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'Rogues there are even in religious orders; poisonous plants grow even on hills of medicinal herbs.'
'Some there are who marvel not at others removing mountains, but who considers it a heavy task when obliged to carry a bit of fleece.'
'He who is ever ready to take the credit for any action when it hath proved successful and is equally ready to throw the blame on others when it goeth wrong in the least, and who is ever looking for faults in those who are learned and righteous, possesseth the nature of a crow.'
'Preaching religious truths to an unbeliever is like feeding a venomous serpent with milk.'
'Although a cloth be washed a hundred times, how can it be rendered clean and pure if it be washed in water which is dirty?'
'The unreasoning zeal and narrow-mindedness of an ignoramus merely serveth to lower one's esteem of the person he trieth to praise.'
'The greatest fault to be avoided is Ignorance. To overcome the enemy Ignorance, one requireth Wisdom. The best method of acquiring Wisdom is unfaltering endeavour.'
'He who knoweth the Precepts by heart, but faileth to practise them, is like unto one who lighteth a lamp and then shutteth his eyes.'
'Who can say with certainty that one will live to see the morrow?'
'How can it be just to kill helpless and inoffensive creatures?'
'Give up thy life, if thou would'st live.'
'The Wise Ones tarry not in the pleasure-grounds of senses. The Wise Ones heed not the sweet-tongued voices of illusion.'
'If through the Hall of Wisdom, thou would'st reach the Vale of Bliss, Discipline, close fast thy senses against the great dire heresy of Separateness that weaneth thee from the rest.'
'The Pupil must regain the child-state he hath lost ere the first sound can fall upon his ears.'
'To live to benefit mankind is the first step. To practise the six glorious virtues is the second.'
'If Sun thou canst not be, then be the humble planet. Be humble, if thou would'st attain to Wisdom. Be humbler still, when Wisdom thou hast mastered.'
'The Teacher can but point the way. The Path is one for all; the means to reach the Goal must vary with the Pilgrims.'
'Hast thou attuned thy being to Humanity's great pain, O candidate for light?'
'Compassion speaketh and saith: "Can there be bliss when all that live must suffer? Shalt thou be saved and hear the whole world cry?"'
THE TEN THINGS ONE MUST KNOW... (1) One must know that all visible phenomena, being illusory, are unreal.
(2) One must know that the mind, being without independent existence [apart from the One Mind], is impermanent.
(3) One must know that ideas arise from a concatenation of causes.
(4) One must know that the body and speech, being compounded of the four elements, are transitory.
(5) One must know that the effects of past actions, whence cometh all sorrow, are inevitable.
(6) One must know that sorrow, being the means of convincing one of the need of the religious life, is a guru.
(7) One must know that attachment to worldly things maketh material prosperity inimical to spiritual progress.
(8) One must know that misfortune, being the means of leading one to the Doctrine, is also a guru.
(9) One must know that no existing thing has an independent existence.
(10) One must know that all things are interdependent.
These are The Ten Things One Must Know.
THE TEN SIGNS OF A SUPERIOR MAN... (1) To have but little pride and envy is the sign of a superior man.
(2) To have but few desires and satisfaction with simple things is the sign of a superior man.
(3) To be lacking in hypocrisy and deceit is the sign of a superior man.
(4) To regulate one's conduct in accordance with the law of cause and effect as carefully as one guardeth the pupils of one's eyes is the sign of a superior man.
(5) To be faithful to one's engagements and obligations is the sign of a superior man.
(6) To be able to keep alive friendships while one [at the same time] regardeth all beings with impartiality is the sign of a superior man.
(7) To look with pity and without anger upon those who live evilly is the sign of a superior man.
(8) To allow unto others the victory, taking unto oneself the defeat, is the sign of a superior man.
(9) To differ from the multitude in every thought and action is the sign of a superior man.
(10) To observe faithfully and without pride one's vows of chastity and piety is the sign of a superior man.
These are The Ten Signs Of A Superior Man.
THE TEN USELESS THINGS... They are useless in the sense meant by Milarepa when he came to realize that human life ought never to be frittered away in the spiritually profitless doings of this world. The tenth aphorism of this series having been unintentionally omitted from our Tibetan manuscript by the scribe, we have substituted for it an adaptation of our own, based upon the doctrine of the worthlessness of worldly actions, as thus enunciated by Milarepa, and upon which this category of 'The Ten Useless Things' is based.
(1) Our body being illusory and transitory, it is useless to give over-much attention to it.
(2) Seeing that when we die we must depart empty-handed and on the morrow after our death our corpse is expelled from our own house, it is useless to labour and to suffer privation in order to make for oneself a home in this world.
(3) Seeing that when we die, our descendants [if spiritually unenlightened] are unable to render us the least assistance, it is useless for us to bequeath to them worldly [rather than spiritual] riches, even out of love. [To fritter away the precious moments of life in heaping up the perishable goods of this world, thinking thereby to benefit oneself and one's family, is unwise. One's time on Earth ought to be given to the winning of those riches which are imperishable and capable of assisting one both in living, and in dying. It is the science of accumulating riches of this character which parents should bequeath to their children and not worldly riches merely intensify and prolong their possessors' slavery to sangsaric existence. This precept is emphasized by the fifth and sixth precepts which follow.]
(4) Seeing that when we die we must go on our way alone and with kinsfolk or friends, it is useless to have devoted time [which ought to have been dedicated to the winning of Enlightenment] to their humoring and obliging, or in showering loving affection upon them. [Time when devoted to kinsfolk and friends should be employed not merely for the sake of showing them proper courtesy and loving affection, but chiefly for the purpose of setting them upon the Path of the Great Deliverance, whereby each living being is realized to be one's relative. All convetional social relationships on the human plane being illusory, it is useless for a yogin to dissipate the precious moments of this incarnate existence solely on their account.]
(5) Seeing that our descendants themselves are subject to death and that whatever worldly goods we may bequeath to them are certain to be lost eventually, it is useless to make bequeaths of the things of this world.
(6) Seeing that when death cometh one must relinquish even one's own home, it is useless to devote life to the acquisition of worldly things.
(7) Seeing that unfaithfulness to the religious vows will result in one's going to the miserable states of existence, it is useless to have entered the Order if one live not a holy life.
(8) To have heard and thought about the Doctrine and not practised it and acquired spiritual powers to assist thee at the moments of death is useless.
(9) It is useless to have lived, even for a very long time, with a spiritual preceptor if one be lacking in humility and devotion and thus be unable to develop spiritually.
(10) Seeing that all existing and apparent phenomena are ever transient, changing, and unstable, and more especially that the worldly life affordeth neither reality nor permanent gain, it is useless to have devoted oneself to the profitless doings of this world rather than to the seeking of Divine Wisdom. These are The Ten Useless Things.
"Cyclic existence means bondage, and liberation means freedom from this bondage. The causes of cyclic existence are contaminated actions and afflictions. If the roots of the afflictions are eliminated and if new actions are not 'accumulated,' since there are no affiliations to activate the pre-dispositions of contaminated actions persisting from the past, the causes of cyclic existence have been eliminated. Then there is freedom from bondage. Some say that as long as one still has mental-physical aggregates wrought by former contaminated actions and afflictions, one has a Nirvana with remainder. When these no longer remain, there is a Nirvana without remainder. 'Without remainder' means that there is no remainder of mental and physical aggregates wrought by contaminated actions and afflictions, but the continuum of consciousness and the continuum of uncontaminated mental and physical aggregates still exist.
[A Precious Human Life] "Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve Enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others. I am not going to get angry, or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.
"Even though there are so many of us on this planet, everyone can only see themselves. We depend on others to eat, to have clothes, to find a job or become famous, and yet we regard other people as our enemies even though we are all so intimately connected. Is this not a patent contradiction?
"You should understand the whole purpose of listening to teachings, taking teachings and studying them is to put them into practice, just as after having learned how to prepare a certain dish, you utilize that knowledge to make the dish and derive full nutritional benefit from it. What you know should be put into practice immediately; you can thus derive the benefit of having some transformation within your mind. Even though it might be a very minor effort, a very small practice just leaving imprints within your mind, still you must think that it is worthwhile to do. Otherwise your knowledge of dharma will be quite fruitless, and like merely playing something on a tape.
"If you ask 'Do humans have rights? Yes, there are human rights. How is it that humans have rights? It is on the basis of the valid innate appearance of an I to our consciousness that we naturally want happiness and do not want suffering, and that wanting of happiness and not wanting of suffering itself, with this appearance as its basis, is the very reason for there being human rights." The Dalai Lama
PRAYERS... Now that I wander alone, without my loved ones, and all my visions are but empty images, may the Buddhas exert the force of their compassion and stop the fear and hate-drawn terrors of the between! Now when I suffer by the power of negative evolution, may my archetype deities dispel my suffering! When reality crashes with a thousand thunders, may they all become OM MANI PADME HUM! When I'm pulled by evolution without recourse, may the lords mild and fierce dispel my suffering! When I suffer due to evolutionary instincts, may clear light bliss samadhi (meditation) arise for me!
May all sentient beings have equanimity, free from attachment, aggression and prejudice. May they be happy, and have the causes for happiness. May they be free from suffering and causes for suffering. May they never be separated from the happiness that is free from suffering. (3x)
Fifteen minutes of meditation on vast space every day: Look at the open sky on a clear day. Concentrate your effort to see as far out as you can. If a bird, an airplane, a wisp of cloud, or any kind of object comes into view, ignore it and don't let it distract you. If your eyes become tired, close them, but your mind should continuously "look" at the vast sky without wavering. The key to this practice can be found in the following verse: "Like the sky devoid of edge or center, meditate on vastness and infinity." That is the teaching Milarepa gave to his woman disciple - Sahle-Aiu. It clearly emphasizes non-duality, non-discrimination, and no self.
As all things are Buddha-Dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, and birth and death, and there are Buddhas and sentient beings. As the myriad (indefinite number) things are without an abiding self, there is no delusion, no realization, no Buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death. The Buddha way is, basically, leaping clear of the many and the one; thus, there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and Buddhas. Yet, in attachment - blossoms fall, and in aversion - weeds spread. To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening. Those who have great realization of delusion are Buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings. Further, there are those who continue realizing beyond realization, who are in delusion throughout delusion. When Buddhas are truly Buddhas, they do not necessarily notice that they are Buddhas. However, they are actualized Buddhas, who go on actualizing Buddhas. To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly. When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep you eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine myriad things with a confused body and mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self. Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past. You should understand that firewood is firewood, which fully includes past and future. Ash is ash, which fully includes future and past. Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death. This being so, it is an established way in Buddha-Dharma to deny that birth turns into death. Accordingly, birth is understood as no-birth. It is an unshakable teaching in Buddha's discourse that death does not turn into birth. Accordingly, death is understood as no-death. Birth is an expres- sion complete this moment. Death is an expression complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring. Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dew-drops on the grass, or even in one drop of water. Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder Enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky. The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dew-drop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky. When Dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient. When Dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing. For example, when you sail out in a boat to the middle of an ocean where no land is in sight, and view the four directions, the ocean looks circular, and does not look any other way. But the ocean is neither round nor square; its features are infinite in variety. It is like a palace. It is like a jewel. It only looks circular as far as you can see at that time. All things are like this. Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach. In order to learn the nature of myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water. A fish swims in the ocean, and no matter how far it swims, there is no end to the water. A bird flies in the sky, and no matter how far it flies, there is no end to the air. However, the fish and the bird have never left their elements. When their activity is large, their field is large. When their need is small, their field is small. Thus, each of them totally covers its full range, and each of them totally experiences its realm. If the bird leaves the air, it will die at once. If the fish leaves the water, it will die at once. Know that water is life and air is life. The bird is life and the fish is life. Life must be the bird and life must be the fish. It is possible to illustrate this with more analogies. Practice, Enlightenment, and people are like this. Now if a bird or a fish tries to reach the end of its element before moving in it, this bird or this fish will not find its way or its place. When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find your Way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point; for the place, the Way, is neither large nor small, neither yours nor others.' The place, the Way, has not carried over from the past, and it is not merely arising now. Accordingly, in the practice - Enlightenment of the Buddha Way, meeting one thing is mastering it doing one practice is practicing completely. Zen master Baoche of Mt. Mayu was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, "Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why, then, do you fan yourself?" "Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent," Baoche replied, "you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere." "What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?" asked the monk again. The master just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply. The actualization of the Buddha-Dharma, the vital path of its correct transmission, is like this. If you say that you do not need to fan yourself because the nature of wind is permanent and you can have wind without fanning, you will understand neither permanence nor the nature of wind. The nature of wind is permanent; because of that, the wind of the Buddha's house brings forth the gold of the earth and makes fragrant the cream of the long river.
ENLIGHTENMENT - The Bodhisatta, having put Mara to flight, gave himself up to meditation. All the miseries of the world, the evils produced by evil deeds and the sufferings arising therefrom, passed before his mental eye, and he thought: "Surely, if living creatures saw the results of all their evil deeds, they would turn away from them in disgust. But selfhood blinds them, and they cling to their obnoxious desires. They crave pleasure for themselves and they cause pain to others; when death destroys their individuality, they find no peace; their thirst for existence abides and their selfhood reappears in new births. Thus they continue to move in the coil and can find no escape from the hell of their own making. And how empty are their pleasures, how vain are their endeavours! Hollow like the plantain-tree and without contents like the bubble. The world is full of evil and sorrow, because it is full of lust. Men go astray because they think that delusion is better than truth. Rather than truth they follow error, which is pleasant to look at in the beginning but in the end causes anxiety, tribulation, and misery." And the Bodhisatta began to expound the Dharma. "The Dharma is the TRUTH. The Dharma is the SACRED LAW. The Dharma is RELIGION. The Dharma alone can deliver us from error, from wrong and from sorrow." Pondering on the origin of birth and death, the Enlightened One recognized that ignorance was the root of all evil; and these are the links in the development of life, called the twelve nidanas: In the beginning there is existence - blind and without knowledge; and in this sea of ignorance there are stirrings, formative and organizing. From stirrings, formative and organizing, rises awareness or feelings. Feelings beget organisms that live as individual beings. These organisms develop the six fields, that is, the five senses and the mind. The six fields come in contact with things. Contact begets sensation. Sensation creates the thirst of individualized being. The thirst of being creates a cleaving to things. The cleaving produces the growth and continuation of selfhood. Selfhood continues in renewed births. The renewed births of selfhood are the cause of suffering, old age, sickness, and death. They produce lamentation, anxiety, and dispair. The cause of all sorrow lies at the very beginning; it is hidden in the ignorance from which life grows. Remove ignorance and you will destroy the wrong appetences that rise from ignorance; destroy these appetences and you will wipe out the wrong perception that rises from them. Destroy wrong perception and there is an end of errors in individualized beings. Destroy the error in individualized beings and the illusions of the six fields will disappear. Destroy illusions and the contact with things will cease to beget misconception. Destroy misconception and you do away with thirst. Destroy thirst and you will be free of all morbid cleaving. Remove the cleaving and you destroy the selfishness of selfhood. If the selfishness of selfhood is destroyed you will be above birth, old age, disease, and death, and you will escape all suffering. The Enlightened One saw the Four Noble Truths which point out the path that leads to Nirvana or the extinction of self: The first Noble Truth is the existence of sorrow. The second NobleTtruth is the cause of suffering. The third Noble Truth is cessation of sorrow. The fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path that leads to the cessation of sorrow. This is the Dharma. This is the truth. This is religion. And the Enlightened One uttered this stanza: "Through many births I sought in vain, the Builder of this House of Pain. Now, Builder, thee I plainly see! This is the last abode for me. Thy gable's yoke and rafters broke, My heart has peace. All lust will cease." There is self and there is truth. Where self is, truth is not. Where truth is, self is not. Self is the fleeting error of samsara; it is individual separateness and that egotism which begets envy and hatred. Self is the yearning for pleasure and the lust after vanity. Truth is the correct comprehension of things; it is the permanent and everlasting, the real in all existence, the bliss of righteousness. The existence of self is an illusion, and there is no wrong in this world, no vise, no evil, except what flows from the assertion of self. The attainment of truth is possible only when self is recognized as an illusion. Righteousness can be practised only when we have freed our mind from passions of egotism. Perfect peace can dwell only where all vanity has disappeared. Blessed is he who has understood the Dharma. Blessed is he who does no harm to his fellow-beings. Blessed is he who overcomes wrong and is free from passion. To the highest bliss has he attained who has conquered all selfishness and vanity. He has become the Buddha, the Perfect One, the Blessed One, the Holy One.
SAYINGS ATTRIBUTED TO THE BUDDHA...
"Suppose a man has been wounded by an arrow thickly smeared with poison, and his friends and companions, relatives and kinsmen call a physician - a surgeon. And the physician, the surgeon, widens the wound with his knife and searches for the arrow point with the probe. Having found the arrow point, he extracts it and completely removes the poison until he thinks that nothing of it is left. This simile have I given to make the meaning clear. And its significance is this: 'The wound' is a name for the six internal sense bases. 'The poison' is a name for ignorance. 'The arrow' is a name for craving. 'The probe' is a name for mindfulness. 'The knife' is a name for noble wisdom. 'The physician, the surgeon' is a name for the Perfect One, the Holy One, the Fully Enlightened One.
"Suppose a large crowd of people has gathered on hearing the news that a beauty queen has come. And if that beauty queen is also highly gifted in dancing and singing, a still larger crowd would gather. Now a man comes who wishes to live and not die, who desires happiness and abhors suffering. And the people say to him: 'Here, friend, is a vessel filled to the brim with oil. This you must carry through the large crowd to the beauty queen. A man with a drawn sword will follow behind your back, and if you spill even a little of the oil, he will cut off your head!' "Now, what do you think, monks? Will that man carry the oil vessel carelessly, without paying heed to his environment?" "Certainly not, Lord." "This simile have I given to make the meaning clear. And its significance is this: 'The vessel filled to the brim with oil' is a name for Mindfulness concerning the body. Hence, O monks, you should train yourselves thus: 'We shall cultivate Mindfulness concerning the Body, we shall practice it regularly so that it may become a vehicle of progress and a firm possession of our minds; so that it may be consolidated, strengthened and perfected in us!' Thus, O monks, should you train yourselves!"
"Preserve Dharma forever, by (at the cost of even) crossing (a wall of) flames and (a field of) razors."
HOW TO PROSTRATE: Prostration is a gesture to overtly proclaim, "A state of being vastly greater than my present self exists. I truly admire and seek that condition for myself. Here is a symbol of it before me. Thus do I signify utmost honor and respect, both for the goal itself and all those who precede me to it."
Buddhism is more a practice than a faith, almost like a second career. We learn very specialized skills, including the use of many tools. The largest class of these we lump together under the term meditation. For the most part these tools are rather subtle, delicate and specific of purpose, like an array of surgical instruments. We have introspective methods to scope out certain problem areas of the mind. Skillfully employed these can map out every tiniest grain and sliver of delusion yet remaining. Then we have only to deal with them, each according to its kind. Some might have to be rooted out by use of one tool or another. Others we might choose to cauterize in place. The more skillful operator even has a few rare and wonderful tools to transform them into something beneficial. All these many tools we have, each just right for a certain task.
But what if the problem is really big? What if instead of a minor negative karmic propensity, the problem we are needing to address is an iron-hard knot of ego? Sure, we could carve away at it with scalpel and a magnifying glass. But that might take a rather long time. And all the while it might be growing. In such a case, why not go at it with hammer and tongs: lock it down where it can’t escape, take very deliberate aim and pound away with a measured cadence until it is softened into a state of useful malleability? Do we have a tool for that? Of course we do. And as with many excellent tools, this one has a secondary function also. Ego is pretty clever at hiding when it doesn’t want to be seen. Prostration helps us flush it out. All I ever have to do is barely two or three and up it pops, virtually shouting at me. "Hey, hey, hey!" says Ego, "What’s all this? It’s humiliating. Don’t do this. People are watching. Stop it right now!" And at that instant I know right where Ego is. I can see a really big chunk of it. How many hours would I have to sit for this kind full report? Having lured Ego from his lair, hopefully I am now a shade or two less vulnerable to assault from this deceptive and oh-so-powerful enemy. Ego would rather that I not know he exist. He much prefers to masquerade as me instead. When I make him show himself the veil is lifted. I can stare him in the face. We are by no means one and the same. This is very good to know. Prostration is bait that Ego simply can’t resist. It is one of his weakest points. And so, of course, that is where to best attack him, over and over and over again.
Full Versus Semi Prostration: Please be informed: there are really no such things as full and semi prostration techniques. This is a Western misnomer. The one is not an abbreviation of the other. Both are equal as regards their spiritual significance. Rather, there are two traditions: Nalanda and Vikramashila, two of the most highly regarded institutions of the ancient Buddhist world. It is from Nalanda (the larger and more enduring of these two) that the improperly called semi prostration method hails. By this technique, one touches the ground in five places: with the forehead, hands and knees. (The feet still also touch, but aren’t mentioned for obvious reasons.) This is no less a full prostration than the Vikramashila method. It is simply a different tradition for the same exact practice. That is all, nothing more, nothing less. And this is the method, which is observed in our own lineage, the Gaden tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
How to Perform Prostrations: You will find a more exacting explanation in our recommended study manual, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pabonkha Rinpoche, available from Wisdom Publications. The page number is in the index. But for those without this valuable aid, here is a brief outline. Here I’ll describe the classic gesture with an almost military precision, like the sixteen-count manual of arms. If we were in the Marines, this is exactly, precisely how we would do it. And no doubt but that true Marines could crank them out, nice and snappy, for at least a hundred or so. But we are not Marines. And a hundred are far too few. So it is that everyone abbreviates this procedure to some degree. That’s okay since there are no active-duty drill sergeants (that I’m aware of) among the Enlightened. Just perform as well as you can with the proper attitude. You’ll know that you’re doing something right if Ego tries to make you quit. The best result of all would be if at the end you truly felt more inspired and reverent.
Foot position: Start out standing with your feet somewhat apart. This is important for balance. A natural distance apart, even as much as shoulder width, but not wider. The toes point forward.
Hand position: You start out with your hands together, prayer-like, but not pressed flat against each other. The gesture is as if you held the rarest of gems: a wish-fulfilling cittamani. The finger- and thumb-tips of each hand touch their opposite on the other, as in prayer. But leave a small open space in the center of the palms, at least enough for a ping-pong ball. And think that you hold a cittamani. Hold onto it nice and straight, with the fingers pointing up. Start out with the hands together at the level of your heart. Then, still holding the cittamani, raise them slightly over your head and touch them to your crown. Next touch the cittamani to your brow, then your throat, then your heart
Bending: Now we must part our hands. Don’t think that the cittamani falls, or that it disappears. Don’t think about it doing anything. Just stop pretending that it is there. Part your hands and bend toward the floor. Bend very naturally. Don’t wither down slowly; but also don’t dive at the floor. Try to be a little brisk, quite as if you really like doing it. Enthusiasm breeds genuine respect. Pick a place to put down your hands, not so close that you knees will land upon them, and not so far forward that you won’t be able to push yourself up from later. Your palms stay a little cupped, just like when you were holding the cittamani. Place them down upon the floor, fingertips forward. The palms remain slightly cupped even while upon the ground.
Kneeling: Your knees touch the ground very shortly after the palms. The knees end up pointing forward, just as the toes had done while you were standing.
Forehead: Continuing with a smooth motion, touch the forehead to the ground.
Arising: Do not rest there even a moment. Just as soon as all five points have made contact with the ground, reverse yourself to a standing position. Push off with the hands so as to arise the more briskly. Finish with the palms together before the heart at the ready to begin again.
Throughout It All: During the entirety of this process, think that you are bowing to the actual Buddha, the actual Dharma, the actual Sangha. Be glad of the opportunity to show respect toward them. Think to yourself, "Now and until Enlightenment, I prostrate to the Three Jewels."
Highly Simplified Version: When sitting together as a group, especially in a crowded hall where there is not sufficient space for anything else, we can perform an abbreviated prostration. That is simply to remain in whatever posture we are, seated or standing, and bring the palms together before the heart just as described above. But no matter how abbreviated, our depth of feeling ought to be exactly the same.
When and How Often? Prostrate toward the images on the altar whenever you first enter a shrine room. Prostrate also to the teacher, whenever he or she first enters after having taken a seat. Prostrate again before you leave, or after he or she leaves...but not on the final session of the final day of instruction. At certain points during sadhanas, the rite may call for you to prostrate. In sitting practice with a group, sometimes one is not quite sure when to rise for the unabbreviated version. If you are seated near the front look for a cue from the leader. Or else just do what everyone else does. When alone do as seems appropriate. In Lam Rim practice at home I arise at the designated limb of the Seven Limbs Prayer since the text, which my teacher assigned me to study, some years ago suggests doing so. At any rate, always do at least a set of three prostrations, beyond that set a firm goal. You might count to a certain number: five, seven, twenty-one, twenty-seven, fifty-four or one hundred eight. Or you might set your goal in time: five minutes, ten minutes or half an hour. Holding both an imaginary cittamani and a mala may disturb your concentration. Counting aloud or visualizing some kind of tally will surely do so. For more than seven, I usually go by time: this at the recommendation of one of my early teachers. Rinpoche has not suggested otherwise, nor do I suspect that he might, else I would have sought clarification. Whenever there’s been opportunity for guidance, other, more vexing uncertainties have been at the surface of my mind.
And this, I think, is an entirely proper way to engage in Dharma practice. We do just as well as we can according to the knowledge at hand. We cannot do it perfectly in any case. When we’re perfect there will be no need to practice. So if (or rather when) an error is uncovered, it doesn’t mean in any way that all before has gone for naught. We simply make yet another small adjustment and go on. Any journey of consequence will be marked by course corrections such as these.
Perhaps this may seem a bit contrived. Well, contrived is exactly just what it is,but only at first. One’s first steps in any endeavor are always awkward: highly deliberate and contrived. This is true for any skill we wish to acquire. Take playing the piano, for instance. First one struggles to hammer out Chopsticks progressing by stages until one can comfortably manage Chopin. But there the similarity ends. Our aspiring pianist may not realistically assume the spirit of Chopin is truly present to offer direct encouragement. We, as tantric practitioners, may indeed rightly do so.
The Middle Way Is Buddha... The Middle Way is Buddha, and by coming to know The Middle Way you come to know Buddha. Generally, people think in terms of relative dualities. Consequently, they see reality as a world filled with struggles and conflicts. But this is illusion based on false discriminations. The Middle Way is ridding yourself of right and wrong, evil and good and all other relative dualities. It is an absolute state where all contradictions and conflicts have been synchronized. There are no dualities in universal reality. Right and wrong are synchronized so that right is wrong and wrong is right. Evil and good are synchronized so that evil is good and good is evil. They are one and the same, and this is the eternally accommodating truth of The Middle Way. When we know about nature and the universe, we see things as separate units. But when we know the universe, we know it as One. There is no end to the world of struggle and conflict if we stubbornly insist on such foolish discriminations relative dualities. If we come to see universal law, to see the reality of The Middle Way `s perfect harmony, then contradictions and conflicts, dualities and struggles disappear. We see the great oneness of everything; and we can laugh wherever we go in this immense world of freedom, a world completely free from criticism and dissatisfaction. In this world beyond dualities, every thing is The Middle Way and every place is a Buddha field. The reality of The Middle Way is the world of Buddha, and it is the true reality of the universe. We live in a world, which is fundamentally a vast paradise, filled with blooming flowers of freedom. So let's all perceive this world of The Middle way, and return to our fundamental nature which is an eternal home of absolute peace. Let's hold hands and walk together in this magnificent world, which sings praise of Buddha, a world where everything in the universe sings of The Middle Way.
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The Middle Way Is Buddha... (Sayings attributed to the Buddha):
The Highest Gift... The gift of Truth excels all other gifts.
Accept Truth... If you find truth in any religion, accept that truth.
The External Law... In this world , hatred can never be appeased by hatred. Hatred can only be appeased by love.This is the external law.
World within You... In this very one fathom, long body with perception and thoughts, I proclaim the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world and the path leading to the end of the world.
Mind is the forerunner... By mind the world is led, by the mind the world is drawn. And all men own the sovereignty of mind.
Two Different Paths... One is the road that leads to worldly gain , one leads to deathlessness - Eternal Bliss
Everything Is Impermanent... All conditioned things are impermanent. When one see this is Wisdom, then one becomes dispassionate towards the painful.
Ignorance... It is because you and I do not understand and comprehend the four noble truths that we have to run this long and weary round of existence - Samsara
Lucky Day... Fools wait for a lucky day, but everyday is a lucky day for an industrious man.
Worldly Ties... The secret of happiness lies in mind's release from worldly ties.
Insufficient Knowledge... The man of little learning grows old like the ox. His body grows but wisdom grows not.
Life is dear to all... All tremble at the rod. All fear death. Feeling for others as for oneself, one should neither kill nor cause to kill.
A religion to practise... This is a religion for one to come and practise but not just to come and believe.
Evil-Doer Grieves... The evil-doer grieves here, he grieves hereafter. He grieves in both worlds. He grieves, he perishes with his own impure deed.
Vigilance and negligence... Vigilance is the path to deathlessness. Negligence is the path to death.The vigilant do not die. The negligent are as if dead already.
Real Fool... The fool who is aware of his foolishness is wise at least to that extent. But the fool who thinks himself wise is a fool indeed.
Highest Virtue... Tolerance, patience and understanding are the highest virtues every man should develop.
Righteous Living... The middle path of righteous living brings knowledge and understanding. It brings insight, leads to wisdom, to awakening - Nirvana.
Humility... He who controls his hand, he who controls his feet, he who is well controlled, he who delights inwardly, who is collected, who is solitary and content, him they call a bhikshu. The bhikshu who controls his mouth, who speaks wisely and calmly, who teaches the meaning and the law, his word is sweet. He who dwells in the law, delights in the law, meditates on the law, follows the law, that bhikshu will never fall away from the true law. Let him not despise what he has received, nor ever envy others: a mendicant who envies others does not obtain peace of mind. A bhikshu who, though he receives little, does not despise what he has received, even the gods will praise him, if his life is pure, and if he is not slothful.
Purity of Heart - All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
A great rock is not disturbed by the wind, the mind of a wise person is not disturbed by either honor or abuse.
Anger cannot be destroyed by anger, but by love alone. This is the ancient and eternal law.
One is the master of oneself, one is the oasis one can depend on, therefore one should control oneself above all.
Blood stains cannot be removed by more blood, resentment cannot be removed by more resentment, resentment can be removed only by forgetting it.
Though his feet leave their imprints in my footsteps and his hands carry my garment, if his mind is disturbed by greed, he is far from me.
On life's journey, faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life nothing can destroy him; if he has conquered greed nothing can limit his freedom."
Be a lamp unto yourself! Work out your liberation with diligence.
Fill your mind with compassion.
Just as a mother would protect her only child, even at the risk of her own life, even so let one cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings.
Let no one deceive another. Let no one despise another in any situation. Let no one, from antipathy or hatred, wish evil to anyone at all. Just as a mother, with her own life, protects her only son from hurt, so within yourself foster a limitless concern for every living creature. Display a heart of boundless love for all the world In all its height and depth and broad extent - love unrestrained, without hate or enmity. Then as you stand or walk, sit or lie, until overcome by drowsiness devote your mind entirely to this, it is known as living here life divine.
May every creature abound in well-being and peace. May every living being, weak or strong, the long and the small, the short and the medium-sized, the mean and the great, may every living being, seen or unseen, those dwelling far off, those near by, those already born, those waiting to be born, may all attain inner peace. [Interesting articles may be printed on our other pages/sites.]
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Last update: June 23, 2009
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