Buddhism is an ancient spiritual movement that opened the way to God for millions of its followers. Born in the East several tens of centuries ago, Buddhism became the cradle of wisdom and ancient knowledge, expressed not only in the scriptures, but also in real, still working practices and meditations...

Zen people say, "Just sit, do nothing." The hardest thing in the world is to just sit and do nothing. But if you can do it, if for several months you can sit for several hours without doing anything...

Tibetan Buddhists believe that Adi Buddha, the primordial and supreme being, created the Dhyani Buddhas through the power of his meditation.
The five Dhyani Buddhas are celestial Buddhas visualized during meditation...

When starting meditation, you first need to get acquainted with the features of effective rest. Not sleep, but conscious rest. You need to be able to let go, to consciously surrender control over the body. That's when the body and mind slow down enough for you to be serenely aware of your inner world.

This article was first published in the Fall 2002 issue of InsightJournal. Reprinted with the permission of the journal. These instructions came from a nine-day retreat given by Lee Braceington in April 2002 at the Barr Center for Buddhist Studies. The Pali word "jhana" (Skt. "dhyana")...

At our retreats, participants practice mindfulness in four different postures: walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. They try to continuously maintain a state of awareness, in whatever position they are. For mindfulness meditation, the main posture is the sitting position...

This short essay will serve as an introduction to the practice of "seeing-as-is" meditation as taught in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. You do not need to know the Buddha's teachings to apply it, although such knowledge can help you clarify your personal understanding of the world that arises...

This practice is something special. We will not engage in it if we set ourselves the goal of freeing ourselves from suffering. But without including the practice of "transformation, training of the mind" in our spiritual practice of meditation, we will not be able to follow the path leading to liberation from...

When pronouncing the word "Buddhism", the orange robes of Buddhist monks, the snow caps of the Himalayas, the golden statues of Buddhas appear in the minds of Europeans. (although some take the fat smiling Chinese god Hotei for Buddha, most likely because in his homeland he is sometimes called Budai or the laughing Buddha. Nevertheless, as can be seen from the drawings, Buddha and Hotei are different from each other :)

But all this is not Buddhism, but only external attributes of the culture of countries with traditional Buddhist culture.

When the first Europeans ended up in Buddhist countries, they decided that Buddha is God, and by analogy with "Christ - Christianity - Christian" the words "Buddha - Buddhism - Buddhist" appeared in European languages. But what Europeans call the word "Buddhism" is called "Dharma" in Sanskrit, and "Che" in Tibetan and literally means "things as they are" or "how everything really is." Historical (known as Siddhartha Gautama), who lived more than 2500 years ago in India, was not a god. He was the first person in our era to achieve the state of Enlightenment, and then passed on the methods to achieve Enlightenment to his disciples. Buddha in Sanskrit literally means "Awakened". There is a lot in common between Sanskrit and Russian - the Russian words "alarm clock", "wake up" are formed from the same root. Buddha is not a historical character to a greater extent, but a state of mind completely cleared of all veils - in more than two and a half thousand years of Buddhism, many practitioners have been able to achieve exactly the same state of mind and become Buddhas.

By analogy, Buddhist practices themselves in Europe began to be called the word "meditation" - that is, "reflection", "thinking about God." But thinking is thinking, and meditation is meditation. In Tibetan, the word "meditation" literally means "addiction" - that is, getting used to the natural state of mind, when the mind does not rush about in a chaotic stream of thoughts and emotions, but simply rests in itself. While meditating, Buddhists gradually get used to seeing things and phenomena not through the prism of numerous assessments and concepts, but as they really are. "But what?" - you ask. Attempts to answer this question with the help of words will only lead to the creation of another concept. But the answer to this question lies beyond words and concepts. He is inside. After all Buddhist(in Tibetan - "nangpa") literally means " the one who is inside".

Buddhism is called a religion, and the word "religion" evokes more than specific associations in the minds of Europeans. But can you call Buddhism a religion if you know that it does not contain dogmas, Good, Evil, God, religious morality and many other concepts that arise in the mind of a Western person after pronouncing the word "religion". On the contrary, after many years of meditation, concepts and concepts disappear from the mind of a Buddhist, making room for the free play of space, fearlessness and joy.

All major religions of the Faith appeared on Middle East and gradually spread throughout the world - these are Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Faith religions are based on faith in God, who created everything that we see and feel: this whole world and the immortal souls of people. Buddhism, on the other hand, belongs to the religions of Experience, which mainly appeared on Far East- if, of course, Buddhism can be called a religion at all. Rather, it is “ligia” (from the Latin “ligia” - “to connect” + “re” - “again”). Buddhists don't think they need to connect with something again. Potentially, each of us is already a Buddha. But only potentially, because in order to truly become a Buddha, we need to practice a lot, do no harm to others, and do good deeds. And it will take a huge number of lives.

There are schools in Buddhism where meditation is started only after many years of studying the theory, and this is very good, because this path suits people with a critical mindset who will not use the method until they understand how and why it works. The school that I have been practicing for many years (it is called Karma Kagyu), on the contrary, emphasizes practice, and this is suitable for people who have some degree of trust both in the methods and in who they receive these methods from - to the teacher.

Religions of Experience and Religions of Faith (Buddhism and Christianity)

There are certain differences between religions of experience And faith religions so these religions are suitable for people with different types of minds. It’s easier for me to talk about the differences between the religions of faith and the religions of experience using an example Russian Orthodoxy And Buddhism Vajrayana Karma Kagyu- one of the schools of traditional Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. This is a purely practical approach, showing how a person's sensations change when the mind moves from the Western, Christian coordinate system to the Eastern, Buddhist one.

This section mainly talks about what Buddhism is not. And this is a fairly common sense approach for people born in countries where religions of the Faith have long dominated. Therefore, now, when they get acquainted with the religions of experience, their mind begins to draw analogies, hang some labels, which is more than natural: after all, the main property of the mind is to determine (read - limit, put into the framework of already known concepts). Perhaps, after reading this article, some concepts in your mind will dissolve, and free space will appear instead. And then, if you want, you can find out what buddhism is- and this can only be learned from one's own experience.

I do not set out to prove that Buddhism is "good" and Christianity is "bad." I have a very good attitude towards Orthodoxy, and I do not think that Buddhism is "better", "higher" or "advanced". Rather, the fact is that people are very different, it's just that Christian theology and methods are more suitable for someone, and Buddhist ones for someone. There are also people for whom Buddhism and Buddhist methods will do more harm than good. Therefore, if you are an Orthodox Christian, then it is hardly worth changing the Faith, which for many centuries has been an organic part of the Russian land for something else. The Dalai Lama also spoke about this, since one can come to the truth through any religion. But the path to truth itself can be different for different people, so listen to your feelings, to what your heart says. Well, of course, turn on your head.

If you evaluate Christianity from the point of view of Buddhism, then you can prove anything. But why? Words are empty by nature and filled only with the meaning that the author puts into them. Remember Goethe, who could prove any statement, and then - its complete opposite. Or the Indian professor Naropa, who could argue with five hundred other professors at the same time, conducting such a kind of simultaneous session. After all five hundred opponents were defeated and agreed with him, Naropa changed points of view with them and won again. And at that time it was very dangerous to argue - the loser in the dispute had to accept the teachings of the winner. Moreover, together with all the students (and they could get beaten for it :)

In Buddhism there is not and never was an institution of missionary work - the Teacher simply talks about the Dharma and gives teachings to people who come to him. If a person has a connection with Buddhism, then he takes a Buddhist refuge and begins to practice; if there is no such connection, and a person goes, for example, to Christianity, they simply wish him happiness on his Path. No one will invite you to the Buddhist center. What for? "If there are beautiful flowers, then the bees fly by themselves, if there is a beautiful lake, then the birds themselves sit on its surface."

Christianity explains in a very simple and accessible way what is Good, what is Evil and what is Truth. Buddhism is very practical - it doesn't answer the question " what is truth?", he answers the question " how can you find the truth". There are a lot of ways to know the truth. But all people are different, and therefore the diversity of religious traditions is not a drawback, but a great gift for humanity. It's like in a good supermarket with a large assortment, samplers of all products, detailed annotations and the absence of intrusive sellers - everyone can choose what suits him.Buddhism and Christianity use different approaches, different methods, different energies, different paths, and, of course, different results. - save your soul. Buddhist wants reach enlightenment.

In Christianity there is a concept souls which is called eternal. In Buddhism there is no concept of the soul, but there is another concept - mind who exists and will always exist, who was not born, and therefore cannot die.

Buddhism says that we ourselves create our present life with past thoughts, words and actions. The Buddha said: "If you want to know what you did in your past life, look at your present state; if you want to know your future state, look at your actions today." And we can think: "So what did I do so wrong in previous lives that I suffer so much in this one?" - but this is not a Buddhist approach at all, and guilt has nothing to do with it. You can find a lama who will see the causes of your suffering in a previous life. You can go to Tibet and find a tougher lama who will see the reason in earlier incarnations. But the fact is that the found cause, in turn, is a consequence of an earlier cause. And so on ad infinitum. We are not to blame for anything - just the reasons for what is given to us in this life lie in previous lives and, most likely, we are not given to know them. And we also know that our thoughts, words and actions today determine our future.

This applies to everything, including relationships with other people - relationships in this life are due to earlier connections. And in this sense, the words of Jesus: "If you are struck on one cheek, turn the other" sound very Buddhist. If some person (as we think) for no apparent reason feels hatred towards us, which means that the reasons for this lie in previous lives, and by responding with hatred to his hatred, we will transfer the conflict into the future.

In general, some believe that Buddhists are those who believe in the idea of ​​rebirth, but that's not the case at all. The idea of ​​rebirth originated in Buddhism because the historical Buddha attained enlightenment and taught in India, where Hinduism dominated, and in Hinduism, rebirth is indeed very important. But, since Buddhism is primarily not ideas, but methods, in the case when Buddhism came to cultures in which the idea of ​​rebirth was absent, it simply was not used. For example, when Buddhism came to China, there was no idea of ​​rebirth in traditional Chinese religion, so in Chinese Buddhism - Zen, there is practically no mention of rebirth, but completely different methods have become widespread. If you start learning Chinese, you will see that there are a lot of complex concepts in it - for example, if in Russian there are phrases "office chair", "rocking chair", "leisure chair", and in each phrase there is the word " armchair", then in China there were (and still are) separate names (concepts) for each item. As a result, the minds of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom functioned in a completely different way, and in order to break through the wall of such complex concepts, completely different methods (koans, etc.) appeared in Chinese Buddhism, which differed significantly from the classical ones. So, if a Buddhist likes the idea of ​​rebirth, he can use it, if not, then he does not need to believe in it at all.

In Christianity, the image of Christ continued the classic Western theme of the suffering Gods - Osiris, Adonis, Dionysus, etc. - theme suffering runs through the entire history of Christianity, because "life is a vale of suffering." In Christianity, suffering is a natural component of life, because "Christ also suffered," therefore a righteous Christian fully accepts the suffering that has fallen to him during his lifetime, and after death receives Eternity as a gift. Once I heard from my Master the words: "The highest truth is the highest joy", and this was the highest teaching. The Buddha wants only one thing - for people to be happy, and Buddhism offers specific methods to achieve happiness in life.

Naturally, the basis of all religions of the Faith is Vera- and for a person who has lost faith, religion and its rituals lose their meaning. In Buddhism, the same root word is no less important - confidence. Trust in methods, trust in the Teacher. Trust usually develops gradually. For me it happened like this: at first my critical mind questioned any statement of the Teacher. If what he said coincided with my opinion - there were no problems, if it didn’t, then I thought: “Maybe the Teacher is wrong?”. But as time passed, I saw that the things that the Lama was talking about were exactly the same as what I experienced during my meditations. And, since nine things coincided with my own experience, then the tenth, which I had not yet tested, I already trusted unconditionally, because what coincided with my feelings had already formed a certain basis of trust. There is a proverb in the East: "If what the Teacher says does not coincide with your opinion, most likely it is a good Teacher" :)

Christianity has a doctrine of passions, which explains in detail with what weapon one or another passion can be defeated (gluttony is defeated by abstinence, avarice - by non-acquisition, pride - by humility, etc.). In Buddhism, the practitioner does not fight with his passions (in Buddhism they are called disturbing emotions), he doesn't consider them important at all, but simply watches them appear, play, and disappear in his mind. Moreover, the methods of Buddhism use the energy of disturbing emotions for transformation - it is the disturbing emotions that become the main fuel on the path to Enlightenment, and each disturbing emotion is gradually transformed into a certain kind of wisdom.

Therefore, people come to different Buddhist schools with different basic disturbing emotions: for the Gelugpa school it is confusion, for the Nyingma it is anger and pride. In the Karma Kagyu school, it is desire and attachment. Desire and attachment go together, because all desire eventually leads to attachment, and attachment leads to suffering. So, we do not fight desires and attachment - we think that desires are wonderful. We simply practice and observe what is happening in our mind. And the transformation of desire and attachment into wisdom occurs naturally after many years of practice. And there is no need to strive for this, or control this process - everything happens on autopilot of inner wisdom.

Christianity has dozens religious traditions, each of which likes to explicitly and implicitly assert its God's chosenness in comparison with others. Previously, this confrontation often went beyond religious disputes, and when the words ended, people took up arms - remember the numerous religious wars, St. Bartholomew and other nights when some Christians killed other Christians with the name of God on their lips. There are dozens of different traditions in Buddhism, thousands of methods that, even at first glance, are very different from each other. But here the difference in methods is not a minus, but a big plus - just as different people like different dishes, so different people are suitable for different methods of understanding the nature of things and phenomena. This nature is one, but the paths to its knowledge are different, and therefore numerous schools of Buddhism peacefully exist and existed and did not wage religious wars.

Christianity believes that human- this is the crown of creation, created in the image of God, and therefore a person must "rule" over other living beings, which leads to a certain hierarchy. Therefore, the Christian "thou shalt not kill" has more to do with man than with other living beings. The Buddhist approach does not separate man from the rest of the world. The world in which a person is born is just one of many worlds. In Buddhism there is a concept precious human birth- it is in the world of people that beings have the opportunity to meet with the methods of Dharma and, using them, to know the nature of things and phenomena. Most Buddhist meditations end with the phrase: "for the good all beings", which include absolutely all creatures, including those from worlds invisible to people.

Christian philosophers believe that there is some objective reality once created by God. That God has given man the only truth. That in the world there are, as Thomas Aquinas said, some basic concepts (mathematical axioms, etc.), which are created by God himself. This view is in good agreement with the principles classical physics. After all, the father of classical physics, Newton, was a believer and believed that both material particles and the laws governing their movement were created by God. Buddhism believes that a person he creates external and internal reality ideas in your mind. That for the existence of a certain reality, which we call objective, an observer is necessarily needed. Without it, to say that the observable exists is simply meaningless. That there are no universal laws and rules in the world - they exist only in the minds of people. Until a person has reached enlightenment and has not become a Buddha, he obeys these laws, but after enlightenment he becomes completely free, and all restrictions in his mind disappear. The world is a kind of agreement between people, and we see the world just like that, because we look from a very narrow strip of the reality of the world of people. Other beings see the world in a very different way. This point of view is in full agreement with recent discoveries. quantum physics.

In Buddhism, there are various forms that are used during meditation - usually the Western consciousness perceives them as a pantheon of deities, but this is not at all the case. Forms - feminine, masculine, peaceful, protective, single and in union - are expressions of the various aspects of our Mind. At the beginning, I was tense formidable forms, the so-called Protectors, which are very reminiscent of demons in the Christian tradition.

My Western consciousness continued to divide everything into Good and evil, good and bad. But in Buddhism there is no God who is Good, just as there is no his eternal antagonist - the Devil. The mind of a Buddhist does not work in such terms, he does not evaluate - "this is good" and "this is evil", "this is good" and "this is bad." Everything can be assessed somehow, which is what Western moralists do. But why? Every action has cause and investigation. For many, the question immediately arises: “Well, then do whatever you want, this is some kind of anarchy.” Yes, human beings are completely free, but if I know that any of my actions, words and thoughts lead to a certain result, then I am fully responsible for what I do. Therefore, “do not kill”, “do not steal” and many other Christian commandments, I observe not because “it is possible”, but “it is impossible”, but because it is simply ... expedient, or something.

Buddhism and Buddhist practices

There is a stereotype that when a Buddhist meditates, he tries not to think. This is not so at all, because thoughts are a natural property of the mind. You can drown in a mental stream, or you can simply watch its flow. Moreover, if you "try" not to think, then an additional source of tension will appear in the mind, a controller who will strive for something or avoid something. Meditation is a great non-doing, when you do not strive to achieve something, to get rid of something, but on the contrary, you completely relax and allow everything to happen, without defining or evaluating anything.

The practices of the various Buddhist schools differ greatly from one another. If we talk about the schools of Tantric Tibetan Buddhism, then before starting to meditate directly on the mind itself, the practitioner does the so-called cleansing preliminary practices (Ngöndro). Ngöndro take quite a long time - usually several years (although especially relaxed Buddhists can stretch this pleasure for several lives :). People who have completed Ngöndro often say, "Do a Ngöndro, everything will work as it should." Although I have only done half of the Ngöndro practices, I can say that these words reflect reality very accurately. Ngöndro consists of four exercises, each of which is performed 111,111 times. This:

1. Prostrations - a practice that mainly works with the body - the girl in the photo does exactly this practice. By the way, this is the favorite practice of actor Steven Seagal, who devotes 1-2 hours to it every morning.
2. Meditation Diamond Mind - practice allows you to clear the mind of the practitioner from a large number of negative impressions. During meditation, the practitioner utters a purifying hundred-syllable mantra, imagining a white Buddha-form (Diamond Mind) above his head, from which white, purifying nectar flows.
3. Mandala Giving - This practice fills the practitioner's mind with a lot of positive impressions. It is performed with rice and a special disk.
4. Guru Yoga - first of all, wisdom is gained and the experience of all things and phenomena outside of concepts - "what everything really is" can arise.

These are very powerful practices. First, they free the practitioner's mind from a large number of negative impressions. And, since free space appears in the mind in place of the gone negative impressions, the following practices fill it with positive impressions. And, of course, as a result of the practice, the practitioner connects with inner wisdom and becomes wiser :) Usually, both in the inner and outer life of the practitioner, there are many more subtle changes, but it is not recommended to talk about your own experience, because in this case a person who did not do Ngöndro, a stereotype will form, specific expectations of how things should happen. But live practice is always wider than any expectations, and for another person, most likely, many things will happen differently. Some Buddhists experience unusual sensations during their practices, for others everything happens more prosaically - all this is not so important, since the sensations and their intensity do not matter.

You have probably heard all sorts of stories about Tibetan yogis who can fly, dissolve in light, open beer with their eyes and do other amazing things. Indeed, the result of long practices can be the so-called siddhis (or amazing abilities), which appear when certain limitations disappear from the mind of the practitioner. All these miracles, as St. Augustine said, “do not contradict nature, but contradict our understanding of nature” - after all, the inability to fly, the inability to see other worlds, and so on, are just limitations that exist in our mind. But, unlike magical practices, in which these abilities are specifically sought after, in Buddhism they arise (or don't occur) spontaneously as a by-product of practice. On the other hand, siddhis often become an obstacle in practice - after all, when, to put it mildly, amazing things begin to happen, a person begins to pay too much attention to them, and thinks that he has reached transcendental heights. In general, Buddhism is very practical, and if amazing abilities are not able to help other people, then what is the point of them? Practices gradually change the attitude towards the world, and then all abilities become amazing - after all, the ability to love, walk, poop, dance is no less wonderful than the ability to fly.

In general, if you have not a theoretical, but a practical interest in Ngöndro, it is best to go to a Buddhist center and talk to people who practice. Of course you can read books, because there is a lot of literature in Buddhism - much more than in Christianity. But why study thick cookbooks with beautiful pictures when you can cook your favorite dish and enjoy its taste? When I formally became a Buddhist, I tried to read various Buddhist books, but I understood practically nothing - all the words seemed more than abstract to me. But after a few years of practice, some changes took place in my mind, and much of what was described began to coincide with my own experience, so it became very interesting to read - as if a book about myself fell into my hands. And the books of some Buddhist scholars who are engaged in theory, and not practice, on the contrary, began to seem funny and naive - it is immediately clear that a person writes about what he does not know. Or rather, having filled his mind with many concepts from other books, he thinks he knows.

So for now I'll try to put the concepts aside and tell you

Parable about barrels. Performed for the first time :)

It seems to people that they are born from the womb, then live in their own body, and finally die. But if you look at this process not from the world of people, then birth, life and death will look completely different.

There is a huge factory on Earth that makes barrels of different sizes and qualities. After birth, the body of a small person is placed in a barrel, poured with concrete and covered with a lid. Previously, as elsewhere in the world, there was more order at the factory, so the standards for barrels were much stricter. In accordance with the type of barrel, a person was assigned to a certain caste all his life. Well. it was in the East, and in the West there were classes.

What a person perceives as the first blow of an obstetrician on his little pink ass is in fact just the first push with which the barrel is sent on a long journey. Along the way, the barrel is waiting for other shocks and blows, which people just call “blows of fate”, changing the speed and direction of the barrel. Many do not even realize that there, in the world, behind the thick walls of the barrel, amazing things happen - various and amazing creatures live, entire worlds are born and die. Although some people get barrels with a defect, and they see the world outside through small holes. And then they tell others about angels, demons, elves, gods and other demiurges. In general, those whom we call great and brilliant people actually receive barrels with defects at birth. Some have walls with holes and crevices, some have concrete that is not so thick.

The walls of the barrel and concrete reliably protect a person from external influences, but, on the other hand, they also protect from contact with other people and the world. And what people call close relationships, hugs, sex is nothing more than the contact of two bodies through a thick layer of concrete. If only people knew what REAL intimacy could be. What REAL life can be. But people do not know, and call their being "an objective reality given to us in sensations." And this is a very correct definition. For a look from the barrel. And so this barrel rolls until, due to circumstances, it stops. People call it "death".

But amazing things happen in some people's lives - they meet the Dharma, become Buddhists, and begin the fundamental exercises. Usually a Buddhist starts with strikes, and gradually certain changes begin to occur in his body. When he finishes the prostrations, he realizes that his body is starting to move for real. Rather, it was before prostrations that he believed that he was the body. Now he knows that he simply IS a body. Which can do a lot. In general, many people believe that they have a very obedient body, but it is ridiculous to compare the capabilities of the body of a person who has completed prostrations with the capabilities of an ordinary person walled in concrete.

Then he moves on to practice Diamond Mind, and a small scoop appears in his hand, with which he gradually begins to clear the space inside the barrel. In general, this scoop always lay in a barrel, but for a person who has not done at least a third of the prostrations, it seems too heavy. Since the concrete completely fills the barrel, at first the results of cleaning are not visible - after all, the range of motion of the scoop is very small, but then, as it is cleaned, more and more space appears, and a person can freely move his hand, freeing up new space for himself. And finally, a person cleans all the concrete from the barrel. And then he sees that he has a lot of new space for life.

Now there is room in the barrel, and he moves on to the third practice - gifting Mandala, filling the space inside the barrel with beautiful things, and it becomes very cozy in the barrel. And just great.

When the arrangement is over, he proceeds to the last preliminary practice - Guru Yoga, and since this practice requires a lot of clear light, he makes cracks in the walls of his barrel. And some even cut through the windows. And in the barrel it becomes very light and sunny.

After that, a person moves on to the main practices, and sooner or later he realizes that there is no longer a need to be in a barrel that rolls under the influence of external forces. And when he realizes that the barrel doesn't really exist, it disappears. And with it, the boundary between man and the world disappears. Which is so beautiful. After that, the person approaches the other barrels and starts banging on them, trying to explain what is going on outside. But it is usually not heard or understood. And think for yourself, how can you explain to a fish in an aquarium how beautiful the Ocean is? And he is so beautiful.

Here is such a parable. Some people think that meditation is a kind of escape from reality, that by sitting down in a pose of meditation and closing his eyes, a Buddhist ceases to see the problems of the real world, falling into a world that does not exist. Yes, meditation is a special reality, but the most interesting thing is that gradually meditation begins to penetrate into real life. At first it seems like rare outbreaks, then they occur more and more often. And, if you try to put into words one of these outbreaks, it will look something like this ...

When all the Buddhas took off their masks, When their bodies became light and disappeared Because there was nothing Never. And there was no reflection of me in the mirror, And there was no mirror I myself became a mirror And people looked at him and their egos shook Afraid of losing yourself forever. Oh, if only they knew there was no ego, and there never was Never. And the women thought they loved me And I could not answer them - they loved Not me, but my reflections in the mirror Your mind. This is how it always happened. Happened without happening. And the men thought they hated me And I couldn't fight them - they watched On their reflections, and called to battle Themselves in the mirror Your mind. This is how it always happened. Happened without happening. And when all this happened in the mirror of my mind, I laughed, I couldn't help laughing And space laughed with me And laughing about one thing, we merged, And I could not understand where this line is Between me and space. Until I saw it was only a limitation in my mind Differences between me and space No and was not Never. And everything became possible And it didn't have to go Trying to do something, to be someone. It seemed like it just happened But, like everything in this world, it had a reason. And I see the way my body has gone In the space of our minds Before everything happened and the space shone. But it doesn't feel like anything And it happens without happening. Right now. In the space of our minds. LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS

And finally

Buddhism is, first of all, common sense, and the people whose words are given below were never Buddhists - they just got closer to "the way things really are." They did not trust words and concepts, but trusted themselves and their own feelings.

P.S. This is not an advertisement for Buddhism - there has never been an institution of missionary work in Buddhism. Buddhism is not the truth, but the Path where you can find the truth within yourself. These are concrete methods to understand the illusory nature of suffering and to know how things really are. Be happy and make other people happy. Each person can find the Path on which he can become himself, and the question of choosing a religion is a matter of connection. If a person has a connection with a certain religion, it will definitely manifest itself.

P.P.S. I'm sure no one gets to this place anymore, so you're the first one to read these words. In general, how to explain in words the state when duality disappears from the mind. After all, the state beyond duality is so simple and natural that words will only complicate everything. Let me tell you a parable about an ordinary dual mind filled with sound concepts, through the prism of which the world seems "white" or "black".

One Buddhist named Vovka, tired of meditation, decided to take a walk and saw a shepherd standing in the middle of a flock of sheep.
- What beautiful sheep you have, - said Vovka. - May I ask you about them?
“Of course,” the shepherd replied.
- How many daily pass your sheep?
- What, black or white?
- White.
- White sheep walk about four kilometers a day.
- What about black ones?
- As many.
- And how many herbs do they eat per day?
- What, black or white?
- White.
- White sheep eat about four kilos of grass a day.
- What about black ones?
- As many.
- And how much wool do they give annually?
- What, black or white?
- White.
- White sheep give wool about three kilograms a year when we shear them.
- What about black ones?
- As many.
- Yeah. - Vovka was intrigued. - Tell me, why do you divide your sheep into white and black in such a strange way, answering my questions?
- You see, - answered the shepherd, - this is quite natural. It's just that the white sheep belong to me.
- Yeah! What about black ones?
- Me too.

At the end of the XX and at the beginning of the XXI centuries. Eastern religions began active expansion into the countries of the West. Religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism have extraordinary, incredible success with them. There are many reasons for this - the worn-out culture of consumption, imposed almost as an ideology by democratic authorities, the inferiority and one-sidedness of their own religious traditions, a craving for the exotic, and, of course, the desire to comprehend the secret knowledge of the East, about which there are legends. This article aims to clarify only one aspect of this whole context - the basics of the religious practice of a newly converted Buddhist.

On the Way of the Buddhist

Buddhism combines a large number of different independent schools and traditions. But they all have one common basis - all Buddhists recognize the Buddha, Dharma (that is, the teachings of the Buddha) and Sangha (the spiritual community of Buddhists) as three fundamental religious values. These are the so-called three refuges. The meaning of Buddhist practice is the achievement of enlightenment, the realization of Buddha nature in man. It is in the light of this goal and for its sake that all rituals are performed, mantras are read, meditations are practiced, and so on. However, Buddhism has many faces, and its various denominations sometimes differ significantly from each other. Therefore, with regard to initial practice, what is required of a Japanese Zen adept is very far from what is offered to a follower of the Tibetan Gelugpa. We will focus mainly on the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, since they are the most widely represented and widespread in our country, being traditional for three regions.

Independent acceptance of Buddhism

This topic needs to be touched upon, because many people, having read Buddhist literature, suddenly decide to become Buddhists and immediately begin to practice certain meditations or rituals. However, not all so simple. To believe in the truth of Buddhist teachings, a person, of course, can and must independently. But to consider yourself a full-fledged Buddhist, that is, a member of the Sangha, a simple decision is not enough. In order to enter the spiritual community, it is required to accept the so-called three jewels. Otherwise it is called the vow of refuge. It is he who introduces a person to Buddhism. For beginners, it is very important that the first time this vow is taken by one of the authorized servant lamas. This requires a personal meeting with the lama and the ceremony of taking the vow of refuge. Without initiation into this transfer of refuge, most of the practices are meaningless.

Pure Vision

The main practice of a Buddhist should be aimed at developing the skill of pure vision. The latter implies that a person must totally and completely stay in the "here and now", freeing his mind from building spatio-temporal connections. The mind should not be somewhere else in time or think about other places. It should reflect the actual reality - the time and the place where the person is at the current moment. When this skill is developed, perception changes, it becomes pure. This is the first step towards discovering the nature of the Buddha. The state of "here and now" - this is meditation, its inner content. Thus, a Buddhist, whatever they do - drinking tea, cleaning the apartment or cooking, should strive to be in meditation through the development of a sense of "here and now."

Home meditations and mistakes

There are a lot of different meditation techniques in Tibetan Buddhism, and some of them are extremely difficult and even dangerous, and therefore they are transmitted secretly. But the practices of Buddhism for beginners are usually safe and it is almost impossible to make a mistake in them, unless you approach what is called “creatively”, that is, changing the practice, introducing new elements into it and eliminating the old ones. In addition, in Buddhism, it is assumed that the new believer practices under the guidance and blessing of his mentor, who taught him the three refuges (that is, accepted into the bosom of Buddhism and a particular Buddhist school), as well as instructions for practice. It is virtually impossible to accept Buddhism on your own without this ceremony.

About the home altar

As for the arrangement of the home sanctuary, it must be said that this is considered a very useful thing. However, at the same time, it is not necessary. According to its purpose, the altar plays the role of a focus, which should concentrate the attention of a person and organize his living space in such a way that he remembers that his most important goal is enlightenment. Therefore, altar objects should stimulate constant practice. Therefore, if a decision has already been made to create a sanctuary, then it does not need to be turned into an exposition dedicated to Buddhist art. Usually it is enough to put the image of the Buddha, the image of your guru and a few other especially important sculptures or icons. But it is better not to go beyond five. In addition, it is customary to keep symbols of purity of body, speech and mind on the altar. This means that in addition to the icon or statuette of the Buddha, it is desirable to have excerpts from the sacred Buddhist scriptures on the altar (as an option - the “sutra of the heart” or Lamrim) and the so-called stupa - a symbol of the purity of the mind of the Buddha.

Renewal of vows

Entering the path of Tibetan Buddhism, a person joins the Mahayana, which declares for its followers not only the practice of personal liberation and enlightenment, but also the so-called path of the Bodhisattva. The latter are called who, however, give the promise that they will go to nirvana only when all other beings are freed. And their religious practice is not only for themselves, but for the benefit of all living beings. In order to begin the practice, a newly converted Buddhist in the Mahayana tradition takes the Bodhisattva vow. But through various unrighteous actions he violates them. Therefore, the Bodhisattva vow needs to be renewed periodically. However, Buddhism for beginners can be extremely difficult and its requirements confusing. For example, monks take vows consisting of several hundred clearly written rules. But for the laity, a different approach will be more productive.

Practicing Buddhism for beginners is best not in the context of a set of precepts, but in the context of proper motivation. This means that in his life a Buddhist should strive to bring maximum benefit to as many beings as possible. In this light, any action, word or thought that is directed to the detriment of someone will be a violation of the vow. It is also a violation of the vow to deliberately exclude someone (an animal, an enemy, or just an unpleasant person, etc.) from the field of compassion. When a vow is broken, it must be taken again. However, this vow is regularly renewed. For example, in the practice of prostrations, which includes Buddhism. For beginners, this can be at least 1 prostration or 3, 7, 21, 108. By the way, in some schools, a full practice includes 108,000 prostrations.

Initial practices

The initial practices in Buddhism are called ngondro. In all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, they are approximately the same. They consist of four parts (although there are different classifications). These include 100,000 prostrations with taking refuge, recitation of the 100-syllable Vajrasattva mantra 100,000 times, 100,000 mandala offerings, and 100,000 repetitions of guru yoga. This order, in principle, can be changed, but it is better to follow just such a scheme. In addition, it should be added that this practice can also be performed by those who have not received the transmission of the vow of refuge, that is, they are not formally a Buddhist. However, according to Buddhist teachers, the benefits of ngondro in this case will be much less.

Buddhism for beginners - books

In conclusion, let's talk about what to read for those who take the first step towards Buddhism. Let's start with a book like Buddhism for Beginners. Geshe Jampa Tinley - its author, Doctor of Buddhist philosophy of the Gelug tradition, is a very respected, honored teacher of Dharma in the CIS. His book is devoted to the main, basic issues that beginners need to deal with in order to have a correct idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe chosen path. This work describes the history of the origin of the doctrine, explains its main aspects, and also gives a number of practical instructions for daily practice.

The next work is a book with the same title as the previous one - Buddhism for Beginners. Thubten Chodron, who wrote it, is a Buddhist nun from America who spent many years studying the Buddhist path in Nepal and India under the guidance of the Dalai Lama and other high teachers. Today, in the Western world, she is one of the most respected experts in her field. In the book “Buddhism for Beginners” by Thubten Chodron, in the form of questions and answers, answers are given to the most popular questions regarding the essence of the teaching, its application in various fields of human activity and, in fact, everyday religious practice. In other words, it is a kind of catechism of Tibetan Buddhism.

Other books

In addition to these two books, the question "where to start studying Buddhism?" we recommend such works as “Buddhist practice. The Path to a Life Full of Meaning" by the 14th Dalai Lama and "8 Debut Mistakes" by the already mentioned Geshe Tinley.

Let me say a few more words before I close on the practice of this mindfulness or awareness. Traditionally, there are four levels of practice in Buddhism. First of all, a person learns awareness, attentiveness to the body, its position and movements. He learns while walking to be aware that he is walking, talking, to be aware of what he is saying while sitting, to be aware that they are sitting. Most people don't know exactly what they are doing most of the time. They are not conscious, so we learn to be aware of all the movements and positions of the body. This is the first. The culmination of this practice, by the way, is that we focus on the process of inhalation and exhalation, which is in some way the subtlest of the actions of the body, and this is the means that leads to concentration.

Second, we are aware of our emotional reactions. If we feel happiness, we know that we are happy, we are aware of it. If we are unhappy, we are also aware of it. If we are upset or excited, we are aware of it. If we are calm and relaxed, we are aware of it. If we feel fear, we are aware of it and all the time we go deeper and deeper and deeper into the mind, into the unconscious depths, becoming more aware of all those unconscious emotional processes that go on in all of us almost all the time. So, this is awareness at the level of emotions, emotional reactions.

Then, thirdly, awareness of thoughts. We usually do not know, do not understand this, but all the time hundreds and thousands of thoughts pass through our mind, like a giant stream, a huge Niagara of thoughts, so to speak. Sometimes when I'm giving a talk, when I'm giving a lecture, I just, you could say, look at the audience, look at those present, and you can usually see who is focused, who is following the lecture, and who is not. And almost literally, you can sometimes see thoughts pass over people's faces, like little shadows or tiny birds flying across the face, one after the other, and you know that their mind is somewhere very far away. They think about something else - about who they are going to meet tomorrow, about what they want to eat in the evening after they leave the meeting, about what they were told last week - something like this. . Some distant dreamy pictures they don't know what. This is the state of most people almost all the time. So if you suddenly ask them: “What are you thinking about?”, They will have to stop and think: “Well, what was I thinking?” – because they are not aware of their thinking, they do not know what they are thinking. This is the state of most people. Therefore, we should learn to be aware of our thoughts, to be aware of what we are thinking, not only from one period of meditation to another, but from moment to moment, moment to moment. We have to saturate the mental level with awareness. And if we do all this, if we are aware of the body and its movements, aware of the emotional level, also aware of the thoughts, then we will become more and more aware of how conditioned we are.

All our body movements are reactions. All our emotional experiences are reactions. All our thoughts, our judgments are reactions. And we will begin, so to speak, to feel: “Well, what am I? Who am I? I'm just a bunch of gears, just a system of teeth and wheels, I'm really no better, nothing but that." But out of this awareness, as I said, out of our own conditioning, our own unawareness, arises the real awareness, the real creative power.

And finally, fourthly, there is an even higher level of awareness, and in the beginning it is the awareness of our own creative existence, but, ultimately, the awareness of the Absolute, the awareness of the beyond, the awareness of Reality itself.

This is the highest form. It is this, so to speak, that cuts off all lower forms of awareness as useless, useless, so that from moment to moment, moment by moment, to realize Reality itself. There are many ways to do this. The one I want to mention is the constant repetition in the mind of what is called a mantra in Buddhism. The mantra is not just meant to focus the mind. Its meaning goes far beyond that. This, one might say, is a kind of archetypal sound symbol. But it also has an effect - if one repeats it not mechanically, of course - if one repeats a mantra, establishing contact with it, constantly aware of higher spiritual realities or one's own true nature, so to speak, which it reflects, symbolizes , moreover, embodies. That is why in some Buddhist traditions, including the Pure Land tradition about which we heard such a wonderful story this morning, this practice of repetition is given so much attention. Because it constantly establishes contact, maintains awareness in relation to Reality. Even if you say “Namo amida butsu”, salutation to the Buddha of Infinite Light, if you repeat it all the time, then in the depths of your mind, no matter how dim it is, no matter how distant, no matter how hazy, there is some awareness of the Buddha of Infinite Light. There is a kind of awareness that shines somewhere in the universe, shining somewhere, you hardly know where, there is this infinite light that we reflect through the Buddha symbol, which radiates light in all directions, on all beings and all things, who illuminates everything, who, so to speak, pours out his mercy, his grace, on everything. If you, as I said, repeat this greeting, somewhere in the back of the mind in some corner there will always be this faint awareness of the Ultimate Reality.

That is why there is so much emphasis on this practice in so many different forms, in so many different schools of Buddhism. It is simply a means of keeping our contact, awareness of the absolute all the time. So if we can practice mindfulness, if we can practice mindfulness in this way on all these four levels, at least to some extent, that will be the beginning of our higher, spiritual, creative, truly living life for us. In Buddhism, as I said, there are many exercises to help us develop awareness, mindfulness, but we need to be very careful and observant so that they do not become mechanical. Those of you who practice, for example, mindful breathing by counting breaths, know that even this can become mechanical. You can keep doing it - some people are pretty good at it - keep going while still allowing your mind to wander and drift and be in the clouds. Some people are so smart that they can do all the exercises perfectly, perfectly, count from one to ten, from ten to one, over and over again, for hours, and at the same time be constantly in thought. This means that everything has become mechanical. Therefore, we need to be very careful that our very practice of mindfulness, which is the catalyst for the destruction of mechanicalness, does not, so to speak, become mechanical. And that implies a much broader, much more comprehensive approach to all of our religious beliefs and all of our religious practices, which, as I said, all too often becomes just part of our general mechanicalness. If I hear someone say, “Oh yes, of course I'm going to the Saturday seminar. I always go,” I would probably say, “Please don’t come.” It becomes a habit, and from a spiritual point of view, any habit is a bad habit. Even in the East there are teachers of spirituality who have a habit - but of course I shouldn't talk about a habit, but sometimes they do - of destroying the religious habits of their students. If a student, for example, is used to meditating from six to eight, the teacher makes him meditate here and now, for example, from ten to twelve. Or if he has a habit of reading religious books at a certain time, the teacher forbids him. If the student is used to getting up early every day, he makes him get up late. If the student has a habit of staying up late, the teacher makes him go to bed early, and so on. If a student is used to meditating during the day, the teacher makes him meditate all night! And so he destroys his pattern, his repetitive pattern, which becomes, so to speak, mechanical, and you can see it in so many things, in so many areas. If you look at the religious world, you can see religious groups, religious organizations that have become just machines. They function perfectly, elegantly, smoothly, but just like machines. Not like living movements. They don't flow, they don't blossom, they don't develop. They have no creativity. The same foundations over and over again, the same old pattern of operation.

So we need to be very careful with this. We need to watch. And of course, first of all, we need to observe ourselves, and although we ourselves - and when I say "ourselves", I mean the Friends of the Western Sangha - although we hopefully are busy creating models, in some way, of activities in future, retreat weeks and meditation classes and should keep this in mind all the time, we hope it doesn't just become a routine. It does not become another model under the label of "Buddhist activity". Every moment we must carefully undermine it, as it were, weaken it, let it flow, release it. Otherwise, we'll just go under. We will become another branch of the good old firm, so to speak, you can call it an institution or whatever you like, whatever it is, sinking to the bottom of the doom, so to speak, to the level of the reactive mind and reactive consciousness. Sometimes people in the East said to me with pride: "I was born a Buddhist!" Well, how could you be born a Buddhist?

You can't be born a Buddhist. All this is the reactive mind in action. You can make yourself a Buddhist creatively, but you cannot be born a Buddhist -- that is impossible. You cannot just borrow Buddhism from outside, from your parents or group, even your class, even your teacher. You can't just take it as it is and react to it. Tips, or so to speak, incentives, inspiration come from outside, but you create it inside. I think everything was revealed to you clearly - at least I hope it is obvious - from a lecture that I gave the day before yesterday when we talked about archetypal symbolism. There is a little stimulus from outside that kindles something within, but it is an internal process, a creative process, an internal flowering that is of paramount importance.

Therefore, this is what we have to be constantly aware of, these two processes of the mind: the lower mind, the relative mind. Reactive process and creative process. The fact that we are here at all, that we can understand these words, the fact that we can even laugh at ourselves, shows that the germ of awareness is already there, as are the germs of creativity. We must remember this all the time, remember this difference.

Try to amplify, increase and inspire the creative side and let the reactive side just fade and fade, so to speak. And we can remember this also with the help, with the support of these two great symbols, that is, the Wheel of Life, to which we are attached for the most part now, symbolizing the reactive mind, and the Way, or, if you like, the circle and, on the other hand, - spirals.

We must leave this circle behind and be understood higher and higher in the rings of the spiral up to what we call Nirvana, Enlightenment or, if you like, the Pure Land, which we must enter sooner or later.

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