Thu, 17 May 2012
Without Difficulty
Tonight's quote is by Putowa, one of the early Kadampa masters.
pu to ba 'i zhal nas/
khyod kyis 'chi ba mi rtag pa mang du soms dang/ der 'chi nges pa'i blo gcig byung na/ sdig pa spong ba la dka' rgyu med/ dge ba sgrub pa la dka' rgyu med pa zhig 'ong gi/ de'i steng du khyed kyi byams pa dang snying rje mang du sgom dang/ de rgyud la skyes na/sems can gyi don byed pa la dka' rgyu med 'ong gi/ de'i steng du khyed kyis chos rnams kyi gnas lugs stong pa nyid mang du sgom dang/de rgyud la skyes na/ 'khrul ba sbyong ba las dka' rgyu med pa zhig 'ong gi zhes gsungs/Putowa said,
You should meditate on death and impermanence a great deal. If you single mindedly contemplate the certainty of death, you will abandon wrong doing and virtue will arise without difficulty. Also, you should meditate on love and compassion a great deal. Then the wish to benefit beings will arise without difficulty. Also, you should meditate that all phenomena are empty by nature a great deal. Then all delusions will be removed without difficulty.
Sun, 13 May 2012
Some Analogies
Tonight's translation is a quote from Gampopa, the founder of the Kagyu lineage. I'm pretty sure the quote is from the Precious Rosary, but I don't have a copy to check it. Those who do can check my translation against a more accurate one.
mnyam med dwags po rin po che'i zhal nas/
dang po skyed 'chi'i 'jigs pas ded pa sha ba btsan dong nas 'bros pa lta bu zhig dgos/ bar du shi yang mi 'gyod pa zhing pas so nas rem pa lta bu zhig dgos/ tha ma blo bde ba bya ba rlabs chen zin pa'i skyes bu lta bu zhig dgos/ dang po long med du shes pa skyes bu'i gnad la mda' phog pa lta bu zhig dgos/ bar du yongs med du bsgom pa bu gcig pu shi ma lta bu zhig dgos/ tha mar byar med du shes pa phyags ma dgras ded pa'i rdzi bo lta bu zhig dgos gsungs/The peerless Dagpo Rinpoche said:
At the beginning it is necessary to engender fear of death, like a deer fleeing from the King of Hunters. In the middle it is necessary to practice without second thoughts, like a farmer cultivating his crops. Finally, it is necessary to relax in the midst of activities, like a person who has finished a great undertaking.At the beginning, it is necessary to ceaselessly study the essential points, like a person struck by an arrow. In the middle, it is necessary to meditate on the non-existence of everything, like a mother on the death of her only child. Finally, it is necessary to know that there is nothing to be done, like a shepherd whose flock has been stolen by a thief.
Fri, 11 May 2012
Milarepa on Mahamudra
So here is a quote by Milarepa explaining mahamudra, the path that transcends the intellect.
rnal 'byor gyi dbang phyug rje mi las/
lar bu khyed stong nyid bsgom par shor sa bzhi la ma shor ba byed dgos pa dang/ sems kyi gzhi rtsa ma chod na bde gsal mi rtog pa'i nyams ji tsam bzod yang khams gsum las mi 'da' bas rta ba ma chod pa'i nyams zhes bya ba yin/ 'o na lam yang dag pa nge gang yin ce na/mtshan ldan gyi bla mas slob ma snong ldan la khrid de gnyug ma'i shes pa sems na thams ched la gnas/ sangs rgyas la chos sku'i dgongs pa rang gsal/ rnal 'byor pa la thabs du mas mtshon te ngo sprad nas bsgom pas lta ba shugs la rtogs/ nyon mongs ngang gis 'gag/ rnam rtog rang sar grol/ ye shes mngon du gyur/ gnas lugs nyams su myong ba de ngag tu smrar mi btub/brjed pas mtshon mi nus/ gzhon nu ma'i bde ba ltar smra ru med/gzhi de kun la yod kyang ngo ma shes/ de nas brgyud ldan gyi bla ma bsten pa gal che bar gda'/ gnyug ma tha mal gyi shes pa de dpe gang gis kyang mi mtshon/brjod pa gang gis kyang mi rtogs/ tha snyad gang gis kyang mi rig/ des na bcas bcos mi bya/rang ga so ma'i ngang la lhod de zhog mdzod gsungs/From the Lord of Yogins, Jetsun Mila:
You need to meditate on emptiness without becoming lost in the four extreme views. But if the mind ground is not cut through, you will not experience bliss, clarity, and non-thought however much you persevere and your so-called experience [in meditation] will not cut the root of the three worlds.
So, what is the right path? The student should take shelter with a teacher with the authentic signs of realization. and always remain in the natural state. Through the power of meditating on the pointing out instructions the yogi will realize mind's clarity as the dharmakaya of the Buddha. The afflictions will cease spontaneously. Thoughts will be self-liberated and your original wisdom will manifest. You will experience the nature of all things, which cannot be expressed in words. You can neither forget it or explain it. It cannot be spoken of, like the ecstasy of a young woman. The basis of all things cannot be said to exist or not. Therefore, the most important thing is to follow a teacher with authentic lineage.
The genuine, natural mind cannot be indicated by analogy. It cannot be understood through verbal designations. Therefore, let go and relax with fresh, uncontrived naturalness.
Wed, 09 May 2012
Atisha On What's Best
Here's another quote, this time from Atisha, the most illustrious master of the Sarma (new) school of Tibetan Buddhism.
jo bo'i zhal nas /
mkhas pa'i mchog bdag med kyi don rtogs pa yin/ btsun pa'i mchog sems rgyud dul ba yin/ yon tan gyi mchog phan sems che ba yin/ gdams ngag gi mchog rtag tu rang sems la lta ba yin/ gnyen po'i mchog gang yang rang bzhin med par shes pa yin/ spyod pa'i mchog 'jig rten dang mi mthun pa yin/ dngos grub kyi mchog nyon mongs pa je chung la song ba yin/ sbyin pa'i mchog ma chags pa yin/tshul khrims kyi mchog sems zhi ba yin/ bzod pa'i mchog dman sa bzung ba yin/ brtson 'grus kyi mchog bya ba thong ba yin/ bsam gtan gyi mchog blo ma bcos pa yin/shes rab kyi mchog gang la yang der 'dzin med pa yin gsungs/Lord Atisha said:
The best intellectual understanding is to comprehend the meaning of selflessness. The most eminent behavior is the decorous behavior of a monastic. The best enlightened quality is the great wish to benefit others. The best spiritual instruction is to continually hold the view before one's mind. The best remedy is to understand the absence of inherent existence of everything. The best conduct is not to agree with the world. The best accomplishment is to reduce the afflictive emotions. The best generosity is non-attachment. The best moral ethics is a tranquil mind. The best patience is a humble mind. The best exertion is to let go of activity. The best meditation is an unaltered mind. The best wisdom is to not fixate on anything whatsoever.
Mon, 30 Apr 2012
Orgyen's Mahamudra
As you know, I have been spending most of my free time working on my computer software, which is an alternative to Wordpress for smal sites. I got it running under Apache, which is a milestone of sorts, but I'm working on it some more and right now it's thoroughly broken.
Every Tibetan lama I've met has encouraged me to learn Tibetan. That has not been a personal goal of mine, but to please them I've put forward a small effort. I've been putting up some quotes from Lama Phurbu Tashi's notebook. Now I'm reworking what I've done so far so I can eventually make them available as a free ebook. It has to be free, because the translations are really bad and I would be cheating people if I asked them to pay.
Tonight's translation is from the Great Orgyenpa, a master of from the early days of the Kagyu. He was the student of Gotsangpa and was regent of the Karma Kagyu lineage between the Second and Third Karmapas. The quote is awarning about errors in the practice of mahamudra.
o rgyen chen pos
rgyal po chen po nga'i gsang sngags 'di lta ba gtso che/ lta ba'i phyogs su spyod pa ma shor bar mdzod/ de shor na dge stong nag po kha 'byams bdud kyi lta bar 'gro/ yang spyod pa'i phyogs su lta ba ma shor bar mdzod/de shor na dngos po dang mtshan mas bcings mas grol ba'i dus med gsungs/My king, the view is of utmost importance in secret mantra. Do not stray into a conceptual view. You will give rise to the evil view of demons that good deeds are empty. And do not stray into activity. You will be lost in theorizing and materialism and you never will be liberated from bondage.
Wed, 11 Apr 2012
What the Hell Is Buddha Nature
The Tuesday night mahamudra class was buddha nature and, as usual, we read the explanation from Traleg Rinpoche's book. I thoght he danced around the topic. Afterwards there were a few questions about buddha nature, which Lama Phurbu Tashi answered. I wanted to stick in my opinion, but kept my mouth shut, which is usually the right thing to do. So what I didn't say then, I'll say here.
Buddha nature is the ability of the mind to see its own emptiness. Not everyone has seen emptiness. To see emptiness is to be enlightened and only a relatively few people are enlightened. But everyone has this ability, hence, everyone has buddha nature. Why so? First because the mind is empty, it is possible to see this. Second, because the obstacles to seeing it are only temporary and can be removed. There is no permanent defect that would prevent seeing emptiness. It is like a person with sound eyesight on a dark night. When the sun rises they can see the sun and everything else.
Buddha nature is not a self. It is not permanent, pure, or unconditioned, the way some imagine it. It is not another name for God. It is the mind's innate ability to see the truth when the causes for seeing the truth are assembled. So buddha nature is a conditioned thing, and for that reason buddha nature is empty.
Mon, 09 Apr 2012
A New Beginning
After re-translating the quote in my previous post, I decided to go back to the start and revise my translations. Here's my new translation of the first quote in Lama Phurbu Tashi's notebook. It's on the importance of taking the three year retreat seriously.
bal ma rin po che'i zhal nas/ chos sgor zhugs phan chad las 'gan 'dra po de gang yin zer tsa na/thos bsam sgom gsum gyi sgo nas dus 'da' ba de red/bsam sbyor khyim pa pho mo dang khyad med pa zhig la song na ma byung ba red/bka' brgyud gong ma rnams la kha mig yar lta byed nas/lo gsum tsam gyi bsam blo'am 'char gzhi min par dus dang rnam pa kun tu chos mthun gyi las kho na byed dgos/ lo gsum tsam gyi ring la nyams len byas pas mchog thun gyi dngos grub thob pa sogs ma 'dra ba zhig tu 'gyur khag po yin pas/tshe dang sgrub pa snyom pa zhig ci nas kyang gal che gsungs/
Guru Rinpoche said:
What is your responsibility once you have entered the gate of the dharma? To spend your time hearing, contemplating, and meditating on the dharma. Acting and thinking like a layperson will be the dissolution of your practice. The Kagyu lineage holders opened their wisdom eye in mountain retreat. For about three years, except for planning, it is essentiial that at all times and on all occaisions your activities be directed to the dharma. Is it too difficult to practice for about three years to develop the supreme and ordinary siddhis, and so on? It is essential to bring your life in accord with the practice of the dharma.
Sat, 07 Apr 2012
Meditation Briefly
Lama Phurbu Tashi has been teaching a class on mahamudra meditation and he made a big deal about some meditation instructions that I had translated earlier. My previous translation was not so great, so this new translation incorporates Rinpoche's and Michael Hess's helpful changes. As Lama Phurbu Tashi said, these instructions are the essence of a thousand years of Buddhist philosophy.
tshul 'di'i mnyam par 'jog pa'i ting nge 'dzin kyang
mdor bsdu na ma yengs so mar bzhag pa dang/
mi sgom lhug par bzhag pa dang/
rang dwangs bzo med gnyug mar gzhag pa gsum la 'du'o/The Method for Settling into Meditation
Briefly, combine these three points:
Remain undistracted in the freshness of the present moment.
Remain free without meditating.
Remain unaltered in the clarity of the natural state.
Thu, 22 Mar 2012
Luminous Emptiness
Someone asked what luminious emptiness means during Lama Phurbu Tashi's class last Tuesday night. There still seemed to be some misunderstanding after the explanation, so I thought I would have my say here. First, emptiness is the absence of a characteristic in something we attribute it to. It should always be understood in the form X is empty of Y. The metaphor is plain, it's like a box being empty. The most imprtant type of emptiness for an aspiring practitioner to understand is that the mind is empty of a self or ego. The most profound form of emptiness is that explained by Nagarjuna, that everything dependent on other phenomena is empty of inherent existence. An example of this type of emptiness is a rainbow. A rainbow appears as a result of the eye, sun, and rain being in the proper alignment. But it has no inherent existence apart from this assemply of causes.
Emptiness is misunderstood if it is taken to mean total non-existence (this is called the extreme of nihilism) or some positive state achieved during meditation or some attribute of ultimate reality (this is called the extreme of eternalism.) Emptiness itself is a dependent phenomenon, there are many kinds of emptiness, as explained above. Because emptiness is dependent, emptiness itself is empty of inherent existence.
Luminsity is the awareness which directly perceives emptiness. Although emptiness as explained above is a concept, an idea, through meditation one can directly perceive the emptiness of mind during meditation. When the mind directly apprehends its own emptiness it transcends all conceptual filters and rests in a singular state that is called luminosity. The metaphor here is also plain, light is a metaphor for understanding. Because the mind which is empty is not separate from the awareness which cognizes itself, it is said that emptiness and luminosity are an inseparable unity, hence the expression luminous emptiness.
Sun, 18 Mar 2012
The Question I Never Asked
Way back in 1980, during the 16th Karmapa's last visit to America, he came to Washington DC, which was a big deal. And during that visit Trungpa Rinpoche also came to Washington, which made it a doubly big deal. During that visit I was part of a group interview with Trungpa Rinpoche. I wanted to ask a question about the relation between Nagarjuna's philosophy and the practice of meditation, but never got the chance. Trungpa ended the interview early so he could meet with a Sufi master. I wondered about my question for a long time. Here's my attempt to answer it for myself.
If I were to explain what Buddhism is all about in a few words, I would say that our nature is perfecly free and pure, but we don't experience that freedom and purity because it is hidden from us. Buddhism is the practice that removes the obscurations that hide our nature.
So what hides our nature? How is it possible that we don't see our mind as it is? What could stand between us and our minds? The obscuration which hides our mind is simply our misconception of it. To put it simply, this misconception is the subject/object duality. We can dissolve this duality through the practice of meditation. The process here is that we allow the mind to settle so that there are few thoughts. When the mind is free of thoughts it is easier to see mind as it is and how we distort this reality through our misunderstanding of it. Though it is easier, the process is not automatic. It's quite possible to be an advanced meditator, be able to hold the mind free of thoughts, and still not recognize it for what it is.
This is where the philosophy of Buddhism comes in, particularly the idea of emptiness. The philosophy shows us through argument the contradictions in our way of usually perceiving the world. What is contradictory cannot exist. A simple example of this type of argument is the relation between our selves and our minds and bodies. Neither can be the self because they are composite and changing, while the self is not. Neither can the self be outside the body, for example, as an owner, as this is only a nominal and not a real relation. So through arguments like this the philosophy of emptiness show that our usual understanding of things is mistaken.
But understanding the philosophy is not enough on its own. We need to see how we are making that same mistake in our own life. So we have to bring the philosophy and the meditation together. The meditation gives us the clarity to see the thoughts in our mind and the philosophy shows how they are unsound. The philosophy without the meditation only allows us to see the probem in the abstract. The meditation without the philosophy will likely fail to see the problem with our thoughts. So both are neccessary.
The special characteristic of the philosophy of emptiness is that it is purely negative. It makes no positive statements about how things are, only arguments showing how things cannot be. The philosophy takes this form because it was developed out of the experience of meditation. The experience of things as they are is beyond conceptualization. Hence the philosophy of emptiness, which is shaped, by this experience, strives to show the errors of conceptualization rather than putting forward a positive theory of the nature of reality. This is because any such positive theory would be false to the nature and an obstacle to seeing that nature.
So in emptiness we have a purely negative critique of how we misunderstand reality. And the purpose of the critique is that we can apply it to our experience in meditation and remove the false concepts which obscure things as they are.
Sat, 17 Mar 2012
Nothing to Gain
I'm still spending my most of my time on my side programming project, and that is the reason for my infrequent posts. I won't bore you with the details, but they are many and they are varied. Tonight I have a few minutes to post my notes from last week's talk by Lama Phurbu Tashi on mahamudra. He's teaching twice a week in Annapolis, if you're in the area.
Most of us expect to gain something from meditation, some pleasant feeling, knowledge, or psychic ability. If our goal was simply pleasure, practicing meditation would be a difficult way to get it. But pleasant feelings are temporary. Or our goal might be that we expected to gain some psychic powers. You might expect to sit down and have time pass in a blink of an eye. Or the opposite. Or you might expect to be able to read minds. But this sort of thing is not so important. Reading thoughts all day would be exhausting. Meditation is not for the sake of gain, but for loss. We have fixation and grasping and from those our emotional reactions arise. When we meditate our fixations and grasping should decrease, so there is no basis for our negative emotions and they fall apart. The more you lose, the closer you come to your essence. When you lose everything and there is nothing to grasp to, then you have crossed the border of samsara and you are enlightened. Then buddha nature is revealed of itself.
Finally you reach a state where there is nothing to lose. Then is no ego, no goal, you could also say no happiness. It's like it says in the Heart Sutra.
Many people are confused, expecting to gain things from meditation. But that is mixed up. Chasing after pleasant emotions, thinking one day's meditation is better than the next, chasing mental abstractions. Next you might start smoking nirvana.
But meditating without a goal will not lead you into a wrong view. So our meditation is not meditating, It is being aware of our moment of being. So don't meditate, just maintain your awareness. So there is nothing to gain. When you remain in a natural way, the you become natural. And when you maintain that in daily life, you come closer to reality your grasping becomes less and you gain real wisdom and compassion.
Q: Should we lose the four immeasurables?
A: What I am talking about is losing the goal. The four immeasurables is more part of the process. They help us remove our grasping and ego. As you lessen your grasping these four automatically increase. You see everyone has the same potential and your innate compassion arises.
Q: Young people take very little time for quiet and reflection. If you tell them to stop and be still, it's almost an advancement for them, because they never do that. I wonder what I can teach them.
A: They need a little knowledge about what meditation is, so that will open their minds. But they probably are goal oriented. Like most people, they probably are expecting wonderful things to happen in meditation, and if you don't promise them they won't listen to you. They just have to understand how to listen to the moment of being and that will help them.
It will lessen their fears and expectations and help them become more realistic. To become a buddha is exhausting your confusion.
Q: Isn't being in nature helpful?
A: Probably, but I don't want to mix what I am saying here with therapy. This is about removing confusion. If you do that, you won't need therapy. But if you need therapy there are many methods that are helpful. I don't want to mix techniques because that would confuse you. Even if you could develop psychic abilities or the ability to heal peoplle with another meditation, I would still feel my simple meditation is more helpful.
Sat, 25 Feb 2012
Altruism Unleashed
You may wonder what has taken me away from blogging. I've been spending most of my free time coding a replacement for the software that runs this website. The software is written in Perl and goes by the ungodly name CMS::Onsite::Editor. It's a project that literally been years in the making and has taken an increasing share of my time as it gets closer to completion.
Tonight I write about an idea of Rudolf Steiner that I feel could have a big impact on the world if taken seriously. Steiner was a theosophist and most of his talks are in that vein. But there are little nuggets of gold strewn throughout his talks, if you take the trouble to look for them. He said that when we engage in the economic proccess as consumers we are acting selfishly. But when we engage in the economic process as producers we are acting altruisticly. Note that he is not saying how people should behave in their business, he is saying how people do behave in their business. I think this is an important and neglected truth. If you try to run your business selfishly and motivate your workers through selfish means, your business will be less successful than if you inspire yor workers through a common shared purpose. That may sound idealistic, but there is research to support it. Workers do a worse job when their pay is explicitly tied to their performance. The idea has an important implication for how corporations should be organized: the managers who run a company should have no financial interest in it and their compensation should not be tied to the financial performance of the company. In other words, there should be a separation of the ownership and management of business. That certainly is against current wisdom on how to run corporations. But the pas generation has scarcely been an example of good corpoorate governance.
It can be compared to the practice of meditation. In meditation you sit a person in a quiet room fre of distractions with nothing to do. In other words, you cut off te avenues most of us spend our time engaged in: passion, aggression and distraction. And when these are cut off, something new and unexpected has a chance to flourish. The same is true in business. If the CEO is no longer concerned with next quarter's profits, what is going to happen? Once the idea of corporations as engines of profit is dropped, something new is going to emerge. On Twitter Nella Lou replied to the statement, "money and corporations as vehicles for changing the world in positive ways" with "like that's really going to happen." But it's either that or nothing. The current profit obsessed corporation is not going to change the world in a positive way. But if corporate governance is reformed in the way described here, the force of altruism which is at the root of all productive activity can be unleashed and the world will be changed.
Sun, 12 Feb 2012
Confession Prayer
Great Lama, Vajradhara, Buddhas residing in the ten directions and all Bodhisattvas, please look upon me.
I, (your name), since the time of beginningless samsara until now, through the power of the conflicting emotions of anger, attachment and bewilderment, have committed the following negative activities of body, speech and mind: the ten non-virtues, the five immeasurable negative acts, the five moral faults, breaking the Vinaya vows, violating the Bodhisattva's training, breaking the Vajrayana vows, being unfaithful to the Three Jewels, being disrespectful to teachers and master, being disrespectful to pure friends practicing good conduct, abandoning the holy Dharma, using Dharma for personal gain, casting aspersion on the noble Sangha, and so on.
In summary, I have committed negative activity that blocks the higher realms and causes one to fall into and completely admit and confess (all these negative acts) without hiding or concealing anything. I vow hereafter to never do them again. Through admission and confession, happiness is maintained. If faults and negative activity are not confessed, happiness cannot arise.
By Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye
From www.lamakathy.net
Glossary
Ten non-virtues: The three bodily nonvirtues of killing, stealing and sexual misconduct, the four verbal non-virtues of harsh speech, divisive speech, lying, and gossip. the three mental non-virtues of envy, ill-will, and disbelief in morality.
Five immeasurable negative acts: Killing father or mother, killing an enlightened person, shedding the blood of a Buddha, or causing a schism in the Sangha.
Five moral faults: killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, and intoxication.
Vinaya vows: The approximately 250 vows taken by monks and nuns.
Violating the bodhisattva training: To cheat, harm, or promise never to help another.
Vajrayana Vows: The fourteen vows taken by an initiate in highest yoga tantra.
Three Jewels: The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
Sat, 11 Feb 2012
Lobotomy with Fries
Someone on Reddit pointed to this rant, Mindful Lobotomy. The author's point is fierce emotions are good. I've got nothing to say to that but suit yourself, go ahead and smash your furniture. But I did comment on Reddit on the creepy culture of mindfulness that has grown up around Buddhism:
Buddhism is a long path, three kalpas long according to the traditional formulation. What is not helpful is when stages along the way are presented as goals of the path. After a year or so someone who practices meditation will develop a certain sense of calmness and detachment from their emotions. It's wrong to present these results as the goal of meditation when when they actually are the precondition for the actual work of meditation: looking at the mind to discover that our thoughts and emotions do not constitute a self and that in fact there is no self.
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