Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[C T]

In the universal womb that is boundless space
all forms of matter and energy occur
as flux of the four elements
but all are empty forms, absent in reality:
all phenomena, arising in pure mind, are like that.

 

Just as dream is a part of sleep
unreal in its arising
so all and everything is pure mind
never separated from it
and without substance or attribute.

 

Experience is neither mind nor anything but mind;
It is a vivid display of emptiness, like magical illusion
in the very moment inconceivable and unutterable.
All experience arising in the mind -
at its inception, know it as emptiness!

 

~ Longchenpa

[C T]

Yeshe Tsogyal asked Guru Rinpoche: How should one keep the mind during meditation?

 

Rinpoche replied: While meditating, let your body and mind relax. Since there is nothing whatsoever to be analyzed, the stream of dualistic mind and the mental states arising from it are interrupted. You do not have to deliberately halt them. While neither keeping nor rejecting anything, let go of all mental activity. Don't think of anything, and don't imagine anything. Your nature is aware, just as it is. Without moving towards anything, let be in your natural state.

 

When remaining in this way, the knower and the known are not seen as separate, so don't think of the object as being there or knower as being here. Do not conceive of something other than those two. Since you neither pursure an object there nor try to stop a thought here, you can allow mind itself to be pure, lucid, and awake, without needing to dwell on anything whatsoever.

 

The flaws that hinder this are excitement, drowsiness, and deep rooted beliefs. Excitement means the mind's act of reaching out towards objects. The way to adjust this is relax your body and mind while keeping your attention collected. Settle it again and again. If you still chase after different thoughts, repeatedly direct your attention toward this jumpy mind.

 

If you are unable to do that and thoughts continue to reach out, investigate this outward movement that is like a cloud in the sky-- where does it come from, where does it move towards, and where does it remain? By exploring like this, allow the thought movements that arise from mind to stabilize again by themselves. As these thought movements are empty, there is no need to tightly or deliberately prevent them. That was the instruction in dissolving excitement and the movement of thoughts.

 

Drowsiness is like being in a dark room or having your eyes closed. To correct this, refresh yourself with activities such as spiritual practices, reflection, or the like. To refresh by means of samadhi, visualize yourself to be space, visualize your spine to be a stack of chariot wheels, and imagine your mind to be like the sky. To refresh by means of instruction, meditate while observing a sense object or while just keeping the senses wide open. These were the instructions in clearing up drowsiness.

 

Dullness is when your mind becomes hazy or absentminded, as if affected by an evil spirit. If that happens, set the practice aside and return to meditating after a while. That was the instruction in getting rid of mindlessness.

 

Deep-rooted beliefs have three faults. Since the training in dharmata is supposed to be habituating oneself by not focusing and not fixating on anything whatsoever, it is a fault if you hold a rigid belief -- let alone all the contradictory concepts, such as "it is such and such" and "it isn't such and such", eternity and void, antidotes to accept in order to reject, or the like. It is also a fault to harbor even a tiny speck of a notion or belief that "all these thing are unreal appearances!" or "all things are inconceivable, so I should meditate on not holding them in mind!". That was the instruction in clearing away rigid beliefs.

[C T]

 

A GIFT FROM THE LADY IN THE BRILLIANT EXPANSE

Once upon a time, at the time of the Primordial Buddha, the first teachings in our present universe arose spontaneously out of the expanse of awakened mind, as the play of self-resounding innate nature also known as dharmata swayambhu nada. How long ago was this? It was longer ago than anyone can count and properly before the planet Earth was ever formed. Due to the particular location of our galaxy among the untold numbers of universes, 6.400.000 Dzogchen tantras appeared here. Some of these tantras were seen to appear from the female buddha Samantabhadri, the universal mother. Her words exist today in the Tantra of the Brilliant Expanse.

 

Her precious words have been echoing through millions of eons since that time thanks to the twelve Dzogchen buddhas of which the last four where human beings, and in our time thanks to the Indian master Padmasambhava. Samantabhadri had taught everything that a spirit would need, in whatever form that spirit is incarnated, including as a human being. Our travel through time and space, world after world, life after life. Especially, she taught how to be truly free and awaken from the grand illusion.

 

Over the millennia, people have followed her words and have used the very special techniques within the Brilliant Expanse to uncover the primordial enlightenment that is the nature of our mind. This tried and proven path of awakening within a single lifetime is to come face to face with our basic nature of mind and continue that until it is uninterrupted throughout day and night. Training in this path is praised by all buddhas as the most effective way of creating merit and clearing away the veils that cover this basic nature.

 

 

 

My teacher Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche often said that a piece of glass and a diamond can look alike for the untrained eye and must therefore be examined and verified before being sure. A billion times more important than shopping for gemstones is the process of gaining the right understanding of the nature of mind, with complete certainty free of doubt. This understanding is called the view. It is the training in this view, that is called meditation in the Dzogchen context. This training is not to keep an idea in mind or a special attitude, no matter how deep one may believe it is; it is a training in actual experience, totally free of preconceived ideas. That is why there is nothing more important than getting the view right.

 

Tulku Urgyen once said that meditating with a view that is an assumption, a hazy idea, mere guesswork, or with an unnatural emphasis, is like believing that the first day of the month is the second: every day one has the wrong date, no matter how convinced one may seem to be. Without the correct view, there is no authentic Dzogchen meditation. So, by all means, become clear about the true view in the presence of a competent, experienced Dzogchen master.

 

Well then, for someone who feels unsure, do I actually know the right view, is there no way to progress? Yes, there is. Absolutely.

 

There are 84000 different ways taught by the Buddha, and all of them have one single purpose: to bring dualistic mind closer to knowing its own nature. All these teachings are given out of boundless kindness and wisdom to lead people and other beings in the right direction.

 

Among these 84000 wonderful entrance-doors to our true nature, there is one particular set of instructions, which the masters of India and Tibet have personally practiced, both before and after the preliminary enlightenment experience. I want to give it center stage here, because it is easy to practice and at the same time incredibly helpful. It directly removes not only the emotional veil, but especially the very subtle cognitive veil, the wrong dualistic attitude of samsaric mind. This set of instructions appears in the Dzogchen tantra Brilliant Expanse, taught by Samantabhadri.

 

Within its 129 chapters, the Brilliant Expanse teaches through the voice of Samantabhadri a practice which is today known as ngondro. This practice is deep, directly connected to nondual awakened mind. It is practical, as it is understandable by dualistic mind. It is a perfect bridge between where we are at the present moment and what we really are and have always been. It is a vehicle that takes you there.

 

Each segment of the ngondro gives dualistic mind something to think of with sincerity, kindness and profound admiration followed by a process during which duality dissolves. The ngondro training is therefore an eminent way to ensure that in each meditation session dualistic mind is transformed, uncovering the awakening state realized by all buddhas. This is perfectly reasonable because ultimate refuge, ultimate bodhichitta, ultimate Vajrasattva, ultimate mandala and especially the ultimate guru yoga is none other than recognizing our basic nature, developing its strength through meditation training, and being stable in that throughout day and night. Even if the nondual experience may be for a short moment, a meditator can simply repeat it many times.

 

There are people these days who call themselves teachers of Dzogchen, who hold the unfounded belief that ngondro was invented in India or Tibet. I say, he or she is ignorant of the intent within the Dzogchen tantras on how to deal with dualistic mind. Moreover, anyone who believes that ngondro practice is a hindrance to enlightenment, is ignorant of the myriad skillful ways to influence and transform dualistic mind. To reject authentic teachings that makes use of dualistic mind and encouraging other do so, Tulku Urgyen said, creates worse karma than killing a thousand people because it interrupts the life-force of liberation.

 

Whenever we let be in the present moment the tendencies for the two veils will reactivate almost immediately. This is experienced as formless shamatha, at best, which is the absence of the emotional veil, but not the cognitive. For the most we become absentminded and distracted, followed by thoughts and emotions, which are the emotional veil. The odds are high that without using special methods, as the ngondro for instance, this type of meditation could go on for a hundred years without liberating or awakening from dualistic mind.

 

I personally found while taking the bodhisattva vow in the ngondro training, that to give room in the heart to boundless kindness and compassion, and then to suspend awareness without directing it in any way whatsoever, easily uncovers a gentle and open state of mind. This training cures and heals not only the selfish emotions that ruin peace of mind, but also totally melts away the very thin film of concepts.

 

Whether or not the meditator uses a conceptual framework as a starting point is in itself not enough to decide if a practice is sublime; it is the effect of the technique unfolding in the meditator’s mind that is the deciding factor. It is here the true value lies. As the eminent master Trulshik Rinpoche once told me, “It is not the teaching but the person who should be Dzogchen.” Therefore, the ngondro practice of transmuting dualistic mind into the awakened state is perfect alchemy, is to be treasured as a sublime gift from Samatabhari who taught the Brilliant Expanse. May her methods be practiced and taught all over the world until the next buddha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(shared with permission from Levekunst)

Edited December 6, 2015 by C T

[C T]

The unique Uncreated
 

Pure mind, uniquely uncreated, creates all;
everything made has the nature of pure mind
and the unique uncreated cannot be contrived.

 

~ Longchenpa

[C T]

It is difficult to learn the names of the vows, let alone observe them. So at least you should strive to be loving to people, especially those who are close to you such as friends, relatives, Dharma brothers and sisters, and neighbours. Try to avoid harming them. Be respectful to them, as all are enlightened in their true nature. Then, in a simple way, you are moving towards fulfilling the pratimoksha vow of not harming others, the bodhisattvas' vow of being loving to others, and the tantric vow of pure perception.

 

~ Dodrupchen Rinpoche

[C T]

We awaken to enlightenment by recognizing and fully realizing the primordially pure essence already present as our nature. That's how to be an awakened buddha. Even though the enlightened state is actually already present, imagining or forming a thought construct of enlightenment doesn't make you enlightened.

 

It's the same as when you are really hungry and you look at a plate of food and try to imagine what it taste like. Does it work to then imagine, "Mmmmm, I'm eating the food, I'm no longer hungry." You can think this for a very long time – forever, in fact – but it still doesn't dispel your hunger. Once you actually put the food in your mouth, it tastes delicious, and your hunger is satiated.

 

It's also the same with experience. Experience only occurs in a direct way, in practical reality, not through a theory about taste. If your meditation practice is merely an exercise in imagining and keeping something in mind, it is only a theory, and not direct experience.

 

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

[C T]

Do not investigate phenomena, but investigate the mind.

If you investigate the mind, you will know the one thing which resolves all.

 

~ Guru Rinpoche

 

 

[C T]

Timeless awareness 
 

Rely on timeless awareness, which is free of elaboration, without identity, and the very essence of being; do not rely on ordinary consciousness, which is a mind fixated on characteristics and concepts.

 

Timeless awareness entails {a} understanding that the way in which phenomena actually abide is, from the ultimate perspective, free of all limitations imposed by elaborations of origination, cessation, and so forth; {b} realization of the nonexistence of the two kinds of identity; and {c} unerring knowledge of sugatagarbha as utter lucidity, the way in which things actually abide, beyond any context of speculative value judgments.  It is on this awareness that one should rely.

 

Ordinary consciousness entails {a} belief that what one immediately perceives constitutes something truly existent; {b} conceptualization in terms of characteristics, such as the sense of personal identity and the mind-body aggregates; and {c} mental states that are conditioned, for example, by attitudes of naively fixating on the pleasures of the senses. One should not rely on such consciousness.

 

~ Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

 

Edited December 17, 2015 by C T

[C T]

Experiences and Merit

 

How we interpret information and our experiences of the world depends entirely on how much merit we have accumulated. For example, what does the word impermanent mean? On the grossest possible level, those who have very little merit believe that 'impermanent' means decay and death, or the changing seasons. 

 

Once we start to accumulate merit, though, our understanding becomes more subtle. Imagine you are experiencing a moment of happiness. If you have a little merit you will be able, to a certain degree, to interpret and understand 'impermanence' and watch your mood change from unhappiness to happiness and back again, making any disappointment or hope you might feel less intense.

 

~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

[Jeff]

Experiences and Merit

 

How we interpret information and our experiences of the world depends entirely on how much merit we have accumulated. For example, what does the word impermanent mean? On the grossest possible level, those who have very little merit believe that 'impermanent' means decay and death, or the changing seasons. 

 

Once we start to accumulate merit, though, our understanding becomes more subtle. Imagine you are experiencing a moment of happiness. If you have a little merit you will be able, to a certain degree, to interpret and understand 'impermanence' and watch your mood change from unhappiness to happiness and back again, making any disappointment or hope you might feel less intense.

 

~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

 

If all is empty, how can one accumulate merit?

[C T]

If all is empty, how can one accumulate merit?

Precisely because of emptiness can there be the accumulation of merit. 

If things were fixed and unchangeable, then beings have no chance to be buddhas. 

This is one way to understand. 

 

Merit accumulation occurs within the realm of the relative. 

This is another way to understand. 

 

Because of emptiness there is the possibility and endless potential for transformation. 

 

There are endless ways in which merit is accumulated. 

And its not all about doing good and being virtuous. 

 

Sometimes its the darkest thoughts and cruellest deeds that bring forth the most profound change. 

 

How strange and wonderful. 

[C T]

Sesame oil is the essence.
Although the ignorant know that it is in the sesame seed,
they do not understand the way of cause, effect and becoming,
and therefore are not able to extract the essence, the sesame oil.
Although innate coemergent wisdom abides in the heart of all beings,
if it is not shown by the guru, it cannot be realized.
Just like sesame oil that remains in the seed, it does not appear.
One removes the husk by beating the sesame, and the sesame oil, the essence appears.
In the same way, the guru shows the truth of tathata,
and all phenomena become indivisible in one essence.
Kye ho! The far-reaching, unfathomable meaning is apparent at this very moment.
O how wondrous!"

 

~ Tilopa

[Bud Jetsun]

 

Although innate coemergent wisdom abides in the heart of all beings,

if it is not shown by the guru, it cannot be realized.

 

 

 

While a beautifully composed metaphor, this line would imply various plants are gurus. 

 

Even with no plants and no guru, just looking inward is enough.  Ultimately no matter ones external discourses, it remains to be found inside alone, as it's no one else's to find. 

 

Unlimited Love,

-Bud

[C T]

You've traveled up ten thousand steps in search of the Dharma.

So many long days in the archives, copying, copying.

The gravity of the Tang and the profundity of the Sung make heavy baggage.

Here! I've picked you a bunch of wildflowers.

Their meaning is the same

but they're much easier to carry.

 

~ Master Hsu Yun

 

[C T]

      "It’s said repeatedly in the Dzogchen teachings—Guru Padmasambhava himself said this many times—the Dzogchen view is vast and open and does not negate. If you say no to bodhichitta, no to refuge and devotion, no to visualization, and say yes only to emptiness practice, how is that a vast and open view?

 

       The Dzogchen view includes appearance and emptiness. To unveil the true nature of appearance, perform the Visualization Stage practices. To unveil the true nature of emptiness, perform the Completion Stage practices. Both are needed. Of course, emptiness and appearance are inseparable; the same is true of Visualization and Completion Stages. But until you fully realize this, it’s important and necessary to practice them sequentially."

 

~ Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Beauty of Awakened Mind (pg 100)

[C T]

Pretending enlightenment 

 

Our basic nature is in no way different from that of a buddha. It's like pure space, which, whether it is obscured by clouds or is a cloudless and clear sky, remains the same in its basic, essential nature. But if you pretend that your nature is already enlightened and don't progress along the path of removing the obscurations, then your enlightened nature doesn't become realized. Therefore, we must truly consider what is actual, what the facts are. Do we have obscurations or not? If you see that there still are obscurations, there is no way to avoid having to remove them by gathering the two accumulations.

 

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

[manitou]

And many do not understand this.  Thus, the feeling of justification of remaining just as they are without making the effort to remove the obscurations, insisting that they are remaining true to their original nature.  Enlightenment is not realized because their original nature is never been revealed.  It remains hidden under the lens of their upbringing, their biases, their prejudices, their hatreds, their judgments.  The Clouds.

[C T]

Life and Practice as One

 

"At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself, while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters (siddhas). Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly practices the Dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead, be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may arise.

 

In brief, taking your own mind as witness, make your life and practice one, and at the time of death, with no thought of anything left undone, do not be ashamed of yourself. This itself is the pith instruction of all practices.

 

Eventually, when the time of death arrives, completely give up whatever wealth you possess, and do not cling to even one needle. Moreover, at death, practitioners of highest faculty will be joyful; practitioners of middling faculty will be without apprehension; and practitioners of the lowest faculty will have no regrets.

 

When realization's clear light becomes continuous day and night, there is no intermediate state (bardo): death is just breaking the enclosure of the body. If this is not the case, but if you have confidence that you will be liberated in the intermediate state, whatever you have done in preparation for death will suffice. Without such confidence, when death arrives, you can send your consciousness to whichever pure land you wish and there traverse the remaining paths and stages to become enlightened." 

 

~ His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche

[manitou]

 

When realization's clear light becomes continuous day and night, there is no intermediate state (bardo): death is just breaking the enclosure of the body. 

 

 

Like slipping out of a tight shoe 

[C T]

The location of the truth of the Great Perfection is the unfabricated mind of the present moment, this naked radiant awareness itself, not a hair of which has been forced into relaxation. Maintaining this at all times, just through not forgetting it even in the states of eating, sleeping, walking, and sitting, is called meditation. However, until you are free from the obscurations of cognition, it is impossible for this not to be mixed with the experiences of bliss, clarity, and non-conceptualisation. Nevertheless, just by not forgetting the nature of one’s own awareness — the kind that is not a tangled mindfulness that gets more tangled in order to be mindful — at some point the unelaborated ultimate truth, transcending terms and examples, will appear.

 

~ Jigme Lingpa

[manitou]

Not a hair of which has been forced into relaxation.  Now there's a concept.  If there's anyone on this forum who can maintain this state, my guess is that it would be you, CT.   

[Brian]

Path not withstanding, I still have pushable buttons.

[C T]

Path not withstanding, I still have pushable buttons.

Ah yes... buttons 

 

muttons for buttons

 

[manitou]

Path not withstanding, I still have pushable buttons.

 

I guess what this whole exercise called life is about - gives us the opportunity to file down those darned things.  The reward being humility and removal of dross for the Real to shine through.

[C T]

The whole purpose of meditation is to see the nature of mind, which is peaceful,

compassionate, pure, and free of all concepts.

Always remind yourself: a mind filled with judgement, comparison,

expectation, hope and fear cannot see its true nature. 

It takes bravery to let go of what is familiar,

but this is the bravery the Buddha has.

 

~ Phakchok Rinpoche