Regard All Dharmas as Dreams

Osho said, “Now the work starts. Atisha is very condensed, seed-like. That is the meaning of a sutra; it is just like a thread, just a hint, and then you have to decode it.”

When we talk about “dharmas” in this context we’re talking about “phenomena.” There is Dharma – which is the teaching and there is “dharma” which means “phenomena,” all that you see, all that you experience, all that can ever be experienced is “phenomena.” All this “phenomena” seems very solid, very real. But Pema says, “Another way to put this is: “Every situation is a passing memory.” Now when you think about that, it puts the whole of life into a completely different perspective. What you just did, said, thought is a memory right now. You can’t maintain it in any way. It’s over and it’s gone. Our experience – “phenomena” – is so fleeting that there is almost nothing about it that endures.

We begin to experience this in our sitting practice. We watch our breath and how it changes and our physical sensations and how they change. The same with our feelings and thoughts. They’re there and then they’re gone, just like that. You can hardly recreate the thought that you just had, unless it’s your habitual thought and even then it alters all the time. It morphs from one thing to the next. Sometimes it’s subtle, and sometimes we make the huge leap from “I really made a mistake that time,” to “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I ever do anything right?”
Our sitting practice allows us to witness this and to bring compassion to ourselves as we see it happening. Pema again, “Gentleness is our practice. This compassion, this clarity, this openness are like something we’ve forgotten. Sitting here being gentle with ourselves, we’re rediscovering something.”

With this slogan of regard all dharmas as dreams or as a passing memory we can see that we’re creating an illusion about ourselves and that we don’t have to live in the things we tell ourselves about ourselves or others. Certainly, we all make mistakes – sometimes they’re terrible mistakes and the consequences are terrible. Sometimes we live in terrible circumstances and it seems there is no way out of them. But, when we begin to look at the course of our lives on a moment to moment basis, as we do in our sitting practice, we see it actually changes all the time. This can give us the courage and strength we need to begin to live in a different way. It’s hard to give up our habitual self-talk and behavior – scary. We’ve created our identity with it. To begin to change it is a pretty amazing thing. But change occurs on a moment to moment basis, just as life does. So the small things we do to move out of our habitual behaviors and begin to do things in a different way also take on new meaning. All our efforts become important and consequential when seen in the light of the present moment.

Bodhichitta

We’ve been talking about the loJong slogans for a while now and I’d like to talk today a bit more about Bodhichitta – the heart/mind of love. The whole purpose of this training is to awaken Bodhichitta. All the 59 slogans are designed to point us in the direction of living from our loving heart. Lama Surya Das says that Bodhichitta is the “very spirit-engine of enlightenment” and that “practicing Bodhichitta involves bringing our Buddha-nature out into the wold with our intention (the Bodhisattva Vow) and with each one of our thoughts, words, and deeds (the Bodhisattva Path).”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “The highest perfection of altruism, the ultimate altruism, is Bodhichitta complemented by wisdom. Bodhichitta – the aspiration to bring about the welfare of all sentient beings and to attain Buddhahood for their sake – is really the distilled essence, the squeezed juice of all the Buddha’s teachings.” Which is a very direct definition of Absolute and Relative Bodhichitta, the realization of and openness to our connection to all sentient beings, our wish to relieve them of their suffering, and to attain enlightenment in order to be of the greatest benefit to them.

There is the story of the student who asks his teacher, “Master what can I do to help all the suffering beings in the world?” and the Master answers, “Indeed, what can you do?” Here we are, sentient beings ourselves, with all our suffering and confusion. How can we possibly help? The only thing we can do is to begin to cultivate some understanding, some insight, and the more we learn the more we can help. Therefore, to be of maximum benefit to others, the answer is to become enlightened ourselves… to become a Buddha.

Pema Chodron says, “Bodhichitta has three qualities: (1) it is soft and gentle, which is compassion; (2) at the same time, it is clear and sharp, which is called prajna (innate wisdom); and (3) it is open. This last quality of bodhichitta is called shunyata and is also known as emptiness. Emptiness sounds cold. However, Bodhichitta isn’t cold at all, because there’s a heart quality – the warmth of compassion – that pervades the space and the clarity. Compassion and openness and clarity are all one thing, and this one thing is called Bodhichitta.”

How does the loJong help us in this? Well, here we have all these “pithy” slogans – short easy to remember – that direct us always to the heart of the matter. The slogan “regard all dharmas as dreams” tells us to look at the world and see that all phenomena is just a dream or as Pema says “a passing memory.” The old saying “Here today, gone tomorrow,” could be rewritten from the Buddhist perspective as “Here now, gone in a ksana.” We seek permanence, solidity in our lives, and don’t realize that each ksana (1/64th of a finger snap) is the whole of life. There is nothing beyond that. The now is everything. When it passes it is just a memory. What comes next is just a dream. What is now is the whole of life.

Living in the now allows us to move along with equanimity, acceptance, openness. We develop wisdom when we begin to see that even when things are really painful and filled with confusion, we can use those experiences to develop our understanding by seeing that everything arises and passes away; that we are all connected and have the same feelings about what happens to us. That slogan says “When the world is filled with evil, transform all mishaps into the path of bodhi.”

The slogans lead us to kindness when they say things like “Don't malign others,” “Don't wait in ambush,” “Don't bring things to a painful point,” “Don't act with a twist,” and “Don't seek others' pain as the limbs of your own happiness.” They lead us to compassion with “Sending and taking should be practiced alternately. These two should ride the breath,” and “Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself.” They teach us wisdom in “Train without bias in all areas. It is crucial always to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly.” The three qualities of Bodhichitta are found throughout the slogans. If we can incorporate them into our lives, they will lead us along the path of the bodhisattva.

Slogans that start with "Don't"

Of the 59 loJong slogans, 18 start with "Don't." They say things like "Don't ponder others," "Don't malign others," and "Don't wait in ambush." Things that encourage us to look at how we think about, speak about, and treat others. Then there are those that say "Don't be so predictable," "Don't act with a twist," and, my personal favorite, "Don't expect applause." These tell us to look at ourselves and what we're doing -- how rigid we are, how attached we are to the past, what (and who) we like and dislike; do we manipulate or better how much do we manipulate, and are we thinking that somehow we're going to get an award for all our altruism? They ask us to stop thinking about what others are doing and look only at ourselves and how we are living and how we want to live; don't gossip, they say, to make ourselves look and feel better; and look at how easily we slip into being smug, superior, or nasty in our attachments, baiting people or setting them up to look stupid.

The Buddha taught a loving and open way of life. He taught that a life focused solely on self is meaningless and empty. If we turn our attention to loving others, understanding others, then we may not be comfortable or wealthy or famous, but we will know joy, peace, equanimity. Not only will we find peace in a daily life that is without struggle against what is, but we will find a spiritual understanding of the interconnectedness of all beings.

We are not alone in this life and don't know it. We all suffer from the delusion that our lives have no impact on anyone and that we are insignificant. We all believe that we are separate in the identity that we have built. The ignorance of our inter-being is what causes us the greatest suffering. Our basic goodness -- our Buddha-nature -- connects us all and so each time we open our hearts in compassion, each time we love someone for the sake of loving them, each time we give without attachment, we are healing one another. Everything that we do effects everyone -- all beings. We can benefit each other just be having a good thought. We can impact all being with our heart of love. We don't have to go to a monastery or study theology or be president of anything. Just being who we truly are, living from our basic goodness, is all we need to do.

In his book Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, & Liberation : The Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, & Other Basic Buddhist Teachings, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: "Your purpose is to be yourself. You don't have to run anywhere to become someone else. You are wonderful just the way you are. This teaching of the Buddha allows us to enjoy ourselves, the blue sky, and everything that is refreshing and healing in the present moment. We already have everything we are looking for, everything we want to become. We are already a Buddha so why not just take the hand of another Buddha and practice walking meditation? Just be. Just being in the moment in this place is the deepest practice of meditation. The Heart Sutra says that there is "nothing to attain." We meditate not to attain enlightenment, because enlightenment is already in us. We don't need to search anywhere. We don't need to practice to obtain some high position. We can enjoy every moment. People talk about entering nirvana, but we are already there. Aimlessness and nirvana are one. We have everything we need to make the present moment the happiest in our life, even if we have a cold or a headache. We don't have to wait until we get over our cold to be happy. Having a cold is part of life. I am happy in the present moment. I do not ask for anything else. I do not expect any additional happiness. Aimlessness is stopping and realizing the happiness that is already available."

So the loJong Slogans, the Four Noble Truths, the Six Paramitas, etc, give us a little basic instruction on how to be happy in the present moment. They point the way for us so that we can begin to look at what we think, do, and say so that our impact on each other will be positive and helpful, so that we may all be free of our suffering in the here and now.

Gratitude and Generosity

Since it is Thanksgiving Week we will talk again about Gratitude and Generosity. We discussed the 13th loJong Slogan this summer, which is "Be Grateful to Everyone." This slogan teaches us about how important everyone is to us. Without them enlightenment would be impossible; other people are the "grist for the mill" as Ram Das said. Pema Chodron said, "We need all the obstacles and troubles and encouragement and mentoring and pushing and prodding we get from other people. They are our greatest teachers." Along with gratitude goes generosity or dana, the practie of giving in all areas of our lives. Dana teaches us to let go, to experience the world with an open heart and and open hand.

Sharon Salzberg: “We purify the mind of craving by practicing generosity. Desire, greed, is a central longing in which we seek to draw everything inward toward ourselves. Giving is a basic reorientation of that attitude into one of opening, one of offering. Generosity is not merely the overt action of giving somebody something material: it can also be giving of care, of protection, of kindness, and of love. Generosity is not just interpersonal; it is also an inward state, a generosity of the spirit that extends to ourselves as well as to others.”

Sharon Salzberg: “When we look at others, we see ourselves as well; when we look within ourselves, we discover all beings and all things in the universe. Every event, every entity, every mind-state, every experience we have is born out of a web of interconnectedness.”

Chogyam Trungpa: “A more literal translation of the slogan “Be Grateful to Everyone” is “Contemplate the great kindness of everyone.”

Osho: “A man once came and spat in the Buddha’s face. His attendant, Ananda, was incredibly angry. The Buddha wiped his face and said to the man “Thank you, sir... You created a context in which I could see whether I can still be angry or not. And I am not, and I am tremendously happy. And you also created a context for Ananda: now he can see that he can still be angry. Many thanks - we are so grateful! Once in a while, please, you are invited to come. Whenever you have the urge to spit on somebody, you can come to us.” His whole being was saying that he was grateful, his whole attitude was grateful. The man was horrified! What had he done? Spitting on a man like the Buddha. It was unforgivable.

The next morning the man ran back, fell down at the Buddha’s feet, and said “Forgive me, sir, I could not sleep the whole night.” Buddha said “Forget about it... and I cannot forgive you, because in the first place I was not angry with you. If I had been angry, I could have forgiven you. If you really need forgiveness, ask Ananda. Fall at HIS feet - he will enjoy it!”

Pema Chodron: “If we were to make a list of people we don't like – people we find obnoxious, threatening, or worthy of contempt – we would find out a lot about those aspects of ourselves that we can't face. If we were to come up with one word about each of the troublemakers in our lives, we would find ourselves with a list of descriptions of our own rejected qualities, which we project onto the outside world. [O]ther people trigger the karma that we haven't worked out. They mirror us and give us the chance to befriend all of that ancient stuff that we carry around like a backpack full of granite boulders.”

Compassion Practices

This week we will begin by practicing loving-kindness for ourselves in order to fill our hearts for our Tonglen practice.

Jack Kornfield: "Kindness is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary (1994) as: 1) of a generous or warm-hearted nature, 2) showing sympathy or understanding, 3) humane. Self kindness is applying a generous and warm heart toward yourself to create sympathy and understanding from yourself, for yourself."

Our tonglen practice will begin for self and expand to include others. In order to do this we need to understand Bodhicitta and the altruistic wish that is generated by its realization within us.

Sogyal Rinpoche: "This compassionate wish is called Bodhicitta in Sanskrit; bodhi means our enlightened essence, and citta means heart. So we could translate it as "the heart of our enlightened mind." To awaken and develop the heart of the enlightened mind is to ripen steadily the seed of our buddha nature, that seed that in the end, when our practice of compassion has become perfect and all-embracing, will flower majestically into buddhahood. Bodhicitta, then, is the spring and source and root of the entire spiritual path." (The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, page 201)

Dalai Lama: "The highest perfectin of altruism, the ultimate ulatruism, is Bodhicitta complemented by wisdom. Bodhicitta -- the aspiration to bring about the welfare of all sentient beings and to attain Buddhahood for their sake -- is really the distilled essence, the squeezed juice of all the buddha's teachings."

Lama Surya Das: " Bodhicitta is the very spirit-engine of enlightenment and our prime mover along the Bodhisattva way. If the Bodhisattva is a vessel or vehicle to carry others to nirvana, Bodhicitta is the engine of the great vehicle. Buddhist teachers often describe it as limitless lovingkindness, and active orientation toward seeking the betterment of everyone instead of one's own selfish benefit alone."

Tonglen

This week we’ll talk about and practice tonglen again. It is a practice that bears talking about more than once or twice and that requires a great deal of practice to develop some skill. In his book Buddha Is As Buddha Does, Lama Surya Das teaches the practice in the first chapter on the Paramita of Generosity. Certainly this is a practice of great generosity of spirit and develops fearlessness in all of us as we open ourselves in compassion first to ourselves and then eventually to all beings. Lama Surya Das teaches tonglen in this way (Pgs 49-51):

“Tonglen bids us to confront (or take in) all the suffering that exists in the world and then, to counteract that suffering, give away (or send out) our own joy and happiness. We do this with our whole heart, to the rhythm of our breath. Breathing in, we imagine siphoning up the world’s suffering into our own being, where it’s dissipated. Breathing out, we envision discharging our own positive energy as a replacement for that suffering.

“Tonglen is not a practice to be taken lightly, as if it were an empty litany. One of the most powerful practices I know, it demands a great deal of fearlessness, concentration, insight, and honesty. I admit that I was originally quite intimidated by it. What am I risking, I’d wonder, by volunteering to suck up every bit of trouble, illness, and negativity that’s out there? I was conscious of how little we really know about the interconnections of mind, body, spirit, and energy, and I’d think, What if I’m somehow asking to get a horrible disease? What if I’m polluting myself with all this negative energy coming in? Engaging in tonglen was definitely a leap of faith for me, but one that proved immensely rewarding. For each ounce of courage I put into it, I gained a pound of fearlessness as a result.

“Here’s how I recommend practicing tonglen:

1. Breathe and visualize in harmony. Relax and focus your mind, centering yourself in the present moment. Then, just for a few seconds, flash on absolute Bodhicitta as you understand it – the natural state of uncontrived awareness, empty yet lucid.

Then start following your breath…visualize that you are vacuuming up dark smog that represents pure suffering. Hold your breath for just a brief moment, letting the smog dissolve completely in the perfect groundless and boundless emptiness of your vast open mind. Then as you breathe out, visualize that you are sending forth sunlight and fresh spring breezes that represent all the pure joy, love and truth you have inside you.

2. Be generous to yourself. Imagine yourself as having two parts. One part consists of all your suffering . The other part consist of all your joy and love. As you breathe in, visualizing smog, silently resolve, pray and affirm, “May all the suffering in one part of me be absorbed into the empty and essential nature of my joyful, wise, and loving part.” As you exhale, visualizing sunlight and spring breezes, silently resolve, pray, and affirm, “May the suffering part of me have all the joy and love in the other part of me.”

3. In widening concentric circles, expand you generosity beyond yourself to all sentient beings. As you inhale, visualizing smog being sucked through your nostrils, silently resolve, pray, and affirm, “May all the suffering of my family members, friends, and all beings be absorbed into the empty nature of my innate Buddha-mind.” As you exhale, visualizing sunlight and spring breezes, silently resolve, pray, and affirm, “May my family members, friends, and all beings have all my joy, peace, wisdom, and love.”

4. Gradually relax all the guided imagery. Let it dissolve back into the empty luminously clear, skylike nature of innate Buddha-mind, where it all began and arose from. Rest in the uncontrived presence of pristine awareness itself, in the inseparable union of oneness and noneness, at home and at ease in that, savoring the sacred afterglow.”

“May your blessed acts of charity and self-giving make the world a better place for all of us!”

Tonglen -- Sending and Taking

As we get further into the loJong Slogans it's time to begin talking about the meditation practice of Tonglen, a Tibetan word that translates as sending and taking. There are two slogans that refer to tonglen, #7 "Sending and taking should be practiced alternately. These two should ride the breath," and #10 "Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself. "

So the 7th slogan is a basic description of tonglen and the 10th is how to begin this undertaking. When we first hear about tonglen there is this feeling of bewilderment. Saying to ourselves, "you've got it backwards, right? You don't really expect me to take in all that stuff from someone else, right? Contaminate myself? No. That's not what we do!" I've had people completely shut down, angry, over the very thought of this practice and refuse to be a part of it. It can be pretty scary, because instead of breathing out anything that is difficult or scary or hurtful, we breath it in. We don't resist or repress or ignore it, we surrender to it. We are completely honest with ourselves and acknowledge just how awful it feels; we actually connect with the feelings. We start with ourselves because this is a real and personal experience, not something we pretend and in connecting with our difficult feelings in a real way, we connect with all other beings. For instance, the feeling of being lost and abandoned is pretty universal, people everywhere feel this way. As we acknowledge that feeling within ourselves we can open our hearts with the simple thought that there are millions of people at this very moment who feel exactly the same way. So we breathe in and feel this lost feeling for everyone, making the wish that we could all be free from this suffering. We don't talk to ourselve about why we feel this way, we just feel the feelings. The story about it is not what's important, the feeling is what connects us. Then, we breathe out. With the outbreath we send relief from this pain and the wish that we will all be happy.

In her book Start Where You Are, Pema Chodron says, "What you do for yourself - any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness, any gesture of honesty and clear seeing toward yourself - will affect how you experience your world. In fact, it will transform how you experience the world. What you do for yourself, you're doing for others, and what you do for others, you're doing for yourself. When you exchange self for others in the practice of tonglen, it becomes increasingly uncertain what is out there and what is in here.

"Start where you are. This is very important. Tonglen practice (and all meditation practice) is not about later, when you get it all together and you're this person you really respect. You may be the most violent person in the world - that's a fine place to start. That's a very rich place to start - juicy, smelly. You might be the most depressed person in the world, the most addicted person in the world, the most jealous person in the world. You might think that there are no others on the planet who hate themselves as much as you do. All of that is a good place to start. Just where you are - that's the place to start."