Phurpa Tashi Rinpoche
No matter who you are, if you practice according to the lineage Gurus’
teachings, it is for sure that you will realize the meditative view you are
looking for… During each teaching, I explain techniques for bringing your
meditation to the next level — what conditions are needed etc. Therefore, you
need to keep studying the teachings of the lineage Gurus.
Khenpo Ngagchung said that no matter how much theory you understood, when it
came to practice, you need the experiential advice of a qualified teacher to
gain realization. This means that books are only an explanation. But many, many profound instructions are not
recorded in words. You need an
experienced and qualified teacher to transmit it to you…
Taking the Chan tradition’s Venerable Huineng as an example, he had a very
sharp acumen, but it was only after receiving the fifth Chan ancestor’s
teaching that he attained true realisation.
Although Huineng did not go through many years of systematic teaching
under his teacher, he needed his teacher’s transmission or blessings.
This goes to show how profound this blessing is. It has some secret meanings in it. This is what we need to receive from our
teachers. In the process of explaining
the instructions, we are also trying to transmit this to disciples.
But you have to practice according to what is taught. As said, whether your
meditation can progress to the next level depends on taking hold of this secret
meaning. If not, no matter how well you
practice, you are only becoming more well-versed or accustomed to the
meditation, there is no way to progress to the next level because you have
already sealed the path upwards. There is no way to elevate your
meditation. This is how some
practitioners are.
I have met some practitioners in various places. Although what they are
practicing is not called “shamatha with object”; they might like to call their meditation
other names such as “objectless shamatha” etc, but basically, they were stuck
in the meditation of “shamatha with object or reference point”.
There is something they were fixating on (whether it is a physical object or a
mental object such as ‘clarity’, ‘awareness’, ‘emptiness’, ‘bliss’ etc). They have practiced for many, many years. Ultimately, their meditative ability has
progressed to only being more adept at maintaining their ‘state’. They have become more familiar with their
meditation. It comes more easily to
them. But there is no way for them to
enter a deeper meditation. Basically,
there is no deeper meditation to speak of for them.
What is the reason? They did not have
the technique. They were just practicing
in a robotic or rigid manner. They were
getting more and more used to this ‘meditation’. It was getting easier and more habitual to
them. But they remained stuck
there. There was no progress.
Therefore, we should remember that there are such layers of secret meanings in
the Dharma path. Following a teacher is
for the sake of understanding these principles.
In your Dharma path, remember this and you will have more and more
progress in your path.
