The Only Way

The Only Way

T

H E I D E A O F T H I S particular seminar is to establish a fundamental

understanding of the Buddhist approach toward the practice of

meditation. Some of you are experienced, some of you are new. In any

case, I would like to reteach the whole thing. It is very important to

develop a basic understanding of meditation, and it is extremely important

for you to understand the fundamentals of the Buddhist way of

thinking about meditation. This is extremely important for the work that

I am doing, and we are doing, to establish a firm ground of Buddhism in

this country. A firm ground would mean people having no misunderstanding

whatsoever concerning basic meditation practice and the Buddhist

attitude toward enlightenment.

A tradition that developed in Tibet, my country, and other Buddhist

countries in medieval times is understanding Buddhism in terms of a

three-yana process. You begin wit h the hinayana discipline, then you

open yourself to the mahayana level, and then finally you evolve into

the vajrayana discipline. So the work we are doing is part of this threeyana

approach. I want you to understand the main aspects of this very

basic and fundamental process before beginning on the path.

Those who have already begun to tread the path need to reexamine

their journey. It is highly important to begin at the beginning rather than

starting halfway through without the beginning. That would be like

building your castle on an ice block or setting up your apartment in an

airplane.

The topic we will be dealing with in this seminar is mindfulness and

9

T H E PAT H IS T H E G O A L

awareness, which is the basic heart of the Buddhist approach. According

to the Buddha, no one can attain basic sanity and basic enlightenment

without practicing meditation. You might be highly confused or you

might be highly awakened and completely ready for the path. You might

be emotionally disturbed and experiencing a sense of claustrophobia in

relation to your world. Perhaps you are inspired by works of art you

have done or the visual and audial aspects of works of art in general. You

might be fat, thin, big, small, intelligent, stupid—whatever you are, there

is only one way, unconditionally, and that is to begin with the practice

of meditation. The practice of meditation is the and only way. Without

that, there is no way out and no way in.

The practice of meditation is a way of unmasking ourselves, our deceptions

of all kinds, and also the practice of meditation is a way of

bringing out the subtleties of intelligence that exist within us. The experience

of meditation sometimes plays the role of playmate; sometimes it

plays the role of devil's advocate, fundamental depression. Sometimes

it acts as an encouragement for birth, sometimes as an encouragement

for death. Its moods might be entirely different in different levels and

states of being and emotion, as well as in the experience of different

individuals—but fundamentally, according to the Buddha, Shakyamuni

Buddha, there is no doubt, none whatsoever, that meditation is the only

way for us to begin on the spiritual path. That is the only way. The way.

Meditation is a way of realizing the fundamental truth, the basic

truth, that we can discover ourselves, we can work on ourselves. The

goal is the path and the path is the goal. There is no other way of attaining

basic sanity than the practice of meditation. Absolutely none. The

evidence for that is that for two thousand five hundred years since the

time of the Buddha, down through the lineage of enlightened teachers

from generation to generation, people have gained liberation through

the practice of meditation. This is not a myth. It's reality. It actually did

exist, it does exist; it did work, it did happen, it does work, it does happen.

But without the practice of meditation, there is no way.

Let us discuss the term meditation at this point. When we talk about

the practice of meditation, we are talking about a way of being. Unfortunately,

the term meditation is not quite an adequate translation of the

Sanskrit term dhyana or samadhi. Whenever we use a verbal form like

"to meditate" or "meditating," that automatically invites the question

"What are you meditating upon?" or "What are you meditating in?"

10

PAR T O N E : N E W Y O R K , 1974

That is a common question that always comes up. But according to the

Buddha's philosophy, there is no verb "to meditate." There is just a

noun, "meditation." There's no meditating. You don't meditate, but you

be in a state of meditation. You might find it very hard to swallow this

distinction. We have a linguistic, a grammatical problem here. Meditating

is not part of the Buddhist vocabulary, but meditation is.

"Meditation" is a noun that denotes that you are being in a state of

meditation already. Whereas "meditating" gives the idea of an activity

that's taking place all the time, that you're meditating on this or that,

concentrating on flickering candlelight, watching an incense stick burning,

listening to your pulse, your heartbeat, listening to the inner tunes

of your mantric utterance going on in your head—whatever. But according

to the buddhadharma, meditation is a simple factor. You don't meditate,

you just be in the meditation. Dhyana is a noun rather than a verb.

It refers to being in a state of dhyana, rather than "dhyana-ing." Meditation

in this case has no object, no purpose, no reference point. It is simply

individuals willing to take a discipline on themselves, not to please

God or the Buddha or their teacher or themselves. Rather one just sits,

one holds oneself together. One sits a certain length of time. One just

simply sits without aim, object, purpose, without anything at all. Nothing

whatsoever. One just sits.

You might ask, "Then what does one do if one sits? Shouldn't one be

doing something? Or is one just sitting there hanging out?" Well, there's

a difference between sitting and "hanging out" in the American idiom.

The term hanging out means something like "grooving on your scene."

And sitting is just being there like a piece of rock or a disused coffee cup

sitting on the table. So meditation is not regarded as hanging out but just

sitting and being, simply.

Questions often come up like, "W h y the hell am I doing this, behaving

like an idiot, just sitting?" And people also experience a lot of resentment.

They think, "I've been told to sit like this. Somebody's making

fun of me, taking advantage of my gullibility. Somebody has made me

just sit like that, just sit. I'm not even allowed to hang out. I have to just

sit on my meditation cushion." But the instruction to do that is actually

an extremely important, powerful message. If we learn to sit properly,

thoroughly, and fully, that is the best thing we could do at this point.

If we look back on the history of our life since we were born, since

we first went to school, we never sat. We never sat. We might have

I I

T H E PAT H IS T H E G O A L

hung out occasionally and experienced utter boredom and felt sorry for

ourselves. Feeling bored and preoccupied, we might have hung out occasionally

on street corners or in our living rooms watching television,

chewing our chewing gum, and so forth. But we never sat. We never sat

like a rock. We never did. Ho w about that?

Here, this is the first experience in our life of sitting—not hanging out

or perching—but actually sitting on the ground on a meditation cushion.

Just that to begin with, to say nothing for the moment about techniques

for how you sit. Before we discuss techniques, let us point out the

merit—punya i n Sanskrit—the very merit and sanity and wakefulness

you are going to get out of this, out of just simply being willing to sit

like a piece of rock. It's fantastically powerful. It overrides the atom

bomb. It's extraordinarily powerful that we decide just to sit, not hang

out or perch, but just sit on a meditation cushion. Such a brave attitude,

such a wonderful commitment is magnificent. It is very sane, extraordinarily

sane.

We usually don't sit on the ground. We sit on chairs. The closest we

get to just sitting is when we sit still for ten or twenty hours as passengers

or drivers in our cars. But then we are entertained by the road, by

the traveling, by the speed. We think we are sitting, but still we are getting

somewhere. We are still traveling. Apart from that, we have never

known actually sitting on the ground properly and thoroughly and fully

like a rock, like a sitting buddha. We have never done that. That is an

extraordinary experience. This is an important point. This is what we

actually miss in this world. When we sit, it is always for a purpose. If we

are sitting in a car, we are thinking, "Ho w long is it going to take me to

get to my destination, so I can begin to rush?" We count mileage, note

the speed of our car, watch the speedometer. We sit for a purpose. It is

a very interesting point that nobody has experienced that we can actually

sit on a cushion without any purpose, none whatsoever. It is outrageous.

Nobody would actually ever do that. We can't even think about it. It's

unthinkable. It's terrible—we would be wasting our time.

No w there's the point—wasting our time. Maybe that's a good one,

wasting our time. Give time a rest. Let it be wasted. Create virgin time,

uncontaminated time, time that hasn't been hassled by aggression, passion,

and speed. Let us create pure time. Sit and create pure time.

That is a very important thing. It might sound crazy to you, impracti-

12

PAR T O N E : N E W Y O R K , 1974

cal, but it is very important to think in those terms. Sitting practice is a

revolutionary idea for Westerners, but not as far as Buddhists are concerned.

Buddha did it. Buddha did it two thousand five hundred years

ago. He sat and wasted his time. And he transmitted the knowledge to

us that it is the best thing we can do for ourselves—waste our time by

sitting. The very idea of aggression and passion could be tamed by sitting

practice. Just sitting like a piece of rock is a very important point.

We can discuss the techniques later, but right now I don't want to

overcrowd your mind. I want you to think about the importance of

wasting time sitting, slowing down, becoming like a piece of rock. It's

the first message of the Buddha.

My particular lineage is the Kagyii lineage. Kagyii means "follower of

the sacred word. " And this lineage is also known as the drubgyu, "the

practicing lineage." We have been known for this emphasis on practice.

We understand that the emphasis on practice is very important. And my

lineage has produced millions of sane people in the past. And is doing so

in the present as well. We have evidence of that.

Sitting practice is the basic point, before we embark on any spiritual

disciplines at all, especially in Buddhism. The teachings of Buddha are

presented in a threefold way, as we mentioned. And on the hinayana

level alone, we have shila, samadhi, and prajna—discipline, meditation,

and intellect. And before we begin with shila—discipline—of any kind,

we have to learn to slow down. That is the basic discipline of how to be.

So the basic way to learn to behave in a buddhalike way is sitting practice.

Then, after that, we develop meditation (samadhi) and knowledge

(prajna). Before we learn to spell words, we have to learn our ABCs. We

have to be actually willing to accept the boredom of sitting, willing to

relate with that particular sanity, which is unconditional sanity. This sanity

has nothing to do with fighting against insanity or trying to exorcise

it. It is just fundamentally, basically, trying to be simple as what we are.

That is the basic point according to Buddha.

Student: Rinpoche, could you say something about merit?

Trungpa Rinpoche: Merit is a sense of richness and a sense of reward,

which can only develop by not creating further complications in our

confusion. Just sitting and doing nothing is the best way of all to produce

merit.

13

T H E PAT H IS T H E G O A L

Student: Could you say something about the difference between the

complexity, the complicated structure, of neurosis and what maybe

could be called the simple richness of sanity?

Trungpa Rinpoche: Complexity is also very simple. It is so complex it

becomes simple. I don't see any problems with that, particularly. You

look up at the sky and see the stars, thousands of millions of them. They

seem to be very complicated. It's difficult to name them, find out what

they are, and so on. But still, it's the simple sky. The complexity and the

simplicity amount to the same thing. Confusion and complexity are the

expression of simplicity.

Student: Discipline in sitting practice seems very comforting to me. It

tells me what to do. Then I get up from my sitting practice and I light a

cigarette. I would like a rule of discipline that tells me I should not light

the cigarette as I'm told I should sit. I'm always in confusion about

where rules are given or where a suggestion for discipline is given and

where they're withheld or not presented.

Trungpa Rinpoche: These rules and regulations are not homemade recipes.

The rules and regulations that have developed in the Buddhist tradition

are extremely official and efficient and very powerful. Those rules

and regulations are no longer a domestic matter connected with your

comfort. The rules and regulations are fundamental openness. If you feel

there's something wrong about lighting a cigarette, don't regard it as

your problem. Or for that matter, don't regard having sexual fantasies in

the middle of your sitting practice or having aggression fantasies—how

you're going to punch your enemy in the nose—as your problems. All

kinds of things like that happen, but they are no longer regarded as problems.

They are regarded as a promise, in fact. Those are the only working

basis that we have. Those are the only working basis that we have

in our practice of meditation. Without those, we are completely sterile,

cleaned out with Ajax, like hospital corridors where there's no place for

germs. The path of dharma, the dharma marga, provides all kinds of

problems, obstacles, and we work along with those. Without that path,

we would fall asleep. Suppose highways were without any bends, just

like Roman roads, a one-shot deal straight from New York to Washington,

ioo percent straight. The drivers would fall asleep. Because of that,

there would be more accidents than if the road had bends in it with road

signs here and there. The path is personal experience, and one should

14

PAR T O N E : N E W Y O R K , 1974

take delight in those little things that go on in our lives, the obstacles,

seductions, paranoias, depressions, and openness. All kinds of things happen,

and that is the content of the journey, which is extremely powerful

and important. Without those problems, we cannot tread on the path.

We should feel grateful that we are in the samsaric world, so that we can

tread the path, that we are not sterile, completely cleaned out, that the

world has not been taken over by some computerized system. There's

still room for rawness and ruggedness and roughness all over the place.

Good luck!

15

T W O