Self-liberation.

རང་གྲོལ་
Tibetan: rangdrol
English: self-liberation, naturally liberated

In the Dzogchen tradition we talk about self-liberation, or natural liberation; liberated just as it is, in it's own place.  There are three types of self-liberation- like a snake uncoiling itself, like meeting an old friend, and like a thief entering an empty house.

Rangdrol like an uncoiling snake.
When a snake is resting coiled up it doesn't tie itself into knots when it moves.  It simply and effortlessly uncoils.  It doesn't need to think about it or create a plan of attack for uncoiling itself, it naturally goes on its way.

We struggle at this.

When we are tied up in knots we plot our best to escape.  We fight back, try to break out or just give up in exhaustion.  We struggle.  We see all of the struggle in our life and we know we are tied up in knots.  We also know that we don't know how to get untied.

The way that we experience self-liberation is to experience the nature of mind and the nature of phenomena directly.  It is not a conceptual process, we don't talk ourselves through it into a state of cessation or acceptance.  It is a direct experience.  This is what Garab Dorje talked about in the first of his Three Statements.  When we experience the originally pure and uncontrived nature of mind directly, we encounter the naturally liberated state.  Recognizing that we come to experience the timeless freedom of the nature of mind and the way in which all experiences, whether good or bad, are naturally liberated.  In this way, the knots of whatever is manifesting in our experience are naturally uncoiled and liberated in their own place.

The distinctive feature of this first stage of self-liberation is that prior to this experience you have been trying to use the craftiness of your mind to bring about freedom, freedom that has never manifested or never lasted.  Here in this tradition, you are using the direct experience of the nature of mind.

Rangdrol like meeting an old friend.  
It doesn't matter how busy you are, how crowded the place or even how long it has been, when you see an old friend you immediately recognize them.  "Oh, hello.  There you are, I recognize you dear friend".  It is a moments recognition, nothing more to do.

You are already intimate and familiar with the natural state of being and the experience of timeless freedom, yet there are moments when you get caught up, moments when you get tied up in knots.  So at this stage you are becoming more proficient at recognizing the naturally liberated state and dealing with problems and obstacles as they arise.  For you, problems and obstacles start to arise as friends.  As negative thoughts and emotions arise you instantly recognize them as a dynamic dance, free in their own place with nothing more to do.  You see them, but they don't necessarily bother you.

The key feature here is the familiarity you have gained familiarity of the naturally liberated state.  Familiarity allows us to recognize the natural liberation of thoughts, emotions and habitual tendencies as they arise, even though we may have a moment of distraction.  This is really a process of working with doubt and uncertainty in your practice, really sitting so that you start to gain that experience of liberation upon arising.      

Rangdrol like a thief entering an empty house.
This one is a bit more obscure conceptually.  The metaphor here is that the thief has nothing to gain and the house has nothing to lose.  This experience of self-liberation is connected to the essence of liberation in the Dzogchen tradition, which is liberation upon arising.  Normally what is manifesting in our experience can be viewed as an enemy or a problem, a thief.  Our house is secure, a safe zone where we experience freedom and peace of mind.  So our normal experience is that something manifests in our life and we lose something, our peace of mind or freedom get stolen from us and ultimately we get tied up in knots.  In this situation, the thief that arises- whether it be negative situation, thoughts, bad habits, karma or ignorance- doesn't threaten the house because the house has nothing to lose.  The nature of mind, your house, cannot be ruined by negative thoughts or emotions, it cannot be bound up in any way at all.   

Sometimes we are also the thief looking for valuable experiences and qualities.  We might start to have some 'real signs' that we are accomplishing something or be looking for confirmation or validation, but truly there is also nothing to add or improve upon in the nature of mind.   

The key feature here is that whatever arises in your experience is free just as it is, liberation is simultaneous with arising, with nothing to gain and nothing to lose.

You can always tell when you have fallen from this realization when you start to see thieves all over the place and long for the experience of a peaceful house.  Your work is a thief, those people, this problem, this thought, this emotion, all of it starts to tie you up pretty good again, doesn't it?

In the beginning, you discover the naturally liberated state,
In the middle, you recognize it again and again amidst confusion,
In the end, you realize that there is nothing to gain and nothing to lose.

Liberation.

གྲོལ་བ་
Tibetan: drolwa
English: liberation, release, let go, freedom, untied

Most days we have a pretty visceral experience that we are not liberated.  We are often tied up in knots, awkward, caught up in highs and lows.  We don't really know how to relate to ourselves, others and the world around us.  We are caught up in a subject-object, self-other duality in which everything has its own compartment and attachment and aversion are our constant companions.

We don't need to look to far into our life to realize that we are not liberated.  What is the biggest source of problems in your day?  Work, your relationships, money, internal politics, chronic disease or illness?

Liberation is an experience of release or freedom.  When we talk about liberation it is the mind that is liberated.  What is the mind liberated from?  Negative emotions, concepts, habitual tendencies, karma and ignorance. 

We all have an experience of mundane liberation.  You quit your job and walk out the door, everything is suddenly lifted off your shoulders.  You finish a hard day at work and step out into the wide open sky.  You pay off the last of your debts, nothing more to worry about.  You orgasm, an ecstatic release of blissful sexual energy.  Your illness subsides.  Your doctor tells you the scan is clear.  You are healed.

It is funny, at least to someone aspiring to awakening, because you can see directly that which binds you by identifying these moments of struggle and mundane release, these moments of struggle where we really wish we were liberated.   

Those areas should be the focus of your practice.

Can you include them?  Is it even possible?

This very lifetime.

The practice traditions of Mahamudra and Dzogchen make a radical claim that we can achieve liberation in this very life. This life, as it is right now, is the ground of your awakening.

Not the life you are waiting to live. Not the life you will have after you go back to school or get a better job. Not the life you'll have once you have your finances figured out, fix your problems, find the right partner or make that move to a new city. Not the life where you have more time, the kids are out of the house, or you can take that extended leave.

This life. The life you have right now, as it is. This is the ground of your awakening.

Can you accept that?

Whatever reason you have for putting off your liberation and freedom for another life or another time, I ask you, I beg you, to call bullshit.

What are you holding onto? What story are you telling yourself? Whatever it is, it's all made up. It seems to be true, but there is a lot more space and opportunity there than you recognize.

Recognize the fear, uncertainty, hope, longing, and storytelling for what it is - bullshit. Recognize when you fall into those cycles and treat them as a call to presence. Right here, right now.

You will never discover freedom and liberation in the future. The ground of awakening is the ever-present unfolding reality, just as it is. 

A New Beginning

We are endowed with this precious human existence,

and have met with the Dharma.

The world and inhabitants

are impermanent, like a water bubble.

At death, only my dharma practice

will be of any benefit.

At death, there is no freedom,

and the winds of karma take their course.

Therefore I shall devote myself

to abandoning negative acts

and cultivating positive ones.

All the illusions of samsara

entrap my mind with the three poisons.

Realizing the faults of conditioned existence,

may I practice renunciation and strive for enlightenment.

When we think about the motivation to meditate and pursue spiritual growth, what is it precisely that motivates us?  Obviously we want to be free from suffering- pain, anxiety, stress- much less anger, jealousy, and the collection of afflicted emotions.  Of course we want happiness- peace of mind, contentment, inner well-being, a sense of purpose and a long, healthy life.  The thing is, we don’t really know the causes of happiness, much less the causes of suffering. 

Where have we gone astray?

If we look at the current model, the American Dream as it were, we are told and often made to believe that if you get a good education, a good job, make some money, buy some stuff, fall in love, buy a house, start a family, be successful and eventually- if everything goes just right- you will be happy.  Now of course, we don’t need to look very far to see that this is not the case.  We have lots of very successful people- doctors, lawyers, business executives, celebrities- who have the outer trappings of happiness, but they also have a lot of inner distress.  They constantly need to maintain their image, wealth, protect against dissenters, people suing you, the list goes on.  It is a flawed model, I am not saying that those things are bad, we need a good education, good job, personal responsibility, but we need to recognize that those things can only be a support for happiness, the means and not the end. 

That is the gross level, on a more subtle level we all think, ‘I can be better, I can do better, I can do more.’  But this thinking creates a split in us, our current self versus some future ‘better’ self.  We think that if we can just do this or that, then we can be happy.  The problem is that as soon as we make that split we never have the chance to get there.  There is a math problem that children do in school, a rabbit is chasing a carrot and each time he cuts the distance between himself and the carrot in half.  The paradox is that the rabbit can never actually get to zero, he can never actually get the carrot because there is always some distance separating them, no matter how small. 

So the main problem with all of this is that we continuously place our refuge outside of us.  I want to use the term refuge because it gives the feeling of safety, protection, a place free from suffering.  The mistake that we make is that by placing our refuge outside of us, we instantly take away our power and give it to something else, someone else or even some future version of our self.  We may not recognize it, but we make ourselves deficient by placing our refuge outside, made to believe that we are lacking something. 

The reason that this is the case is that we continue to invest in conditioned existence.  Conditioned here means that it depends on causes and conditions, just as a tree depends on good soil, sunlight, and adequate water to grow properly.  But, by investing in conditioned existence, we are investing in things that are going to change, things which by their very nature are impermanent- children die young, couples separate, jobs are lost, disasters occur, problems happen.  If we put our happiness, contentment, and peace of mind outside of us, then when bad things happen we have no place to go, no solid ground on which to stand.  We have no inner refuge, so everything around us seems fixed and concrete.  It is kind of like running on a treadmill.  At first we aren’t doing too bad, first half-mile, mile.  But then our legs start getting tired, we are a little out of breath, but we keep pushing through- two miles- everything hurts, keep pushing.  Eventually, whenever you stop, three miles, ten miles, a hundred miles, you have given all that effort, time and energy- but you are in the exact same place you started.  This is exactly what we have done since beginningless time, we have exuded a lot of effort, accomplished a lot of goals, spent a lot of time, but still we have this inner discontent, this questioning, doubting, anxiousness. 

Natural Liberation

In Tibetan, there is this term, rangdrol.  Rang means self or natural, drol means liberation, so we have self-liberation or naturally liberated.  That is what we want.  The metaphor commonly used to describe this is two-fold.  The first is like meeting an old friend, as soon as you see them you recognize them.  There is no doubt, no uncertainty, as soon as you see your own true face you recognize it.  Still there is a little split here, your ‘better’ true self and you, but at least here you have an inner refuge, you know that it is there. 

The second metaphor is like a snake uncoiling from its resting place, it doesn’t tie itself in knots.  We can’t do the same, try coiling up an extension cord and then pull it apart- I guarantee that you will have lots of knots and lots of frustration.  But snakes don’t have this problem, they can be coiled up and then easily just slither away, naturally liberated. 

So instead of investing in conditioned existence, we want to invest in unconditioned existence.  What does that mean?  We want to invest in the nature of phenomena, and on a personal level the nature of the mind.  Just as water is wet, fire is hot- there is not some water that is more wet, or some water that has a better or worse wetness- it is just wet.  So too, we have the mind and the nature of the mind.  That nature is fully evident, fully manifest, never better or worse and not to be improved upon.  So we need to recognize and abide in the nature of the mind, make that our refuge.  That inner refuge, the nature of the mind, is unchanging, just as the wetness of water is unchanging. 

Then whenever we encounter suffering, stress, hardship, we have that inner refuge.  If we have that inner conviction then we can continue to remain open, reflexive and work with the situation at hand, rather than closing down and shutting out the world around us.  No matter what we do in life, good or bad, everything becomes an expression of our energy.  We become like a painting, a beautiful form or maybe even a weird distorted sculpture that doesn’t really make any sense, it doesn’t matter, because our life is an expression of our energy and the world that we create around us. 

So that is why we meditate, we need to understand the mind and we need to recognize the nature of mind, abide in the nature of mind.

Dzogchen view and practice.

It is crucial to have a grounded understanding of the four noble truths in order to appreciate the Dzogchen view and practice. The four noble truths teach us to:

Understand the human predicament.
Let go of the arising of attachment, aversion and ignorance.
Actualize the state of cessation.
Practice the path.

In the first turning of the wheel of dharma, the Buddha did not go into great detail on the third noble truth of actualizing or beholding the state of cessation. In the first turning, the Buddha described the state of cessation as what it was free from, namely attachment, aversion and ignorance. He did not go into depth about the actual experience of that state.

In the second turning of the wheel of dharma he made it more clear by introducing the five features of emptiness, but even this is a more conceptual and elaborate way of understanding and recognizing the truth of cessation. By understanding the relative and ultimate truth, we can better understand the nature of the mind and gain clarity about the resultant state of the nature of our own mind.

In the third turning, the Buddha explicitly described the truth of cessation, introducing the tathagatagarbha or buddha heart. By understanding our primordial state as originally pure and ever-present, the resultant state is not something newly acquired but instead something that we come to recognize or reawaken. It is as though we have lost something for a long time, only to find it and at that same moment experience complete resolution and certainty.

The third turning of the wheel of dharma and the teachings on the tathagata-garbha opened the door to the Vajrayana, including practices like Buddhist tantra, Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Tantra introduced the buddha heart as something to purify and transform. It is only in Mahamudra and Dzogchen that we find the completely unelaborate introduction to the nature of the mind itself as the basis of the path. While Mahamudra and Dzogchen are similar in many aspects, they do have critical differences in terms of method of introduction and differences in working with the resultant state of awareness.

Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, is a direct introduction to our primordial state of authentic presence, our intrinsic awareness or rigpa in Tibetan. However, being introduced to rigpa is not enough, we must engage in the practice of Dzogchen in order to actualize the resultant state of awareness. Garab Dorje introduces the Dzogchen path in this Three Statements that Strike the Vital Point:

One is introduced directly to one's true nature,
Be decisive about this unique state,
Continue directly with confidence in liberation.

The teacher directly introduces the student to their intrinsic awareness, or rigpa, which is the primordial state of authentic presence. There are many methods and teachings which can introduce rigpa, my own teacher Younge Khachab Rinpoche wrote a short mind treasure entitled Drop of Secret Nectar which introduces the primordial state of rigpa. When one has recognized rigpa in their own experience, they can study Longchenpa's Way of Abiding to gain a deeper understanding of that state as the four samayas of Dzogchen.

After one has been introduced to rigpa and recognized that primordial state of being, you need to be decisive about this unique state. This can only be resolved through the practice of meditation, in which you work with and resolve all that appears and exists. As you learn to work with the unceasing display of the primordial state, you move through the practices of trekchod to come to a decisive experience of one's own nature as the unborn awakened mind, or ultimate bodhicitta. Longchenpa's masterpiece on coming to the decisive experience of awakened mind can be found in the first nine chapters of the Choying Dzod, the Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena. 

Having come to a decisive experience of rigpa, our own primordial state of authentic presence, one perfects the practice of trekchod and the practice of thogal naturally unfolds as one continues with confidence in liberation. Much can be said about the practice of thogal, and of course their are books to read, but by the time you get to this state in your practice you recognize that you already have all the teachings you need. You have been decisive after all, haven't you?


The easiest part of Dzogchen is the introduction. You can get introduced to your own awareness as the primordial state of being. You can be introduced to the result, the truth of cessation, directly, in your own experience. Many do, and then they leave it at that. Off to the next thing. Just like meeting a person and then later forgetting their name, the introduction itself it not enough.

The hardest part of Dzogchen is to be decisive about this unique state. That second point of Garab Dorje's.  Padmasambhava, the "Guru Rinpoche" who brought the Vajrayana to Tibet, spent twelve years contemplating Dzogchen in the charnel grounds of India after he was introduced to his primordial state by Shri Singha. Twelve years for one of the greatest Dzogchen masters. If you want to practice Dzogchen, much less realize the natural Great Perfection, you need to meditate. Demand clarity in your practice. Demand confidence in your realization. Be decisive. Then you continue with confidence in liberation, which connects back to the fourth noble truth. Practice the path.

An important aside: it is probably going to help if you have a good teacher and some supporting companions on this journey. You know where to find us.

Spontaneous Presence.

Within the expanse of spontaneous presence is the ground for all that arises.
Empty in essence, continuous by nature,
it has never existed as anything whatsoever, yet arises as anything at all.
Within the expanse of the three kayas, although samsara and nirvana arise naturally,
they do not stray from basic space- such is the blissful realm that is the true nature of phenomena.

Longchen Rabjam, from the Choying Dzod

When we enter into the state of spontaneous presence in our meditation, we have arrived at naked awareness beyond mind. This is the actual introduction to rigpa. Our teacher introduces rigpa through language and signs, but the actual introduction is based on our own experience. That is the real introduction. 

The expanse of spontaneous presence is baseless. We say that it is baseless because there is no ground, there are no concepts about emptiness or the way things exist. The spontaneously present luminosity of the mind is not divided into subject or object, there is no distinction between meditation and post-meditation, no distraction by thoughts, appearances or emotions. Everything dawns as the ornament of awareness, which is itself nothing at all. Longchenpa's quote captures how this single expanse of awareness, which is timelessly pure and spontaneously present, manifests as all that appears and exists whether it is of samsara or nirvana. 

Once we have been directly introduced to this unique state of the natural Great Perfection, our own awareness, we need to gain certainty and perfect its potentiality. To stop here, having been introduced, is not enough. We need to resolve all doubts and uncertainty in order to be decisive about this unique state, not to mention the uncertainty with how to work with this within the world. Once we can carry on this conviction regardless of what is coming up in our experience, whether on the cushion or off, then we can continue with confidence in liberation. 

The great master Longchen Rabjam in his Choying Dzod, the Basic Space of Phenomena, skillfully lays out this path of resolution. He takes a look at questions like:

How do we account for ordinary and pure appearances?

How are we to understand different types of beings? 

How do we approach confusion and suffering?

How are we to understand this unique state of the awakened mind?

How do we understand karma and dependent origination from this unique perspective?

Where are the potential errors and pitfalls in this approach?

What brings accomplishment, what is accomplishment?

How is this different than buddhahood? How is it the same?

Once we have come to a decisive experience that everything is subsumed by the expanse of awareness, we continue with confidence in liberation. The way in which we come to that decisive experience is through the practice of trekchod and thogal, which are the two paths of training in the practice of Dzogchen. 

Transparent awareness.

A unique feature of Dzogchen is learning to recognize and abide in transparent awareness.  Awareness itself is not some thing.  It is not a state of mind that we cultivate.  It is completely open beyond description, beyond thoughts or concepts, beyond perception and value judgements.  It is utterly lucid, crystal clear, free of obscuration.  It is spontaneously present, free from the extremes of existence or non-existence, acceptance or rejection, is or is not.  It is non-dual, without distinction between self and other, inner and outer, this or that.

Why is it transparent?  Because there is no ground.  Why is there no ground?  Because everything that manifests is naturally freed in its own place, without having to do anything.  The unique feature of transparent awareness is liberation upon arising.  Liberation upon arising puts buddhahood within reach, maybe even right in the palm of your hand. 

The working class.

The working class is a precious life.
The ultra rich are like the god realms,
they think they already have liberation.  
We have opportunity,
but also see its elusiveness.
Take it and transform it into the path of liberation.

Where does one go?

The tathagata-garbha. The Buddha heart.

The Buddha taught that all beings are Buddhas, but that this is obscured by temporary defilements and obscurations. Just as a treasure buried under the earth, or a precious statue wrapped in a dirty cloth, once the obscuring factors are removed the treasure can be enjoyed in all its splendor.

But what is this Buddha heart and how can we come to experience it?

The Buddha taught many different vehicles by which we can actualize and realize this Buddha heart. The Mahayana sutras describe the tathagata-garbha as a seed or potential, which we can cultivate and nourish until it becomes manifest and bears fruit. The Vajrayana, or resultant vehicle, describes the tathagata-garbha as being fully manifest since beginningless time, but obscured and unrecognized. The Vajrayana employs various skillful means to try to purify and remove these obscurations. Within the Vajrayana vehicle, the highest understanding of the tathagata-garbha is understood within the Dzogchen tradition.

Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, describes the tathagata-garbha as being timelessly liberated. There is nothing to change, manipulate or improve. The true nature of reality is perfect just as it is, there is nothing to purify, nothing to cultivate, nothing to attain. Failing to recognize this true nature, we wander in and out of various mental states. Recognizing this, one is primordially free.

Where does one go when they have actualized the tathagata-garbha?

Tathagata is a name for the Buddha, which means 'One who has thus gone', 'Beyond coming and going' or "One who has gone to the true nature'. Garbha means heart, essence or womb. So one who has actualized the tathagata-garbha is the 'heart of one who has gone beyond', or the 'heart of one who has gone to the true nature'.

The tathagata-garbha is beyond mind. It is not the coming and goings of our mind. It is not an idea or a projection of what should be. It is not a belief or a philosophy. It is not 'in your head'. Awakening isn't in your head- its embodied, manifest.

The practitioner of Dzogchen is introduced directly to awareness beyond mind. The are introduced to the timelessly liberated natural state of being. Once introduced to this unique state, the practitioner clarifies doubt and uncertainty about this unique state, until they have truly gone beyond to the true nature. Then, they can continue with confidence in liberation. As Garab Dorje wrote in his Three Words that Strike the Essential Point: 

One is introduced directly to one's true nature,
Be decisive about this unique state,
Continue directly with confidence in liberation.

Or as Garab Dorje also states:

Mind's nature is and always has been Buddha,
it is neither born nor ceases, like space.
When you realize the authentic meaning of the equality of all things,
To remain in that state without effort is meditation.


 

Self-Help vs. Self-Liberation

Hold on a moment, what are you asking me to do?

You are asking me to be open and vulnerable?  You want me to expose my open wounds, to re-open those scars?

You want me to face my fears?  To acknowledge the things I would rather forget?  To dredge the depths of my pain and sorrow? 

I don't want to remember those that have had to leave me too early.  Nor do I care to relive those memories that haunt me to this very day. 

It is too scary.  Way to painful.  I am too tired, too busy to do this right now. 

But it is still there, right?

Even when we try to hide from it, it sneaks up on us.  If we fight to push it away, it keeps fighting back.  There doesn't seem to be any escape.

Everything that we have done to move on has failed.  Better to ignore it and hope it doesn't haunt our sleep.  But year after year, that date comes or we visit that place and we feel it looming over us.

How can we escape it?

The practice of self-help does not work, it only nourishes the ground. You need to rely on the path of self-liberation.

It rests on three principle aspects of the practice:
1.  Calm the coarse levels of your mind.
2.  Engender in that calm a sense of warmth, love and compassion.
3.  Rest in openness, your natural state of being.  

It will be painful.  Raw.  You will feel sensitive, embarrassed and inadequate.  You will feel hopeless.

And these are good signs.  This means that you are giving up your fixation.  Letting go of the ground you have been holding onto.

These are signs that you are becoming more open, more aware, that you are making progress.

As you move through the storm, through all the sheer winds and rain, you'll discover in its wake a calm, crisp freshness.  A natural openness and ease will ensue and your mind will be freed from its constraints. 

This is actually the most helpful thing you can do for yourself. 

In Search for the Meaning of Christmas

It is interesting how the stories of our life and times form.  Are the events and stories meant to be understood literally, or are they symbols for us to discover a deeper meaning? 

Jesus constantly taught using parables.  These were meant for us to examine and to discover an underlying meaning for ourselves and its significance in our own life.  What if we were to examine the ultimate parable then- the way Jesus lived his life- would that reveal a deeper meaning? 

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel,
Shall come to thee, O Israel. 

Emmanuel: 'God is with him'
Israel: 'He who struggles with God'

In our quest to find God in our life, we often look outside of ourselves.  In our collective ignorance we search for our salvation and freedom as if it is going to come from the outside in.  We become confused who we are struggling with, what we are struggling for. 

Are we struggling against others, against those who oppose us?  Are we struggling against God?  Are we struggling to find God anew?  Yet time and again in our struggle, we lose it, we separate ourselves from it.  So what is the struggle?

We are told Jesus is born in the town of Bethlehem, meaning 'the House of the Lamb'.  Lamb here could be interpreted as a sacrificial offering to God, but it could also be understood as an intentional offering to others.  In this sense, one is offering one's own body, speech and mind to the salvation and liberation of others. 

So Jesus, meaning 'Yahweh is salvation' was born in Bethlehem, by being an offering to others liberation.  Yahweh means 'I am', 'He who is', or 'to be'.  So salvation lies in He who is.  He who discovers this in himself gains the holy land, Jerusalem.  Jerusalem, meaning 'the ground of Shalem', Shalem meaning 'the morning star'- the dawn of awakening.

One who gains control of this sacred ground, Jerusalem- the ground of awakening, rules with full dominion over the promised land, Israel.  But the struggle is no longer strained by trying to control or gain power over the ground or things outside of oneself, the struggle is to embody the message of 'Jesus'- Yahweh is salvation.

The struggle is 'to be'. 

That is the meaning of Christ-mass, the Mass or 'divine worship' of Christ- the 'anointed one' symbolizing the presence of God.  

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel,
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  God is with him,
Shall come to thee, who struggles to embody the message of Jesus,
Who struggles 'to be'. 

Ocean of Definitive Meaning

In preparation for the upcoming Stages of Meditation course, I would like to introduce the text that we will be using as a basis for study and contemplation.  While the weekly meditation sessions will focus on practical experience and techniques of meditation, each week there will be blog posts that further clarify the meditation sessions and serve as a platform for discussion and inquiry. 

The text we will be using is the Ocean of Definitive Meaning, written by the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje in the late 1500's. This text is one of the most detailed and direct instruction manuals within the Mahamudra tradition. 

We can broadly distinguish the Mahamudra tradition into two categories: the path of liberation and the path of method.  The path of method is characterized by the practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa.  The path of liberation is exemplified in this present text by the Ninth Karmapa.  The true nature of the path is to tame this mind of ours, whether it be according to the Mahayana Sutra, Mahamudra or Dzogchen vehicles.  This present text serves as a step-by-step guide by which we can accomplish this primary aim- to gain our own experience and to realize the ultimate meaning, our own self-arising primordial wisdom. 

The text is divided into three main sections- the preliminaries, shamatha or calm abiding, and vipassana or insight.  Each week we will address the main topics in a rather brief way, though it will provide a firm support for your own study and investigation. 

I am really looking forward to this upcoming class, as always feel free to ask questions and look forward to starting class soon!

The Mahasiddhas

Throughout Buddhist history people have revered the Buddha and the community of monks and nuns who uphold his teachings.  The Buddhist sangha has served as a living lineage, preserving the teachings of the Buddha in both scriptural transmission and realization.  A lesser known but equally important role in the transmission and realization of the Buddha's teachings fell on the mahasiddhas.  

A mahasiddha is a tantric practitioner who embodies the state of perfection. Mahasiddha means 'great accomplishment', a yogin who has brought his sadhana or practice to its completion and achieved realization. The mahasiddhas played a key role in the preservation and development of the Buddha's teachings in India and Tibet, as displayed in the songs of realization of the Lives of the 84 Mahasiddhas. 

Adapted from Dowman and wikipedia:

The mahasiddhas represent remarkable diversity in their family backgrounds and social roles.  Indeed they could be found in every social setting: kings and priests, poets and musicians, craftsman and farmers, housewives and whores.  They were artists and businessman, respected doctors and neglected beggars, politicians and hermits. 

The Mahasiddhas were a diverse group of practitioners who were practical, committed, creative and engaged with their world. As a collective, their spirituality may be viewed as key and essential to their lives- simple, in concert and accord with all aspects of their lived experience. The basic elements of the lives of the Mahasiddas included their diet, physical posture, career, relationships; indeed "ordinary" life and lived experience were held as the principal foundation and fodder for realization. As siddhas, their main emphasis in spirituality and spiritual discipline was a direct experience of the sacred and spiritual pragmatism.

The mahasiddha tradition may be conceived and considered as a cohesive body due to their spiritual style, sahaja or naturally born- which was distinctively non-sectarian, non-elitist, non-dual, non-elaborate, non-sexist, non-institutional, unconventional, unorthodox and non-renunciate. The mahasiddha tradition arose in dialogue with the dominant religious practices and institutions of the time which often foregrounded practices and disciplines that were over-ritualized, politicized, exoticized, excluded women and whose lived meaning and application were largely inaccessible and opaque to non-monastic peoples.

The practice of the mahasiddha was often depicted as taking place in a charnel ground.  This charnel ground is not merely the physical cremation ground; it can also be discovered or revealed in completely terrifying mundane environments where practitioners find themselves desperate and depressed, where conventional worldly aspirations have become devastated by grim reality. This is demonstrated in the sacred biographies of the great siddhas of the Vajrayāna tradition. Tilopa attained realization as a grinder of sesame seeds and a procurer for a prominent prostitute. Sarvabhakṣa was an extremely obese glutton, Gorakṣa was a cowherd in remote climes, Taṅtepa was addicted to gambling, and Kumbharipa was a destitute potter. These circumstances were charnel grounds because they were despised in Indian society and the siddhas were viewed as failures, marginal and defiled.

* * * * * * * * *

We can find a lot of inspiration and blessings in the lives of these mahasiddhas.  They rejected the notion that liberation was only for a chosen few, that your circumstances restricted your practice.  They lived just the opposite, your life was your practice.  The entirety of your lived experience was the basis for your realization.

But mostly they showed that it was possible.  Whatever your situation, lifestyle or profession; liberation was in the palm of your hand.  

Order Now: Heart Advice by Younge Khachab Rinpoche

For the past six years a team of generous students and myself have been working to put together a book from Rinpoche's teachings on the essence of the path of liberation. The result of much work is Rinpoche's first published book, Heart Advice: Essential Instructions on the Path of Liberation. In this book Younge Khachab Rinpoche explores the Buddha's teachings in a way that makes them practical and accessible to the modern Western practitioner. Rinpoche distills the very essence of the traditional textual tradition so that these teachings become meaningful to our own life and mind.

Heart Advice is for students who have explored the Buddha's teachings to some extent but want a firm foundation upon which they can build their own practice. It is for all practitioners of Buddhist tantra, Mahamudra and Dzogchen, to give an overview and context for understanding all of the Buddha's teachings.

Available to order now.











 Some of the topics in the book include:

• Understanding how the perception of the self gives rise to suffering in this life. 
• Examining the two truths and how they relate to our own mind.
• How to come to a correct understanding of the view of emptiness.
• How shamatha and vipasyana work together in meditation to actualize the view.
• Learn about the path of the bodhisattva and how to progress along the path.
• Understand the significance of the teachings on buddha nature.
• Explore how our innate buddha nature is obscured from the perspective of the different practice traditions.
• Learn how the Prajnaparamita, or perfection of wisdom sutras for the heart of all the Buddha's teachings.
• Explore the history of tantra and the significance of the ripening empowerment in the tantric path. 
• Understand the significance of the teacher in the Vajrayana.
• Explore the generation and completion stage yogas and how the wisdom of the tantric view gives rise to buddhahood in this very lifetime. 
• Explore the history of Mahamudra and some critical distinctions between Mahamudra and Dzogchen. 
• Learn about the Six Yogas of Naropa and their place in the realization of Mahamudra. 
• Understand how Mahamudra is realized through the four yogas. 
• Learn how to carry the essence of all practice instructions into one meditation session.

Rinpoche has a remarkable ability to see how all of the Buddha's teachings are connected in our own practice. In Heart Advice, he teaches us how to carry these various practice traditions onto our own path by understanding all of the Buddha's teachings as instructions for practice.

The teachings contained in this book have been of immense benefit in my own practice, and I find myself returning again and again to examine sections and to build connections to new material I am studying.

I hope that you will check it out.

Shantideva on How to Live a Good Life

Dear reader: I am trying a new long format post once a month. If you would like to see more of this type of post please let me know. I will still be posting shorter posts but wanted to try something new as well. Thanks for reading!

“Today my life has given fruit. This human state has now been well assumed. Today I take my birth in Buddha’s line, and have become the Buddha’s child and heir. ”

 

Shantideva (c. 685- 763) was an eighth century Indian master who wrote the Way of the Bodhisattva (Skt. Bodhicaryavatara), the treasured guide to generating the awakened mind for the sake of all beings. Shantideva was generous to all and cared tenderly for the poor, sick and destitute. He was a monk who upheld the monastic vows and contemplated the vast range of the Buddha’s teachings, condensing them into various digests, such as the Digest of All Disciplines (Skt. Shikshasamucchaya).

Though he had boundless qualities and realization, other monks believed that he was frittering away his time in distraction and meaningless activity. They would call him Bhusuku (bhuj means ‘eating’, sup means ‘sleeping’, and kutim gata means ‘walking around’) as an estimation of what they thought he did all the time. Many of the other monks thought that he was wasting his precious human life caught up in worldly activities and trivial pursuits. In an effort to make Shantideva look foolish, they invited a large congregation to listen to him expound the scriptures, during which time Shantideva expounded the Bodhicaryavatara on how to engage in the practice of the bodhisattva. It is said that when Shantideva was teaching the ninth chapter on wisdom that he began rising higher and higher into the sky, so he is often portrayed in thangkas as floating above his meditation seat.

We too find ourselves caught up in trivial pursuits and busy activity. We wander through life in search of purpose and meaning, struggling to reconcile the meaningless activities of our normal day to day with the path of liberation. How do we make this life meaningful? What does it mean to live a good life? These are questions that Shantideva resolves with his complete and unmistaken presentation of the practice of the bodhisattva.

In the first chapter, the Excellence of Bodhicitta, Shantideva writes:

To those who go in bliss, the dharmakaya they possess, and all their heirs,
To all those worthy of respect, I reverently bow.
According to the scriptures, I shall now in brief describe
The practice of the bodhisattva discipline.

Shantideva pays reverence to those who go in bliss, the Sugatas. ‘Sugata’ means one who goes well or beautifully, or one who has gone perfectly without turning back. A Sugata is one who has lived life well, a life of meaning and purpose. What do these Sugatas possess? The dharmakaya. The dharmakaya is the ‘body of truth’, one of the three bodies or kayas of the Buddhas. Dharmakaya is the body of realization that is the true nature of the mind. As Longchenpa writes in his Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind:

The spotless dharmakaya, luminous and clear, is the buddha nature of all beings.

Shantideva describes in great detail in this present work how to actually practice this, how we can bring together all the teachings of the Buddha into an easy to understand and practical guide so that we too may possess this body of truth.

Next, Shantideva pays reverence to all the heirs and those worthy of respect, namely the community of sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, but mainly those bodhisattvas who are already practicing this path. Those worthy of respect includes everyone in the Sangha, the Dharma community of teachers, students and those supporting the activity of the Sangha.

Shantideva clearly states his purpose for sharing this work: to describe the practice of the bodhisattvas according to scripture. This isn’t something that he made up. This isn’t a path based on his own conjecture or pretense. This path of the bodhisattvas is in accord with the scriptures of the Buddha. Dharmakirti writes in his Pramanavarttika:

The teachings of Buddha we may trust.
For since he is exempt from fault,
There is in him no cause for lies.
Know therefore that the scriptures are exempt from error.

This practice of the bodhisattvas that Shantideva sets out to describe is threefold in nature. It consists of doing no harm to others, cultivating a wealth of virtue, and working to benefit others. Shantideva sets out to describe this practice in a way that is easy to understand and practical to everyday life.
In the second verse of chapter one, Shantideva continues:

Here I shall say nothing that has not been said before,
And in the art of prosody I have no skill.
I therefore have no thought that this might be of benefit to others;
I wrote it only to habituate my mind.

Shantideva starts by taking a humble attitude, saying that he wrote this work only to meditate upon and habituate his own mind. He isn’t worried about the result of his generosity, his is simply engaging in the practice of doing the work and engaging in the path. We too should emulate this behavior of engaging in study, contemplation and meditation so that we can habituate our own mind to the practice of the bodhisattvas. Through this practice of reflecting and contemplating the practice of the bodhisattvas we give rise to enthusiasm and strengthen our yearning and confident faith in the bodhisattvas activity. Shantideva writes that with a joyful and enthusiastic mind he is more able to meditate upon and cultivate bodhicitta, the awakened mind:

My faith will thus strengthen for a little while,
That I might grow accustomed to this virtuous way.
But others who now chance upon my words
May profit also, equal to myself in fortune.

Khenpo Kunzang Pelden, one of Patrul Rinpoche’s foremost students and spiritual son wrote in his detailed commentary to Shantideva’s work, The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech:

When these four features are present (the homage, promise to complete the work, humility, and enthusiasm), everything one embarks upon will be brought to a worthwhile fulfillment.

The humble practitioner pays reverence to great teachers, profound teachings, generous acts and all those who are striving to make a difference.  The act of paying reverence is a display of humility. Humility and reverence rely on values like integrity, determination, self-respect and service. Our minds infused with humility and reverence we naturally form a commitment to the work, recognizing our own innate potential and responsibility. With enthusiasm we seek to take full advantage of this life of freedom and opportunity that is so hard to find. As Shantideva writes:

So hard to find the ease and wealth
Whereby the aims of beings may be gained.
If now I fail to turn it to my profit,
How could such a chance be mind again?

When searching for consummate meaning in our lives, time and time again we go outside ourselves, always asking ourselves what we should do now. Should we travel, go out for dinner, meet new friends, find a better job, volunteer? We either seek out escape in a spa, vacation or lazy Sunday; or we seek out illusion in food, fun, goals and experiences. None of these have satisfied our thirst. If we fail to apply ourselves to the practice now, when should we find this opportunity again? For too long we have wandered after trivial pursuits and kept ourselves nice and busy. We have been living in a situation where we have been confused about what we should do and what we should avoid. When a moment such as this arises, where we recognize our potential and purpose, we should seize that opportunity. Shantideva continues:

Just as on a dark night black with clouds,
The sudden lightening glares and all is clearly shown,
Likewise, rarely, through the Buddha’s power,
Virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world.
Virtue thus, is weak; and always
Evil is of great and overwhelming strength.
Except for perfect bodhicitta,
What other virtue is there that can lay it low?

If we find in our hearts and minds that we want to accomplish something good, at that time we should apply ourselves diligently to practice. But what practice? It is bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment that seeks to secure for countless beings immediate benefit and the ultimate supreme joy of perfect awakening. In our practice we strive to free ourselves from our own suffering and discontentment, but also to bring about the welfare and benefit of others. Bodhicitta is the single practice that encompasses all the Buddha’s teachings. We should reflect always on one thing- bodhicitta. Practice one thing- bodhicitta. As Shantideva writes:

Those who wish to crush the many sorrows of existence,
Who wish to quell the pain of living beings,
Who wish to have experience of myriad joys
Should never turn away from bodhicitta.

Those of us who give rise to this jewel-like bodhicitta find new meaning in our life. We assume a new identity, perhaps the truest representation of who we are and what we are here to do in this world. We take our place in the Buddha’s line and are named a “child of the Sugatas.” You become a bodhisattva, a heroic warrior set on the journey to enlightenment. Khenpo Kunpel writes in his commentary, “They are moreover said to be worthy of reverence even by the Buddhas themselves, for the latter have bodhicitta as their master.” As Shantideva writes:

Should bodhicitta come to birth
In those who suffer, chained in prisons of samsara,
In that instant they are called the children of the Blissful One,
Revered by all the world, by gods and humankind.

With bodhicitta as the anchor for our practice, we guard it constantly with mindfulness, vigilant awareness and carefulness without ever letting it go. Everything that we do revolves around this single intention to gain awakening for the benefit of others. Gradually, through effort bodhicitta becomes stable and gives rise to a powerful mind of initiative and resourcefulness to secure the two aims of oneself and others. Through the method aspect of compassion, we fulfill the welfare of others; and through the wisdom aspect we recognize the true nature of our own mind and the true nature of reality. As Maitreya says in his Sutralankara: “It is a mental state endowed with the two aims”.

There are many ways to understand bodhicitta, but in brief we should understand it as bodhicitta in intention and active bodhicitta. As Shantideva writes:

Bodhicitta, the awakened mind,
Is known in brief to have two aspects:
First, aspiring, bodhicitta in intention;Then active bodhicitta, practical engagement.

Bodhicitta in intention is the aspiration to attain enlightenment. It is a wish or intention that focuses on the result. Active bodhicitta is the practical engagement in the activities of a bodhisattva. It is the practice and effort that focuses on the path. Longchenpa says “The commitment to achieve the result of Buddhahood is bodhicitta in intention, while the commitment to the cause is active bodhicitta.” Shantideva writes:

As corresponding to the wish to go
And then to setting out,
The wise should understand respectively
The difference that divides these two.

Just as when we set out on a journey, we must first form an intention, so too in order to engage in the practice of the bodhisattva we must first form the aspiration. Once we set out on the journey, we do not abandon our intention to go there; so in active bodhicitta we also have bodhicitta in intention.
This powerful initiative mind that works for the benefit of beings is the jewel of the mind. Of all thoughts and intentions it is the most sublime and profound. This noble intention of bodhicitta is beyond the conception of even the gods, as Shantideva writes:

If with kindly generosity
One merely has the wish to soothe
The aching heads of other beings,
Such merit knows no bounds.
No need to speak, then, of the wish
To drive way the endless pain
Of each and every living being,
Bringing them unbounded excellence.
Could our father or our mother
Ever have so generous a wish?
Do the very gods, the rishis, even Brahma
Harbor such benevolence as this?
For in the past they never,
Even in their dreams,
Wished something like this even for themselves.
How could they do so for another’s sake?
This aim to work for the benefit of beings,
A benefit that others wish not even for themselves,
This noble, jewel-like state of mind
Arises truly wondrous, never seen before.
The pain-dispelling draft,
This cause of joy for those who wander through the world,
This precious attitude, this jewel of mind-
How shall we calculate its merit?
If the simple thought to be of help to others
Exceeds in worth the worship of the Buddhas,
What need is there to speak of actual deeds
That bring about the weal and benefit of beings?

Whatever happens in our life, whatever our circumstances or past, we must have this intention of bodhicitta. When it has arisen clearly in our minds, we must practice so that it will intensify and gain strength in our lives. It is not enough to simply understand this conceptually, we must take it to heart and practice diligently.

Then no matter what comes up in our life, whether we experience sickness or disease, harmful situations, problems or obstacles; everything becomes fuel for our practice and we learn to carry obstacles as the path. Shantideva writes:

Even in great trouble, Bodhisattvas
Never bring forth wrong; their virtues naturally increase.

The present times are a call to practice. For bodhisattvas, difficulties and challenges are no hindrance to their Dharma practice. Adversity becomes a means to purify confusion, negative emotions and karma. Asanga has said: “Even when the world is full of evil they turn hardship into the enlightened path.”

Your boots will get muddy. Your socks wet. There will be dirt underneath your fingernails and you might suffer some scratches. Working in the fields means getting dirty.  Your work will be the same.
The bodhisattva knows that their time on this earth is very short.  They know that the road ahead will be long.  Knowing the truth of suffering they plunge into the fields.  Knowing liberation upon arising, they do not fear getting covered in mud.  At the end of the day, they dedicate their work for the benefit of others.  Tomorrow, they rise again.

That is how you practice on the path. This is how you living a meaningful life. A lifelong commitment to practice is how you live a good life.

Entering the stream.

The journey of self-awakening and discovery takes many forms. The way of the bodhisattva is that of the great vehicle, with the intention to awaken for the benefit of all beings. It is the intention of bodhicitta that makes this a superior vehicle, because the scope of the practice is greater than traveling the path for your own benefit.

Until you take the bodhisattva vow, you traverse the common stages of the path, known as the four stages to enlightenment. These four stages are the stream-enterer, once returner, non-returner, and arhat. These stages can be traversed either as an upasaka, or lay person, or as a monk/nun.

Stream-enterer

The stream-enterer is said to have 'opened their dharma eye', meaning they have an intuitive grasp of the dharma and unshakeable confidence in the Three Jewels. The stream-enterer has abandoned the first three of the ten fetters that bind oneself to the repetitive existence of samsara.

The first fetter is the belief in a permanent identity, what we would call a soul or self. The stream-enterer has given rise to the wisdom of selflessnes, or anatman.

The second fetter is doubt or skepticism about the Buddha and his teachings. The stream-enterer has gained experience and knows first hand the benefit of practicing the teachings.

The third fetter is attachment to rituals or rites. The fixation here is that something outside of ourselves is going to save us, some ritual, some event. The stream-enterer knows that it is their own effort that will enable them to traverse the path and experience liberation.

The stream-enterer is said to have no more than seven rebirths before they achieve the state of cessation.

Once-returner

The once-returner is the second stage to enlightenment. The once-returner is so called because they will only have one more rebirth before they attain the state of cessation. The once-returner has abandoned the first three fetters and has significantly weakened the three poisons of attachment, aversion and ignorance. Through their practice they have gained familiarity with letting go of the arising of the three poisons, thus having a glimpse of the state of cessation in their own practice. In regard to the fetters, the fourth fetter is attachment and the fifth fetter is aversion or malice.

Non-returner

The non-returner is the third stage of enlightenment. The non-returner has taken their last human birth, and is destined to attain the state of cessation in the intermediate state after death. The non-returner has completely abandoned attachment and aversion, but has not completely eliminated ignorance and the higher fetters of meditative equipoise.

Arhat

The arhat is the fourth and final stage of enlightenment. The arhat has actualized the state of cessation and has severed the cycle of repetitive existence. To actualize the state of cessation the arhat has abandoned the five higher fetters, which are fixation to meditative experiences of the form realms, fixation to experiences of the formless realms, arrogance, excitement and ignorance.

The form and formless meditative absorptions, or dhyanas, are absorptions in the state of samadhi that lack the liberating aspect of insight into the true nature. The Buddha actually learned the eight dhyanas from his Jain teacher Ramaputta after he had set out on his own journey of awakening. The Buddha saw through his own experience that these absorptions lacked the liberating aspect. As skilled experts in meditation, we need to recognize when we are falling into these meditative states and strive to uproot our fixation.

After one has let go of the fetters of fixating on meditative experience, one can fall prey to arrogance and pride due to one's 'accomplishment'. This is the slippery slope of spiritual materialism and is sure to trip us up on the path.

Excitement is the ninth fetter, for at this point one can become elated or overjoyed with the prospects that lie just ahead. This excitement can lead to restlessness and agitation and further delay complete fulfillment.

The last fetter to be abandoned is ignorance, confusion about who we are and the nature of the world around us. It is the root of samsara, the last tether to be undone.

I hope you can recognize the connection of these four stages of enlightenment with the way we move through the four noble truths in our practice. If you understand how these are connected and develop then the journey ahead becomes clear.

Fully understand dukkha.
Let go of the arising of the three poisons.
Actualize the state of cessation.
Practice the path.

Exploring Mind and its Nature

The mind is central to the path of liberation and the journey of self-discovery. The mind is simultaneously readily apparent to us and yet a mystery. It is the basis for all of our experience, and yet not understood. Understanding the mind is the key to understanding who we are, the nature of the world around us and our place in it.

In the Four Dharmas of Gampopa, we are instructed to turn our mind towards the Dharma. The meaning of Dharma can be interpreted in different ways. Dharma can mean the Buddha's teachings, but Dharma can also refer to that which is authentic or true. Dharma can also mean phenomena, or the reality of our life and experience. In this way, turning our mind towards the Dharma means looking into the reality of our own life and experience in order to find what is true or authentic. We should explore our own mind, using the wisdom and insight of the Buddha and the many great teachers that have come before us, to discern what is meaningful and true in our own life.

This practice of looking at the mind is the basis for the practice of vipashyana or insight. The hallmark of the Buddha's teachings was insight into the nature of mind and the nature of reality. Exploring mind and its nature sets us out on a journey through the landscape of our own mind in search of that which is authentic and true.

WHAT IS MIND?

Before we can understand the nature of mind, we need to understand the mind itself. What is mind or consciousness?

The Buddha's perspective on mind is particularly helpful in opening up an doorway to the nature of mind. The Buddha taught consciousness as one of the skandhas or aggregates. The aggregate of consciousness is composed of either six or eight consciousnesses, depending on whether you are following the Hinayana or Mahayana perspective. Each of these eight (or six) consciousnesses are included within our experience of mind, and yet none of them by themselves are 'mind'. The Buddha would say that there is no mind, mind itself is an aggregate of experience and we should understand it as such.

The eight types of consciousness taught in the Mahayana sutras are the alaya or foundational consciousness, the afflicted or defiled consciousness, the mental consciousness, and the five sense consciousnesses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch). Together, these eight form the basis of our experience of who we are and the world around us.

The alaya consciousness is the foundational consciousness that forms the stream of our mental continuum. Mipham Rinpoche describes it in the Adornment of the Middle Way:

The state of consciousness that is mere clarity and knowing, which does not veer off into active sense cognition, and which is the support of habitual tendencies, is called the alaya-vijnana, the consciousness that is the universal ground. The Cittamatrins consider that this is essentially neutral, neither positive or negative. It is an awareness of the mere presence of objects and it arises in a continuity of instants. It is attended by the 'five universal mental factors', such as contact. It does not have a specific object of focus but observes the world and beings in a general, overall manner.

The alaya or foundational consciousness is this bare state of mere clarity and knowing. It is not focused or caught up in the particulars of our experience, but it is also the ground upon which our experience is created. As Mipham describes, this alaya consciousness possesses five universal mental factors which are present in any mental consciousness. These five factors are contact or sense impression, feeling, perception, intention and attention. The alaya consciousness as bare perception is aware of some thing in a general way. That thing makes a sense impression on the alaya and gives rise to a feeling or pleasure, pain or indifference. The qualities of that perception are perceived and intention directs our attention. Intention here isn't the gross intention of thoughts and or ideas, but consciousness moving towards that object and knowing it in some capacity (as attention). This bare state of mere clarity and knowing is normally outside of the experience of ordinary mind and only accessible to seasoned meditation practitioners, and yet, if we examine closely we can see this process playing out even on the level of our day to day consciousness.

The afflicted or defiled consciousness is the consciousness that interprets everything around 'me' and 'mine'. It is the narrative consciousness that is telling the story of who we are based on attachment and aversion to this confused sense of identity. Mipham describes the defiled consciousness:

The alaya, as the basis for the different habitual tendencies, is defined as mere clarity and knowing, whereas the defiled emotional mind is a clinging to the continuum of consciousness as being the self.

The experience of the alaya consciousness is interpreted through the defiled consciousness through the lens of identity. There are three main ways that we interpret or grasp to this sense of self: 1) self as independently existing, 2) self as the experiencer, 3) self as the agent of free will. We will explore those three types of self-grasping later, but any experience that we are having is interpreted through these confused notions of the self. The alaya consciousness is having some type of experience, and the defiled consciousness is 'selfing' the experience and narrating it in terms of its perceived identity. I see a lot of parallels between the defiled consciousness and what is called the default mode network by modern neuroscience.

The mental consciousness is what we normally think of as mind. It is the mind and its attendant mental states and mental objects. It is the thinking mind, the mind forming ideas and engaging in dialogue. It is the clear appearance of any of the sense consciousnesses in our subjective awareness. The five sense consciousnesses and the mental consciousness together create the entangled conception of what we normally consider 'mind'. My mind is aware of what I am seeing, hearing, feeling, thinking, touching, etc. What we are not usually aware of is how the mental and sense consciousnesses are influenced and shaped by the defiled consciousness, and the bare clarity and knowing of experience is largely foreign to us.

An important understanding is to be made regarding the sense consciousnesses and the perceived, supposedly external sense objects. The sense consciousnesses are interconnected with the sense organs and the sense object, such that they are not distinct separate entities. They arise conditionally based on mutual dependence. The key point here is that when we experience form, that form does not exist outside of consciousness as some kind of truly existing thing. It is experienced within consciousness, through this process of contact, feeling, perception, and mental formations eventually giving rise to our experience of form, but that form is not how it actually exists. This is confusing, I know, here is what Mipham has to say about our experience of the external world:

The Cittamatra approach emphasizes the fact that no matter how real and solid external objects seem, all experience of them- including our knowledge about them and their apparently objective constitution- occurs wholly within the sphere of consciousness. This carries the important implication that even if one accepts the objective existence of phenomena separate from mind, their extramental mode of existence, if such there is, is by definition unknowable. To reach beyond the mind and to experience phenomena exclusively from their side, in a complete self-contained objectivity, is as impossible as it is for us to climb out of our own skin. Indeed, the very supposition that there is a 'mind' and that there is a 'world', and that there is a separation between the two, are themselves mental events.

This is definitely controversial to the western scientific mind. We have entire fields of physics that define very clearly the laws of nature. But remember, we are not talking about if the external world exists, but rather how it exists. We take our sense perceptions to be real, to be valid and unerring and true. Is that the case? How could we possibly know? Is our perception of a tree more real than a bug's perception of a tree? But surely there is a tree there, right? What if we changed all of our sense organs, so that we perceived the entire range of energetic potential, what would we perceive then? Would that be the real world? The simple conclusion is that we can only know anything through mind, and thus we can be confident that our experience of the world is conditioned and partial. Knowing that we can open our perspective to appreciate a broader and more complex reality.

The key point of our discussion on mind is that mind itself is an aggregate of experience. It is not a thing, or a substance. Some examples of how these eight consciousnesses come together to create our experience of 'mind' can be helpful. Let's take for example someone who was born with all five sense consciousnesses operating, but at some point lost their vision. Their experience of themselves and their world would be dramatically altered upon losing their vision, and yet, they would maintain a consist narrative of who they were, their 'self' would remain intact. What happens if this person were to lose their hearing as well?  How would their experience change? How would their understanding of the world change? Would they maintain a coherent sense of self as their own mind? Undoubtedly they would.

What about when we are dreaming? Dreams are interesting because none of our five sense consciousnesses are operating and yet we can still experience the five senses in a dream. What we are seeing in our dream is not actually what are eye faculties are seeing, and yet we have clear appearances in our dreams. The experience of dreams is really the aggregate of experience of the alaya-consciousness, the defiled consciousness and the mental consciousness. The imprints or seeds of memories and conditioning factors (karma) planted in the alaya consciousness ripen in the dream state and are projected into the mental consciousness (the sixth consciousness). The defiled consciousness is still narrating the dream in terms of self, even though the self of the dream can be different that your waking state self. The experience of the sense consciousnesses in dreams arises due to our conditioned way of experiencing the world. The dreamscape is not real by any means, but a habitual perception based on past conditioning (rarely do people dream of past centuries- imagine having a dream like you were in the dawn of the agricultural era and experiencing the world through that lens, you couldn't even conceive of it).

So we have some idea of what our experience of the mind might be like without the five sense consciousnesses dominating our experience, but what about the experience of mind free from the defiled consciousness? Can we experience the mind free from the narrative of self and other, me and mine? There are many ways that this type of experience can be cultivated (certain psychedelics, ecstatic experiences, life changing events, breathing techniques, dream and sleep yogas, etc), but one of the most practical methods is through contemplation and meditation. Through contemplation and meditation we can break down the habitual mode of apprehending the self and mind.

Once we understand what the mind is, we can turn our attention to really examining the mind itself and gaining a better perspective on the nature of the mind. This becomes the focus of the practice of vipashyana, or insight.

What is the mind?

Are you aware of the different roles and personalities you play in your life?  How all of them represent a part of you, but do not fully encompass every aspect of who you are.  For example, who you are at work versus who you are with your mother versus who you are when you are with your friends at a game. 

Certainly there are common characteristics that carry through, but each is different and unique.  Who you are is shaped by your environment and the people around you.  None of them is permanent and lasting. 

It is the same with the mind.

The Buddha enumerated many different aspects of mind in order to fully elucidate what it is.  Mind can be broken down in the following eight layers:

1-5. Five sense consciousness (eye, ear, nose, taste, touch)
6. Conceptual consciousness
7. Afflicted consciousness
8. Foundational consciousness

The first five act as witnesses to the phenomenal world.  Conceptual consciousness provides the commentary.  Afflicted consciousness is all of our neurotic habits and biased perceptions.  Foundational consciousness is the platform upon which all of them carry through, day after day, lifetime after lifetime.

Why is this important?

Most forms of meditation facilitate a particular mental state.  A mental state falls within the expanse of conventional mind- it is somewhere within these eight layers.  As long as we are within these eight layers of mind we are not free- we are bound. 

So check your meditation.

Are you grasping to sights, sounds, feelings?  Are you grasping to bliss, clarity or non-conceptuality?  Where are you fixated on a ground?

To meditate and not to liberate, what's the point?

The only way to liberate your mind is to recognize the play of the conventional mind- the play of the five sense consciousnesses, the play of thoughts and the play of neurosis.  Our mind does all sorts of funny things when we watch it.  If we are free from grasping, the play of conventional mind dissolves into the nature of mind. 

The nature of the mind has the quality of liberation.  Recognize it as such- a profound calm, pristine clarity, free from thought or elaboration. 

You can't even say 'This is it' without grasping, but you can know it directly.

Let's get started.

Refuge as a doorway.

Life is full of thresholds that forever change who we are and how we live our life. A doorway is one of the most common symbols of a threshold, for we move from a place in which we are familiar into a place that is unknown to us and beyond our sight. One side of the door is the past and where we have come from, on the other side is the future and what is yet to come. On one side we leave behind the familiar, to discover something else as the mystery unfolds.

Each of us is called to be more deeply present in the world, to participate and contribute to the world around us in some way. That call may come from a random encounter, a problem we are facing, an accident or even a dream. We most notice that call when we are hesitating to step out beyond our comfort zone, second guessing ourselves, or holding back from fear or uncertainty.

That call creates a threshold. It presents a small gap in which we are given an opportunity to be more open, responsive and available. That chance encounter isn't a chance at all, because it is how you are to use your life as the journey of self-discovery.

If we recognize that call, but choose to hold back or give in, then we fall back into our habitual ways and over invest in things outside ourselves, beyond our control.

Answering that call means crossing the threshold and finding ourselves on a sacred journey or pilgrimage to rediscover our own buddha heart. The challenges of the path continually present themselves and we slowly learn to set aside our own fixation and confusion so that we can awaken to our genuine way of being.

This threshold that we are talking about, between presence or giving in to the resistance, is traditionally presented as refuge. Before the doorway of refuge we reified who we are and believed in powers outside of ourselves for our freedom and liberation. Beyond the doorway is a world in which we recognize our innate potential and rely on our own experience and wisdom as the path. On that journey of self-discovery and revelation of our own buddha heart, we will find that we need to rely on teachers who have traveled this path, teachings that we can rely on, and supportive companions who understand the journey that we are on.

Refuge isn't a one-time event. Again and again we are called to cross that threshold, to leave behind our narrow conception of self and strive for awakening. Again and again, we rely on the Dharma to guide us on that journey.

Refuge is the doorway to awakening and marks a significant shift on your journey of self-discovery.

This is the practice.

This morning as I was in the midst of doing a hundred prostrations as part of our 100 day practice intensive, the thought occurred to me, "I should stop and just meditate."

Which was followed by, "This is the practice."

There was so much freedom in that realization. I was no longer pushing myself to finish my prostrations, no longer worried about doing other 'more important' practices.

I simply did prostrations.

I laid my own body, speech and mind down again and again. Offered my own body, speech and mind as the basis for the practice to unfold, the basis for achieving liberation, and the basis for bringing benefit to others.

Namo Manjushri. Namo Sushri. Namo Uttamshri, Soha.

Namo Manjushri: I prostrate to the ever-youthful, awakened body.
Namo Sushri: I prostrate to glorious, virtuous speech.
Namo Uttamshri: I prostrate to authentic, awakened mind.
Soha: So it is. 

Our practice is embodied. It isn't just the meditation cushion, everything is included. Even the struggle.