The Seven Points of
Mind Training
By
The Venerable Khenchen
Thrangu Rinpoche
Geshe Lharampa
Translated by
Maruta Stern
and
Erik Pema Kunsang
Root Text Translated by
Michele Martin
Edited by
Victoria Huckenpahler
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the many persons who helped
make this book possible. First, we would like to thank Maruta Stern for
translating the teachings given in Nepal, Erik Kunsang for translating the
teaching given in Maine, and Michele Martin for translating the root text and
for rendering extensive editing assistance. We would also like to thank Gaby
Hollmann for transcribing and helping to edit the tapes of the retreat.
Note
Words are given as they
are pronounced, not as they are spelled. The actual spellings of Tibetan words
are given in the Glossary of Tibetan Terms.
We use the convention
of B.C.E. (Before Current Era) for what is known as B.C. and C.E. (Current Era)
for A.D.
These teachings were
given in Nepal at the Namo Buddha Seminar in January, 1993 in Nepal and in
Maine, USA in September of 2001.
This book is dedicated to:
His Holiness, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa,
Urgen Trinley Dorje. May he live long and prosper and spread the true Dharma
throughout the world.
Table of Contents
Foreword
ix
An Introduction to Mind
Training
1
I. THE
PRELIMINARIES 11
A. The Visualization
for Mind Training
Lineage
11
B. The Four Ordinary Foundations
13
1. The Difficulty of Finding a Human
Birth
13
2. Death and
Impermanence
15
3. The Inherent Tragedies of Samsara
15
4. The Infallible Law of Cause and
Effect
16
II. THE
MAIN PRACTICE 21
A. Ultimate
Bodhichitta
21
1. Analytical
Meditation
22
2. Placement
Meditation
27
3. Post-meditation
29
B. Relative
Bodhichitta
30
1. The Preliminary
Practice
33
2. The Main
Practice
34
3. The Post-meditation
Practice
37
III. CARRYING
PRACTICE ONTO THE PATH 43
A. The General
Practice
43
1. Relying on Relative
Bodhichitta
44
2. Relying on Ultimate
Bodhichitta
48
a. Accumulating
Merit
50
b. The Confession of Negative
Deeds
50
c. Making Offerings to Gods and
Demons
51
d. Making Offerings to Dakinis and Protectors
52
IV. MIND
TRAINING IN DAILY LIFE 61
A. Practicing Mind
Training in this
Lifetime
61
1. Power of
Determination
64
2. Power of Familiarization
66
3. Power of Virtuous
Actions
66
4. Power of
Remorse
68
5. Power of Aspiration
70
B. Practicing Mind
Training at the Time of Death
72
1. Power of Virtuous
Seeds
72
2. Power of Aspiration
72
3. Power of
Remorse
73
4. Power of
Goodwill
74
5. Power of Familiarization
74
V. EVALUATION
OF MIND TRAINING 79
A. Clinging to self as
a
measure
79
B. Relying on yourself
as a
measure
83
C. State of
mind as a
measure
84
D. Staying on
Guard
85
VI. COMMITMENTS
OF MIND TRAINING 87
A. Three General
Principles
88
B. Specific
Principles
90
VII. GUIDELINES
OF MIND TRAINING 101
A. What to
Reject
101
B. What to
Adopt
104
Conclusion
112
The Root Text of Seven Points of Mind
Training
115
Notes
121
The Glossary
127
Glossary of Tibetan
Terms
139
Bibliography
141
Index
143
About the
Author
145
Foreword
Tibet was non-Buddhist until the eighth century when its King, Trisong Deutsen,
asked Padmasambhava to come to Tibet to introduce the Buddhist
teachings there. It was Padmasambhava, along with the Indian scholar
Shantarakshita, who established Samye Monastery in 779 C.E. To help in
this endeavor, the Minister Thonmi Sambhota was sent to India to develop a
written script for the Tibetans. Thereafter, numerous Tibetans made perilous
journeys to India to bring back the dharma and translate it into Tibetan.
This text on
mind training, called lojong in Tibetan, was brought to
Tibet by Atisha in the eleventh century. Atisha brought over 100
instructions to Tibet, this particular text being compiled by one of his
students who condensed it into the present form of seven points.
The Buddhism of Tibet
was a combination of the Shravakayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. The
Shravakayana sometimes called the Hinayana was practiced in terms of strict
personal discipline and the fundamental meditation of Shamatha and Vipashyana. The
Mahayana was taught in terms of engaging in an extensive study of the emptiness
doctrine of the Middle Way (Skt.Madhyamaka) school and taking the
Mahayana vow to help all living beings reach liberation. Helping all beings was
accomplished through the practice of the six perfections (Skt. paramitas)
(generosity, morality, patience, perseverance, meditative stabilization, and
wisdom). The Vajrayana was achieved through yidam practices and the
practice of examining mind directly, using Dzogchen or
Mahamudra meditation.
The study of texts on
the Middle Way concerning emptiness took a minimum of a year in the monastic
college or shedra which, unlike our colleges, involved an
eight to ten hour daily study, six to seven days a week, with only a few weeks
of vacation a year. The study of the Middle Way was achieved by memorizing the
root texts in the morning, then receiving a commentary such as Thrangu Rinpoche
has provided in this book in the late morning, and then debating the points of
the text in the afternoon. Sometimes these texts were studied not just
conceptually, but in conjunction with analytical meditation. At Rumtek
monastery in the Nalanda Shedra, for example, Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche
would teach emptiness in the morning, and in the afternoon would have the
students face the outside walls and go into a deep meditation while he would
read passages from the sutras on these topics.
Another method for
actually practicing the Mahayana is Atisha’s
mind training practice. The purpose of this practice is to overcome
the habitual tendency to center the world around ourselves, and thus decrease
our ego. The belief in “I” and in what we hold as “mine” causes vast amounts of
harm in the world. This habit of acting in terms of “self” and “other” comes
from placing ourselves over others in terms of our nation, our race, our
community and social class, right down to believing that we are somehow
fundamentally better than friends and even family members.
When asked whether he
felt anger towards the Chinese for surrounding his camp with machine guns when
he was fleeing Tibet in 1959, opening fire on him and hundreds of others,
Thrangu Rinpoche replied “No,” because the soldiers were doing what they were
supposed to do—shoot at him—and he was doing what he was supposed to do—run for
his life.
To reverse this belief
in holding our body and our ideas to be extremely important, we must put others
ahead of our own selfish, ego-clinging patterns. The Seven Points of
Mind Trainingconstitute exactly such a practice, beginning the second
we wake up and then carrying the attitude on through-out the day as we eat,
work, and socialize with others. Practice ends at night when we examine
ourselves to see if we have followed the mind training principles. Finally,
Thrangu Rinpoche has suggested that as we fall asleep we should do sending and
taking practice.
Mind training is
relevant for modern times because we do not need to go to an isolated cave or
retreat to engage in it; we can engage in it while doing all the thousands of
other things we do every day. This practice has also been condensed to a few
dozen instructions which are easy to memorize, and which are actually standards
for living our daily life. They tell us how to behave in ordinary circumstances
and show us if our ego is increasing or decreasing. In modern life, we do not
usually have the time or patience to memorize long texts, so this practice is
perfectly adopted for the present day.
These teachings on
the Seven Points of Mind Training were given on two different
occasions: in 1993 with Maruta Stern translating and also in 2001 in Maine with
Erik Kunsang translating. Since Rinpoche emphasized certain points in one
teaching and other points in others, we have combined the two.
Clark Johnson, Ph.D.
Atisha
Chapter 1
An Introduction to Mind Training
Why We Should Study Mind Training
In the previous years, I taught the general approach of Buddhist practice and I
have also given the instructions on the Shamatha and Vipashyana meditation
according to Mahamudra. These teachings are very pithy and profound and they
are especially aimed at achieving the ultimate level of reality. There is,
however, a way of practice that places more emphasis on the relative or the
conventional level of reality. Some of my students have asked, “I practice
Mahamudra and it is very beneficial, but every so often strong disturbing
emotions well up and the Mahamudra practice doesn’t seem to stop them. What
should I do then?” This is a good question to ask because at such times there
is a way of practice that emphasizes more the relative truth and this is a
teaching known as The Seven Points of Mind Training, which is very
useful because it can help us pacify the emotions.
This is not just my personal opinion. The Seven Points have been practiced by
the lineage of masters up to the present. They are explained as the merging of
two rivers, the Kadampa and Mahamudra instructions, into one style of practice.
Gampopa fused the mind training instructions of the Kadampa together with the Mahamudra
instructions which he received from the great master Milarepa. In this way,
there has been a line of practitioners known as “the golden rosary” or “chain
of golden links” which has remained unbroken until the present time. This
tradition combines mind training together with the profound instructions of
Mahamudra. I consider this long tradition as a very important and a very
profound approach.
The
Story of Atisha
The teachings on The Seven Points of Mind Training are
regarded as contemplations. They were condensed from the words of the Buddha
(Skt. sutras) or the treatises (Skt. shastras) by the
Indian master Atisha.1 When he first embarked in the dharma, he
understood that the attainment of full and complete enlightenment depends upon
forming both relative and ultimate bodhichitta. Since he wanted to find out
which is the way to make sure that the true bodhichitta dawns within
individuals, he fervently prayed to the deity Tara. He had several visions of
her; in one vision Tara made the prediction that Atisha should set out to meet
three important masters to receive the transmission of how to be a true
bodhisattva and develop the bodhichitta attitude. These three masters were
Jampey Naljor, Dharma Rakshita,2 and Jowo Serlingpa, the Guru
from Serling. Of these three, Dharma Rakshita had an incredible life story and
exemplified the bodhisattva ideal perfectly. It is said that he even gave away
parts of his own flesh to someone who was needy. Atisha’s other guru was called
Jampey Naljor meaning “the yogi of loving-kindness,” because he had that
quality of bodhichitta. But the most important of these three was Jowo
Serlingpa.
Atisha was born in the present district of Bengal but he went to Nalanda
University to study. While studying at Nalanda he heard about Serlingpa.
Serling is the Tibetan name for the island of Sumatra and his name means “the
master from Sumatra.” In those days the Buddhadharma had spread to Indonesia
and there were a great number of ordained monks studying with Serlingpa. He was
so well-known that his fame had spread all the way to Nalanda in Northern
India. When Atisha heard about Jowo Serlingpa, he made up his mind to go and
visit. In those days this was a very difficult journey to undertake. Atisha
almost died on the way because of violent storms, but whenever obstacles arose,
he made fervent prayers to his chief deity Tara and always practiced
loving-kindness and compassion. He somehow arrived and was accepted by
Serlingpa, who told him, “Yes, bodhichitta is the most important practice and
you must practice mind training. But don’t think you can do it in just a few
days. It takes a long time to perfect this practice. You should stay here until
you have completed this training.” So Atisha stayed with Serlingpa for twelve years
and at the end of that time he had perfected his practice of mind training and
returned to India.
Atisha became a great teacher at Nalanda University in Northern India and
finally went to Tibet. In the eighth century C.E. Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita
had gone to Tibet and established very pure Buddhist teachings. It had been a
perfect time to establish Buddhism in Tibet, and the dharma flourished. In the
following century, Tibet fell under the influence of King Langdarma who almost
obliterated the Buddhist teachings, the lineage of precepts, and its
institutions.
Following Langdarma’s assassination in 808 C.E., many teachers emerged and some
taught their own dharma by, for example, mixing Buddhist practices with black
magic. In one of the districts in western Tibet, there was a king called Yeshe
Ö (“wisdom light”), who wanted to determine what the true dharma was and what
distortions of the Buddhist teachings were so he invited genuine Buddhist
teachers to come to Tibet. After him, his successor Jangchub Ö, (“the light of
enlightenment”), had the same intention, and he also invited Buddhist teachers
to Tibet.
King Yeshe Ö sent numerous translators to India in order to achieve this aim
and many of them died on the way. But a few who succeeded in reaching Atisha
gave him the king’s request. Atisha replied, “It is not a matter of personal
feelings of going or not going. I will make supplications to my yidam deity and
will wait for the reply.” So, he made many supplications to Tara, asking, “Will
it be worthwhile for me to go to Tibet?” Tara appeared to him and said, “If you
go to Tibet, it will insure that the Buddhadharma again becomes reestablished
in that country, but it will also shorten your own life by 10 years.” Atisha
replied, “If I live ten years less, it doesn’t matter because what concerns me
the most is that the Buddhadharma help living beings. That’s what my life is
meant for. So, I will go.” When Atisha arrived in Tibet, he started from the
very beginning by teaching about refuge, bodhichitta, and mind training to
separate the true teachings from the distortions. Atisha went to Tibet in 1044
C.E. and remained there until the end of his life.
Atisha founded the Kadampa lineage and when he passed on, he left behind three
outstanding disciples, the main one being Dromtonpa Gyalwai Jungnae. In
general, the Kadampa teachings were divided into three sections. One is the
Kadampa philosophical texts, which were held by the Riwo Gendunpa or the
Gelugpa tradition. Another is the Kadampa secret oral instructions which were
held by Dakpo Lhaje (Gampopa) of the Kagyu tradition. The final one is the key
instructions of the sixteen spheres which are practiced by everyone. Of these
three, we practice the oral instructions which have passed from Gampopa down to
this present time.
Gampopa, prior to meeting Milarepa, had followed the Kadampa teachings and
received instructions from that lineage. When he was about to meet Milarepa,
Milarepa told his disciples, “Today there will come a true teacher from the
Kadampa tradition. Whoever escorts him into my presence will never be reborn
into the three lower realms.” Milarepa understood Gampopa’s value from the very
start. Also, when Gampopa was leaving after having received all the teachings on
Mahamudra, the Six Yogas of Naropa, and so forth, Milarepa escorted him to
Garjeling in Gampo where Gampopa began to practice. At this time Milarepa told
him that he had had a special dream: from his side a vulture flew forth and
landed on the Lhachi Mountain Peak and became surrounded by numerous golden
geese, each of which was surrounded by 500 more geese. When they all flew on
high, the whole area turned a golden color. Milarepa said, “Even though I am a
follower of the yogi tradition, an eminent disciple of mine will fuse the
Kadampa and Mahamudra lineage.”
The teachings on mind
training have been articulated in various ways. There is one set of teachings
called Mind Training in Eight Verses and another called Mind
Training like a Peacock Overcoming Poison. There are many other
instructions like these. The one that is most popular is known as The
Seven Points of Mind Training, which is what we will actually practice
after having received instructions. The Seven Points of Mind Training was
written by a master called Chekawa Yeshe Dorje,3 who went
through many difficulties to receive these teachings.
The Bodhisattva Vow
The bodhisattva
vow constitutes a major part of the Mahayana path. One of the main
ways to accomplish this vow is through the practice of mind training. This
mind training, or lojong in Tibetan, that we are studying is
composed of seven precepts whose purpose is to develop a feeling of love,
compassion, and bodhichitta for all living beings. Usually, we tend to
think of ourselves as really important. If we have any kind of suffering, we
think that it is unbearable and that nobody else suffers as we do. We want to
have happiness for ourselves and do not really consider that others feel the
same. But the foundation for love, compassion, and bodhichitta is to think that
others are equal to us and that we are able to exchange ourselves for them.
Actually to do this we have to rid ourselves of this notion that only we are
important, that only our suffering is unbearable, and that our desire for joy
is of paramount importance. How do we train our mind to do this? The first step
is to realize: “If I feel that I am important and that my suffering is
unbearable, then other beings must have the same attitude. When they suffer, they
too must feel that this suffering is “unbearable.” This is the meaning of
training the mind.
We may ask how
Mahamudra meditation and mind training are related. There are two kinds of
truths, conventional and ultimate. Mahamudra is a very high level teaching
which concerns the ultimate truth. But sometimes we are unable to realize that
ultimate meaning, and because of this, various things happen. Sometimes our
meditation goes very well, but at other times our diligence decreases, our
pride increases, and our meditation doesn’t work the way it should. During
these down times, the instructions of mind training are very good. Often people
come to me and say: “I really want to practice dharma. I really want to study.
I want to meditate but it seems I am very lazy and cannot do it.” For times
like this, it is very helpful to contemplate again and again the instructions
of mind training. In fact, if we can do this over and over, then the diligence
which has decreased will again increase, as will faith. This is what the mind
training precepts are for: the times when these obstacles, called “inner
obstacles of the mind,” occur. When this happens, contemplate these thoughts
over and over again. When diligence is decreasing and pride and jealousy are
increasing, all of the mind instructions help. Once we have contemplated them
repeatedly, then we can again go back to Mahamudra practice.
Atisha formulated
about a hundred different mind training instructions. In Advice
from a Spiritual Friend it states that Geshe Chekawa, who inherited
the teachings from a disciple of one of Atisha’s disciples, put these
instructions into the form of the seven points of mind training.
The first part of the
mind training is a presentation of the preliminaries, which are the
bases for dharma practice. In this text, the preliminaries are divided into two
parts: the contemplation at the beginning of the preliminaries, i.e., what we
must visualize and think of when we start, and then the actual explanation of
the preliminaries.
Questions
Question: You
talked about the relationship between this practice and The Wheel of
Sharp Weapons.
Rinpoche: This
text and The Wheel of Sharp Weapons are basically the same
instructions, but are a little different in the meditation instructions. Both
are very powerful, as the title suggests, really forceful in getting rid of
negativities.
Question: Do
the inner obstacles arise because of past bad karma? Could inner obstacles be
purified through purification practice?
Rinpoche: Inner
obstacles do not come from previous karma. What comes from previous karma are
such things as physical suffering and being born in poverty. Inner obstacles,
which are various negative conceptual thoughts, come >from previous negative
habits of thinking. What does purify inner obstacles is, for instance,
contemplation on the four thoughts which turn the mind, because inner obstacles
are very, very old habits. Doing the four contemplations will gradually change
the negative habits of mind and that will clear away the inner obstacles.
Question: When
anything happens, negative or positive, to what extent does this depend on
karma? For instance, if I am in a train accident, it is my karma, or could it
also be the bad repair of the train? Or if something positive happens, like I
find money and am happy, is that due simply to the fact that somebody lost this
money?
Rinpoche: Not
everything is karma. There are two things to consider: your previous karma and
the immediate circumstances. Things like our physical suffering, or whether we
are wealthy or impoverished, depend upon previous karma. Other things, like our
state of mind, are more dependent upon circumstances than upon karma. For
instance, if we have good Dharma friends with us, then it might be that our
mind is in a good place for practicing and we are quite happy most of the time,
whereas when we are around people who are not good for us, then our state of
mind will not be good either, so we will be quick to become angry. That is
called “the circumstance.” It functions more like barche, which
could sometimes be an accident and sometimes a misfortune of some kind. It is
based more upon immediate circumstances than upon karma. An airplane accident
is karma, the karma of all the victims coming together at one time. It was
their karma that they had all gathered together in that airplane. Another
example: a man in India wants to get on the bus but doesn’t have one rupee, so
he can’t get on. The bus crashes and everybody dies. It was his karma not to
get on that bus, based upon the fact that he didn’t have that one rupee. That
was his karma.
Question: It
is very difficult to distinguish between circumstances and karma. For
instance, if a brick drops on my head or my lama passes away, is it my karma or
is it also his karma to pass away?
Rinpoche: If
a rock falls on your head, it is karma. If it just falls from nowhere and you
didn’t know about it beforehand, it is karma. However, if you pick up that rock
and think, “I must build something with it,” then it is not karma. With your
lama, one cannot tell whether it is karma or not. It might be, but he may have
had a reason to pass into nirvana at that time, in which case it is not karma.
Did he die because of your karma? No, it is not your karma. Now you don’t have
a lama because he has finished teaching you, so it will be up to you whether
you practice or not. That’s your karma. Because the lama has passed away, he is
finished. All the Kagyu lamas have passed away. All lamas die, all living
beings die; there is nobody who won’t die.
Question: An
aspect of Buddhist practice that has been getting more attention in the West
these days is social activism in which you bring your practice out into the
community to make a positive change. There has been a growing interest in the
socially active aspects of going from your meditation seat into the community
and bringing about positive change. Some of the instructions of
mindtraining could be interpreted as a sort of withdrawal from social
activism, so that others are not given the benefit and opportunity of dharma.
Rinpoche: If
everybody would practice these mind training instructions, it would
really be good for everyone, including the community in general. For instance,
it is beneficial for oneself, and if that person over there is doing it, then
it is beneficial both for that person and everybody around. Mind training is
very good for individuals and communities.
Eight Freedoms and Ten Riches
THE EIGHT FREEDOMS (Tib. dal wa gye)
The first four freedoms involve the human realm.
1. Not holding wrong views
2. Not being born in a primitive border land
3. Not being born in an age without a Buddha present
4. Not having all the physical faculties complete,
such as being deaf or mute
The next four freedoms involve the non-human realms
where attaining enlightenment is not very possible.
5. Not being born in the hell realm
6. Not being born a hungry ghost
7. Not being born an animal
8. Not being born a long living god
THE TEN RICHES OR
ENDOWMENTS (Tib. jor wa chu))
These ten conditions make it conducive to practice.
1. Taking human birth
2. Being born in a Buddhist place
3. Having intact senses
4. Being free from extreme negative karma
5. Having faith in the Dharma
6. A Buddha has appeared
7. The Buddha has given teachings
8. The Buddha's teachings continue to exist
9. There are people still following the
Buddha teachings
10. Having compassionate feelings for others
Chapter 2
The Practice of the Preliminaries
I. THE PRELIMINARIES
I prostrate to the Great Compassionate One.
1. First, train in the preliminaries.
We begin lojong
practice with a visualization and a prayer.
A. THE
VISUALIZATION FOR THE MIND TRAINING LINEAGE
In yidam practice
of the Vajrayana we usually meditate, visualizing ourselves in the form of
a deity or yidam. In mind training practice we just see ourselves in
our ordinary form, but on the crown of our head we visualize our root
guru who is the source of all our blessings. First, we visualize on the
crown of our head a lotus flower which is untouched by any of the faults of
samsara; on top of that we visualize a moon disc, and on top of that we
visualize our root guru with a smiling face.
We
visualize our root guru either in his or her actual form or in the form of
Gampopa or Atisha, whomever we are most comfortable with and in whom we
can generate the most faith. It is very important to visualize him or her with
a friendly, smiling face and a resplendent body. The lama has great love and
compassion for us, so the lama’s face is seen with a beautiful and magnificent
smile. To create great merit, we visualize the lama’s body as being very
brilliant and resplendent. We think of the lama as having great
loving-kindness and compassion for all living beings and wishing that they
all be free >from suffering. This compassion and love is not limited to
particular individuals, but includes all living beings. In this way, the lama’s
mind abides naturally in the sphere of reality (Skt. dharmadhatu).
Because it
is also important to think of the lineage of lamas that came before our root
guru, we think that the root guru embodies all the lamas of the lineage as
well. There are three basic ways to visualize the root and lineage lamas: one
is to visualize the root guru with all the lineage lamas stacked above him;
another is known as “the great gathering,” in which we visualize the root guru
with all the lineage lamas surrounding him like a great crowd; a third way,
called “the precious way in which all are subsumed into one,” is to visualize
the root guru as the essence of all the lineage lamas who are subsumed into him
or her.
While
visualizing the lamas, we keep in mind all the enlightened qualities of
kindness and compassion possessed by our root guru. While doing so, we
supplicate our lama. Sometimes we say prayers to the lineage lamas, asking for
blessings from our lama. We pray that we can achieve the kind of
loving-kindness for all living beings and the compassionate wish for all
of them to be free from suffering which are held by our root guru. We pray that
these qualities of the lama are born in us as well. Then with great faith and
devotion to our lama, we say this prayer:
I prostrate to the Great Compassionate One
Whose form is the compassion of the Buddha and his
children.
You are the incomparable lord of dharma
with whom any relationship is meaningful.
My root guru, you embody the life-breath of this lineage.
I pray to you from the depths of my heart.
Bless me with the full development of love, compassion
bodhichitta,
And the ability to dismiss and dispel (all obstacles).
With this prayer we
then visualize the lama coming down through the top of our head and entering a
tent in our heart where he resides. This causes faith and devotion to increase.
It is very important at the beginning of any meditative session to generate
great faith and devotion in the lama and to ask for blessings in this way.
Having received the
blessings and generated great faith and devotion, we sit with our body
lengthened and simply pay attention to the passing in and out of the breath. We
don’t try to regulate the breath, but breathe naturally, staying aware of the
breath going out and coming back in. We count the in-breath and out-breath as
one. We do not count out loud but are just aware. On our rosary we pay
attention to the passing of the breath in and out for twenty-one counts.
We should do this very
carefully because this is said to be the vessel for Shamatha practice. We
should just be very mindful of the breath going in and out and not
consciously think, “Now it is going out; now it is coming in,” or the other way
around. Very carefully and mindfully we pay attention to counting to twenty-one
and then starting at one again. It is very important to make a container for
Shamatha practice.
Above is the
visualization for the preliminaries. Now comes the actual explanation of the
preliminaries, which begins with the contemplation of the four thoughts that
turn the mind, also known as the four ordinary foundations.
B. THE FOUR
ORDINARY FOUNDATIONS
1. THE DIFFICULTY
OF FINDING A HUMAN BIRTH
The sutras are
primarily concerned with the instructions on how to reflect upon impermanence.
In addition to reflection on impermanence, the great siddhas of India added
three additional reflections: the preciousness of the human body comprising the
eight freedoms and ten riches, the consequences of karmic actions, and the
negative quality of cyclic existence or samsara. First, we all have this
incredibly valuable human body which is much better than an animal body. Of
course, an animal can behave nicely and have a kind attitude, but can an animal
receive teachings and reflect upon them? Can an animal practice deep meditation
or samadhi? Can an animal liberate itself from the causes of samsara? There is
no way for an animal to receive teachings as a human can. Not only do human
beings have the ability to listen and to understand the teachings, but they
also practice intelligently and understand what they are doing. When you think
about it, this is of immense value. The preciousness of the human existence is
not just a belief, it is really true. If we reflect upon this, then there is an
actual reason to rejoice in the immense wealth of having a precious human body.
Milarepa 5 said
that one does not really need to read about the four ordinary foundations in a
book; one only needs to look around and see that impermanence is obvious
everywhere. We have the precious human body now, but it does not last.
Everything is impermanent. It is clear that we have reached a very special
circumstance now in having this precious human life. We can see that this
precious human birth is a great opportunity. But if we do not use it, then it
is a complete waste. What a shame to squander this opportunity! We can see that
a human birth is very precious and that it is important to use it as such. So
the first contemplation is on the precious human existence and all its
possibilities.
2. DEATH AND
IMPERMANENCE
The second
contemplation is on death and impermanence. If we sit and think about
death and impermanence, we are bound to become a little sad. Most people think
it is not a good idea to sit around and think about something which will upset
us. But actually, it is a good idea because if we do not think now about death
and impermanence, one day they will definitely arrive anyway and then we will
not be prepared. Not knowing what to do and what will come next, we will
experience great suffering, whereas if we start thinking about impermanence
now, while we still have time to find skillful means to deal with it, then
later we will not be caught unaware. Even though in the short term the
contemplation of death and impermanence might cause discomfort, in the long term
it will actually save us from greater suffering.
3. THE INFALLIBLE
LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT (KARMA)
The third contemplation
is on the infallibility of karma, which is cause and effect. The word “karma”
is often understood as a fate that is impossible to change or alter. But that
is not the Buddhist concept of karma. The Buddha taught that one can do
something about one’s karma. Happiness and suffering are created by karmic
actions; they are the results of actions; and these actions are the result of
our choice of what we do. We cannot change the results immediately, but we can
still change the new causes that we create with our behavior.
All living beings want to avoid suffering, but we need to understand that
negative karmic actions cause suffering, so if we try our best to avoid
creating new negative actions, then their effect which is suffering will
diminish. Living beings also want happiness, but we need to understand that
wholesome or positive karmic actions bring on happiness. In this way, karma is
not out of reach, because we can do something about how karma will ripen for us
later on. As practitioners we should definitely take it upon ourselves to avoid
what is unwholesome and to do what is meaningful and good.
So in this contemplation
we contemplate that if we do virtuous actions, then the effect or result is
happiness; if we create a cause of non-virtue by performing a negative act,
then the result will be suffering. So there is a way of overcoming suffering in
life, and this is by creating virtuous causes which can only arise by pursuing
a path of dharma.
If we have doubts about
these four contemplations, it is said that it is very helpful to recite prayers
like The Seven-Branch Prayer6 in which we take refuge, generate
bodhichitta, confess, dedicate the merit, and so on. When doubts arise, this is
a very important and beneficial practice.
4. THE INHERENT
TRAGEDIES OF SAMSARA
The fourth
contemplation is on the inherent tragedies of samsara. The inherent nature of
samsara is that there is always something wrong and this is true for everyone.
All living beings suffer in one way or another. But it doesn’t have to be that
way. We don’t have to continue suffering. We can overcome not only the causes
of suffering, but we can overcome the entire environment of suffering, which is
samsara, by making use of the instructions of mind training on the relative
level and the instructions of Mahamudra on the ultimate level. Reflecting upon
the negative quality of samsaric existence inspires us to want to overcome
suffering and to attain liberation and be free; it makes us want to put more
energy into mind training and Mahamudra practice.
Milarepa said, “I do not study what is written with black ink.” Rather,
Milarepa studied everything as it actually is. We can also just look around and
see how things are. All living beings are born, grow up, age, become sick, and
pass away. We can also observe the consequences of actions and what is painful
in all different ways. All this is observable if we pay attention. But we can
also see what is truly valuable: a precious human body, which can lead us to
embrace a spiritual path by understanding what it means to cultivate spiritual
qualities and to practice. Such a person is very precious. When we acknowledge
that we have this preciousness, we can rejoice in that. Also, we will be
inspired not to leave it at that, but to put it to use with a lot of energy,
enthusiasm, and perseverance. That is a special way of studying the dharma
through understanding how things are.
From time to time a student will say to me, “I like the dharma and am
interested in practicing, but I feel that it is difficult for me to practice. I
cannot really get into it. What should I do?” I suggest, “Spend some time
reflecting upon the four thoughts that change the mind—the precious human body,
impermanence, karma, and suffering.” This is not like training in Shamatha and
Vipashyana, but more a reflection, thinking about how things are: Are they
permanent or impermanent? We spend time working with these four topics in our
mind. These will cause inspiration, in which case we feel that it is not
difficult to practice. This is why the first of the seven points of mind
training is the preliminaries, or the foundation, for any and all practices
that follow. If we have that foundation of having reflected on the four
thoughts that turn the mind, we are then able to proceed with every practice
that comes afterwards.
When we train in the
teachings of the seven points of mind training, we still have some problems.
Sometimes these problems can take the form of happiness, success, and good
times and sometimes the form of difficulties, physical and mental pain, and
misfortune. Success becomes an obstacle when we are affluent, have lots of
satisfaction, and everything goes well. This causes a tendency to forget the
dharma practice because everything is fine; we just go along and get caught up
in it, forgetting our usual practice. That’s a problem and, therefore it is
called “the obstacle of happiness.” The other obstacle comes when we experience
misfortune, failure, or physical and mental pain. We could also forget dharma
practice then because we are too caught up in being depressed, and so forth. As
a matter of fact, we can use both situations for mind training and in that way
become more even-minded so that we are neither depressed during difficulties
nor carried-away by success. In this way mind training lifts us during
difficulties and grounds us during success.
Questions
Question: You
said we should visualize our root guru either in his or her own form, or as
Gampopa or Atisha. I always visualize him either in his own form or in the
form of Vajradhara. Should we visualize him in this case as Gampopa or Atisha?
Rinpoche: There
are several ways of visualizing one’s root guru. For instance, it is fine to
visualize him as Vajradhara because Vajradhara, having all the qualities
of the Buddha, is stainless. One can also visualize one’s own root guru as he
or she is if one has complete faith and confidence in him or her. But sometimes
because we are very familiar with our lama, we can lack complete faith and
devotion and, therefore, tend to see faults in our root guru. When this
happens, we can visualize the root guru in the form of Gampopa or Atisha,
because these teachings of mind training come from Atisha, who passed
them down to Gampopa. These individuals lived far in the past, so never having
met them we cannot possibly see a fault in them.
Question: As
a student new to Buddhism I have not developed a strong connection to a root
guru. How does one practice in that case?
Rinpoche: Well,
the one for whom you feel faith, devotion, and respect no matter which
individual, should be your object of refuge. That is whom you visualize.
Question: You
taught that it is necessary to supplicate the guru with deep devotion, as well
as to follow his instructions. When the root guru dies, do we continue this
practice to create openness and further devotion, further commitment, or is
there some actual living quality of the root guru? Is there a
Buddha-field that the root guru is part of, a sort of energy field, or
does the practice just help us follow the instructions more clearly, more
devotedly?
Rinpoche: Whether
your lama has passed away or is still living doesn’t really make a lot of
difference because the point is the strength of your faith, devotion, and
prayers. For instance, Milarepaoften prayed to Marpa and many of his spiritual
songs start with prayers to Marpa, though at the time Marpa had already passed
away. It is said that if one has enough faith, sacred relics (Tib.ringsel)7 will
issue even from a dog’s tooth! This refers to the story of an old woman in
Tibet whose son was a great trader and was always going to India. The mother
was very old, and when her son was to go to India she said, “Oh son, you are
always going off to India. It is such a wonderful place. The Buddha was there,
as well as many great saints. It would mean a lot to me if you would bring me
back some kind of relic from this holy land.” The son went off to India, had a
lot of work to do, and totally forgot the relic. When he returned, his mother
asked, “What did you bring me?” The son said, “Oh. I’m so sorry. I forgot all
about it.” The next time he went she said again, “Please don’t forget. Please
bring me something from India.” Again he got really busy and forgot it, leaving
her very disappointed. Then came the third trip. Once more the son had so much
to do that he forgot. The fourth time the mother said, “If you forget again, I
will know that you don’t really love me at all; in fact, if you don’t bring me
something this time, I am going to die in front of you.” He went and again
became very busy and forgot. But this time, just before reaching home, he
remembered and thought, “Oh no! I completely forgot. What am I going to do? My
poor old mother! She is going to die in front of me.” He was really in despair
and looked around frantically for something to give her. Seeing the dried up
skull of a dog lying there, he approached it, thinking: “I just have to get her
something. She is going to die in front of me if I don’t. I can’t let this
happen.” So he took a tooth out of the dog’s skull, wrapped it very nicely, and
went home saying, “Look mother! You are really lucky today. You are very
fortunate. I have brought you a tooth of the Buddha himself.” His mother was so
pleased that she put it on the shrine, made many offerings, and prayed to it.
One day ringsel came from that tooth. Now ringsel can be produced from the tooth
of the Buddha, but not from a dog’s tooth. So it was her great faith and
devotion and the power of mind which made that happen.
Chapter 3
Arousing Bodhichitta
II. THE MAIN
PRACTICE
The main part of the
mind training practice is concerned with bodhichitta. Bodhichitta is
a Sanskrit word which literally means “awakened mind.” It refers to the desire
to help all living beings achieve complete happiness. Living beings, by the
way, refers to all beings who have a mind, so this includes animals as well as
beings we cannot see, such as hungry ghosts, jealous gods, and beings in the
god and hell realms. Generally, there are two kinds of bodhichitta: relative
bodhichitta and ultimate bodhichitta. Usually, it is taught that ultimate bodhichitta
is more important than relative bodhichitta. However, because we are beginners
in the mind training teachings, it is taught that relative bodhichitta is
most important, while ultimate bodhichitta is only briefly mentioned. The
practice begins with a brief teaching on ultimate bodhichitta. We begin with
visualizing the lama as explained above, reciting prayers to him or her that we
might receive blessings, and counting the breath twenty-one times so that
we become proper receptacles for training in ultimate bodhichitta.
A. ULTIMATE
BODHICHITTA
We
begin with ultimate bodhichitta followed by relative bodhichitta. The reason
Chekawa Yeshe Dorje decided on this order is because relative bodhichitta is
the desire that forms the noble intention to proceed with developing ultimate
bodhichitta. The dualistic mind is not very stable and to work with something
that is so unstable is very difficult to do. Wouldn’t it be better to stabilize
the mind in real meditation or samadhi? To train in absolute bodhichitta first
and later train in relative bodhichitta based on the stability achieved? Then
relative bodhichitta will be more lucid, clear, and steady so that progress is
more likely. That is the reason why absolute bodhichitta is discussed first.
Generally speaking,
there are two types of meditative training: analytical meditation and resting
meditation. We usually begin with analytical meditation, which is inquiring
about the nature of phenomena, beginning with external phenomena as explained
in The Heart Sutra with the statement, “No eye, no ear, no
nose, no tongue” and so forth.” When we examine the nature of phenomena, we
fail to find any phenomenon which truly exists, so everything is regarded as
dream-like. This then leads to the first instruction:
1. ANALYTICAL
MEDITATION
2.
Regard all phenomena as dreams.
The word “dharma,” here translated as “phenomenon,” is used in many different
contexts. Sometimes it refers to teachings and sometimes to a particular
practice or a specific quality that we try to cultivate in our practice. But in
this particular context, the word “dharma” doesn’t mean the teachings, rather
it means any perceivable object or entity, such as an external sight, sound,
smell, and so forth. These are not as they seem: they are visible or
perceivable but not truly existing, just like dreams. Therefore, first
understand that all phenomena are dream-like and then train in regarding them
as being so.
I don’t feel that it is
necessary to spend a lot of time in this teaching discussing emptiness and
whether things are real and concrete or do not exist as real and solid as they
seem. As a matter of fact, they can be taken apart into smaller and smaller
parts until they are atoms. However, even the smallest particles cannot be established
to truly exist as something concrete and real. This can be arrived at through
intelligent reasoning from the Middle Way philosophy. Using Middle Way logic,
it is possible to show that all phenomena are not as real as they seem. This
method proceeds by proving that every view we hold about reality can be
disproved. Another approach is to establish how things are, rather than
disproving their reality.
The nature of the
emptiness of phenomena can be illustrated with the example of a dream. Every
one of us dreams at night, and while we dream, it seems that there are objects,
sounds, and so forth, which are exactly the same as they are while we are
awake. We see hills, forests, houses, people, and so forth, during our dreams,
but these phenomena are not as they seem. They appear to us, but they are not
solid even though we can hit them, fall off them, and so on. Is everything we
see in our dreams there? No. When we dream of a house or mountain, there is no
real house or mountain in the room. In other words, while not existing, these
phenomena still appear. How is it possible that something that doesn’t really
exist still appears to us? The answer is that it is like a dream, when we see,
hear, feel textures, taste, smell, and so forth though these things are not
really there. How should we regard the phenomena in our waking state? As empty
just as in a dream. We, therefore, should “Regard all dharmas as dreams.”
Sometimes we
contemplate that all outer phenomena—trees, houses and mountains—are not real,
but resemble appearances in a dream. We also contemplate that the inner
phenomenon of our mind, which perceives all outer phenomena, is also not real.
Rather, our mind is empty of inherent existence.8 To engage in
the two contemplations that outer and inner phenomena resemble a dream, we
first think that everything we see in the animate and inanimate world is like
the appearances arising in a dream and that our sensations of these
phenomena—smell, taste, touch, sight, hearing, and feeling—are also like the
sensations felt in a dream.
To repeat, we think
that everything we perceive outside of us is not real; it is like a
dream or an illusion. If everything out there is just a dream or illusion,
then these phenomena must come from the mind. The next thought is, “Well, is
the mind itself real?” To determine if mind is a real, solid entity or empty
just like outer phenomena, we can, employ the Mahamudra or
Dzogcheninstructions9 to look directly at our mind. This
practice of looking at mind is explained in the next instruction:
3.
Investigate the nature of unborn awareness.
Looking nakedly at the
essential nature of mind,10 we find that mind is not
established as any “thing” at all. This means that if we look for the mind, we
find it has no color or shape, or any other definable characteristic which an
object does. Since objects have a beginning, we may wonder, “Where does the
mind start? Is there a point of origin for the mind?” Again if we look, we
cannot find a point of origin for the mind. Other than thinking that it is like
the wind moving in the sky, there is nothing to indicate what it is like. Since
there is no place where it begins, it is said that mind is unborn.
If mind is unborn,
we may then ask, “So where is it now?” Examining the present mind to see
whether it is somewhere outside the body, we find that there is no place where
it resides in the objects that we sense or see. It is not separate from the
body, so we ask, “Well, is it inside?” But we cannot find a particular place
where it is located in the body. Since mind does not have a color or a
location, we therefore say that it is by nature empty.
Finally we
wonder, “Where does mind stop when thoughts stop? And where do thoughts
go?” Again, there is no place we can find where thoughts end. The mind does not
attach itself to an outer object and stop there. There is no origin of mind, it
does not dwell anywhere, and it does not end anywhere because it is empty. So
the mind is without birth, abiding, and cessation. This awareness can’t be
found. This contemplation of looking for the mind, trying to find if it has any
reality or not, is a very important practice to do over and over again until we
are convinced that the nature of mind is emptiness.
So, first we examine
outer phenomena to establish that they are like a dream ; then we look at
mind itself and see that it is without birth, abiding, and cessation. From
this we establish that the inner phenomena of mind are also empty. But this
thought that mind and phenomena are empty is just another thought, so now we
must look at the person who has that thought with the next instruction.
Let us examine what the perceiver is, what we call “me.” Actually, when we look
for it, we cannot find it anywhere; we fail to find it, and yet at the same
time it seems that there is someone. This lack of finding is here called
“unborn,” which means it doesn’t come about nor does it exist right now; it
didn’t arise and it doesn’t abide anywhere in the present. This is exactly what
we need to look into in order to find that this also does not really exist,
which is called “empty of essence” or “empty of identity.”
Earlier, two different types of meditation were mentioned: analytic meditation,11 and
resting meditation. Analytical meditation which uses rational thinking, is not
the method meant in “investigate the nature of unborn awareness.” Here, the
instruction means to look at unborn awareness. This is like observing birds,
just seeing what they are doing. Where do they live? How do they get there? How
do they fly about? What do they eat? Inquiry is simply taking a look by
observing. In exactly the same way, we take a look at the mind and ask: Where
does it dwell? How does it behave? What does it look like? What color does it
have? What shape does it have? And where is it? How does it move? How does it
stay? And so forth. This type of inquiry is not intellectual.
From time to time we have the feeling that the mind is steady and remains calm.
Then when we take a close look at it, what is it really that remains calm now?
We fail to find that there is someone or something that remains. In the same
way, sometimes we notice that there is thinking, and when we look into the
identity of what is it that thinks, we fail to find that there is a thinker,
someone or something actually thinking the thought. This is not some kind of
rationalization, but something we see when we look. This is what is being
taught here in the statement: “Investigate the nature of unborn awareness.”
Unborn here is a synonym for absence of identity.
4.
Even the antidote is released in its ground.
We begin with the
belief that everything is solid and real. Then we develop the belief that this
is incorrect and everything is just emptiness or like a dream. This second
belief, however, developed by the previous instruction, is not real either. To
illustrate this point, Shantideva gave the following example: If you were
dreaming that you had a son and the son died, you would think, “I had a son and
now he is gone.” You might think that the thought that he is gone is an
antidote to the thought that he existed. But in fact this can’t be correct
because none of it is real: it is all like a dream. So the thought that you had
a son was not real, and the thought that your son had died was also unreal.
That is what “the antidote released in its ground” means. When you begin to
believe that everything is emptiness, then you have to let that thought go,
too. You have to look at the one who is thinking that thought and realize that
this one, too, is not real.
In his commentary
on The Seven Points of Mind Training, called The Great Path
of Awakening, Jamgon Kongtrul said that this teaching is explained as
conceptual meditation because examination of outer objects as having no birth,
no abiding, and no cessation is done through using our intellect.
As previously
mentioned, there are two ways of meditation training: the analytical meditation
of a scholar, a pandita, and the resting meditation of a kusulu, a simple
meditator. Analytical meditation of a pandita involves questioning, inquiring,
and quoting the scriptures from masters of the past. To gain some certainty
about how things are, we need to look at external things to see how they are,
and we need to look within to see how our mind is. We even look at the remedies
against the usual belief about outer and inner phenomena. As we reach some kind
of conviction, all we can see is direct experience. Then comes the next
training called “resting meditation of a simple meditator.” The above
instruction concerns analytical meditation, while the next instruction concerns
resting meditation of direct perception.
2. PLACEMENT
MEDITATION
5.
Rest within the all-basis, the essential nature.
What does the
all-basis, the alaya, mean? We have the eight consciousnesses:12 the
five sensory consciousnesses of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and body
sensation; the sixth mental consciousness, the seventh afflicted consciousness,
and the eighth alaya consciousness. We do not “rest in the consciousnesses”
because the consciousnesses are externally oriented. We don’t rest in the sixth
mental consciousness which is thinking mind, engaged in thoughts of the past,
present, and future. These six consciousnesses are sometimes present and
sometimes not. For example, our eye consciousness will not be present or
functioning when our eyes are closed or it is completely dark. Does this mean
that when the consciousnesses are not present, we die or turn into a stone? No,
because there is an ongoing sense of the present and a lucid knowing quality of
mind. This knowing, or awareness, is the eighth alaya or all-ground
consciousness. The alaya consciousness has the quality of being always present
and the quality of knowing. The quality of knowing or luminosity (Tib. selwa)
is always there whether we are awake or asleep or dreaming; it is a conscious
quality that is never interrupted.
I once had an operation
in which they gave me an anesthetic. I experienced the sensory consciousnesses
all being interrupted and there was no physical sensation and at the same time
there was this lucid quality which was not interrupted. I think this was the
eighth consciousness and this is what we need to rest in.
There are two aspects
to the eighth alaya consciousness: the consciousness aspect called the kunzhi
namshe in Tibetan, and the wisdom aspect called the kunzhi
yeshe. What is the difference between these two aspects? Even though the
wisdom quality of the eighth consciousness is ongoing and unimpeded, we may not
be aware of the emptiness of phenomena. Not realizing this characteristic of
phenomena is called the consciousness or namshe aspect of the
alaya. This ignorance forms the foundation for the other consciousnesses.
However, with meditative training we see that even though there is no entity
there, (i.e., when we look for this consciousness, nothing is there), present
at the same time is this conscious wakefulness, the wisdom aspect of the eighth
consciousness. Our task as a practitioner is not only to rest in the nature of
this alaya, but also to be aware of its nature.
When we use the
word alaya, we usually mean this eighth consciousness. But in this
particular instruction, to rest in the nature of alaya points to our basic
Buddha nature (Skt. tathagatagarbha). This instruction means
looking without any conceptualization at the nature of mind. This Buddha nature
is complete simplicity; it is the union of emptiness and luminosity. It is
luminosity because it has the characteristic of wisdom, and yet it is not an
object or thing. The nature of this luminous clarity is emptiness. So this is
the practical application of the meditation: just to look at the nature of
mind, at that unity of clarity and emptiness.
In the meditation on
ultimate bodhichitta, we look at the nature of mind and find there is
nothing at all that we have to think about or fabricate. We do not have to
think that something that exists does not exist; nor that something that does
not exist, does exist. We just look at the nature of mind.
Once we have finished
the looking, we can recite the Seven Branch Prayer as we did in the
preliminaries. After practicing meditation on relative bodhichitta (the
analytical meditation) followed by meditation on ultimate bodhichitta (resting
meditation ), we must dedicate the merit of this practice.
3.
POST-MEDITATION
6.
In post-meditation, regard all beings as illusions.
The first four instructions already given in this chapter explain how we should
engage in the analytical meditation training of a pandita as well as doing
resting meditation of a simple meditator, a kusulu. Once we understand this, we
persevere in this training and meditate more and more. But, a conflict can
arise. A practitioner might think, “If I meditate, then I can’t work and do my
job. And if I do my job, I can’t practice.” This is why there is this fifth
instruction distinguishing between the meditation period and the
post-meditation period. During the meditation session, we train in analytical
meditation or we simply do resting meditation. During the post-meditation stage
we are involved in activities, such as going to work, having conversations, and
walking about. How do we deal with these activities? When things go well and there
are no problems, we become very excited and happy, and when things do not go
well and there are problems, we worry a lot and wonder, “Oh no! What is going
to happen? This is terrible,” and so forth. Rather than reacting to these
events we should train in the understanding we have from mind training, namely,
that whatever we perceive is like a magical illusion. So the reaction of being
excited about success or depressed about failure will diminish when our
external world is seen as a magical illusion.
This completes the teaching on absolute bodhichitta. In summary: The first
instruction was about external phenomena, “Regard all phenomena as dreams.” The
second instruction is about inner phenomena, the perceiving mind, “Investigate
the nature of unborn awareness.” The third instruction is, “Even the antidote
is released in its ground.” Then we come to the resting meditation of the
kusulu, “Rest within the all-basis, the essential nature.” Finally, the
instruction is on how to practice during daily activities, “In post-meditation,
regard all beings as illusions.” In this way, absolute bodhichitta is practiced
using these five instructions.
B. RELATIVE
BODHICHITTA
In the teachings on
relative bodhichitta, there are three parts: the preliminary part, the main
practice, and the post-meditation practice.
In The Seven Points of Mind Training we are in the section on
the main practice, which has two parts: absolute and relative bodhichitta. In
these teachings the relative aspect is emphasized more strongly, because
relative bodhichitta is of immediate importance for the practitioner. It is
what occurs in daily life. We train in meditation to realize the emptiness of
external phenomena and the emptiness of internal phenomena. However, in mind training,
we act as if there is a personal identity and as if other persons are also
real. So relative bodhichitta is making believe that there is a self and
others.
We begin with a special instruction from the Master of Sumatra, Jowo Serlingpa.
He said that when you plant the seed of a flower in a very nice and clean
ground, the seed will grow very poorly. If, however, you plant it in moist and
dirty ground enriched with manure, the seed will grow well. In the same way,
just as a seed grows in dirty soil, to realize emptiness and develop an
altruistic motivation, the bodhisattva will grow and progress in confused and
messy situations.
When it comes to promoting the bodhisattva’s frame of mind, we need to consider
two attitudes most people hold: one is called “goodwill” and the other,
“ill-will.” It seems most people alternate between these two. “Goodwill” means
that out of a good heart one wants to help and further what is valuable,
beneficial, and helpful. But sometimes we have ill-will and want to hurt and
harm others. When it comes to engendering the bodhisattva attitude, it seems
like goodwill is more helpful than ill-will, so as a practitioner we are
advised to cultivate the attitude of goodwill as much as possible and to
diminish and reduce our ill-will. Why? Because when we become used to an
attitude, sooner or later it manifests; sooner or later it expresses itself not
only in words but in actions as well. When we consider what beings actually
need, it is not ill-will at all; they need goodwill. For someone aspiring to be
a bodhisattva, it is suggested that they cultivate and maintain goodwill and
try to diminish ill-will.
Another reason is that goodwill helps both others and oneself. If one expresses
goodwill, it immediately helps others and indirectly, sooner or later, there is
feedback that helps oneself. So it also helps oneself to have a benevolent
frame of mind to help others. Ill-will, on the other hand, immediately hurts
others and indirectly hurts oneself as well.
Now, where do ill-will and goodwill spring from? They spring >from either
regarding ourselves as being most important or from regarding others as most
important. If we look at the feeling, “I am important!” It can become the basis
for many problems. If one regards oneself as being more important than others,
sooner or later one will express this in ways that are harmful to others. But
regarding others as important will sooner or later be beneficial for others and
for oneself, too. Therefore we should try our best to develop the attitude of
thinking of others as more important than oneself.
This is where mind training enters because one’s basic attitude can be remedied
with mind training. Why? Because predominant habits of considering oneself as
more important than others can be changed: we can train in developing the
attitude of wanting to help others and in diminishing the idea that we are more
important than others. This is very beneficial. We can train in that further
and further so that finally there is not much self-importance left in our own
mind but we have the remaining attitude of wanting to benefit others. This is
the real basis for mind training.
The main practice of mind training is forming the bodhisattva attitude which
eliminates the tendency to treasure oneself as more important. Absolute
bodhichitta obliterates the basis of self-cherishing because it is seen that
the ego and personal identity are manifesting and bodhichitta is the solution.
Therefore, it is said that training in absolute bodhichitta completely
eliminates self-cherishing. But for a beginner it may not be so easy to be
successful doing this. Therefore, it is more practical to put more emphasis on
relative bodhichitta: we take the bodhisattva vow and commence in training to
be a bodhisattva, especially by studying such wonderful and beautiful texts
like Shantideva’s Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way. This text
explains the benefits of developing bodhichitta, how to do so, the different
kinds of training involved, and the negative consequences of ignoring the
importance of becoming a bodhisattva.
The Seven
Points of Mind Training may not be as detailed as Guide to a
Bodhisattva’s Way, but for a beginner it is more applicable because
the Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way does not clearly mention how
to begin practice, whereas the Seven Points does. In that
way, The Seven Points of Mind Training is more practical and
useful for a beginner.
1. THE
PRELIMINARY PRACTICE
The preliminary
practice of relative bodhichitta is to meditate on love and compassion for
all living beings. Since this is difficult to do, we begin by generating love
and compassion towards our mother. The way to start is to visualize our mother
in front of us.
In modern times, when
we look at the world, we like to think that in general everything is
improving—that people’s conditions are improving, that wealth is increasing,
and that things are getting better. But sometimes it is very obvious that
something is wrong. One of the ways we know this is true is that in these times
people do not like their mothers. Even though we love our mother, we sometimes
become angry with her. If we think about it though, our mother has been
incredibly kind by giving us our life and then sacrificing a great deal for us.
When we think about our
mother, we should think about how much our mother did for us. We think, “When I
was first born, I did not know how to walk. I did not know how to speak. I did
not know how to put food into my own mouth, or how to go to the bathroom. I did
not know anything. And my mother was the one who took care of me. In fact, I
would not have turned into a person at all had she not taken care of and helped
me. She put food into my mouth, she took me to the bathroom, and she put on my
clothes. When I got a little bigger she would say, ‘No, don’t do that, it is
dangerous.’ She taught me everything that is necessary to become a proper human
being.”
Of course, sometimes
our mother became angry at us and she may have even spanked us. But again, we couldn’t
understand at that time why that happened. It wasn’t because she didn’t love us
or she had some kind of malice towards us. It was necessary because she was
teaching us. If she hit us, she did not hit us because it was of some benefit
to her; if she scolded us, she didn’t do so because she liked it. It was all
for our benefit and was the result of a great kindness to us.
In this practice we
first feel compassion for our mother with the thought, “May she be freed from
all suffering,” and we show love for her with the thought, “May she have
complete happiness.” This text on mind training gives us the oral
instruction to start with our mother and gradually extend compassion to all the
rest of the beings in the world. We extend this compassion (May all living
beings be freed from all suffering.) and this universal love (May they possess
all happiness.) to the point where we regard all beings impartially.
That was the
preliminary. Now we come to the actual meditation, which is the sending and taking
meditation (Tib. tonglen).
2. THE MAIN
PRACTICE OF RELATIVE BODHICHITTA
7. Alternately practice sending and taking; these two
should ride the breath.
The first instruction of practicing relative bodhichitta is that sending and
taking should be practiced alternately. This is an instruction we actually
follow. The practice shows why we should give-up self-cherishing and regard
others as more important. It does not use reasoning or deduction; rather, it is
very simple advice on how to begin. We begin by imagining other living beings
in front of us, many or just a few. We can imagine people in pain, people we
know who are sick, people in distress or suffering. We imagine that we send
these people happiness and the causes of happiness as well. For this to happen,
we imagine that we give them whatever goodness we can think of, and we imagine
that we receive whatever suffering and causes of suffering, all the distress
and negative emotions they experience. We imagine that by being freed from suffering
and its causes, they experience happiness and well-being. We practice this
again and again and thus become more and more used to taking away the suffering
of others and giving them our own well-being and causes of happiness. By
training in this sending and taking practice, the regarding of oneself as more
important than others diminishes and regarding others as more important becomes
stronger and stronger.
Moreover, the traditional instructions help us to become accustomed to a more
positive way of thinking. It is not just our imagination, but we join it with
our breath. When we exhale we imagine (or visualize) that our merit, our
well-being, our physical and mental happiness, whatever fortune we may possess
is sent out to other living beings in the form of our white exhaled breath and
it touches the others who become filled with whatever goodness we have sent
them. We imagine they are freed of any burden they carry and are happy and
well. As we inhale, we imagine that anything troubling them (their negative
emotions, their suffering, their problems, and so forth) leaves them in the
form of dark light and we inhale it, taking it upon ourselves. Immediately,
they are freed from the burden and we imagine them at ease, happy and calm. We
practice that again and again.
We train in this meditation, called tonglen in Tibetan, to
diminish our self-cherishing attitude and become more caring for others. In
doing this practice we may worry, “If I give away all my merit, happiness, and
well-being to others, I will not have anything for myself. Not only that, I may
get sick and suffer from taking on the suffering of others.” When things don’t
go so well for us, we may then think, “Well, this is because I practiced giving
and taking too much. I was too concerned about taking on the suffering of
others and now these terrible things are happening to me.” But there is no
reason to worry because we do not really exchange the karma we haven’t created,
with karma created by others. Karma cannot be transferred or eliminated by
giving and taking practice, so we don’t need to worry at all.
We may have another
fear: “Well, what is the use of practicing giving and taking if it doesn’t help
alleviate the suffering of others or bring them happiness?” The answer to this
is that we do not do this practice to bring about an immediate result in the
other person. The purpose of this practice is to diminish our clinging to
self-cherishing and to increase the attitude of benevolence and
loving-kindness. Sending and taking training does accomplish that. Because the
more we think of giving away our own happiness, well-being, and merit, the more
we diminish the concern for “only me.” The more we train in giving happiness to
other living beings and taking on their suffering, the more the virtuous
qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, bodhichitta, will grow within us.
When these qualities have become stronger and stronger, we will then be able to
directly help others substantially. So sending and taking helps ourselves, because
the more we are involved in benevolent activities for others, the fewer
problems we create for ourselves. Also it helps us as well as others. Maybe it
doesn’t help immediately, but ultimately it becomes the cause for helping
others. It is possible that sending and taking can help others immediately,
however, it is not guaranteed.
3. THE
POST-MEDITATION PRACTICE
8.
Three objects, three poisons, and three roots of virtue.
The training in giving and taking should be practiced alternately with the
breath and should be done during the meditation session. Therefore it belongs
to the meditation practice of relative bodhichitta. But there are also
instructions to use sending and taking during post-meditation. The instructions
say, “Three objects, three poisons, and three seeds of virtue.” When we move
about in life, we see, hear, taste, smell, or touch an object that is pleasant,
we become attracted to it and, as a result, form an attachment to this object
in our mind. When, we notice that this has happened, our next thought should
be: “May this represent the attachment of all living beings, and may all living
beings be free of this attachment that is formed and overcome in my mind. May
all beings experience happiness that arises from being free >from this
attachment.”
We form this attitude and formulate the noble wish that all living beings be
free. On the other side of the coin, we may see something unpleasant or hear
something annoying and become irritated or angry because of an unpleasant encounter.
If we notice that anger or aggression is forming in our mind much like an
attachment, we should then make the wish: “May this represent the anger and
aversion of all living beings, and may all living beings be free of anger and
aversion, and may all beings experience happiness that arises from being
totally free from anger and aversion.”
We may also be neither attracted nor repelled by something; our mind remains
blank and we are absent-minded. If we notice this indifference, we should then
make the wish that the blindness or stupidity of all living beings melts into
our mind and that they are then free from their ignorance. We formulate our
wish: “May this be the end of ignorance of all living beings and may they all
have the happiness that arises from being free.”
In this practice, “the three objects” refers to those objects that provoke our
emotion of attachment, aversion, or indifference, while “the three poisons” are
the emotions of attachment, aversion or aggression, and stupidity. Then we
imagine that all living beings dissolve into the emotions we have as they
arise; and peace and virtue are formed with the wish, “May all living beings be
free.” In this way, the three poisons are transformed into the three roots of
virtue. This is the practice of relative bodhichitta that we do during
post-meditation.
9.
In all your activities, train with these words.
In addition to relative bodhichitta in our post-meditation experience, the text
says, “In all activities, train in these instructions.” We put our words into
action so that when we meet others who are better off than we, who are happy,
who do good actions and so forth, rather than being jealous or competitive, we
make the wish: “May they have happiness and may they progress in what they do.
May their activities increase.”
When we meet others who don’t do anything special, we make our wish: “May they
progress, may they give rise to the noble attitude of bodhichitta. May they
have happiness.”
When we see others who are suffering, we make the wish: “May they be free from
suffering. May they be quickly relieved of the causes of suffering and
experience peace.”
When we meet people who are actively involved in creating causes for suffering
by hurting others, we again make the wish, “May they quickly stop doing so and
attain happiness.”
We do not only pray when we meet such people but also when we hear about them;
even when we just think about them, we make our wishing prayer.
These instructions do not mean that we only make good wishes because there are
situations in which we can actually help others to increase their well-being,
to remove their distress and suffering. If we are able to do so, then there is
a chance to do something to help other beings, so why hold back? We can do it
on the spot. It may be impossible to help them but that doesn’t mean we can’t
give rise to the attitude, “I might not be able to alleviate the suffering of
this person in this moment, but when the chance comes later on, may I be able
to do so.” We can hope and formulate our wish like that, praying to free others
>from suffering and to provide them with happiness.
10.
Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself.
There is one more
instruction for daily activities in the section on the post-meditation of
relative bodhichitta. It has to do with not being able to help someone in great
need and distress. We may not be able to help them, but we can still help
someone who is not that terribly distressed and troubled. We can begin by
feeling for a friend in trouble and need; we can begin with someone close to
us. Having begun, we begin to focus and gradually become capable of helping
others afflicted with suffering until finally we are actually capable of benefiting
all living beings.
This practice of sending and taking should be done
both as actual sending and taking meditation on the breath, and also as
part of our normal daily activities. For instance, any time that we have a
feeling of strong attachment, we should think, “May all beings be free of this
feeling of attachment.” If we are suffering or sick, or something terrible
happens causing mental or physical pain, we should think, “May all living
beings be free of such pain.” If we become angry at someone, we should think,
“All living beings feel this. May they be free of such hatred and anger.” In
the same way if we do something very good, then we should think, “May all
living beings enjoy this virtue.” If something very nice happens to us and we
are very happy, we should again think, “May all living beings experience this
happiness.”
No matter what we are
doing, we can practice this mind training. It is very beneficial to
actually say the words, “May all living beings have happiness; may all living
beings be freed of suffering.”
Questions
Question: In
the United States there are a number of mothers who whip their children for
reasons that are not beneficial. When I use the instructions to teach the
practice of compassion in abused families, it is very difficult for me to talk
about that section because people who have been greatly injured say to me,
“That doesn’t make sense and it is not true.”
Rinpoche: First
of all, the meditation doesn’t necessarily have to be on the mother. The point
is to meditate on somebody who has given as much loving-kindness and help.
Whoever that is, it is okay to start with them. Nonetheless, it is usually a
mistake to think that one’s mother is not kind. Think back to the first year of
life when you were completely helpless. If it weren’t for your mother, you
would certainly have died. When the child grows and develops some kind of
consciousness of self, then it can begin to have trouble with the mother. The
mother might say, “You must eat now,” and you answer, “No, I don’t want to.”
Then trouble starts. The child does not want to do what the mother says and
gets angry, and the situation starts from there. It seems to me that still
there is something wrong with the idea that the mother is not kind because there
is something very natural that comes from a mother with her baby: “This is my
child.” There is a natural protection and tendency to want to protect that
child.
Psychologists have a
very good motivation and really want to help. People are very unhappy and have
much mental suffering, so psychologists and psychotherapists try to fix that
suffering, to make it better. This is all very wonderful. But sometimes there
can be a problem when they try to find out what causes the suffering or what
the source of the pain is. The patient answers, “Well, my mother did this to
me.” The therapist answers, “That’s it! That’s the source of your pain. It
comes from your mother. She’s the one.” I think that this is not necessarily
true.
Question: I
have a question about taking and sending. When you are taking in the
negativities of others, what do you do with them? Do you dissolve them into
emptiness or into the ground?
Rinpoche: In
this teaching it is said that you just imagine that all the non-virtue and
suffering dissolve into you, and nothing more is said about it. But there is
another way to do it, a special way in which you visualize yourself as
Chenrezig with a white letter HRI in your heart. That HRI is very hot and
has the nature of flames. When you visualize taking on all the suffering and
non-virtue of all beings, you visualize it as a black cloud that comes to you
and goes in through your nose and down into your heart center, where the HRI
burns it up. So all the suffering and non-virtue of all beings is burned up.
When you are sending forth all your virtue and well-being, you visualize that
it goes out in a white mist that spreads to all living beings, and they become
very pure and endowed with great happiness.
Question: Let’s
say a thief comes into the shrine-room and hears the statement, ‘Regard all
phenomena as dreams,’ then goes down to Brunswick and starts stealing money
from all the stores. When the policeman arrests him, he says, “There is no
theft, there is no thief, nothing was stolen. These are all dreams.” But there
is a problem if the policeman is not a dharma practitioner. So what should the
policeman do or say?
Rinpoche: Here
is what the policeman should say: “Yes, everything is illusory and unreal, like
a dream, but there is still human feeling, even though it is dream-like.
Therefore, there is also the dream-like experience of being imprisoned.”
Question: If
we are frequently faced with a wrathful person who really wants to destroy us,
what is the most effective method of coping with this problem? Is it better to
do Tara practice, taking and sending practice, or some kind of wrathful
protector practice ?
Rinpoche: Whether
you do Tara or protector practice, the result should be the same. The most
beneficial practice is the taking and sending practice and the practice of
patience. Sometimes it is not possible to have this much patience, and if that
is the case, then the best thing to do is to stay away from the person. If
there is such a strong case of animosity, when that person sees you, the
animosity will just increase and nothing good can come of it. At that point the
best thing is just to stay away from that person or situation and the sooner it
is forgotten, the better the situation will be.
Chapter 4
Transforming Unfavorable Circumstances
III. HOW TO CARRY
THE PRACTICE ONTO THE PATH
A. THE GENERAL
PRACTICE
11. When the world is filled with negativity,
transform adverse conditions into the path of awakening.
We have described the
meditation of wishing all of our good fortune, happiness, and virtue to be
given to other living beings, and taking all the evil, suffering, and causes of
suffering of all living beings onto ourselves. This is the main meditation, but
in our daily lives many things often happen unexpectedly, such as a surprise
illness. Then the question becomes, “What do we do about these things? How do
we meditate in situations where we are happy and situations when we are
suffering?” This is the meaning of “transform adverse conditions into the path
of awakening.”
Sometimes it seems that
the world is filled with negativity and that living beings have much suffering
and many accidents befalling them. We must learn to transform these negative
circumstances into the path to enlightenment. This can be done in two ways:
through the practice of relying on relative bodhichitta and through the
practice of relying on ultimate bodhichitta. The instruction describing
relative bodhichitta is described in the following section.
1. RELYING ON
RELATIVE BODHICHITTA
There are two aspects
to relative bodhichitta when we are practicing using troubles and difficulties
as a way to bring us along the path to enlightenment. The first has to do with
diminishing self-cherishing and the second has to do with increasing one’s
sense of valuing others. The first aspect of diminishing self-cherishing can
occur in situations when we go through difficulties and hard times. The
instruction is:
12. Drive all blame into one.
When something bad
befalls us—maybe we become sick or injured or have great mental suffering,
because people gossip about or insult us—we always tend to put the blame on
others by thinking, “I didn’t do anything, yet this person has really hurt me,”
or “This has happened to me. Why has it happened? It is not my fault.” We
always put the blame on other people or outside circumstances. But in
mind training we should do exactly the opposite. We should not think
that the blame lies outside ourselves, but that the fault is ours. We should think
the fault comes from holding ourselves to be precious, from believing, “I am
important.” We believe that the self is important when it really isn’t.
Self-cherishing has to do with the sense of self, “This is me.” What the “I”
refers to is not so certain. People may use “I” to refer to the body, other
times to the mind. It is not that clear. In terms of the knowledge that
realizes egolessness, there is a certain way to question the validity of the
belief that there exists such an entity called “I.” But that is not in the
scope of relative mind training; we just take it as a given that if there is
this belief, then it is the problem and not the object of that belief.
Selfishness is anchored in the belief “I exist.” It is the main cause of our
unhappiness. Thinking, “I am important. I am special,” is the basis for so many
problems, for so much selfishness and negative emotions. Sometimes anger
arises, sometimes hatred or sometimes attachment and desire, sometimes pride
and conceit; sometimes it is jealousy, sometimes stinginess, or sometimes
close-mindedness. These emotions are allowed to take a foot-hold because they
are nourished by the belief in “me,” by regarding “me” as so special. As a
matter of fact, sometimes the sense of “I” is regarded as the single and most
important entity in the entire world: “I am incredibly important and valuable!”
That is what is called “self-cherishing,” which is regarded as what is to be
eliminated in the practice of mind training. We may think that self-cherishing
is some intrinsic component of our being, but it isn’t. It is just a thought
that pops up, and that is why it can be eliminated.
The difficulties that
we have at present are all brought on by self-cherishing. Whatever problems we
have, the amount of suffering they cause is directly related to how strongly we
regard ourselves as being important. Even the more general and large-scale
suffering of samsara—birth, old age, sickness, and death—is ultimately caused
by self-cherishing, by ego-clinging. This is why whenever we go through
difficulties, we can rightfully blame self-cherishing as the main cause of the
problem.
I want to give an
example about how it is that taking the self to be real is the true enemy. The
story in question is about the great teacher Patrul Rinpoche, who lived in
Kham. One time he was traveling with a servant to Central Tibet. They had a lot
of money with them. The reason they were carrying so much money was that they
were going to Central Tibet to offer butter lamps, make statues, and do many
other virtuous things. The two were traveling alone across the Chang Thang
Desert which was notorious for its thieves. At night they couldn’t sleep
because they feared someone was going to steal the money, so they suffered
terribly. And in the daytime they were constantly looking around, ahead and
behind, wondering, “Are the thieves going to come? Where will they come from?”
It was extremely difficult.
One day Patrul
Rinpoche thought, “I’m really not having a good time. It is so hard. What
is the actual cause of my having such a bad time on this trip?” Then he
realized, “It’s the money. If I didn’t have all this money, I could rest at
night and travel comfortably. I wouldn’t have constantly to look over my
shoulder to see if a thief is coming.” While he was thinking this, his servant
was walking ahead looking out for the thieves and robbers while Patrul Rinpoche
was behind. “Well, it’s really simple,” he thought. “This money is the source
of the trouble and I am going to get rid of it.” With that, he threw the money
into the river, thinking, “It’s gone now. That’s great. Now I’m really happy.”
So he went along while his servant was still watching out for the thieves and
robbers. Finally he said to his servant, “We don’t have to worry anymore. The
thieves and robbers are in the water.” The servant said, “What do you mean ‘the
thieves and robbers are in the water’? They are everywhere.” Patrul Rinpoche
said, “No, I threw the money in the water. That was the real source of our
problem.” This illustrates that the problem was an internal attachment to the
money, rather than the outside robbers.
The problem is we are
so attached to a solid self which is, in fact, really empty.
Shantideva said, “Whatever harm, fear and suffering there are in the world
come from taking the self to be real. This is such a great demon. What will it
do to me, this clinging to a self?” The answer is that the demon has to be
tamed. The demon of believing the ego to be real has to be subdued.
13.
Be grateful to everyone and everything.
“Be grateful to everyone” means to try to understand that others give us
kindness. First of all, this is most easy to practice when people are nice and
we have a pleasant and enjoyable time with them. Then we think, “I had a good
time with so-and-so.” It is very easy to think others are very nice when they
are kind to us. But when others are nasty, hurt our feelings, or disappoint us,
we complain, “This is so frustrating, so disheartening, disappointing. I am so
tired, both mentally and physically, of spending time with so-and-so.” This
shows quite clearly that we are not capable of doing mind training at that time
and instead just blame the other person. On the other hand, there is a way to
deal with this, namely by using the opportunity when people are unpleasant to
cultivate patience, tolerance, and compassion. We actually see that they
provide us with the opportunities to practice and cultivate positive qualities,
and we should be very thankful to them for this.
In other words, when people hurt or harm us or throw obstacles our way, we
should regard these as an opportunity for practice. It is an opportunity to
practice because it offers the chance to use our patience, our willingness to
carry through and develop our compassion. These frustrating people are actually
kind by providing us the chance to progress on the path. Acknowledging and
appreciating this kindness is a way of making use of the difficulties on the
path to enlightenment, which comes under the heading of contemplating the great
kindness of everyone in order to increase cherishing others.
This is a way to reduce
self-cherishing and a way to increase cherishing others in order to bring
difficulties into the path of enlightenment. These two aspects fall under the training
of relative bodhichitta.
There is another
relevant quote from Shantideva‘s A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of
Life :
If the road is covered with rocks and thorns,
you can either pave the entire road with leather,
or you can take a piece of leather
and place it on the soles of your own feet.
This example shows that
the world is filled with suffering which you cannot stop by trying to pacify
all the different negative forces and obstacles. What you can do is protect
yourself. This protection rids you of clinging to a self. That is the same as
covering the soles of your feet with leather, rather than paving the whole
world with it.
In another quote
Shantideva says, “All the suffering and bad things that happen in the
world come from this clinging to a self.” The Buddha taught that one should not
consider oneself to be more precious than others. Rather, we should consider
others more important and more precious. From beginningless time, throughout
samsara, we have considered ourselves to be more important and more precious
than others, and this has brought about all our obstacles and suffering.
Therefore, this attitude is what we must eliminate. The whole problem is based
upon holding others to be more important than ourselves.
So the citations from
Shantideva concerned reliance on relative bodhichitta. The next lines deal with
relying on ultimate bodhichitta.
2. RELYING ON
ULTIMATE BODHICHITTA
To rely on ultimate
bodhichitta is to realize emptiness, and to understand that all suffering
and negativity actually lack reality. It is like being carried away by water or
burnt by fire in a dream; the suffering in that dream is not real. It is the
realization of the emptiness of phenomena, the realization that life is a dream
that leads to realization of ultimate bodhichitta. The instruction for this is:
14.
Seeing delusive appearances as the four kayas is the unexcelled protection
emptiness gives.
The way to see confusion as the four kayas13 (four bodies or
four dimensions) is to regard any difficulties and troubles we may experience
as a dream, a magical illusion, because the true nature of external phenomena
has no inherent nature:14 external phenomena of samsara are
like phenomena in a dream: they do not exist and the realization of this
absence of true existence is the dharmakaya. While phenomena do not exist
ultimately, on a relative level, due to mere dependent origination, they arise
like appearances in a dream and this is the nirmanakaya. These two qualities of
being non-existent and yet perceived or experienced are an indivisible unity
which is the sambhogakaya. The unity of all three kayas or dimensions is the
svabhavikakaya. In this way, we can train in treating confusion as the four
kayas, which is how they actually are. This method is called “the unexcelled
protection of shunyata or emptiness.”
If we have developed
some stability in our meditation we may be capable of dealing with problems and
mishaps by regarding everything as an illusion, the nature of the four kayas.
Otherwise, we will have to train in the relative level of dealing with
difficulties by bringing them into the path of enlightenment, diminishing
self-cherishing and increasing cherishing others.
In addition to this
instruction, there is the following practice called “the special application of
bringing difficulties into the path of enlightenment.”
15.
The best method entails four practices.
Calling the four
practices the best method means that these four are methods for eliminating all
pain and suffering for oneself, and bringing happiness and benefit to all
beings. this is possible through the following four methods.
a.
ACCUMULATING MERIT
The first practice is
accumulating merit. We can ask, “Is it really possible to rid ourselves of
suffering and create circumstances which are conducive to the practice of
dharma?” The answer is that this is possible because all things have a cause,
and the cause of happiness is virtuous activity. To create this cause of virtue
we must first accumulate merit.
Where does the fortune of good health, prosperity, and enjoyment come from?
They result from the ripening of wholesome karmic actions in the past,
primarily that of a noble intention, but also noble physical and verbal
behavior, showing respect to noble objects, being generous to those in need,
and so forth. All these are the accumulation of merit. When we train in
creating merit, we insure that positive circumstances will follow and negative
circumstances will subside.
b.
CONFESSION OF NEGATIVE DEEDS
To accumulate merit, we
also need to be freed of our previous negative karma. To do this we must engage
in confessing our negative deeds, which is done through the four powers.15
Situations have repercussions called “the ripening of karma.” One of the ways
to reduce the ripening of karma is through regret for having created the causes
that bring on suffering. This is one of the main special applications: to
confess or acknowledge negative actions. The Tibetan word is shagpa and
has the sense of chipping away, e.g., when chopping down a tree one starts bit
by bit until nothing keeps it from standing any more. In the same way,
regretting and acknowledging are the opposite of justifying our self and our
rigid actions. As long as we hold on to our entrenched attitude, it is
impossible to change. On the other hand, if we loosen up our attitude, feeling
regret for what we have done, then we are able to let go of that pattern,
slowly changing our ways. This is why confessing for having done something
negative is the second of the special applications.
For example, if we have
the attitude that killing is good, or that it is our job and we earn a lot,
every time we have that thought, it solidifies and becomes more and more
difficult to change. On the other hand, if we start thinking, “Maybe it is not
so good to kill again and again. This will not help me in the long-run. It will
make things very difficult and also hurts others.” That kind of attitude will
weaken the severity of karma. It will also make the ripening of the negative
karma of killing less strong.
c.
MAKING AN OFFERING TO GODS AND DEMONS
When we encounter
obstacles, whether from other persons or non-humans, we should practice the three
methods.16 If someone dislikes us and harms us, we usually
retaliate. But when we think about whether anger will solve the problem, we
will realize that it will not. If someone is angry at us and does something
hateful, and we get angry and want to retaliate by saying mean words and
fighting, the only result is that this person will become increasingly angry
and cause more harm. Whether the obstacle is caused by a human or a non-human
force, it is clear that by reacting with anger or revenge the situation will
only get worse. Therefore, the correct thing to do if someone harms us is to be
patient and compassionate. In these circumstances the other person’s reaction
can only decrease in strength, whereas if we react in the same manner as they,
the conflict will only escalate. Our sole option, then, is to meditate on
patience and compassion.
When we request a
Vajrayana initiation, a torma is usually offered at the beginning to
all demons and obstructing forces, because it is possible that they may try to
create some kind of obstacle to our receiving the initiation and doing the
practice. This torma is a symbol for what we have just discussed: the fact that
if harm or an obstruction occurs, it cannot be pacified by anger, retaliation,
or resentment towards the person causing the harm. As a token of this truth, a
torma is offered before the initiation to all the non-humans present as a
symbol of peace and friendship, an offering of bodhichitta so that no
obstacles arise. Whether we are dealing with a human or non-human, or someone
who really dislikes us, the only way to address the situation is to defuse it
by sending forth love and compassion.
d.
MAKING OFFERINGS TO DAKINIS AND
PROTECTORS
Dakinis and dharma
protectors are friends to us and will not create obstacles. Offering
torma to the protectors is like offering help to a friend and receiving
help in return. In the same way, if you make offerings to the protectors, they
will help you. So whether we are dealing with dakinis and protectors, people or
friends, if you help them, they will reciprocate.
A beginner may have difficulties understanding what dharma protectors are.
Usually we talk about our protectors as the Three Jewels, the Buddha, the
dharma, and the sangha. But in the Vajrayana, in addition to the Three Jewels,
there are the three roots: the gurus, the yidams, and the dharma protectors.
The lama is called “the root of blessings.” We might ask, “How could there be
anyone more exceptional than the Buddha? The Buddha is the most eminent source
of refuge and object of supplication for blessings.” But it has been over 2,000
years since Buddha Shakyamuni lived on earth, so we may feel a gap between the
Buddha and us that we cannot bridge. It is still possible, however, to receive
blessings because there is a lama or guru who carries the Buddha’s blessings
and we can connect with them in the present. When we receive the teachings, we
receive the blessings of the Buddha: it is the same as having received them
from the Buddha personally. This is the reason why the lama is called “the root
of blessings.”
The second type of dharma protector is the meditational deities or yidams in
Tibetan. It is said that there are 84,000 ways to practice the dharma to
achieve the goal of enlightenment. We can’t possibly practice all of these and
so in the Vajrayana path, the dharma practice is condensed into the form of a
yidam. By practicing the yidam meditation thoroughly, we can achieve
enlightenment and so the yidam is called “the root of accomplishment.”
The third root is
called “the dharma protectors, the root of activities.” Usually the sangha
performs the duty of dispelling hindrances and of providing good circumstances
for people to progress on the path. But the sangha is not only incarnated as
human beings. The noble sangha constitutes the Buddhas and bodhisattvas on a
high level of realization, endowed with the blessings, the abilities, the great
qualities, wisdom, and so forth. It is not confined to human beings. Dharma protectors
are also able to manifest in many other forms and also in the Buddha-fields.
When they are requested to act, they will engage in activities that are
beneficial for the dharma. There is a tradition for calling upon the protectors
of the dharma to carry out these activities. They are summoned, visualized in
male and female forms corresponding to whether they represent wisdom (female)
or skillful means (male). They may take on other aspects, too. When we talk
about the three main qualities of enlightenment as wisdom, compassion, and
power, then it is capability that manifests in the wrathful form, compassion in
the peaceful form, and so forth. Sometimes protectors are painted in thangkas and
sometimes they are part of our visualization. But when making a request or
supplicating them to act on behalf of the dharma and beings, we accompany this
request with a torma offering. This is said to be beneficial for dispelling
obstacles and for providing conducive circumstances for dharma practice. That
is why the fourth point from among the special applications is giving torma
offerings to the protectors of the dharma.
There is a practice
called chö (often spelled “chod”), the practice of severance
or cutting through, which is sometimes done in this context. It is done to
eliminate the clinging to a self which we consider precious. When we cling to
this self, we are mostly attached to our body. To cut that attachment, the chö
practice includes the visualization of offering one’s own body to others. In
this visualization, we invite all the gods and demons to come before us. We
imagine a multitude of them—some in peaceful form, some in wrathful
form—appearing in front of us, and we offer up our own body to them. Sometimes
we visualize that we actually cut our body into pieces and offer it to them to
enjoy. Other times, we can visualize that we flay our own skin off and then
offer our body to them.
There are two methods
of offering our body in chö practice: one is called “the white offering” and
the other “the red offering.” In the white offering, we imagine that we cut up
our body, which is transformed into wonderful and delicious food with the five
flavors and aromas. We then offer this transformed substance to the guests. In
the red offering we imagine our body in its present state. We visualize that we
cut it up and offer it as it is with the gods and demons.
The reason for
employing these four methods when we encounter negative circumstances, such as
illness or hostile attacks, is to eliminate the belief that we are more
important than others. To summarize, the four methods are accumulating merit,
making confessions, offering tormas to gods and demons, and offering tormas to
the dakinis and dharma protectors.
16.
Whatever you meet, instantly join it with meditation.
The previous practices were mainly those engaged in during the meditation
session. The next instruction discusses the post-meditation state when we bring
unexpected circumstances to the path. Whatever we encounter should be brought
into the path, in other words, made use of. For instance, when we have a
pleasant moment that we enjoy, we make the aspiration, “May every being
experience happiness.” This is the way we help promote loving-kindness and
compassion. Then there may be an unpleasant moment or situation in our life and
at that time we remind ourselves that the unpleasantness of this difficulty has
to do with self-cherishing. We make the aspiration, “May self-cherishing
diminish in me and in all living beings.” In this way both pleasure and pain
are brought into the path.
Questions
Question:
“Rinpoche, how should one apologize and be sorry for misdeeds? Also, how long
should one keep feeling sorry for misdeeds?
Rinpoche: There
is something called “the four remedies of powers,” one of which is called “the
power of remorse.” This is to actually acknowledge that what is not good is not
good, and not just pay lip-service. When we really understand that something
that was nasty was nasty – and not in an artificial, fabricated way—then that
is the limit to which one should carry the practice.
Question: Rinpoche,
I would like some examples under what is referred to as “contemplate the great
kindness of everyone.” For example, a project needs to be completed and people
are not keeping to their responsibility, so they are not following through on
what they are supposed to be doing.
Rinpoche: In
the Buddhist sense of training in compassion and patience, the main component
is that we need to be intelligent about how we are compassionate and how much
we are willing to tolerate. So, we shouldn’t let people get away with
some-thing that is stupid just because it is difficult for us to confront them.
That is not what is meant here. For example, if your house is burning down, you
shouldn’t just sit down and say, “Oh, this is difficult. I should be patient.”
We are allowed to say something. If it is true, then you tell the truth.
Question: When
we talk about self-cherishing, how do we exhibit patience and forbearance? What
would be the behavior? How would we demonstrate it?
Rinpoche: The
example I gave of the house burning is quite a good example, I think, because
it is pretty useless to be patient in the sense of not doing anything. You can
bear it while doing something about it intelligently, in other words, you use
water to put out the flames.
But in the case of people acting in a way that is inappropriate, you don’t have
to tolerate their not doing what they are supposed to—that is not what is meant
by patience here. Because if you say something like, “Hey, you aren’t doing
something you are supposed to,” they might change and do a good job. Patience
has to do with your not being angry with them for not doing what they are
supposed to. Anger doesn’t necessarily help them, but telling them may help.
Question: Rinpoche,
my question goes back to yesterday about sending and receiving practice. Would
you describe further how to begin and end that practice in general?
Rinpoche: It
is perfectly all right just to send and take in an instant, without much
preparation and ceremony. It is also all right to use the traditional method of
first beginning with aspiration prayers, guru-yoga, visualizing Chenrezig and
so forth. It is also all right to do it in the traditional way. But if one doesn’t
use a lot of elaborate details, it is also fine.
Question: It
seems there are situations in which it is better to say something to others and
to stop being angry than to absorb the anger. Is this teaching sometimes more a
mental practice than a practice actually carried out?
Rinpoche: It
is okay if you can say something. What I was referring to is your mental
attitude, that you should not say something angry back. If you get angry in
return, things will become worse.
Question: It
is said that anger is the worst of the disturbing emotions. I never really
understood why anger is worse than passion or stupidity.
Rinpoche: The
other disturbing emotions, such as passion, pride, and jealousy do cause harm,
but it is more gradual. For instance, if you have attachment and only think
about pleasure and good things, it will eventually become a cause of suffering.
The same thing with pride, thinking, “I am so great!” Right then and there
nothing terrible is happening, but eventually it will become the cause of
suffering. However, anger and hatred are immediate. The worst part is the
actual harm done to self and others. Anger and hatred that do not cause
outright actions such as hitting and harming others, but cause the thought, “I
would like to destroy him or her,” constitutes what we call a “black mind.”
This black mind is more immediately negative than other disturbing emotionsand
is therefore said to be the worst.
Question: I’ve
heard that some illnesses can be caused by external forces. In that case, is it
true that these forces can be pacified? What is torma and how can a lay
person like me actually offer a torma?
Rinpoche: Some
illnesses can be caused by demonic forces; it is also said that nagas can
cause sickness. A good way to pacify them is by offering torma, but the
chö practice visualization is best. Visualize the demon and imagine that
you are offering your body. It may appear to be superstitious, but it really
helps.
Question: What
if a friend has a serious illness? What can be done actually to help a person
with cancer or some other life-threatening disease?
Rinpoche: Sometimes
one can help, but there are cases where nothing can help, just as doctors
cannot cure everything. Sometimes mantras, medicine, and visualizations can
help; sometimes they don’t at all.
I guess you can never
tell. My father passed away when I was twenty-five years old, and shortly
afterwards my mother became very ill. She looked really very bad and her tongue
swelled up terribly; it truly seemed that she was going to die. It was terrible
for me to think that my mother would die so shortly after my father. We tried
many things, many doctors, much medicine, and nothing worked. Then somebody
suggested that a particular practitioner who was really good with mantras should
come and help. So we called this man, but I didn’t think anything would happen
because he didn’t look like he had any realization or meditation experience.
All he did was say a few mantras and blow on my mother. But the next day she
started getting better.
Chapter 5
Mind Training in Daily Life
IV. PRACTICING
MIND TRAINING IN DAILY LIFE
The fourth point deals
with the presentation of practice in our life, and is divided into two parts.
The first part is how we practice mind training during our lifetime, and
the second is how we practice mind training at the time of death.
A. PRACTICING
MIND TRAINING IN OUR LIFETIME
17. Practice the five powers, the condensed heart
instructions.
Practicing the five powers has to do with the teachings that the Buddha gave
after appearing in this world. In order to alleviate the suffering in the three
lower realms and the entire wheel of samsara, the Buddha gave many teachings
and instructions which cover ways that we can use in the way we behave and in
our meditation practice. They are quite extensive and include the Vinaya
precepts, which define conduct, and the Prajnaparamita, which are the teachings
on transcendent knowledge. These teachings are part of the sutra teachings. The
Buddha also gave the tantric teachings, of which there are many detailed
sections, including kriya tantra, charya tantra, yoga tantra, anuttarayoga
tantra, and many others as well.
The words of the Buddha were recorded in India and transmitted through the
centuries, until they were translated into Tibetan, for the most part by eighth
century Tibetan translators. So we can say that for the most part they still
exist today, with a few small exceptions. The main part of all the teachings
the Buddha gave are collected in the Kangyur, or the precious collection of the
Buddha’s words, consisting of around 103 huge volumes of teachings.
All these scriptures on the teachings of the Buddha are laid out according to
the sutra or the tantric perspective. How does one know this? >From the
explanations given in the treatises by the great learned and accomplished
masters of India and Tibet. The Indian masters, mahasiddhas, and other great
teachers of the past condensed the teachings into treatises, explaining the
meaning clearly and showing how to go about practicing them. This was done in
Tibet as well by practitioners who applied the teachings, reached a level of
perfection themselves, and then wrote from their personal experiences of what
proved itself to be valid. All these teachings are called “the treatises,” and
were collected in the Tengyur. They still exist today. But when it comes to
personal practice, there is what is called men-nag in Tibetan,
which means “heart or pith instructions.” They are also called oral
instructions and they are used for personal practice. Men-nag means
something that is precise, applicable, effective and can be used immediately,
therefore, the pith instructions are what people usually practice.
These heart instructions flowed into Tibet from many sources. Let us take the
tradition of the Kagyu Lineage. The Tibetan translator Marpa journeyed to India
and connected with many great masters of those times: Naropa, Maitripa, and
many others, from whom he received the heart instructions. They prophesied that
Marpa would propagate the lineage. He not only received the instructions but
practiced them personally to such an extent that he also attained realization
and accomplishment. He brought the instructions back to Tibet and passed them
on to his disciple Milarepa, who then passed them on to Gampopa and others.
These three masters, Marpa, Milarepa, and Gampopa, are considered the foremost
fathers of the Kagyu Lineage.
The achievements of Gampopa were predicted in the King of Samadhi Sutra where
the Buddha stated that in the future there will be someone who will propagate
the instructions and make The King of Meditation flourish, be
understood, and realized. Centuries later, Gampopa united the instructions from
the Kadampa Lineage on mind training with those from Milarepa, who received the
teachings of Maitripa and Naropa through Marpa. So Milarepa not only had the
mind training instructions of the Kadampa, but also the instructions from
Naropa, as well as the Mahamudra teachings, all of which Gampopa had combined
in one.
These instructions have been transmitted throughout the centuries until today.
A great master known as Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye insured that these oral
teachings would not disappear from our world by writing them all down in a
collection. It contains the instructions transmitted through the Kagyu Lineage
and also the eight primary lineages called “The Eight Chariots of the Practice
Lineage.” He compiled them all into a collection of teachings known as The
Treasury of Pith Instructions. In this collection of teachings, the seven
points of mind training were placed at the front because he considered them
very important.
Before Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye compiled his collection of works, another
earlier master took up mind training and spread it widely. His name was Gyaltse
Thogme; he also wrote his own commentary to clarify the seven points. In his
commentaries, we can find very precise and helpful instructions on how to begin
mind training, how to carry on in the middle, and how to complete it in the
end.17
These heart
instructions are of many types. Of course, it would be wonderful if you could
practice all of them in a very vast and extensive way, but that is not always
possible. Therefore, the word “condensed” is added here: it means putting
together the most important points so that we are able to use them. This is the
teaching here, “the condensed heart instructions.” What are
they? They are phrased here as “the five powers.”
The instruction for the
first practice of how to engage in mind training in this life is to
train in the five powers, which are a summary of the essential instructions. We
will now discuss these five powers as they relate to daily life, and then we
will discuss these same five powers in terms of the time of our death.
1. POWER OF
GOODWILL
To strengthen this power of goodwill to bring about more benefit we make a
pledge, “I will practice for a certain amount of time.” For example, when we do
the preliminary practices, we say, “I want to complete these practices 100,000
times each, so I will begin with the 100,000 prostrations.” That strengthens
the power of benevolence or goodwill because we have made up our mind to do so.
When going into retreat, we make up our mind and formulate our resolution, “For
this amount of a time, I will remain in retreat and practice one-pointedly.”
That is also very beneficial as a way of strengthening the power of bringing
forth the benefit of goodwill. Even if we are not able to spend three years in
retreat, we can say, “For this amount of time, I will practice.” Or it could be
applied in a different way “As long as I am alive in this body, I will refrain
from doing negative actions” also has great strength. We may not be able to
keep this pledge during our entire life, but at least we could say, “For this
number of years, I will avoid these negative actions,” or “For this number of
months I will avoid them.” That kind of mental resolve helps strengthen the
power of goodwill.
Assume that we are bothered by a specific negative emotion, for example, the
tendency to be angry, competitive, or jealous. Wanting to improve, we can aim
our practice toward progressing in this particular area. When we wake up in the
morning, the emotions have the tendency to reoccur and we notice this. So that
is an opportunity to make up our mind in the morning: “Today I will work on
diminishing this particular negative emotion (anger, for instance) which is
problematic for me. I will try my best today.”
Then we go about the
day and before going to sleep at night we check, “How well did I do today? Was
I successful or not?” Since we are an ordinary person, we may have been unsuccessful.
Then we say, “Well, I didn’t do so well. I will try a little more tomorrow.”
Again we make the commitment the next day. In this way, we use the power of
goodwill to form the wish to do better. When we practice the seven points of
mind training, the focus of the practice is to keep away from self-cherishing
and trying to increase valuing others more highly in our lives. That could be
the pledge we make in the morning and the examination we make in the evening,
resolving again to do better the next day.
If we do not choose a
specific negative emotion we take the general vow: “>From today until I
reach enlightenment, I will not be parted from either relative or ultimate
bodhichitta.”
We can also make this vow for a shorter time, even for a day. This gives power
to our practice. For instance, if we are a very lazy person, we might wake up
in the morning, thinking, “Today I really want to get this work done.” Or if we
have strong defilements and disturbing emotions, we would think, “Today I will
not fall under the power of this.” It is this kind of determination that is
being talked about here. If we make a promise to ourselves, our practice is
empowered.
2. POWER OF
FAMILIARIZATION
The second power is that of growing familiar. We may think it is enough to have
the first power of forming a good intention, but something more is necessary.
We need to grow familiar with the practice and this comes about through
training, not only during the meditation session but also during daily activities
in post-meditation. We remind ourselves of the practice and stay alert to our
behavior. Through this kind of mindfulness, we can improve and come to a sense
of familiarization and progress. It is not guaranteed that we become
immediately successful, because we may make mistakes. But that doesn’t mean
that we should be disheartened. The strength of the power of familiarization is
that we are willing to continue the practice and grow.
What we set out to do here is to try to
overcome the negative emotions that arise in our state of being by applying the
remedies against them. We also have to increase the qualities of
loving-kindness and compassion. What causes us to progress in this endeavor is
the power of growing familiar.
Here we think: “Whatever
I do today, whether I am lying down, standing up, eating, walking around, or
talking with friends, I will be extremely mindful not to let my
bodhichitta diminish.”
We start with this
determination in the morning and based upon it, we remain as much as possible
mindful of it all day long. Throughout the day, whatever situation comes up, we
remember not to be parted from bodhichitta. In this way we become accustomed to
this wish to help all others.
3. POWER OF
VIRTUOUS ACTIONS
The third power is
called “the power of virtuous seeds.” It is like planting seeds to get a crop.
This goes along with our training to diminish ego-clinging and self-cherishing
and promote loving-kindness and compassion. Sometimes more fuel is necessary to
help us move along. This fuel is the virtuous seeds. We do what is good,
meaningful and wholesome in our physical actions. In our words and our
attitude, we try our best to do what is good and noble: being generous to those
in need, paying respect to the noble objects, reciting the sutras and making
prayers, chanting aspirations, mantras, and so forth. Mentally we form the
intention and let it settle in a state of equanimity, which is samadhi. In this
way, we create virtuous actions which, in addition to the former powers, help
especially when we dedicate the virtue to diminishing self-cherishing and
promoting loving-kindness and compassion. We make that intention in the
beginning and dedicate the outcome to that specific purpose in the end.
With this power, we
should always strive to increase our virtuous activities of body, speech, and
mind so that our bodhichitta is enriched. We pray: “If bodhichitta has not
arisen in my being, may it arise. If it is decreasing, may it increase. If it
is increasing, may it grow yet further for ourselves and others.”
Whatever suffering
arises in ourselves or others, whatever inauspicious circumstances, obstacles,
or accidents come about, the only way to overcome them is by engaging in
virtuous activity with our body, speech, or mind. This can include doing
circumambulations,18 offering the seven-branch prayer, and
other positive actions. These are the ways to overcome negativity. With strong
determination and familiarization as the basis, we can go further and recognize
that the seed of virtue in body, speech, and mind is this wholesome activity.
This is the only way to overcome all the unfortunate things that can happen to
us.
4. POWER OF
REMORSE
The fourth power is the
power of remorse. In these particular teachings remorse means identifying the
trouble-maker, what causes conflict, suffering, and problems. We look at what
really prevents us from being liberated not only from the three lower realms
but from all of samsara. People have a tendency to be selfish. What is it that
prevents us from being liberated and attaining complete enlightenment? It is
this tendency to treasure “me” too much and too dearly. This is the largest
obstacle on the path and gives rise to all the negative emotions that take us
in. In other words, allowing this tendency to reign makes us unhappy again and
again. When we are unhappy, we feel uncomfortable physically as well. Anybody
spending so much time being unhappy mentally and physically doesn’t have a
happy life. The tendency to cherish the self so highly is our greatest fault.
Once we are clear that ego and self-cherishing are to blame, it is much easier
to deal with situations than simply accepting that we have a strong ego. An
individual with a strong sense of self finds it difficult to be free because he
or she strengthens that tendency on a daily basis. But here the training,
rather than strengthen ego more, is to make it diminish until it vanishes. This
is the outcome of the power of remorse.
When practicing mind
training, sometimes obstacles arise and we feel that our bodhichitta is
not increasing or that we aren’t feeling compassion for others. This is an
obstacle that does not come from outside of us; rather, it stems from believing
we are so important. Sometimes we think, “Oh, I can’t stand it if something bad
happens to me. I can’t stand this suffering. I only want to be happy.” Or we
are depressed, and think, “I can’t do anything for others. This is too
difficult. I can’t help myself, much less others.” The desire not to have
anything negative happen to ourselves and the feeling that we can’t possibly
help others are the main obstacles to this practice. We have to recognize that
these obstacles come >from the belief that self is very important. When this
happens, we should think: “>From beginningless time I have wandered in
samsara and experienced all sorts of suffering and difficulties. They have come
from believing myself to be precious, from taking a self to exist where, in
fact, there is none.
“All the suffering and
all the non-virtuous actions I have committed come from this illusion of a
self. Not only have I wandered in samsara since beginningless time, I am still
doing so and, therefore, experience this difficulty. Taking myself to be so
precious is the cause.
“Further, I have been
cherishing myself for so long that I continue to amass negative karma. This
will go on indefinitely if I don’t stop.
“It is the thought of
holding myself to more dearly than others that has resulted in this suffering.
This habit of clinging to a self will continue if I let it and then there will
never be any chance for true happiness.
“No matter what, I will
destroy self-cherishing, which is the cause of all suffering.”
This fourth power is
often translated as “reproach,” or “repudiation” of the fault. Actually, the
word in Tibetan is a compound in which the first syllable means “wearing away.”
So any time that you have a problem or an obstacle, you recognize the cause,
which is the clinging to a self. But you won’t be able to get rid of your
self-clinging immediately; you have to wear it away. As you accustom yourself
to that process and gradually efface the notion that you are precious,
bodhichitta will increase.
5. THE POWER OF
ASPIRATION
The first four of the five powers serve specific purposes. When we begin, we
are not yet able to engender virtuous qualities in our lives or in our
spiritual practice, so at this point the power of good is important. When we
cannot reduce the tendency of selfishness, it is important to bring forth the
power of remorse. To develop remorse, there is a daily practice, which is the
power of familiarization. Then there is the assistant, which is the power of
virtuous seeds. The fifth power is a natural background that brings about the
strength of all four, and this is the power of aspiration.
The power of aspiration is the pure mental wish we can make. As ordinary
people, our mind does not have the strength to make this wish of aspiration
come true immediately, but that’s all right. The sincerity we put into the wish
will insure that sooner or later the effect will materialize. Therefore, the
power of aspiration is that we repeatedly make the wish: “May I become capable
of eliminating self-cherishing. May I become capable of perfecting treasuring
others as more important than myself.” As we approach the force behind this
aspiration, it actually manifests more and more like that, until it becomes an
actuality in our mind.
This power of
aspiration means that whatever virtuous activity we do, whatever meditation we
do, whatever training in the instructions we do, we pray: “May my
bodhichitta increase and come to include all living beings. May it also be
born in all living beings. May it increase in those in whom it has been born,
and may this increasing bodhichitta really come to benefit all living beings.”
We
make this aspiration prayer for the benefit of all living beings at the end of
any virtuous activity we perform or after any meditation we do.
These five
powers are a means to improve our practice of bodhichitta and
increase our ability to get rid of all the obstacles that arise in our dharma
practice. We should exercise these five powers throughout our lifetime.
To summarize, we can
transform our behavior into a virtuous one by employing these powers. The first
power is recognizing that the negative things we have done are indeed
negative. Often when we perform a negative action, we are quite attached to it.
For instance, if we have someone who is giving us a hard time, we may think,
“Okay, today I’m going to go out and beat up that guy. I am going to be a hero
and he is going to be ground into nothing.” We become quite attached to this
notion and we like it. So the first power is recognizing negative actions to be
negative, which already decreases the force of that karma.
The second power is to
confess non-virtuous deeds to someone else. If we are completely by ourselves,
we can sit and think, “Oh, that was really bad. I confess it,” That thought,
however, has no great power. On the other hand, if we go to someone else and
say, “I did this really terrible thing,” then the confession has more power. So
going to a lama or spiritual friend and confessing our negative actions has
more power. If we can’t do that, simply confessing in front of a shrine, a
Buddha statue or stupa adds power to the confession.
The third power is
relying on the remedy. This is the thought, “I did something really bad. To
purify it I am going to do this which is really good.” The third power means
relying on a virtuous action to help clear away past negative action.
The fourth power is the
power of resolving not to repeat the negative action. Sometimes we think, “I
did this really bad thing in the past and I am truly sorry I did it, but in the
future I might have to do it again.” That, too, is not very powerful, so the
fourth power is that of resolving, “I will never do that again.” These four
powers are the best method for purifying previous negative karma.
B. PRACTICING
MIND TRAINING AT THE TIME OF DEATH
18.
The Mahayana instructions for transferring consciousness at death are the five
strengths; the way you behave matters.
1. POWER OF THE
VIRTUOUS SEEDS
These same five
powers we have been discussing, (though in a different order), will also
help us achieve bodhichitta at the time of death. The first of the five
powers is the power of virtuous seeds. When we know we are going to die, the
first thing we do is to give up all our possessions. We should rid ourselves of
any attachment or clinging we have to our worldly things and give them with a
happy mind to whomever they can most help, thinking: “May these be used by
this person.” We should do this without any attachment, thinking: “Because I
was attached to many different things, the disturbing emotions of passion,
attachment, ignorance, and so on, have arisen. Now I need to be rid of all
these things, and so I give them without any attachment at all for whatever
purpose they can best be used.”
2. POWER OF
ASPIRATION
Second is the strength of aspiration. The particular aspiration here is: “In
this life and in all following lives, may I not succumb to the tendency of
treasuring myself as more important than others. May self-cherishing diminish.
May I promote again and again loving-kindness and compassion.” We can make this
aspiration right now, but it is especially important to make when the signs of
death begin to appear. We know that there isn’t much time left so our sincerity
increases and deepens. It is especially important to make that aspiration at
this time.
Here we think:
“Whatever virtue I have of body, speech and mind, may I, who have practiced
mind training in this lifetime, not be separated >from it in the
intermediate state or in the next lifetime. May I continue to practice
bodhichitta and may I not forget the teachings. In the next life may I
meet with the teacher who taught me these precious things.”
We pray to the lama and
the three jewels to grant their blessings so that all of this may come
about.
3. POWER OF
REMORSE
Third is the power of
remorse. The time of death is not an easy one, because we experience a great
deal of physical discomfort and pain as well as mental anguish and unhappiness.
Rather than feeling despair, we should identify the main cause of our suffering
as ego-clinging and make up our mind that at this point: “I will try my best
not to create the causes of the negative emotions and karma created out of
self-cherishing. I will really try my best to diminish ego clinging from now on
into all following lives.” Understanding that we should not commit what causes
suffering again in the future is the strength of remorse.
At the time of
death we think: “Now I am at the time of death and am experiencing
suffering. The cause is attachment to myself as being precious. In reality,
there is no ultimate self; the mind is not solid and real and, therefore,
there is nothing that actually dies. The suffering I am now experiencing comes
from clinging to the idea of myself as precious. It is this that I must
destroy.”
4. POWER OF
GOODWILL
The fourth power, goodwill, is the most important at the time of death. Whether
we are in the bardo19 or whether we are already in
the next life, what is always of greatest benefit is loving-kindness and
compassion—treasuring others more than ourselves. This attitude always brings
benefit. Understanding this, we should make up our mind very firmly and
sincerely: “At all times and in all places I will place special energy in
bringing forth the qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, and the vow of a
bodhisattva.” If we have already trained ourselves in thinking like this now,
then it will come back at the time of death, in the bardo state, and in future
lives as well. But especially at the time of death, whatever comes to mind is
much more acute and we really mean it at that time. Sincerity is much deeper at
the time of death, so at that time we should especially take the vow of always
placing special emphasis on loving-kindness and compassion.
At this time we pray:
“May my bodhichitta increase at the time of experiencing the pain of
passing away. May it also increase during the intermediate state between
lifetimes, and may I experience it during the next lifetime. May I never be
separated from this precious twofold bodhichitta.”
The twofold
bodhichitta comprises relative and ultimate bodhichitta. It is crucial to
have a strong determination to engender bodhichitta at this time.
5. POWER OF
FAMILIARIZATION
The fifth power of growing familiar must be practiced while we are alive. We
make ourselves more and more habituated to reducing self-cherishing and
increasing loving-kindness and compassion. Some practitioners die while in
sitting meditation. If we cannot do that, we can die in the reclining position.
The Buddha died in the position called “the reclining lion,” where we place the
right shoulder on the ground, one hand to the cheek, lying comfortably on our
side. As we die, we gently let our attention remain in loving-kindness and
compassion, making the strong wish to be of benefit to all living beings,
(relative bodhichitta) or to understand that all phenomena are just mind, like
dreams, like magical illusions, like a mirage (ultimate bodhichitta). Passing
away like this has tremendous benefit, not only at that particular time but
also for future lives. This is the outcome of the fifth power of
familiarization.
The second half of this instruction is, “the way you behave matters.” It is
very important how we actually pass away. Jamgon Kongtrul wrote in his
commentary, “There are many instructions for practitioners on how to die, but
this particular one, which utilizes the fivefold strength at the time of death,
is most wonderful.” He praised it as being of special importance for
practitioners to acquaint themselves with this way of passing.
At the time of death,
we use the power of familiarization or habituation by thinking: “I have
practiced bodhichitta and will not forget it, no matter what suffering I
am currently experiencing. I will continue to practice bodhichitta during the
suffering I am experiencing now, during the intermediate state, and in the next
lifetime, I will not forget it.”
It is very important
that we make a great effort to practice bodhichitta now because when we
are in the midst of sickness and suffering it is not easy to follow through. We
have to rely on the force of familiarity to maintain our resolve during trying
circumstances.
To be more specific:
there are some methods we can physically invoke to help the practice. It is
said that the very best thing we can do is sit in the sevenfold posture of
Vairocana.20 If that is not possible, we should lie down on our
right side with our right hand on our right cheek, blocking the right nostril.
This is because the winds of karma go through the right subtle channel and
right nostril. The wisdom air moves through the left subtle channel, which
is why the left nostril is kept open. With the air moving through that nostril,
we meditate on sending and taking as much as we are able. These are the oral
instructions of the Kadampa masters.
Questions
Question: If
one has accidentally harmed someone and receives the fruition of that action
because the person harmed takes extreme revenge, does it help the person to
purify negative karma even if the original harm was unintentional? It seems to
me that one is bearing the suffering that the other person can’t bear by taking
it. If that is really true, I am assuming one is purifying that karma.
Rinpoche: Actually,
the only thing to do is to be patient, and then the result is beneficial for
both. For oneself, the benefit is obvious: one doesn’t create any more negative
karma, and therefore one’s patience represents purification. For the other
person it is also beneficial because if you get angry at him or her, they will
only become angrier still. By your patience and kindness, their anger may not
decrease, but it will not increase, so it is helping them. And if their anger
should decrease, your patience will have proven beneficial to them as well as
to yourself. As to the second part of your question: even if the karma for your
initial action is lifetimes long, I think that by bearing revenge patiently it could
be cleared in this lifetime.
Question: I
have a question about the five powers at the time of death. The bardo
teachings say we should remain unattached at the time of death, but the five
powers seem to suggest that we aspire never to be separated from our teachers
or from bodhichitta. This seems to be a form of attachment and desire.
Rinpoche: These
instructions are specific for the mind training. If you have very good
meditation, then you can rest in the nature of mind at the time of death. That
is another instruction. There is a strong reason for the mind training
instructions: you can die in two states of mind, one very virtuous and the
other filled with fear and anger. Everything that follows is based upon these
states of mind. So if, as taught here, you die with an attitude of wanting to
help others, of wanting to increase loving-kindness and so on, then the
appearances of the bardo that arise at the time of death are peaceful, easy,
and friendly. Based upon the continuity of a peaceful, loving mind, the next
birth will also be good. But if you die in a state of anger or great fear, then
the appearances that arise in the bardo are frightening and very troubled. That
state of mind will continue influencing what comes next, just as it does in
dreams. For example, when we go to sleep happy and at peace, then our dreams
are happy, but if we have a troubled mind, say we fought before we went to
sleep, our dreams are troubled. It is the same at the time of death. So it is
very important to put our mind in a good place at that time.
Question: You
said that if I die in a peaceful state of mind, the next birth will also be
peaceful, but the intermediate (or bardo) teachings say that becoming
liberated is best.
Rinpoche: If
you really have a very strong foundation of meditation, then, of course, it is
best to be liberated at the time of death. But without the ability to do this
deepest kind of meditation, the best thing to do is to raise yourself by stages
to the point where you will have the ability to train yourself to get there.
Chapter 6
The Evaluation of Mind Training
This section on the
evaluation of mind training shows the ways in which we can tell if mind
training is working.
V. THE EVALUATION
OF MIND TRAINING
A. CLINGING TO SELF
AS A MEASURE
Evaluation means seeing whether or not our practice of mind training is going
well. When we are involved in practicing mind training, there may be some
results of the practice. If that is the case, it is good to acknowledge it; we
can rejoice in that way. But since we are ordinary practitioners, it is
possible that at times our mind training will not go that well. At that time it
is necessary to acknowledge this so we can be more diligent in ridding
ourselves of the negative forces and put more energy into promoting the good
forces.
19.
All the Buddha's dharma converges on a single point.
The first instruction
is that all dharma, all the teachings of the Hinayana and Mahayana, have
one common purpose: to reduce or eliminate the clinging to a self. Whatever
dharma we practice, whatever mind training we meditate on, the purpose is
to diminish that clinging. If our clinging doesn’t diminish, then our practice
isn’t working properly. If we notice that the continual thought of ourselves as
important is decreasing, it is one sign that mind training is working.
If we want to know
whether our dharma practice is working or not, we have to examine it by asking,
“Do I still consider myself to be important? Am I still clinging to my self as
something precious?” For instance, if we had a piece of gold and wanted to know
how much we had, we could not know this just by looking at it. We would have to
put it on a scale and weigh it. Similarly, measuring our clinging to self is a
way of telling if our dharma practice is working. Is our clinging to the self
diminishing or increasing?
It is said there are 84,000 kinds of dharma, which are too numerous to
understand and practice fully. For instance, if practitioners in the main
vehicles of the Hinayana, the Mahayana, and the Vajrayana do not have a
thorough understanding, they may have the impression that the Hinayana or
Shravakayana is very different from Mahayana and even more different >from
the Vajrayana. This is not a correct view because all of the Buddha’s teachings
agree.
Let’s look at the first turning of the wheel of dharma that emphasizes the four
noble truths. The first noble truth is the most important one with the other
three being additional truths. The first noble truth is the truth of suffering;
the others are the truth of the origin, the truth of the path, and the truth of
cessation. It is said that we should understand the truth of suffering, which
has four aspects. These are impermanence, suffering, interdependent
origination, and egolessness of person. In other words, the main intent of the
first turning is the understanding that the personal identity of a self is
non-existent, and that the main practice is to develop realization of
egolessness. In this way, the main intent of the first turning is cultivating
the knowledge that realizes egolessness, which is the direct remedy against
ego-clinging.
In the second turning, there are many sutras, namely, the Prajnaparamita sutras
which focus on egolessness. We know the condensed form of the Prajnaparamita
sutras, the Heart Sutra, states, “There is no eye, no ear, no
tongue,” and so forth, to show that all phenomena are empty and devoid of
having a self-entity. The purpose of the egolessness of phenomena and the main
aim of a bodhisattva in this second turning is to develop relative and absolute
bodhichitta, as well as training in the six perfections, to realize emptiness.
Why? Because understanding emptiness is the direct remedy for clinging to a
self, there is a direct relationship between the first turning of the Shravakas
and the second turning in the vehicle of Mahayana.
In the Vajrayana, the main practices are called the creation stage and the
completion stage of the yidam deity. In the creation stage, rather than having
the ordinary concept of oneself as being just “me,” with an ordinary body that
is impure and a mind that is influenced by disturbing emotions and
ego-clinging, we train in the mandala of the yidam deity, which is completely
pure. We identify ourselves as pure, totally free of ego-clinging and negative
emotions, a non-samsaric state. That is the direct remedy against ordinary
clinging to self. Our environment is not samsaric but a pure Buddha-field; our
dwelling place is not an ordinary house but the mandala of the deity; our body
is not an ordinary body but the pure enlightened form of the deity; our voice
is the enlightened speech, and our state of mind is the deity’s awakened mind.
This is a training that is the direct remedy for the ordinary way of clinging
to oneself as being an impure, ordinary, samsaric being. In the completion
stage, we dissolve everything into emptiness and remain with our mind resting
in the nature of mind, the nature of all phenomena. This is the direct remedy for
ego-clinging, believing there is a solid personal identity.
In this way, there is complete agreement between the first, second, and third
turnings of the wheel of dharma. The text says that all levels of teachings, or
“all dharmas agree on the one point,” with the one point being a direct remedy
for ego-clinging.
In this special context of mind training, we are presented with methods for
diminishing and eradicating the tendency of ego-clinging. First we learn how to
develop absolute bodhichitta, which is the understanding of emptiness that
directly realizes that the personal identity is empty. Some kind of method is
required when we resolve to achieve enlightenment. According to the advice
Atisha received from Jowo Serlingpa, “Planting the seed of bodhichitta does not
grow well if the soil is too clean. It grows much better in soil that is dirty
and fertilized.” This means that if we are considering whether there is an ego
or not, we can say that the impure way of thinking that there is a self can be
more conducive for giving rise to bodhichitta than the thought that there is no
personal self. Therefore, in the mind training of relative bodhichitta, the
main part of the practice here, we accept that there is a personal self. The
reason we do that is to make it easier to give up self-cherishing and to regard
others as more important than ourselves. Also in sending and taking practice we
assume there is a self and there is another we are sending and taking to. The
purpose of sending and taking is to reduce self-cherishing and to increase
cherishing others. In this way, whether we are training in absolute or relative
bodhichitta, the purpose is to decrease ego-clinging. So all three vehicles
agree with one another at one point.
In the context of this
training, “The Buddha’s dharma converges on a single point,” our evaluation of
whether we are improving in our practice or not are the questions: “Is our
level of self-cherishing decreasing? Is treasuring others over ourselves
increasing? Is there any progress there?” This is how we keep track of progress
in our practice.
B. RELYING ON YOURSELF
AS A MEASURE OF
MIND TRAINING
20.
Of the two witnesses, attend to the principal one.
The second way to tell
whether the mind training is working is the instruction which says, “Of
the two witnesses, attend to the principal one.” If we are wondering whether we
are good dharma practitioners or not, there are actually two possible
witnesses: ourselves and others. For instance, other practitioners and friends
can look at us and have an opinion of whether we are good people or not. Yet
they can only see our outward behavior; they cannot really look inside our
mind. So the other judge, which is our own mind, is more profound because we
can see into our mind. Others can see that we are doing something which appears
good to them, but only we ourselves know whether our motivation and intention
are good or not. Therefore, between these two witnesses the more important one
is oneself. If we can look at our behavior, not be ashamed, and know it is
faultless, then that is the more important judge.
There is one more aspect to how we should evaluate progress: it is best if both
witnesses were to agree that we have perfected the training. We are trying to
give up self-cherishing and to treat others as more important than ourselves.
Even if we are not trying our best, just thinking, “It would be good if I
could” is also fine. Even if we are not feeling that way, just the attitude
that thinks the teachings on mind training are “really precious teachings and I
hope one day to get into them” is also fine. In this way, it is beneficial to
evaluate whether or not we have the right attitude and the noble intention of
diminishing self-cherishing and cherishing others higher.
C. STATE OF MIND
AS A MEASURE OF MIND TRAINING
21.
At all times, rely only on a joyful mind.
Another way to evaluate
our practice is to check our mind to see what kind of state it is in. This
will also tell us how well our practice is going. For instance, when illness,
accidents, or tragedies happen and we become frightened about them to the
extent that depression sets in, our mind training practice isn’t working.
If these conditions always get the better of us, then the practice is ineffective.
Instead of this happening, when negative circumstances occur, we can use our
mind training. These obstacles then become like friends of mind training, and
we can be happy about them. It is another measure that our mind training
practice is working. If something negative happens and we think that we can’t
bear such suffering, then our practice is not working. But if negative things
happen and we instead instantly think, “So many people have catastrophes like
this. I wish that I could take on all of their suffering as well,” then we know
that whatever happens becomes an aid to our mind training. In this way, our
mind is always in a happy state because we are able to use whatever arises as
part of our practice.
The real measurement for mind training is to be found in the instruction: “At
all times, rely only on a joyful mind.” This has to do with the degree to which
we have succeeded in refusing self-cherishing because as long as there is the
tendency to refer to “me” as being so important, then there is selfish hope and
fear. By hope we mean thinking, “I hope such and such will happen. If it
doesn’t, I will be disappointed.” By fear we mean, “I have this really nice
thing or situation, I am afraid I might lose it.” We are preoccupied with
trying to get what we want, trying to arrange the circumstances for our
happiness. This selfish activity is accompanied by worry about what we don’t
want. We are concerned that an undesirable situation might happen; when it
does, we will become upset and unhappy.
D. STAYING ON
GUARD
22.
If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained.
Another way to evaluate
progress in mind training is that we spontaneously think of others, even
when we are not consciously working with our practice. So when events arise and
we aren’t consciously thinking of our practice, instead of getting flustered
and forgetting our intention, our natural reaction is bodhichitta, thinking of
others. If our first, spontaneous thought shows that we are not giving preference
to ourselves, then this is a sign that even though we are distracted, our
practice is working.
When we are practicing mind training and we have some results of the practice,
the tendency to become conceited may arise, “I am special now. I got somewhere
through the practice. This is good enough for me.” Don’t be too happy about
having some results because we need to reach complete enlightenment and be
capable of helping each and every living being. Until we are capable of helping
every being reach liberation, we have not reached our goal. There is no reason
to congratulate ourselves too early and be inflated with pride just because we
have some signs of practice.
Another type of thought can arise: “Okay, I am practicing mind training but
there is not much of a result.” We may become disappointed and discouraged
thinking: “I am a hopeless practitioner. I am not getting anywhere. Maybe there
is no way for someone like me really to achieve this kind of practice.” We may
even become disheartened and give up, which is also not necessary because we
have achieved one result of practice already—simply understanding the goodness
of reducing self-cherishing and valuing mind training. Understanding this is
already a sign of good mind training and we may be able to improve upon that by
carrying on without being disheartened.
As we apply ourselves
to this training, we train our mind. It is not a matter of looking like a good
practitioner; rather it has to do with putting our heart into it. As the Buddha
taught, our goal is to thoroughly train our mind. It is not a matter of being
successful, but of trying our best. So whether we have perfected mind training
or not or whether we are trying to become fully enlightened, it is fine. We may
not have totally trained our own mind yet, but we are moving in that direction,
which is good.
Chapter 7
The Commitments of Mind Training
VI. COMMITMENTS
OF MIND TRAINING
This section deals with
the commitments of mind training. “Commitment” here means the promises that we
make with this mind training. Basically, we promise to work for the benefit of
all other beings. That promise should not be broken: we should work for the
benefit of others and remember that in all our activities.
The word “commitment”
(Skt. samaya, Tib. damtsig) is often regarded as
something extremely dangerous and risky. Commitment is definitely something you
need to observe, respect, and adhere to, but you need not fear it. A commitment
is given by the teacher to insure that disciples follow the right course,
avoiding hindrances and side-tracks, to proceed in a way that is good and
beneficial. It is the teacher’s responsibility to make sure of that and the
word commitment refers to this. When the disciple makes up his
or her mind to follow a certain course, a mental pledge to do so is made.
Having committed themselves to practice in a certain way, then they should
follow that, otherwise what’s the point? There is no need to make a commitment
if you are not going to follow it. The purpose of making the commitment is to
make sure that you move in the right direction, avoiding obstacles and
progressing along the path.
The commitments of mind
training have eighteen instructions that are discussed below.
A. THREE GENERAL
PRINCIPLES
Three general
principles define the making of commitments: not to break promises; not to act
in a pretentious manner; and not to be one-sided.
23.
Always train in the three basic principles.
The first basic
principle is not to break the promise to work for the benefit of others. To do
this we often take extra vows, such as the individual liberation vows, the
bodhisattva vows, and the tantric vows.21 Whichever vows we
have taken, they should not be broken.
The basic principle of
mind training is to make the commitment to try our best to diminish selfishness
and to promote loving-kindness, compassion, and bodhichitta. What happens when
we try our best? We may be successful or not. Our situation may change >from
time to time. Sometimes our tendency to be selfish diminishes and sometimes it
swells again. Sometimes we are compassionate and caring for others, at other
times we are not. Does this mean we are in conflict with the basic commitment?
Have we violated or broken our samaya with mind training? No. Success is not
the measurement of whether we are in harmony with the commitment but whether we
keep up our efforts or not. For example, if we totally turn our back on the
practice and say, “This just doesn’t work! Ego-clinging is a part of me and
there is nothing I can do about it. Being selfish is how I am,” then we have
broken our commitment. Or if we insist, “There is no way I can be more kind and
compassionate and develop bodhichitta. It is something I am not cut out to do,”
the commitment is broken. If we are not that good at arousing bodhichitta, it
doesn’t mean we have broken our commitment, but rather that we need to try a
little harder. As long as we have the attitude, “I will try my best to reduce
self-cherishing. I will try my best to promote loving-kindness, compassion, and
bodhichitta,” then we are still in harmony with the commitment and it remains
unbroken.
The second basic principle is not to act in a
pretentious way. We may have the intention of showing others that we are really
practicing mind training and have no attachment to self. As a result, we
might start doing outrageous things like not caring for our body or clothes,
looking like a beggar, or acting like a madman. This is what is meant by
“acting outrageously.” If our motive is to make others think, “Oh, this person
has perfected some kind of great dharma,” then that motive is impure and should
be avoided. Acting crazy for no good reason only calls attention to us.
“Don’t resort to pretentiousness.” means don’t put on a show of having
perfected mind training, of not being selfish any longer. It is not like
refusing to take medicine because you have stopped caring, but reflects more on
our attitude towards others, who might get a wrong impression. Being
pretentious is rude and unnecessary. The instruction is: Don’t do that.
The third basic
principal is “Do not be partial or biased.” For instance, we might sometimes
have patience with the negativities of human beings, but then we are impatient
with the harm caused by non-humans. Or maybe we can stand it when animals cause
us some kind of harm, but we can’t stand the same treatment from humans. Or
sometimes we have great patience with our friends, but none with strangers or
people who don’t like us. Then again, we may have patience for all of these,
but none when we become sick. So again, this is what is meant be being
“one-sided.” We should be able to bear all, and we should have an attitude of
equanimity towards every situation and type of being. We should not divide our
loving-kindness and compassion so that they are directed towards some and not
others. Or when things are going well and there are no problems, we feel very
compassionate, but when things go wrong, it disappears. We should not have
biased or partial compassion.
B. SPECIFIC
PRINCIPLES
24.
Change your attitude and be natural.
The fourth point, “Change your attitude and be natural,” has two parts.
Normally, we are selfish and disregard the importance of others. Changing that
means being unselfish and caring. The second part is acting naturally, i.e.,
not being conceited about unselfishness, about diminishing self-importance, and
regarding others as more important. All this does not mean that we are special
or superior to others. Or we may begin to criticize those who do not follow
this pattern of behavior. Instead of criticizing them and putting on airs about
our practice, we should be kinder to them. The meaning of acting naturally is
being equal to and in harmony with anyone you meet. We should not deliberately
act differently from them, but be naturally, even though our attitude has
changed.
25.
Don’t speak ill of others’ shortcomings.
The fifth point is that we should not talk about others’ weaknesses. This
mainly has to do with how we communicate. When we do so, our words should be
nice and not unpleasant, the main point here. Others’ business has to do with
how they look, how they speak, with their attitude and whether they are rich or
not. We may think that there is something wrong in some of these areas, but
that doesn’t mean we have to speak about it. In terms of dharma practice,
something may be lacking but it doesn’t mean it is our job to point this out to
everyone. There is another point here, which has to do
with our motivation. If we really have a good heart and are sure that others
will change by what we say, then it is a different matter. If we say it nicely,
that’s okay. But if it is said out of ill-will, rivalry, spite or other
negative emotions, then it belongs to talking about others’ weaknesses, which
should be avoided.
We should not engage in
conversations about others’ faults. We don’t, point out faults in people who
have physical deficiencies such as lameness or blindness, or mental
deficiencies such as stupidity. Likewise, we don’t point out dharma faults in
others, such as their being lazy and not practicing, or their breaking their
vows. In other words, we don’t say harmful things about others. Rather, with a
smile we should speak in a very gentle and loving manner, in a way that makes
sense and is pleasing to them.
26.
Don’t ponder the affairs of others.
The previous
instruction dealt with the way we act, while this instruction concerns motivation.
If we have faults, we need to think about them and be concerned about them;
otherwise, the faults will only increase and grow stronger. So we need to look
at our faults because nobody else can do that for us. But when it comes to
others’ faults, we don’t need to look for them, especially those of our dharma
friends and other dharma practitioners. Of course, they are going to have
faults and that is something which they themselves will have to deal with. It
is their own karma, so there is absolutely no point in our doing it for them.
In fact, getting involved in others’ faults can only bring harm. We can’t fix
or do anything about the faults others possess. They have to deal with their
own problems. If they are lazy, they may be doing the best they can. Most
people who have entered the dharma do try. They may have large obstacles, but
they do the best they can. For us to search for their faults and point them out
doesn’t make any sense at all and doesn’t do any good. We need only to examine
our own faults.
In other words, we may
spend a lot of attention trying to figure out what others are doing and whether
it is right or wrong. Because we bring such thoughts into our mind, sooner or
later it becomes a matter of speech, the fifth instruction. Here, we are just
pondering others’ affairs and that is unnecessary. Rather, it is better simply
to respect others and trust that they are probably doing their best, doing what
they consider right. Afterwards, we work with becoming used to this view. If,
out of a good heart, we see faults then, of course, it is all right to see if
it is possible to mend them.
When we begin to work
on ourselves by examining our faults we then:
27.
Work with the stronger afflictions first.
When we examine our own
faults, we see that we have many afflictions or disturbing emotions. The first
thing to do is determine which disturbing emotion we have the most trouble
with. Once we recognize that, then we need to work on it because it is our
special weak point. We should concentrate all of our practice on our strongest
disturbing emotion and work on that one first.
In the beginning, we are trying to deal with the negative patterns of how we
speak, then with our mental attitude which is more difficult. Some disturbing
emotions are dominant in our stream of being, so we need to determine what
emotion haunts us. Is it anger we are always preoccupied with? Or is it
rivalry? Is it attachment? Once we identify the emotion, we can try to work on
it. For example, while doing prostrations we can make up our mind, “All right.
I am doing prostrations, but it is primarily to overcome the particular emotion
of anger or attachment.” When we are doing the Vajrasattva meditation with
nectar pouring into us, we can imagine that a specific negative emotion is
being purified. Dealing with it in this way, we can overcome our strongest
negative emotion.
After identifying our
greatest fault and beginning to work on it, we then:
28.
Send away any hope for results.
Giving up hope has to do with thinking that we are gaining some nice results
from mind training: we are able to be more kind and compassionate to others,
less selfish and so forth. But then, we may hold in the back of our mind that
if we are good, people will be nice in return. We have some expectation of
being rewarded for being a good person and having a good heart. Or we could
expect, “As I become a better practitioner, others will know me for being so.
They will respect me, and I will become important in some way.” Or maybe we
think about good results later on. For example, “I will get something important
out of this at some point.” Of course, it is not the case that we won’t; there
is a definite consequence of practice that ripens as a result. In the context of
mind training, we give up all hope for results.
This connects with the
next instruction:
29.
Avoid poisonous food.
To tame our disturbing
emotions, we try to help others. But if all our efforts do not result in
decreasing our ego, then no matter how much virtue we have practiced, it is
like eating food that is poisoned. The result of eliminating the disturbing
emotions must be that self-clinging decreases. If we are doing mind
training with the hope of benefiting ourselves, then it is as if that
virtue were poisoned.
This instruction is
obviously a metaphor. We all eat, but if there is poison in the food, it is
harmful. In the same way, we need to progress on the spiritual path and do what
is good and meaningful, but if a selfish attitude is mixed with that, then the
root cause of samsara (of clinging to a personal identity and ego) is not
totally eradicated because there is some poison mixed with practice. We should
try to overcome that.
The next instruction is
difficult to translate into English. There are several completely different
translations of it, such as, “Don’t rely on our natural tendency,” but we
render it as:
30.
Don’t be so constant.
In our life, we are
quite consistent in our actions: if somebody is very good to us, we are kind in
return, whereas if somebody harms us, then we try to take revenge. That is what
“consistency” means here. The instruction is suggesting that we act in the
opposite way from a worldly person: If somebody harms us, we need to respond
with kindness, not to exact revenge: we seek to benefit them not to harm them.
Consistency is usually a good quality and describes someone who has a good
character continuously and is not flaky, someone who still has integrity
through many years, and a noble heart. It is good to have consistency, but here
it means something else: It has to do with how we usually are. Should we
continue sticking to the way we usually are, to the tendency to be selfish, and
to regard ourselves as really important? No. That is not necessary, which is
what is meant in this verse.
31.
Don’t get riled by critical remarks.
The general instruction
is not to talk about others’ weak points and not to concern ourselves with
their affairs. This instruction is more specific in that it says not to return
cutting remarks. If somebody says something bad about us, we don’t get upset
and say something sarcastic or cutting in return.
32.
Don’t lie in ambush.
If someone has hurt us in some way, we usually think,
“However long it takes, I’m going to wait until I have a chance to get back at
you. One day that chance will come and then I’m going to get you.” That is what
is meant by waiting in ambush. The teaching is obviously to just let the hurt
go.
33.
Don’t strike at weak points.
This instruction means
that even if we see something terribly wrong with someone, we don’t point it
out to them or hurt them in some way. Also, if negative non-human beings22 are
doing us some kind of harm, we don’t do a special practice to harm them in
return. In other words, even though we see that someone has a great fault, we
don’t do something to hurt them.
This instruction means that we speak pleasantly to someone, but actually we
have unpleasant thoughts about them and so there is deceit hiding in our words.
This instruction is a little different from the instruction, “Don’t disparage
others,” in that it is more deceitful and thus more hateful.
34. Don’t transfer a dzo’s burden onto an ox.
A dzo is
half yak and half cow; possibly from a male yak and female cow, or the other
way around, from a female yak called dri and a bull. The
offspring is very strong and able to carry a larger load than an ox, but it is
also much more expensive because it can work harder and can carry a heavier
load. This instruction means that everyone should carry the burden appropriate
to him or her. If you take the dzo’s load and put it on the ox, the ox will not
be able to carry it for very long. So, if we have an unpleasant task which we
are supposed to do, or we have some fault that is our own, we shouldn’t expect
someone else to take care of it. We have to take address it ourselves. We
cannot carry each other’s burdens.
“Don’t transfer a dzo’s burden to an ox” has another meaning. It could also be
that one thinks that the dzo is more valuable and therefore thinks, “I don’t
want to hurt it by overloading it, so I would rather have the ox carry the load
in order to protect my dzo.” That is the meaning here. When something goes
wrong, we want to protect someone, probably oneself, right? In other words, we
point our finger at someone else, saying, “He/she did it!” We pass the blame
away from ourselves so the idea here is: Don’t pass the blame.
35.
Don’t aim to be the fastest.
It is human nature that
if we have something good, we will crave something yet better. If something is
done on time, we want to do it even quicker. If everybody has something we
already have, we want ours even bigger or nicer. That’s why we are taught,
“Don’t aim to be the fastest.”
When three people join in a race, the aim is to be the first. The attitude each
has is, “I can win.” We can hold this kind of attitude when we do other things,
like dharma studies. We want to be the best, the winner. That is not what is
called a noble heart, which should be, “I will try my best, but I am also happy
when others are successful. It is not necessary for me to be better than they
are.”
36. Don’t act with a twist.
The literal meaning in Tibetan of this instruction is that we don’t undertake
hardships motivated by a calculated intent. Of course, it is nice to go to
trouble for others, to be willing to suffer so that others are happy, but if
our motivation is to help ourselves so that in the end we win material things
or receive acclaim from others then we are acting with a hidden motivation.
We might say, “Okay, I
agree you won in this case,” with the hidden intent that it is ultimately we
who will prevail. Or we might give something to somebody, not out of
generosity, but because we hope to get something from them later on. This is
the wrong motivation.
37.
Don’t turn gods into demons.
Suppose we are
practicing mind training and things are going very well. We may then
develop pride in our accomplishments and think, “Oh, I did so well at this mind
training that now I’m really a great practitioner.” Or we might develop envy
for others who are progressing much more rapidly than we are. In both these
cases we are making a god into a demon. In this analogy, the mind training
practice, which goes well for us or for someone else, is like a god. If this
accomplishment creates a negative emotion such as pride, then it is like a
demon.
“Don’t make a god into a demon,” means don’t degrade the practice of mind
training. We are trying to cultivate the noble heart of bodhichitta, but then
we may become proud of ourselves because of being a bodhisattva and think we
are special and superior to others who are not doing so. This is called “degrading
one’s purity,” in the sense that it hardens our sensitivity so that we don’t
really care for others and are more inclined to be rude. That is called
“turning a god into a demon,” or “degrading the practice.”
38.
Don’t seek others’ pain as the limbs of your happiness.
This means that even
though we wish well for everyone, there is some kind of negative undertone in
it. For instance, wishing for our own happiness, we might wish that something
bad happens to somebody else. We shouldn’t do that. We may think that if our
friend had some misfortune befall him, then it will show us in a better light.
This would be seeking another’s pain as a component of our own happiness. Even
the thought, “If my enemy dies, then it is good for me,” is seeking pain as a
component of one’s own happiness and it is wrong.
We shouldn’t rejoice in others’ misfortune. For instance, if there is someone
causing us trouble, of course, it would be much better for us if they stopped.
If they suddenly die or experience a disaster, it doesn’t mean we may rejoice
and comment, “Hey, great!” That would be called seeking others’ pain as a limb
of our own happiness.
These are the eighteen
commitments of mind training. The main point of the commitment here is to try
our best. If we are successful, fine; if not, continue trying.
Questions
Question: This
is regarding the instruction about not concerning yourself with the affairs of
others. In many American Buddhist communities, the members have not paid
attention when bad things were happening within the community, and so people
were hurt. Not becoming involved seems to go against the spirit of the
mind training practice. If you watch something happen that will
damage others, yet you refuse to become involved, isn’t this violating the
whole spirit of the teaching?
Rinpoche: The
instruction doesn’t mean that we should let any kind of harm just happen. What
this particular instruction is talking about is what most people usually do:
They look for people’s faults when there is no need to look for them. Of
course, in a situation where you clearly see that somebody is doing something
very harmful to you or others, then it is your responsibility to stop them if
you can. If someone is going to harm you, then you can talk to them and say,
“Look, if you do this, then it is bad in a worldly sense and it is bad in a
dharma sense.” If you are able to stop them, that is very good. Likewise, if
they are doing something harmful to someone else and you can, by explaining the
negative results of these actions, prevent them from engaging in the bad
action, then it is very beneficial. In fact, mind training suggests
that you must do that. This instruction talks about the times when we search
out others’ faults for no reason at all.
Question: In
everyday life, there are situations where people are really driving you crazy.
You said we should look at them smilingly and pretend. That means I wouldn’t be
honest. If somebody repeatedly does something that gets on my nerves, like
using my soap, then after three years I say, “Stop now!”
Rinpoche: If
it is not a big thing and you are able just to be patient, then it is good to
practice patience. However, if it is something that isn’t big but continually
annoying to you and you are not able to be patient about it, you can, in a
skillful manner without being angry and yelling, say, “This is annoying me.”
Deal with it in a skillful manner.
Question: Is
there a recommendation against being socially active in a community, to bring a
positive change to the community from the point of view of practice? Does
becoming involved with people in that way contradict what some of the
instructions indicate?
Rinpoche: The
intention is always to help others, and that should be done in whatever way you
can. But whether you are doing it effectively or not depends upon your state of
mind. So that is why all these teachings talk so much about taming your mind.
If your mind is in the right place, then any help you may give will arise
spontaneously. You won’t even need to think, “Oh, I should help that person!”
It happens automatically. But if you haven’t worked with your mind and you go
out trying to help people, it might be that without your knowing it there is
some other kind of motivation, fault, or lack of skillful means at play. For
example, you might suddenly, in the middle of all your efforts, become
completely exhausted and think, “I just cannot do this any more.” Or you might
feel unconsciously proud over being helpful, having the motivation of wanting
something in return. So wisdom and skill have to go together. We can make a
distinction: What is more important? Helping others or taming our own mind?
While ultimately the goal is to help others, the first thing to do is to tame
our own mind so that we are able to help others effectively.
Question: My
question is: How do we know when an emotion is negative? Anger seems very
obvious, but I think there are more subtle things like fear or other emotions
like that. My second question is whether the Vajrasattva practice is appropriate
for all negative emotions?
Rinpoche: If
an emotion is directly harmful to others or indirectly, or implicitly harmful
to others, then it is called “negative.” If it is beneficial either directly or
indirectly, then it is called “positive.” Okay?
Does the Vajrasattva
practice eliminate negative emotions? No, it cannot totally eliminate negative
emotions but this practice can lessen the intensity of the negative emotions.
Chapter 8
Guidelines for Mind Training
VII. GUIDELINES
OF MIND TRAINING
The final section of
mind training deals with advice on mind training which is given through
twenty-one instructions. These are divided into two sections: what we should
reject and what we should adopt.
A. WHAT TO REJECT
39.
All practices should be done with one intention.
Practice here includes
the training of meditation in the post-meditation state: how to practice while
eating, while walking, while sitting, while lying down, while talking to
others, and so forth. In other words, whatever activities we do, there is one
way to focus, one way to practice. In this particular context of mind training,
i.e., training our attitude of bodhichitta, it means being benevolent, and this
implies never parting from the good-will of wanting to benefit others in all
that we do, whether we are able to bring all living beings into our focus or
only a few. This is the first guideline: “All practices should be done with one
intention.”
40.
One practice corrects everything.
Whenever anything bad
happens to us such as being hurt by others, having a serious accident, seeing
our disturbing emotions increase greatly, or losing our desire to meditate, we
should think about how many living beings in the world have the similar misfortunes,
and how painful it is for them. We should wish that on top of our own
suffering, we could take on the suffering of all others. This is the antidote
to whatever misfortune befalls us.
The next instruction
tells us how to deal with these misfortunes:
41.
At the start and the finish, an activity to be done.
The third point has to do with how we conduct ourselves on a daily basis. The
start is our first thought for the day, when we wake up in the morning. We
should make up our mind: “This is a new day. How am I going to use it in
practice, not only for absolute but also relative bodhichitta? I will try my
best with body, speech and mind to live in accordance with these principles in
how I behave, in how I eat—in my attitude towards everything.” Then we go about
our daily activities and at the end of the day, while in bed, we think: “This
morning I made up my mind to follow bodhichitta. How well did I do in my
physical actions and behavior? How well did I do with my speech to others? Did I
do it with the bodhisattva principle? How well have I kept the commitment I
made this morning?” If I notice that I did quite fine, then I can rejoice and
add: “It was good. I will continue in this same way the next days as well.” If
I noticed that I was not that great, then I can say, “This wasn’t a good day. I
will try to do better in the future.” Then we go to sleep. So, there is one way
to begin the day and another way to conclude it, what is meant by “At the start
and finish, an activity to be done.”
42.
Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.
To simplify, we can say
that there are only two outcomes to any situation: positive or negative. If bad
things happen, we should not blame anyone else: it is our own misfortune coming
from our own karma. Therefore, we should think that the only thing to do about
this unfortunate situation is to clear up all non-virtuous karma and pray that
it may not happen to other beings as well. If good things happen, then we
should not become careless or lazy, but wish that these good things happen to
others. Also, whatever good happens, such as wealth, power, or influence,
should be turned to some positive use.
If things were always pleasant and we were successful and experienced good
circumstances, it is quite likely that we would become too attached to that and
expect that everything would be fine. Because of being too fond of having a
good time and enjoying ourselves, it is quite likely that we should forget
about our concern for other beings and become insensitive. If things always go
wrong and we continuously have problems, it is quite likely that we will get
caught up in that and worry about ourselves too much. The instructions here are
to be willing to be patient with whatever happens, whether good or bad times.
Whatever happens we
should:
43.
Maintain these two, even at the risk of your life.
There is a phrase in Tibetan which is “higher than you would your own life.” Is
there anything we hold more dear than our life? When it is lost, we cannot
continue, so it is most precious to us. Yet, for a practitioner of mind
training, there is something more precious, and that is what to adopt and what
to avoid. This means we should adopt what is virtuous and avoid what is
non-virtuous. We should realize that discriminating between what is good and
what is evil is actually more important than our own life.
We should always try to
maintain all of our Vajrayana vows (Skt. samaya) and
particularly the vows of the mind training. The final instruction concerns
disturbing emotions :
44. Train in the three difficult points.
To eliminate disturbing
emotions there are three things we can do. The first is to recognize a
disturbing emotion when it arises. The second is to turn it back, which means
to employ the remedy very forcefully. Even though we have recognized the
disturbing emotions and have employed the remedy to eliminate them, we must
perform the third activity, which is to cut them off completely. This means
ridding ourselves of them altogether, which is the most difficult activity of
the three because it requires a great deal of diligence and mindfulness. Up to
now, the points have dealt with what needed to be abandoned. Next are
instructions concerning what we should adopt.
B. WHAT TO ADOPT
There are three
preliminary conditions or causes for a successful dharma practice:
45. Take up the three main causes.
These three causes are: (a) relying on an authentic teacher; (b) settling our
mind very firmly in the dharma so that it becomes workable; and (c) having
the necessary materials to practice, such as clothes, food, implements, and
time. We must work to have all these circumstances come together for us.
This has to do with not turning away from the seeds
mentioned.
The first cause is a genuine spiritual teacher who is realized. We should not
have trust in someone who acts contrary to the spiritual teachings. Let’s say
we have met someone who teaches something that is correct, invaluable, and
worthy. This essential trust insures that we can practice. If we don’t trust
the teachings and the teacher, then how can we carry through with the
instructions? So that sense of trust is something to keep, and we should not
let it slip away.
The second cause is to have enthusiasm for mind training, delight in practicing
and applying the instructions, having understood their value, and, finally,
being happy to continue. The third cause is not to turn away from mind training
itself, not to forget what is to be avoided and what is to be adopted. When
this is done:
46. Pay attention that these three things do not
diminish.
There are three things
that we should not let diminish in power. First, because the lama is the root
of all virtues, we should not let our trust for him diminish. Second, because
mind trainingteachings are essential to the Mahayana, we should not let
our joy and delight in practicing these teachings diminish. Finally, we should
not let any of our vows diminish.
47. Keep the three inseparable.
We should also make
sure that virtuous activity is inseparable from body, speech, and mind. Next,
we should:
48. Train impartially in all areas; deep, pervasive,
and constant training is crucial.
Being impartial is how we train in loving-kindness and compassion: we don’t
favor those who deserve our love and compassion or turn our backs on others.
Rather, we make no distinctions in being kind and compassionate. It is said we
should be impartial in all areas of our practice and not limit ourselves. The
second aspect is to make this pervasive: there is no barrier or limitation to
any area of our training in how we regard others. We train totally to embrace
everyone. It also means that we do not look outside, but rather at our own hearts
and minds. Whenever it is difficult to be loving and kind, we work to overcome
that barrier. When we feel like holding back our compassion, we train to
overcome this withdrawal.
We should not just
practice mind training and compassion towards one living being while
overlooking another. Mind training and bodhichitta should apply to all
human and non-human beings without exception. This instruction extends into the
next:
49. Always meditate on what aggravates you.
When we have an opponent or someone we don’t like, it is harder to feel love
and compassion. When someone tries to hurt us emotionally or physically, this
is an opportunity to be extra loving and kind to that person. There are also
those who are not grateful. We have been kind to them, but they turn against us
or do not appreciate what we have done. For these people in particular, there
is the opportunity to train by having good feelings towards them.
This instruction to
practice training with the most difficult persons and circumstances means we
should begin practice with those individuals who are especially hateful to us,
those who try to harm and fight with us, and with those who harm us even when
we have no bad feelings towards them. For these difficult individuals, we should
make an extra effort and try to be especially skillful in our
mind training.
50. Don’t be swayed by outer circumstances.
When we feel very
happy, our health is good, and everything seems to be going well, we feel that
we can practice, whereas when we are feeling ill and things are going poorly,
we think that we cannot practice. This is relying on external conditions to
determine if we will practice or not. The instruction, therefore, means that
whether we are feeling well or not, whether we are healthy or not, whether we
have money or not, whether people are kind to us or not, whether we have all
the proper conditions for practicing or not, we should still practice. Not only
do we not rely on external conditions but:
51. This time practice what is most important.
This time we have
attained a precious human birth and come into contact with the dharma, so we
have the most important elements necessary to practice. Out of all the things
we can do with our life, practice is the most important because it alone has a
lasting benefit. The next instruction is:
52. Don’t make mistakes.
Sometimes we show great
diligence and patience in our worldly affairs, but we do not show the same
patience and diligence in our dharma practice. If we are like that, then we
have “mistaken patience” and “mistaken diligence.” In other words, we should
not apply good qualities to an incorrect object.
In our practice, we are trying to develop the qualities of trust, devotion,
kindness, and compassion. It is possible to place our trust in someone who is
not trustworthy or to feel sorry for those who undertake hardships in order to
practice the dharma. Rather, we should feel sorry for people who are confused
and get emotionally carried away. So, take care not to be mistaken in these
ways.
In addition we are
told:
53. Don’t fluctuate.
Sometimes we have great
faith and devotion, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we have great energy and
diligence and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we really believe in the teachings
and sometimes we don’t. We shouldn’t fluctuate like this: we should be
single-minded and simply practice. In addition to not applying our diligence in
the wrong way and oscillating:
54. Train with your whole heart.
This means to be
completely positive that what we want to do is to practice and not become
distracted by other activities. In other words, we must stay single-minded
about the practice. Training wholeheartedly has the sense of not being timid or
hesitant about practicing because the practice seems too vast and difficult.
“With your whole heart” means acting courageously, being brave, and taking the
step. The kind of bravery needed is to think, “I can do this.” Even if we
haven’t been able to succeed, we still have the courageous attitude. That is
important.
An element of
single-mindedness is to:
55. Free yourself through examination and analysis.
This means we should
free ourselves from disturbing emotions, which we can do by continually
examining our mind. We ask ourselves: “Has a disturbing emotion come up? Have I
managed to get rid of it?” and so on, always being very conscious of what is
going on in our mind.
When we have practiced, we may at some point get the feeling, “This practice is
going quite well. I am succeeding and am not so selfish anymore. I also feel
more kind and compassionate and caring.” This may be true, but it doesn’t mean
that we should just rest on our laurels, thinking, “Now everything is fine.” We
should put it to the test to see whether or not it is really true or only an
impression we have. When it becomes most evident is when we are in a tight and
difficult situation because then we can see how our reaction is. Do we react
immediately with kindness and compassion? If we behave very nicely in difficult
situations, then it is okay. Then we can agree, “Yes, I have really
progressed.” If we haven’t, then we will see, “Oh! It was just an impression I
had. I really need to try harder and continue the training.”
56. Don’t make a big deal about it.
There are two parts to
this instruction: the first is to avoid thinking, “Oh, I was so kind to that
person.” Or, “Oh, I practice so well. I try so hard. I’m so good.” The second
is to avoid expecting appreciation for our good works. For instance, we might
think, “I am so kind to that person that he should be kind to me.” If we have
such expectations, then our practice won’t go well. Related closely to this is:
57. Don’t let being irritated tie you up.
If someone harms us, whether they intended it or not,
we should not think, “Well, she did this to me, so I will never help her
again.” This is the meaning of being overly sensitive and irritable.
It is human nature to
be ill-humored when something annoying happens. But a practitioner of mind
training will try not to react with anger. Instead, a practitioner tries to get
to the point where he or she does not immediately react with anger.
Closely related to this
instruction is:
58. Don’t overreact.
If bad things happen, we should not get overly upset
or depressed; if good things happen, we should not get overly excited and
happy. The idea is to be very even-tempered. Whatever happens, good or bad, we
should stay on an even keel.
59. Don’t expect a standing ovation.
The final instruction
means not to expect thanks, congratulations, or fame from the activity of
helping others. If we do something good for someone, we should not wait for
them to thank us, or expect that we might become admired or famous. We shouldn’t
expect anything like this.
This last instruction
“Don’t expect a standing ovation,” may sound like the instruction, “Don’t make
a big deal about it,” and in some ways they are similar. One is being kind in
the hope of being treated nicely in return. Here, it is more thinking of our
reputation and hoping to be spoken of nicely.
All twenty-one points
are about the same principle—having a good heart, a good intention, or a noble
resolve. The reason why there are so many instructions in this section is that
sometimes our good heart may be a little rusty, in need of a little cleaning in
certain situations. Sometimes we think: “It doesn’t really matter. I’ll do this
anyway.” Well, in fact it does matter. That is the reason why twenty-one points
are listed here, so that we see different situations: how not to be
pretentious, not to be irritable, not to fluctuate, not to expect thanks, etc.
In these areas we need to improve a bit so that our good heart can be really
clean and pure.
Even though this
completes the teaching of the mind training, I would like to add something
on how these teachings come to our Kagyu lineage. In this lineage,
Gampopa received the Mahamudra instructions from Milarepa, who
received them from Marpa. Gampopa also received the mind training lineage from
Atisha and he combined the two lineages. To practice both of these
instructions is very significant. Mahamudra is a subtle and profound teaching,
and if you are able to realize it, you can cut off all disturbing emotions and
self-clinging at the root. But sometimes this alone doesn’t work. It is said
that if the view is too high for a practitioner’s existing level—if we don’t
enter the path in proper way—we end up with more disturbing emotions, in
particular pride and jealousy. If this happens, we need to practice mind
training, which is like medicine for the mind when the emotions get strong. The
opposite can also happen. We may be practicing mind training, but it doesn’t
include enough of the ultimate view. Then we should practice the Mahamudra
teachings to develop a higher view.
There are also certain
situations in which the Mahamudra teachings might be easier to practice.
For instance, they are good to do in retreat and will help us progress easily.
But at other times, when we are living in the world and associating with other
people, unfortunate circumstances can arise, at which time mind
training may be easier. It is therefore important to practice both.
THE CONCLUSION
This essential elixir of instruction,
Transforming the five kinds of degeneration
Into the path of awakening,
Is a transmission from Serlingpa.
Having awakened the
karmic energy of previous
training,
I was moved by deep devotion;
Therefore, ignoring suffering and criticism,
I sought out instruction on how to subdue
ego-fixation. Now when I die, I’ll have no regret.
It is said that we live
in degenerate times in which many things have declined, our life span and pure
views. On the other hand,, there is an increase in the number of material
objects and situations giving rise to the disturbing emotions, such as
aggression, desire, attachment, and jealousy. Rather than thinking of these
situations as misfortunes, we should think of them as something that helps us
on the path of dharma. These mind training instructions allow us to
continue with whatever happens on the path to enlightenment. Because of them,
the darkness of our time is said to be like healing nectar (Skt. amrita).
These teachings are also very precious because they are from the lineage of
Guru Serlingpa.
This concludes The
Seven Points of Mind Training. These two verses at the end explain the
goodness and value of these teachings. It is said that we live in a dark age,
characterized by five kinds of degenerations: the level of philosophical views
degenerates; the afflicting emotions increase; life spans shorten, our quality
of life declines; and living beings decline physically and mentally. In short,
there is a lot of negativity during the times in which we live. Even though the
five degenerations increase, it is possible to train in the path of
enlightenment at these times. And through these instructions on mind training,
which are like the nectar of immortality, negativities can subside. These
instructions are like precious amrita. Where do they come from? They were
handed down through the Lineage from Suvarnadvipa, meaning the “Master from
Sumatra on the Golden Continent.”
The
second verse demonstrates the greatness of these instructions. The author,
Chekawa Yeshe Dorje, tells how he himself went about receiving the teachings,
and what happened to him. He writes that it must be due to the awakening of his
training in a previous life that he could have trust and a connection with such
a teaching, because he did not shun any hardships to receive them. He further
states that he disregarded slander and disparagement by others and still
managed to receive and also practice these teachings on mind training. What
happened? He gained a confidence, ease, and peace of mind to the extent that he
says in the last sentence, “Now, when I die, I’ll have no regret.” In other
words, even at the time of death he has nothing to fear; he is completely
confident and has total peace of mind. Implicit here is an injunction to the
readers and to future disciples of mind training to disregard difficulties they
may have to experience in receiving these teachings and undergoing the
training. In this way, they will also gain confidence and fearlessness even at the
time of death.
The Root Text of the
Seven Points of Mind Training
Translated by
Michele Martin
The Seven Points of Mind
Training in the Mahayana
I.
Preliminaries: A Basis for Dharma Practice
1. First,
train in the preliminaries
II.
The Main Practice, Training in Bodhichitta
A. Ultimate Bodhichitta
2. Regard
all phenomena as dreams.
3. Investigate
the nature of unborn awareness.
4. Even the
antidote is released in its ground.
5. Rest
within the all-basis, the essential nature.
6. In
post-meditation, regard all beings as illusions.
B. Relative Bodhichitta
7.
Alternately practice sending and taking; these two should ride
the breath.
8. Three
objects, three poisons, and three roots of virtue.
9. In all
your activities, train with these words.
10. Begin
the sequence of sending and taking with yourself.
III.
Transforming Adverse Conditions into the
Path
of Awakening
11. When
the world is filled with negativity, transform adverse
conditions into the path
of awakening.
A. Relative Bodhichitta
12. Drive
all blame into one.
13. Be
grateful to everyone and everything.
B. Ultimate Bodhichitta
14. Seeing
delusive appearances as the four kayas is the
unexcelled protection emptiness gives.
C. Special Practices
15. The best
method entails four practices.
16.
Whatever you meet, instantly join it with meditation.
IV.
Blending Mind with the Practice throughout Your Life
A. What to Do during Your Daily Life
17.
Practice the five powers, the condensed heart instructions.
B. What To Do at Death
18. The Mahayana instructions for transferring
consciousness
at death
are the five powers; the way you behave matters.
V.
How to Evaluate Your Mind Training
19. All the Buddha’s dharma converges on a single
point.
20. Of the
two witnesses, attend to the principal one.
21. At all
times, rely only on a joyful mind.
22. If you
can practice even when distracted, you are
well
trained.
VI.
The Commitments of Mind Training
23. Always
train in the three basic principles.
24. Change
your attitude and be natural.
25. Don’t
speak ill of others’ shortcomings.
26. Don’t
ponder the affairs of others.
27. Work with
the stronger afflictions first.
28. Send
away any hope for results.
29. Avoid
poisonous food.
30. Don’t
be so constant.
31. Don’t
get riled by critical remarks.
32. Don’t lie in ambush.
33. Don’t strike at weak points.
34. Don’t
transfer a dzo’s burden onto an ox.
35. Don’t
aim to be the fastest.
36. Don’t
act with a twist.
37. Don’t
turn gods into demons.
38. Don’t
seek others’ pain as the limbs of your happiness.
VII.
Guidelines for Mind Training
39. All
practices should be done with one intention.
40. One
practice corrects everything.
41. At the
start and finish, an activity to be done.
42.
Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.
43.
Maintain these two, even at the risk of your life.
44. Train
in the three difficult points.
45. Take up
the three main causes.
46. Pay
attention that these three things do not diminish.
47. Keep
the three inseparable.
48. Train
impartially in all areas; deep, pervasive, and
constant training
is crucial.
49. Always
meditate on what aggravates you.
50. Don’t
be swayed by outer circumstances.
51. This
time practice is central.
52. Don’t
make mistakes.
53. Don’t
fluctuate.
54. Train
with your whole heart.
55. Free
yourself through examination and analysis.
56. Don’t
make a big deal about it.
57. Don’t
let being irritated tie you up.
58. Don’t
overreact.
59. Don’t
expect a standing ovation.
This essential elixir of instruction,
Transforming the five kinds of degeneration
Into the path of awakening,
Is a transmission from Serlingpa.
Having awakened the karmic energy of previous training
I was moved by deep devotion;
Therefore, ignoring suffering and criticism,
I sought out instruction on how to subdue
ego-fixation.
Now when I die, I’ll have no regret.
These concluding verses are from Geshe Chekawa Yeshe
Dorje, who wrote this text.
The translation by Michele Martin is indebted to
previous versions by Traleg Rinpoche, the Nalanda Translation Committee, Ken
McLeod, and B. Alan Wallace.
Notes
1. Atisha Dipamkara Shrijnana
(982-1059 C.E.) was the Indian master who brought the lojong teachings
to Tibet in 1042, when the dharma was in decline there. Atisha was the
first to combine the Wisdom, Method, and Tantric Practice lineages of lojong,
received from two Indian yogis and >from his Indonesian master, Dharmakirti,
(known to Tibetans as Serlingpa).
2. Atisha’s two Indian gurus for the lojong transmission
were Maitriyogi and Dharmarakshita. Historians generally place his studies with
the Indonesian master, Dharmakirti between the years 1012 and 1025 CE.
3. Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje
(1101-1175 C.E.) was inspired by a reading of Geshe Langri Tangpa’s Eight
Verses for Training the Mind to produce his own commentary on that
text, Seven Points of Training of the Mind. Geshe Langri Tangpa was
a direct disciple of Lama Drom Tonpa, who was in turn Atisha’s principal
disciple.
4. For a fuller explanation of these four
ordinary foundations see Thrangu Rinpoche’s The Four Foundations
of Buddhist Practice. Namo Buddha Publications, 2001.
5. Jetsun Milarepa (1052-1135 C.E.)
is one of Tibet’s most beloved saints in the Mahamudra tradition. He is
said to have achieved enlightenment in one lifetime by virtue of the trials he
endured and teachings he practiced while studying with his guru, Marpa Lotsawa.
6. The Seven-branch
Practice (Tib. yenlag dunpa) is a preliminary to most
Vajrayana sadhanas and comprises: (1) making prostrations, (2) making
offerings, (3) purifying non-virtuous habits, (4) rejoicing in the wholesome
actions of others and oneself, (5) requesting the Buddhas to teach, (6)
beseeching the Buddhas not to enter paranirvana, and (7) dedicating the merit.
7. Ringsel or relics are small round
stones, usually about half the size of a pea, which can spontaneously appear in
an environment of religious activity and faith. For example, when holy books
were burned in Tibet by the Chinese, ringsel appeared in their ashes. They also
spontaneously poured out of the great stupa in Swayambhu when His Holiness the
Sixteenth Karmapa visited it in 1978, as described in Women of
Wisdom by Tsultrim Allione.
8. Solid objects that we can point to have
color and shape plus a beginning, duration, and end. For example, a cup comes
from clay; it is round, has a shiny glaze, and will eventually end up as
molecules of clay again scattered everywhere. The argument here is that our
mind does not have these characteristics. In particular, thoughts come from
nowhere, dwell no where, and go nowhere. So the mind is said to be “empty,”
which is a translation of the Sanskrit word shunyata. This
emptiness means that mind does not have a beginning or end, because it can be
traced through numberless lifetimes. It is this aspect of emptiness that allows
mind to change. For example, it is impossible to change a cup into a horse,
because both these objects have a relative physical existence, but it is not
hard to change anger into love, or ignorance into knowledge, because the mind
is empty. Once we have accepted that the mind is empty, then through careful
logical arguments it can be established that outer phenomena, such as rocks and
trees, are also empty. This is detailed in Thrangu Rinpoche’s Open Door
to Emptiness.
9. An advanced meditation particular to
the Vajrayana is the direct examination of mind, often called “looking at
mind.” This is taught through the “pointing out instructions” in which the lama
directly introduces the student to the nature of his or her mind. This
technique is part of Mahamudra meditation in the Kagyu lineage and the
Dzogchen meditation of the Nyingma lineage. For more details see Thrangu
Rinpoche’s Essentials of Mahamudra: Looking Directly at Mind.
10. The use of the word “nakedly” here
means that one enters a very deep state of Shamatha meditation in which one
examines mind without any conceptual activity. This is “looking” at mind,
rather than conceptually analyzing it as one does in the analytical
meditation of the Middle Way.
11. Analytical meditation is an
examination of our mind in which, upon seeing a thought, we ask, “Where
did that thought come from? Where is it now? And where does it go?” In resting
meditation we look at mind directly without any conceptual activity and “see”
what mind is like.
12. The eight consciousnesses are: the
five sensory consciousnesses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and bodily
sensation. The sixth consciousness is the mental consciousness; the seventh is
the afflicted consciousness; and the eighth is the ground or alaya
consciousness. For a fuller explanation, see Thrangu Rinpoche’s Transcending
Ego: Distinguishing Consciousness from Wisdom.
13. The four kayas are: (1) the
dharmakaya, which is dharmata, or phenomena as they are; from this manifests
(2) the sambhogakaya, which is the pure realm in which solely the
Mahayana vehicle is taught, and which can be recognized only by bodhisattvas;
(3) the nirmanakaya in which the Buddhas manifest as ordinary beings, such as
the Shakyamuni Buddha, who was born in India; and (4) the Svabhavikakaya, which
is the union of these kayas.
14. Conventional wisdom is that what is
inside our mind such as thoughts, dreams, and desires are “unreal” and that
outside phenomena such as trees and rocks and houses are “real.” Through the
careful analysis of mind and also of external phenomena using the logical
arguments of the Mahayana Madhyamaka school, it can be shown that mind and also
external phenomena are “empty” and not real and solid. Thrangu Rinpoche has
explained this extensively in other texts, such as his Open Door to
Emptiness. A Western analogy of this reasoning is that a chair appears
to be solid and real, yet a physicist will tell us that the chair is actually
made of billions of atoms which are moving at incredible speeds and these atoms
are so far apart that they are 99.99% space. The wood of the chair which every
human (but not animal) sees as “brown” is actually just radiation of a certain
frequency and the “wood” is actually composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
atoms. So when the mind sees the chair as solid and real, this is actually an
illusion created by the mind and not what the chair is really made of.
15. The four powers are regret for
one’s negative actions; the determination not to repeat those actions;
antidotes to the actions (including the generation of bodhichitta and the
recitation of mantras); and reliance on refuge in the Buddha, dharma, and
sangha.
16. The three methods are: preparation
(taking refuge and generating bodhichitta); the main part (practicing without
attachment to whatever meditative experiences may arise); and the dedication of
merit to the enlightenment of all beings.
17. Thrangu Rinpoche used Jamgon
Kongtrul’s commentary, the Great Path of Awakening for these
teachings.
18. One religious practice to develop
merit is to walk around a stupa, shrine, or other religious object in a
clockwise fashion, usually while saying mantras.
19. The intermediate state, known as
the bardo in Tibetan, is usually known in the West as the
state the mind goes through immediately after death and before
entering another body.
20. The Sevenfold Posture of
Vairochana involves the following points: (1) legs are crossed in vajra
posture (or however close we can come); (2) the hands rest relaxed on the knees
or with the right hand on top of the left, thumbs touching at the level of the
navel; (3) the elbows are slightly raised away from the rib cage; (4) the spine
is lengthened; (5) the chin is slightly tucked in, which lengthens the back of
the neck; (6) the mouth is closed and slightly relaxed with the tip of the
tongue touching the palate; and (7). the eyes’ gaze rests about eight finger-widths
in front of the nose.
21. The bodhisattva vow is the
Mahayana pledge to help all living beings attain enlightenment. The
tantric vows are Vajrayana vows and are specific to whichever
Vajrayana practice one is doing, such as reciting certain prayers or mantras
every day. These are detailed in Thrangu Rinpoche’s The Tibetan Vinaya.
Namo Buddha Publications, 2001.
22. This is somewhat cultural. In the Far
East, including India, Tibet, China, and Japan there are numerous stories of
humans who have inadvertently disturbed the nagas and the
protectors of a place and as a result have suffered from diseases.
The Glossary
alaya consciousness (Tib. kunzhi
namshe) According to the Chittamatra or Yogachara school this is the eighth
consciousness and is often called the ground consciousness or store-house
consciousness. See consciousnesses, eight.
amrita (Tib. dutsi)
A blessed substance which can cause spiritual and physical healing
analytical meditation In the sutra tradition one begins by listening
to the teachings, or studying the dharma. Then one contemplates this dharma
through analytical insight which is accomplished by placing the mind in
Shamatha and focusing one-pointedly on these concepts. Finally, there is actual
meditation which is free from concept.
Asanga A
fourth century Indian philosopher who founded the Chittamatra (Mind-only)
school, and wrote the five treatises transmitted to him by the Maitreya
Bodhisattva, considered crucial within the Mahayana vehicle. His brother
was the scholar Vasubhandu.
Atisha (982-1059
C.E.) Buddhist scholar at Vikramashila University, India, who came to Tibet at
the invitation of King Yeshe Ö to overcome the damage done to Buddhism by the
King Langdarma. With the help of his student Dromtonpa, he founded the
Kadampa tradition. His most famous work is The Lamp for the Path
of Enlightenment.
bardo means
“interval.” There are six kinds of bardos, but this refers to the time between
death and rebirth in a new body.
blessing When
an individual has great devotion, he or she is able to “tap into” or receive
the blessings or energy created by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The blessings
of the lineage are always there, but can only be received if one makes oneself
receptive to them so they are not something externally bestowed by more
enlightened beings.
bodhichitta Literally, the “mind of enlightenment.”
There are two kinds of bodhichitta: ultimate bodhichitta, which is completely
awakened mind that sees the emptiness of phenomena, and relative bodhichitta,
which is the aspiration to practice the six paramitas and free all beings from
the suffering of samsara.
bodhisattva Literally, “one who exhibits the mind of
enlightenment.” Also, an individual who is committed to the Mahayana path
of practicing compassion and the six paramitas in order to achieve Buddhahood
and free all beings from samsara. More specifically, the term refers to those
motivated to achieve liberation from samsara, who are on one of the ten
bodhisattva levels, which culminate in Buddhahood.
bodhisattva vow The promise to practice in order to bring all
other living beings to Buddhahood.
Bon A
pre-Buddhist religion still practiced in Tibet.
Brahmin A
Hindu of the highest caste who usually performs the priestly functions.
Buddha nature (Skt. tathagatagarbha, Tib. deshin
shekpay nyingpo) The original nature present in all beings which, when
realized, leads to enlightenment. It is also often called Buddha-nature.
Buddha Shakyamuni Shakyamuni Buddha, often called Gautama Buddha,
refers to the fourth and most recent Buddha of this eon, who lived sometime
between 563 and 483 B.C.E.
Buddhadharma The teachings of the Buddha.
Chenrezig (Skt. Avalokiteshvara) Deity of
boundless com-passion.
chö means
“to cut off,” referring to a practice that is designed to cut off all ego
involvement and defilements. The practice was founded by the famous yogini,
Machig Labdron (1031 to 1139 C.E.).
clarity (Tib. selwa)
Also translated as “luminosity” or “radiant clarity.” The nature of mind is
that it is empty of inherent existence. But it is not just voidness, because it
has clarity, which is the awareness or knowing aspect of the mind. The Clarity
and emptiness of mind’s nature are inseparable.
compassion (Skt. karuna, Tib. nyingje)
In Buddhist terms this is the impartial desire for the liberation of all living
beings. This feeling can only be developed with extensive meditation and an
understanding of the Buddhist path.
eight consciousnesses These
are the five sensory consciousnesses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch,
and body sensation. The sixth consciousness is mental consciousness which does
our ordinary thinking. The seventh consciousness is afflicted (klesha)
consciousness which is the ever-present feeling of “I.” Finally, the eighth
consciousness is the ground (or alaya) consciousness which holds the other
consciousnesses together and also stores karmic latencies.
conventional truth (Tib. kundzop) There are two truths:
the conventional, or relative, and the ultimate. Relative truth is how an
ordinary (unenlightened) person perceives the world, with all of his or her
projections based on a false belief in self.
conditioned existence (Skt. samsara) Ordinary existence
which contains suffering because one still possesses attachment, aggression,
and ignorance. Its opposite is liberation or nirvana.
dakini A
yogini who has attained high realizations of the fully enlightened mind. She
may be a human being who has achieved such attainments or a non-human
manifestation of the enlightened mind of a meditational deity.
dharma This
has two main meanings: any truth, such as that the sky is blue, or, as used in
this text, the teachings of the Buddha (also called Buddhadharma).
dharmadhatu The all-encompassing, beginningless space, out
of which all phenomena arise. The Sanskrit means “the essence of phenomena” and
the Tibetan means “the expanse of phenomena,” but usually it refers to the
emptiness which is the essential nature of phenomena.
disturbing emotion (Skt. klesha) The emotional
obscurations (in contrast to intellectual obscurations) which are also
translated as “afflictions” or “poisons.” The three main kleshas are passion or
attachment; aggression or anger; and ignorance or delusion. The five kleshas
include the three above, plus pride, envy, or jealousy.
dzo (Tib.)
A cross-breed between a yak and a cow.
Dzogchen (Skt. mahasandhi)
Also known as the “great perfection,” the highest form of meditation of the
nine yanas according to the Nyingma tradition. It is a meditation on examining
minddirectly.
four ordinary foundations These are the four thoughts that turn the mind.
They are reflection on precious human birth, impermanence and the inevitability
of death, karma and its effects, and the pervasiveness of suffering in samsara.
four thoughts that turn the mind These are: the preciousness of human birth; the
impermanence of life; the faults of samsara; and karma, the sequencing of cause
and effect: the fact that pleasure and suffering result from positive and
negative actions.
Gampopa (1079-1153 C.E.) One of the main holders of the Kagyu lineage in Tibet.
A student of Milarepa who established the first Kagyu monastery. His
best-known text is The Jewel Ornament of Liberation.
Geshe A
scholar who has attained a doctorate in Buddhist studies. This usually takes
fifteen to twenty years.
god realm See realms, six
ground consciousness or alaya consciousness, the eighth consciousness
which has the function of storing all the latent karmic imprints of experience.
hell realm See realms of samsara.
Hinayana Literally,
the “lesser vehicle.” This term refers to the first teachings of the Buddha
which emphasized the careful examination of mind and its confusion. Also
known as the Theravada, or foundational, path.
hungry ghost (Skt. preta, Tib. yidak)
A type of being who is always starving and thirsty as a result of excessive
greed in previous lifetimes. Pretas are depicted as having enormous stomachs
and thin throats. See the realms of samsara.
intermediate state See bardo.
initiation or empowerment (Tib. wong,
Skt. abhisheka) To perform Vajrayana practice, one must
receive the empowerment from a qualified lama. One should also receive the
practice instruction (Tib. tri) and the textual reading
transmission (Tib. lung).
Jamgon Kongtrul (1813-1899 C.E.) Also known as Lodro Thaye. He
was best known for founding the rime movement, a non-sectarian, eclectic
movement which preserved various practice lineages that were on the verge of
extinction. He is famous as the author of the Five Treasuries.
jealous god See realms, six
Kadampa One
of the major schools in Tibet, founded by Atisha.
Kagyu One
of the four major schools of Buddhism in Tibet. It was founded by Marpa and is
headed by His Holiness Karmapa. The other three are the Nyingma, Sakya, and
Geluk schools.
karma Literally
“action.” Karma is a principle of cause and effect: when one performs a
wholesome action, one’s circumstances will improve, and when one performs an
unwholesome action, negative results will eventually occur.
kayas, three There are three bodies, or dimensions, of the
Buddha: the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya. The dharmakaya, also
called the “truth body,” is the complete enlightenment, or complete wisdom of
the Buddha with this realm being un-originated, beyond form, and manifests in
the sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya. The sambhogakaya, also called the
“enjoyment body,” manifests only to bodhisattvas on the eighth, ninth, and
tenth bodhisattva levels. The nirmanakaya, known as the “emanation body,”
manifests in the world as a human beings such as the Shakyamuni Buddha.
kusulu There
are two approaches to the spiritual path: one is to study the Buddhist texts
extensively and is called the path of the scholar (pandita), and the other is
to meditate directly with little study and is called the path of the kusulu
(simple meditator).
lama (Skt. guru)
A spiritual teacher.
loving-kindness (Skt. maitri, Tib. jampa)
The wish that all beings have happiness.
luminosity (Tib. selwa) In the Buddha’s third
turning of the wheel of dharma everything is empty, but this emptiness is
not a blank state because it is inseparable >from luminosity. Luminosity,
also called clarity, points to the mind’s ability to know and manifest.
luminous clarity See luminosity.
Mahamudra Literally, “great seal,” meaning that all
phenomena are sealed by the primordially and perfectly true nature. This form
of meditation is traced back to Saraha (8th century) and was passed down in the
Kagyu School through Marpa. It emphasizes perceiving mind directly rather than
through rationalistic analysis.
Mahayana Literally,
the “great vehicle.” These are the teachings of the second turning of the wheel
of dharma, which emphasize emptiness, compassion, and universal Buddha nature.
Marpa Lotsawa (1012-1097 C.E.) One of the founders of the
Kagyu lineage in Tibet, who made three trips to India to study and bring back
tantric texts, including the Six Yogas of Naropa, the Guhyasamaja, and the
Chakrasamvara practices. His teacher was Tilopa, and his chief student,
Milarepa.
nadi (Tib. tsa)
Subtle channels through which the subtle energies (Skt. vayu) flow.
naga A
water spirit which may take the form of a serpent. Nagas are often the
custodians of treasures, so they keep texts or actual material treasures
underground.
Naropa (1016-1100 C.E.) An Indian master who is best known for transmitting
many Vajrayana teachings, in particular the Six Yogas of Naropa to Marpa, who
took these back to Tibet prior to the Moslem invasion of India.
ngondro Tibetan for “preliminary practice.” One usually begins
the Vajrayana path by doing the four preliminary practices which involve doing
100,000 refuge prayers and prostrations, and the same number of Vajrasattva
mantras, mandala offerings, and guru yoga practices.
oral instructions (Tib. men
ngak) Sometimes called the quintessential or pith instructions.
These are instructions given directly from guru to student concerning
meditation and the nature of mind. While some of these are written down, many
are passed on orally.
pandita A great scholar.
placement meditation As
used here, there are two kinds of meditation: the analytical meditation of the
pandita (or scholar), which involves conceptual analysis of phenomena, and the
placement meditation of the kusulu (or simple meditator), which involves simply
relaxing the mind and examining what is there without engaging in any
conceptual or analytical activity.
precious nectar or amrita (Tib. dutsi)
A blessed substance which can cause spiritual and physical healing.
pure realm Realms created by Buddhas which are totally free
from suffering, and in which dharma can be received directly. These realms are
presided over by various Buddhas such as Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara, and
Maitreya.
realms of samsara, six These
are the possible types of rebirths for beings in samsara: the god realm, in
which gods have great pride; the asura realm in which the jealous gods try to
maintain what they have; the human realm which is the best realm because one
has the possibility of achieving enlightenment; the animal realm characterized
by stupidity; the hungry ghost realm characterized by great craving; and the
hell realm characterized by aggression.
rinpoche Literally,
“very precious,” used as a term of respect for a Tibetan guru.
root guru A teacher from whom one has received the
instructions and empowerments that form the core of one’s practice.
samaya (Tib. damtsig)
The Vajrayana vows or commitments made to a teacher or practice.
samsara Conditioned
existence of ordinary life in which suffering occurs because one still
possesses attachment, aggression, and ignorance. Its opposite is nirvana.
Serlingpa Serlingpa Dharmakirti was Atisha’s main teacher
and source for the teachings on mind training.
seven branch prayer The
seven branch practice is (1) prostrating to the three jewels, (2) confessing
negative actions, (3) making offering, (4) rejoicing in the virtue of others,
(5) requesting to turn the wheel of dharma, (6) beseeching the lama not to pass
into nirvana, and (7) dedicating the merit to the enlightenment of all living
beings.
seven points of Vairochana This
posture involves seven key points: (1) legs are crossed in vajra posture (or
however close we can come); (2) the hands rest relaxed on the knees or with the
right hand on top of the left, thumbs touching at the level of the navel; (3)
the elbows are slightly raised away from the rib cage; (4) the spine is
lengthened; (5) the chin is slightly tucked in, which lengthens the back of the
neck; (6) the mouth is closed and slightly relaxed with the tip of the tongue
touching the palate; and (7).
Shamatha or tranquility
meditation (Tib. shinay) A basic meditation in which,
while sitting cross-legged, one follows the breath and observes the workings of
the mind. The main purpose of Shamatha meditation is to settle or tame the mind
so that it will stay where one places it.
sangha These
are the companions on the path. The word may refer to anyone on the path, or to
the noble sangha, who are realized ones.
Shantideva (675-725 C.E.) A
great Bodhisattva who lived in the 7th and 8th centuries in India, and was
known for his two works on bodhisattva conduct.
sending and taking practice (Tib. tonglen)
A meditation practice promulgated by Atisha in which the practitioner takes on
the negative conditions of others and gives out all that is positive.
six realms of samsara See realms of samsara.
six tastes These
are sweet, sour, bitter, astringent, hot, and salty.
stupa A
dome-shaped monument to the Buddha which often contains relics and remains of
the Buddha or great Bodhisattvas.
subtle channels (Skt. nadi, Tib. tsa). These refer to the subtle channels through which the
psychic energies or “winds” (Skt. prana, Tib. lung)
travel. They correspond only loosely to the body’s physical veins and arteries.
shunyata Usually
translated as “emptiness.” In the second turning of the wheel of dharma, the
Buddha taught that external phenomena and internal phenomena, or the concept of
self or “I,” have no real existence and are therefore empty.
sugatagarbha (Tib. desheg nyingpo) “The heart of
the one gone to bliss” refers to that enlightened and joyous nature present in
all beings.
tantra One
can divide Tibetan Buddhism into the sutra tradition and the tantra tradition.
The sutra tradition primarily involves the academic study of the Mahayana sutras,
while the tantric path primarily involves the practice of Vajrayana. The
tantras are primarily the texts of the Vajrayana practices.
tathagatagarbha (Tib. deshin shekpai nyingpo) The
very heart of the tathagatas, which is usually translated as Buddha nature. It
is the seed or potential of enlightenment possessed by all living beings, which
allows them to attain Buddhahood.
torma A
ritual object made of dried barley and butter, placed on a shrine as a symbolic
offering to the deities.
two truths Relative, or conventional, truth is the world as
we normally experience it with seemingly solid objects; the ultimate, or
absolute, truth points to the empty and luminous nature of all phenomena..
ultimate truth (Tib. dondam) The ultimate truth,
also called absolute truth, can only be perceived by an enlightened individual
is that all phenomena, both internal (thoughts and feelings) and external (the
outside world) do not have any inherent existence.
Vajradhara (Tib. Dorje Chang) The name of the
dharmakaya Buddha. Many of the teachings of the Kagyu lineage came from
Vajradhara.
Vajrayana There are three major vehicles of Buddhism:
Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. The Vajrayana is based on the tantras,
emphasizes the clarity aspect of phenomena, and is mainly practiced in Tibet.
Vasubhandu A great fourth-century Indian scholar, the
brother of Asanga, who wrote the Abhidharmakosha, explaining the
Abhidharma.
Vinaya These
are the teachings by the Buddha concerning proper conduct, the vows, and
community life.
yidam A
tantric meditation deity that embodies the qualities of Buddhahood and is
practiced in the Vajrayana.
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Kyabgon, Traleg The Benevolent Mind: A Manual
in Mind Training. Auckland, New Zealand: Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal
Publications, 2003.
Kongtrul, Jamgon. Translated by Ken McLeod. The
Great Path of Awakening: A Commentary on the Mahayana Teaching of the Seven
Points of Mind Training. Boston:
Shambhala, 1987.
Patrul
Rinpoche. Words of My Perfect Teacher.
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1994.
Pel, Namkha. Translated by Brian Beresford. Mind
Training like the Rays of the Sun. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and
Archives, 1992.
Rabten,
Geshe, and Geshe Dhargyey. Translated by Brian Beresford. Advice from a
Spiritual Friend. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1977, 1996.
Rinpoche,
Dilgo Khyentse. Translated by the Padmakara Translation
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Life (Skt. Bodhicharyavatara) (Tib. byang chub
sems dpa’i spyod pa la’jug pa). The root verses translated by Marion Matric
and commentary by Thrangu Rinpoche. Namo Buddha Publications, 1998.
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Thrangu Rinpoche. Open Door to Emptiness.
Karme Theckchen Choling.1997.
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About the Author
Thrangu Rinpoche was born in Kham in 1933. At the age of five he was formally
recognized by the Sixteenth Karmapa and the previous Situ Rinpoche as the
incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku. Entering Thrangu monastery, from the
ages of seven to sixteen he studied reading, writing, grammar, poetry, and
astrology, memorized ritual texts, and completed two preliminary retreats. At
sixteen under the direction of Khenpo Lodro Rabsel he began the study of the
three vehicles of Buddhism while staying in retreat.
At twenty-three he received full ordination from the Karmapa. When he was
twenty-seven Rinpoche left Tibet for India at the time of the Chinese military
takeover. He was called to Rumtek, Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in
exile. At thirty-five he took the geshe examination before 1500 monks at
Buxador monastic refugee camp in Bengal, and was awarded the degree of Geshe
Lharampa. On his return to Rumtek he was named Abbot of Rumtek monastery and
the Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist studies at Rumtek. He has been the
personal teacher of the four principal Karma Kagyu tulkus: Shamar Rinpoche,
Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche.
Thrangu Rinpoche has traveled extensively through-out Europe, the Far East and
the USA and is the abbot of Gampo Abbey, Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1984 he spent
several months in Tibet where he ordained over 100 monks and nuns and visited
several monasteries. In Nepal Rinpoche has also founded a monastery, Thrangu
Tashi Choling in Bodhanath, a retreat center and college at Namo Buddha, east
of the Katmandu Valley, and has established a school in Bodhanath for the
general education of lay children and young monks. He also has built in
Katmandu Tara Abbey offering a full dharma education for nuns. He has also completed
a beautiful monastery in Sarnath, India a few minutes walking distance from
where the Buddha gave his first teaching on the Four Noble Truths.
Thrangu Rinpoche has given teachings in over 25 countries and is especially
known for taking complex teachings and making them accessible to Western
students. Thrangu Rinpoche is a recognized master of Mahamudra meditation.
More recently, because of his vast knowledge of the Dharma, he was appointed by
His Holiness the Dalai Lama to be the personal tutor for the 17th Karmapa.
Thrangu Rinpoche has centers in India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Tibet, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, England, Germany, United States, and Canada. For more information
on his activities, yearly teachings, and centers, please visit his website:
www.rinpoche.com.
Namo
Buddha Publications is dedicated to propagate the teachings of Thrangu Rinpoche
and is now located at the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado
(about four hours drive from Denver). For more information on the 28 books of
Thrangu Rinpoche in English visit: www.NamoBuddhaPub.org
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