Bringing Progress to the Mind That Has Been Stabilized

I n The Ocean of Definitive Meaning, the instructions on tranquility meditation are divided into three sections: grasping the mind that has not yet been grasped; stabilizing the mind after it has been grasped; and bringing progress to the mind that has been stabilized. These three sections are presented because they are necessary as three stages of instruction when one actually practices. The first section is designed to teach someone who does not yet know how to rest their mind how to do so. But that in itself is not enough. Because once one knows how to rest the mind, one needs actually to achieve stability in doing so. For that reason the second section is taught. Now, during the two sessions on the first day I presented the instruction of the first section and yesterday morning those of the second. This morning we are going to go on to the third section, which concerns making progress after stabilization has been achieved. This third set of instructions is needed because, even though you know how to bring the mind to rest and you understand how to make that state of rest or stillness stable, you need further to know how to enhance it or cause it to develop.

The first two sections or stages of tranquility instruction were largely concerned with meditation and not much with post-meditation. The third section of instruction, enhancement or progress, is concerned equally with meditation and post-meditation. These instructions teach us how to remain undistracted from the state of tranquility or stillness not only during meditation but in post-meditation as well, because it is only by maintaining continuously this state free of distraction that progress or enhancement can occur.

Whether we are meditating or in post-meditation, we continue physically to see, which means that our eyes continue to contact the physical forms that are their sense objects. We continue to hear sounds, and thoughts continue to arise. These forms that we see with our eyes we tend to appraise in various ways. Some we designate as good, others as bad, and so on. When we lack instruction, we are distracted by the forms that we see. Our minds fol-

low the eye consciousness because we have no faculty of mindfulness and no faculty of alertness17 to prevent the mind from following the eye consciousness. The second section of tranquility instruction, which we studied yesterday—stabilizing the mind that has been grasped—was essentially concerned with the cultivation of the dual faculties of mindfulness and alertness. So now, in the third section, you are going to learn how to apply these faculties that have been cultivated, not only in meditation but in post-meditation as well, and with reference to the experience of forms and sounds and so forth. Here it is taught that when you see a form, you continue to maintain mindfulness and alertness while seeing it, so that your mind does not run wild on the basis of having seen it. Normally, when we lack instruction, our minds are unattended. Unattended means that we allow them to run wild. The remedy for this tendency of the unattended mind to run wild is to attend it through the application of mindfulness and alertness. There is a specific form of these which is called “watchfulness.” The term watchfulness has been used by the siddhas of our lineage to mean a way of being aware of what the mind is doing that is

something like the activity of a spy who is following someone and observes everything that they do and everywhere they go. Throughout the day, from the morning until we go to sleep, our minds continue to move. They respond to forms that are seen, sounds that are heard, and thoughts that arise. Lacking mindfulness and alertness, lacking the presence of watchfulness, we are usually unaware of the details. Distracted by forms and sounds, we become unaware of the details of the forms and sounds themselves; everything becomes very vague because of the distraction. This distraction is the mind’s being allowed to drift aimlessly, and in fact the word that we use for distraction, for a state of full distraction, literally means fully drifting. The drifting here is said to be like the drifting of a piece of driftwood on the surface of an ocean. In response to the currents and waves in the water, it goes all over the place. In the same way, when the mind is unattended by watchfulness, your mind just drifts without any direction whatsoever. So, in order to impose watchfulness on this situation, the first technique taught here is using the faculty of watchfulness in connection with seeing visual form.

As I mentioned yesterday, the sense consciousnesses, such as the eye consciousness, are not conceptual consciousnesses. So, for example, the eye consciousness sees everything that it sees, but whether what it sees is what we would regard as good or what we would regard as bad, the eye consciousness itself makes no such appraisal. It does not appraise or consider what it sees; it simply sees. Therefore, the sense consciousnesses, such as the eye consciousness, cannot perform the act or functions of mindfulness and alertness. It is the sixth consciousness that follows the sense consciousnesses, that considers and appraises what is experienced by the sense consciousnesses; and it is the sixth consciousness that must be brought to perform the functions of mindfulness and alertness. This is true of the sixth consciousness in relation to all the five senses. We see forms and then these forms are perceived by the sixth consciousness as pleasant or unpleasant. Sounds, which are initially experienced by the ear consciousness, are perceived by the sixth consciousness as pleasant sounds or unpleasant. Tastes are perceived by the sixth consciousness as bitter or sweet; smells by the sixth consciousness as fragrant or repulsive; and tactile sensations by the sixth consciousness as pleasurable or unpleasurable. When the sixth consciousness follows any of the five sense consciousnesses without the presence of mindfulness and alertness, when it is allowed simply to drift, then we are, if I may use a negative analogy, almost like walking corpses, because there is no mindfulness or alertness; there is no presence or conscious presence within what we are experiencing. Therefore, it has been said by the yogis of the past, “Just as your body should remain on its seat, your mind should remain in your body.”

Now, in order to be mindful, your mind, which functions through the senses, and, therefore, is connected with your body, has to be consciously present within your body. You must be present in and aware of what you are experiencing through the senses. You are always seeing and hearing and so on, but what is being said here is that you must be consciously aware of what you are seeing, consciously aware of what you are hearing, and so on. This does not mean that you attempt to interfere with or in any way stop, limit, or block what you see or what you hear. It means simply that you must know what you are seeing, know what you are hearing, and so on. This practice of presence and awareness will greatly help the practice of meditation.

All of that is with reference to the sixth consciousness’ functioning on the basis of and following on the experiences of the five sense consciousnesses. But the sixth consciousness also has activities that are internal to itself, which is to say, the arising of thoughts which are not necessarily directly caused by something appearing to the five sense consciousnesses. Now, different sorts of thoughts arise in our minds. Sometimes we have thoughts that traditionally we think of as ones we should reject, unvirtuous thoughts, defined here as thoughts arising out of mental afflictions or kleshas, such as attachment, aversion, and so on. Then sometimes we have thoughts that we would normally identify as virtuous, thoughts we wish to encourage and undertake. And then sometimes we have thoughts that are neutral and that we regard in that way as irrelevant. Here you are not attempting to limit what type of thoughts arise in your mind; you are simply attempting to recognize what thoughts arise in your mind. In the context of tranquility meditation, it means to recognize them as what they are in terms of their content. So, if virtuous thoughts arise in your mind, recognize them as virtuous; if negative thoughts arise, recognize them as negative; if neutral thoughts arise, recognize them as neutral. You are simply trying to maintain the awareness of recognizing what is happening in your mind. This is different from recognizing the nature of thought, which will be taught later when we come to the practice of insight meditation. Here you are not attempting to see the nature of thought, but simply to recognize the presence or appearance of thoughts within your mind. And this is to be attempted not only when you are meditating but also in post-meditation, when you are busy—when you are eating or walking or working or talking and so on.

Now, in spite of the fact that you are to be aware of what type of thoughts arise in this phase of the practice, it is not recommended that you view thoughts as an enemy. You are not attempting to stop them from arising, you are simply not allowing yourself to drift in following thoughts.18 The practice here is simply to be aware of the thoughts that arise in your mind.

Furthermore, it says in our text that this awareness should be relaxed. The amount of effort engaged in this awareness should be just enough so that the thread or continuity of the awareness does not break. Through developing and maintaining this type of awareness there will occur progress in your meditation. In the songs of practitioners of the past it says, “Do not see thoughts as something you have to get rid of, and do not see the absence of thoughts as something you have to acquire; just cultivate watchfulness, and genuine tranquility will arise.” In trying to develop watchfulness, you are not attempting to stop thinking but simply to be aware of what arises in the mind.

Now, for ordinary individuals this watchfulness is not going to be constant in the beginning. Initially it will be sporadic. On the other hand, this watchfulness is not utterly beyond us. It can be cultivated if we put in the necessary effort. The function of watchfulness is that it will enable you not to be disturbed; it will enable your meditation not to be harmed by the necessary actions you engage in throughout the day. And that absence of disturbance or distraction will bring enhancement and progress to your practice of meditation.

Here two methods are presented that, according to the teachings, need to be practiced or cultivated in order to develop the right degree of effort in the cultivation of mindfulness and alertness. These methods are tension and relaxation. It is taught that they need to be practiced in alternation so that you can experience the right balance between them in the practice of mindfulness. In order to practice tension, sometimes you intentionally tighten your awareness—focus your awareness as sharply and as vigorously as you can—in the practice of mindfulness. In order to do so, you actually even tighten up your body, including your physical muscles. You generate the intention, “I will not allow the slightest distraction to occur,” and with that motivating force, you tighten up your mind and your body, even up to your mouth and your nose, and be as tight as you can in not allowing distraction. Then when you practice relaxation, you consciously let go of all tension, relax all tension. The watchfulness you practice in that way is like watching someone or something from a distance.

Now, in tension you are learning to cultivate the vigor of awareness, and in relaxation you are learning to cultivate the relaxed and steady quality of awareness. In relaxation you are not really letting go of the faculty of watchfulness itself, but simply of unnecessary effort. So, practicing these two in alternation will teach you how to cultivate watchfulness. In each major section, The Ocean of Definitive Meaning is divided concurrently in two different ways—into teaching sessions and practice sessions. A teaching session will contain something you need to know about that stage of the practice, and a practice session will contain instruction for that specific stage of mahamudra practice. For example, in this section, the last section of tranquility instruction, there is only one practice session, which means that it is taught as one unified practice, the cultivation of the watchfulness of mindfulness and alertness. This watchfulness is to be applied to whatever you experience: to visible forms, audible sounds, thoughts, and so on. All of this is presented as one unit, as one practice. On the other hand, so that this practice of watchfulness and its implications are clearly understood, in this same section there are also three teaching sessions. In the second of the teaching sessions we find twelve questions about the practice of tranquility meditation and about the experience of it. If you read these in your book, you will find that the questions are presented together with their answers, and that they will help to dispel any doubts or confusion you may have about the experience of tranquility meditation.

Among these questions the most important concerns a phenomenon that can occur in meditation practice that here is called “rainbow meditation.” Rainbow meditation refers to the intentional cultivation of a beautiful, pleasant meditative state that is utterly useless. Rainbows are very pretty; they have nice colors and are very bright and it is nice to look at them, but they serve no function. You cannot eat them, you cannot wear them, you cannot live in them. In the same way, it sometimes happens that, when we experience some kind of well-being or pleasure in meditation, we make a goal out of it, and we attempt to fabricate or repeat that particular meditative state. The pleasure itself is like a rainbow; it is pretty, but it is useless. As is pointed out in our text, meditation is not supposed to be the fabrication or the reinforcement of some particular state, but simply the cultivation of the awareness of whatever is arising in the mind. A second issue that is brought up in these twelve questions is the issue of no alteration. We are instructed not to alter what arises in the mind, but not altering what arises in the mind does not mean that we do not need mindfulness and alertness. We do, and it is possible to misunderstand the instruction of no alteration to mean not even engaging in the actions of mindfulness and alertness and, therefore, not even possessing watchfulness. When we misunderstand the idea of relaxation and spontaneity and no alteration, then we let our minds drift just as they did when we were not practicing meditation at all, and this is letting go in the wrong way. We need to cultivate mindfulness and alertness, so do not misunderstand no alteration, relaxation, letting go, and so forth to mean no imposition of mindfulness.

The third question concerns quite a common problem [that can occur after you have learned to meditate and even after you have had good meditation experiences.] You have received sufficient instruction, but you stop meditating. This is called abandoned or disowned meditation. Now, in the beginning the first thing we need to do, of course, is to learn how to meditate. This is taught primarily in the section called grasping the ungrasped mind. But once we have learned how to meditate and how to grasp the ungrasped mind, we need actually to apply these instructions, as taught here primarily in this third section, or the facility we have gained in meditation will degenerate or be lost altogether. We need to make use of the instructions we have received by applying them diligently. We need to apply watchfulness all the time. Otherwise, if you leave your meditation practice unattended or abandoned, then there is really no point in having received instructions from your teachers in the first place. The fourth question is also very important. When we meditate, sometimes the experience of meditation will be pleasant or pleasurable, and sometimes that sensation or experience of well-being will simply not be there. It is important not to be affected by this. Whatever happens in your meditation, whether it is pleasant or not, it is important simply to continue. There is a danger of becoming used to an experience of well-being that has arisen in meditation and of craving it, and, therefore, of becoming disappointed and discouraged if it vanishes. The point here is not to be influenced by what arises in meditation, whether it be pleasurable or not, and simply to continue practicing no matter what happens.

In that way there are altogether twelve questions with their answers in this section of the book, and you should read them. The third teaching session in this section concerns the importance of devotion, which is held to be the single most significant and effective source of progress and enhancement in meditation practice. Therefore, since devotion is so important, it is recommended that you supplement your practice from time to time with the practice of guru yoga. One could chant and do the meditations of an entire guru yoga practice and use that as a basis for devoted supplication. Through the cultivation of devotion in that way, a meditation practice that lacks lucidity will gain lucidity, that lacks stability will gain stability, and so on. So, if you have time to perform a guru yoga practice, this is very much recommended for the cultivation of devotion. If you lack the time or circumstances to do so, then you should attempt to achieve the same results through the practice of some short supplication. For example, when we recite the lineage supplication at the beginning of teaching sessions, do not do so mindlessly or by rote. Consciously recite the supplication, applying your mindfulness to its meaning, so that through it you can cultivate devotion. That completes a brief presentation of the instructions on tranquility meditation found in The Ocean of Definitive Meaning.

Now, in the cultivation of the path of method, three things are necessary: the empowerments which ripen, the reading transmissions which provide support, and the instructions which bring liberation. For the practice of the path of liberation, however, there is no particular empowerment that is required, because the practice itself consists of the two practices of tranquility and insight alone. Nevertheless, one does need instruction, which I am providing, and one also should receive the reading transmission for the text that is being used as the basis of instruction. Therefore, I am now going to start to give, one section at a time, the reading transmission forThe Ocean of Definitive Meaning. While I do so, please listen attentively and especially with pure motivation. [[[Rinpoche]] begins the reading transmission.] [[[Rinpoche]] and students dedicate the merit.]