Day Five: morning

Prayers to Buddha Shakyamuni and to Manjusri.

Recommended practices

I always do the Buddha Shakyamuni prayer and mantra. By listening to me, you have already received the 'lung' (oral transmission) from me. You should always recite it. It is full of blessings. Whatever practice you do, always start by reciting:

TEYATA OM MUNE MUNE MAHA MUNE SHAKYAMUNAYE SOHA.

Then your practice will be very successful. You will not be disturbed by any obstacles such as bad karma, or by any evil beings that harm practitioners. These things can happen, but this mantra guards against them.

I also composed a Sadhana of Shakyamuni Buddha in English about 20 years ago. I have given a copy to the Bodhi Path centre here to make copies for everyone. It is now one of the regular Sadhana practices of Bodhi Path. Every week, it is good to do pujas like Amitabha and Shakyamuni Buddha. I think in the Bodhi Path Centers in America, three different pujas are practiced: Shakyamuni, Buddha Amitabha and Green Tara. In Europe, people do a lot of Green Tara puja, don't they? Anyway, you can do these three pujas.

Chenrezig is a very, very good daily practice for an individual. As well, the Chenrezig puja can be practiced together in a group. It is one of the main practices of Bodhi Path. Prostrations to the 35 Buddhas, Mandala offerings to the 35 Buddhas, then the Dorje Sempa practice and especially the Chenrezig practice are the main practices. You will do Chenrezig practice individually, and a lot of meditation will be required.

If you are already doing the Chenrezig practice together as a group, please continue to do so, together as well as individually. You can do any Dharma practice together, or individually. There is no need to construct rules as to when, or what to do together, or what not to do together. Dharma is Dharma. Dharma depends on how much you do. How much result you get comes directly from how much you do. And whatever practice you do together as a group, you can also do individually. The only recommendation is to do the same practice when you are together, rather than each person doing his own, as in some are doing Green Tara, while others are doing Amitabha. This is not convenient. But when you are alone, then it is your choice.

I will now give some more advice as to how to maintain the Shi'nay practice that I have taught you.

It helps to count

Initially, when you concentrate on your breath, you are counting by clock, by mala, or by a small counter. But it is best to count by mind. In the beginning, your mind cannot concentrate on a very subtle level, so you need rather obvious points to focus on.

For Shi'nay, there is no fixed number of counts that you must do, unlike the practice of Vajrasattva, where you are to recite the mantra 100,000 times. Here, you are simply counting your breaths by mind. When the focus-object is more apparent as opposed to subtle, you can concentrate better. Trying to focus without counting is considered a very subtle way. Beginners cannot concentrate like that, so their minds will go off elsewhere.

Gentler longer breaths

It is good to breathe gently with longer breaths. Gently, breathe all the way down. Visualize your breath going all the way down, and all the way out, almost touching the ground. But don't think of it as real, or it will give you trouble. For instance, if you think it real…real…real, then later, it will develop into a sensation, and that is not good. It is only a vision. You can visualize as it suits you. The visualized breath should not be straight because it is not convenient to do so. Visualize it slightly curved. The breath can also be visualized as light.

When you are used to the breathing and counting, then the next advice is for you to visualize a longer breath. It can go all the way down to the tip of the toe. By lengthening it, you will be able to concentrate more continuously. So, concentrate on a gentler and longer breath.

Some people can count up to 1,000 breaths. They are very good at it. They actually like it, and so they can do it for many thousand times. Why do they like it? It is because the mind is entirely peaceful. It is a very, very profound contemplation where there are no other thoughts. Your mind is now able to think only of one thing, but it is neither a narrow mind, nor a tense mind. A peaceful mind is very spacious and comfortable. However, it is quite a long ways yet to enlightenment. For that, you will have to purify karma. The achievement of Shi'nay, however, is possible within the ordinary level of mind.

By Shi'nay, you tame your mind. When mind is tamed, there is no reason not to be peaceful. It is very peaceful because it is mind. You will experience it. The genuine peace of mind is the most comfortable. You may sometimes find a place peaceful. "Oh, nice place, it's very peaceful here." It might be because the place is away from the noisy traffic. But still inside, you are neither peaceful nor comfortable. In a house totally quiet, and by yourself, you would still feel confused, because you have an inner voice. Your mind is busy, so there is no peace.

The waterfall experience

Counting the breaths is a very skilful way to train the mind. By going through the steps of this meditation practice, you will not face the 'waterfall experience'. The waterfall experience is like a tragedy in the mind. Mahamudra meditators, or those who don't train through the gentler levels in order to be quicker, will run into the waterfall experience. In it, they will feel as if they were going mad. The very committed meditators can meet this challenge as part of a very quick shortcut to tame the mind. And yes, it is possible to get through it.

When you have reached a certain level of taming the mind, which is in-itself an achievement, you will encounter a totally confused state for some time. Your mind will feel very difficult to control like a very disobedient horse jumping wildly. Regardless of that feeling of going crazy, you still have to go through with it. The strong-minded people do manage to get over it, but there are also those who can't make it and give up meditation. I know a few meditators who had this trouble and gave up. But if you could work with it, then one, two, or three weeks later, it'd be over. A very comfortable level, called 'river-flowing-experience', will then come after it.

One meditator, during the waterfall experience, even recalled how he was crawling as a baby in his childhood home. He would not otherwise have this kind of recall outside of meditation. But it all came to him during meditation, when the difficulties started to happen. He remembered everything, and he couldn't stop it. He kept on thinking, not imagining, but remembering. His memory took him further and further back. Why is that? It is because as the mind itself is being tamed, the experience is different.

Right now, your mind is totally scattered so you don't feel it. When everything shows up in the mind as in the waterfall experience, then it is not comfortable. If you follow the longer path as the Buddha taught, which starts with the breathing, then you will not have to face this very difficult challenge. You will instead gently tame your mind. The Maha Ati and Mahamudra practitioners start by focusing on the nature of mind. They start just like that. Then they will face these problems. If they succeed, then it is a much quicker route. But it is also rare that one succeeds.

Counting the breaths

All the meditation books advise to start with the counting-breath meditation. One of my students in America was able to quickly count up to 1,000. This was a very difficult accomplishment. He must have practiced every day.

When you meditate, you should not expect some comfortable feeling, some wonderful visions; otherwise, by trying to experience those feelings, you are, in effect, contaminating your meditation.

Counting 1,000 times by focusing on the breath is not totally done by forcing oneself either. You cannot do it by force. It is a spontaneous development. So, when you can count 1,000 times, it means that you can do it comfortably.

You start from a count of 5, and then develop it to 10, 15, 20, and so on. You count up to 5 without any mistakes. You count to 5 with quality, then have a little rest, and start again counting to 5. If you do it with quality, then you will develop 'quality' as a habit of mind.

It follows then, to develop quality, you increase the count only when you can do it comfortably, and without mistakes. In this way, you will progress smoothly to 15, 20, 30, 40, to the 100's, to and then to 1,000. The mind will be very, very peaceful, and steady.

While you are practicing, you should not try to have some beautiful vision, for instance. You will not see any beam of light, or any special visions either. The instruction to visualize your breath as light is just to help you focus, a temporary support which you will not need later on.

Following the breath

When the counting becomes very, very spontaneous, you don't count anymore. You shift to following the breath. Mind follows the breath, which is a subtler kind of focus. You can still visualize the breath in some color, to be more comfortable with the focus. Later, when the following becomes very spontaneous, very natural, then you won't even visualize anymore.

When mind becomes very peaceful, you will not fall asleep. Falling asleep happens when mind gets tired. When mind is spontaneous and peaceful, why would you feel tired? Mind becomes very clear, and you won't feel sleepy, unless perhaps you have eaten very fatty foods, which would make your mind unclear, and sleepy. By concentrating well, you will never fall asleep.

Resting on the breath

From following the breath, you shift next to resting on the breath. You no longer visualize the breath in a color. Just concentrate because you have full awareness. Mind's awareness is fully, and clearly there, so you don't have to focus on some image. Mind still depends on the breath for support because it is not yet totally into contemplation. You need to rest on the breath for support. Only very subtly, you rest on it, not following it.

So, two thoughts have become one. Following out and in are two thoughts. However, if you are simply resting on the breath, then there are not two, but one single thought. This one thought being gentler, more spacious, and clear is not something that you hold on to. When you can rest comfortably on it, then you have profound contemplation, and your experience is very clear.

From the Buddhist view of the internal system, it is said that during profound contemplation, your whole system is totally stable and in contemplation. The germs in the body are therefore not moving. I don't know why they are not moving, whether it is because they are sleeping, and undisturbed, or whether they, too, are receiving some meditation. But the fact is, their immobility makes your mind totally clear, and your body feels very, very light. That lightness does not mean light as in flying in a balloon, but just a very light feeling.

Therefore, with the support of profound Shi'nay in the mind, you will easily develop Lhakthong when you come to do the meditation of Lhakthong, Mahamudra, or Maha Ati. Both Mahamudra, and Maha Ati are Lhakthong meditations. Your success will come easily because mind is not confused, mind is in total stability. And there are no obstacles.

Usually, the obstacles to meditation are from mind. Thoughts are the obstacles in meditation. In general, we think of obstacles as external things. We think of them as the many problems of our world such as wars. But in meditation, your thoughts are the obstacles. When you have achieved naturally, without force, a completely stable contemplation, then that mind can easily develop the Mahamudra mind, which can eliminate all the negativities and ignorance. Your contemplation will then become a very comfortable journey for you.

The disturbing concepts, and the obscuring states of mind will be eliminated by Lhakthong, which is absolutely developed by Shi'nay. You should understand and know this.

First, you have to develop Shi'nay. Attain Shi'nay. You will achieve it successfully so long as you do not cling to the worldly things. I think for Westerners, the grasping to material things is perhaps not so much of a problem. You already have everything: discotheque, good restaurants, and bars. You have tried everything, and now you are growing tired of these things, aren't you?

In the Himalayas, and in the poorer countries, the young people there must still find all these things. We cannot tell them you must do Shi'nay. It is not so easy to convince them, because they lack material things. For example, the young Tibetans in Tibet want to emigrate to the foreign countries. They think the West must be very beautiful. It is when they have achieved everything they want, that they will realize satisfaction cannot be found in worldly pursuits. Why? It is because satisfaction actually comes from mind. It does not mean that you should not have everything either, rather, the point is not to grasp so strongly for things. People who have everything actually have less of a problem with grasping. Strong grasping, and being too eager to have the many things will disturb you.

These are some points of advice to help you maintain your Shi'nay meditation.

In the afternoons here, you should all do Shi'nay. I will teach in the mornings. In the afternoons, with the help of Ani Paldrub, you will do Shi'nay here. And if you have any problems during your Shi'nay, then you can tell me during the morning sessions.

(Q): You talked about the disturbances of mind. What about the posture, is it very important to keep the body still?

(A): The body posture is very important. Those who meditate a lot while leaning more to the right, or left create different mental sensitivities unhealthy for the mind. If you meditate a lot in a crooked position, bad results will later develop rather than good ones. For example, your mind will become unbalanced, a bit abnormal. Your mind might become overly sensitive as in imagining that others are talking about you when they are not. "Oh, they are talking about me over there." The mind is quite delicate, so the sitting position is very important. To sit up straight is very important, as it affects the energies in our body. Sit properly in the seven-point posture (as explained in day one), which will naturally prevent all these problems.

(Q): I have some difficulties with my neck and shoulders in sitting properly. So I thought I could do a Yoga course, maybe it helps me, or is the 35 Buddha practice enough?

(A): It depends on the way you sit, whether you are sitting properly, or not. It is not necessarily from karma. Well, if somebody has the karma of having a crooked body, then it is different. I think you may have a neck problem because you are sitting incorrectly. You are too stiff. Keep your posture in balance, and relax, but not too relaxed. Lama Paldrub can tell you very well how to sit properly. The Theravada teachers in Thailand teach a different style of sitting, but I don't recommend that.

(Q): I only know the counting to 21 and then start again.

(A): Very good. If you can count to 21 again and again, then that is very good. But as I said, do it with quality. If you count to 21 while still thinking a lot, then it is a bad habit. So, count to 5 with quality. Then accumulate the practice in that way to quickly train your mind without forming any bad habits.

If one starts right away by counting to 21, with much thinking in-between, then one is actually accumulating the bad habit every time. Therefore, longer periods are not recommended in the beginning. Start with the short counts.

The meditation with focus on the breath is very, very effective. It is the quickest way. The Buddha, and his disciples (maybe including Shariputra), invented it in a scientific way. This method is really very good. Why? The breath is the circulation in the body, at the same time, the mind runs closely associated with it, too. When you make the breath gentler, then in effect, everything is being pacified. Mind is pacified, and at the same time, the body system is pacified. It is very effective. Proper posture is very important, because when the body is straight, then the energies in the body flow correctly, which in turn calms the mind.

(Q): Do we use counting at the same time as the visualization, or is it a different technique?

(A): At the same time. You visualize the breath and count the breath going out and in, as one.

The circulation of the energies will be balanced when you sit in the seven-point posture. This posture is scientifically arranged to naturally balance our system. The posture services the mind to be peaceful, and so you can concentrate comfortably without drowsiness, or agitation.

(Q): I have difficulties with keeping my eyes opened. I feel it easier to have the eyes closed.

(A): In the beginning, it is fine. For the creation-phase of a practice like the Chenrezig practice, having the eyes closed is all right. For Shi'nay, it may cause you to develop the little bad habits, which will persist. This is why I advise you to keep the eyes opened.

(Q): I'm doing the Mandala practice of the Ngöndro. Can I right after that switch to the 35 Buddhas and do the prostrations as you said, and then the Mandala?

(A): Sure, that is fine.

(Q): You talked about the different kinds of Bodhisattvas. I was wondering if it'd be some kind of egoistical wish to go to Dewachen first.

(A): I talked about three kinds of Bodhisattva: sailor-minded, shepherd-minded and king-minded Bodhisattva. To go to the pure land of Amitabha first, is perhaps a king-minded Bodhisattva where one achieves everything first, and then one is able to help others. To be a king-minded Bodhisattva is all right, but be a good king, not a bad one.

(Q): Isn't there a contradiction, the wish to go to a Buddha's pure land versus the sailor, or shepherd-minded Bodhisattva?

(A): The best is to have a big mind. That means a shepherd-minded Bodhisattva. He is one who wants to go more into the hardships so as to become a very powerful Bodhisattva. He stays longer in the realms of samsara to build up his positive reserve of merits. A big and strong reserve can support the very big wishes for beings.

If you are a Bodhisattva who wants to associate with the animals at the bottom of the ocean, you have to make a wish to be one of them. For instance, you can be a very fat fish with a very scary existence. You sit at the bottom of the ocean, and every day, you can be a good lunch for the many other fishes. Bodhisattvas who take such challenging rebirths want to accumulate greater merit power for their wishes. When they later achieve the first bhumi, their wishes for sentient beings, far more extensive than the sailor-minded and the king-minded Bodhisattvas, will all be happening.

(Q): If such a Bodhisattva makes wishes to be reborn in Dewachen, doesn't he disturb his own wish then?

(A): No, it is possible that he shifts from being a shepherd-minded Bodhisattva to another kind. He might want to reach his goal quickly, which might mean that he is a little tired. But whatever he has accomplished already, will not be wasted.

The physical, sexual desire that is between the male and female can be used for rebirth. The shepherd-minded Bodhisattvas don't aim to eliminate it. They use it to actualize a rebirth. As well, they are making wishes to take rebirth in samsara to help beings. Together, these two conditions of wish and sexual desire make it possible for them to be reborn.

(Q): I quickly get tired when I do Shi'nay. Why is that?

(A): I think the sitting-posture is not proper. You should learn the proper way to sit. Someone should correct your sitting posture. Lama Paldrub will be the one to show everyone.

(Q): I feel that when I do Shi'nay with counting, I count but actually my mind is like sleeping. Isn't it then better not to count and focus on the visualization?

(A): I think you better do both. Imagine and count. Don't be stiff. Make your mind comfortable. Counting will develop into a very good habit. Then later, you will not make mistakes. In the beginning, you might think it is easier not to have to count, but it won't be easier later on. This order of counting first, which leads later to not having to count, is actually how you will progress naturally according to your ability to concentrate.

Now we do a short meditation together.