Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Sam 5/24/20 6:30 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Derek2 5/24/20 10:24 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Sam Gentile 5/25/20 8:50 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Stirling Campbell 5/25/20 11:33 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Sam Gentile 5/25/20 11:42 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Sam 5/29/20 2:21 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? James 8/5/20 3:54 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Dream Walker 5/25/20 7:28 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? terry 5/26/20 12:27 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Dan Jones 5/25/20 11:58 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? terry 5/26/20 12:42 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Chris M 5/26/20 1:50 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? terry 5/26/20 11:00 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? John H 5/26/20 12:14 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Stirling Campbell 5/26/20 12:16 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Dan Jones 5/26/20 8:51 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Stirling Campbell 5/26/20 11:23 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? terry 5/26/20 11:58 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? terry 5/27/20 11:38 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? terry 5/31/20 11:02 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Dan Jones 5/26/20 8:49 PM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? Joseph 5/27/20 9:50 AM
RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object? terry 5/27/20 11:32 AM
Sam, modified 4 Years ago at 5/24/20 6:30 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/24/20 6:30 PM

Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 11 Join Date: 2/24/19 Recent Posts
I read this article https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-meditate-dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche-on-mahamudra/ and even with small practice of just resting my focus on my mind and noticing anything arising, I started noticing my mind calming a lot more than usual and wanted to read more about it. 

But beyond this article I can't find any Mahamudra book that actually state to use mind as object. 

Can I get some tips/advice on this kind of practice? and materials/specific tradition that I can read about so I can be a bit more serious about it.

Thank you.
Derek2, modified 4 Years ago at 5/24/20 10:24 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/24/20 10:24 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 234 Join Date: 9/21/16 Recent Posts
The most popular author on that subject is probably Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. An introduction would be The Crystal and the Way of Light. For translations of classic texts, see The Supreme Source and The Golden Letters. However, the tradition is really one of in-person instruction, beginning with pointing-out instructions, also known as direct introduction. There's no precedent for people teaching themselves out of books. It's not that kind of tradition.
Sam Gentile, modified 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 8:50 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 8:50 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 1310 Join Date: 5/4/20 Recent Posts
Derek2:
The most popular author on that subject is probably Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. An introduction would be The Crystal and the Way of Light. For translations of classic texts, see The Supreme Source and The Golden Letters. However, the tradition is really one of in-person instruction, beginning with pointing-out instructions, also known as direct introduction. There's no precedent for people teaching themselves out of books. It's not that kind of tradition.
Yes, its a tradition that really requires an "initiation" with pointing out instructions
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Stirling Campbell, modified 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 11:33 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 11:33 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 636 Join Date: 3/13/16 Recent Posts
Sam:
I read this article https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-meditate-dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche-on-mahamudra/ and even with small practice of just resting my focus on my mind and noticing anything arising, I started noticing my mind calming a lot more than usual and wanted to read more about it. 

But beyond this article I can't find any Mahamudra book that actually state to use mind as object. 

Can I get some tips/advice on this kind of practice? and materials/specific tradition that I can read about so I can be a bit more serious about it.

Thank you.

SO pleased to see someone link to the Rinpoche's fantastic work. His teaching is warm and very clear. I share the link you have read regularly, as a great meditation instruction for those wishing to work with Mahamudra and Tibetan direct pointing practices. As you have seen, these simple practices bring about very real results fairly quickly.

Almost any beginners book on Tibetan Buddhism will talk about using mind as an object, but having a proper grounding in what mind IS helps greatly. 

When I share the link you have already read I will often also share this one also authored by Ponlop Rinpoche:

https://www.lionsroar.com/pointing-out-ordinary-mind/

Between these links you actually have much of what you need to know. There is enough in these two links alone to generate for insight many... a shelf of books, or gaggle of extraneous practices wouldn't improve on them. Should you decide to take it further, it IS helpful to meet a decent teacher and get some dialog to check (and recheck) your understanding of what you are doing and looking for as you work on it.

If you are comfortable sharing where you are located regionally I might be able to suggest someone nearby.
Sam Gentile, modified 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 11:42 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 11:42 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 1310 Join Date: 5/4/20 Recent Posts
Stirling Campbell:
Sam:
I read this article https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-meditate-dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche-on-mahamudra/ and even with small practice of just resting my focus on my mind and noticing anything arising, I started noticing my mind calming a lot more than usual and wanted to read more about it. 

But beyond this article I can't find any Mahamudra book that actually state to use mind as object. 

Can I get some tips/advice on this kind of practice? and materials/specific tradition that I can read about so I can be a bit more serious about it.

Thank you.

SO pleased to see someone link to the Rinpoche's fantastic work. His teaching is warm and very clear. I share the link you have read regularly, as a great meditation instruction for those wishing to work with Mahamudra and Tibetan direct pointing practices. As you have seen, these simple practices bring about very real results fairly quickly.

Almost any beginners book on Tibetan Buddhism will talk about using mind as an object, but having a proper grounding in what mind IS helps greatly. 

When I share the link you have already read I will often also share this one also authored by Ponlop Rinpoche:

https://www.lionsroar.com/pointing-out-ordinary-mind/

Between these links you actually have much of what you need to know. There is enough in these two links alone to generate for insight many... a shelf of books, or gaggle of extraneous practices wouldn't improve on them. Should you decide to take it further, it IS helpful to meet a decent teacher and get some dialog to check (and recheck) your understanding of what you are doing and looking for as you work on it.

If you are comfortable sharing where you are located regionally I might be able to suggest someone nearby.


Great information! I'd like to put in a plug for a book we studied with my teacher Mingyur Rinpoche which is my favorite book on both Dzogchen and Mahamudra. It's called "Wild Awakening: The Heart of Mahanudra and Dzogchen" by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and while I'm at it, "Essentials of Mahmudra: Looking Directly at the Mind" by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Hope this helps
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Dream Walker, modified 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 7:28 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 7:28 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 1770 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Play with the mind aspects that point to themselves
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion

I intend to have an intention - whats that like?
I'm going to think about a thought about thinking -
i'm gonna use my awareness to look at awareness-
i'm gonna use my presence to engage my presence-
the "I" that is, is deconstructed by the "I" that isn't me-
WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
keep on keeping on that track of "so called mind exploring mind"
heheheh
Good Luck
~D
Dan Jones, modified 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 11:58 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/25/20 11:53 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 40 Join Date: 3/15/18 Recent Posts
Which tradition uses mind as object?

All buddhist traditions as a far as I am aware. It's in the sattipattana sutta (foundations of mindfulness sutta) There's 4: Body, Vedana, Mental formations, Phenomena/Mind. Even one's that seem focused on body sensation, theres a reason for this (usually that we can clearly recognize vedana, nama-rupa etc) before moving to the mind where it's easy to be lost in imagination and conceptual proliferation.

e.g. Goenka addresses in Satipattana Sutta (and reportably all subsequent courses)

Mahasi it's there from the get go, we note the mental thought and return to the breath.

also in 'silent illumination' / 'shikentaza' / 'just sitting' / 'choiceless awareness' it's there from the beginning since it's just part of what arises. emoticon

There is a reason a large proportion of material in buddhist tradition begins with the breath / body and even where advanced pratitioners return as their default practice. An important insight early is knowing non-intellectually the distinction between vedana (raw feels - pleasant, unpleasant, neutral), nama-rupa (the solid base physical reality) and sañña (perception). Early on, and most people I would assume, have vedana and sañña conflated. With mental phenomena it's quite possible that people get lost easily so it's common even for advanced practitioners to cultivate that clear knowing which see's the distinction between a sensation and feeling-quality (vedana) and subsequent perception of an object before moving to mental phenomena.

seeing the sensation as it is is a wonderous thing, almost like light, or seeing something for the first time, even the most neutral "boring" sensations can become vistas and landscapes of interest - this of course is using language to hint at it - it's not imagination or visualization of landsapes of interest. This curiosity, interest, energy and enthusiasm at investigation is known as 'viriya' one of the factors for awakening. 

Of course, just to sit in the first place, involves some awareness of mental phenomena - where we are proliferating, where we are 'off track' from observing the breath. 

In order to know the sky we need a telescope - some sort of instrument - that amplifies our ability. Or perhaps when investigating a plant we might take it into parts with a scalpel in order to see clearly the cross section of its parts. In many cases the best way to know the mind is to focus on the breath - all of that 'distration' - we are taking a good cross section of the mind when we try to return to the breath again and again.
John H, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:14 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:14 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 33 Join Date: 4/17/18 Recent Posts
Is this different or maybe how is this different from using consciousness as a kasina? I'm tending to the conclusion that most if not all aspects of the second and third turning are only elaborations or variations of what was present in Buddhism from the beginning.
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Stirling Campbell, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:16 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:14 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 636 Join Date: 3/13/16 Recent Posts
John H:
Is this different or maybe how is this different from using consciousness as a kasina? I'm tending to the conclusion that most if not all aspects of the second and third turning are only elaborations or variations of what was present in Buddhism from the beginning.

I think you'd be right. Certainly no Mahayana or Vajrayana practitioner I have ever met would say that it isn't true. This is why they are all considered Buddhism. The difference is that the emptiness teachings obviously loom MUCH larger and are of much greater import later on. 

Ultimately the practices are always merely the raft you take across the river - the insight is what matters. In Zen it is said there is a ladder for each person, and it gets used once. Ultimately fighting over sects and practices is ridiculous. If we aren't merely interested in just becoming less reactive and more calm, we are all after the same thing, however we might frame the result - insight. Ultimately, IMHO, there is no path, or practice, and no person who becomes enlightened. 
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terry, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:27 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:27 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2794 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
Dream Walker:
Play with the mind aspects that point to themselves
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion

I intend to have an intention - whats that like?
I'm going to think about a thought about thinking -
i'm gonna use my awareness to look at awareness-
i'm gonna use my presence to engage my presence-
the "I" that is, is deconstructed by the "I" that isn't me-
WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
keep on keeping on that track of "so called mind exploring mind"
heheheh
Good Luck
~D


aloha dw,

   All thinking is recursive. You are right: using mind as an object involves a fundamental dualism, the subject object mentality. The mind is split into observer and observed, and the observer cannot observe itself observing, the knower cannot know the knower.

   Any self-directed activity only reinforces the delusion of self. When one recognizes the inherent delusion, one drops the activity.

   Mo bettah just sit.

terry
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terry, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:42 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 12:40 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2794 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
Dan Jones:
Which tradition uses mind as object?

Mahasi it's there from the get go, we note the mental thought and return to the breath.



   "It's there from the get go" so no need to make an object out of it. In meditation, let each thought go without further comment and return to emptiness.


without comment
without comment
without comment
(without comment)
(without comment)
(...........................)

   With practice, thoughts diminish and stop, and we observe nothing.

   Nothing "happens."

   Imperceptibly, we are more balanced, more peaceful, more content. Less foolish and stupid.

   There is a line in "good morning viet nam" that still resonates with me. Krakauer and his young vietnamese friend are walking around and come across a group of monks meditating. Despite the fact that they are obviously meditating, krakauer asks his friend, what are they doing? And despite the fact that they were obviously meditating, the young man says to him, they are waiting for enlightenment.

   And while we wait, we breathe.

t
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Chris M, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 1:50 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 1:49 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 5474 Join Date: 1/26/13 Recent Posts
Cronauer, not Krakauer.

Sheesh.


emoticon
Dan Jones, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 8:51 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 8:45 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 40 Join Date: 3/15/18 Recent Posts
Stirling Campbell:
John H:
Is this different or maybe how is this different from using consciousness as a kasina? I'm tending to the conclusion that most if not all aspects of the second and third turning are only elaborations or variations of what was present in Buddhism from the beginning.

I think you'd be right. Certainly no Mahayana or Vajrayana practitioner I have ever met would say that it isn't true. This is why they are all considered Buddhism. The difference is that the emptiness teachings obviously loom MUCH larger and are of much greater import later on. 

Just to emphasize (lest someone think it wasn't there at all in the beginning) Emptiness teachings are all over the pali canon, by way of some of most prominent and 'favourite' to many: MN 121, SN 12.15 (that whole area, the SN 12.x has many teachings coming at dependent origination from various angles) MN 121 may be 'prior art' or influence to visuddhimagga's space kasina, I'm not sure.

My favourite theory about the prajna paramita suttas (Mahayana) such as the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra is they were written by people who had obtained and were close to pratice as a sort of 'parody' to get rid of alot of the reification and philosophization that would likely have developed with institutions over time. The tathagata being the tathagata but the buddha in them not being the historical Shakyamuni emoticon 

There's also a good essay on the Theravada and simularities to Dzogchen called 'Ajahn Chah's View of 'The View'' by Ajahn Amaro, it's a chapter in a longer book.

There's also a great pali word that reminds me of some of Baizang & Yunmen's teachings (along of the lines of 'don't make an understanding') from the zen linneage, it's "atammayatā". Literally: 

a (not), tam (that), maya (to make, create, fabricate, or produce), and tā (the state of being or suffix “-ness

https://www.suanmokkh.org/articles/4

Dan Jones, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 8:49 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 8:49 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 40 Join Date: 3/15/18 Recent Posts
[quote= Ultimately, IMHO, there is no path, or practice, and no person who becomes enlightened. 
]
This is certainly the perspective of one of my theravada teachers emoticon I only take it on intellectual level emoticon 
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terry, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 11:00 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 11:00 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2794 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
Chris Marti:
Cronauer, not Krakauer.

Sheesh.


emoticon

  an irishman never lets fact checking get in the way of a good story...
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Stirling Campbell, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 11:23 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 11:07 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 636 Join Date: 3/13/16 Recent Posts
Dan Jones:

My favourite theory about the prajna paramita suttas (Mahayana) such as the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra is they were written by people who had obtained and were close to pratice as a sort of 'parody' to get rid of alot of the reification and philosophization that would likely have developed with institutions over time. The tathagata being the tathagata but the buddha in them not being the historical Shakyamuni emoticon

They might be funny, if they weren't spot on, I suppose. The emptiness teachings absolutely based in reality. Supposedly, many of the Mahayana texts, like the Vimalikirti Sutra, ARE supposed to be funny though - usually with Sariputra as the hapless butt of the jokes.

Of course, we have to assume ALL of the suttas (or sutras) were unlikely to have been the direct teachings of the Buddha since the earliest among them committed to writing dates to 400+ years after his death. I think Michael Owens (Buddhist text scholar and teacher at SF Dharma Collective) theory of why Mahayana texts started to appear is that Buddhism had become too rigid and dogmatic (which is no reflection on how things are now necessarily) and the emptiness teachings had came to the fore. I forget which of his podcasts he discusses this in, but almost all of his dharma talks on suttas and sutras are great, IMHO:

https://soundcloud.com/lotus-underground

What is the reality of the situation? Dunno. Not sure if anyone ever will, or that it ultimately matters who the author/s were. emoticon It's great to have Buddhism in all of its flavors, just as they are.

Dan Jones:
This is certainly the perspective of one of my theravada teachers emoticon I only take it on intellectual level emoticon

Which is probably appropriate - until it isn't possible to see it that way anymore. 
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terry, modified 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 11:58 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/26/20 11:58 PM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2794 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
Dan Jones:
Stirling Campbell:
John H:
Is this different or maybe how is this different from using consciousness as a kasina? I'm tending to the conclusion that most if not all aspects of the second and third turning are only elaborations or variations of what was present in Buddhism from the beginning.

I think you'd be right. Certainly no Mahayana or Vajrayana practitioner I have ever met would say that it isn't true. This is why they are all considered Buddhism. The difference is that the emptiness teachings obviously loom MUCH larger and are of much greater import later on. 

Just to emphasize (lest someone think it wasn't there at all in the beginning) Emptiness teachings are all over the pali canon, by way of some of most prominent and 'favourite' to many: MN 121, SN 12.15 (that whole area, the SN 12.x has many teachings coming at dependent origination from various angles) MN 121 may be 'prior art' or influence to visuddhimagga's space kasina, I'm not sure.

My favourite theory about the prajna paramita suttas (Mahayana) such as the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra is they were written by people who had obtained and were close to pratice as a sort of 'parody' to get rid of alot of the reification and philosophization that would likely have developed with institutions over time. The tathagata being the tathagata but the buddha in them not being the historical Shakyamuni emoticon 





aloha dan,

    Nagarjuna's work resulted in mahayana's acceptance of "the two views," the absolute and the relative. In the first view, there is no differentiation, all is One Pearl and void of any characteristics or names or individuality. In the relative view, individual things exist. The One and the Many. It is understood that the One is the parent and source of the Many. That the One is the True Reality and the Many only an appearance.

   The heart and diamond sutras are paradoxical, blatantly and deliberately, no subtlety about it. The Real is not real, therefore it is really Real. The phenomenal world is a projection of ego and desire, the worlds of a species impassioned. The absolute is unknowable but True. We know the absolute is Real because the phenomenal isn't. 

   The sufis speak of "perplexity" as a stage of spiritual progress, and by this they are speaking of the aspirant who knows the absolute is the True Reality but who also sees god in every creature and in every situation. God is wholly hidden, and yet god is wholly manifest, and Reason is perplexed. Eventually Reason is drowned (in the ocean of perplexity) and individual self (nafs) is burnt to a crisp (fana) in the fire of love (universal compassion). The perplexity is resolved by what may be described as a simultaneous awareness of god unmanifest and god manifest (both at the same time one and the same). As the sufis say: "in the world but not of it." All of manifest existence is acknowledged as reflections of the divine names, while the absolute unknowability of god is also accepted as locus and ground. Of course, the unkowable cannot be known except as such. And the phenomenal is entirely transformed from desire objects into means for spiritual development.

   In buddhism, I think you are right that the heart and diamond sutras were meant as an antidote for reified thinking. They assumed people knew the conventional teaching, the 4nt's, and they stood them on their head: there is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no release from suffering, and no path. This sort of negation, aka via negativa, is often used to poinnt out the ineffability of the Truth, its transcendant and unknowable character. Despite these sutras, zen buddhism constantly brings its methods down to earth, emphasizing practice (dhyana - zen was always known as the meditation sect) and an enlightened way of life.

   What is interesting me these days is the way the phenomenal world is transformed from a place of struggle to a place where all beings are in the process of attaining enlightenment. This is the resolutoin of perplexity, the integration of the two views. All being seen through the lens of skillful means. The bodhisattva, the buddha, the pir, the qtub, "see" the manifesttions of god and the divine nature in apparent phenomena as symbolic representations of the ongoing process of the spiritual progress of all beings.

   I used to think the absolute was really real and the phenomenal not so much. Now there is no difference.

terry




from "sufism and taoism" by toshihiko izutsu:



What we must emphasize before everything else is that, in Ibn ‘Arabi’s world-view, the whole world is the locus of theophany or the self-manifestation of the Absolute, and that, consequently, all the things and events of the world are self-determinations of the Absolute. Therefore, the world of Being cannot be grasped in its true form except as a synthesis of contraditions. Only by a simultaneous affirmation of contradictories can we understand the real nature of the world. And the ‘perplexity’ is nothing other than the impression produced on our minds by the observation of the simultaneous existence of contradictories.
Joseph, modified 4 Years ago at 5/27/20 9:50 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/27/20 9:50 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2 Join Date: 5/27/20 Recent Posts
Hi Sam, in case you haven't already, you might want to check out the teachings of Sayadah U Tejaniya. A Burmese Vipassana teacher who is known for emphasizing on Cittanupassana (Contemplation on the Mind).
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terry, modified 4 Years ago at 5/27/20 11:32 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/27/20 11:32 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2794 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
Sam:
I read this article https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-meditate-dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche-on-mahamudra/ and even with small practice of just resting my focus on my mind and noticing anything arising, I started noticing my mind calming a lot more than usual and wanted to read more about it. 

But beyond this article I can't find any Mahamudra book that actually state to use mind as object. 

Can I get some tips/advice on this kind of practice? and materials/specific tradition that I can read about so I can be a bit more serious about it.

Thank you.


aloha sam,

   Reading the article just now, it reminds me of simple instructions for withdrawing from morphine: take a little less every day until you don't take any.

   It also resembles any basic instruction in meditation. The beginner has to ease into it. I suppose "contemplation" is more better than sexual fantasies and whatnot, but it is still samsara.

   Ten hours a day of busy "meditation" isn't worth fifteen minutes of emptiness. Professional meditators will rarely tell you that.

   I enjoyed the article and found no fault with it. If I wanted to work with a teacher this rinpoche looks and sounds like the real deal.

terry
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terry, modified 4 Years ago at 5/27/20 11:38 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/27/20 11:38 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2794 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
terry:
Dan Jones:
Stirling Campbell:
John H:
Is this different or maybe how is this different from using consciousness as a kasina? I'm tending to the conclusion that most if not all aspects of the second and third turning are only elaborations or variations of what was present in Buddhism from the beginning.

I think you'd be right. Certainly no Mahayana or Vajrayana practitioner I have ever met would say that it isn't true. This is why they are all considered Buddhism. The difference is that the emptiness teachings obviously loom MUCH larger and are of much greater import later on. 

Just to emphasize (lest someone think it wasn't there at all in the beginning) Emptiness teachings are all over the pali canon, by way of some of most prominent and 'favourite' to many: MN 121, SN 12.15 (that whole area, the SN 12.x has many teachings coming at dependent origination from various angles) MN 121 may be 'prior art' or influence to visuddhimagga's space kasina, I'm not sure.

My favourite theory about the prajna paramita suttas (Mahayana) such as the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra is they were written by people who had obtained and were close to pratice as a sort of 'parody' to get rid of alot of the reification and philosophization that would likely have developed with institutions over time. The tathagata being the tathagata but the buddha in them not being the historical Shakyamuni emoticon 





aloha dan,

    Nagarjuna's work resulted in mahayana's acceptance of "the two views," the absolute and the relative. In the first view, there is no differentiation, all is One Pearl and void of any characteristics or names or individuality. In the relative view, individual things exist. The One and the Many. It is understood that the One is the parent and source of the Many. That the One is the True Reality and the Many only an appearance.

   The heart and diamond sutras are paradoxical, blatantly and deliberately, no subtlety about it. The Real is not real, therefore it is really Real. The phenomenal world is a projection of ego and desire, the worlds of a species impassioned. The absolute is unknowable but True. We know the absolute is Real because the phenomenal isn't. 

   The sufis speak of "perplexity" as a stage of spiritual progress, and by this they are speaking of the aspirant who knows the absolute is the True Reality but who also sees god in every creature and in every situation. God is wholly hidden, and yet god is wholly manifest, and Reason is perplexed. Eventually Reason is drowned (in the ocean of perplexity) and individual self (nafs) is burnt to a crisp (fana) in the fire of love (universal compassion). The perplexity is resolved by what may be described as a simultaneous awareness of god unmanifest and god manifest (both at the same time one and the same). As the sufis say: "in the world but not of it." All of manifest existence is acknowledged as reflections of the divine names, while the absolute unknowability of god is also accepted as locus and ground. Of course, the unkowable cannot be known except as such. And the phenomenal is entirely transformed from desire objects into means for spiritual development.

   In buddhism, I think you are right that the heart and diamond sutras were meant as an antidote for reified thinking. They assumed people knew the conventional teaching, the 4nt's, and they stood them on their head: there is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no release from suffering, and no path. This sort of negation, aka via negativa, is often used to poinnt out the ineffability of the Truth, its transcendant and unknowable character. Despite these sutras, zen buddhism constantly brings its methods down to earth, emphasizing practice (dhyana - zen was always known as the meditation sect) and an enlightened way of life.

   What is interesting me these days is the way the phenomenal world is transformed from a place of struggle to a place where all beings are in the process of attaining enlightenment. This is the resolutoin of perplexity, the integration of the two views. All being seen through the lens of skillful means. The bodhisattva, the buddha, the pir, the qtub, "see" the manifesttions of god and the divine nature in apparent phenomena as symbolic representations of the ongoing process of the spiritual progress of all beings.

   I used to think the absolute was really real and the phenomenal not so much. Now there is no difference.

terry




from "sufism and taoism" by toshihiko izutsu:



What we must emphasize before everything else is that, in Ibn ‘Arabi’s world-view, the whole world is the locus of theophany or the self-manifestation of the Absolute, and that, consequently, all the things and events of the world are self-determinations of the Absolute. Therefore, the world of Being cannot be grasped in its true form except as a synthesis of contraditions. Only by a simultaneous affirmation of contradictories can we understand the real nature of the world. And the ‘perplexity’ is nothing other than the impression produced on our minds by the observation of the simultaneous existence of contradictories.


   I keep thinking I'm missing something...I know: where are the spade and club sutras?

t
Sam, modified 4 Years ago at 5/29/20 2:21 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/29/20 2:21 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 11 Join Date: 2/24/19 Recent Posts
Stirling Campbell:
Sam:
I read this article https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-meditate-dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche-on-mahamudra/ and even with small practice of just resting my focus on my mind and noticing anything arising, I started noticing my mind calming a lot more than usual and wanted to read more about it. 

But beyond this article I can't find any Mahamudra book that actually state to use mind as object. 

Can I get some tips/advice on this kind of practice? and materials/specific tradition that I can read about so I can be a bit more serious about it.

Thank you.

SO pleased to see someone link to the Rinpoche's fantastic work. His teaching is warm and very clear. I share the link you have read regularly, as a great meditation instruction for those wishing to work with Mahamudra and Tibetan direct pointing practices. As you have seen, these simple practices bring about very real results fairly quickly.

Almost any beginners book on Tibetan Buddhism will talk about using mind as an object, but having a proper grounding in what mind IS helps greatly. 

When I share the link you have already read I will often also share this one also authored by Ponlop Rinpoche:

https://www.lionsroar.com/pointing-out-ordinary-mind/

Between these links you actually have much of what you need to know. There is enough in these two links alone to generate for insight many... a shelf of books, or gaggle of extraneous practices wouldn't improve on them. Should you decide to take it further, it IS helpful to meet a decent teacher and get some dialog to check (and recheck) your understanding of what you are doing and looking for as you work on it.

If you are comfortable sharing where you are located regionally I might be able to suggest someone nearby.

Thank you for the offer. I am in London UK. Quite keen to speak to a teacher to learn more. 

Thanks again..
thumbnail
terry, modified 4 Years ago at 5/31/20 11:02 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 5/31/20 11:02 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 2794 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
terry:
Dan Jones:
Stirling Campbell:
John H:
Is this different or maybe how is this different from using consciousness as a kasina? I'm tending to the conclusion that most if not all aspects of the second and third turning are only elaborations or variations of what was present in Buddhism from the beginning.

I think you'd be right. Certainly no Mahayana or Vajrayana practitioner I have ever met would say that it isn't true. This is why they are all considered Buddhism. The difference is that the emptiness teachings obviously loom MUCH larger and are of much greater import later on. 

Just to emphasize (lest someone think it wasn't there at all in the beginning) Emptiness teachings are all over the pali canon, by way of some of most prominent and 'favourite' to many: MN 121, SN 12.15 (that whole area, the SN 12.x has many teachings coming at dependent origination from various angles) MN 121 may be 'prior art' or influence to visuddhimagga's space kasina, I'm not sure.

My favourite theory about the prajna paramita suttas (Mahayana) such as the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra is they were written by people who had obtained and were close to pratice as a sort of 'parody' to get rid of alot of the reification and philosophization that would likely have developed with institutions over time. The tathagata being the tathagata but the buddha in them not being the historical Shakyamuni emoticon 





aloha dan,

    Nagarjuna's work resulted in mahayana's acceptance of "the two views," the absolute and the relative. In the first view, there is no differentiation, all is One Pearl and void of any characteristics or names or individuality. In the relative view, individual things exist. The One and the Many. It is understood that the One is the parent and source of the Many. That the One is the True Reality and the Many only an appearance.

   The heart and diamond sutras are paradoxical, blatantly and deliberately, no subtlety about it. The Real is not real, therefore it is really Real. The phenomenal world is a projection of ego and desire, the worlds of a species impassioned. The absolute is unknowable but True. We know the absolute is Real because the phenomenal isn't. 

   The sufis speak of "perplexity" as a stage of spiritual progress, and by this they are speaking of the aspirant who knows the absolute is the True Reality but who also sees god in every creature and in every situation. God is wholly hidden, and yet god is wholly manifest, and Reason is perplexed. Eventually Reason is drowned (in the ocean of perplexity) and individual self (nafs) is burnt to a crisp (fana) in the fire of love (universal compassion). The perplexity is resolved by what may be described as a simultaneous awareness of god unmanifest and god manifest (both at the same time one and the same). As the sufis say: "in the world but not of it." All of manifest existence is acknowledged as reflections of the divine names, while the absolute unknowability of god is also accepted as locus and ground. Of course, the unkowable cannot be known except as such. And the phenomenal is entirely transformed from desire objects into means for spiritual development.

   In buddhism, I think you are right that the heart and diamond sutras were meant as an antidote for reified thinking. They assumed people knew the conventional teaching, the 4nt's, and they stood them on their head: there is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no release from suffering, and no path. This sort of negation, aka via negativa, is often used to poinnt out the ineffability of the Truth, its transcendant and unknowable character. Despite these sutras, zen buddhism constantly brings its methods down to earth, emphasizing practice (dhyana - zen was always known as the meditation sect) and an enlightened way of life.

   What is interesting me these days is the way the phenomenal world is transformed from a place of struggle to a place where all beings are in the process of attaining enlightenment. This is the resolutoin of perplexity, the integration of the two views. All being seen through the lens of skillful means. The bodhisattva, the buddha, the pir, the qtub, "see" the manifesttions of god and the divine nature in apparent phenomena as symbolic representations of the ongoing process of the spiritual progress of all beings.

   I used to think the absolute was really real and the phenomenal not so much. Now there is no difference.

terry




from "sufism and taoism" by toshihiko izutsu:



What we must emphasize before everything else is that, in Ibn ‘Arabi’s world-view, the whole world is the locus of theophany or the self-manifestation of the Absolute, and that, consequently, all the things and events of the world are self-determinations of the Absolute. Therefore, the world of Being cannot be grasped in its true form except as a synthesis of contraditions. Only by a simultaneous affirmation of contradictories can we understand the real nature of the world. And the ‘perplexity’ is nothing other than the impression produced on our minds by the observation of the simultaneous existence of contradictories.


from "the zen teachings of huang po," trans blofeld:


Many people are are afraid to empty their minds lest they may plunge into the Void. They do not know that their own Mind is the void. The ignorant eschew phenomena but not thought; the wise eschew thought but not phenomena.
James, modified 4 Years ago at 8/5/20 3:54 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/5/20 3:54 AM

RE: Which tradition uses mind as meditation object?

Posts: 22 Join Date: 6/27/20 Recent Posts
Malcom smith is giving a retreat soon that goes over trekcho and has tgecthe and the way of the light as required initial reading and there are do transmission sessions. You can find out more at zangthal.com and his 'ask the acarya' Facebook group. 

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