3. CREATING A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT

FIRST, YOU SHOULD seek a proper environment and arrange a comfortable seat, slightly upraised at the rear so that when you do long meditation sessions you will not feel tired. Then, the position of your body should be maintained in the Vairocana posture: your legs crossed, if possible; your spine straight; your head slightly bent and the eyes downcast, looking in front of you; and the tip of the tongue touching the palate of the mouth. You should judge for yourself the best position for your eyes: some people find that doing the meditations with open eyes is much more powerful, whereas others find it very distracting. For them, slightly closing the eyes might prove more beneficial. Generally speaking, I think that visualizations of the deities and so forth, if conducted with the eyes open, will have a greater clarity. Sometimes it may also be beneficial to just sit down facing a wall directly, so that you don’t have any distraction. The point is that you should figure out a way that you find least distracting and that permits you greatest clarity.

You may find the position uncomfortable. If so, at the beginning of your meditation—just as a symbol, a sign of auspiciousness—try to sit cross-legged at least for a while and then later you can adopt leg postures more comfortable for you.

Place the hands in the position of meditative equipoise, four finger-widths below your navel, the right palm on top of the left, the two thumbs touching each other, forming a triangle there. You should keep your elbows away from your body, slightly outstretched so that air can pass through. Keeping the upper tip of the tongue touching the palate of the mouth may prevent thirst; otherwise, if you just open your mouth, then—as a result of breathing meditations and so forth—you might feel thirsty.

The most important thing is to have an object appropriate to your meditation. To help you have a better visualization, it is good to have a representation of the deity on whom you are meditating, such as the Buddha Shakyamuni, the master of the doctrine, and to look at it frequently. If you don’t have any representations, that is all right, but if you do have them, they should be arranged properly—statues, scriptures, and so forth.

I always make the remark that inside Tibet, since the Chinese have meted out great destruction of religious monuments, making statues is quite important, because they can be used to point out to the younger generation that such is the Buddha, and such is Avalokiteshvara, the patron deity of Tibet and the embodiment of compassion, and such is Manjushri, the deity of wisdom, and so on. But here, representations—for a serious practitioner—are not indispensable. Many masters of the past, such as the great meditator Milarepa, achieved high realizations without depending on these external factors. It is important to be able to judge what are the most essential elements.

Furthermore, I often mention that although there have been very great masters in Tibet who have had high realizations, at the same time there have been many shortcomings in Tibet as well. Even in religious practices worldly considerations have crept in, so it is very important for all practitioners to realize that the practice of dharma means bringing about a discipline within one’s mind—in other words, training the mind.

Therefore, one should not view one’s dharma practice as being something decorative, regarding statues and images as material possessions or as furnishings for one’s house, or thinking that because there is an empty space on a wall one might as well put up a thangka for decoration. That kind of attitude should not be cultivated. When you arrange the statues or thangkas, you should do so out of a deep respect from the mind, moved by your faith and conviction. If you can arrange these physical representations—statues and so forth—out of deep respect and faith, that’s all right. On the other hand, the attitude that they are merely material possessions is dangerous and destructive. I think that some people who have a cupboard or the like in which they keep all their precious possessions may arrange an altar on it just for the sake of decoration. This is very wrong.

It is also dangerous to arrange statues of very wrathful dharmapalas, or protectors, without also having a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni. One’s attitude in arranging such statues, if it is influenced by worldly considerations, such as thinking that if one propitiates such and such a protector one’s wealth will be increased and so forth, is unsafe. Sometimes I feel it is almost like entrusting these deities on the altar on top of the cupboard to protect the things that are inside the cupboard and perhaps increase them if possible! Such an outlook is contradictory to the practice of dharma. If the great Kadampa masters such as Dromtonpa were to come in person and see such an arrangement made with such motivation, they would never admire or be pleased by it, but would denounce it. I can guarantee such a response.

Having such motivations is not the proper way to become a Buddhist; the proper way to become a Buddhist is to bring about some positive change within the mind. Any practice that can give you more courage when you are undergoing a very difficult time and that can provide you with some kind of solace and calmness of mind is a true practice of the dharma.

I thought that it would be more beneficial if I explained the disadvantages of arranging the altar in such a manner and with the wrong motivation, than if I explained the advantages of properly arranging an altar. If we were to spend all our energy and time simply on the arrangement of beautiful altars and so forth, totally neglecting the development of the mind, then that would be very bad.

The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned. While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean place. You should see that all the external dirt and dust around you is basically a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You should see that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults from within your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that you are also purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by cleaning this place you are inviting the host of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are the most supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a path that will enable you to purge your mind of the stains of delusions.

Then, if you have a representation of the Buddha’s speech, such as a text on Lamrim, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses, or any other texts, it would be good to arrange them properly. Offerings can also be arranged, if you have some—but if you do not have them, they can be done without. When you make offerings, it is important to see that the materials of the offerings have not been wrongly procured. There is nothing to be admired about elaborate offerings if the materials for the offerings are obtained in a wrong way, because the negativities accumulated in the process of procuring such materials will not be offset by the merits gained through offering them. So, such offerings are pointless and foolish. However, a great store of merit can be gained on the basis of making offerings properly.