as it is - vol 1¶
a book by tulku urgyen rinpoche (richard gere helped fund this publishing)
it covers the category called keyrim aka development stage aka generation aka visualization practice1
the development stage is followed by the second stage called dzogrim aka completion stage2
urgyen is the father of mingyur whose book confusion-to-clarity i read, i would not try to read this book without reading & understanding confusion to clarity (ngondro), they are both full of tibetan/sanskrit words translated and other jargon that will confuse anyone new to these subjects
if you have difficulty understanding emptiness when this book, someone recommended the book "Emptiness" by Guy Armstrong
I finished this in 2021, it was preceded by vajra speech followed by as it is vol 2
how to remain thought free¶
once you understand this book, this is the practice
(In any situation - eating, awake or asleep, working, going the bathroom)
SUSPEND YOUR ATTENTION WITHIN THE NATURE OF NON-DUAL AWARENESS
"...enlightenment is unconstructed..."
warning on emptiness¶
emptiness, intellectually can bring about anxiety, nihilism, this is not the point of emptiness in buddhism
in your practice imo do not "space out" and become mentally dull, if you are practicing correctly you become more awake & it requires less effort, eventually takes almost no effort
page 160
If buddha nature was only empty it would be impossible for it to recognize itself, just as space cannot see itself. We are empty cognizance, AND THIS COGNIZANCE IS WHAT CAN RECOGNIZE. (note: I added the all caps there)
jargon¶
Namtok
The Tibetan word for thought is namtok. Nam means the perceived forms of the five senses and the mental objects. Tokpa means the concept formed about what is perceived.
aka Twofold Ignorance in his book Vajra Speech
There are two types of ignorance: coemergent and conceptual ignorance. In the moment after seeing our essence, it almost immediately slips away. We get distracted and we start to think of something. Coemergent ignorance is simply to forget. Conceptual ignorance comes in the moment after forgetting, forming thought after thought. As one thought follows after another, a long train of thoughts can develop. Forgetting and thinking·- that is the twofold ignorance, coemergent ignorance and conceptual ignorance. If these two were purified, we would be buddhas. But as long as the coemergent and conceptual aspects of ignorance are not purified, we are sentient beings.
chapter 9 expression and awareness¶
alan wallace said enlightenment is similar to someone trying to find their glasses when they're already wearing them
problem is enlightenment isn't that easy, glasses are objects we perceive, emptiness is invisible to our mundane perceptions but it can be recognized, like anything people that know how to do it make it look and sound easy but it's obviously confusing and difficult to everyone else
i'd like to highlight this sentence, and advise to keep in mind these properties are considered ineffeble (non conceptual, beyond words)
IF YOU TALK ABOUT THIS A HUNDRED TIMES, A THOUSAND TIMES, MIND ESSENCE IS EXACTLY THE SAME:
page 161
You can recognize who you are, right?
If you look some other place, how will you ever know who you are? It's like a crazy man, an idiot, losing himself in the bazaar in Kathmandu.
He runs around in the bazaar trying to find himself, until someone points at him, and says, "You are right here, you are you."
Noticing himself, he finally says, "Oh, yeah"
That is the same job the master takes on when pointing out a disciple's mind essence.
He says your mind is empty cognizance; recognize yourself and you will see it.
What does it look like? It is seeing that there is no thing to see. It is called empty.
The knowing of that is the cognizance.
And these are not two separate things, they are indivisible.
Do you agree that it isn't a thing to be seen? This is the fact of looking and seeing that mind is no thing to be seen.
Seeing that is called the great sight.
If you talk about this a hundred times, a thousand times, mind essence is exactly the same:
Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing,
Is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state.
When not altering what is, allow it to be as it is,
And the awakened state is right now spontaneously present.
Understand those words! They are Padmasambhava's words from the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo and they show the true meaning.
log¶
2020-09-28
purchased online along with vol 2 & vajra speech
2021-03-04
read up to chapter 9 so far, have some messy notes that aren't ready to publish yet
in chapter 9 a student asks rinpoche about dream yoga