The Mind in Martial Arts & Eastern Traditions

By Anthony Court

Part 1: An Introduction

By any stretch of the imagination it would be extremely difficult to add anything new and informative to the thousands of words already written about the Internal Arts by Erle and also by many other highly accomplished instructors, such as Michael Babin. There is however, an area where much confusion and misunderstanding still exist, and this is the area of the mind. Strictly speaking we should not begin to treat the mind as if it were a totally separate function, as it normally can only operate in conjunction with our body and energy (spirit) But, we need to look closely both at the mind and consciousness, to find the connections, and to work toward total freedom from our conditioned existence.

For example, who of us at some time or other has not picked up a book on Taoism, Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, or some other form of esoteric Eastern Tradition and tried to wade our way through, only to be confronted with words like ENLIGHTENMENT, ATTACHMENT, EMPTINESS, DEPENDENT ARISING, KARMA, GROUND OF BEING, SAMSARA, DUALISM, ULTIMATE TRUTH, RELATIVE TRUTH ETC. And what have we done? Thrown the book away? Ignored the words we are unsure of Carried on reading pretending to ourselves that we understand? (And if not now later, perhaps) Or as in most cases, not looked deeply enough at what is actually being conveyed, and the main reason for this is our cultural conditioning, we simply have overlaid our conditioned mind on to all that we see and experience. And here is the root cause of all our trouble.

So what I am proposing in this series of articles is to start together to examine the most commonly occurring themes, and also to look at the different Schools and Traditions from which the 'Internal Arts' may have been influenced, or indeed have influenced others. A good example, (of which we can take a later look) is the Ancient Tibetan School of the BON. Books on this Tradition are only now beginning to be published, although at the moment they are mainly academic, some interesting facts are already coming to light. For example, the Pa Kua system is in the BON Tradition and also the Colours and Elements of the BON Astrological System are exactly the same as the Chinese (Five Element) Medical System. BON is the pre-Buddhist Tradition of Tibet, which claims a history of enlightened teachings dating back 18,000 years (before this time the Bon magicians were shamans, but of an unenlightened nature) if you raise your eyebrows at 18,000 years, remember that the Australian Aborigines claim a history (from the Dreamtime) of 44,000 years.

Also in the series we can take a close look at CHAN (Chinese) and ZEN (Japanese) and look at the integration into Martial Arts, and in Zen especially to look at the 'Koans'(most students have heard of the famous... One hand clapping koan) but what does it all mean, and what is achieved by concentrating on such an apparently inane statement? And of course at the heart of the matter we have MEDITATION, but what exactly is it? These days, everybody is teaching, writing and discussing meditation, but is it truly understood? Is there for example such a thing as a meditation technique? When we talk of the MIND, what are we talking about? Is the MIND consciousness? Where does the MIND reside? Is it out there, or only here... internally?
There are many interesting and related subjects to Chi Kung, Taiji, Pa-Kua and Hsing-I and many of the KEYS to higher-level practice and understanding are contained within these subjects. Not only that, but an intelligent inquiry opens up a whole new world which is as vast and varied as it is fascinating. Modern Physics and Ancient Mysticism are finding more and more parallels, and although the world is moving such an alarming pace, and with all our so called knowledge, we still can not answer simple questions, such as: Who we are, and what truly is our propose (if any) in the Universe?

So we must approach this most fascinating of subjects slowly, deliberately, and with a sense of complete openness, otherwise will be bringing along all our old baggage with us. The baggage, which is the conditioned mind. The baggage that contains all our cultural, educational, and environmental preconceived ideas. Such a mind is not free. We only have to look at the so-called religions of the world and to see the havoc, pain and misery that they caused all in the name of some fixed and rigid belief patterns that they have never questioned. A mind that is interested to be free must become extremely sensitive and thereby intelligent. Not a mind full of self- importance, egotistical and therefore limited, but a mind that wishes to free itself for the benefit of all life.

Some of the subjects that we will cover will be the ones that commonly occur throughout Eastern literature: Emptiness, Meditation and so forth, but to start this inquiry we have to first take a small step back. I have lost track of the number of times that I have see the following quotation with regards to Taiji... 'The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step' Should we not ask two questions here? First of all, is there really such a thing as this journey? And if there is, can we experience it without the one who wants to take this journey... in other words the SELF or should we say the CONDITIONED SELF for as long as we have this idea/concept of ourselves there can be no real inquiry. As the old ZEN story goes (I'll quote the whole story in the next article) the usefulness of the cup is in its shape, its ability to hold and contain whatever is poured in.

Part 2: The Conditioned Mind - Seeing Things As They Are - The Two Truths - Impermanence.

In any investigation, we have to begin with a clean sheet. A sheet that is not stained with preconceived ideas, and opinions. This of course is extremely difficult to accomplish. Difficult, because the very tool that we are going to use to investigate i.e. ‘the mind’ is already highly conditioned. It is conditioned by our culture, education, environment, parents and family and by everything that we have come in contact with from our birth. It will be impossible (at first) to drop our conditioning. We must begin with some sort of compromise. Firstly we must try to keep an open mind, (but not so open that our brains fall out) and we should endeavour not to demand a scientific answer for everything. Both ways are extreme and should be avoided. In other words we should learn to see things as they actually are, and not as we think they should be, or as someone else thinks they should be. The conditioned mind, dualistic mind, ego, or self, whatever you wish to call it, lives in fear, and it is rooted in fear. For the average human being fear is the main motivation for all our actions. Why is this so? It is because the condition mind sees everything in the Universe as impermanent, and it cannot accept that it too, is part of this same flow of life, death and is therefore, not immortal. Buddhism, Taoism, Bon and a few other traditions realise that ‘this’ must be the place to start, for if we cannot accept that our minds are conditioned, and therefore deluded, how can we take any steps toward liberation? There is a Zen saying that goes: ‘The great way is not difficult, except for those who pick and choose’ So what is this ‘picking and choosing’? It is a lack of recognition of our real condition, or our actual state of existence. The Tao Te Ching states this immediately. For example:

The Tao that can be talked about is not the true Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
Everything in the Universe comes out of nothing.
Nothing the nameless is the beginning;
While Heaven, the mother is the creator of all things.
Follow the nothingness of the Tao, and you can be like it, not needing anything, seeing the wonder and root of everything.
And even if you cannot grasp this nothingness, you can still see something of this Tao in everything.
These two are the same, only called different names- and both are wonderful and mysterious.
All mysteries are Tao, and Heaven is the Mother:
She is the gateway and the womb door.

In some translations it says ‘The mother is the creator of Ten Thousand Things’ this ‘Ten Thousand Things’ appears regularly in Eastern literature it means basically ‘everything’, everything that is created by the mind. So the Mind is literally the cause and creator of all of our lives, and it can create both heaven and hell.

The Buddhist Dhammapada states:

All that we are is the result of our thoughts; it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. With our thoughts we create the world. If a man speaks or acts with a harmful thought, trouble follows him as the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

So the mind can be both our worst enemy, and our greatest asset. Any one who realises that mind must be understood, and directed towards an enlightened state for the benefit of all life is called a ‘spiritual warrior’ This term ‘spiritual warrior’ is used quite often today in ‘New Age’ literature and ‘Martial Arts’ writings, but actually the concept is more ancient than we may realise, for example in the ancient Tibetan Bon Tradition (18,000 years of history) the term is ‘Yungdrung Sem-pa’, and later in the Buddhist Tradition, ‘Bodhisattva’ Maybe I should take some time to explain why I bring in the Tibetan Buddhist and Bon teachings in an article about the mind and Martial Arts. There are two reasons; for many years Tibet was isolated from the outside world where it developed the science of the mind to heights beyond our everyday comprehension, using many techniques to explore and understand the world of conciseness, meditation, psychics, colour, sound and an array of practices that lead to states of Wisdom, Compassion and Ultimate Enlightenment. Not only have we access today to these teachings in the West (because of the Chinese invasion which forced the Tibetans to flee their own country) but because at one stage in history, before Tibet was a country, there existed an area call Zhang Zhung which was spread over the Himalayas, China, and Ancient Persia which was complete with its own language and culture, and it is in this culture I believe that the ground of all Eastern metaphysics was laid. I hope to show in a forthcoming article that the seed of all the Yoga, Qigong, Martial Arts and Meditation practices have their roots firmly planted in the Zhang Zhung culture, and I have been fortunate enough to have received Tibetan teachings for many years, and today I have direct access to the pre-Buddhist Tibetan culture through my root teacher Lama Khemsar Ripoche who, currently, is the only Bon-po Lama resident in Europe. Taoist Sages on the other hand are not so easy to find outside of China, and Taoist literature is very often heavily hidden in symbolic language.

It is said that consciousness is aware of its self, and by being aware, sees itself as separate from the rest of life. This very illusion of separateness, is the root cause of all problems, as the mind then starts to create the ‘Ten Thousand Things’ it then separates, divides and names things, so that it feels permanent and in control, but it is not so. The mind creates countries, politics, language, religions, philosophies, and labels everything in the Universe, and then thinks that they are real. This is called ‘relative truth’, true only in the sense that when we call a ‘table’ a ‘table’ we can communicate with each other, but ultimately there is no such thing as a ‘table’ it is simply a label of convenience. This can be understood by analysis, such as, is the table the top, or the legs? If you take one leg off is it still a table? Is the table the sound or the word table? And so on. So how does this relate to the Martial Arts? Actually it is very important, because the mind thinks in concepts, we must understand that the conceptual mind cannot have a relationship with an object. An object can only be understood by the senses. For example, if we take Taiji as the object, then it cannot be understood by the intellect, by academic thought, by the conceptual mind, in other words you cannot learn Taiji by thinking, only by practicing. Today we see Science and Business destroying our planet simply because the intellect is valued more than the senses. A child can sense what is wrong and what is right with our world, but the agendas of politics, religion, science, business, and idealism, have no sense of how things really are, they think that they know. So in the Martial Arts our practice should be effortless, without thought, spontaneous, so that we avoid even thinking of ourselves as Martial Artists. A Martial Artist with a mind that is conditioned (ego) has no ability to ever reach a high level of accomplishment, because of the very limit that he places on his or her understanding.

Author Steven Harrison in his book ‘Doing Nothing’ about the spiritual search has a wonderful story of how our minds become conditioned by our culture, and how some cultures can see things as they are. He tells of a scenario where two people live in New York. The first person works lumber futures, earns a six figure salary, and is highly respected in the community. The other man walks down the street while talking to the Gods. He is considered by the community to be mad, and should be locked away. Now lets take this scenario to the South American rain forest. The man who sells lumber futures would be considered crazy, and the other man would now be the Shaman, to whom the people would bring their troubles.

So we can see here how our outlook and attitude can become conditioned. With Martial Arts training how ever it is possible to condition the mind even further. I’m sure we all know the importance so people put to grades, badges, uniforms and titles; unfortunately this only adds to our confused state. Retaining the beginners mind is so essential.

Yet another Zen story illustrates this - A Buddhist scholar had an interview with an old Zen Master. The scholar was determined to impress the Master with his knowledge of the sutras and teachings of Zen. They met, exchanged greetings, and sat down around a low table. Immediately the scholar started talking, expounding his views, and opinions. On, and on, he went proudly displaying the knowledge his academic training had given him. After a while the old Zen master (by now rather tired) stopped him and asked. ‘Would you like some tea?’ To which the scholar replied that he would. So the old master started pouring the tea into the scholar’s cup, but when it was full, instead of stopping, he carried on, until the tea ran all over the table and into the scholar’s lap. ‘Stop!’ cried the scholar ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Well’ said the old man of Zen, ‘you see, just like this cup your mind is so full of it’s own self importance, that, to understand anything at all, you must first empty your cup’

When the mind wishes to feel important it invents things. Competitions are a good example. Why do we need to be competitive, if not for ‘ego?’ Look again at ancient Tibet. Where is the Tibetan Olympic team? And despite all the suffering at the hands of the Chinese, where are the Tibetan terrorist groups? As the Dali Lama said, ‘Violence only brings more and more problems’. People who panned for gold in Tibet were thought to be crazy, when the real gold is in our natural enlightened state. There is a very famous saying in the Dzogchen tradition. It says, ‘Do not be distracted’ but our lives are nothing but distraction, we are surrounded by distraction, and we are addicted by distraction. No wonder that the mind finds silence, emptiness and space threatening. And herein lies the answer to our neurotic monkey mind, we need to create some space in our lives, through our internal arts, meditation, yoga or formal spiritual practice, such as Ngondro, or Tantra (but not the New Age kind, which has nothing to do with Tantric practice at all) seeing in nature a reflection of ourselves, and not some thing to be conquered. Mount Everest is a sacred place for the people of that region, not a rubbish dump for Western climbers. The conditioned mind sees nothing as sacred, the environment, the animals, the landscape, because it is fractured and not whole. The late Zen Abbot D.T.Suzuki addressed a gathering of many faiths from around the world, in Switzerland some years ago. He began with these words:

‘Man against God
God against Man
Man against Nature
Nature against Man
God against Nature
Nature against God
Very funny religion!’

So there are Religions that condition, and methods that points toward liberation. Eastern thought often differentiates between ‘Mind’ and ‘Nature of Mind’. The nature of our mind is said to be like the sun, which is always shining, but it is obscured by our disruptive thoughts, which are like the clouds, that hide our true nature. Many ancient cultures associate the mind with the heart centre. Value is put more on intuitive feelings, and ‘knowing’ through the senses, rather than conceptual and academic knowledge. They understand the need for harmony with the environment, and accept the way things naturally are. Only the conditioned mind wants security and permanence, it cannot accept that it is not only deluded, but also not even real. This of course is difficult to comprehend. Once we see that the mind is not what we think it is, and that there can be no such thing as security, or a permanent self, only then can we can begin to relax into our natural state, which releases an amazing amount of energy.

Even today science has no working model for consciousness, we seek answers on one level of perceived solid space, and call it reality. We think reality is, what we are told it is. And live out our lives in confusion and distraction. Or we may seek answers in the spiritual quest. There are many practices, techniques, that can keep us amused for years, and this is not to say that they have no value, but at the end of the day the ‘Self’ the ‘Me’ is still there. And so are all the same old problems. What is important is to have the right ‘View’ an understanding that while there is a ‘Me’ there will be confusion. Ultimately there is no ‘Way’ there is only ‘Seeing’. When the mind sees that there is no way out, it becomes very quiet. And in this stillness we may just find answers.

The Wife of Colonel Lesley Weir, had an audience with the 13th Dali Lama in the days when Britain and Tibet had diplomatic relations. News of Amy Johnson’s epic flight from England to Australia had just reached the capital Lhasa. She conveyed the news to His Holiness, about the single-handed flight over shark infested waters etc. The Great Lama chuckled and said ‘Yes, yes, very good, very good’. (Having no idea or conception about the outside world whatsoever) then he looked her in the eye and said ‘but why was she in such a hurry?’

Part 3: Emptiness

The late Joseph Campbell tells a wonderful story about the time he was in Japan for a conference on Religion. He overheard a conversation between one of his fellow delegates, a social philosopher from New York, and a Shinto Priest. The philosopher said to the priest ‘I have seen a good many of your practices and ceremonies now, but I just don’t get your Ideology, or your Theology’. The Shinto Priest shook his head slowly ‘Ideology! I don’t think we have that’ he replied ‘And theology! No, I don’t think we have that either’ then added quietly ‘We just dance’

The question was a product of the conditioned mind; the answer came from a realisation of emptiness. It is hard to pick up any book about Eastern Traditions without very soon seeing the word ‘Emptiness’. Is this something we just skip over, writing it off as just something ‘Oriental’? Or is it, because of it’s repeated use, is it worth investigating, to see if it has any meaning for us, and our Martial Arts Practice?

Words are not the thing. Paradoxically, we cannot really discuss ‘Emptiness’, simply because it is beyond words. However, because an understanding is so important in many ways, we will have to use language, which really is quite inadequate for our investigation, but which may trigger the reader to his or her own realisation. At this point it maybe as well to say what we mean by ‘Realisation’ What for example is the difference between ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Realisation’? Well, let me say that when I started training in Martial Arts many years ago, I was always told that the ‘Stances’ were very important. Fine, we hear this day in and day out, and in the beginning our balance, timing and coordination probably leaves a lot to be desired. However, knowledge alone is not enough, practice alone is not enough, but it is where we have to start. Eventually armed with this knowledge and with constant practice, realisation will be born.

I remember many years ago, after I had been training for possibly some 10 to 12 years (It’s now 23) I suddenly have this absolute and complete understanding regarding footwork, and stances, dawn on me. I was teaching a self defence class at a local college, and in the class along with mainly raw beginners were many Judo, Karate and Tae Kwon-Do people, of course I was trying to teach internal methods. I say trying, because although I had this group of Martial Artists present, not one of then could move with any fluidity or power, in fact the raw beginners had more idea. Now all those from a martial background had been taught footwork etc, but none of them had built it into their subconscious mind/being, therefore they had to think about moving, resulting in mechanical, and uneconomical effort. So for me, the importance of stance now became a different kind of knowledge, something I would never need to learn again, because whatever I did from now on I would never consciously need to worry about moving correctly. Even learning new forms, the footwork falls into place in a faster and more natural way. And as we know, when our body/mind/energy and spirit moves as one unit, then our practice becomes powerful, but there is no way that it can happen by training the mind and body etc; in a way that is not totally integrated. So after many years of training, this wholeness will just be there. And you won’t even notice, until one day when you realise that one of many steps has been reach.

As we have said, knowledge is out there (external), realisation is knowledge internalised, instantly! So lets look at Emptiness, what on earth does it mean? How can we begin to investigate something that is described in the books as having no inherent existence? Lets start slowly, the conditioned mind is necessary, otherwise we couldn’t function, we need to use our mind to run the business, make a living, look after our families and ourselves etc. But the conditioned mind is old, in fact thousands of years old. Full of ideas, ambitions, loves, hates, prejudices and self-importance. It is also full of fear. So how can a mind that is so exhausted with propping up it’s own self- image in the world, be open, spontaneous, and whole? Well if the conditioned, sometimes called grasping mind (a good description appears in the Bon Mother Tantra as ‘Active manifestation mind’) is thought of as the prison, then the realisation of this emptiness (empty nature) may well be the key to our liberation.

Emptiness (Wu Chi in Chinese, Shunyata in Sanskrit, sTongpanyid in Tibetan) is the natural state of all things, according to Buddhism, Taoism, Bon and many others of the enlightenment schools. For example, the essence of famous Heart Sutra of Buddhism says, ‘form is emptiness, emptiness is form’. So, what does that mean you may well ask? Well leaving aside for the moment modern Physics, with its inability to find anything ‘solid’ in the Universe, we must try to understand it, simply by observation. As it is said that nothing exists from it’s own side, in other words everything that arises is interdependent, that is, everything is dependant on causes, and therefore must be empty of any inherent existence. Also emptiness does not exist, as an object in it’s own right. For a moment, just consider this, go into the garden and look at a flower, then ask yourself ‘Where was this flower one hundred years ago? Now ask yourself where will this flower be in one hundreds years from now? It has arisen from emptiness and returned to emptiness or as the Tao Te Ching states returns to the ‘one’ You may say for example, that the flower appeared because of the natural cycle of nature, flowers growing, flowering, dying and seeding. O.k. good point, that is called dependant arising, now go back, millions of years to when the Earth was a molten rock. Now, where is that flower? How did it originate? Because its here, now, right under your nose! Or as the say in Zen ‘Show me your original face before you were born, now speak’! O.K! So, if you haven’t given up by now, and gone down the pub. Lets just look at why on earth we should bother with what to many people will appear to be so much crazy Eastern mumbo-jumbo? What relationship has emptiness to Martial Arts? In our Internals Arts training, at some time, or other, certain questions will arise, certain states of consciousness will be encountered, and certain truths and realisations will come. We need to resolve these issues, and move on. So it is here that we should start to look at those warriors and sages of the past, and to see how even after many years of training they still progressed and developed.

For example the Bodhidharma, who took Buddhism to China and founded the Shaolin Temple, thought very little of studying philosophical texts, or worshipping images of the Buddha. His way was through deep meditation directly to the heart of the Buddha-nature that abides in each human being. He was absolutely fearless, and chastised the Emperor Wu in the following way: The Emperor told the Bodhidharma that he had built many temples, and had many of the scriptures translated. ‘And because I have introduced many of my people to Buddhism, what is my merit?’
The Bodhidharma replied sharply, ‘None at all’
The Emperor continued,’Tell me then, what is the essence of Buddhism?’
‘ Vast Emptiness’ said the Bodhidharma
The Emperor retorted, ‘If all is vast emptiness. Then who are you?’
‘ I don’t know,’said the Bodhidharma as he turned on his heels and left.
The old sage was fearless because of his view of emptiness.

In a Martial conflict, what would be your greatest obstruction, your greatest barrier, even after years of training? You may well find it is the very thing that’s been lurking in both your conscious mind, and also in the (so called) sub conscious mind. Unless you have really worked on yourself, you will find fear is there, waiting for you. In a conflict, in an instant, you will freeze, stiffen, slow down and start to doubt your own ability.

Here we should ask why? Well, we will be looking at the conflict from a solid centre, the ego, and the self. We see this self as a separate entity, separate from all that now surrounds us. And in that separation from all that is, we become vulnerable. Whereas, if we see the confusion that we have created by this idea of me, of I, of a separate self, then even in a difficult situation we can remain calm. Why is this? Because there is no you, and therefore no enemy. Only appropriate action, unimpeded, spontaneous, and instant.

Ask your self why the Samurai, (who, at the end of the day were no more than hired, professional killers), should adopt the Zen Buddhist techniques of meditation, which, are designed help people to reach an enlighten states of wisdom and compassion, the very opposite the Samurai’s goal. They knew that should they be able to achieve a state of emptiness in battle, they would become invincible. We have also to treat emptiness as an obtainable goal/state, and not just as some exotic theory. Reaching an understanding will bring about a totally new feeling of relaxation and mental well-being, which in turn, will release a great deal of energy. This new feeling of wholeness will reflect in your practice, which will cease to be something to be achieved, a goal to be reach, but instead you will find that you will practice for it’s own sake.

The Base or Ground of all being:
Lets go back to that flower, how did it arise, and where did it come from? First lets look at the three levels of existence as described by the Taoist and Buddhist systems, firstly we have Jing, Chi, and Shen and in the Buddhist, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya or Body, Speech and Mind. Very simply these words relate to the Space, in which things manifest. The Energy by which they manifest, and the solid Manifestations themselves. So the empty space, in which the flower can manifest, is referred to as the Ground or Source in which all the impermanent (things) of the Universe arise. According to Eastern thought this ground, although ‘Empty’ has the quality of ‘Clarity’ and ‘Luminosity’. Also called ‘Clear’ and ‘Light’. In Tibetan Bon and Buddhism this is called Kunzhi, the Mother of all existence. In Chinese ‘The Tao’ The essence of Kunzhi is emptiness. It is unlimited, absolute space; within it exist no concepts, no entities, no inherent existence of any kind, and it has no boundaries.

This empty space seems external to us, the empty space that objects inhabit, and the empty space of the mind. Even hard to comprehend is that this ground or Kunzhi has neither inside or outside, cannot be said to exist or not exist (because it is empty) for it is reality itself. It is said to be limitless, nor can it be destroyed, because it has never been born. Language used to describe it is necessarily paradoxical, since this ground is beyond dualism and concept. Therefore, it is unconditioned and cannot be known by the conditioned (mind). The clarity or light aspect of the ground is pure awareness, so we have the inseparable unity of emptiness and clarity.

Now I will quote from the book call ‘The Tibetan Yoga’s of Dream and Sleep’ by Tenzin Wangal Rinpoche, because this is such a brilliant explanation of a vital, but very difficult subject.

When the sun goes down in the evening, we say that darkness falls. This is darkness from the perceiver’s point of view. Space is always clear and pervasive, it does not change when the sun rises or sets; there is not dark space and light space. It is only dark or light for us the perceiver. The darkness takes place in space but does not affect the space. When the lamp of awareness is lit, the space of the ground, the base, is illuminated for us, but it was never dark. The darkness was the result of obscurations; our awareness was entangled in the darkness of the ignorant mind.

Mind and Matter:
The essence of both mind and matter is the base, so why does matter lack awareness? Why can sentient beings become enlightened and matter cannot? In Dzgochen(Tibet’s system of Metaphysics and Yoga, similar in many ways to Taoism, for example, the Yoga of Dzgochen resembles Qigong) we explain this with a crystal and a lump of coal, where the crystal represents mind and coal represents matter.

When the sun shines, the coal, even though drenched in light, cannot radiate that light. It lacks the capacity, just as matter lacks the reflective capacity of innate awareness. But when the sunlight reaches the crystal, it reflects the light because it has the
Innate capacity to do so; that is its nature. This capacity manifests as displays of multi-hued light. Similarly, sentient beings have the capacity of innate awareness. The mind of a sentient being reflects the light of primordial awareness and its potential is displayed in either the projections of the mind, or in the pure light of primordial awareness.

It is interesting to note the names of the last four Wudang Forms: Form number nine is called Wu-Qi (emptiness), form ten is called The Still form (only through stillness can emptiness be realised) form eleven The Prenatal Form (Prenatal is the inseparability of Emptiness and clarity) and finally The Finishing Form. Dzgochen is often called The Great Completion. Without doubt this has been the most difficult of all subjects to try and write about, I just hope it has not added too much to the confusion. So I’ll leave you on a lighter note:

A seeker after truth trekked for many years through the jungles and mountains to try find a highly realised Yogi, so that he could seek his advice on life. On this journey he encounter many dangers, and hardships, almost lost his life several times. At last, he found the great yogi in a cave at the top of an almost inaccessible mountain. Weary and exhausted, he collapsed onto his hands and knees asking, ‘What is the meaning of life great yogi’? Without looking up the Yogi replied ‘Life my son is just a bowl of cherries’ With exploding anger, the seeker jumped to his feet, and screamed ‘What!’ as he kicked and punched the cave wall in his temper’ What did you say?’ Staring fiercely at the yogi he continued, ‘Do you mean to tell me after coming all this way, all these hardships, and almost losing my life’ then gathering his breath, he shouted ‘All you can tell me is that life is just a bowl of cherries?’ The old yogi look up, raised his eyebrows, and said, ‘Do you mean it isn’t?’

Recommended Reading:
The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangal Rinpoche.
The Bliss of Inner Fire by Lama Thubten Yeshe
Doing Nothing by Steven Harrison
Blackfoot Physics By F.David Peat
The Awakening of Intelligence by J Krishnamurti
Journey into Vastness by Ngakpa Chogyam
Imagine all the People by The Dalai Lama
Carefree Dignity by Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Wholeness Lost and Wholeness Regained by Herbert V. Guenther
Lord of the Dance by Chagud Tulku
Natural Great Perfection by Nyoshul Khenpo
Magic Dance by Thinley Norbu
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Part 4: Space

We start with two quotations from two masters of the Dzogchen tradition of Tibet:

Resting the watcher in awareness, there is vivid emptiness.
Free from colour, free from material substance.
Not forming the thought “It is empty!”
That is the moment of seeing the nature of mind.

Chokyur Lingpa

Don’t analyse! Don’t analyse!
Don’t analyse your mind!
Don’t grasp! Don’t grasp!
Don’t grasp your mind!
Don’t correct! Don’t correct!
Trying to correct or modify just makes the mind contrived.
The fabricating mind obscures your essential nature.

Longchen Rabjam

The key words here are, “nature of mind” and “essential mind”. The nature of mind is already liberated, free, empty of the ten thousand things (to use the Tao-ist term) If we can have some realization of this, then it is possible that “all things” will fall into place, including the difficult subjects of Birth, Death and Rebirth (which we will cover soon) However, all ideas (creations of the conditioned mind) must be put to one side, or we cannot look at the subject with new open and clear energy. The old mind wants to hold on to the familiar, the known, and the “comfortable”, the religions, the ideas, the theories; it does not want to step off then edge of the cliff. At sometime in our lives, we may see the short comings of all systems, philosophies, religions and ideas, then if the time is right we may just “give up” shake our heads and say “Do you want to know something? I know absolutely nothing” I have to say, believe it or not, this is a great place to get to. I mean genuinely get to. Why? Because once all the structures have been removed, and you don’t have yet another “Spiritual” path to follow; you are back at the original place that you started from, your original mind, which, from the very beginning has always been free. So, you may ask, What’s the difference”? The difference is now you recognize your original mind. You see the blank canvas (metaphorically speaking). This base consciousness (Kunzhi in Tibetan) is said to be empty of all inherent existence, and also it is said to be aware of it’s own nature. Often described by teachers of Dzogchen, as a candle that not only illuminates its surroundings, but also illuminates itself. I know this is a difficult subject, but without a grasp of it, nothing, such as the possibility of continued existence (rebirth/reincarnation) will make sense. We will cover birth, death and rebirth in the next issue, but to trying to understand this cyclic process without recognizing that there may be something beyond the conditioned mind would be a waste of time. However, if we see that all condition things arise and fall in a base consciousness, that is beyond space, time, birth and death, then the possibility that nature of our minds, (which is said to be inseparable from the base consciousness) may also be beyond birth, death and all condition existence. And that death, rather being something to be avoided, becomes the very thing to add total meaning to our lives.

Teachers are guides, (all good teachers explain this) even the Buddha said “This is the way that I found enlightenment, but do not believe a word I say. You must know that, you yourselves must make the effort”. So the next thing to look at is making space for ourselves, and becoming spacious. Becoming spacious is to take the attitude of a warrior, in as much as, no matter what is put in our path, we will deal with it. Buddhism points out that our unenlightened attitude to things is either to grasp, or reject. In other words we try to move away from unpleasant things (that which we want to avoid) or we move towards the pleasant things (that which we want to posses), so can we reach a place of non-movement? That is, can we look at things without judgement? There are various approaches, for example to avoid the world we may join a monastery and become a monk, or give our lives over to some Guru, or Religion where we don’t have to take any real responsibility. Or, we can try to change things by the use of Tantric methods, such as anger into clarity etc. Indeed, the Tantric system has a very rich and vast field of techniques, which can be have been developed to this end. Then there are ways such as Dzgochen where the thoughts that arise are allowed to self liberate. Whatever approach we take, should be suited to our mental make-up, and understanding. As the ultimate goal is total liberation of the mind, we cannot become slaves to any systems or ways, and that is scary. The Lamas’ say, “What you must realize is that all the Deities, Gods, Demons, Visualizations, Meditations, spring from the mind, and return to the mind”. The vast open, empty, luminous, mind whose centre is every-where, and boundaries no-where.

So how do we know if we are on the right track? Well, I have heard many of the Tibetan teachers say that we all have “innate wisdom”, that is “common sense” to you and me. But, have you noticed that when it comes to spiritual paths or martial systems people are quite happy to totally believe the most outrageous claims? Our common sense, or innate wisdom flies quickly out of the window. Why is this? Well as the late Joseph Campbell said (with regards to religious studies) all the stories of all the great traditions of the world, are true only in as much as they are metaphors and point the way to a greater mystery. He went on to say we should not mistake the metaphor for the message. “The people that believe the metaphors to be true” he said, “we call theologians, and the people that realise these stories are just symbolic, we call atheists.” We should not mistake the finger pointing at the moon, for the moon itself.

In martial arts, and especially the “new age movement” people are ready to believe almost anything. In fact it also brings a further problem, that, because of the nonsense talked about these subjects, we can also become too dismissive, and then we tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater. So we definitely need space, space to practice, space to study, and space for meditation. Watching less television might be a good place to start, and instead spend more time with nature. I met a Native American teacher once who told me that he thought many white people gave away their power, by talking too much. Lamas often stop talking in the middle of a teaching, and just remain quiet. I also know of many martial arts practitioners, who constantly run from instructor to instructor, and system to system, and never seem satisfied with what they are offered. The same with books and videos, its always the next book or video that will reveal the “secret of all secrets” or the “answer to everything”. It is simply not like that, today among Westerners there are a large number of seekers running around getting “high empowerment" from Tibetan Lamas, but once they receive these “empowerments” and realise the amount of effort and study required, the superficial attraction of these exotic practices soon wears off. It is the same with Taiji, and all the“ Internal Arts” We need space for practice, and we need the space that comes from practice. I know many “students” say they have no time, but often this is simply the conditioned mind not wanting to move. A friend of mine in the W.T.B.A. recently told me that he wanted to learn meditation, and had signed up for a particular course, which I knew well. I told him it was a good idea, but said nothing about the course to him, as I knew it to be an exceptionally tough one. To be honest I wasn’t sure that he would get through, as many don’t. He rang me a few weeks later, saying that he had completed the course and that it was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Over ten days, participants would rise at 4 a.m., not be allowed to speak, or make eye contact with anyone. Have the only meal of the day at 11 a.m. meditate all day (under instruction) and be in bed by 9 p.m. each night. A tough routine by anyone’s standard. But the whole point was, he made it, and had a breakthrough in consciousness at the end of the retreat. Now after such an initial effort it is much easier to get up, practice early, or tackle any thing that comes. He had made space for himself, and developed that mental toughness and discipline required by true martial artist. Relying on a teacher all the time is neither good for the practitioner, or the teacher.

Being spacious also means to watch our reaction to the world about us. Are we for instance, critical of others? Are we judgemental? Do we have to make a comment on everything? Because if we do, then all these mental efforts, which spring from a feeling of self-importance, become a disturbance (however subtle) to our natural state of mind. If we learn to accept whatever comes our way, then our confidence grows, as we find that we can detach from situations that before would have us running around like the proverbial headless chicken. Of course its one thing to talk of freedom, and liberation, yet another thing to understand what freedom is. Tsoknyi Rinpoche in his book Carefree Dignity says “There is no state of mind that can not be, released, liberated” He goes on to say, “The mind is not a computer that someone else has programmed. It is just that when habitual tendencies arise, you feel as if you have no control” Continuing he states, “Honestly, when difficulties arise, you are not totally out of control. At this time we should consider our practice (spiritual). One way to deal with this is to realize that there is just one stream of mind, just one stream of consciousness. It’s not like one consciousness or part of your mind is trying to control another part, which is so uncontrollable that the first has to give up. Really, there’s just one stream of mind, and if that one stream of mind decides to practice- meaning relax and release the grip- then there is no other mind that can be out of
control. The problem stops right there.”

Try this simple experiment (both used in Taoist and Buddhist practice) find somewhere quiet, take up a meditation posture and try a method called “self forgetting”. Focus on something simple, a stone, or a candle, but not a picture of a deity (too many connotations may be associated with gurus or saints) and purposefully forget who you are. It is not difficult! Once you have achieved this state, see how long you can sustain it before the neurotic mind wants to kick back in. By isolating the conditioned mind into a state, or place, where no attention is given to it, you will very quickly realize, how habitual, paranoid, and powerful the mind of attachment is. This conditioned, continually thinking, insecure, and fearful mind does not exist. It created it’s self, through the arising of the condition world. Through our culture, our language, our parents, our education, environment etc. Now we must ask, if we can see our conditioning, what then is the true nature of our minds? Or in Zen terms, what is our original face, the one before this one? We will not find an answer by reading books, asking other people, or finding Gurus. We will only begin to reveal our true nature when we, give up and release the need to know. Becoming spacious is the way to begin.

Leaning Tao or spiritual truth is different from learning other things, because it always presents itself as nothing. You need to look deeply to find the wonder of nothingness, at the same time that everything is present in front of you. Look to the place where everything returns. The same origin is shared by all differences.

In the depth of nature exists the subtle reality; in the subtle reality exists the most subtle reality. In the subtlest reality exists the gate to the source of all. Therefore, “To be” and “not to be” are different terms, but both come from the same origin. Being and non-being are indescribable, yet in the depth of their indescribable reality, one can find the gate to the source of all. Therefore, you cannot hold the reality of the world as something you can see or feel. It is much deeper than that.
Tao Te Ching

Part 5: Death, Reincarnation & Rebirth

About 17 years ago I found myself in Lam Rim Buddhist Centre. A beautiful manor house situated outside of a little village called Penrhos, near Raglan in Gwent. A Tibetan Buddhist Lama, The Venerable Geshe Damcho Yonten had founded the centre in 1978. Geshe Damcho had entered the great monastic university of Drepung (near the capital of Tibet) at the age of six. For the next 25 years, he pursued intensively the formal studies of Buddhist philosophy, psychology, logic, debate and scriptural studies, and the practice of meditation under the direction and guidance of some of the most learned and experienced Lamas in Tibet. After having escaped the Chinese invasion of his homeland in 1959, he was able to complete his studies in India and Ladakh, attaining the high qualification of Geshe. During the six years that he spent in Ladakh he became Abbot of Samtenling Gompa Norba. Retuning to India in 1966 Venerable Geshe Damcho gathered his first western students, and it was at their request that in 1976 he came to the west. Today Geshe-la is the Spiritual Director and resident Lama/Teacher at Lam Rim.

On Sunday evenings, after the weekend formal teaching, students used to gather informally in one of the large rooms, which had a large open log fire, and discuss the weekends events. Geshe-la would always join the students about 9.00 p.m. The particular evening that made such an impression on me, started quite innocently. One man said that the weekend had been spiritually, very uplifting, but on Monday he had to rejoin the Rat Race along with everybody else, and he went on to say how he was fed up with his job, the nine to five drudgery etc., and apart from his little bit of spiritual practice how life in general was such a drag. Soon others join in, everyone agreeing that Life for them held a great deal of unsatisfactory elements, and that no one was having much happiness in their lives.

I watched Geshe-la sitting there quietly in the light from the log fire listening to all the negative comments. Suddenly he O.K. stop! and let me ask you just one question. If you knew for certain that you had only seven days left to live, would you still continue thinking and acting the way that you do? This question, of course, stopped everyone in their tracks. Everyone in the room started to revaluate their lives. Someone said Well if I was lying on my deathbed I wont be saying to myself I wish I had worked longer hours at the office and after a long and interesting discussion everybody in the room stated that of course it would radically change their current behaviour. And then Gelshe-la said And how do you know that, you do not have only seven days left to live?

The Buddha said that meditation on death was the most powerful practice of all. But What is death? and what does it all mean. The end of everything? or is there something else? If there is nothing else, like many people believe. O.K.! Then just go-out and have a good time. Why worry about anything? If there is nothing, then all effort is a waste of time. Well according to the enlightened systems, (whose goals is nothing less than the achievement of total liberation from the samsaric life) there is! In the previous articles we have tried to focus on one important point, the nature of mind after all, in the Buddhist tradition alone it is said that there are 84,000 different teachings to counter the 84,000 different negative states of mind. Many of the enlightened systems have many varied methods to suit the many different capabilities and capacity of the seeker/student.

If we do not have some idea of the supreme teaching of Natural Mind and the Conditioned Mind then anything written about death, reincarnation and rebirth not only will not make any sense, but also will sound like some fantasy, some construction or some Exotic Oriental View of things. Let us look again at what are called the three Kayas or bodies. Empty essence, or dharmakaya, cognizance or sambhogakaya. These two are actually indivisible, and this is called nirmanakaya. A basic way to say space, energy, and form, but this is too simplistic. The essence of mind is both empty and cognizant, or one taste of empty cognizance suffused with knowing. The supreme liberation is to recognise the natural state.

Utterly awake, with the five senses wide open.
Utterly open, with unfixating awareness.

For ordinary beings, mind is also one taste of empty cognizance, but it is suffused with unknowing. This is because the awake quality focuses outward, latching on to whatever is experienced. Then the attention gets caught up in the three poisons of attachment, aversion and ignorance (spiritual) these three poisons are the constructed, conditioned and ignorant mind. It is often explained in the following way. the space of the sky is like the empty essence, our cognizance is like the suns rays, and our thoughts are like clouds. The sky never changes, the suns rays are always present, but the clouds of our obscuration hide all this, and we consider our thoughts to be our mind. No wonder there is such utter confusion in our lives.

When sentient beings look away from themselves, everything seems solid and concrete.
When the yogi recognizes the utterly free state of rigpa (Natural mind),
He knows that it is open like space,
And all the appearances of this world are just a marvellous show

The nirmanakaya is what we see as the solid world, but its essence is empty, and its nature is cognizant, therefore it is call unconfined. Unconfined because everything in the universe springs from this empty essence. We are aware, because of our natural empty/cognizant nature.

So our natural mind is present here and now, enlightenment is simply seeing this, recognizing our true nature, our Buddha nature. From the nirmanakaya all things arise likes, dislikes, indifference, religions, cultures, politics, ideas, ideals, history in fact the total display of samsara, including birth and death. This magical display of appearances we call life. And this life of distraction keeps us from recognizing the nature of our natural mind. The enlightened mind can never be constructed (through spiritual practice for example) it is here and now.

All sentient beings are Buddhas,
But they are covered by temporary obscuration

The nature of mind is beyond birth and death because it is the unchanging state. The ground of all that arises and returns. The Zen koan Show me your original face before you were born! refers to this. So nothing inherently exists from its own side. Everything is one, and totally interdependent (pity the people who mess up our planet cant see this) Until we can see without any fabrication the actual nature of our minds our suffering will continue indefinitely, because we take the illusion to be real, and continue to construct the unreal. The great Dzogchen (Natural Great Perfection or Completion) tradition is the highest teaching, and pinnacle of Tibets enlightened history and tradition. Its teaching requires no religious belief or ridged rules, it is open, spacious and teaches the return to our natural state. The natural way of the Universe is not the way of man made philosophies, religions, ideals, constructs, the academic mind, the technical mind and definitely the conceptual mind, all the things we think are important. In fact all we really have to do is to recognize our natural mind, and in the very recognition is liberation from the conditioned. So, without at least a glimpse of the possibility that our thoughts are not the Nature of our minds then all discussion of death and rebirth is pointless.

The Tibetan Lamas undisturbed in the Himalayan vastness for thousands of years studied all the great questions regarding our existence here in this dimension, we call Life And although this is true of many cultures, such as Chinese Taoism, etc. nowhere today is there such an opportunity to study what was once (and still is regarding higher teaching) a secretive and closed society. Qualified Lamas are now openly giving teachings in the West, and if you can cut through the cultural outer coverings you will find a highly sophisticated system of universal enlightened teachings underneath. The Tibetan study and understanding of the death states are second to none.

A description of the dying process according to the Tibetan Studies:
When ones life span has come to its natural end, the very near signs of death appear. Firstly the five sensory powers begin to fail. The external sign is vomiting and loss of appetite. The body begins to lose heat and, because of fear, one has difficulty lifting ones head. The inner sensation is of ones head falling down. Then the signs experienced with the withdrawal of each of the elements occur. The element of earth fails. Externally the flesh and bones shrink slightly. Internally the body feels heavy and one has the sensation of falling to earth from a height. Earth dissolves into water. Externally, ones body loses its natural shape. Bodily strength fails, internally one fells dull and hazy. The internal water elements are blood and lymph. When they fail, this is a sign that the internal element of water has failed. Liquids flow from the mouth and nose, and one feels the sensations of thirst. This indicates that the water element has dissolved into fire. The internal sensation is one of warmth. Sometimes the mind is clear sometimes unclear.

The internal fire element is bodily warmth and this is soon to dissolve. The eyes roll up in the head and one cannot recognize anyone. The power of the fire element withdraws into the element of air and therefore ones bodily heat withdraws. The external wind element withdraws. Air is the element here and when it dissolves into the inner air element the breath begins to pass in gasps, and ones limbs begin to quiver. As an internal sign, the mind becomes agitated. At the time perceives a vision of a mirage like appearance and wisp of smoke. The red female drop from ones mother then moves up in the central channel (Conception channel) A colour red the fills the mind. This indicates that the mind of appearance has dissolved into the mind of increase. It is at this point that specific yogas can be applied, to cut off the conceptual mind. The original white sperm from ones father moves down in the central channel. At this point the mind of increase has dissolved into the mind of attainment. The breath now passes in long slow sighs. The female drop now dissolves into the life-sustaining channel and comes to the heart. This is the stage called radiantly black and is followed by an appearance of falling into a ditch in pitch darkness. At that time the mouth opens and the eyes roll in the head, fully revealing the whites of the eyes. The external appearance is like the setting of the sun. All sensory recollections and appearances cease and one have a vision that all images suddenly dissolve into darkness, into an immense pool of blackness. The breath now moves very shallowly, and, internally, one experience a vision as of dusk and darkness. Two of the five female drops fall to the heart. The person then makes the sound of HIK with a breath that moves a span. A radiantly black appearance arises in the mind and one swoons into unconsciousness. The breath then totally stops and the red and white drops of the female and male forces meet together at the heart. One then awakens from unconsciousness into a state of joy. This joyous awareness dissolves into the clear light, and one experiences the simultaneously born bliss. The primordial awareness at the centre of the heart now dissolves into the suchness of mother and son clear lights. At this point the internal energies cease and the subtle mind and energy enter into the innermost channel of being. The basic clear light of death appears to all living beings. For high yogis/practitioners, this time of the death experience, when the mother and son clear lights enter into symmetry, provides an excellent opportunity for the attainment of liberation and enlightenment. When a yogi/practitioner applies the correct meditations, the mind here immediately transforms into the ultimate state of the unproduced, uncreated sphere of truth. Mind becomes wisdom and then manifests into energy and form (is reborn) in order to work for the benefit of all living beings. This is the attainment of full awakening possessed of the three Buddha kayas (bodies) this is how highly realised Lamas and realised practitioners from similar traditions can choose to and control reincarnation.

So, according to those who have studied, and experienced with clarity these states of mind, enlightenment in this lifetime is possible; for those who do not achieve this goal, it is possible even at the moment of death. Without instruction one will never be able to recognize the clear light at the time of death. According to the enlightened systems, all beings have, lived, died and been reborn countless times. According to my Tibetan teacher there is a difference between reincarnation and rebirth, he states all sentient beings are reborn, but only highly realized practitioners can control the process of reincarnation. Having died and been reborn countless times, human beings, again and again have experienced the inexpressible, indescribable pure clear light. Yet because of the confusion created by the darkness of innate ignorance, they wander endlessly in cyclic experience, this is a very dangerous predicament. One should cherish the opportunities for enlightenment afforded by having a human body and mind.

The above is how the death process is usually described, I have read and heard these teaching on a number of occasions. I used Glenn H. Mullins fine translation and description from his excellent book Living in the Face of Death The Tibetan Tradition. So firstly we can ask what has this got to do with Martial Arts? Well! There are many answers to this on different levels. For example, it the nature of mind is truly realized, it takes away totally any fear of death. This of course is an obvious asset where physical danger is concerned, as the practice is to relax into the nature of mind thereby integrating naked awareness and emptiness. In Karate this state is referred to as MUSHIN or NO MIND. A martial artist who can reach this state is totally at one with whatever arises. Next, to clearly face and think about death requires the attitude of a warrior. Our culture (Western) does everything possible to avoid facing this inevitable process, hence our obsession with all kinds of distraction and entertainment. Our Ego/Conditioned mind seeks a state of permanent being, even though the only permanent thing in the universe is constant change, or we can say everything is impermanent. So when we die, our thoughts cannot help us, our wealth cannot help us, our friends cannot help us, neither can our fame, material goods, or any accumulated book learning, intellectual knowledge, or any conceptual religious ideas of some sort of paradise, even nirvana is just an idea. The only thing that can help is an understanding of the non-conceptual view, and an experience of the way things simply are. The state of a more enlighten way of being cannot be accomplished by mind only. The body, energy and mind must be trained together. The body is impermanent, the energy will one day cease, the conditioned mind is unreal, in as much as we have constructed it form all our experiences. Only the nature of mind is beyond birth and death. This is the mind Zen calls the everyday mind. Nothing special! We can carry one with examining the teaching on death and the bardo states in the next part of this series. And soon I hope to be able to trace back to the source of these teaching, going back in time from Taoism and Buddhism to the ancient Bon Tradition then back further still in time to the ancient culture of Zhang Zhung. A culture complete with its own language, that once cover an area of Western Tibet, and parts of China, India, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and ancient Persia. In fact it is beginning to be understood that many of the great traditions that incorporate practices and symbolism such as we have in Taoism, Buddhism, and Bon etc may have all come from this ancient Zhang Zhung culture. For example the practices of Qigong are very similar the Dzgochen practice of yoga. And the Bagwa symbolism is to be found in the ancient Bon tradion, as are the five elements and colours. Anyway we can look at this fascinating possibility in the near future.

I will leave you with a quote from a Tantra of Dzogchen

As a bee seeks nectar
From all kinds of flowers
Seek teachings everywhere
Like a deer that finds a quiet place to graze
Seek seclusion to digest
All that you have gathered
Like a madman,
Beyond all limits
Go wherever you please
And live like a lion
Completely free of all fear.

To be continued ...