"The experience of true insight is the simultaneous awareness of both stillness and active thoughts. According to the Maha Ati teaching, meditation consists of seeing whatever arises in the mind and simply remaining in the state of nowness. Continuing in this state after meditation is known as "the post-meditation experience."
Jigme Lingpa, translated by Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
"Do not resolve the Dharma,
Resolve your mind.
To resolve your mind is to know the one which frees all.
Not to resolve your mind is to know all but lack the one"
Guru Rinpoche
The practice of dzogchen is based on the recognition of natural awareness which is referred to as ordinary mind. Natural awareness is the true nature of our mind when it is free from habitual reference points. This is the quality of our present experience which is uncontrived, undistracted, nondual awareness. It has been described as naked and unborn in the sense that it is awareness which is stripped bare of any karmic conditioning or habituation. Ordinarily in our day to day lives our minds are continually involved in habitual thought and projection. This habitual mode of being is generally how we operate and what keeps us trapped in a cycle of ignorance, delusion and suffering. Habitual thought, projection and the compulsive fixation on what arises in our minds obscures our recognition of natural awareness. Therefore we can understand dzogchen training as a method which purifies the mind of habitual, karmic conditioning allowing us to recognize ordinary mind. In this sense, natural awareness is beyond the reference points of habitual mind. This is what Trungpa Rinpoche referred to as Crazy Wisdom in his early seminars in the west.
"Once again f you don't meditate you won't gain certainty. If you do meditate certainty will be attained. What kind of certainty should be attained? By meditating with strong diligence, the uptight fixation on solid duality will gradually grow more relaxed. Your constant ups and downs, hopes and fears, efforts and struggles will gradually diminish as a natural sign of having become fully acquainted. Devotion to your guru will grow stronger and you will feel confidence in his oral instruction from the very core of your heart. At some point, the conceptual mind which solidly fixates on duality will naturally vanish. After that, gold and stone are equal, good and evil are equal, food and shit are equal, buddha realms and hell realms are equal--you will find it impossible to choose."
Dudjom Rinpoche
Since habitual mind depends on constant movement, distraction and the manipulation of what arises in our experience, the fundamental form of practice in dzogchen is to sit still and be undistracted -- to leave whatever arises in our mind as it is -- that is, not to manipulate or strategize our thoughts or the sights, sounds and sensations that we perceive. This is called the "resting meditation of a kusulu."
"Keep your body straight, refrain from talking, open your mouth slightly, and let the breath flow naturally. Don't pursue the past and don't invite the future. Simply rest naturally in the naked ordinary mind of the immediate present without trying to correct it or replace it. If you rest like that, your mind-essence will be clear and expansive, vivid and naked,without any concerns about thought or recollection, joy or pain. That is awareness (Rigpa)."
Khenpo Gangshar
The basic instruction for kusulu meditation according to our lineage is first to sit in the posture of the Buddha. This is the seven-fold posture of Vairocana. Essentially the legs are crossed and the spine is straight. Having taken that posture one then should "leave the body like a corpse in the charnal ground." This means to not have hope and fear about the body. In terms of the speech, one leaves the breath as though it were a broken instrument -- a lute whose strings have been cut. Again this is referring to not having hope and fear about the voice or breath. It is left as it is.
With the mind, the instruction is to leave the mind as it is -- without hope 8and fear. And whatever thoughts arise in the mind should also be left without engaging by either accepting or rejecting them.
"Whatever arises as objects in awareness
--Regardless of what thoughts arise from the five emotional poisons ~
Do not allow your mind to anticipate, follow after, or indulge in them.
By allowing this movement to rest in its own ground, you are free in Dharmakaya."
Guru Rinpoche
Distinguishing between Sems and Rigpa
"Mind (sems) is like the clouds assembled in the sky. Therefore you must gain stability in awareness (rigpa) which is like a cloudless sky. You must be able to purify the aspect that is like the clouds in the sky. Through this you will be able to separate mind and awareness."
Khenpo Gangshar
This particular method of practice depends on being able to separate or distinguish between confusion and realization. This means being able to tell the difference between being lost in a daydream --or just zoned out --and being present-- i.e. not following thoughts or repressing them. "Sems" in Tibetan refers to what in Buddhism has been translated into english as ego. It is not a good translation in my opinion because of all the baggage connected with the word in the english language. In this case, ego as 'sems' is just the tendency to habitually fixate on mental projections which arise in the mind. This creates a fictional dream world called samsara that sentient beings tend to think of as real and habitually attempt to solidify. It is a fundamental confusion. "Rigpa" is the Tibetan word that refers to awareness beyond habitual reference point-- beyond 'sems' or after sems has fallen apart -- which it does naturally moment to moment. Rigpa is what Trungpa Rinpoche refers to as "basic sanity."
"Place your body in the sevenfold posture of Vairochana. Let the nonarising nature of your mind-- this empty and luminous awareness, this primordially pure and spontaneously present essence- remain in the state of the fourfold resting of body, speech and mind.
Don't pursue what has passed before, Don't invite what hasn't occurred, and don't construct present cognizance.
The fourfold resting is:
Rest your body like a corpse in a charnel ground, without preference or fixed arrangement.
Rest your voice like a broken waterwheel, in a state of stillness.
Rest your eyes like a statue in a shrine room, without blinking, in a continuous, focused gaze.
Rest your mind like a sea free from waves, quietly in the unfabricated and spontaneously present state of the empty and luminous nature of awareness. Let your mind rest, totally free from thought.
The earth outside, the stones, mountains, rocks, plants, trees, and forests do not truly exist. The body inside does not truly exist. This empty and luminous mind-nature also does not truly exist. Although it does not truly exist, it cognizes everything. Thus to rest in the state of empty and luminous awareness is known as the ground of cutting through."
Vajrayogini
trans. Eric Pema Kunsang
In order to distinguish between sems and rigpa the kusulu works with body, speech and mind in a particular way. "Leaving the body like a corpse in a charnal ground" means that we don't engage with the physical sensation of our body in an habitual way. When we relate to the body in this way we are simply present with those sensations and they root us in an experience beyond our habitual daydream or psychosomatic experience of the body. Its not that our experience of the body disappears in meditation, but we relate to it without manipulation based on habitual mind. This is the nirmanakaya.
This is the same with our breath, which in this context is regarded as "speech." The breath is left alone without manipulation but is still a baseline experience. We are breathing and that brings us back to a direct experience of being present without complication. Utilizing our direct experience of body and speech in this way is essentially the method of meditation for a kusulu practitioner. This is the sambhogakaya.
There are some techniques that Trungpa Rinpoche gave his students regarding the use of accentuating awareness of the outbreath which are very helpful for distinguishing between being caught in an habitual daydream and being present. These techniques should not be regarded as some type of saving grace. In other words, with the technique Trungpa Rinpoche instructed his students to use, we utilize the outbreath as a neutral reference point. Being aware of the outbreath is just momentarily realizing you are here. There may be some sense in that moment that you weren't "here" in the previous moment. That is the technique. There is no effort to push "thinking" away to dwell in stillness or to use the concentration on the breath to induce a kind of trance-like state. None at all. You are "here" with the outbreath, then let it go. You are "here;" then, let it go. By sitting still and allowing the breath to be as it is , we wake up in the midst of our daydream-- moment to moment.
Sems is recognized as engaging in any thought of the past; any ideas of what might happen in the future and any conceptual reckoning in the present. Sems is engaging in any of these thoughts -- habitually or compulsively. In the abhidharma we study the five skandhas -- form, feeling, perception, formation and consciousness. This is all sems. But to understand how we experience sems is that a random thought bubbles up in our mind and we react to it. Whether it is a memory, a future projection or reckoning in the present-- when we react habitually we think of that thought as happening outside of our minds. That is the definition of duality. That is the first skandha. Form. Once we do that -- and we do that based on coemergent ignorance-- then we are on a little trip in our minds. You can call this trip the nidana chain or just samsara. You can call it a daydream -- because that is what it is. It is also the basis of our habitual conditioning: i.e. of karma.
We are used to the idea that spirituality is going to give us some pleasurable answer-- some ice-cream. Lots of meditation traditions including yoga and qigong promise better health, longer life etc. We expect that from our religions and therapies. We expect that from our little mindfulness practice. We expect them to provide some comforting security blanket-- it is like believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. We want to be psychologically comforted-- that is what theism is all about. If we just believe hard enough in our imaginary "absolute reference point" we may forget that we are falling through space and time without beginning or end. We will even sell our freedom to an imaginary "someone" out there in the hope that they will take care of us. Maybe the Maha Guru? Maybe God? Maybe Science-- who knows?
Dzogchen doesn't promise any of these things. It doesn't promise any security for habitual mind. It is about showing you reality beyond your habitual reference point directly. Dzogchen meditation, if we can even say such a thing, is really about getting bored with sems to the point where one wears out dualistic confusion. Trungpa calls it complete hopelessness, in "Crazy Wisdom." When we present these teachings it is easy to stress all the good aspects but so easy to misunderstand the main point. If we aren't careful we become salespeople trying to convince everyone that Dzogchen or Buddhism or Shambhala is the best kind of product. It will save the planet. It will right all wrongs. It will answer all of your questions. Who is kidding whom?
In general, people today aren't interested. They could not even guess at what I am talking about right now. People mainly want to make samsara better, or more entertaining-- so that they can avoid their minds altogether. Even "religion" and "spirituality" become methods of entertainment and distraction so that we can avoid embarrassing moments where things don't go smoothly. Luckily nowadays with our constant addiction to handheld devices we can keep the entertainment going indefinitely-- or as long as our battery is charged or we have cell reception. But this lineage is not talking about being healthier, about eating right, having healthy relationships or even about conventional notions of sanity. We are "crazy" like that. We are not talking about keeping our samsaric mind entertained and "pingpong balling" past the gap. This path has nothing to do with the eight worldly dharmas. And the practice of meditation itself in this tradition is boring. It is lonely. It is looking at your crazy mind as it is with no buffer. No entertainment. No promise of anything greater. The true motivation for this path is understanding that we will certainly die; we just don't know when-- and we can't take our cell phones into the bardo. There is no cell reception in the bardo.
"Sincerely take to heart the fact that the time of death lies uncertain. Then, knowing that there is no time to waste, diligently apply yourself to spiritual practice." Tsele Natsok Rangdrol
The Bardo of this Life and "Precious Human Birth"
"Bardo" simply means the experience between two points. There is an origination point-- for our lives that is the moment of our birth. We do not remember being born. The other situation is our death. We do not know when we will die. In the meantime we have the relative stability of a human body and an environment that supports the causes for continued life. These circumstances are as fragile as a bubble floating on the surface of the water. We are one breath away from death at every moment. When we sleep we have dreams-- these dreams generally are simply habitual mind blowing every which way because we have momentarily lost the stabilizing factor of the body. "To sleep perchance to dream."
The experience of the dream gives us a glimpse of how little control we have of our karmic habitual mind. We can have horrible dreams or pleasant ones -- and when we are dreaming we generally don't realize we are asleep and so we suffer the pleasures and pains of the dream as though they were really happening.
At this moment, we have woken up momentarily in a precious human birth and we have an opportunity to realize mind beyond habitual, dualistic reference point. It is an opportunity most of us waste. Its like we have one day before we go back to endless suffering. We are deposited on an island of gold-- gold being the realization of wakefulness. On that island are numerous distracting pleasures-- video games, relationships, earning a living that makes us pround, raising a family, our cute dog... In the midst of this dream we hear the Dharma and we think we have lots of time. No, we have one day, actually... The moment that day is over will feel the same as this moment right now. Have we utilized this precious human birth? Will we return empty-handed from an island of gold? It's heart-breaking. Wise men don't fear death. Fools also don't fear death but for a different reason.
The meaning of this life that we now have is that we have heard these teachings on how to wake up from our daydream. This is our "precious" opportunity.
The "reality" we are talking about here is not some imaginary mystical experience of "transcending duality" or "becoming one" with...whatever-- which is based on some pleasant "spiritual" daydream. We are simply talking about the basic sanity of being able to tell when we are daydreaming and when we are not. On the basis of recognizing the difference between these two things in our direct experience, the whole path of authentic practice becomes possible. If we don't understand this at the beginning of our journey then we end up chasing a fantasy of spiritual experience which leads to further delusion.
The much sought after "pointing out" that so many western students chase after is nothing other than this-- being shown a mind that is not lost in daydreams. It is supposed to be helpful for a student on their path as a practitioner to receive the "pointing out." Unfortunately, unless a student is able to utilize such a blessing in the way I have talked about here-- it can become an obstacle and hindrance to any genuine realization. In particular, having received the "pointing out" is not the end of the journey at all. It is only the hint of a beginning. One analogy the Tibetan teachers use is that it is like being shown the road to Lhasa. It is up to you to walk there.
Without intensive practice before, we will lack the psychological sophistication to understand what is being pointed out. Without practice after recieving the pointing out we never reach our "destination."
In general there seems to be many misconceptions about what a guru is for in the Buddhist tantric tradition. The tibetan word is Lama --"guru" is a term which carries quite a lot of baggage from the hindu tradition, therefore I prefer to use the term "Lama." "Lama" ultimately means someone who carries the burden. A lama knows the nature of mind as nonreference point experience. When you have a relationship with a person like this-- every engagement with them carries the possibility of meeting the mind of nonreference point experience. This transmission depends on the devotion of the student. The nature of mind is simply experience or awareness beyond habitual reference point. It is an open secret.
This transmission can occur in many ways-- very elaborate ways or very direct and simple ways depending on the Lama and the prospective student's capacities and how the situation develops. This transmission depends on the mandala set-up and the "guru principle." The student needs to be entered into a social situation or "practice container" in order to develop the ability to receive the particular magic we are talking about here. It is important to realize this transmission doesn't happen in a vacuum or in a Hollywood movie in the way we imagine with our habitual preoccupations and fantasies. The experience of mind beyond habitual reference point is the dharmakaya.
There is a story in "Blazing Splendor" where a naughty young tulku recieves the "pointing out" from an old monk who admonishes him to "not wander." Throughout his life he would remember this grouchy, old monk from his childhood as one of his root lamas --the one who first showed him the nature of mind. After his 12 trials with his root lama, Naropa recieved this transmission from Tilopa when Tilopa slapped him in the face with his sandle.
Throughout our lives we may have many lamas. Trungpa Rinpoche had 17. We usually have one who makes a very strong impression and this person we think of as our root lama. Trungpa Rinpoche's root lama was Jamgon Kongtrul of Shechen. He also had a very strong connection with Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo-- a close disciple of Jamgon Kongtrul.
Co-emergent Wisdom and Self-Liberation
"I would recommend that you don't worry about future security, but just do it, directly and simply." Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
"Second, for identifying vipashyana, no matter what thought or disturbing emotion arises, do not try to cast it away and do not be governed by it; instead, leave whatever is experienced without fabrication. When you recognize it the very moment it arises, it itself dawns as emptiness that is basic purity without abandonment."
Padma Karpo
The moment when we realize we have been following a thought is actually the moment of co-emergent wisdom.
"At the moment of seeing, the thought has dissolved, it has vanished, and you have arrived at the completion stage."
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
If we understand the projection and fixation on what arises in the mind as sems then we can understand that every time an habitual reference point falls apart, which it always does, there is the possibility of recognizing awareness beyond ,or as the background to, the habitual involvement with "thinking". From our samsaric perspective this experience is called "impermanence," and is considered the cause of our basic anxiety; but from the tantric point of view it allows the possibility of co-emergent wisdom. Trungpa Rinpoche called this "the great switcheroo."
Co-emergent wisdom or "the wisdom born within" is resolved through practicing in this way. This is why clinging to a fabricated meditation state which is peaceful, clear and comforting is missing the main point of practice entirely. It may make you feel calmer and help you fall asleep at night but it will not lead to enlightenment.
There is an instantaneous flip of perspective that happens the moment you recognize that you are "thinking" --i.e. habitually engaging in thoughts. That moment is awareness that is free from habitual reference point-- Rinpoche called it the "gap". That is the meaning of the saying "the more thoughts, the more Dharmakaya." This method of shamatha-vipashyana practice is said to be spelled out in Gampopa's commentary on the Samadhiraja Sutra. I have not been able to find that text but I will take the Vidyadhara's word for it.
Trungpa Rinpoche explains that by disowning any attempt to maintain a concentration on the breath after the outbreath we allow a moment of weakness in the technique. This allows us to see whatever thoughts are bubbling up in our minds without trying to repress thinking through concentrating on a technique. The point of the practice is to see our minds clearly-- to see everything that is arising in our minds clearly without trying to suppress or follow what arises. And because we are simply sitting in a room where nothing is happening doing nothing we can recognize what arises without leading or following the thought. This is how we "purify" sems-- by exposing it to our present awareness.
"When it happens that you do get involved in thoughts that recollect the past or entertain the future, then let be directly in awareness. If a thought pattern continues, there is no need for a separate antidote since whatever takes place is liberated by itself. What occurs spontaneously is the radiance of your own mind. To see it with vivid clarity is the essential instruction."
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol
There are three fundamental ways of relating to what arises in our mind during meditation practice: Thinking, not thinking and nonthinking. "Thinking" in this case means engaging in thoughts habitually and compulsively. Something pops up in our mind and we react out of coemergent ignorance. A memory of our old girlfriend pops up and we react as though she were actually standing right in front of us. That is a delusion. Our old girlfriend isn't there. We are daydreaming constantly. Doomscrolling in our discursive mind. As soon as that thought dissolves we jump to the next thought-- generally it is a continuation of some storyline-- we like our old girlfriend or we don't. On and on the discursive thinking goes-- though there are gaps between these stories or thoughts we just speed over them-- because habitual mind is terrified of the gap. All the energy of habitual mind is put into the attempt to cover any gap in projection and fixation. That is why sitting in a room where nothing is happening doing nothing--i.e. nonmeditation-- is so difficult from habitual mind's point of view. It is why it is so effective from the point of view of wakefulness.
" Not thinking" is either hanging out in a blank state which has no thoughts but is like an ignorant sleep or it could also be the result of repressing all thoughts through the development of a trance-like state. We are so focused on our meditation technique that all thinking is interrupted and we maintain an intensive concentration which actually represses the arising, dwelling and cessation of thought. It is a very ambitious approach. We perch on our seat waiting for the experience of enlightenment. It is another method of habitual mind to avoid the gap. The problem with this is that we are not actually addressing the root cause. When we stop meditating and a thought of our old girlfriend arises we will be carried away by an habitual reaction to that thought. This is the view of the Huashang Mahayana, the Tirthikas and the "cessation of the Shravakas," and the view of the modern "mindfulness movement." It is an aberrant path because it is based on a type of attachment to the comfortable peace of nothing arising in the mind-- which is a pleasant kind of meditation experience. One can even have some special powers which arise from this state-- bliss, clarity and cessation; clairvoyance, etc. which only reinforces one's pride and attachment to your skill in meditation.
"Nonthinking" is a completely different thing and it is the essence of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. It means we are not deluded by what arises in the mind. The first moment of arising where coemergent ignorance allows a dualistic interpretation is seen through with rigpa-- "first thought." Then whatever arises "is seen to be transparent and unreal." Everything that arises as experience has the "one taste" of nonthought. So a thought arises but " it has no legs and no tentacles" according to "The Book of Sue." What does that feel like? It is like you have been away from home for a while and when you come back it feels familiar but weird. Generally we call it "groundless and rootless." You could also call it Padmasambhava's charnal ground or "meeting the mind of the guru. " "Meeting Vajrayogini face to face" is another way to describe it. This is "Sacred World."
Trungpa Rinpoche calls this "The Blue Pancake."
From the point of view of habitual, dualistic fixation it is like hell. It might feel like your vacation in a foreign land has gone on too long and now you just want to get back to your cozy home because you are so irritated with your hubby, or room service-- but you can't seem to get back. You can't not see "the blue pancake." You can't run to your neighbor and yell, "Help, the blue pancake has fallen on me." He will be the blue pancake as well. All the usual habitual reference points don't create a feeling of solidity and security at all. They never did but now it's inescapable. There is no security. No habitual comfort. Your mother, your father, your wife, husband-- even your childhood home appear strange around the edges.
Blue pancake.
You might be going crazy-- it's hard to tell and there is no one to talk to except your root guru who is the ultimate blue pancake.
It can be felt as "panic." It usually is. In fact, Trungpa Rinpoche once said that all his tantra students should be in a state of panic.
This is called mahasukkha. Great bliss. It is also "luminosity-emptiness."
There are no encounter groups or therapy sessions for blue pancake people.
The Big No
Modern theoretical psychological therapies are based on the notion of healing past traumas that patients hold in their mind and body. The idea is that these traumatic experiences are conditioning one's present experience and creating a state of anxiety in the patient that prevents them from living a fulfilling life. A current event can "trigger" a past traumatic experience that we live again as though it were really happening. This is what is called "post traumatic stress syndrome." All of this sounds very similar to what I am talking about as "sems" in Dzogchen training, but the idea of how this trauma is healed and what a "fulfilling life" is in psychotherapy lacks the "view" of Dzogchen. It is more concerned with the idea of psychologically comforting the patient. Therapies consist of taking certain drugs or talk therapy-- Jung and Freud were into dream analysis. There are many theories and practices to address problematic behavior, stress and anxiety. The ideas of "healing" in psychotherapy and psychology ,in general , are based on projections of habitual, dualistic mind. They are not true paths to the realization of the nature of mind.
" In actuality, the non-Buddhist schools, whatever they may say about presentations of the two truths and so forth, are formulated based upon clinging to things and therefore do not have a proper path to liberation." Khenpo Gangshar.
There are now schools of psychology -- "Transpersonal Psychology" and "Contemplative Psychotherapy"-- which essentially co-opt the practice and view of authentic dharma.
"Somebody has to say this therapy thing is bullshit. Let's stop this. Let's have more respect for people's minds altogether than say, "Well come back and see me next week." You know. About what? I'm not trying to be funny. I actually mean this. As much as I can. The notion of trying to work with somebody's mind is bogus. There is no such thing to begin with. What are you working with? Your own projection. When we started the maitri program years ago Rinpoche said, "The curious thing that happens is that when a crazy person comes into the room you become crazy on the spot." To understand that, if you are a therapist, then you understand everything and you can stop that nonsense of thinking you are helping somebody. Help is much bigger than that. Much vaster than that. You have to become like the elements. You have to become like the crazy person which means like wind, like fire, like rain. Like all the elements. Otherwise you can't communicate to people's minds... The whole idea is fucked from the beginning! It is! You know, if you study the Dharma and Lord Gampopa talks about the different kinds of free and well-favored births. Right? And everybody I take has studied that. And there are the ten and eight conditions for a free and well-favored birth. And when you study those things and you see people who do not have those conditions then you understand why they cannot understand the Dharma. They can't understand the plain reality, just things as they are. And you don't try to give them psychological concepts or helping aids to make them feel better about the fact that they can't get it. You have to understand cause and effect and free and well-favored birth. And when you understand that its possible we can talk about "mental health." Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin
From the Dzogchen view, practice and activity -- this type of therapy is not the point at all. The experience of wakefulness has nothing to do with calming past trauma in this way. In fact, from the point of view of modern psychology and psychotherapy, non reference point experience would certainly be considered a form of mental illness. What would have happened if Milarepa was able to visit a graduate of the Naropa Institute's Contemplative Psycho-therapy program and resolve all of his family trauma with his Aunt and Uncle? Do you think he would have realized Mahamudra?
"The simultaneous experience of confusion and sanity, or being asleep and awake, is the realization of coemergent wisdom. Any occurrence in one's state of mind-- any thought, feeling or emotion-- is both black and white, it is both a statement of confusion and a message of enlightened mind. Confusion is seen so clearly that this clarity itself is sacred outlook." Chogyam Trungpa
A few years ago I remember watching a PBS special on the Buddha. It was actually called "The Buddha." They relied on American Academics--professors and psychologists --to explain the Buddha's teachings. They were considered the experts. I think there were a couple of American Vipassana teachers. There were no Dzogchen or Mahamudra masters. There were no Tibetan masters. There was no mention of non reference point experience. In the west the Buddha's teachings have been absorbed and co-opted by the Western conceptual view.
"I think that is a misunderstanding. In terms of feeling that certain ways of doing things might help you, there is still a sense of therapeutic practice. Meditation is not a therapeutic practice at all. We seem to have a problem in this country with the sense that meditation is included with psychotherapy of physiotherapy or whatever. A lot of Buddhists feel proud because meditation is accepted as part of the therapeutic system, a landmark of the Western world. But I think that pride is simpleminded pride. Buddhism should transcend the therapeutic practice of meditation. Relating with gurus is quite different from going to your psychiatrist.
Student: But out of that experience I'm afraid of falling into the trap of getting too involved in the therapeutic aspect, because it does in fact dissolve pain. I mean that is the experience I have.
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche: You shouldn't dissolve pain.
Student: You shouldn't?
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche: You should raise pain! Otherwise you won't know who you are and what you are. Meditation is a way of opening. In that particular process, under-hidden subconscious things come up, so you can view yourself as who you are. It is an unpeeling, unmasking process.
Student: How is that related to freedom?
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche: Because there is a sense not of collecting but of an undoing process. You don't collect further substances that bind you or further responsibilities. It is a freedom process."
Trungpa Rinpoche calls this tendency to reinterpret the teachings from our confused perspective "editing the teachings." We are interpreting the words and concepts of Dharma through the lens of dualistic fixation and then attempting to achieve the goals projected with this confused mind. This is a degenerative aspect of how people use the concepts of spirituality to reinforce habitual mind. You know..."Spiritual Materialism." It's the same corruption we find in approaches to the teachings which promise that you can use them to be a better business leader or improve your golf game.
People actually have no idea what non-reference point experience is.
"At this point I would like to shift our attitude from being big babies and discuss absolute symbolism. I hope you are up to it. Absolute symbolism is not a dream world at all, but realistic. As far as linguistics is concerned, absolute means “needing no reference point.” Otherwise, absolute would become relative, because it would have a relationship with something else. So absolute is free from reference point. It is wholesome, complete by itself, self-existing.
The idea of absolute symbolism is also passionless and egoless. How come? Actually, as far as absolute is concerned, you don’t come but you go. It is a going process rather than a coming process, not a collector’s mentality, in which you store everything in your big bank with fat money behind it, or your big bottle.
Absolute symbolism is egoless, because you have already abandoned your psychological reference point.
That doesn’t mean you have abandoned your parents, or your body, or anything of that nature. So what is that reference point? It is a sense of reassurance that makes you feel better. It’s like when you are crying and your friends come along and hold you and say, “Don’t cry, everything’s going to be okay. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ll take care of you. Take a sip of milk. Let’s take a walk in the woods, have a drink together.” That type of psychological reference point is based on the idea of relative truth.
The absolute truth of egolessness does not need any of those comforts. But that is actually a very dangerous thing to mention at this point. I have my reservations as to whether I should talk about these things, and since I have lost my boss, I have no one to talk to. So I decided to go ahead and tell you.
A sense of empty-heartedness takes place when we lose our reference point. If you do not have any reference point at all, you have nothing to work with, nothing to compare with, nothing to fight, nothing to try to subtract or add into your system at all.
You find yourself absolutely nowhere, just empty heart, big hole in your brain. Your nervous system doesn’t connect with anything and there’s no logic particularly, just empty heart.
That empty-heartedness could be regarded in some circles as an attack of the evil ones and in other circles as an experience of satori, or sudden enlightenment.
People actually have no idea what non-reference point experience is. When you begin to abandon all possibilities of any kind of reference point that would comfort you, tell you to do something, help you to see through everything make you a better and greater person—when you lose all those reference points, including your ambition, the strangest thing takes place. Usually people think that if you lose everything—your ambition, your self-centeredness, your integrity and dignities—you will become a vegetable, a jellyfish. But it’s not so. You don’t become a jellyfish.
Instead, you are suspended in space, in a big hole of some kind. It is quite titillating. Big hole of suspension! It’s as if you were suspended in outer space without a space suit or rocket ship. You are just floating and circulating around the planets forever and ever." Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
. In "The Early Tantra Groups" Trungpa Rinpoche describes the practice of meditation as resolving natural awareness through what is percieved as the boundary. The "boundary" is the realization that we have been daydreaming. That perspective is already outside of the daydream. That momentary realization is called co-emergent wisdom and "self-liberation." We should understand every meditation method from this perspective. In the Mahamudra system one asks: "what color is the thought?" "Where does it arise; where does it dwell; where does it go?" As soon as you ask these questions you have stepped outside of the daydream of that thought fixation. When you understand the view in this way you understand every method of practice presented in the nine yanas.
"Absence of dualism is the synchronization of body and mind; and that is the result of fearlessness." Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin
"So we discover the Third Noble Truth, the truth of the goal: that is, nonstriving. We need only drop the effort to secure and solidify ourselves and the awakened state is present. But we soon realize that just "letting go" is only possible for short periods. We need some discipline to bring us to "letting be." We must walk a spiritual path. Ego must wear itself out like an old shoe, journeying from suffering to liberation."
Trungpa Rinpoche
When we practice in this way there is a feeling that natural awareness comes at us rather than that we have to work at it. Rather than walking on the path, the path begins to walk on us. Daydreams are unsustainable. Reality always breaks through. This is the self-existing intelligence of rigpa that doesn't need the confirmation of habitual mind. We need to be fearless about this because we are attached to trying to solve the problem of our feeling of insecurity by spinning intensely in our minds--trying to fill a gap which cannot be filled. So this type of practice takes fearlessness. The fearlessness to sit in the midst of this panic attack of habitual mind and let be in that. This is the big secret. Sitting in a room where nothing is happening, doing nothing is terrifying for habitual mind. It is not psychologically comforting.
"Well, it is obviously a terrifying prospect that you cannot have ground to stuggle with, that all the ground is being taken away from you. The carpet is pulled out from under your feet. You are suspended in nowhere--which generally happens anyway, whether we acknowledge it as it actually happens or not. Once we begin to be involved with some understanding, or evolve ourselves toward understanding the meaning of life or of spirituality, nwe have no further reinforcement--nothing but just being captivated by the fact that something is not quite right, something is missing somewhere. You have to give in somewhere, somewhat-- unless you begin to physically maintain that particular religious trip by successive chantingsm pujasm and ritual ceremonies. Or you may try to organize that spiritual scene administratively--answering telephones, writing letters, conducting tours of the community. Then you feel that you are doing something. Otherwise there is no ground to relate with, none whatsoever--if you are really dealing with the naked body as an individuality, an individual person who is getting into the practice of a spiritual way. Even with a person's obligations, administrative work, or liturgical job within the spiritual scene, he or she has nothing left on the spiritual way." Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
"Things as they are" is experienced by sems as suffering and insecurity because experience cannot be solidified by habitual mind. That is the Truth of the Four Noble Truths. We experience the reality of rigpa as suffering from the Hinayana perspective. Sems is the operation of habitual mind which is continually attempting to solidify what arises through projection and fixation. This is why we refer to the awareness outside of sems as "ordinary" or "natural awareness." It is the activity of sems which is "extra ordinary ". Natural awareness isn't dependant upon the activity of sems. In that way it is completely ordinary and "unborn."
Trungpa Rinpoche's Meditation Instruction
Formal meditation in our tradition is called "shamatha-vipashyana." This is the sanskrit term. In tibetan it is called "shine-lakthong." These two words correspond to the method and result of practice. Shamatha is the point of contact with "now" beyond habitual reference point. Vipashyana is then encountering whatever arises from the point of view of "nowness"--everything which arises has the texture or one taste of non reference point. That goes for what we think of as outer experience, inner thoughts and emotions and this cognizing awareness itself.
Shamatha is a momentary experience which cannot be maintained or fabricated. It is like the moment of yelling "PHAT!" Or the moment we trip over the coffee table. Vipashyana is the experience of the echo of that point of contact. In reality shamatha and vipashyana are the same thing-- but as practitioners we describe them as two elements of the experience of practice.
Shamatha can be regarded as the "primordial dot." In practice that is the moment that we come back to the experience of the outbreath. Vipashyana is that "dot" spreading out to fill "the whole of experience." This is experienced as everything that arises -- thoughts, perceptions, etc. without any overlay of habitual hope and fear.
In the contemplative Japanese arts like Kyudo and Shado these two aspects are called "isshin" and "zanshin" which are translated as "the mind of oneness" and "left-over mind."
So how do we do that in our formal practice? The answer is, "We follow Trungpa Rinpoche's instructions."
"For just a moment we meditate on unobstructed, pure dharmata. This experience is vividly real but truly nonexistent, like waking from a dream. To the guru of gurus, uninterrupted consciousness without a reference point, I prostrate." Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin
The problem for most practitioners of sitting meditation is that they try to maintain a state of mental clarity and "not thinking" by watching their minds like a cat watches a mouse. Their practice becomes a rigid concentration practice which only reinforces habitual mind by repressing thought and maintaining a watcher. Trungpa Rinpoche joked that this was like trying to be a guest at your own funeral. In order to counter this tendency and yet still maintain a formal practice with the necessary discipline Rinpoche gave his students a practice which he called "touch and go."
Again, we sit in the formal meditation posture. Our eyes are open but not focusing on any one thing in the room or environment. Then we use the "outbreath" as the point of contact with nowness. As you breath out you have an overall sense of being present with the breath. You are here with the "outbreath." In the next moment you let go of that awareness of the breath. So on the inbreath you let go of the breath as the focus of your awareness. Then with the next outbreath you "be aware" of breathing out again. While we are doing this practice we notice that we are carried away by "thinking"-- full blown fantasies or very subtle thoughts. We notice this because at some point we remember to go out with the "outbreath" and, at that moment, we realize that we have been daydreaming. The instruction is to mentally label the daydream "thinking" and return to the momentary awareness of the outbreath. The point is not to attempt to remain in a state of "not thinking." The watcher is abandoned after the outbreath. Whatever thoughts arise don't matter at all to this technique. The main point is that there is a complete shift of perspective in the moment where you shift from engaging the daydream to being present with the outbreath. This is characterized as a leap. It is decisive and momentary. There are no lifelines or safety nets attached-- that is why it is beyond hope and fear. This is very important to know in the moment of death.
"In one moment complete enlightenment."
The point is that for however long you are in a formal practice session you literally label thoughts "thinking" and return again and again to the awareness of the outbreath. Then disown any attempt to maintain some "meditation state."
"The pleasures and painful states you have in dreams are all of an equal nature the moment you wake up. Likewise, the states of thought and nonthought are of equal nature in the moment of awareness." Tsele Natsok Rangdrol "The Heart of the Matter"
Through continuing to practice in this way natural awareness infiltrates or erodes that experience of boundary--much as the ocean erodes and undermines the mainland. There is no attempt to create or maintain a still, peaceful or clear meditation state at all. That approach is ego's mimicry of meditation --which is all habitual mind can come up with. There will always be a watcher involved in that technique which is how habitual minds co-opts the practice. Whether there are thoughts or stillness isn't the point-- the point is that we wear out the tendency to respond to what arises with habitual hope and fear-- we refer to this wearing out process as "shinjang." Shinjang is a tibetan word which Trungpa Rinpoche translated as "processed out." Delusion is processed out with awareness which is self-existing-- beyond hope and fear-- needing no dualistic reference point. "Vidyadhara's are worn out into realization," as the saying goes. In Dzogchen this is referred to as "the exhaustion of phenomena."
If there is an habitual reaction to what arises in the mind then that is daydreaming-- the five skandhas; the 12 nidanas; the five kleshas. If you simply recognize a thought as a thought while remaining in "nowness" rather than being carried away by it --that is co-emergent wisdom or self-liberation. The key point is not to try to repress "thinking." Be aware of every thought and sensation and then in the next moment label it "thinking" and come back to the awareness of the outbreath as a neutral reference point. You don't have to try to continue "thinking" and you don't have to try to continue "not thinking." That is the way we wear out or "purify" habitual reaction to what arises. In that way, the five skandhas become the five Buddha families and thoughts of the five kleshas are self-liberated.
"As we discussed in the chapters dealing with spiritual materialism, many people make the mistake of thinking that, since ego is the root of suffering, the goal of spirituality must be to conquer and destroy ego. They struggle to eliminate ego's heavy hand but as we discovered earlier, that struggle is merely another expression of ego. We go around and around trying to improve ourselves through struggle until we realize that the ambition to improve ourselves is itself the problem. Insights come only when there are gaps in our struggle, only when we stop trying to rid ourselves of thought, when we cease siding with pious, good thoughts against bad, impure thoughts, only when we allow ourselves simply to see the nature of thought." Trungpa Rinpoche
Jinlap
"The primordial dot spreads out to fill the whole of space." Trungpa Rinpoche
As a practitioner it is important to work within an authentic lineage. Until one truly resolves the nature of mind it is easy to go astray. The more one resolves the nature of mind through shamatha/vipashyana practice and the tantric path the more one comes to recognize it in one's authentic lama and lineage and their pith instructions. This realization dawns as an unmistakeable atmosphere or quality. This is what we generally refer to as adhistana or blessings. "Jinlap" is the Tibetan word for this. The experience of jinlap is the radiation of natural awareness. The center of this mandala is the lama -- they function as the pipeline for these blessings within the lama-mandala set-up. That is why the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages rely on Devotion.
"For the realization of Dzogchen to occur in your mind you must receive the transmission of the blessings of the mind of a master who possesses the lineage. This transmission depends on the disciple's devotion, so it is of sole importance."
And
"Devotion to the master is the king of all enhancement practices, so give up regarding him as an ordinary being. It is essential never to separate yourself from the devotion of seeing him as a Buddha in person."
Yogi Yanpa Lodi, the carefree vagrant
Maintaining a daily practice of 2 to 4 hours per day is essential. Without this we never accomplish the level of psychological awareness or subtlety necessary to distinguish between sems and rigpa moment to moment. And that is key. Beyond this one should engage in periodic intensive retreats and the full path presented by your lineage while living an ordinary life in whatever culture you live in. This is the path of the "hidden yogi."
Joining a monastery or living in meditation centers for extended periods of time only results in jaded dharma and spiritual materialism as the habitual mind develops a cozy world in these seemingly spiritual settings. So don't try to advance your "spiritual career" with these types of credentials. Three to five years was the general rule for living at a Dharma Center under the direction of Trungpa Rinpoche. That seems like a good rule of thumb. The same is true for hanging out with the lama or the vajra sangha. The unique quality we are talking about in Dzogchen and Mahamudra is non reference point experience which is the radiation of natural awareness. If we try to make a cozy home in our spiritual career or relationship with the lama then our habitual mind simply co-opts the whole thing. This is the meaning behind the idea of not viewing the lama as an ordinary person. It has nothing to do with elevating some ordinary person within a superstitious patriarchal power structure so he can shower abuse on his students and take advantage of them. (This is how we generally view religious hierarchies in the West which obviously has a historical basis in Buddhist as well as so-called theistic traditions) It is very important to recognize the potential to misunderstand the purpose of this relationship and the mandala set-up. If we view it as an unequal power relationship, not only is that a mistaken view, but it will only ever lead to the abuse of that imaginary power. There is no way to utilize the skillful method of lama, mandala and devotion/mogu if we see the lama as someone who possesses primordial mind while we do not. Trungpa Rinpoche referred to this possibility as "idiot devotion."
The Guru Principle
"The next section , which is connected with that awakening begins:
When the wild and wrathful father approaches
The external world is seen to be transparent and unreal
The reasoning mind no longer clings and grasps.
You are arriving in new territory. In spite of the depressions of theistic overhang or hangover, in spite of the theistic diseases that even Buddhists or other traditions can catch, you finally begin to realize that you don't have to dwell constantly on your pain. You begin to realize that you can go beyond that level, Finally you can celebrate that you are an individual human being. You have your own intelligence, and you can pull the rug from under your own feet, You don't need to ask somebody else to do that. You don't need to ask someone to pull up your socks-- or your pants, for that matter."
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Buddhism is a nontheistic tradition which means that the profound feeling you have in a teaching situation or practice mandala is primordial. It doesn't depend on being a good boy or good girl or on worshiping an external deity or the reincarnation of some great Tibetan master. It is based on a psychologically profound understanding of how we, as human beings, perceive jinlap or sacred world directly in our experience and work with that recognition as the basis of our nontheistic spiritual path. This is based upon something we call "devotion" in english. In Tibetan it is called "mogu." Mogu is a combination of feeling the wretchedness of samsara, of heartfelt longing and of sadness which is the essential aspect of the practice of guru yoga. "Devotion" is a very poor translation. The english language is not really suited to convey nontheistic spirituality. The history of english is rooted in theism. That is why it is so important to understand how Trungpa Rinpoche has translated these words -- what the real meaning is from the experiential path of practice. Therefore, generating mogu in one's practice is not the same as having a conceptual attitude or theistic belief system. It is not the same as being a loyal subject of the king of Shambhala. Having a belief that the guru is a superior being who you need to worship in order to receive their blessings is a fundamental misunderstanding of the view or spiritual purpose of a mandala set-up in the buddhist tantric tradition. Trungpa Rinpoche always cautioned against viewing the guru as a savior in this way.
"In guru-yoga, the practitioner begins to realize the nondual nature of devotion: there is no separation between the lineage and oneself and, in fact, the vajra being of the guru is a reflection of one's own innate nature. In this way, the practice of ngondro, culminating in guru-yoga, helps to overcome theistic notions about the teacher or about the vajrayana itself. One realizes that the lineage is not an entity outside of oneself: one is not worshipping the teacher or his ancestors as gods. Rather, one is connecting with vajra sanity, which is so powerful because of its nonexistence--its utter egolessness.
Trungpa Rinpoche
The tulku system as it exists today is based on the notion of the " blessed Tulku." It isn't based on nepotism or the metaphysical belief of a tulku as the literal reincarnation of a previous master. Although certainly there are instances of great masters who were reincarnated especially in Tibet and India in the old days, this type of tulku was rare then and is even more rare today. We don't think of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa or Milarepa as this type of tulku, particularly. Today, if you are practicing within an authentic lineage and have received these blessings thoroughly-- you have become in a sense a blessed tulku as well. Therefore you can transmit this authentic dharma-- which is good news. That doesn't mean that we should dress in robes and give abhisekas. It is a lot simpler than that. Through our practice and genuine realization we can create an auspicious situation for others. It really is the only hope for this authentic dharma free from the inherent corruption of "organized religion" and celebrity gurus to continue.
The center of the mandala is always ordinary mind-- natural awareness. Because we have practiced according to our guru's instructions we recognize it and go towards it. What you recognize in an authentic teacher is this same "ordinary mind." That is what we have faith in and what we long for and what the practice of devotion/mogu is based on. It's not based on a superficial hierarchy or some famous celebrity guru who has written lots of books who you have chosen from a mind of habitual reference point. You have to see it directly and that depends on your practice.
"You cannot have complete devotion without surrendering your heart. Otherwise the whole thing becomes a business deal. As long as you have any understanding of wakefulness, any understanding of the sitting practice of meditation, you always carry your vajra master with you all along. That is why we talk about the mahamudra level of all-pervasive awareness. With such awareness, everything that goes on is the vajra master. So if your vajra master is far away, there is really no reason for sadness-- although some sadness can be useful, because it brings you back from arrogance."
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Co-creating The Mandala
Every summer I help with the set-up and dissolution of a nine day retreat based on the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Usually there are around 100 people who attend. Some are new students of Trungpa Rinpoche's lineage and some are older. It is a practice/study retreat based on Rinpoche's seminary teachings. We use the outer forms that Trungpa Rinpoche developed for transmiting this lineage to the west. People are doing a lot of shamatha/vipashyana in group practice as the core practice. This creates a tremendously powerful experience of the sacred mandala and jinlap or blessings of Trungpa Rinpoche's practice lineage. It isn't slavishly adhereing to a proscribed form -- there is looseness, creativity and trust in the basic situation. Out of this we all manifest this sacred world and at the end of the retreat we dissolve it. Everything goes back to the storage unit and we all go back to our usual lives. But in those nine days we have invoked these blessings together -- lived there for a while, celebrated and then we dissolve the outer forms and the retreat schedule and head back home. During retreats we co-create the mandala in this way to raise this energy and radiation of natural awareness. You can't possess this energy with the habitual mind but you can recognize it and train in it in this way. This is the Buddhist tantric method. Then we don't try to solidify it with habitual mind, which is impossible anyway. Instead we let go of the form and rest in that quality directly.
This same principle is beautifully illustrated during tantric feast practice in which the participants are all the vajra sangha of Trungpa Rinpoche. We all have our roles in the feast whether you are a chopon (shrine attendant) or dorje loppon (vajra master). When you have engaged properly in the practice of establishing a sacred mandala--i.e. have kept samaya and done your practice-- then one recognizes the nature of mind as the atmosphere of that situation. The dorje loppon is just a practitioner -- in this case, a member of the vajra sangha. He could have been your roommate when you lived in Boston. The role is on a rotating basis. You don't need to be the reincarnation of some great Tibetan Master to be the dorje loppon at a vajra feast-- but you certainly can manifest the primordial nature of mind within that mandala along with all the other participants in that sacred mandala. That is because the vajra sangha have all received authentic transmission from their lineage guru and they have the right kind of faith in nonreference point experience. In other words, they have learned how to pull the rug out from under their own feet. That blessing (jinlap) is manifest in the feast practice.
It is true that Trungpa Rinpoche was a great mahasiddha-- I have no doubt about that. He has been dead for close to 40 years at this point. People have the same doubts today when he is not here in person as they had when he was here. People think they need to find a living "guru" with the right credentials. Even sitting in the midst of the atmosphere of blessings so thick you could walk on it-- still people have doubts.
Is this it? Is this for real? Yes, it is real.
One needs to cut through doubt and hesitation with genuine practice-- flashing or leaping beyond dualistic fixation. The confirmation is obvious and needs no external reference point.
These profound blessings are manifest whenever we get a bunch of Trungpa Rinpoche's students together to engage his teachings and to practice according to his instructions. It doesn't matter if they are new or old students-- if they met him in person or not. We all meet the authentic transmission of the practice lineage in this way -- it is the same as meeting Padmasambhava face to face.
It will feel like Trungpa Rinpoche and the Vajra Regent are in the building. You will be engalloped.
Personal Guru
In terms of "having a personal guru," many people think that they need a personal guru much like they need a personal trainer, financial advisor or personal assistant. I never had such a thing as a "personal guru" and that doesn't seem to be the way we meet the mind of the lineage. In fact if we try to relate to the guru as our buddy or something we tend to habituate the relationship. The idea that one needs a"personal guru" seems to come from the usual activity of habitual mind. When you understand that the guru and your practice, and your wife and your job are nothing other than nonreference point experience, you realize there is no exotic father figure out there to save you. You will have to pull up your own pants-- which should be quite terrifying if you do it correctly.
The realization of nonreference point is a lot closer than we think. To begin to sit with our experience as it is will bring us face to face with this. We don't need to be so poverty stricken. Experiencing jinlap and recognizing nonreference point experience is meeting the mind of our guru and lineage. Any other expectations or projections on this relationship are founded in the usual confusion of habitual mind.
The stories of Padmasambhava, Tilopa, Naropa, Milarepa etc. are not cozy situations. The vajra sangha of the past were not hanging out with the cool people in Pullahari, Boulder, Halifax , Kathmandu or whereever. They were not hanging out with their "personal gurus." In fact, the great practitioners in our lineage practiced and lived in the charnal grounds. It is very difficult to make a charnal ground a cozy situation. That is why we live in charnal grounds.
Meeting your guru's mind should be like moving to the charnal ground. The difference between a charlatan and an authentic guru is that a charlatan will teach to the habitual mind. He will tell you meditation will improve your golf game or your health. If he is really slick he will tell you that you will find inner peace. Authentic gurus will help you move to the charnal ground. They will give you the skillful methods which will help you pull the rug out from under your own feet!
The founder of our lineage, Tilopa, was a man from Bengal. He was homeless and lived on the banks of a river. He would eat the left-overs from the fisherman. He did not wear any clothes except for a loin cloth. During the day, Tilopa worked pounding sesame seeds to extract the sesame oil and in the evening he procured customers for a prostitute.
This is one example of using our conventional livelihood to refine our recognition of natural awareness.
"Sesame oil is the essence.
Although the ignorant know it is in the sesame seed,
They do not understand the way of cause, effect and becoming.
And therefore are not able to extract the essence, the sesame oil.
Although innate coemergent wisdom
Abides in the heart of all beings,
if it is not shown by the guru, it cannot be realized.
Just like sesame oil that remains in the seed, it does not appear.
One removes the husk by beating the sesame.
And the sesame oil, the essence appears.
In the same way, the guru shows the truth of tathata,
And all phenomena become indivisible in one essence.
Kye ho! The far-reaching unfathomable meeting is apparent at this very moment.
O how wonderous!" Tilopa
Tashi Armstrong