A Dear Treasure For Destined Disciples
Posted by sky | Tags: Buddhism , awareness , dualism , karma , meditation , mind
From Quintessential Dzogchen by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche .. (Translated and compiled by Erik Pema Kunsang&Marcia Binder Schmidt) [Google Books]Homage to the Guru.
Padmakara, the Great Master of Uddiyana, said:
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.
When engaging in the actual practice of the nature of mind, keep your body erect, let your breath flow naturally, and with your eyes half open gaze directly into the sky before you. Think, "For the sake of all sentient beings who have been my mothers, I will look into the natural face of self-awareness, Samantabhadra!" Wholeheartedly supplicate your root teacher, who is inseparable from Padmakara, the Lotus Master of Uddiyana. At the end, mingle your mind with his and rest in equanimity.
When resting in this way, your mind will not remain in the state of empty and cognizant awareness for long but will become restless, disturbed, or unsettled and will move about like a monkey. This is not the mind-essence. It is called thinking. If you indulge in it, this thinking will recall, make thoughts about, or plan to carry out anything! In the past, this is exactly what has thrown you into the ocean of samsara. For sure, it will throw you there again. Now, wouldn't it be better to stop this insidious, deluded thinking?
In the context of trying to stop this thinking, what is meant by awareness? Awareness is utterly empty, totally open, spacious, and blissful. It is never made of something with substantial attributes, and it pervades all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana. From the beginning, it has been intrinsic to yourself, without any separation whatsoever, and lies beyond effort and the domain of concepts.
Well, if that is so, what happens when you recognize the natural face of self-awareness? When you recognize the natural face of self-awareness, it is just like the dream of a mute person. It is impossible to separate yourself, the sustainer, from the awareness to be sustained.
When you rest nakedly and naturally in the great openness of this awareness, do not be concerned with your old archenemy, the thinking that reflects, has myriad attributes, and has never given you a moment's rest in the past. Instead, in the space of awareness, which is like a cloudless sky, the movement of thoughts has vanished, disappeared, collapsed. All the power of thinking is lost to awareness. This awareness is your intrinsic dharmakaya wisdom, naked and fresh!
Well, then, who points out this awareness? What is decided upon? How does one gain confidence?
Awareness is first pointed out by your master. Thereby, you recognize your natural face, by yourself, and are introduced to your own nature. All the phenomena of samsara and nirvana, however they may appear, are none other than the expression of awareness itself. Thus, decide on one thing -- awareness!
Just as waves on the ocean subside again into the ocean, gain confidence in the liberation of all thoughts, whatever may arise. Confidence is beyond the object of meditation and the act of meditating. It is free from the conceptual mind that fixates on meditation.
If that's the case, you may say, "It's sufficient to not meditate!" No, that's ridiculous! You haven't arrived at the state of liberation simply by recognizing awareness. For beginningless lifetimes, we have been enveloped within the cocoon of deluded tendencies. Up until now, we have been spending our lives deep under the shit of this conceptual thinking.
At the time of death, you aren't certain where you will go, but you must follow your karma and undergo more suffering. Therefore, you should now practice sustaining the continuity of the awareness that you have recognized, and nothing other than that.
The great omniscient master Longchenpa said:
You may have recognized your nature,
But unless you become familiar with it,
The enemy, thinking, will carry you off
Like an infant on a battlefield.
Generally speaking, the word meditation means to sustain the continuity of awareness with natural and innate mindfulness, resting in undistracted nonfixation and growing accustomed to the innate nature.
As for growing accustomed, when you are meditating and a thought arises, just let it arise———there is no need to regard it as your enemy. Relax in its arising. If no thought arises, don’t try to make it do so--just rest in its nonarising.
When meditating, it is very easy to recognize a coarse thought as it suddenly arises, but after a few subtle thoughts have arisen you don't notice anything. This is called an undercurrent of thought. This undercurrent acts as a sneak thief during your meditation, so it is essential to place mindfulness on guard. If you can keep continuity through mindfulness in all situations——whether you are eating, sleeping, walking, or sitting, in meditation or in postmeditation———then that itself is sufficient.
The great master Padmakara said:
Whether explained a hundred or a thousand times,
There is only one thing to understand ———
Knowing the one that frees all,
Sustain the natural face of self-awareness!
Once again, if you don’t meditate, you won’t gain certainty. If you do meditate, certainty will be attained.
What kind of certainty should be attained? If you meditate 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 that solidly fixates on duality will naturally vanish. After that, gold and stone are equal, food and shit are equal, gods and demons are equal, good and evil are equal, buddha realms and hell realms are equal -- you will find it impossible to choose. But until that happens, according to the perception that fixates on duality, there is virtue and evil, there are buddhafields and hells, and there are joys and sorrows -- the effects of karma are all unfailing. This is why Padmakara, the great master, said:
My view is higher than the sky,
But the cause and effect of karma is finer than powder.
Therefore, it won't do just to proclaim, "I'm a Dzogchen practitioner. I'm a meditator!" while sleeping the time away, reeking from the mouth with the acrid smell of wine and from the crotch with the pungent stench of fornication.
Lay your foundation with pure faith, devotion, and samaya, and follow the main flow of practice with strong, unwavering diligence. If you are able to meditate after completely setting aside all the pointless activities of this life, it is certain that you will capture the primordial stronghold within this very lifetime without having to depend upon a result in a subsequent life.
This is the special quality of the profound path of the Great Perfection.
This dear treasure for worthy disciples, the direct oral instructions placed in the palm of one's hand, was uttered by Jnana (Jigdral Yeshe Dorje).
My own guru said to me:
I have no thought besides the guru.
I have nothing to chant besides supplication to him.
I have nothing to practice besides nonaction.
I simply rest in that way.
Now, I am in a happy state -- open, spacious, and free from reference point.
For accomplishing the permanent goal of one's wishes,
The profound instruction of Dzogchen is enough in itself.
This oral instruction that is easy to understand
Was composed by the crazy Dudjom and given to you.
May it be virtuous.
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