Sat, 24 Jul 2010
Simple Is Better
Here is a story that Lama Phurbu Tashi told, most recently during the Amitabha empowerment. It used to be on his website, but got lost in the meltdown. So I've resurrected it from memory.
Back during the time of the mahasiddhas in India, a king heard that a great siddha was dwelling in his kingdom. And being a pious Buddhist, he invited him to his palace to give an empowerement. The siddha came, but instead of performing the usual empowerment ceremony, he just opened his palm in front of the king. This was his way of telling the king that enlightenment is nothing more than releasing our grasping. But the king failed to understand, called the siddha a fraud, and threw him into his dungeon.
One of the siddha's disciples heard that he was imprisoned. In order to free him, he went to the king and offered to give him an empowerment. He performed an elaborate ceremony and then explained in detail how the king should perform the sadhana. The king quickly gained realization from his practice and in gratitude offered to grant the disciple's wish, whatever it was. The disciple asked to have the siddha set free. And the king, realizing the mistake he had made, freed the siddha and asked his forgiveness.
The moral of the story is, simple is better than elaborate, but not everyone can appreciate simplicity.
Wed, 21 Jul 2010
Mind Mirror
Any honest consideration of the nature of mind quick runs into paradox.There's a scene in Inception where one of the characters creates two mirrors face to face, which reflect infinitely between them. It's a metaphor for the movie's plot, but also for our usual understanding of mind. Does the mind perceive itself? Is it aware of its thoughts? It seems so. But, then, does the mind think? If the mind is not thought, but is aware of thoughts, and yet thinks, we have an endless regress. Awareness of thoughts requires a thinker, and a thinker who is aware of the thinker, and another thinker who is aware of both, and so on down the hall of fun house mirrors to infinity. And if the mind does not think, but merely holds thoughts the way a cup holds a drink, or a page holds text, in what sense could that be considered mind? And the same applies not only to thoughts but all sense perceptions. The idea that there's a little man in our head watching a television screen and pushing levers is naive, but is not very far from the felt sense of self that we all have. And if you look for a sophisticated, scientific explanation of the mind, you will see that what is being discussed is the brain, a very different thing. There's a self-censorship going on where no one looks too closely, like the blind spot in our visual field that is not seen because we too soon move our gaze.
Tue, 20 Jul 2010
Caught In a Dream
I saw the movie Inception last weekend. It's a science fiction film about a new technology that allows people to enter each others dreams and is used to steal secret information. Since it involves dreams versus waking reality, it's natural to compare it with Buddhism. In one scene two characters are sitting in a hotel bar and one tries to convince the other that they are dreaming. He asks, how did you get here in the hotel? Do you remember being anywhere before? This scene struck me as being similar to a meditation practiced in dzogchen and mahamudra, where the practitioner asks himself where thoughts arise, dwell, and go when they cease. The mahamudra text Eliminating the Darkness of Ignorance says:
Look at the nature of the cognition that has been emanated. ... Is there a place it arose from, a place it endured in, a place it ceased into? ... Just how does it endure and how is it emanated? Investigate this.
The point of this exercise is not that you will be able to catch a thought as it is born, any more than a person in a dream will be able to recall the genesis of their current situation. In both cases one uses the exercise to see the unreality of how one currently views things. One looks for the origin of thoughts in order to see that the dualism of a mind that perceives and a thought that is perceived is false. Thoughts do not exist in the manner that we think they exist. We are caught in a dream about reality when we are awake, just as much as when we sleep.
Fri, 16 Jul 2010
Lucky Thursday
THursday Lama Phurbu Tashi gave a group of us the Amitabha empowerment. He's planning to teach us how to do the Amitabha sadhana. Thursday was an auspicious day, because it was the anniversary of Buddha's first sermon (Chokur Duchen). This was by coincidence and not plan. Thursday was chosen as the night for the class so that Karen could make it. The Purbhu in Lama's name also means Thursday, chosen because that was the day of the week he was born. The empoweremnt went pretty much the same as these things normally go. You visualize the master as the yidam, repeat a few prayers, and get bonked on the head with a vase. (Yes, I am an old, jaded Vajrayana Buddhist who has seen it all.) I have a new techno-toy, a Zoom H2 digital recorder, and used it to record the empowerment. I was just playing around so that I can learn it. I bought it so that I can record the sadhana and learn the tunes right. Namse Bangdzo also has a transcript of Khenpo Karthar teaching the sadhana. I figure I'll get that too.
Tue, 13 Jul 2010
New Class Went Well
Lama Phurbu Tashi taught the first class of his Introduction to Meditation Monday night. By my lights it was a big success. About fifteen people showed up, most of them new, and a good mix of ages. I don't know the reason for the sudden success, although I think having a good location for the class halped. Lama read directly from what had written on meditation. That didn't come off so well, as he buried his head in the printout and read in a monotone. But there were enough asides and his talk was well received. During the question and answer after the class, he filled in a little about his past. He said that the monks from Gangkar monastery came to his family when he was 13 years old and announced he was the reincarnation of one of their monks. His family first resisted him going to Gangkar monastery, because they were Sakya and Gangkar monastery is Kagyu. But they relented. Lama enjoyed being at the monstery and found that the study and practices came easy to him.
Fri, 09 Jul 2010
Nothing to Attain
Lama Phurbu Tashi asked me to do a little more copy editing and Amber asked me to update Lama Gursam's schedule, so I've been too busy to post. But now I have some free time. so here's the last post in the current series.
In mahamudra it's said that there's nothing to attain. There's several ways to explain this. First, expectations of success in practice can be an obstacle. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche tells the story of a teacher who told his student that if he practice mahamudra in retreat, he would be successful. But because he had the expectation of success, he didn't achieve anything. His teacher saw this and told him that his retreat was only a preliminary, after the retreat he should go meditate by the Ganges River and he would achieve realization there. After hearing, this he practiced mahmudra in a more relaxed way and soon had success in his practice.
The second way to explain "nothing to attain" is that ideas of success and failure are very much tied up with our ambition and egotism. To be successful in practice is to lose any idea of success. It is to give up the idea of becoming a special person and instead to be satisfied with our ordinariness. We work so hard to satisfy our anbition. And our ideas of success are nothing but illusions. When we see that and are able to drop them, it's like putting down a heavy burden.
The most profound way of understanding "nothing to attain" is to see that there is no difference between samsara and nirvana. Both are illusory. In my favorite quote frim the Perfection of Wisdom, Buddha is asked "Is even nirvana like a dream and an illusion?" He replies, "Not only nirvana, if there were anything greater than nirvana, it woud also be like a dream and an illusion." From the experiential side, with success in mahamudra come the experiences of bliss, clarity, and non-thougt. There's a sense of the one is experiencing an indescribable something, just as the mystics have always reported. But that sense of something is only a resut of clinging to the idea of a subjective perceiver. The duality of perceiver and perceived rests upon the mis-perception of a self, which can be extremely subtle, but is always there as long as there is the sense of something perceived. With genuine enlightenment, which is beyond the usual experience of realization, all the special experiences and attainments that accompanied realization disappear. They were never anything but illusions to begin with, co-dependent on the illusion of a perceiving subject. An example of this can be seen in Phagmodruppa's encounter with Gampopa, where Gampopa tells him that his realization is worth nothing more than a ball of dough. Phagmodrup, chastened by this dropped his cling to attainments and soon after gained a genuine understanding of emptiness.
Tue, 06 Jul 2010
Emptiness Briefly
I know I haven't been posting regularly. Part of that is a lack of time. Another part has been seeing that my motivation for posting has been largely egoistic. But Lama Phurbu Tashi complimented one of my posts recently, which I think was a subtle hint that I should continue posting. Because I don't have the time to write anything substantial tonight, here is something I posted to one of the Buddhist forums.
Emptiness is not the absence of substance. Emptiness is the non-existence of a thing apart from its causes and conditions. For example, a rainbow only appears when sunlight, rain, and observer all come together in the right configuration. It has no separate objective existence. All things are like this. All are the result of the coordination of their respective causes.
Through meditation we come to see that the self that we hold onto so tightly is nothing more than a name. It is something we attribute to certain physical and mental factors, but has no existence apart or above these factors. It is only a concept we hold when these factors come together. When we truly see this there is no separation between us and our experience. The sense of separation between observer and observed is lost. This is what is meant when Buddhists (usually Zen Buddhists) use such phrases as becoming the sound.
Fri, 25 Jun 2010
Nothing to Do
The practice texts say that during the practice of mahamudra meditation one should leave the mind in an uncontrived, unfabricated state. Thus during the practice of mahamudra there is nothing to do. Yet, this practice of doing nothing is especially powerful. It has been called the white panacea, the medicine that cures a thousand illnesses. Yet, because the practice is formless and shapeless, it is difficult to do, especially if one lacks genuine insight into what the practice of mahamudra is pointing to. So the guidance of a teacher and "pointing out" instructions are considered essential to the practice of mahamudra. It would also be a mistake to think the practice of mahamudra can stand alone. It is especially important to cultivate bodhicitta during post-meditation and develop devotion through the practice of guru yoga. Some students in the West inclined toward rationalism think that the practice of mahamudra can stand alone. Unfortunately, any success in the practice only increases arrogance and selfishness. One winds up sidetracked. Which is why the formless, goalless practice of mahamudra needs to be balanced by other practices.
Sat, 19 Jun 2010
Nothing to Change
Sorry for the long absence. I've had a hard time focusing my thoughts. I've wanted to write something for a while about the misunderstandings people fall into about the spiritual path. My thoughts on the issue have finally come together, and I plan to write three posts. Here's my first.
One of the most profound, yet easily misunderstood points is that all the qualities of enlightenment are already present within your mind. There is no difference between you and a perfectly enlightend being, except for one. You do not see this and a perfectly enlightened being does. So there is nothing that needs to be changed, everything as it is is already perfect.
But although there is nothing to change, we still need to practice, because we don not see this truth. There are many analogies that explain this. Here is one that I heard from Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche. Suppose you wake up in the middle of the night and hear a sound. You imagine the sound is a burglar and can't get back to sleep. There is no burglar and no need to catch him. But even though the burglar is non-existent, the false idea creates a definite effect: you are unable to sleep. So to get back to sleep, you need to get up, go through the house, and turn on the lights to convince yourself that there is no burglar. Then you can finally get back to sleep.
Similarly, even though we all have buddha nature within us, we do not see this nature and have doubts about it. So to clarify these doubts we need to practice. What obscures our understanding is our thoughts and emotions. And for most people the best way to clarify their confusion is the practice of shamatha meditation. Shamatha is a Sanskrit word that means calming. It is not a single style of meditation, it is the name for a class of related meditations that aim to concentrate the mind by focussing on a single object. By temporarily calming the thoughts and emotions, it is more likely that one's true nature will be seen.
Sometimes it's said that the desire to attain enlightenment is an obstacle to enlightenement. That's half-true, because all desires obscure our nature, including the desire for enlightenement. But it gets you no closer to enlightenment to abandon the desire for enligtenment and keep the the thousand desires for eveything else. It's deluded o think that merely by giving up the desire for enlightenment and holding onto a conceptualized idea of the enlightened state that one has attained anything. Instead it's better to hold onto the single desire for enlightenment and use it a motivation to pursue the practices that will tame the thousand other desires. Using desire to conquer desire is not a contradiction, it's only skillful means.
Sat, 05 Jun 2010
One Sided Practice
Imagine a person with a driven, aggressive personality who takes up the practice of meditation to help them relax. And imagine that they pursue meditation with the same aggression that they do everything else. Will they get some benefit? Probably. But not the full benefit, because to root of their problem is not being addressed. This is not just one person's problem, it is everyone's problem, as taking up the practice of meditation doesn't change our personality. We approach meditation in a one sided way. There is us and there is the meditation we do. In genuine meditation there can't be the separation between the two. How to overcome the separation? Your meditation needs to include the commentary on your practice that runs through your mind. Nothing can be excluded from your practice, you need to notice it all.
Thu, 27 May 2010
Four Differences
Tibetan Buddhists celebrate the Buddha's enlightenment on the full moon day of the fourth month and that happens to be today. Though I am non-sectarian and glad to see people practice whichever religion appeals to them, I thought I would write tonight about what makes Buddhism distinctively different from other religions.
The first difference is universal love and compassion. Buddhism teaches that every being should and will be led to nirvana sooner or later. And in Mahayana Buddhism one pledges to work until this is accomplished.
The second difference is the idea of emptiness. Ultimate truth in Buddhism is a non-affirming negative. That means that Buddhism tells you what ultimate reality is not, but says that you cannot say what it is.
The third difference is insight meditation. Other religions also cultivate meditation, but these meditations are are forms of mental concentration (shamatha). Only Buddhism makes a distinction between concentration and insight meditation and teaches how to cultivate insight.
The fourth difference is the noble (arya) sangha. I believe that there have been enlightened teachers in all religions, but in Buddhism you have a continuous chain of enlightened teachers, going all the way back to the Buddha.
Mon, 24 May 2010
A Balanced Life
The balanced person is happy in all circumstances. The more unbalanced we are, the less makes us happy. We devote our time to chasing after happiness. We become overjoyed when we achieve it and despondent when we do. The effort to find happiness makes us more and more unbalanced. It creates, anger, worry, depression, the whole cast of negative emotions. When we first take up the practice of meditation, we imagine that meditation will make us happy, or at least remove the negative emotions that make us unhappy. Enlightenment is imagined as never ending bliss, an imagined opposite to our current sense of lack. But the purpose of meditation is to bring us back into balance, that is, back to reality as it is and not as what we imagine it might be. Meditation doesn't end unhappiness or make us happy. Rather, when we are balanced we have a natural enjoyment of all circumstances. "Every day is a good day" is not optimism or positive thinking, it's an expression of how things are. And meditatation does not eliminate negative emotions. They fall away as the struggle to achieve is seen as pointless and we relax. What we learn is that contentment is not passive resignation, it's a positive expression of health and well being.
Sun, 23 May 2010
Run Away Fears
Here is the long delayed final verse of Lama Phurbu Tashi's poem.
Once we have established ourselves in the present moment,
It is like knocking at the true nature door to enter into freedom land.
Being in the present moment is like embracing the suchness in our arms.
It is like all the worries and the fears are being scared and run away
Establishing yourself in the present moment means to see that the past and future are only ideas, that is to say, illusions, for that is what illusions are, phenomena that only exist as ideas. To see the unreality of the past and future is to understand wishlessness, the first of the three doors to liberation. Free from thought of past or future and dwelling peacefully in the present, the true nature of all phenomena, which are beyond conceptuaization, becomes apparent. This is to understand signlessness, the second of the three doors of liberation. Once we see that concepts, after all, only exist in our minds and not in the phenomena we attribute them to, we see the suchness of phenomena. Suchness means that the mode of abiding of all phenomena is emptiness. To see this is to understand the third of the three doors to liberation, emptiness. Thus the practice of remaining aware of the present is the door to liberation. When liberation is achieved, all the afflictive emotions, including fear, are vanquished, as the last verse indicates.
Tue, 18 May 2010
Your Naked Face
I'm taking a short break from working on the Gampopa center website, so here in the next verse from Lama Phurbu Tashi's poem.
When these three come together; oneself, present moment and awareness,
The true nature reveals itself in nakedness in front of us.
No one could explain it in words or pointed out by the finger;
Nevertheless everyone is seeing it without notice.
Our confusion, our ignorance, is that we have not experienced our awareness as it is. No one can explain what awateness is, it needs to be seen directly, in the present moment. Awareness is not some big, impressive thing, it is the ordinary awareness we have all the time. But we do not see it, because we misunderstand it.
Here is an analogy. Suppose you need to get a permit from the city to do some work on your house. You call downtown, but the person who handles the permits is not in the office. So you spend all ady trying to track the person down. Finally, you tell your neighbor about the problem. And your neighbor says, "I am the person who handles this permit." So you knew where the person who handles the person was all along. But you did not know that you know. Similarly, we all see awareness, but we do not understand it for what it is.
Thu, 13 May 2010
Ignorance Is Not Bliss
It's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy bringing back The Gampopa Center website. But I have a little time tonight to discuss the next verse in Lama Phurbu Tashi's poem.
Ignorance is not a closed darkness thing
It is simply not being aware of the true nature
The suchness is always there with oneself,
But our mental projections obstructs to see it.
The first verse said that wisdom is always there, but because of our ignorance, we do not see it, just as a blind person does not see the sun. So what is this wisdom, which is called here "nature of mind" and "true nature?" It is simply our mind as it really is. Because it is reality, it is always with us, no matter how we are or what we do. And what is the ignorance that obstructs it? It is nothing more than our misapprehension of reality. Our mind is one thing, but we think it is something else. We think we have a self, which as different times is thought of as the body (I am tall), the mind (I am thinking of you), thoughts and emotions (I am angry), or the owner of all these (I could not control myself). Because this self has no existence at all other than a thought in our heads, it is a mental projection. But because we hold onto this false idea of who we are, we do not see the truth.
