Below you will find an archive of the quotes that have been sent out so far.
2008
November 14
Channels and cakras represent the inner structure of the human body, referred to in the tantric teachings as the 'vajra body'. 'Vajra' means 'indestructible', and 'vajra body' refers to the dimension of the three fundamental components: the channels and cakras, the prana that flows through them, and the bindu or thigle, the white and red seed-essences of the physical body that form the basis for practices such as the Tummo.
In the tantras of the Upadesa section of Dzogchen, it is explained that after the conception of a human being the first thing to develop is the navel cakra. Then from this, through a channel, the head cakra develops followed by the other main cakras of the throat and the heart. This channel or meridian, known as the life-channel, develops into the spinal cord and spine. At the same time it remains as the fundamental energy of the central channel.
The central channel, known as Uma in Tibetan, is connected with the two lateral channels called Roma and Kyangma. The Roma channel, which is white and corresponds to lunar energy, is on the right side in men and on the left in women. Ro means 'taste', and the main function of this channel is to give the sensation of pleasure. The Kyangma channel, red and corresponding to solar energy, is on the left side in men and on the right in women. Kyang means 'sole', and unlike the Roma, this channel is not connected with many secondary channels. Control of this channel is fundamental in order to cultivate the experience of emptiness. These are the characteristic features of the two channels, which are related to the two principles of upaya or method, and of prajna or energy. Method denotes everything pertaining to the visible or material dimension; while 'prajna', which generally means discriminating wisdom, in this context denotes the energy of emptiness that is the base of any manifestation.
--from Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, trans. by Adriano Clemente
November 8
No quote sent this week.
November 1
What is wisdom? It is as explained in the perfection of supreme knowledge teachings: all phenomena are free from elaborations, and when the perceiving subject as well becomes equally free from elaborations, that is wisdom. In particular, the wisdom of the buddha consists in the pacification of the elaborations and their habitual tendencies in relation to suchness. It is the inseparability of the expanse and wisdom. It is free from singularity and multiplicity, quality and qualified. It realizes the nonduality of subjects and objects. In it all phenomena--samsara and nirvana, faults and qualities, and so on--are always undifferentiable and equal. Outside of that, there is no way to posit wisdom.
In a nonanalytical context of repeating what others accept, we Followers of the Middle Way describe knowable objects as existing. The wisdom of the buddhas is the same. Since we speak of all phenomena as existing from the perspective of others (even though from our own perspective they are free of the elaborations of existence and nonexistence), it is unreasonable to debate solely about the existence or nonexistence of the wisdom of buddhas.
--from The Karmapa's Middle Way: Feast for the Fortunate by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje, trans. by Tyler Dewar
October 25
We are aiming to develop a strong feeling of love and compassion with respect to everyone, but this cannot be done without first seeing an equality of all beings throught meditatively cultivating equanimity. Otherwise, you'll easily be able to generate love and compassion for friends and may be able to extend a little of this to neutral people, but even minor enemies will remain a huge problem. Thus at first it is necessary to recognize how friends, neutral persons, and enemies are equal.
This is done in two ways. One way to break down rigid classifications of people is by reflecting first with respect to friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies:
Just as I want happiness and don't want suffering, so this friend wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this neutral person wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this enemy wants happiness and doesn't want suffering.
Another way is to reflect on what your relationships have been with others over the course of lifetimes, beginning with neutral persons, then friends, and finally enemies. An enemy in this lifetime wants to do you in, but over the course of lifetimes was this person just an enemy? No. If you do not believe in rebirth, utilize the rebirth game, the rebirth perspective, as a technique for making your mind more flexible.
Either of these techniques will work:
- Reflecting on the similarity of yourself and others in the basic aspiration to gain happiness and be rid of suffering.
- Reflecting on the changeability of relationships over the course of lifetimes.
--from A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting with Others by Jeffrey Hopkins, foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
October 18
Puba Supoche asked, "Dampa, tell me what it's like when you really practice sincerely! I understand neither heads nor tails of it!"
Dampa said, "View is the destruction of extreme ideas regarding things! Cutting pride of self with confidence is realization! Being without support in luminosity is meditation! In insight, absence of recognition is the innate! Finding nowhere to place the mind among shifting phenomena is subsequent attainment! In their absence, there is no antidote but natural intensity! Naked awareness without grasping is dharmakaya! Disappearance without being anything is experience! Don't you wonder whether all this truly exists?"
--from Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa Sangye by Padampa Sangye, translated by David Molk with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche
October 12
Western women emerging from crisis situations often choose to live alone, intuitively knowing that the confrontation with oneself that this brings will lead to a deeper understanding. These women in our society (which sees them as pitiable and unfortunate) can take strength from the stories of Tibetan yoginis.
These Western women also seek the support of other women or psychotherapists to help them to emerge from their descents, just as the yoginis sought the guidance of their teachers and spiritual friends, and the Greeks needed the help of the therapeutes [helpers] to make sense of the memories they brought back from the oracle cave.
Speaking of the descent myth in terms of her experiences in controlled therapeutic regressions, Jungian analyst M.L. Von Franz describes the descent process in relation to the story of "The Handless Maiden":
In the Middle Ages there were many hermits, and in Switzerland there were the so-called Wood Brothers and Sisters. People who did not want to live a monastic life but who wanted to live alone in the forest had both a closeness to nature and also a great experience of spiritual inner life. Such Wood Brothers and Sisters could be personalities on a high level who had a spiritual fate and had to renounce active life for a time and isolate themselves to find their own inner relation to God. It is not very different from what the shaman does in the Polar tribes, or what medicine men do all over the world, in order to seek an immediate personal religious experience in isolation.
...If we avoid the descent because of fear of what we will discover about ourselves in the "underworld," we block ourselves off from a powerful transformative process. This process has been recognized by modern psychologists and ancient mystery religions alike.
--from Women of Wisdom by Tsultrim Allione
October 4
The Prajna Paramita is a very profound philosophical doctrine, and I will just outline the main ideas in it in order to clarify the Chöd. First we start off with the confused egocentric state of mind. This state of mind causes us to suffer, and so, to alleviate the suffering, we start to practice meditation. What happens in meditation is that the speedy mind begins to slow down and things begin to settle, like the mud sinking to the bottom of a puddle of water when it is left undisturbed. When this settling has occurred, a kind of clear understanding of the way things work in the mind takes place. This understanding is prajna, profound cognition.
Then, according to Buddhist doctrine, through the use of this prajna, we begin to see that, in fact, although we think that we have a separate and unique essence, or self, which we call the "ego," when we look closely, we are a composite of form, sense-perceptions, consciousness, etc., and are merely a sum of these parts. This realization is the understanding of sunyata, usually translated as emptiness, or voidness. It means there is no self-essence, that we are "void of a self." If we are void of a self, there is no reason to be egocentric, since the whole notion of a separate ego is false. Therefore we can afford to be compassionate, and need not continually defend ourselves or force our desires onto others.
--from Women of Wisdom by Tsultrim Allione
September 27
There is a film called Groundhog Day, which is really a Buddhist movie because this is exactly what the plot is about. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's about somebody who had to relive the same day again and again until he got it right. He started out with an extremely negative attitude, and so throughout the first day he created a lot of negative causes.
People related back to him from his own level of negativity, and so he had a very bad day. Then the next day he had to experience the same day all over again. Then again, and again. He became desperate to find a way out. He attempted suicide many times, but the next morning, there he was again in the same room and the same bed. The date hadn't changed, and the same song was playing on the radio. His attitude underwent many, many changes, until in the end he spent most of his time trying to help people. He forestalled tragedies he knew were going to happen because he had lived the day over so many times, and his whole attitude gradually turned around into working out ways to help others. As his inner attitude transformed, the day gradually got better and better. Finally, he was able to break through to a new day.
The important thing is how we respond to our situation. We can transform anything if we respond in a skillful way. This is precisely what karma is about. If we greet situations with a positive attitude, we will eventually create positive returns.
If we respond with a negative attitude, negative things will eventually come our way. Unlike the scenario in the movie, it doesn't always happen right away. We can be very nice people but still have lots of problems. On the other hand, we can be awful people and have a wonderful time. But from a Buddhist perspective, it's just a matter of time before we receive the results of our conduct. And usually it is true that people with a positive attitude encounter positive circumstances. Even if the circumstances do not appear positive, they be transformed through a positive view. On the other hand people with negative minds complain even when things are going well. They also transform circumstances, but they transform positive ones into negative ones!
Both our present and our future depend on us. From moment to moment, we are creating our future. We are not a ball of dust tossed about by the winds of fate. We have full responsibility for our lives. The more aware we become, the more capable we are of making skillful choices.
--from Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism by Venerable Tenzin Palmo
September 20
Idle talk is usually considered a destructive action because it wastes our time. But if our friend is depressed and can't listen to wise advice, we can joke, tell silly stories, and use small talk to lighten his mood. Because our motivation is kind, our joking and chatting are positive.
Laughing and having a good time aren't in opposition to Dharma. The more we leave behind attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride, the more we'll enjoy whatever we're doing. Our hearts will open to others and we can laugh and smile with ease. The holy beings I've been fortunate to meet have a wonderful sense of humor and are very friendly.
In Buddhist groups, it's important for people to get to know each other and have a sense of fellowship. We can share experiences with our Dharma friends and encourage each other on the path. Buddhism isn't an isolated path, and it's important for Buddhists to cultivate group unity and companionship.
It's not beneficial to retreat inside ourselves, thinking, "Every time I talk to someone I'm motivated by attachment. Therefore I'll concentrate on meditation and chanting and won't socialize with others." One of the fundamental principles of Buddhism is care and compassion for others. Although at times we may need to distance ourselves from others in order to settle our own minds, whenever possible we should actively develop genuine love for others. To do this, we must be aware of what's happening in others' lives, care about them as we do ourselves, and offer help whenever possible. Our ability to act with love develops with time and practice, and it has to be balanced with our need for private contemplation.
--from Taming the Mind by Thubten Chodron
September 14
...blissful light, with a Chenrezig on the tip of each ray, streams out of you and touches each and every sentient being--those whom you like, those whom you don't, and those you don't know. When this glowing light touches each sentient being, it performs two functions: it purifies them of their negativities, and it inspires them to realize all the stages of the path to enlightenment. We may start imagining the light touching the beings in the room and gradually spreading out to those in the area, the country, the continent, the world, and the universe. Or we can start with our friends and family, then radiate light to strangers, and finally to those who have harmed us or of whom we're afraid. Or, we can first radiate light to human beings, then animals, hungry ghosts, hell beings, demi-gods, and gods. We can use our creativity and imagination when doing this visualization. Each meditation session can have a different emphasis.
It's very easy to love sentient beings in a general way. But it's more effective to be specific in our visualizations. Send light to the guy who cut you off on the highway. Send light to the IRS employee who questioned your tax return. Send light to the terrorist who thinks that killing others in the name of God will cause him to be reborn in heaven. Send light to government leaders who think that bombing others solves problems. Send light to your teenager who leaves his room a mess and gets mad when you comment on it. Send light to specific people you know and care about, people who are having problems, strangers, and people you don't like. Send it to hospitals, the Middle East, the inner cities, and Beverly Hills. There's suffering everywhere. The light frees sentient beings from their suffering.
--from Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig by Thubten Chodron, foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama
September 7
In Tibetan drenpa means "mindfulness," and sheshin means "awareness." Drenpa also means "mindfulness and memory." It means that one is mindful of what one is doing and remembers what one has to do whether one is meditating, whether one has lost the power of concentration, and so on. Mindfulness is like a causal condition and awareness is like the result. If one has very concentrated mindfulness, one immediately notices a thought arising and this becomes awareness, which becomes sheshin, and one knows what is occurring. Normally, one does not know what is in one's mind or what one is thinking, so there is no awareness. But if one has mindfulness, then it is said to the extent that mindfulness brings mental stability, one has awareness. So when one has mindfulness, it is through one's awareness of what is happening.
At this level of pacification we become aware of the negative qualities of distraction. Santideva explains this by saying that when the mind is distracted, it is between the fangs of the wild animal of the kleshas [emotional obscurations], and from mental distractions come all the difficulties and mental hardships of this and future lives. Being in a state of distraction will increase the negative qualities of the mind more and more. However, being aware of the negative qualities motivates us to meditate.
--from The Practice of Tranquillity and Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, translated by Peter Roberts
August 30
In Chapter 4 we looked at the when and where of meditation. Whatever works best for you, given your personal circumstances and temperament, the important thing is to do it regularly, preferably every day.
I would also recommend that you keep the session to a length of time that feels comfortable. This is because in the early stages of meditation it's easy to become discouraged and have thoughts along the lines of: "This might work for other people, but I don't have the right personality/mind/lifestyle/ partner for meditation." Or: "I've been doing this for six months and my concentration is no better than when I started." With thoughts like these, you may start to resent the time you spend meditating and consider giving up.
Much better to keep your practice light and easy to begin with; short sessions, and concentrated attention, especially towards the end of your practice so that you "finish like a winner" and feel encouraged for the next day. Better to end a short session thinking you could have gone on longer than keep glancing at your watch with the thought that has passed through the mind of every meditator at some stage--"My watch must have stopped. It's been longer than two minutes--surely?!"
Having reviewed the meditation practices outlined in the previous chapter, you may decide you quite like the sound of several of them. On what basis should they be practiced? My own preference is to have a simple calendar of activity so that, for example, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are breath-counting days; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are visualization days; and Sundays are for whatever I'm in the mood to do.
On this point, I once asked a high-ranking Tibetan lama which of a number of meditation practices I should focus on. He gave me an indulgent smile and said simply, "Whichever you enjoy the most." D'oh!
--from Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace and Better Health by David Michie
August 24 "Always be sustained by cheerfulness."
The effectiveness of our practice can be measured by looking at our mood. If we are in better spirits, the practice is working. We can take heart because we have a purpose, to exchange whatever sadness we meet for joy. The smallest personal damage can be put to use to dissolve great suffering and do away with negativity. If there is a way, we try to stop unfortunate things from happening, but when unhappy events occur we meet them optimistically. We never let negativity discourage us or injure our ability to help.
Setting out on any adventure demands determination. We may have to toil and struggle with setbacks along the way but the trials we face are short-lived. We can endure them because we have a great end in mind: to benefit all sentient beings. Remaining good-natured and enthusiastic shows that our efforts are succeeding. Being cheerful is the sign of a good practitioner.
--from Mind Training by Ringu Tulku
August 16
The only conclusion that can legitimately be reached is that the self is a fiction, a mere label superimposed onto the aggregates, a concept created and reified by the mind but lacking any substantial reality. This reasoning process alone does not eliminate the idea, however; it merely weakens it. Because it is so deeply ingrained, the idea of self is only eliminated through repeated meditation on the reasonings of no-self, which enable the yogin to become progressively more familiar with the understanding that no self or essence exists. The Dalai Lama concludes that "when such a realization is maintained and reinforced through constant meditation and familiarization, you will be able to develop it into an intuitive or direct experience." (From Path to Bliss.)
Many Westerners reject this notion, contending that it would be a sort of cognitive suicide. The idea that the self (which is assumed even by people who reject religions that propound the idea) does not exist is profoundly disturbing to many non-Buddhists, but in Buddhist thought the denial of self is not seen as constituting a loss, but rather is viewed as a profoundly liberating insight. Since the innate idea of self implies an autonomous, unchanging essence, if such a thing were in fact the core of one's being, it would mean that change would be impossible, and one would be stuck being just what one is right now. Because there is no such self, however, we are open toward the future. One's nature is never fixed and determined, and so through engaging in Buddhist practice one can exert control over the process of change and progress in wisdom, compassion, patience, and other good qualities. One can even become a buddha, a fully awakened being who is completely liberated from all the frailties, sufferings, and limitations of ordinary beings. But this is only possible because there is no permanent and static self, no soul that exists self-sufficiently, separated from the ongoing process of change.
--from A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers
August 9
I often encounter people in and our of my office who seem to be lost in thought. I sometimes ask them what they are thinking about. They are usually startled by the question. They look at me blankly and are often surprised to hear themselves admit with embarrassment that they don't know or can't say. Or they describe one small, fleeting fragment of disconnected thought. The "normal" human state of mind is constant, incessant thinking--an enigmatically linked stream of consciousness, sensations, memories, feelings, desires, fears, and chatter. And at the center of the narrative, the star of the show is always--ME! This is why the first leg of the journey requires courage. To become familiar with the chaotic, egotistical, and often nonsensical narrative of our own mind stream is disconcerting and painful. To discover directly that we are literally "lost in thought" can be frightening. But this is where we are and where we must begin.
It's consoling to remember that everyone is neurotic, each one of us. The "normal" mind suffers from a complex of conflicting desires and aversions. The best we can do is to become aware of our neuroses, to become wiser in our thinking and our conduct of life. In my experience, meditation is the most direct and efficient method for developing self-awareness. Self-awareness is not a steady state because experience is not a steady state. Through the practice of meditation, we can learn to watch our ever-fluctuating mental processes from a more detached, aerial perspective. Without necessarily understanding ourselves in some intellectual way, we can directly discover how the mind works. The mind has its causes and effects, its motivations and intentions, and its awareness and evaluation of their possible consequences.
--from Vinegar Into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence by Ron Leifer
August 2 Whatever appears, nothing has moved from the absolute nature. Decide that nothing is extraneous to the absolute nature, taking the example of gold jewelry.
Once we know how to remain in the absolute nature, the manifold thoughts that arise in the mind are no different from gold jewelry. One can make all sorts of things out of gold, such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, but although they have a variety of different shapes, they are all made of gold. Likewise, if we are able to not move from the absolute nature, however many thoughts we might have, they never depart from the recognition of the absolute nature. A yogi for whom this is the case never departs from that realization, whatever he does with his body, speech, and mind. All his actions arise as the outer display or ornament of wisdom. All the signs one would expect from meditating on a deity come spontaneously without him actually doing any formal practice. The result of mantra recitation is obtained without his having to do a large number of recitations. In this way everything is included in the recognition that nothing is ever extraneous to the absolute nature.
In that state one does not become excited at pleasant events or depressed by unpleasant ones.
--from Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice' by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, based on Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group
July 27
128.
Desire is painful because of not getting,
Anger is painful through lack of might,
And confusion through not understanding.
Because of this, these are not recognized.
Desire produces suffering when one does not encounter what one badly wants. Anger produces suffering when one lacks might to crush the strong. Confusion* induces suffering when one fails to understand a subtle matter thoroughly. The inability to recognize these forms of suffering when one is overwhelmed by desire and so forth is great suffering indeed. Therefore, persevere in getting rid of the disturbing emotions. It is like a poor man's son who suffered because he wanted a queen.
A certain poor man wanted a queen, but kings keep their queens heavily guarded, and because he could not get her, his desire made him suffer. He felt anger toward the king for guarding his queens well, and since he could not do the slightest harm to the king, he suffered acutely on account of his anger. Blinded by desire and anger his confusion grew, and unable to understand the situation properly, he was tormented by the suffering it caused him.
--from Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way: with Commentary by Gyel-tsap by Aryadeva and Gyeltsap, additional commentary by Geshe Sonam Rinchen, translated by Ruth Sonam
* confusion's function is to feed desire and anger.
July 19
We usually discriminate strongly between someone who intends to harm us and someone who doesn't. We think, "That's all right; he didn't mean it"; or the person who has harmed us can say, "Why do you blame me so much? I didn't mean to." But we get really angry when we know people mean to harm us. How could we possibly see such people as intimate, close, dear--as dear as our best of friends?
If you can retain a little compassion when people harm you unintentionally, you have made progress. But if you retain it when someone intends to harm you, you are really successful. It's not that you think, "This person is marvelous; she's trying to rob me," but you don't take these facts as reasons for hating the person. You recognize the intention and put your wallet in your front pocket. You take such measures, but the conditions that prompted them no longer serve as reasons for hatred.
Our wish to love everyone and the actual attitudes we have under pressure are in constant conflict. That's just the way we are. We've been wandering in cyclic existence since beginningless time, because of desire and hatred, and it's going to take a lot of familiarization to change this. Be relaxed about it. Don't put pressure on yourself, thinking things like, "Oh, I'm a scumbag because I hate so deeply." Rather, try this attitude: "I have to admit it. As much as my ideals say I should love so-and-so--or at least be neutral--I have to face the fact that I don't." Go easy on yourself.
--from A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting with Others by Jeffrey Hopkins, foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
July 12
Because spirits can be positive or negative in relation to humans, it is wise to be careful with practices that connect the practitioner to a spirit. It is currently popular for people to take drum journeys in their imaginations and to look for guardian spirits and power animals and so on. Although usually this is beneficial, or at least harmless, there really are beings with whom the rare individual will connect. Not all of them are beings anyone should want to connect with. There seems to be little regard for who the being is; this can be a dangerous practice. People are much more careful about choosing a business partner or a roommate than they seem to be about choosing a non-physical being for a guide or guardian.
--from Healing with Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
July 5
According to Tibetan Buddhism, ordinary beings are born into life situations in which they are destined to suffer and die. This is the result of former contaminated actions and afflictions, which have been accumulated since beginningless time. Because of this process, physical and mental afflictions are deeply rooted in sentient beings, and so it is generally considered necessary to prepare oneself for tantric practice by engaging in the "preliminary practices," or ngondro (sngon 'gro, purvagama), in order to begin to reverse one's negative conditioning. These practices combine physical movements with visualization in order to transform the mind from one that is fixated on mundane concerns and desires into one that is primarily oriented toward religious practice for the benefit of others. Some teachers consider these preparatory trainings to be so essential to successful tantric practice that they will not give tantric initiations to those who have not completed them, and even teachers who are willing to waive them generally stress their importance. The preliminary practices are: (1) taking refuge; (2) prostration; (3) Vajrasattva meditation; (4) mandala offering; and (5) guru yoga.
--from A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers
June 28
...all apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion and there is, moreover, no freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is, by its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena are, in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
Here the issue might be raised, "although the scriptures do teach his, there is no certainty whether it is to be taken at face value or requires interpretation. Therefore the essential purity of phenomena may well be established, but it is unreasonable to say that precisely the nature of that which appears as subjects with attributes is primordially enlightened. For, if it were that way, thorough affliction and samsara would be entirely absent. There can't be a reasoning that establishes such a philosophy." The conceptual mind that takes objects that appear in the experience of sentient beings as valid is, since beginningless time, deluded. It accepts or negates with reference to the way things appear to it. With such dialectics it is, indeed, not possible to establish the vast and profound meaning. Nevertheless, since the nature of phenomena is inconceivable, it is not the case that there is no way to realize it by means of discriminating knowledge. Thus it is not in any way a mistake if one, rather than that, is inclined to approach simply by faith, regarding the scriptures and oral instructions as valid. One will then gain access through trust.
One may object, "Well, if one cannot prove [the primordial mandala] with reasoning, one cannot gain access to it either." We can prove it as follows: That phenomena are fully enlightened as the mandala of vajra body, speech, and mind is proven with the reasoning of the intrinsic nature. Just as it is stated in a sutra, "Form is empty by nature. Why is that? It is so because that is its nature." All phenomena are pure by their intrinsic nature and, therefore, there is not a single phenomenon that is impure. This is the intrinsic nature of phenomena. Complete purity is, therefore, also the intrinsic nature of body, speech, and mind, and their complete purity is enlightenment. Therefore, body, speech, and mind, distinguished by their complete purity, are inseparable, free from mental constructs, and perfectly pervasive. One must in this way understand them to be the mandala of vajra body, speech, and mind.
--from Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom Chözang on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity by Heidi I. Köppl
June 22
Why do we want to be wise and compassionate? If it's because we would simply like to be wise and compassionate, we are off course, because the "I" cannot attain wisdom and compassion. Wisdom and compassion can only be revealed once the "I" has disappeared. When we reach this level, we will be able to benefit others. In the meantime, it is the blind leading the blind. All true religions seek to gain access to that level of consciousness which is not ego-bound. In Buddhism, it is called the unconditioned, the unborn, the deathless. You can call it anything you like. You can call it atman. You can call it anatman. You can call it God. The fact is, there is a subtle level of consciousness which is the core of our being, and it is beyond our ordinary conditioned state of mind. We can all experience this. Some people experience it through service, others through devotion. Some even think they can experience it through analysis and intellectual discipline. Buddhists usually try to access it through meditation. That's what we are doing. Breaking through to the unconditioned in order to help others break through to the unconditioned. But we have to start where we are, from right here. We start with these minds, these bodies, these problems, these weaknesses, and these strengths.
--from Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism by Venerable Tenzin Palmo
June 14
Dampa said, "If these practitioners want buddhahood, they must reverse their present behavior!"
[Kunga] asked, "What is wrong with their present behavior?"
He said:
They practice thinking that what are in actuality obstacles are attainments!
They meet the liberating path, but doubting and striving, they part from it!
Doubting if they should refrain from their ill-omened actions, they suffer!
The speech of those without experience has become Dharma--supposedly the view.
Kunga is never parted from his prayers for the three village girls!
Now, draw your own conclusions!
* * *
Dampa said:
When I see people clinging to illusions as real, compassion arises with a force.
If one considers the sufferings of the six realms in terms of oneself, one has no time to remain ordinary.
When one sees that the characteristic of samsara is suffering, a mind wanting nothing whatsoever is born!
When one sees the various bases as rootless, self-grasping is not born!
When impermanence is born in the mind, faith and perseverance will come together!
Those who grasp at permanence will not destroy persistent grasping at things as real!
Kunga! Internalize truthlessness and throw the kitchen sauce into the water!
June 7
The term "meditation" carries with it a burden of trendy, pseudo-mystical connotations. The biggest mistake people make is to think that they will "get something" out of meditation. It would be more accurate to think they will be getting rid of something. Awareness practice undermines our unwitting subjugation to hypermentation. It cuts through the cascade of thoughts and feelings that distract us from the present moment where life actually happens. The inner newsreel, with its imagined or distorted dramas, becomes less urgent and seductive. The unexamined hopes and fears that have thrown us into automatic or reflexive behavior lose their power to toss us about. What we get rid of, initially, is a great deal of compelling noise with no point or real substance to it. Even by becoming aware of its nature we de-reify it, render it less solid and intractable.
...How can we sort out our neuroses when the mind is a wild, chaotic mess of fragmented thought? How can we work with our anger when we experience it as a deluge of highly charged, urgent impulses, all mixed in with fleeting bits of narrative, physical sensations, whispers of memory, rushes of fear, and the visceral press to act? We can't. Every beginning meditator discovers very quickly that the mind has a mind of its own. No beginner sits down, says, "Peace! Be still!" and accomplishes enlightenment. It's enough at the start just to see, discover, and acknowledge the chatter. That, in itself, is a great step towards self-awareness. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche taught that the awareness of our confusion is the first step towards clarity.
Over time, we can learn to just take note of whatever arises without being pushed and pulled emotionally. We can sit still and not respond reflexively to our hypermentation. We can allow ourselves to rest, to gently release thoughts, to find a quiet space apart from the discursive jumble. We can choose to be simply and quietly aware. In these quiet moments, experiences arise much more clearly and distinctly. Only then can we discover the source of our suffering and our anger.
I once attended a conference between a highly esteemed Tibetan lama, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a group of psychiatrists. Someone asked Rinpoche: "What is meditation?" Rinpoche looked playfully puzzled, pretended not to understand, and after a brief consultation with his translator, answered: "Meditation? Meditation? I don't know what that means. We have another word for it which means 'paying attention to.'" Whatever the style, to meditate is to pay attention.
--from Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence by Ron Leifer, M.D.
May 31
The recognition that worldly attainments just do not provide enduring happiness, and that we need to work on the internals, rather than the externals, is an important motivation. It is also the basis of achieving nirvana, often represented by the lotus flower. It is no accident that most statues of Buddha have him sitting on cushions resting on a lotus flower--the symbol of renunciation.
But what if we achieve nirvana? What if, through extreme diligence, we attain its supreme peace and happiness? Would that be enough, or is there a more profound level of motivation still?
Some years ago a number of tourists were kidnapped by terrorists in the Philippines, and held hostage in the jungle for many months. Finally they were released in small groups. I will never forget the reaction of one hostage who was interviewed at the airport on his way home to join his wife, who had been freed just days earlier.
You would think that after months of extreme privation and the constant threat of uncertainty and death, returning safely to one's wife, home, and family would be a cause for joyful celebration. But the hostage, while relieved, could only think of the group of hostages he'd left behind. Those who, in the preceding months, had been his fellow prisoners, whom he now knew better than anyone else, and with whom in several cases, he had formed unique and profound bonds of attachment. His overriding concern was to ensure that those still being held captive would be safely released to experience the same freedom he had now. Only then would he really be able to celebrate.
--from Buddhism for Beginners: Finding Happiness in an Uncertain World by David Michie
May 23
Advanced meditators develop the ability to create environments of their own choosing, and they are able to transcend the sufferings that seem so real to ordinary beings who are bound by mundane conceptions. According to Tsong Khapa, for one who attains advanced levels of meditation painful cognitions no longer occur, no matter what external experiences one encounters. All of one's cognitions are a union of bliss and emptiness. One recognizes that nothing is inherently what it appears to be. Whatever occurs is perceived by one's unshakably blissful consciousness as the sport of luminosity and emptiness, and so
"for a Bodhisattva who has attained the meditative stabilisation of bliss pervading all phenomena, only a feeling of pleasure arises with respect to all objects; pain and neutrality do not occur, even though [pieces from his body] the size of a small coin are cut or even though his body is crushed by elephants, only a discrimination of bliss is maintained."
--Tsong-ka-pa on Ratnarakshita's Commentary
Tantric texts stress that such bodhisattvas are not creating a delusional system in order to hide from the harsher aspects of reality. Rather, they are transforming reality, making it conform to an ideal archetype. Since all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they have no fixed nature. No one ever apprehends an object as it is in its true nature, because there is no such nature. Even if phenomena had fixed essences, we would still never be able to perceive them, since all we ever experience are our cognitions of objects, which are overlaid with conceptions about them. All our perceptions are ideas about things, and not real things. These ideas are also empty, arising from nothingness and immediately dissolving again into nothingness, leaving nothing behind. Tantric adepts develop the ability to reconstitute "reality," which is completely malleable for those who train in yogas involving blissful consciousnesses realizing emptiness. The sense of bliss pervades all their cognitions, and their understanding of emptiness allows them to generate minds that are manifestations of bliss and emptiness.
--from A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers
May 19
Why is it that meeting our yidam deity directly and receiving the deity's blessing are so important? If we are studying texts and wish to become great scholars, there are an inconceivable number of the Buddha's teachings along with the treatises that comment on them. All these have to be studied diligently so that we can come to a basic understanding of their meaning; beyond this, it is extremely difficult to enter into the more subtle levels. In all of this practice and study, it is our own mind that is central. Without a great blessing or without awakening the generative power of previous habitual patterns, it will be extremely difficult to realize primordial wisdom.
Lord Maitreya stated that bodhisattvas abiding on the various levels are not able to attain omniscience immediately, and he also affirmed that we do not need to become expert in all five traditional Buddhist sciences. Among these are all classifications of the inner science that deals with the mind. In the practice of the Secret Mantrayana, it is said that as long as objects continue to arise in our minds, so long will the classifications of the Secret Mantrayana last. As long as we have not realized the simultaneity of concepts and liberation, as long as we have not been blessed with the knowledge that knowing the nature of one phenomenon liberates us into knowing the nature of all, we need to train from lifetime to lifetime in the many aspects of the teachings. If we try to become expert in all five sciences or try to know all the objects of knowledge, our training will be endless. For these reasons, it is extremely important to seek accomplishments and blessings from the yidam deity, for through the blessing of the deity, our positive habitual patterns from the past will be awakened and the doubts that cloud our minds will be cleared away.
--from Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje by Michele Martin
May 10
Observing the Mind Itself
The primary meditative technique of great perfection is remaining in the state of pure awareness. This is accomplished by calming the mind and then abiding in comprehension of its basic clear light nature. The meditative practice involves being cognizant of the arising and passing away of feelings, emotions, sensations, etc., but understanding them within the context of pure awareness. The more one does this, the more one realizes that all phenomena arise from mind and remerge into it. They are of the nature of pure awareness and are a projection of luminosity and emptiness. Through cultivating this understanding, mental phenomena of their own accord begin to subside, allowing the clear light nature of mind to become manifest. They appear as reflections on the surface of a mirror and are perceived as illusory, ephemeral, and nonsubstantial.
Those who succeed in this practice attain a state of radical freedom: there are no boundaries, no presuppositions, and no habits on which to rely. One perceives things as they are in their naked reality. Ordinary beings view phenomena through a lens clouded by concepts and preconceptions, and most of the world is overlooked or ignored. The mind of the great perfection adept, however, is unbounded, and everything is possible. For many beginners, this prospect is profoundly disquieting, because since beginningless time we have been constricted by rules, laws, assumptions, and previous actions. One who is awakened, however, transcends all such limitations; there is no ground on which to stand, no limits, nothing that must be done, and no prohibitions. This awareness is bottomless, unfathomable, immeasurable, permeated by joy, unboundedness, and exhilaration. One is utterly free, and one's state of mind is as expansive as space. Those who attain this level of awareness also transcend physicality and manifest the "rainbow body" ('ja lus), a form comprising pure light that cannot decay, which has no physical aspects, and which is coterminous with the nature of mind.
--from A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers
May 3
The practice of Dzogchen may begin with doing fixation on an object, in order to calm one's thoughts. Then one relaxes the fixation, dissolving the dependence on the object, and one fixes one's gaze in open space. Then, when one succeeds in making the calm state stable, it is important to work with the movement of one's thoughts and one's energy, integrating this movement with the presence of contemplation. At this point one is ready to apply contemplation in one's daily life. The system of practice just described is characteristic of the Series of the Nature of the Mind, but that is not to say that in Dzogchen one must necessarily begin with fixation and meditation on a calm state. In the Series of Primordial Space, and the Series of Secret Instructions, for example, one enters directly into the practice of contemplation. Particularly in the former, there are very precise instructions on how to find the pure state of contemplation. In the latter, on the other hand, the explanations are mainly concerned with how one continues in contemplation in all circumstances.
The practice of contemplation is concisely explained in the line that reads, "but vision nevertheless manifests: all is good." Even if the condition of "what is" cannot be grasped with the mind, the whole manifestation of the primordial state, including our karmic vision, does nevertheless exist. All the various aspects of forms, colours, and so on, continue to arise without interruption. When we find ourselves in contemplation, this doesn't mean that our impure vision just disappears and pure vision manifests instead. If we have a physical body, there is a karmic cause for that, so there would be no sense in trying to abandon or deny the situation we find ourselves in. We just need to be aware of it. If we have a vision of the material, physical level of existence, which is the cause of so very many problems, we need to understand that this vision is only the gross aspect of the colours, which are the essence of the elements.
--from Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, edited by Adriano Clemente, translated by John Shane
April 26
Emphasizing neither renunciation nor transformation, though incorporating both into its preparatory practices, the Great Completeness privileges a method know as "self-liberation" (rang 'grol), sometimes described as "liberation in its own spot" (rang sar 'grol). Liberation takes place in the situation just as it is, because one's mind and all things are, despite powerful appearances to the contrary, primordially pure. If one has not yet made this essential discovery, the Great Bliss Queen ritual can prepare one for it. If one is familiar with the Great Completeness perspective, one performs the visualization and recitation of the Great Bliss Queen ritual entirely within an experience of innate awareness. In either case, the ritual encompasses the three nondualisms already discussed.
One way of accessing the primordial purity so important to the Great Completeness tradition is a practice known as "pure vision." This involves visualizing companions, family, surroundings, and so forth as creations of light, the habitat of an enlightened being. From the viewpoint of the Great Completeness, such pure vision is not an imaginative overlay, but a move toward understanding things as they are. As Khetsun Sangpo taught it, this practice allows you to understand that apparently ordinary things and persons have "been [primordially pure] from the beginning" so that "you are identifying their own proper nature. Your senses normally misrepresent what is there, but through this visualization you can come closer to what actually exists." In short, by identifying one's body, companions, and world with those of the Great Bliss Queen, one develops the ability to discover what has always been there. This being so, there is no need to renounce or change anything, only to see it more completely. This is the Great Completeness tradition's special mix of ontological and cognitive nondualisms. Unlike the tantric traditions, in which it is necessary to cease the coarse sense and mental consciousness in order for the most subtle mind of clear light to appear, the Dalai Lama observes that "in the Old [Nyingma] Translation School of the Great Completeness it is possible to be introduced to the clear light without the cessation of the six operative consciousnesses." Hence the possibility of "discovering" what is already in our midst. Such discovery reveals a spontaneous presence (yon dan hlun gyis grub ba) of collateral qualities such as clarity and spontaneous responsiveness. Thus, comments Longchen Rabjam, "primordially pure primordial wisdom is free in the face of thought and the primordial wisdom, with a nature of spontaneity, abides as primordial radiance, and profound clarity."
--from Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists, and the Art of the Self by Anne Carolyn Klein
April 19
Who is the supreme friend
always helpful in times of need?
Mindfulness of the spiritual instructions
learned through study and contemplation.
—The Seventh Dalai Lama
Ordinary friends desert us when we fall on hard times or become an inconvenience in their lives. Others simply disappear into their own destinies. Even our spiritual teachers eventually die and leave us behind.
Our practice of the Dharma, however, that has been cultivated by means of study, contemplation and meditation, is the one sure anchor that keeps our ship stable when the seas become choppy. In fact, the more difficult the situation we encounter, the more helpful it is to us.
When the Buddha had become very old and was preparing to pass away, several of his disciples were overcome with grief. They asked him, "What will we do after you are gone?" He replied, "Whenever you rely upon my teachings, at that time I am there with you."
The Second Dalai Lama wrote, "When we know how to rely on the Dharma, we are able to be happy in every situation. Where could one find a more trustworthy and reliable friend?"
--from Gems of Wisdom from the Seventh Dalai Lama by Glenn H. Mullin
April 12
...while walking in a park the body may be in the park while the mind is off working in the office, or at home, or talking to a distant friend, or making a list of groceries. That means the mind has disconnected from the body. Instead, when looking at a flower, really look at it. Be fully present. With the help of the flower, bring the mind back to the part. Appreciation for sensory experience reconnects mind and body. When the experience of the flower is felt throughout the body, a healing occurs; this can be the same when seeing a tree, smelling smoke, feeling the cloth of your shirt, hearing a bird call, or tasting an apple. Train yourself to vividly experience sensory objects without judgment. Try completely to be the eye with form, the nose with smell, the ear with sound, and so on. Try to be complete in experience while remaining in just the bare awareness of the sensory object.
When this ability is developed, reactions will still occur. Upon seeing the flower, judgements about its beauty will arise, or a smell may be judged to be foul. Even so, with practice the connection the pure sensory experience can be maintained rather than continuing to become lost in the mind's distraction. Being distracted by a cloud of concepts is a habit and it can be replaced with a new habit: using bodily sensual experience to bring us to presence, to connect us to the beauty of the world, to the vivid and nourishing experience of life that lies under our distractions. This is the underpinning of successful dream yoga.
--from The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, edited by Mark Dahlby
April 5
...when you recognize how kind someone has been to you, you are using an ordinary worldly attitude to help keep you from responses of hatred. For instance, if someone gave me a grant with a blank check to form a team of translators of Tibetan thought, I would be more than extremely pleased. Now if the person who gave me the money came by someday and gave me a hard time, I would feel a measure of restraint due to reflecting on the person's kindness. I would seek other means to work things out with the person. When you reflect how kind every person has been, there is that restraint to the point where, believe it or not, trained Buddhists will look at a fly or an ant walking across the table and think, "This is someone who bore me in her womb in a former lifetime, who took care of me."
If you watch how mothers take precautions for a child in the womb, it is clear that they do a great deal to help it. They eat nourishing foods and avoid harmful substances like coffee, alcohol, nicotine, and drugs. If you reflect on how such a mother takes care of the child in the womb and extend this reflection to all sentient beings, I think that because your field of awareness is no longer just a few sentient beings but is gradually expanding to more and more, you can reflect on the mother's kindness without doing it merely because you were helped. The staggering debt deflates your sense of exaggerated importance. The boil is pricked.
--from A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting with Others by Jeffrey Hopkins, foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
March 29
Once we realize emptiness, all phenomena are included within this reality, which is not separate from the cause and effect of karma and which is free of mental constructs. On this ultimate level of realization, it is possible to state that there is no wholesome or unwholesome action. When we have realized the nature of all phenomena, negative actions naturally subside and positive ones are spontaneously accomplished. Until this time, however, we would be slipping into nihilism if we said that the phenomena of relative truth, such as positive and negative actions or karma, do not exist.
Just knowing this authentic view, however, is not enough. For others to be able to experience it, we must also know the scriptures and reasonings so that we can teach. Without the support of this knowledge, it will be difficult for others to trust what we say, and so Milarepa speaks of scripture and reasoning as an adornment to realization.
Dissolving thoughts into the dharmakaya--
Is this not meditation naturally arising?
Join it with experience
To make it beautifully adorned.
One way to understand meditation is to see it as a practice of working with the many thoughts that arise in our mind. With realization they arise as mere appearances of the dharmakaya, the natural arising of mind's essential nature. Being clear about this true nature of thought is called "attaining the level of natural arising." At this point, there is no difference in any thought that may arise, because we see the nature of each thought to be emptiness, arising as the dharmakaya. Meditation could be defined as realizing the dharmakaya of the Buddha.
--from Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje by Michele Martin
March 22 (Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. Below is a teaching given during March 2008.)
Quiet Place
Have you ever had this experience? You walk outside, and all of a sudden the silence strikes you--it's in such sharp contrast to the chatter that's going on in the mind.
We live in a very quiet place. We walk outside and it's pretty quiet--a few birds chirping, sun shining. Then suddenly the chatter in the mind stops because we see that it's just chatter. It's in such stark contrast to the silence that's outside.
We want to learn to notice that chatter before we even have to walk outside. And we want to be able to find that quiet place inside ourselves and keep it with us, so that even when we're in a place where there is a lot of noise, the mind can be quiet.
All that mental chatter is basically negative conceptualization. If we were thinking about emptiness or developing compassion with that kind of mental activity, fine! Continue that outside, inside, everywhere. But most of the time what's going on is, "I like this. I don't like this. I want this. I don't want that. Why does this person do this? Why don't they do that?" That kind of mental activity makes the mind quite stressful as well as accumulates negative karma and wastes a great deal of time.
As soon as we can catch it and be aware of what's going on in our mind, and come back to that silent space inside, the more peaceful we'll be. Our lives will be more productive in terms of having the Dharma grow in our hearts, and we’ll be more focused in whatever daily activities we're doing. We won't be quite so distracted.
Thubten Chodron is the author of numerous books, including Buddhism for Beginners;
Taming the Mind;
Open Heart, Clear Mind; and
Working with Anger
March 15
In ascertaining luminous clarity at the time of the path, the general technique is to rest evenly in the very essence of luminous clarity. Telopa said:
Rest relaxed within the uncontrived native state;
Bonds are released and freedom is sure.
This and other such instructions are expressed unanimously by the mighty adepts. Accordingly, with the body in the seven-point posture of meditative stability, the mind rests without support, relaxed and uncontrived. This will create the unerring yogic direct perception of emptiness. This is the ultimate esoteric instruction of the completion phase found in the profound tantras. The reason is that once the vital points of the vajra body, which is the support, are bound, the mind, eyes, and energy currents remain in a state of nonthought. Because of the special interconnection between body and mind, the movement in the right and left channels is stopped and immobilized within the central channel, causing the direct experience of mahamudra, emptiness with aspects.
Therefore the luminous mind, which is the supported, is realized as empty appearance arising as the mahamudra of forms of emptiness. This, again, depends on the dissolution of the energy currents of the right and left channels in the central channel, the supreme support. There is no more profound method for affecting this dissolution than resting the mind once it is uncontrived and relaxed. Therefore, in all the esoteric instructions of highest tantra, this is called "the esoteric instruction of withdrawal" in the presentations.
--from The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of Meditation in Vajrayana by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, trans. and annot. by Sarah Harding, foreword by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
March 8
Persons from orally oriented cultures, writes Ong, tend to project their sensibilities, to see them expressed in the world around them. More widely literate cultures create persons who tend to withdraw for insight into their own personal psyches. Orally oriented peoples may thus be more inclined than persons in print-dominated cultures to set their feelings or experiences in the space around them, including the invisible spirits presumed to occupy that space, and less likely to project these feelings and experiences onto individual persons. In Tibet lineages or sects are the most likely targets of negative projections. Western print-oriented persons are more likely to project their feelings onto other individuals, especially people in significant relationships with them. Unlike Tibet, or the premodern West, the contemporary West tends to identify the mind as the exclusive locus of ideas, feelings, and values. With this localization, the mind becomes "psychic" in a new sense, distinct from bodily soma and from the larger world.
This very different configuration of personhood affects the way Westerners are likely to understand the Great Bliss Queen practice. For example, there is a tendency among Westerners for "visualization" to be a more disembodied practice than it is for Tibetans. The point in imagining oneself as the Great Bliss Queen is not just to replace one visual image of oneself with another, as if observing a changing scene in a movie theater, but to experience a physical as well as mental shift from deep inside the body.
--from Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists, and the Art of the Self by Anne Carolyn Klein
March 1
...Nagarjuna's Fundamental Treatise says, "That which arises dependently we explain as emptiness. This [emptiness] is dependent designation; this is the middle way." His Refutation of Objections says, "I bow down to the Buddha, the unequaled, supreme teacher, who taught that emptiness, dependent arising, and the middle way hold a single meaning."
For Tsong-kha-pa, the compatibility of emptiness and dependent arising is the very heart of the Madhyamaka view and the key to the path. Dependent arising means that things come into being in dependence upon causes and conditions. Understanding dependent arising correctly refutes the idea that things exist in and of themselves--because they must depend on other things. In the same moment, it also refutes the nihilist extreme--because it shows that things do arise, they do come into existence, and they affect one another. Thus, Tsong-kha-pa advises that if you think that you may have found the profound view of emptiness, you should check to see if you have negated too much. Can this "emptiness" you have discovered be reconciled with the mere existence of things that arise interdependently? If not, then you are certainly mistaken.
...The point is that one cannot become a buddha without both compassionate action and nondual wisdom--and one cannot have these two types of path without both of the two truths, conventional and ultimate. If only emptiness existed and there were, in fact, no conventional truths, then there would be no living beings, no suffering to relieve; thus there would be no compassionate action; and thus there would be no buddhahood. Therefore, maintaining the compatibility of the two truths--the compatibility of emptiness and dependent arising--is crucial to the whole of the Dharma.
--from Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path by Guy Newland
February 22
What do you think would be the chief obstacle in recognizing that each individual person has been kind to you? In my case, I was afraid of having to return the kindness, because then I'd be under the control of these people. I didn't want to do what my parents wanted me to do, although they gave me a lot of slack--I left college after my first year, went to the woods of Vermont, went to Tahiti, all on my own with whatever cash I earned. I didn't fit into the upper-middle-class community where we lived. I didn't want their control; the lifestyle they were pushing on me was completely unappealing. Therefore, I refused to recognize their kindness.
However, assuming a debt with respect to every sentient being differs greatly from having a debt to a few. In this meditation, you start with friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies and contemplate: "I will return the debt of kindness that I have with this person through helping her or him achieve happiness." It is easy to determine that the response to all sentient beings' kindness cannot be to do everything they want, since, with so many people, what they want from you would be at cross-purposes. You cannot even do everything your mother of this lifetime wants you to do, though you know her advice is, for the most part, motivated by kindness....
Those who help us--our parents, for instance--often attain power over us for that very reason: "Do as I say because I have helped you." Thus, for some, it becomes almost a mental habit to refuse to recognize those who have helped us, because they otherwise would attain some power over us. Still, we know we should return their many kindnesses. That is one reason why the practice of reflecting, "This person has helped me in many intimate ways and thus I must do something in return," gets to be uncomfortable, but when it is extended to more and more beings, we have to find a way of intending to return their kindness without coming under their misguided influence.
...one cannot do everything all those sentient beings want. There are so many of them, and they want such contradictory things. Besides, to fulfill what they temporarily want may not be the best way to help them. The greatest of all ways to return their kindness is to help them become free from all suffering and to assist in the process of becoming liberated from cyclic existence and attaining the bliss of Buddhahood. It is important to realize here in the step of developing an intention to return others' kindness that acknowledging a debt does not mean that you must do what they say. Otherwise, you might hold back from the truth of their attentive care.
--from A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting with Others by Jeffrey Hopkins, foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
February 16
Praising others should be part of our daily life and a component of our Dharma practice. Imagine what our life would be like if we trained our minds to dwell on others' talents and good attributes. We would feel much happier and so would they! We would get along better with others, and our families, work environments, and living situations would be much more harmonious. We plants the seeds from such positive actions on our mindstream, creating the cause for harmonious relationships and success in our spiritual and temporal aims.
An interesting experiment is to try to say something nice to or about someone every day for a month. Try it. It makes us much more aware of what we say and why. It encourages us to change our perspective so that we notice others' good qualities. Doing so also improves our relationships tremendously.
A few years ago, I gave this as a homework assignment at a Dharma class, encouraging people to try to praise even someone they didn't like very much. The next week I asked the students how they did. One man said that the first day he had to make something up in order to speak positively to a fellow colleague. But after that, the man was so much nicer to him that it was easy to see his good qualities and speak about them!
--from Taming the Mind by Thubten Chodron
February 2 and 9(technical difficulties on 2/2 so quote was repeated)
Whenever you consider there is bliss, and the objective conditions for bliss occur, if you fall under the control of that by becoming arrogant or conceited, then that will fester as an obstruction to the spiritual path. Rather than thinking about what has caused this happiness, which most probably is the accumulation of merit or the removal of obscurations, as soon as the bliss occurs, you think, ''That's my nature." Based on that, you become arrogant or lazy, thinking, "Well, I've accomplished it." This is the greatest obstacle to the spiritual path. This is what creates the realms of deva-gods. Oftentimes it is said that people can handle only a little bit of felicity, but they can handle a lot of adversity. This is because happiness on the spiritual path is the most difficult thing to handle. Once it arises, that's where the path stops.
This does not mean that it is necessary to give it all up. Giving up happiness is not the practice. The main point is not to become mesmerized by happiness as the end result. You realize that, "Ah, now, the good quality of this is that I am fortunate, and this is another result of the great fortune of the path and the result of the accumulation of merit and wholesome deeds. Even more than ever, I will carry on with the work at hand to achieve liberation from cyclic existence." So with more diligence and more courage, you continue listening to teachings, contemplating, meditating, and appreciating this precious human rebirth.
--from Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga by Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, translated by Sangye Khandro and B. Alan Wallace
January 25
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the most profound and commonly practiced teachings are those of the Vajrayana. Within this powerful system of skillful means, the supreme view and most potent methods are found in the teachings and practices of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. These instructions are regarded as the pinnacle of the teachings and as the most direct path to realizing the nature of mind and the reality of the world.
The instructions of the Dzogchen lineage are used to directly point out the nature of mind and bring the experience of enlightenment into our ordinary life. These teachings are known as "pith instructions," the pure, quintessential knowledge that cuts through all confusion and gets straight to the point. There is a saying, "Don't beat around the bush," meaning, "Get to the point." That is Dzogchen.
In many ways, these teachings go beyond scripture and the formality of spiritual techniques. These two do have their place, since it is important to study scripture and meditate in a step-by-step manner. Yet, at some point we also must connect directly with the nature of mind. We have to strike the crucial point, the enlightened state, and leap directly into experiencing and realizing the true nature of our mind.
--from Great Perfection: Outer and Inner Preliminaries by the Third Dzogchen Rinpoche, translated by Cortland Dahl, introduction by Dzogchen Ponlop
January 19
Two Senses of Self
Psychologists talk about people who are co-dependent because they don't have a sense of self. What psychologists mean when they say a person has no sense of self is very different from what the Buddha meant by no-self or selflessness. People with psychological problems actually have a very strong sense of self in the Buddhist sense, although they may not in the psychological sense of the word. Psychologically, they don't see themselves as efficacious individuals in the world, but they still have a very strong sense of "I": "I am worthless." When somebody criticizes them, they don't like it. They get into co-dependent relationships to protect or to please this "I." When they fall into self-pity, their sense of an inherently existent "I" is very strong. Thus they still have self-grasping even though they lack a psychologically healthy sense of self.
Buddhism recognizes two kinds of sense of self. There's one sense of self that is healthy and necessary to be efficacious on the path. The object of this sense of self is the conventionally existent "I." The other sense of self grasps at an inherently existent self that never has and never will exist. Within Buddhism, when we talk about realizing emptiness, we're negating the false self, this self that appears inherently existent to us.
--from Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig by Thubten Chodron, foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama
January 12
From "The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo" by Padmasambhava
All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the luminous-empty body of the deity.
I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the future or lingers in the past.
Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the dharmakaya.
I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated,
I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
--from Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions translated and introduced by Karl Brunnhölzl
January 4
Unlike the Lesser Vehicle tenet systems, which teach only a selflessness of persons, the Great Vehicle tenet systems teach that the most profound reality, the most subtle and important type of selflessness, is a selflessness, or emptiness, that is a quality of all phenomena. They hold that the bodhisattva trains in altruistically motivated meditation on the emptiness of all phenomena, thus preparing for the omniscience of buddhahood. Some Great Vehicle systems maintain that Lesser Vehicle practitioners do not realize the profound emptiness of phenomena at all and are therefore unable to overcome the obstructions to omniscience. However, the highest system, the Middle Way Consequence system, holds that persons on Lesser Vehicle paths do realize emptiness, but are unable to achieve omniscience on their paths because their wisdom is not empowered by association with altruism and altruistically motivated actions of giving, ethics, patience, etc.
--from Appearance and Reality: The Two Truths in the Four Buddhist Tenet Systems by Guy Newland
2007
December 25
In Mahayana Buddhism, when one takes the bodhisattva vow, one pledges to work tirelessly in this life and all future lives to awaken oneself and purify oneself in order to help all other beings attain freedom from suffering through spiritual enlightenment. One vows to help beings whenever possible, and a profound way of doing this is to give a being the gift of life through an act of kindness. This can take the form of helping an animal in danger cross the road to safety before being struck by a vehicle or freeing an animal that is in captivity before it is killed by buying it from the captor and letting it roam free. If one is in a position to help save another's life--whether a human or an animal--one must practice fearless kindness to help the other being in danger.
In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that due to the countless incarnations all beings have undergone throughout time, at one point or another any given living creature has been one's mother in a past life. Therefore, it is viewed as an obligation to repay the kindness of those who are referred to as "mother sentient beings." If your own mother in this life were in danger, you would certainly do whatever you could to save her life. Similarly, dedicated holders of the bodhisattva vow feel this kind of urgency to save the lives of all "mother sentient beings."
--from Compassionate Action by Chatral Rinpoche, edited, introduced and annotated by Zach Larson
December 21
With the achievement of quiescence, the attention is drawn inwards and is maintained continuously, single-pointedly upon its object. Tsongkhapa emphasizes that genuine quiescence is necessarily preceded by an experience of an extraordinary degree of mental and physical pliancy, which entails an unprecedented sense of mental and physical fitness and buoyancy.
In the state of meditative equipoise, only the aspects of awareness, clarity, and joy of the mind appear, and all one's other sense faculties remain dormant. Thus, while one's consciousness seems as if it has become indivisible with space, one lacks any sensation of having a body; and when rising from that state, it seems as if one's body is suddenly coming into being. When genuine quiescence is achieved, one's attention can effortlessly be maintained for hours, even days, on end, with no interference by either laxity or excitation.
--from Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Refining Attention by B. Alan Wallace
December 15
There is another way of speaking about the two types of meditation. In this case, they are differentiated into 1) meditation that perceives the object and 2) meditation in which our mind is transformed into a specific affective state. An example of the former is meditating on impermanence and emptiness. These are subtle objects that we must use analytical meditation to perceive. An example of the latter is meditation on the four immeasurables (brahmaviharas)--love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Here we are not trying to perceive a subtle object, but are practicing to transform our minds into those mental states. For example, everyone admires the quality of love, but we cannot just say, "I should love everyone," and expect our deepest feelings to change. First, we must free our minds from the gross obstacles of attachment to friends, hostility to people who threaten or harm us, and apathy towards strangers. On this basis, we then train our mind to recognize the kindness of others, which arouses in us a natural wish to reciprocate and share our kindness with them. After this we meditate on love and cultivate a genuine wish for all sentient beings to have happiness and its causes. Initially that feeling will arise in us but will not be stable. Anger may still flash into our mind making our good feelings towards others disappear. We need to cultivate love continuously and do so with a focused mind. The greater our concentration, the more stable and penetrative the experience will be.
--from Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path by Ven. Thubten Chodron, foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama
December 8
Mantras are invocations to buddhas...prayers, or a combination of these. Tantric practitioners repeat them in order to forge karmic connections between themselves and meditational deities and to effect cognitive restructuring through internalizing the divine attributes that the mantra represents. A person who wishes to develop greater compassion, for instance, might recite the mantra of Avalokitesvara, who embodies this quality: om mani padme hum...[a] mantra [that] is well known to Tibetans. It represents for them the perfect compassion of Avalokitesvara, who they believe has taken a special interest in the spiritual welfare of the Tibetan people. He epitomizes universal compassion that is unsullied by any trace of negative emotions or mental afflictions.
Among ordinary beings there are, of course, many acts of compassion, but these are generally tinged by self-interest, pride, or desire for recognition. Avalokitesvara's compassion, by contrast, is completely free from all afflictions and is so vast that it encompasses all sentient beings without exception and without distinction. People who wish to develop such a perspective recite Avalokitesvara's mantra over and over, meditating on its significance, and in so doing they try to restructure their minds in accordance with the cultivation of his exalted qualities. According to the Dalai Lama, mani... symbolizes the factors of method--the altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary peace.... The two syllables, padme...symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would be contradiction if you did not have wisdom.... Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable hum, which indicates indivisibility.... Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.
--from Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers
December 1
Right now many of us wish for liberation, yet sometimes we cannot keep ourselves from creating the causes for cyclic existence. When we understand true suffering well, our wish for liberation will become firm. At present our resolve to reach liberation is not firm because we think of suffering, but not deeply. The deluded attitude believing that the unsatisfactoriness of change is true happiness easily arises in us because we are not yet deeply convinced that all happiness in cyclic existence is contaminated and is in fact only a variety of suffering. To remedy this, we should meditate on true suffering more often and explore its meaning deeply. Then our wish for liberation will become firm.
We consider many things--clothes, food, good health, nice possessions, financial security, the higher rebirths--as true happiness. As a result, we are attached to them and create more causes for suffering in cyclic existence in order to gain them. Thinking that the human birth is something marvelous, we work at creating the causes that propel us toward it. In fact all we are doing is creating the cause for yet another rebirth in cyclic existence, together with all the problems that such a rebirth involves.
If we understand that by its nature, cyclic existence is unsatisfactory, we will have a deep aversion to it. If we do not have a deep aversion to it, we will not be determined to be free, and therefore will not be able to destroy our self-grasping ignorance, which is the root of cyclic existence. In that case, we will not be able to attain liberation. However, when we deeply feel the extent to which we suffer in cyclic existence, we will automatically want to abandon the true origin of suffering, attain the true cessation, and meditate on the true path. Having realized true suffering, we will easily realize the other three of the four noble truths. Thus it is said: suffering is to be known. The origin is to be abandoned. The cessation is to be attained. The path is to be practiced. The determination to be free is the wish for ourselves to be free of cyclic existence. When we wish others to be free, that is compassion.
--from Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas by Geshe Jampa Tegchok, edited by Thubten Chodron
November 24
Mad yogins are known in virtually every tradition in Tibet, but most often in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, and also in the Shije (Pacification) and Chod traditions. The Nyingma, Kagyu, and Chod traditions are the three with which Tangtong Gyalpo had the closest ties. One of the texts in Tangtong's Oral Transmission, a collection of teachings originally passed down from Tangtong, quotes the great yogini Machik Labdron's statement concerning proper yogic conduct following realization. In response to a question by one of her sons, Machik recommended that a practitioner act like a child with unfeigned spontaneity, like a lunatic with no regard for what is conventionally acceptable, like a leper with no attachment to his or her own physical health, and like a wild animal wandering in isolated and rough terrain.
...Guru Padmasambhava himself prophesied that Tangtong Gyalpo would care for living beings by means of unpredictable actions. Tangtong's unusual conduct began to manifest at an early age, and resembled traits noted in the lives of other mad yogins. He was first called insane by his father and the members of his village when, as a child, he subdued a malicious spirit responsible for an epidemic. Several other early incidents are mentioned in the biographies. When he went to take scholastic examinations at the renowned monastery of Sakya he earned the nickname Tsondru Nyonpa (Crazy Tsondru) because of his disinterest in explaining the scriptural definitions of the highest states of realization. He preferred to spend his time absorbed in actually experiencing these states. When he was later practicing deliberate behavior secretly in a vast and empty wasteland, the dakinis gave him five names indicating his high realization, one of which was Lungtong Nyonpa (Madman of the Empty Valley).
--from King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo by Cyrus Stearns, a Tsadra Foundation book
November 17
The Treasure Discoverers
Most of the influential terma [hidden treasures or teachings] were purportedly secreted by Padmasambhava or his immediate disciples, and specific instructions were also laid down for each terma at the time of its concealment. The theory behind this system is that certain teachings would be especially effective at particular points in the future, and so they were hidden in a "time release" system which assured that at the appropriate time a terton would locate the teaching and disseminate it. When Padmasambhava hid these treasures, he prophesied the circumstances for the discovery of each terma and the terton who would find it. He predicted that there would be three "grand" tertons, eight "great" ones, twenty-one "powerful" ones, one hundred eight "intermediate," and one thousand "subsidiary" tertons. Most of these were to be recognized as emanations of Padmasambhava or his chief disciples.
...Many hidden treasures still remain undiscovered, awaiting the proper time for their dissemination. They continue to reinvigorate the Nyingma tradition, and a number have been incorporated into other lineages. The institution of terma serves as a link with the past of the tradition, a link that periodically revitalizes the present and points the way to the future. The system reflects the Mahayana ideal of skill in means, the ability to adapt teachings to changing circumstances.
--from Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers
November 10
Practicing compassion will bring about the recognition of emptiness as the true nature of the mind. When you practice virtuous actions of love and compassion on the relative level, you spontaneously realize the profound nature of emptiness, which is the absolute level. In turn, if you focus your meditation practice on emptiness, then your loving-kindness and compassion will spontaneously grow.
These two natures, the absolute and the relative, are not opposites; they always arise together. They have the same nature; they are inseparable like a fire and its heat or the sun and its light. Compassion and emptiness are not like two sides of a coin. Emptiness and compassion are not two separate elements joined together; they are always coexistent.
In Buddhism, emptiness does not mean the absence of apparent existence. Emptiness is not like a black hole or darkness, or like an empty house or an empty bottle. Emptiness is fullness and openness and flexibility. Because of emptiness it is possible for phenomena to function, for beings to see and hear, and for things to move and change. It is called emptiness because when we examine things we cannot find anything that substantially and solidly exists. There is nothing that has a truly existent nature. Everything we perceive appears through ever-changing causes and conditions, without an independent, solid basis. Although from a relative perspective things appear, they arise from emptiness and they dissolve into emptiness. All appearances are like water bubbles or the reflection of the moon in water.
--from Opening to our Primordial Nature by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche
November 3
Our painful experiences have brought the five poisons* right into our world. Our heavy sense of being a separate person has led to an anxiety about our safety in the world. This leads us to aversion and attachment, as we long to predict and control our relation with the environment. From this all the other fixed and defensive positions arise. And so the world that we encounter is covered over and suffused with many subtle moods of hopes and fears, doubts, jealousies, pride. So even here on a dharma retreat, as we look around the room, we have a complex sense of whose faces we can look at, and who we might have to look away from. This is not at all a neutral place. The force of projections, interpretations and impulsive reactions keeps us busy in trying to stay ahead of the game....
However in dzogchen we are trying to get to the essential point where nirvana and samsara separate. This is like a great weed killer: If you spray it once all the weeds, all the confusion, all the pain and suffering will vanish. You don't need to pluck out each weed by itself. Believing that you are a bad person is very unhelpful for the practice of dzogchen. Also believing that you are a good person is not very helpful in the practice of dzogchen. You are not a person! Resting in the unborn state we are a pure awareness free of the least defilement. When you give up your ego identity, your samsara citizenship, you tear up your identity card and all the problems and sins and police records linked to that identity vanish immediately.
* Five poisons - (dug nga) the five poisonous mental afflictions are desire, aggression, ignorance, pride, and jealousy. (Penetrating Wisdom)
--from Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje Entitled 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning' with commentary by James Low
October 27
There are different levels of faith. First, clear faith refers to the joy and clarity and change in our perceptions that we experience when we hear about the qualities of the Three Jewels and the lives of the Buddha and the great teachers. Longing faith is experienced when we think about the latter and are filled with a great desire to know more about their qualities and to acquire these ourselves. Confident faith comes through practicing the Dharma, when we acquire complete confidence in the truth of the teachings and the enlightenment of the Buddha. Finally, when faith has become so much a part of ourselves that even if our lives were at risk we could never give it up, it has become irreversible faith.
--from The Excellent Path to Enlightenment by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group
October 13
Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage. Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
Our habitual patterns can only be removed by understanding the great emptiness aspect of true nature, that which is named the Mother of all the buddhas. Emptiness is freedom; emptiness is great opportunity. It is pervasive and all phenomena arise from it. As the great master Jigme Lingpa said, "The entire universe is the mandala of the dakini." The Mother's mandala is all phenomena, the display of the wisdom dakini.
Without this ultimate great emptiness, the Mother of the buddhas, the universe would be without movement, development, or change. Because of this great emptiness state of the Mother, we see phenomena continually arising. Each display arises, transforms, and radiates, fulfilling its purpose and then dissolving back into its original state. This dramatic dance of energy is the activity, ability, or mandala of the wisdom dakini. Thus, the combination of the great emptiness or openness state, together with the activities of love and compassion, is both the ultimate Mother and the ultimate wisdom dakini.
--from Tara's Enlightened Activity: An Oral Commentary on "The Twenty-one Praises to Tara" by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche
October 6 (Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. We were moved by these inspiring words, and hope you will be, too.)
Morning Motivation
Let's recall our motivation in the morning and think that today, the most important thing I have to do is to guard my body, speech and mind so that I don't harm anybody through what I do with my body, through what I say, or even through what I think. That's the most important thing, more important than anything else today.
The second most important thing is, as much as possible, to be of benefit to others. Thoroughly cultivate that as your motivation simply for being alive today. Our purpose for being alive isn't just to keep this body alive, to eat and sleep, and have pleasure. We have a higher purpose, a higher meaning: to really work for the benefit of living beings. If the purpose of our life is simply to keep the body alive and have pleasure, then at the end of life, we have nothing to show for it. The body dies and all the pleasures, like last night's dream, have gone. But if we work for a higher motivation, a higher purpose, to really do what's beneficial for all living beings, then there's happiness and benefit now.
At the end of the life, the benefit that we've given to others continues, as do all the imprints of the attitude of kindness, the attitude of care towards others. All the imprints of having generated that positive mind go on with us into the next life. So even at the time of death, that kind heart brings incredible benefit and carries through into the next life.
And then let's also generate a third motivation--a really long-term motivation--to become fully enlightened. In other words, to have the wisdom, compassion, and skill so that in the long term, we'll be able to be of the greatest benefit to all living beings, even being able to lead them on the path to enlightenment. That's our really long-term purpose.
As we change and develop a kind heart, that influences every single living being we encounter in a positive way. Then, through the influence on them, it spreads out to all the people they know. So, just spending one day with a positive, long-term motivation may seem like a small thing, but when we think of the ripple effect it has now, and the benefit it has in future lives and for progressing along the path to liberation and enlightenment, we see that even one day spent with this motivation of kindness, directly and indirectly benefiting sentient beings, has tremendous outcomes--many, many good results.
Thubten Chodron is the author of many books, including her latest work, Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path
September 29
Object of Negation
When a subject is analyzed, the object to be negated is determined to be either an appearance or something imagined. It is not logical, [however,] to negate momentary appearances, because reasonings cannot negate them. To take an example: for people with eye diseases, the appearances of floaters [bits of optical debris], double moons, and the like do not stop as long as their eyesight is impaired. Similarly, as long as beings are not free from unafflicted ignorance, illusionlike appearances [manifesting] to the six modes of consciousness do not stop.
It is not necessary to negate [appearances], because our mistakes do not come from appearances: they arise from fixating on those [appearances]. This is the case because if we do not fixate on appearances, we are not bound--we are like a magician who, having conjured up a young woman, has no attachment towards her. [On the other hand, if,] like naive beings attached to an illusory young woman, we fixate intensely [on appearances], our karma and mental afflictions will increase.
To intentionally negate appearances would be wrong because, if they were negated, emptiness would come to mean the [absolute] nonexistence of things. Another reason this would be a mistake is that yogins and yoginis meditating on emptiness would fall into the extreme of nihilism since they would be applying their minds to a negation that [equals] the [absolute] nonexistence of everything.
Thus, [Madhyamikas] set out to negate only what is imagined, because that is what can be negated. Like a rope [mistaken] for a snake, what is imagined does not conform to facts: it is simply the mind's fixations.
--from The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Three: Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, translated by Elizabeth M. Callahan
September 22
Having committed yourself to certain practices, be steadfast and never transgress the promises you have made. Let go of everything that could tempt you to do so and devote yourself entirely and single-mindedly to the accomplishment of your aims. For six years the Buddha did not waver from his practice of the meditative stabilization known as "Pervading Space." This meditation focuses on the fundamental nature of phenomena, which is present wherever there is space. Everywhere throughout space there are suffering living beings on whom this meditation also focuses with the compassionate wish to relieve their suffering and the loving wish to give them happiness. Thus it combines essential wisdom and skillful means.
--from The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen translated and edited by Ruth Sonam
September 15
...an inherently existent "I" appears to us, but instead of assenting to that appearance and holding it to be true, we analyze how the "I" actually exists.
At those times in our life when there's a very solid feeling of "I," it's helpful to examine how that "I" appears. I remember the first time I stayed out all night in college and my mother didn't know. I came home the next day with this feeling that "I" really existed: "I did this and my mother doesn't know!" The feeling of "I" was just enormous, incredibly solid, because I did something I wasn't supposed to do.
Examine how that "I" appears, that big "I," especially when you have a strong emotion. Get familiar with that sense of "I." When somebody criticizes us or accuses us of doing something that we didn't do, this feeling comes up very quickly. Usually, we're focused not on the feeling of "I," but on attacking the other person or escaping from him. But if we can step back, it's an incredible opportunity to study the feeling of "I." The person who irritates us the most can be our best Dharma asset, because he gives us an opportunity to look at this sense of "I."
--from Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama
September 8
A practitioner needs faith, or trust.... Guru Rinpoche said that we should meditate in the same way that a sparrow enters a nest. A sparrow spends some time investigating whether or not it is safe to enter. Once his examination is over, he then enters unhesitatingly. That's a wonderful metaphor for practice. First clear up all your doubts about your technique, then throw yourself into the technique with no separation or self-consciousness. Of course, it's easy to say, but that is the direction toward which we should be moving.
Another necessary quality is determination. It's easy to gear oneself up for counting mantras or prostrations. For some, physical discipline is also easy. But the determination of the meditator is different. We must be determined to strive to purify our obscurations until they're completely gone--in other words, until our buddha-nature unobstructedly shines through. When we sit, we decide to do our best not to be swayed by our negativity. We should cultivate this attitude at the beginning of our session. Otherwise, no matter how much we practice, we will daydream a lot and our meditation will always be wishy-washy. I know this from experience--I may do my session of meditation, but it is tepid. Why? I don't have that inner strength to remain unmoved by the arising of the various mental contents.
--from A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism by Bruce Newman
August 31
Some people find it helpful to set a determination of a reasonable period of time during which they will sit in meditation without moving. If you do this, do not make it into a contest in which you grit your teeth in pain just to say that you sat without moving for a certain length of time. That isn't conducive for focusing with wisdom on the object of meditation. On the other hand, avoid moving whenever you feel the slightest bit of restlessness or discomfort. Doing that isn't conducive for developing concentration either. Rather, note when there is the urge to move but don't move. Observe the sensation: Is it really pain or is it simply restless energy in the body? Learn to differentiate between these two. Learn, also, to differentiate between pain and discomfort. Watch and study both of those when they arise in your field of experience.
In general, when attachment, anger, jealousy, or other distracting emo
