COMPRISES: FOUNDATIONS (Preliminaries), FOUNDATIONS 01 & FOUNDATIONS 02
FOUNDATIONS – 01 [‘rough’ edited by Wesley, do not circulate)
Namgyal Rinpoche Discourse
In order to awaken in this life, all your efforts on the Path must be supported by the six Paramitas perfected. That is to say–the perfections of Generosity (dana), Morality (sila), Loving-kindness (metta), Energy (viriya), Meditation (samadhi) and finally opening the mind to the influx of Prajna (wisdom). The first prerequisite then is to clear up your unwholesome states of mind. There is need for purification and one accepts this without identifying with the defilements. You don’t get enlightenment; rather you dust, purify and remove the veils and it is revealed. You are born out of the Light and the price of life is sin (dust, conditioning) but it is only foam on an illusion–only God is real. You are not a miserable sinner, but of the Light.
One must then develop wholesome states of consciousness. Heart is the foundation, and in every wholesome state of mind, Metta is present. It is from the Heart that you will journey into space, i.e. the launching platform. Before we can really explore we must be in a state of love, for love gives us our warmth and our strength–that feeling of security which is a prerequisite for the exploration of the Universe. No security, no exploration.
Love is feeling at one with all that has gone before. All beings previous to you in existence have and are feeding you. Out of a sea-shell all has evolved. All of life, heaven and earth, you are a product of. All things are your father (urging you on) and your mother (supporting you). They are yearning for you to go on and awaken. One must remember with gratitude and respect and love that all beings are reaching out. Without this gratitude and love, practice on the path becomes mechanical. Love then is a feeling at one with life – Heart – Joy.
When did the Enlightenment Thought arise? God creating it reaches out to know, returning with knowledge. The Awakening is Stream Entry, compassion for the whole life-stream reaching out before you, with you, after you. Every drive in humans, whether for wealth, love knowledge, etcetera is a reflection of the Light, for only the Light will really satisfy. Every one has the desire for awakening. Unity is the common love-struggle flow. To come into contact with this stream meditate on Karuna-Metta.
One cannot be a truly religious being until they believe that they have worth (self-love). You must know as a certainty that you are from the Light, that your core is Light that the depths have worth. A being is otherwise blocked off from exploration by feelings of insecurity and worthlessness; in short, by ego defences, neurosis and dare not know. In order to overcome these feelings, one should meditate upon the Guru and upon the Triple Gem. Respect for these qualities you hope to unfold in your own being will lead to self-love and self-respect.
Sila (Morality) is the feet of meditation. Defined as morality but more concisely coolness, it is the clear knowing of what is arising and why. One must clearly know and not leap blindly. Dont be subject to everything that arises. Weigh everything before speaking, acting, etc., and cut out that which is not conducive to the Path. You have to know for yourself what is wholesome and unwholesome action, which means developing Interior Knowing, (satti-sampajana; satti — awareness). The Teaching is on about Awareness. It is through constant Awareness that one learns to judge whether an action will lead to wholesome or unwholesome states of mind; whether or not it will produce suffering. Through the practice of Awareness the unwholesome and negative aspects of your being will drop away of themselves.
You should be aware first of body postures. Every action, every posture is a reading of your mind state. Then move to mindfulness of states of mind– the feel of mind. Realisation is based on Moral Conduct. After the Awakening of Bodhicitta the path is fulfilled through Awareness. You must therefore discipline your mind, and develop service to others.
In the Hinayana you are taught to crush desires, no matter what, and just believe. Awareness is focussed on the Act. In the Mahayana, one practices Awareness of the Action. But in the Vajrayana we take everything, desires and all–for the question is, What are you reaching for? Is this conducive to the Path? It is Motivation which is Central. Motivation and the Reason for action is what we try to be aware of. One can even use the defilements to further one’s unfoldment. One clings to desires because they have not been explored. With the aware mind one can choose to indulge in defilement in order to penetrate its essential nature. You can ask yourself ‘what am I clinging to?’ and then explore, which leads to depth understanding and freedom from the clinging. This is possible because the central desire is the Drive to Awaken it is the Motivation we are concerned with. In Mahamudra, one sees that the only thing that satisfies is Awakening – Totality. Desire becomes desire only for that thus not getting attached by ‘side desires’.
And since all changes, all phenomena are of the nature of Sunyata one can go into different experiences, different explorations, with a knowing mind that sees these things as essentially impermanent. Therein lays the possibility to transform the energies so that they become ‘Energy for the Path’ – i.e. Anger on a deeper level is nothing less than the Thrust for Enlightenment. Every new/now experience awakens question and expands consciousness. Our goal is to unfold. The garden of the world has all varieties of flowers, not just nice little roses. Life is born of complexity and the divine life is the most complex. It is not set, but unsure, and all ways are the way. There is no one special way. There is only Choiceless (choice full) Awareness, Discrimination of non-discrimination. Freedom is born of Complexity and the greater the complexity, the greater the Freedom.
You are all Children of God, of the Universe. Pick up your cross (the body, the problems of this incarnation) and follow me to experiencing being a full human being. You have to experience all aspects of human consciousness–the richness of Life experience which is the mud from which springs the Lotus. God put us here on Earth that we might awaken to the abundant joyous life, which is nothing other than full Awareness in the state of Grace and the full harmonious use of all our functions; sensing, feeling, thinking and intuiting.
This life is rare. You don’t know how long it will last. Nothing is satisfactory, so work and make full use of it. Give it meaning. Meditation is out of compassion for your own being. Events are uncertain. Hurled from womb to tomb–from emptiness to emptiness–living in between, you are the hunted prey and Death is the hunter. To meditate on death produces a sense of urgency. All other beings are in a worse condition; having no Dharma, they live blindly, with no glimmering of Awakening. All their energies are wasted, their potential and life substance are being used up in trivia, dissipation. Even the jhanas are dukkha because, relative to Awakening, they are a pale shadow. Everyone is suffering. Relative to the possibilities of Awakening, their joys are small, transient and change in a moment.
To have arrived where you are now, your operating consciousness is the result of innumerable relations between beings. You have been fed by other beings; all conversations, books, language, etc. have made you what you are today. All beings are your parents. Bodhicitta is that compassion for all beings, and you have to Awaken in order to help them – to know how, when, why to help. Along with compassion (mani) you need knowledge, skill and means (padme). Seeing beings in need of help, how can you help? It is only by drinking from Life’s experience that you can later be of help to other beings. (Marpa said to Milarepa that had he experienced Despair more often and more profoundly he would have become a greater teacher). By experiencing the Fullness of Life you will be able later to help others, through mutual experience, by understanding in depth what the other being is suffering. In this way the Vajrayana is a system which produces Teachers. Heart for Bodhi is ‘for myself and others may I attain Awakening’. Action for Bodhi is when you begin to help beings with the knowledge gained. Therefore be the Hunter and not the Hunted – take the Offensive.
Love, Faith and Wisdom; these are the three pillars of the Teaching. Exploration and awareness are the tools with which we build. It is how we feel and think – how we live, struggle and work, that carries us to God.
FOUNDATION II–TANTRA
Within the Tantric system of meditation, there is a clearly defined progression of events leading to the final Realisation. (Awakening is gradual and sudden simultaneously.) After procuring the Guru, then, one must obtain the Complete Four Initiations – The Vase Initiation (water), Crown Initiation (earth), Bell Initiation (fire) and Vajra Initiation (air). Corresponding to these four Initiations are: The Four Bodies – the Four Worlds; sense, form, formless, Nirvana – The Four Aspects of Consciousness – and the Four Divine Abidings; loving kindness and serenity (Passive/Nirvana), compassion and joy (Active/Samsaric). The Wong-Kur is a mixture of human and meditation – and like a mystery play, uses depth symbols to get past discursive thought.
As well as these Initiations, there are four general levels of Tantra. At the first level (Kriya Yoga) visualisation is above the head. You are asking the saviour to come, higher beings, levels, Enlightened Ones. At the next level (Chariya Yoga Tantra) visualisation is above and before you; these Higher Beings becomes as guides, protectors, and friends. At the third level (Yoga Tantra) you experience absorption into that Vibration. You become the manifestation of that Being, and as the figure that vibration operates in you; if only for a moment, like the Son of God; a glimpse is seen. On the fourth (Anuttara Yoga Tantra) level you become all the Vibrations and pass beyond – Anuttara – completely beyond, to the Ground of Being. Most Higher Initiations deal with Union. You become, and are able to manifest the Vibrations of, all the deities in the Mandala. You should not try to pass on to others these Vibrations until they have been fully mastered – (i.e. by doing the required retreat, or by Divine injunction from either the Deity or the Guru.)
In the Anuttara Yoga Tantra Wong-Kur there is always a Mandala. One must first enter the Mandala, and then be given the Full Vase and Crown Initiations. Then you must make a great effort to practice the precepts and follow all the advice & admonishments of the Guru, (especially with the Fierce Guru with Phurba Initiation).
Dont rush to attainment–but concentrate on solid foundations.
For the development of the Siddhis, and the ability to manifest Dharma, one must enter the Mandala, follow the precepts and practice the Arising and Perfecting Yogas. The supports for these are Vajrasattva Yoga, Guru Yoga and the Mandala Offering.
III VAJRASATTVA YOGA
Vajrasattva is the manifestation of all rays, all vibrations and chakras, of all the Buddhas. He is the Primordial Wisdom Buddha, the Adi Buddha. The meditation upon Him is practiced for purification; to clear away all the impurities of the Three Worlds (sense, form, formless), removing that which prevents you from Awakening. Purification is the beginning and the end. A being purified is a being illumined.
Upon ones head is a white Lotus, symbolising the purification of energies. It is soft-milky-white-pure. When it appears closed then concentration is sharp (active) and when appearing open, concentration is relaxed (passive). Upon the lotus is the full moon (aspiration for Path). Sitting upon the Lotus-Moon (desire for the Path has been completed, satisfied) is the syllable HUM. Light is streaming out to the Buddhas in space, and then it turns back and is absorbed into the HUM. Then you see the diamond being gathered from the Light, appearing like an opal or moonstone. His body is like white-water-opal. He is adorned with silk clothes, which are new states of consciousness. Sitting in the full lotus posture, he holds the Vajra in his right hand, to his Heart (firm establishment). The Vajra symbolises the skill and means, of attainment, the Way of Realisation. In his left hand he holds the Bell which is Wisdom, the Potential of all that is in the Universe. Light is steaming from his body to the Ten Directions – an expanding globe, invoking all active and passive manifestations from the Ground of Being. Angelic Bodhisattvas are drawn in and absorbed, and his body becomes filled with nectar. It gathers in his big right toe and drop by drop falls into your body through the opening at the top of your head, filling your body. As you are being filled with this nectar, all the defilements and impurities are coming out as smoke from your pores, and a cool black liquid from the anus and the soles of the feet. (Black is the colour of the passions.)
In his heart is the syllable HUM, with the hundred syllable mantra as a garland rotating around it. You imagine the mantra spins, a wheel turning, waves of light – as in a cross or hooking spiral – going out and gathering (hooking) in light. The light from the mantra travels out through the universe. Buddhas’ Pure Lands are giving off light to beings everywhere, to help them. You render offerings and can experience Enlightened Beings and obtain their grace waves, feeling your mind being blessed. (In the early stages these Maha Beings appear to be static, but later they become more alive).
The light then comes back, to the heart of Vajrasattva and enters your body through the chakra at the top of the head. As you are repeating the mantra, drop by drop your body is gradually filled with milk-like-clear crystal light. The auric body is healed and cleansed, and all the defilements are washed away. (In an absolute sense, sin does not exist. It is a goodness or a neutral good, put together wrongly.) The sinner, the sin, and act of sin are all cleansed and transformed. Then the body is entirely filled with this crystal milk-light, Vajrasattva dissolves, and you have attained to the Stage of Vajrasattva. I become the very essence of the Divine Being, and am absorbed into the deathless.
The hundred-syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva represents the unfolding of the Thousand Petalled Lotus, the Crown Chakra – 1 + = man in union.
OM VAJRA SATTVA SAMAYA. MANU PALAYA. VAJRA SATTVA TWE NOPE TEETA. DRIDHO ME BHAVA. SUPO SHYO ME BHAVA. SUTO SHYO ME BHAVA. ANARAKTO ME BHAVA. SARVA SIDDHI MEM PRAYATSA. SARVA KARMA TSU TSA ME. TSI TAM SHRIYA KURU HUNG. HA HA HA HA HO! BHAGAVAN SARVA. TATHAGATA VAJRA. MA ME MUNYITSA VAJRA BHAVA. MAHA SAMAYA. SATTVA. AH.
Om. Over the Vow of the Adamantine Being. Do thou Vajrasattva stay nearby (Presence). Steady me. Gladden me. Enrich me. (Make to flourish in me better states of consciousness.) Be loving towards me. Perfect me in all deeds. Purify my karma. Make virtuous (clear) my mind. HUM–energy for the Path. HA HA HA HA–the four ecstasies; Joy. HO! The Watcher in the Night–fierce determination to awaken. Strong one of all the Thus Gone (present: the essence of all beings dwelling in the here/now, transcendence.) Do not abandon me. Make me Adamantine, thou of the Great Vow. AH!–Love-filling space, the second stage of God just before manifestation; the Sambhogakaya.
This mantra should be recited before every meditation 21 times, in order to purify. It will, at the least, arrest the defilements, and allow for greater ease in meditation. It should also be repeated at the end of every meditation to consolidate the gains you have made. Before all Wong-Kurs as well, recite the mantra, and ponder its meaning. This will help to negate previous negative karma. Later, the visualisation on Vajrasattva includes his consort, Nyema. She is in union with him in the Great Bliss of non-differentiation. Her body is white, and in her right hand she holds a short curved knife (ego cutting knife). In her left hand she holds a skull-cup, which represents Lightning Samadhi–Opening; the blasting away of Samsaric Formations. The veins in the skull are the pathways of consciousness, and held upside down it represents Emptiness. The blood which fills it is the Origins of Consciousness, of Life, and you must drink from it.
In practicing this meditation for the purification of defilements, it must be remembered that in an absolute sense, sin does not exist. Life is not evil, everything is transformed, – it is only thinking that makes Evil. Nothing is evil in and of itself. The essential nature of all conditions and thoughts is Pure. Remove the blocks (defilements) and you restore the Steam/Flow in its original strength and purity. The original mind is pure, it can never be contaminated. Sin and defilements are but mind obscuring mind.
Therefore focus on Vajrasattva and not on the defilements. Forget all your views about Dharma, and focus on Vajrasattva. The holder of the diamond thunderbolt. Lightning–lightning samadhi. Thunder–dissolution of name and form, and the distinctions between mind and consciousness. The meditation on Vajrasattva is to heal the split between the higher and lower nature, and their apparent separation.
IV GURU YOGA
Guru is the Buddha; Guru is the Dharma; Guru is the Sangha.
In the Hinayana and Mahayana, the student on the Path must fit into an impersonal system, which requires great faith. In the Vajrayana, the system is personal. It changes to meet the needs of the student. The Guru is one who has experienced the Path and foregoes its Fruition; and, coming to this plane, understands what beings are suffering. In the beginning, the Guru and Chela are testing each other, and the dialogue often takes the form of a battle. But no being, however negative, does not in their depths desire Awakening. The Guru, relating from the heart, touches the disciple, so that he may feel at ease and have confidence in him. In this way he gets through to the being, and is able (it is his duty) to show him his particular talent, gift, vehicle to Awakening–his legacy of karma.
Serve and revere the Guru. He represents your true nature which is obscured. All the potential of the lower nature must serve the Higher Self.
The practice of the Guru Yoga is for protection, stability, giving, and aspiration. The Incarnate Principle Here Now is in the Guru, in everyday life. High Principles are not off in the beyond, but here now. In this practice, Grace Waves, a flow of energy or vibration from the Guru to the student, is accomplished upon reaching a certain blissful state of contact between their auric bodies – A wave from heart to heart (not the Third Eye). When the heart opens, you are in contact with the Guru.
He is a field of merit or power; he has experienced the energy field–all the cells of the body–and can bring power to you. The Guru has experienced within and without–atoms and galaxies. The Vajra with two ends which he holds is Wisdom within and without. He first transmits his experience of Path, of Fields and everything, through the Heart Centre.
OM — white/purity/without purity, no love.
AH — rose/love/without love, no tranquillity.
HUM — blue/tranquillity/without tranquillity, no insight.
All knowledge depends on calmness of mind.
These three vibrations from the Guru merge into one. Together they make up the energy manifest for the path. Three rays, then undulating radiations (deva-naga) – Language of the Light. Angel beings are entering through all the openings and pores in your body. You are cleansed in Body, Voice and Mind; identified with the Three Gems/Jewels, and thus the four initiations are received.
Every moment of consciousness is a jewel.
He is seated in space on a square seat with stars all around. The square is of many coloured stones, like a mosaic. On top of this is the moon–the desire for the Transcendental. You must aspire consciously to Awaken. On top of this is the form of your Lama. He is wearing robes to represent the free will to wander throughout the Universe. He is the Incarnation of the Holder of the Lightning Thunderbolt, which demolishes the ego. Lightning Samadhi is the prelude to Awakening. The first signs are sparks, then the moon still and serene. Then you see the sun; blazing energy rushes into your heart, where there is a red globe or a pillar of fire – Then the blue planet or globe – and then the full lightning samadhi; path or Stream entry which frees your consciousness.
The figure of the Guru then turns blue, and a bluish light is emitted. In his right hand is the Vajra–the Way of awakening. In his left hand is the Bell–all the Potential of the Universe. His robes are loose and free and he wears them easily, they are not clinging to him.
What you are really trying to do is see yourself in depth. Flashing lights in the veins, then hums, clicking of all the tissues, and then large glowing lights of OM AH HUM. Other areas shine. Then you see the auric body of the Teacher, then your own auric body. Later he embraces the Divine Mother, in Union with the Cosmos. Lights–white, red and blue emerge from his figure. In his forehead is a small moon with OM crystal or white. In his throat is a rose on which sits AH, rose-coloured. In his heart is the sun, and on it HUM, blue. The lights go out from his body through the Cosmos, and contact many other Beings and then return with all the light and presence gathered there, to enter and fill your body.
The white, red and blue lights then merge into a single trinity and they and the Lama become Light. Through him knowledge of Dharma is made possible. He can bring you in contact with the community of Higher Beings throughout the Universe. He is Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Knowing the Unborn, the Beginningless State (Bhagavan)–it is he who gives seeds and the pith instruction. He, the Root Guru, as the Incarnate, Living Buddha is most important. One should therefore give up all other services and offerings, except to the Guru alone. You offer to the Guru as you would to the Lord Buddha.
As you give freely to the Guru, you know your depths are moving in that direction–he is it in you. Then you really believe it is the Higher Self you are on about. The lower potential, serving and believing in the Higher. Five years service to the Guru–the offering of Body. Mantra–the offering of Voice. Every time you utter a mantra you are having a dialogue with the Higher Mind, an offering to Higher Consciousness. Visualisation is the offering of Mind.
When do you really believe it? That you really do have it in you to Awaken? When you give, freely give, becoming cool. Nothing is as conducive to spiritual sloth as gaping at the virtues of others. Bring that to your own being. By the work of day to day. With the work-a-day life, wonder arises–past the glimmer is the wonder of the Universe, interest, an inventing mind based on wonder, question. You have to increase question, the State of Question, without seeking an answer. Drop the exotic and get down to earth. Cut out the glimmer of Big Wongs, Temples, Lamas, Robes.
The Root Guru is ……..
The Gate is always open; if you trust, walk in.
V MANDALA OFFERING
There are many ways to serve the Guru: caring for the temple, sweeping, waiting on the Guru, offerings of body, voice and mind. Offerings are service, and praise to the Teacher is practice.
The practice of the Mandala Offering is for the expansion of mind. Man=mind. Data=expansion of consciousness. You are able to see figures as large planets, or as small as mustard seeds. It is expansion inwards and outwards.
OM BENZRA BHUME AH HUM!
On the entirely clear foundation (Ground of Being) of solid gold is
OM BENZRA REKE AH HUM!
A great iron wall is laid up around your being and in front of it is strength and protection. On the inner plane you may experience this as a huge iron door and clusters of flowers. Inside may be a magic garden guarded by all sorts of monsters–it is the garden of the Magicians. In the centre of the garden is a large cone-shaped mountain–earth. (Mt. Sumeru) Around it are four spheres (in the outermost circle) East, South, West and North. They correspond to the four elements; (water, earth, fire and air) and are of different colours. In between are small islands of Consciousness, eight in number. In the East is the Sacred Elephant, in the West is a Sacred Horse (Pegasus), to the North a Sacred Girl Rinpoche, and to the South the sacred Overseer. In the North East a Sacred Warrior, North West a Jewel, (the Wish Fulfilling Gem), in the South West the Dharma Chakra and in the South East a Great Treasury, heaps of jewels. Around Mt. Meru in the inner-most circle are the Sun, Moon, Banner of Victory, and Jewelled Umbrella.
For now, however, forget the elaborate Mandala, as it is far too complicated. Start with four figures in four spheres looking out with the Divine Eye, all contained within a Planet sphere which is crystal. You visualise the spheres as elements (the Mahamudra Mandala); Earth–yellow, Water–milk-white, Fire–Red-Golden, Air–green-bluish. Looking out from the planet sphere you see rocks, rivers of lava, veins, mountains. In the centre is dark blue which opens into the void vortex of Sunyata. It will be like being in a crystal living aura, the space vehicle/platform from which you go out and space travel in, surrounded by colours like a soap bubble. A figure will arise in the centre which is the ego. The navel will open to the Void and in the centre of the four spheres will appear archetypal figures, the Great Mother, etc. Explore each globe, what does it contain? Then you move out beyond the surface of the planet sphere, out into space, suns, moons, galaxies. At this moment, offer it all up to the Guru.
Also, make mandalas; of clay – the original or prima material – or with flowers, gems, sand; covered with incense and perfume. Draw mandalas, basically along the lines of the Double Dorje, with the four elements, and the void centre. A stable cross (+) represents the stabilisation on the Path, while a creative cross (X) represents movement, progress on the Path. You can also experiment with four circles, and one in the middle.
*****Build the Mandala in your mind.
What you build represents what you are.
Everything you see is a part of the Mandala, the wealth of the Cosmos. You can offer it.
Whatever appears – offer it up in its entirety – everything is connected.
As you are surrounded by these four globes, and are investigating what they contain, offer up whatever it is you find.
Whatever appears in the Mind offer up – Buddha’s Palace.
Imagine you are building a house of your own choice, revealing the structure of the mind. The Mandala is High Architecture.
Offer the Mandala; joy, merit, serenity, sufferings, powers, clarity of mind, education, all abilities of mind – offer it all, everything.
In the middle of the day if you confront an unwholesome state, or a flash of joy, offer it up, for it is all flowing from all beings, through you, to the Attainment of the Guru.
That is where you ‘well destined’ disciples are destined.
It is all flowing that way.
“Accept these offerings please. Incorporate me into ‘That’ state and give me your blessings.”
Praying, aspiring, focus your mind on that thought.
“Lift me higher, accept these struggles, understand them, and grant me your blessing.” (Blessing – mangalam, garlands of the Mind.)
*****Also render the outer offerings, physically, visually, as well as mentally; Rice Offerings, the seeds of consciousness, the Thought of Awakening; Right Action; Right Effort, energy, the complete energy flow (Transcendence Abiding); Right Livelihood, abiding awareness.
Render the Seven Classic Outer Offerings:
Water: one bowl for drinking – spiritual nourishment.
one bowl for washing – for cleansing.
Flowers: Attainment of Buddhahood; beauty.
Incense: Sila, pure moral conduct.
Lamplight: Wisdom.
Scented Water: Sanctity, saffron – the higher love principle, devotion.
Rice Cakes: Abundance, and sound.
The Inner Offerings are:
Moments of Jhana and insight that have been produced in your meditation
Offerings of Nectar, the Tig Le (Bindu), the flame/embryo which burns in Tumo; the Three Ecstasies; male, female, and neuter.
Fire and dropping Tig Le – the Embryo.
The Secret Offerings are the High Yogic Unions where you become one with the Guru.
The Highest Bliss: Awakening.
Praise, for the Teacher, is practice; keep the precepts and ask for speedy realizations.
Psychic powers are natural to you; you need greater seeing, clarity, clearing, to develop the powers that will serve others.
“Save me from situations that obstruct and confuse; grant me, by these sincere prayers and offerings, the OM AH HUM.”
Together making up the energy manifest for the path, the lights enter through all the openings and pores of your body.
“Thereupon, the Guru above me in space enters me, and the Body, Voice and Mind of the Guru become identical with mine”.
Repeat the Hundred-Syllable Mantra at the end to consolidate.
VI ARISING YOGA
On the Path, you first collect and receive Wong-Kur (Initiation), enter the Mandala, and follow the precepts.
In the second part, you practice the Arising and Perfecting Yogas.
Arising Yoga is Insight into the emptiness of Form, through the creation and dissolution of Form (unreal).
Perfecting Yoga is Insight into the nature, the ‘Essential Nature’ of Body and Mind. The Enlightenment Break-through.
Arising Yoga, and seeing into the Emptiness of Form; creation and dissolution, is the seeing of Shunyata.
All things on the ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ are arising and passing away.
When you see this it leaves you with the Ground of Being Mind.
Without this you get caught into form, duality.
But here – you put all of your mind, everything, into the creation and dissolution of manifestation (form) and then the Illumined Mind is experienced.
You should practice: “All forms are dreamlike and insubstantial”.
The Play of Mind, a dance. The Word at Play.
All things are play-things compared to the underlying Reality.
Games of the Word. Play-words of the Word, the Word playing.
All prayers, exercises and the like, in Arising Yoga, are form, to be treated as a Game.
You are not doing anything serious.
Play is the highest man can do.
Anything that is done after grubbing about for necessities, for existence, survival – are games.
After survival has been insured, you play games, and the ‘good games’ are for the progress of Evolution.
Play the Master Game.
What is projecting the movie on the screen?
Things eventually pass from form to formless in the course of the practice.
The play of mind creates forms, then dissolves them into light, then into Shunyata.
Always transcending your works, mind becomes more flexible because of the myriad aspects and complexities; one is not obsessed or caught in any one thing.
In this practice you meditate on one radiant being, a basic, major archetypal manifestation.
Father figure (Patron Buddha) first, then Mother figure (Patron Saviouress – Tara).
Though we usually think of the Mother Principle as the first principle, here the Father is dealt with first because in him is the Cause of all Causes, the Manifestor (Variocana Principle). Tara was born out of the Father principle manifest – Chenresi.
These figures are simple, basic forms of the depth mind.
You must choose them personally because you have to liberate the heart, and not just see them as Abstracts.
All beings are miraculously incarnate flesh, born of the mind; the spiritual body, the Nirmanakaya. A miraculously formed body, rare to come by, the pinnacle of evolution.
The human being is the midpoint between celestial highs and the depths of suffering and struggle – with the equipment to Awaken.
Dukkha: life is a struggle, from embryo on. Pushing out is a struggle, division, duality, two breasts to go to; decision, question.
This body sustained, miraculously emanated existence, sliding from one form to another – the Nirmanakaya, the Maker, the Transformer, the Miracle Worker. The one who understands the laws and transforms them into other laws, other forms.
A Tulku is an incarnate being in whom duty is present.
The Sambhogakaya is the sphere of existence of the Body of Consumation, the Celestial Body; the complete and perfect body which lies beyond the Nirmanakaya.
It is the Over-self; the study of the Archetypal Father and Mother figure leads to the realization of your own Over-self, your own Celestial Body.
Within the Arising Yoga practice there are two types of exercises.
First there is visualization, and second, the practice of Tutelary Pride/Transcendent Ego.
Visualize the Patron Deity, the Radiant Being, through gradual steps until the Body is completely formed in your mind.
Reduce the figure to one face, two arms with hands in prayer, and disregard all else.
Scan the figure from the feet to the head, or from the head to the feet.
First is the Overall scan without clothes, ornaments, etc.
Work on one part until you bring it in clearly, then add the next part. Or, if other parts come in, look at these individually and gradually you will view the Patron Deity in its entirety.
Then add all the details.
Hold the visualization loosely.
If it fades, look at a Tankha, a representation, and bring it in clearly again.
Repeat the mantra to keep away distractions.
The greatest obstacle to meditation is discursive thought. No matter how noble your thoughts may be, they are nonetheless discursive.
Interest makes for concentration and energy.
Your mind is always concentrated somewhere, and if you are involved in the work you do not feel the itches, restlessness etc.
One-pointedness of mind is Samadhi, which is present in a weaker form in every moment of consciousness.
Meditation strengthens this ever present Samadhi and develops it; it becomes the completely self-realized fixing of the mind, complete Union.
There is no wavering, no doubt, only a soft continuum.
Doubt is only transcended when you are in complete union, the one-going mind, the Mind gone to Oneness, in oneness, going to the One Mind.
Because concentration makes for interest, a dull mind cannot visualize the plain rupa, simple things; it gets bored and therefore needs highly complex things to keep it interested.
Keen minds know what they must do and go ahead strongly.
In your visualisation do not strive for a Xerox image. Clearly see the image and get the feeling of that image.
Feel it as light moving through you.
Of these two, the latter is more important.
Once you have begun to glimpse the rupa, you start to alternate in your practice with the second phase – Tutelary Pride, or the Transcendent ego.
Your conditioning, every act and thought, has gone into making up your personal unconscious, i.e. all the personal experiences of this life.
Beyond your personal unconscious is the Collective unconscious; imprinted in the cells of your body is all of man’s experience down through the Aeons (the Sambhogakaya).
Man has a common reservoir, a common knowledge, common origins.
We all get similar results, and experience archetypal symbols common to all, with your personal programming of this lifetime dressing it.
First you must come to awareness of the personal unconscious and then of the Collective Unconscious.
Where the unconscious is there consciousness will be.
The whole point of the Teaching is expanded Awareness, not ‘putting down the ego’.
You can’t put down the ego, unless you are a vegetable.
Only a being with strong ego can put down defenses and flow, trusting.
Resistance to flow is defense, clarity is flow.
For the weak ego, everything out there is a ‘Big Deal’, because they themselves feel weak and small. Only the weak ego is egocentric because it must defend itself.
A being that has no need to defend itself moves freely into exploration.
At first the weak ego cannot shift from the material to the spiritual.
Afterwards there is difficulty in shifting from spiritual to the material.
Ego is the scanner, it reflects from the vast thought in-put, makes corrections, associations, protects you from emotions you can’t handle.
It is discriminating peripheral awareness with a central concentration.
As the mind cannot focus on any one thing, it becomes the searcher for the new.
Our task is not to abandon the ego, but to expand it.
To a Transcendent Ego that overcomes Samsaric pride in ego; we create a more flexible ego.
We all share a common psychic structure, with the four aspects of thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting.
All archetypes and all aspects are in every being.
The weak ego, feeling lost and unsure, labels others, so as to relate themselves to others as fixed cardboard figures.
You cannot label, for to see or present only one aspect is asking for psychic damage.
In the practice, therefore, you identify yourself with the Deity.
You think after the meditations ” I have progressed towards becoming this figure.”
“It is first necessary to make the organ of vision analogous to and similar to the object to be contemplated. Never would the eye have perceived the sun if it had not first taken the Form of the sun; likewise the soul cannot see beauty unless it first becomes beautiful itself, and everyman must make himself beautiful and divine in order to attain the sight of Beauty and Divinity.” – Plotinus.
“Meditation has to be done by focusing your attention on the pure radiant light. In contemplating the Deities of the Mandala, in which both you and they reside, you have to feel the pride of being Divine like them. In this way, both the coarser and subtler forms of the unifying process have to be practiced.” – Tsong-Ka-Pa.
At the same time, you have to differentiate between visions.
Only archetypal figures, spheres, triangles, diamonds, crystals, etc. can help you come into contact with these Beings; the Collective Unconscious.
You have to put down spurious odds and ends that come up and fix your mind on the ‘potent’ symbols, the superb appearances. Then you begin to experience and believe in your own being as the Buddha nature, this dwelling place.
You respect yourself.
You also begin to see others more deeply, and not relate superficially.
Behind your being is the Over-self, the Higher Mind, Collective Unconscious, Sambhogakaya – and you must contact it.
Transcendent Ego.
After the meditation you have a feeling of a deeper being. Try to keep this going, the feeling of deep being, between meditation sessions.
Then you find that you are more deeply relaxed, serene.
Your mind remains steady through fluctuations.
Your are Chenresi seated in meditation in a palace, with shining jewels, columns, etc., seated in a house of your own making.
Then all of what is around you becomes the Palace, all the material objects are as the dwelling place of the Buddha – life sparkling.
And all beings are the Buddha.
The Divine Figure sits in the beyond-measure Palace; the Three Worlds, the Universe around you.
Planets all have consciousness, the Universe is Mind, and the planets are matter.
All the devices of the mind are of the Universe.
Visualising the Palace is as important as the contents.
All that is happening is part of the Mandala.
Look at it all and the laws operating behind it.
Even stray thoughts in meditation are there for a reason.
All manifestations are the Mandala of Heaven.
All the feelings and experiences are the Great Bliss.
All thoughts are the un-created, and not separated from Ground of Being.
Build the Mandala. You are a builder.
Do something – the body is a manifestation of mind – work it.
It is not something split off.
The structures you build are representative of the Animus, the principle of Order.
Man is the builder.
Creation is all around, and man can take from his intuitive grasp of creation a direction – building with what is around him.
You can direct the flow.
The main purpose of this practice is so that you may come to recognize that the Buddha nature is in all Sentient Beings, seeing beings as the Embryo of Buddha.
When you see the Yab-Yum you discover that Undifferentiated Wisdom and Skill and Means come from the same source.
Create a path to the Source, you have the ability to use them balanced together.
JUST REMEMBER – ARE YOU A BUBBLE OR ARE YOU A STONE?
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Foundations – 02 [‘rough’ edited by wesley, do not circulate]
Commentarial Notes on Foundation Work from Namgyal Rinpoche
Foundation of Meditation – One should have the development of sila (coolness) the development of awareness and the development of loving-kindness (all embracing).
Foundation Work = Hinayana = Small Vehicle
No need to know if an act is moral or not, but whether it is conducive to awakening.
Tantra Foundation – Guru Yoga, Vajra Sattva Yoga, Mandala Offering:
Guru Yoga – Instructing one in giving and aspiration teaches that everything can be transformed. (For the good, no evil.)
Vajra Sattva Yoga – Instructing one in clearing the mind, auric body etc. (Meditational figures that appear become finer and more ethereal.)
Mandala – Is a device used for the development of the mind. (When drawn as a circle, expresses the totality of consciousness.)
One of the duties of the Teacher is keep changing so as to show different aspects – (likes to label beings so they can have a specific relationship.) To be a full complete human being one has to have the experience of their psyche – the aspects of consciousness: thinking, feeling, intuiting and sensing. The cross meant the body +. Freedom is born out of complexity (De Chardin). All these things are within you and you have to master them.
TANTRA
Receive initiation (empowerment) and practice Arising and Perfecting Yogas. Do not begin Perfecting Yoga until you have a stable samadhi from the Arising Yoga. One should strengthen the mind – the weak mind is easily overthrown. (Overall state of mind – KARMA)
Corporeal desires are illusion.
All beings that are in existence are feeding you.
Father principle – urging you on (to go further)
Mother principle – supporting
One should remember with gratitude and respect, if not, one will fall down into a mechanical path – knowing of the Stream of Consciousness. Awakening is when entering the stream. Nourish the Bodhi- Heart. (Aspiration for Awakening.)
General Preparation
Gain complete Wong Kur and observe the precepts of Tantra.
Basic Morality – Everything that you do is for the Awakening, step away from the act and look at the reason why
Complete the first four initiations:
OM AH HUM,
OM VAJRA SATTVA HUM,
OM MANI PADME HUM,
OM BENZRA BHUMI AHUM.
Wong Kur – is a mixture of very different types of meditation (seed):
1) Breathing
2) Visualisation
3) Point (Chakras)
4) Sound – Mantra (the murmur suggests the stream)
5) Gestures – Mudra (the Dance)
6) Devotion – Love flow (4 Divine Abidings; love, joy, serenity, compassion) – love and serenity = the ground (Nirvana)
Natural Mind, Nirvana joy and compassion = the active (Samsara) and Samsara are one.
7) Direct Realisation of Mind – Insight (Mystery Play – using depth symbols to get past discursive thought. This begins to set in motion certain things. There are meditation experiences that are ‘symbolic’ – one should experience the baptisms of water and fire.)
Four Tantras – 4 levels
1) Invoking Great Beings
2) Guide (Friend) relationship with them
3) Yoga Tantra – Become manifestation of that being
4) Annuttara Yoga Tantra – Become all manifestations and pass beyond.
Crown Initiations – Demchog and Hevajra, closely connected, higher empowerments. These lay foundation for complex yogas such as the 6 Yogas of Naropa or Niguma – (Naropa is for males and Niguma for females, similar but specific for each gender).
Lesser initiations are water initiations.
Touch – body, mantra – speech, listen with right ear, mind – gtorma (eat) symbol of transmission of mind.
Mandala is body –
Torma – heart
Vase – crown
Jewels – lower chakras
(either side are means of attainment).
Tibetan is Demchog – Chakra Samvara (Sanskrit – Wheel of Being)
VajraSattva Yoga
One should think that life is transient and full of pitfalls, therefore one should use this lifetime well (precious life) here and now. The meditation on death is used to produce immediacy. One should then think that all other beings are in the same state. (Perhaps worse, if they are not in the Dharma.)
The Heart of Bodhi: The devotion to strive for Enlightenment to help all sentient beings: Thought, Reasons, Actions for Bodhi. Vajra Sattva helps to remove all obstructions from the path. Vajra Sattva is the manifestation of all the Buddhas. 100 Syllable mantra should be repeated 21 times before, during and after Wong Kurs. If you repeat it 100,000 times (knowing what you are doing) one can negate all previous karma (100,000 wholesome moments.)
Guru Yoga
The vibration from Teacher to student, you are contacting the auric body of the Teacher therefore the heart centre must be open to be able to read the auric body of the Teacher. Heart must trust in the Teacher as the field of merit (power) – sphere of experience of cosmos – experience of experiencing all the cells of the body and galaxies (Dorje – vision of within and without.) You should revere your Guru because the Guru is your true nature (power- potential.)
Visualise him/her seated in space on a (square), lion shaped seat made of many coloured jewels. On top of the jeweled throne is a lotus moon. Imagine the form of your lama seated on the lotus moon. Figure turns blue – blue light; right hand holding dorje, left hand holding bell. Robes loose and flowing – OM AH HUNG. Triple light spreads out and gathers back, brings higher beings in touch (contact) with you. They are brought back to the body of your lama. This light then comes and fills your body. Guru should become everything – Buddha, Dharma, Sangha the embodiment of the three refuges.
To give to the Teacher shows that you have trust in your higher self. One should give up other offerings and dedicate oneself to the Teacher. Signs to Awakening: sparks, moon, sun (blazing energy) blue globe (planet) Lightning Samadhi.
Mandala Offerings
In the monasteries they do 5 years of services to show on the mundane level that they are able to do service for others – that you can do these services in clear consciousness, outward and inward – Body Offering
Repeating the mantra is having a dialogue with the higher consciousness – Speech Offering.
The mandala is a device for the development of expansion of the mind, expansion of consciousness, outward and inward – Mind Offerings.
Construct a mandala to offer to the Guru, Mount Sumeru in the centre; 4 continents with scattered islands of consciousness, sun, moon, and planets. North Sacred Guru Rinpoche, South Sacred Family Overseer, East Sacred Elephant, West Sacred Supreme Horse, NW – Sacred Warrior, SE – Precious Wheel, NE – Precious Jewel, SW – Great Treasure. This mandala includes the wealth of the cosmos – the mandala of clay or gems smeared with incense and fine nectars. Within the visualised outer wall of protection, which also defines the area being worked with, there are clusters of gorgeous flowers.
OM BENZA BUME AHUM – With this mantra the great wall is laid up[ward] (Lead colour of clay represents the root chakra) strength and protection (inner plane may experience iron door, voice says to pass through) flowers and trees around wall of different colours (the garden of the Magician) In the centre is the Mountain (cone) 4 continents (circles) in 4 directions ESWN 4 colours, between these are islands of consciousness (Western equivalent) Make mandala in the form of double dorje (Cross of Creation), Centre void – 4 circles of light come out from centre.
Imagine oneself seated in the centre of the Earth, looking out through the divine eye, imagine that you are in the globe, will see an embryo – the surface is different colours – imagine that this is the planet Earth, it becomes a vehicle to space time. One can offer anything, everything – everything that you see is part of the cosmos. ‘Now I am before the Teacher and I offer’. Offer all the joys, powers, clarity, etc. – One has to have the ability to receive blessings – praying – centre on that, through to help me, bless me. The Flowering of Mind.
Classic 7 (Outer) offerings from left to right:
1) water – drink, nourishment
2) water – second water for cleansing
3) flowers – purity of morals
4) incense –smoke wafting is moving energy
5) light – wisdom
6) water – scented with saffron or perfume for higher mind, primordial brain connection
7) rice – abundance and sound
Also offer:
1) Inner offerings; moments of jhana, insights arising from breathing, meditations etc.
2) Offerings of nectar; male – bindhu, female – embryo, neuter – flame
3) Secret offerings, results of high yogic union (become one with Guru)
4) Most Secret offerings, radiates from OM AH HUM – Purity – Love – Serenity
Arising and Perfecting Yogas:
Arising Yoga – Leads to insight of arising and passing of forms
Impermanence of form (creation and dissolution of mind)
All forms are dreamlike – insubstantial. Mantra Yoga of (game) words, play of words is therefore like a game (glass bead game – read Herman Hesse’s Glass Bead Game).
Form dissolves into light, then Sunyata.
Perfecting Yoga – Insight and Enlightenment breakthrough
Perfecting Yoga, real nature of mind and body, must first attain stable samadhi.
Stable Samadhi – joy, one-pointedness, no discursive thought, clarity.
First meditate on patron Buddha – Father Chenresi, Mother Tara.
Flesh is creation of mind. Need to decide this is Dukkha, push through to Enlightenment.
Nirmanakaya – Miraculously Generated Existence (Physical manifestation of Guru)
Sambhogakaya – Celestial Sphere of Existence (beyond physical), ‘Bodhisattva Deities’
Dharmakaya – Highest level of being – ‘Buddha Consciousness’
Foundation of 6 yogas is Dumo Practice (Fire and Water)