The true nature of reality is beyond expression. Our own nature, the nature of our mind, can be directly encountered, but it is itself inexpressible.
Our minds really struggle with this. Concepts, words and ideas are the currency of our ordinary mind.
There are two terms that are used to approach the understanding of ultimate reality: dharmakaya and dharmadhatu.
Dharmakaya refers to the originally pure, empty nature of our own awareness. It is uncaused, unstained, free from reference points and the extremes of 'it is' or 'it is not'. The metaphor for understanding the dharmakaya is that it is like space. Pure presence is experienced as open, spacious and transparent, with nothing to hold onto.
The dharmadhatu refers to the true nature of reality that is free from the extremes of 'it is' or 'it is not'. The dharmadhatu is the union of the two truths, relative and ultimate, that is itself the infinite play of dependent origination in which no thing is ever truly born. All phenomena being dependently originated, they are empty in nature. Unborn and unceasing, the illusory play of reality unfolds continuously and yet nothing ever comes into being. (If you don't understand this, please ask questions!)
When pure, open awareness of the interconnected universe is made fully evident, one experiences the dharmakaya blending with the dharmadhatu. This is the single sphere of awareness, the non-dual experiential reality of awakened mind. Abiding in the primordial state of the single sphere of awareness, all that appears and exists is but the infinite play of dependent origination as the dynamic energy of awareness.
As soon as concepts, reification or fixation on what is 'real' or 'me' or 'mine', you experience the split into subject and object duality. The result is diminished presence and getting caught up in the wheel of cyclic existence.
You can't think your way to a non-dual experience of reality.
Clarify your practice. Let your practice clarify you.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Friday, October 25, 2019
The cult of productivity.
If you could choose, would you be more productive or more present?
Can you be more productive so that you can be more present?
Are the two always at odds against one another?
The cult of productivity has a large following. There is a profound loss of presence and understanding in our world.
Where do we need to direct our attention?
When the cult of productivity requests an offering of your effort and attention, how can you say no to the alms bowl that has made its way to you?
Is it possible to stay in the community and not worship at the altar of productivity? Must you be sent out into the desert with no future to look forward to?
What happens when presence sets foot in the temple of productivity and refuses to bend the knee to false gods?
Can presence fulfill the same work yet attend to different rules and metrics?
There is no easy answer to these questions. Most important is to know that you are in the cult and to decide if that is the place you want to be.
Can you be more productive so that you can be more present?
Are the two always at odds against one another?
The cult of productivity has a large following. There is a profound loss of presence and understanding in our world.
Where do we need to direct our attention?
When the cult of productivity requests an offering of your effort and attention, how can you say no to the alms bowl that has made its way to you?
Is it possible to stay in the community and not worship at the altar of productivity? Must you be sent out into the desert with no future to look forward to?
What happens when presence sets foot in the temple of productivity and refuses to bend the knee to false gods?
Can presence fulfill the same work yet attend to different rules and metrics?
There is no easy answer to these questions. Most important is to know that you are in the cult and to decide if that is the place you want to be.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Gradual change for sudden transformation.
The navy seals have an intriguing combat motto:
A methodical, deliberate practice seems too slow, that the results you are looking for aren't going to show up. Actually, most often a deliberate and methodical approach produces faster results. How do we best move from one state to another?
An integral part of studying thermodynamics and physical chemistry is understanding phase transitions. A phase transition is a transformation of a system from one state into another. A solid into a liquid, a liquid into a gas. Understanding phase transitions allows us to understand how gradual change leads to sudden transformation.
What is interesting about phase transitions is that systems often appear stable and resistant to change, and all of a sudden the system shifts. Water can absorb a lot of heat and only boils at 212 degrees to become a gas. Water freezes at 32 degrees to become ice, at 33 degrees it is bloody cold water. These systems can be influenced by changing some variables, such as adding salt to water to increase the temperature needed to boil the water, but even with those variables the phase transition itself happens quickly.
There are those who practice Mahamudra and Dzogchen that insist that it is a sudden path and that no work or effort is needed. You are simply introduced directly to the nature of your own mind and then you proceed to gain certainty about that unique state. No preparation needed, no foundation of experience necesssary. To prepare or to engage in practice is to delude yourself into the confused ways of the gradual approach!
There is only one significant problem with this approach: we must start where we are. Our ordinary untrained mind is conditioned by concepts and fixation. We constantly label phenomena and tell stories about our experience. Our minds are easily hooked by pleasant and exciting possibilities. That untrained mind may be introduced to the nature of mind, and its initial reaction will be, "This is it! I have it."And then we go on telling ourselves the story of our enlightenment with all of the right logic and reasoning (concepts) to back it up.
It's inevitable. Fast gets you nowhere.
Compare that with the methodical deliberate practice of gaining familiarity with your mind and encountering the various aspects of the nature of mind directly. You can encounter and recognize the abiding aspects of awareness in your meditation. You can learn to work with movement and clarity in your meditation so that you are no longer hooked by whatever is coming up in your experience. You can learn to bring awareness into various mental states and to discover how they are free in their own place. You can become accustomed to not labeling your experience, not engaging the story, seeing through the thought.
Having this type of experience makes you a receptive vessel for actually recognizing the nature of mind. You're already practically there even though everything seems to be much the same as it was before, because you're hanging on the edge of a phase transition.
Gradual change leads to sudden transformation. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
A methodical, deliberate practice seems too slow, that the results you are looking for aren't going to show up. Actually, most often a deliberate and methodical approach produces faster results. How do we best move from one state to another?
An integral part of studying thermodynamics and physical chemistry is understanding phase transitions. A phase transition is a transformation of a system from one state into another. A solid into a liquid, a liquid into a gas. Understanding phase transitions allows us to understand how gradual change leads to sudden transformation.
What is interesting about phase transitions is that systems often appear stable and resistant to change, and all of a sudden the system shifts. Water can absorb a lot of heat and only boils at 212 degrees to become a gas. Water freezes at 32 degrees to become ice, at 33 degrees it is bloody cold water. These systems can be influenced by changing some variables, such as adding salt to water to increase the temperature needed to boil the water, but even with those variables the phase transition itself happens quickly.
There are those who practice Mahamudra and Dzogchen that insist that it is a sudden path and that no work or effort is needed. You are simply introduced directly to the nature of your own mind and then you proceed to gain certainty about that unique state. No preparation needed, no foundation of experience necesssary. To prepare or to engage in practice is to delude yourself into the confused ways of the gradual approach!
There is only one significant problem with this approach: we must start where we are. Our ordinary untrained mind is conditioned by concepts and fixation. We constantly label phenomena and tell stories about our experience. Our minds are easily hooked by pleasant and exciting possibilities. That untrained mind may be introduced to the nature of mind, and its initial reaction will be, "This is it! I have it."And then we go on telling ourselves the story of our enlightenment with all of the right logic and reasoning (concepts) to back it up.
It's inevitable. Fast gets you nowhere.
Compare that with the methodical deliberate practice of gaining familiarity with your mind and encountering the various aspects of the nature of mind directly. You can encounter and recognize the abiding aspects of awareness in your meditation. You can learn to work with movement and clarity in your meditation so that you are no longer hooked by whatever is coming up in your experience. You can learn to bring awareness into various mental states and to discover how they are free in their own place. You can become accustomed to not labeling your experience, not engaging the story, seeing through the thought.
Having this type of experience makes you a receptive vessel for actually recognizing the nature of mind. You're already practically there even though everything seems to be much the same as it was before, because you're hanging on the edge of a phase transition.
Gradual change leads to sudden transformation. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Friday, October 18, 2019
Revealing lucid clarity.
རང་གསལ་
Tibetan: rang-sal
English: natural clarity, innate lucidity, self-luminous
The final state of resting in the natural state is rang-sal, or revealing the sharp lucidity of the nature of mind. Recalling our metaphor of a dirty glass of water, if we let it rest naturally and maintain that state of rest, naturally the obscurations of dirt settle out revealing the natural clarity of the water. Similarly, in our meditation, if we rest naturally, rang-bab and maintain that continuity, rang-nay, then the natural clarity of awareness becomes fully evident.
During the second state of maintaining the continuity of the natural state, rang-nay, we familiarized ourselves with recognizing the illusory play of mind and appearances. Initially, these appearances are gross phenomena, and eventually they become more subtle.
A key point for actualizing the natural clarity of awareness is to recognize when we are fixating on the natural clarity of the mind and straying into appearances. The nature of mind is luminous emptiness, so as we settle into the natural state we are going to encounter the luminosity of the mind. How we work with that luminosity becomes crucially important.
Any searching or striving binds us and causes a deviation into mind and mental states. Identifying with, reaching for, or holding onto the luminosity display of appearances in all their variety constitutes an obscuring factor and results in the diminished presence of confusion.
Conversely, in this state we also risk of settling into the foundational consciousnessness, or the alaya, in which there is a stable, peaceful meditation state but no clarity or lucidity. Recognize that subtle dullness and interrupt that meditation experience, again letting go and settling into the natural state.
The instruction for working with the natural clarity of the nature of mind in order to recognize awareness or rigpa is to recognize the illusory play of empty appearances as liberated upon arising, or shardrol. When there is no deviating or fixating on the illusory play of appearances, which represent the clarity aspect of the mind, then the sharp lucidity of awareness can be revealed, like space free from reference points. Free of all thought, completely transparent and pristine like an alpine lake, this is the unceasing luminosity of the ground of awareness.
From this state in our meditation, the teacher can point out rigpa directly. Having made fully evident the groundless, transparent awareness and eliminated the error of trying to hold onto anything, naked awareness is directly revealed as your own innate buddhanature, the state of the natural great perfection.
Having gained a direct introduction to your own true nature, next you need to be decisive about this unique state and eliminate doubt and uncertainty. That would be Garab Dorje's second key point.
Tibetan: rang-sal
English: natural clarity, innate lucidity, self-luminous
The final state of resting in the natural state is rang-sal, or revealing the sharp lucidity of the nature of mind. Recalling our metaphor of a dirty glass of water, if we let it rest naturally and maintain that state of rest, naturally the obscurations of dirt settle out revealing the natural clarity of the water. Similarly, in our meditation, if we rest naturally, rang-bab and maintain that continuity, rang-nay, then the natural clarity of awareness becomes fully evident.
During the second state of maintaining the continuity of the natural state, rang-nay, we familiarized ourselves with recognizing the illusory play of mind and appearances. Initially, these appearances are gross phenomena, and eventually they become more subtle.
A key point for actualizing the natural clarity of awareness is to recognize when we are fixating on the natural clarity of the mind and straying into appearances. The nature of mind is luminous emptiness, so as we settle into the natural state we are going to encounter the luminosity of the mind. How we work with that luminosity becomes crucially important.
Any searching or striving binds us and causes a deviation into mind and mental states. Identifying with, reaching for, or holding onto the luminosity display of appearances in all their variety constitutes an obscuring factor and results in the diminished presence of confusion.
Conversely, in this state we also risk of settling into the foundational consciousnessness, or the alaya, in which there is a stable, peaceful meditation state but no clarity or lucidity. Recognize that subtle dullness and interrupt that meditation experience, again letting go and settling into the natural state.
The instruction for working with the natural clarity of the nature of mind in order to recognize awareness or rigpa is to recognize the illusory play of empty appearances as liberated upon arising, or shardrol. When there is no deviating or fixating on the illusory play of appearances, which represent the clarity aspect of the mind, then the sharp lucidity of awareness can be revealed, like space free from reference points. Free of all thought, completely transparent and pristine like an alpine lake, this is the unceasing luminosity of the ground of awareness.
From this state in our meditation, the teacher can point out rigpa directly. Having made fully evident the groundless, transparent awareness and eliminated the error of trying to hold onto anything, naked awareness is directly revealed as your own innate buddhanature, the state of the natural great perfection.
Having gained a direct introduction to your own true nature, next you need to be decisive about this unique state and eliminate doubt and uncertainty. That would be Garab Dorje's second key point.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Cut through the experience.
One meditation instruction from my teacher Younge Khachab Rinpoche that was really useful and had a profound impact on my meditation was to intentionally interrupt positive experiences of meditation.
This might seem counterintuitive, because we are trying to accomplish something in meditation after all, aren't we?
The instruction applies to the state of naturally abiding, or rang-nay. When we start to really feel like we have it, and maybe we are having some kind of positive experience, then we intentionally slightly interrupt that meditation. Shift your posture. Maybe circle your head, or shift your gaze. Then, settle right back into the natural state. Let go, rang-bab.
This subtle instruction breaks us from the bondage of clinging to positive experiences, and it also gives you more agility to seamlessly relax into the natural state. It is not a big, dramatic interruption. Keep it small, a few seconds really. Then rang-bab, settle into the natural state again.
You don't need to always apply this technique. Use it skillfully. Especially if you ever find yourself with your great and unmatched wisdom saying, "Ah, yes. This is it." Interrupt that grasping.
This might seem counterintuitive, because we are trying to accomplish something in meditation after all, aren't we?
The instruction applies to the state of naturally abiding, or rang-nay. When we start to really feel like we have it, and maybe we are having some kind of positive experience, then we intentionally slightly interrupt that meditation. Shift your posture. Maybe circle your head, or shift your gaze. Then, settle right back into the natural state. Let go, rang-bab.
This subtle instruction breaks us from the bondage of clinging to positive experiences, and it also gives you more agility to seamlessly relax into the natural state. It is not a big, dramatic interruption. Keep it small, a few seconds really. Then rang-bab, settle into the natural state again.
You don't need to always apply this technique. Use it skillfully. Especially if you ever find yourself with your great and unmatched wisdom saying, "Ah, yes. This is it." Interrupt that grasping.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Meditation retreat: this weekend!
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Event to be held at the following time, date, and location:
Sunday, October 20, 2019 from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM (PDT)
Private Residence
515 N 64th St Seattle, WA 98103 |
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Friday, October 11, 2019
Naturally abiding.
རང་གནས་
Tibetan: rang-nay
English: naturally abiding, indwelling, naturally present, self-sustaining
Having come to a place of rest in our meditation, the next instruction involves how to sustain or maintain that continuity.
Initially when we have come to a place of rest, or rang-bab, we encounter tension and stray into mind and mental states. The instruction here is to simply recognize that, and again let go. Rang-bab.
The second instruction in order to maintain the continuity of that state is to recognize mind as illusory.
Mind encompasses not only mental states but all sensory experience. All is mind. The play of mind and mental states are the illusory play of phenomena, the unceasing unfolding of reality at this very moment. By applying the instruction to recognize mind as illusory, we can learn to rest with ease in the illusory play of emptiness in which luminous clarity naturally unfolds free from acceptance or rejection.
As we learn to naturally abide, rang-nay, the unceasing play of emptiness unfolds and gives rise to various experiences of bliss, clarity and non-conceptuality. Do not cling to those experiences or chase after them. Simply recognize them as the illusory play of mind, no matter how shiny or enjoyable they are. Recognize them as ornaments of your practice and simply let them be as they are. When we gain familiarity working with appearances in this way, we recognize them as free in their own place, rangdrol. With no effort or contrivance on our part, everything is naturally liberated just as it is and we continue in a state of naturally abiding equipoise.
Applying the instruction of recognizing mind as illusory in our meditation allows us to maintain the continuity of this indwelling, naturally present awareness and to draw out or reveal the natural clarity of the mind, which is the third stage of rang-sal, in which we reveal and recognize the lucid clarity of awareness itself.
. . . . . .
A reminder to register for our upcoming daylong meditation retreat- resting in the nature of mind. We will be practicing these methods of resting in the natural state and receiving more detailed instruction on these methods.
Tibetan: rang-nay
English: naturally abiding, indwelling, naturally present, self-sustaining
Having come to a place of rest in our meditation, the next instruction involves how to sustain or maintain that continuity.
Initially when we have come to a place of rest, or rang-bab, we encounter tension and stray into mind and mental states. The instruction here is to simply recognize that, and again let go. Rang-bab.
The second instruction in order to maintain the continuity of that state is to recognize mind as illusory.
Mind encompasses not only mental states but all sensory experience. All is mind. The play of mind and mental states are the illusory play of phenomena, the unceasing unfolding of reality at this very moment. By applying the instruction to recognize mind as illusory, we can learn to rest with ease in the illusory play of emptiness in which luminous clarity naturally unfolds free from acceptance or rejection.
As we learn to naturally abide, rang-nay, the unceasing play of emptiness unfolds and gives rise to various experiences of bliss, clarity and non-conceptuality. Do not cling to those experiences or chase after them. Simply recognize them as the illusory play of mind, no matter how shiny or enjoyable they are. Recognize them as ornaments of your practice and simply let them be as they are. When we gain familiarity working with appearances in this way, we recognize them as free in their own place, rangdrol. With no effort or contrivance on our part, everything is naturally liberated just as it is and we continue in a state of naturally abiding equipoise.
Applying the instruction of recognizing mind as illusory in our meditation allows us to maintain the continuity of this indwelling, naturally present awareness and to draw out or reveal the natural clarity of the mind, which is the third stage of rang-sal, in which we reveal and recognize the lucid clarity of awareness itself.
. . . . . .
A reminder to register for our upcoming daylong meditation retreat- resting in the nature of mind. We will be practicing these methods of resting in the natural state and receiving more detailed instruction on these methods.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Distinguishing mind and awareness.
When resting in the natural state it is crucial that you distinguish between resting in mind and resting in awareness. If there is any struggle, any tension, any effort or striving, you can be sure that you are still resting in mind. If you are utterly relaxed in an open, expansive presence free from reference point, then you have relaxed into the natural state and can reveal the lucid clarity of awareness.
Recognize how you deviate into mind's play of appearances. Recognize how you get hooked by thoughts or feelings. The essence of deviating from awareness is a diminished presence. Whenever we are resting in the natural state and we start to fixate, reify or grasp to our experience, that is deviation and the result is a diminished presence in which we enter into mind and mental states.
Recognize the straying. Recognize the tension or struggle setting in. Then let go. There is no other method. There are a lot of other methods involving mind, but by relying on mental fabrication we cannot escape the cage of conceptuality.
Once we can rest in the natural state by simply letting go, we need instruction on how to maintain that state. Have settled naturally, we need to maintain the continuity of that natural state, which is the next instruction on rang-nay, or naturally abiding.
Recognize how you deviate into mind's play of appearances. Recognize how you get hooked by thoughts or feelings. The essence of deviating from awareness is a diminished presence. Whenever we are resting in the natural state and we start to fixate, reify or grasp to our experience, that is deviation and the result is a diminished presence in which we enter into mind and mental states.
Recognize the straying. Recognize the tension or struggle setting in. Then let go. There is no other method. There are a lot of other methods involving mind, but by relying on mental fabrication we cannot escape the cage of conceptuality.
Once we can rest in the natural state by simply letting go, we need instruction on how to maintain that state. Have settled naturally, we need to maintain the continuity of that natural state, which is the next instruction on rang-nay, or naturally abiding.
Monday, October 7, 2019
Let go.
རང་བབས་
Tibetan: rang-bab
English: let go, let it flop, naturally settled, natural state
When engaging in Dzogchen meditation we find this common description of meditation: rang-bab, rang-nay, rang-sal; relax naturally, abide naturally, naturally clarify.
The common metaphor that is used to illustrate this method of meditation is to a dirty glass of water. If you place a glass of water and let it rest, let it remain there unwavering, then the dirty settles out and the clarity of the water naturally reveals itself.
The first step is to let go, rang-bab. Rang-bab, or resting naturally, can be compared to cutting the string on a bale of hay. The hay just settles as it is. There is no effort, no contrivance, no posturing or manipulation. Just settle. Let go. Relax.
A key point in this meditation technique of resting naturally is to notice the tension. What are you holding onto or fighting against? Are you struggling with thoughts, feelings, sensations, agitation? Recognize the tension and struggle. Recognize it as a sign to let go, relax. Use the tension and resistance to point you towards the ground of being.
There is nothing to do. Nothing to fix. Nothing to alter. Relax in the uncontrived natural state. Let go of fixation and grasping. Recognize and abide in authentic presence, open awareness, rigpa. When you can relax and abide in the natural state, then you will start to appreciate how everything is freed in its own place with nothing more to do, which we call naturally liberated or rangdrol. This is the doorway to true Dzogchen practice and the realization of the natural great perfection.
Tibetan: rang-bab
English: let go, let it flop, naturally settled, natural state
When engaging in Dzogchen meditation we find this common description of meditation: rang-bab, rang-nay, rang-sal; relax naturally, abide naturally, naturally clarify.
The common metaphor that is used to illustrate this method of meditation is to a dirty glass of water. If you place a glass of water and let it rest, let it remain there unwavering, then the dirty settles out and the clarity of the water naturally reveals itself.
The first step is to let go, rang-bab. Rang-bab, or resting naturally, can be compared to cutting the string on a bale of hay. The hay just settles as it is. There is no effort, no contrivance, no posturing or manipulation. Just settle. Let go. Relax.
A key point in this meditation technique of resting naturally is to notice the tension. What are you holding onto or fighting against? Are you struggling with thoughts, feelings, sensations, agitation? Recognize the tension and struggle. Recognize it as a sign to let go, relax. Use the tension and resistance to point you towards the ground of being.
There is nothing to do. Nothing to fix. Nothing to alter. Relax in the uncontrived natural state. Let go of fixation and grasping. Recognize and abide in authentic presence, open awareness, rigpa. When you can relax and abide in the natural state, then you will start to appreciate how everything is freed in its own place with nothing more to do, which we call naturally liberated or rangdrol. This is the doorway to true Dzogchen practice and the realization of the natural great perfection.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Honesty.
Many of us try to be honest with others, to be a credible and reliable friend, partner and professional. Equally important though is to be honest with ourselves.
Being honest with ourselves requires openness and vulnerability. It sits us down with tenderness and awkwardness, makes us look at the everyday ordinariness of our condition. And embrace it.
We often chase after the highest, best, most profound, most amazing things, but what might be most useful is to come to terms with who we are and our natural state of being free from all the hopes and projections.
Simply being open to the present moment of our natural condition opens the doorway to the path of liberation. Being honest with ourselves is a prerequisite for being awake.
Being honest with ourselves requires openness and vulnerability. It sits us down with tenderness and awkwardness, makes us look at the everyday ordinariness of our condition. And embrace it.
We often chase after the highest, best, most profound, most amazing things, but what might be most useful is to come to terms with who we are and our natural state of being free from all the hopes and projections.
Simply being open to the present moment of our natural condition opens the doorway to the path of liberation. Being honest with ourselves is a prerequisite for being awake.
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