2017 was a very challenging year for most of us. There has been a lot of baseline anxiety, tension and frustration with our outer world and the perceived trajectory that we are all on. I really decided to focus a lot of my time and energy to meditation and teaching various courses for Younge Drodul Ling that were practice focused and useful. During much of the past six months, my writing has been mixed with my contemplation for these courses, which I have organized as a two part series on Bringing the Mind to Rest. These are in no way complete or comprehensive, but have been useful for me as I have been teaching those courses to other students. I hope you will enjoy reading through them on your own time.
Bringing the Mind to Rest series and other selected works.
I appreciate all of your support over this past year. I know it is easy to get sucked into the media these days, so thank you for choosing to take a moment to spend your time with me, listening to me, sitting with me, and hopefully using a tiny bit here and there to connect back to your own life and practice. Our practice is most important during times of change and uncertainty, continue to nurture and use it.
Here is an overview of the top posts from 2017, in no particular order.
Endless iterations.
Reverence.
Feeling Stuck.
Complexity, simplified.
Barchay.
Buddha heart.
Lit up.
Unpaid debt.
Dharma.
Idolatry.
Feeding concepts.
Born free.
Say yes.
Different emanations.
I hope.
Honor.
Buddha eye.
I wish you all a wonderful New Year!
May you enjoy health and a peaceful mind!
May you focus on your practice,
generously share love and kindness,
and may you accomplish the aims of yourself and others!
Clarify your practice. Let your practice clarify you.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Friday, December 29, 2017
The garden you tend to most.
By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.
Our conception of who we are is quite limited and limiting. We conceive of ourselves as our bodies, our feelings and perceptions, our thoughts, beliefs and positions. We often feel separate from others, segregated to a lonely and isolated existence. We have a deep yearning for connection with nature and contact with others. Most of us can intuit that our conception of who we are is limiting. We feel that bondage.
The Buddha taught that the examination of the self begins with examining the five skandhas. The self is composed of these five skandhas, and by examining the five skandhas we can arrive at the wisdom of selflessness.
The first of the skandhas is the rupa skandha, or aggregate of form. The rupa skandha refers to not only our own physical form, but more generally to everything that we can see, hear, smell, taste or touch. All matter is rupa skandha. Our environment and all beings, the entire universe, all that appears and exists is rupa skandha, our aggregate of form.
Our own body is the result of our past actions, and thus the most karmically significant rupa skandha based on our past experience. Our own physical body is the garden that we tend to daily, that we look after the most and identify with. But our rupa skandha is not only our physical body, it is also the environment and world around us.
Start seeing all form as your form. Start seeing your 'self' as your setting, your neighborhood, your world. When we appreciate our rupa skandha in this way, we want to take good care not only of our own body, but the environment and beings around us.
Start by tending to your own physical body with gentleness, attentiveness and kindness. Extend that to your neighborhood and community. Extend that to the whole world.
Let your gentleness, attentiveness and kindness spread.
By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.
Our conception of who we are is quite limited and limiting. We conceive of ourselves as our bodies, our feelings and perceptions, our thoughts, beliefs and positions. We often feel separate from others, segregated to a lonely and isolated existence. We have a deep yearning for connection with nature and contact with others. Most of us can intuit that our conception of who we are is limiting. We feel that bondage.
The Buddha taught that the examination of the self begins with examining the five skandhas. The self is composed of these five skandhas, and by examining the five skandhas we can arrive at the wisdom of selflessness.
The first of the skandhas is the rupa skandha, or aggregate of form. The rupa skandha refers to not only our own physical form, but more generally to everything that we can see, hear, smell, taste or touch. All matter is rupa skandha. Our environment and all beings, the entire universe, all that appears and exists is rupa skandha, our aggregate of form.
Our own body is the result of our past actions, and thus the most karmically significant rupa skandha based on our past experience. Our own physical body is the garden that we tend to daily, that we look after the most and identify with. But our rupa skandha is not only our physical body, it is also the environment and world around us.
Start seeing all form as your form. Start seeing your 'self' as your setting, your neighborhood, your world. When we appreciate our rupa skandha in this way, we want to take good care not only of our own body, but the environment and beings around us.
Start by tending to your own physical body with gentleness, attentiveness and kindness. Extend that to your neighborhood and community. Extend that to the whole world.
Let your gentleness, attentiveness and kindness spread.
By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.
Friday, December 22, 2017
Rest, newly found.
We all need a break. We all appreciate downtime and a chance to unplug and relax. The constancy of our lives can be exhausting. We are all weary travelers in search of a place to rest and refresh.
Normally, we conceive of rest as going on a vacation, enjoying a free weekend, maybe a nice mountain cottage or beach getaway. Rest is often sought outside of us.
When we talk about bringing the mind to rest, we are learning to rest in a new way. In meditation we are learning to rest in our own nature, the nature of our mind and the nature of reality. This type of rest definitely involves turning inwards, but it also involves opening up. Resting in this way, we first appreciate the natural peace, joy and fullness of our own nature. Gradually, layer after layer of our own projection and protection start unfold and release, revealing more openness, contentment and well-being.
This type of rest is entirely remote to us, yet is always accessible. We don't need to travel to far off or exotic regions, we don't need to plan for an extensive leave or gather all kinds of right circumstances. We simply need to sit.
Normally, we conceive of rest as going on a vacation, enjoying a free weekend, maybe a nice mountain cottage or beach getaway. Rest is often sought outside of us.
When we talk about bringing the mind to rest, we are learning to rest in a new way. In meditation we are learning to rest in our own nature, the nature of our mind and the nature of reality. This type of rest definitely involves turning inwards, but it also involves opening up. Resting in this way, we first appreciate the natural peace, joy and fullness of our own nature. Gradually, layer after layer of our own projection and protection start unfold and release, revealing more openness, contentment and well-being.
This type of rest is entirely remote to us, yet is always accessible. We don't need to travel to far off or exotic regions, we don't need to plan for an extensive leave or gather all kinds of right circumstances. We simply need to sit.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
The problem with a guide.
Guides are important.
Say it is your first time in New York. Any city can be overwhelming and intimidating on your first trip, even more so a city that is as complex and fast paced as NYC. You have to learn the local transportation systems, navigate different neighborhoods and learn to deal with the local culture. A guide can simplify that first encounter. They can tell you where to go, and what to avoid. They can give you helpful tips and highlight important details that might otherwise be overlooked. They can remove a lot of the stress and uncertainty in that initial visit.
The problem with a guide is that you are experiencing the city through their lens. If they are really into the local history, you will hear a lot about that history. If they are into art, they will draw your attention to art in the city. Their experience will color and shape your experience.
When traveling, this might be just fine. During guided meditation, it is important that you recognize this important flaw.
When you are just getting started with meditation, having a guide walk you through might be really helpful. They will drop important reminders, show you where people often go astray. They'll remind you to come back, again and again.
But if someone is always guiding you, your mind is simply following along. It is being led and you are having a conditional experience.
Once you know the basics of what meditation is and how to apply the various instructions, you need to go out on your own. You need to get lost in the woods and try to figure out a way back home. You need to encounter your own doubt, fear and uncertainty about the process. When you do this, you will encounter all kinds of other challenges and questions. Bring those questions back to your guide, and then you will also discover the importance of finding an excellent guide on the path.
Say it is your first time in New York. Any city can be overwhelming and intimidating on your first trip, even more so a city that is as complex and fast paced as NYC. You have to learn the local transportation systems, navigate different neighborhoods and learn to deal with the local culture. A guide can simplify that first encounter. They can tell you where to go, and what to avoid. They can give you helpful tips and highlight important details that might otherwise be overlooked. They can remove a lot of the stress and uncertainty in that initial visit.
The problem with a guide is that you are experiencing the city through their lens. If they are really into the local history, you will hear a lot about that history. If they are into art, they will draw your attention to art in the city. Their experience will color and shape your experience.
When traveling, this might be just fine. During guided meditation, it is important that you recognize this important flaw.
When you are just getting started with meditation, having a guide walk you through might be really helpful. They will drop important reminders, show you where people often go astray. They'll remind you to come back, again and again.
But if someone is always guiding you, your mind is simply following along. It is being led and you are having a conditional experience.
Once you know the basics of what meditation is and how to apply the various instructions, you need to go out on your own. You need to get lost in the woods and try to figure out a way back home. You need to encounter your own doubt, fear and uncertainty about the process. When you do this, you will encounter all kinds of other challenges and questions. Bring those questions back to your guide, and then you will also discover the importance of finding an excellent guide on the path.
Monday, December 18, 2017
The foundation of compassion.
Compassion requires that we are present, that we remain open and responsive to others and the situations that we find ourselves in. A compassionate mind is engaged, connected and available. A compassionate heart hears, acknowledges and understands.
All of us have some measure of compassion. Often that circle is small and narrow, but we can train ourselves to develop great compassion. We can train in generating a mind that has compassion for all beings, everywhere, regardless of their circumstances.
The foundation for generating great compassion is self-awareness. If we can't be open and non-judgemental with ourselves, how can we remain open and present with others.
Self-awareness is a lens through which we see our own mind, thoughts, emotions, fears and neurosis. Self-awareness knows our present state. As we engage in meditation and strengthen our mindfulness and vigilant awareness, we start to see and appreciate the various levels of the self. We start to gain more agility in dealing with strong negative emotions and thoughts. Mindfulness and vigilant awareness deepen our self-awareness, which allows us to be more open and perceptive to who we are and who we are not.
As we train in compassion, we are really training in how to remain present, open and responsive. If we find ourselves shutting down, turning away or tuning out, then our practice of being compassionate has slipped into the mire of self-focus and our own agenda. Self-awareness allows us to assess and manage that process of shutting down and turning away, it allows us to see what we are averse to and to try to let go of our fixation.
A simple practice to work with this practice of self-awareness and compassion is tonglen, or giving and accepting. In this practice, we can see where we start to shut down to others pain and suffering. We can see what kind of situations we tend to turn away from. It might be easy to practice tonglen with a loved one in mind, but it might be very difficult when that person is a homeless man or someone who causes you a lot of trouble. It might also be easy if someone is suffering from certain mundane problems, but very difficult if that person has a debilitating cancer or illness.
Where do you start to shut down in your practice? In your daily life? Use the power of self-awareness to catch yourself as you start to tune out and turn away.
The practice of compassion extremely powerful and includes all aspects of the path. Everything is connected, and so are we.
All of us have some measure of compassion. Often that circle is small and narrow, but we can train ourselves to develop great compassion. We can train in generating a mind that has compassion for all beings, everywhere, regardless of their circumstances.
The foundation for generating great compassion is self-awareness. If we can't be open and non-judgemental with ourselves, how can we remain open and present with others.
Self-awareness is a lens through which we see our own mind, thoughts, emotions, fears and neurosis. Self-awareness knows our present state. As we engage in meditation and strengthen our mindfulness and vigilant awareness, we start to see and appreciate the various levels of the self. We start to gain more agility in dealing with strong negative emotions and thoughts. Mindfulness and vigilant awareness deepen our self-awareness, which allows us to be more open and perceptive to who we are and who we are not.
As we train in compassion, we are really training in how to remain present, open and responsive. If we find ourselves shutting down, turning away or tuning out, then our practice of being compassionate has slipped into the mire of self-focus and our own agenda. Self-awareness allows us to assess and manage that process of shutting down and turning away, it allows us to see what we are averse to and to try to let go of our fixation.
A simple practice to work with this practice of self-awareness and compassion is tonglen, or giving and accepting. In this practice, we can see where we start to shut down to others pain and suffering. We can see what kind of situations we tend to turn away from. It might be easy to practice tonglen with a loved one in mind, but it might be very difficult when that person is a homeless man or someone who causes you a lot of trouble. It might also be easy if someone is suffering from certain mundane problems, but very difficult if that person has a debilitating cancer or illness.
Where do you start to shut down in your practice? In your daily life? Use the power of self-awareness to catch yourself as you start to tune out and turn away.
The practice of compassion extremely powerful and includes all aspects of the path. Everything is connected, and so are we.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Crossing the chasm.
Vipasyana is the practice of looking at the mind and the nature of the self. Once we have cultivated a mind that is calm and clear, we use it to look at the nature of mind and the nature of reality. Since birth we have taken this self to be truly existing. Our bodies change over time, our ideas and beliefs might fluctuate and change, but there is a conscious aspect of the mind that seems to continue throughout our whole life, that seems to be permanent and true.
This minds existence is never really challenged, we simply know it experientially to be true.
There is a great chasm that we need to cross in our practice of vipasyana. We need to cross over the threshold of believing and apprehending of the self as being permanent, real, unchanging and true. On the other side of that chasm is the conception of a self that is impermanent, interconnected, constantly changing and flexible. Those two seem irreconcilable.
Our conception of the self as being real and unchanging leads to us feeling stuck and powerless in situations. We often find ourselves searching for external relief and trying to manipulate external conditions. We languish in our efforts to prop up the self by controlling outer circumstances. Reifying the self, we simultaneously invest great importance in our material conditions and our experience of the world around us. We believe deep down that if we can just get everything right, that our sense of self and our place in the world will all be secured.
When a gap opens up in our meditation, look at that gap.
Look at our habitual perception and our ingrained conception of the self. Is it true? Who are we? What is the nature of this self that we hold so dear?
If we look at the self through the lens of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, we can start to appreciate how the self truly abides. We can start to see that the self is composed of many facets- our body, emotions, perceptions, thoughts and beliefs, and of course our consciousness- all those are connected. We can start to appreciate how our consciousness itself is composed of many facets. We have emotions and experience them in our mind, but we are not our emotions. We have thoughts and ideas, but we are not our thoughts and ideas. We experience various sense appearances like sights, sounds and smells, but none of those are who we are.
Simply looking at the mind through this lens of the Dharma, we start to see our false notions and beliefs in who we think we are. We start to see our limiting conceptions and how our emotional imbalance limits our capacity to act as we intend. Simply looking at the present condition of our mind and self, we can see all of the factors that brought us to the here and now.
Simply see. Witness this appearance of the self free from judgement or bias. This is the essence of self-awareness.
Having this insight into the self, we start to see more truly. We still conceive of a self, but that is interconnected with a larger whole. The outer world still exists, but we can see that it is constantly changing and dynamic. We can appreciate this newfound perspective of mindful awareness, but it also carries with it a deep and profound sense of responsibility. We see how much we contribute to our own suffering and the suffering of others. We see how we perpetuate negative mental states and unwanted emotions. We also see the potential for freedom and a path forward.
We see all of that. We see ourselves standing on both sides of the chasm, not quite embodying either.
We don't just cross the chasm in a single leap. We cross it, and then we fall back into habitual patterns of conception. We leap over it, only to realize we landed back where we started. We stand on the other side, enjoy the view, only to be pulled back once again.
The path of seeing is the start of a long path ahead. It doesn't happen all at once, and yet it does time and time again.
Crossing the chasm might just require that you turn awareness back on itself.
This minds existence is never really challenged, we simply know it experientially to be true.
There is a great chasm that we need to cross in our practice of vipasyana. We need to cross over the threshold of believing and apprehending of the self as being permanent, real, unchanging and true. On the other side of that chasm is the conception of a self that is impermanent, interconnected, constantly changing and flexible. Those two seem irreconcilable.
Our conception of the self as being real and unchanging leads to us feeling stuck and powerless in situations. We often find ourselves searching for external relief and trying to manipulate external conditions. We languish in our efforts to prop up the self by controlling outer circumstances. Reifying the self, we simultaneously invest great importance in our material conditions and our experience of the world around us. We believe deep down that if we can just get everything right, that our sense of self and our place in the world will all be secured.
When a gap opens up in our meditation, look at that gap.
Look at our habitual perception and our ingrained conception of the self. Is it true? Who are we? What is the nature of this self that we hold so dear?
If we look at the self through the lens of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, we can start to appreciate how the self truly abides. We can start to see that the self is composed of many facets- our body, emotions, perceptions, thoughts and beliefs, and of course our consciousness- all those are connected. We can start to appreciate how our consciousness itself is composed of many facets. We have emotions and experience them in our mind, but we are not our emotions. We have thoughts and ideas, but we are not our thoughts and ideas. We experience various sense appearances like sights, sounds and smells, but none of those are who we are.
Simply looking at the mind through this lens of the Dharma, we start to see our false notions and beliefs in who we think we are. We start to see our limiting conceptions and how our emotional imbalance limits our capacity to act as we intend. Simply looking at the present condition of our mind and self, we can see all of the factors that brought us to the here and now.
Simply see. Witness this appearance of the self free from judgement or bias. This is the essence of self-awareness.
Having this insight into the self, we start to see more truly. We still conceive of a self, but that is interconnected with a larger whole. The outer world still exists, but we can see that it is constantly changing and dynamic. We can appreciate this newfound perspective of mindful awareness, but it also carries with it a deep and profound sense of responsibility. We see how much we contribute to our own suffering and the suffering of others. We see how we perpetuate negative mental states and unwanted emotions. We also see the potential for freedom and a path forward.
We see all of that. We see ourselves standing on both sides of the chasm, not quite embodying either.
We don't just cross the chasm in a single leap. We cross it, and then we fall back into habitual patterns of conception. We leap over it, only to realize we landed back where we started. We stand on the other side, enjoy the view, only to be pulled back once again.
The path of seeing is the start of a long path ahead. It doesn't happen all at once, and yet it does time and time again.
Crossing the chasm might just require that you turn awareness back on itself.
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
The limits of perception.
Vipasyana is the practice of looking. It is a practice of seeing directly, gaining firsthand experience. But isn't all perception relative? Doesn't the mere act of seeing mean that others may see things differently?
All perception is limited by our thoughts and ideas about what we are seeing. Concepts define what we experience. Our own bias and value judgements color and shape our perception of the world and what we hold to be true. So if vipasyana is the practice of looking, can we ever see truly or are we simply seeing within the cage of our own confusion?
Vipasyana is preceded by the practice of shamatha because in shamatha we learn to let go of grasping to thoughts and following after trains of thought. The practice of shamatha gives us the skills and familiarity to recognize the limits of thoughts and ideas. Thoughts and ideas are not the thing itself. Concepts are not real. When we recognize this crucial flaw of concepts, we stop investing in them. We loosen the tight knots of limiting beliefs and perceptions.
Our view influences our meditation, and our view is largely formed by concepts and cultural influences that we have rarely examined fully if at all. Coming to a right view is an important first step to approaching meditation, but even more important is learning to engage in a practice that recognizes the futility of thoughts and ideas about the way things are. When we learn to simply look, free from mental elaboration and speculation, then we can start to appreciate what is right in front of us. Then we can start to explore the limits of perception and what is really true.
All perception is limited by our thoughts and ideas about what we are seeing. Concepts define what we experience. Our own bias and value judgements color and shape our perception of the world and what we hold to be true. So if vipasyana is the practice of looking, can we ever see truly or are we simply seeing within the cage of our own confusion?
Vipasyana is preceded by the practice of shamatha because in shamatha we learn to let go of grasping to thoughts and following after trains of thought. The practice of shamatha gives us the skills and familiarity to recognize the limits of thoughts and ideas. Thoughts and ideas are not the thing itself. Concepts are not real. When we recognize this crucial flaw of concepts, we stop investing in them. We loosen the tight knots of limiting beliefs and perceptions.
Our view influences our meditation, and our view is largely formed by concepts and cultural influences that we have rarely examined fully if at all. Coming to a right view is an important first step to approaching meditation, but even more important is learning to engage in a practice that recognizes the futility of thoughts and ideas about the way things are. When we learn to simply look, free from mental elaboration and speculation, then we can start to appreciate what is right in front of us. Then we can start to explore the limits of perception and what is really true.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Reading is not enough.
How do you know something?
When it comes to the practice of vipasyana, how we come to know something is important. Over the past two thousand years Buddhist traditions have developed a rather extensive system of reason and logic. One of the subjects that was developed by Dignaga and Dharmakirti was the system of pramana, or valid cognition. How do we go about correctly knowing something?
Broadly speaking there are two types of valid cognition, inferential and direct. Inferential valid cognition is made using reason, logic and analysis to come to know something. We can study, read various works on the subject at hand, and debate others until we come to a correct understanding.
Direct valid cognition is a direct experience that is free from concepts. Direct valid cognition is seeing something directly, having your own experience. You can study the great stupa at Boudhanath, its layout and history, the various materials and methods used for its construction; but that is a very different experience than actually being at the great stupa, seeing it firsthand, feeling the energy of the environment and the various sounds, smells and interactions taking place. Direct valid cognition is a first-hand experience that is free from conceptual imputations or bias.
In the practice of insight, we are relying on direct valid cognition. The time to use inferential valid cognition is before the meditation session. Inferential valid cognition enriches and prepares us, but it is not a replacement for the actual experience. We should study interdependence and emptiness, we should be familiar with the different presentations of mind and how it manifests, and we should be familiar with how to recognize the nature of mind. We should read, a lot. But reading is not enough. At the time of practicing vipasyana, we need to set aside our ideas and concepts and focus on our actual experience.
Vipasyana is the practice of have a direct valid cognition of the nature of the mind and the nature of reality. This is our chance to see things as they are, don't waste your time and energy on going back to ideas and concepts. Look directly. What do you see?
When it comes to the practice of vipasyana, how we come to know something is important. Over the past two thousand years Buddhist traditions have developed a rather extensive system of reason and logic. One of the subjects that was developed by Dignaga and Dharmakirti was the system of pramana, or valid cognition. How do we go about correctly knowing something?
Broadly speaking there are two types of valid cognition, inferential and direct. Inferential valid cognition is made using reason, logic and analysis to come to know something. We can study, read various works on the subject at hand, and debate others until we come to a correct understanding.
Direct valid cognition is a direct experience that is free from concepts. Direct valid cognition is seeing something directly, having your own experience. You can study the great stupa at Boudhanath, its layout and history, the various materials and methods used for its construction; but that is a very different experience than actually being at the great stupa, seeing it firsthand, feeling the energy of the environment and the various sounds, smells and interactions taking place. Direct valid cognition is a first-hand experience that is free from conceptual imputations or bias.
In the practice of insight, we are relying on direct valid cognition. The time to use inferential valid cognition is before the meditation session. Inferential valid cognition enriches and prepares us, but it is not a replacement for the actual experience. We should study interdependence and emptiness, we should be familiar with the different presentations of mind and how it manifests, and we should be familiar with how to recognize the nature of mind. We should read, a lot. But reading is not enough. At the time of practicing vipasyana, we need to set aside our ideas and concepts and focus on our actual experience.
Vipasyana is the practice of have a direct valid cognition of the nature of the mind and the nature of reality. This is our chance to see things as they are, don't waste your time and energy on going back to ideas and concepts. Look directly. What do you see?
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