0:03

The practice of Mahamudra meditation

0:07

is simply learning how to observe the

0:09

mind. As

0:13

with all these meditations on the mind

0:15

itself, they

0:17

are so excessively easy to talk

0:19

about that people

0:21

think it cannot be this simple. We

0:27

always imagine that a practice must

0:29

be extremely complex and difficult. Otherwise,

0:33

how can it work? But

0:38

in actual fact, the

0:41

essential practice is very simple. Talopa

0:47

said to Naropa. Naropa

0:50

said to Mappa. Mappa

0:53

said to Milarepa. Milarepa

0:57

said to Gampopa. And

1:01

Gampopa said to everybody, just

1:04

observe the mind without

1:07

distraction. Now

1:13

if you think about it, that's

1:16

the one thing we very rarely do. How

1:21

often during the day do we actually

1:23

observe the mind? We

1:29

are so fascinated by the input from

1:31

our senses. And

1:33

our senses here include the sixth sense

1:35

of the mind, with

1:38

its thoughts, memories, conceptions

1:41

and emotions. We

1:45

are so caught up in what we see, what

1:47

we hear, what we taste, what

1:50

we think, what we feel.

1:55

But we never observe. Very

2:01

rarely do we stand back and question

2:03

the knower, because

2:06

we're so fascinated by the

2:08

known. If

2:13

we look at the mind, it

2:15

will automatically split into two. There

2:21

is the observed, and

2:23

then there is the observer. Now

2:29

normally we're so fascinated by the

2:31

observed that we don't

2:34

turn the spotlight around, and look

2:37

at who is observing. We're

2:42

not even conscious of that. In

2:49

the moment that we are conscious of being

2:51

conscious, it's

2:54

as if a light turned on in our

2:57

minds. But

3:03

in that moment of being conscious of

3:06

consciousness, again the problem

3:08

is that we begin to think, oh

3:11

right, now

3:13

I'm aware. Now

3:16

I'm really aware. Now

3:19

this is really awareness. And

3:24

we've lost it. Again

3:30

we are thinking about being aware, so

3:33

we are no longer actually aware. Because

3:38

genuine awareness is non-conceptual. It's

3:42

not thinking. It's

3:46

that consciousness prior to thinking. This

3:53

is the essence of the practice. If

4:02

you don't understand this, you

4:04

won't get anything else. It's

4:10

that level of consciousness which is

4:12

always above and behind all

4:15

of our thinking and feeling. Without

4:20

it, we would not be conscious. It

4:25

is consciousness itself. Normally

4:34

when we think, we

4:36

are totally immersed in our thinking. When

4:41

we have emotions, we

4:43

are totally immersed in our emotions. This

4:47

is me, right?

4:53

When we have memories, when

4:55

we have thoughts, we

4:57

are totally immersed in our memories. These

5:02

are my memories. This

5:06

is who I am. This

5:08

is what happened to me. This

5:11

is what I think. This

5:14

is how I feel. We

5:19

completely identify with that.

5:27

When we are angry, excited

5:30

or depressed, when

5:33

we are elated, we

5:36

are completely submerged in and

5:39

identified with those thoughts and feelings.

5:45

This is why we suffer. We

5:50

suffer because we are completely

5:52

identified with our thoughts and

5:54

feelings and

5:56

we think, this is me. This

6:00

is who I am. And

6:08

because we are completely submerged in

6:10

our emotions and our thoughts and

6:13

our ideas, because

6:16

we believe in them so much, they

6:19

have become very solid, very

6:22

opaque. And

6:27

so if they are sad thoughts, sad

6:30

memories, sad feelings,

6:34

then we think, I

6:37

am a sad person. If

6:41

they are happy thoughts, happy

6:44

memories or feelings, then

6:46

we think, I

6:49

am a happy person. So

6:56

we go up and down like

6:58

a bottle slapped around on the ocean. Sometimes

7:03

we are up and

7:05

sometimes we are down. It

7:13

is the nature of the mind that

7:16

thoughts are like waves and

7:19

waves go up and then

7:21

they crash back down again and

7:25

then another lot come up and

7:28

another lot go down. But

7:34

because we have no control, because

7:37

we are so completely swept away

7:39

by our feelings and our thoughts

7:42

and our memories and

7:45

we are so completely immersed in them, therefore

7:49

we suffer. But

7:57

it is not a matter of having no thoughts

7:59

or shit. feelings, no

8:02

emotions or memories. The

8:06

thoughts, the feelings and the memories are

8:09

not the problem. The

8:13

problem is that we identify with them

8:17

and we believe in them and

8:20

so we are controlled by them. It's

8:30

the nature of the mind to

8:32

produce thoughts and emotions. What

8:36

we need to do is to learn

8:39

to ride the waves of our thoughts

8:42

as they arise and subside. If

8:47

we cannot ride the waves of our

8:49

emotions and thoughts, we

8:52

will be submerged again and again.

9:02

For this reason, we first have to

9:04

practice on calm water. This

9:08

is the point of samatha practice or

9:12

the practice of tranquility. We

9:18

need this quality of calm awareness,

9:22

of simply knowing. We

9:31

are standing back and

9:33

observing the thoughts and the emotions

9:36

as just thoughts and emotions instead

9:41

of my thoughts or

9:44

my emotions. Just

9:49

as mental states which

9:51

like waves rise

9:53

up, stay a

9:56

little bit and go down. When

10:05

we have that quality of detached

10:08

observance which is

10:10

non-judgmental and non-conceptual,

10:14

then whatever happens in the mind is

10:17

part of the display. What

10:25

we are trying to do is simply

10:27

to know the thoughts as they

10:29

run through. Not

10:34

favouring some and rejecting

10:36

others, but

10:38

just observing how the mind flows

10:43

and that each of these thoughts, however

10:46

powerful some of them might be, in

10:50

their nature are just empty

10:52

bubbles. While

11:03

we are sitting in formal meditation, we

11:06

shouldn't favour one thought over another. During

11:11

the day we can be careful

11:13

to cultivate the positive thoughts and

11:16

transform negative thoughts. But

11:20

when we are just sitting in formal

11:22

meditation, then we

11:25

shouldn't favour one kind of thought over

11:27

another. We

11:31

should just recognise they

11:33

are all thoughts, empty

11:37

phenomena rolling

11:39

on. A

11:42

thought isn't a thing, it's

11:46

just an impulse of energy in the brain. So

11:50

we don't need to grasp at some and

11:53

reject others. We

11:57

just have to be aware. spaciously,

12:02

not tightly. We're

12:06

not trying to fabricate anything.

12:11

We're not even trying to

12:13

fabricate concentration. We're

12:18

simply relaxing the mind. We're

12:24

not forcing the mind into a

12:26

mode. We're

12:29

just opening the mind to

12:32

be completely aware. Whatever

12:41

thoughts arise, simply

12:44

recognise them. That's

12:47

all we have to do as thoughts come

12:50

up. We're

12:52

not trying to stop thinking. Thoughts

12:59

are not the problem. The

13:02

problem is our lack of awareness.

13:11

As long as we recognise the thoughts as

13:13

they come up and disappear, we're

13:16

doing it correctly. Dzogchen

13:27

meditation and also

13:29

to a certain extent Mahamudra

13:32

meditation normally

13:35

depend on the prior recognition

13:38

of the nature of the mind. This

13:42

is one of the reasons why in

13:44

those traditions the lama is

13:46

important for pointing out the nature of

13:48

the mind. But

13:51

even without that, because

13:54

the nature of the mind is

13:56

our nature, we

13:59

can discover it. for ourselves. We

14:03

don't have to wait for someone to point

14:05

it out. So

14:11

we are first trying to get a

14:13

direct recognition of the nature

14:15

of the mind. My

14:20

Lama Kumpchur Rinpoche said that

14:23

once we realize the nature of the mind

14:27

then we can start to

14:29

meditate. Because

14:34

the whole point is that once we've

14:36

recognized what we're looking for then

14:39

we can start to open up that glimpse

14:43

and make it longer and longer.

14:55

The stronger our mindfulness then

14:58

when we do recognize the nature of the

15:00

mind the longer

15:02

we will be able to sustain that because

15:07

the mind is well trained. If

15:12

our mind is wild and all over

15:14

the place then

15:16

even if we get a glimpse of the nature of

15:19

the mind we won't

15:21

be able to sustain it. It

15:24

will just be a glimpse. If

15:29

our mind is well trained though

15:32

through mindfulness then

15:34

that will be of enormous

15:36

benefit for recognizing our unborn

15:39

pure awareness and

15:42

being able to sustain that. It

15:50

is said that within the

15:52

spacious open mind thunderclouds

15:55

can arise, rainbows

15:58

can arise, Flowers

16:01

can fall, but

16:05

it doesn't affect the spacious, open

16:07

nature of the mind. That's

16:19

the point. That

16:21

you don't go up and down. It's

16:25

not a big drama. That's

16:33

what all of this is about. It's

16:37

about coming back to our fundamental,

16:40

naked consciousness, which

16:43

is nirvana. It's

16:51

a total revolution in the consciousness,

16:55

from our usual ego-bound,

16:57

sense-oriented way of perceiving,

17:01

to this open, spacious clarity,

17:05

which is naked. It's

17:11

naked, because we're not colouring

17:13

it with anything. We're

17:17

seeing how things really are, and

17:20

not how it's presented through our

17:22

distorted lens of our egocentric consciousness.

17:29

It's a whole other way of seeing, and

17:33

we don't have anything in conceptual

17:35

language to explain that, because

17:40

conceptual language can

17:42

only explain things from

17:45

a conceptual point of view. So

17:52

therefore the Buddha didn't talk about it much.

17:57

He said, when you get there,

18:00

You'll know it. Until

18:04

then, anything we

18:06

say distorts it. Whatever

18:14

name we give to the ultimate

18:16

reality is just a

18:18

name. It's

18:21

not what it is. And

18:26

immediately our conceptual mind tries to

18:28

grasp it. And

18:31

make a picture. But

18:34

it's not that. It's

18:37

something beyond what our conceptual

18:39

mind can grasp.