These directions, which seem throughout traditions, sound so easy that we might think about they’re self-explanatory. Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön invitations us to look deeper.
“Fowl Cage, 2007” Neon with wooden pedestal. 373/8 x 195/8 x 195/8 in. By Su-Mei Tse. Courtesy of the artist and Peter Blum Gallery, New York.
Once I first arrived at Pullahari Monastery within the hills overlooking Boudhanath twenty years in the past, I had accomplished a graduate diploma in biology and left a regulation profession in Silicon Valley, the tech bubble bursting flamboyantly behind me as I winged my technique to Nepal. If there was one factor I knew methods to do, it was examine.
I needed to know. Not experience the coattails of those that mentioned they knew. Not assume that I knew. Not hope, assume, or consider that I knew. To know the dharma with immediacy, deep inside, within the very tissues of my physique. Data is energy, they are saying. I sought empowerment.
Listening begins properly earlier than the ears begin twitching, with an itch within the coronary heart searching for reality, main us to discover a dependable trainer from whom we hear the phrases of dharma.
An intensive philosophy and meditation program conceived by His Eminence the Third Jamgon Rinpoche and birthed by Kyabje Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso Rinpoche after Rinpoche’s passing in 1992, Rigpe Dorje Institute for Worldwide College students was by then within the palms of an excellent younger scholar–lama, Drupon Khenpo Lodro Namgyal. Drupon Khenpo’s beautiful finesse in marrying idea and apply, and in encouraging principled, particular person engagement with the dharma, modified my strategy to Buddhist examine and apply from one in every of goal fascination to private exploration. This modified my life.
And all of it started with three deceptively acquainted phrases: Hear. Ponder. Meditate.
Seasoned dharma college students throughout Buddhist traditions are prone to have heard some model of this instruction. On one hand, there appears to be nothing a lot to it. And to an extent, that’s true. Who doesn’t have some understanding of what every of those phrases means? They’re so easy—and we, so positive we perceive—that it could by no means happen to us to query them.
So we hearken to teachings, or we learn them. Later, we take into consideration them. Maybe point out them to others over the subsequent few days or perhaps weeks. Factors that contact us deeply, we might treasure and share over months and even years, even when we now not recall the complete context. In some unspecified time in the future or different, we meditate, utilizing any of the various Buddhist strategies.
And there’s the rub.
This phrasing of three on a regular basis phrases is a shorthand. Its rhythm is something however the staccato implied by the stark sequential strokes of “Hear. Ponder. Meditate,” every time period distinct from the others. Its telegraphic high quality belies a profound, intertwined apply for integrating buddhadharma.
No shock, then, that it took me a while to catch on to the purpose that pay attention meant greater than pay attention. Ditto for ponder and meditate. Nonetheless extra for the mixture of the three. The phrases appeared simplistic, properly under my lofty aspiration to embody the dharma.
However due to Drupon Khenpo’s meticulous delineation of the workings of “the threefold apply of listening, considering, and meditating” (Tib. thos bsam sgom gsum), in time, I did catch on. This “integrative dharma apply,” as I’ve come to name it, introduced me all the way down to earth, grounding and rooting me within the phrases of the Buddha, turning into my beacon for participating the dharma in depth, dwelling it vibrantly, and taking it into the very marrow of my bones.
After many years of examine, apply, textual content translation, oral decoding, a three-year Vajrayana cloistered retreat, and dharma instructing, I prize this methodology above all for its common accessibility and memorable efficacy in assembly us the place we’re, bringing buddhadharma into our lives with authenticity and pleasure.
In my expertise with my very own apply in addition to in guiding others, there’s nothing remotely staid to this threefold apply. Quite, it’s a dynamic course of, transformative and deeply private—even intimate.
Prelude
The elliptical phrase pay attention, ponder, meditate features as a mnemonic, every time period within the triad signaling an embedded context. Every is the tip of a dharma iceberg that rewards an expedition of discovery.
Metaphors abound to convey the physicality of taking in teachings, turning them about within the thoughts, and absorbing them into our coronary heart: ingesting, digesting, and absorbing meals. Dipping into, immersing oneself, and consuming the water of a pristine mountain lake. Slicing, rubbing, and burning ore, like a goldsmith assaying for gold.
Symbolizing the transfer from greeting to assembly to realizing the Buddha’s teachings, these evocative photos denote a graduated means of cultivating familiarity, the core which means of the Tibetan sgom (Skr. bhavana), often translated as “meditation.” However with what, precisely, are we turning into acquainted?
Hear, ponder, meditate. This course of familiarizes us with prajna, the exact realizing intrinsic to thoughts. By levels, it invokes, instills, and incorporates prajna organically, yielding an independence within the dharma that however stays grounded in dependable approaches to embodying the Buddha’s teachings. A radical orthodoxy, if you’ll.
A distillation of Buddha’s contemplative know-how, starting as early as our preliminary forays into Buddhist thought, pay attention, ponder, meditate is a apply that accompanies us all through the trail, reaching its full bloom in realization, the transcendence of phrases and which means in an unmediated expertise of the fact to which prajna orients us.
How on the planet does such a factor play out?
Hear
To “pay attention” means to absorb the phrases of the teachings. Our consideration is directed outwardly, greeting phrases as they movement to us—from a trainer in individual, or a classical textual content, fashionable e book, YouTube video, or what have you ever. That is the enter stage, typically translated as listening to or finding out.
These days, this part might or might not be actively aural in character. Nonetheless, I discover worth in retaining listening’s sense of physicality and resonance with the oral custom through which Buddha’s teachings are rooted. Imagining myself amongst the sangha listening to the Buddha, arhats, and bodhisattvas presenting the teachings, I’m impressed to be as receptive as they had been, primed and able to take the teachings into expertise.
Enacting the listening aspect of integrative dharma apply boils down to exactly that: fostering receptivity. It begins properly earlier than the ears begin twitching, with an itch within the coronary heart searching for reality, main us to discover a dependable trainer, from whom we hear the phrases of dharma.
The center’s urgency yields a pure inclination towards the instructing. Leaning in to present ear, we take note of it, our curiosity highly effective sufficient to quell distraction earlier than it good points noticeable power. On this environment, retention of the teachings follows, which can manifest as remembering the substance with readability and even being moved to memorize all or a part of it.
Thus, listening, within the context of pay attention, ponder, meditate, is multidimensional in character; it’s greater than merely listening to. Direct engagement with the phrases is important to laying a steady basis for later levels.
The apply of listening consists of clarifying terminology of the teachings, notably when specialised dharma terminology is concerned. This stage ensures that we dispel any misconceptions and develop a sound understanding of the which means as supposed within the given instructing.
This will embrace unearthing any private connotations we now have with phrases used within the instructing. When these are out of sync, we might incorporate extra phrases that additionally convey the which means precisely and resonate extra for us personally. The intent right here is to not acceptable the linguistic heritage of dharma to match our views. Quite, the aim is to penetrate the supposed which means with immediacy, quickening the center.
Within the means of listening, we flip outward, targeted on a trainer or instructing, and in doing so, we arrive at semantic understanding: an correct, primary comprehension of the terminology. That is the primary diploma of prajna, generally known as “the exact realizing arising from listening” (Tib. thos ‘byung gi shes rab; Skr. śrutamayi prajna).
Ponder
This semantic prajna subsequent turns into the article of contemplation. On the heart of this threefold dynamic of integrative dharma apply, considering serves because the bridge between listening and meditating. On this stage, we study the which means of the phrases we heard and understood within the listening part, refining our understanding for engagement within the meditation to come back.
The bodily means of consuming gives a helpful metaphor for understanding the method. Once we ingest meals, we start to interrupt it down within the mouth, as meals mixes with enzymes within the saliva, earlier than reaching the abdomen. Equally, the uncooked prajna developed throughout listening at first undergoes a rough processing. Contemplation receives the semantic understanding that comes of that, refining it additional nonetheless. Just like the abdomen digesting meals softened within the mouth, contemplation is essential to refining understanding so its nourishment is accessible and amenable to high-quality processing in meditation.
With contemplation, the purpose is to precisely comprehend the instructing. This usually includes asking questions, participating in dialogue, and difficult ourselves, particularly once we assume we’ve “bought it.”
In contemplation, we apply our mind to investigate the teachings utilizing scripture and logical reasoning. We might use straight-up analysis and examine of texts, zeroing in on any confusion, doubts, or hesitations. We might ask clarifying questions of academics or have interaction in dialogue with fellow college students. Tibetan monastic faculty tradition famously employs overtly bodily debate to sharpen college students’ understanding. Writing out the scriptures or teachings, in addition to studying, translating, and memorizing them, are additionally frequent types of contemplation. Modern college students engaged in contemplation would possibly make use of notetaking, journaling, outlining, drawing, writing poetry, composing dharma songs, motion, and the like, activating our creativity to form an correct semantic understanding of the teachings in query after which break it down additional, till we now have a richer comprehension of the subject in query.
The Tibetan phrase bsam, or “ponder,” means to assume, think about, replicate, think about. Contemplation isn’t just considering willy-nilly; it isn’t free affiliation, which readily spirals uncontrolled. Quite, the contemplative stance is contained, occupying the complete attain of its subject, searching for to grasp it precisely, by itself phrases. Inside that boundaried area, we roam freely, exploring the parameters of the instructing. The impact is akin to poetic meter, rhyme, and verse, whose very construction evokes freedom.
As with listening, contemplation is outward-turned. In any case, we’re participating others in regards to the subject—discussing, debating, researching, and questioning. Crucially, we apply our essential considering expertise not solely to the instructing at hand but in addition to our assumptions and biases. We don’t essentially subscribe to the subject material. In sharpening the semantic understanding of the instructing we heard with receptivity, wholesome doubt is important.
Not questioning the teachings leaves us skimming the floor, not penetrating. Not tackling our opinions, private historical past, and cultural narratives offers our personal biases a free go. The purpose is to precisely comprehend the instructing. This usually includes asking questions, participating in dialogue, and difficult ourselves, particularly once we assume we’ve “bought it.”
The investigation, nonetheless, isn’t purely scientific. We’re constructing a relationship of intimacy with the Buddha by his teachings. And simply as in any significant relationship, we are going to change as we encounter surprises, resistance, concern, hesitation, and confusion, along with flashes of pleasure, readability, and discovery. None of it’s to be rejected. Discovering gaps in our information directs us again to listening; growing readability nudges us towards meditation.
All of the whereas, the dharma is the nonetheless level on the heart of our surprise, friction, and doubt. Round that gravitational heart, area opens up, and inside it, an interior pivot varieties, one from which we will have interaction in dialogue between the instructing and our expertise.
Considering the subject on this manner culminates in clear realizing (Tib. nges she), outlined as an unmistaken mental understanding of the final which means of the subject. This mental understanding that cuts by superimposition is “the prajna arising from considering” (Tib. bsam ‘byung gi shes rab; Skr. cintamayi prajna), which we will then take into meditation.
Meditate
Now issues begin to get private. The electrical high quality of clear realizing fuels enthusiasm to refine our understanding additional nonetheless; we’re keen to have interaction the prajnas invoked and instilled in listening and considering extra instantly.
Meditation cultivates familiarity with the subject proper inside our personal expertise, processing it to a degree of deep, visceral intimacy. This culminating part of the method is the aim of listening and considering. To get caught, misplaced, or enamored of earlier levels and forgo the meditation for which they lay the groundwork cheats us of the important, transformative coronary heart of this apply.
Though the transfer from listening to considering to meditating sounds linear when defined, in apply, every part arcs forwards and backwards any variety of instances, aware of our particular person wants. The trajectory is extra a spiral than a straight line. Furthermore, this dynamic applies to every subject we hearken to, ponder, and meditate upon.
So far as I can inform, the actual meditation model of this integrative dharma apply isn’t usually discovered exterior Tibetan Buddhism
(I heartily welcome info on the contrary). I train the apply as I discovered it, from the attitude of the Mahamudra view within the Karma Kagyu lineage.
Combining two kinds of psychological cultivation, the meditation of pay attention, ponder, meditate alternates dynamically between resting meditation (Tib. ‘jog sgom) and meditative inquiry (Tib. dpyad ä
ä sgom), similar to shamatha and vipashyana, respectively. The important thing part is meditative inquiry, a departure from the enduring picture of a meditator whose quiescent thoughts is absorbed in bliss, freed from ideas.
Meditative inquiry is introspective, and analytical in taste. Nonetheless, the evaluation is experiential in high quality, distinct from the summary discursive considering that animates contemplation or on a regular basis decision-making. Experiential evaluation has a measure of physicality. I liken it to fumbling at midnight to seek out our glasses when the facility goes out in an unfamiliar lodge room, versus mendacity in mattress tracing our steps, pondering the place we would have left them.
Just like the circulatory system transporting vitamins from digested meals to the cells to be used, meditative inquiry processes the semantic and mental prajnas finely, directing the resultant experiential understanding that outcomes to resting meditation for absorption.
Meditation cultivates familiarity with the subject proper inside our personal expertise, processing it to a degree of deep, visceral intimacy.
In formal apply, we start by laying a basis of shamatha, cultivating the tranquil ease born of balancing the lucidity and stillness inherent to thoughts to no matter extent we will. Proper inside that luminous tranquility—palms outstretched in a darkened room—we examine and study our subject with delicate precision.
Accustomed to the subject and its bounds, we now have skilled clear realizing throughout contemplation. Meditative inquiry turns inward to investigate this contemplative prajna in opposition to our personal expertise. This light experiential evaluation proceeds alongside the traces of an interior alternate between our views, opinions, and expertise on one hand, and on the opposite, the teachings of the Buddha and the masters represented by our principled cultivation of correct semantic and mental understanding.
By turns, we take the Buddha’s stance to query our views, then our personal perspective to look at the Buddha’s. This interior dialogue finally yields a recent expertise of clear realizing—critically, not a recollection of the form of realizing developed in contemplation. The latter is reminiscence; the previous is a gift second expertise of slicing by superimposition to disclose the misapprehensions we now have unknowingly held.
In meditative inquiry, this experiential understanding is commonly sensed viscerally. Because the Buddha describes it, we understand the supreme reality with the physique, penetrating it with knowledge (Canki Sutta, MN 95). How that manifests differs from individual to individual, and even subject to subject. It might really feel like butterflies within the tummy, a leap of the center, a intestine punch, an total lightness or localized tightness, a refined vitality shift or a jolt—or maybe like not a lot in any respect.
In any case, there’s a felt sense of epiphany, a revelation that’s embodied versus summary. A eureka second. This experiential understanding is the prajna arising from meditation (Tib. sgom ‘byung gi shes rab; Skr. bhavanamayi prajna).
Ought to an experiential understanding not happen, that’s high-quality. The method strikes organically, hewing to our personal tempo. We alternate between relaxation and meditative inquiry for the rest of the session as feels acceptable.
When experiential understanding does come up, we launch the meditative inquiry gently, and shift to resting meditation, centering that experiential understanding as its object. To thoughts, that is like marinating in experiential understanding, for so long as it stays vivid. When it fades, we return to experiential evaluation. Thereafter, we alternate between relaxation and inquiry, in rhythm with the rise and fall of understanding.
Such moments of experiential understanding could also be scarce at first, and fleeting. The extra we domesticate perception in meditative inquiry and take up it in resting meditation, nonetheless, the extra readily they come up. We’re cultivating familiarity, then intimacy, with the prajna arising from meditation. The steadiness in formal apply shifts from principally meditative inquiry (to invoke clear realizing in the beginning), to principally resting meditation (to instill it as we progress). In time, the shifts turn into extra refined, an oscillation that strikes incrementally towards the innate unity of shamatha and vipashyana as we combine meditative prajna.
“Repetition, growth, and cultivation” (Canki Sutta, MN 95) of the method is pivotal, because it refines the experiential understanding, itself a fleeting meditative expertise. Incorporating prajna progressively, like cells absorbing vitamins from blood, hones experiential understanding towards realization: the direct expertise of the fact to which the teachings heard and contemplated level, past the flexibility of phrases or ideas to specific it.
Transcend
Finally, the very best expression of this threefold apply is the meditative prajna of shunyata, experiential understanding of the vacancy of self and phenomena. Nonetheless, even this refined experiential understanding is dualistic in character, in distinction to
direct realization, the unmediated expertise of vacancy.
How will we bridge the synapse between dualistic thought and direct expertise?
Refining our experiential understanding of vacancy leads naturalally to the ultimate showdown between prajna, the exact realizing realizing nonself, and its direct antithesis, avidya, the ignorance that doesn’t understand nonself. They can not coexist at full power. Certainly one of them has to present.
Since time past time, ignorance has gained the battle waged in our coronary heart–thoughts, as its direct treatment, the prajna realizing nonself, lay obscured, neglected. The apply of pay attention, ponder, meditate invokes, instills, and incorporates this sole efficient antagonist of ignorance. As this prajna, itself dualistic, burgeons in power, ignorance weakens proportionately, like two arms of a scale.
Refining our experiential understanding of vacancy results in the showdown between prajna and its antithesis, avidya, the ignorance that doesn’t understand nonself. They can not coexist at full power. Certainly one of them has to present.
In meditative inquiry, prajna and avidya rub in opposition to each other, like two dry sticks, the friction producing warmth, constructing in depth, till each are ablaze, a prajna fireplace that disintegrates avidya and prajna alike, incinerating dualistic notion, leaving solely what has at all times been current behind the veils of the misperception characterizing samsara—nondual knowledge, or gnosis (Tib. ye shes; Skr. jnana).
That is the trail of seeing, the direct realization of the vacancy unmediated by sensory or inferential consciousness, the primary degree of bodhisattva coaching.
And Past
After twenty years of listening, considering, and meditating, I can attest to my expertise of it as one in every of participating an ongoing, more and more intimate relationship with the teachings of the Buddha and the masters of the various lineages flowing from him. It has taught me to not accept something lower than experiencing the teachings instantly, with growing subtlety and immediacy.
Nonetheless, it isn’t at all times snug to face ever on the able to launch our intently held views, ideas, and beliefs. A very transformative apply requires a willingness to evolve, letting go of the opinions and beliefs with out which we will hardly think about who we’re. It requires the braveness to problem our histories, cultural narratives, and preferences, a lot on the core of our particular person identities, no less than as a lot as we query the phrases of the Buddha.
If we’re up for the problem, the wonders by no means stop. Emaho!