The Practice of Tranquillity & Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Mediation by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Author:Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Snow Lion
Published: 1994-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

The study of emptiness in the sutras is the study of the Prajiidpdramitd. In the vajrayana or tantra teachings the realization of emptiness is accomplished by looking at mind itself. Normally one thinks of the mind as being very strong and powerful, especially when all the thoughts and klesas arise. But when one carefully examines to see where the mind actually is, one finds that there is nothing there, just a state of peace. This is called the state of great bliss because there is an absence of suffering and klesas. While meditating one may think, "I cannot meditate because there are so many thoughts coming up." But when one examines where the thoughts come from and what they really are, one finds that they do not exist. There is just this natural state of peace. When I was very young, my teacher would tell me that all phenomena were empty, but I thought that this was impossible and could not be right. Later when studying the texts, I realized that phenomena were empty after all, but I did not see how the mind could be empty. There were so many thoughts and there was a power to all these thoughts and feelings, so it was impossible for the mind to be empty. But after receiving the instructions for meditation and analyzing the mind, I realized, "Oh, the mind is empty after all." So first one discovers that phenomena are empty, then one analyzes the mind and finds that it is also empty. With analysis it is easy to understand the emptiness of mind. What is difficult is to familiarize oneself with and habituate oneself to that understanding. Just to analyze the mind to see that its nature is empty is not very beneficial. For instance, when suffering begins it is of little help to simply think, "The nature of suffering is emptiness." But if one accustoms one's mind to the understanding of emptiness, then the mind poisons will be eliminated and suffering will be pacified.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.