Devotion
is important. Devotion can be understood in several ways. I like to
think of devotion as something that has to do with the opening of the
heart, like loving devotion. Devotion is essential in many kinds of
spiritual approaches, both buddhist and otherwise.
We
can use loving devotion, in the form of feeling love in our hearts or
by praying to God, guru or our own essence, both in good and bad
ways. A good or spiritually valid way is to use that emotional
surrender as a stepping stone, use it and then discard it, not
dragging it along. Just say the prayer, feel it having the effect of
your biased mind opening up from the heart-region and then forgetting
it. A bad way to use the same technique would be to keep the attitude
of surrendering our egos, limited minds or dualistic problems and
never let go of it. The point is not to remain inferior to whatever
it is that you are praying or surrendering towards. The point is not
to stay below or separate of your spiritual ideal. If you do, you end
up being caught in the dichotomy of self and other, ”me” and the
chosen ideal. Were you to keep this view, you only end up being as
miserable as before.
When
we pray, ”Heart, heart, heart... Love, love, love... Master,
master, master...” or however it is that you pray, it is done
because loving surrender is perhaps the most powerful way to bypass
the self-based mind and with the help of that mechanism to go beyond
the dualistic mind and enter rigpa. Now, if we insist and stubbornly
stick with the idea, with the conceptual thought of ”heart”,
”Love”, ”guru” or ”God”, this will not happen. The point
is to use a concept to go beyond it by applying loving surrender
which is emotion. For a beginner, it is possible to experience bliss
and overwhelming love, and this can be good because this can heal a
lot of hurts, but from the point of view of our true self, rigpa or
home awareness, this is not really the point. The point is, by
applying the emotion of loving surrender, to reveal our true nature
and become it, instead of becoming a self-biased fool. Rigpa is
subtle, transparent, and there is no one there. There is no God or
buddha there. You are not there either. Home or rigpa is nonspatial,
non-dimensional and entityless. Just the openness, brimming with
subtle power and life. You don't ”feel” rigpa. You don't and
cannot ”recognise” it. Our home is beyond our self, beyond our
minds. Home knows itself, it is self-cognisant. So, I feel, that
loving surrender is correctly applied when it transcends itself and
our knowing awareness (rigpa) is recognised. This is not rocket
science. This is not ”highly spiritual” or something ”very
evolved meant only for experienced meditators”. No, no. You don't
have to create this barrier of difficulty and then pursue to go
beyond it. Anyway, loving surrender or devotion can be useful.
Something
important. The thing is that if you have never tried this, it is
likely that you aren't aware of the emotional aspect of yourself,
i.e. you can have a great of territory in your bodymind that you've
never even become aware of. One can become a very skilled meditator,
like a surgeon's scalpel, that can follow the breath for hours on end
and perform analytical meditation like a machine but this doesn't
mean that one has recognised one's truen nature, or arrived home even
for a moment. Don't become a ”skilled meditator”. Open up.
Lighten up!
What
can be discovered with this application is that as our minds become
clear and transparent, and we really see with the eyes, hear with the
ears, feel with the bodymind, is that our problem is self-caused and
the solution is never away. The solution is sort of ”here and now”
but if you look for something that is ”here” or something that is
in the ”now”, you are again playing with concepts and getting
caught by them. Our home is beyond concepts. That's the thing. Pray
and open your heart and see for yourself.
Loving
devotion is as handy a technique as the diamond cutter mantra phet
is. The first uses our emotional aspect to access rigpa and the
latter applies our power of concentration brought to a momentary
maximum combined with energetic power to access rigpa. It would be
idiotic to keep shouting ”Phet! Phet! Phet!” on the top of your
lungs all the time. You'd only end up exhausted. A few phets will do
to cut through. It's the same thing with prayer. And ultimately it's
the same thing with all techniques. Praying is enough when the heart
and our whole being opens up. Opening up means becoming subsumed by
rigpa. That is our home, our true nature, us as buddhas. This is not
radical. This is how it actually is. Be practical. Don't romantisize.
Try.
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.
