Enlightened Journey Buddhist Practice as Daily Life

Abstract

T HE MOST ESSENTIAL TRAINING in Buddhism, and for that matter in any spiritual path, is the "skillful means" that enables the trainees to transmute every aspect of their daily life into spiritual training. Spiritual training is the exercises that release the intensity of our mental grasping and the driving force of our craving. Spiritual training eases the pain and suffering created by our narrow, rigid views and our burning, confusing emotions. Spiritual training is crucial to the realization and experience of openness, peace, joy, love, and wisdom. If our mind is filled with peace, love, and wisdom, our mental and spiritual energies will be strengthened. If our mental and spiritual energies are strengthened, the physical elements of our body become heal1thy and the events in our life become positive. By the same token, if our mental energy is strong, our body will be healthy and our life positive; our mind will be n;~turally more peaceful and joyful. The days of our entire life will flow in a cycle of true happiness. As the third Dodrupchen Rinpoche writes:' When your mind is not disturbed, your energy will not be disturbed, and thereby other elements of the body will also not be disturbed. Because of this, your mind will not be disturbed, and so the wheel of joy will keep revolving. There are two important ways to transmute daily life into training. First, if you have realized the wisdom that transcends mental conceptions, or even if you have not yet transcended mental conceptions but have powerful spiritual experiences such as compassion, devotion, or contemplation, then you can unite or transform all appearances and experiences into a support for the energy of realized wisdom and spiritual expenence. For great adepts, every phenomenal appearance becomes che expression of their inner wisdom itself. All appearances become the power of realization, like the rays of the sun that coax the flowers of happiness to blossom in the hearts of all those around. Second, for ordinary people like ourselves, whose minds are conceptual, emotional, and. unrealized, it is essential to rely on any skillful means-positive and spiritual images, signs, sounds, or sources of power-as the means of generating spiritual energy. If we could see the objects that surround us as a source of inspiration and peace, they will generate peace and joy within us because of the power of our own mental p~rceptions. In the same vein, we cannot transform negative situations into positive ones if we see them as negative and react to them with negative emotions. As long as we hold on·to negative perceptions, viewing our circumstances through dark shades, the whole world will appear negative, and all our efforts will be one never-ending struggle. So we should lay the foundation of true peace and joy in our own minds by devel oping the skillful means of spiritual training, not by struggling to ward off adversity. As Shantideva explains:2 Foes are as unlimited as (the extent of) space; They cannot possibly all be overcome. Yet if you just overcome the thought of hatred, That will be equal to overcoming all foes. Where is the lea~her With which one can cover the earth? But wearing a leather sandal Is equal to covering the earth with leather. This book contains fifteen of my published articles and transcriptions of talks. It is divided into two parts: an introduction to the Buddhist path and a discussion of meditation practice. The core of this book is the article on the meditation practice of Ngondro, the essential training of the Longchen Nyingthig3 tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Ngondro embodies a complete process of training, beginning with inspiring one's mind toward Dharma and ending with unifying one's mind with the enlightened mind of the Buddha, universal enlightenment. The other articles deal with introductory or supportive material which, taken together, constitute a manual on how to turn the various experiences we encounter, whether external or internal phenomena, into spiritual views, disciplines, and experiences. Part One consists of six articles. They form an introduction to the spiritual view, culture, and life, which are an important means of transmuting our physical and mental life into Dharma training.