Gampopa: Instructions on Looking at the mind

This is extract of the chapter 18 of “A String of Pearls”, a collection of Gampopa’s teachings.

This particular part teaches us how to remedy our afflictions by way of meditation on the mind. He used the words “looking at the mind”. In the Maha Saipatthana Sutta itself, the Buddha did not provide much details on this in the chapter on Cittanupassana (“Contemplation on the Mind”). There are definitely more details in the Mahamudra texts of Tibetan Buddhism. Before "looking at the mind", two words you need to know in-depth what it entails, i.e. "looking" and "mind". 

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Looking at our own minds is beneficial and so brings happiness, but how do we go about looking at the mind to bring happiness? If we accumulate causal merit and then look at the resultant accumulation of wisdom, that is “looking at the mind”. Or, if your interest is in the Mantrayana’s generation and completion stages, then that is “looking at the mind”.

During the meditation session, know that everything that appears is the mind. Look at your own mind and see that it has no shape or colour. It is beyond any identification. All the conceptual elaboration of extremes of “is” and “isn’t” are naturally and spontaneously liberated, and the intellect is not engaged in anything. That is “looking at the mind” in a meditation session, which is the true “looking at the mind”.

Meditation on dream and illusion in the post-meditation periods is also “looking at the mind”.

Continually accustom yourself to looking at the mind in these ways. If you do this kind of practice, the Dharma will be a remedy for your afflictions. When the Dharma is a remedy for your afflictions, you have attained the ability to look at the mind. The Dharma teaches that:

“The afflictions agitate the mind

And sink you in the swamp of ignorance.”

It’s very important that the Dharma be a remedy for the afflictions.

If your practice is perfect, you will realise the meaning of deathlessness. If you have medium practice, you will be on the path. If your practice is minimal, you will not be reborn in the lower existences. It’s important to practice with effort, and it’s important to meditate.

Without meditation, you can only slightly turn your mind away from desire, so you will not be liberated from death. Hence, meditation is vital. Through meditation, appearances will be overcome, and you will be naturally liberated from all belief in reality. Therefore, meditation is important. But does meditation itself actually exist? It’s taught that:

“There is no meditation and no meditator.”

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Reflect on Gampopa’s teachings and I invite you to read, such as this https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2010/11/tara-mantras-to-help-avert-calamities.html

Do check the previous posts, in case you have missed any.

#Gampopa #Mahamudra #deathlessness #cittanupassana