Sat, 07 Jun 2008
Retreat's End
Today was the last day of teaching at the Spring Retreat at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick. I've only been able to get there on weekends, as I've been very busy at work. That's also the reason why I haven't been posting. I've been too tired after finishing work. Drupon was teaching the second of two days on a short mahamudra text from the Drikung tradition. In some ways it resembled the Ninth Karmapa's "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya." So there were no great surprises to be had, for me at least. Attendance was up from last week. I don't know if that was because of the subject or the teacher. I have notes and I'll try to figure out what to do with them.
Mahamudra is a gray area for me. I will post on sutra teachings but not post on advanced tantric teachngs. My rule is any teaching a newbie could get walking through the door is fair game to post about. The reason why I hesitate to post on mahamudra is that I feel that the instruction in mahamudra to just relax and don't try to change anything is confusing to new practitioners and can possibly hinder their practice. The point is, once you have understood what the nature of mind is, attempts to alter the mind will obscure that nature, After all, the nature is what the mind always is--empty. The belief that mind can be improved, that it could have more or less of that nature is mistaken. But until that nature is recognized, one must use expedients in practice. So it seems I've gone ahead and talked about what I had said what I said I shouldn't talk about. As I said, a gray area.
Drupon and Lama Gyaltsen have been working on the stupa over the past couple of weeks. They've applied stucco to the base and carved designs in it: vajras and snow lions. So it's beginning to look more impressive. So that's it for now. Ihope to have more extracts from my notes from the Spring Retreat here soon.
