So now the fifth cycle:
“གཉིས་པ་ལ་ལྟ་སྟངས་དེས་མེད་ལ་བསླབ་པ། ཆོས་སྤྱོད་སྣ་ཚོགས་ལ་བསླབ་པ། སྤྱོད་ལམ་སྣ་ཚོགས་དང་བསྲི་བའོ། གཉིས་པ་ལ་ལྟ་སྟངས་དེས་མེད་ལ་བསླབ་པ།
མིག་གི་ལྟ་སྟངས་མཐོ་བ་ཐག་ཉེ་བ་ཐོག་མཐིལ་ལྟ་བུ་དང་། རིང་བ་རི་རྩེ་འམ་ནམ་མཁའི་དབྱིངས་ལྟ་བུ་ལ་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་སྟེ་དམིགས་སྐོར་ལྔ།”
“nyi pa la ta tang dé mé la lap pa chö chö na tsok la lap pa chö lam na tsok dang si bao nyi pa la ta tang dé mé la lap pa
mik gi ta tang towa tak nyé ba tok til ta bu dang ringwa ri tsé am nam khé ying ta bu la nyam par zhak té mik kor nga”
So now the first. There are three different categories within the fifth meditation cycle. First (1/3) is:
“ལྟ་སྟངས་དེས་མེད་ལ་བསླབ་པ།”
“ta tang dé mé la lap pa”
“ལྟ་སྟངས།།” “ta tang” means when you’re looking into, how can I say “དེས་མེད་ལ་བསླབ་པ།།” “dé mé la lap pa” it is not necessary a one example, way of doing a meditation but more to do with different landscapes, different objects, different colors, different aims, different directions. Not necessarily into one as a thangka, one as a statue. So that’s a one.
Second is combining your state of mind with the practice. And then eventually combining that state of mind to any sort of engagement in life, basically practice. Life becomes one. So that’s that.
And that’s one thing that I have to explain, because many people, we say that “How can I bring the Dharma into our life? How can I bring the Dharma into my life?” and you can’t! You really can’t bring the Dharma, I mean, of course if I try to sound very positive, and exaggerated way, I can say “of course you chant a little bit of mantra here and there, of course and the blessings are there” and so on.
But the reality of bringing the Dharma into our life is to practice as much as we can in our life. Then naturally the influence into our life, can have by itself. But just by looking for the Dharma as solution, how to bring that into your life and that’s not going to work. If that’s how it works, then I can just, you know, pat this text on your head, and now that’s in your life, you know? It doesn’t work like that, right?
So you cannot give a text to somebody and say “there you go, now it’s into your life”. It doesn’t work like that. You have to practice it. Once you practice it and then your perception, your judgment, your reality, everything, comes part of the Dharma. Intertwined? That’s how you say? Like, combined. So that’s that.
So why we need to have a very clear understanding that before we even consider to bring the Dharma into our life, first we must practice appropriately. Without practicing appropriately, there is no such thing as “bringing the Dharma into our life”. That’s just exaggeration. So that’s that.
“མིག་གི་ལྟ་སྟངས་མཐོ་བ་ཐག་ཉེ་བ་ཐོག་མཐིལ་ལྟ་བུ་དང་། རིང་བ་རི་རྩེ་འམ་ནམ་མཁའི་དབྱིངས་ལྟ་བུ་ལ་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་སྟེ་དམིགས་སྐོར་ལྔ།”
“mik gi ta tang towa tak nyé ba tok til ta bu dang ringwa ri tsé am nam khé ying ta bu la nyam par zhak té mik kor nga”
So the first chapter within the fifth meditation cycle, out of three, the first one is looking, meditating. You have a lot of beautiful landscape here in Ashland. You look at the peak of the mountain or the hill, and then simply meditate. Or you look at the space, like the blue space, in a far distance and then you looking at that infinite space and then you meditate like that. Or you can bring a vajra in front of you and then just simply meditate on that.
So any sort of an object that does not bring a lot of projection of thoughts. Like an example, you look at something in between. How can I explain, how can I explain more clearly? Object but not an object that can influence your mind into so many different directions. Right? So you can bring a vajra, you can bring a stupa, you can bring a picture, you can bring a hill of the mountain or the peak of the hill or the space and just simply meditate.
And the difference between people who pretend to meditate and then really meditating is that when you are meditating such as focusing on the hill or peak of the mountain, or the peak of the hill, and then you also have, you need to have awareness of that. You’re not just looking. There’s a difference between just looking and meditating. You’re not just simply gazing or looking on that object but your mind is fully there. Then whatever the projection of thoughts that is about to be risen, that is about to influence your perception or your judgment or whatever that may be, and then you look at the projection of thoughts and then you dissolve the projection of thoughts and then you come back into meditating based upon that object. Right? So that’s that.
It’s a similar concept to the Japanese Zen. They face against the wall. They face against the wall, they meditate. So you don’t have to go to that extent. Just you look at the space, hill, something with a beautiful landscape, simply look and focus your mind upon that. And then when there’s projection of thoughts that is about to be risen or fully risen and then just simply finding some sort of a conclusion of the projection of thoughts and dissolve it. Dissolve it means just simply not giving attention. And even if it is about to be risen again and then just simply gaze a little bit and then dissolve by itself. Then bring your mind more to the center of meditating based upon these objects.
“རི་རྩེ་འམ།”
“ri tsé am”
Such as, it can be like a ceiling, it can be a wall, it can be a statue, and the definition of something very close distance and longer distance it can be like the peak of the hill or the infinite space, the sky, the blue sky.
“མཉམ་པར་བཞག་སྟེ་དམིགས་སྐོར་ལྔ།”
“nyam par zhak té mik kor nga”
So that’s the fifth meditation cycle. Okay?
1. Training in Various Ways of Gazing (1/3) – Fifth Meditation
Settle in evenness gazing upwards, either at a point close by—at the center of the ceiling, for example—or at a distant point—the top of a mountain or into the center of space.
༄༅། །ཕྱག་ཆེན་གའུ་མའམ་རང་བབས་རྣམ་གསུམ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཁྲིད་ཡིག་བཞུགས་སོ།།
“phyag chen ga’u ma’am rang babs rnam gsum zhes bya ba’i khrid”
Instructions for Great Seal of the Amulet Box or The Three Facets of Natural Repose
by Taranata
Niguma’s “Amulet Mahamudra” by Kalu Rinpoche (morning session – 1h 31′ 05”)
Kagyu Sukha Chöling – Friday March 11, 2022
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