May 10

Kalu Rinpoche | Perspective on Dharma in the modern world (Part 3)

If you don’t have the yoga, or the deity practice, simultaneously combining together, then time to time, maybe there’s a tragic story that you hear and there, and then you have a little bit of tears, little bit like when you watch a sad movie, and doesn’t do much to you. Bit of emotion here and there, but doesn’t do much to you. But then, if you don’t have a awareness, and just reading the biography of all the great masters, and teaching, and having little bit of tears, and a little bit of overwhelming emotion, doesn’t change much.

But then if you maintain your yoga practice, with awareness of your breath, because yoga is about awareness of the breath. It’s not about the moving around. It’s not about cleansing your negative energy only. It’s about, you know, having awareness of every breath that you take, and not keeping the gap between the sequence as well.

Like an example, when we practice, we have this idea “I’m at the first sequence, second sequence” and we justify the distraction in between, you know? Like “one session, okay! I finished one session”, “oh, second session! Now I am starting” so we have this idea that “I am starting now”, “I am ending now”, “I am finishing the practice”. You have to understand that the Dharma practice never finishes until you reach enlightenment. So we have to let go of this idea of “I am finishing my first session”, but rather, continuation. But in the beginning it can be difficult and overwhelming to maintain that, so therefore: sequence, break, session, break, to keep in order is good.

And the yoga has to reinforce the deity practice, the deity practice has to reinforce the yoga practice. And then when you have this continuation of the breath and the mind synchronising together, like an example, when you conquer your air, you conquer your mind. You know? རླུང་སེམས་ལ་རང་དབང་ཐོབ་པ། lung shen la rnga wanga thob ba [Prana and mind have attained mastery].

So you do not conquer the mind, by itself, by accident. First you have to conquer your air, doesn’t mean that, being able to keep very long, just simply means being able to maintain with a subtle distraction as possible. Once you maintain that, and then recognising the nature of the mind, having a very immense compassion from the bottom of your heart, naturally, all these are beautiful experience, and all these are there to experience it – at that stage, you know?

Because at that stage, when we have this continuation of awareness, you have created some form of gap from the fixation. When you created a, some form of gap from the fixation, you have created a gap from the illusion of the ego, illusion of our self attachment. When you created a gap, you see nothing but the truth. When you see nothing but the truth, then you have the immense limitless compassion from the bottom of the heart, naturally, even you don’t like to think about it. But by that time, you have no judgement about “you like to think about compassion” or “you don’t like to think about compassion”.

So that’s that.

 

Live with Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche on Wisdom Dharma Chats (8′ 50”)
Perspective on dharma in the modern world – 4th May 2023

To be continued …