Discovering Buddhism at Home -FAQ

Module 1 – Mind and Its Potential (page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4)

 

My practice motivation feels panic-based since reading about precious human rebirth.  I feel that whatever I’m doing isn’t good enough.  This feeling is negatively affecting my practice.   Any advice?  

In the beginning should a practitioner focus their attention inward on the nature of mind or outward on objects of perception?

When I visualize, it’s like I’m shining a flashlight on parts of the image.  Also my visualizations are really flat, like a thangka.  How can I widen and deepen my visualization?

Yikes!  I have no idea how to do Meditation One: Reflection on the Continuity of Consciousness.  Please help!

What is the purpose of the Mantra of the Buddha (tayata om muni muni maha munayae soha) and what does it mean?

How does awareness “enter into” or “take the aspect” of an object?

Can we still engage in an intensive practice day if we have ongoing responsibilities that we must do each day?

Do the workings of karma remove free will or choice?  And how can we act with moral intention if all our actions are predetermined by our karmic propensities?

Do purification practices such as prostrations create as much merit as engaging in study and meditation?  Are both necessary?

What is “the observer” that watches the mind during meditations and actions during the course of the day? The exercise of choice and “free will” seems dependent upon it.  Is it part of the mental continuum?

How do we find the part of our mind that is watching the breadth during Module One, Session Three meditation?  I tend to locate it in my head and behind my eyes, but I think this is my cultural conditioning.

My practice motivation feels panic-based since reading about precious human rebirth.  I feel that whatever I’m doing isn’t good enough.  This feeling is negatively affecting my practice.   Any advice?  

A student writes:

I’ve been reading the Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand (Module 1 assignment) which covers the precious human rebirth. I am familiar with this teaching as it as the first 3-week contemplation my teacher assigned me. And I also read it in one of Je Gampopa’s books. And after exposure to all of these, I continue to have the same reaction – panic. It sends me spiraling into thoughts like “I’m not practicing enough”, “I’m wasting any part of my life that is not formal or informal practice”, etc.

Generally, I practice when I feel compelled to do so, which is mostly every day. And I find my studies and practice profound – whether “easy” or “hard”. But when I read and contemplate the precious human rebirth I start to set these impossible (at least for me) practice regimens. And even when I do practice, it never seems like practice because my motivation is panic-based.

I’m having a difficult time figuring out what my reaction is about. Perhaps I fear a lower rebirth. Perhaps I fear letting all sentient beings down. Perhaps I fear being less than perfect. But none of these seems a fit (though I could be in denial.) I’m trying to just with it until some seed of wisdom arises; but I was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences with this or has any insights about the possible roots of my panic. I know you don’t know me all that well, but sharing experiences can be of great help by triggering further questions and contemplation.

Kendall responds:

I think it is a fine dance between allowing the realization of precious human rebirth to deeply affect our mind and pushing the realization away because it is uncomfortable to come to terms with just how much time we waste. Realizations are not always comfortable! Pabongkha Rinpoche very nicely elaborates on the realizations of the precious human rebirth below (this is also in the readings for Module 8).

As you will see, when you are meditating deeply….it deeply affects you! So, those of you that are having these kinds of experiences, don’t worry, you are on a good track! If we were to gain this realization as it is described, we would be forced to make every action of our life meaningful. This doesn’t mean we can’t do ordinary things like eat or go to the bathroom, or go to work….we just find a way to make them meaningful…we have to! This is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s amazing strengths – teaching us how to make life meaningful – ALL of it! Allow the realization to affect your mind, this is exactly how your life’s energy will then be 100% harnessed. That is my thought anyway. I still struggle with the dualistic mind: “this is spiritual, this is not”…but I can see that if I could abide in the realization of the precious human rebirth – unwaveringly – everything would have to be “spiritual”, I would find a way.

With love, Kendall

From Pabongkha Rinpoche:

“Reflect on what it would be like if you had been born into any of the inopportune conditions
And how fortunate you are not to have been born there in this life. Don’t consider the qualities of leisure and fortune in a shallow or detached manner; Reflect again and again, applying sharp analytic meditation So that you will imbue yourself with a deep awareness of how you currently possess them all.

“When you are overcome with joy, like a pauper who has found a treasure, Then you have generated the realization of identifying leisure and fortune.

“Next switch to the topic of viewing leisure and fortune as having great value,And repeatedly scrutinize it with the subtle analysis of scripture and reasoning. You will have realized the great value of leisure and fortune When you become distressed if even an instant of time is vainly spent.

“Then go on to the next meditation topic, the difficulty of finding Leisure and fortune, and reflect on it with powerful analytic meditation. When you become as upset about being idle for even an instant As another person would if he spilled a bag of gold dust into a river, Then you have realized the difficulty of finding leisure and fortune.”

 

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In the beginning should a practitioner focus their attention inward on the nature of mind or outward on objects of perception?

A student writes:

When one starts out on the path, should one direct the mind towards investigating its own nature, as well as practicing and strengthening meditation, rather than be concerned with objects of perception (whether physical or mental states) of the outwardly directed mind. These mind states do not have to be negative, they could be positive, for example
compassion or kindness to mention a few.

Intuitively, I feel that the mind needs to be directed inward rather outward at the beginning. Turning the luminous aspect of the mind and shine it upon itself so to speak.

Thubten Yeshe responds:

I would say both.

If you follow the meditations in Module 1, in the sequence that they are presented, you are doing the lot: using the mindfulness meditations you are improving your meditation technique and observing on your own body-mind complex and everything it encounters; you are meditating on the continuity and clear light nature of the mind; you are reflecting on your relationships with others and how you create those relationships in the Equanimity Meditation; and finally, meditating on the Buddha you explore the possibilities of the path to enlightenment, the potential of your own buddha nature and the wonderful qualities that are its natural expression.

That’s all there is really. In every instance you are observing your own mind.

Best wishes and happy meditating,

Thubten Yeshe

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When I visualize, it’s like I’m shining a flashlight on parts of the image.  Also my visualizations are really flat, like a thangka.  How can I widen and deepen my visualization?

A student writes:

In class last night we were doing the Shakyamuni Buddha meditation. The instructor was reading what we should be visualizing. I have had problems with the visualization aspect. It is almost like the Buddha was sitting in a dark room and I had a miner’s hat on and could only see the part I was looking at, not the whole Buddha. In addition, I can never seem to visualize the Buddha as a person, my visualizations are always of him as he appears on a thangka. Even with people I have seen in life (my wife, son, parents etc.) when doing tong len, I have trouble maintaining the image.

Any suggestions for improving this would be helpful.

Thubten Yeshe responds:

Some of the other Elders might have something to add to this, but here’s my take on ‘visualization.’

First of all, ‘visualization’ is the wrong word because it gives us the impression that we should be doing something with our eyes. We’re not doing anything with our eyes; we are creating a mental image. So, perhaps we should call it an ‘imagination,’ though it might sound a bit silly to say: Do an imagination of the Buddha.

Try this: Right now, while you are looking at your computer screen, eyes wide open, imagine that the person who is most dear to you, who you love the most, is standing behind you. Don’t ‘look,’ just imagine it. Do you have a sense of that person being there? Can you imagine what he or she looks like?

Do you have a feeling for that person? Yes? Good.

That’s visualization.

The reason we can’t get the whole image of the Buddha, or it comes and goes, or it is unclear is because our concentration in still poor. In addition, the reason that it is easier to imagine our loved one than the Buddha is because of familiarity or the lack thereof. As we become more familiar with the image of the Buddha – what he looks like, what his qualities are – and become as in love with the Buddha as we are with that dear one in our life, visualization will become easier and more vivid.

So my advice is: Study this image so that every aspect of it is vivid in your mind; reflect continually on the qualities of the Buddha and how they are a reflection of your own enlightened qualities. Find an image that you are in love with, one that moves you deeply. This may take a while, but keep an eye out for that special image. And, finally, draw the image of the Buddha. If you can’t find a grid of the canonical proportions to work from, get some tracing paper and trace an image of the Buddha. This is a great way to imprint this image on your consciousness.

Above all relax into the practice, have fun not ‘visualizing’ –

Thubten Yeshe

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Yikes!  I have no idea how to do Meditation One: Reflection on the Continuity of Consciousness.  Please help!

A student writes:

I have a few questions on Medition One, Reflection of the Continuity of Consciousness. HOW DO YOU DO IT?!

Nick Ribush responds:

Dear All,

Here’s Lama Yeshe’s advice on meditation on mental continuity, given during a retreat he led in Australia in 1975.

Much love,

n

 

In the next meditation session, I would like you to check up how your mind of today is related to the experiences of yesterday’s ego games. Check; observe. How are they linked? Similarly, check back to last week; last month; last year. Go all the way back through your life. Check with your big wisdom eye how your ego and attachment have functioned over the years; how you have identified things at different ages; how you have perceived different views, all of which have been projections of your own ego.

If your mind were not connected with last year’s ego, there’d be no reason for memories to uncontrollably keep coming back into your mind. Therefore, check how these experiences relate to the continuity of mind. Go back as far as your time in the womb. Forgetting previous experiences and clinging to the future is not realistic. Unless you have psychic power, you have no idea whether you’ll be alive next year or not. Nobody can guarantee you that. And you don’t have to be sick to die. One minute you can be well, drinking a cup of tea; the next minute, you’re dead. We all know that this can happen; we’ve seen it. We’re not babies.

If you check well enough, you will find that even when you were in your mother’s womb, you experienced ego and attachment. Check where that came from. It didn’t come from itself. It had to come from something else. There is no such self-existent entity that doesn’t depend on something else–for example, a permanent soul. There is no such thing as a permanent soul, ego, consciousness or mind of attachment; nor is there any self-existent physical entity, either.

Belief in such things is a wrong conception. Some religions, like Hinduism or Christianity, talk of an eternal soul. That’s a misconception. They have no understanding of the characteristic nature of the soul. Impermanent means changing every moment. How could there be a permanent, never-changing soul? It’s impossible. If you accept the existence of a permanent soul, you have to accept the existence of a permanent human being. It’s impossible for there to be a permanent human being. Where is that person?

Therefore, in the next session, check back through all your experiences of how your mind has perceived the sense world from when you were in your mother’s womb up to now. Check its different interpretations; its different feelings. You will find this meditation to be very helpful in integrating your mind and life and introducing some order into both.

Begin the meditation by concentrating single-pointedly on the movement of your breath and the feelings in your body. Then move on to an analytical meditation, checking your experiences as I’ve just described. When you find an object, or experience, on which you want to focus, practice placement meditation–concentrate single-pointedly on that object. In Sanskrit, this kind of meditation is called samadhi. Keep your mind on the memory of that experience for as long as you can. When your mind begins to get distracted by other thoughts, repeat your analytical meditation until you get to that point again and re-focus your attention upon it.

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What is the purpose of the Mantra of the Buddha (tayata om muni muni maha munayae soha) and what does it mean?

A student writes: 

In module one, Meditation four, Meditation on The Buddha – Touching the Essence. The Mantra of The Buddha, tayata om muni muni maha munayae soha: What is the purpose of this mantra and what is its meaning?

Are these words Tibetan? Can they be translated?

 

Thubten Yeshe responds: 

 

The mantra of Shakyamuni Buddha could be said to be the essence of the Buddha, the essence of his enlightenment. It is in no way separate from the Buddha himself.

Mantras are said to carry this enlightenment essence in the very sound of the syllables themselves. It’s an energetic thing. So, translations can sometimes get in the way of the experience of the energy of the mantra if we focus on the so-called meaning of the words at the expense of simply experiencing the sound that is being generated.

Mantra has been described as “a creative sound considered expressive of the deepest essence of things and understandings” thus the recitation of the mantra “can evoke in a formulaic or even magical way” a transcendent state of mind and energy. Also, “mantra is the pure sound of enlightened speech.”

It is Sanskrit, not Tibetan. In fact, mantras are almost untranslatable. But, what we can do is interpret the syllables. This is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s interpretation of the Buddha’s mantra:

TA YA THA – it is like this

OM – The All-Knowledge of the three bodies of a buddha and of the infinite Buddha’s Holy Body, Speech and Mind. The knowledge of the two paths to enlightenment (Method and Wisdom), and of the two truths (Absolute and relative) that contain all existence within them.

MUNI – Control over the suffering of the three lower realms and over the wrong conception of the self-existent I.

MUNI – Control over the suffering of all samsara and over self-cherishing thoughts.

MAHA MUNIYE – Great control over the suffering of subtle illusions and over the dualistic mind.

SVAHA – May my mind receive, absorb and keep the blessings of the mantra, and may they take root.

I’ll finish with a quote from Lama Thubten Yeshe:

“Reciting a mantra…does not mean the mere vocal repetition of speech syllables. Many meditators know from experience that the act of reciting mantras transcends external sounds and words. It is more like listening to a subtle inner sound that has always inhabited our nervous system.”

Best wishes,

Thubten Yeshe

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How does awareness “enter into” or “take the aspect” of an object?

A student writes: 

 

In module one, it is stated that awareness means knowing the object, engaging with the object, entering into the object: sometimes referred to as taking the aspect of the object.

What does entering into/taking the aspect of the object mean?

Thubten Yeshe responds:

Imagine a table with a red cloth on it which is covered by a piece of clear glass. The glass ‘takes on’ the red of the cloth. If you change the cloth under the glass to a blue cloth, the glass will ‘take on’ blue.

It is something like that. An image is generated in the mind that appears to us like the object of our perception. It appears to us to be the object of our perception, but it is a mental image.

Best wishes,

Thubten Yeshe

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Can we still engage in an intensive practice day if we have ongoing responsibilities that we must do each day?

A student writes: 

I have a situational problem with the intensive practice day (Module 1) for which I would by now be ready. I am the only caretaker for my aging husband who has a degenerative condition of the cerebellum, which affects his balance, his motor system in general and his speech. I have nobody that could help out. Therefore I must be available, in the sense that I cannot leave him alone in the house but for short shopping trips (he has had several falls in the last 2 years that ended in the ER and surgery), have to take him on his daily 1 mile walk requested by the doctor and encourage him to keep up a conversation at least during the meals so that he exercises his speech. Would a day in which I divide my time between Buddhist readings and meditation and the required taking care of my husband meet the requirements of an intensive practice day? Or has anybody another suggestion?

Merry responds: 

There is not problem at all to do the intensive practice day while caring for your husband. All that you read and meditate upon from the module can be applied during your care giving and can only benefit both yourself and your husband.

The practice days have been integrated into the DB curriculum as a means of ensuring that students don’t just listen and read. Without the additional components of discussion (which happens via this group) and reflecting/meditating it is very difficult for the teachings to become integrated in ones mind at a level that will bring about true transformation. Thus, without days/weeks/months of focused practice there is always the danger that the teachings just become an outer garb that will not bring the most deep and lasting benefit.

However, that said, we all do what we can, as we can, and when we can. It is not our (FPMTs) intention nor purpose to judge you or any other on your practice, only to try to create the conditions from the side of the curriculum that we provide to make sure that our participants engage to an extent that their lives, and the lives of others, become more meaningful and happy. Only you are able to judge this and whatever steps you are able to take to bring this about should be a cause for rejoicing.

So please do not worry if due to your circumstance you are not able to fully cut off for a day. Enjoy your day and I am sure that given your circumstance, any spare moments that you do find will be used to their utmost and that you will receive great benefit.

Hope this helps.

love,

merry

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Do the workings of karma remove free will or choice?  And how can we act with moral intention if all our actions are predetermined by our karmic propensities?

A student writes: 

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about choice and the whole determinism vs. free will debate in the context of Buddhism, and I’m finding it kind of confusing. On the one hand, we learn that mind is clear awareness, which doesn’t immediately sound like something all that interested in making choices. Of course, there are mental factors like wisdom that allow a “clear” mind to distinguish wholesome from unwholesome and take action based on that distinction, but… if the strength of our wisdom and our delusions are both dependently originated, then it seems like this would leave no room for choice. We would simply take the action that our karmically-determined mental factors cause to appear most prominently, or most strongly, in our minds at a given time.

This view seems to fit quite well with what we are trying to do in meditation, but it calls into question things like morality, which are, after all, matters of intention. What does “intention” really mean if the force of intention itself (yet another mental factor) is

determined through the workings of karmic cause and effect?

This is just something I’ve always wondered about, so I thought I would see if anyone knows how its resolved.

Kendall responds: 

I asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche this question once. Rinpoche replied that the more wisdom there is, the more “free will”. This makes a lot of sense to me in the sense that wisdom is that which knows the nature of reality. Thus, if you know clearly and directly how things exist (both from the point of view of their emptiness and their dependent-arising natures – the karmic mechanism of the whole “machine”), then it makes sense that the mind will more easily and consciously create the reality that it wants to experience. If we don’t know the nature of reality directly, it is much harder to overcome a karmic wave of delusion that is compelling us to act in ways that will bring harm to ourselves and others. Even when you tell the child “hot” and “no”, they still will invariably put their hand on the stove and burn themselves. But once they have seen directly this cause and effect relationship and it is no more “theoretical” – that hand will NOT go onto the stove again!

The way that you have expressed the intricacies of the issue is extremely well put, because, it is true that our ability to choose to do this or that is for the most part pre-disposed by our karmic propensities. This is one of the reasons that samsara is SOOO hard to break out of. It is also one of the reasons why very small karmic positive or negative actions are so important. One Geshe explained that it is these small actions that often tip the balance and make the difference as to whether or not we are able to choose actions that bring happiness or simply continue with negative propensities of the past. It is also why purification practices are so important as these clean out the negative propensities from our mental continuum and thus open the way to choose happiness, freedom, and enlightenment, by virtue of our actions . . .

I imagine this is why that the workings of karma are said to be an “extremely hidden” phenomena, while the nature of reality (emptiness) is only a “slightly hidden phenomena”. Slightly hidden phenomena can be ascertained through the power of reason, even if they are not readily apparent. Extremely hidden phenomena can only be known by an omniscient mind, or at least an extremely advanced mind on the path. This question of how karma and choice play out and what exactly are choice and intention in the light of karma is so subtle!

So, that is what I have found out thus far in this area. It is one of the reasons I try to tip waiters and waitresses well!

With love,

Kendall

P.S. It is sometimes helpful to remember that “karma” is not some kind of external force directing us. What creates karma is our own self-awareness of engaging in this or that action of body, speech, and mind. Karma is simply describing a cause and effect phenomena. It isn’t anything in particular, in and of itself, at all.

Nick responds: 

There’s no freedom in cyclic existence.

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”–Yogi Berra.

Without getting into the technicalities of the mental factor of intention . . . if we do have to decide whether to go left or right, we have to decide. Even though in retrospect we’ll see that the decision we made was a karmic result, we still had to make it. The fact that we even reached the fork without getting run over by a bus was also a karmic result. But we still had to decide to move out of the way of the bus while we were walking along the road before it forked.

Maybe we’re still standing there, unable to choose. Doubt is also a mental factor, one that by its own power wavers between two alternatives. It can be positive or negative. That, too, is karma.

These are great things to ponder, but the best thing we can do at this stage is to create as much merit as possible and purify our minds as fully as we can, which will increase the chances of our decisions being influenced by good karma rather than bad.

N

Thubten Yeshe responds: 

Geshe Rabten, in Mind and Its Functions, defines [intention]: “…as a distinct mental factor that moves the primary mind with which it bears the five similarities, as well as the other attendant mental factors of that primary mind, to the object.”

He goes on to say: “It is both the conscious and automatic motivating element of consciousness that causes the mind to involve itself with and apprehend its objects… by the mere existence of intention, the mind is moved to various beneficial and detrimental objects. In addition, intention is the actual principle of activity. It is KARMA itself. Whether an action is mental, vocal or physical, the formative element that is primarily responsible and that accumulates tendencies and imprints on the mind is intention. Thus it acts as a basis for conditioned existence.

TY says:

Is it important? Obviously yes. And, pay attention (that’s another mental factor) to the teacher Yogi Berra. Take the fork.

Best wishes to you all, I love what you are doing,

t.y.

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Do purification practices such as prostrations create as much merit as engaging in study and meditation?  Are both necessary?

A student writes: 

What part do you think purification practices (such as the prostration practice) play in the process of creating merit and purifying our minds versus study and meditation? Do they both play a part at this stage, and to what extent?

Nick Ribush responds: 

Well, as Lama Zopa Rinpoche says in “Making Life Meaningful,” it all depends on motivation. If you study and meditate with bodhicitta, that’s great purification and merit creation. Also, we recently had His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the East Coast (and he even came to our FPMT center, Kurukulla)–he emphasized many times the importance of study and the presence of what he called the Nalanda Tradition in all major Tibetan Buddhist lineages. And, as previous yogis have said, “Those who meditate without first studying are like armless rock-climbers.”

So, study itself is purification and merit creation, if done with the right motivation. Rinpoche also says the greatest purification is following the advice of the guru, so if we follow His Holiness’s advice to study, that’s added merit and purification.

Note also that prostration (and the other purification and merit-creating practices, as in the seven limbs: offering, confessing, rejoicing, beseeching the guru to remain and turn the wheel of Dharma and dedicating) are all meditations. For example, proper prostration, as with the 35 Buddhas, is a practice for body, speech and mind–mainly mind. And must be done with bodhicitta motivation.

I hope this answers some of your question I seem to have raved on a bit. I can’t reply about extent, though. That depends.

Much love

n

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What is “the observer” that watches the mind during meditations and actions during the course of the day? The exercise of choice and “free will” seems dependent upon it.  Is it part of the mental continuum?

A student writes: 

What puzzles me in the meditations on the mind is: what is “the observer”? It is obviously not part of the mental continuum, since it observes it and seems to be outside it; it is not the “clear light mind”, nor the “Buddha mind”. Is it part of the fifth skandha and therefore one of the aggregates which make out the psycho-physical form of the present life, thus not beginningless, nor endless? And yet it has a feeling ofbeginninglessness about it, an observing quality that seems to go from life to life, like a spectator in a play who watches one act after another. Am I mistaken? I would be very thankful for an explanation.

. . . it seems that “the observer” is linked to “free will”, since it is on the basis of observation of the continuum of consciousness that the intention arises to change something, to change the direction of consciousness and therefore of action.

Kendall replies: 

 

I passed on this question to one of our most experienced Western teachers, Ven. Thubten Dondrub (Neil Houston – one of the teachers in the DB videos on “Mind and Its Potential”), who replied as follows:

Dear Kendall,

My reply to this question is:

The observer meditating on the mind is the same observer that does all meditations, that is the “merely-labelled I”. And the merely-labelled I that is meditating is the I that is merely-labelled on the “parts” of the mind that is doing the observing – namely mindfulness and introspection.

[The student] is mistaken in dismissing part of the mental continuum as the observer.

The observer has to be consciousness (that which is clear and knowing) otherwise it would not be able to observe. So the observer has to be part of the mental continuum. Ulrike is correct in saying the observer is part of the 5th aggregate because the mental factors of mindfulness and introspection are part of that aggregate. You could also maybe say that the 3rd aggregate of discrimination (du-shes) is also part of the mental factors that are the basis for the label “observer”. And although the observer is part of the gross mind of this life which ceases with this life, nevertheless it is correct to speak of the continuum that links the gross consciousnesses of a particular sentient being life after life, because each of these gross consciousnesses that arise life after life (each of which has the mental factors of mindfulness and introspection) arise from the continuum of the primordial mind of clear light.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Dondrub

Thubten Yeshe responds: 

Yes, it can seem like the mind that is watching the mind is somehow a separate entity to the mind being watched. But, to quote the great Zen Master and poet, Ryokan:

Mind itself is the mind

That leads the mind astray

When you ride the mind-horse

Never loosen the reins!

Remember that mind is defined as ‘mere clarity and awareness;’ which is, in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s words,’… an entity that has the nature of mere experience.’ The continuity of consciousness is our experience from moment to moment, taking place at a rate of some 65 experiences in a finger snap. Part of the problem is, I think, the difficulty for us of short concentration spans to actually begin to distinguish between one thought moment and the next, that is to actually see that the mental events that constitute observation, or conscious awareness of what is going on in the mind, are in fact separate moments in the continuity of consciousness.

Aside from the functions of perception and conception, discussed in the first module, we can take another approach to understanding how the mind functions by looking at primary minds and mental factors. Mental factors condition and define our experience of ourselves, others and our environment. A ‘primary mind’ is the sum total of a state of mind comprising a grouping of mental factors. Primary minds can be sensory or

mental.

Again I turn to Geshe Rabten, in Mind and its Functions, for a precise (read: ‘official’) definition of a primary mind: ‘… a primary cognition established by means of its apprehension of the fundamental presence of the object.’ This is merely the apprehension, or conscious awareness, of an object that appears to one of the five senses or mental consciousness. A primary mind arises in relationship to its own particular group of mental factors which, in their turn, condition our experience. And, Geshe Rabten defines a mental factor as: ‘… a cognition that apprehends a particular quality of the object and that arises in attendance upon a primary mind…’; it can be either perceptual or conceptual.

The main reason that I am going into this detail, describing the mind and how it works, is simply so we understand what a complex thing this ‘mere clarity and awareness’ is. Sound simple, but it is far from it. There are omnipresent mental factors, object ascertaining mental factors, and variable mental factors – all of which are, in and of themselves, neither constructive nor destructive, virtuous nor non-virtuous. Then there are the constructive and destructive ones which were briefly touched on in Mind and Its Potential. In different teachings there are said to be 51 mental factors, or 46… in fact, they

are almost infinite in number.

The ‘observer’ is not a term you will find in Geshe Rabten’s teaching, but is one I have used in the first module to describe a state of mind we should aim for when we are meditating: The Neutral Scientific Observer. It is something that is not involved with the content, but merely watching what is happening in order to keep us on track. In other words, mindfulness, or recollection. That mental factor which notices that we have strayed from the job at hand, reminds us what that job is and brings the mind back to it. So, it is a very busy and essential mental factor arising in our continuum (which is beginningless, so perhaps that is why ‘the observer’ seems to be beginningless). If it wasn’t, how could we ever develop single-pointed concentration which depends on mindfulness?

Each and every mind-moment is clear and knowing in its relative nature. Including anger, passion and so forth, which at the moment of their arising may seem to be anything other than clear.

And, perhaps this dissertation on the mind is also anything but clear. If it confuses you more… fantastic! I’m doing my job. Without confusion, no clarity.

I love your enquiring minds and determination!

Best wishes to you all,

t.y.

[P.S.:] As Nick noted in a previous post, we ain’t free! But, yes! We do have choice, and mindfulness plays a big part is allowing us to ‘see’ those moments where choices may be exercised.

t.y.

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How do we find the part of our mind that is watching the breadth during Module One, Session Three meditation?  I tend to locate it in my head and behind my eyes, but I think this is my cultural conditioning.

A student writes: 

I wonder if anyone else has had the experience I have when trying to find “the watcher” (Module One, Session Three introductory meditation on the breath) – trying to find the part of our mind that is watching the breath.

I can’t escape the sensation of “the watcher” being right behind my eyes. Does anyone else experience the perceiving consciousness as being located more or less in the head? Do you think this is due to cultural conditioning (i.e., we accept that the brain is in the head, therefore assume the consciousness to be there.)

Any ideas for challenging this idea?

Thanks!

Kendall responds: 

Try focussing on the rising and falling of the abdomen with the breath and see if the watcher is still behind the eyes…If the mind was physically located behind the eyes, how could the mind “see” the breath?

Love

Kendall

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