Trekcho #5 Commentary - Continued

[Guest guest]

" Joyce Short " <insight

 

" How does one actually destroy (breakthrough) these experiences? When your

mind is at rest, obviously there is a tranquility that is a characteristic

of resting within the recognition of the nature. This tranquility then

gives rise to an experience of lucidity, and this experience of lucid

tranquility soon begins to flourish, because there is an experience of

recognition, there is some delight that becomes a part of the content of

meditation, even reaching an actual feeling of cheerfulness or comfort.

Whenever any of these things arise - and they will arise because they are

the natural outflow of the nature - they could obscure the recognition of

the nature. To blow them apart, you use this forceful, sharp exclamation of

" PHAT! "

 

In the commentary, an analysis is provided of what the sound " phat! "

consists of. It consists of two consonants that when linked together form

this particular sound. The first consonant is an aspirated " pha, " it is the

method aspect. It summons together, it gathers you altogether. The second

consonant is " tha, " it is the knowledge aspect, and it cuts. When you put

them together it is pronounced " pay. " You have to take that on faith; it is

a matter of Tibetan pronounciation.

 

So the first consonant summons together and the second one cuts through.

When, in the midst of an experience, you claim " PHAT " forcefully, like

sudden thunder, it scatters your fixation on the experience. What has to be

blown apart is the craving of fixation caused by the pleasant quality of the

experience. And " phat! " does do that. it is necessary to apply this means

whenever you are beginning to get caught by an experience. So, therefore,

the next line of the text says, " SEND DOWN SUDDENLY THE CONSONANTS OF METHOD

AND KNOWLEDGE. "

 

Other than maintaining at all times and in all situations, in an

uninterrupted manner, like the flow of a river, that inexpressible,

unobstructed awareness in direct experience, there is nothing separate to

meditate upon. Because of that there is ultimately no distinction in this

practice between even placement and subsequent attainment, or what we would

normally call meditation and post meditation. So therefore, the next line

in the root text says, " THERE IS NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN MEDITATION AND POST

MEDITATION. "

 

This means that what you are meditating on in a meditation session is your

recognition of innate wisdom, and during your various activities, i.e. in

your post meditation as well, you are simply trying to maintain this

recognition of innate wisdom. Because there is no real distinction between

meditation and post meditation, the next line says, " AND THERE IS NO

DISTINCTION BETWEEN SESSIONS AND BETWEEN-SESSIONS. "

 

Since there is no meditation as such, other than resting in the recognition

of the innate wisdom, this is called the " great meditation of

non-meditation. " It is a meditation that transcends what we would normally

call meditation. in this practice of maintaining uninterruptedly, like the

constant flow of a river, the recognition of one's innate and pervasive

wisdom, there is not even a bit of meditation involved. There isn't

anything at all to which one is directing one's mind, there isn't anything

to meditate upon. Hence the commentary says, " ........THERE IS NOT SO MUCH

AS A HAIR'S WORTH TO MEDITATE ON. "

 

On the other hand, if you are maintaining this recognition of innate wisdom

uninterruptedly, then there is not even one moment of distraction.

Therefore, it is traditionally said, " never engaging in meditation and never

being without it. " Never being separate from this non-meditation is a

characteristic of this practice, and that is what is being indicated here.

So the next line in the root text says, " CONTINUOUSLY ABIDE IN THE

INSEPARABILITY, " the inseparability of meditation and post meditation which

is beyond what we would normally call meditation.

 

There was a famous teacher of the Dzogchen tradition who one day met a

teacher of another tradition. The other teacher asked the Dzogchen teacher,

" What to you actually meditate on? " The Dzogchen teacher answerd, " I have

never meditated. " Then the other teacher asked, " Then you don't meditate? "

And the Dzogchen teacher replied, " I have never ever been distracted. "

 

We explained the instruction to abide continuously in the recognition of our

innate nature in which meditation and postmeditation are inseparable. This

is possible when there is the perfect set of circumstances connected with

the meeting of teacher and student. Three conditions have to be met for

this degree of realization to occur: the teacher has to have complete

realization, the student has to have intense devotion, and the lineage which

the teacher holds has to be authentic and unimpaired.

 

If these three conditions are present in their most complete form, then when

the introduction is given the student will fully recognize awareness. What

will occur is not a partial recognition but a full and complete and final

recognition of innate awareness. This is called the " unleashing of

realization. " From that moment onward, for that practitioner, there is no

distinction between meditation and postmeditation. In that instant of

recognition the individual attains full realization; there is no gradual

process to be gone through.

 

This does not depend upon the background of the person. It has nothing to

do with whether the student comes from a family of high social status or one

of low status, whether they are a brahmin or an outcast, whether they are

male or female. It has nothing to do with whether they are young or old,

whether they are educated or uneducated; none of these variables have

anything to do with this. It depends entirely on these three things, the

realization of the teacher, the devotion of the student, and the

authenticity of the lineage. This has occurred in the past and is still

occurring today.

 

This mode of instantaneous full realization that may occur under the most

auspicious circumstances is the literal import of the original teachings of

the Great Perfection; it is what you would call a classic case of Dzogchen

realization. This type of liberation is possible for the sort of person who

is what is called an " all-at-oncer, " someone who all at once attains

realzation, as soon as the innate wisdom is pointed out or introduced. This

is really a kind of liberation through hearing. In such a case, a person in

fact does not even need to practice meditation; they are simply given the

introduction, and by hearing it they identify the innate wisdom and are

liberated on the spot.

 

In the tradition of Dzogchen, we find many instances of liberation through

hearing, liberation through seeing, liberation through tasting, liberation

through touching, and so on. Among these, this teaching is an example of

liberation through hearing, in the most literal sense of the word

liberation. If you are someone like that, then at the time of the

introduction of the innate nature, you recognize it fully, without any

doubt, and you are liberated instantaneously.

 

For such a person, there is obviously nothing to meditate upon. An

all-at-oncer never passes beyond that naturally occurring meditation, and

for him or her there is no need for deliberate meditation or a separate

meditation process. Everyone else, however, i.e. ordinary practitioners who

still fall under the power of confusion of thoughts and conceptuality, who

are not all-at-oncers but gradual progressors, have to consciously practice

meditation. We have to actually engage in some effort, and we must do so

until we attain stability. So therefore, the next line of the root text

says,

" HOWEVER, UNTIL STABILITY IS ATTAINED........ "

 

So, for ordinary practitioners, it is necessary to practice meditation until

one attains stability. True experience in meditation arises only when the

various causes and conditions of meditative stability are present. If you

meditate in the midst of massive distraction and disturbances, then no

matter how long you practice, you will probably not generate much

experience, there will not be much of a result. So therefore, the next line

in the test says, " ........IT IS IMPORTANT TO MEDITATE HAVING ABANDONED

DISTRACTIONS, " which means to meditate with calm relaxed mind in a setting

that is without distractions.

 

You will remember that it is said that there is no distinction between

meditation and postmeditation or between even placement and subsequent

attainment. This is certainly true. However, in the beginning, that is

until one has developed meditative stability in sessions of sitting

meditation, the wisdom of experience cannot be brought out in

postmeditation. Until one attains real stability in resting within the

recognition of innate awareness in formal meditation sessions, how can one

possibly experience that innate awareness when doing lots of different

things during the postmeditation period?

 

So therefore, one has to begin by stabilzing meditation in formal sessions

and then slowly mix it with postmeditation. If one does not do this, if one

deemphasizes sitting meditation and attempts to cultivate this recognition

in postmeditation alone, then no matter how much one tries to carry this

recognition into the path of one's various activities, one is likely to fall

into the error that is called, " losing the nature in vagueness. " " Losing

the nature in vagueness, " means that all one will be maintaining in

postmeditation is the intention, or attitude, of recognizing innate

awareness. One will not actually be recognizing it; one will just be going

around thinking, " Oh yes, innate awareness, innate awareness, " but there

will not really be a recognition.

 

When Rinpoche received this instruction from the learned teacher Kunnu

Rinpoche, Kunnu Rinpoche gave an example of this deviation of losing the

nature in vagueness the way Tibetans chant the Tara mantra nowadays. It is

possible that if you have memorized something - and the Tara praises are

something that almost every Tibetan over the age of four or five has

memorized - then when you chant it, you do not think of the meaning as you

chant, the recitation just becomes an automatic activity of mouth. You are

chanting it, and you are thinking of other things, possibly you are even

doing other things while you are chanting it; that is an analogy for this

type of problem. You are not really doing it if you are just trying to do

it in post meditation. So therefore, the root text says, " DIVIDE PRACTICE

INTO SESSIONS. "

 

Once you have cultivated practice in sessions to the point where you are

justifiably confident of being able to rest in the recogntion of innate

wisdom during sessions, then if you do not expand that into postmeditation,

if you do not gradually mix this meditative awareness with postmeditation

activites, then your meditation will not serve as a remedy for adverse

conditions, such as emotional upheavels occurring within yourself or

occurring because of external circumstances.

 

In any case, your recognition of innate awareness, maintained during

meditation, will only serve as a remedy to upheavals if you can also

maintain it during the upheavals. Merely having this in meditation sessions

but not being able to bring it into postmeditation is not sufficient. If

you cannot do this, then in postmeditation you will be no different from an

untrained person, you will as easily be overpowered by upheavals as anyone

else. So therefore, it is extremely important to maintain an unimpeded

postmeditative awareness. In other words, while meditation has to come

first, it is not enough, it has to be expanded into postmeditation.

Therefore, the text at this point says, " AT ALL TIMES AND IN ALL

SITUATIONS.... "

 

So one needs to maintain an unobstructed awareness at all times and in all

situations. In the same way as in the meditation session, in postmeditation

there is nothing to be meditated upon. You do not have to look for anything

to be aware of and recognize other than innate awareness itself. The essence

of the even placement of this meditation is not being separate from the view

of the dharmakaya, the recognition of innate wisdom. All your actions, all

of your experiences, all of your thoughts, are naturally freed without

fixation: literally, they become unreckoned.

 

Unreckoned here means that nothing unseats you, nothing gets any special

status that takes you away from awareness. In that even, undistracted

recognition, whatever happens is of itself evened out or relaxed; nothing

has to be done to your experience. Within that recognition you are not

attempting to get rid of anything, or to add anything. You are not

attempting to restrict your experience, nor are you attempting to introduce

something new to it.

 

Since you are maintaining an impartial, even recognition of this innate

wisdom, all of the details of your experience, all the varieties of things

that arise, are kind of floppy, flim-flammy, not solid. It does not imply

that the intensity or vividness of experience is in anyway diminished. It

is like cotton balls that are being blown back and forth by the wind: who

cares, it's not a big deal; you are not looking which way it is going now.

One of the most common metaphors for this is the experience of an eighty

year old man watching the play of eight-year old children. Essentially,

what the Tibetan expression refers to is experience without fixation.

 

Because of all of that, the next line of the root text says, " FOSTER THE

RECOGNITION OF EVERYTHING AS THE UPRISING, OR EXPRESSION OF INNATE WISDOM,

THE DHARMAKAYA. " " Uprising " here means " something taking a certain shape, "

as an expression of, or nothing other than, innate wisdom or dharmakaya.

Hence, the line says, " experience everything as an expression of the innate

wisdom alone. " Everything without exception is just of that nature, and

there is nothing else that has to be looked for or meditated upon.

 

This practice, which is the union of tranquility and insight, shamatha and

vipashyana, the cultivation of that which is most natural, of the nature of

things, of that which is beyond elaboration, this fostering of the innate,

unfabricated nature of mind and of all things, is the essence of all the

various practices that have been taught in the tantras of the Vajrayana. It

is the ultimate wisdom that is presented in the fourth empowerment, the

final stage of empowerment in Vajrayana.

 

It is the special Dharma of the practice lineages which is like a

wish-fulfilling gem, like a jewel that bestows everything you need. It is

the special teaching of the Dzogchen tradition, and it is the genuine,

essential realization of all of the Indian and Tibetan Siddhas, both of the

old translation school, the Nyingma, and of the new translation school, the

Sarma, together with all of their lineages. Therefore, understand that

there is nothing beyond this to search for, there is no other practice or

realization that needs to be sought.

 

This resolution that the innate awareness is all there is to discover, and

that resting within that recognition is all one has to do is very important.

The reason is that if you do not have that resolution, if you do not decide

on that once and for all, you will always be looking for something better,

for some other instruction. That puts you in the situation of someone who

knows that there is an elephant hidden somewhere in his or her house but

does not want to look in the house, and therefore goes outside and tries to

find the elephant's footprints in the forest. Once you have determined that

the elephant is in the house, you are only cheating yourself if you try to

look for the elephant elsewhere.

 

In the same way, if you do not resolve that there is nothing to pursue

beyond this unfabricated and natural practice, if you still think there is

something more still to be gained from fabrication, then you become lost in

a forest of fabrication, attempting to contrive or create an enlightened

state. You will never become awakened until you give that up. Therefore,

it is very important to resolve the utter primacy of unfabricated awareness.

Hence, the next line of the text says, " RESOLVE THAT THERE IS NOTHING

BEYOND THIS. "

 

..........to be continued.