Introduction To the Preliminary Practices

A Teaching by Drupon Rinpoche given on 24th March 2015, Introduction to the Preliminary Practices, Sekar Retreat Center, Nepal.

We do not see the preliminary practices to be important although they are extremely important. Without them we cannot become true Dharma-practitioners. We are fake practitioners because our thinking is directed to this life, in Dharma terms, to the eight worldly concerns. Of course we will say this is not true, but if we look at it, then we all like for example, being praised and we do not like being criticised. We value good food and clothing and we do not want to be without. We would like to be well known and have a good reputation, and if people talk badly about us we are displeased. All of the eight worldly concerns follow this pattern that is based on attachment and aversion. Where this is present there is no Dharma practice and we are following the worldly path.

It would be ideal if we could follow the inner way of the Dharma, which would mean to naturally develop true renunciation and then give rise to the mind of awakening. But this just doesn’t happen for most of us and that is why for us it depends on the preliminary practices, whether we become genuine Dharma-practitioners.

That means we first have to practice the external parts properly and purely, the physical and verbal activities, which is to keep our session times, to sit up straight, to not fall asleep, not walking around – regardless whether we practice by ourselves or in a group.

The verbal side includes keeping silence (speaking is one of the things that needs to be abandoned while in retreat) and to do the recitations as explained. Without these external aspects we won't be able get to the mental side of the practice.

Buddha first taught the Shravaka Dharma, the correct conduct of body and speech, because it is the foundation of Buddhadharma and easier to practice. The different turnings of the wheel of Dharma are not different religions, but follow the logical way that the easiest comes first. It is the same when, for example, we learn a language. We start with the alphabet, which is the easiest, and at the same time it is the foundation for all that comes afterwards. Here it is the same, only if we engage in the physical and verbal activities, we have a chance to fulfil the mental side of the practice.

Whether meditation develops, for example, depends on whether we have given rise to renunciation and gained an understanding of impermanence. In other words – it depends on the Preliminaries.

But we only practice them because we have to do it, not because we value them. We try to get it over and done, because we are waiting for what comes next – the actual practice. This is a completely wrong attitude and very harmful to us, because by practicing in this way we become jaded and as a result of that we won’t be able any more to understand/assimilate/take in the Dharma

The idea is that the (inner) attitude of the Preliminaries really enters into our being. They have to become the most important thing to us. If that doesn't happen, we are wasting our time here, because we will never become Dharma-practitioners.

If we look at it again from the perspective of meditation, we will come to the same result:

24 hours a day we experience all kinds of appearances and nothing of it is correct. That which is unmistaken is the truth of non- duality. But this won’t just appear to us without having learned how to meditate correctly. At present we understand meditation to be a kind of relaxed state of mind in which we do not see sights, hear no sounds, smell no smells, have no thoughts and nothing that comes to mind. We think, all that needs to be absent when we meditate.

This understanding can at best become a cause to be born as a long-lived god. Because they have managed to block all mental activities and that corresponds to our way to go about meditation.

The Buddha and the Siddhas all have seen things and heard sounds, but in a different way. Therefore it is our experience of what we see or hear that needs to change.

We would have to become clear about what it actually is that we experience, what we see, hear, touch etc. Then we would understand what meditation is. But we cannot gain this clarity at the moment. We need to have doubts about the truth of what we perceive. But we think, we just need to look at our own mind, although we don’t even know what that is, we are looking at. In this way we will not even become decent Dharma-practitioners, leave alone learning to understand meditation.

The preliminary practices help us because they are in the field of conceptual thinking and therefore accessible. There is something we can work with, for example the precious human birth. We can think about our life, about a human body; we can compare different life-styles or different animals etc. We even can think about hell-beings although we don’t see them. Thus we can come to understand how special it is to have this life – and how precious. On this level we can understand the Buddhadharma and by examining this and through the way we reflect upon it, the appearances will gradually come closer to our own mind and we experience them as less and less external, until we come to a state of non-confusion in which we can understand our perceptions differently.

But if, instead, we try to think about meditation, there is nothing we can hold onto. And all the talks about thoughts and emptiness or freedom from elaborations that we have heard and read so often, only leads to misunderstanding and no change is taking place in our mind or in the way we relate to phenomena.

When there is no change, our faith and trust in the dharma gradually diminishes, and the next thing that happens is that some opportunity, like a job or a task in the Dharma-centre, comes up and, we take it and our practice is left at the wayside because we are too busy doing our job. Then we practice dharma with worldly aims. I have seen that happening so often, and it is so much less likely, if we really have integrated the Preliminaries in our minds.

Genuine practice leads to abandoning worldly interests. One realizes how deceptive the external aspects are and then loses any interest in it. If that doesn’t happen one becomes jaded and the Dharma can’t be accomplished any more.

The aim of Dharma is that we are able to identify our confusion and our kleshas and then counteract them.

Then, when an understanding of non-duality starts dawning, our mind becomes so peaceful and relaxed, no way we would engage in thoughts like "my job", "my career", "what are the others doing" etc.

And again, it all depends on whether we really understand and practice the preliminaries.

Let's have a look at it in the overall context of the path, and there are the Four Dharmas of Gampopa:

In the first step it is said, "the mind has to go to the Dharma". This is what happens through the preliminaries, and it is a precondition for all that comes afterwards. If those doubts that I have explained earlier are arising in our mind and we recognise the reality we experience as false and illusive, then there is a possibility for progress. Our mind becomes workable and we develop a positive attitude. Then we are heading in the right direction.

The second step, "Dharma has to be successful as a path", is a continuation of the first step. Our habits to relate to things in a mistaken way are so strong. The first step is just not enough. In the scriptures, the second step is taught as Bodhicitta, the awakening mind. The function of Bodhicitta is that we stop fixating on external phenomena. In this step we need to come to see things as dreamlike and illusory. That is what we call the view. So practicing Bodhicitta is not about jumping up and running around to help all beings, but the Mahayana teaches skilful means as a way to stop our fixation, our clinging.

The third step is called: "confusion is dispelled". Here we start seeing things how they truly are, in their purity and emptiness. And we see that there is not anything to cling to.

The fourth step is called "confusion dawning as wisdom". Now all our mistaken perceptions have disappeared. There are still appearances and experiences, but our way to relate to them is totally different. They do not become all of a sudden weird or fancy, but we see them without any notion of duality and they appear to us as utterly pure. All we see and hear is primordial wisdom. That is the result.

But to get there we cannot get around the first step. It all depends on this first step. If we are keen on Dharma there is no other way than to be keen on the Preliminaries. It is said that those who have accomplished just a little bit of the Preliminaries are better off than those who claim to be practicing all four classes of Tantra.

So do your best and don't waste this precious opportunity.

Summarised and transcribed from the English translation by Ani Yonten