On this, the primary of a four-part collection on tantra, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche presents the three phases of meditation. Meditation, he says, is the method of recognizing your buddhanature, then nurturing that recognition.
Within the Nyingma faculty of tantric Buddhism, the primordial buddha Samantabhadra represents the sky-like nature of the thoughts and the basic, unchanging nature of goodness inside every of us. In Sanskrit, his identify means “all the time good.” “Samantabhadra (From Situ’s set of Eight Nice Bodhisattvas),” Kham Province, Jap Tibet, nineteenth century, courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Artwork.
My first experiences studying to meditate had been with my late father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He was a revered meditation trainer, however he lived a quite simple life, spending most of his time in a small hermitage on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. A few of my most valuable reminiscences are of the years I first discovered to meditate, sitting on the foot of a conventional “meditation field” that served as each his mattress and meditation area.
One second I’ll always remember was the time he launched me to the precept of buddhanature. I used to be sitting on the ground making an attempt to meditate, however the village canine had been particularly annoying that day and I couldn’t keep centered. My father, sensing my frustration, gently stated, “Amé”—a Tibetan time period of endearment meaning one thing like “pricey”—after which identified the window to the barking canine.
The one distinction between a buddha and everybody else is {that a} buddha acknowledges their very own true nature, whereas all of the beings struggling in samsara don’t.
“Do you know,” he stated, “that the true nature of all these canine you hear barking is identical because the true nature of all of the buddhas?” He then pointed to a statue of the Buddha on his shrine. “And you’ve got this true nature as nicely. You, these canine, the Buddha right here—you all have buddhanature. The one distinction between a buddha and everybody else is {that a} buddha acknowledges their very own true nature, whereas all of the beings struggling in samsara don’t.”
I’ll always remember these phrases.
I want I might say that I skilled a profound awakening after I heard them, like the good arhats of the previous who grew to become enlightened from listening to just a few easy phrases from the Buddha. The reality is that I didn’t consider them.
What had motivated me to begin meditating within the first place had been the crippling panic assaults that adopted me round like a shadow. The concept that I used to be already a buddha was removed from my precise expertise. I might solely see my flaws and shortcomings.
So when he advised me that my very own thoughts was basically pure, and that the trail of meditation was merely the method of recognizing qualities that I already had, these had been nothing greater than phrases and concepts to me. I didn’t doubt him, or that the concept of buddhanature was true. I simply didn’t consider these teachings utilized to me.
The Path to Buddhanature
There are just a few people who can acknowledge their very own buddhanature the second they hear the teachings. These are referred to as the “instantaneous” kind, in line with custom, however they’re exceedingly uncommon. Most of us want a step-by-step path to comply with. We want sensible instruments that assist us translate the profound precept of buddhanature into direct expertise, in order that it turns into greater than an inspiring idea we examine in books.
As I stated, my first response to the concept of buddhanature was doubt, however in a means, it was a wholesome doubt. I didn’t actually consider that my very own thoughts, in its current state, was basically pure, however I used to be open sufficient to the concept that I saved at it. My father taught me the way to meditate, and though I used to be lazy and struggled to maintain up my each day meditation observe, I saved going. I stayed on the trail.
What I didn’t fairly understand on the time was that he was instructing me an ingeniously designed path of meditation, one which opens the thoughts to new potentialities. A number of the practices I discovered tapped into the ability of my overactive creativeness. Different meditations helped me see how each day experiences like falling asleep and dreaming might be highly effective gateways to self-discovery. And a few teachings—those my father appeared to treasure above all others—had been meant to straight level out to me the woke up nature of consciousness itself.
The Fruitional Path
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Photograph by Kevin Sturm.
In sharing these teachings with me, as he did with numerous others, he was passing on the core teachings of Buddhist tantra, often known as Vajrayana, the “Indestructible Car.” Though Buddhist tantra has its origins in historic India, and is present in another Buddhist traditions, it’s primarily recognized right now with Tibetan Buddhism.
It’s usually stated that what units the Vajrayana other than different types of Buddhist meditation is just not the view—which means the core ideas that underlie this method—however moderately the swift and transformative varieties of meditation it employs. There are definitely debates within the custom in regards to the view of the Vajrayana, and whether or not or not it’s extra profound than the angle of different approaches. What nobody disputes, nonetheless, is that the Vajrayana method to meditation is uniquely efficient relating to accessing buddhanature.
So on this four-part collection in Lion’s Roar, I’ll discover crucial types of meditation in Buddhist tantra. On this, the primary of the collection, I’ll give an summary of the custom as a path to realizing our buddhanature. The articles to comply with in subsequent points will give attention to the three phases of Vajrayana observe: the event stage, the completion stage, and the trail of liberation.
Taken collectively, these three phases of the Vajrayana are known as the “fruitional path.” This esoteric time period signifies that there isn’t any purpose, or “fruition,” that one seeks to acquire because of the observe. From the Vajrayana perspective, the “purpose”—which means the state of awakening or buddhahood—is already right here. We’re already buddhas. We merely don’t acknowledge that we’re. Within the Vajrayana, meditation is nothing greater than the method of recognizing that we’re buddhas, after which nurturing that recognition.
Because the primordial buddha within the Kagyu custom, Vajradhara is portrayed as darkish blue to suggest that he symbolizes the pure nature of final actuality. He’s thought of the supreme essence of all buddhas and the tantric type of the historic Buddha.
“Vajradhara” by Flera Birmane, Dakini As Artwork, www.dakiniasart.org
No Obstacles, Solely Alternatives
In some strands of Tibetan Buddhism, awakening is what occurs on the finish of a protracted, arduous journey. We root out the numerous impurities in our minds. We pinpoint the psychological and emotional states that get in the best way of our path to awakening and remove them. After we get offended, we generate loving-kindness to counteract the “poison,” or klesha, in our thoughts. After we expertise lust or want, we ponder the unsavory qualities of the factor we lengthy for. The trail is a protracted means of figuring out and correcting our limitless issues and shortcomings.
Within the Vajrayana, there are literally no poisons, and so there isn’t any want for antidotes.
This may sound absurd. If we don’t do away with anger and different poisonous states of thoughts, how can we probably discover our means out of samsara?
That is exactly the query my father was answering when he advised me that the canine and I had the identical woke up nature because the Buddha. He was making an attempt to inform me that the trail of meditation is just not about making an attempt to do away with our shadows and inside demons. Within the Vajrayana, meditation is supposed to assist us acknowledge the true nature of those experiences, not destroy them.
Searching for a treatment to counteract them, and even making an attempt to remodel them, solely solidifies the view that they’re issues.
However regardless of what number of instances my father jogged my memory about buddhanature, I struggled to see myself as he did. I checked out my very own thoughts and noticed an anxious mess. It was crammed with panic and worry and it created super struggling. This led me to an apparent conclusion: if my struggling was because of these painful ideas and emotions, then absolutely I need to do away with them if I wished any peace and happiness in life.
You may not battle with nervousness or panic like I did, however until you’re a type of “instantaneous varieties” who will get enlightened in a single second, you probably have your individual shadows and inside demons. Possibly you could have a brief mood. Possibly you procrastinate, or really feel lonely, or get depressed. All of us wrestle with our ideas, emotions, and impulses, and far of our ache and struggling is as a result of limitless battle we now have with our personal minds.
Meditation is just not a technique to win this inside energy battle. The Vajrayana method is to vary the whole paradigm. Fairly than making an attempt to remove our perceived flaws, we deal with them as alternatives and use the trail of meditation to discover them and uncover their true nature. We use each side of our inside expertise as a gateway to recognizing the empty, luminous purity of our buddhanature.
The Three Phases of the Vajrayana Path
For me, simply listening to about buddhanature was not sufficient. I wanted a course of, a path. I wanted a sensible technique to see buddhanature for myself, or extra precisely, to see it inside myself. That is the true specialty of the Vajrayana. It’s crammed with artistic strategies and colourful strategies to assist us style buddhanature for ourselves.
There are three totally different types of meditation within the Vajrayana custom. These are often known as the “three phases”: the event stage, the completion stage with marks, and the completion stage with out marks, often known as the trail of liberation.
The primary of those three, the event stage, transforms impure notion into pure notion through the use of the creativeness and symbolic imagery. Like all types of meditation within the Vajrayana custom, the event stage relies on the view that we’re all buddhas who’ve merely not acknowledged who we really are. To carry us nearer to recognizing our true nature, this type of observe harnesses the ability of our stressed creativeness. As a substitute of reliving our previous errors and imagining future situations which will by no means occur, we think about ourselves as completely woke up buddhas. We think about that we’re the very embodiment of knowledge and compassion. We think about our environment as a pure realm, and all different dwelling creatures as our fellow buddhas. In brief, growth stage observe helps us to see ourselves and the world by the lens of buddhanature.
The second stage of Vajrayana observe, the completion stage with marks, consists of the so-called “inside yogas” such because the famed six dharmas of Naropa. These inside yogas take unusual experiences and feelings as alternatives to entry buddhanature. Some types of meditation, just like the observe of tummo, or “inside warmth,” do that by working with the energetic currents and channels of the so-called “refined physique.” Others, just like the observe of dream yoga and deep sleep luminosity meditation, use the rhythms of life expertise as gateways to buddhanature. There are even practices that assist us to acknowledge the phases of the dying course of so we are able to achieve entry to the “mom luminosity” that dawns in the mean time of dying.
The third and ultimate method, the completion stage with out marks, is named “the trail of liberation.” This path consists of the character of thoughts practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, easy but profound types of meditation that assist us to acknowledge the true nature of our minds.
Like beggars with treasure buried beneath our very toes, the one factor we have to do is acknowledge what we already possess.
This usually begins after we obtain “mentioning” directions from a professional trainer. These directions assist us to expertise on the spot the thoughts’s empty, luminous nature, the nondual essence of pure consciousness. Then, as soon as we acknowledge this pure consciousness for ourselves, the observe is exceedingly easy: we return to that recognition time and again till pure consciousness is so acquainted to us that we by no means lose contact with it.
Keep in mind Who You Actually Are
Admittedly, it’s simple to get misplaced within the particulars relating to Vajrayana Buddhism. The Vajrayana is just not recognized for its Zen-like simplicity. The power of the Vajrayana lies in its richness. It’s a custom crammed with highly effective strategies and transformative insights. The wealthy array of practices mirrors the complexity of our minds, and there are greater than sufficient types of observe for every of us to discover a path that matches our personal strengths and predispositions.
And but, regardless of the good range of this custom, the numerous phases and types of observe within the Vajrayana share one primary function: all of them level us again to our true nature. As my father taught me so a few years in the past, there isn’t any basic distinction between us and the Buddha. Our minds are pure, good, and awake, simply as his was. Like beggars with treasure buried beneath our very toes, the one factor we have to do is acknowledge what we already possess. All the path of Vajrayana meditation is nothing greater than a path that leads us again to ourselves. For all of the complexity of the Vajrayana, it’s that straightforward.
The following a part of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s collection on tantra will delve deeper into the primary stage of meditation. It is going to be printed within the March challenge of Lion’s Roar.