Making Space for Wisdom
Lama Thubten Yeshe
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Contents
Prostrations
[Lama Yeshe makes three prostrations.]
Why do we make prostrations at the beginning of teaching
and meditation sessions? It’s to beat our ego down a
bit. Ego-centric pride looks at things very superficially
and never sees the nature of reality.
When we prostrate, we’re not prostrating to the material
objects on the altar but paying homage to true, understanding
wisdom. People who have taken Dharma teachings before know
this well; I mention it mainly for new students.
Prostration isn’t just a Buddhist custom. To make
sure that giving teachings does not become an ego-trip, even
great teachers like His Holiness the Dalai Lama will prostrate
before they get up on the throne. In fact, to diminish pride
and become more grounded in reality, both teacher and student
should prostrate before a teaching. Otherwise, there’s
no space for understanding wisdom. The proud mind is like
a desert; nothing can grow in a mind full of pride. That’s
why we prostrate toward the altar prior to giving and
taking teachings.
In our everyday lives we prostrate to things that are not
worthwhile. Of course, we don’t say that we’re
prostrating, but in fact we constantly pay homage to our pride
and ego. Instead of prostrating to pride and ego we should
prostrate to understanding wisdom.
The Tibetan term for prostration is chag-tsäl.
In Sanskrit, chag is mudra. The interpretive meaning
of mudra is wisdom; understanding knowledge-wisdom is the
actual mudra. Tsäl means to bow down before
or pay homage or obeisance to something. Therefore, chag-tsäl
means to bow down to wisdom, and when we prostrate our mental
attitude should be one that recognizes the harmful nature
of egocentric pride and understands that knowledge-wisdom
is the only worthwhile guide.
If you don’t have this respectful attitude you might
as well not bow down. If you’re not prostrating with
your mind there’s no need to prostrate physically simply
for the sake of show or custom. Tradition is not that important.
But if you recognize how your pride functions and prostrate
to wisdom instead, that is very effective, and doing so makes
prostrating a means of training your mind.
This five-day course
Whether or not this five-day meditation course becomes beneficial
is up to you; it depends on your own mind. It’s not
a lama thing; I’m not going to bring you to enlightenment
in this short time. Instead of having too many expectations
of the lama, it’s better that you generate a pure motivation
for being here. Expectations cause mental problems; instead
of being positive, they become negative. Instead of expecting
something, dedicate in the following way:
“Over the next five days, I am going to investigate
and try to discover and understand my own nature and recognize
my own false conceptions and mistaken actions. From the time
of my birth up till now, I have been under the control of
my conditioned, dissatisfied mind. Even though my only desire
is for lasting happiness and enjoyment, I am constantly tossed
up and down by external conditions. I am completely oppressed
by my uncontrolled, dissatisfied mind. I have no freedom whatsoever,
even though my fickle, arrogant mind always pretends, ‘I’m
happy; I’m free.’ Any happiness I do experience
is fleeting. If another person were to persecute or oppress
me, I couldn’t stand it for even a day, but if I check
more deeply I will see that from the moment of my birth, my
uncontrolled mind has not given me the slightest chance to
be freely joyful. It has been completely enslaved by external
conditions.”
If over the next five days you can begin to recognize the
reality of your own nature, this meditation course will have
been worthwhile. Therefore, dedicate your actions during this
time to discovering inner freedom through recognizing the
negative characteristics of your own uncontrolled mind.
Think, “I completely dedicate the next five days of
my life to discovering inner peace—not only for myself
but for all living beings through-out the universe. From the
moment of my birth, I have been utterly under the control
of the totally unrealistic and ridiculous philosophy of attachment
and always put myself first, wanting victory for myself and
defeat for others. Therefore, the most meaningful thing I
can do is to completely donate the next five days of my life
to others, with no expectation of receiving anything myself.”
Pure motivation is a function of the wise and open mind,
which is the total opposite of the narrow, psychologically
defiled, obsessed mind that is overly concerned for one’s
own benefit and welfare. Completely donating your life to
others has a great effect on your internal world. But this
is not an emotional gesture—dedicating yourself to others
doesn’t mean stripping naked and giving them all your
clothes. Dedicating yourself to others is an act of wisdom,
not emotion, and derives from discovering how harmful the
mind of attachment is; how for countless lives attachment
has accumulated in your mind, occupying and polluting it completely.
Thus, the purpose of this meditation course is not simply
for receiving information. It’s a school for training
your mind. If during this course you can learn how to act
out of wisdom instead of ignorance, out of universal consciousness
instead of narrow conceptions, it will have been extremely
worthwhile.
If your mind is possessed by expectation, grasping at higher
realizations and spiritual power, you cannot remain calm and
relaxed. Therefore, you cannot grow; you cannot discover universal
wisdom. So don’t expect something big to happen; don’t
expect to receive spiritual realizations. Instead, try to
generate simultaneously as much wisdom and pure motivation
as you can and the enthusiastic feeling, “This is so
worthwhile. Here I am, twenty, thirty, forty years old, and
so far my entire life has been completely dedicated to attachment,
to myself, to my I, but for the next five days, like a flash
of lightning on a pitch black night, I have the chance to
totally dedicate my life to others, with no expectation of
anything for myself. I am so lucky.” Be satisfied with
that. “I’m surprised at myself. After all those
decades in total darkness, possessed by attachment, not dedicating
even one day of my life to all sentient beings, here I am
suddenly dedicating the next five days of my life to others.
It’s like a flash of lightning, but it’s enough
for me. I’m satisfied. This is my meditation; this is
my meditation course.” Dwell in this enthusiastic feeling.
“At the same time, I’m observing intently the
way attachment comes into my mind. Like an alert sentry, rifle
at the ready, watching for the enemy, my wisdom sentry, totally
conscious every moment, is observing intently and investigating
how attachment arises.”
Our normal, discriminating mind, our gross-level conception,
or perception, is split. It is not an integrated mind. We
have a way to treat that mind, a method to release it—a
breathing exercise that makes space for wisdom and gets rid
of the mundane, gross-level thinking that preoccupies your
mind and makes it impossible for you to relax.
Meditation on the breath
First sit cross-legged, in the lotus or half-lotus position
if you can, or just comfortably. Make sure your mind is here
with your body. It’s no good if your body is here but
your mind’s at home. You can’t take a meditation
course with your body alone. Meditation is done by the mind.
Therefore, your mind should be with you in the present, not
obsessed with another time, place, person or some other object.
The method we use to bring attention totally to the here and
now is concentration on the breath— focusing on how
your breath moves through your nervous system.
This is not all that this method is helpful for; it has
many other benefits. It can even help you recover from physical
illness. For example, if your nervous system has been damaged
by a stroke, intensive concentration on the movement of your
breath through your nervous system can restore its function.
This is experience, not just empty talk.
If you are unfamiliar with the following meditation, you
might find it easier to concentrate by occluding the nostril
you are not focusing on with your index finger.
As you breathe out through your left nostril, use your finger
to block the right. Exhale slowly; don’t rush it. Breathe
normally, but make sure to exhale completely. Then, move your
finger to block the left nostril as you inhale slowly and
deeply through your right. Then, for a second time, block
your right nostril while you exhale slowly, gently, naturally
and completely through the left, and then block your left
nostril as you again inhale slowly and completely through
the right. Repeat all this for a third time. Thus, you exhale
through the left and inhale through the right three times.
Then reverse the procedure, breathing out through the right
and in through the left three times. While doing this, sit
up straight. This keeps your nervous system straight and allows
the air you inhale to pervade your whole body, your entire
nervous system. If you don’t keep your spine straight
when you meditate, it is difficult for the breath energy to
spread throughout your nervous system. Nevertheless, do this
practice very naturally. Don’t force it.
When you inhale, feel that the air completely fills your
body, and when you exhale, feel that it completely leaves.
But while you’re doing this, don’t sit there thinking,
“Now I’m doing the breathing exercise.”
That’s not necessary. Just do it, concentrating on the
movement of the breath energy through your nervous system
as much as you possibly can.
Also, don’t think that this meditation is ridiculously
simple. If you are aware, you will notice that people who
are emotionally or mentally disturbed—for example, those
who are depressed—breathe differently from normal people.
This shows that the way the breath energy moves through the
nervous system is very closely connected with the mind. You
know from your own experience that when you are angry you
don’t breathe normally. Sometimes anger can even make
you physically sick.
You can measure scientifically how many times a day you
breathe in and out. Buddhism has also calculated this. If
you train yourself in the breathing meditation and practice
breathing in and out slowly every day, you can prolong your
life. If air enters your nervous system in a disturbed way
it can disturb your mind. You should breathe slowly, steadily,
naturally and completely, like a reliable old clock ticking
away. Your breath is like an internal clock.
After you have breathed out through the left and in through
the right three times, and out through the right and in through
the left three times, breathe in and out through both nostrils
together. Again, bring the air in slowly, gently, naturally
and completely, allowing it to fill your nervous system, and
slowly, gently and completely send it out again. If your belt
is too tight, loosen it. You should be comfortable when you
do this practice. Again, don’t think, “I am doing
the breathing exercise…right nostril…left nostril….”
Just let your mind dwell in the concentration. Breathe in
and out through both nostrils together about twenty times.
After this, change your object of concentration from the
breath to the feelings in your body. As the breath travels
down through your nose and throat and into your heart and
lungs, be aware of your bodily sensations. With each breath,
your bodily sensations change. Be aware of those changes but
don’t intellectualize; just feel the nature of those
sensations. In this way you can realize that changes in sensation
and feeling are not a matter of intellect or belief but come
automatically.
If your knees hurt, instead of allowing your gross mind
to be preoccupied with the pain, seek out and observe its
nature. You can try sending joy from your heart into your
knees; perhaps the pain will disappear. Anyway, you should
know that whenever pain or any other uncomfortable feeling
arises, it is not permanent—it’s there one minute,
gone the next. Such feelings come and go minute by minute.
Physical feelings are transitory; they never last. Just relax,
watching how your body reacts to physical feelings and how
your mind reacts when they arise. Don’t intellectualize.
Relax and let go. Be conscious and aware. How does the feeling
arise? When does it come?
Between sessions
This is what you do during the meditation session; you integrate
your energy. But when the session finishes and you go outside,
don’t squander all this effort by allowing your old,
unconscious, preoccupied-bysense-objects mind to arise. That’s
really a waste of time.
In the breaks between meditation sessions, Tibetan lamas
try to maintain a session-like level of awareness. No matter
what they are doing—eating, drinking, talking—they
try to be totally conscious of what they are thinking, doing
and saying. Of course, during a retreat it’s much better
to maintain silence. That makes it easier to observe and be
aware of the nature of your sensations, which is the purpose
of this exercise. This discipline is not easy but really most
worthwhile.
For example, when you drink tea, drink consciously. Be totally
aware of the feeling of the tea as it touches your tongue
and passes down your throat, through your chest and into your
stomach.
So keep as silent as possible, except for discussion groups,
when you can share your experiences with others. Group discussion
is serious investigation; an important part of this course.
You help yourself and others—your Dharma friends. Totally
dedicate yourselves to helping each other. This, too, is part
of training the mind.
Whatever you discuss, do it with much compassion and with
the intention of discovering your inner nature and human potential.
Employ skillful wisdom and clear logic. This kind of conversation
is much more worthwhile than our usual gossip, where we discuss
pleasures of the senses and other trivial matters. Such conversations
are use-less. They lack substance and not only have no lasting
benefit but also cause future confusion. Dharma discussions,
on the other hand, are really worthwhile.
That’s enough from me for today. Now let’s take
a break. In the next session, practice the breathing meditation
I have just described. Thank you so much. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
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