Following our opening chants, we began our śamatha practice by establishing a firmly grounded yet balanced posture. Everyone was invited to look at the movement of mind, which might be drawn to thinking about activities before our session or pulled towards what might follow. Without any judgement, we can practice śamatha through simply seeing this movement. In case the mind is attracted to any present sensory input such as sound, smell, memory, feeling, or something else, we simply notice it. In this way, along with being in touch with our body, we turn inward and observe the movement of mind.
Once the mind starts to rest, we then can direct its movement by giving rise to the thought of awakening. We connect with that intention, thinking: “May the stream of this mind be oriented towards buddhahood, towards awakening, for the sake of all other beings, without exception.” Sitting together is part of putting this into practice.
Contemplative Meditation: When do We Practice?
One of the key functions of śamatha practice is to create a space for contemplating, allowing us to look deeper into the movement of our mind and the life that flows from it (when we take illusory thoughts to be real). During our meditation, everyone was invited to lightly reflect on the question: In which moments during a day do I feel I am practicing the dharma? Are there moments when I feel I am on the heroic path of the bodhisattvas?
All participants were asked to consider three aspects of practice: how we think about it (seeing), how we sense it emotionally (feeling), and how it interacts with our surroundings (living). We ended our contemplative meditation by asking ourselves if any insight stood out, and then simply let go, and sat at ease.
After a brief conversation, we continued with commentary by and advice from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in Traveling the Path of Compassion, in which he put the question of practice at the heart of his teachings about the first verse: a precious human existence.
Having the Freedom to Practice, Today
The first practice of a bodhisattva pointed out by Ngulchu Tokmé in this verse is that of hearing, contemplation, and meditation. His Holiness notes that we can think of the first as the desire to practice, the second as a way to gain certainty, and the third as the method to bring this into experience. He emphasises the importance of practicing now when we have the freedom to do so.
Before our session started today, there was a brief informal conversation about wildfires, snowstorms, earthquakes, and similar natural circumstances. Along with a heart of compassion, wishing all affected to be safe and receive the support needed, the teachings also remind us there is no guarantee that our current conditions will remain supportive. What seems stable today might not be so tomorrow. Therefore, reminding us of Acharya Lhakpa’s commentary on this verse, we need to seize the opportunity to practice once it appears to us.
Real Signs of Practice
His Holiness emphasizes the importance of understanding what genuine practice means by recognizing our freedom and sincerely wishing to practice, To illustrate this, he recalls a story from the Kadampa tradition, the lineage to which our text, The Thirty-Seven Practices, belongs. During our session, the story was retold in detail, raising the question about the genuine practice of dharma. Below is a brief summary:
There is a person who is really determined to follow the dharma path and engages in practices like circumambulation (doing Korra), reading scriptures, and recitation. Each time he does so he encounters a Kadampa master, (most likely Atīśa’s main disciple Dromtönpa), who is offering words of praise while also asking: Wouldn’t it be better if you practiced the genuine dharma?
This person decides to practice meditation as well. Yet, he receives the same questions and feels at a loss. “If none of these practices is considered dharma practice, then what is it?” The Kadampa master points out the answer by saying: “To cut through your attachments. That is the practice of Dharma.”
In his commentary, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa offers similar advice in the context of Ngöndro practice. He shares that he often hears people speak about the difficulty or ease of this practice, while others speak about certain special experiences. Meaningful as those may be, similar to the Kadampa master, His Holiness says: “The real sign of our practice should be how we work with our afflicting emotions.”
Reflecting on these examples, it was pointed out during our session that any practice, including Korra, reading scriptures, recitation, and so forth, can all be a method to cut through our attachments and, more generally, work with our afflictions or mental disturbances. When we do so, each of these can become the genuine practice of the dharma. In addition, following His Holiness’s commentary, we need to go beyond separating our minds from dharma and bring these together. If we want to generate bodhicitta, for example, it can only arise in this moment, not in any other moment or somewhere else. It needs to arise in this mind right now, which is where bodhicitta can be present.
Making our Meditation Sessions and Sleep Matter: Two Pieces of Advices
In his commentary on the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, His Holiness refers to a Tibetan saying that can be understood as “bringing flesh and bone together,” meaning we should become one with our practice, in every aspect of our daily lives. In a teaching on the life of the Eighth Gyalwang Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, he also emphasizes that genuine dharma practice consists of working with and changing our minds. Since our mind is with us 24/7, our practice is also 24/7. Not paying attention to our mind could, he taught, result in non-virtuous actions of body, speech, and mind. So, how do we practice throughout the day? To this end, His Holiness offered two practical pieces of advice.
- Before ending our formal meditation sessions, to prevent our practice from leaving us as swift as a finger snap or fading slowly , we could tell ourselves: “After I finish this session, throughout the rest of the day, I will try to retain the flavor of this experience and state of mind.”
- Before going to sleep, we can reflect on what our day was like. What did we do during the day? What was virtuous and what was not? “When we have separated one from the other, we can make a commitment that the next day we will try to increase positive actions and decrease negative ones.” If we can go to sleep in this way, His Holiness notes, “our sleep will not be useless or without purpose; it will turn into a positive state of mind, and thereby the power of what is virtuous will increase.”
With these two practical pieces of advice from His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, we brought this session to a close and ended with dedicating the merit. In our next session, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering will continue his commentary and teachings on Ngulchu Tokmé’s text, resuming with the eighth verse.
