Prayer, Awareness, and Choosing Enlightenment
An Interview with ANAM THUBTEN
Jeff Cox: Sometimes when I’m troubled, I’m moved to pray. But as a Buddhist I don’t think of it as ask- ing God for something. What is your view on the purpose of prayer?
Anam Thubten: There are many ways to understand prayer. It means something different from person to person—and even for the same person, it might be different at different times.
To me, prayer is an act of devotion, and a non-conceptual, powerful method of dropping the ego mind of control, fear, doubt, and anger—right in the moment— and realizing the Buddhamind or bodhicitta. It is an act of surrendering everything to that great work of the universe—beyond anyone’s control—and trusting in the grand play of the universe. When you trust in it, you feel re- leased from the fear and insecurity and accept—not acceptance like we are trying painfully to accept something we don’t ap- preciate, but true acceptance with trust. The object of prayer is not so important in Buddhism, even though there are lots of deities and benevolent spirits. Buddhism teaches that deities such as Avalokiteshvara or Tara are not outside of oneself—they are an expression of one’s true nature, the emptiness, the source of all things, the absolute truth.
JC: So praying to Chenrezig is a way of calling on your own inner strength to help make circumstances go in a better way?
AT: Absolutely. In the Tibetan tradition, we have these three buddhas (or bodhisattvas), Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, and Vajrapani. Manjushri symbolizes intelligence and wisdom, Avalokiteshvara symbolizes love and compassion, and Vajrapani symbolizes strength, courage and power. They are all expressions of what we truly are; each of these principles is an inherent property of our basic nature. So when we pray to them, it is an act of invoking those inherent enlightened qualities present in all of us. In the ultimate sense, there is no ob- ject that is being prayed to—there is no separation between the object being prayed to and the per- son praying.
JC: In your book No Self, No Problem you discuss how acceptance is a key to waking up to your true nature. Does this mean that one should go along with whatever is happening?
AT: Part of Mahayana teaching is about bringing all things onto the path to enlightenment. This means that whatever happens, you accept it as a way to develop the enlightened qualities inside you—courage, love, forgiveness, compassion. From another perspective, the concept of acceptance is tricky because it has a connotation that you have to deliberately try to convince your- self to accept everything. The big question is who is it that is trying to accept and reject in the first place—the ego is present as the one trying to accept. The ego is running this whole game.
JC: So the acceptance you are speaking of is not the opposite of rejection?
AT: No, it is not the opposite. The enlightened mind (Rigpa or Buddhamind) goes beyond both accepting and rejecting—there is nothing to accept or reject— because Buddhamind is in perfect relation with the nature of all things. In this realm there is no conflict. So the idea of accepting and rejecting is really transcended. It doesn’t exist there; it only exists in the ego’s mind. In the Dzogchen tradition, the notion of accepting is regarded as a subtle effort of ego that has to be dropped in order realize the great peace or nature of all things.
Each moment is a tipping point—each moment we decide whether or not to be enlightened and free!
JC: In your book, you use the term “non-doing awareness.” Can a per- son maintain non-doing awareness even while action is going on?
AT: Absolutely. Non-doing awareness is not about whether you are doing something or not. The art of maintaining non-doing awareness is a rich practice.
JC: Is the opposite of non-doing awareness the thinking of oneself as the doer?
AT: The non-doing awareness can have different meanings. On one level we can speak of awareness as not doing anything. Aware- ness transcends all notions of ef- fort. It doesn’t try to reject or ac- quire. It is already enlightened, so there is nothing to purify, nothing to abandon, nothing to achieve. It itself is non-doing, it doesn’t in- volve any effort or strategies in itself.
JC: It is aware of the content of experience.
AT: Absolutely. When one re- sides in that, it is totally different from any ordinary state of mind. It is different from trance states or samadhi which many people regard as spiritual. When one ex- periences pure awareness, there is no doing because there is noth- ing to be done. There is no act of trying to purify. There is nothing to acquire. It is in perfect har- mony and relation with ultimate truth. The ordinary mind is very engaged in some kind of effort to dismantle the empire of the ego delusion and in trying to acquire something. It is very involved with doing.
JC: Awareness is present in all states but we don’t notice it.
AT: Exactly. It is insight, knowing the nature of all things, the pro- found absolute truth of all things. In Tibetan, awareness is called Rigpa or Yeshe. “Ye” means pri- mordial—it is already in each of us—that innate wisdom is not some conception or knowledge that we can acquire from reading, thinking or lectures. It is inherent in each of us. “She” means know- ing the inconceivable, transcen- dent, and yet simple truth of all things. We can call it emptiness, dharmata. The rational mind can- not comprehend it. Awareness in this sense is insight (prajna). It is not that we are just enjoying some kind of stillness or some beauti- ful state of mind. Whenever we can reside in this—this is the highest form of practice—in that moment our mind is no longer different than the mind of Bud- dha Shakyamuni.
JC: Does this awareness have the three qualities of the three buddhas you spoke of earlier?
AT: Absolutely. This awareness doesn’t happen with a big pro- cession. It happens in a quiet and subtle manner. It is unfathomable like the ocean whose depth we cannot see. Awareness is the Bud- dhamind, a reservoir of enlight- ened radiance of wisdom, joy, compassion, love—they just hap- pen on their own. Like the bril- liant sun in the sky, it is the source of all the enlightened qualities that radiate from it. They are in- nate and are an expression of that awareness.
JC: So for someone with this aware- ness the qualities of intelligence, love, compassion naturally radiate into their environment and sponta- neously change things.
AT: Yes. There are stories of the Buddha traveling into towns and cities; he brought his amaz- ing benevolent presence. When someone is fully immersed in this awareness, what he or she natu- rally does is express that enlight- ened nature. There was a lama named Mani Lama from Golok. When he was a young boy, he had a sudden awakening. He left his ordinary life, and traveled around eastern Tibet. Because he was not educated in a monastery, he didn’t know how to teach in a traditional way, but people felt a tremendous peace around him. So wherever he went, people would gather around him. Be- cause he didn’t know what to teach, his teachings were short. People would come and sit with him. Sometimes he gave sponta- neous talks or would sing with them. Often he would sing the Mani or six-syllable mantra, and so people called him the Mani Lama. This is a great example of how, when someone lives in awareness, then his or her being becomes a radiance of compas- sion and love.
JC: Since awareness is present in each of us, what does it mean to practice being aware?
AT: Awareness is the nature of our mind and is not deceived by the world of illusion or display. When mind is deceived, we are deluded, ignorant of our true nature; this is the foundation of samsara, of conflict and suffer- ing. The other side is the aware- ness or enlightened mind which sounds very grand but is very simple. Each moment is a tipping point—each moment we decide whether or not to be enlightened and free! There is a verse in one of the spiritual songs: “There is only one ground (the dharmadhatu or source or underlying truth of all things), only two paths and only two fruitions.” This is one of my favorite verses, because it says there are not three paths, only two paths, the path of awareness and the path of unawareness. Every moment we either choose to be on the path of awareness or on the path of non-awareness. So in each moment we are enlightened or not.
When we really contemplate this verse, it shocks our minds. It is easy for many practi- tioners to think that even though they are not actually residing in awareness that somehow so long as they are doing the various practices they are making some kind of progress according to some in- visible scale or record—because they are doing all the right prac- tices they are going in the right direction. When you contemplate this teaching, it shocks your mind because you realize you are making the enlightenment choice in every moment.
Basically two things are happening, everything else is irrelevant— either you are enlightened in this moment or not. It is possible that I could be sitting on a beautiful meditation seat and doing all sorts of spiritual practices but I am completely unawakened. On the other hand, I might be cleaning my toilet and wearing blue jeans, but I could be residing in the awareness—this is what matters.
In the end, there is only one practice, that of maintaining awareness. And because it is uncontrived, it is not the effect of a cause—you cannot produce awareness. Whatever you can produce is “nyam,” an altered state of consciousness—it can be enticing, seductive, whatever. People can get lost in nyams and think this is rigpa, bodhicitta, or samadhi. But mind is deceiving itself. Awareness cannot be pro- duced. Buddha was asked “What causes mindfulness?” and he said, “Mindfulness itself.” This answer is perfect—and can be non-satisfying.
There is a lama from Kham who said that the only way that you can have genuine realization is by holding 108 sessions a day. What he means is not that we must have literally 108 sessions a day but rather that we should re- member periodically throughout the day to pause. Pause and stop talking, wherever you are, as a way to get back to awareness.
JC: Getting lost in thought seems to me to be a big obstacle to being aware.
AT: Buddha spoke of attention as one of the most powerful meth- ods to become free. Instead of going along with the mind and believing its stories—living the dream-like life—Buddha was suggesting to pause, to stop and look deeply into the nature of all things. Instead of wandering and dreaming, pause and look carefully and pay attention to everything carefully. When we do that, sometimes the perfect understanding or prajna reveals itself to us—we have the direct insight into all things, simply by paying attention to the depth of all things. We stop and pause as a way of questioning what the truth is, what freedom is.
This is an effective method for waking up. Right now in this mo- ment. When we practice the tradi- tional Buddhist methods we talk about mindfulness, we talk about paying attention to the breath and one’s activities. The true mean- ing of paying attention is more than about paying attention to the body or breath—it is a way of stopping the work of the deluded mind, stopping the wheel of suf- fering that the ego is spinning. Look into the depth with a sharp, keen observation so that we can see the truth right there. You will stop spinning the wheel of delu- sion and see that the truth of all things or emptiness is not so far from us—it is everywhere.
JC: It is empowering, and humbling, to think that each moment we make a choice to be awake or not.
AT: In that sense it is very simple but it requires a lot of dedication and discipline to break down all the habits that distract us from awareness. It takes lots of medi- tation practice.
JC: Thank you Rinpoche for this teaching—I really appreciate your time for this. ■
No Self, No Problem, by Anam Thubten, edited by Sharon Roe. Paper, 144 pp. #NOSEN2 $14.95, OUR PRICE $10.46
“Full Acceptance of the Awakening Mind”:
A Bodhicitta Prayer
by Shantideva
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.
May a rain of food and drink descend
To clear away the pain of thirst and hunger
And during the aeon of famine
May I myself change into food and drink.
May I become an inexhaustible treasure
For those who are poor and destitute;
May I turn into all things they could need,
And may these be placed close beside them.
Without any sense of loss
I shall give up my body and enjoyments
As well as my virtues of the three times
For the sake of benefiting all.
By giving up all, sorrow is transcended
And my mind will realize the sorrowless state.
It is best that I now give everything to all beings
In the same way as I shall at death . . .
When anyone encounters me
May it never be meaningless for him or her.
If in those who encounter us
A faithful or angry thought arises,
May that eternally become the source
for fulfilling all their wishes.
May all who say bad things to me
Or cause me any other harm,
And those who mock & insult me
Have the fortune to fully awaken.
May I be a protector for those without one,
A guide for all travelers on the way;
May I be a bridge, a boat & a ship
For all those who wish to cross.
May I be an island for those who seek one,
A lamp for those desiring light.
And may I be a bed for all who wish to rest.
May I be a wishing jewel, a magic vase,
Powerful mantras & great medicine,
May I become a wish-fulfilling tree
And a cow of plenty for the world.
Just like space
And all the great elements such as earth,
May I always support the life
Of all the boundless creatures.
And until they pass away from pain
May I also be the source of life
For all the realms of varied beings
That reach unto the ends of space.
Just as the previous Sugatas
Gave birth to an Awakening Mind,
And just as they successively dwelt
in the bodhisattva practices;
Likewise for the sake of all that lives
Do I give birth to an Awakening Mind
And likewise shall I too
Successively follow the practices.
In order to further increase it from now on,
Those with discernment who have lucidly seized
An Awakening Mind in this way,
Should highly praise it in the following manner:
Today my life has borne fruit:
Having well obtained this human existence,
I’ve been born in the family of Buddha
And now am one of Buddha’s children.
Thus whatever actions I do from now on
Must be in accord with the Family.
Never shall I disgrace or pollute
This noble & unsullied race.
Just like a blind person
Discovering a jewel in a heap of rubbish,
Likewise by some coincidence
An Awakening Mind has been born within me.
It is the supreme ambrosia
That overcomes the sovereignty of death,
It is the inexhaustible treasure
That eliminates all poverty in the world.
It is the supreme medicine
That quells the world’s disease.
It is the tree that shelters all beings
Wandering & tired on the path of conditioned existence.
It is the universal bridge
That leads to freedom from unhappy states of birth
It is the dawning moon of the mind
That dispels the torment of disturbing conceptions.
It is the great sun that finally removes
The misty ignorance of the world.
It is the quintessential butter
From the churning of the milk of Dharma.
For all those guests traveling on the path
of conditioned existence
who wish to experience the bounties of happiness,
this will satisfy them with joy
and actually place them in Supreme bliss.
Today in the presence of all the Protectors
We invite the world to be guests
At a festival of temporary and ultimate delight.
May gods, anti-gods & all be joyful.
Deity Yoga Teaching
by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
Mahayoga sadhana is also called deity yoga. Maybe this is a good time for me to explain about deity yoga. I’ve noticed many people practicing deity yoga with the idea that the deity is outside or separate from themselves. This is not right and consequently, their practice is not conducive to wisdom and it even reinforces ignorance or becomes rudra.
Although Lord Buddha taught eighty-four thousand paths to enlightenment, he didn’t do this because there are eighty-four thousand forms of enlightenment. There is only one state of enlightenment but many paths can lead to the same destination. The Buddha did not present such a wide range of methods in order to confuse us or to play games. His reason was based on the observation that spiritual seekers have different capacities and no single method could serve them all wisely.
It seems to me that people are getting more and more frustrated and confused although they are smart and work hard. They are tired, exhausted, and discouraged. They’ve tried just about everything yet they have no lasting success. The positive side of this situation is that at least maybe now they are ready to try deity yoga. I think this might be the case because deity yoga is a simple practice. It reduces everything into a single point –finding our natural state. If we understand deity yoga properly and practice it correctly, it leads directly to the core of our nature, the original state before delusion arose. So far, not many people to my knowledge have tried to practice deity yoga in a serious way. They dedicate themselves to becoming better and better radar systems – sensitive to the outside world but insensitive to own nature. Always peering outwardly, they overlook the nature of their experience – that most important topic that is subject matter of all Buddhist thought. It is like they are looking for butter but churning water. They are seeking enlightenment but developing their intellect. Since enlightenment is not intellectual or scientific, they will never find it. This is a sad predicament.
Right now, we can overcome this problem. We can choose to be buddhas or ordinary beings. What do I mean by this statement? What I mean is that when we recognize the nature of mind just as it is, pure and stainless, we are buddhas and we manifest inconceivable beneficial activity without karma. But when we fall under the sway of duality, the perceived separation of subject and object, we are ordinary beings and our experience is heavy and materialistic, and we create lots of karma that is the source of endless suffering. This choice lies before us.
In Mahayoga, our natural state that we wish to recognize is portrayed as a wisdom deity or divine being. Deity is synonymous with bodhicitta. Deity is a pure state of being that is beyond duality and not constricted by the forces of clinging and grasping. Since all beings have mind, they also have the nature of mind. Therefore, all beings are divine because their nature is pure. However, their pure nature is not manifest. It is like butter in milk. Since have not recognized their divinity they for a very, very long time, their habit of not recognizing is firmly ingrained. In fact, it seems improbable to them that they have a pure nature because they have subjected themselves to so much counter-conditioning for so long. That is precisely why I said that we really need the path of deity yoga. If we practice it, we will experience deity and nonduality even before we are fully realized. Systematically we will go beyond the limitations imposed by the grasping conceptual mind. In the beginning when we practice, it may seem like a fruitless struggle. We may think that that the conceptual framework is usual, the text is in Tibetan, and people do odd movements with their hands. But what I want to say is that you need not feel that way because deity practice is actually very simple and not complicated. All that you need to be the best practitioner in the world is correct view.
So if view is so important, what is the view? Unfortunately, many people meditate without any view at all, or with a wrong view, or with a weak view. They are meditating in or on ignorance although they are not aware it. They are mediating without bodhicitta and without the view of wisdom deity. In the context of Mahayoga, deity yoga meditation is an personal way of experiencing buddha nature and buddha phenomena. This is the Mahayoga approach right from the word go, even for beginners. The premise of Mahayoga is that if I see deity, then I am deity. All we have to remember is that the deity is a symbol of our original state, who we are.
I would like you to verify for yourself how the premise of deity yoga actually works. To do this, change your name every day for ten days. On Monday, ask people to call you Frank, on Tuesday, Michael and so on. By the end of the tenth day, you will probably be wondering who you really are. In the same way, deity yoga is changing our name from ordinary person to deity or buddha. Once you believe your new name, you will experience your life in accord with your new name. In deity yoga, we are creating a new self-image by creating a three-dimensional body of unsubstantial rainbow-light and allowing everything else to also become wisdom light. During the time that we are engaged on this process, it is impossible for misconceptions and grasping to phenomena to carry much weight. Our habitual perception of subject and object shifts into the perception of wisdom light that is our nature. We are naturally freed or liberated in our nature. That’s simple, isn’t it? Actually, as I said before, it is that simple if we understand the view of natural liberation. To understand the view of natural liberation, we study it and then we meditate and assimilate it. When our intellectual knowledge and meditative experience are fully integrated or matured, we have realized buddhahood. So my advice is to get clear about your goal and how to achieve it, and to stay focused through study and meditation.
http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/A%20-%20Tibetan%20Buddhism/Authors/Lama%20Tharchin/Deity%20Yoga/deity%20yoga.htm