Read Online The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa Collected Works: Volume Two by Chogyam Trungpa, Chögyam Trungpa - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Chogyam Trungpa, Chögyam Trungpa
Tags: Tibetan Buddhism
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point. We must discuss that before we discuss vipashyana, the development of insight.
In shamatha, there is a meditative technique, which involves working on a natural resource—breath, your breathing. We start with your breathing. That is always available, as long as you are alive. You always have your breath as you always have your heartbeat, whether you are excited or you are asleep or you are in a normal state. You always have to breathe.
Your breathing is the closest you can come to a picture of your mind. It is the portrait of your mind in some sense. It goes in and goes out—it sort of fertilizes itself so that the next breath can take place. It is not a stationary object. It moves and it stops and it moves again. It sustains the body; it is a source of life. Also it is the source of your speech and the source of your thinking. If your heartbeat stops, your breath stops, you can’t think, you drop dead. So the breath is a statement of life and a statement of the mind at the same time. In order to eat, to smell food and chew it, you have to breathe. If you’re tired, you breathe heavier. If you’re relaxed, you breathe easy. If your neck is bent, you snore. If your sleeping posture is straight, you don’t snore. When you are hungry, you breathe in a special way; when you’re full, you breathe in a special way; when you feel happy, you breathe in a special way; when you feel sad, you breathe in a special way. Breath is changing constantly, but at the same time it constantly keeps its rhythm. Breath, which is yearning for space, stops at the end of the out-breath. By surrendering the breath, the yearning for space, at the end of the out-breath, you get more space. Therefore you can live longer—you can take the next breath. You have two kinds of space. There is the outer space as you breathe out. And before you breathe in, there’s a gap. You breathe in outer space, and then as you breathe in, you have another kind of space, which is the inner space within your bodily system. Then you have a gap and then you breathe out again. So there is action, stillness, action, stillness taking place constantly. Which is the portrait of your mind.
Therefore the breath is chosen as the basis for working on your practice of meditation. Working with the breath is recommended. The breath is not separate from you, but on the other hand, it is not quite you. Thus there are enigmatic qualities to the breath. And the same goes for your mind. Is your mind your mind? Maybe. But then what is you is uncertain. So we never actually come to a conclusion as to who is who or what is who. We just constantly hope for the best. Hopefully, we could survive, we could continue in this vague way.
You might be extremely articulate and precise and sharp, but still you have no idea where all this comes from, where all this goes. But the basic point here is just that the state of mind has to match with the breath, you have to relate with the breath. In the beginning stage of shamatha, you work with your breath, you don’t concentrate on your mind. That is impossible to do. Actually, concentrating on your breath is also impossible, because your breathing shifts and changes, and so does your mind. So in connection with shamatha, we prefer to use the word mindfulness rather than concentration .
Concentration has certain connotations. The idea seems to be that you focus on a particular object or a particular subject until you develop a complete photographic relationship with it; and then you can let go and the concentrated state of mind remains. This is very tiresome and very specialized and too industrious in some sense. Therefore Buddhist textbooks say that concentration is a dangerous word to use in connection with the practice of meditation. Instead we refer to this practice as mindfulness.
If you are fully with your mind, you could be there, on the spot. But at the same time, you do not have to focus your whole system on one point of reference.
In shamatha, there is a meditative technique, which involves working on a natural resource—breath, your breathing. We start with your breathing. That is always available, as long as you are alive. You always have your breath as you always have your heartbeat, whether you are excited or you are asleep or you are in a normal state. You always have to breathe.
Your breathing is the closest you can come to a picture of your mind. It is the portrait of your mind in some sense. It goes in and goes out—it sort of fertilizes itself so that the next breath can take place. It is not a stationary object. It moves and it stops and it moves again. It sustains the body; it is a source of life. Also it is the source of your speech and the source of your thinking. If your heartbeat stops, your breath stops, you can’t think, you drop dead. So the breath is a statement of life and a statement of the mind at the same time. In order to eat, to smell food and chew it, you have to breathe. If you’re tired, you breathe heavier. If you’re relaxed, you breathe easy. If your neck is bent, you snore. If your sleeping posture is straight, you don’t snore. When you are hungry, you breathe in a special way; when you’re full, you breathe in a special way; when you feel happy, you breathe in a special way; when you feel sad, you breathe in a special way. Breath is changing constantly, but at the same time it constantly keeps its rhythm. Breath, which is yearning for space, stops at the end of the out-breath. By surrendering the breath, the yearning for space, at the end of the out-breath, you get more space. Therefore you can live longer—you can take the next breath. You have two kinds of space. There is the outer space as you breathe out. And before you breathe in, there’s a gap. You breathe in outer space, and then as you breathe in, you have another kind of space, which is the inner space within your bodily system. Then you have a gap and then you breathe out again. So there is action, stillness, action, stillness taking place constantly. Which is the portrait of your mind.
Therefore the breath is chosen as the basis for working on your practice of meditation. Working with the breath is recommended. The breath is not separate from you, but on the other hand, it is not quite you. Thus there are enigmatic qualities to the breath. And the same goes for your mind. Is your mind your mind? Maybe. But then what is you is uncertain. So we never actually come to a conclusion as to who is who or what is who. We just constantly hope for the best. Hopefully, we could survive, we could continue in this vague way.
You might be extremely articulate and precise and sharp, but still you have no idea where all this comes from, where all this goes. But the basic point here is just that the state of mind has to match with the breath, you have to relate with the breath. In the beginning stage of shamatha, you work with your breath, you don’t concentrate on your mind. That is impossible to do. Actually, concentrating on your breath is also impossible, because your breathing shifts and changes, and so does your mind. So in connection with shamatha, we prefer to use the word mindfulness rather than concentration .
Concentration has certain connotations. The idea seems to be that you focus on a particular object or a particular subject until you develop a complete photographic relationship with it; and then you can let go and the concentrated state of mind remains. This is very tiresome and very specialized and too industrious in some sense. Therefore Buddhist textbooks say that concentration is a dangerous word to use in connection with the practice of meditation. Instead we refer to this practice as mindfulness.
If you are fully with your mind, you could be there, on the spot. But at the same time, you do not have to focus your whole system on one point of reference.
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