VISITORS AND NEW STUDENTS
IF YOU HAVE A BUDDHIST TEACHER, PLEASE FIND OUR SITE INVITING AND ENRICHING, BUT PLEASE CONSIDER REMAINING WITH YOUR TEACHER'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRACTICE. ADVANCED INSTRUCTIONS THAT WILL COME LATER IN YOUR STUDIES WITH YOUR TEACHER MAY NOT FIT INTO AN UNCLEAR PARADIGM AND WONDERFUL AND POSSIBLY CRUCIAL INSTRUCTION MAY BE MISSED.
Sincerely, the Voice of Experience (echo echo echo...)
See an Orientation For Class toward bottom of page (HTML anchors coming soon)
Your Seat in Enlightenment is Reserved, see chair. (we had to say something with a furniture sales template). Welcome. Below you will find our version of beginning meditation instructions. When in doubt about what to do... Relax. It is Ringu Tulku's important instruction. Do not be surprised if you return here and there is more...or less...as we hone our skills to accomplish the Pure Perception that is taking the Result (of enlightenment) as the Path of practice as taught in the Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism). Once again, welcome.
For New People remembering we are always New to what we experience…
“We Do Not Need A Reason To Feel Joy” Ringu Tulku
For the Beginner.
Experience is always New
The Ongoing Experience of Life. Process
“Each of you as to conduct an investigation into the very heart of your very own experience…What matters is not what I tell you but what you yourself can discover through your own experience.” (Ringu Tulku PTB P 117)
In Western terms, we are in search of our authentic self. Our real personhood. Our Identity.
Coming a little bit closer to Buddhist terminology…it might be said we are in search of the direct experience of our Divine Nature. If this experience is ‘direct’ then who is present? It’s a question we might indeed ask.
Because of Interdependence, we are really not existing out of relation to others. We may not have a direct relationship with someone, but we are connected through the Interdependent nature of all.
In Buddhist terms, expressions such as Buddha Nature, or Nature of Mind, even Tathagatagarba and so on are used to express this Identity we are searching for. Obviously we are alive. We feel alive. We search for the core of that experience. A ‘Designer’ label can make us hold our head up a little higher for a while, but in the end, when we are alone with the Visa bill, we know that isn’t it.
All of this addresses our Identity. Who are we? It seems important to find out. Yet we spend most of our time avoiding dealing with this head on.
The Buddha studied the problem of suffering as a way to understand himself. A good scientist, he studied his experience and discovered the cause of suffering. The entire Buddhist path is the result of his scientific work using his own experience as his laboratory.
A Deliberate Shift of Identity
What happens if someone named Peter discovers his true identity.
Ringu Tulku says
“Now what Peter has to do if he really wants to come to know his own nature is to look at himself. This doesn’t mean that once Peter knows his true nature, he’ll cease to exist as Peter. He’ll continue to be Peter for all of us and for himself, but his way of seeing his identity will have shifted a little: he’ll see thoughts as thoughts, feelings as feelings, and no longer mix things up in confusion. He’ll see everything as it is, without binding things to concepts, without putting them into unnecessary structures and categories. His life will not longer be a constant struggle. He’ll feel free. That’s what we are talking about.(Ringu Tulku PTB p115)”
Having a teacher who has found his or her True Identity by Listening, Reflecting on what is heard, and by Meditating is very helpful. Why?
They have gone through a process over and over again which has revealed the true meaning of the teachings because they stuck to doing something again and again until they got a result. Then, this person can articulate how the teaching or instruction should be used…so others in the culture can also get the same result.
The issue we deal with in Western culture now is that we interpret Buddhist teachings and are only now shaping a tradition of expressing them in American culture so they are communicated with the correct dictionary meaning of words, without opinions about Buddhist stories and listening for meaning, learning what cultural assumptions we impute to teachings to distort them, and what in the teachings we gloss over because we haven’t seen the concept before.
Ringu Tulku, like the Buddha, like we can do also, tried many teachings out and saw what worked. For him. To find what lasts while everything changes.
Ringu Tulku tells us,
“We won’t be able to see things in a fresh and new way immediately. We’ll first have to do some preliminaries, which means we’ll have to exercise, tame, and train our mind so that it becomes relaxed, clearer, and quieter. We have to get rid of the hectic and tumultuous confusion, the turmoil and heavy smog that covers our mind. This can be done only through meditation, and this is why we need to meditate.(Ringu Tulku PTB p 126)”
Many people quote the Buddha when he instructs us to be a lamp unto ourselves.
Already, just from the above instructions from Ringu Tulku, which we have read here (Listening), we can think about it (Reflect) and then sit undistracted and see if we get clearer or quieter…see what happens (Meditation).
It is not hard to do. But we have to do it.
Thus, the Buddha is not saying simply interpret Buddhist teachings as we like and then be a lamp to others because we know best. We need to actually be able to demonstrate we have matured.
What Ringu Tulku did is the same as we will do…to understand instructions and apply them to our experience.
We Can Deliberately Determine Our Experience
How can we prove to ourselves this is really possible?
Sit in a quiet place in a room for about ten minutes. Now, go outside and stand under the sky looking up. Even if it is cloudy, feel the vast open space. How we are in it. As if we have more space to open in. Take a deep breath, still staring up there in all that nice space.
Now, quietly go back and sit in the same room in the same place and recreate the feeling or sense of space that were really there outside. We cannot create the sky, but we can feel something similar.
It is easily noticed that sitting in a room with walls, we can determine the environment of our mind to be more sky-like.
Who did that? Of course, it was our intention to do it. And we succeeded to some extent. Because of Impermanence, we can change how we perceive and how we experience.
So why then do we not do this all the time? Simply because we lack practice.
Suppose We Go On after death…Are we able to choose what we do?
Lets make our discovery here a little more interesting and use the mind’s activity of thinking, to learn a little something about the choices the mind can have. Lets suppose we have died and are quite aware and alert.
Our friends are having a lovely barbeque…but didn’t think to invite us for obvious reasons. From time to time, they talk about us. Nice things of course. Now we see they are barbequing a lovely steak. One of our friends recalls how much we love steak and as it is sizzling in sauce (under this wonderful autumn sky of course) says, “lets cook this one for our dear departed!”
The teachings call us beings, ‘smell beings’ because it is said in the pardo state, we can smell and satisfy ourselves through smell if something is dedicated to us.
How we are enjoying our lovely steak now as the aroma floats up. But there’s a problem. We can’t concentrate very long. As soon as our mind has a memory of Disney land, we instantly find we are there! We don’t want to be on the
But all we can feel is the dissatisfaction…we can’t even remember what we were just doing. If only we could stay in one place. Even to get a good meal!
What Do We Need In This Life, right Now?
Being relaxed. Being able to pay attention and remain on a task undistracted. Sound familiar?
This is the point where we might make a connection to the teachings. We want to be relaxed and content. We would like to discover contentment that is not subject to change. Where we are not confused and wandering in search of solutions to many problems again and again.
How Can Meditation be Understood In Ways I’m quite familiar with?
1. Choose an environment for your mind that is peaceful. Identify it and feel the restfulness. It can even be the public library. The outdoor sky. Even the bathroom. Something or someplace where you can retreat to and not be bothered. Recreate this feeling where you are right now.
2. When you are relaxed, Choose something your mind can return to repetitively such as noticing your breath, or even a sound. (the rush of a waterfall demands our attention and it’s why we find it a place to arrest our wandering mind). Nothing fancy, pick a spot on the carpet.
3. Return your attention to your choice of focus again and again when you find yourself thinking something else (this is being distracted from what you planned to do) The ADHD’s know exactly what this is about. (PS. unplug the phone).
4. Pause to remember that as depressed as we’d like to be…we cannot declare ourselves to be lonely beings because of Interdependence. We might not understand it but it cannot be denied. We are lovable and loved and part of existence. Dare to relax and feel joy. As Ringu Tulku says, “We don’t need a reason to feel joy.”
5. If all else fails, Remember how good it is when people share happiness with you, think of them in your relaxation. Even if it is just a little experience now…release it all and dare to give it all away. Into the universe for all to enjoy. Have you disappeared? Probably not.
What If My Adventure into Mediation was not Happy?
All the better. You won’t get stuck in looking for Happy and never learn to meditate to good result.
Remember, if the Happy we are looking for is feeling like the best floaty moment of our life, chances are it’s not enlightenment. Chances are, it will pass. It is not passing or temporary contentment that the Buddha discovered. That’s what we are stuck with now.
The good news is…there’s more to experience. It’s been done by others and it can be done by us.
It is not exotic but it is subtle. If we repeat the process, we will discover it. If we just read books and never meditate, all these good instructions will never be put to use directly. It will be just more clutter in our heads. Lets say you have a disorganized office. You buy lots of folders, magazine holders, pen cups but you never put all these things to use. They remain in a stack unused. Unless meditation instructions are actually applied here and now, they are not being used.
Or having all kinds of woodworking tools, the wood, but complaining nothing is getting built while you’re watching tv. Yet in
As Ringu Tulku says, if you create the right conditions, not only will Enlightenment happen…It MUST happen.
What Can I Take Away with Me From this Web Experience?
First we listened to words and found our meaning. This is Listening. Then we thought, okay, lets see what the order is and how I might do this. Reflection. And then, we actually did it in these Five very Generic steps…nothing special. This was Meditation.
Perhaps we forgot what we were doing and read again, thought a little, then tried to guide our mind a little to be peaceful. This is the interaction of Listening Reflection and Meditation.
Maybe we have a question?
From these three, we find questions to ask a teacher, to clarify what? To clarify our experience.
Questions are not for showing what we understand, how smart we are but for clarifying what we are learning.
My questions sound silly.
Good. Ringu Tulku says the best questions are the silliest. They are unique to us. We are going for enlightenment.
Why are we going for enlightenment again?
We are going for enlightenment so we can help others do the same in the best way possible. If we solve our own problems, we can help others better. Thus, I wish to become enlightened so I can help others find the same happiness that does not end.
What is a Buddhist?
“A Buddhist is someone who believes that he or she can improve, and improve really completely to become a Buddha. Therefore, that is the practice of Buddhism: To improve ourselves. I can increase my wisdom, my compassion, my happiness, my joy; I can improve all these positive qualities---not just a little but almost endlessly.” Ringu Tulku
This is a Help to taking a class, particularly from the Tibetan Buddhist approach here at Bodhicharya Oklahoma in Tulsa. One of the dangers in attending only public events is that one misses out on the class format…the quiet time, without the bells and whistles. The time when one listens and reflects so the meditation is experienced within the frame of the teachings.
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An Orientation for Class
How To Use The Vajrayana
People involved with the Vajrayana (resulting in Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings) seem to be committed to answering three questions.
The Vajrayana is about getting and honing skills that are ‘useful’ to quicken the process of self discovery and helping oneself to improve quality of life. The skills are taught and embodied in an approach that is structured to help train the mind.
Its purpose is to locate the authentic self experience that is joyful without requiring a reason for it to be joyful. It is from this place that Perception is naturally Pure…as Ringu Tulku says, seeing how things are instead of how we’d like them to be.
The skillful means of the Vajrayana approach accommodates stress, sorrow, extreme elation and even depression by gradually acclimating us and helping us to identify what is reliable, joyful, giving, well adjusted, and Compassionate…and permanent ---meaning--- flowing but unchanging qualities that are named and conceptualized as something called enlightenment because we must use words to learn about it, make it happen, and teach it. Only then, in the fulfillment of our nature that is Compassion…then with this new confidence which has been verified by teachers who know…carefully help others to locate a process and also discover the happiness that lasts.
Buddhism does not have the market on enlightenment. But it is what we are discussing here. We use Buddhism interchangeably with Tibetan Buddhism because Tibetan Buddhism teachings all the Yanas or approaches. But that is another topic. In this part of the site, we are discussing the special Tools of the Buddhist Technology called Vajrayana. Some tools we have seen or heard or even tried. We might be familiar with chanting, imagining or visualization, evoking the feeling of being the recipient of kindness from another person, saying mantras using a beaded mala to help focus our mind and calm our emotions. These are some of the tools we will become more familiar with. In the meantime, it is necessary to attend a few classes to know if this is something you’d like to pursue. A public event, while very inspiring, cannot possibly give the flavor of how it is to work for one’s being, to be better able to assist the rest of humanity in the endeavor of nothing less than world peace. World Peace always begins at home with body, speech and mind. To be con’t….
Surely in this state, one has the tools to Survive the Daily News…which is what usually brings people to investigate the Tools of the Vajrayana born of Compassion.
Ringu Tulku has said one does not need a reason to feel joy. When Understanding becomes Realization…it crosses the bridge from being an idea to being the very meaning from which assumptions of reality drive Action.
This page will be continued, giving a frame for Enjoying a Buddhist class that is approached from the Vajrayana, which employs many metaphors to help us move from our grasping way of experiencing to more relaxed. As Ringu Tulku says, it is important to relax in meditation.
In the meantime, Bodhicharya Oklahoma management is learning about HTML anchors…to help scroll down to significant passages in the text more easily.
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As long as space exists
And as long as beings endure
May I too remain
To dispel the misery of the world
Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva