Living in Spacious Awareness

The Essence of the Buddhist Practice

 

What is the Essence of Buddhist Practice? The Buddha taught how to open the casket of our minds, to the vast expanse inside and outside.

 

Instead of living in a cocoon of worries and anxieties about everything,

Instead of living a life of destructive emotions,

Instead of the futile hope of a god coming and fixing our problems,

Instead of the futile hope of the world outside fixing all our problems,

Instead of the futile hope of finding peace in the ravines of mind away from the world,

Instead of hopelessly falling into inaction and depression,

 

The Buddha showed, how

 

To uncover the vast spaciousness of mind where everything is resolved,

To unleash the mind into its very nature of clear awareness and bliss,

To live a life of peace, happiness and contentment in the spacious expanse of wisdom,

To experience the world vividly with all its fine links of interconnectedness,

Above all, to live a life of compassion and loving kindness

Where we not only remain free from our own suffering,

But, stand joyously and courageously to bring benefit to all,

To help others free themselves from their suffering.

 

All of these rely on a simple point. That is to be aware – clearly, openly and spaciously. In Buddhist practice, in meditation and beyond meditation, one cultivates mindful yet relaxed awareness. Observing our own thoughts and experiences, we can see what is wholesome and unwholesome. With clear awareness, we can see the confusions we hold, around which we give in to emotions and turn life miserable. With that awareness, then we cultivate wisdom to let those confusions and miseries dissolve in their own space.

 

With the attitude of genuine and unbiased inquiry, Siddhartha, the prince who turned into a wandering inquirer to fix the pain of all, himself took such a path of awareness. He observed his own experiences, investigated and found the causes of happiness and suffering. He found how to overcome those. Then, he showed how we can make similar findings. He showed how we can befriend our own minds, get to know it closely, nurture and develop it. Above all, he showed how we can awaken our minds to its vast potential through gently getting to know it.

 

The way he showed to go beyond suffering to limitless compassion, blissful living and perfect awakening all relied on simple and practical steps. This is perfectly within the reach of everyone. The Buddha did not prescribe any religious dogmas to do so.  In fact, Buddhism is not at all about learning new dogmas, but of unlearning and opening up to the freshness and immediate presence of our awareness. It is all about breaking beyond the misconceptions and habits we hold fast tightly as the foundation of all our miseries. As we unlearn them we open up to the original perfection, the very nature of our minds – the ever fresh and clear nature of our awareness with its innate quality of being happy, peaceful and compassionate.

 

The way to unlearn

The entire learning and training of Buddhism is about unlearning those miserable misconceptions and habits. Now, how do you unlearn? There are so many ways that suits different individuals. No matter whether you are a house holder with so many other things to take care in life or a dedicated practitioner, there are ways for all. All these various ways boil down to cultivating clear awareness in three aspects that cover entire life – namely, view (dṛṣṭi), meditation (bhāvana) and conduct (carya). To be aware in view, meditation and conduct is the essence of the Buddhist practice. As we shall see, the openness and wisdom that come from each of these three end up supporting the other two, thus leading us gradually to the clear wisdom of perfect unlearning.

 

The View

The view means the perspective of seeing ourselves and the world free from all prejudices. It is the panoramic openness that we cultivate where the attention to particulars do not blind us from seeing everything in its own place. The view is the freshness that comes from unlearning misconceptions and habits, and from the widening and deepening of perspective.

 

The view is also what helps us break the habitual barriers and see things clearly in meditation. If we do not develop that kind of a view, meditation will not have the juice of freshness to bring transformation. Often, this is the mistake that people make while trying to meditate. They either try to silence the mind, or simply keep wandering through the very patterns of misconceptions and habits that have been limiting them. Genuine meditation should involve settling into an expansive view free from prejudices and tasting the strength of that expanse.

 

The view begins to broaden while listening to the words of wisdom, as it reveals the fallacies in our way of thinking and makes us think in broader ways. As we reflect further on the meaning of those words, the view deepens. It brings freshness and depth to the perspective. Further, meditation and wisdom-conduct gradually eliminates old habits and we learn to settle into the comfort of ever-fresh openness of the view. The view, in turn, makes meditation meaningful. Also, the view leads to spontaneity in wisdom-conduct, bringing ease to the way we deal with the world.

 

 

Meditation

Meditation means settling mind in clarity and openness. With clear and stable awareness, meditation helps us to accustom with the view and deepen the exposure to the view in a direct way in our immediate experience. Thus there is the dawn of direct insight into the nature of our existence. In meditation, the view becomes a lived experience.

 

Meditation with the correct view also puts us in direct contact with the basic goodness – our innately perfect qualities such as clarity, compassion and loving kindness – so that we learn to ‘see’ beyond confusion. Thus, while the view helps us during meditation to settle and penetrate reality, meditation in turn opens us to a clearer view of reality. The clarity and stability cultivated through meditation is not limited to just meditation sessions. We extend that clear awareness and mindfulness as the conduct all through life. In a nutshell, meditation in Buddhism is not an escape route from everything else. Instead, it prepares and strengthens us to face the world.

 

Conduct

Conduct is basically all that we do outside meditation. It is the way we relate to our world 24×7 in all our activities, no matter what we do in life. Conduct is all about bringing the wisdom perspective to life. It is the awareness and mindfulness that we bring to every aspect of life. The view, that is the unlearning of misconceptions and habits, is applied in every aspect of our lives through conduct. We try to do what makes sense from our wisdom perspective. In turn, conduct deepens view because it sensitizes us to the nuances of the world and makes us reflect deeper than just holding a bookish and dogmatic knowledge. Further, the right conduct strengthens meditation because meaningless distractions are naturally pacified.

 

The Harmony of View, Meditation and Conduct

As Guru Padmasambhava, the great master who took Buddhism to Tibet and preserved there, taught,

Maintain the view as spacious as the sky.
Yet, in conduct, regard cause and effect
as fine as grains of flour.

(See Carefree Expanse – Careful Conduct for an explanation to the above verse.) Go beyond all boundaries and limited religious thinking, beyond all sectarian doctrinal thoughts, to the clear expanse of awareness, of seeing everything in its own place. Relax and let go in that vast openness. Without parting from that space, apply discerning wisdom, apply attention to detail, and do what benefits oneself and others. Eventually, one frees oneself from all forms of limited system thinking. Yet, one does not simply blank out in a void openness. One gains the ability to work with any system, while fully knowing the limitations of every system.

 

As Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, a great Dzogchen master of recent times beautifully expressed (Magic Dance),

There is no communication in relative truth 

Without understanding everyone’s system and ideas, 

So may I adapt to everyone’s systems, 

Wishing for everyone’s benefit. 

There is no liberation in absolute truth 

Without release from everyone’s system and idea, 

So may I adapt to no one’s system, 

Beyond benefit’s wish.

Meditation should harmonize the view and conduct, bringing the panoramic awareness of view and meticulous attention of conduct to every aspect of life. This is indeed the very essence of Buddhism.

 

The practice leads to familiarizing ourselves with the natural harmony of view and conduct in our innate wisdom nature – the basic goodness. Then meditation is exhausted as there is no difference between meditation and non-meditation. One transcends beyond holding to any view, as one sees everything so clearly as if looking from the top of a mountain peak, seeing how different perspectives fall in their own places. One also transcends all contrived adherence to conduct as the wisdom awareness naturally outflow in appropriate conduct. This is indeed the culmination of the any pathway of Buddhism.

 

The Buddha summarized his entire teachings into the following four lines (pratimokṣa sūtra – the Sutra of individual liberation)

Abandon negativity whatsoever. 

Bask in the abundance of virtues. 

Perfectly conquer one’s own mind. 

This is the teaching of the Buddha.

Here, the first two lines relate primarily to the conduct. The third relates primarily to taming, training and perfecting one’s mind to its original abilities through the three aspects of view, meditation and conduct.

 

Various Ways of Practice

This short note was written as brief introduction to Buddhism for those who have no clue about what it is. The Buddha cuts through many misconceptions of worldly people to lead us to the ultimate fruition of perfect awakening. When some of these teachings are read out of turn, i.e., without building clarity on preceding points, it may appear beyond comprehension. There is nothing to worry. You can start with whatever is appealing and leave the rest away. Just develop that level of wisdom and openness through being aware in the view, meditation and conduct. And, as you develop appreciation for the remaining teachings, those aspects are cultivated precisely in the same style – through being aware in the view, meditation and conduct. That way, “The view, meditation and conduct”, is the framework from beginning to end, for all ways of Bodhi.

 

For example, the Buddha taught in many different scopes and some of them may be beyond comprehension at first.

1. Wholesome Living – How non-harming and benefitting attitude leads to healthy minds and happy life.
2. Nirvana (Liberation) – How abandoning self-clinging leads to the supreme bliss and perfect peace,
3. Sambodhi (Perfect Awakening)
   • How selfless and boundless compassion to all beings makes our existence utterly joyous and meaningful
   • How all our experiences are merely illusion-like and completely workable
   • How we have the innate ability to be fully enlightened Buddhas in this very lifetime

And, all of these may not appeal to all, and that is perfectly alright.

 

As far as we gradually unlearn confusions and habits and open up to living in a spacious expanse in this way, nothing else is required. Without having to please any gods and without having to wait for newer technologies to fix our problems, we can easily tame our minds and find peace, happiness and auspiciousness.

 

May all find peace and happiness through such an open approach to transforming lives!