According to Kalu Rinpoche, the mind has three qualities: emptiness, luminosity and unimpededness. I had a dream last night in which a woman was explaining something about the mind, and I immediately recognized what she was saying as a description of the mind's unimpededness. I had a kind of image of a boulder grinding to a halt in a tunnel representing the material aspects of the mind breaking down, but that mind itself streams on unimpeded. Tibetan lamas do not recommend putting too much significance in dreams, but I do believe that I was benefitting from the wisdom mind of the lama.
Yesterday I took the Bodhisattva Vow with Lama Kathy Wesley, a student of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and a wonderful and gifted teacher. During the vow, she relayed a story from when Rinpoche was giving the vow. He passed around a tray and asked people to put something precious on the tray that they did not want to give up. As the tray went around and he put it on the shrine, Lama Kathy said that there was a lot of palpable tension in the room. People were not sure if they would be getting their stuff back! They did, of course, she said, but after that Rinpoche no longer included that step in the ceremony because people misunderstood it so much. However, Lama Kathy, said, we should imagine giving as an offering the one thing we find most precious. I offered my sanity and ability to reason clearly. This is something that I do not want to lose, and so I offered it to the Buddhas. I find it very interesting that I got a teaching in my dream reminding me of the unimpeded nature of mind, whose gross aspect, as explained by Kalu Rinpoche (see this link), is essentially the ability of mind to discern and make judgments. In other words, I can never really lose the thing that I was offering. The thing that I can lose is the "I"!
I also find it interesting that when I woke up, I found a story in my Facebook feed written by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse explaining how the obsessive veneration of high Lamas is actively hurting the Tibetan tradition. This was in response to Jamgon Kongtrol's tulku's recent announcement that he is giving up the monastic life to become a doctor. I highly recommend reading Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse's article. It is posted on his Facebook page at the moment. During Lama Kathy's visit, I had been trying to help maintain protocol, which I think is fine, but examining my own mind, I have to admit, there was a whole bunch of self-righteousness there bound up with that. I think this is close to the point of why obsessive veneration can be bad: it's not motivated by good intention. Obviously sincere respect is fine, and in fact it is often mentioned that one's relationship with one's guru undergoes a transformation as you progress along the path. At first, there is a kind of abject suspension of judgment, as the guru takes on the aspect of a parent telling you what needs to be done in order to further your development. However, this sort of relationship can have problems, for example, by looking for self-affirmation externally. (Maybe if I do this thing, the guru will be happy, and that means I'm a worthwhile person.) Chogyam Trungpa talks about this a lot. It's a good first step, latching onto someone who can guide us out of suffering, but after a while, we relate to that person in a more conscious (the overall goal!) and less child-like way.
I am excited to be maintaining the Bodhisattva vow (which I had also previously taken with Lama Norlha Rinpoche). It's all about watching your intention throughout the day, noticing when negative intentions and mind states arise, and then going through the four R's:
1. the power of Reliance on enlightened beings as witnesses to your confession. (The 35 Buddhas are suggested.)
2. the power of Regret at committing the negativity. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche said this regret should be just as if we've swallowed poison.
3. the power of a Remedy to counteract the wrong we have done. The recitation of the prayer of the 35 Buddhas or reciting of the Vajrasattva mantra are good remedies.
4. the power of Resolve never to commit the action again. (Though this may seem unrealistic in the moment, Khenpo Karthar has stated that it is still best to resolve in this way. It effectively slows the momentum of the negative habit.)
In fact, I am about to have a second cup of java, and will then recite my morning supplication to the 35 Buddhas. May all beings benefit!
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