Taught Meditation Is Fabricated Meditation
The meditation we do based on the explanations or teachings we've received is contrived. It is a generic fabrication of meditation rather than a meditation gained through personal experience.
Real meditation is not taught; it is found within oneself through the questions and probing of the lama.
You may feel that you would like to enter into this meditation Q&A process with a lama. But through this, most people will lose faith in the dharma. They will think, 'I thought I was about to receive the most profound Mahamudra or Dzogchen instructions, but all the lama did was ask me the same silly questions again and again. I don't know why he was being so unnecessarily awkward. I waited ages for the most profound teachings, but now I know they are nothing special.'
Those who are slightly better and have more faith will reach a state of desperation and become saddened at their lack of merit to understand. It takes tremendous faith in the lama to be able to persist in this process. It is like being told to go into a room, feel around in the empty space, and bring back a stone. How many times can you handle being told that you must go back into that room and bring back a stone from the empty space before you give up the search?
We don't call this process 'Q&A'; it is called the 'study of mind' or 'mind instructions'.
Only those with firm faith and a stable foundation of renunciation and weariness with cyclic existence will persist and come to understand. It takes a special type of individual. They need a very accommodating and broad mind. Someone narrow or tight-minded will not be able to accommodate this type of instruction. Somebody who is even a little mentally unstable will likely be tipped over the edge.
A related but slightly sensitive point is that those with mental health problems can't progress in the dharma while still unwell. If somebody comes to the dharma with mental health issues, they can most definitely be helped by Buddhist teachings and practices. But their path is that they first have to regain a sound and healthy state of mind, as is normal in the mundane sense. Only then can they make any headway with the dharma in a formal sense.
This is because our state of mind is the primary factor in the dharma. It's impossible we could attain the paths or the grounds while still unwell mentally.
Drupon Khen Rinpoche
04.10.2023 Hong Kong