Q: I was hoping you can clarify the undercurrent distraction during practice. So I thought I heard you say that when you notice undercurrent distraction coming up, that you should look at it and dissolve it. So I think I might be in misunderstanding that a little bit.
A: Not much. But it’s just in, the ordinary projection of, you know, like this ordinary projection of thoughts or the ordinary distraction which is like somebody close the door, make a big bang sound and then you’re like “who came inside? who left outside?” you know, there’s a sense of like, shift in your mind. That’s a very solid distraction. Not necessarily bad, not necessarily good, it’s just waste of time. So, and then undercurrent distraction is the distinction, you know? The distinction is, the undercurrent distraction is you’re chanting, you’re reading, you’re visualizing everything but there’s a lack of, lack of present. You’re doing it out of habit.
You’re doing it out of habit, that you may have accumulated for months and months of practicing it. But you are not really present. The words that you’re reading, every single sentence does not really, truly reflect to your mind. So how you reflect the meaning, you just jump one after another, somewhere, where you like to think for yourself, where you like to get some point in your mind.
So when you have a sense of genuine awareness, everything that you read, everything you visualize, everything becomes very translucent, very much alive, very much translucent, very much present. So that’s that.
Like an example, like when you’re visualizing a deity, the very principle of visualizing a deity should not be in an idea of rigid mindset. Such as “this exists here! this exists there!” or “the form of Green Tara has to be like this!”. There’s no form of fixation. You’re visualizing translucent, at the same time you have awareness, but very much present from your mind and in terms of visualization and sense of joy along with it.
That is important. Practice has to be joyful.
But not a forced joy, just because I said it. That joy has to be developed. In order to develop the joy in the Dharma, you need to have understanding: the cause of suffering, the reality of the suffering. And when you understand that, joy of Dharma flourishes by itself. Otherwise trying to find the motivation is simply like trying to find a gold somewhere without any clear knowing where to find it. You know? So that’s that.
Niguma’s “Amulet Mahamudra” by Kalu Rinpoche (afternoon session – 7′ 33”)
Kagyu Sukha Chöling – Friday March 11, 2022
To be continued …
Comments are closed.