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The Results Of Mindfulness
The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Excerpted from the transcript of "
The Four Foundations Of Mindfulness" (Vermont 1996)
Originally published in Bodhi
Issue 3
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, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 The fifth point, in our description of the five points of mindfulness practice, is the result. To review these
points, they are the five main stages that we progress through in our study and cultivation of the wisdom of prajna, and which then become the means for integrating that understanding into our own experience. We
progressively develop that experience into the full state of realization or prajna. Point one is the "object of intention." Point two is "understanding the essence." Point three is "assistant or support." Point four is
"the method of practicing," where we have the actual description of the Four Foundations practices. And point five is "the result" of mindfulness practice. As I mentioned earlier, the mindfulness practices are the basic
method of developing the three principle prajnas.On the most basic Buddhist level, the result of these four mindfulnesses is fundamentally the realization or actualization of the Four Noble Truths. It is said that
through the mindfulness of body and the mindfulness of feeling, we come to the realization of the truth of suffering, and the causes, or origins, of the truth of suffering. With the mindfulness of mind, we come to the
realization of the truth of cessation, of completely being freed. This means the complete experience of the freedom of thoughts, freedom of emotions, freedom of oneself, and the total sense of spacing out in this tiny
spot, in this infinite space. That is the truth of cessation. And the fourth mindfulness, the mindfulness of dharmas, or phenomena, brings us to the realization or actualization of the truth of the path that leads to
cessation. If you understand the interdependent nature of all phenomena, if you can relate with all phenomena as selflessness, emptiness, shunyata, egolessness, then that is the actual cause, which is the path leading
us to the actual result of nirvana or cessation. So that is the basic result of this mindfulness practice, the fifth point. From the Mahayana point of view, the result of these four mindfulnesses is basically the
realization of two fold egolessness, the egolessness of self and the egolessness of phenomena, or selflessness of person and selflessness of phenomena. That is essentially what this mindfulness is all about.
Mahayana View: Fourteen Points of Difference with the Hinayana In general, there
are fourteen very small points of difference in the basic Buddhist view of mindfulness and the Mahayana view. I'll give you a brief account of these fourteen. The first point is called the basis or origin, the
difference in the basis or the origin. The second point is the antidote. In the Mahayana path, the antidote is to overcome all aspects of ego-clinging, all aspects of elaboration, whereas in the Hinayana path,
the antidote is that which overcomes only one aspect of ego clinging and one aspect of elaboration. It's not an antidote for all aspects. So you can think about that. The third point is the entrance.
Entrance here refers to the object of our contemplation of mindfulness or to the person who's entering into this path of mindfulness. In the Hinayana path, one enters alone into this path of mindfulness through the Four
Noble Truths. Whereas, in the Mahayana state, we do not enter alone. We enter with all sentient beings, with bodhicitta, the supreme ambition. At this level, we're entering the path of the Four Noble Truths but not
alone; we're entering together with all sentient beings. That's the difference. The fourth point is called the object. In the Mahayana Path, the object is all phenomena. If you look at the four mindfulnesses,
according to our prior discussion, the object of the four mindfulnesses in Mahayana becomes the whole of phenomena. All dharmas are the object of mindfulness. The fifth point is attention or engagement. The
difference in attention or engagement of mind is that, in the Mahayana sense, all dharmas are regarded as projections of our mind. All dharmas are seen as illusory. All dharmas are seen as egolessness, selflessness.
That's the difference here. The sixth difference is the attainment. Attainment is the resultant stage. Through the basic mindfulness practice in Hinayana, the attainment is cessation, the nirvana which is the
complete state of thoughtlessness, complete state of mindfulness. Whereas, in the Mahayana view, the result, or the attainment, is the state of enlightenment. The complete state of enlightenment goes even beyond the
truth of cessation, beyond the notion of thoughtlessness, and beyond the notion of just simply nirvana being peace. That is the difference here in the attainment. The seventh point is called agreement. Agreement here
refers to the fact that all of the Mahayana Path practices of mindfulness are in agreement with the practices of six paramitas. No matter which mindfulness you may be engaged in, it is related or connected to the six
paramita practices. The eighth point is appropriateness. In the Mahayana Path, mindfulness is practiced in accordance with what is appropriate for all sentient beings and what is appropriate for the whole
environment, rather than practicing it for the sake of oneself alone. The ninth point is called utterly understanding or true understanding. In the Mahayana Path, true understanding is understanding the body as
illusory body, understanding feeling as a dream-like feeling, understanding the mind to be like space, and understanding all phenomena as sudden arisal, as suddenly arising like the clouds. That's the general sense.
There's a lot of meaning behind these analogies. The tenth one is the attainment of power. In the Mahayana sense, we attain the power of transcending our emotions even though we constantly come back to the samsaric
world to benefit sentient beings. It's not like the Hinayana arhats who practice mindfulness to leap out of samsara, to completely leave samsara behind. The intention of the Mahayana practice of mindfulness is to come
back and do whatever beneficial work we can for the benefit of all living beings. And when we come back again and again to help and work on the development of one's own path, as well as the paths of other sentient
beings, we have attained the power of not being attached to that samsaric world, even though we are living in it. We have the power of not being attached to our emotions, not being attacked by our emotions, even though
we live with emotions and use emotions as our path. That is the attainment of power here. The eleventh point is outshining others' greatness. Isn't that interesting? This means that, even though we are beginners on
the path of Mahayana, even though we have very little practice, very little achievement as a result, because of the power of our courageous heart, because of the power of this infinite compassion and love and
bodhicitta, the qualities of the Mahayana practitioner outshine all of the achievements of any other realization. Any other attainments of greatness are outshown or overpowered by the simple seed of bodhicitta, the
simple seed of love and compassion, and the simple method of being skillful. The twelfth point is called the quality of excellence. That's simple; that's excellent. The thirteenth point is called infinite
meditation, which means the Mahayana path has a variety of meditation methods so that our development does not simply end at the state of cessation. Cessation is attained, and then we go further, beyond cessation, to a
greater development in meditation. And the fourteenth point is the result. The difference in result is that in the Mahayana path, the result attained is the ten bhumis. We progress through the result of the ten
bhumis, attaining Buddhahood at the end of the tenth bhumi. That is the Mahayana result. We have briefly touched on the topics of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness from both the general Buddhist view and the view
of the supreme Mahayana path. We are trying to develop this genuine path of spirituality through the three principal prajnas, which are naturally cultivated through our study, contemplation, and meditation on the
practices of mindfulness. 6 of 6 |
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