habits of conceptual mind and ego. Heartfelt devotion and compassion are the foremost facilitators for arriving in the original state.
The preliminary practices facilitate recognizing and training in the nonconceptual meditation of Dzogchen. If we feel that it is difficult to simply let be, the preliminary practices are a method to make it easier for us. They are a conduit for purification, accumulation and blessings. Ultimately, we must rely on our basic intelligence. The preliminary practices strengthen and sharpen this intelligence.
Accumulating merit or using conceptual methods is like making a candle, while the Dzogchen pointing-out instruction is like lighting the candle. You must have both—the candle and a match—to illuminate the darkness. With inadequate merit, you can perhaps recognize mind essence, but the recognition quickly disappears. You cannot concentrate; you lack the candle. Like a match in the darkness, the recognition flickers and dies. You need a stable basis to carry and nourish the flame, and accumulating merit forms that basis.
Many positive conditions must come together in order for us to practice a spiritual path. Some people really aspire to practice, but their life circumstances make it very difficult for them to do so. Others wish to spend three years in retreat, but they do not have any money. Still others have plenty of money but cannot get any teachings. Sometimes people have a very good teacher and teachings, but their situation is complicated: they are always fighting with their spouse and don’t have a moment of peace at home, or their job takes up all their time. You may need to change your circumstances, but to do so you must have merit. For that, there is no better method than the preliminary practices.
It is the kindness of the buddhas to provide us with a complete path, and the preliminary practices are part of that complete path. Often students refrain from doing them because they do not understand their purpose. Some students even think the preliminary practices are a kind of punishment! Actually, the preliminaries are not a punishment meted out to torture people—not at all. Your own laziness might say, “Oh, no, the preliminary practices are so difficult. They are probably meaningless. I don’t want to do them.” But you have to smash that lazy tendency. Indeed, the main obstacle to practice is laziness. Crush it from the very beginning, and your laziness gets scared and runs away, whimpering, “Oooh, I can’t go near this person; it’s too much for me.” Prostrations make mincemeat out of your physical laziness, just as mandala offerings chop up your attachment.
To truly progress in spiritual practice, you also have to develop the proper motivation: “I want to engage in meditation to purify my obscurations, particularly my main enemy, ego-clinging, and benefit all sentient beings.” With that type of motivation, you progress toward enlightenment, not toward simply building up a strong, healthy ego. There is a big difference here.
While you are generating this motivation, ego might kick up a fuss and try to create doubts in your mind. Just ignore it. Ego might say, “This can’t be true. How can you help all sentient beings? How can you purify yourself?” Watch out when this voice kicks in, and don’t listen! Remember that our progress is completely dependent on the purity of our motivation. Spiritual practice is dependent on mind, and that means our attitude, our motivation. And proper motivation is absolutely crucial, as it ensures that our actions lead us in the right direction.
Often people come to my retreats because they want to be free of suffering. They think, “I’m going to do Buddhist practice in order to free myself of unpleasant emotions.” This is one type of motivation, and it is fine as far as it goes. Another type of motivation is broader in scope: “I want to help all sentient beings recognize their self-existing awareness.” This is the motivation of altruistic kindness. The best of all attitudes is to be motivated in a true, unfabricated way. Very often, however, it is not possible, and we must instead begin by fabricating it with the bodhichitta resolve.
Nowadays it seems that many people feel dissatisfied with themselves and their lives, as if normal worldly aims are not enough. Somehow, ego is tired of the ordinary; it needs different fuel. If you take spiritual fuel and give it to your ego, your ego grows stronger and you can go back into worldly life with renewed vigor. But this is not the purpose of spiritual practice. Quite honestly, many people find that their normal ego is fed up with worldly society. They want to pump up their egos, but normal fuel is not good enough. They hear about a certain spiritual fuel from the mountains of Tibet, and they think, “That will pump me up! Let me get my hands on some of that! Then I’ll be better, bigger, and greater. It’ll work even when I’m walking through Times Square.” So they head off to the mountains to get an injection of Tibetan fuel to pump up their egos. That attitude might be all right insofar as it brings someone into contact with the teachings, but it does not serve the true purpose of Dharma.
Ego-clinging is very subtle. Virtually everything we do seems to be another way to feed the ego. The ego coaxes us into assuming a path that seems to be a genuine spiritual practice, but then the ego goes right ahead and usurps it! Even chanting OM MANI PADME HUNG can be appropriated by the ego. We sit down on our meditation cushion and assume the posture, but it is out of ego. We light incense and prostrate before our statues in our little retreat room, but it is still all for our ego. We need something to break free from the ego’s grip. The very effective remedy for this is the accumulation of merit and the purification of obscurations, in conjunction with devotion and compassion.
If you don’t know how to initially motivate yourself in the true way, Dharma practice may be nothing more than another way of popping your daily vitamin, a remedy guaranteed to make “me” strong and healthy. When you use spiritual practice as a dietary supplement, you apply it whenever you feel a little low on energy or a little upset. You sit down and practice to feel better. You try to balance yourself through practice, and then you return to your normal activities and forget all about it. Some people have this attitude, believe me! They tell themselves that they need spirituality in their lives—after all, it is not politically correct to be totally materialistic. So they give themselves a little dose in the morning and another in the evening. They apply the gloss of spirituality to put a shine on their normal lives. This is a distinct trend, and some so-called teachers emphasize this approach by telling their students that they will be much happier if they just sit down and meditate for a few minutes every day. In doing so, they are trying to make spiritual practice easier, more appetizing, more palatable—trying to bend the Dharma to fit people’s attitudes. But that is not true spirituality. Don’t make the mistake of confusing this type of practice for the real thing.
Even if you only practice a little bit, try to do it in a genuine way, with a true view, meditation, and conduct. Even if it is only for a short while, let it be real. Otherwise, it is better to give it up altogether, because you may wind up using the Dharma to further ensnare yourself in confusion. To pretend to be a spiritual person and wear prayer beads around your wrist is useless in itself. If it happens naturally, fine, no problem. But if your intention is to be respected by others, to create a better image because you meditate or are spiritual, you are merely being pretentious.
Nor should you apply “Dharma polish,” spiritual practice that is used to make your deluded state appear prettier and more pleasant. One can advertise the value of spiritual practice just like advertising an exercise machine: “Use it twice a day for three weeks, and your confusion is guaranteed to clear up!” It sounds nice, but it doesn’t really work.
To really embrace spiritual practice, you need to be honest with yourself and sincerely appreciate what it is you are doing. True honesty and appreciation give you confidence in life. Do not cheat yourself. If your practice is only to boost your ego, the Dharma becomes nothing more than a mask. You are simply fooling yourself, which is useless—you might as well not bother. But if your motivation is pure, you don’t fool yourself.
Who is it that knows whether you are fooling yourself? Karma does. Karma stays with you continuously, and it never closes its eyes. Even when you are alone in the bathroom, karma is watching. Be careful! No matter what you do or where you are, karma never sleeps,
