Index
Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos
- pondering the sufferings of the cycle of existence, (2) the difficulty of obtaining a human life of leisure and endowment, and (3) meditating on death and impermanence are the preliminary practices for subduing your own mind-stream. The preliminary practices for training your own mind-stream include: (4) guru yoga, (5) the hundred-syllable mantra, and finally (6) the spiritual activity of offering the maṇḍala.
Think of death, and bring your practice to its culmination. There is no time to waste in life, and the circumstances that lead to death are beyond imagination. Then if you fail to achieve the confidence of fearlessness, What is the point of your being alive?
We should practice “until the experience of them arises
Settling the mind in its natural state. In settling the mind in its natural state, there are also three parts: while keeping the body and speech as they were before, let your mind be lucid, without engaging any thoughts concerning earlier or later deceptive appearances of the three times; inwardly, settle the mind evenly without engaging in any good thoughts, such as deity meditation; secretly, settle the mind in its natural state by letting it be just as it is, steadily, clearly, and lucidly in the space in front of you, in the mind’s own mode of existence, without bringing to mind any of the mentally engaging thoughts of the view and meditation which entail mental grasping. Do that for three days.
place in front of you a small object such as a stick or pebble. Gaze at it steadily without closing your eyes, and at the same time place your attention upon it steadily, clearly, and lucidly, without being distracted by anything else. Do not strenuously thrust your attention at it. Vividly settle your awareness simply on the unwavering meditative support without succumbing to any ordinary distractions. Remain clear, gently release into a sense of comfort, and relax a bit. Meanwhile, rest the mind naturally, unwaveringly, and steadily upon that meditative support, without entering into the dispersal of thoughts.
“Rest your gaze simply so that you don’t lose your awareness of space.”
it’s better to have as many sessions of short duration as we can throughout the day.
When bringing the session to a close, do not rise from it abruptly; rather, with a sense of conscientiousness, gently integrate it with your behavior and transform this into the path. Let all your conduct be like that of a person with a concussion who is afraid of getting bumped, and conscientiously lead your life in a meditative fashion. Do that for three days.
Next, place your body in the proper posture and so on, like before. For your meditative object, vividly direct your attention simply, without wavering, to a white, radiant, clear, limpid bindu at the point between your eyebrows. About the size of a white pea, it appears but is without an inherent nature. Gently release in clarity and joy, and settle your mind in its natural state. Do not be interrupted by thoughts. Meditate just like that, with many sessions of short duration, as before. Engage in that meditation for three days or as your own experience dictates. Whatever experiences occur from time to time, examine them.
gently recognize the thoughts. Even if you impede them, they will not stop. Without following after them, focus on the meditative object. By so doing, thoughts will become more and more subtle, and they will decrease in number.
Each time a thought arises, recognize it immediately and release it so that it naturally vanishes. If two thoughts arise, recognize them. Do not follow after anything that appears, but let it arise and be released. At times, focus on the meditative object; and at times, let thoughts arise and vanish. While not fabricating anything in their wake, relax and release. By alternately practicing like that, the chain of compulsive ideation will become disconnected, and thoughts will become fragmented. Thus, detrimental thoughts will become fewer and fewer, and fine stability will arise. Meditate in that way for three days or as your experience dictates.
Maintaining the body in the posture bearing the seven attributes of Vairocana, let the spine be erect and straight, and press the hands against the ground. While so doing, completely exhale three times, once through the right nostril, once through the left, and once from the middle. Simultaneously imagine that sins and obscurations are purified, and that the sins are discharged from your nostrils in the form of scorpions and are then incinerated in the roaring flames of the fire of primordial wisdom in the space in front of you. This expels the toxins of the vital energies. Then together with your inhalation, while swallowing your saliva once, scrunch down beneath the navel; and without thinking of any meditative object, rest your awareness in clarity. When you can do so no more, completely exhale. Do that for three days.
Expel the residual vital energy and position your body as before. Now when you inhale, imagine the physical blessings of all the buddhas of the three times being drawn in in the form of a white syllable OṂ. Then push the upper vital energy down, draw the lower vital energy up, and gather them together beneath the navel. In the midst of the “closed amulet” of the upper and lower vital energies, imagine the essence of the speech of all the buddhas of the three times in the nature of a clear, empty, vivid red syllable ĀḤ, which appears but is without an inherent nature.
vajra-recitations of the three syllables, so practice it continuously. Do that for three days, then do it constantly
alternate between intense concentration and relaxation. There are various ways to maintain mindfulness throughout the day, one of which is constantly to sustain the awareness of space. Another way to maintain mindfulness is the vajra-recitation. Whatever technique you follow, it’s very important that between sessions you don’t discard the practice altogether.
Alternate between observing who is concentrating inwardly and who is releasing. If it is the mind, ask, “What is that very agent that releases the mind and concentrates the mind?” Steadily observe yourself, and then release again. By so doing, fine stability will arise, and you may even identify awareness. Do that, too, for one day.
Let the awareness itself steadily observe itself. At times, let your mind come to rest in the center of your heart, and evenly leave it there. At times, evenly focus it in the expanse of the sky and leave it there. Thus, by shifting the gaze in various, alternating ways, the mind settles in its natural state.
In this particular technique, you are indeed resting your awareness in the space in front; but your awareness must be imbued with the three qualities of mindfulness, introspection, and conscientiousness
if we’re following the Mahāyāna path and discern faults in others, then the appropriate response is compassion. If we’re following the Vajrayāna, engaging in the stages of generation and completion, then we must cultivate a pure view, seeing others in their divine aspects. In this case, others’ faults are not an issue, for this pure view saturates our entire awareness of the world. Furthermore, if we’re engaging in the practice of Atiyoga, our view is beyond the parameters of pure and impure. With this view, we experience an equality, or “equal taste,” of all phenomena. The very notions of purity and impurity don’t even arise. In terms of faults then, we should point to ourselves, for finding fault in others is our own disgrace.
Recognize your faults and let them be perfectly obvious to yourself.
practice with a powerful sense that daytime appearances are dreams. Even the least of practitioners will apprehend the dream-state within one month.
As soon as novices recognize, “This is a dream!” they wake up and there is dispersal of that recognition.43 To dispel that, maintain your attention at the level of the heart
To transform the fruit into the path, you practice without hope of accomplishing anything and without fear of not accomplishing anything.
First practice in short sessions, and as you become accustomed to it, practice in longer and longer sessions. When you bring the session to an end, do not get up abruptly, but rise slowly without losing the sense of meditating; and proceed without losing the sense of awareness, without wavering, and without grasping. As you eat, drink, speak, and engage in every activity, do so without losing the sentry of unwavering mindfulness. If this happens in meditative equipoise but not afterwards, by integrating this with your spiritual practice and all activities of moving, walking, lying down, and sitting, whatever you do will appear as meditation.
Without any manner of placing awareness anywhere, letting it be in its own state, without modification, is meditation.
too much effort and tension in your practice can create problems. You’re straining hard, trying to hold onto the object, which appears to be unstable. To counteract such excessive tension, lighten up. Ease up a bit in the meditation. Let your mind be more spacious.
The key to being free of the craving of samādhi is to release grasping. The best student is an “instantaneous person” who gains realization as soon as the nature of awareness is pointed out.
your actions do have karmic consequences. It’s important to be extremely conscientious about the nature of our activities. Like the first person in the story, we need to be conscientious about our actions. It’s important that we do practice; it’s important that we do cultivate compassion; and it’s very important that we do not make a mistake.
Don’t try to cover up unpleasant subjects, face them. That’s the best response.
mentally offer everything that you have, including not only your material possessions, but also your relatives and everyone around you. Release attachment for everything.
lying on your right side the vital energies will move from the left nostril.
If you have nothing physical to offer or no altar to put it on, this is no problem. Offer your body, speech, and mind and don’t be upset. That’s fine. This option of simply offering your body, speech, and mind is a good one.
“If I am to die suddenly, I must focus on the crown of my head.” This resolve is of essential importance.
It’s important to know the meaning of the object of your reverence and to be familiar with the excellent qualities of the objects of refuge.
Start with many short sessions, then gradually increase the duration of each one, and decrease the number of sessions per day.
attachment, aversion, and delusion are to be banished, like a poisonous snake. Especially the poison of attachment is to be eliminated.
Whether for hearing, thinking, or meditation, the motivation is paramount.
by training in regarding all appearances as being like reflections in a mirror, appearing and yet devoid of an inherent nature, such that appearances and emptiness are indivisible, the deceptive appearances of the daytime will arise as pure visions. Due to that, one is free from clinging onto the true existence of dreams, and one either recognizes the dream-state as the dream-state, or it arises as the clear light.
illusory nature of everything you experience. Becoming accustomed to that during the daytime places imprints upon your mind-stream; and these carry over into the dream-state, so this pure vision also occurs at night.
These companions I meet today and this evening, relatives, and fellow travelers have also died and are wandering with me in the transitional process. They are not truly existent, and like a dream and an illusion, they have no objective existence, or true existence.”
Resting the mind in its unstructured, originally pure state means that you do not follow after any thoughts that arise, be they virtuous or nonvirtuous. Thus, whatever comes up in the mind, you let it come up and let it be without reacting to it, without classifying it, and without responding to it or trying to modify it.
Whatever comes up, don’t block it. As soon as you try to block it, you’ve lost the nature of it; and you’re no longer doing this practice. If you feel that you must do something to make the thoughts go away, you’re not doing the practice. If you feel you need to sustain these mental events, again you’re not doing the practice. The practice here is to allow awareness to rest in its own natural state, originally pure.
The purpose of this meditation is to cultivate the constant awareness, day and night, of the lack of true existence of phenomena. In this way, we recognize the manner in which we are normally confused by our grasping onto the true existence of phenomena.
The most practical avenue is to implement these teachings as much as you can right now in your daily life. Let your practice flow into the present, rather than anticipating some future situation that you consider more ideal.
One may be ambitious, energetic, and hard-working in a worldly sense; but, from a Dharma perspective, that person who is working eighteen hours a day is said to be lazy. We are just part of the crowd if we show such stupidity as to waste this opportunity.
Do not sleep like an animal, But practice integrating sleep and direct perception!
The great thing about this practice is that you can sleep and practice at the same time, and in that way gain realization of the clear light. During the daytime, we have the opportunity to engage in hearing, thinking, and meditation and to experience the fruition of the path. And at nighttime, we have the opportunity to hear teachings, ponder them, and put them into practice through the night to gain the fruition of the practice while we’re sleeping.
To enter into the experience that is free of extremes, we must be free of the extremes of nihilism and eternalism.
It is best to recognize your own nature. Then you will not need somebody else to liberate you from fictitious problems.