Golden Pagoda Buddhist Temple, Singapore

Golden Pagoda Buddhist Temple officially opened to the public on 1st January 2017 after it closed for reconstruction for a few years. 

You are loving kindness wisdom energy

by Lama Thubten Yeshe

Many young people today have lost their identity. They have difficulty understanding who they are, so they try to identify with different roles, different ideas. But then, not finding their identity in any of these roles, they become lost. Disturbed, they lead meaningless lives doing whatever comes to mind, without much thought. Such things are happening in this world.

From the moment we were born until now, each of us has tried to emanate in many different ways. Many of us have emanated as hippies and movie stars or as terrorists or politicians, capitalists or communists. We have tried almost everything, only to discover in the end that whatever we have tried to identify with has turned out to be illusion, not reality.

These are good examples. You can see how your concrete concept of “me” tries to identify with some outer philosophical viewpoint, thinking, “I am this; I am this.” But then “this” is not what you find that you are. Instead, today you have discovered that you have loving kindness wisdom energy. You know you have this within you. You should trust this energy and identify with it instead of trusting outer projections. Your loving kindness wisdom energy must be cultivated, fertilised, protected, and tended well, like a garden. It can be nourished and developed and unified as the deity Gyalwa Gyatso.

We carry within us a heavy blanket of concepts and projections about ourselves. Over time we have constructed a kind of concentration camp within us, one iron bar, then another and another and another — so many concrete projections. In order to break through these projections, we need a profound vision of method and wisdom. We need to clothe ourselves in the very finest image: the union of great compassion and nonduality. This is your identity — your identity and your reality. You should wear this image in order to break through your limited, closed projections of who you are.

In our twentieth-century world there is so much hatred, disunity, and conflict. People are fighting for material possessions, are trying to conquer each other, never feeling love for one another. You can see this going on everywhere. It is incredible. Sometimes, even with a beloved friend, when you are both angry, you can’t feel your friend’s love and you can’t feel love for them. So we all understand how much the world needs peace and love — each individual and mankind as a whole. Therefore, we can easily see how logical and how worthwhile it is to practice such a profound yoga method. With this practice there is no need for hesitation; there can be no philosophical objections. It is very scientific, very down to earth.

When we talk about loving kindness, we are just using words. But mere words do not help. We may know the words, but if we don’t actively energise loving kindness in our nervous system, then we have achieved nothing. This yoga method unifies loving kindness with our nervous system. This is exactly what we need, and this is why I am requesting you not to waste the time and energy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We should put concentrated effort and dedication into our retreat, then at least we will have been telling the truth when we promised, during the initiation, to engage seriously in this practice. And, of course, we will be doing something worthwhile.

Love and compassion come in different forms. There is pure love and pure compassion, which manifest in the form of Gyalwa Gyatso. But there is also selfish love. If we think about it, we can see that selfish love can be either positive or negative. It has both qualities. On the one hand, selfish love and selfish motivation are based on mental projections that fixate on their objects, such as family, husband, wife, or nationality, as “mine.” While the love you feel is, in fact, selfish, at the same time because of it, you give and share something. You give to your brother, your sister, your husband or wife thinking, “Because they are my relatives, because we Italian people are the same, because we all eat pizza, I therefore have an obligation to give them what I can.”

Selfish love, although limited, does have a kind of manipulative power to give, to serve. It has power that can aid in transforming you into a better, warmer person. For example, many men say, “Oh, I am not a bad man. I take care of twenty children and my wife. I send them to school, I give them good food, and I love them. They have a good home, and I do everything I can for them. Because of this, when I die, I shall die happy and satisfied.” There is some satisfaction in this. Do you understand? The motivation may be selfish and limited, but one’s actions bring benefit to others, and as a result a kind of transformation takes place.

Even though selfish love does have these positive attributes, it is clear that pure love and pure compassion serve in a much more profound, more dedicated way and bring about far more profound and far-reaching results. By practicing the profound highest yoga tantra method of Gyalwa Gyatso — the pure vision of the Dalai Lama — we are engaging in a mental exercise to eliminate the selfish mind completely. Through this profound practice of transformation, we can develop pure limitless love and compassion and thus experience directly their effectiveness in our own lives. We can experience this pure vision for ourselves. Because we so often see each other as objects of anger and hatred due to our mental projections, we are sorely in need of this pure vision. It is genuinely worthwhile and, happily, there is no doubt at all that we can achieve it.

What seems to be external, the domain of the grasped, is pure. What seems to be internal, the grasping mind, is empty. What seems to lie in between is luminosity. May I recognise it! Joyful Buddhas of the three times, look upon me with compassion. Bless beings such as me with liberation.

-- Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche

既然看不到來世，為何還要深信因果？

濟群法師

學佛的人，大約都以為自己是相信因果的。但扪心自問：我們對因果究竟信到什麼程度?是“深信不疑”的“信”，還是“寧信其有，不信其無”式的信呢?

對於學佛者而言，深信業果是非常重要的。無明煩惱為什麼會使我們流轉生死?造作惡業為什麼會使生命感得苦果?正是因果規律在支配。勤修戒定慧為什麼能成就佛果?同樣取決於“如是因感如是果”的原理。唯有深信業果真實不虛，我們才能自覺地止惡行善，真正對自己的生命負責。

每個人都關心自己的未來，為什麼還會做出種種不負責任的行為?原因就在於不曾深信業果，從而懷有僥幸心理，以為自己會是那個逃脫惡業懲罰的幸運兒。久而久之，對因果的敬畏日漸淡薄，甚而流於習慣性的麻木。

如果我們注意觀察，會發現生活中充滿因果的實例，只是以往未加注意罷了。我們常常可以看到，有些人口口聲聲相信因果，卻毫無顧忌地造作惡業。這種所謂的“相信”，只是虛假的裝飾而已。同時也說明，他們對業果的認識是極為浮淺的。

佛教所講的因果是三世論，不僅貫穿著我們的今生，也貫穿著無盡的過去和未來。我們所能看到的，只是其中極其微小的一部分。對於不具備宿命通的凡夫來說，既看不到過去，看不到來世，也看不清現在，所以才會心存僥幸。如何才能加深對因果的認識?必須時常親近善知識，認真聞思經教，以此強化業果在內心的警策力。

事實上，因果的另一層面是我們當下可以感覺到的，那就是心行的變化。當我們與貪嗔癡相應時，內心的負面力量隨之增長，人性也隨之墮落。一個貪婪無比的人，永遠體會不到心滿意足的快樂;一個嗔心熾盛的人，永遠感受不到心平氣和的從容。那麼，貪嗔癡從何而來?正是我們逐漸培養出來的。我們對金錢、色欲的執著，便是滋長貪嗔癡的養料。即使外在一切並未因我們的貪嗔癡有所改變，但這些不善的心行力量仍會對自身生命構成過患。

每件善行乃至一念之善，將使人性中善的力量得到張揚。反之，人性中惡的力量也會隨之增長。世間有形形色色的人，有的很自我，有的很開放;有的很尖刻，有的很寬厚;有的很吝啬，有的很大度……每一種性格，都是生命的無盡積累。其中的負面因素，正是痛苦的源泉。

如果我們深知：每一件善惡行為必將對生命構成影響並留下痕跡，還會任意造作惡行嗎?事實上，不僅一切行為如此，甚至起心動念也是功不唐捐的。我們的阿賴耶識就像電腦硬盤一樣，忠實記錄著輸入的每一份資料。即使我們可以騙盡天下人，但永遠騙不了自己，也絕無可能逃脫因果的自然法則。

“業決定”的道理告訴我們：有所為必將招感業果。這又包括兩個方面：一是任何起心動念及外在行為，必將在內心形成力量。二是今生的樂果皆來自過去世的善業，而今生的苦果則來自過去世的惡業，所謂“業不作不得，業已作不失”。

當然，我們也不必為已造作的惡業背負沉重的心理負擔，因為焦慮和自責皆於事無補。當我們認識到曾經犯下的惡業後，應至誠地發露忏悔：“往昔所造諸惡業，皆由無始貪嗔癡，從身語意之所生，一切我今皆忏悔。”

以如法的忏悔清洗人格，蕩滌種種罪業。更為重要的是，必須從此深信業果，慎護身口意三業，如理作意，法隨法行，決不造作新的惡業。如此，才能生生增上，在菩提大道上勇往直前。

Emptiness is form. Because of emptiness, therefore form exists. Because form is empty, therefore form  exists. Emptiness is other than form. It explains the union of the two truths. Emptiness is the ultimate truth and form is the conventional existing object. This bring us to dependent origination. The conclusion of dependent arising is that all phenomena are the union of these two truths. They are empty and they arise out of causes and conditions.

-- 4th Zong Rinpoche, Tenzin Wangdak

Losar Tashi Delek 2017

His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Losar Message from His Holiness Karmapa (Tibetan with English subtitles)

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama's Losar Wishes and Messages for Tibetan People

The Wisdom of Anger

by Melvin McLeod

Is anger an empowering and appropriate response to suffering and injustice, or does it only cause more conflict? Is it skillful or unskillful? Does it help or hurt?

With so many bad things happening in the world these days, there’s a lot of debate about the proper role of anger. The answer may lie in the fundamental distinction Buddhism makes between anger and aggression.

According to Buddhism, aggression is one of the “three poisons” that drive our suffering. Even a brief moment of reflection on our own lives, our society, and human history will confirm that aggression is the greatest cause of destruction and suffering.

As with the other two poisons — ignorance and passion — what defines aggression is ego. Aggression is the energy of anger in the service of all we define as “self,” ready to attack anyone and anything we deem a threat. But when anger is released from its service to ego, it ceases to be aggression and simply becomes energy. The pure energy of anger has wisdom and power. It can even be enlightened.

THE BUDDHAS ARE ANGRY

The buddhas are not just the love-and-light people we like to think they are. Of course, their enlightened mind is grounded in total peace, but in that open space compassion spontaneously arises. It has many manifestations. One is the pure energy of anger.

Anger is the power to say no. This is our natural reaction whenever we see someone suffer — we want to stop it. The buddhas say no to the three poisons that drive injustice. They are angry about our suffering and they will happily destroy its causes. They aren’t angry at us. They’re angry for us.

Traditionally, it is said that the buddhas’ compassion expresses itself through four types of energy. These are called skillful means, the different ways wisdom and compassion go into action to relieve suffering.

First, the buddhas can pacify, helping suffering beings quench the flames of aggression, passion, and ignorance. The calm and pacifying buddha is the one we’re most familiar with, whose image brings a feeling of peace to millions around the world.

But sometimes more is needed. So the buddhas can enrich us, pointing out the wealth of resources we possess as human beings and healing our inner sense of impoverishment. Then, if need be, they can magnetise us, seducing us away from the suffering of ego to the joy of our inherent enlightened nature.

Finally, there are times when the compassionate thing is to destroy. To say “Stop!” to suffering. To say “Wake up!” to the ways people deceive themselves. To use the energy of anger to say “No!” to all that is selfish, exploitive, and unjust.

In its pure, awakened form, when it is not driven by ego, anger brings good to the world. In our personal lives, it helps us be honest about our own foibles and have the courage to help others see how they are damaging themselves. On a bigger scale, anger is the energy that inspires great movements for freedom and social justice, which we need so badly now. It is a vital part of every spiritual path, for before we can say yes to enlightenment, we must say no to the three poisons.

The energy of anger is an inherent part of our nature — we can no more have yes without no than light without dark. So we need a way to work with the energy of anger so it doesn’t manifest as aggression, as well as methods to tap its inherent wisdom. We need a profound understanding of where aggression comes from, how it differs from anger, and a practical path to work with it. That path begins where all healing begins.

FIRST, DO NOT HARM

Most of us aren’t physically violent, but almost all of us hurt other people with aggressive words and harsh emotions. The sad part is that it’s usually the people we love most whom we hurt. We can also acquiesce in or implicitly support social evils and injustice through our silence, investments, or consumption habits.

Buddhism, like all religions, offers guidelines to help us restrain ourselves. We may not like rules and limitations, but the morals, ethics, and decorum taught directly by the Buddha are guides to doing no harm.

The principle of right conduct applies to acts of body, speech, and mind. Guided by the inner attitudes of gentleness and awareness, we monitor what arises in the mind moment by moment and choose the wholesome, like peace, over the unwholesome, like aggression.

Buddhism teaches helpful meditation techniques so we are not swept away by the force of conflicting emotions like aggression. These techniques allow us to take advantage of the brief gap in the mind between impulse and action. Through the practice of mindfulness, we become aware of impulses arising and allow a space in which we can consider whether and how we want to act. We, not our emotions, are in control.

I’M IN PAIN, YOU'RE IN PAIN

Without excusing or ignoring anything, it’s helpful to recognise that aggression is usually someone’s maladapted response to their own suffering. That includes us and our aggression. So caring for ourselves and cultivating compassion for others are two of the best ways to short-circuit aggression.

We are suffering beings, and we don’t handle it well. We try to ease our pain and only make it worse. The practices of mindfulness and self-care give us the strength and space to experience our suffering without losing our stability and lashing out. And when we are targets of aggression ourselves, knowing it may come out of the other person’s pain helps us respond skillfully.

WITHOUT SUPPRESSING OR ACTING OUT

Fear and shame distort the basic energy of anger and create suffering. We fear that intense emotions like anger will overwhelm us and make us lose control. We’re ashamed that such “negative” emotions are part of our makeup at all. So we protect ourselves against the energy of anger by either suppressing it or acting it out. Both are ways to avoid experiencing the full intensity of emotion. Both are harmful to ourselves and others.

What we need is the courage to rest in the full intensity of the energy inside us without suppressing or releasing it. This the key to the Buddhist approach to working with anger. When we have the courage to remain present with our anger, we can look directly at it. We can feel its texture and understand its qualities. We can investigate and understand it.

What we discover is that we are not actually threatened by this energy. We can separate the anger from our ego and storyline. We realise that anger’s basic energy is useful, even enlightened. For in its essence, our anger is the same as the buddhas’.

DISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF ANGER

We have the same power to say no that the buddhas do. Traditionally, it is said that the enlightened energy of anger is the wisdom of clarity. It is sharp, accurate, and penetrating insight. It sees what is wholesome and unwholesome, what is just and unjust, what is enlightenment and what is ignorance. Seeing clearly, we lay the ground for action.

We all experience the wisdom of anger when we see how society mistreats people. When we have an honest insight into our own neuroses and vow to change. When we are inspired to say no to injustice and fight for something better. This wisdom is a source of strength, fearlessness, and solidarity. It can drive positive change.

If Buddhism offers us one piece of good news it is this: in our basic nature, we are enlightened and our anger is really wisdom. The confused and misdirected aggression that causes such suffering is just temporary and insubstantial.

When the energy of anger serves ego, it is aggression. When it serves to ease others’ suffering and make the world a better place, it is wisdom. We have the freedom to choose which. We have the power to transform aggression into the wisdom of anger. There is no greater victory, for us and for the world.

Auspicious – the bliss where adherence to the senses is abandoned, that bliss which, arising from space, pervades space completely, as non-referential compassion, Buddha Nature good in that way, may its auspiciousness bring peace to you today!

Auspicious – what has knower and known as a single body, the pure form of the three realms free of birth and death, Kalachakra Buddha Nature good in that way, may its auspiciousness bring peace to you today!

-- Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

唯有弘扬佛教真理才能破除迷信

圣开法师

寺庙本来是农业社会的产物，应神权君权之时的帝王之需而生，以求「风调雨顺、五谷丰收」，而达兆民仰赖的目的。但在民主科学时代的今天，寺庙香火仍然传衍不坠，逐渐大众化，而与民间「艺术」相结合；进而穿凿附会，举凡一切生活事务都可藉由神明显现，大开时代思想之倒车。

部份中老年人无所事事，总想把老来的时光，托付神明，去因应佛家轮回报应之说；不惜弯下七尺之躯，叩头、烧香、捐钱！但是谁又晓得释迦牟尼曾要信徒，为他杀生献祭，贴金建庙，焚烧香纸，以积阴德呢？凡此，都不过是心中冥冥之「神」的作祟而已。

也正由于社会分工愈精细，各行各业都走上专业化的路子，寺庙神坛也步其后尘；有的住持专攻收惊术、命卜相、择吉日，或治疑难杂症，无奇不有。更妙的是，神明也插手情侣之间，而有「情人庙」之设置，成为青年男女谈心的好去处。

位于市郊北投的情人庙，自从几年前传扬开来，至今行旅香客仍络绎不绝，贴置门墙的经句更是搜罗尽净。据说高悬其间的「招牌良言」－「情人双双进庙来，不求儿女不求财；庙前跪下起个誓，谁先变心谁先埋」，是吸引热恋中的情侣顶礼膜拜的主因。不过，神明当前，又有几人知道这座庙所供奉的神祇卓文君，曾因新寡就私奔司马相如的这段姻缘？

其余散见省内乡里的神坛，尤具寺庙「私生子」的型态。某些置身在都市陋巷内的神坛，有的坛主神通广大，以营业的性质而观，简直是集密医、地理师、神职于一身。遇有苦主登门，先告诫以鬼神附身，须用符纸驱魔，几番比划后和水囫囵吞，即可「神」到病除。若如缙绅喜庆，坛主又摇身一变，天文地理无所不通，吉时之日尽在掌上；而他们的收费美其名曰奉献，往往坛主自称受神之命，直到价钱合乎标准而止。

细看这些无主神坛，「出租顶让」也都有一定的行情。许多神坛为了「生意」，不惜自破安土重迁的迷信，迁居到公寓密集的住宅区内，大张锣鼓，扰人清梦。通常一尊神明、几幅帘布，和附带摆设的台桌等，转让的市价是三十万元左右；价钱的高低还视固定香客主的多寡而定，一如「人头税」然。

私设神坛的把戏，不一而足；尽管如此，偏有许多人深信不疑。以致传出乩童令香客坐禁致死，相士偏方闹出人命，但皆不足以吓阻「迷信」。有识之士，目?「神」的世界，「神棍」横行，经常建议政府宜速立法，严加管制；最低限度，应将一批无「主」之神，纳入「国法」的约束之下，庶免再闹出人命案。

然而，当您亲眼看到现代化的公寓，电器化的家具，艺术化的客厅，赫然供奉一座无主之神时，您会怵然警觉：所谓破除迷信，真的破除得了吗？有人信奉有形之神，有人信奉无形之神；有人嘴巴说不迷信，心中迷信，有人心中不迷信，嘴巴却鼓吹迷信。请问：对于破除迷信，还有什么妙计吗？

笔者看完了以上的报导，真有啼笑皆非的感受，固然所举都是事实，然而这些事实，不是真正佛教徒之所为，此种报导不过以非为是，指鹿为马，张冠李戴，淆惑视听而已；竟将情人庙，认为是佛教，简直是滑稽之至。

佛曾告诫弟子们说，不可邪命生活，诸如观察日月星斗，以及天文地理之术，或说风云雷电，晴雨变现，或谄媚豪势，巴结权贵，讨好富家，受人指使奔劳，或以巧言多求；更不可使用咒术、符令、卜卦、算命、看相、择日，说人吉凶，向人求取财利，以维生活，若如此者，谓之「邪命」，自为佛所不许。

据此可以知道，佛陀早已训示弟子，若是真正的佛教徒，自然不会有提倡迷信以维生计之理，纵然有之，亦非真正的佛教弟子所为。佛住世时，有比丘问佛：「世尊！有你老人家在世，诸魔想要破坏佛法，无计可施，如果世尊不在世间了，诸魔将会怎样来破坏佛法呢？」

佛陀的回答是：「到了将来的末法时期，魔王、魔子、魔孙、魔民、魔女乃伪装为佛弟子，穿上佛教的衣服，住佛教的寺宇，吃佛教的饭，来破坏佛教。」

今日在佛教中，看到许多不合佛理仪则的事发生，自非真正的佛子所为，是诸魔破坏佛教的表现，佛曾预言并非奇事，只因真正的佛教弟子，未将这些道理，弘扬出去，徒使世人对于佛教，发生误会耳。

故我们推行人乘佛教的在家弟子们，以行菩萨之道为天职，首当破除迷信，尽量设法将佛陀对于人生宣示的真理，广为宣扬，决不可以迷信来维持生活。

对于收惊、算命、卜卦、看相、择日、地理风水、扶乩、抽签、烧纸帛一切邪迷之事，皆不可为，全世界人乘佛教的道场，皆以传播佛教福音，弘扬佛教改造人心的真理，推行幸福文化，为人类谋福利；凡在家庭设置佛堂者，亦以佛化家庭，与家人共同修行、修身、修心为原则，要充分表现，一个正信佛教徒的人格，和助人济世的伟大精神，及神圣的使命。

相信如此作为，必为全世界人类的有智之士所响应，共同推行，实现净化人心，朝向光明前进。

As the wisdom of recognising your own true nature dawns, it clears away the blinding darkness of confusion, and, just as you can see clearly the inside of your home once the sun has risen, you gain confident certainty in the true nature of your mind.

When you gain this kind of realisation, you understand that this nature of reality has always been this way, timelessly, that it is not created by any causes or conditions, and that it never undergoes any kind of transition or change in the past, present or future.

-- Mipham Rinpoche

The Compassionate Attitude of Bodhichitta

by Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Whether our dharma practice will progress in the right direction depends on our attitude, our intention, our motivation. Motivation is extremely important: it is what everything stands or falls with. This is true not only in spiritual practice but in whatever we set out to do. Therefore, in Buddhist practice it is of utmost importance to continually correct and improve our attitude.

The attitude we need to cultivate is one that is suffused with bodhichitta, or awakened heart and mind. This enlightened attitude has two aspects. The first aspect is the urge to purify our negativity: “I want to rid myself of all shortcomings, all ego-oriented emotions such as attachment, aggression, stupidity and all the rest.” The second aspect is the sincere desire to benefit all beings: “Having freed myself of all negative emotions, I will benefit all sentient beings. I will bring every sentient being to the state of complete enlightenment.”

This compassionate attitude of bodhichitta should encompass oneself as well as all others. We have every reason to feel compassionate toward ourselves. In the ordinary state of mind we are helplessly overtaken by selfish emotions, and we lack the freedom to remain unaffected when these emotions occupy our mind. Swept away by feelings of attachment, anger, closed-mindedness and so forth, we lose control, and we suffer a great deal in this process. In such a state, we are unable to help ourselves, let alone others.

We need to relate to our own suffering here with compassion, in a balanced way, applying compassion toward ourselves just as we would do with others. In order to help others, we must first help ourselves, so that we can become capable of expanding our efforts further. But we shouldn’t get stuck in just helping ourselves. Our compassion must embrace all other beings as well, so that having freed ourselves of negative emotions we are moved by compassion to help all sentient beings.

At this point in our practice it’s O.K. that our attempts to experience the attitude of bodhichitta are a little bit artificial. Because we haven’t necessarily thought in this way before, we need to deliberately shift or adjust our intention to a new style. This kind of tampering with our own attitude is actually necessary. We may not yet be perfect bodhisattvas, but we should act as if we already are. We should put on the air of being a bodhisattva, just as if we’re putting on a mask that makes us look as if we are somebody else.

In Tibet there is a lot of livestock: many cows, sheep, yaks. The skin from these animals needs to be cured in order to be useful. It needs to be softened by a special process. Once the hide has been cured, it becomes flexible and can be used in all sorts of ways: in religious artifacts, to bind up certain offerings on the shrine, as well as for all kinds of household purposes. But first it needs to be prepared in the right way — it needs to be softened, made flexible. If the hide is simply left as it is, it hardens and becomes totally stiff; then it is nothing but an unyielding piece of animal skin. It is the same way with a human being’s attitude. We must soften our hearts, and this takes deliberate effort. We need to make ourselves gentle, peaceful, flexible and tame, rather than being undisciplined, rigid, stubborn egocentrics.

This softening of our heart is essential for all progress, and not just in terms of spiritual practice. In all we do, we need to have an attitude that is open-minded and flexible. We are deliberately trying to be a bodhisattva, to have the compassionate attitude of wanting to help all sentient beings. This conscious effort is vital, because it can genuinely soften us up from deep within. If we do not cultivate this attitude, our rigidly preoccupied frame of mind makes it impossible for the true view of ultimate bodhichitta to grow. It’s like trying to plant seeds in a frozen block of ice atop Mount Everest — they will never grow, they will just freeze. When, on the other hand, you have warmed up your character with bodhichitta, your heart is like fertile soil that is warm and moist. Since the readiness is there, whenever the view of self-knowing wakefulness — the true view of Dzogchen that is ultimate bodhichitta — is planted, it can grow spontaneously. In fact, absolutely nothing can hold it back from growing in such a receptive environment! That is why it is so important to steadily train in bodhichitta right from the very beginning.

The word dharma, in this context, means method. The dharma is a method to overcome the delusion in our own stream of being, in our own mind — a way to be totally free of the negative emotions that we harbour and cause to proliferate. At the same time it is a way to realise the original wakefulness that is present in ourselves. There are ten different connotations of the word dharma, but in this context we are speaking of two types: the dharma of statements and the dharma of realisation. The dharma of statements is what you hear during a lecture or a teaching session. Within the dharma of statements are included the words of the Buddha, called the tripitaka, as well as the commentaries on the Buddha’s words made by many learned and accomplished masters.

Through hearing the explanations that constitute the dharma of statements, and through applying these methods, something dawns in our own experience. This insight is called the dharma of realisation, and it includes recognising our own nature of mind. In order to approach this second kind of dharma, to apply it, we need the right motivation. Again, this right motivation is the desire to free oneself of negative emotions and bring all beings to liberation. We absolutely must have that attitude, or our spiritual practice will be distorted into personal profit seeking.

Basically there are three negative emotions: attachment, aggression and closed-mindedness. Of course, these three can be further distinguished into finer and finer levels of detail, down to the 84,000 different types of negative emotions. But the main three, as well as all their subsidiary classifications, are all rooted in ignorance, in basic unknowing. These are the negative emotions we need to be free of, and their main root is ignorance.

Someone might think, “I approach dharma practice because my ego is a little bit upset. My ego is not very intelligent, not quite able to succeed. I come here to practice in order to improve my ego.” That attitude is not spiritual.

Here’s another attitude: “My ego works so hard. I must take care of my ego. I must relax. I come here to practice and become relaxed, so that my ego gets healthier and I can do my job.” That type of attitude is O.K., but merely O.K.; it’s just one drop of a very small motivation.

We can, in fact, have a much larger perspective. As long as we harbour and perpetuate the negative emotions of attachment, anger, closed-mindedness, pride and jealousy, they will continue to give us a hard time, and they will make it difficult for others to be with us as well. We need to be free of them. We need to have this attitude: “I must be free of these emotions.”

Otherwise, what Gampopa said may come true: if you do not practice the dharma correctly, it could become a cause for rebirth in the lower realms. That may happen for many people. In fact, it happens more frequently among old practitioners than with beginners.

Someone may relate to dharma merely as a kind of remedy to be used when confused or upset. This of course is not the real purpose of spiritual practice. In this kind of situation, you do some practice till you have settled down, and then you set it aside and forget all about it. The next time you get upset, you do some more practice in order to feel good again. Of course, reestablishing one’s equilibrium in this way is one of the minor purposes of practice, but it’s not the real goal. Doing this is a way of using the dharma as if it were a type of therapy. You may of course choose to do this, but I do not think it will get you enlightened. Feel a little bit unhappy, do some dharma practice, get happy. Feel a little bit upset, then feel fine, then again feel unhappy. If you just continue like this, holding this very short-term view in mind, then there is no progress. “Last night I didn’t sleep — my mind was disturbed, and the dog was barking next door. Now my mind is a little upside down, so I need to do a session to cure it. O.K., this morning I’ll meditate.” Do not practice in this way.

Dharma practice is not meant merely to make oneself feel better. The whole point of spiritual practice is to liberate oneself through realisation and also to liberate others through compassionate capacity. To practice in order to feel better only brings one back up to that same level — one never makes any real progress. With this attitude spreading in the West, we may see a huge scarcity of enlightened masters in the future. They will become an endangered species.

Please understand that the pursuit of “feeling better” is a samsaric goal. It is a totally mundane pursuit that borrows from the dharma and uses all its special methods in order to fine tune ego into a fit and workable entity. The definition of a worldly aim is to try to achieve something for oneself with a goal-oriented frame of mind — ”So that I feel good.” We may use spiritual practice to achieve this, one good reason being that it works much better than other methods. If we’re on this path, we do a little spiritual practice and pretend to be doing it sincerely. This kind of deception, hiding the ego-oriented, materialistic aim under the tablecloth, might include something like, “I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, so I must be pure.” Gradually, as we become more astute at spiritual practice, we may bring our materialistic aim out into the open. This is quite possible — people definitely do it. But if this is how you practice, you won’t get anywhere in the end. How could one ever become liberated through selfishness?

There comes a point when we start to lose faith in the illusions of this world: our level of trust in illusions begins to weaken, and we become disappointed. Using spiritual practice to nurture our ego back into good health while still retaining trust in these illusory aims does not set us free. True freedom does not mean having a healthy faith in illusions; rather, it means going completely beyond delusion. This may not sound particularly comforting, but it is true. It may be an unpleasant piece of news, especially if we have to admit to ourselves, “I have really been fooling myself all along. Why did I do all this practice? Am I completely wrong?” What can you do to pretend this isn’t true? Facing the truth is not pleasant.

The real help here lies in continually correcting and improving our motivation: understanding why we are practicing and where we are ultimately heading. Work on this and bring forth the noble motivation of bodhichitta. Then all methods and practices can be used to help you progress in that direction.

Again I must emphasise this point: if we want to approach ultimate truth, we must form a true motivation. This includes compassion for all other sentient beings who delude themselves continuously with the contents of whatever arises in their minds. Compassionate motivation says, “How sad that they believe so strongly in their thoughts, that they take them to be so real.” This deluded belief in one’s own thoughts is what I call the “granddad concept.” First, we hold our thought as true. Next, we accept that delusion, and it becomes our granddad. You know what it’s like to suffer from this delusion yourself, in your own experience. Bring to mind all other sentient beings who let themselves get caught up in their granddad delusion and, with compassion, form the wish to free them all. That’s the true motivation: please generate it.

Unless we have completely pure and true motivation, the practice of Vajrayana and Dzogchen doesn’t turn out well. Paltrul Rinpoche was a great Dzogchen master. He did not have any major monastery, but he had an encampment of thousands of practitioners that was called Paltrul Gar — Paltrul’s Camp. Over and over again, he taught those gathered around him the importance of having pure motivation. He created a situation referred to as “the three opportunities” to improve the motivation of these practitioners. The first opportunity was at the sound of the wake-up gong in the early morning. Upon hearing the sound, people had the opportunity to think, “Yes, I must improve my motivation. I must put myself into the service of others; I must get rid of negative emotions and assist all sentient beings.” They would repeatedly bring that to mind in order to adjust their aim.

The second opportunity arose at Paltrul Rinpoche’s main tent. To get into it, you had to pass by a stupa, and at the opening to the enclosure, you had to squeeze yourself by to get through. The entranceway was deliberately made narrow so that you paused for a moment and thought, “This is the second opportunity to adjust my motivation.”

The third one occurred in Paltrul Rinpoche’s teaching itself, at the times when he would say directly, “You must correct and improve your motivation” — just like I am telling you now.

If these three opportunities did not work, then for the most part, Paltrul Rinpoche would kick you out of the encampment. He would say, “You are just fooling me and I am just fooling you. There is no point in that, so get out. Go away and become a businessman, get married, have children, get out of here! What’s the use of being neither a spiritual practitioner nor a worldly person? Go and be a worldly person! Just have a good heart occasionally.” What he meant was, it is not all right to dress up as a dharma practitioner and merely pretend to be one. To act in this way is not being honest with others, and especially not with oneself.

Motivation is easy to talk about yet sometimes hard to have. We always forget the simplest things, partly because we don’t take them seriously. We would rather learn the more advanced, difficult stuff. And yet the simple can also be very profound. When a teaching is presented as a brain teaser and is hard to figure out but you finally get it, then you may feel satisfied. But this feeling of temporary satisfaction is not the real benefit. To really saturate yourself, your entire being, with the dharma, you need the proper motivation. Please apply this thoroughly, all the time.

In Vajrayana teachings, we find many instructions on how to improve our motivation. In fact, if you really learn about how this motivation should be, the whole bodhichitta teaching is contained within that. Cultivate the correct motivation within your own experience, and it turns into bodhichitta all by itself.

I have been teaching now for 15 years. Teaching on the view, on emptiness and so forth, all of that is of course great. But when I look through the whole range of teachings, the real dividing line between whether one’s practice goes in the right direction or the wrong direction always comes down to motivation. That is the pivotal point.

Without pure motivation, no matter how profound the method is that we apply, it still turns into spiritual materialism. To train in being a bodhisattva and to cultivate bodhichitta so that “I can be happy” means something is twisted from the very beginning. Instead, embrace your practice with the genuine bodhichitta motivation.

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, who is one of my root gurus, would teach on motivation over and over again. He talked about it so much that, frankly, I sometimes felt a little bored, thinking, “He talked about it yesterday, he talked about it today and he will probably talk about it tomorrow. This is a little too much. I’ve already heard it.” This kind of resistance is actually very good proof that ego doesn’t like teachings on pure motivation. Right there, at the moment one feels resistance against the altruistic attitude, that is the precise spot to work with, touchy as it may be. To admit this and be willing to deal with it right at that point is very practical, very pragmatic. I think that the whole point of practice is using dharma teachings at the exact point of resistance. Otherwise, we just end up practicing when we feel good, and we avoid it when we feel bored or restless.

At the very moment of feeling depressed, restless or unhappy, take these moods as a really good training opportunity, as a blessing, and put the dharma to use right on the spot. Think, “I am so glad I have this opportunity to practice meditation. I am deeply delighted. Please come here, unhappiness, depression, every type of suffering! Please come closer — I am so happy to see you!” When we train in this type of “welcoming practice” on a daily basis, we can progress and become truly transformed. Otherwise we are just postponing the main problem until some indefinite future time — tomorrow and then again tomorrow. We postpone it again and again, until the doctor says, “Sorry, your time is up! No more tomorrows.”

I can promise you that the dharma works well if you use it well. I have a great deal of trust that the teachings of the awakened Buddha are extremely profound and precious. Their practice can solve our basic problem permanently and completely. All our confusion, all our emotional obscurations can be completely undone. Not only can we achieve liberation for ourselves personally, but we can expand our capacity to benefit others at a deep and true level, not just superficially. All these tools and insights are presented in the Buddha’s teachings. To use them only for temporary, shallow purposes — as is often the case with practice as a bit of self-improvement — degrades the Buddha’s teachings to the level of a self-help book. There is no need for that. There are already more than enough of those — stacks of them, mountains of New Age self-help books suggesting this or that kind of therapy. If this is all we want out of Buddhism, we can turn to the easily understood self-help books that already exist. They are actually very useful. But if the future of the Buddhist tradition is no more than another self-help variation, I feel somewhat sad. Someone who simply wants a stronger ego to face the world, make more money, influence people and become famous maybe doesn’t need Buddhism.

This sort of dharma talk was probably not heard in the past in Tibet. It wasn’t necessary then, because the country was full of true practitioners. You just had to look up the mountainside and somebody was sitting there practicing. You could see the dwellings of hermits from wherever you were, scattered all over the sides of mountain ranges. At any given time throughout history, the Tibetan tradition abounded with great practitioners who had given up all material concern. These people were happy to just get by on whatever came along, happy to let whatever happened happen; they were free of all emotional baggage and worry for themselves. Maybe they did worry somewhat in the beginning — let’s say the first six months of practice — but then they went beyond petty worries. They did not spend their whole lives trying to deal with emotional issues. They dealt with them and went on to the real practice. They did not remain inside the cocoon of spiritual materialism. Wouldn’t it be sad to die like that, wrapped up in selfish worry?

Particularly when we come to Vajrayana practice, we must also have a certain amount of courage, a certain kind of mental strength, and together with that, an openness and softness of heart. This quality does not mean we are spaced-out or preoccupied with one thought after another. Rather, we should have a willingness to understand how to practice, along with open-mindedness. This quality of inner boldness is very important in Vajrayana: being bold not in an aggressive way, as when you’re ready to fight whoever opposes you, but rather being ready to do whatever needs to be done. That is a very important quality.

To be a Vajrayana practitioner requires a certain degree of inner strength that grows out of confidence. This is not the aggressive strength of a fighter; it is more a preparedness that refuses to succumb to any obstacle or difficulty: “I am not going to give in, no matter how hard it is. I will just take whatever comes and use the practice to spontaneously liberate that state!” Be this way rather than timid and afraid, always shying away from difficult situations. It is very hard to be a Vajrayana practitioner with a timid, chicken-hearted attitude toward life.

The teachings I discuss here belong to the vehicle of Vajrayana. The Sanskrit word vajra literally means “diamond,” which is the hardest of all substances. A diamond can cut any other substance, but it cannot itself be cut by anything else. The diamond’s strength and impenetrability signify that when the true view of Vajrayana has dawned within our stream of being, we develop a quality of being unmoved or unshaken by obstacles and difficulties. Whatever kind of harm may present itself, whether it be a negative emotion or a physical pain, we have a certain quality of being unassailable, instead of immediately becoming lost and being defeated by that obstacle. The true practitioner of Vajrayana is unassailable in the face of difficulty. We can succeed in really improving our motivation, and that would be wonderful, not only for ourselves, but also for being able to benefit others.

Through my body, speech, and mind, in the realms of those to be guided appropriately, to tame them however necessary, may immeasurable emanation bodies arise.

-- Yeshe Tsogyal

H.E. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche

"EMPTINESS"

Date: 22/02/2017 (Day 2)

Venue: Gaden Shartse Drop-hen Ling, Singapore 

H.E. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche

"EMPTINESS"

Date: 21/02/2017 (Day 1)

Venue: Gaden Shartse Drop-hen Ling, Singapore 

本来面目

文｜刘先和

本来面目一词是佛教修持中的一个常用语，是指人之自性，生命的本性，亦即佛性。这个本来面目人人具足，然从古到今能亲见者为数并不多，为什么？释迦牟尼佛一语道破：“原来众生实平等无异，皆有佛性，能入佛不可思议解脱之境，如今却被愚痴妄想所盖，不见自性真心，恒作种种颠倒执着，以致轮转生死海中，受大苦恼，久不能出，真是可怜可惜！”众生与佛的根本差别就在于此，见本来面目者，佛；未见本来面目者，众生。

因为学佛修持才知道这个道理，一旦亲见本来面目生命就获得解脱，具有大智大慧，就彻底了知自然与生命的一切奥秘，即成佛道，于是无数佛法修持者一生都竭尽全力在找生命的本来面目。然不知，若是找，永远也找不到。因为以妄找妄，终生在妄中打转，与本来面目无缘。六祖惠能对此一针见血地指出：“离道别觅道，终身不见道。波波度一生，到头还自懊”。故而找本来面目这一方法乃是佛法修持中的一大忌。

另有不少人想见本来面目不用找的方法，而是求。求菩萨，求佛，在他们看来生命的本来面目在菩萨那里，在佛那里，只要一心磕头，烧香跪拜求菩萨，求佛就可以从佛菩萨那里得到本来面目。殊不知，这不仅是妄想，还有几分迷信。六祖对此指出：“佛向性中求，莫向身外求。”故而求这一法，也是个修持中的一大忌。

还要一类人，他们深知本来面目人人具有这个理，故而知道本来面目不用找，不用求，就躺在这个理上，终身受用这个理，靠这个理说教一生，吃佛饭。一生被佛理转，被佛经转。对 此六祖指出：“口诵心行，即是转经。口诵心不行，即是被经转。”这种人虽通佛理然不行证，终身也只是在佛门外绕圈子。

到底如何才是亲见本来面目的正信之法，六祖悟道后第一次向人说法时说得十分明朗：“不思善，不思恶，正与么时，那个是明上座本来面目。”这“不思”就是禅宗一向主张的“歇即菩提。”方法如此之简单，然人们就是歇不下来，不是思善就是思恶，心无安宁之时。六祖这一教导，既有理又含行，通此理还得行此证，方有佛果。

如何亲见本来面目，佛在《金刚经》经中也向众生教了一大绝招，即：“应无所住而生其 心。”六祖就是听师说经，当听到这一句时大悟佛法。应无所住，这道理太直白、太简单了，几乎简单得不能再简单了，然众生怎么也做不到，妄心不是被外境所动就是被内缘所牵。懂了理又做不到，这就说明懂理还得行证。

见本来面目的方法如此之简单，然而我们就是做不到，其根本原因是什么？这是个大问 题，是修持人必须认识的首要问题。其因就在于我们根器太小、太劣。小就小在业障太深，劣就劣在习气太重。故虚云和尚说：“讲起办道，诸佛菩萨只叫除习气，有习气就是众生，无习气就是圣贤”。这段教诲告诉我们，佛法的修持着力点是在于除习气。

要除习气必须做到两点：一是消业；二是不造业。如何消业，方法有两个，即：用觉悟消；用忏悔消。佛在《金刚经》中说：“若善男子。善女人。受持读诵此经。若为人轻贱。是人先世罪业。应堕恶道。以今世人轻贱故。先世罪业即为消灭。当得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。” 对于如何消业，六祖说：“今与汝等授无相忏悔，灭三世罪，令得三业清净。善知识！各随语一时道：弟子等从前念、今念及后念，念念不被愚迷染；从前所有恶业愚迷等罪，悉皆忏悔，愿一时消灭，永不复起。弟子等从前念、今念及后念，念念不被骄诳染；从前所有恶业骄诳等罪，悉皆忏悔，愿一时消灭，永不复起。弟子等从前念、今念及后念，念念不被嫉妒染：从前所有恶业嫉妒等罪，悉皆忏悔，愿一时消灭，永不复起。”受持读诵佛经，行无相忏悔如何就能消业呢？这是一个必须明白的问题。习气是一种能量，是业的能量，然一个人因为读佛经有了觉悟，这个觉悟同样是一种能量，一种智慧的能量，一种觉醒的能量。恰如一个人身处黑暗时，突然见到光明，原来的黑暗还在吗！同理无相忏悔也是一种能量，是一种正能量，既然具有正能量，一切邪恶自然无存。故六祖说：“但向心中除罪缘，名自性中真忏悔。忽悟大乘真忏悔，除邪行正即无罪。”

如何能不造业，尤其不造令生命受束缚的业呢？众所周知，一切业都是生命的身、口、意所造。要不造业就得不贪、不痴、不嗔。如今我们身处末法时期，最大习气就是贪。贪五蕴受用，贪一切现代物质文明所带来的生活福利。以饮食为例，饮食本是为了生命的生存所需，如佛在《佛遗教经》中所言：“汝等比丘，受诸饮食，当如服药。于好于恶，勿持增减。趣得支身，以除饥渴。”然而我们世人将饮食作为一种享受，一种世间乐趣，以“饮食文化”、“饮食营养”等名，而吃遍海、陆、空种种生物，以此满足自己妄心所欲。由此增生六道轮回的业 障，人类的共业所作，也为人类自身增添无数灾难。对此我们必得加大佛法修持，解脱我们对物欲的纠缠和依恋，去除贪婪，并以脱贪为首去除贪、嗔、痴三毒，才是唯一的出离之路。

六祖在向弟子们讲述何名清净法身佛时曾教导说：“世人性本清净，万法从自性生。思量一切恶事，即生恶行；思量一切善事，即生善行。如是诸法，在自性中，如天常清，日月常明，为浮云盖覆，上明下暗，忽遇风吹云散，上下俱明，万象皆现。世人性常浮游，如彼天云。善知识！智如日，慧如月，智慧常明，于外着境，被妄念浮云盖覆，自性不得明朗。 若遇善知识，闻真正法，自除迷妄，内外明彻，于自性中，万法皆现，见性之人，亦复如是，此名清净法身佛。”这就是见本来面目之途，故六祖又说：“学道常于自性观，即与诸佛同一类；吾祖惟传此顿法，普愿见性同一体。”见本来面目的理义与方法佛陀都讲得十分透彻，余下的全靠我们自己。

愿天下一切有缘人都亲见本来面目！

The Absolute is not an object of the mind. It is beyond mind. It cannot be understood by the mind. It is incomprehensible.

--  Shantideva

Directly Experience the Nature of Mind

by Thrangu Rinpoche

The two meditation practices of shamatha and vipashyana each have their place within Mahamudra practice, but they do not have the same objective. Shamatha’s aim is temporary, immediate. When our minds are disturbed or restless, they are not at peace. Cultivating the settled state of shamatha, we find that we are able to be more steady, more tranquil. That is the purpose of shamatha. Shamatha is not sufficient unto itself to attain enlightenment, but it is a support for Mahamudra practice and is therefore imperative.

What then is vipashyana, which literally means “clear seeing,” in the context of Mahamudra? First of all, we have bewildered ourselves into samsara. During this confused state, we do not see clearly the true nature of things, what reality is. The practice of vipashyana develops the ability to see clearly the actual state of affairs, to see the basic condition of what is. Training in vipashyana eliminates negative emotions and clarifies our lack of knowing, our ignorance. It also deepens our insight and wisdom.

Right now, while adrift on samsara’s ocean, we are confused about what is real, about the nature of things. In this state, there are many worries and a lot of fear and uneasiness. To be free of these we need to be free of the bewilderment and confusion. When you are free of confusion, the uneasiness, worry and fear evaporate all by themselves. For example, if there is a rope lying on the ground and someone mistakes it for a poisonous snake, he will be frightened. He worries about the snake and it creates a lot of anxiety. This uneasiness continues until he discovers that it is actually not a snake, but simply a rope. It was merely a mistake. The moment we realise the rope is just a rope, not a snake, our uneasiness, fear and anxiety disappear. In the same way, upon seeing the natural state of what is, all the suffering, fear and confused worries that we are so engrossed in will disappear. The focal point of vipashyana training is seeing what is real.

THE PATHS OF REASONING AND DIRECT PERCEPTION 

The pivotal difference between the path of reasoning and the path of direct perception is whether our attention faces out, away from itself, or whether the mind faces itself, looking into itself. The path of reasoning is always concerned with looking at something “out there.” It examines using the power of reason until we are convinced that what we are looking at is by nature empty, devoid of an independent identity. Whether on a coarse or subtle level, it is definitely empty. However, no matter how long and how thoroughly we convince ourselves that things are by nature empty, every time we stub our toe on something it hurts. We are still obstructed; we cannot move our hands straight through things, even though we understand their emptiness. The path of reasoning alone does not dissolve the mental habitual tendency to experience a solid reality that we have developed over beginningless lifetimes.

It is not that a particular practice transforms the five aggregates — forms, sensations, perceptions, formations and consciousnesses — into emptiness. Instead it is a matter of acknowledging how all phenomena are empty by nature. This is how the Buddha taught in the sutras. A person presented with such a teaching may often understand the words and trust the teachings, but personally he does not experience that that is how it really is. Nagarjuna kindly devised the Middle Way techniques of intellectual reasoning in order to help us understand and gain conviction. By analysing the five aggregates one after the other, one eventually is convinced, “Oh, it really is true! All phenomena actually are empty by nature!”

While we use many tools to reach such an understanding, the reasoning of dependent origination is very simple to understand. For example, when standing on one side of a valley you say that you stand on “this” side, and across the valley is the “other” side. However, if you walk across the valley you will again describe it as “this” side, though it was the “other” side before. In the same way, when comparing a short object to a longer one, we agree that one is shorter and the other longer. Nevertheless, that is not fixed because if you compare the longer one to something even longer, it is then the shorter one. In other words, it is impossible to pin down a reality for such values; they are merely labels or projections created by our own minds.

We superimpose labels onto temporary gatherings of parts, which in themselves are only other labels superimposed on a further gathering of smaller parts. Each thing only seems to be a singular entity. It appears as if we have a body and that there are material things. Yet, just because something appears to be, because something is experienced, does not mean that it truly exists. For example, if you gaze at the ocean when it is calm on a clear night you can see the moon and stars in it. But if you sent out a ship, cast nets and tried to gather up the moon and stars, would you be able to? No, you would find that there is nothing to catch. That is how it is: things are experienced and seem to be, while in reality they have no true existence. This quality of being devoid of true existence is, in a word, emptiness. This is the approach of using reasoning to understand emptiness.

Using reasoning is not the same as seeing the emptiness of things directly and is said to be a longer path. Within the framework of meditation, the intellectual certainty of thinking that all things really are emptiness is not a convenient method of training; it takes a long time. That is why the Prajnaparamita scriptures mention that a Buddha attains true and complete enlightenment after accumulating merit over three incalculable eons. Yet, the Vajrayana teachings declare that in one body and one lifetime you can reach the unified level of a vajra-holder; in other words, you can attain complete enlightenment in this very life. Though they would appear to contradict each other, both statements are true. If one uses reasoning and accumulates merit alone, it does take three incalculable eons to reach true and complete enlightenment. Nevertheless, by having the nature of mind pointed out to you directly and taking the path of direct perception, you can reach the unified level of a vajra-holder within this same body and lifetime.

Taking direct perception as the path, using actual insight, is the way of the mind looking into itself. Instead of looking outward, one turns the attention back upon itself. Often we assume that mind is a powerful and concrete “thing” we walk around with inside. But in reality it is just an empty form. When looking into it directly to see what it is, we do not need to think of it as being empty and infer emptiness through reasoning. It is possible to see the emptiness of this mind directly. Instead of merely thinking of it, we can have a special experience — an extraordinary experience — and discover, “Oh, yes, it really is empty!” It is no longer just a conclusion we postulate. We see it clearly and directly. This is how the great masters of India and Tibet reached accomplishment.

Instead of inferring the emptiness of external phenomena through reasoning, the Mahamudra tradition taught by Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa shows us how to directly experience emptiness as an actuality. Since we habitually perceive external objects as always having concrete existence, we do not directly experience them as being empty of true existence. It is not very practical to become convinced of the emptiness of external objects such as mountains, houses, walls, trees, and so forth. Instead, we should look into our own mind. When we truly see our mind’s nature, we find it has no concrete identity whatsoever. This is the main point of using direct perception: look directly into your own mind, see in actuality that it is empty, and then continue training in that.

This mind, the perceiver, does experience a variety of moods. There are feelings of being happy, sad, exhilarated, depressed, angry, attached, jealous, proud or close-minded; sometimes one feels blissful, sometimes clear or without thoughts. A large variety of different feelings can occupy this mind. However, when we use the instructions and look into what the mind itself really is, it is not very difficult to directly perceive the true nature of mind. Not only is it quite simple to do, but it is extremely beneficial as well.

We usually believe that all of these different moods are provoked by a material cause in the external environment, but this is not so. All of these states are based on the perceiver, the mind itself. Therefore, look into this mind and discover that it is totally devoid of any concrete identity. You will see that the mental states of anger or attachment, all the mental poisons, immediately subside and dissolve — and this is extremely beneficial.

To conclude this section, I will restate my previous point. On the one hand, we hear that to awaken to true and complete enlightenment, it is necessary to perfect the accumulations of merit through three incalculable eons. Then on the other hand, we hear that it is possible to attain the unified level of a vajra-holder within this same body and lifetime. These two statements appear to contradict one another. Truthfully, there is no way one could be enlightened in one lifetime if one had to gather accumulations of merit throughout three incalculable eons. However, if one could be enlightened in a single lifetime then there seems to be no need to perfect the accumulation of merit throughout three incalculable eons. Actually, both are right in that it does take a very long time if one takes the path of reasoning. Whereas it is possible to attain enlightenment within a single lifetime if one follows the tradition of the pith instructions, using direct perception as the path.

ESTABLISHING THE IDENTITY OF MIND AND THE VARIOUS PERCEPTIONS 

It should be clear now that our use of the term vipashyana refers to direct perception. To attain this direct perception, we must undertake two tasks: first, gain certainty about the identity of mind; second, gain certainty about the identity of mind’s expression, which includes thought and perceptions. Put another way, we need to investigate three aspects: mind, thought and perception.

The first of these — mind — is when one is not involved in any thoughts, neither blatant thought states nor subtle ones. Its ongoing sense of being present is not interrupted in any way. This quality is called cognisance, or salcha in Tibetan. Salcha means there is a readiness to perceive, a readiness to think, to experience, that does not simply disappear. Since we do not turn to stone or into a corpse when we are not occupied by thinking, there must be an ongoing continuity of mind, an ongoing cognisance.

Next are thoughts, or namtok. There are many different types of thoughts, some subtle, like ideas or assumptions, and others quite strong, like anger or joy. We may think that mind and thoughts are the same, but they are not.

The third one, perceptions, or nangwa, actually has two aspects. One is the perception of so-called external objects through seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touch. Let us set those aside for the time being, though, as they are not the basis for the training at this point. The other aspect of perception deals with what occurs to the sixth consciousness: mental images. These mental impressions are not perceived through the senses but somehow occur to the mind in the form of memories, something imagined or thought of. Nevertheless, each of these mental impressions feels as if it is sight, sound, smell, taste or texture. Usually, we do not pay attention to any of this — it just happens and we are caught up in it; for example, when we are daydreaming or fantasising.

It is important to become clear about what mind, thoughts and perceptions actually are — not in a theoretical way but in actuality. In the past, we may not have paid much attention to mind’s way of being when not occupied with thoughts or perceptions. We may not have looked into what the mind itself — that which experiences or perceives — actually consists of and, therefore, we may not be certain of it. When there are thoughts, mental images or perceptions, the usual habit is simply to lose control and be caught up in the show. We continually get absorbed in what is going on, instead of taking a good, clear look at the perceiving mind. We tend not to be aware that we are thinking or daydreaming; we tend to be in a rather vague, hazy state. Meditation training lets these thoughts and mental images become quite vivid. They can become as clear as day. At this point, we should take a good look and in an experiential way personally establish what their actual nature or identity is.

We use the word examine repeatedly. When you establish the nature of things by means of reason, examining refers to intellectual analysis; but that is not what we are talking about now. Unlike an intellectual investigation, examining should be understood as simply looking at how things actually are.

ESTABLISHING THE IDENTITY OF MIND — THE BASIS 

The Mahamudra sense of vipashyana does not mean to examine concepts, but to look into what the mind actually is, namely a sense of being awake and conscious, continuously present and very clear. Whenever we do look, no matter when, we cannot help but discover that mind has no form, colour or shape — none at all. Then we may wonder, “Does that mean that there is no mind? Does the mind not exist?” If there were no consciousness in the body, the body would be a corpse. Yet we can see and hear, and we can understand what we are reading — so we are not dead, that’s for sure. The truth is that while mind is empty — it has no shape, colour or form — it also has the ability to cognise; it has a knowing quality. The fact is that these two aspects, being empty and able to know, are an indivisible unity.

Mind does exist as a continuing presence of cognisance. We are not suddenly extinct because there are no thoughts; there is something ongoing, a quality of being able to perceive. What exactly is this mind? What does it look like? If mind exists, then in what mode does it exist? Does the mind have a particular form, shape, colour and so forth? We should simply take a close look at what it is that perceives and what it looks like, then try to find out exactly what it is.

The second question is, where is this mind, this perceiver, located? Is it inside or outside of the body? If outside, then exactly where? Is it in any particular object? If it is in the body, then exactly where? Does it pervade throughout the body — head, arms, legs, etc.? Or is it in a particular part — the head or torso, the upper part or the lower part? In this way, we investigate until we become clear about the exact shape, location and nature of this perceiving mind. Then if we do not actually find any entity or location, we may conclude that mind is empty. There are different ways in which something can be empty. It could simply be absent, in the sense that there is no mind. However, we have not totally disappeared; we still perceive and there is still some experience taking place, so you cannot say that mind is simply empty. Though this mind is empty it is still able to experience. So what is this emptiness of mind?

By investigating in this way, we do not have to find something that is empty or cognisant or that has a shape, colour or location. That is not the point. The point is simply to investigate and see it for what it is — however that might be. Whether we discover that the perceiver is empty, cognisant or devoid of any concreteness, it is fine. We should simply become clear about how it is and be certain — not as a theory, but as an actual experience.

If we look for a perceiver, we won’t find one. We do think, but if we look into the thinker, trying to find that which thinks, we do not find it. Yet, at the same time, we do see and we do think. The reality is that seeing occurs without a seer and thinking without a thinker. This is just how it is; this is the nature of the mind. The Heart Sutra sums this up by saying that “form is emptiness,” because whatever we look at is, by nature, devoid of true existence. At the same time, emptiness is also form, because the form only occurs as emptiness. Emptiness is no other than form and form is no other than emptiness. This may appear to apply only to other things, but when applied to the mind, the perceiver, one can also see that the perceiver is emptiness and emptiness is also the perceiver. Mind is no other than emptiness; emptiness is no other than mind. This is not just a concept; it is our basic state.

The reality of our mind may seem very deep and difficult to understand, but it may also be something very simple and easy because this mind is not somewhere else. It is not somebody else’s mind. It is your own mind. It is right here; therefore, it is something that you can know. When you look into it, you can see that not only is mind empty, it also knows; it is cognisant. All the Buddhist scriptures, their commentaries and the songs of realisation by the great siddhas express this as the “indivisible unity of emptiness and cognisance,” or “undivided empty perceiving,” or “unity of empty cognisance.” No matter how it is described, this is how our basic nature really is. It is not our making. It is not the result of practice. It is simply the way it has always been.

The trouble is that for beginningless lifetimes we have been so occupied with other things that we have never really paid any attention to it — otherwise we would have already seen that this is how it is. Now, due to favorable circumstances, you are able to hear the Buddha’s words, read the statements made by sublime beings, and receive a spiritual teacher’s guidance. As you start to investigate how the mind is, when you follow their advice, you can discover how mind really is.

ESTABLISHING THE IDENTITY OF THOUGHTS AND PERCEPTIONS — THE EXPRESSION

Having briefly covered establishing the identity of mind, we will now discuss establishing the identity of thoughts and perceptions, which are the expressions of mind. Though empty of any concrete identity, mind’s unobstructed clarity does manifest as thoughts and perceptions.

Thoughts can be of many types and, in this context, include emotions. The Abhidharma teachings give a list known as the fifty-one mental events. You may have noticed thangka paintings depicting Vajrayogini wearing a garland of fifty-one freshly cut-off heads to illustrate the need to immediately sever any obvious thoughts that arise. Blatant thoughts include hate, obsessive attachment, compassion and moods such as feeling hazy or very clear. When these arise, either on their own or by us provoking them in order to have something to investigate, we do not need to analyse why we are angry. Instead, immediately upon the arising of a strong thought or emotion, look into where it is, what its identity is and what it is made of. Also, when it arises you should try to find the direction it came from, and when it subsides, where it goes. Whether it is a thought, emotion, feeling or mood, the principle is the same: look into where it comes from, where it abides and where it goes. By investigating in this way, you will find that no real “thing” came from anywhere. Right now the feeling, thought or emotion does not remain anywhere, nor does it actually exist in any concrete way, and, finally, no “thing” actually disappears.

No matter what the thought or emotion may be, we should look into it. But we will fail to find any “thing” — we can’t find where it is, what it looks like or what it is made of.

This failure is neither because we are incapable of looking nor because we have been unsuccessful in finding it, but simply because any movement of the mind is empty of a concrete identity. There is no substance to it, whether it is anger, fear, joy or sorrow — all are merely empty movements of the mind. We discover that looking into thoughts is no different from looking into the quiet mind. The identity of calm mind is empty cognisance and when we look into a thought movement, we also see an empty cognisance. The great masters of the past phrased it like this: “Look into the quiet mind when quiet and look into the moving mind when moving.” We discover that mind and thoughts — the basis and the expression — have the same identity: empty cognisance.

The same holds true for sensory perceptions and memories. The Buddhist teachings define two aspects of reality: relative truth and ultimate truth. From the relative point of view, we cannot deny that there are mental images and memories, but from the point of view of the ultimate truth, we are forced to admit that they do not exist. This appears to be a contradiction. However, while experientially such images do occur to us, when we investigate what they really are, there is no thing to find, no location for them, and no identity or substance from which they are made.

You might wonder what is the use of understanding that our thoughts and perceptions are all by nature empty of any concrete identity. Sometimes we get so happy. It feels so wonderful and we love it; we cling wholeheartedly to whatever we experience or whatever we think of. At other times it is very painful and we feel like we can’t take it. This is simply due to attaching some solid identity to our thoughts and perceptions. These experiences are not so overwhelming once we clearly see the reality of these thoughts and perceptions — that their identity is not real or concrete. They become much lighter and do not weigh us down so much anymore. That is the immediate benefit. The lasting benefit is that our experience and understanding of the natural state of mind becomes clearer and clearer, more and more stable.

In this method, we do not become clear about what mind, thoughts and mental impressions are by intellectually building a theory of what they must be like and then forcing our experience to agree with our preconceived ideas. Instead, we go about it in an experiential way. We simply allow mind, thoughts or mental perceptions to be whatever they are and then look at them, investigate them. With no need to maintain any set notions about how they must be and forcing them to fit such a description, simply take a close look at the situation as it is. This is neither very complicated nor strenuous, because you are not looking into something other, but rather into this very mind that you already have right here. All you need to do is look at what it actually is. You do not have to imagine any inaccessible thoughts; simply look at your available thoughts and emotions, investigate where they are and what they are made of. The same goes for any mental impressions — simply investigate what they are as they occur. That is the training. Please spend some time giving mind, thoughts and mental impressions a close look and establish some certainty about what they actually are.

Here we have dealt with establishing the identity of mind, thoughts and mental impressions. We could have decided that mind, thoughts and mental impressions are empty, or perhaps not empty. Either way, in the context of Mahamudra training, one should not create any ideas about them. Instead, one should get to know them as they are, without any concepts as handles, by simply looking closely into them. One should not try to infer their nature, but rather see what the nature of mind, thoughts and perceptions actually is through direct experience. When we speak of “establishing their nature” or “cutting through misconceptions about mind, thoughts and perceptions,” therefore, we are referring to attaining clarity or certainty through personal experience. It means to see for ourselves, without any preconceived ideas.