Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 48-minute talk, Kyabje Rinpoche gives a detailed explanation of how calm abiding meditation unfolds, focusing on the progressive arising of mental pliancy, physical pliancy, and bliss. He explores the role of wind energy—explaining how the mind rides upon breath and subtle winds—and how unhealthy winds dissolve during practice, leaving the body and mind light and flexible like cotton. Using Tibetan Buddhist metaphors (the monk riding the elephant symbolizing control over mind; the sword of wisdom cutting the root of ignorance), Rinpoche contrasts how non-Buddhist and Buddhist practitioners proceed after achieving calm abiding. He then addresses practical obstacles in meditation: distracted speech, agitation, unwanted memories, and how to strengthen mindfulness and intention. Suited for serious practitioners already familiar with basic meditation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1990-06-11 – 5B – Retreat – KR.mp3
UUID: daf52e95-fd1f-45c1-8cd7-19cea2f1a6bb
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Calm Abiding
Date: 1990-06-11
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,602
Merely as was explained previously that calm abiding is accompanied by the bliss of pliancy, what is called bliss of pliancy, body and mind. And by the med- this does not occur at the ninth mental level of sitting in equipoise. One continues to meditate in equipoise in this fashion and upon the arising of this bliss of pliancy of body and mind, mind, one has achieved fully qualified calm abiding. So there is a gradual unfoldment of this mental and physical bliss of pliancy. First there is pliancy and then there is a bliss accompanying the pliancy.
And first among body and mind, there arises a mental pliancy. First, there arises mental pliancy. This is followed by physical pliancy, and then physical bliss will arise and then mental bliss. If we ask how does the mental pliancy arise? How is it developed?
So in in discussing the the development of mental and physical pliancy and bliss, first what we mean by body is not this body of flesh and blood. That we’re talking about there is a combination of mind and wind energy. And this combination of these two. The mind is likened to someone having eyes but no legs. And the wind energy is likened to someone having no eyes but having legs.
So if the mind rides on the wind energies, then together they can go to whatever place they desire. Desire. So the wind energy cannot cannot see. You know, what do we mean by wind energy? One way of expressing it is the breath itself.
The breath is able to move back and forth. The mind can see but before it goes it must be assisted. And therefore, it is the mind rides upon the wind energy. So previous to previous to the development of calm abiding, there are many unhealthy winds coursing through the body upon which the mind is riding. In dependence upon those unhealthy winds, the mind is, I don’t know the word, literal heavy, heavy minded It’s very heavy.
Yeah, heavy. But in developing calm abiding, these unhealthy winds or literally bad winds dissolve. They become non existent. And in dependence upon this, the mind becomes light. So in dependence upon these unhealthy winds dissolving, then this, the mind becomes flexible. It achieves a flexibility.
It can be a serviceability. It can be made use in any way. And this is what is meant by mental pliancy. So due to the mind having attained this mental pliancy, the the winds which accompany that mind achieve a pliancy. When the wind energies which accompany this now pliant mind become healthy.
And when this healthy wind energy pervades the body, then it’s said that we attain a pliancy of body. Then in dependence upon this pliancy of body, So when these these pliant winds, when the energies pervade the entire body, then we then we achieve a physical bliss. When these when these healthy winds pervade the body, the body becomes serviceable. It becomes extremely flexible. And this is the physical pliancy in which there is accompanied with a sense of lightness as if like an easily changeable, light, not heavy — like a cloud.
It’s light. It’s pliant like a cloud. Cotton. Cotton. It becomes light and fluffy.
Not like light like and fluffy like There’s a sense of light and fluffy like cotton, a cloud. It becomes extremely flexible, serviceable, and this is physical pliancy. in dependence upon this physical pliancy of the body, there arises physical bliss. So in the same way that cotton is soft and light and and can be shaped quite easily. There’s a there’s a sense with respect to the body.
And at this time, the the body can remain, for as long as desired in whatever position you wish. In the context of skillful actions, one has no physical problems whatsoever and experience is only bliss. In in dependence upon this physical bliss, the mind is able to engage in whatever object it wishes in a in a with extreme joy for however it likes. And in this way, the mind then experiences the mental pliancy of bliss, the bliss of pliancy, the mental bliss of pliancy, that one has achieved calm abiding. Previously, the mind was as if in control of the person.
Now the person is completely in control of the mind. And this is symbolized by the monk now riding on top of the elephant. The elephant is the mind, and the monk is in complete control. Whatever he desires, the the the elephant that will go in that direction. And before that, just previously, you see the monk flying in the air.
So as was explained previously in another class when we were discussing the four legs of miraculous emanation in which by achieving a meditative stabilizations one is able to fly in the air, go under the earth, etcetera. That there is such a lightness of body having achieved calm abiding that one the that one having attained calm abiding, one can fly in the air. So having eliminated all the heaviness of body and mind that there’s a sense that one is light like cotton. And having achieved in dependence upon this meditative stabilization, one can fly in the air. If if you want to fly in the air, you’re going to have to meditate.
Six months. And you don’t need an airplane or cars. You don’t have to worry about paying buying tickets. Tickets You don’t have to worry about not being able to get a ticket. So at at the very end of the path, you notice that he’s coming back down.
He’s holding a sword, and there’s behind him there are the flames. So as we were discussing previously in terms of the negative levels of our mind, they are coarse and subtle. And it is by means of calm abiding that we’re able to eliminate the negative level of negativities. In order to eliminate the subtle level negativities in mind, it’s necessary to develop special insight. So are these these two, calm abiding and special insight, are said to be common qualities.
That is that is to say, they’re in common with Buddhist and non Buddhists. So as as was mentioned previously in the development of calm abiding that we can take as a basis of observation whatever object we so desire. But upon its completion and within the Buddhist context, we begin to take special objects such as impermanence, selflessness and bodhicitta. So, you know, we talk about taking as objects having developed calm abiding such as impermanence as objects of observation. We don’t, when we mention impermanence, we don’t mean simply a coarse impermanence, that is, birth and death, these qualities.
These are common to all the various traditions of understanding. But here, specifically in terms of subtle impermanence, that is, the momentary arising and disintegration of phenomena, that they arise moment by moment and are disintegrating moment by moment. Such qualities are this which aren’t dealt with or understood in non-Buddhist traditions. And so we take the non-Buddhist would then go on having attained calm abiding to meditate on the various levels of the faults of the lower levels of cyclic existence in comparison to the excellent or the peace of higher levels. They would proceed in this fashion, that the faults of them and the peace of the higher levels.
And this would be the objects of meditation. But in terms of Buddhism, for example, the lesser vehicle practitioner would then go on to meditate on the 16 aspects of the Four Noble Truths, or the Mahāyāna vehicle practitioner would go on to meditate on bodhicitta, the view of emptiness in this way and develop really excellent qualities of mind. As Je Tsongkhapa has said that, you know, what what we want is to be liberated from cyclic existence. That is to say, to eliminate what’s all all our suffering, all our anxiety, and to achieve finally Buddhahood. And in order to do that, we have to have the wisdom understanding the view of emptiness.
So if we don’t have that, we cannot achieve these ends. And therefore we must go on to meditate on emptiness having achieved calm abiding. Is it necessary that we come to an understanding of emptiness in order to eliminate our problems? The root of the subtle afflictions is the failure to understand emptiness. Therefore, we must develop a special insight with respect to emptiness if we are going to remove the root subtle negativities within our mind.
So having developed calm abiding, we then take as our object of observation, emptiness. But this calm abiding does not analyze emptiness. We use special insight which examines, investigates the emptiness. And it examines whether things truly exist or not. Then, upon gaining realization, having gained realization, we accustom ourselves to this realization, raising that level of realization higher and higher by means of special insight and calm abiding.
So if you notice, in the picture just before that, the monk is riding on the elephant. And this symbolizes that the monk has gained complete control over the mind. And then in the final picture, the monk is riding back down on elephant, but now he’s holding a sword in his hand. And this sword is the sword of the wisdom understanding emptiness, special insight. And just as a sword can cut anything, that this sword, the wisdom, understanding, emptiness, is able to cut the root of our afflictions.
That is to say, the grasping at self at a truly existent self. That is, it is able to cut away ignorance, which is the root of cyclic existence. So this sword cuts away the root of all our afflictive emotions, which is grasping at a truly existent self. Well, when do we attain special insight? As was explained, we take we take having attained special calm abiding, having attained calm abiding, we take as our object of observation emptiness.
We then begin to use a consciousness to examine that emptiness. Examine it again and again to see as to whether things truly exist or not. in dependence upon the power of this examining process, when there now with respect to emptiness, when there arises a mental and physical bliss of pliancy, we have achieved special insight. You’ll notice that behind the elephant there are the flames.
It’s necessary that though we- that it’s necessary to make effort in actually cutting away, that is by using the sword of wisdom, ignorance. So the flames denote that we need to make effort to actually cut away the root of cyclic existence, ignorance. So you notice that the road forks and there are two possible interpretations of the forking in the road. One is that having attained calm abiding and one can proceed along in the practices of the lesser vehicle or proceed along the path of the greater vehicle. But Rinpoche thinks that the meaning is that this entire road up to now has been a common path to the attainment of calm abiding.
That is common to both Buddhists and non Buddhists. And now there is a forking in the road. And one path is a mundane path and the other is a transmundane path. That is to say, the one path leads along methods which do not lead to liberation. Whereas the transmundane path leads to liberation and omniscience.
And at this having attained calm abiding, there is the possibility of traveling either a mundane or a transmundane path. So you’ve already meditated a lot this morning, so we won’t do any meditation. But maybe if you have some questions, we can have some questions. In the future the procedure for traveling the path then immediately it will become clear. This process will become evident to you.
This process will become evident to you, and you will gain realizations quickly. And this is the great benefit that we can get from this. So the place we want to get to is a place where there’s only happiness and no suffering and there’s no other path to get there but this. . Can you go can you go quickly?
So again and again reflecting upon what you’ve been taught, but additionally it’s important to make prayers that along with these latencies that you might be able to, in the future, be able to actually practice this path and this and then this way, this would be extremely beneficial. Yeah. So, you know, I have explained to you the complete complete practice for the attainment of calm abiding in accordance with the with the various teachings teachings of the the graduated paths of awakening in the different lengths according to Tsongkhapa and Pabongka Rinpoche. Yeah. Good.
Yeah. So if you have any questions, you can ask them. Yes. Lying, which involves tricking someone or confusing someone, telling untruths. Then divisive speech, which is trying to separate two people who are previously harmonious, like husband and wife, a couple, friends.
Harsh, the third is harsh speech. Speech. That is a type of speech upon when the other person hears it, it causes them, it hurts them, it causes them pain, mental pain when they hear it. And the fourth is idle chatter. That is simply talking in a way which wastes time.
Whether we talk about whether it’s mundane or talking about Dharma things, still a waste of time. You know, we’re telling stories about what you did last year, etcetera, etcetera. Etcetera. Okay. To not be With respect to not being able to cause the object to appear again.
As we should reflect upon what has been said previously and understand that we have to create the necessary conducive conditions. This is brought about by creating positive potential and purifying negativities and obstructions. And additionally as was explained within the as set out by that we should make requests to the inseparable spiritual teacher the spiritual teacher inseparable from one’s meditation on deity asking for assistance? And part of your question, this agitation that you that you may experience is due to, you know, we’re like little children initially in what beginning our meditation and that in order to overcome this excitement, then we have to increase the power of our mindfulness. Again and again trying to develop your mindfulness is the way to overcome this excitement.
One session is not enough and it’s not always going to proceed in an orderly fashion. But we have to remove all the conflicting conditions and try to promote all the conducive conditions. If you reflect in this way again and again it’s going to make you sick. So what we have to do is not think about it. And the way we can do this is by developing a very forceful intention that I’m not going to think about this.
And due to this, it’s that if we keep reflecting upon this, if we keep bringing to mind this memory again and again, it will increase the power of this memory. But on the other hand, if we make a forceful determination, I’m not going to allow this memory to arise, the memory will begin to lose its potency. Is the way the antidote is that we make a very forceful, firm determination, intention. I’m not going to recall this. And we try because seeing the faults of remembering this, all the various faults that are developing out of continually remembering it.