gen dun rinpoche book sampler

7/28/2019 Gen Dun Rinpoche Book Sampler

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Gendun Rinpoche

Heart Advicefrom a Mahamudra Master

NORBU EDITIONS


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Copyrght Noru Verlag

Noru EdtoA mprt oNoru VerlagGermay

www.oru-verlag.de

All rght reerved. No porto o th ook may e reproduced y ay meawthout pror wrtte permo rom the pulher.

isbn: ----

ralated rom the Germa y Joche KlechmdtBook deged ad typeet y Gerd Pckhau

Prted the Uted State o Amerca o acd-ree paper


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o read the tructo o the Buddhaor to oer them to other prtual practce.May the uddha delght th gad grat ther leg.

May the mert created y th actojo the tream o merto all the wholeome deed perormed y eg coutle realm ce eggle tme,ad may all th eergye dedcated to the awakeg o all eg.


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Contents

Introduction 9Note aout th tralato 3

Generating the Mind of Awakening 7

Fudametal Tought 7Gog or Reuge ad Geeratg the Md o Awakeg 3Lovg-kde ad Compao 0Scerty Lookg Iward 8Ug Dculte 64Dolvg Harmul Patter 70Buldg Potve Power 76

Exchagg Sel ad Other 80

eacher and Student 87

Investigating the Nature of Mind 03

Te Path of Meditation 3

Te Tree Seal 3What Doe Medtato Mea? 6Te Sttg Poture 33Medtato wth a Reerece Pot 36Beg the Preet 4Hope ad Fear 0

Tought a Fred Medtato 3Advce o Medtato Experece 9


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Cotet

Metal Calm ad Itutve Ight 74

Further Explaato o Mahamudra 8How to Deal wth Emoto

Medtato ad Everyday Le 86

Preparing for Death 97

Closing Words 0

Gendun Rinpoche: His Life and Work 3

H Chldhood 4Frt Year the Moatery: 9939 6Te Year o Retreat Practce Khyodrag: 93993 3I the Mouta o et: 93960 34Ecape to Ida: 960 36

Te Year o Retreat Practce Ida ad Bhuta: 96097 40

Te Karmapa Sed Gedu Rpoche to Europe 43Gedu Rpoche Europe: 97997 H Legacy 7

Glossary 79

Cotact Addree 9Lt o Vajra Sog 93Pcture Credt 93


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Introduction

I th ook we troduce you to the teachg o Lama GeduRinpoche,1 a master rom theKagyu tradition o ibetan Buddhism.His teachings show us the Buddhist path all the way to complete awak-eg, tartg rom the mot ac tructo. Lama Gedu, a

we mply called hm, rought the teachg o the Buddha to our

lve lve that had ee molded y Weter culture.He dd ot oly truct u through h word, he alo howed u

the path o awakeg through h lvg example. Trough h clearwords we meet his clear and pure being; his simple teachings have thepower to chage our lve. Whe he wa teachg, at tme he egato peak vere or eve expreed the leratg truth og. Wehave cluded x o h potaeou og th ook. I the -

eta Buddht tradto t ot ucommo or awakeed materto expre the qualte o awakeg uch og or poem. A apotaeou expreo o ther lerated md they vte u to re-leae our ow md to th tate o opee.

Gedu Rpoche teachg provde u wth deep ad compre-heve gudace o the path to lerato. A mple a they may

1 We have ued Eglh phoetc or eta ad Sakrt word ac-cordace wth the cheme geerally adopted y the Padmakara ralatoGroup.


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Heart Advce

appear, h tructo expre a prooud vew o the Buddht

teachg2 ad ca e regarded a repreetatve o the approach othe Kagyu tradto o eta Buddhm. Tey compre advceo how to practce all apect o our lve practce that wll u-doutedly greatly challege u ut wll alo ear rch rut. Whatthat rut may come to look lke ca e ee the le o GeduRpoche whch erve a a partcularly prg example o what apero ca acheve.

I we wh to ollow th path o awakeg, othg more ee-fcial than to personally encounter a master who can explain the path clear, ealy udertood word that lay t out tep y tep. Te -structions in this book are the record o such a meeting o a Buddhistmedtato mater rom et wth tudet rom the Wet.

I the Buddht tradto, the eece o the tramo em-oded the prtual mater. So we hould ot oly eek the teach-ings in texts but also engage in a living relationship with such a master.

T orm o oral tramo rom teacher to tudet ha cot-ued wthout a reak rom the tme o the Buddha, roughly 5 . .,utl today.

Gendun Rinpoche was an heir to this long tradition o transmissiono kowledge ad prtual practce. He wa oe o the outtadg

yog o the geerato o practtoer that tll grew up the oldet ad wa ale to practce the cave o the Hmalaya. Beore

he wa et to the Wet y h teacher, he had medtated ecluoin ibet and India or thirty years and attained complete realization,accordg to tatemet made y other mater. From 5 utl hdeath , he lved Frace ad taught may coutre.

2 H teachg correpod to the utra ad the commetare o theGreat Vehicle,theMahayana, e. g., the Samadhiraja Sutra and the Uttaratantra

Shatra.3 Tee mater clude the Gyalwa Karmapa, Dudjom Rpoche

ad Dlgo Khyete Rpoche.


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Itroducto

Everything Gendun Rinpoche taught, he had deeply realized him-

sel. As an exemplary monk, perect bodhisattva and realized yogi, inthee teachg he addree people rom all walk o le. He tre-e the ecety or all practtoer to ope ther heart ad developcompao ad devoto a well a to practce deep relaxato adlettg go o all el-ceterede.

Tis book, o course, can only reproduce his words and not his sur-prg, ahg humor, h eay laugh, h mtaly vared toe ovoce, h apt acal expreo, the owg, perect geture o hhad ad the love that radated rom h eye. But today, a whehe was alive, his words can still help us access the essential core o theteaching o awakening. He only taught what is truly important or uson the path to awakening and enlightenment. His words come straightrom the heart, rom the rch treaure o h peroal experece.

In the ollowing chapters, Gendun Rinpoche explains the basics oBuddhist practice. He talks about how to fnd our direction or refuge

ad amlarze u wth the way whch we ca geerate the mdo awakeg(bodhicitta). Oly whe uch a a ha ee eta-lished will his explanations o the nature o mind and oMahamudramedtato all o ertle ol. He goe to may o the dcultethat we may encounter on the path, describes the mechanisms o ouraictive emotions ad detal how we ca ree ourelve rom them.Fally, he expla how we ca ue our le order to prepare ow

or death, eve though we mage that t tll ar away.I th way, the reader guded through a cycle o tructo

that Gedu Rpoche requetly gave to h Weter tudet. Welear how we ca develop compao ad devoto ad practcedeep medtato, ollowg the oottep o the great Buddhtmater. We fd out how to work wth the eerge o our mdad how to rg orth the wdom that wll chage our lve rom

the groud up.


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Heart Advce

Oly teve medtato practce wll make t pole or u to

penetrate the veils o our ignorance and recognize the nature o mindand o all appearances. When we receive guidance in this through theoral tructo o a expereced mater, we quckly ad wthoutgreat dculte or detour arrve at a peroal, drect udertad-g o the teachg o the Buddha.

T cloe relatohp etwee teacher ad tudet pert utlthe tudet ha attaed drect ad uequvocal ght to the a-ture o mind. Realized students then become teachers and pass on theinstructions. Trough this mode o transmission, the original realiza-to o elghtemet that the htorcal Buddha Shakyamu expe-reced udereath the odh tree ha remaed alve utl today.

Whe Gedu Rpoche taught, h lteer oe had the eel-g that the htorcal Buddha wa peakg through hm. A wrttecomplato o h teachg caot reproduce more tha the exter-al orm o th exceedgly vvd tramo. It ull cotet wll

disclose itsel only through proound contemplation and meditationa well a through cotact wth a qualfed teacher.

We wll derve the maxmum eeft rom th ook we paueagain and again to let what we have read aect us deeply and to relatet to our ow thought ad experece. Te true meag o theeinstructions, however, will open up to us only through personal med-tato practce. Gom, the eta word or medtato, mea to

practce, to accutom ourelve to a practce or vew, to egage wtht tme ad aga, utl t true meag revealed to u.

Te preet text wa compled rom pulc talk ad peroal -terviews that Gendun Rinpoche gave between 990 and 997. One oour ojectve wa to reta the atural ow o h tructo. Se-tece talc ummarze the cotet o urroudg paage orare charactertc expreo o Gedu Rpoche. o clary a u-

ject y lookg at t repeatedly rom deret agle wa part o hteachg tyle, o the occaoal repetto are qute tetoal.


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Itroducto

Te ographcal chapter qute ull ad detaled, to make th

ormato wdely avalale ad prevet t rom eg lot over theyears. Readers who dont already have a connection with Gendun Rin-poche or who are relatvely ew to eta Buddhm may ot fdt all o teret. I o, pleae jut km over ay techcalte.

However, the ac tory o Gedu Rpoche trele practce et, h almot mraculou ecape to Ida, h devoto to hteacher theKarmapa, ad how he gave hmel wholeheartedly tothe task o helping his western students and establishing theDharma Europe all th ca pre u our lve regardle o whether

we kow much aout eta Buddhm or have ever heard o Ge-du Rpoche eore.

For the eeft o reader wthout much experece o etaBuddhism, we have provided a glossary o Dharma terms used in thisook. erm explaed the gloary are talczed whe they frtoccur. You ca fd more detaled explaato o techcal term

Te Jewel Oramet o Lerato yGampopa, a text GeduRpoche warmly recommeded to all practtoer.

We expre our heartelt thak to all thoe who have worked to-gether to produce this Heart Advice rom a Mahamudra Master, in

partcular Gedu Rpoche peroal tralator.

Lama Snam Lhndrup

or the Karmapa ranslation Committee,uvergne, Summer 2010

Note about this translation

Gedu Rpoche gave h teachg eta ad they were oral-

ly tralated ad the tracred to Frech. A et o pulhedcomplato o h teachg Frech wa put together ad much


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Heart Advce

elarged wth addtoal upulhed materal ad the tralated

to Germa y Lama Sam Lhdrup, oe o the eor tudeto Gedu Rpoche who ha ee retreat gude or a umer o cy-cle o the me three-year retreat at Dhagpo Kudrol Lg.

Te present book is a direct translation o this German compilationo Gedu Rpoche teachg, ettled Herzeuterweugeee Mahamudra-Meter (ew edto: Noru Verlag, Oermo-schel 200). Te translator o the English version wishes to thank Ves-santara and Vijayamala or their numerous suggestions or improvingthe quality o this translation and Lama Snam Lhndrup or check-g t to eure that t cloely matche the orgal vero.


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Advice for Meditators

Allow your md to ettle a tate that relaxedad ree o cotrat.

I th tate look atthe movemet o thought,ad ret th, relaxed.Trough th, talty wll come.

Free o attachmet to tllead wthout ear o movg thought,e aware that there o dereceetwee tlle ad movemet md are rom md.

Rema th tate, jut a t ,relaxed, wthout grapg, wthout clgg.I th realty a t the true ature o your md, wdom,appear a a rght opee.

You wll e mute wth amazemet,ad a atural lece wll are.Dot grap at th lece a ome thg rema atural, relaxed ad ree.

Wthout grapg at or rejectgwhat are the md,

mply rema Gedu Rpoche


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eacher and Student

We all poe the uddha ature. It oly o t a that we areale to work o ourelve. I we wat to ga acce to th uddhaature, we eed a teacher ether a prtual mater or mply a pr-tual red who how u the way ad accompae u o t. I we

want our practice to attain some depth and bear ruit, it is important

that we ollow a teacher o whom we ca rely totally. Tey teach uwhat to do ad what to avod, what helpul ad what ot, adhow to progre o the path to awakeg.

I the jot work o teacher ad tudet to ear rut, oth mutbring to it the necessary prerequisites. Tis work can be compared tothe catg o a tatue. I catg a tatue, t mot mportat thatthe mold a well a the materal ued e ree o aw. I the mold

wthout ault, the the tatue cat t may alo e ree o ault. But we take materal that rttle or mpure, the eve wth a perectmold a accurate reproducto ot pole. Ad vce vera, themold has aults, then even with the best material a awless statue can-ot e cat. For a perect tramo to e pole, mater a wella tudet mut e aultle: the mater lke a mold wthout deectad the pupl lke fe, plale metal that ree o mpurte.

I the Kagyu leage, there have ee may tace o perectteacher comg together wth outtadg tudet. A mpreve


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example o th lopa adaropa: lopa wa a perect mater

and Naropa a perect student. On one occasion, when Naropa askedh mater or teachg, the latter repled: I I had a tudet whowa truly ready, he would jump to the water or them. Naropa ddot hetate or a ecod ad jumped to the water. O aother oc-cao, lopa ad to hm: I I had a tudet who wa truly ready,he would jump to the fre or them, ad Naropa tatly jumpedto the fre. Becaue o h total devoto, the tramo o le-g ad realzato wa ale to take place a perect maer.

I th example appear a lttle extreme to you, coder the cae oarpa ad h puplilarepa. Mlarepa carred out eve the motdcult tak wthout hetato or avero. Everythg that Mar-

pa ordered him to do or the sake o his pupil and the transmissionrom mater to dcple he dd wthout quetog. From uch ex-ample, we ca get a ee o what mater ad tudet would e lke the deal cae ad e pred y them.

What are the charactertc o a authetc teacher? I ther out-ward behavior, they should be moderate and disciplined. Tey shouldever etce ther tudet to harmul ehavor or edager theruture developmet. Trough ther word ad deed, they houldpre other to more ad more exteve ethcal ehavor, dog

wholeome deed ad avodg uwholeome deed. Tey houldhave walked the path o the Dharma to t completo ad through

utrg practce have attaed all realzato. Ter md houlde ree o el-teret ad flled wth oudle lovg-kde adcompao or all eg. Aother mark o a authetc mater a complete aece o prde. Tey have o el-cetered or worldlyteret ut oly dere to rg all eg to prtual maturty adeale them to ree themelve rom ther codtog ad the re-ultg uerg.

I the eta tradto, a capale teacher called a lama. Telama the root o all realzato ad leg. He or he ecome


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eacher ad Studet

the cetral reerece pot o our prtual path, ad prato,

ource o tructo, hg example, ad a upport dculte,all at the ame tme. A the tudet practce progree ad thertrut ther teacher deepe, a very cloe relatohp develop e-twee lama ad tudet.

Who a utale tudet? A utale tudet hould have muchlovg-kde ad compao ad practce the Dharma wth theintention o realizing buddhahood or the beneft o all beings. Teirego-centered tendencies should gradually decrease because they prac-tce a ele atttude o md. rut ad devoto to the Tree

Jewel ad, partcular, the lama, hould grow them, ad therprde ad el-wll hould aate. Te tudet hould have a alacedmd, hould ot e throw y ether prae or lame ad houldmata equamty uder all crcumtace, ot allowg chag-g evet to dtur ther equlrum.

Beore teacher and student enter into a deeperspiritual connection, they must examine one another.

Te tudet hould check whether the teacher lve accordacewith the teachings o the Buddha and whether his or her actions andinner attitudes are clear and transparent. We should not get involved

wth a teacher whoe exteral demeaor wthout lame ad who

appear to e ull o qualte ut whoe er atttude how mayault. A mater hould expre the eece o the teachg o theBuddha ther etre thkg ad actg. I emoto rule thermd, the they are ot a utale teacher. A teacher hould ot ehypocrtcal, ad they hould ot have to hde aythg. Coverely,they hould ot have a pure atttude that rema oly teral addoe ot how ther exteral ehavor.

I order to e ale to how the way to other, the teacher houldhave receved the complete tramo o the Buddha teachg


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ad e expereced medtato. I addto, they hould have re-

ceved the oral tructo that are part o the tramo ad eale to tramt them urther. Fally, we mut check whether theteacher truly a ource o prato. For that, they mut have re-ceved the ull leg o the leage ad kept ther acred com-mtmet completely pure. Oly the ca they tramt the le-g o the leage to other. Such a teacher capale o motvatgtudet to atta the ame experece ad realzato that they at-taed. Not oly are they ale to expla the Dharma a way adapt-ed to the eed o the tudet, ut they have practced all truc-tions themselves and attained authentic realization rom them, beorethey tramt them urther.

Te teacher oerve the qualte o the tudet. A tudet maytally dplay much trut ad devoto, ut th merely attach-met ad ot geue trut, the there the dager that t may va-h a oo a the relatohp wth the teacher volve more ol-

gato. Someoe who ha o tale ad relet eelg o trut the teacher hould ot e accepted a a tudet.

Te teacher alo caot accept ay tudet who ot ucet-ly teadat ther ehavor or caot cotrol ther acto ecaueo the preece o trog emoto. Te tudet mut e capaleo practcg the Dharma wth pereverace ad courage, ad theyhould have a ucet a o compao ad lovg-kde. I

ther acto o ody, peech ad md, they hould e dcpledad repectul.

Beore we requet tructo or a empowermet rom a lama,we hould acerta that they are a authetc teacher whom weca have trut. Oce uch a coecto ha ee created, t o lo-ger approprate to crtcze the teacher ay orm or pa judgmeto them. We mut the have complete trut them.

No partcular orm or rtual eeded to etalh a relatohpetwee a teacher ad a tudet. It ot eceary to ak the ma-


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Heart Advce

ter: Would you accept me a a tudet? ad get a cofrmato

uch a: You are my tudet ow. Te coecto etalhedwthout ay ormalty, aed o the hared wh or jot work. Teteacher oer ther atteto, ther upport ad ther compao,ad the tudet rg wth them ther trut ad reade to e-gage th work.

It exceedgly rare that a perect mater ad a perect tudetmeet. But when the student possesses great devotion and a pure view,then it is not so grave a detriment i their master has ew outstandingqualte. I they vew the teacher wth great trut a a uddha, thethey ca receve the ull leg o the awakeed md, eve whethe teacher oly a ordary pero. I uch a cae, the teacher merely a lk the cha o tramo o leg, ad t thedevoto o the tudet that accomplhe everythg.

More prolematc the covere cae, whe the mater ully re-alzed ut the tudet poee ot a ht o ay good qualte. I

uch a cae, the teacher caot accomplh much, a the tudet re-gard them a oly a ordary eg. Te tudet mtake vewreder them ld to the teacher awakeed ature, ad they mayeve project ther ow ault oto the mater.

I the more commo tuato o a realzed mater ecouter-g a uexceptoal tudet, the mater wll ot tur them dow,ut help them develop the qualte that are eeded or the path. I

uch a cae, the tudet tread the path prcpally y vrtue o thecapalte o the mater t a the mater took the tudet ythe had. I the mater ot that accomplhed ut the tudet hamay geue qualte, the the latter doe the larger hare o the

work, whle reverg the mater wth ath ad devoto a a awak-eed eg.

O course, the best situation exists when a student with many good

qualte ecouter a ully realzed teacher. But they caot fduch a mater, they mut e cotet wth a le perect teacher. For


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eacher ad Studet

eger, t ot eceary ayway to have a realzed odhattva

a a teacher. It perectly all rght the frt teacher o our prtualpath a ordary prtual red. Whe we put ther tructointo practice and slowly make progress, with our growing experiencead prtual power we wll automatcally ecouter ever more qual-fed teacher whoe capacte correpod to our prevalg tate odevelopmet ad who ca help u alog.

Te invisible bond that connects master and student has two ends.At the mater ed compao, lovg-kde ad upport, adat the tudet devoto, trut ad joyul pereverace.

he bond with the master is theguarantee o the students progress.

T od ca e damaged rom oth ed. I the mater lack com-passion, patience and interest in the welare o their student, then the

connection will be weakened or even broken. Similarly, a student whoaado ther devoto ad trut wll damage th prtual od(samaya) that vtal or the practce ad evetually wll loe t e-trely. Tey remove themelve rom the prtual actvty o the ma-ter, and the joint work o master and student is thus disrupted. I thisreak occur ecaue o harmul atttude, the oth uer.

I the teacher aado ther compao or ther teret the

tudet, the they wll experece the karmc coequece o thatacto. I the reak tated y the tudet, the he or he ha toear the coequece. I, o the other had, ther jot work pro-ceed potvely, the a a reult o the tudet trut ad devotothe latter wll e pulled orward y the prtual developmet o themater, ad oth develop urther at the ame tme.

Wherever there is aith and trust, there is also blessing.


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Heart Advce

Faith in the Tree Jewels and devotion to the lama are crucial or the

developmet o the tudet. Whe we drect a prayer to our ma-ter, we do ot tur to ther pero ut rather to the awakeed mdthat they emody. Te commucato rom tudet to lama take

place rom md to md. Whe, ull o devoto ad trut, we e-eech our lama to grat u ther leg, we ca do o very m-

ple laguage, our ow word. Whe we cerely wh to receveour lama leg, our heart ope. Trough th opeg o ourheart, our md wll meet wth the lama awakeed md a com-

pletely atural way. Te all word are uperuou.Te phycal preece o the teacher ot eetal. Whe our

heart is open and we possess great aith, then it is sucient that we sitdow ad call the lama our md ad ehold, the lama there!T pole eve we have met them oly oce or ee them olyvery rarely. Te lama the md that where we meet the lamaad receve ther leg. We oly ue the lama huma orm a

a bridge, in order to develop aith and dissolve our veils o ignorance.Trough th ath we fd our way to the awakeed md. Fath deed the key to recevg leg.

I wll tell a lttle tory pertet to th. A old woma ethad a o who ued to travel to Ida order to trade there. Sheegged hm to rg ack a oject or her that had ee leedy the Buddha hmel, omethg that had come to cotact wth

hm oe way or aother. Te o promed to do o ut he wao preoccuped wth ue durg h travel that he completelyorgot aout the g promed to h mother. He oly rememeredt a he wa already approachg h home vllage. Sce he had al-ready aked hm or t everal tme ad ce he dd ot wat to d-appot her aga, he traed to thk o a way o makg up or horgetule.

Shortly eore he got to h houe, he came acro the leachedkeleto o a dog. Tat gave hm a dea: he roke a tooth rom the


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5

eacher ad Studet

dog jaw, wrapped t the fet lk ad preeted t to h mother

a a relc o the Buddha, a oe o h teeth. H mother wa delght-ed ad dd ot dout the authetcty o the tooth the leat. Sheput t o her altar, ad durg the lat year o her le ued t a a up-port or her devotoal prayer ad oerg. She receved ot olycoolato ad courage rom th dog tooth ut alo the lego the awakeed md. I act, he receved t uch great meaurethat at her death he dplayed all the g o realzato ad le e-hd a great umer o relc pearl (ringsel) her cremato ahe.

Faith and devotion to the Buddha made this possible when theseare present, the blessings ow. Faith and devotionare the master. Temater emode the awakeed md he or he ot merely what

we ee a ther exteral orm. I they were merely ther exteral, phy-cal orm, the we would have to rema ther preece orever!

Whe we do ot have ath ad are ot receptve to the md oawakeg that dwell the lama, we may t at ther eet our etre

lives, without actually meeting them or even an instant. We meet theperson, sure enough, but never the lama. On the other hand, we maylve very ar away rom our teacher ad yet, our md, e epara-ly uted wth ther md through our ath ad devoto.

I we eel eparated rom our lama, the th how that we eethem a a ordary pero. I actual act, however, t the heart odevoto that the real lama, ad rom the momet th certaty

daw u, the lama wll alway e preet. Te eve ther deathcannot separate us rom them, as the awakened mind is beyond deathad dyg. Our prayer wll cotue to reach them, ad ther le-g ca tll lead u oward.

he true lama is deathless theyare beyond lie and death.


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Investigating the Nature of Mind

Whe we tart medtatg, we frt eed to udertad what themd . o medtate wthout havg acqured a clear theoretcal u-dertadg o what md really , wll ot lead to lerato romsuering. We would risk going astray in our practice and missing thegoal, the recogto o the ature o md.

o attain enlightenment we need to unitecorrect view and correct meditation.

Te union o these two aspects o our practice is essential or the path.Te tradtoal teachg ay that kowledge wthout practce lkedying o thirst on the shore o a lake and that meditation without cor-

rect vew lke a ld pero gog atray the deert. Sce ourmd the ae o all o our experece, o deluo a well a o l-erato, t mportat that we acqure a clear udertadg o t.

In everyday language, we designate that which carries out all think-g, rememerg ad vetgatg y the word md. We ay thatthe md that whch thk ad ometme th etty actve,ometme t quet, ometme happy, the aga ad, ometme

getle ad at other tme qute orceul. All th the md utdoe th md really ext? A much a we earch or t, we caot


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fd aythg o whch we could ay: T the md. It caot

e ee aywhere; t ot a perceptle oject. It doe appear to ex-t, ad yet t caot e take hold o.But we also cannot send away this mind that cannot be grasped; it

doe ot eve tay quet whe we wat to hut t dow. It caot emxed wth aythg ele, or ca t e roke dow to dvdual

part. No pcture or example perectly apple to the md; o def-to capture all t apect. Ad yet oe o the example that wemay chooe to decre the md etrely applcale to t, a t ot cotet wth ay o them.

he mind cannot be dened. It eludesall analysis and description.

We caot ay that the md ext, a eve a uddha caot fd t.But we alo caot ay that the md doe ot ext, ce t the

ource o all appearace, o amara a well a rvaa. At et weca ay that t eyod all cocepto, that t realty tel, the a-ture o everything living and non-living. It is beyond all thoughts and

percepto; t tagle ad decrale. Whe we ee t, oth-g ee t ha ether color or orm or attrute. Whe werecogze t, othg recogzed, ce t ot a oject o cog-to. Whe we realze t, othg realzed, ce there o-oe

who could realze aythg. I hort, we caot fd aythg thatcould e defed a the md.

Te mind has no legs and yet it can go anywhere. It has no eyes andyet t ca ee everythg. It ha o ody ad yet t ca perorm allort o acto. It eyod all phloophcal oto uch a ext-g or ot extg or oth extg ad ot extg or ethero these two. It is beyond thought and cannot be grasped by thought.

Tereore, t ad o the md that t the great mddle eyodall fxed, extreme vew, eyod all coceptual reerece pot.


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5

Ivetgatg the Nature o Md

Whe we aert that the md or ome eece o md ext, we

all to the vew o eteralm whch pot the actual, permaetexistence o the mind. When we say that the mind or some essence omd doe ot ext, we all to the other extreme, the vew o hl-m, whch totally dee the extece o the md. Smlarly, whe

we aert that the md eyod the oto o extg ad o-extg or the md oth extg ad o-extg, we agaall to the error o elevg a permaet extece o the md,ce we eetally arm the act that the md there. I we thk,a a ourth polty, that the md mut e oe o all the aove,

we dey t extece ad aga all to the extreme o hlm.Te Buddht Mddle Way aed o the udertadg that

oe o thee tellectual poto or ay comato o themca capture the ature o the md, ecaue t elude eg grapedy the tellect. Ad we hould ot hold o to th mddle vew e-ther, a omethg truly extg, or a a ew ad fal poto. I-

tellectual coderato uch a thee ca help u avod allg toerroeou vew, ut evetually we have to leave them ehd or-der to realze the ature o md.

Te ultmate realty o the md etrely eyod all maga-to, coceptualzato or defto. I order to realze t, we muteter the path o medtato. Te ature o md ot to e oud a pecfc locato, ad yet we mut ollow a path order to rec-

ogze t. However, to get to th realzato, we mut ot make aoject or a goal out o the md ad t ature.

Te md ha o org, t ade owhere, ad t ha o ed, odeath, a t ot a oject wth a defale extece. It ot a ap-

pearace that are ad the pae away, depedece o caueand conditions. Rather, it is the true nature o all appearances. Tereis no place or time o which one could say: Te mind arises here, this

the momet o t rth. Becaue o that, we ay that the md uor. Sce t caot e located tme ad pace, we ay that t


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Heart Advce

ade owhere. Ad ce t uor, t alo deathle ecaue

there caot e a ed to a uor md.Eve though the md ether ext or oextet, we caay that t potaeou, ucodtoed, eteral, uvaryg, de-tructle, prmordally pure ad complete. It detructle apect alo called the ody o truth, ody o ultmate realty, detruct-le ody, or uddha ature.

I order to realze Mahamudra, the Great Seal o the ature oall thg, we eed to have a clear dea o the ature o md that

wll gude u our medtato. For that we mut develop wdom.Te attamet o the goal o our practce alo called perectoo wdom, or prajaparamta Sakrt. T wdom alreadyaturally heret our md. It ale to recogze tel drect-ly perect o-dualty, wthout ay dtorto through the tel-lect. Ad t perect tel the deep udertadg o the ultmateature o the md.

Whe we peak o the md, t almot oud a though thmd a cocrete thg that could e decred ad amed. How-ever, whe we look drectly at what we call md, we caot fd taywhere. I we aume that the md dwell a pecfc place, the

we ought to e ale to acre a partcular orm to t, ecaue ome-thg that ext at a pecfc place ad ot elewhere, ha to have adelmted orm. But what orm or hape doe the md have? Whe

omethg ha a orm, t ought alo to have a color. So what colordoe the md have?

When we ask ourselves these questions, we will come to the conclu-o that we caot ay aythg defte aout th uppoed ome-thg that we call md. But ether ca we aert that the md othg, or that t doe ot ext. I th were the cae, the the odyought to e ale to act eve wthout the md. Could our ody do

aythg wthout the md? Could the ee orga uch a theeye ad ear ee ad hear, there were o md? Could a corpe, a


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ody wthout a md, ee ad hear? We hould ak ourelve uch

queto we are cled to the ele that the md doe ot ex-t. We could alo go oe tep urther ad look drectly at the mdthat thk t doe ot ext.

I, o the other had, we are tll covced that the md ext,eve though we have oud ether t orm or t color, we houlddrect our atteto toward that whch cocou o the md. It the ody that cocou o the md or t the md that co-cou o tel ?

Te mind does not have any material existence, it has neither ormor color, ad yet t ale to kow ad experece everythg ade cocou o the mot vared percepto. Becaue o our md,

we kow o the pat, the preet, ad the uture ad experece hap-pe ad orrow, odage ad lerato. But t caot e caughthold o tel. I the md caot e graped y the tellect, howthe ca we recogze t?

he only possibility we have o recognizing the natureo mind is in deep meditation that leads to direct,non-conceptual insight into the nature o all things.

Oly through medtato ca we clary our queto regardg theexistence or nonexistence o the mind. Meditation will make it possi-

ble or us to leave behind all ideas about what the mind is and what it ot. For th reao, medtato the heart o prtual practce.

T md that caot e graped through cocept geerate acotuou actvty the orm o umerale thought, percep-to ad emoto. Te orce that are repole or ther appear-ace are the pecfc karmc tedece that are actve our md,ad thee tur have come to eg ecaue o attachmet. Ul-

tmately, attachmet, or clgg, the caue o everythg that ap-pear our md.


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Heart Advce

Whe we oerve the tream o our thought attetvely, we ca

ee how oe thought emerge aer aother, wthout our havg co-trol over th proce. Every dvdual thought appear aruptly, a o t ow, eve wthout our cocouly wllg to thk ome-thg defte. It ot we who decde whch thought emerge utour karmc tedece, our karma.

Toughts are individual movements in the mind and thinking isa tream o reacto to thee volutary metal movemet that based on grasping. Whether it is with attachment or aversion, our re-acting at thoughts leads us to link a succession o additional thoughtsto them, ad through th proce complcated whrlpool are ge-erated our md. Our hat o grapg at thought drupt theunhindered arising o mental movements that we could leave as theyare wthout reactg to them.

However, tead o allowg thought to dolve o ther owaccord, we mmedately attach a ucceo o cocept or dea to

thee movemet the md, uch a memore o the pat, co-derato o the preet or peculato aout the uture. I th

way, we ecome etagled attachmet ad avero, whch leadto tra ad all the other harmul emotoal tate. I much grap-g ad attachmet are preet our md, the th metal whrl-g wll e very trog.

Whe we gve up our attachmet to thought, our chured-up

md wll calm dow o t ow accord, a t ceae holdg o tothought. Tought cotue to appear ut the cha o thoughtthat ordarly ollow ther wake o loger occur. Whe there amovemet the md, t dolve at oce. Te md perceve themovemet jut a t , wthout turg t to a oject o attach-met. It doe ot react to or tervee the movemet, ad o themovemet ca pa wthout hdrace.

We mght ak ourelve ow: Why dot thee thought mplytop?


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hinking has no end because we believethat external objects possess an independentexistence that is separate om us.

Becaue o gorace, we take appearace, whch aer all are oth-g ut projecto o our ow md, to e cocrete thg that ex-t depedetly o our md. Ad a log a we hold o to the deao a depedet extece o oject, we wll e caught chao thought. We create a coecto etwee ourelve ad the o-

ject whch we thk ext depedetly that te u to t, a wth a rope, ad that rg u uder t uece.

Our fxato o the oject lead to a depedece o t that cauemay addtoal thought ad emotoal uctuato our md.

When we relax our mind, we sever this rope that ties us to the objectso the pheomeal world, ad the a oothg calm are whch

our md o loger trred up y multarou thought aout o-ject o attachmet.

Mot o the thought that make t o dcult to calm our md re-volve around worldly aairs and desires, about how to achieve happi-e ad how to avod uerg. Tey are rom our attachmet toth le ad rom our lack o awaree o mpermaece ad death.

We do ot wat to ee what really happe our ow md, ad we

are convinced that our agitation is caused by other people or externaltuato. We thk t ecaue o them that our md trred upy prde, ager, ad the lke.

However, once we understand that all our thoughts and emotionscome rom de u ad do ot orgate rom exteral caue, weceae to lay the repolty o other, ad our md wll o lo-ger be shaken by emotional reactions. Te moment we become aware

that everything arises rom within the mind itsel, our attachment to


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Heart Advce

the dea o a ojectve world that ext eparately rom u dolve.

Trough th ght we ecome ree ad ceae to uer.

here is suering only as long as we live in duality.

Te world in which we fnd ourselves is a projection o our mind. Ourprevou acto have created tedece our md that caue t toproject a partcular kd o world. But th world doe ot ext realty. It othg ut a utatal maetato; t empty

wthout el-ature. Tere othg t that lat. It wthoututace, empty o ay el-extg eg through whch t coulde defed.

Te caue o the emergece o the world ad o our ele tcocrete extece our lack o awaree, our gorace. What weexperece a a old world realty othg ut a ere o per-cepto. All thee percepto, experece, or evet, a well a the

perceved oject, are depedece o a multplcty o actor.Everythg codtoed; everythg are terdepedece.Nothg th world ha a depedet extece; everythg de-ped o teracto.

Our experience o the world can be compared to a dream. In a dream,the md ale to create vo o the mot vared world, ut theydo not possess any real existence. I the dream takes a pleasant course,

we are cotet ad happy ad would lke to cotue dreamg. U-pleasant dreams, however, trigger aversion or ear, and we would liketo terminate them. While we are dreaming we believe that the dreamevet are real, ad o we are happy or tee, depedg o what ap-

pear the md. Whe we wake up, t ecome clear to u that wewere oly dreamg; oe o th really happeed. Tereore, therewa ot the leat reao to e happy or uhappy. Exactly the ame

apple to our experece the wakg tate.


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All the thoughts and sensations we identiywith have as little reality as dream experiences.

Our ele the realty o appearace that act are empty ad l-lusory causes us to become attached to them. Tis belie is the sourceo all delusion, and the interplay between perceiving subject and per-ceved oject keep up the decepto. Whe we awake to the trueature o appearace, we realze that we have allowed ourelve toget carried away with emotional reactions that were triggered by com-

pletely lluory evet. Vewed rom the hghet perpectve, exper-ece the dream ad the wakg tate are equally empty, wthoutay true realty. Tey are othg ut a projecto o the hat ad

patter o our md.May people caot let go o ther dream experece ecaue

they eleve that dream have a deeper meag ad cota ht

or ther daly lve. However, aer wakg up we hold o to theuppoed realty o the dream, we get eve more deeply draw tothe deluo. I our dream wa pleaat, we take t a a good g ad,ull o expectato, try to rg aout the tuato or experecethat t augured.

I, o the other had, we had a upleaat or rghteg dream,the we vew t a a ad g ad are poly worred. We ee dca-

to o uture dculte our ad dream, ad we do everythgwe can to evade the threatening events or to prevent them, as thoughthe dream cearo were lkely to repeat tel durg the day. Ad

why all th? Becaue we eleve the realty o omethg that othg ut a deceptve appearace our md.

Belevg our experece to e utterly real, we clg to them ada a coequece experece uerg. However, all tuato

we cultivate an awareness o the illusory dimension o our experience,


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Heart Advce

a we had woke up rom a dream, we wll recogze the empty a-

ture o all pheomea, ad the deluo wll come to a ed.As long as their minds are caught in delusion and ignorance, the be-ings in the various realms of existence will experience suering o limit-less intensity and duration. Te recognition, however, that mind and

phenomena in reality are without substance, empty, illusory, and thusbeyond suering, leads to the perect, unsurpassed joy o awakening.As long as we do not recognize this dimension o the emptiness o allpheomea, ther lluory ature, we are caught uerg.

We may eleve that th lluo wll dolve all y tel ut that ot the cae. A log a the caue are preet, the correpodgreult wll ollow. A log a there deluo, the ame proce wllrepeat tel coutle letme, whch why we peak o the cy-cle o uerg, or amara.

Whe we hear aout the mmee uerg o eg, ther om-preet deluo ad gorace ad ther edle waderg am-

ara, we may ecome dcouraged or depreed ad eleve that twould e mpole or u to ed th uerg ad atta elght-enment. We may think that ordinary people like us could never reachthe goal o awakeg. But there o good reao to thk th

way ad e dcouraged. O the cotrary:

We should not consider ourselves incapableo realizing buddhahood, as the buddhanature is already present in each o us.

Te buddha nature is the true, innermost nature o our mind. It is nei-ther exteral to u or ar dtat rom u. Awakeg ot a uat-taale goal or omethg that le the ar dtat uture. Whe

we know how we should practice, we can get there very quickly, since

we do ot have to produce elghtemet. It already preet uow ad oly wat to e dcovered, through our eeg the ature


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o our md. However, order to get there we eed a method. T

method the path taught y the Buddha. Whe we ollow t, ouruddha ature wll reveal tel.Te uddha ature the dmeo o the ompreet, true a-

ture o all pheomea amara ad nirvana. It pervade all thgad etet eg ad preet the md o everyoe a ther

potetal or uture awakeg. Tere o derece etwee thelatet potetal ad ull elghtemet, wth regard to ther aturead qualty they are dtguhale ad eparale.

Although the uddha ature preet u, we do ot ee t, e-caue t covered wth ocurato that tad the way o ourmd recogzg t true ature. Tee ocurato are the reulto all the sel-centered actions that we have perormed with our body,speech and mind since beginningless time. Te actual cause o all ob-scurations is ignorance, the clinging to a presumed I. Because o ourclgg to th I, we carry out acto that produce karmc orce

the orm o el-cetered thought, eelg ad magg thatcoceal the true ature o our md.

Tee ocurato eparate u rom the wdom qualte o ourmd, a they rg aout a dualtc percepto o realty ad deep-ly-rooted, reexve patter o thkg ad actg. We ca removethem y gvg up el-cetered reacto patter, ceag to accu-mulate urther egatve karma ad oretg our ody, peech ad

mind entirely toward wholesome action. When all obscurations havedolved, our uddha ature revealed, ad we ee what we trulyare: uddha.

I we dolve the ocurato ow, we wll oo realze uddha-hood. I we postpone this work, enlightenment will only be attainedlater, provded we aga fd utale codto or workg wthour md. Te deco le wth u our uddha ature accompa-

e u all the tme. Whe we ecome aware o the extece o ouruddha ature, the dere are u to realze t. However, t wll


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Heart Advce

ot reveal tel to u we do ot kow the path that lead to the

doluto o the ocurato ad we do ot actually eter o thpath, or we aado t aer practcg t or ome tme ecauewe lack pereverace.

Evdetly, our pat lve we have ot ollowed the rght path orwe have ot perevered, or ele we would already have attaed e-lghtemet. Now that we kow the path to complete awakeg, t mportat that we ollow t to the ed, wthout devatg rom t.I we do th, the t completely certa that our uddha ature

wll reveal tel, a t ha alway ee there there othg to fdor geerate that ha ot ee there all alog. We oly have to decdeto walk th path ad ot devate rom t. Te the goal ot d-cult to atta. I we do ot veture out ad actually et out o th

path, ut tead leave t at mere tellectual kowledge o the ud-dha ature, the uddhahood wll ot reveal tel to u.

Te buddha nature is just like butter that is already present in milk

a a potetal: whe we eat cream the rght way, we ota ut-ter. But we do ot do aythg ad merely t there ad look at themlk, the at et the mlk ecome our ut t wll ot ecome ut-ter. Te pero who kow how th work wll eat the mlk ad

wth ome eort ota utter rom t. Smlarly, we mut put outeort order to produce a elghteed ody, elghteed peechad elghteed md. I we wh to atta elghtemet, we mut

do omethg.Te veils that cover our buddha nature are based on ignorance. Tey

appear a the three emotoal reacto patter o attachmet, aver-o ad derece, or put deretly, dere, ager ad tupdty.Tese three basic patterns, the common denominator o which is sel-centeredness, cloud our perception. Tey inuence all the actions wecarry out o the three plae o ody, peech ad md ad thu e-

come caue or the accumulato o karma. Acto that are cloud-


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5


ed y thee emotoal reacto patter caue our ocurato to -

creae ad therey hder the recogto o our true ature.All etet eg the uvere ear the uddha ature wththemelve, ad eve though at the momet they are tll ordaryeg, wthout a dout they wll e uddha oe day, they prac-tce the Dharma. Te realty o uddha ature the groud o ev-erythg, the heart o perect awakeg uouded y pacead tme. It ompreet, lke pace, ad pervade all etet e-g, wthout ay derece qualty or quatty.

I we wh to ucover our uddha ature ad develop the correctvew that eceary or correct medtato, we eed to amlarzeourelve wth the two plae o realty, the relatve ad the ultmate,ad recogze ther eparalty. Te relatve plae o realty the

world as it appears to us. But in this maniestation on the relative plane,the ultmate realty, the empty ature o all maetato, preetat the ame tme. Te eta word or world (jgte) mea de-

tructle a. Te materal world codered to e a a thatevtaly uject to detructo, ecaue t codtoed. Te

world tratory: t are, ext or ome tme, ad the ceae. Itha o latg extece that t ultmate realty, t empte. It empty o aythg that lat. Te act that t vle oethelead doe maet t relatve realty.

I th relatve realty, everythg chage rom momet to mo-

met. Te md expree tel uceagly ad potaeouly aever-edg multplcty o appearace, ut thee are ot real a ultmate ee, a everythg chage cotually ad othg e-dures. Idea ollows idea, one movement o the mind ollows another,appearace chage ceatly. For that reao, o cloe pecto,

we ca ee that appearace are ot real they are empty o ay truerealty. Ad yet maetato goe o, a t the expreo o the

empty ature ad potaeou lumoty o the md.


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Heart Advce

Appearances are maniest as well as empty theyare the unity o maniestation and emptiness.

By relatve realty we deote the maetg apect o appearacead y ultmate realty the apect o the lluory, tratory atureo all maetato, t eg empty o aythg latg. All appear-ace, whether the exteral world or wth ourelve, are the -eparale uty o thee two plae o realty.

Generally speaking, we can classiy all phenomena and sentient be-ings according to their participation in one or the other o two kindso experece o eg: the cycle o codtoed extece raught

wth uerg, amara, or the dmeo o lerato eyod u-ering, nirvana. Te essence o samsara is delusion, and its distinctivemark uerg, wherea the eece o rvaa awaree ad tmark true happe eyod all uerg.

But the true nature o samsara as well as o nirvana is emptiness, asether poee ay true, depedet extece. Tey are emptyo ay eece oethele they maet. By empte o amara

we mea that the etre lvg ad o-lvg pheomeal world othg ut the uty o appearace ad empte, empte adorm. Te goal o prtual practce the recogto o th realty.

Te recogto o the empty ature o all thg correpod to

the realzato o the truth ody, dharmakaya. We recogze all ap-pearace o the relatve plae a the maetato o the lumo-ty o the dharmakaya they are empty ut oethele they ap-

pear. Wth th recogto, we experece everythg a the utyo l ad empte, ecaue our ele the cocrete exteceo thg ha dolved ad we o loger all prey to attachmet aduerg. Sce we o loger uccum to the decepto, we recog-

ze uerg a eg empty, wthout true extece. Ad that


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rvaa, the dmeo eyod all uerg, the ed o the cycle o

death ad rerth.Whether we uccum to cyclc extece ull o uerg, amara,or experece the dmeo ree o uerg, rvaa, deped othe preece or aece o th deluo. Whe our percepto m-

pared or dtorted through gorace, . e., through the dualtc de-luo, we wader amara.

When we become aware o the nature o delusion,

the veils o dualistic attachment dissolve, and wearrive at the awakened dimension, the knowledgeo the empty nature o all appearances.

We meditate until we recognize that appearances and mind are insep-arale. Te t ecome clear to u that t would e eele or eveharmul to lock the appearace ad percepto that are our

md, ce that would etal uppreg the atural movemet othe md. Smlarly, we do ot eed to artfcally geerate a expe-rece o empte, ce we ca mply ret the awaree o theuty o appearace ad empte, y recogzg appearace a

projecto o our md.I th way, we ee that we ourelve, the uject that perceve

omethg, are ot deret rom the oject that perceved. I

th tate o udertadg ad opee our medtato truly e-come authetc. However, we are cotet to merely cotemplatea oject ad call that medtato, the we wll ever overcome thedualty o medtator ad medtato. All oject o percepto areothg ut maetato o md; they are ot exteral ojectut md tel.

Recogzg th pacfe the play o our emotoal reacto, e-

caue the there o loger ay eparato etwee our md adt creato, etwee uject ad oject. Everythg that we expe-


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Heart Advce

rece the expreo o our ow md. Md ad maetato

are oe ad the ame; they are ot eparated the leat. Jut a themd ot a oject that could e decred or delmted, o theappearace that the md project are alo eyod all magatoad decrpto.

Meditating means becoming awareo the true nature o all appearances.

Sce maetato ad md are eparale, whe we medtatewe mut ot attempt to lock appearace thought, mage adthe lke ad geerate a artfcal empte ourelve. Wehould mply allow our md to ret the ow, the preet mo-met, t ordary cocoue, ree rom ay attempt to u-ece t. I order to get there, t ucet that we relax ad let goo all attachmet.

Beg perectly aware o eve the mallet detal ad wthout -tererg wth the movemet o our md the leat, we ret theawaree that md ad appearace are mutually depedet adeparale. Our md relaxe the mmedacy o the momet. Ith way, our medtato progree rom the level o metal calm totutve ght ad Mahamudra.


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Happiness

Happe caot e oudthrough great eort ad wll,ut already there, perect ad complete, relaxato ad lettg go.

Do ot worry, there othg to do.Whatever appear md ha o mportace,ce t ha o realty.Do ot hold o to t, ad do ot judge.

Let the play happe y tel,arg ad pag,

wthout chagg aythg everythg vahe ad reappear, wthout ed.

Oly your earchg or happeprevet you rom eeg t,jut lke a raow that you chaewthout ever reachg t.

Although happe doe ot ext,

t ha alway ee theread accompae you every momet.

Do ot eleve that goodor ad experece are real.Tey are lke raow.

Watg to grap the ugrapale,you exhaut yourel va.


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A oo a you relax th grapg,pace there ope, vtg ad joyul.Make ue o t.All your already.

Do ot earch ay urther.Do ot eter the mpeetrale jugleto earch or the elephatthat already quetly at home.

Nothg to do,othg to orce,othg to wh or ad everythg happe y tel.

Gedu Rpoche


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he Path o Medtato

What Does Meditation Mean?

he basis o meditation is wholesomeconduct to develop mindulness in all

actions o body, speech and mind.

o e mdul mea to e cotatly careul ot to harm otherut to cotrute to ther hghet welare. Trough uch mdul-e, the altrutc atttude wll expad our md more ad moread ecome a all-ecompag way o lvg. Our egom wll de-creae whle our ele teret other creae ad lovg-kd-e ad compao ecome a atural part o u. We wll o logerthk o ourelve aloe. Tat true matery o medtato. I thmedtato, we practce turg our md toward other.

Meditation means resolutely looking at oursel-centered patterns and working at dissolving them.

Te true sign o progress in meditation is that our interest in the well-eg o other grow ad that t ecome ever eaer or u to cor-rect our ow ault. Whe our el-cetered, ll-dpoed atttudedolve, the reult that our goode creae, le ecome ea-er or u, ad our acto automatcally rg aout the welare o

other ad our ow happe at the ame tme.Medtato clude reectg o the teachg, wth the goal o

udertadg the true ature o md, eve oly tellectuallyat frt. I th preparato, we udertake a aaly o uject adoject, md ad appearace, at the relatve level. T delerate,

prelmary work that may appear omewhat artfcal. O the ao th tellectual, aalytcal udertadg, medtato the lead

u to the pace eyod uject ad oject, whch the md recog-ze tel drectly ad whch a mmedate, drect certaty ar-


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What Doe Medtato Mea?

es, beyond all analysis. Te analytical reections that we have used to

fd our way to the correct medtato wll have to e aadoed atth pot, or ele o true, potaeou medtato wll are.

Only a completely natural meditation thatis ee o all ideas will lead to liberation.

Meditation does not mean producing any special state o mind, sucha puttg ourelve to a trace, a tate o lul cotetmet oray other artfcal tate. It doe ot etal evokg ay pecal exper-ences, having visions, seeing particular orms and colors. Meditationmea ecomg aware o the act that or a cocevale legtho tme our md ha ee proer o t attachmet to experec-e. It mea eeg that th codto produce uerg, mprothe md ad et artfcal lmt to t. I medtato, we allow ourmd to relax ad ree tel rom th cofemet. o e relaxed

doe ot volve lettg oeel go looe phycally or eg atte-tve. What meat here a relaxato o the md, whch othody ad md are ully preet ad awake.

Our arrow, lmted tate o md are the coequece o el-cetered acto that we carred out our ormer lve ad o thereultat karmc tedece. Becaue o thee hat, whch have e-come compulve, we arely have cotrol over our lve we uer

even when we do not want to. In many respects, we are the playthingo our karma, wth rather lmted opportute or uecg ay-thg. Trough medtato we gradually cat o our metal arrow-ness and compulsiveness. We begin to dissolve our karmic tendenciesad ecome creagly ale to uece our uture, utl evetual-ly we mater our lve wth complete reedom o deco.

Geerally peakg, we are trapped reactve patter o lkg

ad ot lkg, watg ad ot watg. We lve hopg that ourwhe wll e ulflled ad earg that upleaat thg may hap-


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he Path o Medtato

pe. Te reultg eelg o datacto ad teo ad all o

our prolem prg rom our ow compulve md ad do ot, awe commoly thk, are rom other people or exteral preure.Tey come rom our unquenchable thirst or confrmation o our egoand ulfllment in external things, rom the wish to attain somethingthat caot e attaed. T treuou earch or a happe exter-al to u the actual caue o our uerg ad o our eg trapped a cycle o orrowul extece that repeat themelve orever.

With the aid o meditation, we ee ourselves omhoping or happiness and om attachment and tension.

editation opens up to us the natural spaciousness andboundless joy that is inherent in our buddha nature.

I th pacoue, ree rom attachmet ad ree rom all uer-g, our md come to ret. Our compulve thought actvty ot,

a commoly aumed, aroued y exteral codto or cotactwth exteral oject, ut mataed y our patter o attach-met, rejecto ad derece. Our thought ad eelg appeara a reult o our ow tedece. We project our ow er eelgtate outde ad the perceve them a the exteral world. Whe

we lear medtato to keep our md ree o attachmet, o lo-ger fxatg o aythg or cotrctg t wth precoceved dea,

t relaxe totally ad come to ret. Te there o loger ay caueor the arg o thought ad eelg.

When clinging to an I ceases, projections also cease.

Wthout th ee o I, the uject, there o world o exteralpheomea that appear eparate rom t, o oject that appear

to ext depedet o the projectg md. Whe we recogzeth, our clgg to the uppoed realty o appearace dolve


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ad our md top gettg tagled up reacto to t ow pro-

jecto. It ecome quet ad ree o emotoal turmol. rue me-tal calm are.Ordarly, the md wth whch we dety a our I, ceatly

grap at oject ad ecome attached to the varou tuato weexperece. I medtato, we gve up th grapg ad attachmet.

We releae the md rom t etter, allowg all fxato ad dtrac-to to dolve y tel. I th proce o lettg go, the md atu-rally ree tel o all teo ad attachmet that cotrct t adkeep t trapped. We ettle a ever deepeg relaxato, opegup totally. Whatever appears in our mind, we leave to itsel, not hold-g oto or rejectg aythg.

Meditation means allowing the mind to rest inthe present moment without rejecting anything,without creating anything articially, and without

manipulating what is there in any given moment.

I oe o h tructo o the ature o md, the great realzedeg Saraha ad: Whe we relax th md o our that caught attachmet, wthout ay dout t wll lerate tel. It merelya matter o allowg our md to ettle t atural tate whchordary cocoue ret the preet momet, ree rom clg-

g or rejectg, wthout ay artfcalty. Te a ever deepeg re-laxato develop ad that what lead to lerato. Whe weucceed medtatg wthout ay mapulato, all o our teoude ad the md ute tel. Our ope, clear ad alve co-coue ettle tel udtractedly, wthout the lghtet traceo dulle.

o take an example, aer we have poured a cup o tea, at frst the tea

tll moto. But whe we leave the cup aloe, the tea wll grad-ually ettle. Te ame thg happe whe we leave our md aloe:


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he Path o Medtato

t come to ret a tate o atural relaxato that deepe progre-

sively. Not to allow our mind to rest in this relaxed, calm state woulde lke cotatly trrg the teacup.Meditation consists in becoming conscious o the movements that

occur our md ad allowg our thought to reely are ad re-tur to where they came rom. T a atural proce that we m-

ply allow to happe; we merely gve room to th atural opeead potaety o the md. I dog th, we ope ourelve to therecogto that the etre play o maetato, everythg that ap-pear our md, wthout realty. T lead to a relaxato o ourmind and through that to a natural relaxation o our body. Tis doesot mea, however, that our ody goe to a lump. Rather, t ma-ta t erect, ope ad upple poture, ree o all teo.

We have a tedecy to hackle our ody ad md wth thoughtad pla ad to mata th lock wth cotat teo. I reac-tion, our mind becomes either wild or dull. In meditation, we loosen

these etters and allow ourselves to open up in a natural way. Troughth our md recover t pacoue ad evetually t dmeoo wisdom. Free at last rom compulsion and tension, we cease to su-er. o o loger experece uerg mea experecg total joy ad that awakeg!

Opening and letting go is not difcult. It is muchmore difcult to orever hold on and struggle. In

act, letting go is the easiest thing in the world.Tere is nothing at all to do in letting go.

Lettg go a precodto or deep medtato. We mut let go oamara, o our patter o attachmet that caue u to uer. Tedculty wth th that thee patter are very teacou, ecaue

we have urtured them or o log ad have tregtheed themthrough o may deed. But ow we have the polty to ree our-


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elve rom the acato ad the hat that d u to the world

o our attachmet. o do th, we mut develop true reucato ad do t ot merely wth word.Reucato mea detachg ourelve rom our emotoal e-

taglemet worldly aar. Reucato the a o all med-tato. o develop reucato, we frt cotemplate how precouad mpermaet th le . Te we thk o the act that all u-erg ad all happe depedet o our karma, o our acto.

We take a cloe look at the coequece o all the acto that wehave carred out prevouly ad coder what the coequece oour preet acto wll e the uture. We reect o how we our-elve have ee repole or creatg the caue o our attach-met ad o our mpromet amara.

When we admit to ourselves how senselessand ultimately harmul all actions are that we

carry out based on our attachments, we willbe in a position to ee ourselves om them.

Utl ow, we have acted a worldly maer, ecaue we were u-der the uece o gorace, ut ow we ca reoret our lve to-

ward awakeg, thak to our acce to the teachg o the Bud-dha. At the ame tme, we ee that all etet eg are uder the

uece o gorace ad ecaue o that act harmul way adexperece mmee uerg. Mot o thee eg have o cotactat all wth uch tructo ad, thereore, o polty o recog-zg ther gorace ad reeg themelve rom t. All o tharoue our compao, tregthe our reucato ad ope uup eve more to egagg ele practce or the hghet ee-ft o all eg.

Our reucato deepe urther whe geue devoto are u. T devoto coect u wth the leg o the lama ad


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he Path o Medtato

o the leage o tramo ad make t eaer or u to let go o

our lmtato ad attachmet. By practcg the tructo oour teacher, we deepe our cofdece the Dharma ad covceourelve o the truth o the teachg. Whe we poe uch cof-dece ad covcto, t ecome eay or u to let go o our clggto cyclc extece ad ree ourelve rom our acato wth t.

When we ee ourselves om clinging and developcompassion and aith, then through a naturalrenunciation our mind comes to rest all by itsel.

Te path o medtato that lead to the recogto o the atureo md ca e dvded to two phae: the developmet omentalcalm ad the cultvato ointuitive insight. Trough the practce ometal calm, we frt talze ody ad md. T talty devel-op to the pot at whch we ca apply the method o the medta-

to o tutve ght. A our medtato progree, we ecomemore ad more amlar wth deep relaxato whch lead u eort-lessly to corresponding meditation experiences and eventually to lib-erato. Relaxato a precodto or every medtato, regard-le o whch practce we do.

A a frt tep o the path o medtato, we mut lear to collectour md. We do th y oretg t toward the awakeg o all e-

g, a er atttude that come reucato, lovg-kdead compao. I addto, the correct ody poture ad a pec-c reerece pot or our medtato wll make t much eaer or uto collect ourelve metally.


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5

hought a Fred Medtato

I true medtato we are ree o cocer. Whe we ak ourelve

whether we are capale o or good eough to atta realzato, theth how that we have ot udertood the tructo aout theature o md. Te md the dharmakaya, the truth ody. Weshould simply remind ourselves: My mind is dharmakaya, the lamasmd dharmakaya, there o derece etwee the md o thelama and my mind. Te dharmakaya pervades everything. Tereore,there o caue or hope or ear, ce everythg already there.

We oly eed to relax ad have ath the power o the leg othe Tree Jewels and the lama, aith that the true nature o things willreveal tel t ull mplcty whe we are ope ad relaxed.

It is easy to understand that true meditation should be beyond hopead ear. However, th hould ot lead to our watg to get rd othese emotions or revolting against them, because then again we woulde tryg to accomplh omethg ad avod omethg ele.

Toughts as Friends in Meditation

Some practtoer o medtato oly care aout attag pero-al peace. o ga that peace, they attempt to top all movemet othought in the mind. Tey believe that thoughts come rom the out-de ad try to ed o thee truder rom the de, . e., rom

the place where ther eelg o I rede. Tey act lke omeoewho t ther houe, happy ad coteted, the otce omeoepag y o the outde ad uddely aume, or o reao at all,that this person is dangerous and wants to come in and disturb them.o prevet th, they jump up a hurry ad try to arrcade all thewindows and doors. Similarly, some meditators consider thoughts toe a dager, ad the momet oe are, they wat to reue t etry,

throw t out, get rd o t. But medtato ot a attempt to haveo thought the pot ot to clg to the thought that are.


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5

he Path o Medtato

o trve or calm, peace ad cotetmet ot true medtato

ut dcate that we are arad o the projecto o our ow md.Uder the uece o gorace, we try to cut ourelve o romrealty ad eek ret or our eloved I. I medtato, th lead tolaze ad derece, a th motole peace there o ur-gecy to carry out wholeome deed ad avod uwholeome oe

we ed up a kd o mdlee ad wate our tme. I the dealo medtato coted attag a tate ree o the movemet othought, the we ought to ow to a tale, ce t ha ever had aythought. Accordg to that crtero, the tale would e the per-ect medtator who alway ret medtatve aorpto. But cer-taly th ot o.

he goal o meditation is not to becomelike a table but to realize the awarenesso a buddha, i. e., total presence!

I vew o the ovou prolem that are or u rom our metaletaglemet, we may wh to remove thee prolem wthout ur-ther ado y uppreg all thkg. I th udertakg o ah-g thought rom our md, omethg that vrtually mpo-le to do ayway, oe thought attempt to uppre all other. Wthgreat eort, we ca deed et up uch a dctatorhp that proh-

t all movemet o thought y cuttg o each thought a t ar-e. But th could e dagerou or our metal health ad certa-ly ot our goal.

Te point is not to stop individual thoughts but to avoid maintain-g cha o thought. Whe our md ceae reactg to a thoughtthat are, t wll recogze the thought a a movemet o tel. Rec-ogzg tel the movemet, t rema relaxed ad fd ret.

houghts are not the problem, only clinging to them is.


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55


We mut ot reject thought ut e watchul wth regard to cocep-

tual thought that are vrtually automatcally the wake o a per-ception. According to the master Gampopa, the main disciple o Mi-larepa, in his time many meditators believed that it was a ault to havethoughts. Hence, they tried to repress all mental movement and con-centrated so strongly that they ell into a state without consciousness,ak to woog. T the wrog way to medtate.

Rather, the point is to recognize that all thoughts are simply mind.Ter true ature detcal to the ature o md. Smlar to thewave o the ocea, thought are the atural movemet o the md.Each wave ha t ow hape ad ze, ut the water o the dvdu-al wave the ame a that o the ocea tel. We caot eparate the

waves rom the ocean. I we do this and consider waves and ocean,as well as thoughts and mind, to be separate things, then we makea dtcto that doe ot correpod to realty.

In our meditation, we should look directly at the thoughts that arise.

Te we wll ee that they poe ether color or orm othgthat would confrm their existence. Recognizing their real nature, ourmind enters into its original dimension: emptiness without boundar-e, ope lke the ky ad a potaeouly a the thought ha ar-e, o t dolve aga aturally.

When we do not become ascinated by ourthoughts but look at them directly, then all o ourthoughts become opportunities or recognizing the

simultaneously creative and empty nature o the mind.

I th recogto, thought dolve lke owake that all o ahot toe. A medtator wth uch a realzato capale o lettgther md ret the ree ad uceag play o arg ad pag

appearances. Since seeing the arising and vanishing o thoughts is the


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5

he Path o Medtato

a or our recogto o the hghet realty, we hould welcome

them wth a much grattude a we eel or our teacher.Oce our md relatvely tale ad ha detached tel romclgg to thought, the the more thought are, the etter t .Gampopa ad: Te medtato o omeoe who value thought

wll ever uer rom huger. Te more frewood, the gger the fre.Te more thought, the more radat the dharmakaya! o elevethat we could see the nature o mind while at the same time prohibit-g the arg o thought a aurd a hopg to ee the u whle

we rema the darke o a cave.o allow thought to appear wthout hdrace ad to dappear

aga aturally the key to the o-coceptualty (oe tralat-ed a o-thought), o whch the tradtoal tructo peak.Here, to e ree o thkg mea that our thought do ot elc-t ay reacto.

Non-conceptuality is a ee, naturally aware stateo mind in which thoughts appear without ourclinging to them, so that no thinking occurs, i. e., nothought processes in the ordinary sense o the term.

I o-coceptual preece thought cotue to occur, ut we donot regard them as intruders that disturb us. Tey do not set o waves

o hope ad ear, or thkg aout the pat, preet ad uture. Ither true ature, the comg ad gog thought are the play o ul-tmate realty, lluory appearace the opee o pace. o eaware o th ree u rom clgg. We mght ak: Who t whorecogze the urealty o thought? Aer all, there mut e ome-oe who thk ad make th dcovery! But whe we look at theoe who recogze the ature o thought, we wll aga dcover

ether orm or color, etc. Tu we wll ee that there o I, oruject, that experece th recogto.


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5


houghts are like the lama they show us true reality.For all thee reao, we hould regard our thought a red. Teymaet, eve though they are empty eece, ad they pot tothe multarouly maetg ad at the ame tme empty atureo the md. T empty md creatve ad ull o qualte, utt qualte are ot deret rom t eetal empte. Te empt-ness is the underlying dimension whose spontaneous creativity mani-ests as thoughts. Because o that, thoughts are not dierent rom theultmate ature o md. Tere ot the pure ad perect, emp-ty ature o the md o the oe had, ad mpure ad dturgthought o the other.

Moreover, with regard to their fundamental nature, amongthought there are oe that are purer tha other. We do ot eedto ort them to good oe ad ad oe, o a to keep oly thoe

that are pure ad perect. Tat would cottute a attachmet tothe dea o a cocrete realty o thought.

Whe we look, we wll ee that all thought poe the ame emp-ty ature ad are thereore o oe tate. All o them are equally theexpreo o the el-revealg creatvty o oe ad the ame emp-ty md. We eed do othg except look drectly at them. Whe

we recogze ther true ature, our md lerated. T called

the multaeou arg ad el-lerato o thought. Ad Ge-du Rpoche cotue:

I the tream o medtato,wth tme there rema o dereceetwee cocoue ad the oe

8 Whe he taught, Gedu Rpoche requetly poke a almot po-etc way. T paage a tace o h reakg out to oe o thee po-taeou vajra og.


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5

he Path o Medtato

who cocou.

Tker ad thought are equallythe play o the md.

Te eparato etwee percever ad perceved,etwee uject ad oject, drop away.Doer ad deedo loger are deret everythg happe the expae o awaree.

Md aware o telad ret t atural tate,

wthout eer ad ee.Tat o-eeg;that atural cocoue.

Md aware,ut a uject o loger preet.Tat truly ecomg cocou a perect, latg certaty.

Advice on Meditation Experiences

O the path o medtato, ad partcular whe we practce -tevely, we ecouter a multplcty o experece. Accordg tother deret tedece ad capacte, practtoer medtatoexperece may vary. But o whatever kd ad tety thee ex-

perece may e, they all have commo that they maet theexpae o tmele awaree. Experece are alway md ad do

ot poe ay realty eparate rom t.


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Preparing for Death

he practice o harma gains its realmeaning in the preparation or death. It isthen that its ull value becomes evident.

Becaue we have practced durg our letme, we wll have o ear

whe the proce o our dyg eg. We wll e rooted athad kow whch atttude helpul th proce ad whch ot.

We wll reap the rut o a le that wa dedcated to the practce oDharma. I, however, we eg our practce oly at the lat mute,t wholeome eect wll ot materalze tme. Te coequec-e o our uwholeome acto wll ollow u to the proce o dy-g lke a hadow ad lead to experece o great uerg. Tere-

ore, we should apply the instructions without delay and dissolve theurde o our harmul acto whle there tll tme.

Perhap we ay to ourelve that t etter we do ot thk toomuch aout death ce we caot avert t ayway, ad the thoughto t may oly care or depre u. But t ot we to repre thethought o death. Oly whe we urreder to the realty o death, toits inevitability and unpredictability, are we able to prepare ourselves

or t ad look t the eye calmly ad wth a clear md.


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Heart Advce

Our death may happen at any time, be it through an accident, a sud-

de lle, poled ood vrtually aythg may ecome the caueo death or us. We cannot know when our time will come. And how-ever we may try, we caot prevet the arrval o death jut a lt-tle a we ca top the coure o the u. All rche ad all power wllot e ale to help u the leat the ace o death. We wll haveto leave everythg ehd. I we have pet our etre lve accumu-lating things, trying to win riends, build up power and achieve ame,the that mea that we have excluvely ollowed our ego-ceteredclato ad ecome deeply etagled them emotoally.

At our death, we wll o loger have the opportuty to ree our-selves rom these conditionings. All the eort we have spent trying toextract happe or ourelve rom th le wll oly have reulted a great mouta o egatve karma, a all our acto were mot-

vated y el-ceterede. At our death, the orce o thee uwhole-some deeds will hurl us into one o the three realms o existence char-

acterzed y uerg, . e., the hell realm, the realm o the hugryghot ad the amal realm. I thee realm great uerg prevalthat much more tee tha that o the huma realm.

I we are ucetly motvated or prtual practce, the thindicates that we have not thought enough about impermanence anddeath. We may not wish to think about the consequences o a lie that

wa wated wth meagle actvte; thu we mply aert that t

ueceary to prepare ourelve or death ad the tme thereaer.We are attached to worldly le ad t pleaure ad regard our pre-et well-eg a the mot mportat thg. But evetually we wllhave to ace up to the coequece o our acto, ad the t wlle too late to chage aythg.

When we surrender to the reality o death, much will become clearto u that prevouly wa hdde rom our vew. We wll ee ot oly

that death doe deftely come ut alo that t arrval totally u-predctale. It could come at ay momet. We have o tme to loe.


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Preparg or Death

We hould eg our preparato mmedately ad rera rom all

acto that lead to paul rerth. Medtatg o the all-deter-mg power o karma that decde how we wll are the uture a powerul cetve or u to egage wholeome acto, de-

vote ourelve to the Dharma ad top log ay more tme o ourpath to awakeg.

Te consequences o the many unwholesome actions that we haveudertake cottute the greatet dager death. We mut learat oce how we ca dolve thee eed o uerg wth the ad othe Dharma ad tead plat eed o happe. Oly the Dhar-ma, the path o doluto o all el-ceterede, ha th power.Tereore, we hould apply the method o the Dharma mmedate-ly. Durg the proce o dyg ad thereaer, whe we deperate-ly eek protecto, the oly eectve help wll come rom Buddha,Dharma ad Sagha.

We would e wrog to thk that t wll uce or u to ope

ourelve to the Tree Jewel at the lat momet. We mut practcemakg whg prayer ad gog or reuge the Tree Jewel adthe lama over the etre coure o our lve, o that th atttude e-come deeply rooted ad completely atural at our death. Whe weare uprepared or t, dyg a paul proce, ad we mght otreact to t a calm ad collected a maer a we would wh, at ot eay to let go o everythg ad walk to the ukow. It

wll e too late to lear aythg ew our good hat wll have toupport u the.

Whe we devote our lve to the practce o Dharma, we lear totransorm dicult circumstances into the path to awakening, puriyour karma and ree ourselves rom the ballast o the past. Te practiceo Dharma also rees us rom our deeply rooted tendency to make theame mtake aga ad aga ad cotually create ew uerg.

Gradually, t eale u to tad y other ther uerg ad helpthem dissolve their karma. Trough the power o our commitment to


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Heart Advce

practce ad through the purty o our motvato, we wll e ale to

pre more ad more eg to walk the path o lerato. I thway, our practce deed eect the eeft o all eg.

When we are well prepared through ourharma practice, death is an extraordinaryopportunity to deepen our insight.

Very advaced practtoer are ale to atta uddhahood durgther death, y recogzg that ther md the truth ody. Some-

what le advaced practtoer, who y egagg ydam practc-e have leared to ee all appearace a the vared expreo o themd o the Buddha, are ale to atta lerato durg death y re-alzg the ejoymet ody.

I we are ot qute uch well qualfed practtoer ut have de-veloped a ope, relaxed md ad deep trut the lama, the we

will not eel threatened by the illusory appearances o the aer-deathstate but will recognize in them the true nature o all appearances, i. e.,empte. Sce we have practced devoto ad opee towardthe lama ad alo practced makg whg prayer, we wll e aleto led our md wth the md o the lama. Trough th, all theappearace the aer-death tate, whch are othg other thathe maetato o our karmc tedece, wll e purfed mme-

dately a they are. Tey dolve whe we recogze ther true a-ture ad we wll atta complete lerato.

For all thee reao, t vtal that ow, whle we are tll alve,we tur toward the tudy ad practce o the Dharma ad developopee ad trut the mater ad the teachg. Materal thgad red are o o help at our death. Oly the power developedthrough our practce, ad our cofdece ad capacty to ope our-

elve to the leg o the Tree Jewel ad the lama, ca protectu the.


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Preparg or Death

Tereore, rom ow o, we hould ue all tuato, partcularly

thoe that are dcult ad paul, to develop trut ad devoto tothe Tree Jewel ad the lama. Stuato whch we are uergor are attacked or ecouter dcult prolem are the et tragground or us. We should not resort to worldly means o solving themut tead ope ourelve to the leg o the Dharma.

Te more accutomed we ecome to gog or reuge, the more twll alo help u our leep, durg heavy dream, ad durg ourdeath. Trough the prayer that we drect to the ource o reuge our wakg tate, we etalh a hat that eale u to aturally goor reuge durg our dream a well. Whe we do th, our ear m-mediately dissolve and our dream takes a dierent turn. Moreover, ourpotaeou takg reuge durg the dream dcate that gog orreuge has become a reliable, virtually automatic reaction that will sup-

port u alo the proce o dyg. Trough the power o hat thatwe have developed durg our letme o practce we wll rememer

the reuge, ad wth t the Dharma, at our death ad thereaer, adwe wll e ale to fd our way out o all ear ad couo.

hrough our turning to the reuge, we willrecognize the experiences o the dying process as

projections o our mind and not mistake themor orces that act on us om the outside.

I we wat to e certa that we wll atta lerato at our death, addto to ath ad devoto we mut develop a drect uder-tadg o the true ature o all appearace. Tereore, we houlduceagly medtate o the act that the etre world all egad pheomea wthout realty, lke a dream, the lluory d-

play o the md. Whe we truly udertad the lluory ature o

all appearace o happe ad uerg, we wll o loger attr-ute a cocrete realty to our experece ad we wll alo recogze


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Heart Advce

the projecto durg the proce o dyg a lluory. A terryg

a they may e, we wll udertad that they are merely mage the mirror o our mind. Tis understanding develops as we open our-elve to the leg o the lama ad the Tree Jewel. Aga adaga, we come ack to thee key pot o our practce: ath, ope-e ad devoto.

I our letme we have ot leared to lve our experece athough we were lvg a dream ad to recogze the dream tatetel to e a lluo, the t wll e dcult or u to atta lera-to at the tme o death or the aer-death tate. Sce appearac-e ad our tedece maet the ame way aer death a theydo ow, wthout the eeft o Dharma practce we wll regard ourexperece the a eg jut a real a they appear to u ow. Tu, order to e well prepared or death, we hould rght ow practcerecogzg the urealty o all appearace.

Te eta word ardo commoly ued to degate the a-

ter-death phase, but actually bardo quite generally means in-betweentate. At preet, we are a ardo, too, . e., the -etwee tate e-twee rth ad death. Te oly derece etwee th ardo adthe aer-death ardo that our experece aer our death wll emore tee tha ow. Whatever we have expereced ormerlve, whatever we experece the preet ardo, ad whatever we

wll experece the aer-death ardo, the reult o the rpeg

o karmc eed the orce o our acto that we have created coutle letme. All thee deret ardo experece ollow theame law: they are rom karmc caue ad codto.

Tereore, the best preparation or the aer-death bardo is to learnto lve the ardo o the preet momet, wth the ad o our Dhar-ma practce. From the perpectve o the Dharma, our death mere-ly a chage the cotet o what we perceve. Te appearace o

our preet world ceae, ad they make room or other percepto.Tere o real reak: our md cotue to e what t t true


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Preparg or Death

ature ad to perceve wth the ame tedece. Te rame o re-

erece o our percepto chage ut udametally the ame pro-cess continues the reactions o our mind remain the same as beore.I truth, death, a much a le, a lluo, a traet -etweetate, a ardo. Cotrary to what we may perhap aume, wth ourdeath everythg doe ot mply come to a ed.

Death is the continuation o lie: a change oscene in the continuous process o change.

Our percepto aer death are the cotug maetato o ourripening karmic potential. Tis karma continues to be experienced byour mind and senses. Our sensory perceptions continue, even thoughor the tme eg we oly poe a metal ody ad ot a mater-al ody. Ad jut a our preet le, we react wth attachmet oravero ad all the other emoto, depedg o whether our kar-

ma produce peaceul or rghteg experece.Our death ca e compared wth a move. We lve a houe

whch we have developed certa hat, ad oe day the codtoexpre or u to cotue to lve there. We de, pck up our karmcutcae ad move omewhere ele, to lve a deret tuatoad evromet. But eve though we fd ourelve a ew, u-known world, we continue to be accompanied by our old habits. Te

teachg o the Dharma help u oret ourelve th ew tua-to, ecaue th le we have already developed hat that wllhelp u alog ukow lad.

At death our present rame o reerence dissolves. Death is the endo our amlar world. I, durg our letme, we have eleved therealty o th codtoed world, the our death wll pluge u tototal couo. We wll o loger e ale to cope, a all amlar re-

erence points, all the mirrors that ormerly gave us the eeling that weext, are mg. We dcover that we are all aloe. Te lluo that


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Heart Advce

we are urrouded y other, that we are omeody ad that we are

dog mportat thg, collape at death. Ad we have ot uedour letme to develop deep cofdece the reuge ad therey our md, we wll eel uprooted ad lot.

What remains o us at our death is our mind,our view o things and whatever condence,experience and realization we succeededin generating in our stream o being.

At our death, everythg deped o whether we have truly learedto go or reuge reuge the lama, who at the ame tme thetrue dmeo o our md. I the proce o dyg, whe our ur-roudg dolve ad the outer lama ca o loger e reached, weought to e ale, ree o ay dout, to go or reuge the true a-ture o the lama. Trough uch a takg o reuge, the true lama

avalale ourelve.At our death, our md eparate tel rom everythg mater-

al, rom our ody a well a rom the world. It completely akedthe, o loger oud to th ody that retra t ut alo protectit rom an overly quick translation o impulses into action. Our emp-ty, dyamc cocoue dplay a atoudg power whe t o loger achored to a phycal ody: th purely metal dme-

o every thought ha a mmedate eect. I a emoto are, weinstantly fnd ourselves in an environment that mirrors this emotion.Even though our basic mental processes now and aer death are iden-tical, we may have a hard time now imagining our state o mind then,a we have ever our ordary lve expereced th aked co-coue that ot coected to a ody.

I our ordary tate, we cotually create coceptual ocura-

to that coceal the true ature o our md ad o the world. Weever really cocouly etalh cotact wth our deeper ature


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5

Preparg or Death

ule we practce medtato. I the tme aer death, our md

hghly mole ad poee may power that t ha ot leared tocotrol. I addto, t ecouter totally uexpected ad ukowtuato. Uprepared a t , t ca hardly repod appropratelyto thee challege. It very utale aythg ca happe, ad tealy loe t alace. Depedg o whch drecto our thoughttake, we may fd ourelve tate o the deepet happe or thegreatet uerg.

Te Dharma teache u method that eale u to recogze theature o md. Tee prooud tructo, uch a the teachgo the Great Seal (Mahamudra), the Great Perection (Maha-ati), thePerection o Wisdom (Prajnaparamita), and the Way o the Middle(Madhyamaka), with their impressive names, exert a great attractiono prtual eeker. But to udertad thee teachg through ourow experece requre regular, pertet practce. Oly y meao uch practce ca we peetrate to the heart o thee approache

ad ot rema tuck a merely tellectual udertadg. o re-gard ourselves as practitioners o these teachings, without truly under-tadg ther meag, would e a expreo o prtual prde.

At our death, we need a method thatwe have a real mastery o overestimatingourselves will not help us then.

So t ehoove u to exerce modety ad rely o a mple ad aepractce that le wth our reach ad aely lead gorat peoplelke u to lerato. Partcularly uted or th purpoe the prac-tce o makg whg prayer or rerth the pure lad o Am-taha, the Buddha o Lmtle Lght. T practce make t po-ble or us, solely through our aith in Buddha Amitabha, at our death

to ga etry to the pure lad o the realzato o the ature omind. When we attain rebirth in a pure land such as Amitabhas pure


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Gedu Rpoche lke Mlarepa th le he attaed the tate o Vajradhara.11

Te Gyalwa Karmapa12

11 Te level o realzato o Buddha Vajradhara (Dorje Chag) therecogto o the hghet truth ree o all vel, a t wa realzed, or example,y the amou eta yog Mlarepa.

12 Utl h death , the Gyalwa Karmapa, Ragjug RgpeDorje, was the head o the Karma Kagyu lineage o ibetan Buddhism. He wasGedu Rpoche root lama ad tructed hm to teach Europe.


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Gendun Rinpoche:His Life and Work

May thee glmpeto the le o a awakeed materpre may o ther path.

Oly very rarely dd Gedu Rpoche tell tore rom h le. Uu-ally when someone asked him about his lie, he wo

gen dun rinpoche book sampler

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