So in Buddhism we have varieties of methods of doing these different types of
practice. They all have the same goal, which is to go from settling the mind and
developing concentration, to giving rise to insight. Neither one of the two is
over-emphasised or neglected, but one has to practice both. It is the same even
when we do visualisation of deities and recite mantras and so on, in Tibetan
Buddhism.
Outwardly on first appearance, the normal type of meditation that
people do and visualisation practice, may appear to be very different, but even
the practice of visualisation has the same function. In that, according to
Tibetan Buddhism when we sit in meditation we have thoughts and concepts arising
in our mind, so instead of spending time day-dreaming or thinking about this and
that, one can use those same thoughts and concepts in order to develop
concentration, and finally give rise to insight. So that's why we do the
practice of visualisation of deities. The practice of deity yoga is nothing to
do with making some kind of mysterious contact with some divine beings, who
exist independently of our mind. The practice of deity yoga is just a skillful
method to achieve these two ends, namely to settle the mind and give rise to
insight. So all different types of meditation have these two goals.
We talk
about giving rise to insight. What this means is, as we continue with our
practice of meditation, as the mind becomes not only more stabilised and less
restless, when it becomes more aware and more conscious, then we realise that
the nature of the mind is awareness. The nature of the mind is luminous, what we
in Tibetan call 'osel' which is sometimes translated as clear light. Basically
what that means is, that when the mind begins to become more stable and less
restless, when our concentration increases, and on top of that when we use
awareness in order to gain insight into what is occurring in our mind, then we
will have experience of innate awareness, and that is the nature of the mind. In
Mahayana teachings this is referred to as Buddha Nature, in any case the innate
nature of the mind, which is luminous, provides the condition for one to become
enlightened, for one to attain Buddhahood.
So when we gain insight into this we begin to get some idea of the
relationship between the absolute truth and the relative truth. According to the
Buddhist tradition it is very important to have a proper insight into the
relationship between relative truth and absolute truth. Unless we have some
understanding of what is the real nature of things, and what is the real nature
of the mind, then even if we are able to gain a certain amount of mental peace
and a sense of harmony within through practice of meditation, we will not really
be able to achieve any kind of spiritual attainment. Spiritual attainment has to
come from the gaining of insight, not just simply through pacification of our
emotional conflicts, which can be done through practice of meditation of
tranquillity and practice of mindfulness.
What this realisation of the two
truths means is, that most religions have this idea that there is something we
might call the absolute or the ultimate reality or God, and on the other side
what is called the created world, the relative, the phenomenal world etc. They
are seen as very different, they have a very different nature. The relative is
seen as multiple, many, or it is seen as temporal, impermanent, transient. The
Absolute or the ultimate reality is seen as unity, permanent, unchanging, and so
on. So you have this dualistic notion, on the one side are listed all the things
that are changing and impermanent, and considered not really real, and on the
other side everything that doesn't change, that is one, or unity and considered
absolutely real. Now from a Buddhist point of view this way of thinking is
created due to a lack of proper insight into the nature of mind, the phenomenal
world, and the physical world. The Absolute is not discovered as something
different from the relative, but is discovered through understanding the nature
of the world itself. It is the same in relation to our mind; the nature of the
mind is realised through dealing with concepts, ideas and emotions that arise.
The innate awareness, or the luminous nature of the mind, is discovered through
working with the varieties of experiences that we have in the mind ,not
rejecting them ,but by dealing with them .
Chandrikirti has said in his text
on Madyamika*, "Kunzop la ne ma ten par. Dam pe don ne tog me jur," which means
"without relying on the relative you cannot understand what the absolute is." So
the absolute is present in the relative , the absolute is not understood by
saying, "Oh this physical world ,this world that we live in is illusory, it is
completely unreal,we have to look for reality somewhere else." The absolute is
understood through trying to understand this very world that we live in and the
mind that we already have, by relating to these two right now in the present.
Then it is possible to realise the absolute through that. So relative and
absolute must be understood as co-existing, they are not different and they are
not mutually exclusive. That is a very important insight, as far as the Buddhist
tradition is concerned.
So when we talk about the absolute, what do we mean
by the absolute, and what do we mean by saying the absolute is something that
can be understood through the relative? What we mean is that the physical world
that we live in exists in terms of inter-relationships, nothing exists of its
own accord, everything is dependant upon other in varieties of ways , causally ,
temporally, spatially and so on. So one thing causes another thing, one thing
comes into being before something else, and one thing is related to another
thing in terms of space, for example this table is located here in relation to
the rest of the objects in the world etc.
So there is no such thing as a thing that exists of its own accord, everthing
exists in relation to other. This is called emptiness, because nothing has any
enduring substance. If there is some 'thing' called a substance then it should
be able to exist by itself, on its own accord, without being dependant upon
anything else other than itself, but that is not the case. Both in terms of our
mind, and also in terms of the physical world, there is no such thing as
material stuff or some kind of substance that is unchanging, enduring, etc.
Everything is subjected to change, everything is conditioned due to causes and
conditions, so realising this is what is called emptiness. Emptiness means lack
of inherent existence, or lack of enduring essence. Emptiness does not mean
non-existence, but it means that things do not have enduring essence, and the
same thing applies to the mind.
Now when we look at it this way on the
absolute level, from the point of view of emptiness, there is no difference,
everything has the same nature which is emptiness. Whether we are talking about
the table, the carpet, the room, the mountain, whatever object we look at, has
the same nature, it has the nature of emptiness. There is no differentiation on
the absolute level, but on the relative level, everything is different, a table
is a table, a chair is a chair, a carpet is a carpet.
Some people think if
you realise emptiness you must lose any notion of discrimination, because
everything is empty, but that is a misunderstanding of what is meant by
emptiness. On the absolute level everything is non-differentiated, but on the
relative level each single thing is different, so a table is still a table it is
not a car, and they have different functions and they serve different purposes
and so on. In this way there is that relationship between relative truth and
absolute truth in terms of the physical world. The same thing applies to the
mind, from the point of view of the absolute, all the mental processes that go
on in the mind have the nature of being luminous, that is from the absolute
point of view. From the point of view of the relative aspect, then still there
are unceasing thoughts and concepts and ideas etc happening in the mind. So
there is that relationship between the absolute and the relative truth on that
level as well.
According to the Buddhist tradition different people have
fallen into all kinds of extremes. Some people, who actually try to become more
reflective and lead a spiritual life, fall into the trap of a dualistic way of
thinking, separating the relative from the absolute and denying the importance
of the relative truth. Ordinary people, who do not concern themselves with
religious matters, fall into the other extreme, which is to become immersed in
the relative, into the multiplicity, into what is temporal.
From a Buddhist
point of view what one has to realise is the unity between the absolute and the
relative truth. Both are co-existent, one cannot say one is more real than the
other. Unless we understand that, then we cannot develop insight. Insight is
attained through what is called the middle view, which means not falling into
any kind of extreme view, not falling onto one side or another. If we say that
what is relative is illusory, that it is like a dream, then it becomes very
difficult, for example to fight for social justice or to care for the
environment, to have regard for others welfare, to think about other peoples
suffering. Because we can say: "Oh, it is all illusory it is all like a dream,
like a nightmare, it is actually not happening you know it is not real." On the
other hand if one does not have any sense of transcendent reality, if one
becomes totally caught up in the empirical world, then one has no higher
perspective to look at what is going on. One becomes swayed this way and that
way by delusions and prejudices and so on.
This Booklet is the transcript of three talks given by the Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche at Sukhavati Forest Retreat, Jackeys Marsh Tasmania in January 1992
The Venerable Traleg Rinpoche is the President and Spiritual Director of Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute(KEBI) Melbourne, and Sukhavati Forest Retreat.
Email. jamit@vision.net.au
1994 Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche.
For further information about the contents of this booklet feel free to contact:
Kagyu Evam Buddhist Institute
673-691 Lygon Street Carlton North
Victoria 3054 Australia
Ph (03) 387 0863
or
Sukhavati Forest Retreat P.O. Box 49 Meander
Tasmania 7304 Australia
Ph. 03-63695275
Fax. 03-63695274
Email to jamit@vision.net.au .