THE UNCOMMON INSTRUCTIONS

[jonesboy]

THE UNCOMMON INSTRUCTIONS

The realization of egolessness of self and phenomena is peace,
which means it is a state of happiness beyond suffering. But the
cultivation of this conventionally involves the development and
affirmation of a logical certainty that emptiness or selflessness is
the nature of things. It involves logically proving this. But this is
a conceptual certainty, not direct experience. However, if it is
cultivated, it will eventually lead to awakening, or Buddhahood.
But because one is attempting to strengthen a conceptual
certainty, and because it is somewhat indirect, it was taught by
the Buddha that the path of the sutras takes three periods of
innumerable eons during which one must ceaselessly gather the
accumulations in order to attain Buddhahood.

Now the accumulation of virtue was taught by the Buddha,
but elsewhere the Buddha taught that the Vajrayana path can
lead to that same Buddhahood in one lifetime. Well, one might
ask if the Vajrayana path can lead to Buddhahood in one
lifetime, what is all this about gathering the accumulations for
three periods of innumerable eons? And if we need to gather the
accumulations for three periods of innumerable eons, what is this
business in Vajrayana about attaining Buddhahood in one
lifetime in one body?

In fact both are true. The reason that the path of the sutras
takes so long is that there are no direct or practical instructions in
the sutras for cultivating the direct experience of emptiness,
whereas in the Vajrayana there are these uncommon instructions
for gaining direct experience.

For example, the biography of Milarepa tells of an occasion
in which his disciples came and said to him, “Judging by the way
you were extraordinarily diligent in the beginning of your
practice of Buddha-dharma, and by your attainment—your
miraculous abilities, your super-cognition, and so on—it seems
evident that you are the emanation of a buddha or bodhisattva.
Would you please tell us which buddha or bodhisattva you are?
Telling us this will increase our devotion.”

In response Milarepa answered, “Your thinking that I am the
emanation of a buddha or bodhisattva is an indication of your
great devotion for me. But it also indicates a fundamental
misunderstanding of the dharma, because I am not the emanation
of a Buddha or bodhisattva. I began this path as an ordinary
being, in fact, I was an evildoer. Yet by meeting an authentic
teacher, Marpa, and receiving authentic instructions, those of
Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa, I was able to attain
this result. The fact that I attained this is not due to my having
been special from the beginning. It is due only to the special
qualities of the dharma that I practiced. So your asking this
question indicates that you do not yet understand the power of
dharma, because the instructions of Vajrayana can bring the state
of Vajradhara in one lifetime and one body.”

https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content...Meditation.pdf

[BigJohn]

VERY NICE!

[jonesboy]

LOOKING AT THOUGHTS

When you meditate on mind’s true nature or essence, you will
discover the nature of your own mind. But while this is going on,
thoughts will continue to arise: positive thoughts, negative
thoughts, and neutral thoughts. When these thoughts arise, you
will think that something has gone wrong with your meditation.
But rather than rejecting a thought and attempting to suppress it
in some way, simply look at the nature of the thought, looking
directly at the thought itself and try to see where the thought has
come from. Has this thought arisen within your body or outside
the body, and if so exactly where? Then look at the substance of
the thought: Does it have a color or a shape? Then look at its
content: Does the thought have a particular style of attachment,
or anger, or faith, or devotion? But does the thought have
substance? Does thought have a location or a substance so it
won’t be hidden from you? But when you look for the location
and substance of thought, you don’t find anything. Even when
you look to see how the thought arose, you can’t say that the
thought arose gradually or suddenly. You don’t find anything at
all.

Although we tend to regard thoughts as a problem for
meditation, they are not a problem in and of themselves, because
their nature is the same as the nature of mind. Their nature is that
same emptiness: that absence of location, or origination, or
substance. Therefore thoughts in themselves are not inherently
harmful.

While we are doing this, it often seems as though our mind
and thoughts are two entirely different things. But if we look at
them directly, we’ll see that they have exactly the same nature.
As long as we regard them as different and want our mind to be
at a state of stillness, free from thoughts, the thoughts will
actually obstruct the practice of meditation. But once we
recognize that thoughts and mind have the same nature, we see
that this is no longer the case.

While we often tend to feel that we need to get rid of
thoughts, as though thoughts are thieves, or our enemies, in fact
thoughts are not a problem. When we are meditating and a
thought arises, if we look at its nature, we see its nature, which is
the nature of our mind. And if a thought does not arise, and we
look directly at the nature of our mind, we see that same nature.
So the arising or non-arising of thought is not an issue in the
practice of Vipashyana meditation.

This is really the difference between Shamatha and
Vipashyana. With Vipashyana there is an intelligence or prajna
present, which is the recognition in direct experience of this
nature of mind. That recognition is itself Vipashyana. Therefore
the meditation on egolessness of self that was taught by the
Buddha really comes down to this.

When we determine with direct experience that the mind has
no substantial characteristics, we then lose our incorrect belief of
a self. All the benefits which result from meditation on
emptiness come from this. The emptiness on which we meditate
is not something far away or something requiring great theory or
logic. It is the insubstantiality of our own mind. When we look at
our mind, we discover using with direct experience that there is
no substantial entity to be apprehended, and that is the direct
experience of emptiness. So the benefits of the meditation upon
egolessness of a self, and meditation upon emptiness taught by
the Buddha really come from recognition of, and meditation on,
the nature of our mind.

[jonesboy]

THE GENERATION STAGE OF DEITY PRACTICE

In addition to meditation on the nature of the mind, we also
perform the other practice of Vajrayana, which is called the
generation stage. This is the visualization of the various deities,
such as Avalokiteshvara or Tara is called yidam practice.
Sometimes we visualize these deities in front of ourselves as
objects to supplicate with faith and devotion and sometimes we
visualize ourselves as being the deity.

In the beginning meditation on a deity may seem somewhat
strange. Generating a clear visualization of the form and color,
costume and scepters of a deity seems to be not only difficult,
but may seem basically pointless. In fact it is not pointless at all.
It is very useful. And that is why Vajrayana consists of what are
called the two stages: the generation stage, which is meditation
upon deities, and the completion stage, which is meditation upon
the nature of mind.

In general the practice of Shamatha consists simply of trying
to keep your mind undistracted, and this is very difficult. But as
you cultivate the practice of the generation stage, your mind is
kept undistracted by having to visualize the color, the scepters,
the costume, and so on, of the deity. This brings your mind to
rest, which enhances your practice of Shamatha.

The function of the generation stage is to change our outlook
or perception. Normally we live in a world of our own impure
perception and we generate an impure outlook. In the practice of
the generation stage, we learn to perceive the world, our body,
and our mind as pure. Now if things were really inherently
impure, then trying to see the world as pure would have no
function. But because things are in their nature fundamentally
pure, visualizing the world as pure is productive. By seeing our
body as the yidam, by seeing our mind as the wisdom of the
yidam, by inviting the actual jnanasattva, or wisdom deity itself
to abide within us, we come to gradually experience the inherent
purity of phenomena. In fact, this is the best way to do so. So, in
the Vajrayana tradition we do the generation stage practices,
which involve visualizing ourselves as deities, and in some
practices visualizing them in front of us.

For this reason the meditation on the generation stage of the
yidams is very beneficial and important. Nevertheless beginners
tend to see the value of Shamatha and Vipashyana, but they
don’t see the value of the generation stage practice simply
because it seems to be some kind of pretense. This attitude on
the part of beginners is not particularly ignorant but it’s actually
an intelligent attitude, because the generation stage does look
like pretending to be something other than you are. Pretending to
be a deity appears to be futile, but in fact it is very useful and
appropriate because our fundamental nature is what we call
Buddha-nature. So we have within us this innate potential for
experiencing a pure world and pure appearances. The reason we
don’t normally perceive this world as pure is that we are
obscured by our disturbing emotions. Nevertheless, if this innate
potential is cultivated, pure appearances will definitely be an
object of our own direct experience. Therefore, these
visualizations of the palaces and forms of deities are very useful
and appropriate.

There are differences among individuals with regard to their
subtle channels and so forth, and therefore for some people these
visualizations become very clear very quickly, while for others,
they do not. Of course, if one has a clear visualization, that is
excellent; but if one doesn’t, it’s not something to worry about.
Any visualization is a simulation of visual experience that is
performed by the sixth consciousness, the mental consciousness.
As a simulation, it is basically an abstraction of visual
experience and it is not going to be as clear as physically seeing
an object. But as one’s mind, one’s sixth consciousness becomes
more and more used to the act of visualization, it will become
clearer. And so how much benefit one gets out of one’s
visualization is not based on how clear one’s visualization is.

[JustBe]

Where did you find all this ?
(I can’t see a reference)
Would you mind telling me your thoughts on all this?

It seems pertinent to what you’ve highlighted.

To look at your thoughts more directly, notice what moved you to source and post this. Notice where you are in all this that you’ve gravitated too and share.

(I’m only asking because the ‘one’ seeing all this can create deeper conversations that support all this as itself and others more directly)

(These are just my thoughts in this moment)

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by JustBe

Where did you find all this ?
(I can’t see a reference)
Would you mind telling me your thoughts on all this?

It seems pertinent to what you’ve highlighted.

To look at your thoughts more directly, notice what moved you to source and post this. Notice where you are in all this that you’ve gravitated too and share.

(I’m only asking because the ‘one’ seeing all this can create deeper conversations that support all this as itself and others more directly)

(These are just my thoughts in this moment)

Link was at the bottom of the first post.

https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content...Meditation.pdf

There are many traditions in Buddhism with many practices. I am just showing some of the means is all.

There has also been discussions on deity practices on the forum before and I liked how he addressed what others have expressed here.