Is there really a problem?

Most relgions seem to propose that there is some fundamental problem that needs a solution. Indian religions such as Buddhism and Vedanta see the problem as repeated death and rebirth on the wheel of samsara. Western religions frame the problem as sin and reconciliation with God. Then these traditions propose a solution–whether it is nirvana, self-knowledge or faith and union with an absolute reality. But in these times, we are becoming aware that each religion’s statement of the basic problem and its solution is historically conditioned. When we are exposed to so many vying formulations of the problem and its solution, can we be sure what the problem and solution really are, or that there really is in fact a problem at all? In the following short talk (about 14 minutes long), Hal Blacker proposes questioning the idea that there is a problem that needs a solution altogether.

This talk was given on April 17, 2012 at Real Dharma.

or download or listen by clicking here.

Mahasiddhas, Mahamudra and Awakening in the West

The Mahasiddhas were unclassifiable and often eccentric yogis of medieval India and Tibet who pointed out ultimate reality in direct and unconventional ways. Non-monastic, and not depending on dogma or ritual, their approach toward Mahamudra and Dzogchen teaching may hold the key to the transmission of genuine awakening to the West.

Hal Blacker gave the following talk on Mahamudra, the Mahasiddhas and their inspiring example and potential significance for the modern West at Real Dharma on November 29, 2011. To listen, use the flash driver:

or download or listen by clicking here.

When mind is spacious, liberation can occur

When mind is tight,
There is suffering.
When mind is spacious,
Liberation can occur.
—Tsangpa Gyare (1161-1211)

Listen to a talk inspired by the above quote by Mahamudra master Tsangpa Gyare, given by Hal Blacker  at Real Dharma Sangha on September 21, 2010, in the flash audio player, below:

If the audio player does not appear or work in your browser, download or listen here.

Why enlightenment?

Sakyamuni Buddha initially felt no one would comprehend what he had realized under the Bodhi tree. According to legend, he did not want to teach until the god Brahma convinced him that there are beings whose eyes had little dust and who would understand.

Enlightenment is not hard to get because it is foreign or complex. It is hard to understand only because it is so simple yet profound. It is like convincing a fish that it is in the water and it is mostly made of water. It is hard to see because it is so close and so present.

Because of its subtlety, some might even ask, what good is enlightenment anyway? Why should one try to realize enlightenment at all?

I think that Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths is an elegant, simple, and profound solution to this question. Buddha taught that there is suffering; there is a cause of suffering; there is an end to suffering; and there is a path. If you are dissatisfied, do not seek to end your dissatisfaction with a temporary patch. Liberate yourself from its inner root. Seek enlightenment.

Buddha identified a problem—dissatisfaction or suffering—and offered a solution. In that way, out of his great compassion, he made the purpose of liberation and the path to liberation accessible.

But—dare I say this?!—liberation has another meaning, beyond the end of dissatisfaction alone. Or perhaps I should say, calling it the end of dissatisfaction does not seem to do it complete justice, does not by itself give a sense of liberation’s fullness, and might even mislead one into thinking it is a state that is placid or numb.

Beyond the end of suffering, there is an ecstatic quality to liberation. It gives fullness, meaning and joy. It brings gratitude and love. It reveals the beauty and magic of the ordinary. It grants overwhelming wonder that there is anything rather than nothing at all. It shows the whole universe to be an amazing magic trick. In its wake comes immense satisfaction and well-being. It is like putting down a burden one has carried for a million years. Attaining it might even make one want to sing, shout and dance like a madman or a fool.

In the realm of liberation, the evocation of bliss found in the secret Tantra, or the love and ecstasy found in the poetry and song of a Hafiz or Rumi, might be closest to the truth.

If you want liberation, a real teacher will find you

The strong and sincere desire for liberation will bring a real teacher of liberation to you. This is important, and, for most of us, necessary in order to realize our true nature.

Even though self-reliance in the end will reveal our true nature, most of us won’t recognize it without a teacher to point it out. Ignorance of our real nature creates such an all-pervading and beginningless sense of fragmentation, separation and lack that it usually takes someone else to both point out and confirm our true nature as unity, union and completion. The all-pervading nature of ignorance will make it difficult, if not impossible, to find, recognize and gain firm confidence in our true nature without guidance and help.

The desire to see your true face will meet with the teacher’s desire to be your mirror. Your desire for freedom will make you like dry tinder, and the teacher, seeing this, will throw you a lit match.

It is said that the coming together of 3 auspicious circumstances will make liberation likely. Those 3 are a teacher who has recognized their own true nature, a wisdom lineage and a devoted student. Here, devotion means only the sincere desire to be free and the willingness to let go and open. Just that much trust or devotion is necessary. Then, the power of the teachings of the wisdom lineage, as wielded by a teacher with self-recognition, can do its job and set one free.

Self-reliance is the best guru

The guru question is a tricky one and is fraught with controversy. But it does not have to be too confusing. For most of us, a guru—in the popular sense of an absolute spiritual authority or God man, demanding complete obedience, submission and devotion—is unnecessary and is not conducive to liberation.

Contrary to popular belief, the major Eastern wisdom traditions do not say otherwise. Guru is a Sanskrit word, from India, meaning “teacher.” In India, the word guru is used for almost any kind of teacher. If you study music, you have a music guru. If you study astrology, you have a jyotish guru. And so on. The word guru in common parlance in India does not necessarily imply complete obedience and submission.

In the tradition of Advaita Vedanta, the guru is the one who gives you self-knowledge. While it would be natural to treat your guru with respect and gratitude, there is no requirement that you absolutely obey and submit to the guru’s authority. On the contrary, inquiry and questioning are a necessary part of the path of self-knowledge.

In the early Buddhist sutras, the word guru is never used. The Buddha is referred to with respect, as a teacher or a kalyanamitra, spiritual friend, but never as a guru. The same is true in the later Mahayana teachings. The exception is in the Vajrayana or tantric Buddhist teachings. In tantra, the latest form and a very specialized kind of Buddhist practice, absolute submission to a guru is required, due to the esoteric, complex and dangerous methods used. Some people may choose to engage in these kinds of secret practices, and if they do, they will be required to submit to a guru. The analogy is undergoing surgery—you don’t get off the operating table in the middle of a dangerous operation, or start arguing with your surgeon in the middle of surgery. But Vajrayana practices are neither necessary nor probably appropriate for most people. Finally, Zen is a special case, where obedience and submission to the master is often traditionally taught. But I think that is a product of the hierarchical cultures in which Zen flourished, rather than a necessity for enlightenment. In the West, that sort of hierarchical relationship is unnatural and often counter-productive. Many Zen teachers in the West are accordingly moderating the hierarchical nature of the Zen student-teacher relationship.

Buddha, when approaching his death, urged his followers to be “islands unto yourselves.” He always stressed that his words should not be believed based upon his authority, but should always be investigated and tested for yourself. In the end, a teacher can only point the way. Each individual must walk it on his own. Each person must discover her own true self within herself.  The true self is the ultimate guru. A teacher can help point you there, but in the end liberation is a condition of complete self-reliance.

3 practices for knowing your true nature

Although liberation is the natural state, in most of us it  is covered by ignorance and obscured by false concepts of who we are and what is real. That is why the wisdom lineages prescribe practices to re-awaken us to our natural freedom.

The fundamental sadhana, or spiritual discipline, for awakening to our natural freedom are the 3 practices: listening, contemplating and meditating.

Listening is hearing the teachings that point to our original freedom, and that remind us there is nothing to attain. This can include book study. But the liberation of the wisdom lineage is primarily an oral tradition and transmission. It is most  helpful to hear the teachings in person from someone who genuinely understands them. A qualified teacher of a wisdom lineage can turn language into a mirror that will reveal your original face, your face of unobstructed freedom.

Once you have heard the teachings, it is necessary for most of us to think about them and to clarify any doubts. This is contemplation. Contemplation includes wrestling with doubts, and bringing them to the teacher for clarification. Any genuine teacher will welcome the voicing of sincere questions and doubts as a sign of your intention to be free.

When doubts have been clarified, meditation on what has been understood helps the gaining of firmness in the understanding of your true nature. Even after understanding the natural condition of liberation, the mood or habit of imprisonment, the habitual feeling of lack and confusion may persist. By meditating on the truth over and over, you will become established in it so that the winds of habitual ignorance and desire can not uproot you.

These 3 practices are the primary sadhana of one who wants to be free. They are the dharma, in the sense of the path, and, as is said, they are delightful in the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Please enjoy these practices as often as you can, but remember that you are already intrinsically free, so there is absolutely nothing to gain except clarity and confidence in this truth.

The good news of the wisdom lineage

The good news of the wisdom lineage is that we are all intrinsically free.

Perhaps you have never heard that before. More likely, you’ve heard it a million times and you are tired of hearing it or don’t know what to do with it. But I am suggesting that you take a moment to reflect on your inherent liberation, your inner ecstatic freedom, the radiant beauty of your original face. Please don’t let another day go by without at least taking a moment to pause and reflect on this.

If you understand it, you may rejoice. If you don’t get it yet, look to see if there is really anything holding you back from its realization. I think you’ll find that, except for the things you’ve been told and the illusory fabrications of your mind, there is nothing holding you back at all.

When you get it—and if you really want to, you will get it—you might dance and sing and shout, “Hallelujah!” Or if you are more comfortable with Tibetan style, shout “E Ma Ho!”

When you see your true nature for yourself, you’ll be sure. You’ll know it, and you won’t be beholden to anyone. You’ll have “entered the stream”  and the path of seeing. Then you can start to travel a path of freedom, a path that unfolds forever, and never ends.

May all beings see their true nature and walk that freedom path.

Easy meditation, natural liberation

Meditation leading to liberation can be easy and natural. As the Buddha recounted:

“I thought: ‘I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, then — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful mental qualities — I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Could that be the path to Awakening?’ Then following on that memory came the realization: ‘That is the path to Awakening.’—Majjhima Nikaya 36

The Buddha had engaged in yoga and in self-mortification, but his desire for liberation from suffering was not satisfied. Then he recalled how, as a young man, he had spontaneously entered a natural state of meditative contemplation while resting in the shade of a rose-apple tree. It occurred to him that such natural meditation might be more conducive to liberation than the yogic trances or self-denial he had previously pursued. As a result, he took some food, and proceeded to the Bodhi tree where he sat naturally and easefully, with the strong intention to sit still until he penetrated the matter of suffering. The sutras recount that the next morning, upon seeing Venus rising, Gotama became the Awakened One.

The most fruitful meditation is like that of the Buddha—natural, relaxed, awake and with the intention of liberation, but at ease. The great teachers of Dzogchen, such as Longchenpa and Jigme Lingpa, also taught natural meditation. In meditation, as in life, too much force, concentration or fancy technique is counter-productive. Since one’s true nature is the natural state-the default state of rest when craving is relaxed-it is not hard to understand how meditation that is natural and full of ease is the most direct path to its realization.