SBI Study Group March 6th, 2010
7 Point Mind Training of
Tibetan Buddhism
(notes based on teachings given by B. Alan Wallace)
Meditation First Session: as way of review of ultimate bodhichitta:
Shamatha—ÒSettling the Mind in its Natural StateÓ fused with insight
á This practice is what Dudjom Lingpa refers to in his Dzogchen text of the Vajra Essence as, ÒTaking the Mind and Appearances as the Path.Ó
á As we practice, we maintain the view of ultimate bodhichitta and take refuge in the most sublime fundamental way, which stems from the pinnacle of Tibetan Buddhism, Dzogchen. We thereby infuse our shamatha practice with vipashyana, this insight of Great Emptiness (Maha Shunyata): the view that Òall phenomena in the whole of samsara and nirvana are of an empty identityless nature. In the end, you confirm firsthand (experientially) that your own awareness has never been anything but the play of the kayas and primordial consciousness.Ó VE (i.e. dharmakaya)
á We defined and emphasized the view of emptiness last month via the negative, as an absence of substantial inherent existence from its own side; important to balance this and also to define via the positive, as interdependent relations.
á Middle Way View: Three manners in which all phenomena, including the Triple Gem, exist as interdependently related events—1) they arise in dependence upon prior causes and conditions; 2) they have components and attributes; and 3) there is aconceptual agreement or designation (example of clock)
á Maintaining this view, taking this kind of constant refuge, 24/7, in the ultimate ground and fundamental nature of pristine awareness is what finally overcomes mental afflictions and genuinely liberates. As we practice settling the mind, just watching it in motion, relaxes the habit of compulsive and obsessive ideation, and is healing therapy, but the insight of the view liberates as you watch the events and watch the you that is watching without reifying either.
á Mindfulness (Sanskrit smriti and in Tibetan sati) in this practice means 1) sustaining a knowing, on ongoing flow of knowing, a stable continuity of awareness, while selectively attending to appearances/events in the space of the mind, and 2) recollection, remembering to remember this insight of the view as you witness what arises in the space of the mind without reifying subject or object, with the quintessential instructions of allowing appearances to arise without grasping and without distraction.
á This shamatha practice is nondiscursive, formless, very passive, releasing, relaxing, and is vigilantly yet calmly-abiding in the stillness of awareness, while the mind is in motion, metaphorically like a kestrel kiting into the wind.
á As we relax and release deeply, it is helpful to remember that the primary cause for stress that gets us all wired and wound up in our daily life is the quality of grasping and reifying, and not really the amount of activity or work or demands on our time.
á As a shamatha practice, this is a shift from habitual conceptual mind mode of past and future constructs, i.e. planning/reflecting/sorting/labeling, to perceptual mode of bare attention, or simply witnessing/observing in the present, attentively. We infuse it with insight if we practice while maintaining the view.
1. Third
Point: Transforming Adversity into an Aid to Spiritual Awakening
Refers to the integration of ultimate and relative bodhichitta into daily life
A. When
the whole world is enslaved by vices, transform adversities into the path of
spiritual awakening.
á What does enslaved by vices mean?
Life is saturated by things that can be regarded by world as adversity
á What enables transformation?
Malleability of the mind—it fluctuates and therefore can be balanced with skillful means.
á Define adversity from view of Middle Way.
The relative reality of adversity is what we engage with as the fruit of past actions and is defined as such with prior causes and conditions, with components and parts, and by finally labeling and conceptually designating it as adversity
á Define a path of spiritual awakening.
Shila, samadhi, prajna, wherein renunciation and bodhichitta are key motivation.
á Rather than avoid and detour suffering, use it, incorporate it as the path, is the advice.
B. Blame
everything on one culprit.
á What is the one culprit? or enemy, the one that makes us suffer?
Self-centeredness, and further, Òit is my self-centeredness, not yours, that gives me grief.Ó
á Is self-centeredness innate or habitual?
Viewed as innate identity or substantial in and of itself, it is fixed; viewed as empty and a habitual veneer, it can be modified, subdued and extinguished. ÒSelf-grasping is ignorance and self-centeredness is self-grasping in action.Ó ÒYou can accept yourself and at the same time, recognize there are invaders of the mind just as there are viruses that invade the body.Ó p.198
á What is the true ally?
Relative bodhichitta—cherishing others.
á Adversity appears as adversity because of self-centeredness. If examined carefully, adversity found to have no inherent existence. View it, identify it for what it is, rather than identify with it
C. Reflect
on the kindness of all those around you.
á Define what kindness means in this phrase.
Kindness specifically means the benefit we derive regardless of motivation and here, does not mean kind intentions. Advice is to move through life, including the disagreeable, with a sense of gratitude for the spiritual benefit ultimately derived.
D. By
meditating on delusive appearances as the four embodiments, emptiness becomes
the best protection.
á What are delusive appearances?
All appearances of the environment, sentient beings and our own body/mind. Unhappy circumstances serve as platforms from which to cultivate the Six Perfections of the bodhisattva way of life: generosity, ethical discipline, patience, zeal, meditation and wisdom.
á What are the four embodiments?
1)dharmakaya,
2) sambhogakaya, 3) nirmanakaya,
and 4) svagbhavakaya
See pp 207-08 for what is meant by each.
á How is emptiness the best protection? Against what?
Delusion or ignorance. ÔBy viewing all phenomena as delusive appearances of the four embodiments, we see that in reality there is essentially nothing to purify, nothing to reject. All is seen as display of pure awareness, which by nature is empty, luminous and infinitely creative.Õ
E. The
best strategy is to have four practices.
á Strategy for what? What are the four practices?
For navigating skillfully through samsara to enlightenment.
1. accumulating merit—spiritual power accrued by engaging in virtue whereas mental afflictions dissipate merit
2. purifying vices by means of the four remedial powers of remorse, reliance, resolve and purificatory behavior to counteract misdeeds (also see pp 61-2) There is no karma that cannot be purified.
3. making offerings to spirits (not deities)
4. making offerings to Dharma Protectors. ÒThe best protector of dharma is bodhichitta,Ó ultimate and relative. p.214
F. Whatever you encounter, immediately apply it to meditation.
á Explain.
When inevitable adversity or felicity arise in daily life in between formal practice sessions, rather than respond with habitual fear and mundane hope, with the wish to be free of problems, rather stabilize in the center, in even-mindedness, in equanimity, and cultivate spiritual maturity.
2. The
Fourth Point: A Synthesis of Practice for One Life
The entire text of the 7 Point Mind Training is a quintessential nest of practices to be integrated for the whole of life, living and dying.
A. To
synthesize the essence of this practical guidance, apply yourself to the five
powers.
á With Òpractical guidanceÓ implying for everyday life, what are the five powers?
1. resolution—never to be separated from the two bodhichittas which Òentails a radical attitudinal adjustment to respond to adverse situations in ways that give rise to happiness
2. familiarization—strategy of applying practice to fill all of life, moving from smaller challenges to the capacity for greater ones
3. power of positive seeds—constant devotion to practice, sowing seeds of enlightenment
4. power of abhorrence—an excellent response to the reification of ÔIÓ, to self grasping and self centeredness
5. prayer—an aspiration, a marshaling of desire for genuine dharma, well-being and circumstances conducive to enlightenment
B. The
Mahayana teaching on transferring consciousness is precisely these five powers,
so your conduct is crucial.
á Implying these are teachings for death, for Òtransferring consciousnessÓ as well, which could come at any time, how would we apply these five powers to the dying process?
pp. 222-26
Consciously applying the two bodhichittas would be dying perfectly. Conduct at death is crucial as it determines your next life or your liberation.
Tea
Break
Second
Meditation Session- as a way of review of relative bodhichitta
Loving Kindness and Tonglen
á
Path of the View, nondualism,
referred to in Dzogchen as the one taste of samsara and nirvana
as described in first session, the view of Òcausally efficaciousÓ buddhas that are not inherently real from their own side
and emanate blessings; versus Path of Definitive Perfection, or theism, which
is a worldview that reifies God/Buddha/Deity and all pheneomena
as really real and substantially existing from their own side.
á
Interplay between karma, or adversity and
felicity, and what the buddhas
are good for.
á
Transforming all karma, positive or negative,
into authentic spiritual path, in which renunciation and bodhichitta
are key motivation, the constant blessings of the buddhas, like sunshine, arise to meet us and take us
all the way to enlightenment. We
are recipients of the blessings of the buddhas
in direct correlation to how much we are aligned to an authentic spiritual
path.
á
If aligned to mode of hedonic well-being
in samsara, then the best the buddhas offer is the understanding of
virtue and nonvirtue, and the karmic effects of causality. Not that buddhas are doing things to us or for us, with any
willful partiality from their own side, but rather showing us the best way to
navigate through samsara and avoid unnecessary suffering.
á
Embrace strength of heart (semchuk
in Tibetan) or spiritual courage, where we simply refuse to personally regard,
label or conceptually designate something as adversity, but rather Òit is what
it isÓ, and have the will to transform it into practice to deepen compassion,
renunciation, and insight into emptiness.
Adversity thereby becomes an aid to spiritual awakening.
Continue Discussion
Dedicate Merit with traditional Prayer of Dedication:
ÒWherever the precious, supreme spirit of awakening, has not arisen, may it arise,
And where it has arisen, may it never decline, but grow stronger and stronger.Ó
May what we have studied and practiced here today be of benefit,
May we each realize the fulfillment of our most meaningful aspirations for our own sake and the sake of all sentient beings, and
May all beings be well and happy.
Suggested reading for next
meeting of Saturday, April 3rd, is pp. 229-278 conclusion
You are invited to join the SBI Study Group for Weekly Meditation practice at Unity Church Chapel, 227 Arrellaga St, SB., every Tuesday, from 6:45-8:00 p.m.
Extended
Day Practice:
Suggestion—alternate 24 minute sessions, in supine and seated postures if you wish,
between earth and wind or sky shamatha practice,
between shamatha and vipashyana practice, and/or
between ultimate and relative bodhichitta practice
First Meditation: Settling Mind in its Natural State with insight
1. Be physically comfortable, assume either seated or supine position, mindful that this is a formal posture for meditation. If seated, spine is straight, sternum slightly lifted, abdominal muscles relaxed and loose. Especially relax the shoulders, the neck, face, and particularly soften the eyes, release the jaw, and allow the tongue to gently rest up against the upper palette.
2. Set the welcome mat of ease and letting go, as we settle the body in its natural state imbued with 3 characteristics of relaxation, stillness and vigilance.
3. In shamatha practice or calm abiding, we are cultivating being relaxed/calm in body/mind while at the same time, awake and alert, simply abiding in awareness, in an ongoing flow of knowing.
4. Now draw your attention to the core of our being, to your true buddha nature, and open the heart to blessings, to blessings from those genuine Teachers who embody this nature and have truly awakened, and take sincere refuge in this realized wisdom and compassion, in Buddha Mind. And take refuge in Truth, in dharma, in authentic teachings that genuinely liberate, in Buddha Speech. And take refuge in Buddha Body, personal teachers, true dharma companions and friends who support our path, and ask for blessings in body, speech and mind.
5. In this pure presence, rejoice in virtue, and openly declare and release any non-virtue from any lifetime, remembered, not remembered. May it all be purified and released.
6. Arouse the genuine aspiration to commit to an authentic spiritual path and awaken for the sake of your own enlightenment, as well as for the sake of the enlightenment of all beings.
7. From the heart of buddha nature, sincerely pray:
May all beings like myself be well and happy; may all beings like myself be free of suffering and the causes of suffering; may all beings like myself dwell in empathetic joy; and may all beings like myself abide in blessed equanimity. And for a few moments practice sending the wish of loving kindness with every outbreath, and on the inbreath, drawing in to the radiant heart the inevitable vulnerability to suffering in samsara and dissolving it there completely like a cloud of smokeÉ
8. And now, simply dissolve all aspirations and appearances into pristine awareness, emptiness.
Om. All phenomena, including myself, are perfectly and inherently pure of essence.
ÒOm. I am the very self whose intrinsically pure essence is the diamond
of the knowledge of Great Emptiness.Ó
9. Proceeding with confidence and faith in the purity of our own buddha
nature, begin shamatha practice with a few minutes of mindfulness of breathing in the field of the body, as we settle into earth element—sending down deep roots of relaxation, as in savasana, whether we are seated or lying down.
10. Take three deep breaths, down into the abdomen, expanding the diaphram, and finally breathing into the chest, and release the breath effortlessly.
11. And settle the respiration in its natural rhythm, and let awareness be diffuse and rest permeating the field of the body, simply being aware from moment to moment of the tactile sensations associated with the breath throughout the field of the body
12. With each inbreath arouse the attention, in this way counteracting laxity, and with each outbreath, relax more deeply counteracting any excitation, releasing extraneous thoughts as they arise. Practicing mindfulness of breathing, just let them goÉ
13. With body and mind inwardly relaxed, now let the eyes be at least partially open, and let the gaze come to rest vacantly in the space in front of you. Blink if you need to.
14. Bring the full force of your mindfulness, sustaining this knowing, to the field or space of the mind, the 6th domain of experience apart from the five senses, this domain in which dreams arise, thoughts, images, memories, fantasies, desires, emotions of all kinds.
15. Continuing to breathe in a thoroughly relaxed effortless way, just rest in the space of the mind, attending to whatever events arise within that domain, without preferring one kind over another, without preferring vacuity over thoughts arising. Whatever arises in the space of the mind, gentle or rough, coarse or subtle, now just let it be and observe it with unwavering mindfulnessÉ.
16. If there are interims in which no thought or other mental events are taking place in the foreground, simply observe that vacuous space of awareness in the background, which is constant. The space itself remainsÉ as we remember the quintessential instructions for this practice, Ôto settle our awareness, our mind, in its natural state without grasping and without distraction.Õ
17. Finally, if you find you are carried away by thoughts and fall into excitation or agitation, note this as quickly as possible with the faculty of introspection, loosen up and relax the mind more deeply, let go of the grasping onto thoughts, without in any way exerting any effort to banish the thought, just release the energy of grasping, of reifying.
18. On the other hand, if you find yourself on occasion becoming spaced out, dull or lethargic, again note this with introspection immediately and respond by arousing the attention, and paying closer attention to this domain of the mind.
19. LetÕs continue practicing now in silence.
20. Now for a few moments, release the practice and let awareness just rest in its own place, simply illuminating its own nature É
21. Dedicate merit of the practice and bring
the session to a close.
Second Meditation: Loving Kindness and Tonglen
1. Settle body in its natural state, assuming a formal posture of relaxation, stillness and vigilance. And settle the respiration in its natural rhythm, and calm the mind with mindfulness of breathing for a few minutes in the field of the body as before.
2. With attention still in the field of the body, letÕs now move into the mode of visualization, letting the imagination play and visualize the body as a translucent form, empty, of the nature of shimmering light.
3. As we practice now a variation of tonglen, we first arouse a spirit of loving kindness for ourselves—very specifically the aspiration that we may truly flourish spiritually, with all favorable circumstances in terms of authentic dharma teachers, teachings and friends, a suitable environment, all that is needed on the material plane, all outer conditions lining up and coming together, all inner conditions unfolding and coming togetherÉ
4. Think in terms of specifics, what we would love to encounter in terms of these most favorable of circumstances as we vividly imagine our own spiritual flourishing, and set our sights on our own perfect awakening for the benefit of all beings.
5. As we arouse this prayer of aspiration, this bodhichitta, we may be confident that our aspirations are in accordance with the aspirations of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. What more would they want than our own spiritual awakening?
6. As we breathe out, with each exhalation, we send forth this calling for blessings of all the enlightened ones, to bless us in our own practice, that we may truly flourish, encounter all the necessary causes and conditions to proceed along our own path of awakening.
7. As we breathe in, with each inhalation, we imagine flowing in from all sides in the form of light, this Light of Loving Kindness, of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, rising up to meet us, converging upon our own form and filling our being to overflowing, this radiant Light.
8. As we breathe in, we let our imagination play, and imagine all these light rays saturating us and providing us with all circumstances for our enlightenment, empowering us to transform all that comes our way—what the world would call adversity/felicity, sickness/health--into nourishment that will sustain us and further us along our path.
9. With each outbreath, arouse the yearning may I find the freedom, the liberation, the awakening that is my heartÕs desire.
10. With each inbreath, as all this Light converges on our body and mind, imagine realizing our most heartfelt aspirations.
11. @16 And letÕs turn our attention now outwards, as you wish, to individuals, to communities and regions of the world, vulnerable to suffering. With each inbreath, continue to breathe in the Light of Loving Kindness of all the enlightened ones.
12. And with each outbreath, as if we are funneling all this light, direct now this Light of Loving Kindness to others vulnerable to suffering.
13. Imagine this Light fulfilling their every need—for those that are lonely, the Light transforming into a loving companion, to those who are ill into medicine, for those that are hungry into food, for those living in an area of conflict into peace, to those yearning for direction, genuine dharma.
14. Breathing in the loving kindness of all the buddhas, breathing out this light of loving kindness to others, realizing this light as none other than the radiant light of loving kindness of our own pristine awareness, of our own buddha nature.
15. Few a few moments, now release the practice, and simply rest in the luminous nature of pristine awareness.
16. Dedicate merit and bring the session to a close.