10-01-2008, 12:00 AM
Hi Wolf
Sorry for being absent, works been pretty demanding. Yes, I can get quiet for long periods.
The main key to watching the mind is relaxation.
Realize ... that This (your immediate
experience) is impermanent, (in a process of change), allow it to Transform!
The mind is never really quiet ever, it's just that one is not adding to or engaged in the chatter. It's a bit like coasting downhill with the clutch
out.
The quieter one gets, the easier this is to sustain. The more one practices, the greater familiarity with the terrain make it easier to return to quietness.
The untrained mind is like a long unused attic, full of dust and spiders. Our purpose, our intent must be to illuminate every corner of this room.
In the early stages it can be rather scary, or Protean struggle. In the myth of Proteus, Menelaus, has to grapple with Proteus, a creature that change into
any shape.
But in the case of the mind, we don't grapple with it. We just watch it, we don't engage it. But we don't let it go either.
But recently I've been studying Tibetan Mahamudra teachings. In Mahamudra you simply look at the mind as it is and watch it, allowing it to settle and
rest in this state.
While in a state of total absorption as before, and like a tiny fish flashing about in a lucid pond and
not disturbing it, intelligently inspect the self-nature of the person who is meditating.
from A ROOT TEXT FOR THE PRECIOUS GELUG/KAGYÜ TRADITION OF
MAHAMUDRA
The above quote is precisely, what's missing from most texts. As such it's the ultimate secret teaching, the missing piece of
information. Voila! But do we "get it". Generally not.
In some cases a teacher may need to point out the mind to the student. These are called "Pointing out instructions". But in my school our teacher
does not give them formally. But reading the information from a book can work too, if your mind is ripe. If one has an experience that is beyond conceptual.
Twice a month I meet with a group and we are studying this stuff. Then I went to a retreat this summer and received another teaching that is largely unknown
in the West, called Amulet Mahamudra. So-called because the teaching was smuggled across the Himalayas from India into Tibet in an amulet Prayer Box.
Right now we are reading "Wild Awakening" by Ponlop Rinpoche. That's a very good book and quite enlightening.
But the fact is ... I get none of this from books. I receive my knowledge through direct experience. In other words when the mind is really quiet it's
like all the Dharma is just laid out there like an open book. Phoomph!
However, it is somewhat comforting to realize that my experience was not unique at all, but merely a result of hard work and focused effort and that with
proper direction could be repeated. (But it's a art and a controlled folly) At first it was a lot of non-verbal, information, that I couldn't
translate. It took awhile to process it. But I realized that it was not a personal thing, but a connection to universal principles.
So getting back... just allow the mind to rest as it is. Allow all.
Then, when negative emotions unfold or there is spontaneous recapitulation, then you have to breathe deeply and hang on for the ride!!! Then comes the real
work of transformation.
Sorry for being absent, works been pretty demanding. Yes, I can get quiet for long periods.
The main key to watching the mind is relaxation.
Realize ... that This (your immediate
experience) is impermanent, (in a process of change), allow it to Transform!
The mind is never really quiet ever, it's just that one is not adding to or engaged in the chatter. It's a bit like coasting downhill with the clutch
out.
The quieter one gets, the easier this is to sustain. The more one practices, the greater familiarity with the terrain make it easier to return to quietness.
The untrained mind is like a long unused attic, full of dust and spiders. Our purpose, our intent must be to illuminate every corner of this room.
In the early stages it can be rather scary, or Protean struggle. In the myth of Proteus, Menelaus, has to grapple with Proteus, a creature that change into
any shape.
But in the case of the mind, we don't grapple with it. We just watch it, we don't engage it. But we don't let it go either.
But recently I've been studying Tibetan Mahamudra teachings. In Mahamudra you simply look at the mind as it is and watch it, allowing it to settle and
rest in this state.
While in a state of total absorption as before, and like a tiny fish flashing about in a lucid pond and
not disturbing it, intelligently inspect the self-nature of the person who is meditating.
from A ROOT TEXT FOR THE PRECIOUS GELUG/KAGYÜ TRADITION OF
MAHAMUDRA
The above quote is precisely, what's missing from most texts. As such it's the ultimate secret teaching, the missing piece of
information. Voila! But do we "get it". Generally not.
In some cases a teacher may need to point out the mind to the student. These are called "Pointing out instructions". But in my school our teacher
does not give them formally. But reading the information from a book can work too, if your mind is ripe. If one has an experience that is beyond conceptual.
Twice a month I meet with a group and we are studying this stuff. Then I went to a retreat this summer and received another teaching that is largely unknown
in the West, called Amulet Mahamudra. So-called because the teaching was smuggled across the Himalayas from India into Tibet in an amulet Prayer Box.
Right now we are reading "Wild Awakening" by Ponlop Rinpoche. That's a very good book and quite enlightening.
But the fact is ... I get none of this from books. I receive my knowledge through direct experience. In other words when the mind is really quiet it's
like all the Dharma is just laid out there like an open book. Phoomph!
However, it is somewhat comforting to realize that my experience was not unique at all, but merely a result of hard work and focused effort and that with
proper direction could be repeated. (But it's a art and a controlled folly) At first it was a lot of non-verbal, information, that I couldn't
translate. It took awhile to process it. But I realized that it was not a personal thing, but a connection to universal principles.
So getting back... just allow the mind to rest as it is. Allow all.
Then, when negative emotions unfold or there is spontaneous recapitulation, then you have to breathe deeply and hang on for the ride!!! Then comes the real
work of transformation.