Mind is the basis and the source of everything, and this is what we must work with. This fact, that it is the source for everything, means that we can actually change everything when we work with mind. Through meditation we are able to change the habits of mind in a fundamental way, so that we are no longer caught by our ignorance. Actually, when we remove ignorance, then we are enlightened.
The Meditation Posture
When we meditate, it is good if we learn to sit right. It helps because we are connected with our body. As long as we live, we function through our body. This means that the things we do with our body affect our mind to a high degree. Therefore, it is an advantage if we can sit in the meditation posture. Most importantly, one should keep the back straight, and in general it is also important that one keeps the body totally upright. Precisely because the mind is so closely connected to the body, if one leans just a little forward or backward or a little to the side it can actually affect one’s meditation or concentration and create thoughts. Therefore, it is important that one gets used to sitting with the back straight. It is a big help in learning to concentrate.
The legs strengthen one’s concentration the most. If one can, it is best to sit in what we call the full lotus. It is called the drone or diamond posture. Here one has the legs crossed with the right leg on top of the left. This locks the legs so that energies in the body get bound up in a way that they don’t disturb. If one cannot sit in the full lotus position, one can sit in the half lotus position, with the right leg in front of the left. This is easier, especially when one is not used to sitting so much. For most people, especially beginners, it is a lot easier because we are used to sitting on chairs. We haven’t spent our childhood and youth sitting on the floor. We don’t normally do this in our culture and the body has to get used to sitting in this way.
Then we have the hands. One can sit with them so that one has the right hand on top of the left in the lap, thumbs touching each other. And then the arms should just hang loosely with the shoulders a little pulled back and straight. One can also sit with the hands on the knees in a meditation where one is only aware of the breathing.
We also hold the head in the middle totally straight and a little downwards with the chin tucked in a bit. The mouth is closed and we breathe through the nose. And concerning the eyes, in the beginning it is easiest to have them closed because we get distracted when we have them open. But when we can, it is good to focus on keeping them open, to look forwards and downwards. One follows the nose down to the floor. This, one can train so that one doesn’t get cross-eyed or that it feels strenuous. This, one can feel. When we talk about insight meditation we see that it is good to have the eyes open, not completely open but a little.
We Let the Thoughts Go By
The simplest form of shamatha is simply being aware of our breathing. This is also what we do before our meditations, where we always begin by sitting for a while just concentrating on the breath. The point is not to change the breathing, hold it, or make it slower or faster; it is only a way of being concentrated. And there are other ways of being concentrated. There are other ways of being concentrated, for example, by closing the eyes and imagining a buddha in front. The various stages we go through when we meditate on buddha forms are also shamatha, or shinay.
To get the best results from our meditation, it is beneficial to be aware of the things that can disturb us or distract our awareness. Our mind can be very busy. One thought is chasing the other and we are used to following them. At other times we are dull. On the physical level we can feel that we are suddenly very heavy and almost unable to sit upright. One can notice that one was fresh and cheerful two minutes ago and suddenly—as if someone hit you on the head—you almost cannot stay upright. An incredible exhaustion can suddenly overwhelm you and you become incredibly heavy. It is one of the side effects that can arise when you try to concentrate and have not yet learned how to control it.
Disturbances from meditation can also occur because one begins to regret certain things. This can sometimes be beneficial if one is meditating on Diamond Mind (Tib. Dorje Sempa), where it is good to remember some things and try to get rid of them. One regrets them. But when one is trying to be aware in general, thoughts are just disturbances, since one cannot do anything about them right away anyway. They distract our awareness and block us from concentrating on the things we intended.
Doubts can also arise. You suddenly think, “What am I really doing here?” You start to ask yourself this kind of question and all of a sudden you feel completely out of place. You do not know what is happening and feel that there is something you do not understand. You can no longer see any meaning in the whole thing. You start doubting if it is worthwhile to meditate at all, or you start doubting yourself. This kind of thing can also arise.
You just have to learn to ignore it. No matter what. Positive or negative thoughts. Whatever comes up, you learn not to follow it. You constantly try to return to whatever you are trying to concentrate on, whether it is the breath, a buddha or something else.
Training the Mind Muscles
In the beginning one cannot concentrate for very long, therefore it is beneficial to do a short concentration phase and stop it before it disappears by itself. This is a way of training the mind muscles. You concentrate for a short while, then you interrupt it in your mind. You can do this switching back and forth for a longer period and thus avoid forcing the mind too much. This is beneficial, since if one forces it, one reacts. Then while you are practicing and think you can meditate longer and longer, suddenly you don’t feel like it at all. Then it becomes hard to sit down, since you think something is blocking you. This form of blockage can arise if you have forced the concentration-phase too much. This is not such a big deal while doing the preliminary practices (Tib. Ngöndro), because these methods are in themselves more balanced, and one does not fall into this situation so easily, as, among other things, one is using mantras and changing focus during the meditations. We are not just keeping one strong concentration, but also constantly moving our awareness to various parts of the meditation. Therefore, the risk of overworking the mind is smaller, so it is a more gentle way of doing it.
If one is very distracted and there are a lot of thoughts and feelings going on and one cannot relax at all, it is actually the opposite of being tired.
When using a mantra, you are not completely concentrated all the time of course. It is impossible. You cannot do that. But you try. You simply do what you can. In short moments you try to do it with full concentration. It can be concentration on the mantra itself; it can be on the sound or the idea about what is happening while one is saying it. You really concentrate on that, and then you relax a little bit again. Later you can repeat the mantra without concentrating so much, and then later again concentrate. This is one way to do it.
When one is getting tired and about to fall asleep, one can do some physical things like taking a short break, standing up for a moment, or putting cold water on the face. This can be necessary to prevent us from falling asleep. If this happens frequently, it can also be related to one’s diet. One should try not to eat right before a meditation since it can cause one to become tired. One could have a lighter diet. It can also make a huge difference to sit up with the back completely straight and open the eyes. In fact, there are also some methods where one visualizes clear light and sends energies up to clear the mind.
If one is very distracted and there are a lot of thoughts and feelings going on and one cannot relax at all, it is actually the opposite of being tired. In this situation one needs to become a bit heavier. In this case one can need some warmth and one should try not to move too much, in order to bring the energies down.
Be Neutral
While sitting in meditation, if one suddenly experiences very powerful joy-sensations, one must try to remain neutral. The sensations are there, but one is trying to not do anything about them. And of course, they do not stay either. It is one of the characteristics of these experiences that they always disappear again. So this is another reason not to get attached to them, because otherwise we react when they are gone and then we feel down. So, in this case, one has to learn to remain completely neutral. Actually one has to do that all the time, also when something unpleasant appears, because this too can appear. For example, this can appear when one notices how little control one has over the mind. In that case, one should not become depressed or give up or think that one is not making progress, or that one has no way of controlling it. In this case, some habitual reactions can also appear and one should let go of these as well.
Even if it sounds very simple, it is not always easy. We all know that. But it is actually this that we are primarily concerned with. One should try to remain completely neutral in one’s meditation. Simply all the time bringing the mind back to whatever one is meditating on. Not becoming sad, nor becoming fascinated; simply be neutral to the state of meditation itself.
When one learns that, then one will experience that things really start happening. Then one can take a small step forward in one’s meditation every time one succeeds. Because, naturally, one does not succeed every time; but every time one does, it becomes easier the next time it happens. In this way one can practice, move on and develop one’s meditation.
When one is using the methods they will lead to the result: liberation and enlightenment.
What one also practices in meditation is that one learns more and more to be aware of which state the mind is in. It is part of doing it. At one point when one has practiced, one can notice more quickly when the mind starts to become distracted or when different feelings arise. One notices it before one starts to follow it, and it becomes easier to bring the mind back to the concentration again. First, one experiences it in a way that one suddenly thinks that one was gone for some time; one does not experience it before one is gone, but only when one is gone. This then is already a big step forward when one learns to notice that one has been distracted. Then the awareness has already developed a lot. It takes a lot of patience and it requires willpower, too. After some time, when one has some experience, one can get hooked on it.
The Motivation is Important
Concerning renouncing the world, the question is: What is one renouncing? One renounces the things that one thinks bring happiness in the world. But at a certain time, one will experience states of mind in one’s practice that go far beyond what one is normally experiencing in the world. The reason one thinks that there is something exciting to renounce is that one does not actually have other experiences. When one gains more experience, one experiences that mind in itself contains so much that is better than anything one can get from the outside. Then it is no longer this kind of renunciation anymore.
Here it is important to remember not just to sit back and enjoy it. One’s motivation is important. It should not become egotistical. One’s real goal should be to go further than simply feeling good or experiencing a pleasant state or concentration etc. That is the way of the bodhisattvas and it is the foundation of everything.
The Diamond Way
The Diamond Way is a part of the Way of the Bodhisattvas. It is the tantra way in Mahayana. These special methods inside Mahayana are called tantra; the others, sutra.
In the Diamond Way there are two different kinds of vipashyana or insight meditation. There is the vipashyana where one is still working with concept or somewhat concrete methods. For example, when we meditate on buddhas, we have the building-up phase, which corresponds to shinay or shamatha, and the completion phase. In the completion phase we are working with vipashyana or insight meditation, but we are doing it through first having imagined something, then dissolving it. In that stage, we can enter a state where we get an experience of emptiness. Here we can use some methods. For example, the Six Doctrines of Naropa. They are considered vipashyana. It could be tummo, where one is using one’s body and working with the energies. One generates inner heat by using the body in a certain way and working with the breathing. Then one can rest in a state that provides a shortcut. It is a great support for quickly getting some direct experiences that go beyond concepts. But one has to use special methods to get into that, for example by working with the breathing. In other cases one works with different imaginations, letters and mantras, which are then dissolved. Through this, one can enter it and meditate on it. So this is inside the Diamond Way.
Mahamudra
In the Diamond Way, where one is doing vipashyana or insight meditation without any kind of support—this is the other kind of vipashyana. It is where we are not first imagining buddhas or working with the breath, but just meditating directly on mind. This is part of Mahamudra. The Mahamudra Way can be with or without support, or with or without yidam practice. When it is with yidam practice, one uses methods to get into vipashyana; and when it is without yidam, there are no outer or other means at all. Here it is only a direct experience of mind itself.
To sum up, there are two kinds of vipashyana or insight meditation: the analytical and the one that is direct. Both are vipashyana.
You may hear about concepts that in Sanskrit are called pandit and kusali. I don’t know what they are called in Tibetan. Pandit means “the learned” and refers to the analytical part. Kusali is the direct part. It is pure mahamudra without anything else.
Speaking of Mahamudra, there is also something called mahamudra-shamatha, or mahamudra-shinay. This is a slightly different form of shinay from what we are normally used to. Here one is already trying to keep the mind without object on the shinay level, or one’s focus on mind itself, not on anything else.
When you look at where the different kinds of meditation belong, it is always a question of your capabilities. When one is using the methods they will lead to the result: liberation and enlightenment. But which methods one uses is a question of what one is capable of. In this way, all methods are equally good but they are quicker or slower. This is something else. You can probably guess which one is the faster.
Effective Methods
There is quite a difference in how long each takes to lead to the result. The special thing about Diamond Way is that the methods are so effective that the results also come quickly. But at the same time we should not think of it as anything isolated. The methods are based on also having an understanding of certain things. You cannot use just the methods, because if one does not have any idea or a wrong idea about emptiness, then it is difficult to obtain the results. Therefore, it is all connected.
Of course, the fact that we are on the Way of the Bodhisattvas is very, very important. That we are always working with the right motivation. That we constantly remind ourselves why we are doing it. Not just for egotistical reasons, but because we truly understand that we have to learn more and develop more to be able to do more for others. That is always the focus. And also that the goal is not something more pleasant for us, but that we are going even further. That we have complete enlightenment as the goal. We want to go the whole way. We want to go beyond all limitations, beyond all the things that create problems for everyone. This is incredibly important.
