..续本文上一页ls what one is doing and awareness will naturally be present. Awareness means simply recognizing what is going on, i.e., knowing what one is doing. One knows that one is meditating and understands what is going on. Knowing what one is doing while doing it is being mindful. Then one will naturally develop awareness. But if one loses mindfulness, then awareness will automatically be lost and one won”t know anything. One won”t know what one is doing and won”t remember that one is meditating but will lose oneself to thoughts instead of letting them be. So, it”s important to develop mindfulness and awareness. It”s important to use mindfulness and awareness in order to be able to control the sixth consciousness and in order to develop deep-holding meditation. So, with both, a practitioner will be able to develop tranquillity meditation correctly.

　　Mindfulness and awareness are extremely important. The Son of the Victors, Shantideva, spoke about them and said, “All of you who wish to control your mind, develop mindfulness and awareness, even if you have to risk your own life. If you develop mindfulness and awareness, I will join my hands in prayer for you.” So, if one wants to be able to control one”s mind, to protect one”s mind, Shantideva said that one needs to develop mindfulness and awareness. It is so very important that he joins the palms of his two hands at his heart in prayer and begs us to make sure that we rely upon them.

　　The great teacher Dakpo Tashi Namgyal spoke about mindfulness and awareness and taught that one should not be too fastidious about them, rather one should let them be vast and expansive.6 Being fastidious is thinking, “Now I have to be mindful,” or “Now I shouldn”t be thinking. I”m trying to meditate.” Practicing like this is being tense and tight, which will not be beneficial. One needs to be pervasive, vast, and open and not squeeze one”s brain. All one needs to do is merely not forget, rest relaxed, be at ease while alert, and not forget what one is doing. One shouldn”t squeeze and pull and try to be tight about meditation, rather have mindfulness that is open and vast. It will be very good if we have easeful, relaxed, and expansive mindfulness.

　　If we practice tranquillity meditation in this way, we are very relaxed and rest like that. Here it is called “tranquillity.” A more literal translation is “calm abiding,” which consists of two words, “calm” and “abiding.” Calm means simply letting all thoughts be pacified; abiding refers to the stable aspect of resting. This is what we mean by the practice of tranquillity

　　meditation. Please do a short meditation now.

　　Thank you very much.

　　May the life of the Glorious Lama remain steadfast and firm.

　　May peace and happiness fully arise for beings as limitless (in number) as space (is vast in its extent).

　　Having accumulated merit and purified negativities, may I and all living beings without exception

　　swiftly establish the levels and grounds of Buddhahood.

《Protecting One’s Mind》全文阅读结束。