Geshe la began the session by reminding us of the seven gestures of the meditative posture, a kind of physical inventory we go through before beginning each session--lotus position (or half-lotus, or whatever is most comfortable); hands (right on left); spine (straight); shoulders (relaxed); tongue (behind the teeth, mouth slightly open); eyes (focused toward the nose); head (comfortably in line with the spine). Whatever small variations you may work on this model, it's important to preserve them consistently from session to session. The connection between the body's posture and the mind's equanimity is a subtle and profound one. The logic here is simple: if you consistently sit in the same way every time you meditate, then gradually the mind comes to associate meditative equipoise with the posture of meditation itself. It's a self-supporting system.
Geshe la also mentioned Buddha Vairocana, one of the five Buddhas of the Five Buddha Family. The five Buddhas serve many purposes in Buddhist history, but Geshe la was referring to Vairocana as the enlightenment of the form or body (hence, Vairocana's connection to assuming the correct posture or form when meditating). Vairocana's color is white, and within the context of the five aggregates, he represents the final purification of the first aggregate, form.
Geshe la then spoke of visualization, specifically mentioning that calm-abiding meditation in the sutra tradition normally uses the image of the Buddha as an image on which to focus the mind, and the text on pp. 113-114 provides the specific instructions on how to accomplish this. But Geshe la also stressed that any image will serve as well, particularly in the early stages: Mary, Christ, a stone, a bird, anything at all will do. As Geshe la said, one of the fundamental points of visualization is to make an imprint on the subtle consciousness, to plant a seed that will bear fruit whenever the causes and conditions are correct.
Geshe next mentioned that the various schools of Buddhist philosophy present different definitions and views of emptiness, depending on their intentions. Geshe la spoke of the Cittamatra school, or the "mind-only school." The Cittamatrins, Geshe la explained, argue that our sense of duality--or the belief, in this case, that the mental and the physical, the mind and the body, are two radically different and unconnected realities--is an illusion created by the mind's misconception about the true nature of the world. Geshe la emphasized language's role in this problem: we don't recognize a phenomenon as having an authentic existence until we find a name for it, and then once we have named it, we quickly forget our substantial role in naming it and creating it, and so begin to believe that it exists on its own, inherently, above and beyond our original act of naming it. In point of fact, the Cittamatrins argue, we continually make the world what it is by reconceiving it, second by second, lending it emotional and psychological qualities that originate not within the world itself, but within our own minds. Hence, dualism is an illusion that our minds create. This is important because meditation will eventually provide us with graphic evidence that dualism is our own creation and not inherently a part of the world as it is.
Once we begin to believe that the world around us exists substantially, inherently, we then begin to confront that world with a self that we also see as existing substantially, inherently. When we do this, we also become convinced that this self needs protecting, which leads us to defensiveness, attachment, anger, jealousy, possessiveness, and all of the qualities that draw us further into suffering and cyclic existence. All because we were originally convinced of the dualistic nature of the world!
Geshe la then spoke of the necessity of compassion in our personal relationships. He spoke of the torturer and the tortured, and claimed that the torturer suffers more than the tortured. This is because the torturer is obviously laboring under a central and blinding delusion about the nature of reality.
But how do we develop the kind of compassion that might lead us to this extraordinary level of spiritual insight? We must realize that it's accomplished gradually, step by step, and that all of us have the seeds of compassion within us. For example, if you are sitting at the dinner table with a two-year-old, and he throws a spoonful of chocolate pudding in your face, what do you do? After cleaning yourself up, and most likely scolding him, you realize that he is acting out of ignorance, or perhaps he's upset about something, but you realize that he's not entirely responsible for what's he's done, and you bring compassion to your task of disciplining him. When the Tibetan monk who was tortured for years tells the Dalai Lama that the greatest danger he faced while imprisoned was losing compassion for his torturers, his compassion is not different in kind from the compassion we'd naturally show the two-year old. It's different only in degree, and we move toward the extraordinary compassion that the monk showed by degrees, meditating on the necessity of compassion, and the logical place of compassion in our response to all sentient beings who are suffering in the samsaric world. And eventually we come to understand the highest level of compassion, and finally, to embody it.
Geshe la ended by giving us six classic depictions of meditation. These are important for all of us because it's difficult to know sometimes if we are, in fact, meditating. These short imagistic descriptions will help us to recognize the meditative state.
1. "blue sky"--The meditative state is often described this way, particularly if the object of focus is the luminosity of the mind itself. Feelings of openness and space predominate.
2. "large, flying bird"--The point here is that while the early stages of meditation are often labored and difficult, once the mind is quieted effectively, and once we learn the skills necessary to keep it quiet, it requires very little effort to maintain its essential tranquility. Like a large flying bird that labors to become airborne, but once flying, maintains elevation with ease.
3. "ocean tide"--This is a classic description that encourages us to let our thoughts come and go, in and out, like the tide, without becoming subsumed by its motion.
4. "baby's view of the world"--This refers to looking at the world without our adult preconceptions and projections: viewing the world as pure, simple, impermanent phenomenon.
5. "the trackless path"--As a bird in flight leaves no trace of its path across the sky, so our thoughts that arise in meditation should leave no trace as they pass through our awareness. As Geshe la said: "Avoid invoking new thoughts and chasing old thoughts."
6. "walking over carpets of cotton"--Our awareness must learn to tread softly over the phenomena it confronts; the important concept here is "pliancy," in the sense that our minds are neither rigidly controlled nor freely following their whims. Thoughts are allowed naturally to rise and just as naturally to disappear.
The teachings that Geshe la is giving us now are designed to prepare a solid foundation for our practice of meditation. His intention is to give us the right combination of philosophy and practical advice so that we become skilled in both wisdom and method. It is a clear, traditional, and tested path that Geshe la is revealing to us, and we are fortunate to have his guidance.
Sidney Burris
