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Fivefold Teachings of Dawa Gyaltsen
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
SUMMARY
Part 1 Introduction 1
In the Bon Buddhist tradition, the goal of our life is to
achieve full liberation, or
Buddhahood. There are three principal pathways to
Liberation:
1. Path Of Renunciation. You renounce your negativities,
renounce your negative
emotions, renounce your negative thoughts, renounce the five
poisons and ignorance. You
are trying to throw away the poisons. This is more like a path
of the Sutra.
2. Path Of Transformation, a path of the Tantra. This is trying
to work with the five
poisons, and transform those energies into the five wisdoms.
Transform poison into a
medicine, and heal the sickness.
3. Path Of Dzogchen. With any negative emotions, just leaving
them as they are,
where they are, and not following them, not elaborating them -
just leaving all as it is. What
happens is they just liberate by themselves -
self-liberation.
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Part 2 Introduction 2, Overview of the Five-Fold Teachings of
Dawa Gyaltsen:
1. Vision Is A Mind: What is Vision? Look at all those
stories/sufferings in your head.
That is your vision. Its you in your head. Vision is just my
mind. My mind has created
these visions. You can see many layers of your fear right now,
this very moment.
2. Mind Is Empty: What is a mind? You search for mind internally
and directly and clearly
without analysis. When you do that you achieve an inner
experience - you dont find
anything. Mind is emptiness. You find inner vastness, inner
opening, inner awakening.
3. Emptiness is Clear Light: What is this Emptiness? We just
look at the space. Its
nothing, but you can be fully Aware of that nothingness. You can
be fully awakened in
that nothingness. Like a sun in the clear sky. You look through
that voidness, that
space; you see the Awareness of the mind.
4. Clear Light Is Union: What is this space of pure Awareness?
Clear is referring to the
aspect of Emptiness, and Light is the aspect of Awareness. Yes
it is Empty, but you
have to be Aware. Yes you have to be Aware but not lose the
connection to the
Emptiness the Base. In Dzogchen the word Inseparable is used
more than the
Tantric word Union. When you feel that Union, when you feel that
Inseparable state,
thats all that matters.
5. Union Is Great Bliss: The Union of Emptiness and Clarity it
is Great Bliss. Bliss is
inner awakening, inner joy. This spontaneous Bliss is spiritual
awakening. It is coming
from realization of the nature of mind.
So you see that mental stories and sufferings can become Bliss,
can become Awakening,
when one follows these five steps. So when you are in pain or
fear, realize 1) the Vision Is
A Mind, 2) Mind Is Empty, 3) Emptiness Is Clear Light, 4) Clear
Light Is Union, then that
painful vision has become 5) a Great Bliss. So bottom line is -
a pain can liberate into a
Great Bliss, when following in the right order and having
experience with each stage.
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PRACTICE PART 1 (from video Part 3 Vision Is Mind)
Sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and look at your
mental vision. Just
say Vision Is My Mind. Just look at those images. Vision Is My
Mind. My vision of my
[fear/suffering/anger etc], its just my mind. My mind is
creating these visions.
Then you internally look closer to it closer, closer, closer.
With nonconceptual
Awareness, you are looking closer, closer, closer. And the
vision just dissipates because a
powerful, subtle, wind of your Awareness is blowing it away.
So at some point, you just dont see it. All these objects, the
stories, just disappear.
And then what is left? Simply the mind. The subject is left,
without its object. Vision Is My
Mind. Im not finding what Im looking for, rather, Im just
finding who is looking at it.
Now the object and story of that fear has diminished dissolved.
Your body, your
spirit, your mind, your breathing, everything just became much
lighter. Rest in that
lightness of the mind.
So just simply repeat this exercise, and find that lightness,
and sit there as long as
you can, and repeat this again and again and again.
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PRACTICE PART 2 (from video Part 4 Mind Is Empty)
We found that 1) Vision is a Mind, theres nothing solid to
visions. So What Is A
Mind? The answer is 2) Mind Is Empty.
So what is my mind? Where is it coming from? Does it have a
specific color, shape,
location, any consistency? Just internally look as an observer
not with thought analyses.
Look with your Nonconceptual Awareness. Look closer, closer,
closer, and it happens the
same - that fear, that pain, that I, the I, the ego, dissipates.
You find another big
discovery of opening. Openness. You nonconceptually observe.
Without thoughts. Very
much like how senses observe. In the first practice you are
observing the vision, now you
observe the mind. You observe observe observe it dissipates. Do
that, again and again,
so you feel the full experience of Openness. You rest in that
inner Openness. That inner
vastness. Without elaborating anything. Without analyzing,
without judging it, just simply
rest in that inner vastness where you are feeling some sense of
peace without your fear and
pain.
This is the medicine for pain and fear. This will not only help
you to heal your own
fear and pain, it will also help you to heal collective pain.
Any moment when you feel
Openness, it affects all who are connected to you.
So the question is What is the Mind. And experiencing that Mind
Is Empty. So any
given moment mind is always clear. No matter how painful,
fearful, or confused you feel, if
you look directly to your mind, those clouds will dissolve and
you will find your inner peace,
inner opening. You just have to look the right direction, in the
right way.
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PRACTICE PART 3 (from video Part 5 Emptiness Is Clear Light)
First was Vision Is Mind, second was Mind Is Empty, now
Emptiness Is Clear Light.
The question is: What is Emptiness? First we looked at the fear,
all the visions and
suffering of the fear, and when we looked close we did not find
anything as an object.
Second we looked at the subject: What Is The Mind? And we
couldnt find any thing solid;
theres no inherent existence of mind. Mind is simply Empty. So
now we ask, What is
Emptiness? Is it nothing? No. Emptiness Is Clear Light.
Emptiness is the fullness. That
Emptiness, that Openness, is the solution. That space is like
the sky. Its our wakening
quality.
So, in the practice, I dont find anything. Theres no ego. Theres
no me. Just
became like a space. Be aware of that. Look at Awareness. Feel
Awareness. That
Awareness is like sunshine. The inner Openness helps us to see
our Awareness like inner
luminosity. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Connect with that
and continuously become
familiar with that Awareness. So that is the third part of the
practice.
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PRACTICE PART 4 (from video Part 6 Clear Light Is Union)
We started with 1) Vision Is A Mind, 2) Mind Is Empty, 3)
Emptiness Is Clear Light,
now 4) Clear Light Is Union, and the question is What Is Clear
Light?
The answer is Clear Light Is Union. Clear referring to
Emptiness, Openness, and
Light referring to Awareness, Luminosity.
These two are not a separate quality and not a separate
experience. Its just one
experience. Watch out for mind to come back dull or overactive -
simply because it does
not have the experiences of this Space. It does not have
connection to this Base. Clear
Light Is Union. When we sit in that inner space, we need to have
a complete balance of that
Openness and Awareness. A complete balance of Emptiness and that
Clarity. The
inseparable state of that Emptiness and Clarity is very
important.
So first you are looking at objects of your fear, the visions,
and you dont see
anything. Then you look to who is looking, you look for a
subject, an ego; you dont find
anything. So you experience a full Spaciousness internally. And
youre fully Aware. And
that Awareness is no different from that Openness. That Openness
is not different from that
Awareness. Theres no separation. Its an inseparable state. And
you rest in that
inseparable state without elaborating, without analyzing,
judging, anything - just simply rest
in Openness and Awareness as clear and as long as you can, and
repeat that, and become
more familiar with that as much as possible.
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PRACTICE PART 5 (from video Part 7 Union Is Great Bliss)
Union Is Great Bliss. The Union is about the connection between
the Openness and
Awareness - when that connection is Awakened, when that
connection is familiar, when that
connection is absolutely balanced, then quality arises.
If youre resting in the inseparable state of Emptiness in a
Clear Light, it will make
you happy. When you feel connection to that inner Openness,
connection to the Inner
Light, and become familiar with that inseparable state, it will
give birth to the four
immeasurables ten prajnaparamitras. It will give birth to all
the countless enlightened
qualities. When you have enough familiarity in that space of
Union Of Openness And
Awareness, the Bliss will come from that place.
Union Is Great Bliss its like a vast clear sky, and a luminous
warm sunshine. The
Union of that luminous warm sunshine and the vast sky gives
birth to inner joy.
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Part 8 Conclusion
This is a very precious teaching. The Dakini will keep it secret
except for those who
are meant to understand.
Video Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K47LDZ3xl2k&feature=relmfu
Website https://www.ligmincha.org/
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Fivefold Teachings of Dawa Gyaltsen
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Part 1 Introduction 1
This is a continuation of a Youtube teaching, and I know many of
you have been
following my last teachings on Youtube, teachings on Warrior
Seed Syllable. And I have
received a lot of wonderful feedback from many people. And I am
very happy to hear that,
and that I decided to do more so as its continuously benefiting
many people and this is
clearly seems like a wonderful tool. The media is this wonderful
tool, the technology is a
wonderful tool, to break the boundaries of many boundaries to
able to do this so that not
me that I have to go to many people, or the people have to come
to me. This still is
possible to communicate some teachings so Im really happy to do
this. And so those of
you have been watching it and kind of really like seriously
trying to follow practice, and Im
very happy you are doing that. But I also if this is very
meaningful to you then Im going
to ask you if you can also let a lot of other people know,
basically take a little initiative, to put
together a bunch of addresses together, inform other people who
might be benefited,
friends of yours, and so on. So that will be Im requesting
especially those who feel its a
very beneficial thing for you, and so we can, that this is how
we can share with more people.
And this is, I will feel wonderful as Im putting my effort and
energy to do this, and also my
students are giving me support to do this.
In the Bon Buddhist tradition, the goal of our life is to
achieve a full liberation, or
Buddhahood. And the Buddha nature is in every sentient beings,
not only human beings
but every insects and any animals. We all have the same Buddha
nature. And our life is,
the meaning of this life, the important part of the meaning of
this life is to achieve that.
So Dharma there are three principal pathways. One - its called A
Path Of
Renunciation. That basically you renounce your negativities,
your negative emotions, your
negative thoughts whenever they are coming. So that you learn to
control and renounce.
That is more like a path of the Sutra.
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The second path is the Path Of Transformation, a path of the
Tantra. Basically it
does not necessarily renounce the things, renounce the five
poisons, and ignorance, but its
trying to work with the five poisons, and transform those
energies into the five wisdoms. So
basically this is the Path Of Transformation.
And finally, The Path Of Liberation is the Path of Dogzchen.
Which is very much like
a not to renouncing your five poisons, or your negative
emotions, or not trying to work and
transform and changing negative emotions; rather, leaving them
as they are, where they
are, and not following them, not elaborating them, just leaving
as it is. And when you leave
these negative emotions as it is, they do not have any their own
power to continue. What
happens is they just liberate by themselves. Its called
self-liberation.
Its like a the metaphor is like an example of a poison, a plant
poison. The
ordinary person cannot use it. If you eat it you will die.
Therefore the only thing you do is
you are trying to renounce - you are trying to throw away. Put
it away somewhere the
childrens cannot touch; nobody can touch thats the Path Of
Renunciation.
Or doctors who have skill and knowledge to transform them. So
doctor adds some
other medicinal plants, and transforms that poison into a
medicine, and heals the sickness.
So that is like the Path Of Tantra and Path Of
Transformation.
And the peacock eats the poison. And when peacock does not need
to renounce it,
or trying to change it or transform it, peacock eats it as it
is. And what the poison does to
peacock it enhances the beauty and the color of the peacocks
life. So that is like the
approach of the Dzogchen.
So these are the three principal methods of A Path To
Liberation. They all are
important - equally important.
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Part 2 Introduction 2
To introduce the Five-Fold teachings of Dawa Gyaltsen:
Vision is a mind Mind Is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light Clear Light Is Union Union Is Great
Bliss
What does this means? This basically means if your vision either
is internal or
external vision and particularly those internal visions, like a
vision of fear, a vision of
fearful pain, of fear-related sufferings, fear-related
confusions, fear-related angers, and all
the stories related to that fear. If you look at those all are
inner visions. If you close your
eye its just in your head. Its in your vision. Probably not much
is out there. So look at
that, all those things in your head. So that is your vision. So
if you understand truly, that is
your inner vision. Its you in your head. Then what happens? Then
thats how you
understand that vision is just my mind. Just my mind has created
a vision.
And then the second question comes: What Is A Mind? So at that
time, we do the
second part of the practice. A search of ones mind. What Is A
Mind. What is in my mind.
Who am I. How does my mind look like. Where does it come from.
Where does it stays,
where is it going. Is it any place? You search for that
internally and directly and clearly
without analysis. When you do that you achieve an inner
experience. Inner experience that
you dont find anything. Rather you find inner vastness, inner
opening. Inner awakening
experience you will have. When you have that, that you cannot
find any mind to pinpoint
down, that is like an experience of the second part of the
practice.
So then, the question is - Ok I cannot find the mind. Mind is,
basically its empty. So
what is this that Emptiness is about? What is this space is
about? What is this nothingness
about? What is this boundlessness about? So you its not journey
doesnt stops here,
by not finding your mind. Journey continues. So the third step
is to find what is this
Emptiness? The reason why it is important to find, ask this
question why, what is this
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Emptiness, is because many time when people search for mind and
not finding anything
they fall into a nihilist experience. Oh, theres nothing there,
so nothing to worry about.
One fell into nihilist, denial, and lack of Awareness in
practice. So that is why you ask the
question of what is this Emptiness? And thats why it says
Emptiness is Clear Light.
So you ask this question, and then how you look we just look at
the, look at that
space. Its nothing, but you can be fully Aware of that
nothingness. You can be fully
awakened in that nothingness. You can be fully alive in that
nothingness. Like a sun can
be cloudlessly shining in the clear sky in that nothingness. So
the sunshine is a very
important part of the empty space, empty sky. You look in that
clear sky, you see the
sunshine. You look through that voidness, through that opening,
you see the Awareness of
the mind. Thats why its called, the third part its called
Emptiness is Clear Light.
So the fourth part now you are saying, what is it the Clear
Light is? I look for the
mind, I couldnt find anything. Its totally empty. I look I look
into the Emptiness; I dont see
anything, I just see a pure Awareness. Now what is there of pure
Awareness? So that is
the fourth question. Clear Light Is Union. That is the kind of
answer of the fourth question.
Clear Light Is Union basically means. Its a two word, Clear and
Light, which both are
Union. Clear referring to the aspect of Emptiness, the Light
referring to the aspect of
Awareness. Yes it is empty, but you have to be Aware. Yes you
have to be Aware but not
lose the connection to the Emptiness. That is what it say. So
Clear Light Is Union. Of
course sometime the word Union is used more in the Tantra; in
Dzogchen the word
Inseparable is used more. But in the true experience, it doesnt
make so much different for
our ordinary sense. Most important thing is that in your
experience, when you feel that
Union, and when you feel that Inseparable state, thats all what
it matters. So the Clear
Light Is Union; it is very important, because when people have
experiences of Light, or
people have experiences of Clarity, or qualities, like
compassion, or love, sometime, it
chances to lose the connection to the base to the Emptiness.
Thats why the Union
aspect is very very important. So if there is a Union, then you
just rest in that experience.
That is the fruition of the fourth part of the practice.
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Last part is the fifth part of the practice. It also is a simple
easy question saying, so,
Union Is Great Bliss. The Union of Emptiness and Clarity, its a
Great Bliss. So Great Bliss
- Bliss is like inner awakening. Inner experience, like inner
joy. Of course we can all have
experience of joy in our ordinary life, just because the weather
is beautiful, I am very happy
today those joys are not the same as when you have experience of
Union Is Great Bliss.
Union of Great Bliss - this Bliss is like a spiritual awakening.
Because it is coming from that
realization of inner quality, realization of nature of mind.
Therefore it is like a true
awakening, true Bliss. Effortless Bliss, a spontaneous Bliss. So
if you look that experience,
particular given experience like we were talking about working
with the fear, and once all the
mind which is related with the fear, all the negative emotions
and pain and suffering,
confusions related with the fear, you look at all those aspects
of the mind can become this
Bliss, can become this Awakening. When one followed these five
principal sequence. So in
a simple way to say will be, like youre pain or fear, when you
realize that is your vision, that
is a vision, the vision is a mind, Mind Is Empty, Emptiness Is
Clear Light, Clear Light Is
Union, then that painful vision can become a Great Bliss. So
bottom line is, a pain can
liberate into a Great Bliss. But following in the right order
and having experience with each
stages.
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Part 3 Vision Is Mind (first part of practice)
So first part of the practice of Dawa Gyaltsen, the Five-Fold
Teachings of Dawa
Gyaltsen, is the Vision Is Mind.
So what is the vision? Vision is something that we have in our
mind; in our head.
For example, the vision of fear. A vision of five negative
emotions, which is related to the
fear. The pains which are caused by these five poisons, and
which is primarily caused by
fear they all are our inner visions.
And we have these experiences because of many reasons. Because
we have a
foundation of something called like a conceptual karmic body. Or
we can sometime look at
that aspect of that as a pain body, so conceptual karmic body
creates a conceptual pain
body. And this conceptual karmic body is not only individual,
but sometime it can be a
collective. We have a conceptual karmic body collective with our
family members. So we
have a pain body, a collective pain body with our family
members. We have a collective
pain body with the country we are part of. So we share these
collectively or individually. So
because of this, sometime all our fears are also not necessarily
only part of your self - a part
of a bigger collective situations.
So if you look at either its a collective one or individual one,
lets look at that vision.
Look at it closely, at this very moment: my fear, my negative
emotions, five poisons related
to that fear. My pain and confusions related to that fear. My
situations that are causing
some pains to other people, which is also related to my inner
fear. You can see many
layers of your fear right now, this very moment. Im not talking
about the past, Im not
talking about the future, Im talking about this very moment in
your life.
So this is like inner vision. So if some moment, sometime if you
look at it closely,
theres nothing! This very moment you can be happy as you can be.
You can be
enthusiastic as you can be. You can be energetic as much as
possible. But somehow,
your conditions, your habit, you choose to awake that fear, you
choose to go into that fear,
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and you choose to suffer through that fear. But we have to
change that. By knowing this is
what happening to us, and this is what we are contributing to
this to happen.
So with the first part of the practice, just you sit in a
comfortable position, you close
your eye, you look at that vision. Just say Vision Is My Mind.
Just look at those images.
Vision Is My Mind. My vision of my fear, its just my mind. My
mind is creating these
visions. So what do you do, you can just say it a few times,
just to remind yourself, then you
internally look closer to it closer, closer, closer, as if you
are looking at a flower, you are
looking closer, your are looking closer, you are looking closer.
So through the sense you
are looking closer. Internally, with nonconceptual Awareness,
you are looking closer,
closer, closer. So when you look closer like this, what happens,
is those vision just
dissipates. Like clouds just dissipating in the sky. These
clouds are dissipating because a
powerful, subtle, wind of your Awareness is blowing it away.
Therefore those visions are
clearing. And you dont see anything. At some point, you just
dont see it. All this is
objects, the stories, just disappears. An then what is left?
Simply the mind who is trying to
find it! Trying to watch where they are, its only that mind is
left, that Awareness has just
left. So theres nothing as object to find, but the subject is
just left without its object. Then
thats what it means Vision Is My Mind. Im not finding what Im
looking for, rather, Im just
finding who is looking at it. In this experience what happens?
You just feel like ... Like
40-50% of the fear, piece of your fear, is just kind of
dissolved. Then all the object and
story related with that fear has just kind of diminished
dissolved. Your body, your spirit,
your mind, your breathing, everything just became much lighter.
And what do you do?
You just rest in that lightness of the mind. Do 5 minute, 10
minute, 15 minute, 1 hour, 2
hour, depends on your ability to sit in Awareness. But if you
are used to sitting in
Awareness, sit longer. But if you are not used to sitting in
Awareness sit short but clear.
There are many practitioners who sit long and unclear; it is
better to sit short and clear. So
even is a 5 minute, and that is a great beginning for you to
develop. So, so what you can
do, is just simply repeat this exercise, and find that
lightness, and sit there as long as you
can, and repeat this again and again and again. So that is the
first part of the practice.
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Part 4 Mind Is Empty (second part of practice)
So the second part of the Five-Fold Teaching of Dawa Gyaltsen,
is Mind Is Empty.
So basically the second line is called Mind Is Empty. So
basically, that is the answer of
question: What is the Mind? Because first part was Vision Is My
Mind; then we found that
Vision is a Mind, theres nothing solid vision there, out there.
But next question is: What Is
A Mind? So therefore, the answer is Mind Is Empty. So that is
simply an intellectual
question, an intellectual answer, but how does that question
applies to myself in our life?
How does that answer make sense in experience on experiential
level, to oneself, so that
it becomes a foundation or cause for next development. So that
is important to be aware of,
to know.
So as an exercise, as a practice this will be of course theres
no way to do the
second part of the practice unless you did the first part of the
practice. So those you havent
done, strongly recommend to do the first part.
Now, if you have done the first part already, which is saying
vision of pain, vision of
negative emotions, vision of fear, having that inner vision,
saying what is that? Clearly you
realize nothing is solid there out there, its just my mind. Now,
specifically, this moment,
when you realize that you ask this: What is in my mind? Where is
my mind? Where is it
coming from? Where is it staying? Where its going? Does it have
a specific color, shape,
location, any consistency, just ask question. But not so much
intellectual asking question
just internally look as a senses observe not thought analyzes.
As senses observe. Look
with your Awareness. Nonconceptual Awareness. Look at it. Where
is my mind? Where
its coming from? Where it staying where its going? Just you
look, look internally, look
closer, closer, closer, and it happens the same thing. That
fear, that pain, that I, the I, the
ego, dissipates. One after another, they all just dissipates,
again, same way as before, like
cloud dissipating, dissolving in the sky. Why these cloud are
dissolving in the sky, because
here the subtle wind of your inner Awareness is blowing toward
that ego toward that fear,
toward that pain. And because of that wind, these inner clouds
of ego and pain are
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dissipating in inner vast sky. Gradually, slowly they dissipate,
dissipate, and what do you
find? You find another big discovery of opening. A new
dimension. Openness. You
experience internally. What do you feel? You feel just so much
like a release, freedom, a
peace, a possibility, in that space. Only way its going to
happen, when you learn how to
directly observe. In another word, how to nonconceptually
observe. Without thoughts.
Very much like how senses observe. This case you are looking,
observing the mind, not the
vision. In the second practice you observing the mind, not the
vision. In the first practice
you observing the vision, not the mind. You observe observe
observe it dissipates. Now
then it really feels like a, like a complete like 100% opening.
Because the first practice
when you did it feels like a the vision of fear has
dissolved.
Second observation, second part of the practice, it feels like
the fear itself has
dissolved. The pain itself has dissolved. So the ability to do
that, again and again, so you
feel the full experience of Openness. And what do you do in that
moment - same as before,
you rest in that inner Openness. That inner vastness. Without
elaborating anything.
Without analyzing, without judging it, just simply rest in that
inner vastness where you are
feeling some sense of peace without your fear and pain.
And its not just a fear or pain, the fear and pain that you are
having this particular
moment in your life. And this is the medicine for that pain and
that fear. This will not only
help you to heal your own fear and pain, it will also help you
to heal collective pain.
Collective fears that we share with our family members, that we
share with our fellow
friends, and then also in a sense of big, in a sense of country,
a global sense of collective
fear that we have, it will help. For sure it may help people
that you are very emotion, very
tied to, it will help them too. Any moment when you feel
Openness, it affecting all the others
who are related to you.
So this is so the second part of the practice is very much the
question is What is
the Mind. And experiencing that Mind Is Empty. So any given
moment, any given moment,
mind is always clear. So just think about this for the last
thing. No matter how painful you
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are, no matter how fearful you are, no matter how confusion you
feel, just realize any given
moment if you look directly to your mind, those cloud will
dissolve and you will find your
inner peace, inner opening. Any given moment they are always
there and you have the
door, you just have to look the right direction, in the right
way.
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Part 5 Emptiness Is Clear Light (third part of practice)
So the third part of the teaching of Dawa Gyaltsen is Emptiness
Is Clear Light. So
because the first was Vision Is Mind, then the second part was
Mind Is Empty, now
Emptiness Is Clear Light. That is like an answer. The question
is: What is Emptiness? In
our experience of this practice, we were looking at the fear,
all the visions and suffering of
the fear, and when we looked close to that we did not find any
thing as an object. Then we
looked at the subject: How/What Is The Mind? And we couldnt find
any thing solid,
inherent existence, of mind, either. Mind was simply empty. So
what is Emptiness? So this
is the search that we wanted to do.
So, in your experience, not finding anything of your fear either
externally or internally,
not finding that fear, ego, and it just, as you look closer and
closer inward, it just completely
dissolved, and just becomes nothing. Just basically you dont
find nothing. Nothing.
Nothing. What does that mean? Does that mean nothing is there?
As you experience this
nothing, you dont find anything, you dont see anything, what
does that mean. Is it nothing?
No. And that is exactly the reason why the third question is
very important. Because many
time either philosophically (there are many tenet and doctrines)
fell into that nihilist view.
There are many a practitioner and experiences fell into that
denial. Basically, theres some
point when they are searching they dont see nothing say ok
theres nothing. And they go
also again the same way into a nothingness very deep; and that
nothingness can also
cause a depression. A rigidity. Like a military. Stiffness in
your body and your breath. In
your behaviour. That is very important question. That is why we
ask What Is That
Emptiness? So Emptiness Is Clear Light. Emptiness is the
fullness. That Emptiness is the
source of all the qualities. That Emptiness, that Openness, is
the solution. That Openness
is like the mother who gives the birth to child. That space is
like earth which grows all the
vegetations. That space is like the sky where all the stars and
planet exist. The only way
they can exist, to know, to its potentiality, and its
luminosity, and its dynamic energy aspect
of it, and that translate into very simple translation in our
own this moment experience: Its
-
just our wakening quality, our wakeness. Not nothingness. Our
wakeness. Being aware of
it.
So, in the practice, as you, when you are looking into that, you
re looking for your
mind, you dont find anything. That is the place where we left
our last practice: I dont find
nothing. Theres no ego. Theres no me. Theres no my mind that I
can pinpoint down in
one place. Just became like a space. Be aware of that. Look at
that Awareness. Feel that
Awareness of that. That Awareness is like a sunshine. If there
is no cloud in the sky, you
look through that clear sky, in the sun, then you see the
luminosity of sunshine. The
absence of cloud helps to see the sky; the presence of sky helps
to see the luminosity of the
sun. The absence of fear, as a vision, fear as a subject, helps
to see our Openness, inner
Openness; the presence of inner Openness help us to see our
Awareness like inner
luminosity. Can you see it? Can you feel it? So its not just
nothing its just a full
awakening. Full sunshine. Just Be in that Alertness, Liveliness.
Connect with that. So the
more you connect with that Awareness, the less chance you will
have falling into nihilist and
denial.
If you look at many times, people doing sitting practices, I
have visited some places
with groups, they are doing sitting practice, and I can see they
are sitting quite good position
in the first moment. And after ten minute later, they are all
doing this position what is that?
That is not Awareness. That is clearly a yoga of the sleeping
position. Theyre all falling
asleep. And they think they are resting in the nature of mind or
sitting in the Emptiness,
which they are not. Why? Maybe in the beginning they had
experience of Emptiness, and
then lack of their Clarity they fall into dullness and then the
dullness put them into a deep
sleep. There is no awakening. They are not even able to keep
their head straight. That is a
sign of lack of Awareness. So its very important to not only
have the experiences of
voidness in the third practice. To be aware of that voidness, to
be in that state of Awareness
and continuously become familiar with that Awareness. So that is
the third part of the
practice.
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Part 6 Clear Light Is Union (fourth part of practice)
Part Four, the practice of Dawa Gyaltsen, which is ... we
started with Vision Is A
Mind, Mind Is Empty, Emptiness Is Clear Light, Clear Light Is
Union, and Part Four is so
that Clear Light Is Union, that is like the answer, but the
question is What Is Clear Light?
And in our experience was, working with the fear, and the pains
and emotions related with
the fear, we looked at the object of the fear, we couldnt find
anything - that is our vision. So
we just realize its just the mind is only left. Part One and
Part Two we look at our What Is
The Mind? We look at it closely, we couldnt find anything with
the mind. Mind is just
empty. And Part Three we looked so What Is The Emptiness?
Emptiness is not just -
Emptiness is not just nothing. Its just full of Life! Awareness!
Emptiness is Clear Light.
And then Part Four, What Is That Clear Light? The answer is
Clear Light Is Union. So if
you look at this line Clear Light Is Union so theres a two word
Clear and Light. Clear
referring to Emptiness, Openness Light referring to Awareness,
Luminosity. And these
two are not a separate quality; neither they are two separate
experience. Its just one
experience. Its like a wisdom single wisdom. A single sphere of
totality. And its very
important to understand that, because many time in our
experiences, either you fall into
nihilist, or you fall into eternalist, as many doctrines do
that. As many meditator when you
practice you do that. Ill give a simple example: If you are
meditating, abiding in the nature
of mind, abiding in that inner space, theres two possible
obstacles can happen. One, you
fall into nihilist. What does that mean? That means you feel
empty. And that Emptiness
produces dullness. It produces lack of life force, Awareness,
and it puts you into sleep.
Thats one possible so thats like youre falling into nihilist. Or
the other possibility is the
moment you sit in the nature of mind, the moment you sit in the
meditation of Emptiness,
you become a most creative individual. All the work-related work
comes up, your creativity
comes up, your thoughts comes up, your - all the emotions comes
up, just basically mind
becomes active than before. Why, when youre supposed to rest,
why would your mind
become so active? Simply because it does not have the
experiences of that space. It does
not have connection to that Base. It does not have that
connection to that mother, inner
-
mother. Inner essence. Therefore, it is feeling, facing with all
this unenlighted thoughts and
emotions. That is simply happens all the time in our experience.
Therefore that is exactly
the reason why it says Clear Light Is Union. Clear Light Is
Union. So not only
philosophically they are union or inseparable, but
experientially how that is how one
should experience. So in these stages of development of our
practices with the Five-Fold
Teaching of Dawa Gyaltsen, we arrive fourth stage of experience.
Where when we sit in
that inner space, we need to have a complete balance of that
Openness and Awareness.
Of that Emptiness and that Clarity. So - inseparable state of
that Emptiness and Clarity is
very important.
So very briefly, when you are looking - objects of your fear,
the visions, you dont see
anything. Then you look to who is looking, you look at a
subject, of ego, you dont find
anything. Then you look who is observing? And theres nothing
either. So you
experience a full spaciousness internally. Thats full
spaciousness. And youre fully aware
of that. And that Awareness is no different from that Openness.
That Openness is not
different from that Awareness. Theres no separation. Its
inseparable state. And you rest
in that inseparable state without elaborating, without
analyzing, judging, anything just simply
you rest in that inseparable state of Openness and
Awareness.
Whenever visions are coming, you work with this like Part Ones
practice - you watch
the vision. Whenever the subject is kind of taking it over, you
ask with the Part Two
practice, What Is The Mind? And then mind will dissolve. And the
object will dissolve, and
it will bring you back into that same open Awareness.
Inseparable state of that Openness
and Awareness. Just simply rest in there.
As I said earlier, rest for five minute if you are used to
sitting in practice for a
longer time, rest for half an hour, one hour, but always
remember that sitting short and clear
is better than sitting long and dull. And its important to
become familiar with that clear
state. Because, imagine in our ordinary life, how much time we
dwell into that stories of fear,
that emotions of fear, how many hours? Consciously,
unconsciously, times when we are
-
aware of it, times when we are not even aware of it, what we
still able to dwell into it. So
ability to change habit from that place to resting in that pure
inseparable state of Openness
and Awareness, it will require some time and familiarity. So so
anyway the bottom line
here is just simply trying to rest in that inseparable state of
Openness and Awareness, as
clear and as long as you can, and repeat that, and trying to
become more familiar with that
as much as possible.
-
Part 7 Union Is Great Bliss (part 5 of practice)
So this is our last part, the Five-Fold Teachings Of Dawa
Gyaltsen; the line is The
Union Is Great Bliss.
And if you look at in our life, and everyday in our life, it
makes good sense. Anytime
when we are able to connect, it makes us feel good. When you are
able to connect with
yourself, it makes you feel good. When you are able to connect
with somebody, it makes
somebody else feels good, and it makes you feel good. People
have a relationship one of
the main point about relationship is trying to make connection
on a physical level, on
emotional level, on a spiritual level, anytime whatever level of
connection that you are able
to make, it makes you feel good. The deeper connection you are
able to make, the better
feelings are. Less dependent on outer circumstances is. So like
many times this is, thats
very true, if you are in a relationship if you are able to only
a physical relationship its one
thing. In a spiritual relationship, more heart relationship, its
another experience. So
connections are fundamental in human life. Childrens cannot
properly grow unless there is
a connection of emotion with the parents, particularly
connection of love.
So, in the same way, Union Is Great Bliss. The Union is about
the connection. So,
with connection, through the connection, arises lot of
experiences, lot of experiences.
Beautiful experiences. So the connection between the Openness
and Awareness, when
that connection is Awakened, when that connection is familiar,
that connection is absolutely
balanced, then quality arises. Otherwise you can, you can think
about: well, I can rest in
Emptiness, whats it going to do to me? How am I going to be
happy just resting in
Emptiness? Well just resting in Emptiness might not make you
feel happy, but if youre
resting in inseparable state of Emptiness in a Clear Light, it
will make you happy. For
example the example will be when you feel nothing in your life
people feel lost,
unacknowledged, unwanted, rejections, isolations, when you feel
like that what is feeling
what are you feeling your feeling a disconnected. Your feeling
disconnected with your
family, youre feeling disconnected with your colleagues, youre
feeling disconnected with
-
your friends, and youre isolating yourself, and when that
disconnection when you
become familiar with that disconnection, and when you dwell into
it, thats what - when you
begin to feel pain and depression. In contrary, when you feel
connection to that inner
Openness, connection to the Inner Light, and become familiar
with that inseparable state, it
will give the birth to hope. It will give the birth to the four
immeasurables ten
prajnaparamitras. It will give the birth to all the countless
enlightened qualities.
So, in our own little experiences in meditation in these five
parts remember, we go
back to the first part, we have been working with the fear. You
didnt find the object of fear,
you didnt find the subject of the fear, you found a Openness,
you found a light inside
yourself. You became more familiar with that Openness and Light.
And you continuously
rest in that Union, that connection, what will manifest from
that place? Hope will manifest.
Because you have been working with the fear. You will manifest
joy related to that hope,
because you have been working with the pains related with that
fear. It will naturally come.
You just simply have to trust. And reason why Im saying trust
was these practices
something that you have never heard of, you have never done in
your life, and you dont
you just have to trust a little bit before you have the
experience. And once you have the
experiences you trust the experience itself, you dont have to
trust or rely on anybody else
explanation. So simply, I think it is important here, to trust
in that experience, and rest in
that experience again, experience of inseparable state of
Openness and Awareness as
much as possible, and gradually allow - this is the word here
not make, allow the hope,
allow the joy, allow your inner qualities. Because it.. you are
ready to give a birth. You are
ready to transform. You are ready to change. Because you have
enough familiarity in that
space of Union Of Openness And Awareness, and the Bliss will
come from that place.
So the example, example of Union Is Great Bliss its like a, you
know, a vast clear
sky, and a luminous and warm sunshine. The Union of that
luminous and warm sunshine
and the vast sky gives birth to a lot of elements. The earth,
the water, the fire, all the natural
element come to exist. And from this natural element then
imagine like a fruit trees and
imagine that clear sky, the warmth of sun, heating to that tree,
heating to that fruits, and
-
gradually, because of that clear sky, because of warmth of the
sun, it ripens those fruits.
And then the fruit is the Bliss for those who needs it. So that
is kind of the example of it. So
the joy, inner joy is the fruit which has ripened with the
warmth of Awareness in that vast
sky.
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Part 8 Conclusion
So this is the last part, the conclusion of Five-Fold Teaching
of Dawa Gyaltsen. As
a I hope that those of you have followed from the beginning till
the end, it will make sense.
Those of you just watching this one will probably not make
sense. So recommendation is
just go back and watch Part One till the conclusion. But do the
practice as much as time it
takes to feel comfortable and feel that you have some result of
the practice before you move
to the second part of the practice.
So those of you have done the practice you can see, its a
benefit of the practice,
really like a feeling much more joy in ones life, much more
meaning in ones life, and also
finding some solution to come out of the situations that you
dont want to be in, when you
are feeling like a total confused, or feeling a depressions or
something like that, you know
that you dont have to sit there and you have some methods, some
means to overcome.
Think about this. Anytime you feel depressed and lost, confused,
you just think about this.
You do not you do not have to sit in that place for hours. You
dont have to sit there for
even for one hour. You dont have to sit there and go to sleep
from that place. You dont
have to. Because you have a practice. And trust the practice.
Pray, and do the practice. It
might be harder sometime. But if you trust and keep on it will
change for sure. So, I strongly
recommend to you know trust yourself, trust the practice.
As part of the conclusion maybe I will just say a few words. You
know we have been
working with the fear, and all the negative emotions, pain and
confusions related to the fear.
Of course you dont have to only work with the fear. Fear is a
fundamental emotion which
can underlying, the underlying emotion to all the five poisons.
But you can work with any of
the five poisons. For example, lets give example of working with
anger. When you are
really feeling anger, anger has clearly an object. And very
often, it is some body. Some
body who have disappointed you. So if you look at that person
that is a vision. And that is
a person that is in your head. Whom you are angry. That person
is in your head, that
-
person is not out there. If that person is out there, then every
single person should hate that
person. Thats not the case. Your enemy is the father of
somebody. A loving friend of
somebody. And somebody who trusts that person. Somebody who
cares about that person.
Somebody who thinks great about that person. Many other people
have other kind of
visions to that person. But you happen to have individual karmic
vision of that person, and
its in your head. So you look at that vision and just say Vision
is a mind. Vision is a
mind. And you internally look at that image. And just simply say
Vision is a mind.
Exactly the same way we did with the fear, repeat the same
thing. You realize that the
person is not there. And it releases something probably in our
mind in our brain in our body,
that somehow releases some energy, that you feel much more
lighter about that person.
So any emotion is possible to work with. Whenever you work with
any emotion,
when it clears the object of that emotion, it clears the subject
of emotion, it clears the space,
Openness, it clears Awareness, and it also you are able to
experience the Union of that
Awareness and Openness, then the antidote of that emotion has a
better chance to arise.
Like anger really, if it was anger that you were working on,
then when you feel there is no
object of anger, when you feel there is no really a subject even
who is angry, and you feel
there is a space outside, you feel there is Awareness inside,
you feel that you have some
familiarity and connection and realization of that Awareness,
and naturally thats going to
give the birth to love. That means what? That means you will
just feel more love. Not love
that you are forcefully trying to have. But the love which
effortlessly manifests in the right
moment in the right situation because theres no blockages
there.
So as a conclusion you know I just wanted to say that this is a
very precious
teaching. And of course some people might say this is too much
to do this in a YouTube.
But every language has limitations, every experience has
limitations, and those who are
meant to understand, will understand, those who are meant to not
understand it, the Dakini
will keep it secret, and will not understand it doesnt matter
how much you watch it. And
those who are meant to understand Im sure you will connect and
you will have some
realization and benefit from it. Thats my prayer. Thank you.
1 - Introduction 1 - The Three Paths To Liberation2 -
Introduction 2 - Five Steps3 - Practice Part 1 - Vision Is Mind4 -
Practice Part 2 - Mind Is Empty5 - Practice Part 3 - Emptiness Is
Clear Light6 - Practice Part 4 - Clear Light Is Union7 - Practice
Part 5 - Union Is Great Bliss8 - ConclusionPart 1 - Introduction
1Part 2 - Introduction 2Part 3 - Vision Is Mind (first part of
practice)Part 4 - Mind Is Empty (second part of practice)Part 5 -
Emptiness Is Clear Light (third part of practice)Part 6 - Clear
Light Is Union (fourth part of practice)Part 7 - Union Is Great
Bliss (fifth part of practice)Part 8 - Conclusion