Dzogchen, Shambala, Tulku Urgyen
Ripoche
“If you believe there is a thing called mind, it is just
a thought. If you believe there is no thing called mind, it’s just
another thought. Your natural state, free of any kind of thought
about it—that is buddhanature. Mind is similar to space, in that it
is insubstantial, not material. Isn’t it quite amazing that
something that is insubstantial is also able to
experience?”
Whatever practice you do, please do so while embracing it with
the Three Excellences.
The first is the excellent preparation of bodhichitta [Skt.,
lit. “awakened heart”]. The bodhisattva resolve is to form the
thought, “I will attain complete enlightenment for the sake of all
beings.” Engendering that motivation is a superb way to begin one’s
practice.
This excellent preparation is indispensable for all Buddhist
practitioners, because we all have had many lifetimes other than
this one. The pure vision of the fully enlightened ones sees that
we have been through countless lifetimes. In every one of these, we
had a father and a mother. We have had so many lifetimes that every
sentient being, without a single exception, has been our own father
and mother. Thus we are connected to all other beings, and to
merely wish enlightenment and liberation for ourselves is far too
limited. To achieve enlightenment in this way would mean abandoning
all our parents.
Please understand that all sentient beings, all our parents,
want nothing but happiness. Unfortunately, through their negative
actions they only create the causes for further pain and suffering.
Take this to heart and consider all our parents, wandering blindly
and endlessly through painful samsaric states. When we truly take
this to heart, out of compassion we feel motivated to achieve
enlightenment to truly help all of them. This compassionate
attitude is indispensable as a preparation for practice.
The excellent preparation also includes the taking of refuge. Do
we actually have the ability to genuinely help other beings? Do we
have the power, the wisdom, the boundless compassion to do so? At
present we don’t. Who does? Only the fully awakened Buddha actually
possesses the power to protect others, as well as the pure
teachings on how to attain enlightenment. In addition to these two,
there are those beings who uphold these teachings in an unbroken
lineage. These three, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, are the only
true protection and rescue for unenlightened beings.
We should regard these Three Precious Ones as our shelter, our
refuge and our escort, from now on until complete enlightenment.
They embody a reliable and authentic source of protection. To
entrust ourselves and place our confidence in the Three Jewels from
this point until we ourselves become truly able to benefit others
is called “taking refuge.” Together with bodhichitta, taking refuge
is the excellent preparation. Taking refuge essentially embodies
all hinayana teachings, while all the mahayana teachings are
contained within forming the bodhisattva resolve.
The second of the three excellences is called the “excellent
main part beyond concepts.” This has two aspects, development stage
and completion stage. This excellent main part beyond conceptual
focus is a synonym for vajrayana, the vajra vehicle of Secret
Mantra.
Development stage is usually understood as visualizing the support,
which is the buddha field and the celestial palace, and what is
supported therein—the form of the deity. The palace and deity are
considered to be the pure world and pure being. We may think that
this is a product of our imagination, but in fact it is an exact
replica of the original state of all things. It is how things
already are in actuality—also called the great mandala of the
manifest ground.
Thus, visualization is ultimately not a matter of imagining
something to be what it isn’t, but rather, of seeing it as it
actually is. It is acknowledging things as they already are. This
is the essential principle of vajrayana. Within this principle is
contained both development stage and completion stage.
Development stage is not like imagining a piece of wood to be
gold. No matter how long you imagine that wood is gold, it never
truly becomes gold. Rather, it’s like regarding gold as gold:
acknowledging or seeing things as they actually are. That is what
is meant by training in deity, mantra and samadhi. The body, speech
and mind of the deity is contained within the three aspects of
vajrayana practice called development, recitation and
completion.
All appearances are the mandala of the deities, all sounds are
the mandala of mantra, and all thoughts are the mandala of
enlightened mind. The nature of all apparent and existing things—of
this entire world and all its beings—is the great mandala of the
manifest ground, our basic state. These three mandalas are present
as our ground. The practice of a sadhana is based on manifesting
from this ground. Sadhana practice is also based on some very
essential principles: that the tantras are contained within the
statements, the statements within the oral instructions, and the
oral instructions within the application of the sadhana itself.
Let me rephrase this vital point. In vajrayana, a sadhana is the
act of manifesting what is originally present in the form of the
threefold mandalas of deity, mantra and samadhi. When practicing a
sadhana, we are not superimposing something artificial atop the
natural state of things. Rather, it is a way of acknowledging our
original state, in which the nature of all forms is deity, the
nature of all sounds is mantra, and the nature of mind is samadhi.
This is the basic principle of development stage. And the
differences in profundity between the teachings of sutra and tantra
lie in how close the teachings are to the original nature. The
closest, the most direct, are the Vajrayana teachings.
What are the reasons for the development and completion stages?
The profound development stage enables us to attain enlightenment
in one lifetime and in one body through deity, mantra and samadhi.
And completion stage means that the deity is none other than our
originally enlightened buddhanature. Its essence is present as
Body, its nature radiates as Speech, and its capacity is pervasive
as Mind.
Our originally enlightened essence contains within itself the
awakened state of all buddhas as the three aspects of vajra body,
vajra speech and vajra mind. Training in these three vajras is
intrinsically contained within the profound state of samadhi, which
is none other than one’s own nature. That is the starting point or
source of the excellent main part beyond concepts.
Deity, mantra and samadhi are the enlightened body, speech and
mind. Vajra body means the unchanging quality which is the identity
of the deity. The unceasing quality is the identity of the mantra,
while the unmistaken or undeluded quality is the identity of the
deity’s mind. These three vajras are complete in our buddha nature.
They are also called dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya
[Skt.: the three bodies, or kayas, of the Buddha; respectively, the
dharmakaya level of absolute, primordial mind; the sambhogakaya
level of energy, emotions and symbols, and the nirmanakaya level of
manifested form].
These profound methods of Vajrayana—practicing a sadhana,
meditating on the deity, reciting its mantra, and training in
samadhi—are called a quick path. The essence of this is the nature
of mind. This is the unfailing, unmistaken vajra speech of the
perfectly enlightened Buddha, which can enable us to attain
complete enlightenment in one lifetime. This teaching has been
passed through an unbroken lineage of great masters all the way
down to my own root guru. While my ears have been very fortunate to
receive this teaching, I myself am nothing special. Although I may
take great words in my mouth, please understand that I am merely
repeating what I have been fortunate enough to receive.
It is very difficult to really learn something or to be educated
in it without a teacher. You probably all know this very well,
having gone to school so many years. The education we have received
is something that we can make use of our entire lives. Even so, our
education has not brought us even one inch closer to the state of
perfect enlightenment. Our years of effort in school are ultimately
of no real benefit.
Because you are all intelligent, I think you can understand why
I am saying this. No matter what we do in this life, all the
information we gather and all the knowledge we accumulate and all
the effort we make to amass wealth through work and business—when
the time comes for us to leave this life, all of it is futile and
in vain. It will not help us in any way whatsoever. I can easily
say this since I am not educated at all! So I can smile and act big
about this. Don’t be angry, please.
What I’m trying to say is that we may well succeed in becoming
extremely rich and gain great material profit. We can buy the most
expensive clothes or manage to be famous in this world so that
everyone knows our name. That is quite possible. We can pursue
these worldly attainments very enthusiastically and think that
there is plenty of time to enjoy them while we are in the first
half of our lives.
However, in the second half of our lives, as we age and become
elderly, life starts being less fun. I speak from experience here.
It begins to be difficult to stand up and to move around. You get
sick more often and you start to ail in different ways. What lies
ahead of you is only further sickness and finally death.
All these disasters are lined up in front of us, and we will
meet them one after the other. What comes after death is not clear
to us right now, because we cannot see our next rebirth. We cannot
even see if there is anything after this life. When we look down at
the ground we don’t see any lower realms; when we look up in the
sky we don’t see any heavens or buddhafields. With these eyes we
have now, we don’t see that much.
Please consider this: right now, you have a body, a voice and a
mind, don’t you? Of these, mind is the most important. Isn’t it
true that your body and voice are the servants of mind? Mind is the
boss, and here comes more about mind. The five physical elements of
earth, fire, water, wind and space do not perceive. Mind, in
contrast, means that which can experience; that which perceives.
The five sense organs of eyes, ears, tongue, nose and body do not
perceive and experience. A corpse possesses the five sense organs,
yet a corpse does not perceive, because it doesn’t have a mind.
The term corpse means that the mind has departed. We say that
the eyes see, that the ears hear, that the tongue tastes, the nose
smells and so forth—but it is only possible for this to happen when
there is a mind to experience through the senses. The moment what
we call consciousness, mind or spirit leaves the body, the five
sense organs are still there; but there is no experience taking
place through them.
Mind means that which knows pleasure and pain. Of all the
different things in this world, only mind experiences and
perceives; nothing else. Therefore, mind is the root of all
states—all samsaric as well as all nirvanic states. Without mind
there would be nothing to feel or perceive in this world. If there
were nothing that feels or perceives in this world, the world would
be utterly empty, wouldn’t it? Mind is completely empty, but it is
at the same time able to perceive, to know.
The three lower realms are arrayed according to the degree of
pain experienced in each, just as the three higher realms are
arrayed according to degrees of pleasure. Everything is based on
that which feels pleasure and pain, which is mind. In other words,
mind is the basis or root of everything.
Mind is empty, and while being empty, it still knows or
experiences. Space is empty and does not know anything. That is the
difference between space and mind. Mind is similar to space, in
that it is insubstantial, not material. Isn’t it quite amazing that
something that is insubstantial is also able to experience?
There is mind, but it is not tangible or substantial. You cannot
say that there is no mind because it is the basis of everything; it
is that which experiences every possible thing. You cannot say
really that there is a thing called mind, and yet at the same time
you cannot say that there is no mind. It lies beyond both extremes
of being and not being. That is why it is said, “Not existent,
since even a buddha does not see it; not nonexistent, since it is
the basis of both samsara and nirvana.”
If we were without a mind, we would be corpses. You are not
corpses, are you? But can you say that there is a mind that you can
see, hear, smell, taste or take hold of? Honestly, you can continue
to search for it exactly like this, scrutinizing for a billion
years, and you will never be able to find mind as something that
either exists or doesn’t. It is truly beyond both extremes of
existence and nonexistence.
The absence of contradiction between these two is the principle
of the Middle Way—that mind is beyond conflict between existence
and nonexistence. We do not have to hold the idea that there is a
concrete mind or that there isn’t. Mind in itself is natural
“thatness,” meaning that it is an unformed unity of being empty and
cognizant. The Buddha called this unformed unity shunyata,
emptiness. Shunye means empty, while the -ta in shunyata, the
‘-ness’ in emptiness, should be understood as meaning “able to
cognize.” In this way, mind is empty cognizance. Natural thatness
means simply what is by itself. Our nature is just like that. Just
recognize that fact, without coloring it with any kind of idea
about it.
If you believe there is a thing called mind, it is just a
thought. If you believe there is no thing called mind, it’s just
another thought. Your natural state, free of any kind of thought
about it—that is buddha nature. In ordinary sentient beings, this
natural state is carried away by thinking, caught up in thought.
Involvement in thinking is like a heavy chain that weighs you down.
Now it is time to be free from that chain. The moment you shatter
the chain of thinking, you are free from the three realms of
samsara.
In this entire world, there is nothing superior to or more
precious than knowing how to break this chain. Even if you were to
scan the entire world, or piece by piece put it through a sieve in
an attempt to find something more precious, you’d come up with
nothing. None of the buddhas of the past, present and future have
discovered an instruction that is more profound or more direct in
attaining enlightenment. To ask for teachings on the nature of mind
means to understand how to recognize mind nature.
The traditional way of receiving the instruction on how to
realize the nature of mind involves first going through the
training of the preliminary practices of the “four times hundred
thousand.” After that, you would carry out the yidam [Tib.: deity]
practice, staying in retreat and completing the set number of
recitations.
Finally, after all this, this teaching would be given. But
nowadays we live in different times. People are so busy that they
have no time to actually sit down and go through all this training.
My root guru told me once that different times were coming. He
said, “If you happen to be in front of people who ask about and
want to hear about the nature of mind, explain it to them. If they
have the karmic readiness, they will understand, and if they do
understand, they are benefited. To benefit beings is the purpose of
the Buddha’s teachings. It’s all right.”
When I was young, I often tried to do that. It’s like someone
pointing out the sunrise. Often people look towards the west and
see that the sunlight has hit the mountain top; that’s how they
know the sun has risen. But actually what they have to do is turn
around and see the sun rising in the east. When someone tells them
to do so, they turn around and say, “Well, yeah, the sun is
actually rising in the east!” That is how I have been teaching, and
that is how I will continue to teach now.
So: you have heard that our mind is actually empty, meaning it
is not a concrete thing, and that at the same time it is able to
perceive, to understand, to experience. When you hear this and
think about this, can you trust it? Is it clear? Can you decide on
this point?
Our mind is empty, and yet it does think. That it is empty means
there is no concrete substance with any definable attributes. And
yet, mind does think. Isn’t it true that we are always thinking
about the past, present or future? And aren’t we so busy thinking
that we have one thought after the other, day and night,
incessantly?
This is not something that has suddenly happened. It has been
going on for a long time, through countless past lives in samsara.
We have been spinning around involved in one thought after another
in different realms in samsara. That is the essence of samsaric
existence. And if we carry on in the same way, we will be busy
thinking one thought after the other until the very end of this
life.
It doesn’t stop there. Of course there is no body in the bardo
[Tib.: the intermediate state between death and rebirth], but mind
continues churning out one thought after the other due to habit.
After a new rebirth, regardless of whether it’s in the lower realms
or the higher realms or the deepest hell, everything is simply one
thought after the other. Yet all the time, the very nature of all
this thinking is buddha nature—the enlightened essence.
Let me give you an example for the relationship between thinking
and the nature of mind. The nature of mind is like the sun in the
sky, while thinking is like the sun’s reflection in water. Without
water, it’s difficult for the sun to reflect, isn’t it? Water here
is the analogy for all perceived objects, for anything held in
mind. If you drained the water from a pond, where does the
reflection go? Does it run out with the water? Does it stay
suspended in mid-air?
Holding subject and object, perceiver and perceived in mind, is
symbolized by the reflection of the sun in the pond. Without the
sun in the sky, would there be any light in this world? No, of
course not. And yet, one single sun is able to illuminate the
entire world. This single sun is like the nature of mind, in that
it functions or operates in many different ways: it has great
warmth and brilliance, and through its heat it sets wind in motion.
In comparison to this, the reflection of the sun is nothing. Is the
reflection of the sun able to illuminate the entire world? Can it
even illuminate a single pond?
Our enlightened essence, the buddhanature, is like the sun
itself, present as our very nature. Its reflection can be compared
to our thoughts—all our plans, our memories, our attachment, our
anger, our closed-mindedness, and so on. One thought arises after
the other, one movement of mind occurs after the other, just like
one reflection after another appears. If you control this one sun
in the sky, don’t you automatically control all its reflections in
various ponds of water in the whole world? Why pay attention to all
the different reflections? Instead of circling endlessly in
samsara, recognize the one sun. If you recognize the nature of your
mind, the buddhanature, that is sufficient.
Understand the difference between buddhanature and its
expression, which is thoughts. Thoughts appear in many types. There
is attachment, anger and stupidity; there are the fifty-one mental
events, the eighty innate thought states, the eighty-four thousand
disturbing emotions.
No matter how many different types of content the mind can
manifest as, they are all simply expressions of the nature of mind.
The eighty-four thousand different types of disturbing emotions are
like eighty-four thousand different reflections of the sun in
different ponds of water. If you take the sun and put it in your
pocket, you automatically control all eighty-four thousand
reflections. Similarly, the very moment that you recognize your
natural state, the buddha mind, your enlightened essence—in that
same moment, all eighty-four thousand types of disturbing emotions
are simultaneously vanquished.
All the different thoughts we can have are either of the past,
present or future, so they can be called past thought, present
thought, or future thought. The Tibetan word for thought is namtok.
Nam means the perceived forms of the five senses and the mental
objects. Tokpa means the concept formed about what is perceived.
Sentient beings are constantly busy producing namick, making one
idea after the other about what is experienced. This thinking of
your own mind’s thoughts is exactly what hinders and obstructs
liberation and enlightenment.
If we try to stop thinking it only gets worse. You cannot shake
off or throw away the thinking. Can you throw away your shadow? Can
you somehow cut the flow of thought created by your own mind, maybe
by detonating a nuclear bomb? Will this stop the mind from
thinking? It will kill you, sure, but your thoughts will continue
in the bardo and into the next life. Is there anything else in this
world that can stop the mind from thinking?
To stop thinking, you need to recognize your essence. It’s like
seeing the sun in the sky just once—forever after, you know what
the sun looks like. If you chase one reflection of the sun after
the other, you’ll never be able to see all possible reflections.
There is no end to that. The sun in the sky is the real sun, and
without it, there would be no reflections. Its reflection in the
water is only an imitation.
In the same way, all thoughts are only expressions or displays
of your essence; they are not your essence itself. Without being
free of thought, without the thinking having dissolved, vanished,
disappeared, there is no way to be liberated or enlightened. There
is a saying: “Use the thought as its own antidote.” In the same
way, the reflection of all suns comes from the original, real sun.
If you recognize the real sun in the sky, there is no need to chase
around after all its reflections in this world in order to see the
sun.
The most important thing is your empty, cognizant mind. Its
natural emptiness is dharmakaya, also called empty essence. Your
natural ability to know and to perceive is cognizant nature,
sambhogakaya. This being empty and being cognizant are an original
unity. The famous statement “unity of empty cognizance suffused
with awareness” refers to your own nature, the essence of your
mind.
After having been pointed out your nature and recognizing your
essence, you see that there is no “thing” to see. As I have
repeatedly said, “Not seeing a thing is the supreme sight.” We need
to see that. It is seen the moment you look, and in the moment of
seeing it is free, liberated.
This seeing may last no longer than a few seconds, perhaps no
longer than three snaps of your fingers. After that brief period of
time, we either get carried away by the thought of something, or we
become forgetful. This happens to all ordinary sentient beings.
From beginningless lifetimes until now, we have been continuously
carried away by forgetfulness and by thinking.
The moment you recognize, it is already seen. There is nothing
extra remaining that you missed. This is not like space looking at
itself, because space does not see anything. When your mind, which
is cognizant, recognizes itself, you immediately see that there is
no “thing” to see. It is already seen in the same moment. At that
very moment there is no thought, because the present thought has
naturally vanished.
The moment of recognizing mind nature is called ordinary mind,
whether you talk about Mahamudra, Dzogchen or the Great Middle Way.
When recognizing, don’t do anything to it; don’t try to correct or
improve it; don’t alter it by accepting one thing and rejecting
another, motivated by hope or fear—don’t do anything to it. An
ordinary person is involved in conceptualizing with the present
thought. Don’t conceptualize with a present thought. Present
thought means wanting or not wanting, with hope or fear. Just
disconnect from the present thought; don’t follow it up. The moment
you are free from thoughts of the three times, that is the buddha
mind.
You don’t have to try not to think the present thought. We need
to train in just letting go of what is thought of; that is the
practice. In this letting go there is not even a dust mote to
imagine, so it is not an act of meditating. At the same time, do
not be distracted from this for even one second. It’s like trying
to imagine space, because there’s nothing that needs to be imagined
or meditated upon. Do you need to imagine anything to imagine
space?
When we hear “Don’t be distracted,” we may think that we have to
do something in order to be undistracted. People usually think that
trying to remain undistracted is some kind of deliberate act. This
would in fact be so, if the aim was to maintain a particular state
of concentration for a long time. Deliberate action would be
necessary in that case. But I am not telling you to do that. The
moment of natural empty cognizance doesn’t last very long by
itself, but that’s perfectly okay. You don’t have to try to prolong
that moment; rather, repeat it many times. “Short moments, many
times”—this is the training in uncontrived naturalness. Uncontrived
naturalness means you don’t have to do anything during that state.
It’s like ringing a bell. Once you ring the bell there is a
continuity of sound; you don’t have to do anything in order for the
sound to continue. Simply allow that continuity to endure by itself
until at some point the sound fades away.
At the moment of recognizing your mind essence leave it in
naturalness, simply as it is. If you keep striking the bell, the
sound is interrupted by the effort. Just leave that recognition be
without altering it. That is the way to not lose the continuity.
Soon enough the recognition will vanish by itself. As beginners,
naturally we will forget after a bit. We don’t need to try to
prevent that or guard against it with great effort. Once
distracted, again recognize. That is the training.
Every level of teaching has its own purpose, and even though the
very heart of the Buddhadharma is to recognize mind essence and
train in that, still, there are obstacles and hindrances that need
to be cleared away and enhancement practices that need to be
done.
An obstacle is something that prevents us from remaining in the
natural state. These can be cleared away by certain practices.
There are also ways to improve or enhance our practice and to
deepen our experience. These two—clearing hindrances and
enhancing—are extremely useful.
Outer obstacles are connected with our environment; inner
obstacles with our physical body, and innermost obstacles with our
thought patterns. To dispel these, it’s extremely beneficial to do
the preliminaries and the inner practice of deity, mantra and
samadhi. Hindrances need to be removed, as they are the result of
negative deeds that obscure our nature. Relying on the Buddha,
Dharma and Sangha and on the guru, yidam and dakini as support
quickly clears away hindrances.
Enhancement practices, for instance, are to develop devotion to
the enlightened ones and compassion for sentient beings. Devotion
and compassion strengthen the recognition of mind nature. Other
practices also further enhance mind essence; however, the Third
Karmapa stated the most essential point when he said: “In the
moment of love, the empty essence dawns nakedly.”
In the moment that either devotion or compassion is felt
sincerely, from the core of our heart, there is really nothing to
obscure us any longer. The more we train in devotion to all
enlightened masters, buddhas and bodhisattvas, the more our
progress in recognizing mind essence will be enhanced. In exactly
the same way, generating loving kindness and compassion for all
sentient beings will also help tremendously to enhance our
realization of buddhanature.
Let us conclude this teaching by engaging in the last of the
Three Excellences, the excellent dedication. As a result of having
studied these teachings, please dedicate the merit and make
aspirations for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Tulku Urgyen Ripoche (1920-1995) was one of the great
Dzogchen masters of this era. He studied and practiced both the
Dzogchen (Skt.: Maha Ati) teachings of the Nyingma school and the
Mahamudra teachings of the Kagyu school, and was the Dzogchen
teacher of the late sixteenth Karmapa. Over the course of his life
he spent more than twenty years in retreat, including four
three-year retreats. Tulku Urgyen established six monasteries and
retreat centers in the Kathmandu region, where today his teachings
are continued by his sons Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Chöling Rinpoche
and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. This article is excerpted from As It Is and
is presented with the kind permission of Rangjung Yeshe
Publications. ©1999 Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Existence & Nonexistence Teachings on Dzogchen, Tulku
Urgyen Rinpoche, Shambhala Sun, March 2000.
From:
Shambala Sun
