from "Body Speech and Mind"

by Namgyal Rinpoche

The following passages are excerpts from the book, Body, Speech & Mind - A manual for human development, transcribed from the profound teaching of the Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche for the benefit of all beings. The book covers a wide scope of material. These excerpts focus on his teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. They are given here as an offering to the community. The passages will be presented in instalments, a new one appearing every two weeks.

If you are interested in obtaining the complete text, you can order the book through its publisher, Bodhi Publishing. www.bodhipublishing.netfirms.com

" I think it would be profitable for us to study some of the basic teachings of Buddha-Dharma during our time together, so perhaps we might turn our attention to the Buddha's discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. The modern understanding of the correct way in which to practise mindfulness often falls into the error of discounting most of the body's natural postures. Originally, meditations were more balanced in their approach to posture. The monks who followed Sakyamuni Buddha were told by him to take care that they divided their days equally into an aware practice of four positions: walking, standing, sitting and lying down. There were meditations to be done while resting after meals, while doing work around the monastery, while running (which come under the "walking" category), while standing with the back against a pillar, while eating, and so forth. In full retreat, anywhere from nineteen to twenty-one hours per day are dedicated to the practice of ongoing awareness. The exotic exercises that many beings are so anxious to get into are really meant to be a capstone, to be placed on a background of established awareness. They are not a starting point but a tool with which to probe more deeply into the nature of mind.

There seem to be a great number of people around today who would like to work it the other way. Their idea of the teaching is twenty-three hours of unaware behaviour and one hour of some exotic exercise - preferably from Tibet, of course! That's a bit like trying to dissect a cow with a child's cutlery set moulded from plastic! Before any work can really be done, it is a necessity to establish the mind in the practice of ongoing choiceless awareness. So we shall begin to explore the ancient way of training oneself in this excellent practice. "

....... Namgyal Rinpoche, Body Speech and Mind, Bodhi Publishing

(www.bodhipublishing.netfirms.com)                                                              

       

Excerpts from "Free at Last"               

by Hilda Gutierrez Baldoquin

… "Today, we are able to speak of the dharma due to the generosity and compassion of an ordinary man who woke up. When Shakyamuni Buddha set the wheel of the dharma rolling, he was not giving us instructions for the modern day highly acclaimed practice of self-improvement. When the Buddha spoke to ascetics who had previously practiced with him, he offered the teachings of liberation itself. In the ancient tradition of the healer administering to the sick, the Buddha gave us a diagnosis and a prescription. He identified the disease and its cause, gave us a pronouncement on whether it can be cured, and a prescription for the medicine.All our lives we thirst for freedom, and when we recognize the path that will lead us there, our hearts validate that recognition. To wake up is the task at hand. Not wishing that our lives were better, or different, we wake up to the reality of our lives, just as they are."

............From an article called Free at Last by Hilda Gutierrez Baldoquin                

January 2, 2007

Skilful Means: The Way of Mindfulness                  

(from Orchard’s web site)

Satipatthana - the Way of Mindfulness - is a traditional Buddhist meditation training, also described as Skilful Means.

It is a way of cultivating an honest and clear awareness of who we are at a physical, emotional and mental level. Our tendencies and characteristics, our motives and intentions are identified as they arise and thus we see that we can choose to let go of our conditioned ways of reacting and relating.

It is acutely relevant to everyday life, and to anyone who wants to investigate how to live with less friction and discomfort within his or her environment, occupation and relationships.

The practice of Skilful Means is the greatest act of kindness to oneself and others as we come to see and understand the true nature of suffering.

* * * * * *

"There are ways to feel at ease if you know how.
When attachment is purified, conduct is easy.
When partiality is purified, compassion is easy.
When knowing food and wealth to be illusory, enjoyment is easy.
When your mind is free from distress, your place of abode feels easy."

Guru Rinpoche

In all my lifetimes may I never be separated from my teacher.
May I use to the full the high teachings given.
May I reach the other shore, and attain the high qualities of the path.
Soon may I attain the realization of the Buddha who holds the Vajra.
For the benefit of all beings, may this prayer be speedily realized."                                

A Lesson in Love             

Mexico 1973  by Peter Boag

We were the lucky four, at least we started out thinking so. Chosen from the whole group to ride with Rinpoche up the coast from Mexico to Vancouver, we were indeed fortunate, but we were also wrong in thinking that we were in for a joy ride. One by one Rinpoche engaged us and systematically left our egos in tatters. There was no escape from that station wagon. So, of course, we all welcomed what we saw as a great opportunity for a bit of relief. A chance to show what great Buddhists we were. A chance to show Rinpoche that his lessons had not been lost on us, and that, yes, we understood his teaching.

That chance came when we stopped at a small market town for a quick rest stop. Just before ordering us all back into the car, Rinpoche pointed out a vendor who was hawking parrots in rough wire cages. “Let’s buy one and set him free in the countryside!” We all heard each other thinking this, some of us said it out loud, and Rinpoche, after ensuring that the added cargo in back would not impede his leg room up front, agreed.

Night was falling, and Rinpoche rarely liked to travel at night, which, of course, demonstrated to us the importance of our rescue mission. We drove into the night, until Rinpoche motioned to pull over at an overgrown papaya plantation. ”This seems to approximate the natural environment of that bird, don’t you think?” he asked. We all agreed and soon we were gathered part way up the grove, standing beside the cage. ”Ok, let him out,” Rinpoche ordered. The bird slowly hobbled from the cage and tried to flap his wings. He tried again and again, and again, but could not. His wings had been cut. The parrot just hobbled around in small circles. There was a big problem with our plan! Somebody grabbed the bird and was about to put him back in the cage.

”What do you think you are doing?” Rinpoche boomed in a fierce voice.

”But Sir, the bird can’t fly and the predators will get him for sure,” came the timid reply. All our heads nodded in agreement. After all, we were here to exercise compassion, weren’t we? Another voice tried to say ”We could give him back to the vendor, he at least will be fed and kept alive that way.” Rinpoche crushed those words in mid air.

“How dare you lay your fear trip on this creature!” he thundered. ”He finally has a chance at freedom, to let his life take its proper course!” Rinpoche’s voice was getting even louder. ”Have I wasted my time, have I taught you lot nothing?” There was a momentary silence as we all shook in our boots. Rinpoche resumed, this time with a voice so primal, so savage, that time seemed suspended. ”If I had to trade places with you lot, or that bird, I’d choose the bird! At least he is free, if only for one night! You lot are prisoners of your fear, your comforts, your ”pretty” illusions! You hear me?, I would rather be that bird than you!”

There was no way that Rinpoche’s voice could have got any louder, so at this point his tone changed. His words cut, his words tore, his words chewed, his words clawed through whatever hasty ego defenses we were trying to erect against this onslaught. ”Freedom! Have I not been teaching you about freedom? The infinite potential of a single moment of liberation? Who the hell do you think you are? Who the hell do you think I am? Have you not been paying any attention at all, or were you just looking for some pretty fluff to protect you from your own illusions that love has to be nice? That your lives are nice? That you understand anything at all?” Rinpoche was even stamping his foot, just to make sure we got it.

We were devastated, crushed, speechless, shaken. We could not move. Rinpoche waited in silence till at least one of us got the point, and could show it by heading back to the car. One by one the others followed, leaving the bird flapping around in the dark grove. Nothing further was said. Nothing needed to be said. Only the wild sounds of nature, the rushing of a nearby creek, and the light of a million stars remained. As we drove off, even the reflections of those stars were swept away by the rushing water, leaving only the scene illuminated by the inherent light of or own minds, or darkened by the cold brick wall of our own fears.

It was our choice                              

more from "Body Speech and Mind"

by Namgyal Rinpoche

"Sakyamuni Buddha, in speaking to his followers, made this statement:"This is the one direct way, O Bhikkhus, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness."

"The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are as follows: mindfulness of the body (in Pali, kayanupassana), mindfulness of feelings (vedananupassana), mindfulness of states of mind (cittanupassana), and mindfulness of phenomena (dhammanupassana). In the Pali language, the anupassana part of these words suggests bringing the mind back again and again to the object of contemplation. So, according to the Buddha, this is the one direct way to eliminate suffering.

Presumably there are various ways to win liberation from suffering. In fact, there are two meditational texts (the oldest writings on this subject), called the Vimuttimagga and the Visuddhimagga, which describe in detail various types of practice one can do. The Vimuttimagga, which is the older of the two, lists thirty-eight meditations. The Visuddhimagga has forty. These forty are divided into three sections: the development of sila, samadhi and panna. Sila is basically the practice of morality, which cools the mind; samadhi is the development of ecstatic absorption, of the deepening calm; panna is wisdom. In following the instruction given in these texts, from a basis of wholesome karma one unfolds through the path of meditation to the attainment of insight. There are other ways to go about one’s spiritual unfoldment - for example, by being aware only of action, or by fully developing the calm mind - but, by the authority of the Buddha, there is only one direct way. That way is utter simplicity: the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

The failure to skilfully unfold or develop awareness makes it necessary to work with other methods of teaching. Because of an inferior quality of mindfulness, such devices as Arising Yoga, Perfecting Yoga and so forth, have been enunciated for the benefit of beings. We could have a dialogue on what I believe Krishnamurti is referring to when he says "choiceless awareness" (which I prefer to call "continuum awareness"), but a verbal dialogue would not necessarily promote your understanding! You cannot perceive the real meaning until you come through to a continuous awareness of dharma, of the teaching; until, for example, putting on your shoes is not inferior to seeing a diamond or a crystal fan in space. For most of you, life is divided into preferences which swing you back and forth continuously.

When he talks about choiceless awareness, Krishnamurti is speaking about, in a sense, the end - where you want to be. Buddha-Dharma talks about the path one follows to reach that state: patipada, the means of reaching a goal or destination, the footsteps along the Path. These steps are outlined in the Four Noble Truths. The first of these four is the understanding of the truth of the cause of dukkha (suffering), in Pali dukkham ariya-saccam. The second is the truth of suffering, dukkha-samudaya ariya-saccam. Third is the truth of the cessation of suffering, dukkha-nirodha ariya-saccam. And finally, the fourth is the path to the cessation of suffering, dukkha-nirodha-gamini patipada. Pada means "foot", and also step.

You see, beings with two feet have to do things in the correct order. The correct way, the one direct way to liberation from suffering, from dukkha, is by inculcating awareness in the being, but in a certain blossoming, in a particular order. First is the development of awareness of the body. You must always move from crude to subtle understandings - not that the body is crude, but certainly the way it is perceived by many beings is crude!

If you would like to check the fineness of your perception, watch the mind’s flow, the thought formations (without particularly taking part in that flow) for fifteen minutes. Then watch the movement of your arm of fifteen minutes. It is likely that you will find the movements of the arm much easier to trace, much easier to see. And you might also just begin to find a new question forming: What emotional states lie behind the various postures of the body?

When you go to certain monasteries in Japan, no great Zen koans are given to you for the first year; you just learn to sit straight. In that way, you are forced into developing awareness of posture. When awareness of posture is fully developed, it leads very naturally into unleashing of energy, that is, into awareness of emotion. When emotions are unleashed, one can practise awareness of mind-states, thus unleashing the various states of consciousness.

Emotions condition the metabolic pulse, the vibrational rate of the being. Understanding the overall humming of the mind states allows you to see beyond projections, to truly examine dharmas such as a tea cup. So, the last awareness one attempts is the examination of phenomena. Once you have laid the basis of clarity by the practice of the first three Foundations of Mindfulness, you will not be caught in projecting warped views onto the outer. Do you have any idea of how much projection is going on now? And at the most subtle levels of your being? By practising awareness in the order just described, one clears oneself of ignorance.

Most beings would very much like understanding to be won by a cerebral flight; but, without the correct order of unfoldment, it is impossible to escape the projections and come to direct seeing. Therefore, you are advised to do the preparation work before attempting to clear the mind. Non-verbal awareness of the body is the fastest way to develop clarity, that is, nonverbal awareness of sensing, of posture, and so forth.

Many students have the mistaken idea that they are "working out their karma" when they find life involves them in situations they cannot quite fathom. But that kind of thinking is based on wrong understanding of what is meant by karma. If you really want to see the working of karma, take a dose of salts! That’s activity. If you really want to practise the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, begin by slowing down the body. In the course of a day, stop and watch what posture the body is assuming. Before you move to make it "correct," see what it is doing. Don’t correct too much, just be aware of the posture. This is a meditation on what is.

You might also develop mindfulness of the body by doing the first meditation given to novices when they are ordained. You don’t need any special equipment to do this - rather like Saint Theresa, you carry your cell with you. The mantra to say for this practice is "atthi, mansam, taco, (a slight pause) taco, mansam, atthi." You repeat this three times. Atthi means bones, mansam is the Pali word for fleshy tissue and organs, and taco is the outer membrane, the skin and hair. As you say atthi, you should visualize the skeleton; as you say mansam, visualize the flesh; and as you say taco, you work with the skin and hair. In the pause, reflect quickly on the visualizations for each word. That is the beginning practice for the development of awareness of the body."

Q: Is posture important for this practice?: Is posture important for this practice?

"Posture is always important, but don’t let that worry you too much. The posture is only really corrected when the depth is corrected. So, in particular when checking the body throughout the day, hold back on your constant correction. Just work for a more aware state of mind. When that is developed, you will see more deeply into the motives behind the postures you perform. Certainly better posture makes for a stronger state of mind; but before you start imposing your will, first become aware of the innumerable states of mind that you express, become aware of the karmic effect of your posture.

You might occasionally feel what kind of tension is being held in what could be called the fear centre - the solar plexus. After years of clenching that area, it becomes habitually tense, thus affecting your whole state of mind. You cannot play the game of life as you always have and expect to become aware of new dimensions. You will have to let go of some of your built-in physical defences. To the neurotic being, progress is fearful. There is great reluctance to unclench because beings fear that if they let go of one thing, everything might move. But really, that is what you want to happen anyway, so I suggest you turn in your negative fear for positive fear - for awe.

The line between aliveness or libido and fear is very thin. Most beings think they want to go to sleep - that is morbido. Neurotic defences are also morbido. Non-trusting of the body is the hallmark of neurosis. So it follows that one way to work through neurosis is to come back into contact with the body. Will you enter into the walled-off areas, the fear that is carried in your body? Will you trust millions of years of evolution, trust that force which created the body, or will you trust the patchy ego built by the circumstances of this life? Let not only the events of this life speak, let the consciousness in your body speak to you. The clear mind comes forward in crisis situations, remaining out of touch the majority of your time. When you are out of the course of life, it is necessary to give you a discourse."

The first noble truth is the truth of sickness. How did one get into sickness? By trying to make the impermanent flow into an arrested situation. Ceaseless dissolution / creation is a characteristic of life. From the very no-beginning there is continuous happening. How one reacts to this decides the question of sanity or neurosis, health or sickness. To opt for sanity, for health, accept the reality of flux and be aware.

There are three ways in which beings try to arrest the flux, and this is the teaching of the second noble truth. The first noble truth points out suffering - that is, one part of flux trying to decide which flux will happen. The second noble truth is that all suffering has cause; all suffering comes about through desire. Just as the five aggregates are not in themselves bad, so, too, with desire. Grasping and clinging (upadana in Pali) are not somehow "dirty." Desire is what is happening. Desire causes a plant to make every effort to get nearer to the sun - which it can never reach! This isn’t bad of itself, but when desire blocks awareness of the total flux, it causes suffering.

(This is not to suggest that, from the human standpoint, there should be no focusing, no effective interaction with dharma. All things are possible, including the slowing down and speeding up of the flux, But in order to come to this level of mastery, one must first let go of conditioned clinging.) The three ways in which beings try to stop the flux are called in Pali kama-tanha, bhava-tanha and vibhava-tanha. Because of desiring particular events, one attempts to arrest the flow, thus causing bad experiencing.

Before developing these ideas further, I would like to skip ahead a bit to the third noble truth, which is that suffering has cessation. Anything that is formed can unform. Any neurotic pattering, any damming of the flux, can be unformed. You are not asked to believe any of these ideas blindly. In approaching this teaching, it is axiomatic that you behave rationally, that you give up irrational religious views, avoid feelings of irrationality.

More important than blind belief is understanding, so you are asked to avoid doing things you do not understand. According to Buddha-Dharma, intuitive realization is not enough; you must come to a clear, conscious understanding as well. The aim of the unfolding consciousness is not only to experience the ecstasies, but to know why they happen, how they come to be, and how to make use of them. When you are rational, any "bad" forming of your being can be unformed.

Because the whole universe is in flux, freedom is possible. One can take a tree, build a table with the wood, take it apart, make something else out of the pieces, and send it back to the flux. Maybe you should ask yourself why you want to cling to neurosis, why you want to cling to particular pieces in the universe of ceaseless possibility. Don’t become more guilty than you already are: practise awareness and thereby experience the dissolution of suffering. Just remember, anything that is formed is on its way to being unformed. That is the third noble truth.

Now we will have another look at the second of the four noble truths, which deals with the causes of suffering. Kama-tanha is really a thirst for sensation. You see this sometimes in beings who are attracted to Tibetan Buddhism, for example; it is a kind of sensation-mongering, a craving for far-out experiences. And really, there is no basic difference between some of the beings who line up for esoteric initiations and beings who pore over the obituaries and reports of murder or violence in the daily papers to relieve the tedium of their lives. Kama-tanha can also manifest in clinging to "nice" events.

There are people who, when they practise meditation, don’t want to see certain types of manifestations that might arise. They don’t want to see a piece of dung, they just want some exotic type of incense. It’s not choiceless awareness if you don’t want to see what is presented. You are asked to come to terms with the suffering, the angst that is constantly with you. For example, putting on or taking off a sweater the moment you feel a change in temperature is not what I would call choicelessness. Maybe you should develop awareness of the constant choosings that are going on in your being at every moment instead of assuming that "that’s the way I am." Watch the process of how you choose to be.

Kama - the word itself - suggests clinging to or calling for mom, calling for the breast all the time. In the terminology of Heidegger (the philosopher who stated that mankind was constantly swinging between despair and distraction), kama-tanha is a continuous search for distraction - "I’m fine so long as you give me sensation." I am not here advocating a denial of sensing, but I am suggesting that you become aware of the motivation for sensing, be aware in your involvements with sensation. Were you to do so, you might discover parts of your body that, through habitual action, have been cut off from sensing. You may have areas that would very much like to see, hear, touch, but you are not letting them do so.

Bhava-tanha is the desire to continue, projecting stability or security into each event. Bhava means "to be" + "going". Bha (and be in English) comes from the same root as the word "breathe" and "breath." It is what is. (Is comes from the sound of the breath.) Bhava-tanha is clinging to what is and breathing that into the coming, prolonging the identity. The dialogue of bhava-tanha runs something like this: "Should I go? No, I’ll stay here." There is not just events developing, but "me" developing; an attempt to make oneself into an object and take that object into the future, to perpetuate oneself for eternity. That which craves for a similar existence is not going to allow change. Such behaviour makes a being into an "it" rather than a human being, and this "it" would rather be the same masochist forever, because if "it" were not, "it" would not know who might come into being!

So now we come to vibhava-tanha, about which there are two schools of thought in terms of translation. I will add a third. The first way vibhava-tanha is understood is as a craving for annihilation after death - not seeing that the cessation of one thing leads to the arising of another, trying to separate phenomena, to separate self from phenomena by a negation of being. The second translation of vibhava-tanha refers to conceit, but more than conceit; it refers to narcissism in the sense that whatever event the being is involved in, there is an over-riding self-reference system in action. So it is self-conceit as a stagnation principle.

You all know the story of Narcissus. He was a young man totally lacking interest in people and events around him. One day, while bending down to drink from a pool (tanha also means thirst, by the way), he was his face reflected in the clear water. So infatuated did he become with his own beauty that he leaned forward to kiss the lips of his reflection, but unfortunately he was dragged down into the depths of the pool and drowned.

Conceit is a kind of death. If you are always making reference back to yourself and you cannot see the outer, then you cannot make any progress. You will stagnate and you will die. If you are constantly examining your spiritual progress and you have no time for universal dharma, in a sense you are already dead. The third type of vibhava-tanha is the constant attempt to end something. And there is also a fourth type: clinging to negation: "I don’t want this. I don’t want that." Masochism is the major illness of most people. In fact, one of the hallmarks of mental illness is a lack of progressive intelligence. When a being is trapped in repetitious patterns, the result is a decaying of the flower of human life before its time of dissolution has come.

We will turn once again to the third noble truth and ask how you can get something to undo itself. It is really very simple: Do not feed it. Do not put any more fuel on the fire. One of the translations of Nirvana is "gone out." No fire, nothing to burn. To promote the cessation of arresting, of clinging, you should make time for new events, for new explorations. And strangely enough, that is a kind of love. Love is not only a feeling of warmth because of being cared for, it is also the exploration of new dimensions. I remember - and perhaps you do, too - as a child having a very beautiful Christmas dinner. Everything was there - roast turkey, sweet potatoes, sage dressing, cranberry sauce. All the delicious tastes and odours mingling with the events of the day. But to repeat that same meal every day would eventually make it rather sickening. I believe this principle is called the law of diminishing returns.

The way out of suffering is through the practice of awareness. Through awareness, gradually one stops feeding the repetitive patterns. With no fuel, the only result can be Nirvana - the going out of the raging, uncontrolled fires. There is, you know, a direct co-relation between masochism and fantasy. Being subject to dukkha is clinging to unreality; it is caused by non-acceptance of the facts of life. You are suffering when, instead of being with the situation, you are having constant dialogues about it. Really, you must put down verbalization. You are just telling stories to yourself.