The Path of Practice Before One's Spiritual Faculties Mature
Therefore, in order for our spiritual faculties to mature sufficiently to receive the pith instructions of Dzogchen or the direct pointing to mind-nature in Chan Buddhism, we must engage in study, contemplation, and practice.
Why does the purpose of our Buddhist practice become blurred?
Although we may have been studying Buddhism for a long time, the purpose of our practice often remains vague. Why does this happen? Because we only have a conceptual renunciation, not a genuine one.
The Sixth Patriarch Huineng Directly Pointed Out Mind-Nature to Huiming.
“Without thinking of good, without thinking of evil—that is Venerable Huiming’s original face.” This is actually a direct pointing to mind-nature. Not thinking of good or evil means returning to the ālayavijñāna. When you examine what the ālayavijñāna really is, you will discover that it has no substantial essence whatsoever.
Buddhist Practice Is Not a Path to a Buddhahood Certificate
Buddhist practice is not about completing tasks imposed upon you by others, but about genuinely changing your own heart
What Are the Signs of Mature Spiritual Capacity?
What does it mean to have a ripe spiritual capacity? It means that a person has already engaged in spiritual practice in earlier stages of life, or even in previous lifetimes.
Without Discriminative Thought, How Does a Buddha Benefit Sentient Beings?
When we pray to the Buddha, what we are actually doing is praying to the intrinsic nature of our own mind. How does he bless you? You yourself are already a Buddha! Then why don’t you feel that you are a Buddha? Why are there so many sufferings? In truth, it is because, on this basis, you have given rise to ignorant discrimination—establishing an ego, and establishing grasping at phenomena.
How Does One Experience the Ālayavijñāna?
As mentioned earlier, through meditation we can directly and clearly experience the Ālayavijñāna. Once this experience arises, one discovers that all phenomena emerge from it, and that all phenomena can also withdraw back into it during samādhi.
The Difference Between the Second and Third Turnings of the Dharma Wheel
Our true nature is the same in this respect. Of course, we cannot say that true nature either is or is not a “thing,” because it lies beyond dualistic judgments such as existence and nonexistence. Yet there are two characteristics that ordinary people may speak of. First is emptiness (śūnyatā): its essence cannot be found. Second is luminosity: it possesses the pure capacity, as seen in the pure perception of Buddha and Bodhisattvas.
The Relationship Between the Aggregate of Consciousness and Afflictions (Part 2)
Therefore, the state of realization in Dzogchen is described as free from hope and fear—because upon realization, the sense of individuality is relinquished: “Just relax—have some tea, eat a bun.” In the eyes of a Dzogchen master, there is often a quiet smile, yet one emotion remains difficult to abandon—compassion (karuṇā), vast and profound.
The Schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Their Theoretical Foundations (Part Two)
In addition to Madhyamaka, the foundational theories employed in Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism also include the Tathāgatagarbha teachings of the Third Turning of the Dharma Wheel, as well as Yogācāra (Consciousness-Only).
What is the practice of winds, channels and essences?
According to Vajrayāna teachings, once the winds are drawn into the Emanation Wheel, sensations of the physical body begin to dissolve, and the appearances of the external world likewise fade away. Thereafter, through the guru’s pith instructions, one proceeds to recognize the true nature of all phenomena.
The Buddha’s Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma
The teachings preserved from the Buddha’s three turnings of the Dharma Wheel became the most fundamental and original theories of Buddhism. Yet these truths were not invented by Śākyamuni Buddha. They were already so in their nature; the Buddha discovered them and proclaimed them, thereby establishing the earliest Buddhist doctrine.
What is the Ālayavijñāna?
What kind of state is the ālayavijñāna? It is a condition in which the six sense faculties have completely quieted down. The eyes no longer truly see—even when open, forms are seen yet not perceived. The ears no longer truly hear—sounds may arise, yet one does not register them. Bodily sensations begin to fade. The tastes and smells perceived by the tongue and nose completely disappear. Even conceptual thinking within consciousness ceases.
Are You Accumulating Merit the Wrong Way Too?
If you do not accumulate merit, there is simply no way to carry out genuine practice. Your mind unconsciously keeps reinforcing this sense of “I” as an individual, and may even use so-called “merit” to armor and protect it. Practicing in this way, you will never experience the Dharma-nature of selflessness (dharmatā), and liberation will remain forever out of reach.
Methods for Not Being Attached to Pleasant Feeling (Part Two)
Another method is to reflect in advance and remind yourself that this pleasant feeling will not last, and that if it changes, you will face it calmly. Repeating this to yourself again and again is what we often call “preparing yourself mentally in advance.”
How Can One Develop Firm Conviction in the Existence of Reincarnation?
In conclusion, we must exhaust all means to establish unwavering conviction in reincarnation. Mere conceptual acceptance cannot provide lasting momentum for practice. Without inner conviction, essential foundational practices—such as the Five Preliminary Practices (Ngöndro)—risk degenerating into hollow formalities, performed perfunctorily and with haste.
The Schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Their Theoretical Foundations (Part One)
The theoretical heritage preserved in Tibetan Buddhism is extraordinarily rich. Its two great canonical collections are known as the Kangyur and the Tengyur. The Kangyur contains the teachings spoken by the Buddha, while the Tengyur consists of commentaries and treatises composed by generations of Bodhisattvas and great masters explaining the Buddha’s doctrine.
The Relationship Between Mental Factors and Afflictions
In fact, regardless of what kind of mental factor it is—wholesome or unwholesome—we can only understand it at a relatively coarse level of consciousness; at the level of the ālayavijñāna, we do not understand it at all. Yet no matter how complex these mental factors are, they ultimately produce only three kinds of results: pleasant feeling (sukha), painful feeling (duḥkha), and neutral feeling (aduhkhasukha vedanā).
Methods for Severing the Link Between Saṃskāra and Afflictions (Part One)
In other words, whenever intense mental fluctuations arise—whether good or bad—you should enter into meditative concentration. This is because all fifty-one mental factors, even the wholesome ones, will lead to suffering if not properly counteracted, since they are all connected to grasping at the self of person. This self-grasping is their underlying foundation.
How can we cut off self-grasping ?
When the mind no longer experiences a sense of individuality or control, all afflictions transform into the natural movements of the mind. Greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt all disappear. “Faith” then becomes a kind of faith that is no longer a mental factor.