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THE SNOW LION BUDDHIST NEWS & CATALOG
128 pp., cloth, EVCO2
$19.95, Snow Lion special $15.96
Available February 2007
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Everyday Consciousness and Primordial Awareness Book Excerpt by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk
Note: Rinpoche is giving a special teaching for the first time in the U.S.
"Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is among the wisest and most compassionate Buddhist masters alive today. I have no doubt that this book will be a great inspiration and support for all serious Dharma students who read it and put it into practice."—Pema Chodron, author of The Places That Scare You and When Things Fall Apart
"Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, pre-eminent Tibetan master, has presented an accessible and precise introduction to the inherently awakened mind at the heart of confusion and suffering."—Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., Professor, Naropa University and author of Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism
This introduction to Buddhist psychology supplies essential instructions for successful meditation practice. Rinpoche presents practices that can powerfully influence and ultimately transform the mind into the purified mind of a Buddha. Rinpoche clearly describes how consciousnesses operate in everyday perception and how at the time of Buddhahood, these same consciousnesses express the five primordial wisdoms of the five Buddha families.
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These valuable teachings by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, tutor of H.H. 17th Karmapa, systematically and beautifully lay out everything that is essential for a successful meditation practice. The excerpts below are taken from the Introduction and Chapter One.
Everyone who meditates—including those who, for example, are visualizing the creation phase of a yidam deity—will receive much greater benefit from the meditation if they know about the condition of mind. Whoever meditates on calm abiding (Skt. shamatha) should, while doing so, be clear about what 'the resting mind' actually is, and how it may be generated. For the meditation on deep insight (Skt. vipashyana), of the great seal (Skt. mahamudra), or of the great perfection (Skt. mahasandi), it is likewise of great benefit to know what the mind is composed of, what its innate essence is, and through which forms of expression it makes itself manifest.
Studying this topic is also beneficial for those who are interested in Western psychology and psychotherapy. Some psychologists conscientiously study the mind's mode of being according to the teachings of Buddhism. They are very much interested in the divisions of mind into six or eight kinds of consciousness, and how these consciousnesses function.
Knowledge about the five kinds of primordial awareness is also important, since this is the fruit that all practicing Buddhists aspire to bring forth through their meditation and dharma practice. The fruit of this practice is to reveal the ultimate primordial awareness. Since meditation takes us gradually closer to this result, it is important to know about what results may be attained.
Though the highest, ultimate result of our dharma practice is the state of a Buddha, this does not mean that we leave off being present to ourselves and our situation and pass over to somewhere else entirely. Nor are we to be concerned with developing extraordinary powers to boast about or with which to show off. Instead it is a case of revealing the primordial awareness that is primordially present within ourselves. It reveals itself through the gradual development of the three kinds of highest understanding (Skt. prajna): that arisen through listening, that arisen through reflecting, and that arisen through meditating. When these three are completely and perfectly developed, the primordial awareness is fully revealed.
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For the meditation on the nature of your own mind it is customary to ask your teacher for pointing-out instructions. Some practitioners are lucky enough to recognize their true nature of mind straight away, whereas others merely perceive a sensation of it, a certain experience of the true nature of mind. But if they don't know exactly how mind and the consciousnesses function, their experience will dissolve after a few days. The understanding of mind and the eight kinds of consciousness is obtained through the highest understanding (Skt. prajna) of listening and reflecting. When we really meditate on this basis and glimpse the true nature of mind, we will be able to steadily increase our experience of it through all subsequent meditation. That's why it is extremely useful to know about the eight kinds of consciousness.
A beginner who visualizes the body of a deity and does not know the distinctive characteristics of the different aspects of consciousness would think that the deity must be seen as clearly during mental meditation as if seen directly with the eyes. The eyes, however, have a much coarser way of perceiving concrete forms. Beginners do indeed meditate in the hope of attaining such clarity. Nevertheless, it will not arise, because the meditation on a deity does not happen through the medium of the eye consciousness, but through the medium of the mind consciousness. The objects of the mind consciousness are much less clear. The mind consciousness most definitely does not work like the eye consciousness. That's why some meditators who perceive a vague mental image think they are not capable of meditating correctly on a deity. The result is that they develop an aversion for their meditation. Those, however, who understand that each consciousness perceives in a different way know that mental images aren't as clear as the forms perceived with their eyes, and therefore they are content with their meditation. They know how to meditate, do indeed so meditate, and thus their meditation works well...
The mind consciousness does not recognize clearly, does not see clearly, nor does it perceive the sense objects clearly. Nevertheless, it is endowed with extraordinary qualities that are not shared with the sense consciousnesses. Its special qualities are the many different thoughts that appear within it. In this way, among all the six collections of consciousnesses, the mind consciousness has the busiest job! The five sense consciousnesses merely perceive. The mind consciousness, however, judges this mere perception immediately afterwards with thoughts such as "That's good" or "That's bad." For this reason the mind consciousness is especially important for us as human beings.
For as long as we circle within samsara, the mind consciousness plays the most important part in this. It is also extremely important in terms of our dharma practice. When, for example, we visualize a deity, from whose perspective do we meditate? It is not the eye consciousness that meditates on the form, because the five sense consciousnesses cannot meditate. It is the mind consciousness that meditates, in so much as it brings the form to consciousness. When we know this, we understand why it is that during the meditation on a deity the visualization does not appear so clearly. Mind does not take an object directly; instead, it perceives its own self-created mental images of the apprehended objects. Thus, whether your visualization is clear or not depends on the stability of your mind.
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In the meditation on calm abiding also, it is not the five sense consciousnesses that meditate, but the mind consciousness. Some practitioners believe that when they constantly see objects with their eyes while meditating on calm abiding, their meditation is impaired, or that when they perceive sounds with their ears, their meditation will not be that beneficial. However, the five sense consciousnesses are not in the least able to create anything; therefore they cannot distract our mind either. The eyes indeed see forms, but it doesn't matter. Likewise the ears hear sounds, and the nose perceives smells, yet this does not disturb the meditation in the least, because the sense perception does not involve any thoughts. It is only a matter of mere appearances. This is the reason why we do not have to stop them. We would not even be able to stop them, nor do we have to modify anything in any way. The sense perception just happens naturally, by itself.
Then what is it that we have to do? While the mind consciousness meditates on calm abiding, it moves wildly. In moving it remembers the past, thinks ahead of the future, or finds itself within the present. It is shaken by many different thoughts: thoughts of happiness, thoughts of suffering, and many other kinds. When the mind does not continuously change in this way, but has instead become stable and is able to rest within itself, then it can be said that we remain within the meditative concentration of calm abiding.
Now, there are some skeptical persons who may think that when the mind is not moved by many thoughts, it will be in a stupid state. But stupidity does not arise just because the mind relaxes a little. On the contrary, the mind usually thinks too much. We are used to thinking uninterruptedly and continuously. If we look at these thoughts more closely, however, we discover that we seldom think meaningfully at all, and that most of our thinking is rather senseless. Such senseless thinking happens frequently and repeats itself over and over. In this way our many endlessly occurring thoughts are continuously going around and around in circles. If we are able to decrease this senseless thinking, meaningful thoughts will naturally arise all by themselves. And this is exactly the reason for the meditation on calm abiding: when the mind relaxes, senseless thinking will effortlessly diminish.
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More about the author . . .
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is currently tutor to H.H. the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, and teaches extensively. He lives in India.
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Special Teaching:
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is giving a rare, first-ever teaching on Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen's Mountain Doctrine July 20-29, 2007 in Colorado. To read more on his visit or register for this event, see the full Snow Lion News article.
"For the first time in the West a commentary on the text by the thirteen century Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen Mountain Doctrine will be given by Thrangu Rinpoche. For hundreds of years this text was not openly taught. That these teachings are resurfacing now and that we have an opportunity to hear there explanation by Thrangu Rinpoche is a major event in these times of great obscuration."—Lama Wangdu, Khenpo Jigme and Pat Johnson |
Books by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche:
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