is like this, It
is like that. The sudden sound of PAT will strike conceptual thinking
out of your consciousness: “In this relaxed state of total
absorption, suddenly shout PAT, striking your awareness, strong,
intense, short. E MA HO! Not any thing, astounding.”
Old
thoughts have stopped and new thoughts have not yet been produced.
For example, when a boat moves quickly through water, the water is
moved to the two sides with an empty place right then and there in
its wake at the back of the boat.
At the point of shouting
PAT, between when you are unable to think your former thoughts and
before you are able to produce new conceptions, in between those two,
when you cannot make conceptual distinctions, there is astonishment,
clarity, vividness, mere knowing.
If you have faith and keen
interest, as well as a guide’s quintessential instructions, then
remaining in place of the sudden removal of thoughts will be a sense
of shock that cannot be identified as anything, this or that. The
clothing of thought suddenly thrown off, you will be left in a state
of wonder, feeling astounded, astonished.
There are several
types of shock. One is like having your eyes closed and being unable
to think anything; another is a state of nonconceptuality in which
the mind is free from the pollutions of the mind being either too
loose or too tight. There are also others. At this juncture, the
emitting and withdrawing of conceptuality has stopped to the point
where you are in a state of astonishment, having lost the power to
recognize objects as this or that.
With a shock, mental
activity suddenly halts. For example, when a dog suddenly barks near
you, you can be shocked into being unable to think anything. Here, in
this practice, you are released from the varieties of thought, from
the binding confines of the groups of adventitiously generated new
conceptions, but still it is not as if you have fainted. Rather, the
perspective of your consciousness is vividly clear.
Texts
speak of making evident a state in which the usual underlying
consciousness has lost its intensity and conceptual apprehension
cannot get started, and thus during this interval naked innermost
awareness can manifest for a period. The great Tibetan scholar Mangto
Lhundrub Gyatsho cites many scriptural sources, such as:
Between
earlier and later conceptions, the continuum of the clear light of
innermost awareness remains unbroken.
In the space between two
thoughts, there is an easy opportunity for identifying this moment of
innermost awareness.
Therefore, this state of shock is not
just astonishment, but also has, as Patrul Rinpoche says,
“Astounding, unimpeded penetration.” The nature of this is to be
known, just as it actually is, in the context of experience, and is
otherwise indescribable in words, so he says, “Unimpeded
penetration, inexpressible.” Though called innermost awareness of
the truth body, it is inexpressible as any of the poles of being
existent, nonexistent, and so forth. This innermost awareness of the
truth body must be identified in experience.
Unless you can
identify it, there is no way to sustain the view of the Great
Completeness in meditation. This type of meditation, in which you are
sustaining the experience of innermost awareness, is a case of
remaining within the experience of what you are meditating on, rather
than meditating on an object.
Beyond this, as is clear in
Dodrubchen’s writings, if you are able to recognize all phenomena
as the sport, vibration, or effervescence of this naturally arisen
innermost awareness, this allows you to easily see that phenomena do
not exist in and of themselves, independently, and are only set up by
conceptuality. When you identify innermost awareness, also called
ultimate truth, and ascertain that all the phenomena of cyclic
existence and nirvana are its effulgence, then along the way you
understand that all pure and impure phenomena are, as the
philosophical texts say, only nominally existent. You understand that
all appearing and occurring objects of knowledge are adventitious and
essenceless, that although such phenomena have, from the start, not
been established under their own power, they nonetheless appear to
you to have their own autonomous nature, whereupon you adhere to this
sense of seeming existence from their own side. You further
understand that this misapprehension leads to engagement in various
good and bad actions and the accumulation of those predispositions,
leading to still more entanglement in cyclic existence.
To
identify innermost awareness and properly sustain it in meditation,
it is important to have previously reflected on from where the mind
arises, where it abides, and that into which it ceases, as well as
other analytical techniques. For these practices, the reasonings as
they are laid out in the great texts are helpful.
If you can
cause all these phenomena to appear as the vibration of innermost
awareness, not deviating from the sphere of that mind, you will not
come under the influence of conventional conceptions. When you
identify your own basic entity yourself and directly ascertain its
meaning continuously and forever in meditative equipoise, then even
though acting in the world, you are enlightened.”
This
article is adapted from the Dalai Lama’s new book, The Heart of
Meditation, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins from oral
teachings, published by Shambhala, 2016.
P.
had a similar peak of anguish because of the Paris attacks which is
interesting from the viewpoint of "collective"
subconsciousness (krishna yoni), which is your main job now. Of
course, this kind of worried or frustrated reactions are nothing new
to spiritually inclined people who often since childhood feel the
pain that humanity inflicts on itself and on other beings. I know it
too. This might sound a bit indifferent but I think that even us who
are empathetic and try to be compassionate towards other beings,
shoud not be too concerned about what is going on in the samsaric
world. I think it is not good to be too bothered, troubled or
burdened of what is going on. This planet with human beings in the
lead is largely a place of blind action. That is how it is. I doubt,
and I am not saying this negatively or cynically, that it will ever
change from being like that. I hope it would change but at this point
I am not too troubled about it or loosing my night's sleep because
existentially blind people keep doing what they have done for ages
and what they no doubt will keep doing in the future. I am saying
this from a practical point of view. It doesn't mean I am indifferent
to the pain and suffering of so many innocent victims of all these
violent terrorist acts out there, I am not. But let's be smart about
this and look at the core issue of it.
We who are on the
yogic path, we try to understand our minds with the help of some
meditation and mind training practices. We who have the possibility
and circumstances to do this, are in a unique position because it is
the ultimate way to eradicate that very existential blindness which
causes hate, intolerance, fundamentalism and violence. I think it is
the responsibility of us meditating yogis to practice what we have
been taught, which is a priviledge that most people of the world do
not have, and actualise the teachings. A politician will do his job,
a police officer his, a soldier his, a doctor his and a lawyer his.
Us yogis should do ours. Why? Because it is in the mind of ours where
the causes of these terrible actions lie at. If you are just a bit
angry with some strong religious views in this life, maybe it
doesn't seem so bad now but what will happen to this seed of anger
and sectarianism in the next life or the life after that? Floods are
created by small drops of water. We might end up like religious
terrorists doing terrible things to others, violating our very own
nature of wise compassion because of taking thoughts too seriously.
We really should realise the dharma teaching. This is important. The
matter of samsara and nirvana is serious for people who understand
this because they realise that actions have consequences. But for
others, it may not be so serious, they just act after their thoughts
and ideas whatever they may be. Only person him- or herself knows
what is best to him because it is all relative. From the absolute
point of view, a yogi should be able to say what is wise and what is
unwise, what is helpful and what is harmful, but we cannot make
anyone accept our views because ours is the "right view" or
the "only view". Earth as a realm is like that and human
beings, often within their worlds of limited options, can and should
be allowed to do what they want. It is like a big samsaric pot of
many sorts of ingredients affecting each other. Life on Earth can be
heavenly or hellish to people depending on their karma. Initially, it
all comes from former tendencies and as we make further use of
options available to us, we stir the pot, each in a way that we see
as best. We all try to get to permanent happiness. I don't think
anyone really attempts to lengthen their confusion, pain and
suffering. No, we all try to get to happiness. But we are confused
and do not know what happiness really is. There are so weird
conceptions of what it is. What is crazy about humans is that you can
take basically any weird thought-pattern and create a religion out of
it. And get many followers! That is how poorly humans at large know
themselves.
I think it is logical to think that planet Earth
is not the only place where dharma-teachings are available. Surely
not. We are not that special, although us humans would like that
thought a lot, wouldn't we. Ha! No, I don't think we are that
special. Human life is special because it has enormous spiritual
capacity, enormous potential. But to tap it one needs to have
liberating karma which means connections to teachings and teachers,
plus circumstances to practice in order to release and make use of
that potential. How many people in the world or in your city do
practice meditation daily? It's a tiny portion of the whole
population. Tiny. It may not have a great instant impact on the world
or our city but it makes all the difference to ourselves, doesn't it?
And when the karmic weather and the factors are there, yes, it is
possible to tap all of that spiritual potential and become buddhas
and christs.
We are human beings now so let's make the best
of our lives and the circumstances we are in now. However, being
human is just a temporary condition we are in at the moment. None of
us is going to remain as a human for ever. None of us is going to be
here in these same bodies after 100 years (or maybe few newborns
will). To be a human now, with a human body and a human mind, with
human circumstances and human friends is temporary. We have not
always been humans and will not always remain as humans. At some
instant, we will shed our bodies. As children we might be able to
remember past lives as humans or in other forms, such as animals or
in subtle form as spirit beings. But when we grow up, we usually
forget about all this and become identified, locked, to being a
human. However, this is just a temporary condition and if our minds
becomes locked to believing that all we are are these bodies with
four limbs, walking on two feet with an erect spine, talking and
thinking about whatever it is that humans talk and think about, well,
that's just another way of locking ourselves in a cage. An actor
rehearses and acts different roles. Sometimes a master actor may have
difficulty in shaking off of a role but in general actors know that
they are acting a role, they do not really believe them being the
acted character. I assume Sylvester Stallone always knew that he was
acting Rocky Balboa and he didn't continue to talk and behave as
Rocky when the film was done. However, us people do really come to
believe all kinds of things, including that we are essentially human
beings with 70 kg and 170 cm bodies doing all the stuff we do. But
it's just a momentary role. How seriously you want to take that?
Essentially, in the most profound meaning of the word, we are not
limited to human body or the human mind. Essentially, we are
colourless, shapeless, centerless, perfectly pure, transparent and
selfless awareness. We are buddha nature. We are clarity itself. We
are love itself. We are kindness itself. We are connectedness. We are
not merely the relative condition we are in as human being with
physical bodies, thoughts and ideas. We should know who we really
are. That is what you should do, if that is something you want to
do.
When we mature in this view, we should make this knowhow
available to others. Share and guide others who have recognised the
same problem. That's the way to go about it.
The
Mind-System model and unification process help us understand one of
the most profound Insight experiences, the cessation
event. A
cessation event is where unconscious sub-minds remain tuned in and
receptive to the contents of consciousness, while at the same time,
none of them project any content into consciousness. Then,
consciousness ceases—completely. During that period, at the level
of consciousness there is a complete cessation of mental fabrications
of any kind—of the illusory, mind-generated world that otherwise
dominates every conscious moment. This, of course, also entails a
complete cessation of craving, intention, and suffering. The only
information that tuned in sub-minds receive during this event is the
fact of a total absence.
What makes this the most
powerful of all Insight experiences is what happens in the last few
moments of consciousness leading up to the cessation. First, an
object arises in consciousness that would normally produce craving.
It can be almost anything. However, what happens next is quite
unusual: the mind doesn’t respond with the habitual craving and
clinging. Rather, it fully understands the object from the
perspective of Insight: as a mental construct, completely “empty”
of any real substance, impermanent, and a cause of suffering. This
profound realization leads to the next and final moment of complete
equanimity, in which the shared intention of all the unified
sub-minds is to not respond. Because nothing is projected into
consciousness, the cessation event arises. With cessation, the
tuned-in sub-minds simultaneously realize that everything appearing
in consciousness is simply the product of their own activity. In
other words, they realize that the input they’re accustomed to
receiving is simply a result of their own fabricating activities.
This has a dramatic effect. The sub-minds of the discriminating
mind
have the Insight that everything ever known, including the Self, was
nothing but a fabrication of the mind itself. The sub-minds of the
sensory
mind
have a slightly different Insight: the only kind of information that
ever appears in the mind that isn’t purely mind-generated is the
input coming to them directly from the sense organs.
If the
sub-minds are receptive but there’s nothing to receive, can a
cessation event be consciously recalled afterward? It all depends on
the nature of the shared intention before the cessation occurred. If
the intention of all the tuned in sub-minds was to observe objects of
consciousness, as with popular “noting” practices, all that’s
subsequently recalled is an absence, a gap. After all, if every
object of consciousness ceases, and there’s no intention for the
sub-minds to observe anything else, then nothing gets imprinted in
memory. However, if the intention was to be metacognitively aware of
the state and activities of the mind, we would remember having been
fully conscious, but not conscious of anything. We would recall
having a pure
consciousness experience(PCE),
or an experience of consciousness
without an object
(CWO).
To be clear, there is no actual “experience” of
“consciousness without an object” during the cessation
event, nor could there possibly be. That experience, like any other,
is a construct of the mind, and in this case is generated after
the cessation event has already ended. How the memory of a
cessation event is interpreted retrospectively takes many forms,
depending on the views and beliefs held by the person whose mind is
doing the interpreting. Thus, the cessation event itself is not a
mental construct, but the subsequent interpretations are entirely
constructed.
Regardless of what does or doesn’t imprint in
memory, every sub-mind tuned in to consciousness during cessation
must assimilate the event into its own representation of reality. As
with any Insight experience, the new information forces a
reprogramming of how all future experiences are interpreted and
responded to. Realizing that all phenomenal experience, including the
Self, are mere mental constructs, and therefore “empty” of any
real substance, radically transforms how the mind functions. We
understand, more clearly than ever before, craving and suffering as
the grasping after mere mental constructs—and the more sub-minds
are tuned in during the event, the stronger that understanding will
be. Of course, it’s not that hard to acquire a conceptual grasp of
these truths. Many have done so. But only Insight can establish this
understanding at a deep, intuitive level.
The transformative
power of a cessation event depends on how unified the mind was.
Unification determines the overall size of the “audience” of
sub-minds receptive to events in consciousness. Only the parts of the
mind-system that were tuned in during the cessation are affected. If
the mind were
completely
unified, then every sub-mind within the mind system would be affected
simultaneously, and there would be a complete Awakening of the entire
mind-system. [Footnote: nirodha-samāpatti]
However,
if the mind was only partially
unified, there are two possibilities: no transformation, or
incomplete transformation. This is because a certain degree of
unification is needed during the event to reach enough sub-minds to
make any tangible, lasting difference to the whole mind-system. With
too little unification, a person may have a very memorable peak
experience, but with little or no lasting effect. However, if the
critical threshold is reached, the second possibility is an
incomplete
transformation of the mind-system, limited to those sub-minds that
happened to be tuned in at the time. Complete transformation must
await subsequent cessations or other Insight experiences that have a
similar impact on the remaining parts of the mind-system. This
incremental process of transformation explains why Awakening is
traditionally described as occurring in a series of stages.
...Mindfulness of
breathing is marvelous for this, settle body speech and mind at ease,
and then mindfulness of breathing, full body awareness, let your
awareness permeate the whole field of the body.
And in the midst of that,
let’s already take a little step toward Dzogchen, the Great
Perfection. And that is, while attending to the sensations
corresponding to or correlated with the respiration, throughout the
entire body, kind of the flow of energy through the whole body,
corresponding to or related to respiration, while attending to the
movements within the body, corresponding to the respiration, attend
to this from a place of stillness. Your awareness, your mental
awareness, resting in stillness while simultaneously attending to the
flux, the ebb and flow, of the sensations of the breath throughout
the body - stillness and movement, stillness and movement
simultaneously.
As you calm, as the mind
stabilizes, as the clarity of mind, like the sun rising over the
horizon, the clarity of mind becomes clearer and clearer. Then make a
segue into a practice that is called by various names, one is simply
observing the mind, again from a vantage point of stillness. Direct your attention now
single-pointedly to one out of six domains of experience, the domain
of mental events, of thoughts, of memories, mental images, the same
domain in which dreams arise at night, but also subjective impulses,
like desires and emotions. And from the vantage of stillness, clarity
of stillness, awareness that is at ease, still and clear, observe the
theater of the mind – the comings and goings, thoughts, emotions,
memories, fantasies and so forth. Coming and going, arising in the
space of the mind, dissolving back into that space. And observe it in
an ongoing way from that vantage point of stillness without, what
psychologists call Cognitive Fusion, without getting caught up and
carried away by the memories, the desires, the emotions and so forth. And then as you go
deeper, look to the intervals between thoughts, attend to the very
space of the mind itself. And attend clearly, discerningly …
observe what is the nature of this space. Is it physical space? This
is the space of the mind. Does it have color? Does it have shape?
Does it have a center, a periphery? Does it have form? Does it have
any physical qualities whatsoever? Observe it closely, the very space
of the mind.
And
then as we move along the strategy, this is a very condensed course,
as you are able to maintain that flow of clear, discerning,
awareness, the space of the mind, And observing also how thoughts
emerge from that space...
...Alright.
So observe the space of the mind and now do something very clever.
Withdraw the vector of your attention and withdraw it right into the
very nature of being aware itself. Have no directionality, no vector.
No object of attention outside of awareness itself and simply rest in
an ongoing flow of awareness of being aware - consciousness of
consciousness itself...
Observe consciousness,
nakedly, without mediation. We’re almost there – that’s called
Shamatha, it’s the subtlest and most profound method of Shamatha
there is in the whole Buddhist tradition: the awareness of being
conscious itself. And now one step further
and we’ll step into the domain of Dzogchen. Now carefully,
incisively observe that which is observing. We call it the mind.
Observe the mind. We call it awareness. Observe awareness. Observe
that which is aware, that which thinks, that which intends. Observe
the observer. And cut through the mind, right down to the very
ground, which is Rigpa. And Dzogchen meditation
is nothing more or less than cutting through to pristine awareness,
Rigpa, and viewing reality from that perspective. And that right
there is the view of the Great Perfection. So in your practice, - I
just gave you enough to keep you busy for at least a few days – in
your practice, when you come to the end, when you’re coming to the,
where you’re able to sustain the flow of awareness of awareness,
and then you cut through the flow of awareness of awareness to, the
penetration to, that which is aware, you note a distinction between
the awareness that gets distracted, and gets dull, and gets centered,
and gets distracted again …. And that’s the mind.
But as you cut through to
that which is aware, you may cut through to a dimension of awareness
that is unborn and unceasing, that never moves, because it is not in
time. It is unchanging and you can never wrap your conceptual mind
around it. Because this baseline, this ground of awareness, from
which all conditioned states of consciousness emerge. Transcends the
very parameters of existence and non-existence. It transcends all
conceptual categories. It can be known. It is not an ultimate
mystery. It can be known directly without mediation, but only by
itself. It can know itself. But your conceptual mind cannot grasp it.
It is beyond its pay grade, it is beyond its scope.
So this Rigpa, this
pristine awareness, it is present right now. It is where your
awareness is. It is where your thoughts are, it is not something
separate. It is not somebody else’s, it not God’s or Buddha’s
or some other person’s. It is the ground state of your own
awareness. And I’ll end on this note: hidden and in plain sight. So
try that and see what happens. Thank you so much.
