Constance Kassor’s review for Buddhadharma:
Lamrim, or the “Stages of the Path,” is a Tibetan term that refers to a structured system of meditation rooted in the Perfection of Wisdom sutras and their commentaries. Traditionally, lamrim provides a step-by-step approach to achieving complete awakening, making it an essential set of meditations for dedicated practitioners.
Kathleen McDonald, renowned for her earlier work How to Meditate: A Practical Guide, skillfully introduces readers to lamrim practice in her new meditation manual, How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path: A Guide to the Lamrim. In many ways, this new volume might be considered a continuation of her earlier work.
This book covers everything from foundational meditations, like focusing on the breath, to more advanced practices that focus on selflessness and emptiness. The book begins with an overview of lamrim and preparatory practices, before moving onto a sequential guide to various meditation topics, suitable for practitioners at all levels. Each chapter introduces a new topic along with clear, practical instructions that build progressively from basic levels to more advanced stages.
While lamrim practices are traditionally intended for those with some experience and familiarity with Buddhist doctrine and practice, this book supports meditators at all levels. Although it is preferable to follow the guidance of a qualified teacher, this book serves as a helpful resource for those without immediate access to one. McDonald’s clear and approachable style grants readers access to a profound tradition, making this book a valuable guide for anyone interested in exploring the deep and rich teachings that lamrim has to offer.
[Please note that the text from which this excerpt derives makes use of footnotes and diacriticals; these are not represented in this excerpt.]
Excerpt:
The Nature of Mind
A brief explanation of mind, or consciousness, as it is understood in Buddhism, was given in part. Since the mind plays an important role in the lamrim—it is the very thing that meditates and becomes enlightened—it’s helpful to become more familiar with what it is and some of its characteristics, so a meditation on the nature of mind is included here.
Mind is also instrumental in our everyday life. For example, two people stuck in a traffic jam can have very different experiences depending on what’s happening in their mind. One becomes impatient, anxious, even enraged; the other remains calm and appreciates the opportunity to practice mindfulness or listen to an informative podcast. Anyone can learn how to transform difcult situations into conducive conditions for well-being and spiritual growth; it’s a question of working with our mind, and the lamrim meditations contain many practical methods for doing so.
The following meditation begins with an explanation of the clear and knowing nature of the mind and asks you to try to recognize it. Be aware that this is not easy to do—ideally you would have received instructions on the mind’s nature from an experienced teacher, and you are able to keep your mind calm and concentrated during meditation. The Dalai Lama says that he was once able to recognize the nature of his mind while doing retreat in Ladakh, but once he resumed his usual busy duties his mind returned to its original state. So do not be discouraged if you are unable to gain this experience or if your mind is uncontrollably scattered or sleepy. Just try your best and accept that more practice may be needed to progress further.
In addition to the clear and knowing nature of mind, the meditation invites you to contemplate three other characteristics of the mind: its impermanence, the possibility of transforming it, and its continuation beyond this life. Regarding the last point, it is natural to wonder where our mind comes from and what happens to it when we die. Many people believe that the mind is produced by the brain and ceases at death. However, neuroscientists admit that we lack even the tools to properly ask the question of what consciousness is, much less when it starts and ends. There are well-documented cases of near-death experiences and past life memories, especially of children, that can’t be explained by current theories of consciousness—this should make us skeptical of our current reductive theories. Dr. Rick Hanson, author of Buddha’s Brain, recommends that we have a deep humility about our current understanding of the relationship between mind and brain; our full understanding may come only after two or three centuries.18
The Buddhist explanation is that our mind existed before we were born—as part of another being, in another life—and it will continue to exist after death, taking birth in a new life. The cycle of death and rebirth—samsara—will continue until one has completed the mental transformation needed to attain liberation (nirvana) or full enlightenment.
If you find such ideas overly challenging, you can put them on the shelf for now and focus on other aspects of Buddhism that you find helpful. On the other hand, it’s worthwhile to explore them since they form the basis for many of the teachings and meditations included in the lamrim.
If you have the time, you can contemplate all the points below in one session, but feel free to divide them over several sessions, to explore them more deeply.
The Meditation
Start the session by sitting comfortably in a posture conducive for meditation. Spend a few minutes observing your breath to settle your thoughts. When your mind is calm, do the practice for lamrim meditation, in full or abbreviated form. After the mantra recitation, do the following meditation.
Turn your attention to your mind—the ever-flowing stream of mental events that includes thoughts, memories, perceptions, and emotions. Notice as many of these as you can. What exactly is the mind? Tibetan Buddhist texts define it as clear and knowing. Clear means nonphysical—it is not composed of material particles like molecules or atoms and does not have any physical properties like shape, color, size, or weight. It cannot be seen with the eyes or measured with scientific instruments. The only way to observe the mind is by using mind itself—one part of the mind being aware of the other parts.
And that brings us to the other term in the definition: knowing. The function of mind is to know, experience, or be aware of things. Mind can know things in diferent ways: conceptually, such as when we have thoughts and memories, or nonconceptually, such as when we directly perceive visual forms, sounds, smells, and so on.
Simply remain in the present for a while, observing whatever comes up in your mind without getting caught up in it. Try to avoid judiing, liking or disliking, or getting lost in stories. Just let things come and let them go. Be like a person sitting beside a river calmly watching the water flow past without interfering with it. In this way, you become more familiar with the clear and knowing nature of your mind.
If you find it difficult to be aware of the flow of mental events, you could use the note-taking method explained in the meditation on the breath. The mental notes can be as simple as “thinking,” “hearing,” or “pain,” or could be more detailed, such as “thinking about coffee,” “hearing a bird singing,” “feeling pain in my knee,” “feeling bored,” and so on. Once you have noted an experience, let it go and be aware of the next one.
This practice provides the opportunity to understand another aspect of the mind: its impermanence. Mind is not static or frozen, always the same, but is changing every moment. Mental events are like bubbles—each one arises and instantly ceases, followed immediately by the next one, which also instantly ceases, and so on, without break. As you watch the stream of thoughts, perceptions, and other mental events, see if you can notice their impermanent nature.
The impermanent nature of the mind underlies its most marvelous quality: that it can be purified, transformed, and brought to the state of enlightenment. This is possible because the defilements clouding the true nature of the mind—mainly the delusions such as ignorance, greed, and hatred, along with their seeds and imprints—are not permanent but adventitious. They can be removed.
The Buddha spoke of this possibility in discourses that are found in both the Pali and Sanskrit traditions, such as the Pabhassara Sutta in the Pali canon: “Luminous, bhikkhus, is this mind, but it is defiled by adventitious defilements. Luminous, monks, is this mind, and it is freed from adventitious defilements.”20 The term for luminous (Sanskrit: prabhasvara) was translated into Tibetan as clear light, osel, and there is much discussion in Tibetan Buddhism on the clear light nature of the mind.
The adventitious nature of defilements is good news for us: it means that no matter how many disturbing thoughts and emotions race through our mind every day, none are permanent. We can become free of them and fill our mind with only peaceful, beneficial mental states. Remain for a while in the awareness of that fact.
You might also like to contemplate the Buddhist explanation of the continuity of mind—that it existed before our present life, as part of another person, and that it will continue beyond this life, take rebirth, and become part of yet another, future person. If you notice resistance to this idea, investigate why; what are your reasons? Is it because you are not familiar with it? It was not part of your upbringing and education? You want proof of it? If so, what type of proof would convince you? Remember, the mind is nonphysical, therefore it cannot be detected or measured with current scientific instruments and technology. You can also investigate if there is solid proof for the opposite view, that mind is produced by the brain and ceases at death. These are difficult questions that you probably won’t be able to answer during your meditation session, but it’s important to explore them. As part of your conclusion to the meditation, you can resolve to continue investigating these points.
Conclusion
Review the key points of the meditation:
• The mind is clear (nonphysical) and knowing (aware).
• The mind is impermanent, changing every split-second.
• The mind can be transformed such that it becomes free of all disturbing thoughts and emotions and fully perfected in every positive quality.
• The mind is a flow of mental events, coming from past lives and continuing beyond the present life.
Appreciate the opportunity to begin exploring your mind. Resolve to continue learning and meditating to gain a deeper and broader understanding of it, for the benefit of yourself and all other beings.
Dedication
If you started the session with the practice for lamrim meditation, complete the remaining steps of that, dedicating the merit of the session to your attainment of enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
© 2024 by Kathleen McDonald (Sangye Khadro), How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path: A Guide to the Lamrim. Reprinted by arrangement with Wisdom Publications.
