As a novice, if you are a beginner when you do Mahamudra meditation it is necessary to sit properly on a cushion. It is important, if you are advanced Mahamudra practitioner then you don’t always have to sit. If you have great awareness and mindfulness accomplished mindfulness awareness of Mahamudra you could actually do Mahamudra meditation while you are walking or chopping vegetables, etc.
If we know how to practice Mahamudra properly, diligently and you have all the teachings on Mahamudra then the Mahamudra meditation isn’t a very complicated one, you don’t have to do lots of study. In other words you don’t have to do lots of reading sutras preparation you don’t have to have a great intellectual mind. The most important thing is to know the main points and focus your mind, dedicating yourself, concentrating on that and also its important to develop devotion, admiration to the Guru. Through the kindness of the Guru, blessing of the Guru, then you can actually accomplish and do this meditation.
The lessons of the guru are very powerful. As human beings we can receive the blessings of the Guru because we know in our minds, we know the kindness of the Guru and how powerful it is and so forth. Even animals can receive the blessing of Guru.
I have met the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and many Tibetans have had the fortune to receive blessings from him. He was known as a great teacher, meditator and enlightened being. According to his life story nobody talks about how much study he did and how many retreats he did and so forth. We don’t know. It doesn’t matter because he’s already an enlightened being anyways. He loves meditation and he meditates spontaneously and especially he loved birds, he was a bird lover or birder. He had many birds in behind his temple. Some of the birds were blessed so much by him (they were blessed out) some of the birds meditate spontaneously when they see him they just sit there.
We are going to meditate now. I would like to ask sit properly, crossing your legs, and if you can practice the half lotus posture whatever. Or you can sit comfortably and keep your back straight.
You sit straight and close your mouth and focus your meditation or intention inside of nostrils, then you watch the breathe. You breathe in and out 1, breathe in - out 2, etc. count your breathe up to 21. After you have finished counting to 21 then you stop counting and just focus your mind on the breathe.
Generally there are four times during the day or night when one must not meditate. For example when the sun is just rising, coming up from the horizon, the midday, when the sun is about to set, and the middle of the night is not a good time to meditate. What we are saying is that the exact time of sunrise, midday, before sunset and midnight otherwise any time is good to meditate.
Generally while we are meditating on Mahamudra or Samatha Vipassana we need to meditate with a single pointedness mind and that meditation on single pointedness mind is called Space like meditation, you are dwelling in the meditative state with a single mind, not dwelling in the past and not in the future. Right here. After the meditation and the formal meditation is ended and we are in post period meditation. Once you have finished the formal meditation you still have to keep your mind in a kind of state of meditation what we call illusion like meditation. So you don’t just sort of go into worldly thought right away and still try to keep that energy of meditation and what happened during the meditation when you cultivated calm abiding mind. Try to keep that energy in your mind while you are walking around or drinking tea or doing whatever you are doing. Not to sort of cut off.
After the formal meditation we do what we call post period meditation or illusion like meditation. You practice mindfulness of mind. Watch the nature of your mind as much as you can. Observe your mind the activity of your mind. You should become the witness of your own thoughts arising and coming and going.
The Tibetan word for this is Rangsem Soma. Rangsem means my mind, soma new mind beginning mind. When ever the new thought or the new mind arises you observe this and keep observing this. Not to judge not to sort of eradicate and grasping at the same time. Observing the new mind whenever they arise. So keep doing this and eventually when you accomplish the realisation and every thought then occurs in the mind can actually become part of Dharmakaya. Dharmakaya mind. It soon becomes a Buddha mind. Gradually you see that there is no difference between our mind and Buddha mind in the ultimate sense.
When we do Mahamudra meditation we need to work with a teacher, guru, lama or meditation instructor. The meditation instructor or lama has to explain it with a pure heart. With loving kindness and compassion. At the same time the disciple or the student has to give up all the doubts, give up all the hesitation or cynical skepticism all those things. You have to just do it. With single pointed mind, you have to jump in.
At this time I will read the foundation path and give you the Lung or transmission this is part of the tradition. So I cannot just skip this. Although it would be easy to just skip it. It is important so that it gives you, although I don’t have time to go through this foundation teaching many already have the foundation teaching. You have done it. So those of you who haven’t received this at least today you will have received the Lung or transmission. So this is very important, then later you study the translations of Mahamudra and foundation of the Mahamudra. I would like you to meditate and study on this. At this time I will give the Lung and read while I am reading I would like to ask you to sit and meditate so that you don’t have to think about the words or wonder what they are. Hear the sound and sit and meditate on the breathe or you can observe the mind whatever thought comes and goes.
There are two main obstacles for meditation: Wandering mind and dullness mind.
Dullness mind means your mind feels like a sinking in the water, feels dull and sleepy and you no longer can concentrate on object of meditation or being the meditator. Your mind is kind of falling into a kind of sleep. First occurs the subtle dullness then coarse dullness occurs. This is the obstacle. You have keep your mind clear as much as possible. The other obstacle or hindrance is wandering mind. Your mind is going into different places judging different things concerned with worldly things daily activities business and so forth mind is going away and distracted somewhere. That’s called wandering mind. When you notice that mind is gone make a note and return immediately to the object of meditation or to the meditation.
As I mentioned before the foundation practice is very important especially the Guruyoga is very important. Also if you are a Tantric practitioner or yogi or Yogini then you have a Yidam or deity. Then you have to think that the Yidam and the guru are one. Same essence same entity no difference between these two. Let’s say if you have a guru like Karmapa and your Yidam is Chakrasamvara / Heruka then these two are the one thing there is no difference and so you have to cultivate that mind while you are doing Guruyoga.
As a Tibetan person or Tibetan Dharma student we say Karmapa Chenno. This is not a Sanskrit word this is not a Sanskrit mantra this is a Tibetan word. While you are practicing Guruyoga you say that and think about the blessing of Karmapa and you make requests to him and to the lineage in order to achieve the realisation of Mahamudra successfully.
According to the Sutra there are four foundation practices. The first foundation practice according to the Sutra is to meditate on
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Beginning Tape #2
According to the Sutra there are two types of meditation: Analytical meditation and one pointedness mind meditation. Analytical is also necessary in order to do one pointed meditation successfully because in order to have the confidence and discipline to meditate on certain objects with single pointed mind first you have to know what you are meditating on what kind of meditation you are doing. Therefore first you have to do analytical meditation. For example when we meditate on precious human rebirth the subject we have to study the Sutra or Lam Rim the gradual path to enlightenment and explanations on the precious human rebirth
We have to know what that means. Freedoms and 10 enjoyments and so forth why do we call our lives as precious. We meditate on that and it leads us to feel that life is so precious, so meaningful. We can make our lives very meaningful. We can do so much to benefit sentient beings so it makes you feel that every single moment of your life is so precious you don’t want to waste. It gives you lots of hope and encouragement so this kind of thinking cultivating this mind is called analytical meditation. According to the Tibetan tradition we have foundation teachings called Lam Rim or the Gradual Path to Enlightenment according to the Gelugpa teaching this is called Lam Rim. In the Kargyu tradition there is a great text written by Gampopa ‘The Jewel Ornament of Liberation’. This text is the foundation practice for Mahamudra and Tantra as well.
Some of you I am sure have read the life story of Gampopa, before he met Milarepa he followed the Kadampa tradition. He practiced Lam Rim according to the Kadampa tradition. And then when he met Milarepa he received Vajrayana teachings and initiations on Mahamudra according to the Varjrayana tradition. Mahamudra according to the Vajrayana and Kadampa tradition of the sutra all merged together to become the Mahamudra system according to Gampopa, its called merging the Kadam tradition and Mahamudra tradition together.
Gampopa real name is Lhargy. Lhargy means doctor or physician he was a doctor as well, medicine man.
As a dharma practitioner it is very important for us to develop realisation of renunciation. We have to develop true renunciation, cultivate the mind of true renunciation which means non clinging non attachment. This is very important. Once we have cultivated that then the other realisations will happen. For example, cultivating renunciation and non-attachment is like you are creating good farm land or soil. First you have to have good soil and then you can cultivate and plant vegetables or whatever. So renunciation is very important. For example, Gampopa when he was young he was a layman, married and a doctor physician then unfortunately his wife died. When she was dying she was clinging to Gampopa and since Gampopa was a very handsome man she was wondering who was going to be his next wife. So she didn’t have much peace of mind. Gampopa knew by his clairvoyance and said to her don’t worry I am not going to marry again. You are the only one my wife and when you go I will become a monk. So he became a monk and stayed as one for the rest of his life. He renounced attachment to worldly life.
So the passing away of his wife was very hard for Gampopa because they both loved each other so much and then she died so also received realisation of renunciation due to this condition. He dedicated his entire life to propagating the tradition of Milarepa and Marpa’s teachings. He became the greatest disciple of Milarepa. We say in Tibetan that he was like the sun. When a teacher has a great disciple we say they are like the sun or the moon, they are so bright, so powerful. So he was like the sun.
If you are a serious meditator or Dharma practitioner and seeking enlightenment and Buddhahood then it is important to practice Dharma and dedicate your practice long term benefit. Not to seek short term benefits or realisation, because if you are seeking short term realisations then it becomes an obstacle. What happens if there are no short term realisations then you will be disappointed because the realisations just don’t come quickly, it doesn’t happen, there are no instant realisations. It happens gradually so we have to commit ourselves into Dharma for the sake of long term realisations and enlightenment for all beings. For example, when you think about life stories of Milarepa and you see he spent his entire life in meditation and teaching. Likewise there are many other great meditators according to other tradition like Gelugpa, Sakya, Nyingma and so forth. All these successful great meditators spent all their lives meditating and preserving the Dharma and teaching.
We are seeking happiness, there are different ways of cultivating happiness, physical comfort, pleasures. These do not give us real happiness. Real happiness has to happen within our mind and mental continuum. That’s why we practice Dharma and why it is so precious, because Dharma practice gives us mental happiness, great happiness. It will last for not only this life but life after life, many lives and many generations. It will sustain us and give us happiness. So therefore we practice Dharma not only for the benefit of this life but the next life and life after life continuously. You can continue to enjoy the Dharma and the benefit of Dharma practice.
So we cultivate this rich mind, we talk about rich people, wealthy, people cultivating wealth, people try to become successful. There are many people very successful and very wealthy and rich. If one doesn’t have real mental richness or peace and mental happiness material wealth doesn’t give us true happiness and contentment.
Before we have a lunch break we have time for questions now.
Question: (Inaudible)
Answer:
Since you aren’t a monk or a nun so perhaps you have family, a partner and children, adopted children you can cultivate the realisation. When you are cultivating realisation doesn’t mean you are evaluating and leave. This is not necessarily renunciation. Renunciation is cultivating the mind of non-clinging, non-attachment or non possessiveness. Not thinking this beautiful person is my possession. Belongs to me and you give up that kind of clinging you treat the other person as equal. At the same time renunciation means you meditate on general life situations, lives of ours and many others like all beings in the six realms the sufferings of human beings and animals. There is so much suffering in the world and you think about those sufferings. Not only thinking about yourself and your own sufferings. My own suffering is very small compared to how many sentient beings are suffering. We think about those things then try to do something furthermore to yourself. This is what we call renunciation.
Question:
What is the reason that you should not meditate on those particular 4 times ?
Answer:
This is a very subtle thing and many people never notice the difference. Mind is already kind of wandering off sleepy, you can’t even meditate properly. For many people it doesn’t matter so much. Many people don’t even recognize this. This is a subtle thing when you are doing an intense retreat like deity yoga or trying to develop samadhi. At that particular exact time its called time of degenerating your samadhi. So its a very subtle thing due to the energy of the earth and the sun and energy so its very powerful at midday, sunrise, sunset and midnight. The energy level is very subtle effect on your mind.
Question: (Inaudible)
Answer:
Mahamudra meditation itself is meditation on Sunyata and because you are meditating on Emptiness of the mind, you are observing your mind and watching the thought process and being in the present moment so you gradually see the mind itself has no beginning no end and has no inherent existence. Mind itself is void and empty of inherent existence you see it gradually being there observing the mind. Like you question how do we know. The most important thing is you have to study the technique and you have to make sure you have go the right idea and ask the teacher and so on.
Question: (Inaudible)
Answer:
When you go into the retreat whatever retreat you are going to do your motivation is to benefit all sentient beings as a Mahayana or Tantric practitioner you have to have the motivation to say ‘I am going to do this practice for the benefit of all sentient beings’. This is very important. So then you go into retreat and whatever practice you are doing, mantra recitation or samatha or vipassana whatever practice you are doing it does benefit all sentient beings in the long run or indirectly. When you are going into retreat you are not saying ‘ I am going into retreat therefore I am going to solve everybody ‘s problems during this retreat. I can and I am going to’. You cannot solve everybody’s problems you can’t even solve your own problems. You are not going into it this kind of way. You know you can’t solve can’t solve everybody problems. Nobody can do that. In order to solve other people’s problems we have solve our own problems fix ourselves to accomplish these realizations. At the same time you can help many because part of the practice and part of the meditation you are working for others at the same time doing the mantras visualizations. It does benefit in this way.