SBI Study Group December 6th

7 Point Mind Training of Tibetan Buddhism

(notes based on teachings given by B. Alan Wallace)

10:00 Welcome

10:05 Meditation – Shamatha Medley--Mindfulness of Breathing,

Settling the Mind in its Natural State, into Awareness of Awareness

10:30 Overview:

Second Point: Cultivating Ultimate and Relative Bodhichitta

• Important context for Second Point of Mind Training is arising after contemplation of 4 Thoughts that Turn the Mind whose key objective is motivation to turn away from samsara and turn toward an authentic path of dharma for the sake of enlightenment, to foster bodhichitta—the spirit of awakening.
• Developing Right Thought (from Theravada Buddhist tradition), or authentic aspiration from Tibetan Buddhist tradition, is foundational for a true dharma path, otherwise spiritual practice will be subverted into perfecting samsara (ex. for less stress etc).
• 4 Thoughts awaken discernment of ultimate happiness that is liberating from relative mundane happiness based on attachment, (8 mundane concerns) which is a set up for suffering.
• The fundamental cornerstone of existence as a sentient being is seeking happiness and avoiding suffering. Core aspiration for genuine happiness is indication of inherent buddha nature. “The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free of suffering, is the fundamental expression of buddha nature,” it is “buddha nature wanting to realize itself.” The essence of buddha nature is inexhaustible wisdom and love (ultimate and relative bodhichitta).
• What veils buddha nature is core delusion of self grasping and self centeredness. Central theme of Mind Training is to direct entire dharma practice to the elimination of these core habitual tendencies of mind to reveal true buddha nature

• Mind Training a complete dharma path of shila (ethics), samadhi (balanced refined stability of attention) and prajna (insight or wisdom into nature of reality) for the cultivation and realization of relative and ultimate bodhichitta.
• “Ultimate bodhichitta probes the nature of reality to realize its ultimate nature, and relative bodhichitta is the altruistic aspiration to realize perfect spiritual awakening for the sake of all sentient beings.”
• With this Second Point of the Mind Training, “the training in formal daily meditation to integrate dharma into active daily life begins.” Taking refuge in ”three jewels” is foundational Buddhist practice that begins each formal session, opening to blessings of the Buddhas upon your path.

10:45 Discussion of the suggested reading: (pp 65-110)

1. “Once you have achieved stability, reveal the mystery.”

• This important line appears in hand written version of commentary by Sechibuwa (provided by Alan), not in most other commentaries of Atisha’s Mind Training.

• The mystery is the nature of consciousness, relatively and ultimately.
• Begin relatively, probe the nature of your own mind and “know thyself,” with the stability of

1) confidence or faith (shraddha) and 2) the tool of refined attentional stability and balance (shamatha or samadhi)

· FAITH--Buddhism identifies three types of faith:

1. faith of belief—arising from validation of own experience, arising from power of reason and rigorous investigation or analysis, and/or arising spontaneously from intuition (deep seeds of past lives)

2. faith of appreciation—a sense of awe of the significance of the authentic teaching and teachers

3. faith of aspiration—priorities shift toward sincere steady dedication to practice because nothing else makes sense

• Achieving stability in these three modes of faith provides a solid foundation and platform for launching into the formal spiritual practices of the 7 Point Mind Training.

• STABILITY OF ATTENTION—training in meditative stability and achieving mental balance by practicing 1) control method with a meditative object “which fixes mindfulness with continuity on an object”, ie. the breath or a mental image, OR

2) release method of the sign of the mind, letting go of control and “letting awareness simply come to rest without distraction and without grasping.”

• Progressively practice release method from settling mind in its natural state or awareness completely at rest while mind is in motion, to awareness of being aware where awareness focuses right in on itself, also referred to as shamatha without a sign.
• Through this progressive line of practice, two inherent qualities of awareness or consciousness are discovered:

a) luminosity (“awareness can manifest as all kinds of sensory and mental representations and this quality to reveal itself in such forms is called its clarity or luminosity”), and

b) cognizance or knowing (“not only do appearances arise to awareness, but awareness also apprehends appearances or no appearanaces, and the event of sheer knowing is discernable.”)

• The practice of shamatha without a sign leads directly to conscious experience of the substrate, the ground of the individual sentient mind into which the psyche, your personal signature, and all phenomena dissolve in deep sleep, at death, and in the achievement of shamatha, and reemerge or arise again.
• Consciousness of the substrate,(also known as repository consciousness because individual imprints are stored in this continuum lifetime to lifetime), is the relative mystery to be revealed through the stability of confident meditative practice. The true nature of your own mind is comprehended.
• Universally, experience of the substrate consciousness is imbued with three qualities or distinguishing characteristics that are beyond gender and species: 1)luminosity, 2) bliss, and 3) non-conceptuality or emptiness.
• Achieving shamatha, or stability of meditative quiescence, samadhi, is not enough for complete liberation from samsara. Great insight and contribution of Lord Buddha is that for irreversible freedom or enlightenment, it is necessary to fuse samadhi with vipashyana or insight practice. Insights from contemplative exploration into nature of reality, relative and ultimate, are made stable through skill of samadhi. Atisha is also referring to this fusion of stability and insight in this aphorism.

2. “Regard all events as if they were dreams.”

• This aphorism moves into contemplative insight into nature of our experienced world, of all phenomena arising as events in the space of the mind, and challenges our common world view of naïve realism, i.e. an objective reality out there perceived by the subjective reality of myself in here.

• Parallels scientific insights from contemporary physics (pp 102-103) “Reality doesn’t exist independently of the system of measurement and interpretation.” More radically, consciousness is instrumental, i.e. “awareness of an event is the actual trigger that makes potentia transform into physical reality.”

• Like physics, Buddhism probes nature of reality and asks if observed phenomena exist purely objectively and independently of the perception of them. Buddhist contemplative insight is the discovery of the Middle Way view (p.106), that everything exists interdependently.
• Analogy of dream in this aphorism refers to Tibetan Buddhist practice of dream yoga, and the “analogy between the non lucid dream state and our usual waking state.” (p. 107)
• Two aspects of Dream Yoga practice:

1. daytime practice—entails pondering “in this waking state, relatively speaking, I am fast asleep.” Buddha means that which is awake. In comparison, this waking state is asleep, and how it is habitually perceived is profoundly mistaken and is deluded. This daytime practice is what this aphorism refers to.

2. nighttime practice—settling mind in natural state prior to falling asleep, and observing yourself falling asleep, is effective preperation for the nighttime practice of lucid dreaming, i.e. being aware that you are dreaming while asleep, or becoming lucid in deep dreamless sleep.

11:45 Tea break

12:05 Meditation – Shamatha fused with vipashyana, insight into emptiness

12:30 Continue Discussion

12:55 Dedicate Merit - Prayer of Dedication:

“Wherever 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.”

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, January 9^th is pp. 110-154

First Meditation: Shamatha Medley (taking shamatha of the mind incrementally)

1. Be physically comfortable and assume a formal posture of either seated or supine position and settle the body in its natural state. Set a welcome mat of ease and letting go, maintaining three qualities of relaxation, stillness and vigilance.

2. Mindfully relax the body, especially the shoulders, the neck and face, and particularly soften the eyes, the jaw, and allow the tongue to gently rest up against the upper palette behind the teeth, while keeping the spine straight.

3. Open your heart, your mind to blessings from those genuine Teachers who have awakened, and take sanctuary in their realized wisdom and compassion

4. Arouse the genuine aspiration to commit to an authentic spiritual path for the sake of your own enlightenment, as well as for the sake of the enlightenment of all beings. Rejoice in virtue, and openly declare and release any non-virtue and 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.

5. Dissolve all aspirations and appearances into emptiness.

6. Proceeding with confidence and faith in your own buddha nature, begin shamatha practice with mindfulness of breathing in the field of the body.

7. Taking the breath as our object, begin by taking three slow deep breaths, inhaling through the nostrils, breathing deeply into the abdomen, then the diaphragm, and finally expanding the chest, and then releasing the breath completely.

8. Settle the respiration in its natural rhythm. Releasing all control of the breath, continue to breathe effortlessly, egolessly. With every outbreath, simply release the mind and let go of involuntary thoughts and quietly attend to the object of the breath, observing the natural ebb & flow of the breath.

9. Establishing a deep soothing relaxation, mindfully observe the tactile sensations of the breath throughout the field of the body. Let awareness be diffuse and permeate the body, and quietly observe the ripple effect of the breath throughout this field.

10. Then open your eyes partially and rest your gaze vacantly before you, and redirect your attention to the space of the mind where thoughts, memories, desires, all mental images spontaneously arise and fall, and simply observe in stillness, without distraction and without grasping, the motion in the space of the mind—utterly relaxed.

11. Notice now the intervals between the thoughts—some lasting a few seconds, shorter, longer. As you are attending to the space of the mind, and when there is no identifiable content, note that you’re still aware of something, but now you are aware of an absence rather than a presence. The absence is the space between thoughts.

12. Now take a greater interest in the space between thoughts—after all, thoughts are just chit chat. That space between is very restful and quite still. Note that you are aware of something, perhaps a vacuity, an emptiness.

13. Relax more deeply—really relax your shoulders, your face, and set your mind utterly at ease, in deep repose.

14. Let your awareness not even go out to the space, but like sitting back in an easy chair, let your awareness just sit back.

15. Note there is something happening here—just being aware, ready to be aware of anything that comes up. Even if nothing comes up, not even empty space, there is still awareness—it doesn’t stop—on ongoing flow of knowing.

16. Just rest and stabilize there. Be aware of being aware, immediate sense of awareness happening, truly coming home. Rest fully, without extending out, without hope or fear, without expectation or desire, full throttle back. Uncluttered, let awareness simply be.

17. Dedicate merit and bring the session to a close.

Second Meditation: Shamatha fused with Vipashyana on Emptiness

1. Sit comfortably in a formal meditative position, either seated or supine, and settle the body in its natural state, assuming a posture of relaxation, stillness and vigilance, with spine straight, sternum slightly lifted, abdominal muscles relaxed and loose.

2. Open the heart to blessings, and take sanctuary in awakening, in dharma, in your path. Call forth blessings from the enlightened ones, the buddhas, upon your practice….

3. Now settle the respiration in its natural rhythm, breathing as effortlessly as if you were deep asleep, not modifying the breath in any way, just allowing it to flow in & out of its own accord, breathing egolessly.

4. Settle the mind by taking 21 breaths, arousing the attention during inhalation and completely relaxing more and more deeply through the exhalation, paying close attention to the tactile sensations of the breath throughout the field of the body. You can count the breaths as a punctuation at the end of each outbreath just before breathing in.

5. Then let your eyes be at least partially open, and all of your senses open. Open your awareness to all the fields of experience—in the seen, the heard, the tactilely felt, the mentally cognized, in all appearances that arise to your awareness, let there be just that which is presented, without reification, without grasping.

6. Open your awareness while sustaining an ongoing flow of undistracted mindfulness, without grasping.

7. Be aware of the empty, the illusory, the dreamlike nature of all appearances to awareness which seem to be truly out there.

8. Consider: all appearances are empty. All appearances of the physical senses and of the mind emerge from, are present in, and dissolve back into the luminous vacuity of the space of the mind, known as the substrate—that which is left when you’re deep asleep—an empty substrate

9. Consider this substrate now filled with all these apparitions—visual, tactile, mental—none of them having any independent existence. Just appearances arising from the substrate and dissolving back into this ground of the ordinary mind.

10. Take special note of that which seems to be the most tangible, most real and substantial, that which we touch and feel with the body. If the body’s not real, what is?

11. Where is this body? When does the body ever appear to your mind? Are tactile sensations a body? Are visual impressions a body? Is body just a mental construct which we then reify and assume to exist objectively?

12. Observe what’s left of the body when you observe carefully just the reality that’s being presented to your senses.

13. All these appearances are arising to the mind. What is it that is perceiving, that is aware of all these appearances, the senses, the mental events?

14. Examine carefully what is the mind, your mind, my mind? Can you find it? Do you observe it? What characteristics does it actually have? Have you, has anyone, ever observed the mind? Does it have any shape, color, contours, size, location?

15. Does the mind have any identifiable characteristics at all? Does it even exist? If it does exist, we should be able to observe, note, and list its identifiable characteristics.

16. What is it then to which all appearances manifest? We call it the mind—what is the referent of the word “mind’?

17. In the not finding of objects that exist apart from appearances to the mind, we ascertain the emptiness of objective reality. In not finding a real subjective mind which stands apart from appearances, we ascertain the emptiness of the mind. No real inherently existing objects, no real inherently existing subject—all empty, all interdependent….

18. Now rest in that contemplation, stabilize in that insight….

19. Few a few moments, release the practice, simply rest and bring the session to a close.