Hello friends! Hope you are doing well. I have been off writing for some time now. I have been focused on finishing up writing the manuscript of my first book (link) and have been moving countries. Alright. Back to the weekly newsletter now :)
What Is The Buddha Mind?
As I sit down and think about “The Buddha Mind”, my understanding gravitates towards a feeling of calmness and chaos. The “Buddha Mind” is a dichotomy of good and bad in our lives. Only when we recognize what is bad can we overcome it and find a path to the good. In a manner similar to the concept of the yin and yang, we have multiple energies in our bodies. The Positive Energy is the source of happiness, light, and creativity. The Negative Energy is the source of sadness, darkness, and fear. Our lives are a constant battle between the two energy sources. The Buddha Mind is a state of being wherein it accepts our energies and builds mechanisms to counter the negative energy.
Learning To Accept
In our daily lives, several instances result in us feeling a sense of pain due to the different events. Most of them are not in our control. The “Buddha Mind” learns to accept these as experiences that pass by. We cannot control them, change them or make them go away. However, we can sit with these experiences — letting the pain go through us and learn to cope with them. The doors to happiness open only when we are able to accept the tunnels of darkness in our lives.
Learning To Forgive
The Buddha Mind learns to forgive. We all make mistakes in our lives. Several situations are not in the control that happens to us. Sometimes, we react out of anger, fear, and frustration. I imagine the anger as being a silent tenant in our lives. It resides in our minds and builds up pressure. The anger erupts like a volcano when we hit a breaking point, and we spew it out. Quite often the breaking point is different than the source of the anger. To deal with it, we must learn to understand the source of anger. To do that, we must first calm ourselves and forgive ourselves. To err is human. The Buddha Mind forgives oneself and others and resolves from a place of empathy and understanding.
Recommended Framework
Cultivating the Buddha Mind requires working through the pain of understanding the situation and forgiving ourselves and those around us. Recently, I have started to work through the practice of Tonglen.[1] Tonglen is Tibetan for 'giving and taking' (or sending and receiving) and refers to a meditation practice found in Tibetan Buddhism. “Tong” means "giving or sending", and “len” means "receiving or taking". The goals of the practice are as follows:
Reduce selfish attachment;
Increase a sense of renunciation;
Purify karma by giving and helping; and
Develop and expand loving-kindness and bodhicitta.[2]
There are four stages to Tonglen. These are as follows:
Stage-I: Flash on Bodhicitta
The first step is to orient yourself away from the busyness of life and bring your focus into a state of openness and stillness. This is the phase of preparation for the exercise.
Stage-II: Begin the Visualization
Breathe in and out. When you breathe in, focus on the heaviness, darkness, and difficult emotions. When you breathe out, focus on the lightness, positivity, and happiness in your life. Visualize these emotions. Repeat this step, till your breathing gets synchronized with the emotions that you feel.
Stage-III: Focus on a Difficult Situation
Focus on a situation that is difficult for you. You can also do the same for someone else — someone who you wish to bring a positive impact upon.
Stage-IV: Expand Your Compassion
Finally, expand your feelings for everyone in the same boat. If you feel bad for a cancer patient, think about all the cancer patients in the world. If you are thinking about an orphan child, think about all the orphans in the world. The goal is to ensure that the exercise you do opens up your mind and helps you empathize with millions of people out there who are feeling the same.
Tonglen is the practice of breathing in pain and breathing out positivity towards others in life.
Favorite Quote
Acceptance is the vehicle that takes a man through the tunnels of darkness.
References
The Wikipedia Article on Tonglen is a good start. Another good article is How to Practice Tonglen By Pema Chödrön.
In Buddhism, bodhicitta, "enlightenment-mind", is the mind that strives toward awakening, empathy, and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings. This Wikipedia article is a good reference.
Cheers,
Ravi Tandon.