This Booklet Is Part of the Series on the Basic Teachings of Buddhism
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
This booklet is part of the series on The Basic Teachings of Buddhism A Guide to Shamatha Meditation By The Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche Geshe Lharampa Edited by Kate McDonnell Namo Buddha Publications Copyright © 2001 by Thrangu Rinpoche. ISBN: 0-9628026-4-6 All rights reserved. No part of this book, either text or art, may be reproduced in any form, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from Thrangu Rinpoche or Namo Buddha Publications. Published by: Namo Buddha Publications P. O. Box 1083 Crestone, CO 81131 USA Phone: (719) 256-5367 Email: [email protected] Rinpoche’s web site: www.rinpoche.com Acknowledgments This booklet is taken from two different teachings by Thrangu Rinpoche. The first chapter comes from his The Four Foundations of Buddhist Practice. This teaching was based on Pema Karpo’s Mahamudra Meditation Instructions and was given at Samye Ling, Scotland in 1980. We would like to thank Ken and Katia Holmes for translating these teachings. The second chapter comes from Thrangu Rinpoche’s first teaching in Seattle, Washington in 1996 in which he gave an overview of Buddhist meditation. We would like to thank Yeshe Gyamtso for translating chapter one and three and Shenpen Osel Magazine, from Kagyu Shenpen Osel Choling, 4322 Burke Avenue N, Seattle, WA 98103, for allowing us to reprint these teachings. Note The technical terms have been italicized the first time to alert the reader that they may be found in the Glossary. Tibetan words are given as they are pronounced, not spelled in Tibetan. - Chapter 1 Why We Practice Meditation he essence of the teachings of the Buddha is practice. When we say practice, we mean the practice of meditation, which Tcan consist of either the meditation known as tranquillity meditation (Skt. shamatha) or insight meditation (Skt. vipashyana). But in either case, it must be implemented in actual practice. The reason we practice meditation is to attain happiness both the short term and the long term. When we speak of happiness, we usually mean physical pleasure and mental pleasure. But in order to enjoy either type of pleasant experience, our mind must be at peace because as long as our mind is unhappy and without any kind of tranquillity or peace, then no matter how much physical pleasure we experience, it will not take the form of true happiness. On the other hand, even if we lack even the most basic physical requirements of comfort, if our mind is at peace we will be happy anyway. We practice meditation, therefore, in part in order to obtain the short-term benefit of a state of mental happiness and peace. The reason meditation helps with this is that, normally, we have a great deal of thought, or many different kinds of thoughts running through our mind. Some of these thoughts are very pleasant and some of them are unpleasant, agitating, and worrisome. Now, if we examine the thoughts that are in our mind from time to time, we will see that the pleasant thoughts are comparatively few and the unpleasant thoughts are many. This means that as long as our mind is ruled or controlled by the thoughts that pass through it, we will be quite unhappy. To gain control over this process, we have to begin with the meditation practice of tranquillity meditation, which produces a basic state of contentment and peace within the mind of the practitioner. An example of how meditation can make us happy is the great Tibetan yogi Jetsun Milarepa, who lived in conditions of the utmost austerity. He lived in utter solitude in caves and isolated mountains. His clothes were rags and his food was poor and scanty. In fact, for a number of years he lived on nettle soup alone and, as a result, he became thin, almost emaciated. If we were to consider his external - 1 - A Guide to Shamatha Meditation circumstances alone, the isolation and poverty in which he lived, we would think that he must have been miserable. Yet, from reading his many spiritual songs, we see that his mind was fundamentally at peace and his experience was one of constant unfolding delight. His spiritual songs are songs that express the utmost state of rapture. He saw every place that he went to, no matter how isolated and austere, as beautiful and he experienced his life of utmost austerity as extremely pleasant. The short-term benefits of meditation are more than merely peace of mind, because our physical health also depends to a great extent upon our state of mind. Therefore, if we cultivate this state of mental contentment and peace, we will tend not to become ill, and will tend to heal more easily if we do become ill. The reason for this is that one of the primary conditions which brings about physical illness is mental agitation which produces an agitation or disturbance of the subtle channels1 and energies within our body. Agitation in the subtle channels generates new illnesses and also prevents the healing of old illnesses. This agitation of the channels and subtle winds or energies also obstructs the benefit that can be derived from medical treatment. If we practice meditation, then our mind settles down and the channels and the energies moving through the channels return to their rightful functioning. As a result of this we tend not to become ill and are able to heal any illnesses we already have. For example, Milarepa living in caves wearing just a cotton cloth and eating just teaspoons of barley flour each day throughout the early part of his life did not harm his health, because he managed to have a very long life, and was extremely vigorous and youthful to the end of it. With the proper practice of meditation, the mental peace and contentment that is generated calms down or corrects the functioning of the channels and energies, allowing for the healing and the prevention of sickness. The ultimate or long-term benefit of the practice of meditation is to become free of all suffering, which means to no longer experience the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death. This attainment of freedom is called, in all Buddhist traditions, Buddhahood and in the Vajrayana, the supreme attainment. The root or basic cause of this attainment is the practice of meditation. Again, generally we have a lot of thoughts running through our mind, some of which are beneficial such as thoughts of love, compassion, rejoicing in the happiness of others and many others which are negative thoughts such as attachment, aversion, jealousy, competitiveness, and so on. Normally, because we have such strong - 2 - Why We Practice Meditation habits that have been accumulating within us from beginningless time, there are comparatively few positive thoughts and comparatively many negative thoughts. It is only by removing these habits of negativity that we can free ourselves from suffering. We cannot simply remove these disturbing emotions (Skt. kleshas) by saying to ourselves, “I will not create any more negative emotions,” because we do not have the necessary freedom of mind or control over the disturbing emotions to do so. In order to relinquish these, we need to actually attain this freedom, which begins, according to the common path, with the cultivation of tranquillity meditation. Now, when we begin to practice the basic meditation of tranquillity meditation, we may find that our mind won’t stay still for a moment. But this condition is not permanent and will change as we practice. Eventually we will be able to place our mind at rest at will, at which point we have successfully alleviated the manifest disturbance of these disturbing emotions. After developing tranquillity meditation we can then apply the second technique—insight meditation—which consists of learning to recognize and directly experience the nature of our own mind. This nature is referred to as emptiness.2 When we recognize this nature and rest in it, then all of the disturbing emotions that arise dissolve into this emptiness and are no longer afflictions. Therefore, the freedom, which is called Buddhahood, depends upon the eradication of these mental afflictions, and that depends upon the practice of meditation. The practice of tranquillity and insight meditation is the general path which is common to both the paths of sutra and tantra. So both short-term and ultimate happiness depends on the cultivation of meditation, which from the common point of view of the sutras—the point of view held in common by all traditions of Buddhism—is tranquillity and insight. Compassion in Meditation Meditation, however, also depends in part upon the generation of loving-kindness and compassion. This is true of any meditation, but it is especially true of Vajrayana meditation. The reason is that the specific Vajrayana practices—the visualization of deities or meditation upon Mahamudra and so on—depend upon the presence of a pure motivation on the part of the practitioner from the very start. If this genuine motivation is not present, not much benefit will really occur. For that reason, Vajrayana practitioners - 3 - A Guide to Shamatha Meditation always try to develop the motivation which is known as the awakened mind or bodhichitta. If you look at the liturgies used in Vajrayana practice, you’ll see that the long and extensive Vajrayana liturgies always begin with meditation upon bodhichitta. Even the shortest liturgies always begin with a meditation upon bodhichitta, loving-kindness, and compassion. The point is that compassion and bodhichitta are necessary for all meditation, but especially for Vajrayana practice. The only real meaning that we can give to our being born as human beings on this planet is that we have helped our friends and all the beings on this planet as much as we could.