[From a Q&A session during a teaching on Songs of Barway Dorje, Part 11, by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.]
Q: How can we purify negative thoughts that arise in meditation?
A: If a person is actually resting in recognition of the mind’s nature, then they’re resting in freshness. When a thought arises that is a recollection of previous wrongdoing, they wouldn’t entertain the recollection, which is the content of the thought. That would be stale, because it’s a past event. They look directly at the nature of the thought. And if they’re really recognizing their mind’s nature, the heightening of that recognition through the emergence of that thought would itself be enough for purification.
But in practical terms most of us are still trying to calm our minds down and work toward some kind of recognition. And if realistically that’s where we are, then the best way to deal with it is when a thought of a previous action and associated regret arise, to pause and think, “May this act of meditation purify that wrongdoing.” And then go back to the meditation.
