Then hold well the light, the illumination, the light. Your mind should hold that well. Why is that? So that you don’t get a very heavy thick sleep and so it is easy to get up in the early morning; so you are not controlled by thick heavy sleep and you can get up early to practice Dharma. Physically lie down like a snow lion lying down and, with the mind, hold the light, have a virtuous thought, and remember the meditation. One must rely on these three: the light, the virtuous thought, and the remembrance of the meditation. Hold onto that until you fall asleep.
Other than that, when you are about to go to sleep, you must have a very strong thought, strong courage, a strong thought that you will get up without delaying the time in the morning.
His Holiness goes to bed from eight or nine o’clock then gets up at three o’clock in the morning to practice. The attendant gets up at three o’clock to offer tea and do service. So, 3 or 4 or 5 o’clock, to not be late and to have the courage to get up and to not have a very heavy sleep. Of course, in the West completely heavy sleep is the best. Complete total sleep. Then, “Last night I had a fantastic sleep, an unbelievable time.” This is another way of looking at it!
As it is mentioned in lam‐rim, you should have that thought, that courage, to not delay the time of getting up. Then, like an animal with fear…using the example of animals like deer who, when they sleep at night, sleep very lightly in the forest or jungle. They have light sleep with their ears up, so when other animals attack it is very easy to wake up and run. Their sleep is very light with the ears up. They sleep like that, so it is easy to run when the enemy comes, with fear like that. Here, it is with the fear that you might miss the opportunity to practice Dharma, so to not be late for that. Lay down remembering that when the Buddha was passing away into the sorrowless state, showing that holy deed, he was in the position of snow lion laying down, in that position. Then, he showed the holy deed of passing into the sorrowless state. Like that, lie down. If you do that, you remember Buddha when you go to bed. The benefits, by the way, are that even when you are asleep you do not forget the Buddha, you remember the Buddha, and during sleep your mind doesn’t get separated from virtue, so you are taking the essence day and night. The third benefit is that you don’t sleep very heavily like a pig’s sleep. The fourth is that in your dreams you won’t have very heavy negative karma, you won’t dream those things.
Those dreams won’t happen, the source of nightmares, because you sleep in the Buddha position. It helps to protect. Then, even during sleep you are able to practice virtue, even during sleep. That also helps when you die. When you die, you are also able to die in this position of the snow lion lying down and to remember the Buddha. That position even helps to not get reborn in the lower realms.
This is general. Then, according to the lower tantra, you see yourself as the mandala deity. The guru and the deity are the same. In the presence of the guru, then you sleep with creativity. In non‐creativity, then you absorb into the seed syllable, the deity’s mantra. For example, [in the case of] Chenrezig, the HRIH gradually dissolves, then there is no object, and you meditate on emptiness. Then you rise up. When you sleep in non‐creativity, then the next morning remember non‐creativity and rise as the deity.
In highest yoga tantric practice, meditate on the dharmakaya and fall asleep. Then arise from that, from the dharmakaya. All the dakinis play music and persuade you to rise, and say these words that I mentioned. Absorb whatever syllable and then [meditate on the] dharmakaya.
Bedtime practices Before going to bed, what Lama Tsongkhapa did is that he would recite the Thirty‐five Buddhas’ names thirty‐five times with prostrations. The normal advice in the lam‐rim is to examine the day from the morning time. You go through every action. However many actions became virtue, then you rejoice in those; and however many actions became non‐virtue, you generate regret and purify before falling asleep. Lama Tsongkhapa did the Thirty‐five Buddhas’ prayer and recited the names thirty‐five times with prostrations. That makes one very happy that one is a monk who is completely pure and so then one can go to sleep very happily. That is mentioned by Kachen Yeshe Gyältsen in his lam‐rim teachings.
The best one, even if one cannot do a long version of self‐initiation, but then to do the middle or short, or even the long. If you have done retreat, that is, of course the best one to do before going to bed. Or do Vajrasattva with four opponent powers and then you are completely purified and so can go to sleep with a very happy mind. That is how to make life meaningful, happiest.
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