Starting a regular meditation practice means a change in your daily routine. Weaving a short meditation into everyday life is relatively easy, but completing the Foundational Practices of the Great Seal (Tib. Ngondro) will be more demanding and requires more time. Below are some ideas and tips for the first steps on the way.
Not Just Meditation…
As Buddhists, when we hear the word “practice” most of us first think of the practice of meditation. But Buddhist practice is more than that. Many kinds of meditations exist which don’t lead to liberation and enlightenment. Practically every positive and negative human quality can also be cultivated through meditation. In order for something positive to arise in our minds through meditation, and to lead mind in the direction of enlightenment, a complete Buddhist practice contains the meditation plus two additional aspects: the meditation must be embedded in a liberating view and in the right behavior.
The liberating view arises by hearing Buddha’s explanations about the true nature of mind, familiarizing oneself with them, then through reflecting and questioning an inner certainty arises about them. The view that leads our practice to enlightenment is that the experiencer, the object experienced, and the experience itself are all part of a totality, and that all qualities of buddhahood are inherent in our minds.
Meditation allows that which has been understood to become an experience—“to fall from the head to the heart.” This path is ultimately not about accumulating more knowledge, but rather about recognizing the nature of mind, which lies beyond terms and concepts.
The idea of right behavior, in turn, is not meant in a paternalistic sense, as it is in the theistic belief religions. Rather, it is a well-intended recommendation from Buddha that helps one to experience well-rounded human development. Buddha should be seen as a friend with a better overview—he calls attention to how certain behaviors have an impact, and gives advice on how we can secure the levels of development we have achieved.
These three pillars of Buddhist practice belong together. For example, meditation without the right view will not lead to enlightenment. Meditating without an understanding of the actual essence of the mind experiencing all phenomena, and of the actual essence of the things experienced, is in Buddhism compared to someone who helplessly gropes around in a fog.
On the other hand, someone who understands the Buddhist view but never meditates could become a very learned scholar but will never come to grips with their disturbing emotions and never push forward to the essence of Buddha’s teachings. They would be comparable to someone who knows a path in theory, but never actually walks it.
Finally, it would also be difficult to develop the right view with good meditation if one completely ignores Buddha’s advice on how to behave in the long term. These words of advice are methods to secure what has been achieved, comparable to the climbing safety bolts that are attached to a rock’s surface.
Distraction and inspiration
Today, Diamond Way groups offer various possibilities to those interested in Buddhism. One can use the tools to give life more meaning and inner richness, or commit oneself completely to the incremental path, starting with the Refuge meditation and the Foundational Practices, or Ngondro.
Almost everyone who would like to begin a regular meditation practice bumps into various difficulties. Numerous circumstances distract you and steal away your time. The whole world seems to be conspiring to focus on the images experienced by mind, instead of directing focus to the experiencing mind itself. Again and again you catch your dharma practice slipping from your hands, and notice it requires a conscious effort to find inspiration and continue.
Fortunately, a number of inner and outer aids exist. Above all, contact with a group of friends who meditate, as well as a trusted connection to a Diamond Way teacher, will always give power and inspiration. On an inner level, most important is the refuge and the altruistic motivation—to want to follow the path for the benefit of all beings. It is important to trust that only buddhahood will bring oneself and others lasting happiness. This trust cuts through all distractions of the conditioned world, like a hot knife through butter. Pleasant things will be experienced more and more as a gift of one’s own mind to itself and unpleasant things as a purification, as a dissolving of negative impressions in mind. Then, neither pleasant nor unpleasant experiences can knock you off the path. When you have deeply internalized this trust, many obstacles will dissolve in a heartbeat because you have set completely different priorities. Many things that once seemed essential will fade away in the face of the great vision of obtaining the state of a buddha and leading others to it.
The most famous example of someone with unshakeable trust, and the resulting consequence, is Milarepa. Through trust he became a fully enlightened Buddha in one lifetime, from the worst imaginable beginnings as a murderer of thirty-five people. At one point he said, “If you don’t meditate in this lifetime, then you will waste it. Make sure you have nothing to regret at your hour of death.” Reading his life story is one of the greatest inspirations that a book can give.
A Foundation
A trust like that of Milarepa cannot simply be turned on like a light switch. Trust must develop and needs a solid basis that can hold up when life becomes a bit stormy. This inner strength to give dharma practice a central place in our lives and to stick with it, regardless of what pleasures or purifications arise along the way, is called nying-ru (heart bone) by the Tibetans. Above all else it means employing the Four Basic Thoughts, which provide our foundation and the depth to make our dharma practice unshakeable. Great masters have even said that these Four Basic Thoughts are more important than our actual main meditation practice, because without them there could be no stability in the practice. The Four Basic Thoughts are as follows: that we are now in a very beneficial situation, that it is not permanent, that on the basis of our own karma we are responsible for our experiences, and that the state of non-enlightenment will continuously be dissatisfying in comparison to the joy of enlightenment.
With a bit of basic trust in the dharma, these teachings are not so difficult to understand. But what should we think when even great masters sometimes say they have not completely understood the teachings? Their point is that when reflecting on the Four Basic Thoughts, it is most important to internalize them, and not just be content with an intellectual understanding. Only that which has penetrated into the marrow of our bones stays constant in the face of sickness, old age, death, and the other problems that exist in human life. You might hear the teachings about the precious human body, impermanence, karma, and the disadvantages of the conditioned world just once for them to really get under your skin and change your view about life and the world. Or you can hear them throughout your whole life and be like a stone in water that only gets wet on the outside and not on the inside. Perhaps it is only a question of opening yourself, just once, to what these teachings could have to do with your own life and the situation of all beings around us.
Habits
When people asked Kalu Rinpoche about their problems with the practice, he often answered that they probably had not really understood at least one of the Four Basic Thoughts. Otherwise, they would not have any problems. The natural effect of internalizing the Four Basic Thoughts is to take refuge in lasting values instead of in impermanent and short-term ideas. Thus they prepare the mind at the beginning of each meditation to give more depth to taking refuge and developing the enlightened mind. Forcing oneself to practice dharma without this understanding and without really taking refuge does not make sense and is not rooted in the right motivation. Nobody can meditate like Milarepa instantly from one day to the next. Sometimes people bloody their knees doing so many prostrations over one weekend, but they are then unable to do any for months afterwards. This is not the point.
It is better to do only as many as you can consistently do every day, so that a stable daily dharma practice can develop. Habits come about through doing the same things again and again, often over many lifetimes. It is hardly possible to change them with a snap of the fingers; only through patience and continuity will they change, since the unenlightened mind is like a lazy animal that prefers to do what it has always done: stay unenlightened.
Since beginningless time, our habit has been to find the experiences more interesting than the experiencer. We are running after the images in the mirror instead of looking at the mirror of mind itself. Usually it takes quite some time practicing the dharma before this habit changes fundamentally and we experience that the mirror itself is much more beautiful than all the images appearing in it, and that everything happening in mind is fascinating for the sole reason that it can happen. The first step is to develop the trust that such an experience of the world is possible, because this does not fit with how we have experienced our life up to now. Fortunately there are Diamond Way teachers as living examples who have this experience, and depending on our own openness they can share it with us.
“Noblesse oblige”
The experience that the practice has some positive effect, and that we become better able to handle ourselves and our surroundings, can arise quite quickly. We will increasingly be in situations that were difficult before, but are not so difficult any more. This experience gives some taste of how much freedom and joy is waiting for us on the way.
When we put some energy into the practice right from the beginning, we will quickly notice good feedback. This will strengthen our trust in the methods and we will enjoy the practice even more. This is also what happens during a Phowa (Conscious Dying) course in which real changes in body and mind happen over days of intensive meditation in the powerfield of a strong teacher with deep blessing power. This quick first experience is like a strong push for later practice.
In an ideal case, as so often happens, quality and quantity of practice come together. Quality gives depth to the practice; it is connected with understanding, good motivation, devotion to the teacher, and compassion towards beings. Quantity means not being lazy, but using the time to practice a bit more than is comfortable at the moment. This will always pay off—as the 9th Karmapa Wangchuck Dorje once said, “If you meditate while strengthening your resilience in dealing with difficulties, you will reap unbelievable qualities.”
Of course, it would be best to have quality and quantity, but who has them right from the beginning? Since they are interdependent, you follow whichever attracts you more. When working with the mind, quantity will automatically lead to quality at a certain point. The accumulation of many good impressions in the mind opens it to a broad view; mind dares to realize more of its true nature. The careful examination and practical application of the teachings will increase a feeling for the depth of the dharma, which again increases the wish to practice.
Also known as the lineage of practice, our Karma Kagyu school has brought forth some of the most impressive realized masters in Tibet who have always firmly upheld the integrity of the lineage—in other words, noblesse oblige. The importance of practice was shown to Gampopa by his teacher, Milarepa, in a very impressive way. When they parted ways, Milarepa gave Gampopa a lot of advice and prophesies. Then Milarepa said, “I still have a very profound teaching, but I cannot give it to you because it’s too precious.” What could Gampopa do? He set off without the teaching.
Then all of a sudden, Milarepa reappeared and said, “On the other hand, if I do not give the teaching to you, to whom else could I give it?” Gampopa asked if he should offer a mandala for the teaching. Milarepa said that was unnecessary, and instead he pulled up his clothes and showed Gampopa his bottom, which was covered with scars and blisters as a result of meditating for so long sitting on bare stones. Then he said to Gampopa, “The most profound teaching in Buddhism is practice!”
Motivation
Generally, there are two ways to motivate yourself: through the joy of enlightenment or through the suffering of the conditioned world. Depending on how you feel, it is also possible to alternate between the two ways.
In the West, the aspect of joy is more appealing. You call to mind the immense bliss which goes along with enlightenment, you meet teachers who can give some taste of it, you read biographies of great masters where this is expressed, and you imagine how great it would be to bring all beings lasting happiness. When asked how we can know if the preliminary practices have been done properly, Shamar Rinpoche answered that afterwards, you really enjoy the practice of dharma.
Using joy on the way to enlightenment is the heart of Diamond Way Buddhism. The goal is a state where space and joy are experienced as inseparable, and some of the most effective methods work directly with states of highest bliss combined with the understanding of emptiness. While still unenlightened, the experiencer himself feels the alternation of joy and suffering. In his essence, however, he is highest joy—but without the idea of an “I” experiencing this joy. Knowing this can be a huge inspiration.
The second possibility of motivating one’s practice with the suffering of samsara—as they did in Tibet—is rather off-putting in the West. Westerners are generally allergic to this approach due to centuries of Catholicism—with its threats of fire and brimstone—and from the teaching style of some Buddhist representatives who had little joy in life. But without being dramatic, it is quite good to think about all the suffering in the world every now and then. Reports about Africa, the slums of the third world, and about cancer and hospital wards can awaken feelings of how great it would be to really do something for all those people. In addition, thinking about what it will be like to get old, sick, and to die—still believing that we are our body rather than that we have it—can give quite a push of motivation without necessarily making the world into a vale of tears. Because of his particular situation with thirty-five dead people on his conscience, Milarepa followed more this second approach. He himself said it was the fear of the karmic consequences of his negative actions that drove him to enlightenment.
No matter which of the two approaches you prefer, it is important to develop from the start the attitude to practice not only for one’s own benefit, but to become genuinely useful for others. Only this attitude makes the practice truly enlightening, instead of merely leading to a state of personal peace.
Friends and Helpers on the Way
Few people are able to practice alone in the long run. For most of us it is helpful to be in contact with a group and to spend time with friends. For well-rounded development, it is always good to get feedback from a dharma group every now and then. This way you will not be sidetracked in your development and also not create some makeshift dharma. The friends in the group, as well as all experiences, should be seen as a mirror to one’s own mind. Working together in the powerfield of a Diamond Way center is completely different from volunteering at the local dog-breeding club because it touches and changes the deepest levels of the mind. Just as dirty diamonds polish themselves and radiate more and more through rubbing against each other, a lot of intensive development happens through working together in the centers. At the same time, there is no better way to quickly fill our minds with positive impressions, which are necessary to be able to recognize the true nature of mind.
Through friendly exchange in the group, you will learn that everyone has the same difficulties and pleasures with the practice as you, and that you can partake in the huge treasure of one another’s experiences. Most people, for instance, lead quite a structured life, and have found it beneficial to have a fixed place and time for the practice. When you arrange a certain place in your apartment for your practice, perhaps with a Buddha statue or a picture, then every time you see it you will be reminded of your practice and be pulled there more and more.
Meditating regularly in a certain spot builds up the energy-field there, which again supports the practice. Also setting a fixed time may be helpful to building up a good habit. You will rarely find time for your practice if you always wait for the right moment between all your other activities. It is much easier to make your practice a set part of daily life. Many people say that they meditate more in times when they have a busier schedule than in times when they have little to do and many more opportunities to practice.
Translation from German by Andreanna Staubly and Eva Javorszky-Wasner. Edited by Jeremiah Hendren.
