Thanh Tri – the 2nd Mind Dharma: SAMYAGDRSTI – PRABHA SAMADHI – Part 7: HOW TO TURN THE BRILLIANT LIGHT (PRABHA) INTO SAMADHI?( Đệ nhị Tâm pháp Thanh trí: CHÁNH KIẾN QUANG MINH TAM MUỘI Bài 7:  LÀM SAO ĐỂ QUANG MINH THÀNH TAM MUỘI?)   

In Part 6, I’ve reasoned how to turn right view into “brilliant light” (prabha). We also know what should be practiced to get the light of Buddha’s wisdom radiated out from us. The wisdom light shining from Buddhist practitioners are more brilliant than that of devas in the World of Form (Rupadhatu) for it is woven by the Buddha’s right view and powerfully blessed by the buddhas in ten directions. It is not that kind of the light shining from the bulb, the sun, the moon or the flame. The Buddha taught that wisdom light is the most brilliant light which is woven by “quantum particles” of right view which cannot be observed by microscope but in this way: “He comes into the stage where he gets respected by his light of wisdom. He turns out strong ripples of light (radiation biology) which are able to lay impacts on and get respect from other people. Once the practitioner is fully equipped with right view, he will accordingly get the light (prabha) which is capable of attracting good karma or unexpected favorable conditions though being in troubled times”. (Part 6).

Nonetheless, I’ve also classified the development of right view in Thanh Tri Yoga into part, whole part and completeness – the highest level of the practitioner which is called “samadhi”. The Pali word “samadhi” (三昧 in Chinese) implies the intense concentration of mind. In meditation, the state of one-pointedness of mind is obtained after the practitioner has gone through nine states of mind abiding, from heading the mind, continuous heading, setting the mind, perfect setting…(until one-pointedness).

However, in the practice of samyagdrsti-prabha-samadhi, we do not use visual objects (kasina) like the blue kasina, the yellow kasina, red, white, earth, water, wind, fire or space… but we take right view as our kasina on which we set our mind from part, whole part to completeness (one-pointedness). Hence, the samadhi gained from right view is the result of the combination of both samatha and vipassana. Thanks to these characteristics of right view samadhi (samyagdrsti-prabha samadhi), the practitioner needs not depend on a fixed holy space (meditation chamber, altar or main hall) to attain one-pointedness of mind, but instead he pays attention to right view behavior (body, speech and mind), get accustomed to right view (in part), be familiar with right view (in wholeness) and finally, be always in right view (completeness).

For instance:

When we get acquaintance with someone, we know brief information of them like gender, age or occupation. After getting closer, we know more about phone number, office address, house, hobbies or education. When we become a couple (or close buddy), we’ll know everything about them from personal to family or social aspects. From then on, we know, understand and in some cases, exactly assessed anything related to them.

Nonetheless, in order to make “brilliant light” (prabha) into “samadhi” when the ripples of light are woven into a gem-like mass that produces radiance at night and how the practitioner lives in right view, conducts Dharma affairs with right view and use right view as the “prajna ferry-boat” to cross the samsara’s river to the bank of enlightenment (quoted from Part 6), we should look into following aspects: This is the stage when the practitioner reaches the state of one-pointedness as his mind is inundated with “brilliant light of right view”. He always perceives “which state of his mind is”, let say he lives in right view, considers right view as his close buddy which always accompanies him. He takes right view as the lodestar for the behavior of body, speech and mind and vice versa. At this level, he has good practice of Eight dharmas of taking refuge in the Three Jewels. In Thanh Tri Yoga in particular and in Buddhism in general, eight dharma of taking refuge in the Three Jewels include following rules and practices:

 

1) Taking refuge in Buddha, we do not worship or bow down before “Devas, Asuras, Demons and Objects”.

2) Taking refuge in Dharma, we do not harm or kill the sentient beings.
3) Taking refuge in Sangha, we should not have close relations with the heathen (in spiritual aspect).
4) Take refuge in the Three Jewels every day.
5) Take refuge in the Three Jewels in the direction we want to go.  

6) Always be aware of the source of the Three Jewels’ blessings through the transmission channel of the Guru.

7) If, after having taken refuge in the Three Jewels, we meet troubles or difficulties, then let face them peacefully as a kind of purification because these accidents are not caused by us in this life but they are karmic seeds from previous lives that inevitably ripen into a fruition.

8) The Guru represents the Three Jewels. Guru devotion is the foundation of enlightenment.

“The Guru is more benevolent than the Buddha. His words are more important than the sutra” (Atisha).

If the “brilliant light of right view” (samyagdrsti-prabha) is seen as the stage of examination and practice, then the “right view samadhi” (samyagdrsti samadhi) is the application of Dharma which, as reasoned in Vajrayana, is the Application Bodhicitta on the basis of “benefitting all sentient beings”. Based on the teachings of the Buddha and aryias, the practitioner develops and applies Bodhicitta flexibly and effectively through proper epistemology and methodology on each subject or circumstance. For instance, the practitioner does not attach to vegetarian diet or meat eating provided it is convenient for the sentient beings; the practitioner does not feel inferior about his current job though it is unfortunately in contradiction with the precepts, because he thoroughly understands the right view of liberation and the principle of causality. At the level of right view samadhi, the practitioner is always sensitive to the good, bad or neutral (neither good nor bad), irrespective of any manifestation they may show. Activities like charity, almsgiving, making offerings, worship, repentance, chanting of Buddha’s name or mantra recitation seem to be Buddhist but in fact, they are not considered Buddhism for falling into 14 following failures:

1. xzIf, after having been born a human being, one gives no heed to the Holy Doctrine, one resembles a man who returns empty handed from a land rich in precious gems; and this is a grievous failure.
2. If, after having entered the door of the Holy Order, one returns to the life of a householder, one resembles a moth plunging into the flame of a lamp; and this is a grievous failure.
3. To dwell with a sage and remain in ignorance is to be like a man dying of thirst on the shore of a lake; and this is a grievous failure.
4. To have a spiritual practice that is not used to remedy four kinds of evil karma (killing living beings, stealing, sexual misconducting, and speaking of untruth) is to be like leaning an axe against a tree trunk; and this is a grievous failure.
5. To know the moral precepts and not apply them to the cure of obscuring passions is to be like a diseased man carrying a bag of medicine which he never uses; and this is a grievous failure.
6. To preach religion and not to practice is to be like a parrot saying a prayer; and this is a grievous failure.
7. The giving in alms and charity of things obtained by theft, robbery or deceit, is like trying to wash a sheepskin coat in plain water; and this is a grievous failure.
8. The offering of deities of the meat obtained by killing living beings is like offering a mother the flesh of her own child; and this is a grievous failure.
9. To exercise patience for merely selfish ends rather than for doing good to others is to be like a cat lying in wait for a mouse; and this is a grievous failure.
10. Performing meritorious actions in order merely to attain fame and praise is like bartering the mystic wish granting gem for a pellet of goat’s dung; and this is a grievous failure.
11. If, after having heard much of the Doctrine, one’s nature will be unattuned, one is like a physician with a chronic disease; and this is a grievous failure.
12. To be erudite in precepts yet ignorant of the spiritual experiences which come from applying them is to be like a rich man who has lost the key of his treasury; and this is a grievous failure.
13. To attempt to explain to others doctrines which one has not completely mastered oneself is to be like a blind man leading the blind; and this is a grievous failure.
14. To think an experience resulting from a technique is supreme is to be like a man who mistakes copper for gold; and this is a grievous failure.

Why is that? Because by the sense of discrimination on the basis of the brilliant light of right view samadhi, the practitioner is able to see the true nature of things and phenomena, thus discerns the appropriate application of Dharma in each circumstance. It’s not by chance that I listed six superior advantages of a practitioner who is fully equipped with right view in Part 6. Nonetheless, the fulfillment of the 2^ndMind Dharma of Thanh Tri: samyagdrsti-prabha-samadhi requires gradational steps, initially from the fundamental definition of right view, different perceptions of right view, benefits of right view and dis-benefits of wrong view, to higher levels like how to be equipped with comprehensive right view and how to gain brilliant light of right view… . Without these gradational steps, there’s no way of attaining samadhi, just like we must learn to walk before we can run. Besides, unlike non-Buddhist sects whose practices show a tendency to increase magics or mind-reading ability, the practice of 2^ndMind Dharma will lead to the magic of “preaching and converting sentient beings”, i.e employing right view to fight against wrong view, taking each word or sentence as a weapon to break down the stronghold of attachment of the sentient beings, bringing them out of delusion to enlightenment. More reasoning about this matter will be presented to you in Part 8.

May all sentient beings always achieve the state of awakening.

Om Mani Padme Hum

A rainy afternoon on the peak of Phu Van Mountain, January 16, 2019

Thinley – Nguyen Thanh

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Vietnames version: Đệ nhị Tâm pháp Thanh trí: CHÁNH KIẾN QUANG MINH TAM MUỘI Bài 7:  LÀM SAO ĐỂ QUANG MINH THÀNH TAM MUỘI? 

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THANH TRI – THE 2^ND MIND DHARMA: SAMYAGDRSTI – PRABHA SAMADHI

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

PART 2: WHAT IS RIGHT VIEW?

PART 3: RIGHT VIEW IN DIFFERENT ASPECTS”

PART 4: GAIN FROM RIGHT VIEW, LOSE OF WRONG VIEW

PART 5: HOW TO BE EQUIPPED WITH THE FULL RIGHT VIEW

PART 7:  HOW TO TURN THE BRILLIANT LIGHT (PRABHA) INTO SAMADHI? 

PART 8:  THINGS TO NOTICE AS YOU PRACTICE SAMYAGDRSTI – PRABHA SAMADH

PART 9:  HOW DOES THE 2NDMIND DHARMA WORK?

PART 10:  WORDS FROM A MAN WHO WISHES TO BE THE 3RD HARDLY MET PERSON