Transcription
So my name is Ol Nale. I'm from Denmark. I'm a lama and I'm going to speak on meditation, where Buddhism has some very special views and some very special methods.
So in the world today, you know, there are many spiritual offers. We meet all kinds of offers, from hopping up and down and hyperventilating, and to, you know, to buying a mantra, sometimes for a lot of money, to standing on your head somewhere, to making special sounds, and so on. And it's all very interesting, you know. But it's, uh, if you want the whole thing, you know, you cannot just take a technique. It's not possible just to take a technique and think this technique will will do the thing. What we need is actually a whole structure. The human being is a totality. Everything we do has to do with a total situation, and meditation must be the same.
And what we need in Buddhism for a meditation to happen, to really touch our lives, transform our lives, and give us the results of happiness and meaning that we want, is first, right information. We must simply know how things are. If we don't know how things are, it's like coming to a country where we don't know where the crocodiles live, we don't know where the diamond mines are, and we go the wrong places. And the wonderful thing with the information that the Buddha gives us is it's never based on faith. There's never a question of faith. It just isn't there. You should examine. And it even goes so far that if there might be a place where Buddhism and science would not agree, and science would clearly be right, the Buddha would want you to follow science, just that you know that. So the truth, knowing what is there, is the first pillar.
Then, right now, we don't talk about the middle. We go to the other pillar to the side, which is the holding of the level which has been reached. Also, this is important. If we go up and down like a yoyo or a lift where the controls fell out, you know, we're not convincing or benefiting anybody. So there also has to be a pillar of holding whatever has been reached, so we can build on from there.
And between these two pillars, the pillar of information with question, and the pillar of holding whatever has been understood or realized, then we come to the pillar of meditation, which is a place in the center. And here, there are many, many, many different kinds of Buddhist meditation, but they all have exactly the same essence. Your mind is brought to a state of peace, you know, where it's not disturbed, where you can compare to a cup of coffee that isn't shaken anymore, or a mirror that's cleared of dust. And then there is a state of inside, the natural radiance, the inborn, the inherent inspiration, the knowledge, the clear seeing, the penetrating seeing of the mind comes out as the second thing, which is really called well, which is the state which then gives a different special qualities. And from there, then, you know, if you are lucky enough and you meet a teacher who has a Mahamudra view, you can unite all that and be inside that, you know, and and rest in that at all times and places. But anyway, all meditation starts with holding the mind in one place till it becomes calm, and then bringing something out of it.
And I won't go into the two side pillars there. In my books, like "The Way Things Are," you know, there's a lot of things that you can get on that also from other lamas and other Buddhist teachers. But I would like to get into the central pillar itself, the way you will see it in every Buddhist Vayrayana Diamond Way meditation. Here we begin by first calming the mind, usually by feeling the breath at the tip of the nose. And the reason for that is that when we have that, when we have the breath at the tip of the nose, on the one side, we have an experience all the time. And on the second time, it's difficult to to create too many ideas and concepts about it. And for that reason, we both get the constant state of mind, you know, the constant impressions which bring peace on the level of awareness. And at the same time, we also are in contact with the world around us through the air which passes. We experience 16 fingers from the nose, we pick up the energy of space. 12 fingers from there, we pick up the energy of air. Um, eight fingers away, we pick up the energy of heat. Four fingers way, we pick up the energy of what's fluent. And at the nostrils themselves, we pick up the energy of what is solid in the universe. So through the watching of the breathing, we at the same time balance the awareness nature because we don't create ideas and we still have experience. And at the same time, we also, uh, harmonize, you know, the in and outflow of energies with the body. So this is the first level.
The second level then is where we put motivation into the meditation. And motivation here, that is the level we call the Mahayana. This, of course, makes everything stronger. If we just do things for ourselves, it's one person doing something for her or himself, you know, which is not so important, right? But if we have the right motivation at the beginning, it becomes very big. I mean, everybody say, there so many beings, you know, all over the place, under the water, under the earth, you know, on the water, on the earth, you know, I mean, we have beings all over the place. And if we do things with the motivation of benefiting them, you know, that's very important. And here, of course, the really important thing is motivation to reach so far that we can stand in our own power, have our own qualities, and really teach and really help them directly from our intuitive understanding of the potential of that moment. So for that reason, we put into this a wish to become enlightened for for the sake of all beings. That's also a very important point, you know, on the sec second level of meditation is that we bring this in. And also the spreading of all the good feelings. I mean, that we just share it out, that we think, "May everybody join, you know, may everybody be happy," like that. Also, that gives a really good broad contact to all beings and it removes the separation people usually feel between meditation, which is like stiff activity like that, and then going out and having a cup of coffee or talking to somebody like that. Here you flow out of the meditation and you do it for the benefit of all.
But the highest level of meditation that one can actually do is identifying. On the first level, one avoids problems, that put some of the energy of the mind into the process. On the second level, one is already involving strong feelings like compassion and wisdom and understanding of emptiness and non-reality, or non-lasting nature of all things, right? That everything is composite, appears, changes, disappears again. And here, on the highest level, it's really a question of identification. It's basically a question on the level that we call Vasana or Diamond Way Buddhism. The meditation is basically to behave like a Buddha until we become a Buddha. This is very, very powerful. And it's not because Tibetans are smarter than other Buddhists that we have so many, well, quite accomplished or very accomplished teachers from that culture. It's simply because these teachings were known there. They're very, very effective if one can learn to totally identify with enlightenment and bring it out in everything that one does. This is just very effective.
So the practical way this is done is that one starts by calming the mind by feeling the breath at the tips of one's nose, right at the tip of one's nose. Then after that, uh, one motivates the mind. One understands that one has a great and precious chance. Not many have this chance to work with their minds. One understands impermanence. One can die any moment. Should use it now. The only thing that won't die and disappear is that clear light which is looking through our eyes and listening through our ears, right? It's the only thing that will not die. Therefore, that's most most important, most important of all things. The third thing is then that we decide, understand that cause and effect is there. I just, there's a video also on karma which is good on this basis. Good to look at there. And then finally, there is a reason for doing it. And the reason is, of course, that enlightenment is the highest joy, stronger than anything we know today. And that we cannot do much for others if we sit there with our beard the post box and our the mail box and are neurotic and disturbed and unhappy and fearful and whatever else people can do with their minds, right? So understanding this, one wants to take refuge. One then decides, you know, to look for something one can rely on, something that will not die and disappear, that one can really trust. And here then we have the Buddha. We see the open, clear, limitless space, you know, that he shows us, radiance, the free play, the unlimited richness, and and so on, which is there. And this is refuge in the Buddha. We see the teachings that he gave 2550 years ago so we could become like him. We see our friends on the way. And if we don't want to walk to enlightenment but fly, we should also have a teacher. We should have a teacher who knows about that, somebody we can trust, who has a bit of life experience, you know, who has who has lived and experienced and can hold one and show one. So these different qualities here, this is called the Refuge. Then, of course, you can take this Refuge with the idea, "I myself will get old, sick, and die and have a lot of suffering one time," or one can think, "All beings want happiness and want to avoid suffering. I now reach a level from where I can really help them." Right? So this is the choice there.
But then one comes into the meditation itself. And here in Buddhist meditation, we try to experience mind, especially on the highest level, the Diamond Way level. We try to experience mind either in its nature of awareness. This is called Shiné Shasana. This is one of the ways mind is brought to peace, like through concentration on the breath or on a certain Buddha form or some inner or outer object, and getting into that and staying in that. Then naturally clarity will come up. That is the way of of awareness. Then there's the other way of energy. All the famous meditations of Tibetan yoga, of deep breathing and sitting naked in snow and and and what's that called, melting the snow around oneself, and like I've taught more than 23,000 people around the world already, the po the the sending out of consciousness from the top of one's head and so on. These kinds of teachings, that is where the the mind recognizes itself through energy. This is the other way. So we have the way of awareness, the way of energy. And then we have the central way that I actually teach, probably 95% of my students, and which I consider very, very useful for the world today. And that is a way of identification, like I mentioned before, behave like a Buddha till you become a Buddha, basically like that. And here we use the so-called Guru Yogas. We use the meditations on the different Kopa's, like on this one here, whom we have here, the eighth Kopa Mitro. There's a very, very important meditation on him, which I've given to probably 100,000 people around the world so far. That many, many different kinds of many, many people are using and meditating on, where you really get countless buttons for pressing your subconscious and bringing out amazing results. And the people who do these meditations really have good results.
And then there is, and actually what happens through this is that one begins to go into the different states which are called Mahamudra. One goes into a state where subject, object, and action are no longer separate. A state where everything is spontaneous and effortless and just flows by itself. And one develops through four levels that are intensely joyful. First, one gets to a level where one rests in whatever is there, you know, where one rests in what whatever is there. This is called, uh, one-pointed mind. It is so full of good impressions, it doesn't need anything more. The next thing that happens is that one stops being artificial, because, I mean, why play games when the truth is so much better than any game one can play, right? When that which is authentic, you know, which is happening right here, is so much more important than any daydream or whatever, you know, then why do all that Disneyland, right? Why even get into it? Then the third thing is called One Taste. And one taste actually means that the taste of experience is in whatever has happened. I mean, everything. You never forget the experience that the ocean is always there underneath the waves, the mirror is there behind the pictures, the awareness is there behind what's being what we are aware of. Um, if you don't meditate, you can have that experience by bungee or parachute jumping or on fast motorcycles, where really you and what's going on is you is totally one, where you are fully aware without being aware of anything. But of course, meditation is the best way. And after a few years, you just click into that state and you're there. And then the last thing, you know, is actually called non-effort or non-meditation. And that's a joking word, because I mean, at that level, you can't be serious anyway. But it doesn't mean, you know, you just sit in the sofa clicking llama all, uh, television, television programs in and out and stuff like that, which will surely be bad for your wife, right? Don't do that. But it, what actually, it actually means, you know, that whatever is needed arrives naturally and one does it, you know, spontaneously and effortlessly. It just happens through its own power without anybody thinking, "I do something with you." Then it just happens like that. And that is that is the highest level. That's actually where everything functions and you at home all the time.
Lama, how do all the Buddha aspects work in meditation? Well, they are the great richmas of Tibetan Buddhism. They are the free play of the mind. They're something really wonderful. And the reason I didn't mention them was that we had so many things on the table already, and they were already, they were actually included. But the Buddha aspects, uh, through their outer form, through the vibration that they give, or that they are invoked by, like their mantras and so on, they actually represent the different states of mind that we have on the level of purity. And once we take our different things and put them on the level of purity, whether it may be a case like this, you know, where we take our protective power, you know, the power that we have to protect and secure others and be fearless, whether we take an aspect like this, or a mild aspect like this, or whatever, then actually, you know, we are communicating with our potential on the highest level of purity and meaning that we can. And here, if we make, we become capable of seeing ourselves as these forms of energy and light, then whether we do the Shiné, which is on awareness, you know, where we just sit in this form, or we do the Shiné, which is on deep breathing and meditation and holding concentration, or whether we do it on the on the feeling of devotion and openness and and and receiving the power of the teacher that one has a close bond to, whichever one of these ways we do, if we do it in the form of an form, in the form of energy and light, then everything is on a completely other level. It is not ordinary thought. If thoughts come, it's Buddha thought, you know, whatever comes is seen as being naturally free and pure. For that reason, it's like a boost. It's like a turbo kick, turbo kick for meditation. Once we experience ourselves as being these different forms, they are basically the peaceful ones that remove ignorance because they make the energy flow more easily in the body. There are the united ones that, uh, know that take our small attachments and make them into immense bliss. And they are the protective ones which give us the power to to to really protect and take care of others.
What is Shiné or in Sanskrit? Shiné means peaceful. N means place. It's where the mind is made peaceful and kept in one place. And Laktong. Tong is seeing. And Lak means penetrating or with great forth or great depth. So in the moment, it's, well, it's the finding of the state of inspiration, like Mozart had little pieces of of of paper moving around on the water till he got into his meditation pose. And we do, or he got into his clear states of awareness, you know. And we use the breathing. Some use the Buddha form. Mind is pacified. It is held in one place. And from this comes up, actually, in the meditations where we use these forms, what we do especially is to build up the form. It's a Shiné. Their mind is held with the purity of this form. Also the mantra, where we create an energy bridge between inside and outside. It's also the Shiné. And then the dissolving of the Buddha and mixing into and identifying with his limitless mind, being everything at all times and places. That then is Laktong. That is that is a penetrating seeing. And then with the view of Mahamudra, that subject, object, and action are one, and so on, then everything opens up and full enlightenment comes.
Must one sit to meditate? Well, if one had to sit to meditate, I'd be a very bad Buddhist, lama, you know, because we have so much to do all over the world, so many centers, students, you know, things happening everywhere. No. You don't need to. Meditation means holding a level of awareness at all times and places. You probably need to sit to learn to meditate. That's why we have things such as the Nro, the foundational practices, and stuff like that, where people are forced to spend a certain amount of time doing the same thing constantly, right? And this gives a brought behind, you can say that that forces that the habit to sit, right? Or the habit to rest in whatever is there. And once we got through that, once we got out, once we have established that awareness of the mirror behind the pictures, of the ocean underneath the waves, and so on, once we've established that, actually, the meditation should never stop. And especially in Tibetan Buddhist meditation, there are very skillful methods for making very, very little separation between between meditation and after meditation. Because you first, you experience your mind is limitless space, radiantly clear, perfect. And then out of this condenses a pure world, every atom vibrating with joy, kept together by love. Then out of that appear beings, and all of them have the Buddha nature, all of them are somehow very special and rich. And then you yourself appear. You begin to feel your body, everything happening. But a very big difference happened in the meditation. You are not your body. You have your body. You've understood that what you really are is that clear light which was aware, that which was knowing and seeing. And the body and the speech are tools you consciously take in order to go out and bless and benefit and inspire the world. So in this way, you know, they, and here, as I said, these Buddha forms, different aspects, they're very, very meaningful.
Convinced? Yeah. Yes. Thank you. That was a bit about meditation. We, um, I hoped you liked it. And we have centers where you can learn more. Karma centers.