Commentary 2

2025 Spring Festival

Commentary 2

2025-05-25

In 2009 Geshe-la gave us encouragement to make progress in our concentration on self-generation:

  The concentration - improve duration. Make progress. First 1 minute remain then 2 mins, 5 mins, 10 mins 15 mins, like this.

Be happy to create causes. Because if all the causes and conditions are assembled there is no doubt the result will arise. Because grasping at results does not create the causes we want.

  Every week make progress, every month make progress, then whole session - wonderful. We will have reached the 4th stage of tranquil abiding. Once we have reached the 4th stage our training in mindfulness is complete. In this way we can accomplish tranquil abiding - then our training in self-generation is almost complete.

Our mind dissolves into the object of meditation.

The yoga of non-dual profundity and clarity

The remaining job is to meditate on non-dual profundity and clarity.

In JPGF - chapter on going for refuge:

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Strictly speaking Dharma jewels are only possessed by superior beings. But it is very beneficial to regard all our Dharma experiences no matter how small as if they were real Dharma Jewels. In this way if we value our small spiritual achievements we will protect and nurture them so they will eventually grow into the true Dharma Jewels of superior beings. However if we disregard these experiences we will be discouraged and we will neglect our practice of purification and accumulating merit. But if we disparage our initial experiences we will not make progress.

In the Condensed POW sutra Buddha says:

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Continuous drops of water into a pot will make it full. First one drop, then 2, 3, 4, and then it will be overflowing. The Dharma Jewels of superior beings do not develop all at once, but grow gradually, and increase until they become real Dharma Jewels. Buddha said, “I prostrate to the new moon, not the full moon”. Because great realisations depend on small ones, we should pay respect to our small initial experiences.

Then we can relax and enjoy our practice. It’s only a matter of time if we practice in this way.

  At this point we should emphasise meditation on ourself as Buddha Maitreya in our pure world. We simply believe. You don’t need to think too much on colour, shape. Too much investigation is not good. Just simply believe. Simply believe that in the vast space of emptiness of all phenomena - in this Dharmakaya world - appears my pure land - Tushita Pure Land and ourself as Buddha Maitreya. Nothing is perceived other than ourself as Buddha Maitreya in our pure world. We meditate on this belief until we spontaneously believe it. Simple. Hold and never forget it. Maintain, day and night. This is enough temporarily in the beginning. Then believe it continually and never forget it. When we communicate with people they appear as impure beings - but they are like dreams. Although they appear they do not exist. Things we normally see as impure things, as samsara, do not exist. We know this. So there is no problem. If we do this correctly, then we apply the same understanding to all other sadhanas - yoga of Buddha Tara, Heruka, and so forth. From time to time remember that the person we normally see doesn’t exist, so there is no problem to believe we are an enlightened being. An ordinary being and an enlightened being cannot be the same person - this is impossible.

If in meditation we continue to grasp at the self we normally see, we will think ‘I am pretending I am an enlightened being’. This is our main obstacle. If our body or self that we normally see appears, regard it like a mirage on the road - just ignore it.

  We see our friends we normally see as ordinary people, samsara world we normally see - they don’t exist. Although we believe we are Buddha Maitreya in our Pure Land of Tushita, we never tell people this. If we do, they will think we’re crazy.

Although we are developing special pure view, we continue to communicate conventionally.

It is an inner protection - it has the power to control our delusions. So no basis to show inappropriate behaviour. We will be able to transform all our activities into the quick path to enlightenment.

  Through doing this gradually our body and self we normally see will cease. Mistaken awareness and appearance will cease. First temporarily and then permanently. Anyone who is free completely from mistaken appearance is an enlightened being. Anyone who has mistaken appearance is a sentient being. So in this way we can learn and make progress in self-generation.

Since beginningless time the way of identifying ourself has been mistaken. We believe our self we normally see is our self. This is ignorance. Because our self that we normally see does not exist. Inherently existent things do not exist. Because of this, we experience various kinds of suffering and problems throughout this life and in life after life continuously. If instead we learn to identify ourself as the mere absence of all phenomena then our mistaken appearance will reduce and eventually cease permanently and they we will experience the permanent peace of enlightenment.

  Now we can learn the meditation on non-dual profundity and clarity. In this context clarity means the mere appearance of ourself as Buddha Maitreya and our world as Tushita Pure Land. And profundity is the mere absence of the things we normally see. They are non-dual which means they are one object but they have different names. When we realise they are one object with 2 names, we have realised non-dual profundity and clarity. Clarity is conventional truth, and profundity is ultimate truth.

Reading from NESTH from the section on the union of the 2 truths.

Mere appearance is subtle conventional truth. This subtle conventional truth and ultimate truth (emptiness) are in union, which means they are non-dual, or one object.

  How to meditate on non-dual profundity and clarity. When we perceive our world as Tushita Pure Land and our self as Buddha Maitreya, we should recognise that this appearance - clarity - is not other than the emptiness of phenomena, which is profundity. Clarity is like the blue of the sky - it is the conventional truth. It is the mere appearance of our self as Buddha Maitreya and our world as Tushita Pure Land. And profundity, the emptiness of all phenomena, is like the sky. The blue of the sky and the sky are non-dual. Which means they are one object but they have different names. In the same way clarity and profundity are non-dual, i.e. they are one object with two names. This meditation is very profound and the real quick method to enlightenment.

In TGAP - imputing I on our ordinary body and mind causes suffering and binds us in samsara. But imputing I on emptiness as our basis of imputation causes us to be liberated from samsara.

Then develop a strong feeling of joy, thinking “I have identified myself correctly now.”

  The more we improve this meditation, our grasping at the things we normally see will reduce and reduce until they cease. From this point of view enlightenment is very simple. Depends on how skilful our understanding and practice is. Initially we realise this profundity and clarity with a conceptual mind. Then through practice we will realise clarity and profundity directly and simultaneously with our non-conceptual mind. We can realise it with our gross mind and with our very subtle mind of great bliss. When we realise profundity directly and clarity directly and simultaneously with our very subtle mind of great bliss, we will attain enlightenment and become a Buddha and be able to directly benefit each and every living being every day.

In sutra we can’t speak of clarity because there is no practice of self-generation in sutra.

Buddhas minds dissolve into emptiness and so conventional truth does not appear to them.

To attain the very subtle mind of great bliss we need to engage in the practice of HYT - e.g. meditation on the central channel, winds, the very subtle drop, and tummo.

Reciting the mantra

While maintaining the recognition that the wisdom being Buddha Maitreya is at our heart, we recite the following mantra to him to bestow the stages of the path to enlightenment, Lamrim, especially the realisation of non-dual profundity and clarity.

(Self-generation of ourself as Buddha Maitreya is the commitment being and dissolving Buddha Maitreya into our heart is the wisdom being)

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