Should one’s Body or Mind be Cultivated First?
Rinpoche first discoursed on 10th April, 1993
Senior Yee in France repeated it on behalf of Rinpoche on 9th March, 2003 (after about ten years)
Uploaded to the Website on 28th August, 2014 (and then after about eleven years again)
| Introduction | ||
| There are different Buddhist sects, namely Zen Sect, Tiantai Sect, Pure Land Sect and Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana) etc. Among them, Tantric Buddhism advocates that one should start cultivation from daily life (day-to-day) which means that one should practice Tantric Buddhism without separating from everyday life. To apply consistently the Buddhist Dharma that one has learnt or known in daily life and also to handle worldly matters in an integrated and harmonious way (that is what I always say “Buddhist Dharma is not separated from worldly method.”). The practitioner can later, following the course of nature, jumps out of the worldly level. This is the fundamental principle of learning Tantric Buddhism. | ||
| Content | ||
| 1. | The so-called starting cultivation from daily life is done by cultivating the body first and then the mind. It is only when the Prana (remark: Sanskrit word, meaning life force, the existential energy without which life perishes. The Chinese call it ‘chi’), Nadis (remark: tubular organs of the subtle body, they carry life force energies known as prana in Sanskrit. In the physical body, the nadis are channels carrying air, water, nutrients, blood and other bodily fluids around and are similar to the arteries, veins, capillaries, bronchioles, nerves, lymph canals and so on.) and Bindu (remark: Sanskrit word meaning points or dots, the point at which the many become one. It represents unity) of the physical body are well-practised that the deluded mind, which is uncontrollable as a wild horse without any bridles or some jumping apes and monkeys, can be subdued. | |
| 2. | If the ‘mind’ is not concentrated, it will be difficult to practise the Prana, Nadis and Bindu. Thus, the problem is so arduous that it is utterly very contradictory! Should one’s body or mind be cultivated first? This question can be compared with queries like: “Are eggs available before the emergence of chicken or chicken come before the existence of eggs?” and “Should a car be mended so as to make it movable first or should a driver be taught to drive the car first?” | |
| 3. | Tantric Patriarchs thereby established and compiled a set of ordered stages of cultivation from their personal practical experience as well as fulfillment (or conducting all procedures synchronously): | |
| a) | A ‘Yidam’ is first assigned to a practitioner to act as the corresponding circumstance of his/her contemplation so that he/she can learn to concentrate his/her mind. | |
| b) | In the process of practising Prana and Nadis, a highly concentrated mind is required. A firm foundation of this ability has been already cultivated in the previous stage of contemplating the Yidam. | |
| c) | When the cultivation of Prana and Nadis shows little achievements in which an initial success is attained, one can then practise cultivating of joining ‘Prana and Nadis’ together with ‘Bindu’. This is the stage of learning the application of Prana and Nadis. | |
| d) | Eventually, one specializes in cultivating ‘Bindu’. That is the Dharma-practice of ‘Dzogchen (Great Perfection)’ as well as ‘Mahamudra (Great Seal)’. The cultivation is done sequentially from stage to stage. | |
| 4. | When there is considerable achievement in the cultivation of Prana, Nadis and Bindu, it is time to change and focus oneself on the cultivation of ‘mind’. In this way, one’s cultivation can easily be like, ‘When water flows, a channel is formed (remark: which means that something is achieved without any effort).’ | |
| 5. | Actually, when the cultivation of Prana and Nadis reach a certain stage, one’s mentality will thus be affected. At this stage, one’s mind and soul will start to be purified so that one will not be ‘contaminated’ easily by unreal realms. | |
| Conclusion | ||
| If the cultivation of Prana and Nadis ‘Bindu’ is achieved, the practitioner is said to be reborn like casting off one’s old self. One becomes different from wordly people both psychologically and physiologically even though one still complies one’s living with the mortal world. In fact, one’s gradation has already surpassed the wordly people.
If one does not cultivate one’s mind, but only concentrates on Dharma practice, one can certainly gain the blessing virtues of ‘Dharma practice’ like: ‘glory, splendour, fortune and rank’, ‘wife, wealth, son and official-emolument’, ‘longevity with all desires fulfilled’ etc., and other similar types of low-leveled benefits. Since the mind of the practitioner has not yet been transformed, naturally, one is lack of the meritorious power of having a pure heart. In this way, one’s rate of progress in cultivation is hindered. Hence, one should depart from the constraints of ‘Dharma’ by releasing the attachment to Dharma before one can be able to know as well as understand the ontology of the Universe. Of course, returning to our main topic, if one does not cultivate Dharma, it is unnecessary to speak in such a splendid way that one will cultivate one' mind. This is because if no Dharma practice is done, there will not be any ritual and it is exactly the situation that ‘nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards’ (remark: rules and regulations must be adhered to in handling affairs). When the deluded minds of sentient beings, which are already like that of wild horses, apes or monkeys, lose the reins, the restless and whimsical minds are thus unable to be subdued. This eventually makes one get the mad and crazy wisdom instead of acquiring the Panna ‘wisdom’ (remark: an insight in the true nature of reality) which is highly praised by Buddhists! Let’s take someone who learns martial arts as an example. If such a person only focuses on the practice of excellence in movements as well as elite training in swordsmanship without showing adequate understanding in the mastery of humanity, justice, propriety and wisdom (the Four Cardinal Virtues) in mind, one is not only a tragedy to oneself but also thereby becomes another tragedy for other people. Lacking the mind of the Four Cardinal Virtues to deal with matters, the martial arts learner thinks that can solve all problems with one’s valiant Kung Fu and bravery. Just as the common phenomenon in the society at the moment, when two parties were having a dispute, it would develop into ‘spat at the beginning and then used force’ eventually. Frequently, the party with martial arts foundation, though without any sharp weapons in hand, would inflict heavy casualties or even perish the other one. Yet one oneself would then be confronted by legal charge. One who possesses the mind of the Four Cardinal Virtues is like having a ‘protector’ by one’s side. The protector will assist you with all protector’s strength to overcome hatred, recklessness, impetuousness as well as rescuing you from sinking into all kinds of inextricable, disastrous abyss. Similarly, when a practitioner spends all one’s energy in one’s whole life on merely practising Dharma and chanting incantations persistently without realizing and understanding the significance as well as necessity to cultivate one’s mind, it will also evolve into a type of tragedy. During the end of life, all sorts of illusions that are created by the deluded mind will emerge successively to induce the practitioner’s consciousness of greed and hatred. This makes the practitioner suddenly fall into the Three Evil Paths (remark: namely the hells, hungry ghosts and animals) in an instant. Or it is after the end of life when the practitioner discovers that the nutriment of blessedness one has accumulated in one’s cultivation for all one’s life is only that for the transmigration in the world but not the expected power of merits and blessed virtues for ‘achieving the Yidam, transcending beyond the three realms, detaching from life and death and releasing from cycle of rebirth (reincarnation) forever’. To be like this, it is pathetic! Moreover, there is a great difference in level between sentient beings floating and sinking in the wheel of reincarnations of the six realms and practitioners who have achieved rewards in the various stages of attaintment. They are completely decided by the samklesa-vyavadana (remark: cleanness or contamination) of ‘one’s mind’. Just as Guru Padmasambhava has ever said, “Whether one can progress upward to the three good states of existence (namely the devas, the human and the asura), separate oneself from the wheel of reincarnations, or attain Buddhahood are all depends on the ‘enlightenment’ rather than the ‘confusion’ of one’s mind.” It is thus obvious that the cultivation of mind is the fundamental solution of all. After all, how can one disdain or be perfunctory to the imperative of the cultivation of mind! |
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