“We need to understand the distinction between faults and noble wisdom qualities. When we do, then we can recognize our master’s noble wisdom qualities and perceive our master as Buddha. If, with that kind of confidence, we then practice guru yoga even just a little bit, nothing more profound is needed. Merely by praying to and meditating upon the master, you too will awaken as Buddha. On the basis of faith and fervent devotion, it will happen.”
~ Dudjom Rinpoche III Sangye Pema Shepa
There is not one of us who has not entered the door of the Secret Mantra Vehicle. And once we have done so, if we do not subsequently keep the commitments, we will go to hell; if we do keep them, we will attain Buddhahood. There is no other destination than these two.
The Secret Mantra Vehicle commitments are very subtle, numerous, and difficult to keep. Even Lord Atisha said that after he had entered the Mantra Vehicle, he committed fault after fault in rapid succession.
So for us who have few antidotes, weak mindfulness, and no vigilance (we do not even know the different categories of vows, nor the point at which we break the precepts), there can be no doubt that breaches of our vows are falling on us like rain.
We should therefore do the practice of Vajrasattva every day and recite the hundred syllables twenty-one times. By doing so, our downfalls will be blessed and their fully ripened effect will be prevented from growing greater. And by reciting the hundred-syllable mantra one hundred thousand times, all our downfalls will be eradicated, as the Ornament of the Essence says:
Clearly visualize Vajrasattva
Enthroned on a white lotus and moon:
By reciting twenty-one times
The hundred syllables according to the ritual,
Downfalls and the like will be blessed
And therefore not grow greater.Thus the greatest accomplished beings have taught,
So do this practice constantly.
If you recite it one hundred thousand times,
You will become the very embodiment of total purity.Even if, for your own part, you have managed — through your stability in the generation and perfection phases, your mindfulness and vigilance, and so forth — to keep faultless commitments, there are others who may have broken the root commitments, and by mixing with them in conversation, joining with them in the same activities, and even drinking the water from the same valley as they, you will get the faults of transgression by association and of incidental transgression. As the tantra says,
I have kept the company of transgressors, fulfilled their wishes,
Given teachings to them and to those unsuitable.
I have thought nothing of those who’ve broken the commitments
And have in turn been tainted by their defilements and faults.It is also said:
Like one drop of sour milk
That turns all the milk sour,
One degenerate practitioner
Spoils all the other practitioners.Breaches of Mantra-Vehicle commitments are easy to purify if we part from them properly. The teachings say that if a single root downfall of the vows of individual liberation occurs and is concealed, it is impossible to repair, like a shattered earthen pot. Root downfalls of the Bodhisattva vow are like broken objects made of a precious metal: they can be repaired with the help of someone else, namely a spiritual friend.
Faults and downfalls in the Secret Mantra Vehicle are like slight dents in a precious metal object: one can completely purify them oneself, using the deity, mantra, and concentration as supports. As long as one parts from them immediately, they are easy to purify, but the longer one waits, the more the fault grows, and the harder it becomes to part from it. After three years, they cannot be purified, even if one attempts to part from them.
Dudjom Rinpoche –
A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom
The main practice is to cut through misconceptions regarding the view, meditation and conduct, and how to put our practice to the test.
To begin, the view is recognition of ultimate reality as it is.
As for this view, your mind’s nature is the ultimate nature of reality. Once you have concluded this with certainty in awareness free from all characteristics of intellectual mind’s fabrications and contrivance, awareness nakedly manifests as self-originating primordial wisdom. Words cannot express it. Metaphors cannot illustrate it. It does not get worse in samsara, nor better in enlightenment. It has not been born, nor will it come to an end. It has not been liberated, nor deluded. It does not exist, nor not exist. Awareness is unlimited and impartial.
In short, from the very beginning, awareness has never been established as being material and having characteristics that can be conceptualized, because its essence is primordially pure, sublime, all-pervasive emptiness. The ocean of realms of phenomena of existence and enlightenment naturally manifest as the display of unobstructed emptiness, like the sun and its rays. Therefore awareness is neither partial nor a completely empty void, because its nature is the supreme spontaneous presence of primordial wisdom and noble qualities.
Thus, awareness, the indivisibility of appearance and emptiness, epitome of the three kayas, is the primordial nature of reality. Precise recognition of awareness, ultimate reality as it is, is what is called the Great Perfection’s view beyond the intellect.
Our sublime master Guru Rinpoche said:
The dharmakaya, beyond the intellect, is ultimate reality.
We actually hold in our hands the wisdom mind of Buddha Always Noble (Kuntu Zangpo). How wonderful! This is the very essence of the six million, four hundred thousand Great Perfection tantras, themselves the consummation of all eighty-four thousand divisions of the Victorious One’s collection of teachings. There is nothing beyond this. You should resolve all phenomena in this awareness. Definitively conclude that all phenomena are contained with this awareness.
Now, once you have resolved all your inner doubts and misconceptions regarding this view, to sustain its continuity is called meditation.
All other meditations with reference points are conceptual meditations fabricated by the mind. This is not how we meditate. Do not lose hold of this view previously described, and in that state release all consciousnesses of the five senses within the natural state, and rest at ease.
Do not meditate to arrive at a conclusion, “That’s it!” If you meditate in that way, it becomes intellectual activity. Here, there is no object of meditation whatsoever, nor even an instant of distraction. Distraction from resting in awareness is true delusion. Don’t be distracted!
Whatever thoughts arise, let them arise. Do not follow after them and do not suppress them. If you ask “In that case, what should I do?,” whatever objective phenomena arise, whatever appears, do not grasp phenomena’s appearing aspect as you rest in a fresh state, like a small child looking inside a temple. When all phenomena are left as they are, their appearance is not modified, their color does not change, and their brilliance does not diminish. If you do not spoil phenomena with clinging and grasping thoughts, appearances and awareness will nakedly manifest as empty and luminous primordial wisdom.
However, many teachings considered very deep or extremely vast have left individuals of lesser intelligence mystified. If I put my finger on the concise essential meaning, it is this: in the gap between the last thought’s cessation and the next’s arising, isn’t there a fresh, present knowing, that has not been modified even in the slightest — luminous, naked awareness? That itself is awareness’ abiding state!
But one does not permanently abide within the nature of reality. Doesn’t a thought suddenly arise? That is the natural display of awareness. However, if you do not recognize thoughts as soon as they arise, they will naturally spread. This is called “the chain of delusion,” the root of samsara. Mere recognition of thoughts as they arise breaks their flow. Release thoughts within that recognition. When you remain in that state, arising thoughts will all be liberated equally within awareness, the expanse of dharmakaya. This is the main practice in which the view and meditation of Cutting Through Solidity, Trekchö, are cultivated as one.
Garab Dorje has said:
From within the nature of originally pure stainless space,
Awareness suddenly manifests. That moment of mindfulness
Is like finding a jewel at the bottom of the ocean.
This is dharmakaya, not fabricated nor created by anyone.
Persevere in this way. You must meditate without distraction day and night — do not leave emptiness in the domain of mere understanding. Bring everything back to awareness itself.
Now I will describe how conduct can enhance meditation and how to put our practice to the test.
The main point, as I previously explained, is to never part for an instant from the perception of your spiritual master as a true buddha; make heartfelt, intensely focused prayers to your spiritual master. This is known as “devotion that is the sole sufficient cure,” superior to any other method to remove obstacles and enhance your practice. You will forcefully and decisively travel all paths to enlightenment.
If you experience dullness and drowiness, arouse awareness. If you experience excitement and agitation, relax your mind. Always, the meditator’s vivid mindful awareness should not impose a disciplined mindfulness. Mindfulness is simple recollection of the recognition of your own nature.
Continuously sustain vivid mindful awareness at all times as you go about your daily activities, whether eating, sleeping, moving or sitting, whether during meditation or post-meditation. Never harbor hope or fear toward whatever thoughts arise, such as those of happiness or suffering, or of the passions; do not accept or reject them; and do not destroy them using antidotes, and so forth. Instead, whatever feelings of happiness and suffering are there, settle in their naked, vivid, lucidly present essence. This single vital point, and none other, applies to everything. Do not confuse yourself with a lot of thinking.
A separate meditation upon emptiness as an antidote to what must be relinquished — thoughts and passions — is unnecessary. Awareness of what must be relinquished liberates it naturally with that recognition, like a snake’s knot uncoiling.
Most people know how to say the words “the ultimate concealed meaning of the Clear Light Vajra Essence,” like a parrot’s chatter, but don’t know how to practice it. We are all so incredibly fortunate! Carefully consider this once again — there’s something to be understood. During our beginningless series of lives until now, our mortal enemy, dualistic clinging, binds us to the wheel of life. Now, thanks to our spiritual master’s kindness, his introduction to naturally abiding dharmakaya releases both poles of grasping, like a feather consumed in fire, with nothing following and without a trace. Isn’t that really satisfying?
If you do not practice once you’ve obtained the swift path’s profound instructions such as these, it is as if a wish-fulfilling jewel were placed in a corpse’s mouth. What a waste! Practice without being discouraged!
Furthermore, beginners will lose their mindfulness in distraction due to unwholesome thoughts that get out of control; these thoughts coalesce in the form of underlying mental activity. At some point, a piercing mindfulness returns, and the thought of regret arises, “Oh, I’m distracted!” Nevertheless, do not do anything whatsoever at that moment, such as stopping the flow of previous thoughts or regretting having been distracted. When this vivid mindfulness returns, it is sufficient just to sustain naturally resting in precisely that mindfulness.
A famous saying advises, “Do not reject thoughts; see them as dharmakaya.” However, until you perfect higher insight’s subtle power, you might dwell upon the thought, “This is probably dharmakaya!”; and remain in a blank state of peaceful abiding. You thus risk getting trapped in a spaced-out, indifferent, unreflective state. Therefore, in the beginning look directly at whatever thoughts arise; do not examine, analyze or reflect upon them at all. Rest upon the recognizer of thoughts, without making it a big deal, disinterested in what arises, like an old man watching children at play.
Once you’ve placed your mind as I described, the deepening of the experience of stillness in a non-conceptual natural state will be suddenly, abruptly destroyed. At that instant, primordial wisdom beyond mind will nakedly and clearly manifest.
While you tread the path, this experience of primordial wisdom will not come untainted with one or another of three meditative experiences — bliss, clarity or conceptionlessness. Nevertheless, placing your mind without the slightest bit of hope, fear, attachment or conceit, due to holding such experiences as supreme, prevents errors. It is very important to constantly give up distraction and to meditate with one-pointed vigilant mindfulness. When you lapse into sporatic practice and mere intellectual understanding, arrogance will arise out of just a little peaceful abiding. If you do not carefully observe your spiritual experiences, you will merely be skilled in pretense and knowledgeable of the right words, which is not beneficial.
As the Great Perfection tantras state:
Intellectual understanding is like a patch,
It will fall off.
And,
Spiritual experiences are like mist,
They will evaporate.
As this says, even some slight positive and negative objective event has deceived great meditators, and many lose their bearings in the midst of circumstances. Even when meditation is planted within your stream of being, the profound instructions will be left on your book’s pages if you do not meditate consistently — your mind will become insensitive: you will become insensitive to the teachings, you will become insensitive to practice, and genuine meditation will never arise. Even old great meditators are in danger of dying completely lost, in the state of a newcomer to practice. Therefore, be very careful.
When you continually familiarize yourself with this over a long period of time, devotion or some other suitable catalyst will at some point cause these spiritual experiences to overflow into realization, and you will vividly see naked awareness, as if a veil were instantly lifted from your head. You will become utterly free and spacious. This is called “the supreme seeing that does not see anything.” Thereafter, thoughts arise as meditation; mental stillness and movement are simultaneously liberated. Moreover, at first, recognition of thoughts liberates them, like meeting someone familiar. In the middle period, thoughts are liberated by themselves, like a snake’s knot uncoiling. Finally, thoughts are liberated without benefit or harm, like a thief entering an empty house. These three ways of liberation will occur gradually. A deep, decisive trust manifests within you that all phenomena are the magical display of your awareness alone — waves of realization of emptiness and compassion will surge. Choosing between either cyclic existence or enlightenment ends. You realize that buddhas are not “good” and sentient beings are not “bad.” Whatever you have done, you will be carefree beyond words without knowing how to move from the sole nature of phenomena, and therefore you will uninterruptedly abide in this infinite space, day and night.
As it is said in the Great Perfection tantras:
Like the sky, realization is changeless.
This kind of Great Perfection practitioner appears to have an ordinary human form, but his or her mind is dharmakaya. He or she abides in wisdom mind free from effort and activity and, without doing anything, traverses all paths and stages. Finally, ordinary mind and phenomena exhausted, like the space of a broken vase, the body vanishes into atoms, and the mind vanishes into the nature of phenomena. This is called attaining the youthful vase body, which is the inner clarity of the original ground, stainless space. This will come about. Since this is the ultimate consummation of view, meditation and conduct, it is called “the fully manifest unattainable result.” The stages of spiritual experiences and realization arise either in a progressive order, without a progressive order, or all at once. This occurs according to the particular faculties of people, but there is no difference when the result is achieved.
Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche’s Heart Advice
by Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje
translated by Ron Garry
* 3. Post-meditation Scheduled for June 11th
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