[dzogchen] Meditation (fwd)

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Pith Instructions on the Great Perfection

 

Dilgo Kyhentse Rinpoche

 

The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and

openness to all situations and emotions, and to all people, experiencing

everything totally without mental reservations and blockages, so that

one never withdraws or centralizes into oneself.

 

This produces a tremendous energy which usually is locked up in the

process of mental evasion and a general running away from life

experiences.

 

Clarity of awareness may, in its initial stages, be unpleasant or

fear-inspiring; if so, then one should open oneself completely to the

pain or the fear and welcome it. In this way the barriers created by

one's own habitual emotional reactions and prejudices are broken down.

 

When performing the meditation practice one should develop the feeling

of opening oneself completely to the whole universe with absolute

simplicity and nakedness of mind, ridding oneself of all protecting

barriers.

 

Don't mentally split into two when meditating, one part of the mind

watching the other like a cat watching a mouse.

 

One should realize that one does not meditate to go deeply within

oneself and withdraw into the world. In buddhist yoga, even when

meditating on chakras there is no introspection concentration:

complete openness of mind is the essential point.

 

The ground of samsara and nirvana is the alaya, the beginning and the

end of confusion and realization, the nature of universal shunyata and

of all apparent phenomena. It is even more fundamental than the trikaya

and is free from bias toward enlightenment. It is sometimes called the

"pure" or "original" mind.

 

Although prajna (wisdom) see in it no basis for such concepts as

different aspects, the fundamental aspects of complete openness, natural

perfection, and absolute spontaneity are distinguished by

upaya (skillful means) as useful devices.

 

All aspects of every phenomenon are completely clear and lucid. The

whole universe is open and unobstructed, everything mutually

interpenetrating. Seeing all things nakedly, clear and free from

obscurations, there is nothing to attain or realize. The nature of

things naturally appears and is naturally present in time-transcending

awareness; this is complete openness.

 

Everything is perfect just as it is, completely pure and undefiled. All

phenomena naturally appear in their uniquely correct modes and

situations, forming ever-changing patterns full of meaning and

significance, like participants in a great dance. Everything is a

symbol, yet there is no difference between the symbol and the truth

symbolized. With no effort of practice whatsoever, liberation,

enlightenment, and buddhahood are already fully developed and perfected.

This is natural perfection.

 

The everyday practice is just ordinary is life itself. Since the

underdeveloped state does not exist there is no need to behave in any

special way or try to attain or practice anything.

 

There should be no need of striving to reach some exalted goal or higher

state; this simply produces

something conditional or artificial that will act as an obstruction to

the free flow of the mind. One

should never think of oneself as "sinful" or worthless, but as naturally

pure and perfect, lacking

nothing.

 

When performing meditation practice one should think of it as just a

natural function of everyday living, like eating or breathing, not as a

special, formal event to be undertaken with great seriousness

and solemnity. One must realize that to meditate is to pass beyond

effort, beyond practice, beyond aims and goals, and beyond the dualism

of bondage and liberation.

 

Meditation is always perfect, so there is no need to correct anything.

Since Everything that arises is simply the play of the mind, there are

no "bad" meditation session and no need to judge thoughts as good or

evil. Therefore one should not sit down to meditate with various hopes

or fears about the outcome: one just does it with no self-conscious

feeling of "I am meditating" and without attempting to control or force

the mind, and without trying to become peaceful.

 

If one finds that one is going astray in any of these ways, one should

stop meditating and simply rest and relax for awhile before resuming.

 

If, either during or after meditation,one has experiences that one

interprets as results, they should not be made into anything special;

recognize that they are just phenomena and simply observe them. Above

all, do not attempt to recreate them as this opposes the natural

spontaneity of the mind.

 

All phenomena are completely new and fresh and absolutely unique,

entirely free from all concepts of past, present, and future- as if

experienced in another dimension of time; this is absolute

spontaneity.

 

The continual stream of new discovery and fresh revelation and

inspiration that arises at every moment is the manifestation of the

eternal youth of the living dharma and its wonders; splendor and

spontaneity is the play or dance aspect of the universe as guru.

 

One should learn to see everyday life as a mandala in which one is at

the center, and be free of the bias and prejudice of past conditioning,

present desires, and hopes and expectations about the future.

 

The figures of the mandala are the day-to-day objects of one's life

experiences moving in the great dance of the play of the universe, the

symbolism by which the guru reveals profound and ultimate meaning and

significance. Therefore, be natural and spontaneous; accept and learn

from everything.

 

See the comical, amusing side of initiating situations. In meditation,

see through the illusion of past, present, and future. The past is but a

present memory or condition, the future but a present projection, and

the present itself vanishes before it can be grasped.

 

One should put an end to conceptions about meditation and free oneself

from memories of the past. Each moment of meditation is completely

unique and full of potentiality of new discovery so one is incapable of

judging meditation by past experience or by theory.

 

Simply plunge straight into meditation at this very moment with your

whole mind, and be free from hesitation, boredom, or excitement.

 

When meditating it is traditional and best, if possible, to sit

cross-legged with the back erect but not rigid. However, it is most

important to feel comfortable, so it is better to sit in a chair if

sitting cross-legged is painful.

 

One's mental attitude should be inspired by the three fundamental

aspects, whether the meditation is with or without form, and it may

often prove desirable, if not essential, to precede a period of formless

meditation by a period of meditation with form.

 

To provide for this eventuality many classes of preliminary meditation

practices have been developed over centuries of buddhist practice, the

most important being meditations on breathing, mantra recitation, and

visualization techniques.

 

To engage in the second and third of these classes, personal instruction

from one's guru is required, but a few words on the first would not be

out of place here as the method used varies little from person to

person.

 

First, let the mind follow the movement of the breath, in and out, until

it becomes calm and tranquil. Then increasingly rest the mind on the

breath until one's whole being seems identified with it.

 

Finally become aware of the breath leaving the body and going out into

space, and gradually transfer the attention from the breath to the

sensation of spaciousness and expansion.

 

By letting this final sensation merge into complete openness, one moves

into the sphere of formless meditation.

 

In all probability the above description of the three fundamental

aspects will seem vague and inadequate. This is inevitable since they

attempt to describe what is not only beyond words but beyond thought as

well. They invite practice of what it is, essentially, a state of being.

 

The words are simply a form a upaya, skillful means, a hint which if

acted upon, will enable one's innate wisdom and naturally perfect action

to arise spontaneously.

 

Sometimes in meditation one may experience a gap in one's normal

consciousness, a sudden and complete openness. This experience arises

only when one has ceased to think in terms of meditation and the object

of meditation. It is a glimpse of reality, a sudden flash that occurs

infrequently at first, and then, with continued practice, more and more

frequently. It may not be a particularly shattering or explosive

experience at all, just a moment of great simplicity.

 

Do not make the mistake of deliberately trying to force these

experiences to recur, for to do so is to betray the naturalness and

spontaneity of reality.

 

 

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