Commentaries on the Dakini’s Warm Breath Ngondro given by Traktung Rinpoche
Visualizations for Ngondro: Refuge and Boddhicitta
Upon Waking: With the seven-point posture of Vairochana and three kinds of powerful faith streaming forth, sit up in bed and immediately visualize the precious Root Lama upon the crown of your head in the insubstantial luminous form of Orgyen Tsokyé Dorjé.
E MA HO! How wondrous the Yab-yum Lama! Pray from the very depths of your heart.
NAMO! Glorious, precious heart Guru, Nirmanakaya Lake-born Lama, think of me! Having acquired this wish-fulfilling jewel, do not let me go down wrong paths. In this and every life let me never, even for a moment, be separate from you!
In this section you visualize Orgyan Tsokyé Dorje on the crown of your head. As you say the prayer they are very happy and shine and shimmer with joy. Your prayer increases the impossible infinity of happiness they already feel. Like pouring space into space. Feel your love attraction to the sublime as devotion, faith flowing up to them and a shower of their love, as blessing, falling upon you.
LAMA LA SÖL WA DEB SO Over and over, pray with fervent longing and devotion until blessings arise and tears stream down the face! (After this, you can get up.)
This prayer is a feeling contemplation of the previous one. This means that it is more connected to feeling than visualization. On the in breath, with La ma la, you feel the deep connection of love, devotion drawn into the body. On the out breath, with sol wa deb so, you relax even the noticing of love into space. In this you simply surrender your self from head to toe into the divine as your surrender the breath back into space. If you would like, and visualization comes naturally to you, then you could link this with light pouring into you from Tsokyé Dorje on the in breath and light from your heart extending to space on the out breath.
At the end of this the blessing field dissolves into light and enters the crown of your head. Your form becomes Orgyan Tsokyé Dorje. For the next prayer you are simply your normal self again.
KYE MA KYI HÜ! Alas! All these appearances I cling to will crumble with time! Outer and inner, inanimate and animate, destroyed by fire and water. Weary with samsara, I pray from the depths of my heart. Lama, think of me when I wander in ignorance! Lost in delusion, I have killed, stolen, committed sexual misconduct, used harsh words, spoken harmful lies, envied and manipulated.
May I abandon wrong mind and take up all virtue! Lama, think of me when I am lost in confusion!
Wherever I find myself, wherever I may be born, in all six realms: hells, hungry ghost, animal, jealous gods, gods and human, may I stir the depths of samsara and ease unbearable suffering! Lama, think of me when I cycle through all existence!
I have found this wondrous precious human birth, so rare. I have encountered the unsurpassed secret path, the heart essence, what joy! How painful if this single chance should slip through my hands. Lama, think of me so I might swiftly traverse the path!
Throughout countless lives, kind Lama, you have cared for me. Supreme Vajra Master with three-fold kindness, may I perfect devotion and the three ways of pleasing! Lama, think of me so I may realize your enlightened mindstream!
In this life and the next, in the bardos between, may I never be separate from you, precious Guru. By becoming the messenger of your four kinds of mastery, may the depths of samsara be emptied! May beings know benefit!
No particular visualization in this – it is an analytic contemplation of themes.
When devotion is strong, your own self-nature appears as a white dakini holding a driguk and skull cup. Light rays of blessing shower from the dakini and afflictive states dissolve into the golden ground. In the center of the body are the three channels – white, red and blue. At the heart are Küntuzangpo and consort. In the center of his heart is the life force syllable AH. Blue blessing light travels through the three channels and dissolves into the white AH. The inside of the body is filled with light. On the in breath, blue light pours down the two side channels and up the central channel dissolving into the AH. Hold the breath very gently. On the exhale, the body is suffused with the potency of light awareness. The root of thought is completely severed.
In this one is the white dakini from the Khyentse lineage painting Cham Cham (Di) did but she is holding the drigug in right hand and skull cup in left. You, yourself awareness, appears instantly in this form. From your heart light rays emanate out and touch the hearts of all beings. As soon as the light touches their hearts they are free from all suffering – suffering like grey smoke leaves them and is absorbed into the ground. Your body is translucent and you can see the three channels within it.
All the channels are hollow, the width of a stalk of summer grass. The outside and inside are the same color but the inside is slick and wet, or oily looking.
1. The central channel is blue, in the very center of the body and goes from four finger widths below the navel straight up the center of the body and touches the inside of the top of the skull. 2. The right channel is white for men and red for women. 3. The left channel is red for men and white for women. The right and left run parallel to the central a small amount out form them. They run down slightly lower than the central and then curve back up into the central making a - u – shape on each side. You can see this in a drawing done of the Gar house shrine room wall. (Maybe Amy will photograph it and send it out) At the upper end the right and left, for this visualization can end in the center of the head – or curve to the nostril.
In your own heart, as the dakini, are Kunzang Yab Yum. In Kuntuzangpo’s heart is the syllable AH.
Blue blessing light travels through the three channels and dissolves into the white AH.
For this you visualize that on the in breath the vibrant blue of the sky enters the nostrils and form there descends the right and left channel entering the central channel at the base where the right and left enter the central channel. The blue air then moves up the central channel dissolving into the Ah.
Light shining from the Ah fills first the body and then radiates infinitely into space.
Holding the vase breath gently means: breathe in a normal amount, as you breathe in slightly tighten the perineum and “draw” energy up – very lightly – from the base of the body - and then hold this breathe gently in the belly. DO NOT hold longer than feels natural without strenuous exertion.
On the out breath feel the breath as light and feel how it expands through every cell of the body as you breath out. The in breath swells the physical body but is in fact a contraction in terms of energy. The out breath, whose nature is surrender, contracts the physical body but expands the energetic body.
Do the whole thing for a few breaths – or longer as time permits.
In the sky before my own form, a swirling mass of rainbow light. Within its center, shining lovely, is the source of every refuge, Orgyen Dorjé Chang and consort, blazing brilliant, purest bliss, gathered with the sublime retinue, massing cloudbank of strong blessing.
Orgyan Dorje Chang is in the sky before you as the gathering of all refuge objects – meaning you do not have to visualize a whole refuge tree. As you stand you visualize your father to your right, your mother to you left, and your worst enemy in front of you
(this can not be you but simply anyone you have found annoying). All beings are behind you and all of your, father, mother, enemy, all beings, do prostrations together.
As you do prostrations blessing light constantly pours into your body.
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, (hands touch forehead)
Blessing light from ODC pours into your forehead – light is in all colors. Guru, Deva and Dakini, (hands touch throat)
Blessing light pours into your throat.
Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya (hands in front of heart)
Blessing light pours into your heart.
and the precious Guru, embodiment of them all, (as you slide out) I go for refuge. (touch hands to the top of head) Please hold me with your compassion! (on the in breath coming up)
Blessing light showers over your whole body.
You appear as you and ODC is still in the sky above your form.
Generating the Mind of Supreme Enlightenment:
Beings equal to the sky who have been my own precious parents, tormented by countless sufferings, ignorance and karmic affliction, so they quickly find attainment of the Orgyen Lama’s state, with determination blazing, I generate great bodhicitta!
Endeavor in this until it is actualized. Be generous of spirit with devotion, pure perception and affection. On the in breath, allow the suffering of every being to take the form of an arrow and fly into your heart. On the out breath, the inexhaustible Buddha joy and love flow out from this wound as blessing rays of ceaseless light for all.
At the end of this clear white light, whose secret nature is a nectar of blessing liberation, pours out form ODC. This light touches your heart and the hearts of all sentient beings and instantly you all dissolve into light – into the great expanse of blissful Dharmakaya. – you do not become ODC you simply disappear. This is the Absolute Boddhicitta – rest in this empty luminous space.
Ngondro 1: Preparing the way
Human beings are characterized by the desire to explore. We endlessly reach out beyond ourselves in an effort to discover everything and anything. We are lovers of mystery. Scientist, archeologists, space explorers, jungle explorers, adventurers all of them endlessly push the limits of the know. This urge to disciver more and more of what possibility lies in the heart of being human is the essence of the true spioritual path. When I was a child I wanted to be an archeologist. I wanted to explore the origins of life on this planet and I wanted to travel to distant and strange lands. Later I wanted to be a
anthropologist. I wanted to explore unkown cultures to discover what was common to all human beings. In my teens I thought maybe I would like to be a deep sea explorer and later in college I considered first being a psychologist and then a philosopher in order to explore the meaning of being human. One day I realized that the greatest exploration, the greatest mystery went far beyond the mind’s philosophies, the psychies conditionings, beyond distant lands and even beyond the archeological origins of life. The greatest mystery is consciousness and awareness and the most profound technologies for its exploration lay in the secrets of the spiritual path.
This is an adventure in which we are both the subject and object of exploration. The methodology must be subtle and profound. The path is slippery for it is our own hearts, minds, bodies and all the complexity of our life which is the ground of exploration. For a time I consumed spiritual books. I read every book on every spiritual path I could find. While working at night to earn a basic living I spent my days in the library of my college. In one year I read over 400 books. Books on Zen, Sufism, Tantra, Christianity, the desert fathers, the ancient Taoists, the Hasidic jews, the Gnostics, I devoured these books like a starving man eats a meal. Often I would sit with two seemingly opposite styles of book on my desk reading a page of one and then a page of the other. I would have Rumi’s spiritual love poetry next to Hakuin’s razor sharp analysis of mind or Nisargadatta Maharaj’s sheer insight into emptiness next to Ramakrishna’s love mad reason shattering ramblings. I was looking for maps, looking for methods, looking for a place to begin… in fact this consideration was the beginning. Over time I concluded that Vajrayana was the most detailed and perfect map I could find. It is a map, which contains the beauty of poetry and the precise technical methodology of a science. It is the art and science of exploring the human condition at its greatest depths.
When you read the lives of the great mystics you realize this is no small journey. It is a great adventure. The greatest, hardest most wild and amazing adventure possible to a human being. It is the summation of all the other adventures. This adventure into the depths and heights of the human mystery is what every other longing is tending towards. To enter the realm of mystery, to attain the wisdom and bliss of the enlightened mystic, to discover first hand for oneself rather than as second hand knowledge, the meaning of life that is what turns the whole of life into a miraculous display of the divine. But like any great adventure, and more so since it is the greatest, this noble quest demands careful preparation.
As a child I enjoyed reading the stories of great quests, the search for the golden fleece, the stories of Ulysses, the tales of knights, King Arthur. I think perhaps these stories as kids give us the framework for the for understanding our own lives and our search, quest, for the Holy Grail for meaning, compassion, wisdom, bliss. One of the things you encounter again and again in these stories is the need for the adventurer to prepare, plan, acquire
needed provisions. The knights that rush off in first swoon of a fool hardy enthusiasm are usually eaten by the dragon, caught in the snare of the Sirens, turned to stone by Medusa. A great endeavour requires preparation. This is the first lesson. This is not only true in the great quests but in all of life. Those who want to be great athletes, artists, musicians, pool players, anything must work hard, prepare, practice aagain and again and again again again. This is even more true in the dimension of spirituality.
I have known many many people who engaged the spiritual path and only a small handful have entered into the mysteries of the spirit. Some have given up. Some have grown cynical and denied any possibility to enlightenment. Some have grown cynical and become “every one is already a Buddha” conceptual enlightenment idiots. Those who have gone far on the journey are the ones who took the time to prepare, to polish their armor, saddle their steed, make sure their provisions. In the Tantric path there is a series of methods to prepare for the arduous journey of the great quest. It is called Ngaondro.
Ngondro literally means “before going”. Ngondro is a series of methods which forge the body, mind, energies into a vehicle which can stand up to the challenges of the path and contain the blessing force of transmission. Many times people are able to encounter spiritual blessings, transmission, but this pours right through them like water through a sieve. Other times people may feel it and experience the moment of transmission but not be able to contain or preserve it, work it and make it part of their system. In the best case scenario this leads one to understand the need for more preparation. In the worst case scenario one enshrines the moment in memory and it becomes an idol, “a golden calf”. Ngondro is the method whereby many of the tendencies, which would undermine authentic spiritual practices, and many of the strengths needed to move smoothly in the spiritual waters, are cultivated,
Ngondro is an organic series of practices, methods of personal transformation. Ngondro is not a set of cultural structures based in some archaic Tibetan world view. Rather, it is a series of methods based on the basic psycho-spiritual structures of the human being in any time or place. For this reason there is no such thing as “Tibetan” Ngondro nor would there be any need to fabricate an “American” Ngondro. There are those strengths which need to be developed, those weakness which need to be dealt with, which are the common ground of our human beingness. Ngondro is like the alphabet. It is very hard, impossible
obviously, to learn reading or writing if one does not have the foundation of knowing the alphabet. One might be able to memorize a word or two by sight and mimic the action of human reading but this would be a shallow accomplishment compared to full possibility contained in literacy. When I say Ngondro is an organic series of methods what I mean is that each aspect of Ngondro flows from the previous meditation. The stages of Ngondro, like all the stages of the tantric path grow in a natural progression. It
is not an artificial construct but one which naturally flows from the way we are as human beings and the way we live our lives. Just as there is an organic progression of the seed becoming a sprout, then a stem, then leaving and growing, blooming in flower and then bearing fruit there is a natural progression from the pre preliminary consideration to the extraordinary methods of refuge, cultivation of boddhicitta, Vajrasattva and Guru Yoga.
Understanding the organic living aspect of the Tantric Buddhist path can remove many misconceptions and destructive views in relation to the path. There is a tendency in our culture to attempt to modernize everything, change it around and make it suit our preconceptions. When this is done without proper understanding all we end up with is something dead. If we do not understand how and why the aspects of the path form a living, organic, functioning entity – a living series of methods – then we are likely to destroy its potency, beauty and liberating power in our effort to make it bear fruit without having bloomed, without having even sprouted! What is at stake here is our own deepest blossoming and the fruit of our awakening into full Buddhahood and realization of the intrinsic wonderment of natural unborn awareness.
Student: You call ngöndro the "gateway into mystery." What exactly do you mean by that?
Traktung Rinpoche: When I was a child I used to love reading stories of the great quests. Jason and the Golden Fleece, King Arthur and Grail, dragon quests and the like. When I was about seven, my mother read the entire Hobbit series to my brothers and me - and also the Narnian tales and the stories of Taran Wanderer. Now I am reading them to my daughter. In Tantra we are setting out on a quest to discover life's deepest meaning and so there might be quite a bit that we can learn from these quest stories.
A lot of work went into preparing for a quest - at least among those who lived to tell the tale. A lot of people went into the dragon's cave on a whim to attain specialness; usually they got eaten. When the seekers did not prepare or assimilate the cryptic instructions before they began, they would be destroyed by the obstacles. Jason did get the Golden Fleece, but a lot of questors before him crashed on the rocks when encountering the siren's song.
Nyingma Master Jigme Lingpa said that, when the preliminary practices are not internalized fully, then the obstacles and hindrances couldn’t help but arise and deflect one from the path. So the preliminaries are what we do before setting out on the quest. "Ngön" means before and "dro" means going. So before we board the ship, enter the cave, encounter the dark queen, or slay the dragon, we should prepare. Prostrations are the armor of refuge, Vajrasattva is the weaponry of purity, mandala is the banner of generosity and Guru Yoga is the swift steed of unborn awareness. With these in our bag of tricks, the journey towards wholeness regained is much more likely to succeed. Still we might be eaten by the seven-headed Hydra of delusion at any moment.
Student: I must admit that, when I heard of the depth and breadth of the preliminaries, I was a bit daunted. All that - and it was just to get ready. Of course as I delved deeply I began to feel that the "preliminaries" were of such depth that they would be, could be, quite sufficient for my entire lifetime. It is an odd paradox, the goal of accomplishment and diving into the moment.
Traktung Rinpoche: Yes. Again you find this in the stories of great quests. Almost always the journey becomes the destination. The ordinariness of the journey is not considered of import in the beginning as the questor is imagining the "great conclusion." The journey is where the life spirit is cooked in the fire of time and deeds. The conclusion almost always turns out to be the first moment of another journey. For the Tantrica, the practitioner of the resultant path, this is even truer.
What we are questing for is not somewhere else. The discovery of one's own true nature cannot be sought somewhere or sometime else - yet the paradox of the quest, the seeking, without which there is no discovery of what was always already there.
Student: I have heard you say that ngöndro in and of itself is entirely sufficient for realization, enlightenment. Could you comment on that?
Traktung Rinpoche: There is this constant paradox in Tantra, in ngöndro, in life. Paradox is the dynamic and creative tension of form and emptiness, chaos and conservatism, journey and presence, destination and great completeness.
One single prostration done with immaculate, perfect, controlled abandon - with total presence and the unity of motivation, devotion and attentiveness would result in awakening. It is not so much that it would result in awakening but that the result would be inherent within the action and we would be awake in the sphere of that result. The resultant path! Each practice is a doorway into awakening and also prepares us, strengthens us to be able to embrace even swifter methods. Lately I have been newly impressed by the pre-preliminaries - the four thoughts are themselves a treasure trove without measure.
Student: Yes, I have heard you speaking of this. What inspired this renewed emphasis on the pre-preliminaries?
Traktung Rinpoche: The difficulties of my students.
Student: How is that?
Traktung Rinpoche: Well, there are hardly any difficulties that arise in practice that could not be cut through by meditating on the four thoughts that catalyze the fire of spiritual longing. When we deeply internalize the preciousness of our human birth and fully understand that it is precious because of the opportunity it presents for realization of the vast joy of Buddhahood, when we keep the knowledge of death as a constant companion, when we feel the razor's edge of the truth of karma, when we grasp that suffering will not end without embracing the path - well then we have little time for lame excuses for not practicing. The four thoughts help us to see the immense opportunity and preciousness of this human situation and at the same time what Gurdjieff called "the terror of the situation."
We live in a very shallow culture. The great quest has been replaced by quick fix fantasies inspired by a consumer mentality where we think we can buy everything of value. Deep values which arise from the integrity of the human quest are being replaced by superficial consolations - even in the Dharma. Recently I saw a brochure for Dzogchen retreats. Very nicely done, good graphics. When you opened it up there was a picture of a smiling teacher and the slogan: "Dzogchen - it's more fun!" Now I'm not against fun, but what was being "sold" there was not HBO or Disneyland but the quest for life's deepest meaning. Joy arises from the deep of being when we embrace the quest. Fun is a quality of experience in a given moment of entertainment. Joy demands effort, work, courage, creativity - fun is something you can buy. It is sad that the Dharma is being marketed as entertainment and that its value comes from its degree of fun. Oddly enough, these days the Dharma is being marketed as object and entertainment, and
simultaneously objects like cars are being marketed as religion. As Volvo says in a recent ad - "The only car that can save your soul." It's all very odd.
Anyway, the four thoughts are an antidote to TV mentality consumerism that would have you trade joy for fun and meaning for greeting card truisms. The four thoughts are the antidote to shallowness and to five-minute attention spans. Well, now I'm starting to ramble - would you like to get me back on track?
Student: Not really! I love your rambling. I guess I'd like to ask about another comment you made in last week's teaching. You said that each of the preliminaries flows into the next. Each is the foundation for the next and that each lays the ground for an aspect of realization. Would you elaborate on that?
Traktung Rinpoche: I think I said that each aspect of the preliminaries lays the ground for realization of an aspect of the natural state and the absoluteness of all appearance. What I meant by that is that the pre-preliminaries are an exploration of our impure view that leads to the pure view explored in the extraordinary preliminaries. The four thoughts crystallize the feeling tone of the Dharma's argument against false view. Through them we "hear." In the extraordinary preliminaries we discover pure view - we "see." Through visualization in each practice, we engage the pure vision of the Guru. In mantra we engage the pure speech of the Guru, and in the deep of meditation we engage the unborn mind of the Guru. In all these ways we begin to replace our distorted view with the enlightened vision and life of the lineage and our Guru.
There is no Tantra without profound relationship. There are many paths that are technique. Sutra for example. These paths you can do without deep relationship. There are many paths that are almost entirely relationship, Hindu Bhakti, for example. Tantra is a path that unifies relationship and technique. It is the science of realization and the art of sacred relationship unified. This makes Tantra a very swift path. The preliminaries are a process of applying method in the context of relationship.
Student: What do you mean "in the context of relationship?"
Traktung Rinpoche: Well, you do the preliminaries in the context of your relationship with the Vajra Master and the Sangha. In fact the practices and all of Tantra is a process of entering into the visionary sphere of the Guru and "seeing" and living all relationship within the context of that sphere.
Practically, with ngöndro this means that the Vajra Master determines whether you have sufficiently integrated the meaning of a practice before you go on to the next. The Vajra Master shapes aspects of the practice - whether it is done on retreat or an hour a day, whether you do the prostrations very slowly or very fast. The Teacher is the floatation circle at the end of the lifeline of lineage on which you rely so as not to sink in the ocean of deluded view. The relationship with the Vajra Master is the very heart of Tantra and a very broad subject - perhaps we could delve into it much more deeply in a future interview.
Student: I would like to get back to the idea of each preliminary laying the ground for the next.
Traktung Rinpoche: OK. It is not just the preliminaries but also the whole of the path. The Tantric path is a living, organic structure. The whole of the path exists in an interdependent and interpenetrating dynamic. Each phase of growth naturally arises from the work that precedes it. The fire of longing moves us to the path, and then the four thoughts catalyze that longing and work it into tools for realization. When we have sufficiently understood the import of the four thoughts, then we will naturally wish to take refuge. Refuge is the most important moment of one's life. It is the thunderbolt of Buddha nature lighting up the sky of delusion. It is the moment we first truly commit ourselves to awakening rather than delusion.
If we take refuge fully, then we will want to cultivate the connection which refuge is. Refuge is not an act but a way of being. It is a strength that grows the more and more we practice it. The refuge practice of prostration naturally arises from our desire to deepen our connection and our activity of committing to awakening. When we deeply realize the three refuges as aspects of our being, when we have the pride of deep humility and have gotten the taste of Tantric view that cuts the paralytic fear of facing ourselves, then we can engage Vajrasattva practice.
If we have the taste of refuge, then we will want to remove everything that obscures and hinders refuge. This, of course, means that we will have to admit, confess, confront and purify the habits and patterns of our being that have arisen from deluded view. For lifetimes we have taken refuge in deluded view and acted from that view. Now we are taking refuge in Buddha nature, and we are trying to act from that refuge. The problem is that the conditioning of our delusion is very, very, very, very and very once again - strong! But we do not need to hide our heads in shame or despair because we have the vajra, indestructible power of Tantric practice and - ALL THINGS ARE WORKABLE!!! YAHOO! At this point Vajrasattva practice becomes very meaningful. We understand in an organic manner, which has grown from the progression of our practice, why the four powers of purification are so necessary. In Vajrasattva practice we begin to truly make use of the energy and connection discovered in refuge. We discover that the lineage force can be shaped into a stunning variety of tools to enact the processes necessary to actualize our inherent Buddha nature. We begin to understand more deeply the interdependent nature of the path in terms of self-power and other power.
When we combine the power of our efforts and right intention with the four powers of the Vajrasattva practice, then there is nothing we cannot purify.
Student: What are the four powers?
Traktung Rinpoche: First is the power of the lineage - invoking the Wisdom Being Vajrasattva, or Vajrasattva, as we call him in our lineage.
We are very lucky to have this tangible higher power - the lineage, the wisdom awareness and vision of the Guru, to rely upon. The second power is to present our faults, to recognize them and present them without hiding. You cannot purify or transform that which you cannot acknowledge and name. Third, we feel deep remorse for the suffering that these tendencies, arising solely from ignorance, have caused ourselves and others; and we vow never to repeat them. Fourth, we do the practice and unify our intention and awareness with the blessing power of lineage in the form of the Buddha Vajrasattva. With this combination any fault within us can be purified.
As we cleanse our karmic stream and the joy and fierce integrity of refuge grows ever deeper, we wake up to the fact of our limitless depth. In this intuition we become wildly more grateful to the process, the path, the lineage, the Guru, the Sangha - existence. This gratefulness naturally manifests and deepens in the Mandala practice. When we start to recognize that generosity and kindness are our nature, and we discover that the act of giving is the activity of love, then we want to sever the bonds of fretful grasping. True generosity is the act of never grasping. To not grasp is not a passive thing - grasping prevents the natural Buddha activity of giving. Mandala moves us into the sphere of Buddha generosity - a generosity of spirit, feeling, possessions, everything. The worldly beggar always asks for some thing; the beggar of love only asks to give away his/her life.
All of this combines to open the way for Guru Yoga. Guru Yoga is the heart, the life force, the blood, and the essence of Tantra. In Guru Yoga we simply cease being who we have always been and step into the vast of visionary dance. Guru Yoga is the antidote to terminal therapy. The whole self help, therapy, self obsession view of the west - though it has some benefits at certain stages of human growth - falls far short of the radical awakening that is the birthright and longing of every human being.
Tantra is astounding. It is beauty and profundity in the form of blessing and joy. Our lives are pure dancing mystery of form and emptiness - Tantra is the path that realizes that. Ngöndro is the gateway to Tantra - the gateway to mystery. It is a small entrance fee indeed!
Student: Thank you.
Traktung Rinpoche: Thank you!
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, Guru, Deva and Dakini, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya and the precious Guru, embodiment of them all, I go for refuge. Please hold me with your compassion! – Refuge prayer from the Dakini’s Warm Breath
Dear Friend,
We are counseled to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha but what are these? How do these manifest for us in terms of our practice and at outer and inner levels. Outwardly there is the Buddha, the historical Buddha who gave us the gift of the teachings, and at the Tantric level there is our own precious Guru. There is the Dharma, the body of teachings which comprise the Buddhist path and, at the Tantric level, the Yidam which contains all teachings as living symbol. And there is the Sangha, the community of those who have turned their minds, and lives, towards embodiment of the teachings. At the tantric level this becomes the play of appearances, the dakas and dakinis. At the level of Dzogpa Chenpo all three are understood as aspects of natural great awareness. (Here I hesitate to say, “aspects of ones own mind”. The problem is with the mentally fabricated and deluded emotive connotation of the word “one’s” and the implications of ownership in the word “own”. Who is this “one”, you? – is it the mental fabrication and constructs - what is called the 6th consciousness? Is it the 7th consciousness, the afflicted mind of the root concept of self? The 8th consciousness, the storehouse? Obviously none of these, but, if I say “your own natural mind” how will you not conceive of the you as a subjective entity and the “own” as referring to a object which is owned? Hmmmm…… Your own natural mind is, however, nothing but empty luminous awareness!)
Anyway, from the Dzogchen view Buddha is natural awareness’ own empty self radiance. Dharma is natural awareness’ self radiant empty utterance and sangha is the extensive and pervasive empty yet present awareness appearance, empty yet potent. If we just mouth these words like parrots what good will it do us except to build our pretensions? These words should inspire us but not cause us to set up false antagonisms between the outer and inner. If you ever find yourself in debate between the outer and inner meaning, outer and inner guru – chose the outer. Why? Because if you were truly established within the non-dual dimension of the inner then there would NEVER be any disharmony between outer and inner. Such disharmonies are simply the game of those who have not even understood, or embraced in practice, outer or inner.
We go for refuge in the Three jewels, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. The Buddha is one whose mind is free from impurity. In the system which divides into 8 consciousness the first 5 are the sense, the 6th is the mind of mental constructs and fabrications, the 7th is the afflicted mind which grasps to the subtle notion of a self (upon this grasping all the fabrications of the 6th are built). The 8th is the store house consciousness where all stains and imprints are stored for all time, it is the All Basis Consciousness. Meditation takes place in the 6th consciousness and purifies it of habits and delusions. When the 6th consciousness is completely pure the 7th and 8th simply disappear. The Buddha has dissolved all mental fabrication and resolved the All Basis Consciousness in the All Basis
Wisdom of pure unsullied vast wisdom luminosity – natural great awareness. Our minds however are ceaselessly grasping, avoiding or remaining indifferent to the fanciful constructs of minds fictions. We are not Buddhas and our minds are like naughty monkeys. The Buddhadharma is a process of training our naughty monkey mind. In our daily life’s search for pure happiness we tend to go for refuge in the strategies of minds fabrications. Sadly because all of these are based on a mistaken view they can not lead to pure happiness. What you sow so shall you reap. In our refuge practice we are saying “I will take refuge in that one who is mind’s uncontrived purity rather than my own temporary confusions.”
Our minds form endless stories about how to catch happiness by the nose and keep it close to us. We will use anything, love, or force, or manipulation. Our stories have a self justifying rational, a view, a philosophy. Even when this view proves its failure again and again we tend to cling to it out of irrational hope, fear and habit. The Buddha’s teaching is an argument with our self centered view. Buddha’s vision does not agree with us and presents arguments that carefully explain the nature of how things are, the nature of cause and effect and how to discover pure happiness. We must consider these arguments with care. We must blend them with our minds, weigh them and come to understand that they present a vision so much more profound than our usual human one. Buddha’s argument and vision is presented in the Dharma. When we take refuge in the Dharma we are saying “I have considered it and I know that my confused philosophy does not bring pure happiness. I will instead take refuge in the Buddha’s Dharma.”
The Sangha are the spiritual friends who accompany us on our journey. We are trying to escape form the prison of our delusions. It is a difficult job at best. It requires great skill and care and the camaraderie of our spiritual friends, their pure example, is a profound joy on the path. If we were in a prison and we wanted to escape then the very best thing we could have is a person on the outside. Someone who could bribe people, get us blueprints of the air ducts, smuggle in a saw. This is the Buddha, he is outside of our prison of mental fabrications and out of compassion he offers us help. Within the prison it would be a great benefit to have friends who will help. One person can tunnel while another watches out. One person can carry out the dirt and hide it in the garden and on and on. This is the sangha. If one has help on the outside and one has help on the inside then the supremely difficult task might just be manageable.
When we take refuge we do not go as a beggar, a desperate child. We go for refuge as a child of a noble family who has accepted their destiny. We summon up our dignity, integrity and warrior spirit. With this demeanor of nobility we stand up straight and fold our hands in the anjali mudra. This mudra, or hand gesture, is like a lotus bud. This is the bud of our Buddha Nature’s realization. When the warm sun’s rays caress the lotus’ bud it opens and its beauty and scent is revealed. The blessing rays of authentic refuge caress the yogin and the blossom of wisdom and compassion opens sharing it scent with all beings. The fingers of the right and left hands are also seen as the aggregates and elements known to be the five mother and father Buddhas. When the hands touch, these male and female Buddhas meet in the most exquisite blissful union dance. This lotus bud blossoms into Buddhahood and our very own aggregates and elements become the
wisdom families of the Buddhas. Prostrations done with authentic understanding do not belittle us. Sometimes people think “How can you demean yourself by bowing down to these images?” Sadly thick minded buffalo can not grasp the secret of devotion. When we bow down we are ennobled, lifted up by what we love. Our spiritual attraction makes us into what we meditate upon. Devotion, respect, faith born from spiritual attraction, the natural love response to the sublime and divine, is the open secret of mature human beings.
We stand up straight and with joy we touch our hands to our heads. To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha: we allow our devotion to connect us to the potent blessing of these three. In doing this our body receives the blessing of the Buddha’s body. The obscurations of body are purified. This is important as many people find themselves unable to practice the sublime Tantric path due to physical impediments. These impediments of body arise due to our own former negative actions. Allow the pure blessing force of the Buddha’s body to flow into you. Bind yourself to the pure blessing of the Buddha, the written doctrines and the community of fellow travelers.
At the level of Tantra the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha become the Guru, Yidam, dakas and dakinis. The outer level is fine for most people. Most people’s longing does not demand they storm the gates of heaven. Most peoples longing for realization is more a hobby than a raging fire. This is fine and will, over lifetimes, mature into a profound wish for realization for the benefit of all beings. Most peoples compassion does not demand they find the very root of suffering and eradicate it NOW! For those whose longing burns from within like a sun, whose compassion is unbearable, a swifter more direct path is needed and this is tantra.
In Tantra one needs direct immediate transmission from a living source. The Guru is even kinder than the Buddha because he, or she, is right there now manifesting from compassion’s intangible realm of love for your benefit. Tantra is very direct, there is little room for escape or abstraction. Perhaps the Buddha in our fantasy, a soft Keanu Reeves look alike, may appease us but the Tantric Guru is like a storm cloud about to burst. We might be quite scared, and quite rightly, of such an immediate unmediated force. Or they might be soft and gentle, one can never know because they are alive. They are transmission here and now. So when we place our hands at our throats and say Guru, Deva and Dakini we are calling on connection with this immediate living presence. We are saying “I am ready to neither run nor hide. I am ready to take refuge in the living form of the teachings direct and searing.” This is a path of relationship. The outer path can be a solitary one but tantra is not. Here there can be no phony spirituality avoiding relationship while loving all beings. Here we must make fiends with actual appearance.
The Yidam is the Dharma. I spoke of this a bit in the previous letter. The yidam is the immediate communication of Dharma beyond the frailty of words. The great sage Ramana Maharshi once said “The communication of words is only an interruption in the flow of communion.” We are very dense and we need the dharma of words. Our heavy gross substance elements need heavy gross substance words. In the Buddha’s vast compassion he offers us everything we need and so there are mountains of teachings
given in words. When we become a little more sensitive and are ready to begin entering into direct immediate contact with the teachings then we are introduced to the Yidam. In much the same way as the Guru is the searing immediacy of the Buddha the Yidam is Dharma’s directness beyond the scope of words. The Yidam does not so much communicate the teaching as is the teaching. This is a mystery which we must enter practice very deeply in order to fully comprehend. The Yidam is not a teaching in words, which we can build fanciful palaces of concepts from. The Yidam, as teaching, is perfect speech.
The Dakas or dakinis become the sangha in the Tantric understanding. The original text only says dakinis but it includes both. This simply worked with the rhythm and syllable pattern and is not sexist affront to anyone. Pure Tantric dharma is beyond considerations such as gender for it rests on the deep understanding of emptiness born from Prajnaparamita. The inner aspect of the Tantric refuge is the tsa, lung tigle (nadi, prana, bindu in Sanskrit or channels, winds and drops) This inner aspect recognizes that our own vajra body is the basis for transformation according to the second and third empowerments.
At the heart we take refuge in the three kayas, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya. Our own body speech and mind are, through the path, transformed into, or discovered to be, the fully enlightened three kayas of the Buddha. Here we also enter into refuge in the Dzogchen aspect discussed above. So, already at this point of our practice, we have recognized our body as a opening lotus bud, the aggregates and elements as Buddha families, we have connected with the sutric Mahayana, Tantric and Dzogchen aspects of the path and we have purified body, speech and mind at the forehead, throat and heart.
Next as we begin to bend down for the prostration we purify the 5 defilements of mind. The left hand touching the ground purifies anger into mirror like wisdom. As the right hand touches the ground the obscuration of pride is transformed into the wisdom of equality. With the left knee touching the ground the neurosis of attachment is purified into discriminating wisdom. The right knee touches and jealousy and paranoia are transformed into all accomplishing enlightened action and with the forehead touching the very heart of delusion, ignorance, becomes Dharmata. When you touch your hands to the top of the head, laying outstretched, the blessings of the Buddhas are sealed into the continuum of your body, speech and mind.
It is so wonderful to begin with our bodies. This practice, this beautiful path, is so grounded and down to earth and yet so profound and high in its visions. It is like Guru Rinpoche said “Let you view be as high as the sky and your actions as fine as barely flower.” Keep the highest in mind, but do not act form arrogance, keep your actions utterly pure. Begin with the body and purify everything to the most subtle. Our body is very concrete, very real. There is no question of whether or not you are doing a prostration or not! Over time your visualization and intention will unify more and more strongly but right form the start, keeping everything in mind, there is no question you can just begin!
When you are sliding out for your prostration feel that you are relinquishing all arrogant pride. You simply give up this idiotic need to prove yourself over and against the universe. To prove you exist. You don’t! Arrogance and pride ruins our lives. They make our minds hard and our hearts bitter. They prevent us from having devotion for sublime beings above us and authentic compassion for unfortunate beings below us. Feel that you are laying the burden of all deluded grasping and avoidance, hope and fear, down – never to pick it up again. St. Francis used to say that it is not suffering which grasps us it is us who grasp suffering. In refuge, by forsaking other refuges and taking refuge in pure Buddha dharma, we let go our suffering. In the traditional refuge ceremony one must forsake refuge in petty gods. This often is seen to mean “lesser gods” in the spiritual pantheon. Often in the west people do not think this means anything about them. Maybe they practiced no religion or certainly not one of worshiping nature spirits as the highest. But all of us go to worship at the shrines of countless lesser gods everyday. Our anger, our grasping, our self pity, our consumerism, all of these and many others are our lesser gods. Our irrational superstitious belief in nihilist doctrine is the lesser god upon which our cult called a culture is based. Worship of reductionistic scientism is a lesser god. Lay down your burdens and cast away your lesser gods! As you lay flat allow the pure light wisdom blessing to flow into the crown of your head from Orgyan Dorje Chang. As you stand up draw in the blessing so that it pervades every cell of your body and radiates out to infinity.
Do all this at once and do not forget where your mom, dad, worst enemy and all beings are! Hahahahah! Now it is hard to do all this at once. There are so many aspects. You can not look at your toe and the sky at once if are standing up. So bring attention to one part after another as you prostrate. Consider the meanings of the Yidams and the actions outside the actual prostration time sometimes. I recommend, when doing prostrations for the first time (yes, some of us do them more than one puny time – some have done 6 or 700,00 at least) that you do them fast. Doing them fast produces strength and this is needed in the beginning. Doing them slow produces wisdom.
I hope this clarifies some aspects of the practice. Please continue to ask questions. Sincere authentic questions are the only food the Vajra Master loves.
With love,
A Teaching by t.k. from 1991
Questioner: Rinpoche, could you say something about the term “Three Vajras” in the Ngöndro text? t.k.: (traktung rinpoche) Dharmadhatu: Space open and unelaborated: Sky of mind just as it is: Ah! The vast open dimension of space spreads beyond the limits of imagination and the scope of perception like the great skull cup container in which all elements, perceptions, and beings rest as infinite contents – that comprises the truest torma offering! Nothing arises from somewhere else. Nothing abides somewhere else. Nothing dissolves into some other domain than the vast open dynamic of space. The outer space – a cloudless blue sky drawing us out and into its joyous embrace is the outer display. One need not reduce this poetic metaphor into some contrived dogma – obviously the “space” of our atmosphere is not Dharmadhatu – and yet, also quite obviously (to some) it is not other. The unique combinations of atmospheric elements which make our sky blue are not the “Truth” nor are they not not the truth, nor both, nor neither. But only the rigid of mind and
heart attempt to reduce the liberating poetics of Dharma instruction into argument. The blue of sky, as Goethe pointed out, is relaxing, inviting and invigorating – all at once. So, blue sky without clouds is the outer display. Dharmadhatu where all things arise, abode and dissolve is the reality dimension. That is the place of all Dharmas! That is the placeless place of samsara and nirvana. That is the placeless ness of seeming coming and going. That is the open dimension of authentic lineage. Nothing excluded, nothing remaining, nothing obstructing, nothing held fast. Dharmadhatu – the basis – Buddha Nature – your own primordial essence mind. That is where every appearance arises. That is where all appearances remain for a moment and then it is
where all appearances dissolve – and it is no place at all. Not even the possibility of place. Unnecessary modifications, ultimately unbinding, essentially joyous ornaments, five element displays of intrinsic luminosity and spontaneous playfulness in placeless ness a la la………. For us, when we realize how things actually are then this Dharmadhatu is Dharmakaya. Kaya is body, dimension, realm, sphere, and demeanor of essential awareness – a field of open possibility. This field has essential isness and this suchness has luminous nature of beingness and cognizance and this luminous beingness and knowingness has radiant playful appearance – Buddha wizardry of all manifestation. These three are in reality a singularity, an idivisible wholeness beyond the fragmentation possibilities of individualized dualistic and deluded fictions of egoic mind. These three, essence, nature and energy are no different than body, speech and mind. They are the three kayas, the vajras, the wholeness of the Buddhas. These are the reality
of every Buddha. These are not different than your own authentic body, speech and mind – if you realize the true nature of this three in one mystery. Slipping into the fabrications of dualizing mind one dreams a nightmare of fragmented wholeness and then seeks in the realms of dream for a solution to illusory sufferings. Within the dream the sufferings are certainly real enough but their origin is the same as the origin of the dream itself and has
nothing to do with the ever-present reality of the actual condition of all moments, things, relations. The question is whether you will realize this – make it real in the continuum of your life – or not. Buddhas / sentient beings. Sentient beings / Buddhas. Recognizing things the way they actualy are is the only difference. But what a difference! This is an important point and must be understood in order to enter into the dimension of the Tantric or Dzogchen path. This question of Buddha Nature spontaneously present FROM THE START is the very heart of the matter. One need not “create” or manufacture some new state, thing, realm, and experience. Any such action would be tinged by impermanence and therefore not the end of suffering. One must discover, uncover, wake up, and recognize what has always already been the case. Buddha Nature is complete and whole right now. From the start! Do you understand? This means
that Buddha Nature permeates everything, is the base of everything. Everything! Samsara and Nirvana. Both container and contained. Buddha Nature is the basis, it is basic, to everything – realized or not - it is ever present like space. Realize this truth. Make it real in the continuum of your body speech and mind then your own body, speech and mind are recognized as the three vajras. I do not mean that the body, speech and mind that you egoicly identify with will suddenly become something different. You will not become physically immortal, endlessly egoicly god like. No, I mean something far more profound. The three kayas are the three vajras. Essence, nature and energy are the three vajras. The three kayas and body, speech and mind, essence, nature and energy are not different. Body is just there – essence. Speech is the nature spontaneously, vibrantly, vividly present. Mind is luminous, cognizant energy, capacity. What ordinarily people identify as body, speech and mind are just the momentary distortions of Buddha Nature. A distorted
reflection in the fun house mirror of deluded conventional consciousness, through identification, seems to become the very limit and definition of who and what we are. This is not really a very difficult process to understand for it is also mirrored in the ordinary neurosis of everyday life. Even in an ordinary conventional sense most people’s view of themselves does not match up well with the reality of themselves. The most obvious examples of this can be seen in extreme cases such as the anorexic that sees him or herself as fat when looking in the mirror. When we look into the distorted mirror of duality we see the momentary body, speech and mind of concretized individuality. We do not see the reality of how things are. If we were to see the reality of how things were we would see the three vajras. We do not need to go else where to realize the three vajras. We do not need to become something other than what we actually are to rest in Buddha nature. We need only wake up. Even our delusions arise, abide and dissolve in the basic space of phenomena. Where else could they come from – there is nowhere else! It is a question of recognition.
I will tell you a little story. When my father was in World War II he had a friend who was shell shocked in the front lines. The trauma and stress of this event caused his friend to suffer a complete mental break down. He simply could not handle the horror of the reality of his circumstances. This mental breakdown manifested as the delusion that he was Napoleon. My father used to visit him in the hospital where he would find his friend pouring over maps of
Europe and planning his next great battle. My father’s friend was not Napoleon – from the start. From the start of his hospitalization he was suffused inseparably with his authentic, albeit conventional, true identity. Bill was Bill, from the start even though he thought himself to be Napoleon. When I used to hear about this story as a child this point fascinated me no end and I could not understand why no one else considered it interesting. The job of the doctors was not to make Bill into something he was not already. Their job was merely to help him discover, rediscover, uncover who he already was. This
is exactly the same as the job of the Buddha and the precious wisdom masters who try and help us rediscover who we already always have been. From the start! One day Bill had a moment of recognition. The doctors were able to directly point out to him his authentic identity and he was able to recognize his own face in the mirror of his mind. For quite some time Bill had to struggle with the conflicting feelings that he was Napoleon or Bill. Still, from the first moment of recognition (re-cognition meaning re – again and cognition – to know or “to know again”) he worked to integrate his recognition with everyday reality. He learned to rest once again in the dimension of who he actualy was. Now of course this is a question of who he actualy was from the point of view of conventional society. I always thought Bill could have made an excellent Dzogchen practitioner because he had already been through the process once. Now Bill just needed someone to create the conditions where his true and authentic Buddha nature could be pointed out to him and he could learn to rest in that. It has, of course been his real condition and identity – from the start.
Dear Friend,
You write that perhaps you ask to many questions. Please do not feel this way. We in the west are only entering the threshold of Buddha’s sublime teachings. Now is the time for questions. Now is the time for clarification so that our path may emerge in purity and beauty like the lotus which blooms form the muddy swamp. There are so many confusions in this new meeting between Buddha and barbarian it can only help to speak honestly and forthrightly without hidden intentions.
Why do I call us barbarians? Until we truly enter the dharma gate we are all barbarians – east and west. It is not enough to be born in a Buddhist culture one must become the culture of Buddhism. If one is not yet a true human being then one is still a barbarian. What is true human being? Someone, anyone east or west, who embraces both the gift of our precious human birth and the obligations of the noble Boddhisattva warrior. When our life is only bound to nihilistic materialistic pseudo meanings then the frustrations of hope and fear that dominate us, like a pimp dominates a whore, cause us to be barbarians.
In your letter you ask “Can we in the west, having no cultural parallel, history or institution like the Guru, Lama, Vajra Master ever accept this relationship in a sane way?” You quote the famous, almost cliché line “East is east, and West is west, and never the twain shall meet.” By Kipling. The line has, in some sense, become the emblem of the impossibility of two radically differing cultures meeting. During my time in college studying comparative religion this line was often quoted by professors, in agreement with Carl Jung’s use of it, to summarize the unbridgeable gap. A year or two back I was at a conference on Buddhism in America where discussion was taking place over the difficult role of the “Guru” or “Vajra Master” in Buddhism’s transition to the west. People talked of how, there being no parallel institution or concept in the west, that there was no ground for understanding and living. It was suggested that perhaps other models, more up to date and culturally pertinent, could be found. Perhaps a collective wisdom of the sangha, or a shifting leadership of rotating teachers, a sort of cocounseling dharma format with each helping out the other form shared insight. At the end of the discussion one lady softly said “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” Everyone chuckled and went to lunch.
Your question is not unique and I can certainly understand how you find yourself wondering this. Like most of the people in that conference you would, I believe, think of yourself a liberal, open minded, multicultural in view and well educated. For this reason this bigoted, racist view in support of a narrow, white, protestant, anti minority vision of western culture and history saddens me. This whole question has been manipulated by those who would sell a shallow consumerist version of the sublime secret teachings of the Buddha. You are very sincere in your search and so I would like to take some care to explain this vital point.
The real question is not one of cultures. The lack of a historical or cultural parallel is simply not the case . A comparable role to that of the Vajra Master exists in all three major western religions. Even if it were a issue of differing cultures are we to advocate closing the borders of our minds for fear of free trade in the realm of wisdom? Are we so disturbed by the current multicultural state of affairs that we would like to form a Office of Homeland Security for the mind? Understanding impermanence is the core of Shakyamuni’s gift to us. Cultures are always in shift, flux and change. The history of human development is the history of peoples intermingling, mixing and learning form one another. Are we so arrogant that while exporting our coca cola and democracy that we will not accept that other peoples may have something to share with us.
The simple, bold faced, wrongness of the argument of cultural and historical differences is like the quote you sent to me. “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” Did you know that this quote when not taken out of context was written to express the exact opposite of this sentiment. In his Ballad of the East and West Rudyard Kipling wrote:
“OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!”
The way in which discussion of the role of the Guru, Vajra Master, Lama is being shaped is designed to confuse and obscure the real issues. Clear thinking is paramount for followers of the Buddha’s noble doctrine.
Before we take a moment to look at how this question is wrong simply in the historical and cultural facts of its statement I would like to look at one more issue. When you say, and I suspect you simply parrot what you have heard form the purveyors of mediocrity, “We.. can we…?” I am wondering what are the implications of this “we”. Why do you say “we” and not “I”? Why not say “Can I follow this system?” If you ask this then the responsibility for doing so or not doing so falls squarely on you. You can think it through and decide what you wish to do. The implication of this “We in the west…” is that there is a group think which determines the actions of individuals. Is there some comity that will decide what religious style we will all follow “in the west”? Who are they and when were they given the power to make this decision for you, for me? When we say “we” in this sort of question we lose our dignity, our freedom, our individuality, integrity and our responsibility. Precisely the things which many fear they will lose if they have a Guru!
If you take responsibility for your own actions in an area this personal then you will feel great strength and joy. You do not need to be part of some imaginary “collective whole” which seems fashionable in superficial Buddhist circles these days. The real issue within your question is not one of culture or western history but one of the distinction between exoteric and esoteric spiritual processes. Within the spiritual longings of human beings there has always been a dynamic tension between these trends. When we look at western history and culture, as we will in a moment, we discover that the role of the Vajra Master,
the Guru figure, the Lama has always place a significant role in the esoteric traditions. The exoteric tradition of the social church has always offered a safe path of socialized religion which the collective can feel at ease in. The esoteric path, which is what we are talking of when we talk Vajrayana, is a path of individual decision.
The esoteric path always comes with warning, be careful, do not enter without careful forethought. As Trungpa Rinpoche said “Best not to begin at all.” The esoteric path is for those who would storm the gates of heaven, whose hearts can only settle for first hand experience. In the Vajrayana tradition the path of tantra is only for those who dare the danger because their Boddhisattva vow, their compassion for all beings and their weariness with samsara, forces them to feel a unrelenting urgency. The real problem comes when people who do not wish the work, courage, demands, profound individual integrity which the esoteric path involves also wish to buy the profound results on the marketplace. These individuals who inevitably suffer form alternating childish dependency and adolescent independence issues, feel enraged that the “secrets” can not merely be bought without any true and deep human relationship.
In the Tantric system it is often said “This is not a path for pashus. Keep the secrets away form pashus.” A pashu is a herd animal a being who wishes the safety of questions framed with words like “Can we in the west do this or that?” I am not trying to put pashus down. Each type of being must find their own way. I believe in radical freedom for the pashu to be a pahsu and enjoy the collective pen while it waits for the inevitable slaughter. I believe that the lion should enjoy its pride and the solitary lone wolf should enjoy his solitude. But let us not pretend life is made of only one type so that we can impose the dictatorship of narrowness on “we in the west. In the west there are many pashus, a few lions and an occasional lone wolf. Ants need ant dharma, collective and organized according to group mentality. Spiders enjoy spider dharma alone and solitary. So why do we need to decide what “we in the west” will have? Why do we need to form a One Dharma? I suspect it is because power mongers also wish power mongering dharma and would like to impose dogmas on spider and ants to be the same under their arrogant superior view. For this reason they do not feel a real need for facts or reason in their arguments if bigotry and deception will work instead.
Before we go deeper into the psychological aspects of this questions answer let us take a brief tour of western religious culture and history. I think this will be enjoyable for you. You are a wonderful man with a strong spiritual yearning. Your mind, heart and body are strong and not chronically wounded. You do not suffer form endless needs for psychological drama to prove your existence to yourself and your compassion is a flame within your being. Because your spiritual longing is not about quick fixes and what you can buy, because it is not simply about you but for the sake of all precious parent beings, I think you have the uncommon spiritual quality necessary for devotion. I do not care a whit if that devotion is for “me” as spiritual preceptor> What I wish is that your heart will flower in the joyous path of devotion which is the secret open doorway of divine realization. So let us see what the religions of the west, in their esoteric churches have to say on this matter. Let us see what our culture and history truly offer rather than blindly accept words of conference Buddhism’s self appointed guardians of the pashus’ herd pen.
The exoteric has always had a certain distrust of the esoteric. The pashu a natural ambivalence toward the tiger. The ant is not comfortable with the spider. The monastic bureaucrat is suspicious of the yogi and the carefree yogi has not great desire to sit in Buddhist conferences. While many simply proceed with their happy relationship with authentic esoteric Vajrayana’s lion style others whose motives were impure or who became involved to live out childish or adolescent complexes find themselves very unhappy. To protect their arrogant domineering stance they would like to form safe enclosures to
prot4ect nervous pashus. They would like to impose their authoritarian machinations on “we in the west” while calling it “protecting you form the authoritarian machinations of evil Lamas”. They would protect the rive form loving the ocean. They would protect the morning mist from the warm embrace of the suns rays. They will stand up for the puddles right not to feel small in the face of the oceans arrogant claims of vastness. They will protect us to death from the very birthright of our Buddha Nature and in exchange they will give us three meals a day in our safe pen and a good guard dog to keep us in! Then those of us whose hearts long for the heights, whose beings can never be happy in the sheep pen, will pace like a puma behind the bars of the zoo. I am reminded of a poem by e. e. cummings:
“When serpents bargain for the right to squirm And the sun strikes to gain a living wage – When thorns regard their roses with alarm And rainbows are insured against old age
When every thrush may sing in no new moon If all screech-owls have not okayed its voice -and any wave signs on a dotted line or else an ocean is compelled to close
when the oak begs permission of the birch to make an acorn – valleys accuse their mountains of having altitude – and march denounces april as a saboteur
then we’ll believe in that incredible unanimal mankind (and not until)
Will April accept its shame? Will you accept being lumped in with all the herd of “We in the west…” if so then may you be happy in your pen and may you practice pure ant lineage dharma. If you wish to practice the esoteric path of Vajrayana you must think carefully and with well reasoned introspection. Do not leave the pen if it is for vain, self aggrandizing reasons. Do not leave the pen if it is to be special amongst the lions – you will be eaten, not out of malice by the Buddha’s lions but by your own false intentions. Devotion, for the tantrica, is the natural love response to the divine. We have no need of being assured that no one is above us for we know that our upward flowing devotion
raises and ennobles us. If your heart is not pure however then no matter how sublime the Buddha Guru you will, in the end, feel resentful of the ocean’s vastness.
Maybe the beauty of our western traditions of Lama devotion will inspire you. In all esoteric processes found in the three major western religions, and in our own sublime Vajrayana tradition, it is not the techniques which take primacy but the relationship with the Vajra Master. The Orthodox Christian Bishop Ware says so succinctly “In the last resort, what the spiritual father gives to his disciple is not a code of written or oral regulations, not a set of techniques for meditation, but a personal relationship.” Perhaps it is the fact that this relationship can not be bought, sold, conquered or stolen that infuriates those who would reduce all spiritual life to consumerism in our mass market quick fix cult of modern society. The demand of true, authentic relationship with the living presence of the divine is annoying to those how would retreat into isolationist caves of spiritual non-relation like a dog runs off under the table with its bone. Our culture is replete with the beautiful examples of this profound relationship. Let me show you.
The Vajra Master in Judaism:
There are three major religions which shaped western history. They are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Judaism the relationship between the spiritual preceptor and the disciple is finds its greatest blossoming in the Hasidic tradition of the Baal Shem Tov. This is an interesting example because it shows the emergence of a powerful Guru disciple tradition I the midst of modern western history! In the seventeenth century Europe there was a revolution of joy within the Jewish community which has spread all over the world. This revelation and revolution was brought by the power, realization and undying love of one man, the Baal Shem Tov, the Master of the Good Name.
There are many profound points to be noticed in the emergence of this tradition of beauty, song and mystical contemplation. With the Hasidic movement came the flowering of the notion of the Tzaddik, the spiritual master. There is a Hasidic saying which goes “Without the Tzaddick even if there were a ladder it would not work.” The tzaddik, the central role of the “righteous man” always existed in Judaism, as it is said "The Talmud teaches us that G-D asks: "Who rules over me?" and answers that it is the tzaddik. (Sichos HaRan), but it is with the generations following the Baal Shem Tov that this took the true form of the Vajra master / disciple relationship as a primary means of spiritual realiztion. The great Hasidic Master Rebbe nachman said “If a person is not bound to a true tzaddik all his devotion is nothing but twisting and turning and pretending to be something it is not, as if an ape were pretending to be a human being.”
One of the most interesting points of the Baal Shem Tov’s revolution, which applies ot our discussion, is the way it spread amongst all segments of society. The Baal Shem and his succesors, the Guru of the Hasidic line, drew rich, poor, the good, bad, aristocracy, peasants. The call of the spirit, which demands to beyond the exoteric, is not constrained by any boundary of nation, cast or class. It is not a contrived “democracy” for it sees that
not all people are cut out for the intense disciplines of the mystic path. At the same time it makes no distinctions according to the temporary samsaric considerations of the pashu’s society. This was true of the Baal Shem Tov’s open revolution of joy. It was true of the ancient tantricas of India. Amongst them were found kings, prostitutes, beggars, scholars, monks, alchemists, thieves all practicing under the roof of a single tradition. Amongst narrow minded nihilist, west or east, who do not see that Buddha’s wisdom mind is intangible and not contained in the small boxes or race or nationality there can be problems. As a western Lama I have met many wonderful Lamas from Tibet and never once has a single one been anything but kind, generous and accepting of me. I am careful what Lamas I meet and only wish to meet those with authentic non nihilist view and dedication to Buddha’s doctrine not small personal agendas I have discovered they too feel the same way. This non discrimination meritocracy of pure intention, rather than contrived angry pseudo egalitarianism, is the true fellowship and camaraderie of Dharma.
The Baal Shem Tov gave birth to a home grown, uniquely western tradition of Guru disciple relationship. Within it the disciple recognizes the Tzaddik as source of blessing and through respect, faith and devotion that blessing showers down upon the disciple raising them into deep spiritual liberation. The beauty and joy of this path is often spoken of in their works. Let me share some with you. I love these because I know, from the depths of experience, that every one is true of my precious Lama. Whoever considers himself an independent existent cannot be in more than one place at a time. When a discreet entity stands in one place, it cannot be elsewhere. Thus, if one is engaged in Divine service, he cannot gaze at the world around him. However, one who is nothing can be present everywhere. Therefore, the greater the degree to which a tzaddik is incorporated into Divine nothingness, the more he is able to see what is taking place in the world. It is not that he stands in a high place far above the world, rather the category of place does not apply to him at all. (Likutey Moharan 2:58)
The basis of everything is to be bound to the tzaddik of the generation completely and to accept everything he says as correct, whether it is a major or a minor thing. One must turn neither right nor left from what he says, but simply abandon his own ideas as if he knows nothing except what he receives from the tzaddik. So long as a person retains even a residue of his own independent way of thinking he has not attained fulfillment and is not truly bound to the tzaddik. (Rebbe Nachman)
Simply to look at the face of a tzaddik is a very great thing. How much more so when one is worthy of speaking to him, and even more than this, when one hears Torah from his lips. But simply seeing him is very good in itself.
Whoever is truly merged with this name, which is the glory and splendor and true delight of the whole world, whoever draws close to the tzaddik and is subsumed under his name, through this his eyes are opened and he can begin to examine himself and see where he stands. Then he can return to God and cleanse himself of all of his evil characteristics. He will be worthy of perceiving the greatness of the Creator and of looking at the whole
world with clear vision, because his eyes and his mind are opened by the true tzaddik, who sends light to the whole world.
It is impossible to gain any true conception of what the tzaddik is in himself. He is totally beyond our grasp. It is only through seeing his followers that one can gain some understanding of his awesome greatness. When one sees that they are men who have achieved great things and who follow God's path in truth, then one can understand the greatness of the tzaddik himself.
Telling stories of the tzaddikim, contemplating the wondrous things that happen to them by Divine providence, is very great. Through this, you may purify the mind and pass into the world of thought. However to pass into the world of thought, you must be silent. Even if you were to utter a holy world, this would disturb your state of mind. For thought is extremely high, higher than speech. Even if you remain still and do not speak, there may be distractions that disturb your state of mind. To remedy this, you must purify your consciousness. This is accomplished through stories of the tzaddikim. (Likutey Moharan 1:234)
Everything has a purpose, and this purpose itself serves another purpose which is even higher. The most important thing of all is the ultimate goal to which everything leads: the joy of the world that is coming. This is the final goal of the entire creation. However no one except the tzaddikim can in any way conceive of this ultimate purpose. To the extent that a Jew is rooted in the soul of the tzaddik he too can attain some conception of this goal, depending on how far he has succeeded in breaking his anger with love. If he succeeds he will come to a level where he can use everything in this world as a means to attain this goal. (Rebbe Nachman, Likutey Moharan)
In this beautiful tradition of love and transmission beauty, compassion, love and mystic insight has been passed. If ones heart is strong enough for this mystic relation then it needs no protection. Shall sheep now protect cubs of tigers form their mothers?
The Vajra Master in Christianity:
Christianity is of course originates in the tradition of the Guru and disciple. While the exoteric churches have always maintained outward institutions wherein the relationship with an absentee Guru plays the central role there is also an inner tradition. The desert fathers such as St. Anthony, the profoundly powerful mystic mothers such as St. Teresa of Avila, St. Clare and their brothers such as St. Francis and St. John of the Cross all practiced the rule of obedience in relation to spiritual mentors. The monastic tradition, and its parallel tradition of lay hermits, has always upheld the esoteric traditions. Once again these esoteric tradition are not secret form outsides because something is wrong with them but because the demands of such a life are simply more than most would wish to bear. This is true in authentic Tantric Vajrayana as well, even if it would not seem so when it is sold on the market place of materialistic grasping. The esoteric practitioners
have always been the small minority who wish to dive into the human spirits greatest depths and return with the jewels of love and compassion for all beings.
The value of such authentic realizers and practitioners has always been recognized by serious religious and spiritual seekers in all cultures including ours. This is why there has also always been a tradition of supporting retreat. Because the profound practitioner can confess the love and joy of our deepest being they are of profound value to us all. Beyond this, those who understand the spiritual process, also know that such beings efforts ripple across the human mind and whole world as a blessing.
Those who walk such a path swiftly realize it is not without dangers and tremendous risks and then the role of guidance of one who has walked before, who is a living emblem of the possibility, is understood. This is why the great St. Anthony father of the esoteric Christian path said "I know of monks who fell after much toil and lapsed into madness, because they trusted in their own work . . . So far as possible, for every step that a monk takes, for every drop of water that he drinks in his cell, he should entrust the decision to the Old Men, to avoid making some mistake in what he does."
The tradition of the staretz in the orthodox churches, and spread over all areas of the western world, is a beautiful example of the precious guru disciple relationship. The process of transformation, transfiguration and translation is of such subtly that submission to the care of one who has gone before is in fact the way. This tradition of spiritual life is as alive to day as it has ever been. Bishop Kallistos Ware says of this relationship “This figure of the Staretz, so prominent in the first generations of Egyptian monasticism, has retained its full significance up to the present day in Orthodox Christendom.
‘There is one thing more important than all possible books and ideas’, states a Russian layman of the 19th Century, the Slavophile Kireyevsky, ‘and that is the example of an Orthodox Starets, before whom you can lay each of your thoughts and from whom you can hear, not a more or less valuable private opinion, but the judgment of the Holy Fathers. God be praised, such Startsi have not yet disappeared.” The structure of this relationship is a hierarchy of wisdom. The compassion arisen from realization flows downward to the disciple. The disciples devotion flows upward to the realized one. There is a
relationship of authority and novice. If one wanted to become a great pianist one would wish to find a master, and authority, to whom one could submit oneself for instruction. Because this authority is being sought in matter of the human spirit one must be careful and practice discriminative wisdom in relation to entering such a relationship. IN the Christian tradition one is to look for certain characteristics in the Spiritual Master. It is interesting end enlightening to look at how a Startez comes to be in this tradition.
Bishop Kallistos Ware says “Although the starets is not ordained or appointed for his task, it is certainly necessary that he should be prepared.” The Staretz becomes replete with qualities through his inward journey and it is these qualities which draw to them their students. Perhaps the most famous Staretz of the church was St. Seraphim who said "Acquire inward peace "and a multitude of men around you will find their salvation."
The qualities of the spiritual father are listed as “Insight and discernment…. the ability to love others and to make others' sufferings his own.. to possess love, the power to transform the human environment” To me, dear friend, what is amazing and beautiful is not that we can take a foreign import into our cultural lives but that this role, the guru, is found, amongst the most serious, in every tradition in such similar ways. IT says in the Buddhist Sutras that Boddhisattvas will be born in every place of the world. These examples from western tradition makes this so very clear. One should chose ones Vajra Master with care and then enter the path by degrees contemplating each stage, its commitments and demands with great attention. Once one has entered the relationship one give submission as a joy which purifies the mind and heart of all that would separate it form the Buddhahood. This is not blind faith, this is not blind submission to authority. As in the Christian church’s tradition this is a submission made through freedom and individual choice born of strength not weakness. The entry into the esoteric process is always this way. Of this point Bishop Kallistos Ware says: “Such stories are likely to make a somewhat ambivalent impression on the modern reader. They seem to reduce the disciple to an infantile or sub-human level, depriving him of all power of judgment and moral choice. With indignation we ask: "Is this the 'glorious liberty of the children of God'?" (Rom.
Three points must here be made. In the first place, the obedience offered by the spiritual son to his Abba is not forced but willing and voluntary. It is the task of the starets to take up our will into his will, but he can only do this if by our own free choice we place it in his hands. He does not break our will, but accepts it from us as a gift. A submission that is forced and involuntary is obviously devoid of moral value; the starets asks of each one that he offer to God his heart, not his external actions.”
In our sublime Vajrayana path it is just the same. No one asks you, or anyone, to take up this way. You must come to the vajra Master and ask. There is no force or twisting of arms. In fact all the great masters such as Trungpa Rinpoche warn time and again to enter with care and great forethought. As I said before you must be very sure of your motives. If you enter seeking self serving gain, as most do, then this will cause you and others pain. Of this there can be no question since this motive causes pain wherever one goes. If you enter without carefully looking to see if you can live in harmony with the teaching and style of the Master then this again will cause you pain. Simply take time and care. Outside of the grasping hope and greed of ego there is no reason to hurry in such a way that casts discriminative attentiveness to the wind.
A final point Bishop Ware makes is that the spiritual father does not want you enslavement. “Do not force men's free will. The task of the spiritual father is not to destroy a man's freedom, but to assist him to see the truth for himself; not to suppress a man's personality, but to enable him to discover himself, to grow to full maturity and to become what he really is. If on occasion the spiritual father requires an implicit and seemingly "blind" obedience from his disciple, this is never done as an end in itself, nor with a view to enslaving him. The purpose of this kind of shock treatment is simply to
deliver the disciple from his false and illusory "self", so that he may enter into true freedom.” This reminds me of the words of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, beloved of my heart, who speaks clearly to the fact that samaya is not a tool for personal manipulation and further says “one need not feel intimidated or afraid of these samaya guns.” Those who are authentic great Vajra Master, not ordinary worldly minded people like me, only act from pure compassion. To not enter this bond is to miss the chance of liberation and to remain in the sheep pen but to chose carelessly is also a great sadness.
The Vajra Master in Islam:
The exoteric social form of Islam is, at best, profoundly uncomfortable with accepting the human birthright of mystical transfiguration. At the same time Islam as a whole has, form its beginning, carried a profound stream of mystical transmission. At the heart of this lineage of spiritual realization is the disciple’s relationship as lived with the Shaykh, Pir or Murshid. In Sufism the intoxication which banishes the separation between ones mind and heart, and the mysterious dimension of divine love, is bridged through disciplined mystical practice under the guidance of a spiritual master. This relationship with the Spiritual Master is not only at the heart of the path but is also the heart of the practice. Other practices resting on the living ground of this love. In the last two decades translations of the great Sufi poet Rumi have made a description of this relationship available in every Borders bookstore across the nation. They have become part of the fabric of our culture.
“I am a river You are my sun. You are the medicine Of my broken heart.” Mevlana Jelauddin Rumi In another place Rumi says: “whoever travels without a guide needs two hundred years for a two day journey.”
Again and again throughout his poetry Rumi sings of the joy, pain, love, sorrow and transformation which comes in the authentic relationship between a spiritual seeker and “the guide”. Again and again, as one who has walked the whole path and is lost in the wisdom bliss of realization, he speaks of the need for a guide and the dangers of not having one. “Do not spurn a guide” he says again and again. For Rumi “the guide” the spiritual master is nothing short of divine intersession.
On the mystical path of Islam the student studies under the guidance of a master until both are deeply satisfied of the sincerity and competence of the other. It is at this time that the master chooses to initiate the student into the order. Within the initiation both accept the mutual bond or pledge, what in Vajrayana we call samaya. The disciple pledges to follow the spiritual guidance of the master implicitly. The master pledges to never forsake the disciple and to guide them through the stages of the path.
At the very heart of Sufism is a transmission from the living heart of the spiritual master to the heart of the disciple. It is the transmission of the flame of wisdom and love. It is
understood within the tradition that this process is not for all. The living transmission from heart mind to heart mind must take place in a context of tremendous human maturity. Problems arise when master or disciple fail to cultivate this context and instead prefer cheap gimmicks or popular quick fixes. The mystic path is said, as in this piece by Rumi, to not suit those who prefer the comforts of the flock or herd.
I said, 'Thou art harsh.’ He replied, 'Know That I am harsh for good, not from rancor and spite. Whoever enters saying, "This I," I smite him on the brow; For this is the shrine of Love, o fool! it is not a shelter for sheep! Rub thine eyes, and behold the image of the heart.'
For the disciple faith and devotion are, quite simply, the love response to what is sublime. For one who is suited to the esoteric process the relationship with the authentic master is not one wherein we feel degraded or belittled it is the crucible wherein the gold within our being is purified and revealed. The great sculptor Rodin said of his work “I do not create I strip away and reveal the essence.” It is in the face of the beloved, the spiritual master, that one sees ones highest potential, reflected not in sycophantic imitation, but in the true flowering of unsullied wholeness in all its manifestations. When Rumi wrote of Shams he said.
“In my passion for His reality not even care of safety remained. By the grace of His help I become safe.”
“Someone said: The lover must be submissive and abject and long-suffering. And he enumerated the like qualities.
The Master said: In that case the lover must be like that, alike when the beloved wishes it or no. But if he is so without the desire of the beloved, then he is not truly a lover but is following his own desire. If he accords with the desire of the beloved, then when the beloved does not wish him to be submissive and abject, how should he be submissive and abject? Hence it is realized that the states affecting the lover are unknown, only how the beloved wishes him to be.”
Dear friend, I know this has been a long letter and I hope you have bared with me. This topic is one of import and also great joy. Even if you chose a different way It is my prayer that you will not allow the purveyors of shallow commercialism to blind your eye to the beauty of differing styles and approaches. We do not need to form One Dharma which rules over all and then battle over what it will be like the forces in Lord of the Rings battling over the One Ring. Let us all be happy to be sheep, ants, spiders, tigers. Because we are also human beings engaged in the spiritual pursuit we can learn to
accept and even rejoice in differences. Those who wish to enter the sublime esoteric Vajrayana path may do so and part and parcel of this is the relationship with the Guru. Those who do not wish this can practice the Buddhist, or other paths, which do not embrace this way. It is only those who would reduce the entire path to marketable bits and pieces who would rape and kill her selling off her body parts. Do not become involved in this idiocy of jaded spewing cynical platitudes. She is a living whole this path, every true path, treat her as the most beloved. Find a path you can love, find a path whose tradition displays its power, grace and beauty and bind yourself to this path. Look and consider with care but then enter as a warrior of compassion. Have this much respect for yourself
With love,
Dear Fledgling Tantricas,
You asked me about the meaning of the yidam’s ornaments and appearance. One very important thing to grasp, right form the beginning, is that we are not super imposing a “fantasy” onto the real world. We are in fact super imposing the actual way things are on the deluded impure vision we all suffer form in our mental illness called samsara. When my dad was in the war he had a friend who suffered a mental breakdown due to the horrors of war. In his desperation he entered a delusion that he was Napoleon. When the doctors would try and get him to see that he was actually a man named Eddie he would laugh and say “Why do want me to impose a fantasy on myself. I know who I am! I am Napoleon.” We are somewhat like this. We do not see the world as it truly is. Instead we see mental fixations according to our karmic predispositions. I am sure you can think of many examples of this even in daily ordinary life so I will not elaborate here.
Because we are trapped in mundane deluded appearances the Buddhas give us a sublime option to receive empowerment of their vision. When this empowerment has taken place the possibility of perceiving Buddha Nature’s intangible luminous awareness ornaments is born in us. When we contemplate these pure appearances of lambent wisdom we purify our usual solid constricted perception. In Yidam practice this takes the form of 1. developing the clear appearance of the Yidam, being able to visualize all aspects of the Yidam with clarity and then also 2. remembering the purity of the luminous wisdom symbols. In your practice the concentration necessary for this process also trains the mind for the stable calm abiding of shiné.
For now you are focusing on the sphere of blessing in the form of Guru Tsokyé Dorje and then the refuge image of Orgyan Dorje Chang. These are pure wisdom symbols communicating the essence of Dharma to us. They are not signs, like a road sign pointing the way. A sign points toward a symbol presents. And I am not represents but directly presents. We visualize symbols, meaning they participate in the nature of what they symbolize. Here the old saying “The medium is the message.” Truly applies. It is for this reason that the Yidam is equivalent to the Dharma in the Three Roots of Vajrayana. So that you might discover the pure light intangible elements and not suffer in realms of heavy substance delusions it is beneficial to begin to familiarize yourself with the purifying force of these living symbols. To study the chapter on Sambhogakaya on Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s Small Golden Key can be very useful for understanding all this.
In the sky before you Orgyan Tsokyé Dorje appears. He does not really appear in the physical sky but in the sky of mind’s luminous nature.
The supple body displays the purification of ignorance. The body strong, delicate, balanced in proportion, youthful, free of defects, luminous, radiant, attractive shows the purification of desire, pride, anger, jealousy, mental defects, being replete with qualities,
carrying the signs of a Buddha. The fact that the body is regal, has a quality of great splendor, shows the ability of of Buddhahood to vanquish all suffering. The single face is symbol of the Dharmadhatu. The two arms are the inseparable union of skill and wisdom. The white body, tinged by the reddish sign of passion, shows that vast open ease of space and the exaltation bliss of purified desire are unified perfectly in a single form. Two eyes are the sign of being beyond the pain of meeting and parting. The crown of five jewels and the silks of five colors are the afflictive emotions transformed into five wisdoms. The bountiful hair tied up and flowing loose is the union of perfected discipline in union with free flowing compassion. The drigug held by the consort severs all distorted clinging to duality. The Vajra symbolizes the active dynamic unflagging compassionate works. The skull cup of nectar offers the accomplishment to true yogins.
The throne of the Yidam is also a powerful source of purification. The Lion Throne on which the Yidam sits (which is not always seen in the painted image) is the fearless power of the Buddhas to overcome the four maras. The sun and moon purify the semen and blood form the father and mother at the moment of conception. The multicolored lotus symbolizes the ability to remain in appearance without falling into the trap of delusion. When we reach the point of Generation and Completion phase practice we will go much more deeply into the meaning of the appearance of the Yidam as a means of purifying the moment of birth.
The place of all this is Akanishta, Ogmin (Tibetan), it is the celestial pure land of palace of Pema Od. About this Do Khyentse says “For beings with devotion to the Lama, like waking from a dream of impure, deluded appearance, compassion’s radiance appears and wherever it spreads, the entire vessel-like world is the celestial palace of Padma Öd in the realm of Akanishta” he also says “a realm of fragrant lotus flowers stretches out beyond conception.” Of the palace of Pema Od, Thinley Norbu Rinpoche says, in his Tibetan commentary on The Melodious Tambora of the Lotus, “…the celestial palace of Lotus Light, the assembly which is inseparable from primordial time of all of the inconceivable mandalas of the Buddha which are the equality of the three kayas and the Dharmadhatu. This celestial palace has a limitless abundance of ornamentation. Lotus flowers are everywhere in all directions.” This realm of Akanishta, this palace of Pema Od is the symbol of natural awareness’ pure luminous empty dimension of wonderment and exaltation. So the “sky” in “see in the sky before you” is this realm of wisdom empty appearance.
Dear little birds, you are all just beginning the path but still you can participate in the brilliant wisdom joy of these symbols through devotion and supplication. When we pray the sol wa deb, when we do prostrations, we bind our body, speech and mind to these pure symbols and they transform our vision. How? By simply doing it! Just by pouring blue die in clear water it becomes blue. We do the practice and it has its effects. Because these symbols are not just “made up” but are the gifts of Dharmakaya, the treasure of sambhogakaya brought to us by the pure Nirmanakaya Buddhas, they carry potency unimaginable! In the second turning of the wheel emptiness is a mere emptiness or conceptual non elaboration but in the sublime third turning of Vajrayana mind is discovered to be replete with qualities. Luminous empty wisdom qualities of Buddha nature are spontaneously present and it is this blessing of spontaneous presence that we connect ourselves to when we meditate within the stream of lineage.
I hope this clarifies for you the meaning of what you are meditating upon in terms of its potent symbolic purity. By always remaining mindful of this purity we develop, not only the calm abiding of shiné, but also receive the blessings of Buddha nature’s rays of love and wisdom.
Wishing you the best,
T.
Last year, as I was saying goodbye after a visit with my Heart Lama, his final words to me were,” Please help Westerners to train their minds”. I think about his simple but profound instruction many times each day, and it has become a framework with which I communicate with dharma friends who come to me for help with their practice.
Many Westerners are averse to the idea of mind training. They argue that it is contrived and artificial and creates hypocrisy. This is because they have Western New Age Workshop view of mind training, in which training the mind happens as a strategy of ego, with the intention and motivation of covering up unpleasant personality traits in order to fool self and others. This is like a beautifully dressed woman who carries around anger, jealousy, hatred and contempt for others inside her lovely purse, secretly cherishing them when she is alone. But this behavior has its origin in ego. The strategy of ego is to push away whatever is unpleasant and to grasp to what is desirable. If we do this we will never develop the capacity to rest in the complete ease of spacious wisdom that is beyond attraction and aversion.
In Buddhism, we train our minds according to the sublime teachings and methods of the Buddha. Our motivation and intention is to purify the continuum of our mindstream so that we can see things as they actually are and to free others and ourselves from the tyranny of ego. This is a very different thing. We train our minds not by thinking of ourselves, but by thinking of others and by concentrating our minds on sublime deities and teachings. The Buddha taught that the untrained mind, given free reign, would go through countless lifetimes giving rise to more and more negative actions. We can see evidence of this tendency all around us. It is so disheartening to see that as people who have no access to wisdom teachings age and grow old, they often become more rigid, fearful and miserable. When we see that, we can feel compassion for them and increase our resolve to live differently. We can take up training our minds in earnest.
The sublime teachings offer us innumerable and profoundly skillful methods for transforming our lives so that we can be liberated from samsaric existence and attain the fully enlightened state in which there is no suffering or ignorance. The teachings of Dharma enable us to distinguish between the two options so that we know what to take up and what to leave behind. In this culture many people plan for a secure future by setting up 401K plans and investment portfolios. They think this will provide them with security against the suffering of old age and death. But if we truly understand the nature of samsara we realize that the only security that we can truly rely on is to establish confidence in Dharma. Dharma is the ultimate 401K plan because the investments we make it in are not just for this lifetime but carry over into future lives. What banking institution can offer this kind of deal! If we establish confidence in dharma through practice and consideration of the teachings, through training our minds, we can discover a happiness that is not dependent upon unstable circumstances. We come to realize that there is no security or stable happiness to be found in this realm, just endless alternations
of good, bad and tediously lackluster moments where we walk around in a mind numbing fog. And then we die.
I have recently begun a new Ngondro practice, and I am once again awestruck by what a powerful practice it is for training one’s mind. Since prostrations are the practice by which we establish our motivation and intention to take refuge in the sublime deities, sublime teachings and devout practitioners of dharma, they provide us with unending opportunities to examine the ways in which we do not actually do that. This examination is critical at all stages of the path until we reach enlightenment. In what ways are we resisting the teachings? Every obstacle which arises for us, whether it is a physical problem, an emotional preoccupation, a life situation, or a lack of motivation holds up a mirror to us of what needs to be transformed for our lives to become fertile ground for the sublime teachings to take root.
Many nascent practitioners are surprised and feel defeated when obstacles arise. The sense of profound possibility and enthusiasm they first felt upon first encountering the dharma and meeting their lamas did not seem to imply that so much struggle would be involved. They may have been hoping that transformation would come easily and with little effort and require only that they relax fully into the natural state, which because they are so innately spiritual should be simple to do. In this country, because our first exposure to Buddhism was Sutric and the beginning of the Sutric path often involves silent sitting, we have an idea that Buddhist practice should be easy and require no great effort. (Anyone who has truly practiced silent sitting knows
that this is not really the case in Sutra either). Then, when they begin Ngondro and they stand at the bottom of the mountain of accumulations, looking up and unable to see the peak, they feel defeated and disappointed. Sometimes, they conclude after only a small effort that they are not “the kind of person” who can benefit from Ngondro. This is a common mistake in view that is best addressed by a deeper consideration of the Four Thoughts and the cultivation of Bodhicitta. Through these considerations we will be more deeply inspired to question our choices in life. It is also inspiring to consider the vast numbers of practitioners from one’s lineage who have accomplished the Ngondro, some attaining realization through these practices alone. Ngondro has been beneficial for men and women by the thousands for centuries. There is no such thing as a human being who cannot practice and benefit from it.
Part of mind training is learning to view the obstacles we encounter as being the result of our own karma, and rather than feeling limited by them, take responsibility for bringing about change in whatever area needs changing. Increasingly, as we practice, our obstacles become fewer and less limiting, and our practice becomes more easeful and blissful. But in the beginning, obstacles are inevitable.
Very swiftly, while accumulating prostrations, the problems of untrained mind habit become apparent. The untrained mind is full of rationalizations, lame excuses and resistance to changing the status quo. It is similar to a small child who has not been given limits and corrections through the intervention of a wiser adult. The untrained mind is perfidious. It will try to maintain its illusion of control through a variety of tricky
strategies and we are so accustomed to listening to this “logic” that we may not even question it. The untrained mind is the minion of samsara, determined to prevent transformation. It functions according to a logic that seems real and legitimate to us in our delusion, but because it is cut off from sublime wisdom and does not know the means by which suffering is ended, its logic will always keep us imprisoned within samsara. It is rather like a funhouse at a carnival in which every apparent exit leads us back to the starting point.
Increasingly, as we become aware of this, we respond to the untrained mind like a wise parent faced with a child intent on tyranny. We understand that if we attempt to placate its demands, they will only increase. If we stand firmly in our understanding of refuge and let the untrained mind know that it is not in charge, that its moods and whims and complaints are irrelevant, something wonderful will result. When we tether the naughty monkey of our habit mind to the visualization, refuge prayer and movement of prostrations, we can have our first experience of real freedom.
In practical terms what this means is that when we find ourselves making excuses to avoid dharma practice, we chuckle in amusement as we make our way to the prostration board. We put our attention on the mantra and visualization, which are free of all such foolish conception. When we have thoughts of being tired during prostrations, we increase our speed a bit. When we feel self-satisfied by how quickly we are whipping through the numbers, we slow down and do very precise, slow and beautiful prostrations. We discover that as we become more adept at identifying and addressing our untrained minds, we feel happier and more clear and strong. We feel ennobled. What remains of our day has a sparking and open quality to it that makes the world seem different somehow. What a wonderful result for only a little effort!
The untrained mind is like an uninvited guest who stays well beyond the point at which we hoped they would go home and insists upon retelling a story we have heard dozens of times- “Have you heard the one about how you are tired today and how your knees hurt”? Over time, if we practice pure teachings, wisdom mind will increasingly show it to the door.
A valuable tool to deal with obstacles and train the mind while doing Ngondro is to impose some structures in terms of scheduling time for practice which one adheres to unshakably. For example, especially for those leading worldly lives, Ngondro is best practiced in the morning shortly after waking. If one chooses a time and is committed to practicing at that time every day without fail, some life adjustments will need to be made. For example, if I am going to practice at 5 a.m. each morning so that I can finish my practice before I leave for work or before my children waken, I may need to go to sleep earlier than I typically do. Since making the choice to practice consistently becomes an expression of refuge, and whatever is in the way of refuge must be changed so that I can succeed in making dharma the center of my life, I will change what needs to be changed.
There are many lifestyle issues which may need to be addressed by someone who is intent on putting dharma at the center of their lives, Often, when people begin to practice
consistently, they discover that very big changes are required. If you are an addict, or very overweight, or in a difficult relationship that drains you of energy, or with a partner who undermines your intention, or are overly committed to worldly activities and have no time to practice, or are full of self-pity and feel yourself to be a victim of circumstances, then problems such as these must be confronted and dealt with. We need to be like warriors who will stop at nothing to accomplish their aim. If we are uncompromising in our commitment to practice with consistency, then we are assured of results.
When we adopt this stance in relation to practice, we feel full of dignity and strength. When we do not, we feel ashamed, broken, worthless and dishonest, because we know we are allowing delusion to undermine the opportunity of our precious human birth. Even though we can try to appease ourselves with excuses and rationalizations, deep down we know that we are being deceitful with ourselves. We know that we are hiding from and rejecting the lama’s guidance. When we resist the activities which make it possible to develop wisdom and merit and to traverse suffering, it is inevitable that we will become increasingly superficial, resentful, and blocked. Sadly, there are really only two options. Either we move in the direction of pure dharma and transform our lives into practice or we increasingly choose and become mired in suffering.
As a lama it is very sad for me to see that many people who have access to pure dharma choose not to make use of it. What could be sadder? When people stay around a dharma community for very long without making a deep connection to lamas and practice, they feel increasingly lost. It is, for them, as if everyone else has been invited to the party and they did not receive an invitation. They are jealous of those whose lives demonstrate results from practice and they experience increasing alienation and paranoia. This is such a tragic and unnecessary display of suffering. The invitation is always already in their hand and yet they insist that they do not see it. Such people sometimes describe feeling marginalized by others in the Buddhist community.
But the situation is similar to that of a person who shows up at a costume party in the clothing they wear every day. They feel disconnected and out of sync because their choice not to participate is a communication of rejection and refusal. They may not communicate this stance with words, in fact, their words may say the opposite, but the communication is clear all the same. It is natural that others will not respond to them with the same enthusiasm that they will respond to those who made an effort to participate; yet still they feel hurt to be treated differently and left out of the fun. This is a good example of how we create our own karma and it shapes our experience. Whatever we experience in terms of the response we get from others has its origin in us. We are the ones who set it in motion through our karma of thoughts, choices and activities. In this culture, where it is acceptable to blame others for our reactions and experiences, there is no understanding of karma. But the Buddhist teachings are very clear on this matter, and if we are going to make progress on the path, we must study and accept the teachings on karma and apply them to our lives. We cannot pick and choose from among the Buddha’s teachings, accepting only those that make us feel good.
There is no standing still in this realm. In every moment, we are choosing one of these options. Either we are thinking of deities, remembering deities, bathing our minds in the
sublime wisdom teachings, or we are thinking of ourselves and our samsaric life moments with endless self- concern and fascination, thus increasing our separateness from sources of sublime blessings. Either we are thinking with compassion of beings lost in suffering, acting with kindness, humility and integrity, feeling blessed and grateful- or we are continuing to allow our minds to practice the ways of ugliness and ignorance which will result in our increased suffering.
It is essential not to approach the lama and sangha with conventional views of samsaric relationship, hoping to fortify our ego and get attention. This is a very common mistake because in the realm of samsara, seeking worldly love drives ego habit. The goal of worldly love is to secure our value and specialness in the eyes of another to fulfill our narcissistic aims. We love others because it makes us feel warm and gooey all over. We love others so that we can shine in the glow of our own reflected wonderfulness. And we especially enjoy loving those who appear powerful or special in some way, because when they love us back, it feels so good! And our goal is to feel good!
Human beings who do not have access to wisdom teachings are compelled to do this. They believe that ultimate happiness will be secured if only they can look into the reflection of the mirror of the other’s love and see beauty and acceptance reflected back. But the Buddha’ teachings call upon us to make a different choice. When we contemplate the nature of samsara, the truth of impermanence, old age, sickness and death, the endless lifetimes in which we could remain lost in the spell of this delusion, we make a very radical choice. We choose not to look in the mirror, but to turn it around and away from us so that its blazing love light can reflect impartially on all beings. When we do this, we have entered the path of becoming a Boddhisattva.
In Vajrayana, we accomplish this aim by cultivating authentic faith and devotion. We direct love and longing toward sublime sources of refuge, and do not seek for positive self-reflection in doing so. It is not that we go around feeling bad about ourselves; we just increasingly stop thinking about ourselves at all. It is as if we develop an inner compass, and we check it frequently to see which way it is pointing. Is the compass arrow pointed toward ego or egolessness? Are we full of self concern, looking for positive reflection from other beings lost in samsara, seeking to look good, be comforted, and feel proud of ourselves and our accomplishments, or are we making the choice to move in the direction of sacrificing all self-concern and serving others? The compass points in only these two directions.
When we become attuned to this process, we begin to notice how even very subtle moments and actions affect the movement of the compass needle. If we are casual in our interactions with the lama, sloppy in our practice, harboring resentments or judgments about others who are also lost and trying to find their way, we are facing the wrong direction and are sure to be increasingly lost in samsara’s dense forest. But even small moments of remembering the teachings and our precious opportunity can realign our being in dharma.
Many Westerners who find the dharma lack faith in the existence of deities. They look at paintings and statues of deities with confused notions about their existence or nonexistence because of obstacles from being raised in a Judeo-Christian culture that makes a pretense of faith while actually being mainly nihilistic and materialistic. They have no problem accepting Brad Pitt as deity! Our culture’s fascination with movie stars is very intense. People want to look like them, dress like them, know the intimate details of their thoughts, feelings and daily lives. The profusion of magazines that
provide us with the descriptions we so crave often describe them as looking radiant and offer us their opinions as if they are wise and all knowing. We are certain that their money, fame and good looks are the source of happiness that eludes us. Then we feel horribly betrayed when they get divorced or visit prostitutes and so on. This is because we have mistaken movie stars for deities. But the good news is that this mistake betrays our longing to have a real connection to actual deities. If we can develop the same fascination with knowing and meeting the deities through offerings, prayer, supplication and visualization we find ourselves blessed to enter their realm of joy and bliss. Our faith and devotion to deities makes this possible.
So if we have the obstacle of lacking faith in the existence of sublime beings, we should pray for this obstacle to be removed. We can pray to our lamas or to any source of refuge in whom we have even a small seed of confidence for our faith to increase and our hearts to open to the possibility of deity. What we should not do is simply accept this obstacle and decide to think of deities as Jungian archetypes or decide we are Dzogchenpas who take deity as method. As long as there is a sense of self and other, there must be deity. This is another aspect of the Buddha’s teaching that we cannot toss aside like an inconvenient card in a hand of poker just because it does not fit comfortably with the cards we are currently holding. If we do not have faith, we
should be uncomfortable about it. We should feel broken-hearted that something so fundamental to being human as longing for that which is sublime has been lost to us. All children love their parents in a deep way. This is a natural response in human beings. Because they have this experience of love, young children will naturally accept the existence of deities and love deities if given the option. The only difference between love and faith is that faith is love for sublime beings. Children find it easier than jaded adults to intuit that there are realms that cannot be seen with gross, ordinary perception and to feel love for and connection with beings who reside there. But due to the influence of a materialistic culture and not having had the good fortune to be raised in the dharma as children many adults believe they have lost this capacity. They think that to love deities is foolish or childish and feel smugly superior to those who do. This is very sad. We cannot have results on the path without faith and devotion.
If we cultivate faith and devotion, even the smallest seedling can grow into lush and abundant foliage. Our faith will mature and increase with time. Then the blessings of the deities pervade our lives like the most fragrant and appealing perfume. We can bathe our minds in their sublime, rainbow appearances and our minds become suffused with a quiet beauty that makes equanimity possible in the face of all samsaric events. If we abide with the deities during our waking hours, they will appear in our sleep, bringing clarity to even our most intense moments of confusion. When we remember deities, we are free from
loneliness, grasping, fear and anxiety. With deities as our constant companions we can rest at any moment in the sweet wonder of their blessings in which all perception becomes bliss.
Can smug superiority and looking down on those who have faith offer you such a blessing?
It is easy for me to write about the obstacles that face Western practitioners because I have faced them all myself. I am not a good practitioner, so I have made these mistakes and many more. I am so grateful to have had access to sublime lamas and pure dharma teachings to help me mature beyond these particular mistakes in view. This piece of writing is so small and pitiful in relation to their vast and profound wisdom, but I have written it anyway in the hopes that it may be of benefit to others in this culture. Any mistakes it contains are jus further evidence of my lack of understanding, but I will persevere nonetheless.
All practitioners must constantly examine their relationship to the Three Jewels and refine their understanding. Fortunately, we have the Buddha’s teachings on what to take up and what to leave behind to rely on. With sublime teachings and sublime lamas as our excellent guides, we can have confidence that we will eventually traverse suffering and help others to do the same. If we have faith and reliance on the teachings, we will never be permanently led astray by ego. Then we can be assured that we will increasingly open to wisdom mind and make better and better use of our precious circumstance.
“Through the natural laws of cause and effect and through the blessings of the three jewels we will continually make progress toward enlightenment, developing the qualities of a Bodhisattva. “ -Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
The Importance of Mind Training
Dearest friend,
When you plow a field you can not simply plant. If you did so it would be very hard to reap a harvest walking over the large ruts and unevenness. First we smooth the ground, this is Ngondro. Our precious human birth, wherein we have received the unique combination of mind and appearance which is conducive to realization, is the plowed field. Ngondro smoothes the surface and makes the planting and harvest smooth and easeful.
This Ngondro is very profound in the way it smoothes the field of the two phases of generation and completion Tantric practice, and combines generation, completion and great completion within it. Some very profound yogis and yoginis have attained realiztion through Ngondro alone so please do not think of it as a “low” practice!
Within this system the creation phase of yidam practice fits into the category of Mahayoga and the completion phase falls into the two categories of Anuyoga and Atiyoga or Dzogchen. Mahayoga purifies gross mistaken vision of appearances and realizes the indivisible nature of appearances and emptiness as pure display of Buddha Nature. Anuyoga is the path for discovering the unity of bliss and emptiness and is the first aspect of completion phase. Completion phase purifies subtle notions, subtle conceptuality. Anuyoga is the path which utilizes the channels, winds and drops of the subtle body. (tsa lung tigle, - Tibetan or prana, nadi, bindu - Sanskrit) In Dzogchen or great completion, Atiyoga one realizes the unity of awareness emptiness and appearance. This is accomplished through the paths of Primordial Purity (kadag) and Spontaneous Presence (lhundrup) or trekchod and togal. All of these must find their starting point in full completion and consideration of the precious Ngondro practices.
Within this most profound secret heart practice of the 100,000 primordial dakinis all stages of the Tantric path are encompassed. There are the considerations, analytic meditations which turn the heart to dharma, the foundation of devotion, the blessings of the Yidam and refuge tree, the cultivation of relative boddhicitta, the accumulation of the paramitas, the generation and completion phases in Vajrasattva practice and the sublime union with primordial wisdom in the Guru Yoga. At the heart of this are the two accumulations which remove the two obscurations.
Within the esoteric tradition of Vajrayana, the Tantric path for the spiritually mature, there are two methods which accomplish the removal of the two obscurations. Enlightenment, realization of Buddha Nature is not to be created; all created things arisen on conditions are tinged by impermanence and therefore characterized by suffering. Enlightenment is not somewhere else or made from compounding aggregates, it is discovered as already always the case. Shakyamuni said, upon awakening into Buddhahood, “How marvelous, how wondrous, all beings have been from the beginning Buddhas!” We merely need to remove the hindrances and obscurations which veil our
eyes. The two obscurations are the gross emotional habits and the subtle mental habits. These are sometimes called defilements for the seem to defile, sully, the pristine clear light essence of awareness like mud mixed with water. The gross emotional affliction and the subtle mental habits exist as the continuum of our deluded consciousness. The ego is not a thing it is an activity. It is the activity of delusion which conforms or shapes our body speech and mind according to its mistaken notions. The two methods of removing are 1. the two accumulations of merit and wisdom and 2. the direct transmission from the guru’s living heart of awareness.
Ngondro is a swift method for accumulating merit and wisdom and ends in Guru Yoga which gives the pure transmission of the Guru’s wisdom mind stream. In this way Ngondro is a powerful method for swift entry into the path of tantra and Dzogchen. So many people these days try and practice Dzogchen without a proper foundation and this is the saddest thing ever. Why? Because the authentic longing of these people is eroded in the endless contrived attempts to practice the uncontrived ati doctrine. Without having the foundation they are like grade school children pretending to do complex physics. In all areas of life, in any form of endeavor, establishing a strong foundation is the way to produce lasting stable results. These days people are satisfied to make golden calves from random moments of positive experience, a moment of bliss or a physical thrill in yoga. This is like a prince eating the table scraps thrown down for a dog.
We begin, we always begin, with gratitude for our Guru and our tremendous luck I entering the stream of authentic lineage. This is like picking a good piece of ground on which to sow out seed. There is no ground better than devotion. What is devotion? Devotion is the love response to the divine, to what is most sublime. Devotion is to allow ourselves to be attracted and distracted. Attracted to what is truly beautiful, the three jewels, and distracted form what is not a source of pure happiness. What does “pure” mean in this term pure happiness? The pure means unchanging. Pure happiness is that happiness which does not carry the seeds of suffering within it. That happiness which is not unstable and shifting. The true nature of luminous wisdom mind whose potency is all appearance as empty ornament of wisdom’s vastness is pure happiness. Normally happiness is dependent on objects, relations, having, getting, escaping but these are all unstable and shifting and therefore not suitable for being called pure. We are not being aggressive and angry at things, for being characterized by impermanence, but we are also not being fooled by their seeming invitation to lasting happiness. Suzuki Roshi once said “Renunciation is not aggressively pushing things away. It is realizing that they are going away anyway!” So with devotion we remember that source of pure happiness.
When we pay homage we are visualizing Tsokyé Dorje but we understand that this form is not different form our own precious root Lama. In the sky above he shines in a sphere of rainbow light embraced by his consort. The power of our devotion causes Guru and consort to blaze and shimmer. When we are praying the sol wa deb prayer they dissolve into rainbow light and enter the crown of our heads. This saturates us with the blessing of primordial wisdom and our own body becomes a rainbow body, our speech becomes vajra speech and mind becomes the nature of purity and luminosity. We become the three kayas of a Buddha. This means our speech is a force of blessing, an act of compassion.
Our minds are primordially pure not the crappy narrowness of mental fixations. Our form is beyond the confines of notions such as birth and death. It is in this contemplation, wherein devotion matures into realization, that we mirror what will be the essence of the whole path. At the same time we make ourselves into a vessel which is sensitive enough to contemplate the teachings.
Cultivating respectful gratitude of devotion is followed by the contemplations which hone our understanding. During this Guru Tsokyé Dorje is in the sky before us and we simply are not bothering about what we look like – our attention is on them. Because we find ourselves in samsara we do not need to engage dharma pretense of being realized Buddhas. Instead we need to contemplate our situation rather than waste precious time in fantasy. In the prayer beginning with KYE MA KYI HÜ! we consider precious human birth, impermanence, karma, death, and our intention to move beyond suffering. Vajrayana is the swift, advanced path. It is subtle and profound beyond imagination. Its methods are inconceivable in their diversity and beauty and it rests, not in denial of the foundations of Mahayana, but on the shoulders of Mahayana. If you think these are methods that are merely for beginners then you show yourself to be less than a beginner. These contemplations are something to chew on from now until the attainment of full enlightenment.
The Buddha’s teaching, and the Vajrayana path are the most advanced technology for human transformation and liberation ever discovered. It is both a technology and an art. It is living organic system wherein each part is seamlessly interwoven with the rest. The dharma as a whole is so profound that any single point can be elaborated on up to the point of realization. Almost all problems found in practicing the dharma until liberation, especially those problems plaguing the west these days, find their cure in these pre preliminary considerations. In general, pseudo practitioners hopes write checks which their actions can’t cash. Then recriminations, resentments and sense of betrayal follows but it is simply a matter of never having followed the teachings in a pure fashion to begin with. I hope this is never the case with you.
Consider these preliminary meditations. Cut through depression and despair with precious human birth. Cut through laziness be keeping death a continual advisor. Cut through carelessness by contemplating karma. Cut through procrastination by remembering that suffering is self perpetuating unless you do something to change it. Tomorrow will be like today unless you do something different today. These must not remain “formal” considerations. Take them into your day with you. Chew on them, question them, swallow them and let them become the muscles and bone of your dharma body.
Dearest friend, I am so happy you wish to enter the path and if you follow the stages step by step results will follow. Paraphrasing Thinley Norbu Rinpoche: First we lie to enlightenment and then enlightenment lies to us. Don’t lie to enlightenment. Don’t lie to the path and it will never lie to you. Then you will come to the joyous land of Akanishta and live with the luminous Orgyan Dorje Chang! Love, T.
The Four Thoughts
Excerpt from Oral Commentary on Dusum Guru Yoga, Waking into Wakefulness, 1996.
This morning I wanted to talk about a practice that is done in our style after the preliminaries are finished. I thought we'd just talk about it in general since several of you are going to start doing it. And of course to talk about any practice, you've got to talk about the foundation of practice, and the foundation of practice is understanding the Four Thoughts.
Traditionally called "The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma" -- I call "The Four Thoughts that Cultivate the Wish to Grow." Because at the very heart of all Dharma practice is -- even before you can contemplate the Four Thoughts, you have to have this wish to grow, some part of you, that's the seed from lifetimes and lifetimes -- this longing inside you. And then everything you do in Dharma practice after that is, on some level, to honor this longing. At the beginning it might be almost completely obscured by confusion. But the truth is that the longing that impels you to feel completely dissatisfied with ordinary existence and compels you to seek out a teaching and a teacher and a practice. And to do the practice is nothing other than your own intrinsic Buddha Nature, right from the start. It is -- from the very first moment, you would never go to a dharma center, you would never listen to a teaching, you would certainly never do practice -- because practice hurts by in large.
What is it, the three great words of practice: boredom, discomfort and doubt. So you wouldn't do all of that if something didn't impel you. And what impels you right from the start, regardless of how hard it is to see it, is your own Buddha nature. It is the subtle, internal source of refuge. And it is there right from the beginning, so it’s really important to understand. Then something like the "Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Dharma" – are four thoughts that crystallize this wish to grow. This longing. And at first it’s all kind of scattered, and sometimes it’s there and sometimes its not, and I don't think there's anyone who does practice who doesn't have the experience that we think a lot more about doing practice than we think about doing practice. Plan to do a lot more practice then actually gets done. It’s because this wish -- this longing we inside us to grow is all scattered. It isn't a center of gravity.
So when you contemplate the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Dharma, and you do the extra-ordinary preliminaries, what you are doing is you are taking this seed of pure potential, the seed of intrinsic wisdom, and you're forging it into something so strong that becomes the center of gravity of your whole life. In the same way that the sun in the center of gravity in our solar system, and it holds all the planets in an orbit around us; otherwise they just fly off into space in every direction. In the same way, by
contemplating "The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Dharma," and doing the bodily and mental and speech practices of the preliminaries, you make this wish to grow into something stronger and stronger until it pulls your body and your speech and your mind and your actions --what you do with your money, what you do with your time, what you do with your love, -- all those things get pulled into orbit around this single wish to grow. This single longing to grow. In some fundamental sense ultimately the source of power in a lineage and one's own teacher are none other than external forms of this. Ultimately the real guru is your own rigpa. Your own natural awareness. Externally that manifests in the conditions of life that allow that to bear fruit.
So there's these Four Thoughts, which are supremely important. And whenever (it seems to me, especially if we are going to talk at all about subtle, high views of primordial purity) it’s good to start by remembering the most basic thing there is, which is these Four Thoughts. You can contemplate these Four Thoughts forever and never reach their depth.
The first one being the Preciousness of Human Birth -- the fact that by being born as a human being, you are allowed an opportunity that does not exist in any other realm. There are tons of realms. Some of them seem better than this one; some of them seem worse than this one; some of them -- this is the hell realm of hope and fear, of stupid expectation. But it's not the worst. You could be in a Hungry Ghost hell realm (and all of us are in certain times); you could be in Vajra Hells, you could be in form-realms, God Realms with sensual pleasures; you could be in formless God realms of perfect ease, and all of those are lacking certain qualities that make it possible to attain complete realization in this realm, when it is not really possible in any of those other realms.
In the God Realms, things are so good that you'd never think about it basically. You can think about this in your own life -- you watch people doing practice, I mean all I do is watch people doing practice. And by in large when everything is going really great in their lives and perfect and they've got a new job and a new car and a new lover, they completely forget about practice for several weeks. Because you're driving in your new car, you're having sex day and night. Why do practice? That first noble truth just doesn't make a lot of sense. It’s like being in the God Realms. And there are times when things are so horrible and so bad -- you get fired from your job, you get in a an accident, your car gets wrecked, and you come home and your lover's in bed with your best friend, right? Then suddenly you're out of the God Realm, you're into the Hell Realm, and you feel so horrible and so bad that you can’t think about doing practice.
And this realm has just the right balance of pain and pleasure. You've got the carrot and the stick -- both. It's an amazing thing. And there are more subtle reasons than that. In this realm, we have bodies made up of the five elements, at least from the Dzogchen point of view. We have water and earth as the liquid and flesh of our bodies and we have air and space as the -- we have fire as the heat in our body. The heat of our blood and the heat of digestion. We have air as the breath that moves through our body and we have space as the space within the body in different places. And these make up five elements, which are absolutely necessary in the Dzogchen view because they are dissolved into the
50 subtle elements, into the constitutes of pure awareness. We have five aggregates that are like the five Buddhas, and we have five elements that are like the five consorts. We actually have a body that's like a stupa. We have a body that is perfectly designed vehicle for realization. And so that's an amazing thing. And we're born with the wish to grow. No human being is born without the wish to grow. Every single human being -- anyone whomever had a child and raised a child know this beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Every human being is born with the wish to grow. It’s the most amazing thing. If you look at a child, a child is this incredible, intense longing to outgrow every box and every barrier to outgrow every lack of ability. If you watch a little baby try to learn to use its hands, and the way they work and they work and they work: first they have some subtle conceptual understanding that it can be done, which is like the four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma, and then they work and work and work. What a baby does to learn to move its hand is so much more than what we do when we do prostrations, that it makes prostrations look like nothing. I used to think that the extraordinary preliminaries were a lot, and then after watching Lily, after Lily was born, and realizing what a baby goes through just to be an ordinary human being, I realized its next to nothing -- like what we do is next to nothing. You know Lily, when she was a baby, one day her hand went by her face like that, you know they're just kind of flailing around all over the place and they don't know how to do anything -- and her hand went by her face and it was the most amazing thing, there was this look of recognition. She realized that what was going by her face, was part of her own body. Up to that point she had never known that. And you could see, she started struggling to get this thing to go by her face again. It took months, months and months of effort and practice, right? Its kind of like when we suddenly realize and something (slaps hands) clicks inside of us, and we recognize the wish the grow, we recognize that we have the potential to be something. We don't know what it is. And then we start to struggle. We do all this dharma practice, we're struggling. And so its an amazing thing that we have the aggregates and the subtle elements of the Buddhas and their consorts, we have a body like stupa, we have everything necessary to become a Buddha, we don't have too much pleasure and too much pain, but enough of each, so we do not go endlessly around in hope and fear and we can also see that there might also be a way out of it. And so this preciousness of human birth blows the mind if you think about it. And if you think about it really, really carefully, then I think it would make you cry. Just to think: what would be -- the gift that you are already given. No matter how well or badly you get treated as a kid, makes no difference. Like the gifts you're given just by being a human being. And then you can make use of it, or not, that's up to you. And nobody should ever try and push anybody to make use of it; if you're actually making use of it, you won't have time to push anybody else.
And then the second of the Four Thoughts, which is great to come right after the first is you're going to die, right? You're gonna be driving along one day and a big truck is just going to run your Jeep over and crush you like a Coke can under somebody's foot. You know? It was -- to realize you got a gift and that it’s going to be taken away from you. And then, I don't know, maybe you get re-incarnated, maybe not. Nobody knows, really. But I wouldn't bank on it. The Sufi poet, Kabir used to say, "Oh Yogi, if you don't realize
the Truth now, all you're going to get after death is an apartment in the city of hell." Now, that could be overly-pessimistic, but maybe not. Certainly, and if you can't maintain the continuity of your awareness between the time you fall asleep and wake up in the morning, I wouldn't bank on being able to do it between death and re-birth. So, who knows?
In the Guirdjeiff work (I started out in the Guirdjeiff work), Gurdjeiff used to have this phrase, which he said that everyone that does practice should have this tattooed to their brain: "all opportunities exist only for a limited time." That phrase is the combination of the first two thoughts that turn the mind to dharma --"all opportunities exist only for a limited time." And then every once in a while in his teaching -- he only did it twice but it was enough to shake everybody up. He was in France, he had been there for about six years, he woke up one morning, he came downstairs and he said, "The Work (that's what they called the Gurdjeiff work, they called the work "The Work.".They have a great phrase: "Never work for results, only work to work." It’s kind of like in Atisha's mindslogans: "Give up all hope of Fruition.")So anyway, Gurdjeiff came downstairs one morning before breakfast and he said, "The Work is finished, I'm never teaching any of you again, we're closing the place down, all of you have to be out of here by dinner time." And he just threw everybody out, and most of those people never were taught again by him. And he said, "Now maybe you'll remember all opportunities exist only for a limited time." A few managed to get back. But it wasn't easy.
Now, these two -- you've got to think about them together: Preciousness of Human Birth becomes just a sweet airy-fairy new-age cotton candy fluffy beautiful thing; we'll all wear Birkenstocks and long skirts and we'll float around and be nice all the time unless you remember that a big truck is coming down the road ready to hit you. And then the Preciousness of Human Birth becomes about realizing dharma. Otherwise preciousness of Human Birth becomes about having a good time which is good, except that it’s not the same as realizing truth. What makes human birth precious is not anything about this (slaps arm); what makes human birth precious is that you can realize enlightenment. That’s what makes it precious, otherwise its sometimes good, sometimes bad.
So, the second one is death. Death is a really good thing to remember. In the Native American tradition, at least in certain of the tribes of the Native American tradition, they say that Death always stands behind your left shoulder. And when you become complacent, Death taps you on the left should to remind you that you don't have forever. I was thinking about this after I got run down by the truck and I was in the hospital and my body was pretty much OK, my joints were kind of fucked up but I wasn't badly bruised except my entire left shoulder was just black, blue and yellow. And it really struck me -- and this is true, we should all get tapped now and then. I think that especially if you begin to teach you start to become complacent. One teacher I used to work with said, "The more complacent you become, (and this is in the Gurdjeiff work also) the more you've done practice and the more practice you've done, the more you tend to become complacent with your practice, and then the shock that’s necessary to knock you out of complacency has to be stronger and stronger.” So I just figured it was a truck; that's what it took.
And the third of the thoughts, and they all go together inseparably, is Karma --that everything you do determines exactly how your life is going to be. You determine the quality of your existence through your actions right now -- it can be good and it can be bad. So you've got precious birth and you're going to die, and that would seem depressing and unworkable except for this third thing. And if you look at our path, which is based on purification and accumulation – it’s based on purification and accumulation because of karma. You can determine entirely whether you are going to realize the value of your precious human birth or die like a dog. In the Gurdjeiff work these were considered the two options: you can die like a human being, or you can die like a dog. Which meant like any animal. It doesn't mean -- animals aren't bad, its just animals have no capacity to realize liberation. All animals die unconscious. To die like a human being means to die conscious. To die resting in the natural state.
All animals die unconscious. To die like a human being means to die conscious. To die resting in the natural state. Those are your two choices and that choice would be determined entirely by your actions. No amount of thinking about dharma is going to benefit you at all. In fact all it will do is make you a snob, basically. But practice, which is action, will make all the difference in the world. This truth of Karma (there's a lot more to it than that, this is the very short version), the truth of Karma is that it is completely and entirely up to you.
You know in that little game some of you have played, Lily's little game, the Sky-Dancer game, it’s a very funny game. And it has these cards -- you get to turn from an ordinary person into a sky-dancer. When you get the sky-dancer card that allows you to transform into a sky-dancer, you don't get to transform unless you say out loud, "If it's to be, it's up to me!" But this is so cliched it’s in kids games now, but it's true at the same time; it doesn't matter whether the head of your lineage is Padmasambhava or the Karmapa or Shakyumuni Buddha, or anybody else in the world and it makes no difference how good your teacher is or how poor your teacher is, either one. None of it makes any difference because none of that can help you unless you do the practice. If you go to a restaurant and you read the menu and never order and eat the food, you'll just be hungry. And doing the practice means doing the practice with an integrated body, speech and mind with right motivation and intent. Otherwise it’s like eating the menu and not the food. You can actually chant the preliminary practices and do the prostrations in mechanical and unconscious ways without cultivating bodhicitta and compassion relative and absolute and get no benefit from it at all except for the aerobic workout, you get in better shape. So this third of the four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma -- you've got this opportunity; you don't have it for real long; and unless you act it will never come to fruition, unless you do something.
And the fourth one is that Suffering thing -- unless you act, you won't realize the benefit of your Precious Human Birth and that there is an alternative. And so far they use this -- you know the carrot and the stick? They dangle, with donkeys. To get a donkey to walk you can do one of two things. You can dangle a carrot in front of its nose on a string, and that way it will walk forward trying to get the carrot. And it will keep walking because
it’s always trying to get the carrot that’s always in front of its nose. And the other way is with a stick; you can beat it on the ass with a stick and it will walk. So the first three are the carrot -- you've got this precious opportunity. (Well, it’s like carrot, stick, carrot, stick.) You've got this precious opportunity, there's the carrot. Death -- whack! How you act determines whether -- if you act in accordance with practice and true teachings, then you get to realize enlightenment: carrot. If you don't -- whack! Endless suffering – Oh! it hurts.
And endless suffering doesn't mean that having sex with someone you really just love, you just fell in love with yesterday, you're so madly in love with you can't stand it, you make love all night. Sure that feels really great, but even in the midst of that, there is suffering. And this is what, it's kind of hard to grasp sometimes. When the Buddha taught that duka (suffering), he said that permeates all of existence -- from your worst moment to your very best moment, everything is permeated by suffering. Everything is permeated by unsatisfactoriness, can't get no satisfaction. Even in that moment of pleasure there is the seed of alienation, and there is the seed of suffering, there is the seed of separation. It’s a cool thing. In the Uppanishads, which were written long before Buddha was born, there's a great phrase, it says, "Where there is an other, there is fear." And thousands and thousands of years later, the existential philosopher, Camus, without ever having read the Uppanishads, looked at himself closely enough to come to the conclusion, "Where there is another, there is fear." In other words, where there is separateness, where there is dualism –
You could put it a different way: where there is dualism there is fear. In our style of understanding delusion, it’s said that fear is the basis of all the other, the base of the five styles of delusion is fear. Always fear. Fear always comes first. There's duality and then there's fear, and then there's some kind of response to it based on a distorted form of enlightened wisdom. So a distorted form of all-embracing spaciousness of the Buddha family becomes being kind of vague, spaced out, willfully stupid. But the root of that is the fear that arises in dualism. The distortion of Vajra family mirror-like wisdom is anger, especially intellectual viciousness. But the root of that is fear. But the root is fear, is always, always fear. Where there is an other, there is fear. Where there is another there is suffering. Even in your best moment.
That's why all the pleasures we have as human beings are based by-in-large in some kind of irritation and have a flip side, right? Sex. Sex is based on the irritation of desire. Desire is simultaneously pleasurable and irritating. But it's irritating; we gotta to do something about it and relieve it. And so we have sex, and that relieves the irritation that arises from desire in a pleasurable way, and it feels really pleasurable. That's why the more you build up desire in the sex act, the greater the moment of orgasm and the sense of pleasure, its because tension and release. Tension and release is everything in duality. Hunger and eating, right? You get really hungry, you eat, it's great. There's nothing better than getting up in the morning, don't eat or drink anything on a really hot day, go outdoors and work physically hard for two or three hour until you're soaked in sweat and then come inside and drink a glass of cold water. Its the most -- its just like sex. Because you have this
tension and release. In the same way, all of our emotions are dualistic we love somebody one minute, we hate them the next. We like something one minute, we dislike it the next.
In the Gurdjeiff work they used to say the difference between emotions in awakening and prior to that is that prior to awakening all emotions are perfectly wed to their opposite. Love is wed to hate, like is wed to dislike. They're married to each other. And after awakening emotions are single. Love is just love, compassion is just compassion. Like is just like. And dislike is just dislike but they're not the flip sides of each other. So this suffering thing, it's good not to water it down at all. What it means is that from now through the rest of eternity, no matter how good your life gets, it will still be permeated by suffering. No matter how bad it gets, it will still be permeated by suffering. And that suffering characterizes dualistic existence.
These are cool four thoughts if you really think about them and the way they relate: one relates to two and three relates to four and then all four of them relate to each other. Precious Human Birth and Death. Karma and Suffering. And then the way all four relate together. I never believe that anybody contemplates these enough. Because they're the pre-preliminaries. It's already insulting that we spend the first three years of our practice doing preliminaries -- we don't even get to the real thing, we're just getting ready. Who wants to spend any time on the pre-preliminaries? People don't really, really contemplate it. If you really contemplated the Preciousness of Human Birth, if you believed it --if you believed that you had the potential to realize enlightenement, and you knew that death is certain but the time of death is not, then nothing could stop you from doing practice, you would find some way to turn every minute of your day into practice. You would find some way to bring correct view into every action, whether you were washing a dish or having a fight or driving your car, you would find some way -- you would make everything a symbol for practice.
Do you know what I mean? I never think -- people must never really contemplate these because they would make you crazy otherwise. And if you really contemplated Karma and Suffering, you would be so careful about what you did and said. You'd be so incredibly careful. Some of you have read Rudi's stuff -- he had a great phrase. He said, "You have to decide what’s more important in your daily life, being right, or growing." Because sometimes, sometimes you have to -- you know the phrase from Dharma practice, "Take all blame on yourself, give all victories to others." That's just a way of being incredibly careful, not to accumulate more karma that causes suffering. And if you understood Karma and Suffering and Preciousness and Death, you would be so careful. You would be (internally, not externally) -- like Jain monks in India: for them everything revolves around not killing anything. So they wear a little mask over their mouth so they don't breathe in an insect, and they have a little broom and they brush the path in front of them, wherever they walk, they sweep it so maybe they don't walk on any insects. In their last big congress in India when the Jain monks got together, they discussed the fact that there's scientific evidence that even with their little masks they breathe in millions of microscopic beings all the time and kill them, and it upset them so much. Science was very hard on their practice. What’s the point of sweeping the path if you're killing stuff all the time. Given that we're killing stuff all the time, we should probably be really
careful not to kill the people we love with mean words. And pettiness. Vindictiveness. Withholding love. Spitefulness.
I'm just thinking of things I think I've done in the last week. You know? We should be really, really careful. So probably we should just stop here and contemplate those Four Thoughts until we all live up to them. If you lived up to those Four Thoughts, your life would become practice, and you would become free. I think that's true. Do you think that's true? So given that, there are developed over time, practices you can do every moment of the day.
Approaches to the Path
O.K. So you start. So prostrations you start -- it’s purifying some obscurations. Then generally people there’s a long phase where you feel that in the beginning, and then about half hour later you feel really horrible because all this stuff starts bubbling up because the point of purification exercises is to purify you. And you have heard me say endlessly, “the only way out is through” so then its all got to go through you -- the same way it went in it comes out -- and you experience it all, right? So in the preliminaries you start to unbind all this binding in your body and if you really do them well, you’ll start, you know fully. Then they start being alive in you. First you’ll start to feel this fluid state more and, while you’re feeling that, you’ll also feel really bad -- that’s just the truth of the matter. Then progressively as you go through it and discipline your life to the practices more and more the knots in your body that are preventing you from feeling the ascending energy will start to be undone, and naturally you’ll feel the ascending
energy, you’ll start to feel blisses, little rushes up your body, your body will start to go that way while doing meditation, whatever. And as you go on purifying more and more there’s not some state then to be attained. We are not then trying to get out into Nirvikalpa Samadhi, who cares? Nirvikalpa Samadhi is just another experience. And you’ll probably -- you may or may not have it. It doesn’t matter. It’s fairly likely you will if you go that far. But, so then you investigate, you observe yourself with the help of your practice and the teacher. You observe yourself, you see what’s obstructing practice. You work through that you purify it and then the path of accumulation, this energy starts to rise and you start working with this rising energy and you bring in more and purify faster and more and you’re doing all that but not from the point of view of attaining a state or an experience, just from the point of view of doing what is totally natural which is just living as truth. To be the divine is not an extraordinary thing, it’s the natural thing. All of you are the divine right now. Right now! You’re just not living the divine very well. You know? You’re all you’re “specially-abled” to put it in the politically correct terminology.
STUDENT: It’s like Saturday Night Live, the cat, yes you can drive, you just can’t drive well.
RINPOCHE: Have you all seen that Saturday Night Live skit? There’s a cat, the punch line is “Yes he can drive; he just can’t drive very well.” It’s very funny. It’s like you all. You all are living the divine, right? But you are all full of knots! You are just not living it very well, when you become enlightened, awakened or whatever term you want to use, it’s not that you’ll be any different than you are now. In Truth, you’ll just be expressing it a little better than you are now without so much doubt and suffering, in fact without any doubt or suffering. You’ll realize beyond doubt and beyond suffering, truth! Which you always were and you will express it. You will become expressive of it. And you will
have learned along the path how to be expressive of it through skillful means so that you can help others. You get it? So this should relate to you more concretely about what our path is about. I want you to have in one fell swoop, three hour talk, what this path is about. We can duplicate the tape you can all listen to it as much as you want, and I would suggest you listen to it a fair amount so that you know what this path is about. You bring blank tapes we will duplicate them for free. So, you will live the truth this path is about living the truth now. Not seeking the truth in the future. Not attaining some state, and not realizing some experience. This path is about living truth presently. Now! Yeah? Whatever we agree to do that’s good and you go on. It’s not just a nit-picky differentiation, “Well ok now I have a progressive path of living the truth, before I had a progressive path of
realizing the truth,” because there’s a difference. And I said before if you “realize” it you you’re going to make a state or a thing out of it; you’re going to begin to seek the Buddha outside of yourself. Even weirder, put it more bluntly, you’re going to start seeking yourself outside yourself. How can you find yourself outside yourself? How can you find the truth of objects by looking at objects? You can’t find the truth of who you are by looking somewhere else. So it makes a real difference to understand this point, and I realize probably some of you must be getting a little bored now, I see Murray….done too much practice; he’s yawning back there. I’ll teach you Chandakhirti the great Buddhist Mahasiddha, he did a practice, just, he was called
the Lazy Monk, cause he did this sleep practice and everyone thought he was skipping practice because he would never come to formal practice he’d be in his room snoring, they actually threw him out of the monastery for being so lazy, but he became a Mahasiddha and the rest of them just went on doing their practice. This is why I tell you all the time, you can’t get enlightened doing spiritual practice, it can’t be done. There is no such thing as anyone getting enlightened by doing spiritual practice. You don’t do spiritual practice to get enlightened, you’re already enlightened. You don’t do spiritual practice to become what you are. Why would you? Why would you need to become what you are? You do spiritual practice to wipe the dirt off your glasses so you can see out of them. You don’t need to make new glasses; you just wipe the dirt that’s on the glasses, off. That’s called the understanding. You’re
already the divine so you don’t have to become the divine; you don’t have to do something to make up for the sin you committed. Right Amrit? You look really, really sick Amrit. But this sickness is simply arising in consciousness. It’s just an experience; go to bed it’s the same thing. It makes no difference. And then you’re free, see how much more I have to talk, OK, I can do the free to live as love thing in five minutes. And then you’re really free to live as love. Prior to that you’re not. You’re not free because you’re having to realize something to get happy. Because you’re feeling this is all too much for me. I can’t believe how many times people come to me and say “It’s too much for me.” This is all just, and they’re usually meaning practice, and this path, it’s too much, it’s too hard, and I, it’s not that I don’t hear you, I know it’s too hard, but I know what’s too hard is not the path, what’s too hard is, is being a separate being, or
thinking you are, because you’re not anyway; the pretense. Did you ever like tell a lie and then it beings to snowball, and it gets so hard then to maintain it, the pretense gets really, (I mean, if any of you think you haven’t then you’re just lying to yourself) the pretense gets really hard, you know what I mean? I want to hear everyone say, “Yes.” Well it’s tiring! The pretense of being separate is really tiring, when you come to me saying “it’s too
hard” you’re telling me it’s too hard to pretend these pretenses anymore. You know? But since I can’t admit that, I think it’s too hard, and for me in the end, I thought it was too hard to be blissful, right? You think practice is hard, wait until you’re just blissful, that’s really hard. That’s a hell of a lot of work! Then it won’t leave you alone, at least your misery goes away sometimes, but that bliss, it just wouldn’t go away. So then you’re free to live as love, now it’s not special, you don’t become a Bible- pounding thundering kind of guy, or woman, either one. I mean you might, and that’s just would be what you are, that’s fine too. But you’ll just be whatever you are, grandiose, or not grandiose. People here know that I consider Da Free
John (I don’t know if you all know who he is, he’s a spiritual master that lives in the Fijis) I consider him to be one of the few truly enlightened beings who’s living it, living the truth, today. And he’s got to be one of the most pompous, grandiose, baroque, he’s gone beyond grandiose – he’s into baroque. You ever seen one of those baroque cathedrals, and they just keep building on and on and on. Da, he doesn’t just talk, he stalks into the room and says, “I AM THE TRUTH!” I have to say, I love Da so much it makes my heart ache, but it makes me sick when I hear those tapes where he says that stuff. Now that I’ve said that publicly, I’ll probably end up like that tomorrow night. You know and he says, “WHAT YOU MUST REALIZE IS ME!” This is his, the whole teaching, and it’s true, it’s actually true, what he’s saying is true. I come from a different tradition, we are a little more, kind of more low-key, you
know? So I tell you what you must realize is truth or reality, but then I don’t see any difference, I am truth and reality, you ought to know that I actually think that, I just would never, I don’t know, I just said it, ew. It like leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you know? It’s like, you don’t have to say it, just be it, you don’t have to go around announcing it to the world, then you start sounding like these maniacs, you know? It’s more, it’s my more, he’s from the old vatic tradition, that’s his past, that’s his deep karma, is the vatic tradition which is really grand, it’s huge, it was the baroque period of India with the great kings, the great wars, and the great rituals, and I am not from that, I’m from more the Buddhist thing, you don’t go around stomping and announcing. But it’s beautiful, so you’ll be whatever you are. Someone else might think I’m totally grandiose, because they
might become realized and not teach, and then they would say that’s just not, you know, however your body-mind manifests, that would be fine, right? So, so you have to, (hey, ah, one minute, thirty seconds….)so approach the spiritual path from the point of view that you are lost and fallen and have to be saved doesn’t work ultimately. It works; what I mean by that is that it doesn’t work ultimately, it works conventionally, it works at one or another level of experience, but it doesn’t work ultimately, so start the path from the knowledge that you are, think about for awhile, if you ARE the truth right now, if you are not separate in the slightest from it, what does that mean? What does it mean in terms of all the shit I hear all the time about
comparison and envy and jealousy? How, you know, what is there to be higher or lower? We just cut the cord on the hierarchy of experience, yeah? So you can quit trying to be the ultimate perfect devotee, have all the right experiences or whatever. You can just be who you are; you can be authentic and honest, yeah? Yeah? This is pretty cool. And you can start to understand, because so far, see I talk about truth is not an experience and everyone gets
glassy eyed, but maybe you’ll understand that if you are the truth now then you’ll know it’s not an experience, because what you’re having now is a whole bunch of experiences that’s what you’re looking at, and you know that’s not the “truth,” in the fullest sense, but you are it, so it’s not an experience, so you can quit looking for experiences. You can start looking at your practices from a different point of view, not from the point of view of trying to get somewhere or get something because if it’s a thing or a where, if it’s a place or a thing, it exists in space and time, and space and time exist within the truth, it’s permeated by the truth, but it’s always limited, it’s always limited by space and time, space and time is a limited phenomena and the truth
is not. So hopefully now, this talk, which in the beginning, I know seemed like an abstract academic talk, will seem a little more concrete and personal, yeah? This is why when you do Kum Nyi, and you’re going to be doing it like maniacs, you’re going to be wishing for these long lectures on the weekend, and all kinds of stuff is coming up, good and bad, you don’t have to – you will now know you don’t have to grasp any of it or avoid any of it. No matter how painful, you’re doing Kum Nyi and people say, “well I had to stop because I thought I was going to start crying,” well start crying that’s fine, yell that’s fine, scream that’s fine, moan, the most delicious pleasure, like you’re coming all over the floor, or something, and it’s fine, you don’t have to avoid any of it. It’s all fine. You don’t have to grasp any of it, the pleasure is there, you’ll know, you’ll see, this is an object, this is an experience, I don’t have to grasp it, I can enjoy it fully, I don’t have to renounce it either. When the pain is there, you don’t have to push it away, yeah? So hopefully this, I mean think about this, this tape will be here, we’ll make a copy for Diane and you can listen to it again, make copies of it and listen to it, because if you really understand what I’m talking about tonight, then you’ll understand this point about experience, and you’ll also understand why this is not a weekend path because we’re talking, because truth encompasses all this, and as long as you’re still involved in experience,
you’ve got to go the long route, when you’re ready to not go the long route then let me know. We’ll test it out, and if the who, the causal process doesn’t work, then we’ll know you still really want to go the long route, but wanting to put a nice mask on. Nobody wants to admit, there’s still, you know once you’ve heard this talk, who’s going to admit they’re obsessed with experience and want to go the long route? Now that everyone says, “I’ll do the Guru Mai thing,” but you’ll be like, and we’ll end tonight with the story of Milarepa and not his butt thing again, I’ll stop talking about Milarepa’s butt.
But when Milarepa first set out on the journey, he talked to a guy and said “I’ve got to go on the spiritual path, I’ve been making my living for the last few years as a mercenary,” that’s what he was, he killed through magic for hire, and so he realized he had some
really bad karma, and he didn’t want to suffer from it, so he decided he had to become enlightened, otherwise he would have to suffer his karma, it’s the only way out. So he went to the guy who taught him all his black magic and he said, “Yeah, yeah actually I should probably go on your path to, because I have a lot of bad karma from teaching you.” So he said, “I heard of this guy, he’s got a path, it’s really fast, you don’t have to do almost any work at
all,” and Milarepa said, “great, great, let’s go.” So they went off to the local Dzogchen monastery and they go in and the Dzogchen master said, “Ah, this is the great path, no experiences are necessary, no work, no renunciation, just a little bit of meditation and an understanding happens. You don’t have to follow this huge hierarchy of experience. You just cut right through it. But this only for the very smart and the ones who are really ready to give up all experience. All clinging to experience, this is only for the very few.” You know? Milarepa thought to himself, “That’s me!” and the master took him
to his cushion explained the simple process to him. And Milarepa sat there for about three months, at the end of three months, the master came along talked to him and both of them had to acknowledge nothing had happened. There was no progress, there was not only no understanding or realization; there was no progress. And the master said, “Mila this is not you, you’re not one of the people doing this path.” So, if you are so fed up with experience you really are not any longer thinking that it’s an experience you want rather than yourself, if you want yourself fine. We’ll do the causal process and I am willing to teach it to anybody, anytime, 24 hours a day. If you think you are not wishing for some experience, you’re not actually trying to be consoled or relieved by some experience, you’re not secretly harboring some “I’m fucked up and I need some experience to set me free,” then let me know and we’ll
try it. You can try it, and if it works, then we’ll know you were right, and if it doesn’t work, then we’ll know you’re still obsessed with experience, you’re still clinging to experience. And I really mean that, anytime you think you’re ready, I’m not just putting it this way as a put-down. I mean it, if you think you’re ready, I’m willing to work with anybody at that level, and try it and we’ll give it the three months, and if you don’t think you’re ready, then eventually when you actually are ready, I will tell you, yeah? In the meantime you can work progressively to live the truth more and more fully.
That’s our talk, good night. Go home.
Refuge and Bodhichitta
So – she asked me to say something to her about the Refuge and Bodhicitta verses. When we … One of the things that is really nice about Vajrayana practice is that it is replete or full of skillful means. Skillful means here means that there are many, many different methods. Buddha taught according to the needs of those who wanted to tame their minds. Because there’s many, many different kinds of people, there’s many, many different kinds of practice. There’s Sutric style practice, Zen style practice, Tantric style practice – just within Buddhism, there are this many, and then within the world as a whole
there is such a profound variety of flowering of spiritual traditions Buddhism is amongst, and then within Buddhism there’s all of these different varieties and then within… Even just within Tantra there are many different styles of practice, different lineages. There are lineages developed around a particular style, people who like a particular style of practice. For instance in the Gelug lineage -- there’s much more style of many years of academic study prior to going deeply into the Tantric practices themselves, whereas within our Nyingmapa style there’s – one begins practice right away. One begins a balance of studying the view and the practice right off the bat. [Recording unintelligible…] necessity for developing years of analytic understanding of
emptiness rather through meditation by discovering spaciousness and luminosity inseparable. That one discovers the nature of emptiness of appearances. So all these different styles – within our tradition, there’s lots of different styles – people who practice more yogic practices, people who practice more devotional chanting style practice, different things. But we have – all of us in our lineage practice certain prayers in common: refuge prayer and bodhicitta prayer being two of the most fundamental. All amongst – it can be said fairly universally, perhaps completely universally, that what makes a
Buddhist a Buddhist is three things: one is refuge, one is the cultivation of bodhicitta, or the intention to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, and dedication of merit, these three things make us part of the Buddhist path. The first one, refuge, then there in each different kind of sadhana that we practice there’ll be different refuge prayers that reflect something about that particular sadhana, that particular style of practice. So refuge here – Trungpa Rinpoche once said that sometimes people become confused when they think that a refuge is a shelter, like a shelter from the storm.
And certainly Buddha’s teachings can be a shelter from the wearying mediocrity and tedium of samsara, that’s true. But Trungpa Rinpoche made a point which I think is really great: he said much -- he said if you’re out in a park and it begins to hail you run under a structure for shelter. But that Buddha’s refuge is a little bit more like becoming a refugee where you give up all shelters. And the sense that you are a refugee, it’s a little more like what Jesus said in the New Testament when he says “Foxes have their dens and birds have their nest but the son of man has no place to rest his head.” There’s a sense in … when you become --when you take refuge in the Buddha’s doctrine, the Buddhist path, practice – you’re giving up all the things that normally you’d take refuge in, such as anger, self-righteousness, grief, pettiness, acquisition, competition. All of these things that we as sentient beings or as human beings have a tendency to take refuge in. Somebody insults us and immediately our mind begins taking refuge in self-righteous
indignation and piling up not only the list of why they’re wrong, but all the things wrong with them to make clear to that in our – to ourselves and for ourselves, or we take – when we feel insecure, we take refuge in competition, in comparison, building ourselves up in contradistinction to others, right?
Or when we have desire we take refuge in attaining the objects of our desire. These are different ways that as sentient beings we take refuge, but when we enter into the Buddhist path, we’re saying, “All of these at the very best are partial. None of them bring a happiness that has no seeds of falling back into misery in any form.” Then instead, what I want is to find a refuge that is pure joy, that leads to a pure joy. Here, “pure” is not connected with
Puritan, it’s not a purity as in “yuck, other things might sully it”. It’s pure as in – not a moralistic purity, but pure meaning that there is nothing else in it in a sense that it can’t fall back into being misery. A pure joy. Buddha said “my path leads to the cessation of suffering and a pure joy”. The pure joy means that it can’t ever be lost once found. It’s that which once found can never be lost again. Oddly enough it also turns out to be that which when once found one realizes was always there to begin with. It’s not that one – it’s not like you don’t have ten dollars and you walk down the street and
you find ten dollars on the corner and now you do have ten dollars. It’s more like the sun in the sky, which is temporarily obscured by clouds but is actually always there. And the Buddha nature which we take refuge in on the Buddhist path has always from beginningless time been the very essence and nature of our own minds. It’s not somewhere else. We haven’t been kicked out of the garden of Eden and now have to find our way back to it, as if it were some objectively existent external place. It’s not even something we have to create, it’s not something we build up. Like building our selfesteem based on relative, temporary phenomena. If that were the case then it could be lost. If it were a place we go to we could be kicked out of it or we could lose it again. If it’s something that’s built up it will be characterized by impermanence and therefore fall apart eventually, right?
For refuge to be a refuge of pure joy, it has to be something, which was always already the case. Always present from beginningless time and causeless, utterly and completely causeless. So it’s more like a discovery. We practice but we – so when we’re taking refuge when we’re saying that “I want to take refuge”, something in our mind and something in our hope/heart intuits that there is a refuge which leads - or is suffused in itself but needs to be
discovered – the pure joy of it. So the reason that it becomes like a refugee is that we’re giving up all kinds of other things. When you take refuge in Buddha dharma there’s a ritual that goes with taking refuge, a ritual is a way of shaping energy and space to create a context in which something might happen. It’s a kind of a poetry of circumstance or a conjuring with circumstance to draw out qualities of existence. So in the refuge ritual one… there’s a variety of things which one does that draw out a sense of connection with this refuge of pure joy. In one of them, one of the things you do there’s various things you agree to take up and various things that you agree to leave off. One of the things you agree to leave off is refuge in lesser gods. This is a pure… any god that is outside of the unborn natural great awareness of mind’s inherent state is considered a lesser god.
But really what are lesser gods? Our anger, our self-righteousness, grasping, fear, hatred, these are lesser gods we really have to quit taking refuge in. It’s not like to take refuge and do the refuge ceremony and suddenly you give that up, cause they are habits that built up momentum through years – if you have a materialist, nihilist point of view – or lifetimes, if you have a correct point of view. Lifetimes and lifetimes, habit is building and building,
building, building – if you even try to quit some relative little temporary habit it’s very hard but to quit habits of lifetimes, like the conditioning of our minds, then it’s really very hard. So, there’s a great line that Kalu Rinpoche used to say, that you don’t make a dirty sock clean again by dipping it into the water once. By having a longing to give up other refuges and take up refuge in pure, sublime wisdom phenomena, just by having the longing it doesn’t happen. We find methods through our practice to connect again and again with that longing, to enhance that longing, to cultivate it in a variety of ways. So, in all the different prayers we sing when we sing refuge prayers, we’re connecting, we’re creating a conscious moment in which we are again connecting with our determination to take refuge in that which is most pure, most profound, most sublime, most beautiful.
Guru Rinpoche once said: “The wisdom mind of the buddhas is characterized by beauty, playfulness and creativity.” It’s suffused with wisdom and compassion and then it manifests itself through beauty, playfulness and creativity. This is what we’re taking refuge in. In this particular prayer that we sing on Sundays, it says:
Within vast open empty clear light, utterly present vivid wonder, devoid of concept or contrivance, natural sphere of unborn wisdom, beyond the grasp of all fixation, flawless pure the stainless wisdom, within the sphere of sheer awareness, I go for refuge with devotion.
So what’s being described in that verse is both the qualities of Buddha, but also the qualities of your own natural intrinsic awareness. They are not two different things. There’s a beautiful line from Longchenpa in his Guyagarbha commentary and he says, “I am your very own Buddha.” External buddhas manifest in co-emergent display with the internal buddha of our intrinsic awareness. So this description is both description of the Buddha in whom we take refuge – we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and Sangha. Buddha is the manifest appearance of an awakened being, Shakyamuni. And the Dharma is the teachings of that being, and the Sangha is the gathering of those whose intention in life is pure and dignified.
So, this is then a description of buddha’s mind. Vast open empty clear light. Generally all we know of our minds is the relative temporary functioning of them, in other words all the thoughts that go through them. Because we can’t see the actual inherent nature of the mind – it’s so clear, it’s like a perfectly clear pane of glass – you can see everything perfectly through it, but you can’t see the glass itself. Or it’s like the air, which we don’t even notice. Or it’s like the light that comes out of the light bulb. You don’t see it here in the sky, but we only see it when it hits off of some object. When the natural luminous quality of light touches an object, its luminous ability is known and the object is known.
So normally with our minds all we know is the functioning of our minds, its concepts, thoughts, all the different ideas and propositions, thoughts we have of… run through the stories and stories and stories and stories that we endlessly tell ourselves about everything and then the stories that we tell ourselves about the stories that we told ourselves before about the stories someone else told us earlier in the day and it just goes on and on. We go to lunch and I tell you my story about me and you tell me your story about you and then I tell myself a story about the story you told me about you and then I tell somebody else at dinner – it just goes on and on, a multiplying endless hydra multi-headed conceptual demon. And then we never see the actual nature of mind.
What we do in meditation practice is we find a way to slip behind mind’s functioning. Mind’s functioning – it’s a little bit like the difference between clear light and the rainbow colors within light. It’s – if you split open light with a prism you see the rainbow colors, as it touches on different objects you see – because objects themselves don’t actually have color in any intrinsically real sense. Light hits an object, some of the light rays are absorbed, some of the light rays are reflected. The color of an object is the relationship between the light rays reflected off of it, our retina and our brain and
then the conceptuality which says green, red, blue, whatever. It’s a little like sound. Sounds don’t inherently exist amongst themselves, objects in motion create vibration, which resonates with the eardrum, is read by the brain as particular sound. That’s why that question of “the tree falls in the forest and nobody hears, does it make a sound?” is a silly question. Of course it doesn’t make a sound because sound is the interdependent relationship between vibrational waves and the air, our eardrum and the brain that calls that a sound. The word “sound” is an imputed label on the relationship between the eardrum and the vibrational waves moving through air. Tree falls in the forest makes vibrational waves through the air, but unless somebody is there to hear it, those waves aren’t called sound.
There’s a tremendous amount of teachings on what’s called interdependent origination. Nothing exists in and of itself according to Buddha. Everything only exists in interdependent relationships with other things. Their existence is pure process. If you break it down carefully you can’t find origin or cessation of anything, you can only find pure process. You can’t find any thing even, you can only find interdependent processes in relationship with
infinite other interdependent processes. So when we relax in meditation, it’s possible to allow the mind to calm and calm and calm and calm until such time as the mind becomes like a perfectly still surface of a pond. And then we get a glimpse at what the essence of mind is. The essence of mind is like the clear light that you don’t normally ever see. Right? It’s everywhere but we don’t see it. It’s subtle so we miss it. When mind is so endlessly full of its activities and stories that we miss its essence.
And then (this is not according to our tradition) the real depth of meditation yet, this is just the beginning. This is Shiné, means calm abiding, this is the beginning of meditation. You accomplish Shiné when mind becomes calm. Then Lhatong, which means “further seeing,” you have to go further and see the way in which appearances erupt out of that stillness without ever actually becoming separate from the stillness. Otherwise you will always that deep calm of meditation is somehow separate from the vibrant active
appearances of existence and will create an angry dichotomy between the two where we’re constantly needing to get some peace and quiet to relax.
So one example of this, and this is the second half-line, the “vast open empty clear light” – that’s mind’s essence. The “utterly present vivid wonder” is mind’s nature. Sometimes the example is the mind becomes calm like the perfectly still surface of a pond and then a fish leaps out of it and breaks the surface, the water flies, the fish flies in the air and falls back down in. This is like appearance erupting out of the completely calm stillness of mind. In deep excellent meditation what one discovers is [unintelligible] describing mind and appearance, not water and the fish, is that the fish leaping out is not other than the mind’s own nature the same way that the rainbow display of color is not other than or different really than the clear light. Clear light broken open displays rainbow colors. The rainbow colors and the clear light are both simply light.
So when we take refuge in the Buddha, in the Buddha’s mind of enlightenment, Buddha means awake. It comes from the root “budd,” which means awake. Sometimes people would say to Buddha “Are you a God?” And he would say “No.” And they would say “Are you a human?” And he would say, “No.” And they would say, “Are you a demon?” and he would say, “No.” And then they say “Well then what are you?” And he’d say, “I’m budd” – “I’m awake.” I’m awake, I simply see things as they actually are. What he would see is that everything was the unity of vas emptiness and vivid wonder. Everything is the unity of this essence, which is completely diaphanous, pure, infinite and pervasive. And the colors and sound and form erupting from it.
So in the Prajnaparamita sutras it says “Hear, oh Shariputra, form is emptiness and emptiness is form, form is not other than emptiness and emptiness is not other than form.” When we take refuge in Buddha, we take refuge in the mind that is awake. Buddha’s mind, which isn’t not ultimately different than our own intrinsic mind. We’re taking refuge in awakening, taking refuge in the natural freshness of intrinsic wakefulness, the wakefulness of our own minds. Then when we take the refuge, what we’re saying is “I agree to train my mind.”
The beauty is that according to Buddhas’s doctrine, we’re utterly and completely and solely responsible for ourselves, our state and our world. We’re dynamically and profoundly responsible for the life we find ourselves in. As we’re training our mind, we can not only train the naughty monkey of our minds that’s jumping all over the place, but we can actually have rippling effects within the very fabric of existence. In ordinary social existence through cultivating the six perfections, such as generosity, we tame our behavior also to reflect wisdom. And that ripples out through other beings by causing happiness and spreading happiness. But we also affect the fabric of existence at a much more subtle level. So people who live, a couple of people here are here for this weekend that live on solitary retreat, and they live in a hut in the woods in the mountains of West Virginia. They’re actually creating ripples through the minds of all beings, because the minds of all beings are not ultimately separate. They’re interpenetratingly, dynamically linked. They are mutually non-obstructing and interpenetrating. This is a term from the Hwa Yin tradition. So when one practitioner practices in their hut cultivating calm mind
and boundless, aimless great affection for all beings and appearance, this ripples through everything. So this is what we’re taking refuge in: “devoid of concept or contrivance” doesn’t mean that we become like a zombie whose mind doesn’t function at all. But it means that we are not convinced by conceptual structures, we know that the contrivance of concepts can never actually describe the way things really are and the constant … we need to relax mind into its natural state, we see how things really are.
There is this… a teaching within Buddhadharma that says there is a mere appearance, something called a mere appearance and a designated object. The mere appearance is something the way it actually is. Yah? The mere appearances of anything is generally seen for a fraction of a fraction of a second. And almost as fast as you recognize your own face in the mirror we stop seeing the thing as it is, and instead we see what is called a designated object, which is our conceptualization about the object.
And this psychology is now bi… even biologically this is true. Our sense fields are not actually designed to take in all the information around us. Our sense fields are fundamentally designed to filter out information. The sense fields themselves of lots of human being take in only a tiny, tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. We don’t see infrared, we don’t see ultraviolet. We don’t see as well as homing pigeons for instance. You know – all kinds of animals see a much broader spectrum of light than we see, hear a much broader spectrum of sound than we hear. For once our eyes and ears filter out a majority of the spectrum, then psychologically, we filter out pretty much everything we don’t want to see, you know? And see something entirely different.
This is very good: you’re a teen and your affections come and go like the breeze, so you must know that one day you see somebody, you think they’re cute and sweet and you like them, then you date for a week or two, then you break up and then you don’t like them and you actually see them completely different. It’s funny when people have a boyfriend or girlfriend, they break up with them after a while and then they say, “Now I see them as they really are!” Somebody said this to me last week. I thought “Not really, now you see them as… the way an angry mind really sees them.” So you pick and choose all the things you don’t like about them and all the things that make them unattractive and you see that. Before, you picked and chose all the attractive things you liked about them and the good sides and saw that. And only maybe for a fraction of a fraction of a second did… even biologically you ever see them as they actually were.
So… “Devoid of concept or contrivance” – it’s very difficult to train the mind to see the mere appearance without superimposing the designated object on them. According to Buddhist teaching this is taken all the way to the extreme. The very notion of an I, subject, me, mine, I is a designated… it’s something that we just place upon existence as designated… Duality itself, subject and object, are designated objects, they’re superimposed on appearance. They don’t actually exist. If we allow our mind to become completely calm and still and see things [“Is damos manantenós”] as it is”, the Buddha said. Just see things as it is. If we could see things as they actually are without superimposing anything on them. So this is what it means, “Devoid of concept or contrivance.”
“Natural sphere of unborn wisdom,” next part of that line of refuge is what we would see. What we would see if we saw things without any conceptual contrivance, we’d see that everything was this miraculously wild, natural sphere of unborn wisdom.
There’s these three syllables that are used in a lot of our mantras: “OM”, “AH” and “HUNG”. …Many different explanations of what these mean. But one according to Longchenpa’s teaching: OM is the syllable that signifies all of appearances. All appearances are signified by the symbol of the syllable OM. AH, the syllable AH, signifies the unborn, that which is unborn is never born in any way at all. And Hung is the indivisible union of OM and AH. Hung is the fact that that which appears and that which is unborn have never been separate to begin with. Appearances arise… Appearance does not actually signify birth if you see with clear meditative eyes. It only signifies appearance.
How could this be? Well, you can just in a relative sense understand it through dreams. At night you go to sleep and all kinds of phenomena appear. People, places, things, apple pie. Dining tables, gorillas, beach front property. Anything and everything can appear in a dream and yet none of it was ever born. In the same way, sometimes it’s said time and space are completely illusory phenomena according to the depths of Buddhist teachings. Well, how could that be? Exactly in the same way – if we consider appearances, which are like a dream, in the same way at night you walk down a beach for hours but in fact no space has been traversed and no time has passed.
So when we rest mind in Buddha nature without any contrived conceptuality then we discover that everything is this unborn wisdom sphere. Meister Eckhart, who was an excellent Dominican mystic in the middle ages, (missing…) a heretic, and the church then sent the inquisitional judge after him, but he had the good sense to die before they got there. But they had a trial, an inquisitional trial for heresy for him anyway, but he was so popular that they didn’t want to actually find him guilty, so they didn’t technically find him guilty but they found his books guilty of heresy and the church condemned all his books to hell but he got to go to heaven.
This is what happens when churches get too big! Anyway, he said once -- a quote from one of his writings says that “God flows out from the Godhead as all appearances without ever leaving the Godhead.” In the same way all appearances arise in the unborn nature of awareness without ever straying from the unborn nature of awareness and this is what we discover when we allow our minds to be devoid of the fixations of concepts and contrivance.
So “beyond the grasp of all fixation” – fixation is the manner in which we conceptually fixate on objects – “flawless pure the stainless wisdom.”
Again, so its first half is instruction: if you do this, this is what you’ll discover. If you give up conceptual fixation, you discover that all appearances have been flawless pure stainless wisdom from the beginning.
When Buddha sat through the four watches of the night on the night that he attained awakening, that the moment the dawn … this… the dawn was …, a drum beat ….. would signify that the dawn had come, Buddha opened his eyes and he saw the morning star in the sky and he said, “How wondrous, how marvelous, all beings from the beginning have been Buddha.” He saw that all phenomena are stainless and pure. All appearances never stray from the unborn. This is why it’s such a wondrous mystery, it’s a mystery so great - love, which is what we’re talking about.
Dungsé Rinpoche says “Nirmanakaya is love.” This love where… we discover appearances are inseparable from unborn stainless beauty and wisdom. It’s a mystery so great that no-one will ever pierce it. Nobody can encompass that mystery. The Buddha doesn’t figure out or solve the problem of existence, he dissolves the one who had the problem and discovers existence as stainless and pure from the beginning.
“Within the sphere of sheer awareness I go for refuge with devotion.” So it’s saying: all of this so far has been description of Buddha, Buddha’s awakened mind. It’s saying: within this sphere, this awareness, this is where I go for refuge in. This is the object truly worthy of refuge. We say… when we give up lesser gods, we say that we only take refuge… what we take up is taking refuge only in that which is worthy of refuge. The only thing worthy of refuge is this sphere of sheer awareness, this unborn stainless wisdom, intrinsic to mind itself. And then it says, “I go for refuge with devotion.”
Devotion here means that according to our teachings, love is the natural response – devotional love – is the natural response to that which is most sublime and beautiful. In human beings whose hearts aren’t made cynical or jaded by nihilistic materialism, it is natural to have a love response to that which is divine. It’s not an argument, which has to be proven, it’s simply a natural response that flows from our heart to the heart of that which is most profound. It’s said in Buddha’s teachings - Guru Rinpoche’s teachings – that devotion is love flowing up from our hearts to the Buddhas and compassion is love
flowing down from the hearts of the Buddhas to us, yah? There’s a teacher named Gurdjieff once used to say “The higher mixes with the lower to actualize the middle,” meaning when that which… when this flows up from us and down from the Buddhas it meets in the middle and it actualizes the middle, we’re drawn up to a deeper level of understanding which becomes the new basis for our practice from which something flows to an even more subtle and profound… they keep moving in this way. So that’s what the refuge prayer means. Devotion means here again that the longing I feel to attain realization, the longing I feel to optimize the meaningfulness of my life. We believe that it’s natural for human beings to want to optimize, to take to the furthest extent, the qualities of wisdom and compassion and beauty, playfulness and love. And then all spiritual paths are simply methods, all kinds of different methods for doing this, right?
If you wanted to become a musician, you… first, you have to pick an instrument. You pick any instrument, you can pick Vajrayana Buddhism, you can pick Zen Buddhism or you can pick Baptist – Southern Baptist – hellfire and brimstone. Pick any instrument you want and then that instrument will be like a particular path, which you then take lessons
in and learn. It becomes like the banks of a river which shapes your life toward a certain direction. Now you can pick and I’m not saying they’re all equal. That’s absurd. They’re not all equal. Hey! There’s better and worse ones and I want you to consider extremely carefully. It’s far more precious and important than anything else you’ll pick, including lovers, jobs.
Okay. So the refuge prayer: we always start with refuge [untintelligible] we’re aligning ourselves with the deepest, most profound intention and aspect of ourselves. Bodhicitta has two meanings: relative bodhicitta and absolute bodhicitta. Relative bodhicitta – bodhi citta, citta is mind, bodhi is wisdom, and it means compassion. The relative bodhicitta is compassion as it’s normally understood: the cultivation of the wish for the benefit of all beings and the action that benefits all beings. According to Buddhism the definition of “love” is “the wish for others to know the happiness we feel.” When you feel really happy and you wish for others to know this happiness, too, you’re loving them. I love this definition because it actually is saying amongst other things that you have to have some happiness and joy to love others.
Otherwise what happens is: it tends to be the case that what we call lovers or love – either one in either direction – is that we wish for them to make us happy, and that’s not really the point, right? If we wish, if we’re clinging, attach and grasp at someone because we wish to make them happy, we wish them to make us happy, that’s not really love. If from the storehouse of our own joy we wish this joy for others that’s - we can say – love. To love is to wish that others experience the happiness we feel and compassion is the action which… compassion is the actions which remove the causes of other people’s suffering. So we wish them to know this joy and that then tells us to act in one way or another, to act in a way that actually would remove whatever causes suffering for other beings – relative, temporary ways of removing suffering through benefiting beings you know in a social context and also through subtle methods of removing the causes of suffering through dharma. So this is one aspect.
We practice… in our lineage we say we practice according to the two aims. One aim is to attain realization of Buddha nature with our… for our own mind. The second aim goes with it, it’s “for the sake of all sentient beings”. Not just for ourselves. This is… it’s a natural kind of maturing of a human being that – psychologically natural evolutionary maturing – that first we experience, everyone experiences suffering in their lives, everyone experiences the problem of human existence, like [unintelligible] having a human existence, the existential challenge of it all. And we want out of it!
Everyone with much intelligence feels a bit like Sisyphus pushing that rock up the hill day after day and watch it roll down the other side, and we want out of that. So we want to attain this unsullied, pure joy – because that’s a natural thing, Buddha said, “We all have one thing in common, we want to be happy.” We all have another thing in common: we tend to be ignorant as to the causes of pure happiness. So everyone wants this happiness. And compassion – through subtle methods of Buddha’s teachings we discover this happiness within ourselves and then quite naturally as we get a little bit of
spaciousness in our own mind, a little bit of authentic joy in our minds, we realize our happiness is interdependently related to all other beings’ happiness. Happiness is just my happiness removing me from the context of life and relationships with all of existence, all beingness of existence, the interdependency of all beingness – it actually can’t even exist. Because I am dynamically interrelated with all other beings: their unhappiness is my unhappiness, their happiness is my happiness. The more subtle our mind becomes the more we see this is the case. We can’t separate ourselves from the joy and sorrow of any other being.
And so then we have the second aim, which is the wish to remove the causes of suffering of all beings. It naturally flowers in us as the flowering of compassion. So absolute… that’s… all falls under the heading of what’s called “relative bodhicitta,” ordinary compassion. Absolute bodhicitta is the -- is much like the refuge verse – it’s the intrinsic sphere of pure awareness in which even the word flaw or suffering has never existed. And the most profound way to benefit beings is to realize the ultimate nature of mind and then to live from the flowering of joy, compassion, beauty, creativity, wisdom that comes from that. So in the bodhicitta prayer it says, “within the purity of gnosis” -- of pure wisdom – “even the word impure is absent. But within the realm of beings confusion manifests as suffering.” It’s saying… Atisha, who was a great Buddhist teacher, he wrote a series of mind slogans to help us remember parts of the path, and one of the mind slogans is “drive all blame into one.”
So what is the one that we drive all blame into? It’s ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of all suffering. All… Buddha said, “All beings want happiness but are ignorant as to the causes.” So it says, “But within the realm of beings confusion manifests as suffering.” Beings are confused about the way things actually are and the true nature of the mind gives rise to suffering. Then our desperate attempts to get out of suffering…give rise to more suffering and in interacting with everybody else’s desperate attempts and confused attempts based on erroneous ideas to get out of suffering causes more suffering. You don’t have to even just look at the worldwide level of war, you can just look in your own mind what your mind does if you feel further insulted by them – anybody.
So it’s saying “within the actual nature of awareness, the word impure never even existed, the word suffering never existed, but because beings – sentient beings, deluded beings – are confused as to the nature of… the authentic nature of appearance then we begin to suffer.”
“Within the immaculate awareness, sublime and free from all distortion, I give rise to bodhicitta, liberation’s sublime nectar.”
Then it’s saying – this wish for the benefit of all beings needs somehow to be connected to the immaculate source of all wisdom appearance. So otherwise we’re going to end up suffering social worker burn-out, one way or another, sooner or later. But if connect our compassion with the immaculate wisdom source of all appearance, this is like an infinite storehouse of energy. It’s such a vast profound storehouse of energy, that all this appearance, and all other – the whole of the universe, and not just this universe, but all
realms – is exploding and overflowing out of the effulgence of that. Emptiness is not a mere nothingness. Emptiness is pure potential infinite in extent and dimension, in other words every appearance is exploding from the fullness of it. Emptiness is so full that everything comes from it.
So, by connecting our compassionate intention to that fullness, then not only is it wise in a way that can benefit beings much more deeply, but it never runs out of energy. It also ever runs out of joy, because it’s constantly recognizing the stainless natural purity of appearances, yah? Then -- slightly seeming in contradiction -- once [unintelligible] one teacher I had once said that “I feel great compassion for you but somewhere deep down inside I also giggle at you, because your suffering is bogus. It’s all manufactured based on delusions you don’t have to have.”
There actually is a method: suffering is true – First Noble Truth “there is suffering.. But that’s not the last Noble Truth, it’s just the first. There’s also a cause of suffering and an end of suffering and a path to the end of suffering and we’ve been taught the path. And nothing is actually obstructing us from walking the path. I was reading Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s son Garab Dorje Rinpoche (?) there’s this very funny picture of him pointing at the…. saying “you keep…” (he’s talking to some guy) “you keep telling me… you keep telling me you don’t have time to practice, you’re just bamboozling yourself!” And the way he says this in this little tiny hut in Bhutan is very funny. So we have a path, we can walk a path.
The Buddha said “between the top of your head and the soles of your feet is everything you need to practice the path, nothing is lacking,” right? So there’s no excuse. So this is a… the First Noble Truth would be a little depressing without two, three and four. Lucky for two, three and four! And countless men and women all over the world in varying cultures have practiced to the point of realizing this truth. You don’t have to be a man, you don’t have to be a Tibetan or an Indian. You don’t have to be an American. All kinds of people from all places and times, you don’t have to live in the time of Shakyamuni. This wisdom path applies equally to every sentient being. I don’t think you were expecting something so tedious and long-winded when you asked the question, sorry!
Haha! [[[Rinpoche]] laughs.] That’s refuge and bodhicitta and then we’ll save the rest of them for another time.
Refuge, bodhicitta and dedication – they’re the core of our path. We dedicate the merit -- it’s said that one drop of water falling from the sky won’t do much. When drop after drop after drop falls and stream together, they form a little rivulet that goes to a stream that goes to a river that pours into the vast profound ocean. So when one of us dedicates the merit, the virtuous energy – virtuous energy is the vectoral direction, the vectoral direction is the increase in momentum and… and intensity as you move along a particular direction and a particular action. So the vectoral direction of our intention to benefit all beings and realize Buddhahood and we dedicate the merit to all other beings, our little drop joins the drop of all other Nyingmapas, all other Buddhists, all other spiritually oriented beings, forms a river of benefit for beings [unintelligible].
Now we should sing dedication of merit. [[[Rinpoche]] and sangha sing.] I wanted to thank you all for such a nice tsog feast, it’s so sweet and I think we’ll stop early now because you’ve all been sitting through a lot of practice and a lot of teaching. I know people’s hips and knees are sore. So next week – Khandro, could you meet with the musicians this week and we could have music next week? Thank you. Okay, have a nice week.
Dearest Friend --
Text and context. When a mother is pregnant her womb becomes the context in which the child forms. The child is text and the womb is context. When you practice sublime Vajrayana of have text, the methods, and you are the context. Child and womb are not independent entities. Both cause marked effects upon the other. The mothers diet, alcohol consumption, drugs, mood all effect the development of the child. If the mother drinks a lot of alcohol then the child’s brain will be malformed and the precious miracle of human birth becomes a tragedy. If you, as context for the text, as womb wherein the practice takes place, become drunk on hope and fear, grasping after spiritual materialism then the dharma becomes a demon.
One hears a fair amount of resentment and recriminations in Dharma circles these days. People seem to feel they have been befooled by Dharma’s promises. But if we inspect with care then we will discover the sad truth of who lied to who. It is when we lie to Buddha’s teachings through aggressive intentions that we later find ourselves angry that Buddha’s teachings did not deliver according to our selfish demands. When mind grasps at subtle wisdom teachings with belligerent demanding attitude like a slave owner salaciously eyes the body of an attractive slave then it is doubtful that spiritual love will be the result.
Some couples professing undying love feel cheated by each others impermanence phenomena when it is only their own selfish intention which has cheated them.
Some teen girls who want to have a baby “to love” but really just want to “be loved” feel cheated by infants ceaseless demands but it is only the intention of their own ceaseless demand which has fooled them.
Some western spiritual consumerist read Dharma warning labels with self assured fantasies of swift realization and later feel cheated by the absence of any marketable bliss phenomena but it is only the dissembling intention of bloated ego which has made fools of them.
Some eastern Lamas who see dollar signs on pecha pages sell “secret transmissions never given in the west before” like offering their wives for sale in a whorehouse. Later they feel cheated by fickle students who see dharma as a commodity but it is only their own snake oil salesman intention which lets them down.
Text and context. Love, children, dharma all of these can become vehicles for blossoming spiritual understanding and compassion’s ceaseless activity. They can also become sources of frustration, suffering and resentment. We, our intention and motivation, are the context which determine this. It requires authentic maturity to examine our intentions with clarity and this maturity is the very first demand of spiritual life.
It is easy to confuse technique and transmission. It is easy to mistakenly think that perhaps information can lead to transformation. It is easy to grasp to the text and forget the context. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could simply but happiness? Wouldn’t it be nice if the Dharma were some magic pill which transformed us without us having to be any different? Perhaps, but it is not the case and the dharma has always been excruciatingly clear on this issue. It perhaps makes us angry that we can not relate to the dharma as mommy’s great cosmic breast form which we can suck all desire’s satisfaction but that is how it is. We become capable of responsibly entering the spiritual path when we are ready to give up childish fantasies of the parental Buddha or adolescent fantasies of fast food drive through enlightenment.
The techniques do not work. Pure and simple. You work. The skillful means do not work. You work! Methods, techniques are dead verbiage and exotic calisthenics if they are divorced form context. It is the context of the womb which keeps the fetus alive. It is the context of your motivation and intention which keep the living force of spiritual transmission alive. Do not be a street dog of dharma who grabs its bone and runs off snarling and biting at every passer by. Buddha Padmasambhava laid out the path in clear fashion. He explained the steps to follow in order to create an environment, a context, for healthy development of the fetus of realization.
The path as a whole, the entire Buddhist way form sutra’s renunciation to Tantra’s third conduct and Dzogchen’s “no remedy” forms a single living organic whole. Each higher aspect rests upon the developmental foundation of the earlier stages the way a fetus grows form a few cells through stages of evolutionary development into a human child. Take for instance renunciation. Renunciation is the method of Sutra and there are lists of things to be given up, actions not to be done, feelings to be rejected. In Tantra’s path of transformation these lists do not apply but this does not mean that renunciation has somehow been lost. In tantra renunciation becomes more subtle, more refined, and manifests as the renunciation of impure view and not the renunciation of this or that illusory object arisen from impure view. In Dzogchen’s great openness one renounces straying from rigpa.
Without authentic weariness for samsara’s deceptive seduction the Tantrica’s so called view is only a cover for grasping and anger and the Dzogchenpa’s relaxed attitude is simply a fretful sham. The view, vows, realization and accomplishments of each vehicle are contained within successively higher stages of sublime presentation. Weariness for samsara and profound compassionate love for all beings are the context for Mahayana’s excellent path of virtue. These plus authentic faith in sublime wisdom beings are necessary for Tantra’s skillful means to flower. Without these Tantra’s bevy of techniques will be nothing more than the pond into which Narcissus gazes admiring himself in ever increasing alienation and isolation.
Very few of today’s so called Tantricas or Dzogchenpas have developed the foundation which allows the methods to be anything more than dead fetuses expelled form a poison womb. Dear friend look into your heart and mind and take great care not to turn the dharma into a demon, nirvana into a nightmare. As the Buddha said “I can show you the
way but if you walk it is up to you.” Take the time to truly develop each quality such as authentic renunciation, compassion, devotion so that from the context, the womb, of your life an authentic child of a noble family can be born. I know that my own mind is thick and hard like the dried hide of an animal but it is up to the child to outshine the parent. These warnings I give to you come from simple examination of my own failures and hopes that you will not miss the mark as I have.
With love,
T.
Practice Upon Waking
So, a lot of you have heard lots and lots of Ngondro teachings. But you will hopefully bear through the boredom of more.
So this Ngondro has certain unique qualities about it. It mixes some extremely profound completion phase practices directly into the Ngondro practice. We’ll talk about this as we go through it. So that it becomes an inseparable union of Ngondro, Mahayoga Anuyoga, and Atiyoga, all in one single practice. This was one of Do Khyentse’s favorite activities, was to mix everything together into a single potent practice. This practice followed by deity yoga and then followed by a beautiful Yang sang text. Yang sang means “most secret” which mixes all of the six yogas of Naropa and all of the practices of Dzogchen into a single text. Kind of the advanced version of this. So we’ll just go briefly tonight through the whole thing and then you’ll be able to do it if you would like.
So it begins with a practice upon waking, and this is extremely important. As you come out of sleep, there is a moment in which the vectoral direction of your entire day is set. In the manner in which you engage appearance and conceptuality in that first moment of waking. This is a very profound time to practice.
And so here, you, the best is to practice the, the simple practice of awareness of luminosity right as you wake up. It’s very difficult. But then it is-- when you wake up, try for a moment just not to move at all in your bed. Try to wake up without moving at all… just watching awareness for a moment. As soon kind of, as soon as you become conceptually cognizant of being awake, sit up in bed, in that moment, you sit up in bed and you contemplate devotion and compassion, yeah? Devotion and compassion then become the setting for your whole day. This is the beginning. The whole path is then done here. From the outermost to the innermost throughout the day. The last practice as you fall asleep being the luminosity and dream practices, the innermost luminosity practice - profound way of recognizing Dharmakaya as your own mind. So we start the day, we sit up in bed, and we say this prayer, we visualize Orgyen Tsokye Dorje who is the Orgyen Dorje Chang that we use in the Mipham Shower of Blessings. Tsokye Dorje is Guru Rinpoche born on a lotus, is the Indestructible Lake-Born Guru. And we say this prayer:
“Glorious, precious heart Guru. Nirmanakaya Lake-Born Lama. Think of me! Having acquired this wish-fulfilling jewel, do not let me go down wrong paths. In this and every life, let me never, even for a moment, be separate from you.”
So you pray this because, whatever is the stated longing of our heart, kind of the first thing in the morning, we feel the longing of our heart and we state it out loud. We make a statement of our intention. This is incredibly powerful. And if that statement is: “May that which is most sublime, that which is most beautiful, that which is most profound,
that which is most loving, that which is most joyful, that which is most compassionate… may I never be separate from it for even a moment.”
And then we do this prayer “Lama La Sol Wa Deb So.” On the in-breath “Lama La… Sol Wa Deb So” on the in-breath we say “Lama La” on the out-breath “Sol Wa Deb So.” So it just… for however long you want, it could be one time, three times, fifteen minutes… however long you feel like doing it. It becomes a rhythm, yeah?
“Lama La” is, is kind of saying… The “La” here is a term of respect. “Precious Guru, Precious Guru I pray to you. Precious Guru, I s--, I dissolve my mindstream into yours. Precious Guru, you know, and the Guru here in this prayer I think the best translation of “Guru” is “Pregnant Raincloud.” This is a technically correct translation of the word “Guru”. A raincloud of blessing that is pregnant- it’s so full and so heavy that it hurts it not to shower down on the ground. The slightest provocation will break open the raincloud, and rain will just pour down in sheets and torrents on the ground, yeah? And we are the provocation and “Lama La” on the in-breath, “Sol Wa Deb So” so that your very breathing becomes this rhythmic form of uniting yourself with the blessings of the lineage. The whole lineage, Nyingmapa blessing. And Do Khyentse, Tsokye Dorje, your own root lama… So all this blessing which is literally aching, it pains. The lineage is like a mother that’s three weeks overdue, right? It really wants to give birth. The lineage is like a raincloud on those hot summer days… with the… it’s so humid the air is wet, and you can just feel at any second it’s just gonna start pouring rain, yeah?
So, you’re just linking your breath to this. The first thing, it’s such a sweet thing. The first thing you do in the morning… you link your mind and then through your breath-- when you were born, consciousness and vital force joined together in aggregate with the physical body of the baby and formed the human being, yeah? So the first thing in the morning, we’re taking our consciousness and our vital breath because we’re in a sense birthing the vectoral direction of our, our longing… so that our whole day becomes it, our breathing becomes it, our thinking, our way of being becomes it.
So then the next prayer is kind of the, the basic prayer you find in one form or another in all Ngondros. Kind of looking at why it’s very important to practice. And more or less what it’s saying is that, you know, like the four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma… is saying, the first verse is saying “all these things, if I cling to them, they’re going to disappear. They’re not adequate foundations.” It’s like the Nazarene said, if you build your house on sand it’ll always be unstable, build it on rock instead. All these appearances they’re going disappear… They’re not, there’s nothing bad about them particularly, but I’m weary of endlessly, when it says “weary of samsara I pray to you from the depths of my heart”… I’m weary of endlessly building up my hopes and dream on things that can’t work, right? I’m weary of expecting others to make me happy, when I can’t even make myself happy, why should I put that burden on someone else? I’m weary of thinking this and that and some thing and some moment and some state of being and some relationship can make me happy. That some… I’m weary of making, trying to wring happiness out of experience and I know there’s a different way, so Lama think of me, so that I can quit doing this, right?
And the next verse is saying, basically it’s saying, all these different forms of, of wrong actions we take when we’re trying to do what the first verse is saying “please help me stop.” I don’t wanna to build my dreams on sand. Lost in hope and fear. And therefore caught up in aggression. And when I’m caught up in that aggression, I begin to do all kinds of things that I think is going to bring me happiness, right? Buddha said all beings want happiness, they’re just confused about the causes. So next time somebody causes you suffering you don’t have to get all self-righteous and angry. Understand they just want happiness but are confused about the cause, just like you, yeah? Right?
You know if, it’s, it’s like this beautiful thing Gyatrul Rinpoche said to me he said “I used to get frustrated with my students because they didn’t follow the Buddha’s doctrine. But I don’t anymore. I looked at my own mind and I found I don’t follow it very well either. So how can I be frustrated with them?” We can have the same generosity towards others. We, out of confusion, cause ourselves and others suffering.
So the next verse is saying when I’m actually doing those things, help me abandon wrong mind. The nice thing here is it’s not saying “You’re a bad person.” Due to original sin, you are fundamentally bad. You have wrong mind. You’re functioning from a mistaken notion and so therefore you engage in mistaken actions. It’s really not so hard, we just have to clarify the confusion. Yeah?
“Wherever I find myself wherever I may be born. Hells, hungry ghosts, animal, jealous gods, and human. May I stir the depths of samsara, and ease unbearable suffering.”
It’s saying... So, may I give up the wrong notions. May I give up the actions that come from it. And may I cultivate compassion, a compassion for all beings. Wherever I find myself, yeah? There’s basically two attitudes you can have. One is, I find myself wherever I find myself, “poor me”. And you can really feel that pretty much wherever you find yourself. Or, you can find yourself wherever you find yourself and you can remember the Dharma and benefit yourself and others. Cultivate, accomplish the two aims. Benefit of self and others. Realization of wisdom and happiness in yourself and the benefit of others through compassion.
And the next one is precious human birth.
”I have found this wondrous precious human birth, so rare. How painful if this single chance was missed.”
Like I said in the beginning of this talk, a lot of us here have been practicing together now for fourteen or fifteen years. And I look at my life honestly and I think “How painful”, you know? That so much opportunity slips through my fingers all the time. Yeah? So what a sad thing it would be if another fourteen or fifteen years goes by, and another fourteen or fifteen years go by… By then we’ll all be dropping like flies,
yeah? Seems the last fifteen years went by pretty fast. How painful if this whole chance was missed.
“Throughout countless lives kind Lama you have cared for me. Supreme Vajra Master of Three-Fold Kindness. May I perfect devotion and the three-fold ways of pleasing.”
This is such a sweet verse. When I was in Finland, with the retreat I was doing there. I was reading to them from Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s ‘Gypsy Gossip.” It’s an unpublished manuscript. And in it he talks about samaya. And he talks about… it’s the first time I ever read a Lama talk so beautifully about it. Basically, he’s saying, there’s samaya from the disciple to the Guru and this is very important. And there’s samaya from the Guru to the disciple. This shouldn’t be forgotten either. What he’s saying basically is there is a, a mutuality or a reciprocity in the relationship between Guru and disciple. The Guru offers threefold kindness and we offer a threefold, the threefold ways of pleasing: to listen to the teachings, engaging and realizing the meaning of the teachings and then working for the benefit of all beings through the teachings.
There’s… you know… sometimes people try to be pleasing to the Guru in, you know, whatever, all kinds of bizarre little ways. But there’s only really one set of things that pleases an authentic Guru and that is that people en- listen with openness and intelligence. Take in the teachings, integrate the teachings through practice, serve other beings through the realization of those teachings. And we do this, not out of any kind of threat of punishment. There’s no samaya gun to be held to your head. You better behave, and do the right thing, wear the right clothes. I mean if wearing white clothes made any actual difference, then all those Santerian people would be Buddhas, right? So it’s not about that sort of thing. It’s about this mutua- mutuality, this reciprocity of love between Guru and disciple, between the Lama and student.
“In this life and the next in the bardos between, May I never be separate from you, precious Guru. By becoming the messenger of your four kinds of mastery, may the depths of samsara be emptied.”
I love this verse because, by putting those two things together, those two lines together, Do Khyentse is saying “May I never be separate from you, and what would that look like?” It would be to become the messenger of the four kinds of activities. The four karmas of a Buddha. Which are: pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, destroying. These are the four kinds of activities a Buddha engages in in all the different realms. They pacify what causes suffering. They pacify--- What causes benefit, they enrich it. They magnetize all beings. In other words, they charm them. They seduce them. I looked up the word “seduce” the other day. I love the word “seduce.” It comes from the latin “seducerae”, meaning “To lead astray.” You know, so the naughty man or woman leads astray the married man or woman. And they seduce them. But here we’re talking about seducing the beings of samsara. Leading ‘em off the straight and narrow of samsara down the, down the wrong path of, of dharma and nirvana. From samsara point of view, this is leading
astray. So, so magnetizing is one of them. And destroying. Sometimes strength, wrath, wrath is powerful love. “Tough love” of the Buddhas. Wrath is Jesus in the temple overthrowing the money changers’ tables. Sometimes just pacifying and enriching won’t actually do the trick. Sometimes strength needs to be applied as well.
So how do you never be separate from the Guru? By becoming the messenger of the four activities. You cannot be passive.
All right, so now you’ve done the pre-preliminaries. And this is where I, I love this, it’s so sweet. You’ve done three preliminaries so let’s just throw in a completion phase practice that normally wouldn’t be done until you had finished Ngondro and until you had finished a profound amount of generation phase deity yoga combined with a small bit of you know the Nyingma style completion phase. Let’s just throw in a, a Tsa Lung practice in the middle of the pre-preliminaries of Ngondro.
When devotion is strong, your own self-nature appears as the white Dakini holding a drigug and skullcup. Light rays of blessing power shower from the Dakini and afflictive states dissolve into the golden ground. You arise as the white Yeshe Tsogyel from Do Khyentse’s tradition and light rays shower from this Dakini in all directions and all beings, the afflicted state, the suffering of every being is just burned out. Shi- outshined. Zilnon. It’s this Tibetan word it means “To overcome through splendor”. It’s just the outshine. And, and just falls down onto the ground, the golden ground, is this Pure Buddha realm, ground. Just dissolves into this ground.
In the center of your body as this Dakini are the three channels- white, red, and blue. And the heart, in your heart is Kunzang Yab Yum. And in Kunzang Yab-Yum’s heart is the syllable A, yeah? On the in-breath, blue light breathing _____ blue light goes down the right and left channels to where they meet four fingers width below the navel. And then up the central channel into that A. On the exhale the body is suffused with the potency of light awareness. The root of thought is completely severed. Sometimes Kunzang YabYum in the tradition is called “Sole protector of invariant light.”
So you visualize yourself as the white Dakini from Do Khyentse’s tradition. The three channels, Kunzang Yab-Yum in your heart, an A in their heart. You breathe in blue light pours down the two side channels up through the central channel, into Kunzang YabYum’s heart, into the A. As you breathe out, light just suffuses from there, through your whole body, out of your body, to infinity. It’s a form of the A dissolving gaze. And then you simply rest. You do this one time, two times, three times, however many times you want to do it. And you rest. This severs the root of thought itself. In diety yoga, generation phase purifies the gross, mistaken view of appearances. And completion phase purifies subtle grasping to the reality of all cognitive constructs, to thought itself.
So then, when you’ve completely severed the root of thought, which would make you a Buddha, you go on to the refuge practice- haha. So in this, it’s very sweet, refuge practices. Orgyen Dorje Chang, visualized here.
When you do the prostrations, you say:
To the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha To the Guru, Yidam, and Dakini
Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya And the Precious Guru, embodiment of them all, I go for refuge. Please hold with your compassion…
And, you all know how to do prostrations so nothing more needs to be said about it than that.
Following this in the second part of refuge, in the generating the supreme mind of Enlightenment, is the simple Tonglen practice, right? Exchanging yourself for others. These two in, are Tsogyel Nyingthig. These are combined into a single prayer of the refuge practice. But here they’re separate practice for cultivating Bodhicitta. And, in it very simply, you, you make a prayer that all beings realize the precious Orgyen Lama’s realized state. And then you, it says, be generous with, of spirit with devotion, pure perception, and affection. And that means in your whole day, right? It means all day long be generous with affection, that’s the fundamental one- with affection for everyone you meet, all day long.
But in that moment, you visualize that, as you breathe in the suffering of every single sentient being. Every bit of suffering that any being feels. Not just human beings: bugs that are being stepped on, mice that are being swooped up by hawks and having their guts ripped out, right? Everything. Pollywogs that are being eaten by Great Blue Herons. The suffering of every sentient being, human being, hell realm being, every being, leaves their bodies and forms, a, like a gray smoke and forms an arrow and that arrow shoots into your heart. This is the wounded heart of Buddha. And from that wound on the out-breath it breaks your heart, literally. It breaks your heart. And when the heart breaks open, what is revealed is the Buddha nature of infinite luminosity, which is purely compassionate. And the light rays of that stream out you literally visualize it goes in your heart and it breaks the heart open, this part of the body, and light streams out from it.
A long, long time ago when I was a young yogi and I was practicing in the woods, I kept beginning to have this vision, which I would get too terrified of and I’d run away. So one night I went out in the woods, there was this crazy looking black woman with a big knife. And later I came to know that this was the Dakini Tromo, but I didn’t know that at the time. And so I, I, got tired of running away from it, after a week or so, every time I was meditating. So I went out in the middle of the night on a no moon night it was really dark and I tied myself to a tree and I tied a whole bunch of knots and I slid the rope all the way around the back of the tree, so it would take me a long time to get up and run away, haha. And I did my practice and this, this vision, started up and this crazy looking, naked, black lady with wild hair streaming up- knife, just comes running at me with a knife. Which is what I knew she was going to do, which is why I kept running away. She was right in front of me. She plunged the knife into her own belly and cut all the way up the torso of her body. Her body was kinda folded open, normally the guts would fall out. There was just light streaming, light streaming in all directions. Everywhere. She was saying in this maniacal, laughing voice, “Don’t you see?”
So it wasn’t such a bad thing, really, in the end. So this is like this. Our fear is that we encounter the suffering of beings and we contract and we withdraw. We refuse to enter into relationship. Tonglen is beautiful. It is the utter and perfect non-avoidance of relationship. So we take that which normally makes us contract, our Awareness. Instead of awareness shining, infinitely radiating outwards to infinity, unobstructed, where love and emptiness become the same, we tend to contract away from what we think might cause us empathetic pain.
So here we do just the opposite. We practice the opposite, as an antidote. We view all suffering shoots in our heart and what we discover is that the infinite well of Buddha nature shines as our compassion, happiness. On the in-breath we are able to take the suffering of beings in, and on the out-breath we give them our happiness and joy. What’s so sweet about this is what we discover is taking in their suffering doesn’t kill us, it doesn’t actually even hurt us more, it hurts us much less than closing down to them did. We also discover this other wild thing which is giving freely, giving freely away our joy, away to them turns out not to, it turns out there’s not a cup of joy and when we’ve poured it out it’s empty. There’s an infinite well of being. Which is light and awareness and happiness. The more we give it out, the more it flows out.
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, Guru, Deva and Dakini, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya and the precious Guru, embodiment of them all, I go for refuge. Please hold me with your compassion! – Refuge prayer from the Dakini’s Warm Breath
The Stages of Offering the Mandala: Gathering the accumulations that are requisites of the path OM AH HUNG: Wealth of gods and wealth of men, enjoyments, body, every substance, (outer mandala) aggregates and elements, tsa, lung, tiglé, subtle pleasures, (inner offering) essence, nature and compassion, purity of Dharmadhatu (secret offering) I offer to the sole protector, sublime form of every Buddha. I offer to the supreme gathering of the heroes and dakinis. Make countless offerings of favorable riches to accumulate merit. End with: May all beings fully accomplish the two accumulations! A LA LA! Greetings, Rumi says, “Freely we are given Being and freely we give it back.” Rumi would have understood mandala practice. In mandala we give away everything and receive ten times more than that for we receive the single treasure of the Buddha’s. What is that treasure? It is the strong box of luminous emptiness. All appearance is only the play of this and our own minds, in their truest dimension, are this uncontrived space of empty richness. Clinging and grasping to appearances, experiences is the product of faulty understanding and also increases our misunderstanding. Generosity relieves us of this burden. In another place Rumi writes, “There is a passion in me that doesn’t long for anything from another human being.” The gift mandala practice brings to us cannot be understood by those who live in a world of bartering. It does not matter whether you bargain for worldly treasures or spiritual treasures. The businessman is always a beggar. Once an aged king had three sons and could not decide which one was most fit to rule after his death. Calling all three sons into a room he handed them each a bag of flower seed. I will want a return of what has been given you in one year; what you chose to do with it until then will determine who becomes king. The first son, knowing his father to be a hard and exacting man, thought to himself “I will take no chances. I will put this seed in a safe place and so when the year is up I can give him back exactly what he has given me. He will see my prudence.” Well, when the year was up, and the son took his father to the cupboard where the seed had been stored, mice had broken in and eaten much of it leaving the rest to rot. The second son had sold his seed, invested the money, and bought three times the seed to return to his father. The father laughed and said, “Your brother is like a little boy who hoards up his goodies and in the process loses them. You
are like a grown man who thinks according to profit. Let us see what the third of you has done.” Well, the third son showed his father out to a carriage and they drove from the city to a vast field that was blooming with wild flowers. The son said, “Father I have cast all your seed into the wind in this field and now the flowers bloom for all to enjoy their color and scent. In addition to this I have already gathered 15 large bags of seed from the blooming flowers and before the season is over there will be dozens more.” Embracing the son the father handed to him the crown. Through refuge a solitary child enters the path. In Mahayana’s boddhicitta this child matures into relationship with life. With mandala this maturing child becomes a king of all riches.
It is not possible to accomplish the realization, the making real within the continuom of our experience, of our Buddha Nature without vast accumulations of merit and wisdom. Mandala practice is a profound method of accumulating merit. In an earlier letter I spoke to you of merit as the momentum of spiritual energy. This energy is released by letting go deluded negative habits and opening into happiness’ virtue dimension. The tendency to grasp, to cling, to be miserly, to desperately chase after and hold onto any small shred of happiness is the behavior of a starving street dog not that of a child of a noble family, let alone a king of all riches. Mandala offering repairs our tendency to act more like a street dog than a human being. To abide in inherent
primordial awareness would be the perfected mandala offering. Then in each moment appearance would be the uncontrived offering given by emptiness and appearance giving itself back to emptiness would be the uncontrived offering made by appearance. This mutuality of emptiness and appearance is the heart essence of reality. Vajrayana is the resultant path. This means we take the result, the end point of our Buddha Nature, as the starting point as well. We will see this in action over and over all throughout the tantric path. When we practice Tonglen, if we were simply to do so from the limited point of view of a human being, we would burn out and have nothing to offer. When we do this practice form the joy of Buddha Nature then the light of compassion is never
overwhelmed by the suffering of beings. When we practice mandala, if we to only offer what we “have”, as ordinary human beings, it simply would not amount to much even for the richest. Instead we offer from the inherently true vision of our Buddha Nature, king of all appearance and emptiness. In mandala we are exercising the muscles of unlimited generosity. In this way we undermine the grasping miserliness that is the tendency of delusion. Generosity breeds happiness, openness and merit. We are practicing, so that in life we can perform. A pianist practices so they can perform on stage for a concert. Here you are practicing and daily life is the performance. If you offer everything in mandala but you cannot even offer a smile to a waitress in a restaurant, or help to a stranger then what a sham your practice is! Enter wholeheartedly into the mandala practice acting out the intention of generosity so deeply that it becomes a habit in you. As it does then the habit of seeing yourself as inherently full of richness will accompany it.
Each part of the tantrica path evolves organically from the base of the previous practice. The longing, the wish to grow within us, leads us to refuge. The great happiness and love discovered in refuge opens the heart to the practice of Bodhicitta. Happiness creates love, the wish for others to be happy, and this engenders compassion as the removal of causes of unhappiness. Engaged Bodhicitta opens up a fathomless depth of joy within us and this deep well of
richness overflows in the gratitude of the mandala offering. If we are touched by refuge and boddhicitta we begin to feel a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid but which we will strive to repay in all activities of our life. We become so full of love’s gratefulness that we gladly offer everything to repay our debt to the Buddhas and so that anyone and everyone might feel this joy as well. We offer this to the Three Jewels and Three Roots because these are what have brought us to this place of joy. We offer to all beings because we long for them to know this joy as well. This is love transformed as devotion and compassion. We offer everywhere and anywhere because it is the nature of our joy to be impartial. Wisdom is accumulated when the joy of offering becomes so great that it outshines even the notion of a giver, a receiver and an offering. Sometimes in the midst of our mandala offering we find ourselves relaxed in the sphere of spacious awareness, generosity has outshined even the subtle clinging to a self, and still offering flows form empty lucency. In these moments we are engaging the true mandala offering. The outer offering: Wealth of gods and wealth of men, enjoyments, body, every substance, (outer mandala) There are three offerings in the mandala practice - outer, inner and secret. The outer offering is not just what riches you
have amassed, and it is not even just things you would like, though both of these are included. The outer offering is every atom of manifest existence. At the center of the offering is a pile of rice that represents Mt. Meru, the center of the world. Every spiritual tradition has a symbol that is the mytho-poetic presentation of our world. Here Mt. Meru and the four continents are this. Mt. Meru is the center of the world around which the continents of east, west, north, south are arranged. We make a pile of rice, on the offering tray, and then 4 others around it and this is the whole world. This is the world that contains everything we love, we like, we want, we desire, every wonder and magical beauty. There are fast cars and beautiful elephants, there are
delicious women and men whose beauty stuns the mind, there are foods and drinks of nectar like quality, ornaments of gold and precious stones, there are wondrous stereo systems, beautiful horses and fancy motorcycles. There are fabulous things from every part of the outer worlds of gods, humans and nagas. Then we multiply this treasure trove by 1000x1000x1000 more worlds. A billion worlds of wonder and beauty of riches and beauty without end. All of this we offer freely, without hesitation, without withholding. We just tip over our plate and let it all go! And then we do it again, and again, and again……. The inner offering:
aggregates and elements, tsa, lung, tiglé, subtle pleasures, (inner offering) The outer world is a wonderful thing to give away, it is a good beginning. Grasping to the outer is the entertainment of children. Sometimes those children are not so young and yet they still grasp to objects as a source of happiness. No matter the age they are internally still immature. As we grow up we realize the inner worlds of feeling and perceptions are a dimension of greater meaningfulness and joy than any or all objects. This world, the world of our own body and experiences is what we offer in the inner mandala offering. Here Mt. Meru is the torso and the arms and legs are the four continents. At the level of tsa, lung, tigle the central channel is Mt. Meru with the four main chakras as the continents. The aggregates and elements of our body, not just this one but every body we have had since beginningless time, is the substance of our offering. All the outer pleasures of senses, our desire and fulfillment of desire, all this is offered. All the subtle pleasures of the inner yogas, the blisses, the visions, the exalted states, all are offered. All the unbearable pleasure of the four joys of tsa lung tigle practice is offered. Our consorts and the extreme bliss consort yoga is offered. The bliss, clarity and emptiness of illusory body is offered. Having given everything worldly and spiritual we dance freely on the two worlds without a care. Some people cling to materialist objects and when these do not live up to their expectations they switch the focus of their greed to spiritual objects. There really is no difference. The same ambition, the same aggression that went into one goes into the other. This spiritual materialism can be a tremendous obstacle. This obstacle is cut through in the inner offering. The secret offering: essence, nature and compassion, purity of Dharmadhatu (secret offering) The secret mandala offering is the three kayas of the Buddha, the essence, nature and energy of awareness according to Dzogchen instruction, all offered freely to the Three Jewels. The Dharmakaya is the uncontrived utterly pure state beyond any words or concepts. Never has it been stained, never has it been sullied. This vast spacious potentiality is a pregnant emptiness surging forth with luminous clarity. The Sambhogakaya is the luminous clarity of emptiness appearing as the realm of exquisitely joyful abundance. Here the luminous suprasensual realm of wisdom light radiates as the display of the five certainties – the certain time, place, teacher, teaching and retinue. This is the bliss realm of profound transmission. The surging forth of emptiness’ profound qualities next manifests as the infinite array of phenomena, the Nirmanakaya. The natural energy of magical display, utterly pure, perfect form the beginning. This display is ceaselessly appearing unobstructed patterns of compassion.
The essence, nature and energy are not other than the three kayas. The empty luminous space, the radiant display the compassionate manifestation. Over time you will hear a great deal about these kayas and qualities. Perhaps the most important thing for now is to also realize that they are three only due to the needs of language and teaching. They are in fact a singleness beyond all duality. Often a fourth kaya, the unity of the first three, is also added. The three kayas are not emanationist. Nor is each kaya less “true” than the previous one. Sambhogakaya is not a stepped down version of Dharmakaya and Nirmanakaya a stepped down version of Sambhogakaya. Sometimes two kayas are mentioned – the Dharmakaya and rupakaya, the rupakaya is both the sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya as the rupa or form kaya of the Buddha. Offer all this, the world, all worlds, all outer and inner experience, spiritual realization itself. Simply give it all away as the antidote to grasping. One whom is rich enough to give everything away is king of all tangible and intangible appearance emptiness. One who is to poor in spirit to give everything away has nothing at all. And remember don’t just keep it in your formal practice! Live the practice in daily life. Be generous of spirit and affection as Khyentse Yeshe Dorje advises us. It is the essence of joy! With love, T.
So the next practice here is: “The Stages of Offering the Mandala.” And in this formulation Ngondro, you do the refuge bodhicitta practice and then mandala and then Vajrasattva Guru Yoga because it’s following the path of the two accumulations. First you’re accumulating merit and then next you’re accumulating wisdom. It’s like the wings of a, of a, bird, yeah? You need both of these wings, merit and wisdom.
Merit is positive virtue momentu. It’s a virtue mind. You’re swapping out old, stingy, nasty, brutish, short mind for virtue, happy, joyous, unlimited generosity mind. And then you cultivate wisdom through Vajrasattva and through, through Guru Yoga practices.
So the mandala practice here is fundamentally like the mandala practice in other Ngondros you may have done but it’s the outer, inner, and secret-- which means that the act of generosity transcends all possible conceptuality. And this is especially good for those of you suffering from low self-esteem. Because you can’t give away something you don’t have. You can’t give away something that you are not. You can’t give love if you aren’t love. You can’t give happiness if you aren’t happiness. You can’t give all the wealth of all things if you don’t have it already, right?
And it’s not saying “you need to go develop these qualities so you can give them away,” it’s saying “this is the nature of your beingness.” Give it away. If you want to discover that you have an infinite sense of richness, give it away. If you want to discover that your body is a, a landscape of esoteric pleasures and blisses, give it away. If you want to discover that mind is infinite, vast and pristinely pure luminosity, give that away.
So:
“Wealth of gods and wealth of men Enjoyments, body, every substance”
And the mandala gesture, which you can do here if you want. I can’t do it right now- looks like this-- Sangchen will teach in the mudra class. You have this, the middle two fingers that stick up represent Mount Meru, and then these other four points represent the four continents. Has to do with a, a Buddhist cosmology kind of, the earth is made up of Mount Meru and the four continents, and then twelve sub-divisions, and on and on, but basically what you have is this Mount Meru and the four continents.
He’s saying “all the wealth and all beings,” you know, whatever you have and whatever you might ever have. “I give it away freely.” And then the aggregates, elements, tsa, lung, tigle, subtle pleasures… And here, it’s the same thing again. The torso and central channel are Mount Meru, the arms and legs are the four continents, all of the Dakini places, the twenty four places of the body, sacred places of pilgrimage, both in the world and in the body, are on the four continents and the, and then Mount Meru and all of this I give away. And then mind, dharmakaya mind, is Mount Meru, and then all of the, the
luminosity flowing forth from it right the continents of appearance, and all of this I give away.
And you don’t… when you engage this practice, over and over, it’s so sweet because in the giving away of it, you also discover it was yours to begin with. You discover this sense of richness. In the, in the act of generosity, people sometimes think the way to be generous with whatever happiness, love, money… when they have something to give. But that’s not how it works. This is why people are constantly surprised when they go to poor countries and find people tending to be more generous in those countries and they have nothing at all cause they don’t need to cling to anything because they don’t have anything, you know? So, in the slums of Havana, Olga can make us most fantastic feast that… all kinds of delicious foods that, you know, you think, “Where’d she even find all these things they’re so poor?” But she can give it away cause she’s no sense not having anything. Her giving away is her richness.
The mandala practice is the most sublimely joyful practice. So we cultivate merit by devotion, first through refuge… and whatever we are attracted to, because devotion, respect, and faith arise from attraction. If we’re mature enough to be able to be attracted to sublime qualities, our devotion causes the sublime qualities to flow into us. Then we accumulate merit, virtue, karma, again through compassion for all beings and generosity.
So love, faith, compassion, generosity – we practice these, just like lifting weights or running on a treadmill, we build our muscles and these we build- we become a container that can hold the transmission of the transmission of the Buddhas. We become a hero. Vajrasattva. We become an awakening warrior. We become a bodhisattva, yeah? Like, like Jason and the Argonauts or the knights of King Arthur. We’re building this body of spiritual strength capable of living our, our dream of the benefit of self and other of the two aims.
One of the things I really like about this text is the name for Vajrasattva practice: “Purifying Obscurations - The Offering Without Fixation.” This is a great name because the, in mandala practice, we’re making an offering with fixation. We’re visualizing… got a little mandala plate, and we’re visualizing all the incredible riches outer, inner, and secret, that we’re giving. In Vajrasattva practice, when you-- when you are purifed by Vajrasattva all of the the defilements, karmic traces, of your being flow down out of you and saturate the ground and become actually, become a food for all kinds of subtle, little, weird beings that eat the crap of human beings. Yeah?
Just like flies in the horse shit out in the field.. its’ there it’s their food, it’s their heaven, it’s their pleasure palace of mating and reproducing. You know, you look at those flies out there in the horse shit and you think “Wow, to the horse it’s shit and to the fly, it’s a pleasure realm, a pure realm of sensual delights. It’s the Zangdok Palri of flies, practically! And this is true for…
So in Vajrasattva practice, you’re actually making this wonderful offering without fixation. You’re not fixating on the notion of offering. But this incredible offering is being made nonetheless. Now in this practice… kind of interesting ‘cause uh… Do Khanetse is saying in the little commentary right after Vajrasattva practice is that this practice is a generation and completion phase practice of Deity Yoga. So again he’s saying, even here in Ngondro you’re to understand this Vajrasattva practice as accomplishing deity yoga practice. So he he’s mixing Mahayoga in to the Ngondro. He says this is the generation stage of deity yoga. Training in the completion stage channels, winds and subtle drops. This is the basis for accomplishing the body of light.
So, you actually do the Vajrasattva practice as a d- as the two phases of tantric diety yoga. The first part of the Vajrasattva is the outer tantra practice, and the second part of the Vajrasattva practice is the inner mahayoga style of practice. In the first one, there’s a little verse and basically it’s the… it’s the, you know, the basic visualization of Vajrasattva on the crown of your head and the nectar from Vajrasattva and his consort’s union is flowing down into your body. You should all know this from previous Ngondro commentaries, so I won’t go into detail into that… and it leaves you without any stain, right?
All the… all of the impurities the light, the nectar, the nectar of the pure bliss pleasure of their joyous union, sexual union, flows down into your body. This radiant like sunlight on a conch shell mountain. Imagine this beautiful conch shell mountain, just a touch of pink in the shell and the sunlight’s hitting it suddenly it’s hitting it’s kinda, this kinda beautiful, white radiance. That’s how Vajrasattva and his consort’s bodies look. Their pure realm, the Very Joyous pure realm they’re surrounded in this light of pure joy, pure pleasure.
It’s an interesting thing, two sixteen-year olds mating on top of your head is the quintessential symbol of purity. This is not puritanical, Lutheran view, right? So don’t bring that to your practice. This is a very different view. This is, this is not original… sex as original sin, suddenly Adam and Eve become cognizant of the fact that they have genitals and everything goes bad, yeah? I mean it’s an understandable mythology, because truly that’s what happens in peoples’ lives. Everything goes really good for a very short time and then... But this is a very different view because it’s meant to purify this, right?
The quintessecense of purity is what? The quintessence of purity is the unity of bliss and emptiness. And Vajrasattva and consort’s bliss-emptiness-joy, right? It is desire as union of bliss and emptiness, co-emergent bliss and emptiness. Realizing the fourth joy pouring down into your body, purifying all obscuration.
You recite the hundred-syllable mantra and carefully observe the key points of the visualization. This delights the Lama, being Vajrasattva in your head… Lama… and he lovingly gives his approval. One’s body, which has become light, fades like a rainbow in the sky. So Vajrasattva, you’re doing Vajrasa-- a 100-syllable mantra it causes Vajrasattva and his consort to become even happier. They’re rejoicing and delighting in the supplication and the purity of the hundred s -- and the act of being able to purify they delight in this and they look at you—so now maybe they have to be up here looking… they look at you with approval. They look at you kind of like, with this sense of “You’re one of us!”
Basically complete, absolute, approval and acceptance. Acceptance and approval so deep and so vast and so profound that you simply… All your-- you disappear and what’s here is all your-- your notions of yourself. All your concepts of what you are, good and bad, right and wrong, acceptance and rejection… All of them disappear like a rainbow disappearing into the sky. Yeah? Disappear completely. Vajrasattva’s approval is so great that you simply… all impurity, which is all your concrete notions about your self and existence, gone.
This is big approval, right? This is really… You can’t get more approving than… I want to emphasize this again and again because lately here are these weird things about people think the Yidams disapprove of them. The Yidams are the motion of approval, right?
So Vajrasattva’s happiness, which is already co-extensive with space, becomes even more like pouring space into space, and then you do deity yoga. Now you dissolve into emptiness. And:
From compassion’s natural wonder, uncontrived self-,luminous wisdom Appears as HUNG in light resplendent, One’s own awareness manifest.
Right? So here are the three samadhis. As you practice, you do this next portion as a deity yoga, which means you combine it, you begin and combine it with three samadhis, which are the base of all deity yoga practice.
The first samadhi is resting in the nature of suchness. It has an object to be purified, a means of purification and the result of purification. The object to be purified in the first samadhi is the moment of dying. It is the moment when the consciousnesses dissolve back in death (missing) into Dharmakaya. There’s a moment of clear light Dharmakaya mind. Every single person as they die, and this can be either your physical death or in completion phase meditation or in, even moments in ordinary life. But everyone gets the moment when the physical body dies. The five elements dissolve, and mind dissolves into Dharmakaya’s vast, open, pure, natural state. And by practicing the first samadhi in deity yoga, we practice for this moment of death. We’re practicing again and again. We remember so that when the moment actually happens in death, if we haven’t attained buddhahood, prior to that we have this - there’s these three moments that’ll take place and in each one is an open doorway to realization.
And the first one is as you die. There is a moment. Very short, very swift, but elements dissolve and consciousness dissolves into clear light and for a moment you rest in the nature of awareness. Clear, empty, infinite, unborn, undying awareness. This is the first samadhi. When we do the practice for a moment, we just let go all conceptuality- this is what’s happened at the end of the first part- all conceptuality disappears in this purity. We just rest in that for a second.
Uncontrived self-luminous wisdom-- the second samadhi. The second samadhi is the fact that, that almost instantly with this clear light wisdom dharmakaya, is the luminosity of awareness. The luminosity of awareness is surging forth in every moment, pervasive and extensive with emptiness itself. The first samadhi is Shine, the second samadhi is Lhatong. So in the second samadhi, we rest in emptiness and instead of you know, conceptuality is going to arise. Something’s going to arise. You’re going to arise. So instead of conceptually building a framework of duality and confusion and ignorance around the fact of this surging of the nature of awareness, we do something else with it. That, in terms of the object to be purified in the first Samadhi is death. The method of purification is to rest in emptiness. And the result of purification is to sow the seed for realizing Dharmakaya. The object of purification in the second samadhi is the confusion about the luminous nature of awareness. The method of purification, is the cultivation of compassion in emptiness. And the result of purification is to sow the seed for the realization of Sambhogakaya, yeah?
So what this means is that from emptiness, if you just rest… The second samadhi does this other wonderful thing. It obliterates the tendency to cling to emptiness. When you realize emptiness and for a moment you rest in Dharmakaya’s vast empty nature, think “O my god what a nice vacation!” Of course, if you’re thinking that, you’re not resting in it. But if you could think, you’d be thinking that and think, “I’m not going back,” right? Confusing, annoying, blither-blather going on out there and I’m just going to rest in this cave of happy emptiness.
So there’s a tendency to cling to the, the simplicity and openness of this emptiness. But there’s two problems with this. One is it’s dualistic because it’s-- it sets up a dichotomy and a fight between emptiness and appearance. And you can’t get out of appearance because appearance keeps appearing, whether you want it to or not. It’s not your permission. It’s not asking emptiness’ permission, right? And the other problem with it is, that it breaks your basic vows of bodhisattva. So, in emptiness, we consciously turn the movement of awareness into luminosity and compassion, joy. We meditate. Instead of resting in our empty state, we meditate: “May I have compassion for all sentient beings. May I become a source of refuge for all sentient beings.” This line:
“Uncontrived self-luminous wisdom”
The wisdom here is the self-luminous wisdom of compassion. We meditate on compassion. There’s no… there’s no… big, long, we don’t do some long thing. It’s literally the length of chanting this line.
“From compassion’s empty wonder uncontrived, self-luminous wisdom appears as HUNG in light resplendent.”
The first samadhi really is begun in the last line of the preceeding part, and so the second samadhi is this compassion. Object purified is clinging to emptiness. The method of purification… contemplate is the meditation of compassion. The result of purification is Sambhogakaya. Realizing that appearance arises from emptiness without ever leaving emptiness. That everything is just appearance-emptiness and emptiness-appearance. Is luminous awareness… awareness-appearance.
And then.
“Appears as HUNG in light resplendent, one’s own awareness manifest.”
The third samadhi purifies the moment… So the first samadhi purifies the moment of death. The second samadhi purifies a mo- this, the surging forth of luminosity. And the third Samadhi purifies the moment of the arising of the bardo realms.
After you die, you’re going to get this split second of clear light emptiness dharmakaya vastness. And then, very quickly, appearances is going to arise, the way they do in a dream during your sleep. So appearances are going to arise-- in the bardo state and here. So the object of purification of the third samadhi is mistaken notion about appearances when they’re arising. Mistaking them to be somehow separate from you.
When you’re asleep and a dream arises, you make the mistake of thinking that the dream is actually existent appearances. In your waking state, you also make the same mistake, it just seems not a mistake to you in a waking state. When you’re mistaking (clanks a cup) that as an actually existent -- “Ow that hurt!” and it seems like an actually existent, real hurt. Not only is it an actually existent real wooden puja table, but hitting it causes an
actually existent, real hurt. And it’s all a mistake just like in a dream. I could hit a puja table and hurt my finger also right?
In the bardo realm after you die, you’ll be clear light awareness… body’s dead they’re carting you down to the morgue for an autopsy and suddenly, you know, you’re on a beach in Mexico sipping daquiris with a bevy of dancing girls that all look exactly like Tsochen Khandro. So you know and then it, it changes into something else and suddenly they all look like Rolpa in drag! You know, it’s constantly alternating, wondrous and horrible appearance, yeah?
So, third Samadhi… the object of purification is mistaken, is the appearances themselves. The method of purification is contemplation of them as the arising of luminosity and forms of compassion. And the result of purification is to sow the seeds for the realization of the Nirmanakaya. So that when you die, either in meditation or in real life, that instead of arising in seemingly real forms, you’ll arise in the empty illusory bodies of Yidams for the benefit of all beings through acting in compassion. And in this way also, through the Generation phase, you sow the seed for the Completion phase, because it is in this empty illusory body of the Yidam that you will practice the subtle completion phase of the winds and channels and drops that purifies the subtle clinging to anything as real, right? Here we’re purifying gross appearances through Generation phase.
So these are the three samadhis, as they’re taking place in the Vajrasattva practice.
“Appears as HUNG in light resplendent, one’s own awareness manifest.”
And then:
“Sperm and ovum, now descending, growing, shining, and absorbing the lucent nature manifesting as the deep blue Vajrasattva.”
So, all kinds of elaborate and short visualization descriptions. This is a very short one and I’ll just go over it shortly, also. But, for example, everything in Mahayoga has a meaning. This is called the purity of the appearance. When you can develop clear appearance, holding the clear appearance through meditative concentration, then you contemplate the purity of the appearance -- which is the meaning of the symbols. When you have this kind of shine ability to contemplate the appearance and it’s meaning, the symbolic transformation which is the heart of Tantra, takes place. Contemplating with a calm awareness the meaning of the symbols, the purity of the appearance, causes the same aspects in yourself to be transformed into what you’re contemplating. What you meditate on, you become. So, there are symbols in Mahayoga for all the different aspects of being human beings.
“Sperm and ovum now descending…”
In, there’s a sun and moon seat. See the yellow line here represents sun. The white that they’re sitting on is the moon. They’re sitting on a lotus, sun. and moon. There might be
all kinds of other things as well. But here the sun and the moon, moon are the sperm and the ovum. The, the semen and the egg of your parents, they gave birth to you and it is now, so the very constituents, the first red and white drop that formed the physical body, which you have embodied beingness with. In the contemplation, its purified, so you’re purified from the start. You are pure from the start, not impure from the start. Yeah?
And then each aspect of the deity’s appearance has a meaning as well. Qualities of having the the… seated in the seven-point posture is the meditative equipose of stability of view, not being blown around by this and that and everything else. So the sperm and ovum now descending… you got those HUNGs. “Sperm and ovum” means the sun and a moon seat suddenly appear beneath, on a lotus, suddenly appear beneath the HUNG. The HUNG sends out light rays and draws back. It sends out light rays that touch all the Buddhas, all the spiritual beings of every tradition, every place and every time, and draws their power back into the HUNG. This is your own awareness… that’s doing this. And then the awareness suddenly manifest. The HUNG suddenly transforms instantly into this dark blue Vajrasattva.
“Blazing in vast rays of light the hero of vast sheer compassion. Within his heart—“(and that’s you) “a HUNG is shimmering it’s light makes offerings to all Buddhas, purifying obscurations of every precious parent being. All appearance without remainder are transformed to the Buddha’s pure realm. OM AH BENZRA SATTVA HUNG”
You as Vajrasattva with a HUNG in your heart and the light rays are going out, purifying every kind of being. What you’re doing there… what are you doing? You’re becoming the messenger of the activities of the Buddha. You’re fulfilling the promise that you made, yeah? … in the earlier prayer. So this is the, the beautiful Vajrasattva practice. That’s the generation part and then he explains the completion part.
So, this is the Generation stage of deity yoga, train in the Completion stage of channels, winds, and subtle drops. This is the basis for accomplishing the body of light. Endeavor in the profound, essential instructions of the four elements along the stages of the path. At the end of the session, now we’re going to Completion phase, the outer and inner worlds gather into oneself. The appearance of the deity in the life force syllable, up in to the nada, dissolve, and one rests in a state of inexpressible non-conceptuality.
So, all of the world and all of your inner world of feelings, dissolves into yourself as Vajrasattva. Vajrasattva dissolves like a puddle dissolving from the edges into the HUNG, until just the HUNG is there. The HUNG dissolves from the bottom up. The nada is the little squiggle at the top of the tigle, at the top of the HUNG. HUNG dissolves from the bottom, up into this sphere. This sphere dissolves into this little squiggle. The squiggle dissolves, dissolves up, up, up, poof!
And you just rest in this uncontrived luminous emptiness suffused with compassion. In an inexpressible non-conceptuality. Sustain the fundamental state of natural, self-cognizant awareness.
Vajrasattva, part 2
Purifying Obscurations – the offering without fixation
Like a moon full bright and luminous, like sunlight on a conch shell mountain Vajrasattva white and shimmering, adorned with beauty and with consort Sits upon the crown of my head nectar flowing from their union Obscurations, faults, infractions, all mistakes and all transgressions Are cleansed and leave no stain remaining, saturating earth with nectar Karmic debts in all the six realms are satisfied through this pure offering
Recite the hundred-syllable mantra and carefully observe the key points of visualization. Meditate with flowing tears of compassion. This delights the lama and he lovingly gives his approval. One’s body, which has become like light, fades like a rainbow in the sky.
From compassion’s natural wonder, uncontrived self-luminous wisdom Appears as HUNG in light resplendent, one’s own awareness manifest. Sperm and ovum now descending, brilliance shining and absorbing, The lucent nature manifesting, as the deep blue Vajrasattva, Blazing in vast rays of light, the hero of vast sheer compassion. Within his heart a HUNG is shimmering, its light makes offerings to all the Buddhas, Purifying obscurations of every precious parent being, All appearance without remainder, transforms to the Buddha’s pure realm. OM AH BENZRA SATTVA HUNG
Recite the mantra like a flowing river. Rest in an unconditioned state that is inseparable from the three adoptions. This is the generation stage of deity yoga. Train in the completion stage of channels, winds and subtle drops. This is the basis for accomplishing the body of light. Endeaver in the profound essential instructions of the four elements along with the stages of the path. At the end of the session, the outer and inner worlds gather into one’s self. The appearance of the deity and the life force syllable up into the nada dissolve and one rests in the state of inexpressible nonconceptuality. Sustain the fundamental state of natural self-congnizant awareness. These are the stages of the uncommon path. One must be diligent in this profound path. Samaya.
So the Vajrasattva practice within the ngondro, here within Do Khyentse’s ngondro, the Dakini’s Warm Breath Ngondro, is a turning point in the practices as a whole. We’ve done the refuge practice and the mandala practice, and now we’re doing the Vajrasattva practice. And it’s a turning point because here, for the first time, you are cultivating aspects of the stages of generation and completion phase. It’s also a turning point because it directly addresses the causes of failure in practice. The fundamental cause of someone failing within their practice is that mind is filled with tendencies of non-virtue, right?
It’s as if our mind – the continuum of our mind – mind is continuous. From lifetime to lifetime there is a single mindstream, which is continuous. This is the fundamental point which nihilists miss, who believe that mind is simply a phenomenon of one lifetime of material phenomenon, fundamentally. But mind is continuous across lifetimes. And across lifetimes one accumulates virtuous and non-virtuous tendencies. Virtuous being those tendencies which bring ourselves and others happiness, non-virtuous being those tendencies which bring ourselves and others unhappiness. And one also has enacted these tendencies upon countless occasions, reinforcing the vectoral line of happiness and the vectoral line of unhappiness.
If we engage the spiritual path it is the vectoral line of happiness, the directional momentum towards happiness that causes us to enter the path to begin with. But it is not that our minds are pure and simple, now just this vectoral direction of happiness. We don’t have just one “I”. We could say like, “I want to quit smoking, I want to go on a diet, I want to have more sex, I want to be a nice wife, I want to be an asshole.” So we have countless “I’s” going on within us. And each of these has its own momentum.
I was looking the other day at a crystal ball that was filled with these little filaments of some kind of substance, I think it was probably some kind of a metal. It looked like little filaments of gold that go all kinds of different directions throughout the crystal ball. And in many ways this is what our mindstream is like. It’s filled with often contradictory directional tendencies. We have a tendency to want happiness. The conqueror Shakyamuni said all beings want happiness and only ignorance is to blame. But in countless lifetimes, due to acting upon that ignorance, we create a vectoral momentum of ignorance. So one part of us wants to follow the Buddha’s teachings and another part of us wants to follow selfish or self-centered tendencies. One part of us wants to do things that we know will bring ourselves and others happiness, but another part of us wants to grasp at illusions of happiness in a particular moment -- even sometimes if we know that that illusion will brings ourselves and other unhappiness.
It’s very strange and obviously the best example of this is addiction. The addict is compelled by a momentum of karma, even if they have decided time and time again not to use drugs or alcohol or sex or whatever it is they are addicted to. But the momentum of the karma builds and builds and builds, little by little, until it compels one to act in a way that causes harm or suffering to oneself and others, until these mental and emotional hindrances and defilements exist within our mindstream. And they are the fundamental cause of our meditation not being stable. And unless they are addressed, which is what Vajrasattva practice does, unless they are addressed, they will never change or go away. You can change all sorts of aspects of your being but still keep some little pocket, which you refuse to look at, refuse to touch on, refuse to change, and it will drag you back down. Eventually you will be dragged back down again and again and this is the experience of every one of you in this room. Again and again and again you will be dragged back down to the lowest common denominator of your mindstream. Thinle Norbu Rinpoche says if even one concept remains, even if that concept is the lama, if even one concept remains, this won’t do. Because you will be dragged back down to the lowest common denominator. Mindstream dumbs down.
Your mind is like a mirror of primordial purity and luminosity, but the mirror is covered in dust. And this dust obscures the ability for luminous display and reflection. Unless one purifies this, the countless imprints. Recently in the last few months, several times I’ve given these teachings on the eight consciousnesses, the manner in which the sixth, seventh, and eighth are the focal points of our practice. The sixth, mental events, is the place where we practice meditation. The seventh is the afflicted mind and the eighth is the all-basis consciousness. All activities leave an imprint in the all-basis consciousness. So this is where the dust accumulates. When the sixth mind is utterly purified, the seventh and eighth disappear, simply revealing the primordial purity and luminosity of this mirror-like awareness. If you don’t, then this dust of adventitious stains arises again and again to cause instability and interruption in one’s meditation practice.
Vajrasattva practice is the way that we as tantrikas address this problem, this issue. In all of the practices, the power of the Buddha’s blessing combines with our own intention and meditation and concentration to bring about purification. So, for instance, in refuge practice, our own precious lama appears as Orgyan Dorje Chang, and here, our own lama appears as Vajrasattva, who is the embodiment of the purity of all of the buddhas. It’s as if buddhahood is not a thing, buddhahood is a field, a field of potentiality. And that field appears depending on the needs of sentient beings, in particular forms. For refuge, it appears as Orgyan Dorje Chang. For the practice of purification of the imprints of our own wrongdoings and the momentum of the tendencies of those karmas, it appears as Vajrasattva. It is always our own lama. The lama who is the nirmanakaya of the Buddha appearing then, in sambhogakaya form for us, for the purpose of purification.
By meditating upon sublime intangible wisdom forms, such as ODC or Vajrasattva, we cut through the tendency to simply materialize and grasp to, or concretize the nirmanakaya form of the lama. So in this case, in order to cleanse the imprints in the alayavijyana within the eighth consciousness, to cleanse the dust, to wipe the dust off of the mirror, the potentiality of all buddhas arises as Vajrasattva, and arises as the four powers. And no matter what kind of stain there is in the mind, no matter what kind of action or deed one has committed, there is no stain - nothing whatsoever - which cannot be purified by the four powers. This is such a wondrous and profound thing. Because all of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, really the fundamental cause of shallow bullshit consolation new age dharma, is the secret belief that we are so distorted, so corrupted somewhere deep in our hearts and our souls, so bound by original sin, that we have done something that cannot be purified. But the point of this practice is, the point of all tantric practice is, that because buddha nature, because the result is also the ground, because our authentic and innate nature is Buddha nature, there is no adventitious - merely temporary arising from circumstances - stain which can obscure that in any ultimate fashion. You simply need to know the remedy. And the remedy is the four powers.
So at this point when we’ve accumulated a tremendous amount of virtue, through refuge practice, through mandala practice, and we need to remove the stains that will cause instability if we go further on the path. And that’s Vajrasattva practice.
So as you do the practice at every single point, you need to apply the four powers, and I thought I’d go over them. I was surprised… I heard the other day that quite a number of people didn’t know what the four powers were, so I though I would go over it in some detailed fashion. The four powers are reliance, remorse, the remedy and the resolve. They are all four with “r’s”. Reliance, remorse, remedy, resolve.
So the reliance here is Vajrasattva as the embodiment of our refuge. Vajrasattva as the emblem of the lama’s purity, as the purity of all buddhas, and the innate purity of the authentic nature of mind. There is a sense in which you could say, using current lingo, Vajrasattva is the higher power here. Because one is trapped within the closed loop system of the sixth mind, and if you do not being in some kind of a higher power from outside that closed loop, from outside the closed loop of your own mental constructs, then all you can do is rearrange the furniture in that room. The reason a higher power, for instance in alcoholics anonymous, in AA, is brought in, is because they understand that without bringing in something from outside the system of
delusion itself, there is no hope, all you can do is rearrange delusion, and it will assert itself time and time again. Some kind of a higher power outside of ourselves. Here the higher power is Buddha nature, in the form of our lama, in the form of the lineage, in the form of all the buddhas, in the form of Vajrasattva, who is inseparable from the innate nature of our own mind. But we can’t access the innate nature of our own minds because of the obscurations, so we need something outside of the adventitious or temporary constructs of our mind so that we can discover its innate nature. And here, that’s Vajrasattva. So reliance, the first of the four powers, means we rely upon the power of Buddha nature, which appears to us in some kind of a form so that we can connect to it. Here it appears to us in the pure sublime sambhogakaya form of Vajrasattva and consort.
The second of the four powers is remorse. There can only be purification with remorse. There is no other possible way. Buddhism is not a religion of shame and blame. Atisha said, “Drive all blame into one.” That’s no particular person including yourself. That one which all blame is driven into, is ignorance. Ultimately Buddhism does not believe in evil, an incarnate form of delusion upon which we can place blame. Tharchen Rinpoche, in a commentary on the Tromo practices I was reading recently, quotes Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, who says there is not even a single atom, a single particle, of actual
existence upon which we can place the labels good and bad, because there are no actually existent particles in existence. And labels are mere conceptual designations. This now is my commentary. Conceptual designations. Buddhism is not a religion of shame and blame. There is one cause of suffering, and that is ignorance. Whether others cause us suffering, or we cause ourselves and others suffering, there is one reason and that is ignorance. All beings want to be happy. Ignorance is to blame. Because we are confused as to the authentic causes of pure happiness, we grasp to what we believe will be causes of happiness, just the same way a moth flies into a flame. For some reason it’s attracted to the fire and it flies closer and closer until it burns up and dies. Or often in light fixtures now, you can take the glass off a light fixture and it’s full of all kinds of little bugs that have died in there, attracted to the light, thinking that it was a cause of happiness, when in fact is was the cause of suffering and death.
At the same time, it is true that we are confused. Because we are confused as to the causes of happiness, we do engage in actions that cause ourselves and others suffering. And because of the nature of consciousness, those actions leave an imprint. And because of the nature of imprints, because imprints are not static things but a part of a process, they become vectoral directions, vectoral directions increasing in momentum and intensity as it travels along. So again with addiction, even if we know we need to stop drinking alcohol, the vectoral direction and momentum of our drinking causes us to drink again and again. We increase the shame, increase the guilt, increase the suffering, but this momentum impels us. There is no human being who has not felt impelled to do something which they knew would end up badly, because of the momentum of their karmas.
So when we feel remorse -- and this is a delicate subject, the second power remorse -- it is not to be confused with toxic shame. We feel remorse, not because we are intrinsically bad people or we are guilty of some kind of original sin, but because we have become confused, because we have become lost within ignorance. And when we recognize that particular direction is one of ignorance, which causes ourselves and others suffering, we feel badly for it, because it causes suffering, not because we are bad people. We in fact are not people at all. “People” is simply one of the conceptual designations or
labels which ultimately causes suffering. It is the root of ignorance. So we cannot be bad people. Studying Nagarjuna’s 11th chapter of fundamental middle way teachings. There are no bad people, because there are no people. There are no mistaken people because there are no mistakes and there are no people. So what we feel remorse for is having become lost in ignorance and confusion. We don’t have to become lost in toxic shame, but we do have to acknowledge remorse. We have to authentically feel badly that we have caused suffering to others, and that this suffering has left imprints that impel us
against our better judgment to enact the same things over and over again. So when we do practice, there is a sense in which, without hiding or concealing, we confess these things, not to any person - there is no intermediary, no priest who sits in the confessional between us and the Buddha. The Buddha is ultimately the nature of our own mind, and we don’t need a person between ourselves and the Buddha in this case. We don’t go to our lama and confess, we don’t have to call them or write emails or whatever. I can assure you they don’t want that. But we confess openly, engage endlessly in these actions that cause ourselves and others suffering, and I feel a remorse deeply inside myself, I feel badly that I think in competitive ways and in angry ways and in jealous ways and in comparative ways and belittling ways or whatever particular poison we like to drink. So we feel remorse.
And then the third of the four powers is the remedy. So let’s say you were very thirsty. When I finished my workout today, I was incredibly thirsty, and I went to the kitchen and I have this bad habit. We have a deep sink and there are often several glasses at the bottom of the sink. And I’ll just pick any of them up instead of getting a clean glass, I’ll just pick up a glass that’s in the sink already and fill it with water. And what I think is I’m, you know, saving having to wash one more glass and that’s a good thing, but sometimes I don’t bother to check what was in the glass, and I put water in it and I drink it and it tastes terrible, because it has anything from coffee to vinegar to who knows what
to dish soap, which is what happened today. So I put some water in the glass and I chug it down and I’m drinking water and dish soap mixed together. So imagine for a moment that you were very thirsty and you went to drink some water but you drank some poison instead. Then what would you do, once you discovered you had drunk poison? You would have to apply some remedy, you would call a doctor, you would want to find out what is the remedy. Sometimes the remedy is they give you ipecac, which makes you throw up, or maybe they have to give you some kind of particular poison remedy. But if you drink poison you need a remedy, you need an antidote to that poison. Literally because we are confused as to the authentic causes of pure happiness, we drink poison, like a moth flying into a flame kills itself. We drink poison, we drink the five poisons as if they were nectar, as if they were water, and when we realize that that’s what we are doing, then we look for a remedy.
So the third of the four powers -- the first power is reliance, the second power is remorse -- the third power is the remedy. And here the remedy is the inherent purity of Buddha nature, configured as Vajrasattva. Vajrasattva is the emblem, which is the carrier of the blessing force of the Buddha. Here the medium is the message, the medium is the mantra and the configuration of light of Vajrasattva. The medium is the message. So the third power is the remedy. It combines the intention, the remorse and then the intention to purify these poisons, and the power of mantra, and the power of the form of Vajrasattva to cleanse all imprints of confusion and wrong action. Because if we don’t purify, then they build up a momentum that carries us into further confusion and wrong action. So we have to have a remedy. The remedy here is such a wondrous one. We don’t have simply some vague abstract higher power. We have one that can be seen, whose mantra can be chanted, with whom we can integrate our own mindstream. So the remedy -- the reliance and the remedy are the same thing. We rely on Vajrasattva and the remedy is to rely on Vajrasattva, and do the practice of his mantra and visualization.
And the fourth of the four powers is the resolve. We have to resolve, because our practice is not perfect. If our practice was perfect, we would do the practice of Vajrasattva and there would be no stain left. The sixth consciousness would be perfectly purified, the seventh and eighth would disappear of themselves, and what was an all-basis consciousness would simply dawn as an all-basis wisdom. We would rest in the natural state and there would be no
problems. But because our practice is not perfect, we will not purify every karmic momentum the first time we do Vajrasattva practice. At least it’s unlikely. It has happened. There are stories within the tradition of people doing Vajrasattva practice attaining complete enlightenment. But because it’s unlikely that that’s going to happen, we have to resolve that we will not reengage these same actions. Knowing that the tendency will come up again,
and knowing that when it comes up it will carry with it a momentum and knowing that that momentum will carry with it a series of conceptual elaborations, which justify the momentum, so we think ahead of time. I know that when I’m in this situation, this tendency will arise and I resolve not to engage it. Right? Because we have been so honest with ourselves in the remorse section where we actually confess the actions arisen from ignorance, we can be very honest with ourselves, and then we can resolve not to do them and it’s not simply wishful thinking resolve. It’s not, “Oh, I really hope I don’t ever do that” or we’re not even just hoping
“Oh, I’m not going to do that.” Sometimes when people write to Tsochen Khandro and I and they say, “I see I did this and it’s terrible and I will never do that again.” As soon as they say that we know they’re going to do it again. Because they’re lying to themselves completely, as if I could just say it and not have it happen again. As if just saying “I’ll never act that way again” somehow was going to counteract… There’s no reliance at all, and there’s no remedy applied. Instead we say, “Through the reliance, through remorse, through the remedy, I will purify these tendencies as best I can and I will plan ahead. Because I know they will come up again. I will plan ahead and so when they come up I will have a plan.”
People who are successful in Alcoholics Anonymous, for instance, which is a very good metaphor for this practice, they plan not to drive home by a liquor store where they always bought their liquor. Because they know, “When I drive past that liquor store I’m going to want to pull in that parking lot through the sheer momentum of habit.” They plan not to see their buddies who they just drank with all the time. They plan not to go back to bars where they
socialized before. They don’t say to themselves, “Well, that was my big social hangout and I need to socialize so I’m going to there so I am going to socialize there and I’m not going to drink.” As if somehow they there were more powerful than the entire momentum of all of their tendencies. Instead they plan a life around not drinking. The ones who are successful do this. In the same way, resolve is not just a statement, “I’ll never do that again.” It is the statement, “I will not do that again and therefore I will take into account the tendency and not enact the tendency.”
So these are the four powers of Vajrasattva practice. The fundamental one, then, that we are talking about in terms of ngondro practice itself, technically, is the remedy. The ngondro practice contains within its section on Vajrasattva, the remedy, the technical tantric practice of Vajrasattva itself. The practice of mantra and visualization which purifies the stains, the imprints left from wrongdoing arising from ignorance and confusion. It begins with the verse:
Like a moon full bright and luminous, like sunlight on a conch shell mountain Vajrasattva white and shimmering, adorned with beauty and with consort Sits upon the crown of my head, nectar flowing from their union. Obscurations, faults, infractions, all mistakes and all transgressions Are cleansed and leave no stain remaining, saturating earth with nectar. Karmic debts in all the six realms, are satisfied through this pure offering.
So one visualizes above one’s head either an eight-petaled or a thousand-petaled -- you can take your pick - white lotus. And on this lotus is the syllable HUNG. It’s a blue -- deep luminous blue -- HUNG. And instantaneously, in the time of a finger snap, this HUNG transforms into Vajrasattva and his consort. Vajrasattva is a luminous -- not concrete or solid in form -- but a luminous translucent form, completely white as if a thousand suns were shining on a snow-capped mountain. A brilliant, blazing white, a white which is radiating light out in all directions. And he’s in union with his consort. She also is white, of a slight, slight tinge less white than him, enough that you can distinguish the two bodies, but fundamentally white as well. He holds a bell and vajra.
He holds the bell in his right hand at the heart, the vajra at his hip. The bell and vajra represent the intrinsic awareness-emptiness and appearance-emptiness, right?
Awareness emptiness is the rig-tong, the inseparability of awareness (rigpa) and emptiness. But also appearance-emptiness. All of appearance is completely empty. It’s because of this natural purity of awareness and appearance in its emptiness quality, because of kadak, the primordial purity, that Vajrasattva’s awareness-appearance is unsullied. Completely and utterly unsullied. His legs are crossed, symbolizing the perfect unity of method and wisdom. And he wears the thirteen ornaments of the samboghakaya, which are five types of silks, crown, earrings, necklace, armlets, long and short pendants, bracelets, finger rings and anklets. These are the traditional ornaments of the samboghakaya deity. In the heart of Vajrasattva and his consort
is a moon disc. And here there are two ways this can be understood, according to different traditions. One is we’re saying that, in the heart of Vajrasattva, the male deity of the pair, is this. The other is that in the heart, in - sometimes it’s said actually in the text - in their heart, which means the two of them together, meaning the heart in the very middle, is this moon disc. And the moon disc is quite tiny. And on the disc is the syllable HUNG, and around the HUNG are the hundred syllables of Vajrasattva’s mantra. And as you recite the mantra, light rays emanate out from it. So, in the verse itself it says:
Like a moon full bright and luminous, like sunlight on a conch shell mountain, Vajrasattva white and shimmering, adorned with beauty and with consort.
That is what we’ve described so far. The consort is holding a drigug (the curved knife), and a skullcup. You can see the image for this. They sit upon crown of my head, nectar flowing from their union. So they’re right above your head, four finger widths above your head is the lotus. The stalk from the lotus, the stem from the lotus, comes down from at these four finger widths and enters into the fontanel of your head. And upon that lotus is the HUNG, which turns into Vajrasattva, the brilliant radiant form of Vajrasattva.
Nectar flowing from their union.
When you chant the hundred-syllable mantra, light rays emanate out from the hundred syllables, like three rings of blazing white light around the HUNG. Light emanates out from that through the empty luminous appearance of Vajrasattva and consort, and it pours down to the point of their union, where their genitals meet in union, and then it pours down through this stem through the fontanel of your head, filling up your body. You recite the mantra of Vajrasattva while visualizing that white light emanates from the spinning mantra in the heart and pours down and out their bodies to the point of union. This light flows down and through the stem of the lotus into your body. As the light floods your body, the residue of all past karmic negative actions is pushed from the body. This leaves the body in the form of gray smoke, tar, pus, insects, sweat, and the like, gushing from the pores and bodily orifices, flowing down deep, deep into the ground where the Lord of Death in the form of a red bull with gaping mouth swallows it with delight. As the bull is filled with this waste, contemplate that all karmic debts have been paid. So it says:
Obscurations, faults, infractions, all mistakes and all transgressions Are cleansed and leave no stain remaining, saturating earth with nectar. Karmic debts in all the six realms, are satisfied through this pure offering.
Light flows down – so the light is the very heart essence of Vajrasattva and consort. But also, it flows down to you from the point of their union. It is not be mistaken here, that the place where purification comes is the point of erotic union between Vajrasattva and his consort. There is no shameful distinction here made between appearance of the intangible wisdom body forms of Vajrasattva and his consort with their erotic delightful sexual union, as the purity of their sensual awareness. All of these are included. And then all of this is what pours down into you and purifies the stains of every wrong
action. Every time you have acted from confusion, every time in which you engaged any action whatsoever from ignorance and confusion which caused yourself and others suffering, it left an imprint within the alayavijnana, the storehouse consciousness, the eighth consciousness. That eighth consciousness, moved by the wind of the afflicted mind, the seventh consciousness, causes the arising of the six gatherings and the mental constructs of the sixth consciousness. All of this is purified, then, through the wisdom light of Vajrasattva, pouring down into your body, all at once. Otherwise you would have to antidote, one by one, each of the samskaras, each of the imprints. This would take forever, three countlessly long eons. Instead, all of it is purified through the flood of ecstatic wisdom light of Vajrasattva and his consort. It flows down into our body, and it pushes out from us these imprints. And because we take embodiment as a concrete solid appearance, because we fixate concretely upon material appearances, this purification takes a material form: sweat, pus, tar, insects, blood, are pushed out; smoke, pushed out, through the pores of our body and the orifices of our body. They gush out.
Now, there is a more complex and a less complex form of the visualization. The less complex is the light pours down in general and pushes out. The more complex is it pours down into the central channel and out through the sixty-four side channels at the navel and then fills the body from there, and then moves up to the heart, the eight channels, the sixteen at the throat, the thirty-two at the crown, and fills the body through filling up the central channel and moving out through the side channels. Either the more or less elaborate of these visualizations is fine. When all of the putrid cleaning to materiality and ignorance and confusion, which is the source of our suffering, is pushed from our body, it drips down off our body into like a puddle on the ground. It goes deep, deep, deep, deep into the ground, nine stories down. Nine stories down, is a red bull with a gaping mouth. It is just standing
there with its mouth wide open, and all this puss-y, putrid yuck of our negative imprints from wrongdoing flows into its mouth and it eats this, with delight. Somewhat in the way they are now bioengineering bacteria that will eat toxic waste. They are not slaves forced to eat toxic waste, so we can get rid of it. They delight in toxic waste. They are bacteria bioengineered to find toxic waste to be delightful food. This red bull absorbs -- which is really the emblem of the Lord of Death -- absorbs all of these imprints. And by absorbing them we pay the karmic debts we have in all six realms. It says:
Karmic debts in all the six realms are satisfies through the pure offering.
Then the explanation in the practice says:
Recite the hundred-syllable mantra and carefully observe the key points in visualization. Meditate with flowing tears of compassion. This delights the lama and he lovingly gives his approval. One’s body, which has become like light, fades like a rainbow in the sky.
Meditate with flowing waves of compassion, because we are not – we’ve just been doing refuge and the development of the enlightened mind, bodhicitta, prior to this practice. And then the mandala practice. So we have a deep accumulation of compassionate motivation. And this is not separate from that. We’re not just, “I want to get rid of my obscurations so I can be free.” We’ve already cut through the arhat motivation, in theory, and we’ve already embraced the bodhisattvayana. So the reason we are purifying ourselves in this is, because of our profound compassion, because we know that we cannot fulfill our
vow to become a refuge for all beings if, at the same time, we allow even a single concept or a single stain to remain within our mindstreams. Out of compassion we engage in this practice. We do not become pure in this sense of pristine luminous vastness so that we can lord that over other people saying, “Ha-Ha! I’m so much purer than you! Really you’re… I can see a little stain there still in you! I am very pure.” We kind of blow on our knuckles, rub them on our shirt… That’s not what we’re doing. We purify the mindstream out of compassion. This delights the lama and he lovingly gives his approval.
After some time of mantra recitation, one stops and Vajrasattva is very pleased with our action, and is beaming with a radiant smiling expression. When it says “Vajrasattva” here, it means Vajrasattva and consort. They are not considered two beings. They are the simultaneous appearance of wisdom purity. So this radiant, smiling expression looking towards us with total love. It says:
Son or daughter of a noble family, all your flaws have been purified.
Now, dissolving into light of bliss-emptiness, dissolving into us through the fontanel, instantly we transform into the solitary blue Vajrasattva, seated upon a lotus, sun, and moon throne. This is a very important part of the practice.
I was just thinking today, I was taking a bath this afternoon, and I was thinking – I have been teaching this, practicing and teaching this path, for twenty-some years now. When you count the practice and teaching phase, it’s more than that, lifetimes and lifetimes, but still, I’m awed again and again by the astounding inclusiveness of every human aspect within the tantric path. If you would embrace the tantric path, if you had the capability, were mature enough to embrace all the aspects of the tantric path, it suffices for all levels of therapy, growth, personal growth, spiritual transformation. All this tendency of toxic shame built into the human mindstream is being cut through here. We have been meditating on purifying ourselves of the imprints of all wrong-doing… It’s possible when we concentrate upon how many imprints of wrong-doing there are, to become a little…
discouraged. But because of the profound purifying force of Vajrasattva, and because we’ve wedded ourselves to the intention of compassion to this, that’s cut through. And if, by chance, you were straying in that direction, it’s cut through here. Vajrasattva and consort look at you and say, “Son or daughter of a noble family,” and with such joy. They are so happy, they are made so happy by you. Buddhas are infinitely happy, but you can make them happier,
like pouring water into water or space into space, by engaging the path for the benefit of beings, so even made more happy and delighted. They look at you and say, “Son or daughter f a noble family, all of your flaws have been purified. All of your past mistakes are gone. All of your causes for shame and guilt are gone. All of your causes for future suffering or causes of suffering to others are gone.” And then they dissolve into light like a puddle dissolving from its edges to the center, flowing down through the fontanel of your head, filling your body with a sudden flash of wisdom brilliance, and you turn into the solitary blue Vajrasattva, within this particular sadhana, the solitary blue Vajrasattva.
From compassion’s natural wonder, uncontrived self luminous wisdom, appears as HUNG in light resplendent, one’s own awareness manifest. Sperm and ovum now descending, brilliance shining and absorbing, the lucent nature manifesting, as the deep blue Vajrasattva, Blazing in vast rays of light, the hero of vast sheer compassion. Within his heart a HUNG is shimmering, its light makes offerings to the buddhas, purifying obscurations, of every precious parent being. All appearance without remainder, transforms to the buddha’s pure realm.
So Vajrasattva dissolves into light and in a sudden flash -- this line here:
Sperm and ovum now descending, brilliance shining and absorbing
This brilliant light shines out to infinity, touching the hearts of all buddhas and coming back, and suddenly upon the lotus with the sun and moon seat, which are the sperm and ovum, Vajrasattva, your own awareness arising as a blue solitary Vajrasattva, without consort, this blue Vajrasattva.
The lucent nature manifesting, as the deep blue Vajrasattva.
And then again, light emanates out. This emanation and drawing back of light is a vital key point of vajrayana practice. I’ll explain this in more depth later, when we talk about deity yoga. It’s a vital key point not to be ignored. This light blazing out, here again, touching the heart and making offerings to all Buddhas. So now, as the blue Vajrasattva, light from your heart goes out and touches the heart of every Buddha, making countless and infinite offerings to him, and drawing back into you the wisdom of body, speech, mind, qualities and activities. The skillful means and the wisdom of all Buddhas are drawn back into you, the solitary blue Vajrasattva, and again, light goes out and touches the heart of every sentient being, transforming those sentient beings into blue Vajrasattvas in the Pure Realm of Great Joy, Vajrasattva’s pure realm.
All appearance without remainder transforms to the Buddha’s Pure Realm.
And then you say the mantra OM AH BENZRA SATTVA HUNG, OM AH BENZRA SATTVA HUNG, OM AH BENZRA SATTVA HUNG, again and again and again. You as the blue Vajrasattva, in your heart is the HUNG on a lotus, the syllables in the mantra OM AH BENZRA SATTVA HUNG around it, light goes out from this touching… as you say the mantra again and again, light goes out touching all of the beings, turning them into Vajrasattva in the pure realm of Vajrasattva. Coming back in again, emanating out again, transforming, coming back in again, emanating out again, transforming as you say the short mantra again and again and again.
Recite the mantra like a flowing river. Rest in an unconditioned state this is inseparable from the three adoptions. This is the generation stage of deity yoga. Train in the completion stage of channels, winds and subtle drops. This is the basis for accomplishing the body of light.
We will go more into detail about that another time.
Endeavor in the profound essential instructions of the four elements along with the stages of the path at the end of the session.
So here you are supposed to really concentrate. The key point of the generation stage now, is yourself as Vajrasattva. He’s saying here, “This is the generation stage of deity yoga.” And what’s he’s talking about specifically, is yourself as blue solitary Vajrasattva and the emanation and bringing back of light. This is the accomplishment and activity phases. Accomplishing of yourself as the deity, and the activity phases of the deity. This is the key point of vajrayana generation phase. And, even in the midst of that, you rest in an unconditioned state inseparable from the three adoptions. Even in the midst of this, you rest in this unconditioned state, while light is emanating out and coming back, while the transformation of beings is taking place.
Then the appearance of the deity -- that’s your own awareness as the deity -- dissolves like a puddle from its edges to the center. If you ever notice, if there’s a puddle of water on the blacktop on a hot day, it dissolves from the edges in towards the center, in, in, in, until there’s just a dot at the center left, and that dissolves. In the same way, your own awareness, appearing as the solitary blue Vajrasattva, dissolves from the edges in, and dissolves to the HUNG in the heart, the mantra and then to the HUNG, and the HUNG dissolves from the bottom up to the nada, the dot at the top of the HUNG, and then that just disappears into emptiness. And it says here:
One rests in this state, inexpressible, non-conceptual. Sustain the fundamental state of natural self-cognizant awareness. These are the stages of the uncommon path. One must be diligent in this profound path. Samaya.
So this is the completion phase, one’s own awareness appearing as the deity. But still there is, in the beginning, there is a contrived aspect of imputing the “I” upon the visualization, but this is the contrived generation phase. And Do Khyentse says, “Go
beyond this and rest in an unconditioned state,” the actual illusory body, where the deity arises as the awareness-appearance inseparable from emptiness and clarity. And then, from there, engage the profound completion phase, where this dissolves into emptiness. It dissolves from the edges to the center to the HUNG, to the bottom of the HUNG, to the nada, and then the nada dissolves, just as if you stared at a point in a rainbow it disappears, the nada just dissolves, and there is nothing. There is the great empty clarity of uncontrived, unelaborated, non-conceptual awareness. This is the summation of purity, kadak, and it is also the summation of bodhicitta. It is the quintessence of bodhicitta. Pure awareness, emptiness, clarity, uncontrived and unelaborated, is the ultimate bodhicitta. It’s a good practice.
an oral commentary given by Traktung Rinpoche June 8, 2003, Tsogyelgar, Ann Arbor, Michigan
I thought I’d talk today about something, which I know you’ve all heard lots of times before, and must want to hear again. The reason I was thinking about talking about this is that we seem to be having the usual springtime upsurgence of endless neurotic manifestation, which is slightly different from the summer, fall, and winter upsurgence. As I listened, for the last week or so, to people and talk about their various issues and problems and problems and issues and issues and problems and problems and issues and endless concerns, I was thinking -- it’s so sad. Whenever you find yourself in a situation where self-concern is overwhelming your capacity to live joyfully in the midst of your practice than the best thing to do is to go all the way back to the beginning and look at the foundation.
It’s just as if you have a house and your house starts to shift and kind of fall on one side or the other. Really, the very first thing, you have to go back and look at the foundation. Maybe you need to tuck and point the joints. Maybe you need to put in some new foundation timbers in. Maybe you need to put some new rocks in the foundation. Almost always — I know that you’ve heard me say this a lot of times but I’ll say it again — almost always the problems that people have in their practice, which are nothing but reflections of the problems that people have in their lives, are the result of not having somehow fully understood the complete import of and meaning of, in this case, something like The Four Immeasurables: equanimity, joy, love, and compassion.
If one were to understand the interrelated meaningfulness of the very beginning teachings of the Buddha then this would solve most problems in most people’s practice. I’m sure one might have certain technical problems. For instance, if you’re in the group that’s doing the tsalung or trulkor practices, there’s technical things to learn: how to jump, how to hold the breath, what visualization you’re doing, and all of this. These are technical things. They’re not all that difficult. All of the practices are not really so terribly difficult if you have a proper foundation. But if you don’t have a proper foundation then it almost makes no difference which practice you’re doing; it’s going to be difficult. Why is it going to be difficult? Because you’re difficult! So, your practice, just like your marriage, or your love relationship, or your job, or your workout, or your whatever else, it’s going to be difficult because you’re difficult! If you’re difficult, then anything you do will be difficult or have the seeds of difficulty in it.
In the various different kinds of teachings like The Four Immeasurables, The Six Perfections, or The Twelve Interdependent Links — all of these are kind of the foundations of what causes a balanced approach to existence and has then solutions to
almost all of one’s problems. (One could contemplate) The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma, if you find yourself suffering from laziness and procrastination. Regardless of what the practice is, laziness and procrastination takes all kinds of forms but whatever level of practice you’re in, if you find that tormenting your practice or your life in any area then contemplation, for instance, of The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma cuts through that if you really understand why human birth is precious. It’s not precious because you were born. The fact that you were born makes you little
frankly, I’m sad to say — more than compost. You’re born. You live. You die. You rot. Something else grows out of you — a tree or animals come and eat your body. But that’s not what makes your human birth precious. What makes human birth precious is the unique configuration of mind and appearance that allows for the realization of buddhahood. That’s what makes precious human birth. It’s precious because of the manner in which natural mind of luminous awareness appears within this form and within this human realm that causes it to be even more precious than possible births, god realms, animal realms, outer space realms, astral body realms, or whatever other realms. If you contemplate that and you contemplate karma and you contemplate the fact of impermanence (you’re going to die) then you cut through.
Tsochen Khandro and I were talking to somebody last week, and they were asking about some issue that was coming up. They were asking, “Don’t I need to trace this back to where it came from? Was it from childhood or…” The analytical modality of where we trace everything back to its origins bears some fruit in a minimally beginning level, if one’s life is so screwed up that you can’t even contemplate the basic teachings. But there is no origin. The Buddha was
beautiful in the way in which he did not answer questions as to how everything came about. Where did delusion come from? There’s no answer ultimately. There is no origin point. And this childhood or a thousand childhoods are in your past. Where are you going to trace it back to? If you trace it back you can trace it backwards, backwards, backwards, out of the night, and forever. It doesn’t really make an ultimate difference because the sum total of the complex of any set of feelings or thoughts exists in the present fully and absolutely. One can apply antidotes then in the present.
I was thinking about The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma because this week I was watching a couple of you get all twisted up in your head by confusion about the relationship between joy, love, and compassion. Then, of course, there’s one missing here, which is the one that makes all of it work well, which is equanimity. The Four Immeasurables function interdependently. They function with each other. If you look at The Four Immeasurables -- each one acts, with equanimity as the foundation and as an antidote for the possible distortions of the other three. There is a way in which each of The Four Immeasurables has a wisdom quality and a distortion quality, just like The Five Wisdoms and Five Poisons. Each of them has a way in which can be concretized into delusion, which leads to ever increasing confusions, and suffering, problematic situations. Each one has a way of manifesting, which leads to ever-greater liberations.
This is very much like Lonchengpa and Jigmé Lingpa’s teachings about the vectoral direction of each moment. There are choices that one makes that lead in the vectoral
momentum and direction of liberation or the momentum and direction of delusion and suffering. In each moment these tendencies elaborate themselves from all the possible choices one can make.
So, for instance, joy. If you look at the definitions within our teachings of each of these things you can understand a little how they work. Joy is simply a natural sense of joyfulness, a sense of happiness, and a sense of exuberance. Love, then, is the way in which joy naturally moves towards other beings, the wish for other beings to be happy, and the wish for other beings to feel the happiness that we feel. Compassion, then, is the activity of removing the causes of suffering from other beings. Each one becomes more dynamically interactive with others. From the wellspring — from resting in equanimity,
naturally joy arises. When you rest in equanimity a natural movement of energy occurs. You see this in different places in our teachings in the practices of Shiné, Lhatong, in the practice of the first Three Samadhis, and in Deity Yoga practice. It makes no difference which level of the practice it is. It
goes all the way up to Togel practice — the way in which Trek-chöd leads to Togel. Every point, at every place of the path, you find this duplicated again and again and again. If one discovers and one practices and finds a basic sense of equanimity then very naturally from this energy motion arises and this motion has a sense of joyfulness. The joyfulness extends itself outwards and love extends itself outward in compassion. The way that these get distorted is by misunderstanding the objectless, center-less space-like quality of each of The Four Immeasurables verses the object referencing quality of The Four Immeasurables. What we’re really talking about here is love as a state of being and love as a particular relationship.
The Greek mystic, Pythagoras, once did a profound, beautiful piece of writing the title of which is “Friendliness is the Highest.” And then he talked about friendliness a state of being or love as a state of being, rather than friendship — my friendship with you. I like you. I don’t like you. But that could change any minute and I don’t like him and I don’t like you so much anymore. Yeah? This happens pretty much every week, from Monday to Friday.
There’s a quality of love in which one has love as a state of being. Love is my state of being. Love is the center-less, objectless space in which I rest. Therefore, what moves through that is touched and even changed by that feeling of love. Always what happens is the mind, in its grasping, aversion, and indifference — in its The Three Poisons — tends to concretize each of The Four Immeasurables into object-centered activities — my love of you, or you, or you, or whoever it might be.
The way in which compassion, as a sense of active, profound energy moving towards removing the causes of suffering for other beings tends to become bogged down in despair, helplessness, and hopelessness rather than being a sense of being — one’s quality of being-ness. These are qualities of being-ness itself. When we loose this quality of being-ness it becomes the desperate need to remove this or that particular quality of suffering. It’s not that we shouldn’t work to remove the suffering of the hungry or the homeless. We should help beings in whatever ways we can. But when we become simply object referencing, rather than resting our compassion in equanimity, then compassion becomes a burden. You see this in the countless and endless cases of social worker burnout. Where really what’s happening is, “My life and my own happiness depend on
making something happen in your life in the world.” Or you end up like Karl Marx who wrote in his “Das Kapital,” “I cannot be happy until the proletariat are free.” It’s as if somehow my unhappiness is going to help the proletariat. Right? Why can’t he be happy and help the proletariat? It’s because he has no equanimity, because he has no joy, and because he’s lost in his concretizing tendency.
Each of The Four Immeasurables can act as a catalyst. The distorted form of joy, in The Four Immeasurables, is shallow exuberance. I’m not saying that this is always a distortion. The distorted form of joy is grasping to fun. We have an entire culture built on this. It’s an interesting thing. Joy sometimes arises from profound, hard work. You can spend a whole day doing something that’s hard, even painful, that pushes you to your limit, and leaves you suffused with joy at the end of the day. This is very different than the excitement that comes from fun. In fun we’re simply trying to grasp at whatever sensation-pleasure-moment I can have right now. It tends to leave us tired and shallow whereas joy often tends to leave us feeling tired and happy.
It’s like my brother. My brother’s thinking about going to work for Habitat for Humanity. It’s a great thing to do. You can spend a whole day in the hot sun of Miami. You know? You’re sweating, you’re uncomfortable, you’re thirsty, and you hit your finger with a hammer. Ouch! Right? It hurts! But at the end of the day there’s a sense of joy. And the joy comes from the movement of compassion.
If you look at The Four Immeasurables from the point of view of antidotes, the antidote of superficiality is equanimity. When love becomes grasping and fixated on one thing the antidote is equanimity. When compassion becomes helpless overwhelming-ness the antidote is equanimity. It’s also true that the antidote to compassion, which has become overwhelming, is joy because what happens, when people get social worker burnout, is that they loose their sense
of joyfulness. Their sense of joyfulness seems to be dependent upon what happens here or there in life. Poor Karl (Marx), who couldn’t be happy unless the proletariat were free, in which case, he’s never, ever, ever going to be happy because the proletariat are never going to be free. Not anyone’s going to be free, by and large. If our happiness depends on that, we’re really screwed. So, joy as a natural state of being, arising from our depth of contemplation from our equanimity, is the antidote for compassion that becomes fixated. Compassion, for all beings, is the antidote for love that becomes fixated because when love becomes fixated it becomes profoundly selfconcerned. Love that’s fixated becomes the cramp of self-concern. Compassion with fixation becomes the cramp of other concern. Neither one has the balance, which moves beyond both of these.
I’m not giving you a particular practice or telling you something that you can do. I’m simply laying out the framework on how these interrelate. It’s up to you, in your lives, to explore these. It’s up to you to figure out when your love is becoming fixated and selfconcerned and play around and discover, in your practice, the antidotes in every stage because a lot of you are now at different stages of practice. In every stage of practice the same things are present again, and again, and again, and again. Shiné and Lhatong are all of the practices. They are nothing but forms of Shiné and Lhatong. That’s all they are,
whether you’re doing silent sitting practice, or you’re doing Tantric Deity Yoga practice, or if you’re doing Dzogchen practice, Trek-chöd and Togal practice, again and again. So, you can find, in whatever form of these. Shiné practice is the most wonderful practice, whichever form you might be doing. In Generation Phase practice your Shiné is the contemplation of the visualization. It is simply Shiné with object. You can look in your practices and find for yourselves how Shiné and Lhatong relate to each one. In Shiné we allow ourselves to sink beneath the distortions without having to analyze them,
without having to therapize them, without having to figure each one of them out. If you have to figure each one of them out, you will take forever. You will literally take forever. The ‘sanskara,’ the little winding up of impressions around the central problem, the sense of ‘I’ and ‘other’ (the sense of duality), is infinite. This is why the Sutric path takes forever. This is why in the Hindu yoga’s, where you simply unwind the sanskara’s one by one, it takes forever. If you had to therapize everything, it will take forever! Because, if you got far enough, and very seldom anybody does, you would get to the deeper layers of the psyche, which go back and back and back and back and back and back. The content of the Alaya-vijnana is beyond anything you could
imagine. It’s the sum total of impressions over a billion lifetimes. This way, it will never come to an end. The beauty of the Tantric path is that in your practice you have ways of moving much more swiftly. You’re not just unwinding every impression one by one, by one by one, by one by one. You’re transforming the entire lot from impure view to pure view if you’re practicing Tantra. If you’re practicing Dzogchen they’re liberated on the spot, even faster.
It’s a sad thing how we take each of the essential qualities of being-ness — not the essence but the essential qualities of being-ness. The essence has no qualities whatsoever. The essence has no quality, no attribute, no form, no substance, no color, and no shape. “Here, O Shariputra, form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Form is not other than emptiness and emptiness is not other than form… No eye, no tongue, no nose, no taste consciousness, no ear consciousness, no eye consciousness…” The essence is exactly because of this emptiness.
One of our students wrote to me. Over the last couple of months they’ve been writing to me off and on a little about coming to a better understanding of Vajrasattva practice and the manner in which purification takes place. It’s possible because of the quality of emptiness. Because of emptiness — because distortions and delusions, because the sanskaras wrap themselves around the karmic stream that wraps itself around the original duality is empty in its nature it can be purified utterly in an instant. The possibility is there for the swiftness of the Tantric path. The possibility is there to miss it also.
But the possibility is there because whatever complex you have, whatever delusion you have, and whatever thought process is going on it is inherently, in and of itself, from the start, empty. This is the same thing. You’re studying with the Khordé Rushan. Without a proper understanding of Prajnaparamita Sutras and of Madyamika teaching then you can’t make this cutting through that’s necessary. It doesn’t matter whether one’s practicing Trek-chöd or whether one’s practicing Deity Yoga or Ngondrö — this is the core point. Whatever complex you have from your childhood, whatever way that you’ve distorted everything, whatever way you’ve misunderstood — even the misunderstanding is empty. The thing itself is empty. Your ‘Mommy Complex’ and your ‘Daddy Complex’
— all of these are empty! This is why there is the possibility of the swiftness of the path. It’s also why the path is for fundamentally mature people because you cannot be so selfabsorbed within your endless contemplation of the concrete reality of your every thought and that you’re so tied up in that you can’t practice the path.
The wild thing about thoughts — all of them — is that outside of the act of thinking, there is no thinker. It’s empty. The thinker is empty. The thought itself is empty. If you investigate where did the thought come from you won’t find anyplace. If you look at where a thought abides and where it arises you won’t find anyplace. If you look at where it dissolves when it disappears (snaps fingers) almost in an instant you won’t find anyplace. This is such a beautiful thing if you can catch hold of it in terms of your practice because then there’s the possibility of moving swiftly. Without this there’s no
possibility of moving swiftly in whatever practice you’re doing. You have to come to a recognition of, and practice of, and stability within — the equanimity that rests in the nature of things as they are, which is this luminous emptiness and this empty luminosity. So, whether you’re practicing at the level of Dzogchen where you’re practicing appearance-emptiness or whether you’re practicing at the level of Ngondrö where you’re purifying past karmas through Vajrasattva practice or taking refuge. Otherwise you’ll tend to turn refuge into a concrete, god-like being — just into a new super daddy, king or god or whatever who’s going to protect you. This why Trungpa Rinpoche said so beautifully that when we take refuge we become like refugees who have no home
or anyplace because our source of refuge is empty. The Buddha is empty. The Buddha’s teaching is empty. The dharmas are all empty. The path is empty. The result is empty. The ground is empty. The whole thing is empty! This is the understanding, which allows for equanimity. The words are not the thing. The words are a description of view. In meditation you have to come to some taste of equanimity otherwise every time you’re attracted to something it’s going to be a problem and then you will start to call your attraction love. Right Jimpa? And then your love will be a problem or every time you see something you’ll respond with attraction, aversion, or indifference. There’ll be no resting in the tacit understanding that it is empty. Your attraction is empty. Your aversion is empty. Outside of the thinker and the thought there is no attraction or aversion.
Equanimity is found only in one way and that’s through meditation. Equanimity is only found in meditation, no place else. There is no other way to discover it. It can’t be bought. It can’t be sold. It can’t be discovered in Iowa or India or down the street at Myer’s in the equanimity isle. This is the great thing because if people could package and sell it, they would.
Tsochen Khandro: Well, it’s pretty successful, the attempts.
Traktung Rinpoche: Yeah.
It’s only in your meditation — in the day in and day out, cultivated slowly. That’s the beauty of sitting practice. Sitting practice is the simplest practice in the world. Anybody can do it anywhere! You don’t have to be rich. You don’t have to be comfortable. You
don’t even have to be smart. Anyone can do it. You sit. You rest. You watch. The thoughts will come up. The thoughts will go away. Thoughts go up. Thoughts go away. Thoughts come up. Thoughts go away. You don’t even have to do anything! It’s good if you’re dumb. It’s good if you’re lazy. There’s really no excuse except for the fact that it’s horribly boring. You watch that come and you watch that go. Little by little you watch your thought of attraction come. You could ask, “Where does it come from?” and look and see that there’s no place. Look at where it abides. By the time you even look at where it
abides, it’s gone. Where did it go? No place. Do that a few hundred thousand times. With attraction, aversion, indifference, lusting, grabbing, fear, anger, and hope. You just do it again and again and again. You’re trained. The mind is like any kind of muscle. It just takes a whole lot of training. The mind is like a dishwasher. It comes with an instruction booklet that you never bother to read. Then you put it somewhere so that you can find it when it breaks down but then you forgot where you put it. This happened to me this week. Now when it breaks down, you can’t figure out how to fix it. Shiné practice is like the repair book for your dishwasher. It’s the repair book for your mind.
Whether you’re doing Shiné practice in formal silent sitting or whether you’re doing Shiné practice integrated seamlessly with your Deity Yoga practice, it doesn’t really make any difference. They both will produce the same results in terms of Shiné. There is a difference. The difference is for the benefit of Tantric practitioners. That difference is that because in Deity Yoga practice we’ve received empowerment, transmission, and blessing and we are practicing the visualization of a pure form not simply a form made up by mind. The visualization of that form changes our winds and channels, changes our being, and
changes our mind. It allows transformation from impure to pure. So, actually doing Deity Yoga practice accomplishes Shiné and it accomplishes something much more through the swiftness allowed through transmission. Then, based on the illusory body, cultivated through Deity Yoga practice, we can practice the Completion Phase practices. Then based upon the purity of our winds and channels, in Completion Phase practices, we can separate Samsara and Nirvana in Khordé Rushan practice. Then based on the separation of Samsara and Nirvana we can very directly understand Trek-chöd and cut through even the tendency to
concretize any mental event. Then in the great spacious relaxation of that cutting through spontaneous forms of empty-appearance arise like bubbles, like colors, and playfulness and so we can practice the four visions of Togal, each coming naturally as the consequence of the other. This is why the path is laid out so beautifully according to The Nine Yanas because each one grows from the other. Each one rests on the foundation. When one is done correctly and
well the other naturally becomes the consequence of it. When you do Deity Yoga practice really profoundly — and because, as Nyingmapas, we don’t separate Generation and Completion but we concentrate first on Generation with a small Completion. But when we have some strong actual accomplishment of Deity Yoga practice then very naturally the Six Yogas of Naropa or Completion Phase Yogas of whichever practice you’re doing become the natural consequence. They are the natural next step and one move easily into understanding the view of them. Based on the profound vajra pride and illusory nature of the yidam one moves easily into the view of the Completion Phase practices. Based on the subtlety of the Completion Phase practices one moves easily into the view of Dzogchen. Without that all one does is — when people try to jump into Dzogchen
without having this foundation then you end up befuddled and confused thinking that delusion is actually liberation, which is really very common.
It requires, from the start, a tremendous amount of courage and individual integrity to evaluate your own life because nobody else can do this for you. Technically, sure, the guru or almost anybody else can tell you what your stupid ideas are. Almost everyone sees your trip except you. You see all kinds of others on their ego trips and you can see their ego trips and they can’t. They can see yours and you can’t. You just have to assume that’s the case as
embarrassing as that might be. It should be embarrassing. You have to learn to have a really sincere ability to look at yourself and to look at the way in which you take joy and go for the shallow enthusiasm of a moment excitement or fun because it’s easy because it’s quick. You have a little fun and you die like a dog in the gutter in the end. You go into death confused as can be, which is a really sad thing, having missed the entire precious point of human birth or the way in which your love narrows itself down into fixation on a particular object. In the beginning it’s love for that object and in the end it’s manipulation and exploitation of the same object. Right? In the beginning I love you and later I’m mad at you for not doing what I want. Right? Where did love go? Where’d the love go, Hans?
It’s like what Lama Yeshé wrote in a book once, “What’s the definition of love? Love is you do what I want you to and thank me.” It’s a weird thing because if we do not practice wisdom we will take every wondrous quality of human being-ness and turn it into its opposite. Compassion, which in the beginning becomes wanting to remove the causes of suffering for others, becomes wanting to make them stop at least acting like they’re suffering because it makes me uncomfortable. We call that codependency. “I can’t stand your suffering not because you’re suffering but because it makes me really uncomfortable so stop
it. At the very least, pretend to not be suffering. Put a happy face on.” But that’s not compassion. We turn compassion into that. We turn joy into shallowness. We turn love into possessiveness. We turn compassion into manipulation. We turn equanimity into frantic trying to fill every moment of space. But emptiness is infinite so you can’t fill it up. Another good thing is that no matter how much you distort it, twist it, turn it, and screw it up you can’t actually change any of it. Joy, equanimity, compassion, and love are still timelessly and perfectly present. It’s just like the sun, even when the
whole sky becomes full of clouds. Otherwise we’d be in big trouble. If our buddha-nature were not complete and whole to begin with we’d really be screwed. If our buddha-nature were to be realized through compounding several things together or following a path to a conclusion then we’d be screwed because we could loose it. Everything built up falls apart. Everything we’re given is taken away. So it has to be timelessly and perfectly present with all of its
qualities and attributes and its essential nature of emptiness, in its essence of absolute vast spaciousness, it’s nature of luminous-being-ness with endless qualities and attributes in its energy of spontaneously arising compassion. So the good news is that these are all present. Maybe they’re not seen in any given moment but they’re all present, completely present, timelessly present, complete and whole. Nirvana is complete and whole. Samsara is complete and whole in slightly different ways, which is why one causes suffering and one doesn’t. But they’re both complete and whole. Otherwise we’d have a real problem. Now we just have a big problem. If the other were
true then we’d have an impossible problem. Now we just have a big problem. The problem is that we’re lazy and we prefer shallow fun and possessiveness to the hard work of joy and love.
In the end it comes so far that we become like that lady in Ypsilanti. I’ll never forget what I read in the paper. They asked why she killed her husband when she caught him in bed with another woman. She said, “I couldn’t bear the thought of living without him.” So she caught him in bed with another woman and figured he was going to leave her for the other woman and killed him. Now she’s going to live without him in jail. She loved him so much.
I’m specifically giving this talk because of two people who were talking about feeling hopelessness about their practice. If you’re feeling hopelessness about your practice it’s the same as hopelessness arising in terms of compassion. It’s because you’re concretizing it too much. You’ve turned your practice into grasping. You’ve turned the deity into a demon. You turned the whole path into a nightmare. Samsara’s enough of a nightmare as it is without turning
the path to liberation into a nightmare because it’s the ultimate nightmare. At least if you’re grasping after a car or a new lover then you might get them. Right? They won’t make you happy. The car will break down and the lover will sleep with someone else but at least for a minute you can get them. Maybe you’re happy for a few minutes. But if you’re going to grasp at liberation, enlightenment, Nirvana, or the Buddha’s realization you can’t ever get that because it’s empty. So then it’s the ultimate nightmare! It’s really a bad, bad nightmare. You have to look at your own practice. If you turn your practice into despairing, grasping, uptight, full of hope and fear then you need to go back to The Four Immeasurables. You need to contemplate The Four Immeasurables. If you’re not doing any practice then you don’t have to worry. You won’t have this feeling.
If you’re too lazy to do any practice then you have to go back to The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma. If you find yourself causing problems in your practice, you need to go back to the beginning teachings. That’s where the answers are. This is for the rest of your life. There’s no point where you stop needing The Four Immeasurables, stop need The Six Perfections, or stop needing The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma because as hope and fear
goes, the path is the worst. It’s really easy to turn the deity into a demon. It’s really easy to turn the guru into a nightmare. It’s really easy to turn the whole thing into grasping hope and fear especially for those of you who are doing the Tsalung practices or those of you working on Tummo practice. You get a little bit of bliss that comes up — a little bit of heat comes up and you grasp. Then you’re all tight nightmarish, and horrible. As Paltrül Rinpoche said, “You become a burden to yourself and intolerable to those around you.” It would be good if everyone thought about this. Those of you who have copies
of Herbert Guenther’s translation of Longchenpa’s “Kindly Bent to Ease Us” should read a couple of the times the chapter on The Four Immeasurables. It’s really great to do once a year at least. My daddy used to read “Player’s Republic” once every year in January. I read, “Kindly Bent to Ease Us” once a year. It’s wonderful. Go back and read the chapter on The Four Immeasurables. Find some spaciousness. Then things can just settle in themselves. Jimpa, what’s that
Tibetan word for settling in themselves?
Lama Jimpa: Ramba. (spelling?)
Traktung Rinpoche: Right. You find the whole secret in The Four Immeasurables.
I had this beautiful dream about two weeks ago. I had a dream in which Tsochen Khandro and I were sitting on the hillside someplace where there were mountains. We were sitting on the side of a mountain. We started in the morning doing a little practice where would analyze each appearance according to a particular way. We would see something and meditate on the appearing object as like a dream. The sense-faculty, which would be the eyeball here, the fact by which one can see, is like that of an illusory person. The sense-consciousness, which is awareness when it moves through the sense faculty, the
combination of a sense-faculty and an object, makes a sense-consciousness. The sense-consciousness would analyze according to — having no place it arose from, no place it abides, and no place it dissolves into. All day long we were sitting together practicing with sight, sound, taste, touch, and all of these. Little by little, as the day went on, our bodies became like mist almost. In the beginning they were very solid. By the middle of the day they were not very solid. By evening you could kind of see the grass through the arm. This is a classic practice within the Semdé cycle. In the evening I turned to Tsochen Khandro and I said to her, “How did we get good at this?” because it was going so nicely. Tsochen Khandro smiled and she said, “The Four Immeasurables.” I have been thinking about The Four Immeasurables since that dream.
If you really were to practice The Four Immeasurables — if you took the deluded quality out of joy — if you took the deluded quality where love means “I want you” or “you’re mine” — if you took that deluded quality out of love — if you took the deluded quality out of compassion so that joy, love, and compassion became simply qualities of the nature of being than equanimity would become so vast. Equanimity purifies these and also the purified forms of
these deep in equanimity. So in the beginning there’s the deluded form and then they become ‘yeshé.’ They become the pristine consciousnesses. They become so vast, so open, and so translucent, diaphanous, and ethereal that everything comes to rest. From this everything comes to rest in its own place. Then very easily, with ease and simplicity, you can look at the appearing object and see its nature of being like a dream. Appearances are only appearance-emptiness just like in a dream and one can look at the sense-faculty, which is just an appearance-emptiness. It’s like a dream being, like an illusory
being and the sense-consciousness. It doesn’t actually come from somewhere. It’s just the meeting of a sense-faculty and an object. It doesn’t come from anywhere. It’s just an interdependent meeting of these things. It doesn’t abide anywhere. It’s just a pure process. Then it disappears. I close my eyes and I don’t see Hans. It doesn’t go anywhere. Then it’s very simple. Then Semdé is just the natural conclusion of profoundly understanding interdependent origination. It’s just the natural conclusion of Madyamika. It’s the natural conclusion of The Four Immeasurables. Then, if you were to rest in this non-grasping long enough, when seen this way, then all of appearance would seem like the rays of your own mind. It’s like the ‘tsal,’ the creative potency of your own mind. But then you continue and soon everything is simply present, like the stars floating
in space without even coming from somewhere. It’s not even like rays. It’s just floating and naturally present. It’s like ornaments, like your earrings hanging on your body.
This most beautiful aspect of the Buddha's teaching depends on having this understanding because it’s just this purified wisdom of the beginning teachings that becomes the higher teachings. The higher teachings become the most sublime teachings. The most sublime teachings become realization. So, I only say it one more time and then I’ll be done. Again and again you have to contemplate and rest yourself in the beginning of the teachings again and again and again.
I have to say that I’ve always loved The Four Immeasurables. It probably wasn’t until I’d been studying them and coming back to them again and again for ten years that I feel like I first understood them and really had some understanding of them. All the way through Ngondrö I thought I understood them but I didn’t understand them. All the way through Deity Yoga, I thought I understood them and I didn’t really understand them. All the way through Completion Phase practice, I thought I understood them. I’m sure I’ll wake up one day in a few years again I’ll realize, “Oh my God! I didn’t really understand them. Now I feel like I understand them.” After several decades of time I feel like what I’ve understood is that there’s no possible way to understand how deep and profound they are. That’s what I understood now.
There’s a beautiful Zen painter in the Fifteenth Century that started studying Zen painting when he was a little child. He said, “In my twenties and thirties I felt very sure of myself.” He was considered the best painter in Japan in his thirties. He said, “I was very sure of myself. In my forties and fifties I began to suspect that maybe I didn’t really have it perfect. In my sixties and into my seventies I feel like I finally began teaching. And now he when I’m eighty-seven years old I feel that I have the basics.”
If you found, for those people (couple of you that I talked to and other) people who found yourself sometimes feeling overwhelmed, like it’s too much, and like it’s too big of a project than go back and relax. Contemplate joyfulness and equanimity a little bit. This is good for you. Then you just kick back for a minute and rest in equanimity for a moment. Let some energy arise from which the whole search began to begin with.
Our way is the Resurrection of Love
Dear lion cubs,
The way is for gamblers. It is for those who are willing to risk all on Love’s whispered message. The way is pregnant mothers. It is for those who will give in to Love’s labor, who will suffer the birth pangs of love’s entrance into the world. The way is for slaves. Only those who are the slave of Love, who will follow its unreasonable orders, may enter here. The way is for sculptors. Those who will patiently chip away the rough stone and reveal the beauty beneath? The great sculptor Rodin said “I do not create the piece. I only remove the excess and reveal the reality.” We reveal the love in lust, the clarity in anger, the spontaneous action in anxiety, the infinite richness of being hidden within stingy grasping and the spacious ease inside of
ignorance. Our path is the resurrection of Love. Love is our way. Love is our text and the context. Love is the ground, the path and the goal. Each person knows the stirring of Love. I am not talking about the death of Love; we know that as well. I am not talking about the whispered promise become the fretful grasping. I am not talking about the infinite radiance crippled in possessiveness’ grip. I am not talking territoriality masquerading as love, security, specialness, demands, hope, fear, lust all dolled up in Love’s undergarments. These are all the death of Love. I am talking about Love’s resurrection.
Love’s death is our doing and it is our undoing. Love’s body laying in our hands, its blood on our hands, the sorrow of missed opportunity saturating our minds. For the Boddhisattva warrior this death is not acceptable. We radically accept our responsibility for Love’s death and we accept our responsibility for Love’s resurrection. The path gives us the methods and the direction to transform our longing into Love. The path is Love’s offer so that we might fulfill Love’s purpose. The Buddha’s path is the way to resurrect Love and liberate love from bondage to pettiness. It is the way towards the most profound discovery; Nirmanakaya is love. Step by step the path gives us the tools we need to transform the narrowness of our conceptual fabrication and smallness of
our moods into true Love strong and free. On this path Love has two methods, faith and compassion. The two wings of the bird of authentic Love. These are the two directions of love. Faith is love flowing towards beauty. Love is the divine. Love is sublime beauty. Love draws us to her and our response to that pull is faith. Faith is our love response to Love. Faith is the motion of our lives drawn toward what is most noble, most sublime, most beautiful. Faith is our love’s search for Love’s union. The true lover is drawn toward the divine, the Buddha, the Master, the path the way objects are drawn to ground by gravitation’s pull. The Boddhisattva is drawn to Love as the ocean’s wave is drawn to the shore. The true Buddhist is drawn by Love the way migrating birds are drawn south in winter, the way an infant’s eyes are drawn to its mother. Faith is how the spark of Love within us becomes a blazing flame whose energy fuels the path. The way requires great energy. It requires courage, intelligence, hard work, sacrifice. The price of Love’s embrace is not cheap. Most spiritual adventurers find they
have written a check their actions can’t cash. The bank account empty, they accept defeat and Love dies again. Faith is what fills our bank account with untold riches. Faith is what allows ceaseless blessing energy to shower upon us. On our path this energy needed to break the chains of samsara’s mediocrity is called “merit”. There are many ways to accumulate this energy and we should practice them all, but for the tantrica, there is one method, an open secret, which is swift and delightful. It is love’s motion as faith and devotion. When Love flows upward as faith towards sublime wisdom beings, then we
are drawn in its current into the sky of blessings. A single moment of deep devotion towards the sublime liberates unfathomed sources of blessing energy. This faith, this current of our love’s direction toward Love, remains a mystery to those whose hearts only know the hope and fear of want masquerading as Love. Intellectual theologies and conference Buddhism are not the provenance of Love. There is no need to convince those charlatans, can one convince the stone to flower? Leave them be in the comfortable bed of intellectual conceit and let us follow the Buddha’s deep Love. The Sufi poet Rumi wrote.
“An intellectual is all the time showing off. Lovers dissolve and become bewildered.
Intellectuals try not to drown, While the whole purpose of love, is drowning. intellectuals invent Ways to rest, and then lie down In those beds. Lovers feel ashamed Of comforting ideas.”
More than two thousand years ago the wound of love pierced the heart of Shakyamuni. No shallow theology could explain the heartbreak of faith and compassion that caused Shakyamuni, that fateful night, to leave his wife and child and set out on the path. No hollow conference Buddhism can fathom such mysteries. Driven by the wound of love forged into faith and compassion Shakyamuni took up the way and because of his actions the blessing power of liberation not only washed over his wife and child but flows like a raging river of living transmission to us as well. If love’s attraction to the divine
is called faith then Love’s depth of caring is called compassion. Faith is love flowing upward, towards what is sublime, as devotion. Compassion is love flowing outward to all beings. Compassion is love’s natural action in the world of beings. It is in faith and compassion that our small love becomes the resurrection of Love. Compassion is how we love. Love wishes that everyone feel the beauty and joy of Love. Compassion is that wish in action. It is love in action. It is the discipline of love by Love. Compassion is love’s tendency toward self absorption disciplined into deep caring and attentiveness. Love whispers stories of infinity in our ear and draws us to her bosom. Love draws us, through faith and compassion, into her secret of secrets. If Love is infinity then compassion is the active side of infinity.
Love without faith and compassion is mere sentiment, shallow romanticism, and can never weather the storms of life. Love without the disciplines of faith and compassion is childish fantasies and adolescent trickery. Very quickly it becomes grasping dressed in Love’s clothing. It becomes wearisome self indulgence dressed in Love’s brocade. It becomes self-concern, like Narcissus staring at his reflection in the pool oblivious to all real life around him. Our path is the resurrection of love because its methods restore Love’s true life and allow us to forge from one small spark, so long hidden in our heart,
a wildfire blazing in Love’s infinite colors. So come, come and enter the way of love. This is not a palace of idle words, this is no place for the conceit of intellectuals, this is the tavern of samsara’s ruin. Here a thousand conceits are shattered, a hundred dreams are dissolved, like mist, in the morning light of faith and compassion and from the shards of samsara’s fretful fancies the phoenix of Love rises. Here the great Garuda born full grown flies from the heart of Love into the space of wisdom. In pure, open, vast reality devoid of conceptuality’s smallness even the word Love is not known but the action which is love is all appearance. Emptiness’s wisdom radiance appears as Love and it is this Love we intuit in every smallness we usually call love. Come and enter the way of Love’s resurrection. Come and accept the disciplines, which restore the heart and make the mind free.
Those who don’t feel this Love pulling them like a river, those who don’t drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take in sunset like a supper those who don’t want to change,
let them sleep.
This Love is beyond the study of theology, that old trickery and hypocrisy. If you want to improve your mind that way,
Sleep on
I’ve given up on my brain. I’ve torn the cloth to shreds And thrown it away.
If your not completely naked, wrap your beautiful robe of words around you
and sleep.
Dear little tigers,
You say you were inspired by my letter on Love -- that was my hope. The path however, as you may now realize from your prostrations, is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration! Most people have spiritual inclinations and feel inspired by Love but, like my dad used to say, “It doesn’t matter if you talk the talk if you don’t walk the walk.” What is so profound about our precious Vajrayana path is that we are given direct methods whereby we can mold the longing of our hearts into action. Religions tend to tell you how you should be, how you should act but they don’t tell you how you can become the person they say you
should be. Happily we are not in that boat. If you take time to understand and realize – making real in the continuum of your being and life – each step of the path then profound joy and wisdom will be yours. If not then one has moments of wonderful experience in meditation but even these tend to dull the being and become memory’s objects of future grasping. There are countless ways to understand each practice, how they combine to form the path. There are many ways to structure our view of the path and each way presents a different facet of enlightenment’s jewel. This is because the Buddhas teach with infinite subtlety in accordance with the temperament and abilities of human beings. In Ngondro, when exploring the practice of refuge, we can look at
outer, inner and secret aspects. At the same time, when looking at the whole of Ngondro, we can understand that refuge is the essence of Hinayana and cultivation of Boddhicitta is the essence of Mahayana. Refuge is the dimension where we embrace the wish to grow. We cultivate that internal urge within us which strives to outgrow the limitations of suffering. The wish to grow is like a little infant needing to be nourished, refuge is the conscious act of nourishment. The longing for spiritual unfolding is like a fetus, our commitment to the process and path are the womb space, and connection to the
blessings of the master and lineage are like the umbilical cord. The child is protected form the world, as a whole, for it deeply needs solitude and gentle care in order to grow. Our spiritual path is not something we should ever make a show of. An old saying of our path goes “A yogin is like a married woman with a secret lover.” All day she tends her duties and family and then at night she sneaks out over the garden wall to meet her lover in the secrecy of dark. Your spiritual life is like the most precious intimate moment, a jewel beyond value, and it is delicate. It is nurtured in privacy. If you flippantly go about here and there trying to show off then the energy of your spiritual life will drain away like watered poured in a sieve. Let your being envelop
your wish to grow like the womb of the mother protects the fetus. In the life of the body the child first lives in the womb of the mother and then the womb of the family. For the first couple of years one can feel that the infant is still inside of an energetic womb made up of the physical emotional life of the family. The energetic, etheric body of the child is literally still being formed. The wish to grow is like this as well. The community of the teachings, the lineage, the master are the. So refuge is the entry, the cultivation of the fetus of spiritual longing, in the intimate private life of the womb – the depth of ones own longings. Then this evolves into first relationships with
lineage, dharma, Guru, sangha. The spiritual longing begins to have expression and enter into the social sphere. Hinayana to Mahayana is a process of natural human emotional evolution. It is the process of beginning to grow up. Mahayana to Vajrayana into Dzogchen, all of these are the maturing of ones spiritual life. Buddhahood is the full flowering of humanness. The child is born and moves into the world of relations. Of course the child grows up. The child develops a social life. Boddhicitta is the way in which the little child of dharma develops. Our way of moving out into the world is through love and
compassion. Just as the child develops physical muscles it develops emotional muscles and mental muscles. The child practitioner develops muscles of love and compassion. The practices of the Bodhisattva found in the Mahayana are the dharma child growing out into the dimension of all of life. Cultivation of Boddhicitta is the way in which we grow up as Buddhists. So what is Boddhicitta? How is it developed? As in refuge, we also have outer, inner and secret aspects in the cultivation of Boddhicitta. Boddhicitta can also be understood according to the designations of relative and absolute boddhicitta. Relative Boddhicitta is the deep and infinite well of compassion that marks all methods of the Mahayana, Vajrayana and Dzogchen paths. Absolute Boddhicitta is the profound great emptiness whose radiant heart essence is unimpeded sheer compassion. Emptiness and compassion are not two but are like sugar and its sweetness, a flame and its warmth. Compassion is the natural uncontrived responsiveness of great emptiness. In understanding according to outer, inner and
secret – outer and secret are the align with relative and absolute. Inner Boddhicitta, an aspect of relative Boddhicitta, is connected to tsa, lung, tigle practices of the completion phase practices such as the 6 yogas of Naropa. All aspects of understanding Boddhicitta are unified through meditative practice and contemplation. Boddhicitta is the awakening of true love flowering as compassion for all beings. Boddhicitta is the heart jewel of the Boddhisattvas. To put it simply the Boddhisattva who cultivates Boddhicitta lives as the wound of love. Often people think that the spiritual path will make them free of the heartbreak of samsara. Quite the opposite is true. The Boddhisattva strives to live Love in all circumstances and Love is deep caring and attentiveness. Love is trained to no longer suffer at the whims of personal preference, jealousies or moods. Instead love becomes radiance from the
heart essence of emptiness pervading and extending through and beyond all appearance. When love shines to infinity without obstruction or avoidance it becomes synonymous with emptiness and in their union truth is known. Ego is not a thing. Ego is an activity and it is the activity of unlove. It is the activity of grasping and rejection in relation to hope and fear. It is the activity of insulating ourselves with uncaring indifference. All of suffering is built on this single foundation or habit of unlove. Love, as faith and compassion, is the antidote. During the time of the Buddha there was a king known as Prasenajit who ruled a kingdom known as Sravasti. This king had great respect for the Buddha and wanted to bind his life to the Buddha’s teachings but
he could not afford to abandon his life’s responsibilities. For a long time he mulled over what one aspect of the teaching he should put into practice. One day the Buddha was traveling through his kingdom so he went and asked. “If I were to concentrate on just one practice what should it be?” The Buddha replied without hesitation “Boddhicitta.” If you bring compassion
into your every action then everything you do will be suffused with dharma.” Because our love tends to be constrained by mood, preference and whim we need to train the muscles of love through kindness and compassion. We do not want to end up like the Charlie Brown character who says “I love humanity it’s people I can’t stand.” The considerations and practices of Mahayana transform our petty small love into blazing compassion. These practices include the tonglen of this text but also presume the Four Immeasurables and the Six perfections. All of these combine as the methods of aspirational and engaged
boddhicitta within the dimension of relative boddhicitta. Every higher practice of sublime Vajrayana, and the pinnacle of views the great Dzogpa Chenpo, presume this relative Boddhicitta. If you went to a car dealership and bought a car you simply presume the engine is under the hood. You don’t even have to look, it is a given. In this same way it is a given that one has the wound of love, that Boddhicitta is constantly practiced, when one enters any method of the Tantric or Dzogchen paths. If you bought a car and then got in to drive it but there was no engine you would feel cheated. I always laugh when people say they have practiced Tantra or Dzogchen but feel cheated that the methods have not worked. I laugh because I have never yet met a person who
complained of this who had also bothered to put the engine under the hood. We lie to the path first, we claim to have met the prerequisites when we enter the way, and then complain when the methods don’t work. This is like a man who complains his ladder does not work after he has taken the rungs out! Someone who practices Boddhicitta is a called a Boddhisattva. Here the Sanskrit word sattva mean “being endowed with great courage”. This is certainly true. Boddhicitta requires courage and enhances courage. Courage comes from the Old French root meaning to have great heart. To be a bodhisattva practicing Boddhicitta we must cultivate the courageous heart of a warrior, a warrior of love. The practice of relative Boddhicitta, the foundation of Mahayana, has three fundamental parts. 1. the contemplation of the Four Immeasurables 2. the cultivation of the Six Perfections and 3. the practice of tonglen or exchanging ourselves for others. The first and second give us the great heart, the courage, necessary for the third. In the next letter I will speak about the practices themselves. I hope this finds you well and happy. I hope the heart mind of enlightenment is strong in you and that you will take up the way with power and grace. In the simplest statement possible what are these teachings? They are the way to be happy!
Hello dear friends,
This morning the sunlight kisses the mist over the mountains and the mist dissolves saying, “Yes, yes!” The little creek flowing from the pond spills into the river losing itself and you can hear its sigh of love. The river will lose itself into a larger river and this into the ocean only to be caught up by the suns rays. Once a small river was traveling across a great distance to the sea. On its journey it came to the edge of the desert and found it could not flow through the heat and sand. From above the sun spoke to it saying “Dissolve into me and I will carry you out across the desert.” The stream, of course,
was frightened. Understandably so. This seemed like dying, it seemed like craziness, and foolhardy in the extreme. But, something in the sun’s whisper touched the river’s heart. Something about the sun’s beauty seduced it and it gave itself up into the sun’s brilliance. Drawn into the sky the moisture traveled across the desert as cloud and, on the other side, fell as life giving rain back down to the earth to become a stream again. We are like this. We are the stream flowing toward the ocean of enlightenment and we are stopped at the edge of samsara’s desert. Buddha whispers in our ear “I have a way. Come, listen to my words. Walk my path.” Can we let our hardened hearts melt in the warm rays of compassion? Can we let our form, our insistence of
concretizing everything, slip away and take on the sublime intangible forms of wisdom brilliance? Like the stream we will be scared at times. But if we can accept the offers of grace, then also like the stream, we will become a gift of life giving rain. To take up the Mahayana way is to forge our lives into an act of grace. It is to melt the hardened heart and open the closed doors of love’s wonderment. Absolute Boddhicitta is to rest as we truly are in the luminous empty vastness of inherent Buddha Nature. When we do this then there is no contrived practice to be done but until this is true of us we must practice the path of aspirational and engaged Boddhicitta to discover our truest nature. If you make a very tight fist with your hand, hold it tighter and
tighter for 3 minutes; it will hurt quite a lot. If you then begin to relax the fingers, oddly, they hurt even more. Right at the beginning of relaxing this fist the muscles have become locked in the momentum of tightness. After a moment, when the hand is again functional and the blood flowing, it will feel fine. Absolute Boddhicitta is the hand once again functional; one simply uses the hand in its normal fashion. Relative Boddhicitta is the hand beginning to open the habits of unlove beginning to unclench. Aspirational Boddhicitta is the confidence in knowing that once the hand is open it will be fine. Engaged Boddhicitta is the act of opening. Some pseudo Dzogchenpas would like to keep the fist clenched but call conceptual understanding of the
hand’s nature to be realization, this is just worthless. Aspirational Boddhicitta is contemplation of the themes that are the womb for engaged Boddhicitta. This is just the same as contemplating the four thoughts in the prayer before refuge. Here we contemplate the themes of the Four Immeasurables. They are called such because their cultivation can bring immeasurable benefit for oneself and for others. The contemplation of themes in Buddhist practice is not a mere intellectual activity. The Buddha understood that our lives are shaped by our minds and our minds
begin the formation process through concepts. Our body and our world are the embodiment and enworldment of our mindstreams. In this sense ideas become living forces whose clarity or lack of clarity is the source of happiness or frustration. The themes within the Buddha’s teaching carry his siddhi,
spiritual power, and blessing force. When we chew, digest, make these themes our own then we blend our lives with the Buddha’s awakening power. When the Four Immeasurables are deeply contemplated, when they are clarified, they become catalysts for a new way of being. These four are an excellent example of the interconnectedness and dynamic quality that pervades the Buddhist path. Each of the Four Immeasurables has a muddied, stepped down, aspect and a pure aspect. When love is pure it is a profound affirmation of each being’s worth, value, and potential. Love then becomes a force of caring, attentiveness and a longing to insure others true happiness. When love is muddied by delusion it becomes frustration and an effort to force the other to insure our own happiness. When compassion is pure it is love in action. Love wishes for the other’s happiness and compassion acts to remove all causes of suffering. Compassion when muddied becomes mere sentiment and co-dependent efforts to control others. When Joy is pure it is a force of upliftment that acknowledges
the immediacy of beauty and wisdom surrounding us. When joy is muddied it becomes hyped up elation that tends towards self-absorbed aggressiveness. Equanimity, when pure, is profound balance that does not stray into partiality. Equanimity sees all beings with impartiality knowing all have been friends, enemies, parents, and children and so does not become overly caught up in this moment’s story. Equanimity offers balance because it transcends the temporary ups and downs of changing moments. On the other hand equanimity muddied becomes a mere passivity, an apathetic sense of there being no point to it all, because it is all changing anyway. What is it that muddies these sublime qualities? Pure love is a state of being. It is not “a relationship.” Pure Love is a state of being whose natural radiance is perfect relationship with appearance, it is the womb space of all relationships, but it is not fixated dualistically upon this or that relationship. When appearance enters the domain of pure love then love has a relationship with what appears. Love moves
toward what ever appears with great care and attentiveness. Pure love is like the sun shining on all beings equally. Muddied love fixates on a particular object and demands fixation in return. Muddied love seeks to create a cult of two wherein each is required to fixate exclusively on the other. This does not mean real Love is “impersonal”. The sweet attention bestowed by love is the most personal feeling possible, it is very personal, but pure love does not own and cannot be owned. Personal in each moment, yet utterly impartial, this is the natural state of a free human being. Compassion is muddied by aggression or collapse. Compassion is muddied when its wish to relieve others of their suffering is in fact simply our own anger that their suffering impinges upon our world. When this happens we enter either into aggression, efforts to control everything in a co-dependent fashion, or we collapse because
there is no hope – social worker burnout. Joy is muddied when we grasp to its energies trying to wring a solution for samsara from it. When we grasp at joy, with self-centered aggression, we become mired in desperate fixation on joy’s empty reflection, fun. Equanimity is muddied when it is used as a cover for anti relational pseudo aloofness.
When alienation and uncaring wish to hide in the Buddha’s teaching they masquerade as equanimity. As tantricas we live within a view that recognizes appearances to be the play of mind’s radiant potency. They are the ornamentation of innate luminous Buddha Nature. When, through deluded mind’s complexity, these appearances are not seen in their true light they become emotional distortions of pure wisdom qualities. Our path is a process of redeeming this muddied wisdom clarity. The Four Immeasurables catalyze this process of redemption speeding it along its way. In order to prevent this whole operation from becoming merely theoretical, a series of mental gymnastics, we’re given six types of action through which we can cultivate Boddhicitta in an engaged fashion.
1. Generosity. Live to give. Be a source rather than a demand. Many people come to spiritual life hoping to find the ultimate mommy or daddy who will give them all the love they ever wanted. Now, it is true, that one does receive love without end when one mixes one’s mind and heart with the path but this is almost more a by product. By product of what? Of the Buddha’s generosity. But if you come simply to get then you will always remain the same tight closed
fist banging at the door of everyone’s happiness asking why you have been locked out. If you want love give love. Everyone has many things they can give, even if they do not have wealth. A smile, friendliness, affection. Do Khyentse’s terma says. “Be generous of spirit with devotion, pure perception and affection.” There is a reverse law of economics in spiritual life and in love. Those who give shall have more and those who constantly think how to have, get, hoard shall lose even the small amount they have. Love is not a tiny cup which when poured out is empty. Love is a cup with infinite capacity that overflows as all appearance. If you embrace generosity deeply then you will come to the joy of spirit.
2. Integrity. My daughter’s Tai Kwan Do teacher says, “Integrity is knowing right from wrong and choosing to do the right thing.” Integrity is also is have a coherent life view and to act in accordance with it so that each moment of your life is integrated into a seamless whole. Chose a center of gravity, the view, and then consciously mold your life around it until it forms a functional integrated whole.
3. Patience is simple to understand and difficult to practice. Patience erodes our frantic frenetic short-term view. No great goal is gained without profound diligent patience.
4. Diligence. Diligence is a mixture of patience and courage brought into action. Courage is needed to persevere in our task. It is an act of courage that allows us to accept our Buddha Nature and make realization of this the core of our lives. The joy of this, combined with patience, gives us the determined, tenacious ability to practice.
5. Meditation. Compassion without wisdom always ends up foolishness. Without meditation we are unable to see how things truly are and our compassion is inevitably rooted in the very tendencies that cause suffering to begin with. Meditation is the doorway to wisdom. Meditation, the practice of the methods of our path, is what transforms our deluded concepts, and the actions based on them, into wisdom realizing the heart essence of existence. In short, without meditation it is all fantasy.
6. Wisdom is the perfect luminous spaciousness that is the Buddha’s mind. The first five are the skillful means of the Mahayana path and this sixth is the result. Wisdom is absolute Boddhicitta. Without contrivance to rest, abide, in the essence of our own awareness as open clarity, the nature as luminous radiance and the energy as compassion’s innate activity this is the wisdom.
Well, dear friends, this is a short overview. I hope you will look into your heart mind and draw out these qualities and actions. The word education comes from a root meaning to draw out. This is so very true on our Buddhist path. We are not adding something new to you but helping you to draw out the wisdom joy already inherent in your being.
With love, T.
Dear wild tigers,
Some fellow, I think the Nazarene, said “break open a stone and you will find me there.” The Four Immeasurables break open the density of ordinary emotion and reveal the jewel of wisdom. Compassion breaks open the stone of the heart and reveals the Buddha! All of dharma breaks open the stone of seemingly solid appearance and reveals the unlimited beauty and richness of Buddha Nature.
The actual Boddhicitta practice in Do Khyentse’s terma Ngondro text says:
Beings equal to the sky who have been my own precious parents, tormented by countless sufferings, ignorance and karmic affliction, so they quickly find attainment of the Orgyen Lama’s state, with determination blazing, I generate great bodhicitta!
Endeavor in this until it is actualized. Be generous of spirit with devotion, pure perception and affection. On the in breath, allow the suffering of every being to take the form of an arrow and fly into your heart. On the out breath, the inexhaustible Buddha joy and love flow out from this wound as blessing rays of ceaseless light for all.
First we feel the deep interconnected state of all Being. Being, as the manifesting aspect of the luminous Buddha Nature, is pure and whole from the start. Due to our own distorted vision we do not see this and so we live in a world of objects, substance and alienation. In the pure vision of Buddhahood there is not even the word self or other but only the self-elaborating wisdom brilliance beyond any fracture. Between these two, our divisive world and the world of the Buddhas is the path that is grounded in love and compassion. The great spiritual writer Martin Buber wrote an excellent book called I and Thou. In this book he spoke of how the relationships of humans cut off from the divine are characterized by an I /it quality, even human relations. Cut off from the beauty and joy of the divine we tend to objectify everything. Spiritual life, he said, was characterized by the relationship I / Thou and was rooted in seeing the sacred, the Beloved, in all people and even things. From our sublime Vajrayana view we also believe this is a very good starting point but we do not end there. Beyond the I / Thou is the “No I, only Thou” of the mystic and beyond this is the Buddha’s profound realization “No I and No Thou” wherein there is only a perfectly inconceivable (beyond any concept) empty luminosity. The practice we are being given in the Mahayana is the entry into the path of I / Thou. We are breaking free of our self-isolation through the cultivation of love and compassion. All beings, friends and enemies, have been our mother, father, brother, lover, wife, child in some life or another. The roles keep on changing, that is all. This allows us to cultivate equanimity and also active love. Every being has been someone we have loved deeply. We know what it feels like to love deeply now. Just extend that, have
the courage, and extend this feeling of love to everyone. This is to discover the love I spoke of before, love as a state of being not confined to the temporary parameters of this or that relationship. Stretch and strengthen the muscles of love recognizing all beings as the Beloved. Next contemplate how much you love someone very close to you, your child, your lover, your parent, your guru. Think of someone you would take on the suffering of if it would
save them from suffering. Think how everyone suffers in this crazy world and how you would be the awakening hero who liberates all from suffering. Make this the goal of your heart. This is not arrogance this is love in action. Your being is Buddha Nature and if you can recognize this then you will become a refuge for countless beings. This is your birthright and your obligation. Do Khyentse says, “endeavor in this until it is actualized”. It will take time
but that is Ok. Patience, diligence, step by step, stone by stone build the mountain fortress of love from your own being. How? Be generous of spirit, devotion and affection! When you have some bravery engage this sublime practice of taking and giving. This practice is like a springboard, and also a testing ground, for Vajrayana. In Vajrayana you must take many leaps into being what you truly are rather than the stepped down version of yourself you know through deluded mind. This is the first jump. When you take on the suffering of all beings you say “Gladly will I take every bit of suffering from all
beings into myself.” This is crazy; this is the gamble of love. You do not do this from the stance of being a human being but from the stance of Buddha Nature. When the arrow of suffering hits the heart, when it breaks open the encasement of fear, then infinite love and blessing pour out. How can this happen? Because these are your true nature from the start! If you find yourself shaking and trembling form the pain or fear of taking on all beings suffering then place your attention on the infinite joy of your Buddha Nature flowing out to liberate them. If you do not feel the heart break of all
beings, if it does not stir you to your depths, then place your attention on the very real truth of their suffering. This is the practice of the wound of love! To be heart broken and yet not stray from joy. To not place one above the other but to hold, both the pain of the world and the joy of Buddha Nature, in your heart at the same moment. This is the bittersweet pleasure. This is the aching joy. This is the process that shatters the isolation of our smallness and begins to move us into the dimension of true liberation. It is with this practice that we cease to simply be practicing as very immature separate little people and become warriors of joy, love, compassion and equanimity in relation to all life.
Enjoy!
T.
The Organic Wholeness of All Teachings
Every single teaching of the path is organically interconnected to every single other teaching. While the teaching is presented in a linear fashion, it is only presented in that fashion because that is the way language is used. The teachings are not linear. The teachings are more like a sphere. The weird thing is that it’s like a sphere without a circumference or a center. It’s an unimaginable sphere. Every point on, or in, the sphere is the circumference and the center at the same time. Every point is infinitely interconnected with every other point. The image sometimes given in Buddhism for this is called the “Jeweled Net of Indra,” whose existence is a jeweled net. The jeweled net is made up of a series of strings that, like all nets, interconnect with each other. Every interconnection is a jewel. The jewel has an infinite number of facets. Every jewel reflects the entirety of the whole net and every facet reflects the entirety of the whole net. And every facet reflects the entirety of the reflections of infinite reflections within infinite reflections of all
the facets. When I was a little kid, I used to go to the barbershop. My dad would take me to the barbershop to get my haircut and I’d sit in the little barber chair. There was a mirror in front of you and there was a mirror behind you. I loved to play around with this — the infinite numbers. I’d try to see where the last reflection was but you can’t. In China there was a Buddhist monk who was asked by the queen to somehow demonstrate this to her in real life. He had built a small building, which we’re hoping to build one out at the gar. It’s a small building just big enough to kind of go in and sit in. The inside was covered entirely — ceilings, walls, and floors — with mirrors. And then in the corners, mirrors were put, making an octagon out of it. And a single candle would be put in the center and you would go and sit in there. You’d sit in this interplay of infinite numbers of reflections of reflections —
every reflection being the sum total. Another way to think about it is that the Buddha’s teachings are like a hologram. If you tear off a piece of a hologram, like of this envelope, then you enlarge the piece that’s torn to the original size and you get the entire thing again so that every single piece contains the information of the entire path. The reason this is important is because the very beginning teachings are so vitally important that it’s almost incomprehensible. People tend to ignore beginning teachings because beginning teachings are beginning and we are all far too cool for that. We should be getting the advanced teachings, right? But, the point here is that in the very first beginning teachings is every bit of information contained in the most arcane teachings of the most advanced Dzogchen Togal, which is the highest series of teachings given in our lineage. So, don’t ignore the
beginning. The other reason to not ignore the beginning is that the reason people don’t succeed in moving through practice faster — and I’ll tell you the bad news now — almost nobody succeeds in moving through the practice a millionth of the speed that one could — is because they’ve ignored the cultivation or the qualities or contemplations in the preliminary teachings and the pre-preliminary teachings. And this is really vitally important. I’ve spent a lot of time on the pre-preliminaries but that’s because in the pre-preliminaries are found the antidotes to every problem that arises in the practices. The more advanced teachings are not particularly complicated. They require a lot out of us but they’re not complicated. And they’re not even that hard to do
but people fail at them because they don’t have the proper foundation. If you try to build a house but you build a really bad foundation… Were you all raised Christian? No religion? Jewish? Hindu? Buddhist? Right, you were raised in a Judeo-Christian site. You know who that guy from Nazareth was, yeah?
“The Nazarene,” we call him. You know, that Nazarene guy? He said a lot of good things. I’ve been rereading the “New Testament” so you’ll probably get a lot of bible quotes in your nyingtig teachings. He said, “Don’t build your house on sand. Build it on a solid foundation.” Did you ever go up to Lake Michigan where the big dunes are? Everybody knows and every architects says, “Don’t build on the edge of the sand dunes.” But, people go ahead because the views are so great. Nobody can resist. And in a few years or a few storms later people’s houses fall off the edges of those cliffs. It’s a funny thing. This is a Christian society. You think they would have read this in the “New Testament.” So, don’t build the foundation of your Tantric practice on sand. The other thing to know about the preliminary teachings is that the teachings are presented as separate, discreet contemplations. There are things like
“The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma.” The first thought is precious human birth. The next one is impermanence. The next one is karma and the next one is the endlessness of suffering. Each of these is presented as four discreet thoughts. It’s the same with “The Four Noble Truths.” “There is suffering. There is a cause of suffering. There is an end to suffering and there’s a path to that end.” Each of these are discreet — one, two, three, four Noble Truths. But that is only because this is the easiest fashion to delineate them linguistically. In fact, they form one single truth. “The Four Noble Truths” interact organically together. They act as catalysts for each other. The first one catalyzes the second one but, oddly enough, the second one also catalyzes the first one. And then “The Four Noble Truths” catalyze “The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma,” which catalyze something called “The
Four Immeasurables.” Even if it seems that the things that I’m talking about are incredibly easily understood. That is because they are easily understood by the mind but to understand the import of them in your life is a whole other thing. Each of these teachings can be understood as a series of words, and the meanings of those words coordinate with the dictionary, or they can be understood as a series of changes in our perception of existence. In each of these contemplations, it is very easy to understand the words of but it’s very rare that anybody ever actually embraces the import of the meaning of those words. The pre-preliminary practices really should begin with “The Four Noble Truths.” Have you all heard of “The Four Noble Truths” before? Have you ever heard of them before that? This was the Buddha’s first teaching after his enlightenment. After Buddha’s enlightenment, he sat for seven days in a very
blissful state. He had no intention of teaching anybody. The gods kept coming down and saying, “You have to go teach. This wisdom has to be shared with people.” And Buddha said, “There’s no point. Most people — what I have to say from this enlightenment — they would never believe it. Anyone who would be capable of understanding what I’m saying, they’re going to attain this anyhow just by the pure capability they have to understand it, whether I say it to them or not. And those who can’t understand it, it’s not going to help them one way or the other. So, why bother? Why bother teaching?” Finally at the end of seven days one of the gods came down and said, “You have to teach because there are some people on the line.” This is theoretically all of us. “Some people are right on the edge of having an
understanding great enough that they could lead themselves to enlightenment or fall back into real delusion and those are the people that you teach for.” He thought about it for a moment and he got up and began walking. He walked to the place where he gave his first teaching. And the first teaching he gave
was on “The Four Noble Truths.” The “Four Noble Truths” are that, “There is suffering.” That’s the first Noble Truth. The second Noble Truth is that “There is a cause of suffering.” The third Noble Truth is that “There is an end to suffering.” And the fourth Noble Truth is that “There is a path to that end.” It’s interesting. I don’t know. You were probably raised Catholic. Perhaps you’ve read the Pope’s latest book, “Crossing the Threshold of Hope.” I’ve read
it. He says lots of nasty things about Buddhism in it. He doesn’t have the same open and profound view the Vatican Two had. Did you know that in the Vatican Two it was made an infallible papal decree that certain non-Christian religions would also lead to salvation and Buddhism is one of them? So, it is actually a breaking of the doctorate of the church to believe that Buddhists wouldn’t go to heaven also. Of course, we don’t believe in the same heaven and God and everything. But we’re all going to end up there. That’s the good news. If we’re wrong and the Catholic Church is right, we’re still going to win! We’re still going to be up there arguing for the non-existence of God in heaven! The current pope doesn’t have such a nice view. He summed up Buddhism by saying, “The Buddha, after a lifetime of struggle and search, came to the conclusion that life is bad.” That’s pretty much how he summed up Buddhism. It’s kind of like saying that Buddhism is an entirely nihilistic religion, which lead me to believe that the pope must have only read — he’s a very busy man —
that he only ever read the first Noble Truth. He never got around to the third, “There’s an end to suffering and a path to that end,” because it’s nihilistic if there were only one Noble Truth. The first Noble Truth is, “There is suffering.” And this Truth, if you really understand it, would shatter your entire existence. Trungpa Rinpoche used to call this, when he spoke about it, he talked about it in terms of hopelessness. You can’t practice the
Tantric path unless you’re utterly and completely hopeless. The great thing about the Tantric path and the path of Buddhism is that because it is such a completely joy inspired spiritual path it has no need to avoid looking at hard truths. The first of these hard truths is that “There is suffering.” It’s an entirely realistic religion. It’s based in sort of a gut-wrenching realism. What the Buddha saw was that life, lived in delusion, is tinged by suffering in every one of its parts, which means that no matter how good that your very best day is it is still suffering according to this definition. It’s suffering
because it carries in it the seeds of suffering. Whatever it is that makes you happy — you’ve heard me talk about this on Sundays — will disappear because all dharmas — and dharma here means all phenomenon — all dharmas are marked by impermanence. So, if we are made happy by any object, relation, or thing then the seed of unhappiness is carried necessarily within the happiness itself. Because we know this impermanence to be true, there will be a certain kind
of anxiety that arises, even if utterly and unconsciously, in the midst of our happiness. A certain kind of grasping quality arises with it as well. The truth of suffering — the truth of the hopelessness of Samsara is very, very profound. It is meant to cause us to — as one teacher said, “If it hasn’t made you feel like puking then you haven’t heard the first Noble Truth yet.” It means that nothing that you do, from the point of view of existence, can ever achieve the happiness
that you’re longing for — ever, ever, no matter what it is and no matter how good life gets because of impermanence. Now, my style of teaching and forma teachings is to weed back and forth between a lot of different levels and points on the path at once. So, now we’ll skip to something else, which is the difference between Sutra and Tantra. “The Four Noble Truths” exist in all levels of the Buddha’s teachings. Sutra is the path of renunciation. Tantra is the path of transformation. The difference lies in the view of buddha-nature. It is said that in the Tantric path the view is that one’s buddha-nature is
complete and whole from the start and that you have buddha-nature. This is part of what is called the uncommon experiential basis of Tantra. The common experiential base is, “I’m a human being and I have suffering.” The first Noble Truth is understandable by anybody because it’s a common experience of all beings. The uncommon experiential base of Tantra means that the experiences necessary to practice Tantra are not had by all beings. Ngondrö is the method
by which we attain those experiences — Ngondrö and interactions with the vajra master — transmission from a vajra master. The experience of buddha-nature is transmitted in the company of a vajra master. The vajra master’s own radiance that arises from being rested in their own buddha-nature should, over time, be transmitted, either from formal empowerment or informal interaction, to the student — the sheer confidence of it. If you understood the first Noble Truth you would understand that no effort to make yourself happy in existence could ultimately work and that includes the spiritual path if you turn
it into ‘spiritual materialism.’ But, at the same time, your Buddha-nature is entirely present, not as a seed but full blown, right from the beginning.
These two things together catalyze each other. If you understand these two together then you understand that nothing about your personality, which is simply a series of karmic habit patterns, which it is necessary to defend because your personality structure is not the core of who and what you are. The core of who and what you are is an unborn, undying continuum of awareness. We call it Buddha-nature. What you identify with as your body, your mind, and
your personality — all of that is the fortuitous conglomeration of aggregates according to a pattern that’s been going on for lifetime after lifetime after lifetime. We don’t have to pretend that this existence can make us happy because it’s not the point. Buddha-nature is inherently happy. This is the difference between the view of being made happy and inherent happiness. Tantra is often called the resultant path because the result is there at the
beginning. Tantra is called the resultant path because the result, your Buddha-nature, is acknowledged right from the start. Buddha-nature is birthlessly and deathlessly the unity of bliss and emptiness. It is utter bliss from the beginning. Its essence is this vast, open potentiality. Its nature is
luminosity, beingness, and knowingness as bliss — these three as bliss — and it’s energy as appearance. That’s your buddha-nature. So, happiness is inherent. Happiness is innate. In fact, happiness, within our tradition, is often referred to by the term, ‘sahaja.’ ‘Sahaja’ means easeful, without effort, without any effort whatsoever, what is most natural. What is most natural is birthless and deathless blissful awareness. Birthless and deathless blissful awareness has no need to try and make itself happy. The funny thing about all efforts to make yourself happy is that they’re really only the confession of the fact that you’re unhappy because if you weren’t already unhappy you wouldn’t have to make yourself happy. If
you weren’t already unhappy you wouldn’t have to grasp at anything. There would be no grasping towards anything. There would be no endless running around, fretful searching for happiness because you would already be happy. This is a funny thing when you really get it but all your efforts to make yourself happy are really just the confession of unhappiness. The confession of unhappiness is the first Noble Truth. Human beings are unhappy. Everything they do is tinged by suffering. No matter how much happiness they seem to get they have to still go out and seek more happiness because it’s not satisfying because
they’re separated from what is inherently happy. If your happiness arises due to a cause then it will be lost. That’s why, even if you practice the path to the point of enlightenment, you will not have attained enlightenment through a series of efforts. It can’t happen. You cannot attain enlightenment through any series of efforts because enlightenment cannot have a cause. That’s why within the Dzogchen tradition we never say that you attain enlightenment. We only say that you discover what was already the case. You’re kind of blinded from it. It’s like you and I are standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. And I say, “Wow! Look at that sunset. It’s the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever seen.” And you’re standing there with your eyes closed so you can’t see it.
Well, that’s almost the case except that you not only have your eyes closed but you’re also wearing a blindfold so if, by chance, you opened your eyes then all you would see is darkness. The trouble is that our natural state is so veiled by identification by what we are not. What we are becomes entirely invisible. If you think about it this way then the path is the process of removing what prevents us from knowing who and what we are. The path is, in some
sense, ‘Via Negativa.’ It is a path of removing things not of accumulating something new. Does this make sense? Later we’ll talk about accumulating merit, which seems like the opposite of that. The first Noble Truth is, “There is suffering.” The second Noble Truth is, “There is a cause of suffering.” The cause of suffering is not recognizing the real nature of existence and abiding in a deluded state. If we recognized the real nature of existence then there would be no suffering. Not only would there be no suffering but there would be, as it says in the Nyintig Tradition, the perfect unity of appearance and pure pleasure. The Nyintig Tradition, and Dzogchen in general in the Nyingma Tradition, has often been accused of — especially by the Galupa School — of
straying from pure Buddhism because their version of pure Buddhism is entirely negative. Its description of enlightenment is as the absence of certain things, like suffering — the absence of a self, and the absence of suffering. Especially within the Dzogchen tradition, enlightenment is described as the presence of a whole series of things, like pure pleasure, and the presence of unborn awareness, and the presence of something called ‘rigpa,’ which we’ll
talk about in the future, which is kind of a knowingness-awareness. Our tradition allows for positivity, which the Gelungpas think causes us to stray into believing that there’s some ‘self’ that has this awareness but that actually isn’t the case. We think that the negative tradition tends toward kind of a stodgy unhappiness as enlightenment. The two of them have no problem actually fitting together. Within the Galupa tradition they have a style of practice that’s formally called The Madhyamika School. It’s very beautiful. It’s very profound and descending from a man called Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna simply went around proving whatever anybody thought was the case was untrue until you had nothing left to stand on and you were free-floating in pure space.
The first Noble Truth, “There is suffering.” The second Noble Truth, “There is a cause of suffering” being divorced from reality. Being divorced from reality isn’t like being thrown out of The Garden of Eden. It’s not that there was a place that was heaven and we are now in some other place. Both places are the same place. Nirvana and Samsara arise in the same place, which is in the mind of human beings. There are simply differences of view basically. There are different gestalts. It’s the exact same place seen from a different level of being. The third Noble Truth, “There is an end to suffering.” The
fourth is “There is a path to that end.” “There is an end to suffering,” which means setting one’s view right. If the cause of suffering is not seeing how things actually are then the end of suffering would be entailed in the path of seeing how things actually are. In the Tantric path, we call this the movement of impure view to pure view. The Four Noble Truths are an important contemplation because they should help you to keep from turning the path into
a form of, what Trungpa Rinpoche called, ‘spiritual materialism.’ ‘Spiritual Materialism’ is the idea of attaining some thing through the path. People talk about the ‘Dharmakaya.’ ‘Dharmakaya’ means the realm of truth and people then start to concretize it as if there were a realm somewhere else. How to get there? I was obsessed my whole life, from birth on. It’s not particularly unusual for ‘tulkus’ — ‘tulkus’ being people consciously incarnating from one lifetime into another — to remember the entire process, from death, through the intermediate states, to birth. And this was the case for me and my entire
childhood was obsessed with this one single question because between death and rebirth I got to spend some time in a very nice place. It’s called The Copper Colored Mountain in the Nyingma Tradition. It’s the place where the awareness mind of Padmasambhava resides. So, when I was a kid I was obsessed
with this one question because I could remember this. I was obsessed with the question, “How did I get from there to here and how do I get back again?” It’s the only thing that obsessed me from my childhood up until my twenties. “How did I get from there to here and how do I get back there as quickly as possible because if you could remember that place, this place really seems sucky.” The answer was horrible. The answer was summed up in a simple, succinct statement given by a fantastic teacher that I had who said, “The problem is that this place and that place are the same place.” In the misunderstanding that had arisen for me in childhood was that was this dualizing — this is a kind of ‘spiritual materialism’ — of dualizing and concretizing that into a place as if it were Poughkeepsie and I could get in my car and drive there. If buddha-nature is your own nature then it can’t be anywhere else so you can’t
get from here to there. You literally cannot get from here to there. You can’t get from unenlightenment to enlightenment. It cannot happen and you can’t attain it. You can’t get there or any of these things. If we contemplate “The Four Noble Truths” sufficiently then we begin to imbibe this view. This is extremely important on the Tantric path because the Tantric path is filled with a series of attainments. You’re given challenges and goals of attaining
specific accomplishments, states of mind, and states of being and therefore it becomes very easy to begin to concretize those attainments into having some ultimate import along the path. But if we can remember “The Four Noble Truths” then that will be constantly undermined. If we don’t remember it then we will begin to get a big, swelled head and a spiritual ego. Then, unfortunately, it will become the incredibly tedious and terrible job, for both sides, of the vajra master to remind you of it. The moment your head swells to its
largest possible point the vajra master will come along with a pin and prick the balloon of it and it will pop loudly and neither you, nor the vajra master, will have a good day. The main job of a vajra master is to go about shouting, “Not so far to the right! Not so far to the left!” It’s like someone’s walking down the road blindfolded and so they start to veer off to the right and you say, “To the left! To the left!” So, they start veering to the left and pretty soon they’re going off to the left and you yell, “To the right! To the Right!” So, you’re given all of these things that you’re expected to attain but you’re also expected to never develop attainment-mind. It’s very hard to do. It’s easy to hear but it’s very hard to do. If you understand “The Four Noble Truths” to some degree though then it becomes a little easier. But this is the point where I say to myself, “Why am I bothering
to say this?” Because no matter how well you think that you understand it, you’re still going to go through this process. There’s never been a human being yet who hasn’t. No matter how well you understand “The Four Noble Truths” you’re still going to materialize and concretize the path as you walk it because that what we do as human beings. If we didn’t do that, as human beings, then this realm wouldn’t even exist, literally. But this way I can say, “I told you so in the beginning.” That’s the point of this talk. And someday you’ll say, “Why didn’t you tell me?” And I’ll say, “I did. I told you.” In fact I had this talk just yesterday with someone. “I told you in the beginning that no level of attainment is a place you can stay — a place to make your home — a place to rest in self-satisfied comfort.” You must attain all sorts of things and then every attainment has to be freely, or not freely, given up.
What is virtue habit? Virtue is the vectoral momentum of wisdom and joy. Virtue is the momentum within us whose energy is geared to optimizing this human birth. It takes tremendous energy to break the binds of delusion. Over time as our lives have been shaped in conformity with wrong notions, delusion, we have developed habits. This idea is very far reaching. The very shape of our lives is nothing more than habit. The manner of our perception is only habit.
What we see, feel and experience is shaped by our habits. Our body itself, the way in which we are embodied and enworlded is the manifestation of the mind streams habit patterns. If these are rooted in wrong notions arising form ignorance then they tend to create increasing degrees of suffering for our selves and others. Virtue is the reshaping of our habits according to the vision of reality. It is bringing our lives into conformity with the highest joy, highest wisdom, highest love and compassion. We work to make this conformity a habit so that we do not have to think again and gain about it, struggle again and again with the same questions. In this way tremendous energy bound up in unhappy habits of suffering is released and becomes free to be used in the spiritual process.
From The Precious Vase – Chögyal Namkhai Norbu
For a practitioner the authentic principle of the cultivation of Bodhichitta consists in turning the mind within to ascertain what your intention or aspiration is. Disclose unvirtuous thoughts conditioned by selfish intentions and become mindful of your condition. Cultivate virtuous thoughts tied to the altruistic aim of supreme bodhicitta. This is the foundation of the cultivation of bodhicitta and the crucial point of Mahayana practice.
3 Ways to Cultivate Bodhicitta:
1. Bodhcicitta like a king – the wish to help all beings but only after having first attained liberation oneself.
2. Bodhicitta like a ferryman – the wish for oneself and all others to attain liberation together.
3. Bodhicitta like a shepherd – the wish that others attain liberation first.
2 Subdivisions of Bodhicitta:
Just as there is a difference Between the wish to travel and actually travelling, The wise must distinguish Between the two different levels of bodhicitta.
Engaging in Bodhisattva conduct by Shantideva
INTENTION and ACTION
Bodhicitta of intention – linked to meditation on the Four Immeasurables, is based on aspiration similar to that of a person who wants to travel to a country.
Bodhicitta in action – consists in carrying out the true conduct of a Bodhisattva, through gradual training in the 6 Perfections (paramitas)
Train in great zeal to enable pure Bodhicitta to arise within you.
2 Types of Bodhicitta:
RELATIVE BODHICITTA – cultivating both types of Bodhicitta of intention and action
ABSOLUTE BODHICITTA – training at length in this Bodhicitta enables real understanding of emptiness, the wisdom beyond all conceptual limits, as the true
condition of all phenomena to arise. Its meaning is closely tied to the explanation given in Dzogchen of ‘essence-Bodhicitta’ as the authentic condition of the primordial base or of the natural state which has three wisdoms of essence, nature and potentiality of energy.
The way to cultivate relative bodhicitta:
According to the System of Vast Behavior it is indispensable to undertake the relative Bodhicitta commitment in a specific ceremony.
According to the System of Profound View (Nagarjuna) it is possible to take the Bodhicitta commitment without having to depend on a ritual.
All dharmas are secondary causes And depend entirely on one’s intention - The Pure Dimension of Manjushri
EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON THE INTENTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL!
The Way to Take the Relative Bodhicitta commitment by oneself. Meditation on one’s own contentment. Meditation on others’ contentment.
The Essential Way to Practice the Cultivation of Relative Bodhicitta. In order for an authentic aspiration to arise within through the cultivation of relative Bodhicitta, and in order for it never to wane you can recite the following verses from Teaching for the Yogin’s Realization and used by Longchenpa to express in essence the foundation of Bodhicitta commitment:
I and all sentient beings Are enlightened from the beginning: Recognizing this condition I cultivate supreme Bodhicitta.
TRAINING IN THE BODHICITTA OF INTENTION: THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES
This consists mainly in engaging with diligence to enable our mind to become deeply familiar with the true sense of the Four Immeasurables that are: immeasurable loving kindness, immeasurable compassion, immeasurable altruistic joy, immeasurable equanimity.
In general one speaks of ‘loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity,’ so that loving kindness comes first. However when you practice if you do not train first of all in immeasurable equanimity there is the danger that your loving kindness and compassion might fall into partiality. This is why it is necessary to train in equanimity first of all.
IMMEASURABLE EQUANIMITY
The true sense of immeasurable equanimity is based on the intention and aspiration to quell both attachment and aversion. In fact, as not one among all sentient beings as infinite as space has not been our father or mother in other lives we should aspire to consider all beings in an equal manner, without falling into attachment towards our friends, hatred towards our enemies and ignorant unconcern towards those to whom we are indifferent. With this resolve, we first choose as our object of meditation someone we do not like or who gives rise to feelings of hatred within us. We think that in past lives this person has been one of our parents, a friend and then an enemy etc., many times over. Moreover, since the illusory vision in which we are now living is impermanent and changes moment by moment, if we reflect on it correctly, the bad this person has done to us during the brief time of this life is something for which we should be grateful.
Jigme Lingpa said:
The bad enemies do us is a means to develop our capacity for practice, And unjust accusations serve to bolster our training in virtue. As all of this is a teacher that demolishes our attachments, We should be infinitely grateful for this.
Thus we should train our mind until that person becomes just like anyone else towards whom we have no particular feelings (profound balance that does not stray into partiality).
As far as the neutral way we may feel towards those whom we do not feel to be either enemies or friends, we should understand that this is only indifference induced by ignorance and certainly cannot suffice as immeasurable equanimity. This latter, in fact, must be like that of a Rishi who, when offering a banquet, gives to everyone indiscriminately. In the same way we should train repeatedly in equanimity towards all beings as infinite as space, totally disregarding limits of distance and dualism of attachment and hatred.
IMMEASURABLE LOVING KINDNESS
The true sense of immeasurable loving kindness is based on the intention and aspiration that all beings without any distinction, should have happiness and never be separated from it. (total loving kindness)
Just as parents patiently put up with any misdeeds done by their ungrateful children and without becoming discouraged constantly engage in striving for their health and happiness, we should take the commitment to liberate all beings from the ocean of suffering of samsara, acting directly or indirectly, and to behave in such a way that in this and in future lives they might always find themselves in favourable circumstances.
The Lamp that Illuminates the Path to Liberation states:
In general all beings wish for happiness and do not want suffering, however due to delusion they act so as to obtain suffering instead of happiness. How I wish that the desires of all beings might be realized and that all could know only happiness! We meditate repeatedly on this and train our mind until hearing of someone’s happiness makes us content as if it were our own happiness. In fact a sutra says:
Loving kindness expressed with the body. Loving kindness expressed with the voice. Loving kindness expressed with the mind.
Thus is all actions of body, voice and mind we should train in the feeling of living kindness, avoiding causing even the slightest disturbance to others. According to Engaging in Bodhisattva Conduct:
When we look at sentient beings We should think: “it is just thanks to them that I will attain enlightenment.” So look at them with allegiance and with love.
IMMEASURABLE COMPASSION
The true sense of immeasurable compassion is based on the intention or wish for all beings to be free of suffering. In general this is also called ‘total compassion’.
Let us think of someone afflicted by suffering, such as a criminal in prison awaiting execution or an animal at the butcher’s about to be slaughtered. Then we identify with that person, thinking: “What can I do now? I have nowhere to run or hide. I have neither refuge nor saviour!” Thereby taking on their suffering until we feel fear.
Then we identify that person with our mother or father, who cared for us with such love, thinking: “Even though my mother (or father) has done nothing wrong, she now finds herself facing a suffering that will deprive her of her life. With no place to run to, to hide or to save herself, with nobody to protect her, she is imprisoned in a cage of pain and in an instant will leave this life and this body that she has loved so much, obliged to take another birth. Alas! Who knows how much she is suffering! How I wish I could do something to liberate her from the pain she is feeling!”
Training in this way a feeling of compassion will arise in us so intense that it will be difficult to bear, and at this point we should relax in a condition beyond concepts.
We then train in thinking of those who are now our enemies and finally of those towards whom we are indifferent: among these too there is not one who has not been our parent in other lives. Therefore, reflecting that many of them a re undergoing the unbearable suffering of the three lower states and that many others are committing actions which will only cause them further suffering we will understand how they too are like a convict in prison or an animal in the hands of its butcher, and we will feel compassion.
Then we formulate the thought: “How I wish that on my own I could free all these suffering beings from their karmic suffering and swiftly lead them to the state of enlightenment! Teacher and Three Jewels, enable me to attain this capacity!” We should express this aspiration from the bottom of our heart.
In this way, training our mind in a feeling of total compassion such as a mother without arms would feel seeing her won child dragged away by the current of a river, we will arouse a genuine change in our heart and feeling an unbearable compassion arise in us we should think: “I do not have the capacity to release others from suffering. What can I do? I ask to be empowered so that I might swiftly attain the energy of compassion and the empowering flow to enable me on my own to release beings from the ocean of suffering!”
When in this way immeasurable compassion has arisen we should relax in a state of equanimous contemplation, recognizing the unreality or ourselves and of other, just like a dream or a magic illusion. We must train in all this with great commitment.
IMMEASURABLE JOY
The true sense of immeasurable joy is based on the intention or wish to quell every type of jealousy or competitiveness in relation to others.
To begin we choose a relatively easy object of meditation: a person who is close to us or a friend, who for reasons of birth, wealth and power stands above other, and we think: “How happy I would be if her prosperity and prestige would increase even more, together with her intelligence and fame, and if she was always sheltered from disturbances caused by others! If only this would truly come to be!”
We should train our mind expressing this wish. In the same way we then train in concentrating our thoughts on persons towards whom we feel indifferent, and finally w meditate on the enemies we hate most and on those whom we envy most.
The Lamp that Illuminates the Path to Liberation says:
In brief, we must rid ourselves of bad mental attitudes based on competition and jealousy that make others’ well-being and prosperity unbearable for us. The essence of Bodhisattva’ practice aims only at producing the cause and the fruit of happiness, both provisional and definitive, of all sentient beings. So what in the world is worse than not being content about others’ happiness and prosperity? So we should always be content, from the bottom of our heart, about the good qualities and positive circumstances of others.
We should engage in this way with great commitment until a feeling of immeasurable joy arises in us, like that of a camel when it finds its lost child. At this point we should relax in a state of equanimous contemplation beyond any concept.
Jigme Lingpa has said –
If thoughts are good, the levels of realization and the paths are good. If thoughts are bad, the levels of realization and the paths are bad. As everything depends on thoughts We should always train in good thoughts.
As a daily practice, to keep alive the mind training in the Four Immeasurables we can use the following verses:
May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness! May all beings be free of suffering and the cause of suffering! May all beings never be separated from the happiness that is free of suffering! May all beings abide in immeasurable equanimity, beyond the limits of distance and of attachment and aversion!
Training our mind thoroughly in order to succeed in integrating their meaning within us, we recite these lines, mindful of the specific concentration to associate with the Four Immeasurables.
Westerners prefer compassion to faith. Western compassion sounds very nice but actually it has a negative taste if you check carefully and deeply. For Westerners, compassion is not authentic because it is connected to pride. It is from up to down, because it comes from those who are in some way considered lower. That is why it is comfortable for them. It is also because of pride that faith is not possible for them, since faith is surrendering to what is higher. In actual Buddhist tradition, faith in Buddha is always connected with compassion for sentient beings and compassion is always connected to faith,
because where there is actual faith, compassion comes automatically for all suffering beings who do not have faith in Buddha and are therefore suffering. Many people want to know about Buddhism, but they are not interested in faith because they don’t want to surrender anything. Since they think the sangha is a group of friends so it is not necessary to respect them, this makes them feel safe. This conception originally comes from some kind of modern superficial democratic idea of equal rights, based on a nihilistic point of view and not on wisdom. Spiritual ideas are totally different from worldly political ideas, but they try to put these worldly political ideas into spiritual ideas without considering pure dharma. These democratic ideas are supposed to be kept as worldly political ideas, and not misused as if they were spiritual. It is fine to believe in democratic ideas, but why bother Buddhist ideas, including the right to be a teacher and the right to believe in teachers? Actually, democracy has the idea of individual rights, so
what is wrong with Buddhists having rights? Religious belief is a choice made by the individual, and not a decision to be made by people who call themselves a sangha. These people have no right to diminish the role of the teacher, and they cannot diminish it, because the quality of spirituality the teacher embodies is inconceivable and not like the materializations thought up by those in a nihilist sangha. Their ideas are actually not democratic ideas, but could be just the tradition of some weird other realm. If the purpose of politics is to deal with the needs of people, why are they trying to exclude Buddhism from what people need?
Actual Buddhist tradition is to benefit beings. These people can’t benefit others because they do not have a pure positive dharma lineage due to trying to adjust spiritual ideas to accommodate these ideas of worldly freedom with a nihilist point of view. Although they may try to make their ideas sound enticing to nonreligious people, to lure them for the promotion of their own group or to prevent respect for teachers, this kind of view will cause disgrace for Westerners. The traditions of Buddhism are based on having faith and reverence, but this new idea of depending on the collective wisdom of the sangha encourages the opposite. By lineage, I do not mean a skin lineage that belongs to a particular race, but a wisdom lineage that is transmitted from
the teacher to the student and from students to their students over many generations, in order for them to become teachers and to teach beings. It is impossible for anyone to have a sublime wisdom lineage if they cut off from their guides to enlightenment through diminishing the role of the teacher, because teachers are representatives of the Buddha, to teach. Whatever they seem to be according to the phenomena of the student, teachers are teaching the path of enlightenment, and whatever students learn must be learned from teachers. It is important that people not be confused by he misuse of Buddhist terms, which are always connected with wisdom. Wisdom is the opposite of ordinary conception. It is sublime mind. There are many meanings of sangha, but simply put, it is the mind’s intention what virtue proper through the two accumulations of merit and wisdom. Merit is created by virtue, and wisdom
flourishes from realization. These two accumulations come from dharma. Dharma comes from the speech of Buddha. The representative of the Buddha is the teacher. So to say that the role of the teacher should be diminished, lessening it and making it smaller, is appalling. All religions try to increase wisdom blessings, not diminish them. Without faith and belief in the Triple Gems, following Buddha’s speech, praying to the Buddhas, or listening to teachings from teachers who are representatives of the Buddha, how can one realize wisdom? As Buddha Shakyamuni said, “For men who have no faith, it is impossible to have pure dharma, like planting a burned seed in a field and expecting a green shoot to come.” With a nihilist mind and a sangha face, instead of benefiting all beings through following the teachings of Buddha, these people are harmfully blocking the path of enlightenment for new generations through their tricky words. Of course, according to American ideas of freedom, everything is allowed, including religious freedom, but they can invent something themselves not connected with Buddhist tradition. Why is it necessary to borrow the name of the sangha from Buddhism’s words?
DEVOTION'
Devotion is the sweetest love ever possible. In its pure form it is identical to the fully enlightened state and is, therefore, the ground, the path and the fruit. For this reason we can understand the path according the triad of what is to be purified, the method of purification and the result. The ground is the innate Buddha Nature – the unity of space and awareness wherein space is the infinity of subject less vastness – the dimension within awareness – love radiating to infinity as the union of perception, perceiver and perceived – (Nirmanakaya is Love – TNR) – is all pervading and unobstructed.
The Buddha Nature – within us, is wrong, it is more as though we are within it but even this is wrong as appearance and emptiness are a singularity – Buddha Nature is recognized even through delusion as the love response to what is sublime. Those beings that have sufficiently matured in the domain of humanness feel this sacredness and seek it out. This is intuitive recognition of the ground Buddha Nature and is felt as devotion.
Devotion in the path is the process where by the temporary stains, which confuse us as to the true nature of devotion, are removed. These ultimately non-binding misconceptions (there are no correct conceptions) are removed by changing the quality of our perception through the union of devotion and meditative stabilization in deity yoga practice. It is inevitable that in the beginning the disciple with concretize devotion upon a external fixation and then later upon internal states – both are simply mistaken conceptions. External and internal are the lie that the practice goes beyond. The external Guru Buddha is not somehow transcended by the “inner lama” at some more advanced stage. Rather they are recognized in their true nature and essence – the outer guru, inner guru and ones own awareness are identical. One does not obviate the other and they art mutually interpenetrating and non-obstructing.
The main method for preventing external fixation and thereby “idiot devotion” – which resembles a rock star cult of hysterical schoolgirl fascination – is practice. The concrete actions of practice are “how” we love the guru. Otherwise it tends to simply be so much sentimentalism. For those with excessive sentimentalism practice makes love real and functional. For those with an impairment of feeling for the divine practice opens the doorway of authentic faith. Practice is the point. Remembering that the Guru Buddha is not an ordinary person but an open space of perfect sublime transmission helps cut through the tendency to act in infantile demanding graspy silly ways and instead take seriously the commitment of spiritual life.
When through practice one moves through the stages one becomes more and more free – not free from (especially not free from the path or guru or lineage, not free in adolescent rebellion sense) and not free to but essentially free. This freedom is felt as the maturing of devotion wherein the natural love response resolves itself beyond the polarity of external internal / self or other. Oddly there is no “other” no “self” and yet there is the
paradox of love and beloved without subject or object – this is silence and sound mixed in perfect non-dual music.
Respect, faith, devotion, practice… these are the way. They are the ground, the path, the fruit. They are joy. They are demanding – more demanding than the false enticements of samsara but they also offer greater reward. Meet the demand of love. Meet the demand of practice! Meet the demand until the demand itself is only love in love as love for love beyond all mis-conceptions.
Note:
These transcriptions were completed on Shakyamuni Day, August 29, 2011, by a group of very fortunate, yet ultimately mediocre typists. Any benefit received here is only because of the lama’s great blessing, and all mistakes are our own. May all merit go to others. May all beings be happy in all places and times!
