[From Commentary on The Daily Guru Rinpoche Sadhana with Tsok. Taught by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.]
For most of us meditation and post-meditation remain somewhat disconnected from one another. Some people meditate fairly well during a session, but others are basically just chanting without paying any attention to the meaning of what they are saying. In either case, it seems that we often do not pay enough attention to discipline or mindfulness in post-meditation. When we have no control or restraint in post-meditation, then we undo the benefits of the session. We need to enter post-meditation with the conscious affirmation of body, speech, and mind as deity, mantra, and wisdom. If we use speech as an example, the idea is that if you maintain the awareness of speech as mantra, you will refrain from unvirtuous speech in post-meditation. At best, you will recite the deity’s mantra. But if you just view all sound as the sound of the deity’s mantra, this should alter your conduct of speech. The same is true of body and mind. The key point is not to stray into ordinariness of body, speech, and mind because this would prevent the benefits of the meditation session from accruing. There is a traditional story about people who, when they practice a sadhana, will diligently recite the liturgy with accompaniment of the damaru and bell so that it sounds very, very nice. But as they chant, they are thinking about the stuff that they need to get done that day. When they have finished the liturgy up to the mantra and have started saying the mantra, they get up from their seats and go off to do their various jobs. Later they come back, pick up the damaru and bell again, and chant to the end of the practice, again very melodiously and properly. That is not really doing anything.
