Retreat to Advance

This is taken from a collection of four emails written for someone who had never been on a retreat before, but decided to dive in and do the one month Tibetan Buddhist Lam Rim retreat held every November at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. The thought behind the emails was to give them a heads up and a quick orientation before they arrived!

They can be broken down thus:

1. General context setting focusing on Buddhism
2. Specific context setting focusing on Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelugpa and Kopan
3. Some of my personal retreat experiences
4. Brief overview of practices that might be encountered at Kopan

First I will set the general context within which Kopan is situated – please be patient!

Well as you know the guy who became known as the Buddha or Awakened One, Prince Siddhartha Gautama, otherwise known as Shakyamuni Buddha (Shakya = his family clan and Muni = sage or wise person) was born just over 2500 years ago in Lumbini which is now part of Nepal.  He abandoned his palace of enforced luxury (his father worried about his son not wanting to take over his kingdom but instead wanting to become a spiritual teacher, so he did his best to make Siddhartha's life as comfortable and sheltered as possible) after a previous sneaky excursion where he was exposed to the suffering of old age, sickness, death and a wandering yogi searching for the "Truth".  Moved by compassion for his loved ones and others he wanted to discover the path that ends all forms of suffering and seek the Truth himself.  So he studied with various yogis in India for about seven years mastering all the techniques and almost starving to death while applying one.  Realising that extremes were not the answer (Rather the Middle Way between all extremes, be them physical: self-gratification/mortification, philosophical: eternalism/nihilism or in meditation practice: the mind being neither too tight or too relaxed is The Way of the Buddha) he accepted a meal from a local village girl and then resolved to sit under a Bodhi Tree with his new found strength and meditate until the ultimate realisation dawned.  Dawn it did and the prison of his conditioned mind fell away once and for all to reveal the vast expanse of clear, knowing, luminous awareness and a complete understanding on how to realise it, he was 35.  He taught the Four Noble Truths at Sarnath explaining that in life there is suffering and dissatisfaction, there are causes to such experiences, as there are causes to those experiences such experiences can be ended, and finally that there is a path one can follow to end the causes of suffering and realise what he himself had discovered within.  Teach he did until 81 when he passed away in Kushinigar saying all conditioned things come to an end, therefore work diligently to realise the Truth.

Buddhists fall into either one of three main traditions. There are those who adhere to the Hinayana (of which the Theravada is, I believe, the last remaining school) or Southern tradition, those who adhere to the Mahayana or Northern tradition and those who adhere to the Vajrayana or Tibetan tradition.  Although distinct in style and method they are very similar in results or wisdom gained.  The main differences are the methods and the motivation for applying them.  The Theravada or Hinayana method is based on ethical discipline of the body, speech and mind with a strict adherence to an ethical code of conduct.  The underlying motivation of a Hinayana practitioner is to seek liberation from suffering for one’s self.  The Mahayana has the Hinayana as its foundation however the method is that of the Bodhisattava and conduct is guided by actions that bring the most benefit to others.  The underlying motivation of a Mahayana practitioner is to seek liberation from suffering so that one can then lead all others to that same state.  The Vajrayana is part of the Mahayana and the motivation is the same but the methods are more involved and holistic one could say, and therefore can be more powerful so that is why some of the methods are restricted and only transmitted under strict guidance. 

In Tibetan Buddhism it is taught that the Mahayana is the basis of the Vajrayana and the Hinayana the basis of the Mahayana. All traditions form a part of what is known as Tibetan Buddhism and are studied in the monasteries through commentaries (Shastras) of the Sutras and Tantras. Another way to understand it is that the Sutras: Hinayana/Mahayana are the base, focusing on Ethics and gross levels of physical and mental discipline. The Vajrayana engages the internal energy systems or the subtle body far more and Mahamudra/Dzogchen (often described as the pinnacle of Tibetan Buddhist teachings and practice) work more directly with the inner most nature of the 'mind' itself.  However, in practice no one method is better than another as it all depends on the individual because the best method is the one that works best for that individual at the time.  All methods work towards cultivating positive qualities, abandoning negative ones and taming the mind so that it is more flexible and useful for one’s self and others.  All methods work towards gaining greater understanding and insight into the nature of self and reality.  All methods help bring out the qualities of loving kindness and compassion.

Buddhism began to spread southwards from its place of origin in northern India to Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Indo-China and other South East Asian countries. In India at Nalanda University, one of the first great universities in recorded history and certainly the longest surviving university in recorded history, Buddhism was studied, refined and practiced by people from across the entire expanse of Asia and beyond from the 5th up until the 12th century when it was destroyed by Mughal invaders more or less wiping out Buddhism from India at that time.  However, before that had happened Buddhism had also spread northwards into the Himalayan Kingdoms (Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet), Mongolia, and other parts of Central Asia, and also into China, Korea and Japan.  Most importantly all of the text and teachings had by that time been transferred in their entirety to thousands of monasteries and nunneries in Tibet.  In this way the great tradition of Nalanda was preserved and practised for approximately one thousand years in the secluded mountainous region of Tibet at the top of the world.  Tibetan society was uniquely organised around the realisation of Enlightenment.

There were different periods when the Buddhist teachings came to Tibet and in each period a number of different masters from India and Tibet helped transplant the teachings resulting in four schools of Tibetan Buddhism emerging.  Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche (in Tibet considered to be a second Buddha) was one of the most instrumental Masters at the outset helping transform Tibetan culture and plant Buddhism at its heart.  So over the centuries four schools of Tibetan Buddhism emerged including the Nyingma, founded in the 8th Century, by King Trisong Detsen who invited Padmasambhava  and the Nalanda  University abbot Santaraksita, the Kagyu (The Karma Kagyu is the lineage of the Karmapas) founded by Marpa in the 11th Century, the Sakya founded by five great Masters also in the 11th Century and finally the Gelug (the lineage of the Dalai Lamas) founded by Lama Tsongkhapa in the 14th Century of which Kopan is now part.  More recently the Jonang, traced to the early 12th Century Master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, is being considered as the fifth school of Tibetan Buddhism.

However, not long after the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959 they went on to destroy 6000 monasteries almost taking the tradition with it.  Nonetheless after the Dalai Lama escaped to India over 100,000 Tibetans followed him including those high Lamas and students that had survived who brought with them a great deal of these teachings but more importantly themselves as the embodiment and realisation of those teachings.  Two such Lamas were Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche who started teaching Westerners together in Nepal in 1969 and started up Kopan in 1971.

Lama Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa, HH XIV Dalai Lama, Lama Thubten Yeshe, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rimpoche

Okay so now we have arrived at Kopan.  I just wanted to explain the vast history of the tradition you will soon be experiencing all the way from the Buddha, through countless students, masters, students, masters, students etc. The unbelievable sacrifices those people have undergone through the ages be it dedicating their lives to firstly understanding the teachings and then tirelessly working with themselves to realise them, embody them and pass that experience onto others.  Not only that but the countless lives that have been lost in the process to protect and preserve these teachings so that they can still exist, fully intact, authentic and alive in this day and age for the benefit of others and people like you and me.  All this and more is what shall be laid before you.  All of this tremendous effort to help people realise their Buddha Nature, that what they already have but do not recognise.  This is how precious human existence is and those realised Masters know it and therefore out of deep compassion and wisdom will stop at nothing to try and communicate that to us to help alleviate the three types of suffering.

OM MANI PADME HUM

Well, I hope you found the setting the context part at least mildly interesting.  If not I enjoyed writing it nonetheless!

So now just a little bit more context setting, although this time more focused on the Gelugpa School of which Kopan is a part.  After that I will share my thoughts and experiences about retreat which I hope you will find not only of interest but perhaps even useful over the following month.

As I explained, the Gelugpa School, otherwise known as the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism, was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (you will notice him in the Temples/Gompas wearing his yellow hat with his hands in a position (mudra), depicting turning the Wheel of Dharma or teaching the Buddhist teachings) and was the last of the four Schools to be founded.  A brief and common explanation of the four schools you might hear goes something like, “The Nyingma and the Kagyu practice meditation more and study less whereas the Sakya and especially the Gelugpa study more and practice meditation less.”  That is accurate in so much as it describes the approach used by the schools as a starting point but in the end realised practitioners from all schools seem to be as equally learned and experienced to someone as unrefined and simple as me.  The Gelugpa are therefore well known for detailed analytical explanations and people drawn to that School are often people that appreciate that approach first and foremost.  I think Je Tsongkhapa also reformed the monastic tradition and that is why the Gelugpa tradition is exclusively based on a monastic model, more so than the other three schools.

I believe what you will be studying and putting into practice over the month is what is know as the Lam Rim or Stages of the Path (to Enlightenment as presented by the Buddha) organised and presented initially by an Indian Master named Atisha and used in a particular way by Je Tsongkhapa when he founded the Gelugpa.  No need to worry about all these funny names to be honest, all you need to know is that the Lam Rim is a way of training the mind in stages that eventually lead to Enlightenment or one could say a systematic approach to cultivating the view of Emptiness and the Gelugpa are hot on analysing Emptiness!

So, now for the part that has nothing to do with names, dates, Schools or history instead I now share with you some of my limited experience.

I called this "Retreat to Advance" inspired by my own thoughts about retreat and a conversation I had with Danny that time after you hopped off to bed.  Danny articulated the idea of retreat really well that night and I wish I could repeat it word for word but I cannot so instead I shall paraphrase.  In a nutshell he started saying that with life in general there are lessons that we all learn and hopefully we all grow and develop and become a little wiser as the years advance through our life experiences.  However, we agreed that it is equally possible for people to become more confused and frustrated in some cases because life can be haphazard.  Well, retreat is hopefully more like the first example, however instead of living a whole life or a good portion of it to learn a few lessons, gain some insight, self-understanding and wisdom the retreat experience is like a fast-track in self-development because it is a very efficient and economical use of time.  Why?  Well first of all the practicalities are taken care of in terms of basic necessities so there are no immediate financial concerns to do with living.  Also a person doesn’t have to plan what to do with their time because during the retreat it is more or less planned out for them, those that ordain for the period don’t even have to think about what to wear or how to style their hair!  Life becomes very simple and straight forward.  Secondly the ideas the person studies, the thinking that they do around those ideas and the methods and techniques they put into practice to bring them into experience have all been designed and honed by hundreds of thousands of individuals for thousands of year to do just that – fast track a person’s self development!  So the outer conditions are conducive and the inner conditions are conducive and causes are created in amongst them resulting in the designated outcome.  It’s all very straightforward really!  Okay I said I wouldn’t mention names but thanks Danny.

So the subtext here is that people do retreat to develop in a positive direction whether they consciously realise it or not.  The motivation from the Mahayana perspective of course is to do just that, but also so that the individual can be more useful to other sentient beings as a result of that process by also helping them develop in a positive direction, no matter what form that help may take or big or small it might be.

TAYATA OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI YE SOHA

(Mantra of Shakyamuni Buddha that I learnt at Tushita that they might therefore use at Kopan – I know, what’s the point of Mantras, I will talk about them a bit hopefully in the next email, as well as the other methods you might be introduced to that might seem odd or pointless at first but maybe less so once the purpose and the way they work is made clearer)

Well that’s enough context setting! 

So like I said on the phone today I will try and explain some of the methods you might be practising on retreat so that you understand their purpose and how they might actually work despite first appearances. Let’s face it some of these things seem alien and inaccessible to our western mind especially as many of the methods and techniques can be dressed up in the baggage of foreign cultures.  So inspired by Manjushri’s sword I shall attempt to cut through all that and reveal the true purpose and meaning of these things!  There you go, Manjushri wields a sword to symbolise how the realisation of emptiness cuts through ignorance and the delusions and suffering that result from wrong views about the nature of reality!  Without knowing that we might wonder, why is that deity wielding a sword? That doesn’t seem very nice!

Sword of Manjushri

But first I want to talk a little bit about the feelings that I have experienced surrounding retreats.  I have noticed in myself and others that people can get sick just before a retreat often putting them off going.  Not everyone of course but it does happen.  That is why you got that email from Kopan telling people to come anyway because they know.  I think I might have told you about my experience before the retreat I did on the Heart Sutra which is all about Emptiness.  A few days before Lillie and I visited a place called Sarnath not far from Varanasi.  Sarnath is where the Buddha first taught the Four Noble Truths after his Enlightenment.  While there my emotions became kind of wild.  Suddenly I was moody, agitated, and restless and couldn’t escape the whirlwind going on inside me (okay no different than usual I hear you say!).  I tried to meditate in the ruin of an old Monastery that used to stand there (I imagined it must have been the old quarters of a monk) however it didn’t help.  I wasn’t expressing it but Lillie noticed my mood had changed and I told her about what I was experiencing and I could tell that the dark cloud of my mood was being felt by her too.  Later that night I got really, really, really bad diarrhoea; my bum was like a violent tap filled with smelly water (eugh)!  This lasted for days and luckily Lillie looked after me and kept me alive with the help of the hotel staff.  During that time my inner state smelt just as bad!  My ego was very apparent, very thick and heavy.  I felt trapped by it but I didn’t want to let it go as I was deeply attached to the false sense of self yet it felt as if that very illusion was being yanked away from me which was very much an experience of suffering.  I thought then that if I didn’t do something in this life to weaken the clinging to a false sense of self then death would certainly be a chaotic and painful experience.  At the time I wrote:

How very different I feel now (compared to my previous entry)!  Uncomfortable in my own skin, there is no rest in my mind, there is no joy in my heart.  Is this the torrent of water described in the Lam Rim (the first mark of progress in meditation is described as feeling as if one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions are like a rushing, relentless waterfall – they haven’t increased, the practitioner has just grown in awareness and is experiencing more of what is going on in their own mind)?  Is this the ‘pain body’ of Eckhart Tolle?  I am so very slow to learn, but even though I now see my ‘death’ on the horizon (ego death not physical death) I am still fighting for a lesser life; a life of slumber, a comfortable stupor, a familiar pill to soothe the pain.  Is it time for cold turkey?  Is it time to end this addiction to self?  How long shall one find solace in the darkness and shun the light?  How many lifetimes will I spend trying to make myself comfortable on a bed of nails?  How futile my efforts, how ridiculous my course!  When shall I realise what has been written on the Heart of mankind?  When will release come from this apparition?  Where is the Light inside that so many speak of?  Let it blind me and burn me up quickly for this fragile ego is making me sick to the core with its illusion of suffering and pain.  How long shall I speak of the elixir but in secret sup upon poison? 

Kind of dramatic and poetic, I know, but it sums up how I was feeling at the time.

Anyhow, you got a little sick and feel better now and my delusions are humungous  compared to yours so I hope that you get to Kopan without any difficulty or delay.  Oh yes, up until the morning we were due to leave I was thinking of staying in Varanasi and it was a real effort getting up and ready as the antibiotics were taking their toll on me.  We got to the train station only to discover our train was delayed for 8 hours.  So there were inner and outer obstacles but I got there in the end and that is what counted!  The retreat was in Bodhgaya where the Buddha obtained Enlightenment and I am apparently not the only one to experience such things before going to Bodhgaya with the intention to practice the Dharma and I doubt I would have been the last either.  Once there (arrived at 2am to what seemed like heaven after the train delay and rickshaw driver not having a clue) I felt great, made friends, ended up sitting two more retreats I hadn’t planned to, the Karmapa swung by to teach us and I went to the Dalai Lama’s teachings and got my picture taken with him!  Therefore, on the other side of the storm is beautiful weather so we should be strong, brave and courageous as bad weather never lasts and the sun and blue sky are always there beyond it!  This applies not only to retreats but life in general as does all of it, (otherwise what’s the point) be them outer or inner experiences because once we recognise the patterns we can work with them, without freaking out or getting dragged down by the storm like most people do.  Saying that I got to my first retreat at Tushita (a ten day version of the Kopan course) easily and with help from others :-D

The Mahabodhi Temple marks the spot where the Buddha completely 'woke up' and realised Enlightenment.

Once on retreat what is going on in our mind is brought to the forefront as there are fewer distractions to lose ourselves in (not counting sneaked in books!) which depending on what’s occurring in there could be kind of harsh, kind of pleasant or kind of neutral.  No matter what though, the atmosphere of the mind always changes and all that remains is the awareness of the coming and going.  That awareness and clarity is what meditation cultivates, however most of the time we get sucked into the projections.

The ‘mind’ here means not just thoughts but feelings and emotions.  Sometimes people experience very strong emotions on retreat.  The retreat allows us space and in that space those buried thoughts and emotions are allowed to come to the forefront of our experience.  Whilst experiencing them they can appear very strong, solid and as if they will never end but they will.  Maintaining awareness throughout without accepting or rejecting them is the way to weaken that particular habitual pattern, and doing so each time they arise will make them weaker and weaker.  This is called ‘purification’.  These opportunities occur all the time in life but usually we miss them by trying to ‘fix’ the way we are feeling by doing something to ignore, cover up and replace it or we simply indulge the experience which serves to strengthen it.

A person who works to improve themself to benefit others is known as a Bodhisattva meaning Bodhi = Enlightened, Sattva = Warrior because even though their outlook is enlightened compared to the average person they have had to be courageous and strong and fearless in overcoming their own limitations to be able to be of benefit – the more they overcome the false sense of self the greater benefit they are to others.  That is the ‘warrior’ aspect, the ‘enlightened’ aspect is both the motivation and the goal from which they battle from and towards.  Think of Ven. Robina Courtin, she is a true example of a Bodhisattva that we can see, feel and know as an example.

Doubts!  Yes I have experienced many doubts in retreat, self-doubt i.e. I am useless at all this!  Doubt about the retreat i.e. It is pointless me being here because nothing is happening and I can think right now of 1001 things I could be doing with my time!  Doubt in the teachings i.e. None of this old nonsense works, it is all made up and people just con themselves into believing it is having some kind of effect!

Studying and knowing the teachings well will help to counter ego based doubts such as these because the logic of them cuts through all the irrational misgivings.  When they are extreme I return to contemplating Emptiness and that usually calms me down a bit and then I reflect on how all the various methods and techniques are aimed at realising Emptiness and how countless generations have followed them and experienced the result.  I also think of teacherers I know of that embody the good qualities as an inspiration to remind me that the methods work and the results attainable because there is living proof.  This is one way of understanding devotion to the teacher in Tibetan Buddhism.

Distractions!  I have had many of these too!  Thoughts coming up when meditating that seem soooooo important that I just HAVE to think about them!  Be them big like, "What am I going to do with my life when I get out of here?" To little ones like, "I really need to make my bed after this session!".  Plus many more besides and in between; this is usually a constant experience but don’t worry because as long as you notice you are being distracted THAT is progress, THAT is awareness and then gently bring yourself back to the focus of the practice.  What I have noticed is the ‘energy’ of those thoughts change and suddenly after the session I am thinking, "There is no need for me to plan my entire life right now!".  And when I get back to my room I don’t even notice my unmade bed!

My bed at Root Institute after I must have made it!

Little things might suddenly seem extremely important in terms of our attachments or aversions and some people might seem extremely annoying or even attractive because everything is heightened.  That’s fine because it is all fodder for your practice and on retreat we should make a special effort to apply what we are learning to all of those types of situations.  Why? Because after in our everyday life we will hopefully continue to do the same more naturally, helping us transform all our problems and successes in life into ways that help us continue to grow and develop instead of seeing them as obstacles or being lulled into a false sense of security and becoming distracted and unconscious. The body might also experience all types of things including increased energy, decreased energy, tiredness that is hard to shake, colds, illnesses, aches and pains, heightened desire, all sorts.  Try not to buy into whatever it is, just be aware of the experience and let it go and trust in your body’s natural intelligence while it does its thing.

I hope I haven’t put you off.  Of course there will be lots of good experiences I am sure but I just wanted to give you a heads up about some of the difficulties I have experienced just in case you do too so at least you have a point of reference.  Of course you will be with many people, most I am sure more knowledgeable than me and there are the course organisers and teachers who are there for you.

Right, so finally some brief explanations of things you might see and practices you might be doing.  Sorry about all the jargon but just read it casually as you will have time on retreat to probably give them all a go and think more about them.  What I would say, just like they have been saying in the Kopan emails, is keep an open mind and experiment, don’t have preconceived notions that something is useless, try it out and if it is then forget about it, if it isn’t explore it further, that is the Buddhist approach.

It is key to remember in all this that all methods and techniques are ultimately designed to lead the practitioner towards an experience of Emptiness in a gradual, step by step way.  With that in mind you might work out the point of them yourself, but if not then read on.

As Tibetan Buddhism, also know as the Vajrayana (Diamond or Indestructible Vehicle) is part of the Mahayana (Great Vehicle) all practices are done after Bodhicitta (the Mind to Enlightenment) has been generated.  Another way of saying this is that all practices are done with the motivation of realising Enlightenment for the benefit of others as well as the self.

A quick note on teachings: Teachings come in all shapes and sizes and in different guises.  Some are taught from a beginner’s point of view, some from a practitioner’s point of view and some from the point of view of someone who has realised the whole deal.  So they can sometimes sound contradictory, however they aren’t, the perspective is just different so therefore so is the presentation.

Okay, as you are going on a one month retreat I assume there will be some hardcore Buddhists, and no that does not mean pacifist pornstars (well it might I suppose) but people that are really in to ‘their’ Buddhism.  They might look like hippies or be wearing ethnic clothing , be wearing Om Mani Padme Hum T-Shirts, Buddha earrings, 10 blessing strings and malas around their neck and around their wrists and have Buddhist tattoos etc.  Just smile, be polite and move on! 

More seriously people might prostrate when they enter/leave the Gompa/Temple and/or just after the teacher has finished their prostrations and has sat down ready to start teaching – I will talk about prostrations in a bit.  People may also place their hands together when the teacher enters as a sign of respect as you no doubt experienced at Ringu Tulku’s and Ven. Robina’s teachings. Why?  Well the idea goes that the Buddha despite his accomplishment cannot be there to teach you, but the teacher is. If it wasn’t for the teacher giving us the Buddha’s teachings we wouldn’t know how to properly put them into practice and therefore our development and ability to fulfil our potential and enable others to do the same might not increase or could get stuck or shift to a reverse gear!  Also, remember all the context setting about personal sacrifice, lineages etc?  Well the teacher is the real life embodiment at the end of that long line, some of course more fully an embodiment than others. However, as long as we can learn from a teacher or any teacher about anything then that alone makes them deserving of our respect and even more so when the knowledge imparted is so rare and precious.

I am explaining a lot of these things only because when I first experienced them it made me feel a bit uncomfortable.  Sometimes I would think, “Look at all these sheep just following everyone else, they probably don’t even know the purpose behind what they are doing, silly sheep!”  Jeeze, I had issues, how did I know what they knew; I must have (be)en an arrogant son of a bitch wanting to stand out!  Well what’s important is what we know and more importantly what we can put into practice, not to judge others because that wont get us anywhere!  (He says talking to himself)

So you will most probably meditate (if not you should ask for your money back!).  In the morning you will probably do Shamata (Calm Abiding) where one learns to focus the mind on a single point of concentration, like the breath for example.  This helps calm the mind, focus its energy and make it more tamed, flexible and useful.  It can also induce deep states of calm and clarity in the mind,  the metaphor is like a glass of dirty water left to settle eventually becoming pure and clear.  This is not easy, so you will practice noticing when you are distracted and bringing your attention back to the main focus.  What is the point?  Well the main point is to develop the concentration so that it can then be increasingly focused inwards to observe the nature of the mind itself and examine it without distraction.  This leads onto a particular type of meditation stressed in Buddhism called Vipassana (Insight Meditation).  Here one simply observes what is happening in the mind without a main focus point but without becoming caught up in all the goings on either.  Difficult yes but not if you have non-distracted concentration that can examine the nature of the thoughts, feelings and emotions as they arise - their impermanent nature - realise that the ‘I’ is made up of a collection of all of these forever changing things and therefore ultimately experience that nature of the mind itself.  The mind itself is doing the observing, however in its observation it cannot find itself!  All the observed phenomena are impermanent, ever changing projections of the mind and the awareness itself cannot be found.  That in experience is an experience of Emptiness because the mind is ‘seen’ to be 'empty' yet it is ‘full’, constantly manifesting forms which are in themselves empty of inherent existence!  That is what the Buddha taught in the Heart Sutra when he explained, “Emptiness is no other than form and form is no other than emptiness.”  Don’t expect to understand, it’s not meant to be ‘understood’ anyway, well not with the conceptual mind, rather experienced.  Furthermore, this is a very brief and probably bad explanation!  (Excuse me while I have another sip of my whiskey, ahhh that's better).

Okay, well what about all those other funny techniques?

Mantra recitations!  One way of understanding these is that they are a support for concentration just like the breath is but they are less subtle and therefore easier to concentrate on.   Another way is that sound has an effect on the mind and mantras (which are in Sanskrit) are particular sounds that have a particular effect on the mind i.e. generating compassion.  So different Buddhas have different mantras or one could say that different Buddhas represent symbolically different qualities and the different sound of particular mantras help the mind generate those different qualities when recited.  Also, they have been recited for thousands of years by hundreds of thousands of practitioners so they have a historical force.  Chanting mantras in a big group made me feel a bit cringy at first but that was only because of my own hang ups and feeling self conscious, so if anything doing them with a group has helped me reduce that a little bit.  If there is a nice melody and people are chanting in harmony while in a meditative state I find it can be quite nice especially when you loose your voice in amongst all the others.

Mantra of Guru Rimpoche (Padmasambhava)

Prostrations!  When prostrating the person is also visualising and speaking.  Therefore, they are engaging their entire being: body, speech and mind.  They are visualising the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha and saying, “Until I realise Enlightenment I go for Refuge to the Buddha, to the Dharma, to the Sangha.”  On one level that means the historical Buddha as an example of someone who realised his full human potential, the Dharma or teachings we can use ourselves to follow his example and realise our own human potential and the Sangha or community of people who are putting all this into practice and support us in our efforts and vice versa.  On another level the Buddha is our own potential - the fact that change is possible and negative qualities can be abandoned and good qualities cultivated.  Even deeper still is that our full potential is naturally there but ordinarily we keep missing it, the Dharma is the truth of impermanence or Emptiness that makes the path relevant, and the Sangha those that have realised the truth and their full potential who are therefore our true guides in the here and now.  So if you look closely the three are in essence one.  At the end the visualisation dissolves into light and merges with the practitioner to conceptually demonstrate that in essence there is no difference between the practitioner and the Buddha etc. Anyhow all that is going on with the body, speech and mind, why?  Well you try and watch your breath, completely undistracted, just for 5 minutes and see how hard it is!  This method, however, uses every part of us, just the way we like it normally, but transforms the actions, the thoughts and the speech by focusing  on things orientated towards realising Enlightenment.  It helps train and ‘purifies’ the mind and instils positive habits and energy into it so eventually the kind of meditation I described above becomes easier.  Also it helps tremendously to subdue pride and most importantly clinging to a false notion of how the self exists.  Prostrations are often described as a ‘preliminary’ practice and that is so in the Vajrayana but traditionally they would be done after getting a lot of philosophy straight from years of study and contemplation, so the person doing them would have no doubts about why they were doing them.  The teacher prostrating before they give a teaching is similar but also to show that what they teach they teach because the Buddha taught it and not because they are making it up on the spot all cool and special like - humility.

Monk doing prostration practice at the Mahabodhi Temple

What else, perhaps Tonglen (or giving and taking meditation).  This is a very counter-intuitive (for the ego) visualisation.  First one starts with visualising one’s self (important to start with the self), then when ready friends, family or loved ones in general like Jasper, Honey, Frisby, then people you feel no way in particular about and then enemies like chomping Junit for example, the one's that don't like you and finally everyone including enemies you don't like!  Anyway you visualise all their problems: outer, inner and secret obstacles and negativity that they have being breathed into your heart centre in the form of black smoke or light.  That negativity then spontaneously dissolves our own ego clinging, like a hard black crust surrounding our heart being dissolved away, and light bursts out, shines on the visualised gang and bestows them with all things they need or want, be it a job, contentment, a pony or wisdom and compassion: every outer, inner and secret positivity.  What’s the point?  Well it helps the practitioner’s state of mind by developing equanimity to a wider group of people in their life and once again it helps weaken the hold of the false sense of self and reduces ego clinging.  How?  Well, normally because of a very deep sense of self that is falsely believed to exist independently from the rest of existence, we run after the things we like and away from the things we don't like.  Unhealthy fear and desire result, actions are created and suffering ensues because at the root we are out of step with reality.   Doing the reverse in Tonglen practice, taking in what we don't like and giving away what we do undoes this habit and slowly puts us in sync with reality and our true nature.  Genius really!  It also teaches the practitioner that situations and energy can be transformed, increasing the potential for positive creative living – it’s mind training.

Vajrasattva practice – I think as part of the Kopan course you will be doing some Vajrasattva practice.  Vajrasattva is a ‘purification’ process that uses four psychological tools to help train the mind to eradicate any hang ups we might have about our past actions, be them years, months, weeks, days or moments ago and change our habits for the future – the purification bit.  The four ‘powers’ that are used are the power of ‘support’ in this case Vajrasattva, the embodiment of your fully realised potential.  The power of ‘regret’, where the practitioner thinks about unhelpful actions (of body, speech and/or mind) with regards to them self and/or others that they have done in the past and acknowledges how unskilful they are in terms of creating the causes for suffering compared to happiness.  This is not like western guilt when the person thinks, “I am such a bad person, poor me, I am stuck with my terrible self!”  In Buddhism, as you know, there is no inherently existing person so they cannot be fundamentally bad!  Rather the focus is on the action not the person, so the action is ‘bad’ or unskilful and therefore once realised regret is generated about performing those actions which of course plants a seed in the mind not to keep repeating that action in the future.  The power of the ‘antidote’.  This is the visualisation of Vajrasattva above the crown of the head - I wont elaborate here as you will learn it later - but in general the visualisation is that from Vajrasattva comes a purifying nectar that completely fills your body, from pointy toes to scruffy head, and completely purifies all negativities, obscurations, wrong views, illnesses, everything, gone 100%! Leaving you in your primordially pure state and your potential fully realised and glowing for all to see and benefit from.  While this is going on there is also the 100 syllable mantra of Vajrasattva to recite (I wonder if you will be able to learn it off by heart?).  At the end of the visualisation, just like in all Vajrayana visualisation it dissolves into light and merges with you.  This is to symbolise the non-duality of self and other and that ultimately, despite the outer representation, wisdom and compassion are not separate from the you.  Finally there is the fourth power which is the power of ‘resolve.’  This is where the practitioner resolves not to do what they regretted for as long as possible which all depends on what it is.  So it could be a week, a day or even an hour or forever if it is something you know you will never do again, like shoot a robin for example :'-(  In a nutshell that is the Vajrasattva practice.  Resolve might become before antidote, I am not sure but you will find out.  This is a Tantric teaching by the way and there are different ‘levels’ of Tantra but I am not getting into that here!

Vajrasattva (Dorjesempa)

These practices do have effects and some of them may not be experienced as immediately pleasant so you will have to learn how to feel your way, use your natural wisdom and intuition and guidance from the teacher and eventually learn to trust the process.

So there you have it.  I hope all these words help a little bit.  I have probably missed lots out but hey, no big deal.  I am sure that after you can fill in the gaps and tell me where I have been going wrong all these years.  Remember that Kopan and the Gelugpa is but one presentation of what the Buddha taught, not the definitive approach.  Try it out during this month and see what you think of it, analyse it, question, investigate, experiment but most importantly try to bring the essence of the teachings into your experience because that is where it all comes together and the real value can be found.

Open heart, open mind, have fun :-D

PS Say hello to Kopan for me and if you meet a giant Nun called Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi tell her hello and thank you from me :-)

http://kopanmonastery.com/