Removing the mystery of meditation.

Understanding the mind and the nature of reality is often profound and difficult work. Understanding how to train the mind shouldn't be.

The path of meditation is very rational and practical. Once you have the basic tools and a working basis for understanding your own mind, you can develop a high degree of self-sufficiency in your practice. Just as a mechanic is able to properly diagnose a problem and fix it, you should be able to discern the quality of your meditation and to know how to correct it.

The advantage of having this type of self-sufficiency is that when we are meditating, it is really just us and our mind. No one has a better view of the situation than you. We can ask questions and get direction from other people, but the work has to be done ourselves. Internal confusion must be eventually be resolved through your own practice.

Learn how to meditate. Learn the key elements and tools involved in the practice. Develop familiarity and agility working with the mind. Based on your own experience, give rise to confidence in your practice. Continue to explore deeper.

The opposite of awareness.

མ་རིག་པ་
Tibetan: ma-rigpa
English: ignorance, confusion, unaware, diminished presence, absent-presence (like you are here, but not really)

Dzogchen takes awareness (Tib: rigpa) as the path and that awareness takes the form of pure presence. It is a way of being in which we are open, receptive and dynamic. An excellent metaphor for this presence of awareness is dancing, in which we are responsive and in union with the arising of experience around us.

It can often be difficult to recognize that awareness since it is utterly beyond description and is groundless in nature. There is nothing to hold onto, and so we can never be quite too sure that we got it, or get it. Doubt can creep into our minds about if we are "doing it right."

We can be sure that if we are trying to do it right, or struggling to embody what we think of as 'presence', then we are still a bit mistaken and haven't quite grasped the key point. We cannot contrive or fabricate a state of presence.

It is often much easier to recognize when we aren't embodying open presence. The state of unawareness (Tib. ma-rigpa) is where we usually live out the course of our lives. The state of confusion about who we are and the nature of the world around us. This usual sense of diminished awareness, or stupor, or malaise that we carry through our days. I often find myself reaching for another cup of coffee to "turn up the lights" of my dullness and malaise.

We can easily recognize this state of diminished awareness. It is the struggle to break out, to break free, to move beyond ourselves and the imposed limits of our narrow mind. Do you ever get that feeling that you need to get out of your own way, but this heaviness inside keeps holding you back? Like you just can't muster up enough gumption to actually be present and responsive. I do.

Recognize these moments of malaise, hesitation and doubt. Recognize the holding back and the holding on to whatever is coming up in your experience. Recognize them for what they are- the state of confusion in which our presence in the world is diminished. We cannot be fully present when we continually give in to this inner struggle that is playing out in our hearts and minds.

When we recognize these moments, we need to follow the meditation instructions:

"Let go. Let it be as it is."

There is a gap that opens up. A gap between the moment of confusion and the awareness that recognized that confusion. In that gap is the state of pure open presence. Recognize the nature of your own awareness in that gap. Recognize the state of uncontrived, pure presence free from the confines of mind or mental states. It is in that moment that we can recognize the buddha within, our own buddhanature or buddha heart. 

It is in that moment that we abide in the world in a deeper way, and can discover the resources and utility to participate and contribute meaningfully to the world around us. It is in that moment that we discover that we have enough and that we are sufficient just as we are. In that moment, there is nothing to be added or taken away, nothing to accomplish and nothing to overcome, and so it is called the natural great perfection, Dzogchen.

Of course,

the story does not stop there.
The world keeps turning, and we must keep dancing.

Feeding concepts.

When was the last time someone told you something that influenced and shaped your experience?

Do you find yourself being aware of this as it plays itself out?

Probably not.

We often think of ourselves as rationale coherent beings, experiencing the world through our lens of truth. We trust in our thoughts and emotions, believe that our perception is unerring, and value our discernment and judgement.

What we don't know is that much of what shapes our experience and perception is concepts that were planted long, long ago. Most of which we didn't even know were being planted.

Take my two year old as an example. My wife said she didn't like chicken pot pie. My daughter parroted her taste preferences, yet she has never had chicken pot pie. We have yet to find out how long this biased perception lasts.

Chicken pot pie isn't much of a big deal. It doesn't really matter if you like mustard or not, or if you prefer skim over whole milk.

But what about your concepts about race, sexual orientation and religion? What about your views about money, politics and human rights?

Most of what we call our ideas, opinions and preferences have been fed to us. Most often, we don't dissect and analyze those preferences too much, we think we came to them through our own merits.

Part of waking up means no longer trusting your own biased perception. You need to recognize that your perception is biased, that is a starting point. Your view isn't to be held onto. Your position isn't to be fortified. All of that is confusion.  We are confused.

Once you know that we are confused, then you can start the process of right view, right intention, right discernment. First, you need to be honest with yourself. Then you can start to be honest with others, and things get better.  

Innate wisdom.

We all have innate wisdom.

It is the wisdom that knows something is not right.  That something is out of place or unjust. We feel it, see it directly.  It might give rise to clear thoughts or intentions, it may not. 

Innate wisdom knows that pain is not our natural condition.  It knows that these feelings, this anger and aversion, is not our natural state.

We are not the storm.  This tumult is not who we are.  This disease is not intrinsic to us.

Amidst confusion, there is innate wisdom illuminating the darkness.

We need to trust this.

If we trust the pain, the confusion, and the anguish, then we will be crushed.

If we trust our innate wisdom, then pain, confusion and anguish become workable. 

If we trust violence and hatred they will tear our life, family and communities apart.

If we trust our innate wisdom, then our communities can heal.

We have an opportunity available to us, we see it, we know it directly.  We need to trust what are hearts are already telling us it true.

This is not who we are.  This is not our natural condition.

Wisdom opens a path to healing.  

Four Dharmas of Gampopa.

Grant your blessings that my mind turn towards the Dharma. 

Grant your blessings that my Dharma practices progresses as the path.

Grant your blessings that the path clarifies confusion.

Grant your blessings that confusion dawns as wisdom. 

Gampopa wrote these four Dharmas as an aspiration prayer.  It is a prayer to set your intention, to fortify your resolve.  It acts as a compass, positioning you and giving you a reference to chart a course. 

'Grant your blessings'.

We make the prayer from a place of reverence and awe.  We are praying to our teacher, to the Three Jewels of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, to the hosts of arhats and bodhisattvas, and to the vast array of Three Roots.  We pray that they grant their blessings and that we are receptive enough to receive them.  

We pray that these blessings transform our mind.
That they give us courage on the path to work with our demons.
That they allow us to undermine confusion and resistance on the path.
That they moisten our hearts and give rise to wisdom.  

When we receive these blessings, our minds are transformed.  This transformation engenders a deep gratitude and respect, from which kindness and compassion naturally flow.  Ultimately that transformation is our ordinary samsaric mind transforming into the awakened mind of complete enlightenment, our inherent buddhanature.

The aspiration of our prayer, fulfilled. 

Confusion and dishonesty.

Bad habits.  Poor choices.  Careless deeds. 

Confusion permeates so much of what we think, say and do.  We often find ourselves acting out of impulse, our behavior not driven by intention as much as it is driven by what we did yesterday and the day before. 

Amidst all of this confusion we find moments when discerning wisdom dawns.  We have moments when we can see clearly.  There are times we find ourselves in a gap between the clouds.  We are able to see our shortcomings, see where we have strayed, see what we could have done better. 

There are moments when the truth reveals itself.

In that moment, we have an opportunity to be honest with ourselves.  We have a moment of clarity to reflect, to examine and to change.  Our own discerning wisdom creates a gap in which we can leave behind confused habit patterns and neurotic behavior.

But often in that moment we lie to ourselves.

We shift the blame.  We minimize the damage to our self-image.  We protect ourselves from failure, from being wrong.  We do our best to avoid the irritation of whatever our wisdom is revealing to us.

We preserve our dignity out of dishonesty.  And the wheel of confusion turns...

Errors of worldly meditation.

Grasping to the experience of infinite space,
grasping to the clarity of infinite consciousness,
grasping to the state in which experiences dissolve into nothingness,
grasping to the state of non-conceptuality.

These are the four errors of meditation as they occur in worldly meditative absorptions.

They are worldly because they still rely on mind and subtle craving that occurs within the domain of mind. They are errors because you are still bound by grasping and fixation and thus the root of selfishness is not cut.  

Confusion.

འཁྲུལ་པ་
Tibetan: trulpa
English: confusion, deception, misperception, distortion

Confusion is a false way of seeing the world.  It is misapprehending a situation, deceiving ourselves about what is really happening.  Confusion creates a lot of problems for us because it affects our actions and what we stand for.  If our view is distorted, our actions are likewise misaligned and we experience more anger, more frustration and more fear.   Confusion polarizes us and our world. 

Confusion is really difficult to deal with because the confused person thinks they have knowledge.  A distorted view of reality makes no difference if it is the reality you experience and all the stories you tell yourself confirm that reality.

Confusion has its own logic, its own arguments and its own justification.

So how do we uproot it?

The first step is to understand that we all have a lens through which we see the world.  I have my own lens, you have yours.   When we realize that there is some shared basis between those two worlds that we can talk about and discuss, then there is some possibility that I can undermine my own confusion.   
Knowing the relativity of our own lens opens us up to the truth.  It opens us up to empathy and genuine understanding.  With empathy and genuine understanding we can reduce the distortion of our own lens and see the world more clearly.

We cannot change the minds of others.  We can only show them another lens and start to ask questions.  

Straying into confusion.

The gap between the present and the future is the source of all fear and uncertainty. 
It is the ground which gives birth to infinite fictitious worlds. 
It is the demon from which we run and hide,
the instigator of selfish actions and irrational choices.

When we stray from our natural state of being-
a peaceful state of clarity and inner wealth-
we stray into a wheel of confusion.

How does a raccoon satisfy its thirst?

I love this video.  It's hilarious.

This raccoon is confused.

Not knowing the nature of water, he hopes to grab onto it, hold it in his hands.  Of course that water keeps slipping through his fingers, and the cute little thing is in a frenzy to keep trying.

What he doesn't know is that if you want to hold water in your hands you need to be skillful.  Then you can drink the water, feel its refreshing nature, enjoy it and quench your thirst.

How often do we feel like life is slipping through our fingers?  Like we lost an opportunity and now it is gone?  How often do we find ourselves in a frenzy, trying to accomplish our aims and hoping that this is the time we are finally satisfied?

In order to take hold of our life we need to be skillful.  We need to create a container that can accommodate something that always keeps rushing past us.

We need attentive mindfulness.
Authentic presence.
Clarity and understanding.
Empathy and compassion.
Patience.  Patience is a must.
An open mind and unbiased attitude.

Most of all we need to stop the impulse to grab onto things.  That is where so much of our confusion springs from, from grasping and fixation.  When we understand the nature of our own mind and the nature of reality, we can skillfully work with that in order to quench our thirst, find satisfaction.

Being awake doesn't mean that we become awake to some kind of better reality, or our life becomes the fairy tale and everything goes our way.  Being awake means to see genuinely.  Truly.  You awaken to the truth.  You see your mind and reality as it is, and knowing that there is nothing to hold onto, you can use skillful methods to accomplish your aims and the aims of others.

Stop the confusion. 

Link to the video is here.

Craving Light.

We are all looking for more light in our life.

To bask in its warmth, to let its energy lift us.  To soothe our sorrows and dispel our doubts.

Most of us go looking for it outside.  In nature, in temples and books.

When we recognize it, it is because we recognize it in ourselves.  If we didn't already have it, we couldn't recognize it and all hope would be lost.

But you do have it.  So uncover the clouds and let it shine.

Recognize it.
Clear away confusion, doubt and obscurations.
Continue with confidence and clarity. 

A View as High as the Sky.

Next time you fly, grab a window seat.

From 30,000 feet you can see everything.  Your view is absolutely all-pervasive, completely clear and unobstructed. 

It is peaceful.  A serene tranquility in the spacious sky. 

Down below you can see infinite worlds and environs unfold.  Banks of clouds gather here and there, cities cascade across the landscape.  Cars move here and there, forming tiny chains of lights. You can look down on houses, imagine people going about their day, cooking, working, fighting, falling in love. 

From 30,000 feet you can witness all of these worlds amidst a profound inner stillness. 

As you descend you start to enter into the clouds, you start to feel the winds of turbulence- temporary conditions.  You still have a greater view than from the ground, but you are vulnerable to the winds and obstructed views.

Fear can show its ugly face.  There definitely can be some confusion as to where you are.  It's generally calm, true, but fear and uncertainty are always a moment away. 

As you continue to descend, the landing gear comes down.  Things are getting pretty busy.  You can see cars rushing all over, people passing each other on the highway.  Everything is much more coarse and distinct, that all-pervasive view of space is gone.  Sure, you know right where you are but there is no larger view.  Still, you are above the fray and there is a sense of peace and calm amidst.

Then you land, you are in the fray and can only look up and wonder what is around you, what lies ahead.  Everything is coarse, your emotions surge, your mind is filled with thoughts and plans.  You can't even get off the plane without trying to hurry or be annoyed with others around you. 

"God, it is hot in here!"

Gone is the peace, that spacious calm.  You are the fray. 

You probably don't realize it but we are all trying to gain a better view.  Most of us are content just to get above the fray, which is really just the final descent before we land. 

Having been to 30,000 feet, that seems silly.

If you want to make it to the clouds it is going to take some work.  You are going to need a practice.  You need something to rely on.  Do you think it is going to happen by chance?  It isn't easy to fly. 

Actually, to make it to the clouds is quite an accomplishment.  Think about it, you would have an expansive view of the world, yourself and others.  Undoubtedly you would face fear and uncertainty, get caught up in turbulent situations and dense clouds, but you would also know a profound inner peace and calm.  You would be able to see where people are and be able to help them, or at the very least to facilitate help arriving. 

So how do we get to 30,000 feet?

It requires you to move beyond conditions, beyond your temporary circumstances.  You need to completely transcend fear, eliminate all of your obscurations and the limitations of your view.  You need to move beyond all grasping and fixation, become a master of mindful awareness that illuminates like the sun in the spacious sky. 

The supreme view, the absolute pinnacle, is the view of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. This is the only view that allows you to bring the experience and wisdom of 30,000 feet, into the fray.