THE MAHAYANA mind training that eliminates future adversities has three parts: [(1) The preliminary, (2) the actual practice, and (3) the purpose of mind training.]
1. The preliminary
There are four occasions when mind training is likely to be forgotten: (1) at the agonizing moment of death, (2) in the intermediate state, (3) in the mother’s womb, and (4) in the next life. There are four occasions when mind training is likely to be lost: (1) when suffering severe harms at the hands of humans, (2) [when suffering severe harms] caused by nonhumans, (3) when suffering a grave illness brought on by the elements, and (4) when undergoing strong afflictions.
The antidote to these is as follows: Having made offerings to the teacher and the Three Jewels, make the following prayers: “Bless me that undistorted realizations of Mahayana mind training may arise in me. Bless me to not forget mind training during the four occasions when it is likely to be forgotten and to not lose it when it is likely to be lost.”
Next, offer tormas to the Dharma protectors and, as before, make aspiration prayers: “Having accumulated the merit, may Mahayana mind training arise in me. May it not be forgotten when this is likely to occur, and may it not be wasted during the four occasions when this is likely.”
Make these aspiration prayers and repeat the same in relation to the collective merit of sentient beings.
The four prescriptions of the practice of Mahayana mind training, the master said, are as follows: (1) all paths are traversed by one, (2) all aspirations are concentrated into one, (3) all conceptions are leveled out, and (4) the remedies are instantly applied to vanquish [the opposing forces].
All paths are traversed by one, for there are no enumerations of levels and paths [in mind training]. You simply undermine self-grasping as fully as you can. If you annihilate it today, you attain buddhahood today; if you annihilate it tomorrow, you attain buddhahood tomorrow; if it remains undestroyed, there is no buddhahood; and when you annihilate it, it has been taught, at that instant you become fully enlightened.
All aspirations are concentrated into one, for whatever activities you might engage in, be it traveling, strolling, sleeping, or sitting, you have no purpose other than to undermine self-grasping to the best of your ability and to help sentient beings as much as you can. Few other aspirations need be pursued, it has been taught.
All conceptions are leveled out. Some assert that all conceptions are to be eliminated; however, you don’t need to eliminate them. Take conceptions onto the path instead, for they are the very stuff of the dharmakāya. As for afflictions, they are subtle when they first arise, and it is vital to vanquish them the moment they are born. If not destroyed, they grow enormous and then cannot be overcome. If afflictions can be easily averted by simply applying the antidotes at their first appearance, what a pity if you shy away and don’t eliminate them, the master said. So when a conception arises, examine thus: “Where does it arise from? Where does it reside? Where does it go when it ceases?” and recognize that it is devoid of intrinsic existence. And, like meeting a past acquaintance, you take it onto the path, the master said. Or, like snowflakes falling onto hot rocks, you dissolve it into emptiness.
The remedies are instantly applied to vanquish [the opposing forces], for the instant afflictions arise, just like hitting the head of each pig with a stick, you apply whatever is the most effective antidote [to that specific affliction], the master said.
2. The actual practice
The practice of Mahayana mind training has three methods of applying antidotes: (1) conjuring what is not there, (2) vanquishing through direct encounter, and (3) mocking.
The first method is like a Mongol taming a tiger:159 First he practices by learning the skills of taming a tiger so that when he actually meets a tiger, he can subdue it. If he has not trained previously, he will be unable to tame it and may instead become its prey. Similarly, you should vividly conjure within yourself the powerful afflictions, such as attachment, and then imagine driving them away. By not ignoring your thoughts but training them, the antidotes will appear spontaneously whenever afflictions arise, and because of this you will not be overwhelmed by conditions. In other words, you will not fall under the power of the afflictions. If you fail to train in this manner, the antidotes will not eliminate the adverse conditions, and you will fall prey to the afflictions, the master said.
The second method, vanquishing [the afflictions] through direct encounter, is this: Avoid acting like an elderly couple who are being robbed. Furthermore, when afflictions arise, they do not start out forcefully. They arise subtly at the beginning, so the moment they arise, you need to avert them by challenging them, thinking, “Who are you?” If you do this, you will not fall under their power; you will be able to overcome them through antidotes. If they are not averted at that point, their strength will increase, and they will then be difficult to overcome with antidotes. As if striking pig heads with a stick, drive afflictions away the moment they arise.
The third method, that of mocking, means to chide yourself for falling under the afflictions’ power, thinking, “Alas! What kind of weakling are you? What point is there in such behavior?” Mock yourself in this way. Furthermore, when afflictions arise, think, “Because you behaved in this manner you are wandering in cyclic existence. Are you going to continue to behave like this?” Counter them and drive them away in this manner, the master said.
So for the preliminary, you conjure what is not there; for the actual practice, you vanquish through direct encounter; and for conclusion, you mock yourself, the master said.
The essential points of mind training are, the master said, (1) to heap together, (2) to generate, and (3) to purify. “To heap together” means, for example, contemplating during an illness, “There are unimaginable illnesses in the universe; may all of these befall me at this very moment, and may their continuum come to an end.” In other words, you heap upon yourself the sufferings of all sentient beings.
“To generate” refers to visualizing a hollow light where you are and imagining that this increases in size, eventually swallowing everything into emptiness. You then place your mind naturally poised in this state, the master said.
“To purify” refers to visualizing a white Āḥ, which progressively diminishes and disappears, becoming devoid of intrinsic existence. You should then place your mind naturally poised in this state, the master said.
3. The purpose
There are four immediate virtues of Mahayana mind training, it has been taught: (1) It is the great counterbalance to happiness, (2) it is the great closure to your misery,160 (3) it is the sympathetic friend if you live alone, and (4) it is the nurse when you are sick.
[It is the great counterbalance to happiness.] Without a teaching such as this mind training, then generally, you do not practice when things are going well; you develop an interest in practice only when your fortune declines. Recognize that since cyclic existence is in the nature of suffering, the perception that it is joyful is a delusion. When such a thought [that it is joyful] occurs, inquire, “Where does it arise from?” If it abides, ask, “Where does it abide?” If it ceases, analyze, “Where does it go when it ceases?” “What color and form does it have?” If you view [cyclic existence] in this manner, you will come to understand that it is devoid of intrinsic existence. This is the counterbalance to happiness.
[It is the great closure to your misery.] If you lack this type of spiritual practice, then when tragedy strikes, you tend to aggravate it with such thoughts as, “Why is this happening to me?” Whereas when you possess this mind training, usually you recognize self-grasping as the root cause of your suffering. The grasping at your body as “mine” is to blame. The coming together of the causes and conditions for suffering is to blame. Arrows cannot hit a target not put up; birds cannot land on a roof not erected. Similarly, if you do not grasp the body as “mine,” you simply have no basis for suffering to arise. So your self-grasping is to blame. Without grasping as “mine” what you cherish so much in your heart, this situation will not arise. Can suffering exist in the earth, rocks, mountains, cliffs, or in empty space? As you probe in this manner, suffering is pacified. This is the closure to your misery.
It is the sympathetic friend if you live alone. Without a spiritual practice such as this, you cannot live alone [peacefully]. When indoors, you will feel like going out; when outside, you will feel like coming in. However, with a practice such as this, you recognize that, in general, self-grasping is the root cause of the suffering of all beings. So think, “Since grasping on to something as having intrinsic existence when in fact there is none makes me suffer, I will let go of it as best as I can. I will let go of it so that it is wiped clean.”161
It is not true that the array of beings in cyclic existence are unconnected. Since all of them are your kind and dear parents, take their suffering into your heart and dedicate your happiness and virtues to them. As you practice by exchanging these two and even once experience its taste, days and nights will seem very short. So if you live alone, this mind training becomes a sympathetic friend.
It is the nurse when you are sick. If you lack this mind training, then when you become ill, no nurse will seem satisfactory. You will be plagued by such thoughts as “She could have done more for me, for she owes me a lot,” and you will thus be consumed by thoughts about what others should have done for you. If on the other hand you possess this mind training, when you become ill, you will think like this: “No one is to blame for my illness; my own self-grasping is to blame. For without grasping on to self, sickness has no basis to arise. If I benefit from nursing, then I can recall how I have had nurses countless times in the past. There is no medicine I have not taken, no healing ritual that I have not had performed. As for treatment, there is no treatment I have not undergone. Whether I will become free from cyclic existence or not, today I will vanquish this self-grasping. Help me destroy it. I will derive great satisfaction [from destroying it]. I will vanquish this self-grasping and let it go.”
Without annihilating this self-grasping, there is no attainment of buddhahood, the master said.
As you meditate with the thought, “It is my grasping at body as ‘mine’ that is to blame,” your feeling of superiority to other beings will subside. This is how mind training acts as your nurse, the master said.
It has been taught that Mahayana mind training leads to the following way of being of one’s body, speech, and mind:
When suffering occurs, I will take on that of all beings;
when virtue arises, I will dedicate it to all.
Body and speech are like an illusion and an echo,
while the clear-light mind is devoid of going and coming.
The first [taking the sufferings of all beings] is twofold: taking them from what is nearest and taking them from what is greatest. Of these, the first is to contemplate with the thought, “May all the sufferings of my parents, friends, and relatives ripen upon me at this very instant. May the continuum of all these sufferings come to an end.” The second is to contemplate with the thought, “May all the sufferings of the hell realms ripen upon me. May the continuum of all these sufferings come to an end.” Then extend this to all beings and take their sufferings—from the hungry ghosts, from the animals, from the demigods, from the celestial gods, and from human beings.
To dedicate your virtues when virtues arise to the assembly of beings, whatever virtues arise, meditate with the thought, “May my roots of virtue come to fruition upon my two parents and upon all the sentient beings of the six classes. May all beings enjoy happiness and be free from suffering.”
Regarding viewing your body and speech as illusions and echoes, the body is said to be like an illusion. Through the power of mantra and magical substances, the magician casts a spell on the eyes of the spectators, thus making them perceive various illusory creations, though he himself does not apprehend them as real. Even at the moment perceptions appear, things do not exist as such. Taking this mere appearance that transcends the extremes of both permanence and annihilation as a metaphor for the body, meditate on the absence of intrinsic existence in the face of appearances.
Likewise, speech is like an echo. For example, if you shout in a gorge with high cliffs, “O lady echo,” you will receive exactly the same response. However, you cannot say that this exists [as speech], for it is an echo. Yet you cannot say that it does not exist either, for it is obviously there. With this illustration of mere appearance, meditate on how speech is indistinguishable from an echo and, in this manner, meditate on the absence of intrinsic existence.
“The clear-light mind is devoid of going and coming” indicates that for this mind of clear light, you cannot say that it has gone somewhere, nor can you say that it abides somewhere. Devoid of origination, cessation, and abiding, and not existing with any identity, it is like space.
So the body is like an illusion, speech is like an echo, and the mind is devoid of intrinsic existence. Place your mind naturally poised in this state of absence of intrinsic existence, the master said.
May this instruction stemming from the glorious [Atiśa] Dīpaṃkara remain ever excellent!