Transform Your Mind & Change Your Life Retreat - 7-Point Mind Training from Atisha (part 7)

0:14 I trust you all slept well. That was your last job. I trust you did it well. And so this morning we pick up again where we left off. But I'd like to start with one of my favorite stories in the whole Tibetan tradition. It's a real doozy. It's about a thousand years old and it's a story involving the principal disciple Avatisha, who I mentioned yesterday was Tom Dumba, who is widely regarded as a previous incarnation of his only Dalai Lama. Report an error in the passage at 0:14 Highlight the passage at 0:14

0:44 He was a layperson, great master, foremost disciple, and he was out walking one day and he saw, I think it was a monk, and the monk was engaging in devotional practices, probably reciting mala, maybe the prayer wheel, maybe circumambulating a stupa, kind of things Tibetans had been doing for a long time, being overall a very devout culture. Report an error in the passage at 0:44 Highlight the passage at 0:44

1:07 So Dom Trimba saw this monk assiduously applying himself to his devotional practice, and he came over to him and he commented, It's very good to do devotional practices. It's even better to practice Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07

1:24 So the story goes on. But I want to introduce something here. If this were happening in the 21st century and not the 11th century, I think the monk would have tried something else that's not included in this narrative. So I'm going to update it. I'm really bold. I'm a heretic. I'm going to add something. But at least I'm telling you what I'm adding. Report an error in the passage at 1:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24

1:46 So I can imagine the monk hearing this, you know, just focusing on the Buddha, the Saṅgha, the devotion, the worship, the mantra, all of that, and then told it's good to do that, but even better to practice Dharma. What I can imagine a 20th century or 21st century monk doing, or nun, is, aha, there's a higher calling, there's something better. Report an error in the passage at 1:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46

2:09 And that is, go out into the world and help people. Devote yourself. Yes, indeed, devote yourself to the Buddhadana Saṅgha, but devote yourself to helping people in the world. So go out and start a school, teach, or practice medicine, or be a nurse, or do social work, or start a boys club or a girls club, do something in the world to help. Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

2:32 So I can imagine that could be a major alternative that would be considered, and of course a number of the Roman Catholic orders. Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:40 We're very much public-oriented. That is very little in the way of contemplative life, maybe none, but a tremendous work. Mother Teresa comes to mind, of course. I have no idea how much she meditated, but what she's known for, of course, is her going out and helping the poor, the lepers and so on. So I'm going to add this one. Report an error in the passage at 2:40 Highlight the passage at 2:40

2:59 That's the only part I'm adding. So the monk then goes off and he's serving as a healer or a teacher, but he's really going out and doing his best to be of benefit. To the world around him. And then Dom Dumbai, in this hypothetical extra chapter, comes in and says, oh, I see you're devoting yourself to serving others, you know, as a healer, a teacher, and whatever. Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:21 This is very good, very good to devote yourself to the service of others. It's even better to practice Dharma. So I added that. In the traditional story, then the monk really takes this to heart, because he knows this is an extraordinary teacher here, so he's not saying this casually. And so with the next, in the next, now we just stick with the story. Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:41 Stay with the script, as they say. And so the next time Tom Tom is out walking, he sees the same monk, and this time he's sitting on his cushion and he's really studying the sutras of the Buddha, the commentaries, really studying Dharma. He's learning Dharma, really applying himself to it. Because if all you're doing is just reciting mantra, doing devotional practice, what do you really know about what the Buddha taught? Report an error in the passage at 3:41 Highlight the passage at 3:41

4:05 I mean, it's good, but why don't you learn what the Buddha taught? And a Saṅgha, Nagarjuna, the great masters of the past. So you're really drawing in that full wisdom of centuries and centuries of profound realization, tracing right back to the Buddha himself. So he figures, here, now I'm getting real. Now I'm really applying myself to Dharma. And so Dom Domba comes along and says, Ah, I see you're really studying Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 4:05 Highlight the passage at 4:05

4:27 Probably he's going off for teachings as well. So very good to study Dharma. Very good to go to meditation retreats. Very good to receive teachings. It's even better to practice Dharma. So this time the fellow was, I think, nonplussed. Because this is kind of what monks don't do, right? Monks, nuns, they go for teachings, they give teachings. And if that's not Dharma, then, you know, what is? But he reflected on it, again, taking to heart the teacher's counsel, his pith instruction. Report an error in the passage at 4:27 Highlight the passage at 4:27

4:55 And then I can just imagine a light going on above his head. Got it. Big smile comes over his face. And he finds his meditation cushion, and then he's sitting in the seven-point Vajrojana posture. Sitting really bucka, you know, waiting for Domtumbra. I dare you. And lo and behold, Domtumbra, he shows up. Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

5:17 He says, aha, I see you're meditating. Very good to meditate. Even better to practice, Dom. So now the poor guy, I think now it's just kind of like, does not compute, does not compute. What else is it? And then I ask you, you know, public service as a teacher, you know, a healer at school, you know, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:37 Devotional practices and studying Dharma and teaching Dharma and even meditating. If that's not Dharma, then, I mean, I leave it to you. If you were the monk, what would you do next? Make that an adorable question. We could spend the whole morning on it. But, so he kind of like... Then he turned to Dom Dumba and said, well, like basically, what? Report an error in the passage at 5:37 Highlight the passage at 5:37

6:00 I'm out of ideas. And Dom Dumba then gives him the pith instruction, which I say is the core instruction. For the entire seven point mind training. And it's really short. And then he gave it to him and he said, okay, what is Dharma? Give up attachment to this life and let your mind become Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 6:00 Highlight the passage at 6:00

6:22 That's it. Now clearly, that's open to interpretation. And there's not just one interpretation. One of my earliest teachers, Geshing Amantayi, extraordinary scholar and meditator and superb teacher, he told me once, if you take a root text, a good scholar can find ten different ways of interpreting the text. Report an error in the passage at 6:22 Highlight the passage at 6:22

6:39 And they may all be right. Really sound, but you know, ten ways. So I'm going to give one out of probably more than ten. Give up attachment to this life. And the words are very careful, very carefully chosen. Give up attachment to this life. Well, it doesn't mean that you're considering suicide, that's for sure. Report an error in the passage at 6:39 Highlight the passage at 6:39

7:01 So it doesn't mean that. What it clearly, a very sound interpretation, a very plausible interpretation was. Give up attachment to all the affairs of this life, all the allures, all the hedonic pleasures of this life. He didn't say don't desire them. He didn't say don't enjoy them. That is, if you're thirsty, he's not saying don't desire water. If you're hungry, don't desire food. If you're poor, don't desire... He didn't say that. The words are so carefully chosen. Report an error in the passage at 7:01 Highlight the passage at 7:01

7:27 Give up attachment to this life. Give up attachment to the hedonic pleasure, kind of the joys that we get from the world. Including the joys of friendship, Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:39 A romantic relationship, monastic friendships, the many joys that we get, many of them are quite meaningful, good, joys of the beauties of nature and so forth. But he said, give up attachment to this life, all the allures of this life. That would be one interpretation. And then let your mind become Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 7:39 Highlight the passage at 7:39

7:59 And that is, rather than having Dharma something you pick up, like this, when you can find time. I told you I've heard it a number of times now. I was asked in Cairns when I was there recently. I was on an interview with the local ABC station. And he said, very bright young man. And it was a good question. Ridiculous, but good. And his question was, how little can one meditate each day and still get benefit? Report an error in the passage at 7:59 Highlight the passage at 7:59

8:22 He wanted the minimum dose. He was like a homeopathic dose. How little? Because clearly a fellow was very busy. And if I'm going to take out time for meditation, that means there's going to be less time for something else I'm doing, and I like what I'm doing. And so rather than picking up a Dharma, like you pick up a cell phone and then I'm done, and then maybe I can carve out three minutes, maybe three and a half tonight, and I'll pick it up and put it down. Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

8:49 Rather than having the notion that Dharma is something we pick up and put down, that we try to find time for, and kind of then the more time the better, rather it says let your mind become Dharma. Develop such a rich understanding of Dharma, so immerse yourself in the practice of Dharma that you're never separated from it. That you really are, and not just giving lip service, you're living in Dharma, living in Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:11 And that's the whole gist of it. Now I'm going to give another interpretation relating to the practice we've just begun to explore yesterday afternoon and evening. It's a very simple practice, first of settling body, speech and mind in the natural state. For each of these qualities, For each of these three dimensions, body, speech and mind, cultivating this into ease of stillness and clarity. That's the core. Report an error in the passage at 9:11 Highlight the passage at 9:11

9:37 Ease, stillness or stability and clarity. And on that basis of striking this balance, this equilibrium, kind of dynamic equilibrium, that it's relaxed and yet vigilant and clear and sustained with stillness, on the basis of that, you'll all recall, or most of you will recall, Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

9:56 Then we venture into a particular approach to mindfulness of breathing. It's the Dzogchen approach, and I'm going to be lingering on this one. There are many other approaches, and we don't have time for them. This is not a shama to retreat, but we have six short days to attend to seven of the seven points of the mind training. So I'm focusing on just one method of mindfulness of breathing. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:17 It's taken directly from the Dzogchen tradition, where we're primarily resting the awareness, just as a brief recap. Resting the awareness in its own place, just resting there in stillness, so relaxed, still and clear. And then without moving outwards, without seeking to attend to, like right now, what's your name? Report an error in the passage at 10:17 Highlight the passage at 10:17

10:39 Simon. So here I am sitting, just minding my own business, and then I direct my attention to Simon. So I was doing something, then there's a directionality to it. So that's how we often... Normally, that's how we direct our attention to someone and then we focus. Well, without doing that, without doing that, just rest your awareness right where it is. Report an error in the passage at 10:39 Highlight the passage at 10:39

11:01 This is my little symbol, like an unflickering candle flame. Just rest your awareness right where it is, straight, still, clear, unflickering. But as you're resting there, if you're not in very profound samādhi, which is a somewhat different case, just resting there, you're bound to find That there comes to you, without your going out and seeking it, like looking at Simon, there comes to you, almost like a breeze or something coming to you, there comes to you, there rises to your awareness, on the periphery of your awareness, the awareness of the rhythm of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:41 Without having to intuit, if you're just sitting very quietly, then you're bound to experience that ebb and flow, that rise and fall, the rhythm. And so to reiterate from yesterday, then we're going to go right to the practice. You're primarily resting just in that stillness, resting in the awareness, the flow of awareness, the flow of awareness of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 11:41 Highlight the passage at 11:41

12:06 And peripherally, just kind of like with the overflow awareness, like my cup running over, with the overflow awareness, but without going out, just that it's not entirely focused, the sensations of the rhythm, the breath. Or simply the rhythm of the breath itself is bound to meet you. And so peripherally you simply note that. When the in-breath is long, you note it's long. When the out-breath is long, you note it's long. Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:30 And then as your whole system calms down, settles into a deeper state of balance, equilibrium, then you'll need less oxygen, because you're just not doing much. In which case the breath is bound to become more shallow. And over time it's probably going to be rhythmically shallow. It's going to set into kind of a flow. Report an error in the passage at 12:30 Highlight the passage at 12:30

12:48 It'll be a short breath. So when the in-breath is short, you know it's short. When the out-breath is short, you know it's short. But you know it's short before thinking. It's short. So if I stare at two fingers at mine, before I say, that's the long one and this is the short one, I just look and I don't have to say anything. Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

13:09 It's so simple, so basic. Just look at it. And before thinking or saying anything, that was a long one, that was a short one. By the time I've said that, this is history. I already knew that before I said it. In a similar fashion, just like we saw, just immediately recognized, before thinking anything, which one's long, which one's short, similarly. Breath short, breath long. Report an error in the passage at 13:09 Highlight the passage at 13:09

13:32 You don't have to think about it. You simply don't. So now that's the practice we're going to return to right now. But it just occurred to me this morning, there's a nice connection. Between domdumbas, pith instruction, what is it to practice Dharma and the practice we're doing here. Report an error in the passage at 13:32 Highlight the passage at 13:32

13:53 You'll recall in the instructions yesterday that as you breathe out, I've invited you just to release completely, release, continue releasing, relaxing any tension or constriction in the body, right? Just melting every out-breath, every out-breath, releasing the breath fully all the way to the end. And as you breathe out, releasing thoughts and just releasing, releasing until there's nothing more to release. So there's a kind of a natural mudrā that comes up. Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:19 Nothing special about it, but it's kind of like that. I'm not holding on with anything. It's just like that. So that's not too hard. Just releasing, but all the way to the end, holding nothing in reserve. But then when the breath comes in, it's very easy to try to help it along by... Pulling it in. Especially if we're really fully released. There may be a little bit of anxiety. I think I better help it in. Don't. Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:52 So if this is the motor of the out-breath, here's the motor of the in-breath. And this is the motor of a child holding out the hands who's just been told, I'm about to give you a gift. The child doesn't eat out it and grab it. It's a gift, so it's coming. All you have to do is make yourself available. And then the gift comes in. Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:11 And that's the quality of awareness as you're just resting there fearlessly. And you're simply allowing the breath to flow in. You're not taking it. So I would say, we suck at breathing. In the sense that after we breathe out, we do tend to help it along. And that sucks. The body breathes much better than we know how. And so don't suck. Don't pull. Just receive a gift. Report an error in the passage at 15:11 Highlight the passage at 15:11

15:42 And that is, let the breath flow in. And if it's a little gift, sometimes big gifts come in small packages or something like that. If it's a little in-breath, then be happy with a little in-breath. Don't wish it were bigger. And then if it's a long one, let it be long. So whatever it is just, accept it as it is, like this. And let it flow in, without pulling it in, without blocking it, of course. Report an error in the passage at 15:42 Highlight the passage at 15:42

16:05 And so, with that metaphor, I defined yesterday this eudaimonia, genuine well-being. It's a sense of well-being we bring to the world, right? And hedonia, or hedonic pleasure, is the pleasure, the happiness, the joy we get from the world. Very straightforward, right? The hedonia is stimulus-driven. Something pleasant happens to me, I enjoy it. I'm enjoying that pleasant stimulation, a person, a thing, food, whatever it may be. Report an error in the passage at 16:05 Highlight the passage at 16:05

16:33 Whereas eudaimonia is not stimulus-driven, it's not stimulus-dependent, because it's something we bring to the world, right? So... I was just practicing this morning. I had a nice early morning. I loved it. And it just occurred to me that this corresponds quite nicely to this way of breathing in and breathing out. Report an error in the passage at 16:33 Highlight the passage at 16:33

16:55 As we're breathing out, we're breathing out eudaimonia. We're breathing out eudaimonia, just offering our best. And so, for the person who's offering devotions, for the person who's devoting him or herself, To serving others, whether by teaching, by healing, by social work, so many different ways. As a dentist, a rotten tooth can really ruin your day. Report an error in the passage at 16:55 Highlight the passage at 16:55

17:19 But as we're breathing out, as we're offering our best to the world and deriving from that, that offering, holding nothing in reserve, there's a sense of well-being we're bringing to the world. And this is like the exhalation, that we just release it. No expectation. No expectation. No, what do I get out of this? Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

17:40 That's where all the stress comes from. There's no stress in Yudamanya. There's a lot of stress. Pursuit of Hidamanya is all stress. It's all stress. Because we never know whether it's going to succeed. And if it does succeed, we do get it. We have no idea how long we're going to be able to keep it. And what we know is, I'm going to lose it sooner or later. Report an error in the passage at 17:40 Highlight the passage at 17:40

18:02 So be anxious. Be anxious. That's a reality-based response to, you know... The pursuit of the attachment to hedonia. So the out-breath is very kind of symbolic of just this, you know, hedonia. And then, so this is, ha, give up all attachment to this life. All attachment to what I, do people feel grateful? Do they, do they do what I expect? Does what I'm hoping for, does that happen or not? Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:32 Whatever kind of service we're doing, it's very easy to have that, well, I did it now. How's it turning out? And then we're again in an anxiety mode. Did it work? Did it not work? Was it helpful? Not helpful. That's where anxiety comes from. That's where stress comes from. That's where ego comes from. Or it's manifesting itself. And so it's, Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:54 what about my expectations? Yulamanya just doesn't have any. It's just offering, right? But then we allow the breath to come in. And you recall as the breath flows out, there's that total release. But in the oscillation, which we're just about to begin, When the breath is just naturally flowing in, simply receiving it, receiving it, and at that time that we invert the awareness, draw the awareness in, this is very much like, how do you say, how to accept hedonia, how to accept joy that is arising to meet us. Report an error in the passage at 18:54 Highlight the passage at 18:54

19:28 And that is not grabbing it, not sucking at it, not impeding it, just accepting the joy that arises. And so when Dom Dumba says, let your mind become Dharma, let your mind become Dharma, I've already given kind of a prosaic, meaningful interpretation. But now to go deeper, let your mind become Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 19:28 Highlight the passage at 19:28

19:52 How about Dharmakaya? Let your mind become Dharmakaya. So you're drawing awareness inwards, right in upon itself, and then just going right down to the ground. Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

20:08 Just receiving. So I like that interpretation. Breathe out Yudamonia. Breathe in the free gift of hedonia, of joy that is simply arising as you invert your awareness, drawing it right in upon itself, right in upon its own ground, and then realize the essential nature of your awareness. So, there's a little interpretation. So I front-loaded this session. Now I don't need to speak as much during it, so please find a comfortable posture. Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:37 You're always welcome to go into supine. We'll have a 24-minute session and return to this practice. Report an error in the passage at 20:37 Highlight the passage at 20:37