A Selection of Teachings from a Tibetan Buddhist Tradition

[From a teaching on Songs of Barway Dorje by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche. Translator Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.]

Question: Concerning the recognition of the nature of mind, how can you find something when you don’t know what you’re looking for? If I’m looking for a pencil I know what it looks like, so I recognize it when I see it.

Rinpoche’s answer: The thought, “How could I know whether I find the nature of my mind or not, since I’ve never seen it?” is symptomatic of the veil that prevents us from seeing it. In fact the very thought, “I’ve never seen the nature of my mind” is a type of veil in and of itself, because the nature of mind is always there with us. To purify that veil, the veil of thinking, “I’ve never seen it and therefore I can’t see it” may require the extensive accumulation of merit and conscious acts and practices of purification. But in any case, once that veil is removed you will know when you see it with far greater certainty than your recognition of a pencil when you find it. It’s called the meeting of mother and child clear light. It’s like a child leaping into the lap of his or her mother.

[From a teaching on the Songs of Barway Dorje, Part 3, by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche given at Kunzang Palchen Ling in March 2015. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.]

How do you rest the mind in this immediate or present awareness? By not being distracted from the continuity of mere presence. Distraction from the continuity of mere presence occurs when we think about what is happening. Instead of merely experiencing what is happening in the mind, we start thinking about it. Therefore he [Terchen Barway Dorje] writes, “Cultivate it without fixation.” Fixation means without any kind of hope or fear about what happens in the mind. There is a certain goal orientation here. You are meditating because you want to recognize your mind’s nature. You therefore might find yourself, while meditating, thinking, “I must recognize my mind’s nature.” Or, “Oh, I’m afraid I’m not going to recognize my mind’s nature.” Or, “I think I just recognized my mind’s nature.” Or, “That definitely was not recognition of my mind’s nature.” This is all fixation. And it’s all distraction because it‘s distracting you from direct experience. Direct experience must by definition be devoid of preference. As soon as you become preferential in meditation you are attempting to form or skew the meditation to your expectations.