It’s quite easy to think that the resting mind and the moving mind have completely different natures, and that when the mind is moving, the stillness has been lost. Some students think that they must clear away the movement before the mind can be at rest. They believe that there is a contradiction between the […]
External appearances appear to the mind, but they are just a construction of the mind; when they appear, the mind gives them a label. For that reason, even if outside things seem good, there is not actually a whole lot to be attached to. If they seem bad, there is nothing to feel aversion toward. […]
The instruction that we need to identify our body, speech, and mind is a particularly important instruction for our time. The reason is that today, many people think that our mind is our brain, or that the brain and the mind are the same thing. The brain is something that can cause thoughts to happen […]
When we speak about luminous clarity, we are not really talking about light or rays of light. We are not really talking about anything terribly profound. It just means the ability to know and understand that whatever there is can appear and can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and understood. This quality of luminous clarity […]
It might seem hard to understand karma. But if we look at it, the teachings on karma simply say that if we have a good intention and do a good act it will bring a good result. If we have a bad intention and do something bad, that will only bring a bad result—harm to […]
There are times when our mind stays with the object of meditation, but the meditation is not very clear, rather it is gentle and soft. It is easy to mistake this for good shamatha, but, in fact, it is not. Such a subtly unclear state of mind needs to be purified by tightening the mind […]
Vipashyana means “the prajna that realizes in a very precise way.” In shamatha we look at mind, but not at what mind actually is. Looking at our mind, we assess the mind’s stability, clarity, wildness, and so forth. But we don’t examine what mind is. What is its shape? What is its color? Does it […]
Without mindfulness (Tib. dranpa), there can be no samadhi. If mindfulness fails, the mind wanders. What is it that knows whether or not the mind has wandered? It is the quality of alertness (Tib. shezhin), which has the sense of knowing what is occurring in the mind in the present. These two are of great […]
The nature of the mind, the essence of the mind, is empty. But is this emptiness just blank, inanimate nothingness? No. It is clear in that it can know things; it is able to understand and be aware of things. This is what is meant by clarity. The essence of this clarity is empty, and […]
When we speak about dharmata, or things as they really are, we are speaking about the absence of the confusion and mistaken appearances that ordinary people experience most of the time. When we talk about the mind itself (Tib. semnyi), or mind as it is, we are referring to the inseparability of luminosity and emptiness. […]
Pure awareness, the empty essence, the union of clarity and wisdom, the essence of clarity and wisdom — all these can be synonyms for wisdom or awareness. This is the essence that is present with in all sentient beings, yet we do not recognize it. We have the instructions to recognize it, and if we […]
The third contemplation in Mind Training is on the infallibility of karma, which is cause and effect. The word karma is often understood as a fate that is impossible to change or alter. But that is not the Buddhist concept of karma. The Buddha taught that one can do something about one’s karma. Happiness and […]
If we start thinking about impermanence now, while we still have time to find skillful means to deal with it, then later we will not be caught unaware. Even though in the short term, the contemplation of death and impermanence might cause discomfort, in the long term it will actually save us from greater suffering. […]
The process of working with our life situation in the practice of tantric Buddhism consists first of acknowledging that one’s own basic nature is that potential, that Buddha nature, and then of meditating upon its presence within one by regarding oneself as a deity. The form of the deity is the embodiment or expression of […]
Since everything comes down to mind, we can attain the ultimate result. We are able to give up all of samsara because samsara is just the mind. We are able to achieve nirvana because nirvana is just the mind. The afflictions of desire and hatred sometimes seem like solid things that we can’t get rid […]
We become attached to our wealth and possessions, to food and clothing, to our home — all the good things of life. Through clinging to these things, we get distracted. We might have faith in the Dharma and understand that we need to practice, but we are so distracted that we don’t get around to […]
The moment we say, “I’ve been born,” someone can reply, “Yes, and you are going to die. The sign of your approaching death has already appeared.” We may think that we can put our feet up, relax for a while, and take it easy, but that’s not how it is. Instead, we need to realize, […]
Bodhicitta is focused on all beings without exception. This differs from ordinary compassion in that usually we feel compassion for those who are obviously suffering and wish that they be free from suffering, but we may not feel compassion for those that are doing well or who are apparently happy. However, the aspect of great […]
It is true that when we look at our minds, we have afflictions and thoughts, we have all kinds of suffering and problems. But at the same time, we always have the innate potential to transcend these. The reason why we have this innate potential is that the nature of the mind and the nature […]
The attainment of Buddhahood, the path through which it is attained, really begins with the generation of bodhicitta, which is the intention to attain liberation so that one can bring all beings to that same state. Since this is the motivation with which the path is begun, when the result of the path, buddhahood, is […]
