…….Sogyal Rinpoche said, we are no different from the
Buddha. Yet we fail to recognize this inherent potential for enlightenment, which,
like our face, is so close but we cannot see it. And as long as we do not
recognize our enlightened potential, we dwell in confusion and distraction,
forever dissatisfied with our lives.
Reincarnation, the migration of a single consciousness into
another body, is analogous to how a flame from a single candle can light
another, where the second flame is both the same yet different from its source.
Before Terton Sogyal died in 1926, the Year of the Fire Tiger, he told his
disciples that he would reincarnate in not only one, but in two individuals
simultaneously. In Tibet, it is rare but not unheard of ………But as one of the
purposes of reincarnating is to complete tasks that were started in previous
lives, more than one incarnation is a very practical solution.
……….the only known biography of Terton Sogyal………even for
Tibetan scholars of the highest caliber, much of this spiritual biography is
incomprehensible. The meaning of passages is often concealed in arcane
language; historians find it perplexing.
“Enthusiasm is as strong as a horse, but as short as a
sheep’s tail!”
………Tibetans rarely knock when they want to come into a
house, even if it is the house of a stranger.
Beings are by nature
buddhas,
But this is concealed
by temporary stains,
When the stains are
purified, their Buddhahood is revealed.
-
Buddha
……..in the eighth and early ninth centuries, just after
Tibet’s martial power had reached its apex, due in large part to an increasing
confederation of tribes. Having seized control of China’s then-capital of
Ch’ang (Xian), overrun Arab armies in northern Persia, defeated Turks in East
Turkestan, and left behind pillars of conquest as far south as Bodhgaya in the
current-day Indian state of Bihar, the Tibetan mounted militia were as
unyielding as they were feared. It was in the eighth century that Tibet’s
Yarlung monarchs decided to convert the Tibetans from their indigenous
animistic beliefs to Buddhism.
……..a quotation of the Buddha:
We
are what we think.
All
that we are arises with our thoughts.
With
our thoughts we make the world.
Speak
or act with a pure mind
And
happiness will follow you,
As
your shadow, unshakable.
We
are what we think.
All
that we are arises with our thoughts.
With
our thoughts we make the world.
Speak
or act with an impure mind
And
trouble will follow you,
As
the wheel follows the ax that draws the cart.
China executes more of its own citizens annually than the
rest of the countries in the world combined. And for all of the buzz of China’s
global rise, torture and abuse are tools used regularly in their judicial
system.
First,
contemplate the preciousness of being free and well favoured.
This
is difficult to gain, easy to lose; now I must do something meaningful.
Second,
the whole world and its inhabitants are impermanent;
In
particular, the life of beings is like a bubble.
Death
comes without warning; this body will be a corpse.
At
that time, the Dharma will be my only help;
I
must practice it with exertion.
Third,
when death comes, I will be helpless.
Because
actions bear their inevitable effect,
I
must abandon evil deeds
And
always devote myself to virtuous actions.
Thinking
this every day, I will examine myself.
Fourth,
attachments to home, friends, wealth, and the comforts of samsara
Are
the constant torments of the three sufferings,
Just
like a feast before the executioner leads you to your death.
I
must cut desire and attachment and attain enlightenment through exertion.
Recognizing
this, may my mind turn toward spiritual practice!
……..an elderly Tibetan doctor, Chime, talking…….
“While the death process of the body is occurring, the
consciousness is suspended between death and the next rebirth. During these
in-between states, the person’s consciousness will likely experience different
kinds of intense, visionary experiences that are seemingly real,”……..
The doctor continued to say how these visions tend to be
very disturbing to the person’s consciousness because the physical constituents
of the body, for which we have a strong attachment, are disintegrating. Furthermore,
our sense faculties …….are ceasing to function. Finally, the consciousness
departs the corpse and is “blown” by karmic wind into its next rebirth,
entering the mother’s womb at the time of conception. Where the karmic wind
takes the consciousness to be reborn – whether among the blissful gods, humans,
animals, or the extreme suffering of the hell realms – depends on one’s
previous actions.
For a normal person, the process of death and the in-between
states causes great trepidation. As the process unfolds, the consciousness
experiences an array of acute inner visions that we are unfamiliar with, and
these visions tend to create fear in the dying person’s mind. I had read
accounts, however, of accomplished meditation masters who, rather than being
disturbed by the turbulent death of the body, remained in a state of meditation
while the body’s elements dissolved. The disorienting inner experiences
happening at the time of death are said to not disturb them because they train
for the moment and have the power to exert control over death’s process as
their consciousness departs their body. Then, they themselves consciously
direct where they will be reborn…………
For supreme meditators ……..who attained the rainbow body, it
is said that their consciousness does not depart the body at death, as in an
ordinary person. Rather, because of the power of their meditation, as their
consciousness remains in the vast and luminous essence of the mind itself, the
material elements of the body dissolve into light and the body itself
disappears, leaving behind only hair and nails. In such cases, the
consciousness is said to merge into the luminous expanse of pure awareness.
……..what Khenpo had told me……….
Whatever
arises, in pure awareness, unaltered and unconfined,
Look
into the mind that is settled by itself, resting naturally.
If
you recognize the mind’s natural clarity, utterly free and unbound,
You
will instantly traverse all stages of the path, seizing the stronghold of
enlightenment.
“Should you wish to look into the essential nature of mind,
do not fabricate or transform anything, and do not ‘meditate’ but rather, allow
whatever arises to be liberated by itself, without inviting or following after
thoughts,” Wangchen said………..
“By settling into the natural state, one’s thoughts are
liberated spontaneously. At all times and in every type of behavior, this alone
is sufficient as the universal method of liberation. Sustaining this natural
condition, there is not the slightest thing to be done. Just rest evenly in
awareness.”……….
“Now, when a pleasant thought begins to emerge in your mind,
you try to claim it and grasp hold of it as ‘mine’ don’t you? Or, when an
unpleasant thought forms, you try to push it away, no? this is where so much of
your suffering begins – in the thinking
about thoughts.”……….
My mind exploded into an angry haze on hearing the name of
the Communist Party leader in Lhasa.
“Instead of acting from that swirling rage that is within
you at this moment, recognize it just for what it is – a powerful force of
energy – and let that force blaze your awareness, not your anger,” Wangchen
counseled.
“Don’t concentrate on the object – that person in Lhasa – of
your anger, but rather, rest in that
which knows. Rest in the awareness itself, without any particular focus.”
Just before Shakyamuni Buddha passed into nirvana, he told
his disciples they should be concerned most with applying his spiritual
instructions, but, if they were to commemorate the Buddha’s life and teachings,
they should make pilgrimages to four places: Lumbini, in current-day Nepal,
where the Buddha was born; the bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, where he attained
enlightenment; the park where the Buddha first taught in Saranath; and
Kushinagara, where the Buddha passed into nirvana.
………the Erlan Shah jungle and mountain pass, which
historically divided China and Tibet.
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