Gen Lamrimpa

Gen Lamrimpa, born in Tibet in 1934, spent most of his life in meditative retreat in Dharamsala, India. He is the author of Calming the Mind, one of the clearest books in English on shamatha meditation.

Gen Lamrimpa

Gen Lamrimpa, born in Tibet in 1934, spent most of his life in meditative retreat in Dharamsala, India. He is the author of Calming the Mind, one of the clearest books in English on shamatha meditation.

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SNOW LION NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Gen Lamrimpa on Shamatha

The following article is from the Autumn, 2011 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

Go for the stability, then the clarity

Q: How can one develop greater clarity without yielding to scattering, tensing up the mind, and giving rise to stress?

A: As one is cultivating stability, one should be especially on guard for the arising of laxity. For the development of clarity, the mind needs to be elated, aroused. This can be done by means of reflecting on uplifting subjects, the fully endowed human life, the benefits of shamatha, and the like. As you set forth in the meditation, you must alternate the emphases in the practice: being on guard for the arising of laxity and watching carefully the state of your clarity; and being on guard against excitement or scattering and checking on the strength of your stability.

So, at first you are emphasizing one, then the other, and no one but you can determine what the suitable level of awareness is. When you are developing the strength of clarity, there is a tendency for excitement to arise. If you feel it arising, taper off a bit on the clarity side. Likewise, when you are going for stability, you are prone to laxity arising. When you see that happening, then you want to uplift the mind. What you want is to balance right in the middle. The middle is something that can only be sought out by means of your own experience.

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When I increase my enthusiasm, going for clarity, my mind gets excited; whereas when my mind gets more stable I tend more towards laxity.... What am I to do?

Essentially, we find ourselves in the predicament of Chandragomin (Candragomin), who wrote a verse that can be paraphrased: When I increase my enthusiasm, going for clarity, my mind gets excited; whereas when my mind gets more stable I tend more towards laxity. I find it very hard to find that middle ground. What am I to do?

What you do is gradually seek out that middle path by means of your own experience. The more you practice, the more experience you acquire, and the more clarity you gain as to how to develop your practice.

One thing to remember as you enter the first stages of practice is that at the outset there tends to be a strong urge to get better clarity fast. Don't go for it. Be satisifed with a rather poor quality of clarity and really go for stability. The appropriate process is to start by trying to establish stability in a very gradual and gentle way. Upon that basis, clarity can then be developed. In the early stages of your practice it may be that clarity is surprisingly good.

Because the mind is so prone to attachment and excitement you may feel the irresistible urge to go for even more clarity. It's a trap. If you follow that route, the clarity will become an obstacle.

Therefore, first of all, emphasize stability.

adapted from How To Practice Shamatha Meditation

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Dealing With Three Types of Laziness

The following article is from the Autumn, 2011 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

by GEN LAMRIMPA, translated and edited by B. ALAN WALLACE

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We're endlessly creative in finding various avenues for our laziness. Gen Lamrimpa—here translated by B. Alan Wallace—gives practical, expert advice on applying specific antidotes to counteract our laziness, whatever its guises. This adaptation is from How To Practice Shamatha Meditation: The Cultivation of Meditative Quiescence.

Laziness is a mental factor identified as a lack of delight in the wholesome, the virtuous. This is its aspect. Its function is to distract one from wholesome activity.

There are three types of laziness:

a) The laziness that is attracted to bad actions, in this particular case the things that turn one away from the practice of shamatha. It manifests itself as indulgence in other kinds of activity.

b) The laziness of sloth is frequently identified with procrastination. Under its influence one thinks, It really would be good to meditate, but not quite yet. I think I'll take a nap. Those who suffer from this form of laziness are attached to lying around.

c) The last type of laziness is self-denigrating laziness. You will know you are suffering from it when you put yourself down by thinking, I couldn't do it even if I tried. Why bother? In this context, the nature of laziness is not being attracted to or interested in the cultivation of concentration, but being interested in and attracted to other activities. It acts as a serious obstacle to entering into the practice of concentration. For practice in progress, it acts as an obstacle to the continuation of that practice by interrupting its continuity.

Four Antidotes to Laziness Pliancy

This is the first and most direct antidote to laziness; however, it comes into full play only when the practice reaches advanced stages. The joy that is born in pliancy brings an immediate end to laziness. For those who have attained shamatha, it is a tremendous boon for cultivating the succeeding stages on the path to awakening.

This does not mean that you should forget about it now because it comes to its full bloom only after you attain shamatha. There are many stages to the practice. Pliancy comes in brief flashes in the beginning. As the practice matures, the flashes become moments; the moments become seconds; the seconds become minutes; and on it goes. Practicing shamatha is like sharpening the blade of an axe. It is not accomplished with a single stroke.

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Laziness is a mental factor identified as a lack of delight in the whole some, the virtuous.

You sharpen the axe so you can cut down a tree. If you don't cut it down, you've wasted your time. In similar fashion, you practice shamatha in order to cultivate the subsequent stages of the path.

If you attain shamatha and fail to take that next step, you have expended your time and energy for nothing.

How does one cultivate pliancy?

Enthusiasm

This is a mental factor which delights in virtue. That is its aspect. It is the means by which we cultivate pliancy.

The function of enthusiasm is that it brings about various insights along the path to awakening. Enthusiasm is also defined as a state of happiness, something that delights in virtue. The persevering cultivation of enthusiasm yields as its result the attainment of pliancy, which is, in its turn, the direct antidote to laziness.

How does one cultivate enthusiasm?

Aspiration

In this context aspiration refers to a wholesome wish for attainment and realization, not just any kind of base desire. It is through this wholesome aspiration that enthusiasm is cultivated.

How does one cultivate aspiration?

Faith

The cause of faith in shamatha is a mind that clearly recalls the virtues and benefits of mental quiescence. That mind is marked by the aspect of faith. There are three types of faith:

a) Faith of belief

b) Lucid faith

c) Faith of an active aspiration The faith referred to here includes all three. The faith of belief is fundamental to the other two. It entails the conviction that there

is such a thing as shamatha, that it is attainable, that it does have the kinds of results that are described—heightened awareness, psychic powers, and, far more important, the attainment of liberation and full awakening. All of these can be attained in dependence upon shamatha. Thus, that kind of conviction is the most fundamental type of faith. Lucid faith and the faith of aspiration evolve from this basic capital.

The truth of these statements—that there is such a thing as shamatha, that full awakening is possible in dependence upon shamatha—is the kind of truth that is concealed, not evident, not easily accessible, not something that we can ascertain immediately for ourselves. Although it is concealed, this is only temporary. Many have had their own experience of certain physical and mental bliss, many have experienced those states of being through their own practice, and many have the faith that those states suggest much deeper attainments.

States of being beyond our present experience—such as the attainment of heightened awareness, psychic powers, liberation, full awakening—are described to us by authentic teachers who are much further developed along the spiritual path than we are. We can take them at their word, or not. The choice is ours. If we don't believe, then we don't do the practice. If we do have faith and begin, the more we persist and continue in the practice of shamatha, more and more aspects of reality become apparent to the mind, and we experience deeper realities than we have ever known before.

The deeper we go, the more credence we will give to statements made by those who are yet further along the path and the firmer our faith will become. As we go more profoundly into the practice we will find from our own experience that the mind becomes more serene, more relaxed, more at ease. Joy, states of bliss, and pliancy actually do arise. As they arise, faith arises and we are honestly able to tell ourselves, This kind of thing exists and it's bound to improve.

We can even set aside the things that are quite beyond our current experience, things such as heightened awareness, psychic powers, etc. Just the deepening relaxation of the mind is enough of a base upon which we can begin to build a strong foundation of faith in the teachings of those many meditators who have experienced various types of increased awareness and serenity.

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Realizing Emptiness: Madhyamaka Insight Meditation

The following article is from the Autumn, 2002 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

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This book offers experiential and analytical approaches to this most important and difficult topic in Buddhism.

During a long retreat on the west coast, Gen Lamrimpa drew on his theoretical training as well as his years of solitary meditative experience to show students how they can gain realization of ultimate reality. He explains in a practical and down-to-earth fashion how to analyze experience to fathom how it has been misperceived and misunderstood because of our many delusions, and how to use Madhyamaka reasoning to experience how all things only exist as dependently related events rather than in themselves.

"Not quite emptiness made easy' (an impossibility) but it is at least emptiness made comprehensible'."—Dharma Life

"Written by an genuine Buddhist master, Realizing Emptiness gives us accurate directions to explore the nature of reality. By refuting inherent existence and establishing illusion-like conventionalities, we can come to the correct view of the Middle Way."—Thubten Chodron

Gen Lamrimpa was born in Tibet in 1934 and lives in Dharamsala, India. He has also authored Calming the Mind. B. Alan Wallace lives in Santa Barbara, CA and is the author of many books.

Below is an excerpt from Realizing Emptiness.

Valid and Invalid Ways of Postulating the Self

I would now like to review a major point, namely that the truly existent "I" is grasped on the basis of the conventional "I." The conventional "I" is apprehended on the basis of the aggregates and therefore, if we assume that the truly existent "I" does in fact exist, we can posit that it is in fact the aggregates. Having adopted that hypothesis, we can examine the consequences of that position and see how those consequences undermine the initial premise. Alternatively, if there is a truly existent "I" and it is not identical with the aggregates, it must be distinct from the aggregates. When we again examine the consequences from this premise, we identify all the aggregates, set them aside analytically, and then seek out the "I" but no such "I" is to be found. Here is the essential point: Conventionally speaking, the "I" is distinct from the aggregates, but no truly existent "I" can be established as distinct from the aggregates.

Let's now consider the notion of the self as a stream of consciousness by first investigating whether or not a stream of consciousness truly exists. In this regard, we may posit "true existence" in two ways: true existence in dependence upon other phenomena, and true existence that is independent of other phenomena. Ignorance apprehends the self as being truly existent, as something that is independent of anything else. This is how ignorance apprehends true existence. But there is another way of speaking of true existence, and that is by determining whether or not something is conventionally true. Speaking in this fashion does not imply that the object under investigation exists independently of anything else. For example, we may ask whether a person who appears on the television screen is a true person. The answer is no; it is not a true person. Next we can go on to ask whether this appearance of a person is truly an appearance of a person on the television screen. And here the answer is yes; the appearance is true. There truly is an appearance of a person on the television. Similarly, while looking in a mirror, I may look at the reflection of my face in the mirror and ask, "Is that my face?" The answer is "No, this is not my face." If this were truly my face, then it would have to have flesh and bones and so forth, but the image of the face in the mirror does not have those components. The reflection in the mirror is false in terms of being a face; even though it appears to be a face, in fact it is not one. But it truly is a reflection of a face. Just as the face in the mirror is not truly a face, so also is the true existence that is apprehended by ignorance untrue.

Now we may ask, "Are there then no true phenomena?" The answer is, of course, that there are many true phenomena. There is the true Buddha, the true Dharma, the true Sangha, and many other things that are true also. So now let's examine the suggestion that the continuum of consciousness is truly existent. What is meant by "continuum"? The term "continuum" is designated upon many sequential components. It has components and attributes, and they are all subject to change. But apart from those changing components and events, one cannot posit the existence of a continuum. So we must ask if this stream of consciousness is truly existent in the manner in which ignorance apprehends phenomena as being truly existent. The answer is no, it is not. Once again, consider what is meant by a continuum: it is something designated upon many components. Apart from the many components that make up the continuum, there is no way to judge that something is a continuum. Since by definition a continuum is something designated upon many parts, for that very reason the continuum must be deemed false in the sense of not being truly existent.

To illustrate the fact that consciousness is dependent upon the body, we can use the very fact that the variations of clarity of consciousness are dependent on such influences as our diet, our health, and so forth. As one fluctuates, so does the other fluctuate. There are certain physical causes for the degree of clarity of consciousness, so this already suggests that consciousness is not truly existent in the manner described previously. Furthermore, the very fact that one's consciousness yesterday may have been unclear whereas today it may be clear also suggests that consciousness is not truly existent. Unclear consciousness is surely influenced by other causal factors. Moreover, as unclear consciousness comes under the influence of other caused factors, it may transform into clear consciousness. Therefore, the hypothesis that this continuum of consciousness is truly existent in the sense that it is immutable is refuted.

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Just as the face in the mirror is not truly a face, so also is the true existence that is apprehended by ignorance untrue.

Even the buddha-nature is something that is conceptually designated. Emptiness, too, is something that is conceptually designated. The mutual dependence between awareness and the object of awareness relates to the buddha-nature as well. If there is mutual interdependence in general between the object of awareness and the awareness, then more specifically the awareness that establishes buddha-nature and the buddha-nature which is the object of that awareness must also be mutually interdependent. In the absence of one, the other cannot be present. So anything that comes into existence through the power of being conceptually designated does not inherently exist; it does not truly exist. If there were something that did exist but was not conceptually designated, that would be truly existent. The process of conceptual designation is something quite forceful; there is nothing there from the object's own side, but things are forcefully imputed upon it conceptually. Thus, since the object is dependent on that designation, it does not truly exist.

In the Dzogchen, or Great Perfection, tradition, there are statements suggesting that what is called innate mind (Tib. nyug sems), or awareness (Tib. rig pa), is truly existent. Here the innate mind is said to be truly existent in the sense that it does not undergo fluctuations or changes, as do thoughts and conceptual states of mind. But the very term "awareness" is something that can be designated in relationship to its opposite: nonawareness (Tib. ma rig pa), or ignorance. Because awareness is established in relationship to its opposite, it cannot therefore be truly existent in the Madhyamaka sense of the term. Moreover, the innate mind is posited in contrast to fluctuating states of mind, so this term is also designated in relationship to something else. Therefore, it too cannot be truly existent.

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Realizing Emptiness

Realizing Emptiness

The following article is from the Summer, 1999 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

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Realizing Emptiness: Madhyamaka Insight Meditation (presently published under the title How to Realize Emptiness

By Gen Lamrimpa
Translated by B. Alan Wallace

The Tibetan contemplative Gen Lamrimpa trained in Buddhist philosophy and meditation under some of the greatest masters of the twentieth century. After spending twenty years in solitary retreat, he was requested by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to take a more active role as a teacher. Subsequently, he accepted an invitation to the West, where he gave the teachings presented here in response to a request for practical instructions on Madhyamaka insight meditation aimed at realizing emptiness.

In Realizing Emptiness, Gen Lamrimpa draws on his theoretical training as well as his solitary meditative experience to show how students can gain realization of ultimate reality. He explains in a practical and down-to-earth fashion how to analyze experience to fathom how it has been misperceived and misunderstood because of our many delusions and how to use Madhyamaka reasoning to experience the way in which all things exist as dependently related events. Those who wish to apply the Madhyamaka view to meditative practice and daily life will undoubtedly find this work to be of great practical value. The book closes with two chapters on Dzogchen and its relation to Madhyamaka.

Gen Lamrimpa, Ven. Jampal Tenzin, was born in Tibet in 1934. A close disciple of H.H. the Dalai Lama, he has been living in meditative solitude in the mountains high above Dharamsala, India, since 1971. There he has gained a reputation for his deep experience of the stages of the path practices. He is also renowned as an accomplished practitioner of meditative stabilization and tummo (psychic heat) as well as other tantric meditations.

Following is an excerpt from Realizing Emptiness.

The Significance of Compassion and Insight

By meditating on emptiness one can sever the root of cyclic existence. This implies that if one meditates on emptiness with a spirit of emergence, one can eradicate the afflictive obscurations, and if this practice is motivated by a spirit of awakening, one can further eradicate the cognitive obscurations. In this way one can attain full awakening, the enlightenment of a buddha, which then provides the full capacity for utterly relieving the suffering of others and bringing them to a lasting state of well-being. Hence, the cultivation of the motivation is very important.

The initial intention is very important for any type of activity in which we may engage. For mundane activities, an ordinary intention is enough, but such a mundane motivation of simply getting the job done does not suffice for the type of activity we are discussing here. It is important to cultivate a special motivation. We must cultivate a wholesome motivation, and the most virtuous motivation we can cultivate is the one to dispel the suffering of others and to bring others to a state of well-being.

In fact, the revelation of the Buddha, including both the scriptures and insight, has compassion as its root. The teachings offered here are included in the Mahayana Dharma. In this context great compassion is indispensable. Compassion is a state of mind intent on protecting others from suffering. It is a priceless quality of awareness. If compassion fills one's own heart, one can bring others to a state of well-being and protect them from suffering. Moreover, if other people have compassion directed at oneself, this also makes them happier. One might say that compassion is the root of joy and happiness.

As an example, in your household, if you are a compassionate person, this brings happiness to the rest of the people in your family. Moreover, if all the members of a family have kind, compassionate natures, then in both hard times and good times, this quality of awareness brings about happiness for all of them. Taking a broader view, if the whole world were filled with compassionate people, there would be no question that happiness would reign.

One attains the full awakening of buddhahood exclusively by cultivating compassion and by following a path of compassion. This does not mean that compassion alone is sufficient, but rather that compassion is necessary; there is no spiritual path apart from the cultivation of compassion. Therefore, it is very important to cultivate the motivation of compassion, to yearn to free all sentient beings from suffering. With this motivation attend to the teachings on emptiness and then engage in the practice.

The Questions of Arya-Rastapala Siitra (Arya-Rastapala-pariprcchasutra) states that due to ignorance of emptiness, peace, and the unborn, sentient beings wander in the cycle of existence. The phrase emphasizes emptiness, because all phenomena, including oneself, are devoid of any inherent nature. In this context peace refers to freedom from conceptual elaboration, which entails grasping onto true existence. Finally, the unborn implies that in this sphere of freedom from conceptual elaboration, there is no arising, and since there is no arising, there is no cessation. This is the ultimate mode of all phenomena, but due to the ignorance of this reality, living beings wander in the cycle of existence. Because of our ignorance of how phenomena actually exist, we are not merely in the dark; rather, our false apprehension of how phenomena exist perpetuates our cycling in samsara.

Thus, the passage paraphrased above illustrates the relationship between compassion and wisdom. The passage shows the bodhisattva's great compassion and the Buddha's analysis of the nature of existence. Having recognized how sentient beings suffer from confusion, the bodhisattvas and the buddhas have revealed numerous avenues of understanding for gaining realization of emptiness. In such a way, if one can gain a nonconceptual realization of emptiness, one can totally eliminate not only all mental afflictions, but also the impressions upon the mind from such afflictions.

Even if one does not have such a nonconceptual realization, one may have a conceptual realization of emptiness, in which one's experience of emptiness is mixed with a generic idea of emptiness. This too is said to be very beneficial. However, if one lacks any understanding or realization of emptiness, then all of one's other virtues including compassion, generosity, moral discipline, patience, zeal, or meditative stabilization are said to be blind.

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One might say that compassion is the root of joy and happiness.

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In what sense are these virtues said to be blind? They do not provide a perception of one's actual goal in order to make the way clear. Just as a blind person cannot be a guide, in the same way, even if one is endowed with such virtues as great compassion or a spirit of awakening, if one lacks a realization of emptiness, one is not capable of being a guide for others or of effectively leading others from suffering. That is, one cannot totally eradicate others' suffering together with its roots and lead them to a lasting state of well-being. However, if a blind person has a guide, then he can be led to his desired destination.

Even someone with great compassion needs an understanding or realization of emptiness. The same holds true for the other five of the six perfections, namely generosity, ethical discipline, patience, zeal, and meditative stabilization. If one is lacking a realization of emptiness, these do not even get the name of perfection. They are given that name only if they are conjoined with a realization of emptiness. The Tibetan term perfection (Tib. pha rol tu phyin pa) literally means to go beyond, or transcend. Thus, the perfection of wisdom is so called because it leads one beyond the cycle of existence to the transcendent state of liberation.

What are the benefits of transcending samsara, this cycle of existence in which one is subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death? By transcending the cycle of existence you attain a state in which you are free from both birth and cessation. This is like escaping from the gravitational field of the earth in a spaceship. In short, the perfection of wisdom has extraordinary benefits to it.

Before gaining a nonconceptual realization of emptiness, if you can gain some sense of the nature of emptiness, it is like punching a hole in the bag of samsara. You may not have burst it, but you have made it leak, Firyadeva, the great Indian philosopher, declared that if one even questions the true existence of reality, this shakes the foundations of samsara. It is said that some people acquire great merit just by hearing the word emptiness, due to their sensing the great meaning of this word. Thus, listening to teachings on emptiness can have great significance, so if you are looking for a meaningful essence, you can find it.

To give an analogy, if you are steadily traveling along a wrong path, you will continue on your way wholeheartedly as long as you cannot see another road. But if you hear that there is another road, then a doubt is sown in your mind, and gradually your perseverance in following the wrong road declines. The doubt will grow to a point where you think that this may not be the right road, and by the time you get to an intersection, you will be looking for another road. As soon as you find it you can totally change direction. To bring this analogy to the subject of this teaching, the wrong road is the path of ignorance and the correct road is the wisdom of emptiness. The reality of emptiness is really the essential criterion for whether your path is the right or the wrong one. This is why it is said that even having some uncertainty will wear samsara ragged.

Even if one cultivates a spirit of awakening to a considerable extent if one lacks a realization of emptiness, one cannot cut the root of samsara. As long as one lacks that, one can never gain mastery over such things as birth, aging, sickness, and death. Therefore, the wisdom of realizing emptiness is something very precious. ä_æ

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