Letting the mind become peaceful and staying in a meditative state of stillness free from many thoughts is called shamatha, or sustained calm. Recognizing the empty nature of mind within that state of calm is called vipashyana, or profound insight. Uniting shamatha and vipashyana is the essence of meditation practice. It is said:
Looking at the mind There is nothing to see. Seeing nothing, we see the Dharma, The source of all Buddhas.
As the great Kadampa teachers used to say:
I will hold the spear of mindfulness at the gate of the mind, And when the emotions threaten, I, too, will threaten them; When they relax their grip, only then will I relax mine.
In truth, if you cannot tame your own mind, what else is there to tame? What is the use of doing many other practices? The aim of the whole Buddhist path, both the Basic and Great Vehicles, is to tame and understand the mind. In the Basic Vehicle, you realize that the world is pervaded by suffering, and so you try to control your own craving and grasping in order to be able to progress on the path to liberation from that suffering. In the Great Vehicle, you let go of your grasping to the idea of '1,' to the truly existing self, and become solely concerned with the welfare of others.
~~~~
THE HEART OF COMPASSION THE THIRTY – SEVEN VERSE ON THE PRACTICE OF A BODHISATTVA Dilgo Khyentse Translated From the Tibetan by the Padmakara Translation Group
No comments:
Post a Comment