Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[C T]

Insights and Practices of Tibetan (Nyingma) devotional chants 

Guru Yoga

including actual Tibetan liturgies and explanations in English

by Tulku Sherdor Rinpoche, student of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

 

[C T]

Teaching - Buddhism - Philosophy, Religion or Science of Mind - Tulku Sherdor Rinpoche

 

[C T]

To “know” the emotion is to understand that, as it has no root, there is and never has been an emotion. Some people talk about emotion, particularly the negative emotions, as if they were some kind of hideous, demonic force that willfully invades your being, but they are not like that at all.

When you feel angry, just watch your anger. Not the cause of the anger or its result, just the emotion of anger. As you stare at your anger, you will discover there is nothing you can point to and say, “That is my anger.” And the understanding that there is absolutely nothing there is what is called the “dawn of wisdom.”

~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

[C T]

Throughout the day, put the teachings into practice. In the evening examine what you have done, said, and thought during the day. Whatever was positive, dedicate the merit to all beings and vow to improve on it the next day. Whatever was negative, confess and promise to repair it. In this way, the best practitioners progress from day to day, the middling practitioners from month to month, and the least capable from year to year.

 

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

[C T]

The two things that have shaped my adult life more than anything else are meditation and being sick. I know this is true because I cry as I write it. They are so tightly braided that I can no longer imagine what either would be without the other. Meditation helped me to make it through years of illness; illness forced my meditation to be deep and strong and real. Because of their unyielding collaboration, the dark colors of the open wound and the experience of bearing the unbearable are known to me.

 

Also known is the experience of healing. Healing not as the elimination of disease, but as a falling in love with the poignancy of being alive: taking the great injured heart of the world for my own and coming to respect the essential mystery of life, so that my answer to many questions is, 'I don't know,' and this not knowing is a form of generosity.

 

~ Joan Sutherland, in her essay "Body of Radiant Knots: Healing as Remembering"

 

 

[Brian]

^^^Thank you, C T.

 

I speak often of the significance of that little phrase -- "I don't know." It is simultaneously humbling and liberating, both as cause & effect.

[C T]

^^^Thank you, C T.

 

I speak often of the significance of that little phrase -- "I don't know." It is simultaneously humbling and liberating, both as cause & effect.

In the Sutra Revealing the Inconceivable Realm of the Buddhas, it was written thus: 

 

So called ‘attainment’ is transient indeed,

And so called ‘realization’ is arrogant assumption.

Transient or arrogant assumption, it must be the work of mara.

They are extremely arrogant who think, “I have attained this.”

Or say to themselves, “I have understood completely.”

 

Reflecting on the above, Chandrakirti, one of Nagarjuna's chief disciples, said, "I have no problem when someone says, "I am searching", but when someone says, "I have found it", then there will be a problem." 

 

 

 

 

I like this conversation that took place between Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and one of his students... 

 

 

Student: Yes I think so we need to learn how to survive in this world, worldly world with the enlightened mind properly.

 

Of course. Yes. Chandrakirti has stated this long time ago. Never ever we should destroy or refute what is conventionally accepted. Never. Buddha, if you asked him: “What is four plus four?” He will say eight.

 

But, you know, there is a great scholar. He is the best actually, in the contemporary Tibetan scholar, he is my hero. He is called Gendun Chopel. He is really good. He said, for instance if a terrorist comes and points a gun at you and says: “Okay, lady. You have to say this wall is red. Otherwise I am going to kill you.” You will say it is red even so you don’t mean it. He said that all the Buddha’s teaching are just like that. All sentient beings are coming with the gun of suffering and then Buddha has to say all kind of things, this is blue, this is red. He is really good.

 

Okay, very simple. Enlightenment is when you are not a sucker of the logic of four plus four is eight. You understand? That is it. That is it. Because we are all sucker of this logic. Enlightened being is not a sucker of this logic. Plus lot of other things.

 

Student: But I think crazy people are also aware of that.

 

Oh very good, excellent, excellent. Very very good. Actually at glance I would say, an ordinary person, a very ordinary person, deluded being like me looking at a crazy person and a Tilopa, or a Virupa or Naropa, can’t tell difference.

 

So because you know what is the word definition of crazy people. Those who are not a sucker of conventional truth. And if you want to be the follower of the conventional truth, Yes, then. In fact these Tilopa or Naropa or Virupa thinks that all those people who are sucker of four plus four is eight, they are the crazy. They just can’t understand why you have to suck into this.

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by C T

[C T]

Calm and self-control are signs of listening to the Dharma;
 

Few passions, signs of meditation;
 

Harmony with everyone is the sign of a practitioner;
 

Your mind at ease, the sign of accomplishment.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

[C T]

To see if you’re aware of impermanence or not,

check whether your plans are long or short term. 

 

To see if you perceive samsara as flawed or not,

check how strong is your attachments. 

 

To see if you’ll attain liberation in the future or not,

check whether your conduct is good or bad.

 

To see if you’ve given rise to loving kindness and compassion or not,

check how you take care of those in need.

 

To see if you’ve tamed the demon of anger or not,

check how much hatred you feel towards your enemies.

 

To see if you’ve dispelled the obscuring demon of ignorance or not,

check how much you cling in hope and fear.

 

To see if you’ve purified the three poisons or not,

check how free from grasping you’ve become.

 

You’ll know your Dharma practice has become the path or not

by thoroughly examining your own mind.

 

 

~ Chokgyur Lingpa ~ 

Edited December 26, 2016 by C T

[C T]

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 (1) 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; (2) realization of the nonexistence of the *two kinds of identity; and (3) 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 (1) belief that what one immediately perceives constitutes something truly existent; (2) conceptualization in terms of characteristics, such as the sense of personal identity and the mind-body aggregates; and (3) 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 Rinpoche ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*the 2 kinds of identity are the 'self' of the individual, and the 'self' of phenomena - 

both of which are negated within the mind that recognises sunyata. 

Edited December 26, 2016 by C T

[C T]

Devotion

 

Remembering Khandro

 

[C T]

Khandro-La chanting the 100 Syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva

 

[C T]

An excerpt from Mipham's Profound Instruction on the View of the Middle Way

 

There is apprehension, but no essential nature to the perceived,
And even the perceiving mind can not be found,
So without clinging, one is brought to rest in natural ease.

 

When you remain like this, all experiences,
Both external and internal, are not interrupted.

 

Within this fundamental nature free from grasping,
All the projections imposed upon phenomena,
Have never arisen and never ceased to be,
And, free from the duality of perceiver and perceived,
One rests in the all-pervading space of equality.

 

This is beyond any assertions such as ‘is’ or ‘is not’.
And within this inexpressible state of true and natural rest
An experience dawns that is free from the slightest trace of doubt.

 

This is the actual nature of all things,
The ultimate that can not be conceptualized,
And which can only be known individually,
The non-conceptual wisdom of meditative equipoise.

 

When you become familiar with this state,
In which emptiness and dependent arising are an inseparable unity,
The ultimate condition in which the two truths can not be separated,
Then that is the yoga of the great Middle Way.

 

[C T]

The Five Poisons

 

Through the gradual intensification of habit, sequential entry into samsära began.

The five poisonous kleshas developed. The actions of the five poisons are unceasing. 

 

Gradually we intensify, gradually we solidify, and gradually we develop deeper impressions of this pattern of duality. This pattern repeats over and over and over. It becomes so solid and appears so genuine that it almost becomes part of us. It almost becomes the nature of our mind. Whenever we think of mind, we are thinking about “I.” That’s duality. In gradual steps, we get deeper and deeper into this samsaric pattern. From that fundamental ignorance and the development of the split of duality, the actions of the five poisons increase. This develops into a stream of endlessly repetitive actions of the five poisons. We get into that mechanism of habitual pattern. Then we enter into samsara in a deeper sense, no matter what level of samsara we may be experiencing.

 

Once we have developed that degree of intensification or habituation, the mechanism doesn’t stop. It continues to run automatically. The example we use in Buddhism is a potter’s wheel. Some kind of effort is required for the potter to start turning the wheel. Once the wheel is turning, it doesn’t stop. It just keeps going on and on and on, continuously. You actually have a hard time stopping it. Similarly, once we have turned the wheel of the five poisons, it doesn’t stop. It’s unceasing. Do you remember any break from the five poisons? It’s very difficult. I don’t quite remember having any break from the five poisons.

 

From this endless stream that we call karma, the samsaric solidity of suffering, of ego-clinging, and of poisonous emotions gradually develops. When that has developed, we end up in this solid existence of samsara. The progression that ends up as the existence of samsara is basically the twelve nidanas, the twelve links of interdependent origination. Beginning with ignorance, formation, and so forth, we have the inner cycle of twelve interdependent nidanas. We also have these twelve links in the outer sense: the twelve astrological cycles called the twelve months, the cycle of twelve years, and so on. From the repetition of the twelve interdependent originations, we solidify our habitual inclinations and tendencies. In that way, we solidify our samsara.

 

We have the habitual tendency to delude our perception. We delude our conception, our view, and our understanding. As a result of habitual tendencies, we are always caught up in this cyclic existence called samsara. We get caught in the continual cycle of the five poisons. The unbroken continuity of habitual tendency, the unbroken continuity of the five poisons, is the existence of samsara. It is the only reason we are bound to this suffering. It is the only reason we are caught up in this suffering. We learn here that samsara is nothing apart from our habitual delusion.

 

According to Dzogchen, the five poisons are nothing but the manifestation of the luminosity of rigpa. They are called ö nga, the five luminous lights. The five luminous lights of rigpa are white, yellow, red, green, and, like the color of Kuntuzangpo, deep blue. Each of the five lights has meaning. The luminous white light of wisdom is the manifestation of rigpa’s immaculate nature. That completely pure nature, that completely pacified nature, manifests as the white luminous light.

 

The yellow luminous light is the manifestation of rigpa’s fully completed qualities. This means that rigpa is fully enriched with all the qualities of buddha. Rigpa is fully equipped, so to speak, with all the enlightened wisdoms necessary to overcome our emotions and ego-clinging. That completeness of qualities manifests as yellow light, which is richness. 

 

The red luminous light is the manifestation of the quality of rigpa that encompasses and magnetizes. Like a magnet, it draws all things in that direction. In a similar way, that very nature of our mind called rigpa encompasses all qualities, encompasses all wisdom. This means that everything is included within rigpa, nothing is left outside. That’s why we have this magnetizing red light, which encompasses all the qualities.

 

The difference between the yellow and the red light is that the yellow light of enriching has the quality of possessing all the many different elements of buddha wisdom, while the red light of magnetizing encompasses all these qualities that actually boil down to rigpa. It’s rigpa that has all these qualities. So everything boils down to one and only one essence. The single essence, which that contains all, is rigpa. It is the primordial mind, the primordial wisdom.

 

The luminous green light means that rigpa manifests all the activities of buddha. Rigpa has the compassion, love, and wisdom that buddhas manifest as physical activity, verbal activity, and samadhi, meditative absorption. All of these activities of buddha are complete within rigpa. Symbolizing that is the luminous green appearance of light, which is the fourth light taught in Dzogchen.

 

The fifth light is the deep luminous blue light that symbolizes the unchanging nature of rigpa. No matter what confusions we may experience at this point, the true state of rigpa is beyond all confusion. No confusion, ego-clinging, or mind poison can ever touch the true state of rigpa. They can never cause it to change. The absolute state of our mind is in the unchanging nature of rigpa, the unchanging nature of the buddha wisdom. Therefore, we have this luminous blue light. 

 

~ Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche ~ 

Excerpts from Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspirations of Samantabhadra

Edited December 27, 2016 by C T

[manitou]

RAMA continued:

 

O sage, thus neither in childhood nor in youth nor in old age does one enjoy any happiness.  None of the objects in this world is meant to give happiness to anyone.  The mind vainly seeks to find such happiness in the objects of this world.  Only he is happy who is free from egotism and who is not swayed by craving for sense-pleasure: but such a person is extremely rare in this world.  Indeed, I do not regard him as a hero who is able to battle successfully against a mighty army; only him I consider a hero who is able to cross the ocean known as the mind and the senses.

 

 

RAMA continued:  This world is like a potter's wheel:  the wheel looks as if it stands still though it revolves at a terrific speed - even so to the deluded person this world appears to be stable even though in fact it is constantly changing.  This world is like a poison tree: one who comes into contact with it is knocked unconscious and stupified.  All points of view in this world are tainted; all countries in the world are territories of evil; all the people of the world are subject to death; all actions are deceitful.

 

 

(from Vasistha's Yoga, Swami Venkatesananda)

[doc benway]

I would like to send my love to my friends on my favorite Daobums thread.

May 2017 be filled with spaciousness, light, and warmth. 

[oak]

I would like to send my love to my friends on my favorite Daobums thread.

May 2017 be filled with spaciousness, light, and warmth. 

Happy New "Present", steve and everybody!   

[manitou]

Strange times we are in.  

 

What a challenge it will be to see the non-existence of everything that is happening and will be happening; and the challenge of keeping one's mind open, forming no opinions.  Remembering that we (and the leaders we will have) are part and parcel of the same matter, without distinction.  Merely a rising and falling of that which comes from the void, and returns to the void; as a temporary wave on the ocean.

 

Yes.  Happy New Moment, everyone.  Love to you all.  Really.  Big love.

[manitou]

Couldn't pass up these pieces of liberation -

 

Vasistha to Rama, Vasistha's Yoga;

 

 

"He sees the truth who sees that he is the omnipresent infinite consciousness which encompasses within itself all that takes place everywhere at all times"

 

"He sees the truth who sees that in this body pleasure and pain are experienced on account of the passage of time and the circumstances in which one is placed; and that they do not pertain to him."

Edited January 19, 2017 by manitou

[C T]

Ageing, sickness, and death; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair;

all forms of dis-ease, dissatisfaction, and discontent depend on birth;

so don't be reborn into anything at all, not even your next thought —

just let things be,

for without your emotional investment in them,

all things will be spontaneously and blissfully liberated 

in the very instant of their first arising.

 

~ Paramito Ladakh ~

[C T]

STUCK IN NEUTRAL

 

In the West, there are many who approach Buddhism primarily intellectually. In the East, many approach it primarily as a tradition — part of their cultural heritage. Yes, Buddhism contains immensely profound and complex intellectual information. Yes, it is an important cultural tradition in many Eastern civilisations. However, Buddhism’s true gift is that it teaches us to learn and experience the true characteristics and the nature of our mind and the world, as they are. Through meditations like those on lovingkindness, compassion, devotion, and wisdom, Buddhism trains us to improve our mind in how we think, communicate, and act with others and the external world.

 

If our mind becomes wholesome, then our vocal and physical activities will become sources of peace and benefit for ourselves and others. This life will be happier, as will the next. Ultimately, through proper meditation, we will be liberated from the suffering of samsara.

 

No matter how much we study the texts, we need to be mindful of our karma in order to progress. We must stay away from unvirtuous acts and thoughts. But we shouldn’t fritter away our lives by engaging only in neutral karmas. Instead, we should exert ourselves in virtuous karmas such as prayer and service.

 

Some meditators choose to remain in the absence of awareness. In my experience, these are usually well-educated, high-status achievers. They are often so busy burning both ends of the candle in order to advance their worldly position that they even dream about earning at night. So, understandably, they feel a tremendous sense of relief when someone instructs them, “Just rest in the absence of thoughts.” At last, they can quiet down and let go of their busyness! And since the instruction to do so is given to them by someone whom they consider to be an authority on meditation, they don’t have to feel guilty about slowing down. They are told that doing this is good for their health and mental state. So for these fatigued individuals, having permission to rest without thoughts is new and exciting, something they have rarely tasted.

 

In reality, however, this meditation experience is a neutral state. Most of these people are simply taking a break while still in the middle of mundane traffic, still in the hub of ordinary karmic and mental habitual settings — without having purified, refined, or transcended their mental and emotional afflictions. So when they come out of that break, that trance, they find themselves back at square one, with the same old mundane dilemmas and habits awaiting them. It is like waking up from a wonderful dream only to find oneself back in reality.

 

Nevertheless, remaining in neutral thoughts and activities is better than spending one’s life in evil thoughts and deeds, which will cause grave pain. However, spending one’s life in a neutral state is a big waste of the great potential of our most precious human life.

 

According to Buddhist teachings, the karmic result of remaining in a neutral state, the mere absence of thoughts, is rebirth in the animal, form, or formless realms. We go to the animal realm if our mental habit was ignorance and stupidity. This realm is marked by violence and fear.

 

We take rebirth in the formless realms if our habitual thought patterns were marked by ideas like “Space is infinite,” “Consciousness is infinite,” “There is nothing,” or “There is no perception and no absence of perception.” Each of these four thought patterns leads to rebirth in a different subdivision of the formless realms, depending on which subdivision best reflects our habits. For instance, having a habit of thinking “Space is infinite” lands us in the subdivision called “infinite space.” In the formless realm, we don’t have gross bodies or forms. We don’t have gross thoughts or emotions. This is due to the past experience of remaining in the absence of thoughts and absence of awareness.

 

Absorption in the formless realm can last for eons. Eventually, however, it ends. And when it does, we continue from where we left off — returning to our old thoughts and emotions, and experiencing the results of our other positive or negative past karmas. So taking rebirth in the formless realms is a break, a limbo, but with no merits. It is a diversion from the path of liberation, as there is no awakening of the wisdom of intrinsic awareness or discriminative wisdom. That is why Longchen Rabjam laments for those meditators who value remaining in the absence of thoughts:

 

Alas! These animal-like meditators,
By stopping the perceptions, they remain without any thought.
Calling this the absolute nature, they become proud.
If they gain experience in such a state, they will take
rebirth in the animal realm.
Even if they don’t gain much experience in it, they
will take rebirth in the form or formless realms.
They will have no opportunity to get liberation from
samsara.

 

 

As long as we make no effort to transform the mind, we cannot escape the ordinary state of grasping tightly at mental objects — dualistically, emotionally, and sensorily. A merely neutral state in which concepts are temporarily suspended won’t help us progress. As soon as we go back to having concepts again, we will return to the ordinary state of grasping we had before. It is like waking up from the escapism of deep sleep, only to find that the same mundane problems await us.

 

 

 

~ Tulku Thondup Rinpoche ~ 

Edited February 7, 2017 by C T

[Papayapple]

Does that mean stilling the mind to the point of no-thoughts is wrong?
Why? Is Zen state a bad thing? And what is inherently wrong with being reborn in the animal form or a formless realm? Is it really marked by violence and fear? Is that inferior to our realm?
 

What's the alternative?

[Seeker of Wisdom]

Does that mean stilling the mind to the point of no-thoughts is wrong?

 

No, learning to still the mind is part of the 8fold path as 'right concentration'. The Buddha talked about jhanas and advocated becoming skilled in them a great deal, as they are beneficial states and help prepare the mind for wisdom. But in themselves they don't bring awakening. Awakening comes through wisdom.

 

If you just sit in jhana all the time, and never use your strengthened mind to gain wisdom, it's like getting in a ferrari and then... just sitting there.

 

Why? Is Zen state a bad thing?

Zen state? I'm no expert on Zen, but I wouldn't say it's just about having a state where your mind is still. Or any state in particular. States are just states, they come and go - wisdom is seeing them as they are, whatever they might be.

 

And what is inherently wrong with being reborn in the animal form or a formless realm?

 

Not well suited for cultivation. I can imagine someone wanting to be the formless realm for a sort of long holiday, but why would you want to be an animal? Would you choose to lose most of your understanding and ability to reflect on things; to be a predator or prey? 

 

What's the alternative?

Getting your ferrari ready, and then actually driving somewhere. Get skilled in jhana, and then use your strong mind in vipassana to gain wisdom to progress on the path.

[C T]

 

Dzogchen adepts in meditation huts practicing in snow-bound Kham, Eastern Tibet. 

Temperatures hover around the -20c mark.

Edited February 7, 2017 by C T

[Spotless]

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Edited February 8, 2017 by Spotless