Applied life energy is the currency of the spiritual path, not intellectual accumulations.
-Lama Rangbar
The writings on the Vajrayana or Adamantine Vehicle of Buddhism often seem to indicate both lofty (colorful or exciting) and ordinary states as intrinsically the same. The vehicles within contain the methods to transform and transcend our ordinary limited individual perceptions into a deep, unperterbable reconciliation with the vastness of the universe. The vehicle's literature also often indicates that this is a completely effortless leap and can only be understood by smart people of the highest intellectual capacity.
Unfortunately, most people do not seem to understand that this conclusion or destinaiton is usually based upon a foundation of a lifetime of rigorous committment and practice. A true spiritual path must have a critical energetic component to it. Many believe that by understanding something intellectually, that this is synonomous with realization. That simply isn't true. You couldn't reach the summit of the spiritual path with a mere intellectual understanding any more than you could lose weight by thinking about push ups or pay back a loan simply by handing the bank teller some green maple tree leaves. There is a currency unique to this path and it is not lip service or imagination.
We require disciplines to "get somewhere". First of all, our mind is unruly, arrogant and stubborn. Even if we think we are pliant and receptive, we are entrenched in our perception of us as being a certain way. We have to disarm the habits and identities that we have spent so much time building and protecting. It's almost like asking a banker to let go of his money for no reason. Well, the banker sees this to be an absurd proposition. He can never think: "If I let go of all this money, I will have a much easier life". We all carry around what is called "barchad" in Tibetan. This word is often translated as obstacle, but that in no way conveys the full depth of the concept. When we cling to something, hold and grasp onto it, that itself becomes a rigidity. The same rigidity that will get you killed in a car crash while the relaxed drunk person doesn't get injured. If we are fixated on something, a concept or belief, then it is not possible for anything new or outside that system to enter until that situation dissolves or changes. So if we are not happy, we seek some change, but our minds are not really set to allow that change. We have a love hate relation with change. The cumulative energy or stance of rigidity is bartered. Barchad causes us to feel or experience obstacles to what we want. So the mind needs to be purified of this weight and this requires a basic training of relaxing, letting go and recognizing.
An interesting example of the type of arrogance I am referring to can be seen in the field of mental health. Often we hear someone is depressed. They can barely wake up in the morning and feel pressed down by the "weight of things" which just seeming to them to be unbearable. Many people feel totally helpless against this. They do not perceive themselves to be strong or rigid, quite the contrary they think of themselves as weak and dis-empowered. The notion of arrogance doesn't really seem to be functioning in such a case of low self-esteem. But often, if you look closely, the condition is often one brought on by extreme arrogance. Fear of the work involved, or fear of letting go, the arrogance is the intransigence the ego needs to prove the validity of its experience even though it is a miserable and costly state to defend. The price is one's happiness and well being.
In Buddhism, most people begin by receiving some formal sitting meditation instruction. This is one initial training ground which is very common. We have to learn how to relax the body and the breath and the mind and to let it settle down. But this is only a kind of preliminary. This is a gateway to practicing all the time throughout the day and night also. But many Buddhist systems start with physical exercises to break through the barriers. I longed for meditation teachings from my first Buddhist teacher but he always denied them to me. The rule was that I had to do one hour more of physical practice than the numbers of hours that I slept. He said to me: "I hope one day you will adopt my model that sleep is a waste of time". Years later, he pointed out that I had been meditating the entire time but due to my misunderstanding of what meditation was, could not identify it properly.
In short, one must do a host of things to get over oneself. One must live a life and somehow not deviate too far from its normal demands. We must meet challenges and work to keep our energetic systems fairly fit. We must observe and recognize the roots of our patterning and reactions and make efforts to defuse our negative emotions, giving them less power over us and also recognizing the true nature of their intrinsic composition. The root of all mind poisons is ignorance which is what happens when we fail to apprehend the unstained basic space of reality (Choying Yeshe) and shrink back from the energy of the displays. The basis of Desire is discriminating wisdom (Sortog Yeshe) that has been distorted and defiled by grasping at what we project. The basis of hatred is mirror-like wisdom (Melong Yeshe) that has been distorted and mis-apprehended and results in a fight with what we see.. Arrogant pride is what happens when we lose our wisdom of equanimity (Nyamnyid Yeashe) and instead start to make judgements about others based on if we like them or not, etc. And finally, jealousy is what happens when stupidity, pride and grasping all mix and cause an un-level playing ground which would normally been the wisdom of spontaneous accomplishment (Lhundrup Yeshe). To purify these emotional obscurations we need to first take the time to recognize their source and function. Generating compassion for ourselves and others is the key to this process. There is nothing like a life completely dedicated to the service of others to lighten the loads of accumulated karma, clear the skies of obstruction and pave the way for a much easier time.
This was written by a someone named Man, Son of Peace, hallucinating that some benefit might result for someone somewhere.