If your aim is to experience God or spirituality the trick is to reexamine what you take to be true. The thing that keeps us stuck in limitation is the unwillingness to look anew at what we assume is normal. Thus we go plodding along living in the same limitations.
But the problem with limitation is that it’s too small for us. It is like a shoe that doesn’t fit. This is the beginning of suffering. Then we look every which way to get out of the irritating feeling of limitation. We never notice that the very nature of the one who seems to be suffering is the one that we are looking for.
A fresh look at your mind
Padma, in The Tibetan Book Of Great Liberation, gives us the opportunity to take a fresh look at our mind. You will see that the thing you call mind is much larger than you think. The thoughts in your head make up only a tiny portion of this mind. In fact our mind is so large that there is no room for a second. That’s why he calls it the One Mind.
Although it is large, it is here that we find our true home; it is here, centered in the One Mind, that we can truly find peace. By the end of The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation you will know that this is more than just a theory. If you look in the direction that Padma points, you will see that this One Mind is your direct experience. Indeed by the end of this series of blogs you will wake up.
The meaning of some Buddhist terms
Here are a few terms that Padma uses: The Three Regions and the Six Classes are different ways that Buddhists divide up limitation. The Three Regions are 1. desire, 2. form, and 3. freedom from desire and form. The Six Classes are 1. the Gods, 2. Energy Beings, 3. Humans, 4. Animals, 5.Ghosts and 6. Dwellers in Hell. Until you wake up and based on your Karma, you pass through each class for a limited time. With this explanation, here are Padma’s verses in the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation.
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Knowledge of that which is vulgarly called mind is widespread.
Inasmuch as the One Mind is unknown, or thought of erroneously, or known one-sidedly without being thoroughly known as it is, desire for this teachings will be immeasurable. They will also be sought after by ordinary individuals, who, not knowing the One Mind, do not know themselves.
They wander hither and thither in the Three Regions, and thus among the six classes of beings, suffering sorrow.
Such is the result of their error of not having attained understanding of their mind.
Because their suffering is in every way overpowering, even self-control is lacking to them.
Thus, although one may wish to know the mind as it is, one fails.
The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation
By Padma-Sambhava
Translated by Evans-Wentz
Oxford University Press
What is a partial understanding of Mind?
Although we all experience the One Mind, we now have only a partial knowledge of what we experience. For instance, do you think that your mind is just the thoughts in your head or your emotions? Not only that, we take our mind to be a few specific thought patterns, and these patterns determine the limited ways that we respond to life.
For instance, you think, I can’t find the nature of my Mind. It is much too difficult. Now this is just a thought with no power of its own. If you let it pass by like millions of other thoughts it will not affect you at all. After all, how can a thought know the nature of Mind? It is much too small. But if you believe this thought and live by it, then it can affect you strongly. This one thought can stop you from discovering your own innate freedom and bliss.
What is self control anyway?
Desire, discipline, and self-control are often misunderstood in spirituality. Thus people waste lots of time trying to control their thoughts and their actions. In the end this will fail. That’s because people will always go towards that which they think will cause their happiness. This is the desire to return to their true home.
But mistaking happiness to be in the objects that they see, people get caught in misery. This is because by their nature objects are limited and so can only give limited happiness. Limitation is too small for us and will soon end up in misery.
Look at life with fresh eyes
Discipline in a spiritual sense, is to look at life with fresh eyes and not to assume that things are the way you thought they were. Then you will notice that happiness actually comes from your own heart and not from the objects that you see. This is the truth of things: objects and thoughts cannot give you what they don’t have and that is happiness. This recognition is the beginning of your practice, which will end in your complete and unadulterated freedom.
So in the next week when you enjoy something like good food or a movie, notice where the joy is coming from. You will see that even a new car or house cannot give you the happiness that you already have.
So stay tuned, because next week we will continue with The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation. Be prepared, because now you can step into complete freedom.
Feel free to ask questions
Please
feel free to continue asking questions. I’m always glad to hear your
reactions and clarify my answers. Unlike the path of faith, on the path
of Self-Knowledge it is curiosity that destroys limitation and allows
you to abide in your natural freedom.
If the comment section of this blog doesn't work, please send your questions and comments to michael@ananya.com. To find out where this all leads go to, www.light-up-your-life.com. And finally, if you enjoy these blogs please tell your friend
Best Wishes,
Michael Gluckman
