The Four Foundations Of Mindfulness The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche Basic prajna includes the three principal prajnas,

which are the prajna of listening, the prajna of contemplating and the prajna of meditation. In the Mahayana tradition, mindfulness is regarded as wisdom, as transcendental nowledge, which is nown as prajna in !ans rit. The mindfulness practices we are a"out to discuss are the "asic method of de#eloping these three principal prajnas. $ more clear and detailed e%pression of the three prajnas is found in the practices of the &our &oundations of Mindfulness. The &our &oundations of Mindfulness, in the tradition of the Mahayana path, are e%plained in fi#e "asic points. These are the fi#e "asic stages we go through as we study, culti#ate the wisdom of prajna, integrate that into our e%perience, and de#elop that e%perience into the full state of realization or prajna. 'e "egin "y loo ing at this mindfulness practice at the most fundamental starting point of hearing, or learning, and contemplating. There are fi#e points to contemplate in order to understand this notion of mindfulness, the &oundations of Mindfulness practice. The first point is the o"ject of intention, or the o"ject of our meditation. In the path of the &our Mindfulnesses, there are four o"jects of intention or meditation. The first of the four o"jects is the "ody. &eeling is the second, and the mind is the third. The fourth o"ject is called phenomena or dharmas in !ans rit. 'hen we relate with these four o"jects in a samsaric way, we are clinging to them, each in a different style. 'e ha#e different samsaric relationships with each of these four o"jects. Because of clinging onto these four o"jects and "ecause of the persistence of our "asic tendencies to relate with these four o"jects in a most neurotic way, the whole uni#erse, the whole world of samsara, is created. &or that reason, in the practice of mindfulness we use these four o"jects as the o"jects of our meditation, as the o"jects of our intention, and "y using them we de#elop a sane, a more profound relationship with these o"jects. 'e de#elop a more profound understanding of these four o"jects and more profound ways of dealing with them. Through the de#elopment of this deeper understanding and more s illful methods, we are trying to transcend our relationship with these four o"jects. The four o"jects are referred to, in the ordinary samsaric sense, as "ody, feeling, mind, and phenomena. The o"ject of "ody is related to as the "asis of clinging to oneself as an entity, as an e%istent, permanent ego. The "ody ser#es as the "asis of that clinging, to which

we add feeling, which is seen as something to "e e%perienced, something to "e enjoyed "y this self in the most "asic sense. Then we ha#e mind in the third stage, which we relate to as the real self. 'hen we try to point to the self, the ego, we usually point to our consciousness, our "asic stream of mind or "asic sense of mind. That "ecomes the actual o"ject of self(clinging, the actual o"ject of ego( clinging, which cannot e%ist without "ody and feeling. Mind cannot really e%press itself without the e%istence of "ody )"ody here is referring to form*, and the o"ject of feeling. Therefore mind, as the third o"ject, the third stage of mindfulness, is the "asic notion of consciousness. It is the "asic notion of awareness. Then we ha#e the fourth o"ject, the o"ject of phenomena. +rdinarily, we relate to that o"ject as the "asis of all confusion. ,owe#er, from this perspecti#e, all confusion arises from these phenomena, and all aspects of li"eration also arise in these phenomena as well. !o phenomena is seen as the "asis of confusion and li"eration, or samsara and nir#ana. !amsara or nir#ana appears or is e%perienced on the "asis of the fundamental phenomena, the "asic sense of dharmas or e%istence. These four unhealthy relationships, or misunderstandings of these four o"jects, lead us in a #icious circle of samsara. 'e are in#ol#ed in a continual game of illusion. The game of illusion arises from a lac of prajna in our relationships with these four o"jects. Therefore, we-re trying to de#elop the understanding of prajna in order to realize how we can relate with these four o"jects more profoundly, as well as more "asically. The main point presented in the first stage of mindfulness practice is to recognize these four o"jects. Point Two: Understanding the Essence The second point of mindfulness practice is understanding the essence, understanding the true essence or true nature of mindfulness. 'hat is mindfulness. 'hat does it mean. This practice of mindfulness is actually the nature of prajna, as we discussed earlier. The essence or the nature of mindfulness here is the prajna of seeing, the prajna of understanding, the prajna of e%periencing the true nature of form or the "ody, the true nature of feeling, the true nature of mind, and the true nature of phenomena. That prajna is the nature of mindfulness. This mindfulness is nown as dran pa in Ti"etan. It-s called dran pa nye bar zhak pa )dren pa nye war bzhag pa*. It-s #ery simple. Dran pa literally means /recollection/ or /mindful/ or /"eing watchful./ $nd that dran pa is the wisdom, the prajna of seeing, the prajna of simply e%periencing without any la"els. Zhak pa means /placing/ and nye bar means /utterly or closely./ $nd so it means closely placing your mind, closely focusing your mind, closely

relating your mind with these situations and o"jects more directly. Dran pa nye bar zhak pa is "asically the wisdom or the prajna of seeing and relating with these four o"jects closely. Relating with these four o"jects most directly with our prajna, with our mind, is what we call the practice of mindfulness. It is simply seeing what form is, simply e%periencing what form is, simply "eing there with the form, simply going through these e%periences with all of the four o"jects. If you loo at the nature or the essence of these mindfulness practices, you will see that their essence is simply the prajna of relating with these four o"jects #ery directly. It is the prajna of understanding or e%periencing these four o"jects without any "arrier "etween you as a nower, you as the e%periencer, and the e%perienced o"ject. The a"sence of any "arrier is what prajna is here. The actual prajna is also without coloring. Therefore, we see the o"jects- most "asic, fundamental state and relate with that. The fundamental state of simplicity of the o"ject is the essence or nature of mindfulness. Point Three: Assistant or Support This leads us into the third stage, which is called the assistant or support. Mindfulness of the four o"jects of intention, "ody, feeling, mind, and dharmas, is practiced through the two supports of mindfulness and awareness. 'e must maintain these two supports, these two assistants. 'ithout ha#ing these two disciplines de#eloped in our practice, in our mundane e%periences, there-s no way we can really truly "e mindful. There-s no way we can really truly relate to the four o"jects with prajna. Therefore, the real tool or support, so to spea , is the de#elopment of the discipline of mindfulness and the discipline of awareness. These two disciplines are nown as the assistants or the support for our practice of mindfulness and for the de#elopment of our relationship with the four o"jects. This leads us to the fourth stage, which is the actual point of our discussion. The fourth stage is the method of practicing the &our &oundations of Mindfulness. That method "egins with wor ing with the mindfulness of "ody, wor ing with the mindfulness of form. If you really e%amine these four mindfulnesses, you will recognize that they are in the nature of wor ing with the fi#e s andhas. The first mindfulness, which is the mindfulness of "ody, relates to the s andha of form. The second mindfulness, the mindfulness of feeling, relates to the s andha of feeling. That is #ery straightforward. The third mindfulness is also #ery straightforward. The mindfulness of mind relates to the s andha of consciousness, which is the fifth s andha. $nd the mindfulness of dharmas, or phenomena, relates to the other

two s andhas, which are perception and concept or formation. !o mindfulness of phenomena is wor ing with these two s andhas. 0eeping this in mind helps us to fully understand these four mindfulnesses. First Foundation: Mindfulness of Body 'e "egin with the mindfulness of "ody. There are two ways of #iewing the practice of mindfulness of "ody. The first is the general Buddhist approach, which is the most fundamental way of loo ing at this mindfulness. The second approach reflects the more specific Mahayana point of #iew. To "egin with the most "asic and general approach, the mindfulness of "ody or form relates to our fundamental sense of e%istence, which normally is not sta"le, not grounded, due to our samsaric pattern of tendencies. +ur e%istence is #ery wild. It-s #ery crazy, li e the mad elephant that we tal ed a"out earlier. &or that reason, we wor with our form, the e%istence of form, at the first stage of mindfulness practice. In particular, we wor with three different le#els of form. These are the outer form of our physical e%istence, the inner form of our perceptions, and the innermost form, which is related to the Mahayana understanding of the selflessness of "ody. The General Buddhist Approach: The Outer For of Body In the most "asic sense of the general Buddhist approach, we-re wor ing with the outer form of our physical e%istence. 'ith this method of mindfulness, we-re trying to "ring our mind to the realization and understanding of what this e%istence is, what this physical form is. 'e-re trying to "ring it to the state of mindfulness, "ring it to the most physical le#el of our e%perience of "ody. 1sually, we e%perience our physical "ody as e%isting /out there/ somewhere. 'e generally feel that our "ody e%ists outside of our mind. 'e feel that the "ody e%ists in a definite form, in a #ery solid way, of our mind. That is our fundamental e%perience of "ody, and that e%perience of "ody goes wild in our usual situation of life. In this path of mindfulness, we-re "ringing the wildness of our physical e%istence down to a le#el of calmness, to a certain le#el of groundedness. By simply "ringing it into the present, we-re "ringing it to what it actually is, rather than thin ing a"out what it actually is. 'hat we are wor ing towards, at this le#el of mindfulness, is to see the outer form, outer e%istence, outer nature of our "ody, regardless of whether it-s matter or mind. &orget a"out such philosophical or theoretical di#isions. 'e-re simply relating with what it is, and that is the mindfulness of "ody. !imply "eing there with our "ody, with our physical sense of e%istence, is the mindfulness of "ody. If we

approach this with too much philosophy, too much analysis, it "ecomes too complicated. Trying to see if "ody is mind or matter, if it-s a projection or not, "ecomes an o"stacle and pre#ents us from directly relating to what it is. The Buddha tal s a"out this "asic approach in the sutras when he says things li e, /'hen you see, just see. 'hen you smell, just smell. 'hen you touch, simply touch. $nd when you feel, simply feel./ 'e are using #ery "asic logic here in order to relate to the most fundamental le#el of our e%perience. &or e%ample, when we sit down on a meditation cushion, we ha#e a "asic sense of feeling, of the sensation of our "ody, of our e%istence, of this gra#ity. 2ust simply "eing there with that, just simply "eing there with our e%istence, is what we call mindfulness of "ody, in the most "asic sense. That mindfulness is not just simply "eing there, "ut it also in#ol#es a certain prajna of understanding what it actually is. General Buddhist Approach: The !nner For of the Body That e%perience ta es us into the inner state of physical e%istence3 which is seeing the true nature of our "ody, seeing the true reality of the relati#e e%istence of relati#e self. This "egins with seeing the most fundamental le#el of the presence of our "ody. That is to say, we-re e%periencing the most fundamental e%istence of our presence. That is a #ery simple e%perience. 'e just simply sit and "e with our "ody, not with our mind, so to spea . In that e%ercise, it-s possi"le for us to ha#e some sense of this profound e%istence, the profound presence of our "ody, the profound e%perience of just "eing whate#er it is. !imply "eing that e%perience is the inner e%perience of the physical self, the physical e%istence. $t this stage of the mindfulness of the inner form of "ody, we go further into the depth of e%periencing that "eing, that presence. 'e-re going into the su"tlety of our physical nature. 'e-re seeing our own impermanent nature, and seeing that is a #ery profound le#el of mindfulness. 4%periencing the impermanent nature of our "ody is the su"tle e%perience of the mindfulness of "ody. That e%perience is a profound understanding and a profound realization. Buddha said that of all the footprints that the animals ma e in nature, the deepest imprint is the footprint of the elephant. $nd Buddha said, in a similar way, the most precious and the deepest impression that any thought can ma e in the progress of our path is the thought of impermanence. It lea#es a #ery strong impression. It is a #ery strong and deep e%perience on our path. $nd therefore, the realization of the impermanence of our "ody is a #ery profound mindfulness practice.

Mahayana Approach: The !nner ost For

of the Body

Through the practice of reflecting on our physical self, our physical e%istence, we de#elop the mindfulness of "ody, which is seeing with awareness. 'hen we are wor ing with that physical e%perience, then we are getting into the depth of the Mahayana approach of wor ing with the mindfulness of "ody. $t that le#el, we go "eyond the simple physical presence of a "ody. $t that point, we are relating with the way the "ody is e%perienced "y an indi#idual "eing. The way we e%perience the e%istence of our "ody is simply our perception, simply our reflection, our projection. There-s nothing really solid "eyond that3 there-s no real e%istence of a physical "ody outside, as far as the Mahayana path is concerned. $t this point, we are seeing a much deeper le#el of physical self, physical presence of mindfulness. 'e-re disco#ering that mindfulness is seeing the true nature of that e%perience. 'e-re approaching the le#el of a"solute reality, rather than remaining on the relati#e le#el, where we are seeing the relati#e nature of mind, the relati#e nature of our "ody, the relati#e nature of our mindfulness. 'e are going more into the depth of mindfulness, which is the a"solute truth. Therefore, when we tal a"out this mindfulness, in the Mahayana sense, we are tal ing a"out the selflessness of the "ody, which is #ery different from the general Buddhist approach. The "rea E#a ple $t this le#el we are dealing with our projections. 'e are dealing with the understanding and mindfulness of our projections. 'e-re seeing that the physical world that we e%perience here is not necessarily solid and real. This can "e understood clearly through the e%ample of the dream. 'hen we are dreaming, we ha#e su"ject, we ha#e o"ject, and we ha#e the action "etween the su"ject and the o"ject, which is the e%perience of the threefold situation. $s long as we remain in the dream state, those three things e5ually e%ist. 'e e%perience these three things as solid. 'e e%perience a real world, real phenomena, real "ody. +ur own physical e%istence is there, the physical e%istence of the o"ject is there, and the physical e%istence of the action is there. $ll three are simply e%isting in the dream state. But if you loo at your dream from the point of #iew of wa ing up, of the awa ened state, it does not e%ist, right. If you loo "ac at last night-s dream, and if you loo "ac at yesterday-s e%perience of life, which is not really a dream )li e yesterday-s e%perience of this shrine room, yesterday-s e%perience of our sitting, yesterday-s e%perience of our tal ing*, if you loo "ac , they "oth e5ually do not e%ist. 6our e%perience of yesterday is not solid3 your dream of last night is not solid, as far as today is concerned. If you loo "ac from the point of

#iew of today, which is the awa ened state, relati#ely spea ing, then "oth of those e5ually do not e%ist. There-s no solid reason to say yesterday was more solid than last night-s dream. There-s no solid logical reason, so to spea , e%cept that we cling to our dream(li e e%perience of yesterday more than to our e%perience of last night-s dream. Therefore, in the Mahayana path, our whole e%perience of the "ody, our entire e%perience of the physical world, is simply a projection of our mind, a projection or a production of our armic mind, and that e%perience is simply e%isting as long as we remain in this dream of samsara. Two Aspects of the "rea &or that reason, in the Mahayana path, we tal a"out two aspects of dream. 'e tal a"out the /real dream,/ and we tal a"out the /e%emplary dream./ !o what is the real dream. ,ere, the real dream is our daily life e%perience, and the e%emplary dream is the dream that we ha#e at night when we are sleeping. These are the e%amples that show us which dream is the real dream. The real dream is this e%perience of our life, this e%perience of our "ody, this e%perience of our physical presence and e%istence. The real dream is this e%perience of a solid self, and therefore, our physical e%istence is simply regarded as a dream in the Mahayana Path. Maintaining the discipline of seeing the dream(li e nature of our "ody and "ringing our mind "ac to the awareness of that e%perience is the mindfulness of "ody in the Mahayana path. The Mahayana discipline of mindfulness of "ody is strongly related with the notion of selflessness, strongly related with the notion of the non(e%istence of "ody, rather than relating with the e%istence of "ody. 7onse5uently, there-s a #ery "ig difference "etween the Thera#adin meditation of mindfulness of "ody and the Mahayana meditation of mindfulness of "ody. There-s a "ig difference in its approach to its meditation techni5ue. The Four$Fold E ptiness Thus, mindfulness of "ody in the Mahayana sense refers to the original #ipashyana meditation on selflessness of form, emptiness of form. The mindfulness of "ody here is the practice of the four(fold emptiness in the ,eart !utra, which says, /&orm is emptiness, emptiness is form. &orm is no other than emptiness, emptiness is no other than form..../ That four(fold emptiness of form taught in the ,eart !utra "y 8ord Buddha is the Mahayana discipline of mindfulness of "ody. It is simply relating with the dream(li e nature of our physical e%istence, the physical world of "ody, and relating

with the notion of emptiness of "ody, the notion of selflessness of form. That practice is what we call the mindfulness of "ody in the Mahayana tradition. Method of Practice: Analytical Meditation ,ow do we practice this. The Mahayana path is strongly connected to the practice of analytical meditation. There-s no way we can really practice mindfulness of "ody, in the Mahayana sense, without understanding and practicing analytical meditation. Because of this, the de#elopment of the three stages of prajna "ecomes e%tremely important for the Mahayana path. In order to really practice mindfulness of "ody, we must "egin with the Thera#adin approach of simply "eing there in the physical sense, e%periencing the presence of our "ody, first. This "egins with sitting in the meditation posture. It "egins with meditation or reflection that focuses on e#ery aspect of feeling, e#ery sensation of the "ody )a more detailed description of the sensation of feeling will come with the ne%t stage*. &or e%ample, when we sit in the meditation posture with our hands resting on our nees, there-s a sense of touching. There-s a sensation, a feeling. There-s an e%perience of "ody here, right here, in our hands. There-s an e%perience of "ody when we touch our meditation cushion. There-s an e%perience of our whole "ody sitting upright in the !e#en Point Posture, right. The !e#en, or 4ight Points of Posture, or the &i#e or !e#en or 4ight Points of Posture of the meditation techni5ue. )laughs* 6es, there are different ways of counting, you now. +ur legs are crossed, so there is the sensation of "ody there. +ur "ac "one is straight and upright, and there is a strong sense of "ody there. +ur shoulders are e#enly stretched, and our hands are in the meditation mudra. Relating with that complete sense of "eing there is what we call mindfulness of "ody in the most "asic sense. That mindfulness of "ody does not happen if we are not participating fully in our sitting posture, with all of these !e#en Points. 2ust "eing there, just simply "reathing with your "ody, is the mindfulness of "ody. 'e don-t ha#e to ac5uire something new. Mindfulness of "ody is just simply "eing with your "ody, "eing aware and mindful. 9oing further into the e%perience of "ody is seeing the illusory nature, the dream(li e nature of your "ody as a reflection of your mind. Then going into the depth of that e%perience, you are seeing it as the four( fold emptiness, and that is the complete practice of mindfulness of "ody in general. That is the practice of the first mindfulness. Practices such as sitting or wal ing meditation are situations where we can ha#e strong e%periences of this mindfulness. In contrast, we usually go mindless in our regular e%istence in the world, and we do not really

e%perience our own presence on the physical le#el. The Second Foundation: Mindfulness of Feeling General Buddhist Approach: Fear and the Three O%&ects The second stage of mindfulness is the mindfulness of feeling, which is simply relating to or wor ing with our "asic e%istence in the world as samsaric "eings. In the general Buddhist approach, /feeling/ refers to the feeling of wor ing with our "asic fear. That feeling is the fear of suffering, or the fear of fear. $ctually, fear itself is not fear, "ut the fear of fear "ecomes the most trou"ling presence in the realm of our feeling. Therefore, the mindfulness of feeling relates with the three o"jects of our e%istence in the samsaric world, that is the pleasant o"ject, the unpleasant o"ject, and the neutral o"ject. In relation to these three o"jects, we e%perience three different states or aspects of fear. Towards the pleasant o"ject, we ha#e a fear of attachment. 'e ha#e a fear of desire. Towards the unpleasant o"ject, we ha#e a fear of hatred. 'e ha#e a fear of aggression. 'e ha#e a fear of anger. $nd towards the neutral o"ject, we ha#e a fear of neutral feeling. 'e ha#e a fear of "ecoming num", of getting into a state of num"ness, a state of stupidity, so to spea . 'e regularly e%perience these three aspects of feeling in just sur#i#ing our daily e%istence in the samsaric world. In relation to these three feelings, Buddha taught that we ha#e to relate to the three o"jects properly, "y understanding them and wor ing with their nature. ,e said that when we e%amine the nature of these three feelings and their three o"jects, we disco#er that their fundamental nature is suffering. The pleasant o"ject, the unpleasant o"ject, and the neutral o"ject all e%ist in the same nature of suffering, regardless of whether we-re relating to attachment, aggression or a neutral state of mind, such as ignorance. 7onse5uently, practicing mindfulness of suffering is the mindfulness of feeling. $nd relating with the three o"jects is the means of relating with the three le#els of suffering that are so fre5uently tal ed a"out. The Three 'e(els of Suffering The mindfulness practice here is to contemplate or meditate on suffering and the three e%pressions of suffering, and to therefore e%perience their nature. !o what is the nature of suffering here. Buddha said there is one word that can descri"e the meaning of suffering, and that is /fear./ &ear is what suffering means. But what is this fear. It is the fear of losing something that is #ery pleasant, something that is #ery pleasura"le, something that is #ery dear and

lo#ing, something to which you ha#e "ecome attached. It is the fear of losing that. &ear is also the fear of gaining something. That fear is the fear of gaining something that is unpleasant, something that you don-t want. 6ou always get what you don-t want, and you don-t get what you really want. That-s what suffering here is. &ear is "eing e%pressed in these two manifestations, so to spea . The second manifestation of fear is gaining something that you don-t want, that you don-t e%pect. That "egins with the flu and goes all the way up to whate#er e%periences we might go through. These three natures of suffering are connected with the nature of fear, "asically, and therefore, we ha#e three le#els of suffering, which we call the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the all per#asi#e suffering. These are the three sufferings. All Per(asi(e Suffering The nature of all per#asi#e suffering is this fundamental fear, which e%ists within e#ery le#el of our feeling, whether we-re feeling really high, really feeling happy, or whether we are really feeling down with suffering. $ll of our feelings are per#aded "y this fundamental fear, and that-s why it is called /all per#asi#e suffering./ This is e%plained in the traditional Buddhist literature with #arious e%amples. &irst, it is similar to de#eloping a fatal disease, which is not yet fully ripened. The disease is growing, "ut you ha#en-t really seen it. 6ou ha#en-t really e%perienced it yet, "ut its presence is there all of the time. 4#ery minute, e#ery second, it-s growing. It-s de#eloping. That ind of fundamental situation is nown as all per#asi#e suffering, which grows into the suffering of change. The Suffering of )hange The traditional e%ample for the suffering of change is li e ha#ing a #ery delicious coo ie "a ed with poison. It-s #ery delicious, "ut it-s deadly poisonous. 'hen you eat that coo ie, it-s still #ery pleasura"le, #ery sweet, you now. In order to show that more dramatically, !hantide#a, in the Bodhicarya#atara, ga#e this e%ample: the suffering of change is li e honey on a razor "lade. ,e said that when you lic this honey on the razor "lade, it-s #ery pleasant, it-s #ery sweet. It-s honey, you now. $nd "ecause of our desire, our attachment, we lic this honey harder. 'e want more and more and more all the time. Because of our po#erty mentality, we lic the honey harder each time we e%perience its sweetness. The harder we lic the honey, the deeper we cut our tongue. !o in a similar way, the suffering of change is e%perienced as perhaps a more pleasura"le, more pleasant, more pleasing e%perience of feeling, "ut it leads us to the result of pain, the

result of suffering. This is what we call the /suffering of change./ The Suffering of Suffering The suffering of change leads us to the suffering of suffering, the most o"#ious suffering, which is noticing that our tongue is gone after e%periencing the delicious honey. 'hen we notice that our tongue is gone, we realize that we won-t ha#e to e%perience the honey again for many months )or lifetimes, I don-t now*. $s we wor with and e%amine these three le#els of e%perience, feelings of suffering, as well as pleasant feelings and neutral feelings, we can see that they are all related with the three sufferings. If you loo at pleasura"le feelings, they are connected to the suffering of change. If you loo at feelings associated with unpleasant o"jects, they are connected to the suffering of suffering. If you loo at the feelings of the neutral state of mind, they are connected to fundamental suffering, all(per#asi#e suffering. Therefore, we practice "y o"ser#ing these three feelings and wor ing with our e%perience of them in a most mindful way. If we-re truly e%periencing these three states of suffering, three states of feeling, just as they arise, that is the mindfulness of feeling. !o the mindfulness of feeling is "eing totally watchful, totally present with e#ery le#el of our fear, and wor ing with that in the most fundamental way. This is the mindfulness of feeling from the perspecti#e of the general Buddhist approach. Mahayana Approach: Fearlessness and Selflessness The Mahayana tradition loo s at mindfulness of feeling as seeing the selfless nature of suffering, the selfless nature of fear, which is seeing the true nature of fear as not "eing fear. This is how we originally "egan our discussion. 'e see that the fear of fear is simply a distur"ing fear, and that relating to this fundamental fear without fear is the way to practice Mahayana mindfulness of feeling. Therefore, what we are doing here is simply loo ing at our fear. 'e are simply e%periencing our suffering, our so(called suffering, na edly, without any filters of fear. That-s how the Mahayana mindfulness wor s. Through this method and through ha#ing more detailed instructions on how to wor with this fear, we transcend our fear and "ecomes a fearless warrior on the Mahayana path. 'ithout wor ing with the second mindfulness, the mindfulness of feeling, which deals directly with our fear, it is #ery difficult to follow the path of Mahayana. 'ithout it there-s no way to "ecome a fearless warrior. This second mindfulness "ecomes #ery important, especially for the Mahayana path of transcending our fear and wor ing with our "asic

suffering. +n the most fundamental le#el, that "asic suffering is just fear of "eing in the state of fear. Instead of "eing paranoid a"out fear, instead of "eing trou"led "y fear, and dragging oursel#es into this endless pull of fear, we are loo ing at the fear itself in the state of Mahayana mindfulness. Through loo ing at the fear directly, most directly, face to face, we are transcending our fear. That is the path of the Mahayana mindfulness of feeling, which is the second stage of the &our &oundations of Mindfulness. General Buddhist Approach 'e ha#e discussed the first two aspects of mindfulness "riefly: the mindfulness of "ody and the mindfulness of feeling. ;ow we will loo at the third mindfulness which is nown as the mindfulness of mind. $t this point, the third stage of mindfulness is wor ing directly with our "asic state of mind, our consciousness or awareness. /The mind/ here in Buddhism refers to a detailed classification of mind. 'e-re not spea ing simply of one giant nature of mind. There-s no such thing as one giant all(per#asi#e mind, so to spea . +ur practice of mindfulness of mind here is wor ing with e#ery single, indi#idual e%perience of our consciousness, which is di#ided into si% different categories nown as the si% consciousnesses, in the general Buddhist approach. $t the Mahayana le#el, it is di#ided into eight categories called the eight consciousnesses. $nd if you want to go into more detail )laughs*, then the mind is further e%plained in the $"hidharma literature as ha#ing the "asic mind and fifty one mental factors. !o we ha#e a #ery detailed e%planation of mind, generally spea ing, in this path of spirituality. But what we are fundamentally dealing with, here, is de#eloping the mindfulness of simply e%periencing e#ery indi#idual mo#ement of our mind, e#ery indi#idual fragment of our mind, and e#ery indi#idual li#ing state of our consciousness. $ccordingly, at this stage, we ha#e the method of mindfulness of mind to help us relate to and simply "e present with the momentary mo#ement of mind, the momentary e%perience of e#ery li#ing, indi#idual incident of our thoughts or perceptions or memories, which we call mind. Mahayana Approach: The Meditation State This mindfulness is closely connected or related to the meditati#e state of our e%perience. It-s "asically wor ing with our mind in the meditation state, "eginning with our practice of shamatha and #ipashyana, and continuing all the way up to tantra. The <ajrayana practices are closely connected to this mindfulness of mind. In this

practice, we are de#eloping the discipline of simply watching our mind, simply guarding our mind, simply "ringing our mind down to some sense of groundedness. Right now, our mind is up in the air, perhaps in the form of that wild elephant we tal ed a"out. The mad elephant. It-s totally in the state of dreaming, in the state of non( reality, in the state of non(e%istence. This mindfulness is actually doing the wor of "ringing that mind down to the "asic, fundamental state of nowness, nowness of this reality, of this moment. Basically, that is the mindfulness of mind. "welling in the Past and Anticipating the Future Because of this total state of dreaming, what-s happening in our "asic e%perience of mind is that we ha#e ne#er, e#er li#ed. 'e ha#e ne#er, e#er li#ed in all of these years. 'e thin we are li#ing. 'e "elie#e we are li#ing. 'e dream we are li#ing. $lthough we imagine we are li#ing, we ha#e ne#er actually li#ed. 'e are either in the state of ha#ing li#ed or will "e li#ing, "ut we ha#e ne#er li#ed3 we are ne#er li#ing. That-s how our mind functions in our "asic world, in our samsaric world. +n the one hand, our mind is in the state of dwelling in the past, dreaming a"out the past. !uch good old e%periences of the past ha#e always occurred in our mind, and we ha#e always "een /sort of li#ing/ in the state of past memories. +r we ha#e "een "othered, distur"ed, and totally destroyed, in some sense, "y certain memories of the past which eep reoccurring in our present li#es. +ur mind has ne#er "een free to li#e in the present. It-s always "een under the dictatorship of our memories of the past or li#ing as a ser#ice for the future. 'e-#e "een li#ing for, dreaming of, or anticipating the future, where we ha#e a multitude of dreams, typical $merican dreams, pure $merican dreams. 'e ha#e many dreams, which is not "ad in itself, "ut they are dreams of the future. 'e ha#e a list of plans miles and miles long for how we will really li#e in the future, how we will practice, how we will achie#e this and that. $nd so we in#est our energy, our time, our effort in these dreams. $s a result of in#esting all of our time, effort, and energy towards these achie#ements, we may actually achie#e a certain part of our list in the present. 'e may ha#e already achie#ed a certain num"er of these things, and we will achie#e others. But when the future "ecomes the present, we don-t ha#e time to e%perience it. 'e don-t ha#e time to appreciate it. 'e don-t ha#e the prajna to relate with it. 'e don-t ha#e the space, the freedom, to totally "e with and enjoy our own dreams that ha#e come true in the present. 'e ha#e totally forgotten how we planned to li#e at this stage.

'e ha#e totally, totally gone out of control. 'e ha#e lost our freedom and our dreams, along with our "asic "eliefs in those dreams. +ur idea of li#ing has altogether disappeared, slipped out of our hands, li e the present moment. Therefore, this practice of mindfulness teaches us to "ring our mind to a greater state of freedom. It teaches us to free our mind from the imprisonment of dwelling in anticipation of the future. In the freedom of that space, we are a"le to e%perience the actual sense of li#ing, the simplicity of completely "eing present with our state of mind, as a li#ing mind. The Present Moment ,ence, this mindfulness of mind wor s with that "asic principle of freedom, and when we loo at that principle, the present state of our mind is a #ery tiny spot. It-s a #ery tiny and slippery spot. It-s so tiny and slippery that we always miss it. It-s so tiny that it-s an infinite spot. The whole purpose of this mindfulness of mind is to "ring us "ac to this tiny spot of the present momentary nature of our mind and to the e%perience of the infinite space and freedom within that spec of e%istence. In order to do that, we must e%perience the li#ely nature of our mind, which is so present and so momentary and so fresh. 4#ery indi#idual moment and e#ery indi#idual fragment of that mind is completely pure and fresh in its own state. The whole point here is to e%perience that freshness, that genuineness, the honest face of that tiny spot, without really coloring it with our memories, concepts, philosophy, theory, or e%pectations. Totally e%periencing it without all of these is what we call simply "eing there. $nd that cannot happen if we can-t let go of our memories and thoughts, if we can-t let go of our memories of our understanding, our memories of our e%pectations. 'e ha#e to simply understand our thoughts. 'e ha#e to see the nature of our thoughts directly and genuinely to "e there, rather than li#ing in our memories of understanding, our memories of meditation, or memories of our e%pectations of our meditation. If we are li#ing in the memory of thoughts, then we are still not "eing there3 we are still not e%periencing the fundamental, tiny, infinite spot. Imprisonment To the e%tent that we are li#ing in this memory of thoughts, we are not e%periencing any of the freedom of space. To the e%tent that we are li#ing in the memory of understanding, while we may ha#e good memories or a good understanding, it-s li e we are decorating our prison. +ur prison may loo a little different3 it may loo a little "etter

and more refreshing, "ut we still are li#ing within that limited space, within that "arrier. 'e ha#en-t freed oursel#es from the prison of memory, from the prison of dwelling in the past, from the prison of anticipating the future. Therefore the total sense of mindfulness of mind is just simply "eing there in that tiny spot, that infinite space. That e%perience only comes through letting go, totally letting go of our e%pectations. 'hen we totally let go of our clinging, when we totally let go of our thoughts, we totally free our thoughts. Dressing 1p +ur Thoughts In a way our thoughts are imprisoning us. +n the other hand, we are imprisoning our thoughts. 'e are imprisoning our thoughts in the same way that our thoughts are imprisoning us. 'e-re not just simply letting thought "e thought. 'e-re imprisoning our thoughts and trying to turn them into something else. 'e-re not simply letting these thoughts "e thoughts in their own state. 'e-re not gi#ing them the freedom to "e thought. 'e are coloring them. 'e are clothing them. 'e are dressing up our thoughts. 'e-re painting the face of our thoughts. 'e-re putting hats and "oots on them. It-s #ery uncomforta"le for the thoughts. )laughter* 'e may not realize it. 'e may not recognize it, "ut if you really loo at the state of the thoughts themsel#es, it-s #ery uncomforta"le. It-s #ery uncomforta"le for them to "e what we want them to "e. It-s li e your parents or your society putting great e%pectations on you to "e someone else, someone you don-t want to "e. $t that point, you can feel the imprisonment. 6ou can feel clearly and strongly the imprisonment of samsara. In a similar way, our thoughts are e%periencing this imprisonment "y our e%pectations, "y the way we color and clothe them. It-s really e5ually uncomforta"le, you now, with all these hats and "oots on. It-s li e dressing up a mon ey in the circus. 'e ha#e mon eys, chimpanzees, all dressed up in "eautiful tu%edos and "ow ties, with dignified hats and "eautiful shiny "oots. But you can imagine the discomfort the chimpanzee feels at that point. ;o matter how "eautiful he may loo , no matter how dignified this mon ey may appear to "e, from the point of #iew of the mon ey-s "asic instinct, it-s so uncomforta"le to put up with all these e%pectations of your human "oss. Recognition of the $risal of Thoughts: &reeing our Thoughts and +ursel#es In a similar way, our thoughts are going through the same torture when we put la"els and different e%pectations on them. 'hen we

color these thoughts with philosophy, religious "eliefs, and theoretical understandings, they feel tortured "y all of these things that we-re going through. Therefore, mindfulness of mind is simply freeing our thoughts, freeing our mind, and coming "ac to this "asic spot, infinitesimal spot, that is the state of our thoughts or the state of our mind. 7oming "ac to and e%periencing the infinite space of freedom within that spot of nowness, that tiny spot of the present moment, is what we call the mindfulness of mind. It-s simply "eing there, and simply letting it "e whate#er it is. In that process of letting it "e, how do we practice. In our meditation and post meditation e%ercises, we ha#e to recognize the first stage of the arisal of our thoughts and emotions. 'e ha#e to "e clear a"out and ac nowledge all of these thoughts and emotions that are arising and coming to our door as our guests. 'e ha#e to "e aware of, ac nowledge, and recognize these people, these little "eings, these fragments of "eings, in their own way. 'e ha#e to recognize them. 'e ha#e to ac nowledge them at the first stage of their arisal. That-s our method here. &or e%ample, if a strong anger or aggression arises in your mind during the state of meditation or post meditation, the first thing to do is simply recognize it. ,owe#er, we ha#e to recognize it again and again, "ecause it only e%ists in this tiny spot. 4#ery moment, e#ery fragment is a new anger. It-s a new guest. It-s a new state of Mr. $nger. !o whene#er a new guest arri#es, first he or she rings your door"ell, then you ha#e to ac nowledge that guest, recognize him or her and let your guest in. In a similar way, we ha#e to recognize our anger, in e#ery moment. +ne anger may ha#e hundreds of moments, and we ha#e to distinguish these moments as many times as possi"le. 'hen we identify a moment of anger, we just simply let the anger "e anger. 'e gi#e some freedom to the anger. $s much as we want freedom from our anger, our anger is stri#ing for freedom from us. Therefore, at this stage of recognition, we must let it go. 'e must let it go, allow it to "e in it-s own state. 'e must not "ind our anger to our sofa. 'e must not chain our anger to our chair. ,e or she is simply our guest, so we must respect this guest in order to "e a more ci#ilized meditator. There is a great need for us to practice this, "ecause recognition is the first stage in wor ing with our thoughts, the first stage of freeing our thoughts and freeing oursel#es. Recognition: The !peed Bump My usual analogy for recognition is a speed "ump. 'hat does a speed "ump do. It slows us down3 it slows down the speed of our car. The purpose of the speed "ump is not to stop the car. 'e must understand that. $nd the purpose of recognizing our anger is not to stop our

anger. It-s not to chain down or hold onto our anger. It-s purpose is the same as the speed "ump. It slows down the speed of our lesha mind. ;o matter whether it-s anger, aggression, passion, or jealousy that we-re feeling, it slows down the speed of that lesha mind, that thought, that memory, that an%iety. In the process of slowing down, we are creating more space. $nd the greater space that is created here with this simple moment of recognition is the space of wisdom, the space of compassion, the space of lo#e, the space of prajna, and the space of mindfulness. That space will help us handle this car we are dri#ing. $nd when we de#elop more control, more space, it gi#es a greater sense of safety, not only to the dri#er, "ut to the pedestrians who are wal ing on the street. 'e must loo at it "oth ways, you now. It-s not just creating more space for oursel#es, "ut for others too, the pedestrians who are crossing the road. 'e-re creating some space "etween oursel#es and our anger, "etween oursel#es and our emotions, "etween oursel#es and our lesha mind. The space we e%perience from the speed "ump is this tiny spot, which is infinite space. This is the "eginning of e%periencing our infinite space. This aspect of mindfulness practice, recognition of the first stage of arisal, is #ery much emphasized, not only in the general Buddhist journey of mindfulness, "ut also in the most supreme #ehicle of the Mahayana. Three !tages of Recognition Because the process of recognition is so strongly emphasized, we should loo at it in more detail. There are three stages of recognition. The first stage is, recognizing the #ery tip of the arisal of thought. This is the #ery first moment, the #ery first tiny spot, so to spea , of the mo#ement of thought, of the mo#ement of emotion. Recognition of the #ery first moment is the foremost way of recognizing thought, which happens only after we ha#e some shinjang, some de#elopment or sense of suppleness in our practice. The second stage of recognition is recognizing thought when it has arisen. $t this stage, our thoughts are a little "it "lown(up, or grown(up. It-s li e diagnosing a disease at a later stage of de#elopment. Because it has already de#eloped, its treatment re5uires a little more wor . It-s a little "it late, "ut still managea"le. The third stage of recognition is recognizing thought after e#erything has happened. 'e don-t recognize it until after it has arisen and grown to the full("lown stage. By then it has destroyed e#erything, and at that time we recognize it. This is li e recognizing our mon ey in the zoo. 'e recognize our mon ey wearing the full tu%edo. May"e he-s doing a tango. )laughter* !omething li e that. It-s a little late, "ecause we ha#e totally imprisoned him at that stage3 we

ha#e totally imprisoned our emotions, our thoughts, and oursel#es. This is the stage where our disease is fully grown, and there-s nothing much we can do e%cept to ta e pain illers and wait. These are the three stages of recognition, and the Mahayana Path #ery much emphasizes the first method. Through the de#elopment of our courage, s ill, and compassion, we increase our power to recognize thought at the first stage, which is=. )!tudents: Tip of its arisal.* 6es, the tip of its arisal, the first tiny spot of the e%istence of any thought, which is, you now, infinite space. Manure for the !eed of 4nlightenment In another analogy from the !utra tradition, Mahayana people are regarded as farmers and ,inayana people are regarded as city dwellers or city slic ers. The reason for this comparison is that, from the ,inayana point of #iew, practitioners relate to their emotions li e city people relate to their human waste. &rom that point of #iew, we are trying to get rid of it and get away from it, as soon and as far away as possi"le. There-s no sense of really needing to eep it, "ecause we see our human waste as a total waste. !o the ,inayana #iew of emotions is similar to the city person-s #iew of human waste. 'hereas in the #iew of the Mahayana Path, the practitioner is more li e a farmer who sees that human waste is great manure. It can "e recycled and used effecti#ely so that it "ecomes a great help and support for us in growing the seed of enlightenment. This seed of enlightenment sown "y the Mahayana farmers cannot grow without this manure. It cannot grow without fertilization. !o without the manure of our emotions and our thoughts, we cannot culti#ate any seed of enlightenment. 9uarding the 7rops of 4nlightenment The process of culti#ating our crops, in the Mahayana Path, in#ol#es guarding our farm. 'e must guard from intruders the seeds of enlightenment that we ha#e sown. In the history of Mahayana farming, there has always "een some distur"ing "eing, li e a pig, that comes around and "rea s into our farm. This pig has destroyed many of our seeds. $s soon as it enters our fields, it starts digging up e#erything. $ll of the seeds that we-#e sown ha#e "een totally destroyed "y this pig. The Mahayana method of dealing with this is simply to wait. 'e wait for this intruder with a strong, solid clu". 'e just wait at the gate, or any possi"le entrance, and when the pig is a"out to enter, the first thing we-ll see is the snout, right. In the general Buddhist #iew, the pig sym"olizes ignorance. !o as soon as we see the snout entering our property, we ha#e to use the clu" and hit

the pig on the snout with as much force as possi"le, with great lo#e and compassion. )laughter* 6ou ha#e to stri e it directly on the snout. It-s #ery different than hitting the hip or "ody, which doesn-t pro#ide as much of a lesson. It-s more forcefully chased away "y hitting its snout. It-s a #ery painful form of compassion. 'e can only hit the snout of the pig if we catch it at the #ery "eginning stage of its entrance into our farm. Then we can hit it as hard as possi"le and "e most effecti#e. If the pig has slipped "y us and already entered, then we can only stri e it on its "ac . 'e-ll ne#er get the snout. In the same way, the Mahayana method is li e hitting the snout of the pig, which means you-re recognizing the arisal of the mo#ement of mind right at its #ery "eginning stage, at the first moment. Isn-t that a great compassionate analogy. 6es, it is "ecause the pig is destroying the seed of enlightenment, so it-s a "ad arma. 'ith that analogy, we can see how the recognition process ta es place. $s soon as any thoughts or emotions arise, at the #ery first trace of their arisal, we must try to maintain this mindfulness. In this process, we-re letting emotions "e emotions and letting mind "e mind. 'e simply o"ser#e the mo#ement of mind and wor with it. 'hen we e%perience that tiny spot of the nowness of our mind, of our emotions, of our thoughts, we are e%periencing the infinite space of our mind, infinite space of our thoughts, infinite space of our emotions. 'e are freeing our emotions, and we are freeing oursel#es at that #ery moment. In a way, it-s a #ery simple process. $t the same time, it ta es many words. This fundamental process of wor ing with our mind "egins with wor ing with our meditation process. In the practice of meditation, we repeatedly "ring our mind "ac to its present state of nowness or to the present momentary fragment of our mind. That-s why we use different techni5ues, to come "ac to that #ery tiny spot and e%perience the infinite space, which is the whole purpose of our meditation. 9eneral Buddhist $pproach: Interdependence The fourth mindfulness is called the mindfulness of phenomena or mindfulness of dharmas. $fter wor ing with the de#elopment of the mindfulness of mind, this mindfulness "rings us to the ne%t stage, which is the e%perience of panoramic awareness of the phenomenal world. The phenomenal world is not only within our thoughts, within our mind. The phenomenal world is also the o"ject of our mind, the world that is e%perienced around us with "ody, speech, and mind. ,a#ing a sense of relating with these surrounding phenomena in a mindful way is what we call the mindfulness of phenomena. That mindfulness is "asically the recognition of the interdependent

relationship of our mind and the phenomenal world. It is wor ing with the relationship of each indi#idual phenomenon e%isting around us as the o"ject of our e%perience. In order to understand that particular phenomenon and relate with it properly, we must de#elop the mindfulness of phenomena. $nd that, in some sense, is not really separated from awareness. This mindfulness is #ery much related to the notion of awareness, of ha#ing a three hundred si%ty degree awareness of the phenomenal world e%isting around us. 'hen we can relate that ind of panoramic awareness with the simple, present nature of phenomena, that is what we call the mindfulness of phenomena. It is simply ha#ing the prajna to relate with the phenomenal world outside more directly, more precisely, without any fear, and without any conceptions. 'ithout any philosophical conceptions, we simply relate to the most fundamental state of phenomena. The !i% +"jects 'hat we are wor ing with here is the si% o"jects of our si% sensory perceptions. That-s pretty straightforward. 'e are wor ing with form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas. The si%th o"ject is a little more complicated. The o"ject of mind, the si%th sensory perception, which is called the mind perception, is nown as dharmas. !o wor ing with the si% o"jects in a precise way is the full understanding of the true nature of pratityasamutpada, the interdependent origination of the phenomenal world. Relating to the phenomenal world in its own interdependent state is called the mindfulness of phenomena, which means not conceptualizing, not la"eling the phenomenal world as something else. 'e e%perience it as it is, with its own interdependent nature. 1nderstanding that interdependent nature "egins with the understanding of the twel#e lin s of interdependent origination, nown as the twel#e nidanas. Mahayana Interdependence Beginning with the twel#e nidanas, we ha#e the Mahayana understanding of interdependent origination, which is "asically the understanding that e#erything arises from emptiness and e#erything dissol#es into emptiness. There is no separation "etween form, or appearance, and emptiness. 4mptiness arises from appearance, and appearance arises from emptiness. There is no emptiness without appearance, and there is no appearance with out emptiness. That is what we call the interdependent nature. If there is no phenomenal world appearing, then there-s no emptiness of that phenomenal world.

If there-s no emptiness, there-s no appearance of the phenomenal world. That-s pretty simple, right. )laughs* It-s #ery simple3 it-s #ery easy. $ctually, it-s a somewhat complicated notion, which has to "e loo ed at in greater depth to really "e understood. But in the most "asic sense, we are tal ing a"out the insepara"ility or the dependent nature of the two truths. There is no a"solute truth without the relati#e truth, and there-s no relati#e truth without the a"solute truth. They are dependent on each other. 4specially when #iewed from the ordinary le#el of understanding, then the phenomenal world is seen to "e totally in the nature of dependent origination, or the interdependent state. Therefore, in the Mahayana sense of relating with the phenomenal world, the mindfulness of phenomena is simply understanding the realization of emptiness, the selflessness of phenomena, the emptiness of phenomena, the egolessness of phenomena. That understanding, e%perience, and realization is what is nown as the mindfulness of phenomena. That realization is "asically de#eloped through the culti#ation of the three prajnas of hearing, contemplating, and meditating which we discussed earlier. By going through this three( stage process of analyzing the phenomenal world from the Mahayana perspecti#e, we can reach the le#el of the realization of emptiness, the realization of the egolessness of phenomena, the realization of the non(e%istence of these outer phenomena, which we ordinarily "elie#e are solidly real. ;ot only do we arri#e at this insight through the process of philosophical analysis, "ut we can also see this in the de#elopment of today-s science. $lthough I-#e not personally studied modern physics, friends and people who now a little more a"out it tell me that modern physicists now say they can-t find the e%istence of atomic particles, at any le#el. $ll they can find e%isting at this le#el is something called a /5uar / or a form of energy or light, which is still "etter than saying /emptiness./ 'e feel a little "it more comforta"le, you now, with these terms, "ecause there-s still something to hold onto. +ther than that, I thin we-re reaching pretty much the same le#el of seeing the non(e%istence of phenomena. &urthermore, this wisdom resulting from the de#elopment of modern science was disco#ered and taught "y 8ord Buddha !ha yamuni >,?@@ years ago. The process presented to us "y the Buddha to lead us to that stage of understanding is #ery much li e the de#elopment of science. It-s #ery interesting. $t the first stage of his teaching, Buddha taught a"out the e%istence of atomic particles. &ollowing that, the Buddha went into the details of how these atoms function, how they form gross o"jects, and how these indi#isi"le particles cannot "e percei#ed. $ll of these things, which

are #ery similar to the #iew of science, were introduced gradually "y the Buddha up to the le#el of seeing the selflessness of phenomena, the egolessness of phenomena. Therefore, the Mahayana mindfulness of dharmas, or phenomena, is wor ing with this realization and understanding of the selflessness of phenomena. $nalytical Meditation: The 9ong In general, we practice this mindfulness "y ta ing the o"jects of our sensory perceptions as the o"jects of our meditation and analyzing them "y simply "eing present with that particular o"ject in the tiny spot of its e%istence. This state of nowness, the state of the present, clic s us into the e%perience of infinite space through the analytical meditation process. My analogy for the analytical meditation process is the ringing of a gong. The actual "eauty of the sound, the "eautiful humming of the gong, is produced "y our effort. &irst, we pic up the stri er with our hand, then we mo#e our hand and stri er to ring the gong. &rom there the sound is produced, the "eautiful humming sound, which is "eyond our hand, our effort, the stri er, and the "ell itself. It is "eyond all of this, "eyond the com"ination. It is "eyond all this e%istence. $s "eginners, we get attached to the "eauty of that sound. $s soon as we hear it, we "ecome totally passionate a"out it, so we uns illfully grasp the gong. 'e want to hug the gong and ma e it all our own and say, /6es, I got it./ In that process, we ha#e already frozen this "eautiful humming sound. $s soon as we say, /I got it,/ it-s gone miles away. $nd so in that process, we are screwing oursel#es up on the path of analytical meditation. But at the same time, we don-t ha#e to "e discouraged "y that. 'e still are holding the stri er, and we still ha#e the gong in front of us. 'e still ha#e our hand, which can mo#e and hit the gong. Therefore, we can still produce the "eautiful humming sound of the gong again and again, as often as we want. $nd we can touch it3 we can hold it. 'e can hug the gong o#er and o#er, as much as we want until we get totally tired of hugging the gong. Then there-s a certain point where we reach the pea of holding onto the gong. $t that point, we can totally let go. 'e can totally let go of the thought of hugging3 we can totally let go of the thought of touching, the thought of ma ing it mine. +nly then can we li#e in the presence of this "eautiful sound of humming. Resting Meditation: &reedom from 7linging

It is through analytical meditation that this "eautiful humming sound of the e%perience of selflessness, the shunyata e%perience, is produced. The analytical process is the ringing of the gong that leads us to the effortless enjoyment of the "eautiful humming sound, which is resting meditation. $nd that resting meditation e%perience of egolessness, or selflessness, is #ery difficult to attain without the analytical process of meditation. ,ow can you get the gong humming without ringing it. It-s pretty difficult. May"e you can do that in #irtual reality later, "ut now we need to ha#e this method of ringing the gong in order to e%perience the humming sound of the "ell. In order to totally let go of holding onto the gong, of our attachment to the gong, we need to ring the "ell again and again. $s far as #ipashyana, as far as mindfulness is concerned, that is the whole process we wor through in analytical meditation, which leads us to the stage of resting meditation. That-s a "rief discussion on the techni5ues or the methods of practicing the &our &oundations of Mindfulness, which was the fourth point. 'e ha#e tal ed a"out different points, and that was the fourth point, if you still remem"er, if it has not "ecome gigo. /9ar"age in, gar"age out./ )laughs* But it-s good gar"age. It-s mindfulness. The fifth point, in our description of the fi#e points of mindfulness practice, is the result. To re#iew these points, they are the fi#e main stages that we progress through in our study and culti#ation of the wisdom of prajna, and which then "ecome the means for integrating that understanding into our own e%perience. 'e progressi#ely de#elop that e%perience into the full state of realization or prajna. Point one is the /o"ject of intention./ Point two is /understanding the essence./ Point three is /assistant or support./ Point four is /the method of practicing,/ where we ha#e the actual description of the &our &oundations practices. $nd point fi#e is /the result/ of mindfulness practice. $s I mentioned earlier, the mindfulness practices are the "asic method of de#eloping the three principle prajnas. +n the most "asic Buddhist le#el, the result of these four mindfulnesses is fundamentally the realization or actualization of the &our ;o"le Truths. It is said that through the mindfulness of "ody 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. 'ith the mindfulness of mind, we come to the realization of the truth of cessation, of completely "eing freed. This means the complete e%perience 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. $nd the fourth

mindfulness, the mindfulness of dharmas, or phenomena, "rings 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 nir#ana or cessation. !o that is the "asic result of this mindfulness practice, the fifth point. &rom the Mahayana point of #iew, the result of these four mindfulnesses is "asically 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 a"out. Mahayana <iew: &ourteen Points of Difference with the ,inayana In general, there are fourteen #ery small points of difference in the "asic Buddhist #iew of mindfulness and the Mahayana #iew. I-ll gi#e you a "rief account of these fourteen. The first point is called the "asis or origin, the difference in the "asis or the origin. The second point is the antidote. In the Mahayana path, the antidote is to o#ercome all aspects of ego(clinging, all aspects of ela"oration, whereas in the ,inayana path, the antidote is that which o#ercomes only one aspect of ego clinging and one aspect of ela"oration. It-s not an antidote for all aspects. !o you can thin a"out that. The third point is the entrance. 4ntrance here refers to the o"ject of our contemplation of mindfulness or to the person who-s entering into this path of mindfulness. In the ,inayana path, one enters alone into this path of mindfulness through the &our ;o"le Truths. 'hereas, in the Mahayana state, we do not enter alone. 'e enter with all sentient "eings, with "odhicitta, the supreme am"ition. $t this le#el, we-re entering the path of the &our ;o"le Truths "ut not alone3 we-re entering together with all sentient "eings. That-s the difference. The fourth point is called the o"ject. In the Mahayana Path, the o"ject is all phenomena. If you loo at the four mindfulnesses, according to our prior discussion, the o"ject of the four mindfulnesses in Mahayana "ecomes the whole of phenomena. $ll dharmas are the o"ject 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. $ll dharmas are seen as illusory.

$ll dharmas are seen as egolessness, selflessness. That-s the difference here. The si%th difference is the attainment. $ttainment is the resultant stage. Through the "asic mindfulness practice in ,inayana, the attainment is cessation, the nir#ana which is the complete state of thoughtlessness, complete state of mindfulness. 'hereas, in the Mahayana #iew, the result, or the attainment, is the state of enlightenment. The complete state of enlightenment goes e#en "eyond the truth of cessation, "eyond the notion of thoughtlessness, and "eyond the notion of just simply nir#ana "eing peace. That is the difference here in the attainment. The se#enth point is called agreement. $greement here refers to the fact that all of the Mahayana Path practices of mindfulness are in agreement with the practices of si% paramitas. ;o matter which mindfulness you may "e engaged in, it is related or connected to the si% paramita practices. The eighth point is appropriateness. In the Mahayana Path, mindfulness is practiced in accordance with what is appropriate for all sentient "eings and what is appropriate for the whole en#ironment, rather than practicing it for the sa e of oneself alone. The ninth point is called utterly understanding or true understanding. In the Mahayana Path, true understanding is understanding the "ody as illusory "ody, understanding feeling as a dream(li e feeling, understanding the mind to "e li e space, and understanding all phenomena as sudden arisal, as suddenly arising li e the clouds. That-s the general sense. There-s a lot of meaning "ehind these analogies. The tenth one is the attainment of power. In the Mahayana sense, we attain the power of transcending our emotions e#en though we constantly come "ac to the samsaric world to "enefit sentient "eings. It-s not li e the ,inayana arhats who practice mindfulness to leap out of samsara, to completely lea#e samsara "ehind. The intention of the Mahayana practice of mindfulness is to come "ac and do whate#er "eneficial wor we can for the "enefit of all li#ing "eings. $nd when we come "ac again and again to help and wor on the de#elopment of one-s own path, as well as the paths of other sentient "eings, we ha#e attained the power of not "eing attached to that samsaric world, e#en though we are li#ing in it. 'e ha#e the power of not "eing attached to our emotions, not "eing attac ed "y our emotions, e#en though we li#e with emotions and use emotions as our path. That is the attainment of power here.

The ele#enth point is outshining others- greatness. Isn-t that interesting. This means that, e#en though we are "eginners on the path of Mahayana, e#en though we ha#e #ery little practice, #ery little achie#ement as a result, "ecause of the power of our courageous heart, "ecause of the power of this infinite compassion and lo#e and "odhicitta, the 5ualities of the Mahayana practitioner outshine all of the achie#ements of any other realization. $ny other attainments of greatness are outshown or o#erpowered "y the simple seed of "odhicitta, the simple seed of lo#e and compassion, and the simple method of "eing s illful. The twelfth point is called the 5uality of e%cellence. That-s simple3 that-s e%cellent. The thirteenth point is called infinite meditation, which means the Mahayana path has a #ariety of meditation methods so that our de#elopment does not simply end at the state of cessation. 7essation is attained, and then we go further, "eyond cessation, to a greater de#elopment in meditation. $nd the fourteenth point is the result. The difference in result is that in the Mahayana path, the result attained is the ten "humis. 'e progress through the result of the ten "humis, attaining Buddhahood at the end of the tenth "humi. That is the Mahayana result. 'e ha#e "riefly touched on the topics of the &our &oundations of Mindfulness from "oth the general Buddhist #iew and the #iew of the supreme Mahayana path. 'e are trying to de#elop this genuine path of spirituality through the three principal prajnas, which are naturally culti#ated through our study, contemplation, and meditation on the practices of mindfulness. 4%cerpted from the transcript of /The &our &oundations +f Mindfulness/ )<ermont ABBC* +riginally pu"lished in Bodhi Issue D http:EEwww.nalanda"odhi.orgEresultofmindfulness.html