Ah! Dharma reflections based on the words of Anyen Rinpoche

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Archive for category Mindfulness

Longchen Rabjam

May 3

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in Anyen Rinpoche Biography, Benefitting Others, Bodhichitta, Mindfulness, Personal Transformation | 8 Comments

First of all, Happy Birthday, Rinpoche!  May your life be long and free of obstacles, and your dharma activity continually increase!

This weekend, many of us were lucky to hear Anyen Rinpoche’s commentary on a text by Longchen Rabjam called “30 Piece of Heart Advice” in Santa Fe.  This short text, Rinpoche told us, contains Longchenpa’s vision for the path of the Secret Mantrayana.  Indeed, we had the opportunity to discuss almost every aspect of the path as we heard commentary on the thirty verses.  There are some nice translations of these verses here:

http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Teachings_on_Longchenpa%27s_Advice_from_the_Heart

Longchenpa is one of the greatest yogis in the history of Tantric Buddhism.  The incredible hardship he undertook to attain realization in one lifetime, and the vast realization that he expressed in his texts and vajra songs stand out as marvelous gems for us to admire and aspire to.  Longchenpa’s relationship to his spiritual teacher, Lama Kumarantza, is also an example of giving oneself wholly to the teacher.  How marvelous to hear commentary on his teachings!   Here’s some more about Longchenpa’s life and vast Dharma activity:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longchenpa

One particularly interesting conversation that came up during the talks was around a piece of advice in which Longchenpa told us to avoid intimacy and hostility, and to relate to all beings impartially through our speech and actions.  One student in attendance, Louise, asked Rinpoche how we are to make sense of such advice, when our culture places such importance on intimacy.

Rinpoche’s answer wss that intimacy in Western Culture (as opposed to the Buddhist idea) is often ego-driven; it is us wanting something from another person because we do not know how to deal with our own minds or our own emotions.   In other words, intimacy can be a utilitarian expression.  Rinpoche said that whenever we attempt to use a relationship for our own purpose or to get something for ourselves, we complicate the relationship, and this results in conflicts between ourselves and our loved ones.

From the Buddhist point of view ( here, embodied by Longchenpa’s words), impartiality (in other words, seeing all beings as equal)  enables us to achieve authentic intimacy.  When we engage in the relationship without trying to get something for ourselves, relationships are more simple and easy.  With the ego out of the way, we have more insight into what to say or not say to a particular person.  We know when to move closer and when to back away.  Anyen Rinpoche also said to develop intimacy in a Buddhist way, we should discern who is a proper person to attempt intimacy with, and examine our words before we speak to another.   We should share our hearts and minds in situations in situations where our words won’t harm or cause pain to another.  We should speak directly to those whom we trust and have built a deep relationship, who will understand and respect our words.    Following these ideas, Rinpoche said, we will achieve harmony in our closer as well as our distant relationships.

Monlam plans are going well…hope to see some of you there!

Allison

www.anyenrinpoche.com

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Dedication

Apr 5

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in Anyen Rinpoche Biography, Benefitting Others, Bodhichitta, Mindfulness, Momentary Buddhahood, Personal Transformation, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Dedication has its own meaning in the context of the Dharma, but it is nicely complimented by a second more colloquial meaning of dedication in the English language.  For practitioners, dedication refers to dedication of merit…in other words, dedicating any good we accomplish or any virtuous activity or motivation, to the benefit of others.  In the English language, dedication has a religious meaning (that of setting something aside for a sacred purpose), but it also has a second meaning of “committing onself to a particular thought or action.”   This is a lovely addition to our normal use of the word, it reminds us of the commitment it takes to develop spiritually and, especially, to walk the bodhisattva path.

I’m reminded of the act of dedicating because we finished another year of shedra teachings yesterday.  Our marvelous sangha has nearly completed a fairly detailed study of Ju Mipham’s Beacon of Certainty.  For those not familiar with this text, Anyen Rinpoche describes it as “the bridge between the sutra and tantra, which makes the view of Atiyoga Dzogchen accessible and meaningful.”  At the end of yesterday’s talk, Rinpoche reminded us to dedicate any merit we had attained through our practice and study this year to for the benefit of all beings.  Although most of us normally do this after each session of practice, how wonderful it is to do this together as a group and focus our energy outward on others, when we are normally focusing so hard on inner development.

Wisdom Publications has published one commentary on Beacon of Certainty that you may like to review.  The extremely lucid commentary we have been studying (favored by most Tibetan scholars) was written by the great master Khenpo Kunpal and has not yet been published widely in English.

http://www.wisdompubs.org/pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=103&-Token.Action=&image=1

How do we remember to practice dedication in our daily lives?  Rinpoche and all the great masters tell us that this is something we should do when we complete each session of practice (it is generally said that we follow three principles: starting with the generation of Bodhichitta, reflecting on impermanence, emptiness or the perfectly pure view in the middle, and dedicating the merit to seal the practice at the end).   But shouldn’t dedication also be an engaged action as well?  Of course it should be, but isn’t it one of the aspects of Dharma that is easily neglected?  I’d love to hear your thoughts about dedication…

In Momentary Buddhahood, Anyen Rinpoche spent over a hundred pages discussing how we can use mindfulness to bring any virtuous action to the level of engaged manifestation, and how this same mindfulness would lead us to direct experience of and realization of the Dharmakaya through moments of the experience of Buddhahood (hence the title Momentary Buddhahood).   So I guess the real question is, how do we train in mindfulness so that we remember to dedicate all that we do for the benefit of sentient beings?

(here’s a link to Momentary Buddhahood…)

http://www.wisdompubs.org/pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=33086&-Token.Action=&image=1

When we do remember to dedicate the merit, it causes us to experience joy and meaning in our conventional lives, such that we almost forget we were aspiring to give away what we “have” to others…

Allison

www.anyenrinpoche.com

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Imperfection

Mar 22

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in Anyen Rinpoche Biography, Benefitting Others, Bodhichitta, Mindfulness, Momentary Buddhahood, Personal Transformation, Teachings | 13 Comments

Have you noticed your imperfections yet today?

Perfectly imperfect!

Perfectly imperfect!

Anyen Rinpoche often tells his students that if we are not noticing our imperfections, then we lack mindfulness, introspection, and insight into our all-so-human personalities and behavior.  Noticing our imperfections is not easy though–it takes patience to see our flaws and learn from our mistakes.   This is obviously, like everything else in our samsaric wilderness, a painful experience.

Some students first experience with meditation is the sense that their minds have become even wilder as a result of practicing meditation.  This perception, Rinpoche tells us, is the result of increased mindfulness and introspection, which cause us to see ourselves more objectively–or less like we are used to seeing ourselves.  The same phenomena occurs with respect to seeing our imperfections.  The more mindful we become, the more we notice our flaws, our habits, those same things we do over and over again without noticing.

Spirituality is truly a humbling experience.  The more we practice, the more we realize how far we have to go.  In fact, Anyen Rinpoche and other great masters tell us that too much confidence can actually be arrogance in disguise, and be a sign that we’ve taken a turn downhill.  This is always a difficult thing to discern.  Looking outward through the very small window of afflicted, conceptual mind, how do we know when we have crossed the line from self-assurance to arrogance?  How do we know when we are falling in love with our imperfections rather than working with them?

Obviously, I lack the answers to these questions.  My way is all about trial and error, and (of course) feedback from the Lama.  Those of you who are close to a Lama know that Lamas are quite skilled at discerning authenticity from arrogance–usually much sooner than we do.  There must be some infrared beam (unseen by us) that we emit…

What to do with imperfection?  Some would suggest that we celebrate it, as an aspect of humanity.  I’m not really a fan of this school of thought–why celebrate something that harms ourselves and others?  Some of us deny it.  That definitely won’t work–that’s what got us enmired in all this suffering in the first place.

Notice it?  Mindfulness is usually a surefire tool to rely upon it.  Get tired of it?  Getting tired of a harmful behavior is a crucial step towards moving past it.  Regret it?  Regret is a pure form of guilt.  Whereas with guilt we just feel bad, with regret we aspire to transform oursevlves and make a strong determination to change.   Do something new?  Yes, that usually helps, though it feels a bit crazy at first.  Do anything new?  Probably not–we might be wise to actually reflect on a better course of behavior and try it out than just to do something random.

Compassion anyone?

www.anyenrinpoche.com

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Impermanence: the Key to Dharma

Feb 18

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in 4 Mind Turnings, Benefitting Others, Bodhichitta, Mindfulness, Teachings, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Hi Everyone…some pearls of wisdom from the third of five talks on the Four Mind Turnings held in Denver last night!

To begin with, here is the (most memorable?) quote of the evening, from our incredibly funny and linguistically evocative Anyen Rinpoche:

Meditating on impermanence makes you a kinder person.  It makes you feel satisfied with your life.  As a result, many Dharma practitioners begin to look younger and more beautiful after they begin to meditate on impermanence.  Plastic surgery will not make you look beautiful, and it will not bring you mental or emotional happiness either.  However, these can be attained by meditation on impermanence. (You’ll have to imagine the room filled with laughter on your own).

Here’s a link which gives some background on the teachings of impermanence in Buddhism in general–this site even translates it (in the spirit of Mojofiti) into six different Buddhist languages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impermanence

Find the key to dharma!

Find the key to dharma!

Meditating on impermanence is something we often overlook.  It is such a simple teaching that we tend to think we’ve already “got it.”  However, Anyen Rinpoche always emphasizes the difference between “intelletual knowing” and “emotional knowing.”  For most of us, impermanence is something that we know intellectually without much trouble.  But the real question is, do we know it emotionally?  And, as Rinpoche tells us, it is the emotional knowing that counts!

In our last post on impermanence, we focused mainly on how we reflect on impermanence as a way to help ourselves.   We got great comments from readers on how they reflect on impermanence by thinking about how their families would one day have to separate, or reflect on the impermanent nature of conflicts in order to improve their emotional happiness as well as their relationships.

Last night, Anyen Rinpoche asked us to take our reflection on impermanence deeper.   First, he instructed us to reflect on impermanence as an aspect of Bodhichitta.  Reflect on all of those beings in the world who are suffering because they have not had the good fortune to hear teachings on the impermanent nature of life.  Then, generate a compassionate wish from your heart that you may attain enlightenment for the benefit of those beings.

Then, Rinpoche asked us to reflect on the connection between impermanence and emptiness, and beyond that, the nature of mind.   Reflecting deeply on impermanence enables us to see the truly “empty” (some other common translations of this term are: lacking in inherent existence or lacking in true existence) nature of our world and beings.  It is based on a deepening conviction in emptiness that one begins to have “insight” into the nature of mind, at least on an intellectual level, and then that a great master could directly introduce one to the nature of mind as a personal experience.

Finally, Rinpoche asked us to reflect on how reflection on impermanence enables us to practice “dharma as dharma.”  Without reflecting deeply on impermanence, we are simply too invested in our world to practice dharma in a way that isn’t corrupted by our own self-interest and ego.

Try this: Try to recall impermanence as many times as day as you can, both naturally and by using reminders (such as sticky notes on your bathroom mirror, in your car, emailing yourself a reminder, etc).  How does this affect your emotional and mental state?  How does this support your ability to practice?

What is the most creative way you were able to remind yourself of impermanence?

Tell us how it goes…we would love to hear from you!

Allison

www.anyenrinpoche.com

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Beginner's Mind

Jan 29

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in Anyen Rinpoche Biography, Mindfulness, Personal Transformation, Teachings, Uncategorized | 16 Comments

As soon as you notice the mind has lost its one-pointedness, begin your meditation practice again.

When I was seventeen and first began reading books about Buddhism, I came across a book by Zen master Suzuki Roshi called Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.   Maybe some people  who visit our blog haven’t read it yet…

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Shunryu-Suzuki/dp/0834800799

Anyway, when I read this book I’m not sure I got anything out of it except the wish to know more and to earnestly seek a spiritual tradition.  At that time, I never reflected on the title or understood its meaning.  Now, more than ten years later, I’ve been reflecting on this first contact with Buddhism and wondering…what is beginner’s mind anyway?

Linguistically, it is an intriguing phrase.  The word “beginner” can mean so many things.  The explanation in the book is (from my own point of view as a Vajrayana practitioner) quite in line with the Vajrayana teachings.   Suzuki Roshi says that beginner’s mind is “recognition of our true nature…” (which I translate for myself to mean the nature of mind.  Of course I am not trying to confuse anyone by saying that the teachings of Zen are identical to those of Vajrayana.  I’m simply reflecting on the language.)  What a beautiful definition.

But beyond technical definitions, what is beginner’s mind.  What does beginner’s mind look like when we see it in the world around us?  By the way, I’d love to know your thoughts on this…

I can only write here from my point of view and experience as a Vajrayana practitioner.  One idea I have about beginner’s mind for a Vajrayana practitioner is the emphasis that is placed on starting your practice over and over again.  This is an essential instruction for any form of practice, whether it be foundational or more advanced tantric practice.  For this reason, when Anyen Rinpoche gives meditation teachings to practitioners new and old alike, he always gives this instruction: as soon as you notice the mind has lost its one-pointedness, begin your meditation practice again.  (As an aside, many people are puzzled by what this means.  I’m not even sure one can understand it in words as well as it can be understood by doing.)   But in any case, something magical happens when you refocus the mind and start fresh.  The mind has a chance to cut through its own wandering, and the mind’s tendency to move from place to place–from thought to thought– is, for a moment, tamed.  For a Vajrayana practitioner, I think this must be part of beginner’s mind.  Or perhaps is it is way to touch ‘beginner’s mind’ as Suzuki Roshi defined it.

I have often thought of Anyen Rinpoche in terms of this phrase beginners’ mind.   Beginner’s mind is technical and clinical (despite its beautiful definition) until we put a face to it.  Anyen Rinpoche’s sheer delight from moment to moment is one aspect of what I call beginner’s mind.  Usually at the end of teachings, Rinpoche asks people to offer jokes.  Actually, he started by asking people to sing (an important part of Tibetan culture), but found that we Westerners are too shy to sing in public for the most part.  I must say that Will always obliged, even when the rest of us were too embarrassed.

Rinpoche does not just laugh at jokes, his whole body shakes and he laughs until he cries.  His laughter is contagious…and soon there is no one in the room who isn’t laughing.  I have always been self-conscious of expressing my feelings to others, and  I have come to think it is a special quality, to be able to take such delight in life and give that experience to others.   The ability to move people to feel and experience happiness–or move them to experiences that will show them their true nature and point out their short-comings–I think, must be the embodiment of beginner’s mind.

This is a call for new jokes!  Rinpoche loves to write them in his notebook and tell them to his students at teachings.  Please send what you have…

Allison

www.anyenrinpoche.com

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Snowy Reflections on Impermanence

Jan 26

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in 4 Mind Turnings, Benefitting Others, Mindfulness, Teachings, Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Hello everyone!

We had a beautiful weekend teaching in snow-covered Aspen.   Here’s a spectacular view from Patricia’s living room window.

A beautiful view of Aspen

A beautiful view of Aspen

And one more shot of a prayer flag out back.

Prayer flags in winter

Prayer flags in winter

Continuing with the topic of the Four Mind Turnings, Anyen Rinpoche suggested we use verses, from the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, as a means for reflection.  This is a beautiful text that many of us study when we first start practicing Vajrayana, and come back to time and time again because of its simple profundity.  This page links to more information about the text itself, as well as to several translations of the full text:

http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Thirty-Seven_Practices_of_the_Bodhisattvas

The verses I have selected and included here are about the impermanence of life, the second of the four mind turnings.

(9)  “Like dew on the tip of a blade of grass, the pleasures of the three worlds last a moment and then vanish.
Aspiring to the never-changing, supreme state of liberation is the practice of the Bodhisattvas.”

(24) “All forms of suffering are like dreaming of your child’s death.

Holding illusory appearances as real is exhausting.

Therefore, when meeting with disagreeable circumstances, see them as illusory–

This is the practice of the Bodhisattvas.”

Here’s one more, to end with another of Rinpoche’s favorite topics:

(36) In summary, whatever you are doing

Ask yourself, “What’s happening in my mind?”

Benefitting others with a mind endowed with constant mindfulness and discernment

Is the practice of the Bodhisattvas.

How do you contemplate impermanence?  Do you have any favorite quotations or ways to share with us?  How are you benefitted by contemplating impermanence?

We’d love to hear from you!

Allison

http://www.anyenrinpoche.com

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Turning the Mind

Jan 21

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in 4 Mind Turnings, Bodhichitta, Mindfulness, Personal Transformation, Teachings, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

One of the most effective instructions I’ve ever been given by Anyen Rinpoche in the more-than-ten years that I’ve known him is to “contemplate the dissatisfactory nature of Samsara.”   Samsara (Sanskrit: wandering or cycling) is a word that describes the cyclic existence we all live–in the short term, it describes how we move from one experience of suffering or unhappiness to another (or in some cases, an experience of happiness that ends in suffering); in the long term, it describes how we take birth as one after another kind of confused being, and experience the distinct kinds of suffering which correspond to that type of rebirth.

The Eight Auspicious Symbols

The Eight Auspicious Symbols

Here’s a nice description of the six samsaric realms which form the cycle of rebirth (by the way, there’s no need to believe in rebirth to start practicing Buddhism but what I am citing here are the general tenants):

http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/tp/Six-Realms-of-Existence.htm

Well, one thing I can say about Anyen Rinpoche’s instruction is that we sure can come up with a lot of dissatisfactory things to contemplate.

At the time I was given this instruction by Anyen Rinpoche, I was in my early twenties, living in Nepal, and desperate to stay there to live the life of a “real” practitioner.  Coming back to America meant dealing with so many things that I didn’t want to deal with.  It meant making decisions about my future, accepting the responsibility of a career and adulthood, and most importantly, figuring out how it could ever be possible to be a Dharma practitioner in this crazy place called the USA (which, as Anyen Rinpoche often says gleefully, is also full of crazy folk).

I suspect that most people have dreams of evading responsibility and escaping the life they live in for a more desirable one.   This manifests in funny ways, such as wanting to move away and live in a different country, under a different policitcal system, or in a different culture–all because it seems that the one we live in is irrevocably damaged.   Once, Rinpoche was completely bewildered when a Buddhist told him that she wanted to move to Canada to avoid living under the then-current political regime.  He asked me later, “Doesn’t she realize that the situation and her feelings will have already changed by the time she gets there?”

Back to my story, it was actually continual mindtraining in the dissatisfactory nature of samsara that helped me to cut through this habit of blame and unhappiness.  I applied it to every possible emotion, and cultivated the mental attitude that satisfaction is always possible.

When I experienced disappointment or even happiness, I reflected on the fleeting nature of those emotions.  When I experienced jealousy or longing for the happiness I perceived to be experienced by another, I reflected on how in the future, those beings could not maintain their happy situation and would experience unhappiness.  Then I generated compassion for them.  When I dreamed of escaping my situation to a more perfect place, I reflected on how even the people who had what I believed I wanted still experienced unhappiness.  And, over time, I truly experienced a “turning of the mind.”

The Four Mind Turnings (also called the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind) are a series of contemplations that we use in Buddhism to increase our mental and emotional stability, as well as develop a sense of faith and confidence that personal transformation is possible.  Contemplating the nature of samsara is a fundamental part of contemplating the Four Thoughts: the precious human life, the uncertainty of life and death, the defects of samsara , and the principle of cause and effect or “karma.”   Thinking back over all of the teachings I have received from Anyen Rinpoche and his teachers, I can say with confidence that this one teaching affected me thoroughly and profoundly.  Even though intellectually the idea seems simple, it is incredibly difficult to internalize.

In November, Rinpoche taught in Ottowa on the Four Mind Turnings (Hello to our friends in Ottowa!), and will be teaching a five-part class in Denver starting February 3.  Here’s a listing for the class:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=258481586908&index=1

We hope to see many of you there!

Contemplate this: When are you most deceived into believing that there is an escape from suffering, or the dissatisfactory nature of samsara?  What causes you to believe such escape is possible?

Also, you may want to check out this blogsite of current Buddhist news (which is both entertaining and informative).

http://buddhistdigest.blogspot.com/2008/09/bpf-turns-30-and-some-headlines.html

We look forward to hearing from you.  Keep the comments coming!

Allison

http://www.anyenrinpoche.com

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Enlightened Speech

Jan 14

Posted by AnyenRinpoche in Bodhichitta, Mindful speech, Mindfulness, Momentary Buddhahood, Personal Transformation | 13 Comments

No matter what activity we take up, the first thing to do is reflect on and examine our motivation.  If it is not the virtuous motivation of bodhichitta, then we should work to release whatever afflictive emotion has caught our mind.  This could be done by reflecting on the impermanence of the situation, or on the dissatisfactory nature of samsara, which is always full of suffering, as well as any other method we have been taught by our Spiritual Friend.  As long as we do that, we have at least laid the foundation for pure activity.  This is how we actually bring bodhichitta into our actions.

Say we are out in the world and something is bothering us.  We feel like saying something about it.  If we are not sure of our motivation for speaking, it might often be a better choice to say nothing at all.  It might be better to be quiet and reflect on why we are going to say a particular thing, on what our subtle motivations are, and whether we are acting from grasping, aversion or selfishness.  Alternately, we could try to clarify our motivation for speaking so that we can do our best to make sure that our words will have a harmonious effect or truly be in the best interest of others.  Sometimes we speak because we just want to “get something off of our chest” without any thought for how the person we are addressing might perceive what we have to say.  Sometimes we just want to make ourselves feel better, and we do not think about whether there is someone else with whom it will be better to share particular thoughts and feelings.  We should balance our own needs with those of others, and we should not be selfish in our need to express ourselves.

bookcover-momentarybuddhahood-sm

–Momentary Buddhahood, by Anyen Rinpoche

http://www.wisdompubs.org/Pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=33086&-Token.Action=Search&image=1

Reflect on this: The Buddhist style of speech sometimes contradicts with our Western ideas of self-expression.  How do you balance the need to express with the proper motivation for speech?

We’d love to hear about your experiences!

Allison

http://www.anyenrinpoche.com

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