Trekcho Installment 7

[Guest guest]

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Continuing on from the story of Raksha Nose...... " and Raksha Nose went into

retreat again and became an excellent practitioner. "

 

 

THE THIRD WORD: GAIN CONFIDENCE IN LIBERATION (the Conduct)

 

In any situation in which strong attahcment arises for an object of the

senses that is perceived as desireable, such as a form you see with your

eyes, or a sound you hear with your ears, or a smell that you smell, or

something you taste, or a tactile sensation, or similarily when there is a

strong arising of aversion toward an experience or object of the senses that

is perceived as unpleasant or threatening, or when you become slightly

intoxicated with delight over some kind of prosperity or enjoyment, or over

getting what you want, or when you feel miserable because of unpleasant

conditions or being ill, and so forth, in all of these situations, what is

fundamentally occurring, from the point of view of this practice, is that

the display of awareness is arising. In other words, whatever arises is

nothing other than the display of this fundamental nature.

 

Because that is the case, it is extremely important to recognize the innate

wisdom in what arises, the wisdom that is the basis of liberation. It is

important that you let the arising not sway you from this recognition, but

rather intensify it in such a situation. Therefore, in the root text it

says, " IN THAT SITUATION (MEANING AT THE TIME OF PRACTICE) WHEN ATTACHMENT

OR AVERSION, DELIGHT OR MISERY ARISE.... "

 

This need for recognition is not limited only to the arising of strong

afflictions such as strong attachment or aversion. As long as you do not

possess this essential point of simultaneous arising and liberation in your

meditation, as long as you do not recognize that whatever arises in the mind

is the expression of awareness, all the undercurrents of thought that arises

in your mind, all of the thouights that are flowing unnoticed beneath your

meditative stability, will accumulate samsaric karmas.

 

If you are resting in a state of meditation, and you do not experience

thoughts, but there is still an undercurrent of thought that is flowing

through but does not particularily bother you, you are still accumulating

karma, that thought, those thoughts, are not being revealed and recognized.

All thoughts, whether coarse or very subtle, a mere undercurrent, have to be

recognized and liberated as they arise, through this essential point of

experiencing them as the expression of awareness, even if they do not

plainly distract you from that recognition of awareness. Therefore, the

root text says at this point, " ALL SUDDEN THOUGHTS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, MUST

BE RECOGNIZED.... "

 

The key point of recognition is that there is a liberation simultaneous with

the arising of the thought, which means it leaves no trace. This is

explained in the commentary as follows, " Whatever thought arises, and

especially the undercurrent of thought that is constantly going on, that

does not manifest into full consciousness, that does not become loud enough

to really disturb us, has to be recognized and liberated. "

 

This undercurrent of thought is like water that is flowing through high

grass growing in a field. The water may be flowing around the bottom of the

grass but you will not see it: if you go by the field, it will look like a

dry field of grass but actually it is full of water. Something similar is

happening in your mind all the time, and as long as that is not exposed and

liberated, the undercurrent still constitutes a vague kind of confusion that

adulterates the meditation.

 

So that has to be recognized, and recognition means that there has to be a

liberation of the thought as it arises. As long as you are not distracted

from this recognition, whatever arises in the mind is directly seen, even at

the moment of its arising, as nothing other than the display of innate

awareness. Therefore, even as it arises, thought is liberated. Liberation

upon arising means that thought leaves no trace. It does not produce karma,

it does not lead to any further thought, it does not leave a trace in the

mind.

 

For this liberation to occur, there has to be present what is called a

" natural mindfulness. " If you have recognized the innate wisdom and are

resting in that recognition, then there is a natural mindfulness present in

the mind that will reveal and recognize the nature of whatever arises in the

mind, including the undercurrent. This is not a heavy handed, intentional

mindfulness, as though you were holding some kind of hook that you use to

try to pull thoughts up from the undercurrent into the field of easy

recognition. It is a mindfulness that is naturally present, based on your

being settled in the recognition of the nature of innate awareness.

 

It is necessary to recognize whatever thought arises and not just to

recognize its arising but also to recognize its nature. What will happen

then is that thoughts will be liberated upon arising; they will not leave

any trace. The analogy for this in the text is " LIKE A DESIGN DRAWN ON

WATER. " Even as the design is being drawn, it already vanishes; it does not

persist, it does not in any way change the water, or leave a trace in it.

That is what needs to happen with all thoughts, including the undercurrent.

Therefore, the root text says at this point, " WITHIN RECOGNITION NO TRACE IS

LEFT. "

 

With regard to that recognition of thought, to repeat, it means more than

simply recognizing the arising of a thought (or smell, or tastes, or sound,

or sight, or feeling, or sensation) it means the self-liberation of the

thought. Merely to recognize the presence or arising of a thought (or

sound, or sight or....etc) does not sever the production of karma by that

thought; however, the self-liberation of that thought does. Self-liberation

means that at the very moment at which the thought is recognized, one sees

the face of one's own awareness. Just as the arising of the thought did not

distract you from the recognition of the innate nature, the recognition of

the thought must also not distract you from the recognition of the nature.

 

Because there is a direct, totally unfiltered recognition of awareness in

the midst of the recognition of the thought, you continue to recognize the

innate wisdom that you have been recognizing all along. You remain in that

state, resting in the state of recognition, and therefore, thought vanishes

without a trace. In this case, recognition means that neither the thought

nor the awareness of the thought distracts you from the recognition of

awareness itself. And that, the text says, is a very important point about

the liberation of thought.

 

To drive home this essential point, neither the thought nor the recognition

of the thought, and the recognition of its nature, distracts you from

recognition of the innate awareness, and as a consequence, thought vanishes

without a trace. The mere recognition of it will not do that. Because of

that, the etxt says at this point, " RECOGNIZE THE DHARMAKAYA, WHICH IS THE

SOURCE OF LIBERATION. "

 

Again, recognition of thought here means recognizing the nature, not just

recognizing the presence of thought. This causes the thought to vanish like

a design drawn on water; as the thought is arising, it already vanishes. It

is experienced as having no duration and no aftereffect. Just as for a

design drawn on water there is the simultaneous appearance and dissolution

of the design, so with thought there is a simultaneous occurrence of arising

and liberation.

 

Self-liberation means that just as thought arises of itself, it liberates by

itself. You do not intentionally generate a thought, and you do not

intentionally get rid of it, it is self-arisen and self-liberated. Because

you are not distracted from the recognition of the innnate awareness, the

thought is self-liberated as it arises. As long as you rest in the innate

awareness, this self-arising and self-liberating quality of thought is

unbroken and continuous. Because of the fact that the arising and

self-liberation are simultaneous, the text says at this point, " FOR EXAMPLE,

IT IS LIKE A DESIGN DRAWN ON WATER. "

 

From this it also follows that you in no way attempt to prevent thoughts

from arising. Whatever for the thought takes, whether it is normally what

you would consider a good thought or an unpleasant thought, makes no

difference. Because you never waver from the recognition of the innate

nature, which includes the nature of thought, whatever thought arises is

liberated by being recognized as an expression of this nature. This must be

held as a very important part of meditation practice. So therefore, the

text at this point says, " THERE IS AN UNCEASING CONTINUITY OF SELF-ARISING

AND SELF-LIBERATION OF THOUGHT. "

 

......to be continued.