Common Questions About Vajra Bridge Practice

Vajra Bridge Speech Blessing

21. #Two Obscurations and Emptiness
Q: Regarding 1-7th level bodhisattvas, in meditation they see the true nature of all phenomena through the power of emptiness, so karma and karmic obscurations don't matter; but out of meditation, because the two obscurations aren't fully eliminated, karmic effects still arise in their mind, and when karma ripens they still experience its results. The difference is that, having realised emptiness, these karmic appearances are like knowing you're dreaming while in a dream - they don't generate attachment or suffering. Is this understanding correct?

A: Essentially correct.

22. #Meditation on Samsara's Faults
Q: Venerable Khenpo, when meditating on the faults of samsara, should we put ourselves in the situation of beings in the six realms? For example, visualising ourselves experiencing suffering in hell realms, or imagining being an animal being killed by humans or predators?

A: When meditating on the faults of samsara, it's certainly best to practise empathy, or rather to imagine yourself experiencing the suffering of beings in the six realms. This is because we ourselves have experienced all of this in beginningless samsara - we've just forgotten it now. So if we can truly empathise with these sufferings, firstly we'll develop a stronger renunciation from samsara, and secondly we'll develop stronger compassion for beings.

23. #Death's Uncertainty and Universal Dissolution
Q: In meditating on life's impermanence, I have several questions. First, regarding death's uncertainty - how should we understand that some practitioners with clairvoyance can predict their time of death? Second, will the fourth dhyana heaven be completely destroyed after 64 great kalpas? When the three realms are empty, where do beings ultimately go? Third, when the Buddha entered parinirvana and entered the realm of luminosity, is this realm permanent or momentarily changing? Does consciousness still exist in the luminous realm?

A: On the first question, some practitioners with clairvoyance may know when they'll die, but this is only a partial clairvoyance with variables still present. The law of karma is extremely subtle, and only a Buddha, having fully realised emptiness, can truly know all karmic laws completely.

This death prediction through clairvoyance is like - to use a modern analogy - big data analysis. But big data can be wrong, missing some parameters and variables. It shows probabilities - for instance, if their clairvoyance can see past and future lives, one or two or three lives back and forward, they might see patterns but can't see further ahead, so uncertainty remains.

For ordinary beings like us, death is even more uncertain and uncontrollable. Those with worldly clairvoyance or knowledge of past lives have more control, but not complete control - there are still unpredictable variables.

[The teacher then shares a story about a monk with clairvoyance who predicted his young disciple would die in seven days. The disciple went home but on the way saved many ants from drowning. When he returned, the monk was surprised to find the disciple's lifespan had been greatly extended due to this virtuous act.]

Regarding the second question about the destruction of the dhyana heavens - yes, everything goes through cycles of formation, abiding, destruction and emptiness. Eventually, all will be destroyed. Initially lower realms are destroyed by fire while higher realms remain, but ultimately all are destroyed.

When people ask "Where do these beings go?" - they take rebirth in other world systems. It's like Earth going through different ages - dinosaurs, humans, whatever comes next. When one world system is destroyed, beings take rebirth in other worlds, other solar systems, other galaxies. The Buddhist scriptures describe how worlds always go through complete dissolution because whatever is born must die. But beings continue taking rebirth in other realms according to their karma.

On the third question, consciousness doesn't exist in the luminous state. What we call "transformation of consciousness into wisdom" means all eight consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom.

In the luminous state there is no consciousness because consciousness requires ego-clinging. With "I"-grasping you have the eighth consciousness and others arising from it. But once ego-clinging is cut, consciousness transforms into wisdom.

Is this momentary or permanent? Because we're ordinary beings thinking in dualistic terms, we assume it must be either momentary and changing, or permanent and eternal. But in tantric Buddhism, and as I've mentioned when teaching the Heart Sutra, time itself is just a perception, not truly existent. Modern science shows gravity affects the flow of time - time moves slower at higher altitudes than at sea level.

Because time is controlled by gravity, scientists theorise there are places in black holes beyond the three times. This demonstrates what Buddhism calls "beyond the three times" - no past, present or future - the fourth time transcending the three times.

Many people then conclude "So it's eternal?" But actually it transcends both permanence and impermanence. Just because it's beyond differentiation doesn't mean it's necessarily unitary. We can't create another duality by saying it's the opposite of impermanence.

24. #Vows to Abandon Non-Virtue
Q: Khenpo, regarding karmic cause and effect, we're taught we must vow to abandon the ten non-virtues to create corresponding virtues. My question is, if we can't do it perfectly, can we still make such vows? For example, with idle speech, due to habitual tendencies, we might speak carelessly before realising it. Can we still vow to abandon idle speech?

A: Good afternoon. This is indeed necessary - even though we can't do it perfectly, we must have the determination and courage to vow to do it thoroughly.

To be honest, before realising emptiness, we'll still commit these ten non-virtues to some degree. Because our habitual tendencies are so strong, we can't wait until we can do it perfectly before making vows. By the time someone can truly maintain the ten virtues, they're quite accomplished in practice - even if they haven't realised emptiness or reached the grounds (bhumis), they've at least reached the path of preparation with some experience of emptiness. If we wait until then to make vows, it's rather pointless. Instead, it's precisely because we can't do it now that we need to make vows and strive to accomplish them.

Of course there will be times we fail, so we need to confess and recite the Hundred-Syllable Mantra daily as an antidote. Only by repeatedly making vows and confessing can we gradually wear away our negative tendencies and truly accomplish these vows. Making vows is meant to help us eventually achieve complete purity, so we should strive towards this goal.

25. #Seated Meditation
Q: When meditating on the precious human life in the first stage, should we read pages 141-181 of the Vajra Bridge Book One and contemplate simultaneously? Or memorise the content and meditate with eyes closed? How long should each session be?

A: Both aspects need emphasis. At the precious human life stage, we recommend seated contemplation with discursive thinking. There should be a video of me leading group practice on this, but that's based on my life experience and habits - it may not suit everyone. We suggest people contemplate according to their own situation. If thinking is difficult because we lack familiarity - sometimes I joke that we have lots of thoughts about worldly matters because we're used to that kind of thinking, but lack material for dharma contemplation - I'm not so strict now. If you really can't generate thoughts, you can listen to recordings about the four thoughts that turn the mind, like teachings on the precious human life, or read relevant books during your session.

The timing should follow the prescribed schedule - all of this counts towards your meditation time.

26. #Meditation State
Q: When meditating on life's impermanence and extending it to personal experiences, I feel something's wrong - I'm constantly melancholic and lack enthusiasm for work and life. The teacher says we should practise with joy, but I can't achieve this state. Instead, I'm miserable and sometimes cry uncontrollably. What should I do? Am I off track?

A: When practising the four thoughts that turn the mind, besides contemplating samsara's suffering, we should also contemplate our own good fortune - the benefits of liberation. We should reflect on how we've obtained a precious human life, encountered the dharma, met spiritual teachers, and have some opportunity to practise. Compared to countless beings, we're extremely fortunate. Moreover, after liberation, whether as arhats or bodhisattvas reaching buddhahood, we'll be completely free from the cycle of birth and death. So in some ways, we might say we're fortunate compared to those below us, though we still have far to go.

When contemplating the precious human life or the four thoughts, we shouldn't focus exclusively on personal karma and liberation. We should look at all beings who continually create negative karma or don't understand karma at all. Compared to them, we're very fortunate, and this should make us more positive and optimistic.

If we only focus on our own sufferings or negative life experiences and memories, we easily fall into nihilism.

Try reading biographies of great masters, especially Milarepa. His negative karma was even heavier than ours - he once used black magic to kill many people. But because he met a good teacher, encountered the dharma and seized the opportunity to practise, he achieved realisation quickly. Such biographies can strengthen our conviction that liberation is possible.

27. #Meditation Questions
Q: I have two questions about meditation:
a. During meditation, I feel strongly attached to my body, with a distinct sense of being trapped inside it. What should I do?
b. You've said meditation should enter the level of mind, learning to let go of thoughts and just "feel", but when maintaining this "feeling", I can't find anywhere/anything that could be called "feeling" or "mind", either inside or outside the body. So this "feeling" or "mind" doesn't seem to exist in any spatial location, yet it clearly functions - I can feel leg pain, mental agitation, surrounding movements, etc. How should we understand this state where something clearly functions yet can't be found?

A: For the first question, when feeling trapped in the body, one approach is relaxation - let yourself relax completely, body and mind. The Precious Teacher often mentions in meditation that initial relaxation is very important, so that's one method.

The second approach is to pray fervently to the guru - this guru doesn't necessarily need to have a form, sometimes it can just be a seed syllable.

If I remember correctly, in the Three-Syllable Vajra meditation, after your heart becomes a HUM syllable, you visualise every cell and molecule of your body becoming blue HUM syllables - as if your entire body is composed of countless, infinite blue HUM syllables. These HUM syllables are actually the guru. After praying fervently to the guru, our body dissolves into dharmadhatu in this state. I think you can try these methods to address the first issue.

For the second question, not being able to find the feeling itself while clearly having feelings is due to ego-clinging and attachment. As we've discussed, feeling itself is empty, or our mind is empty, so you actually can't find a concrete existence of mind.

Including in Zen or some theories that teach us to search for the "I" - you won't find it, yet we clearly and strongly feel there's an individual self separate from others, and we have genuine experiences of "I feel pain", "I have thoughts", "I have ideas". This is the most tragic and contradictory aspect of beings with dualistic perception, because it's produced by attachment. The same applies to our feelings and mind - when you truly analyse them, you can't find them, yet their habitual tendencies and conditioning make you genuinely experience various afflictions and attachments.

So what I'm saying is that something can function without having concrete existence. This is the main aspect that beings need to break through.

28. #Karma Meditation
Q: Recently while meditating on karmic cause and effect and observing my thoughts as taught in the text, I realised my uncontrollable afflictions, anxiety, and jealousy are results of past lying and harmful intentions. I felt happy discovering this cause of afflictions, but awareness alone seems insufficient - negative thoughts still arise continuously. How should I guide my mind in applying antidotes and meditation?

A: Our current thoughts, whether positive or negative, are habitual patterns from past lives. For example, if you were a tiger or lion in a past life, you might have stronger habitual tendencies towards meat-eating in this life. So some thought patterns aren't just from this life but from previous lives.

Once we recognise these thoughts, the first step isn't to stop them completely - trying to stop a high-speed car instantly isn't realistic, but we can repeatedly interrupt these thoughts.

The "Great Perfection Preliminary Practice Guide" mentions a story of a great master (I forget his name) who, while meditating in a cave, would place a white stone for each virtuous thought and a black stone for each negative thought. Initially, there were almost all black stones, then gradually half and half, and finally only white stones remained.

What I'm describing is mindfulness and awareness - we need to maintain mindfulness and observe our mind constantly. When negative or unwholesome thoughts arise, interrupt them through meditation or other methods. There are specific antidotes: for greed, contemplate generosity and offering; for hatred, meditate on loving-kindness; for ignorance, meditate on wisdom of emptiness. However, I think these antidotes work better when practised beforehand or during formal sessions. When afflictions actually arise, if we haven't accumulated practice, it's very difficult to counter them through study or thought alone.

However, through meditation and staying present with mindfulness and awareness, we can prevent thoughts from continuing. That's why many great masters emphasise the importance of mindfulness and awareness, as the Precious Teacher mentions in the three unforgettables - observing the mind is crucial.

29. #Three Doors
Q: In the Vajrasattva practice, what are the "three doors" mentioned in the final line "The three doors unite in self-aware essence AH"?

A: Body, speech, and mind - these are the three doors.

30. #Mantra Visualization
Q: Should the hundred-syllable mantra circling around the HUM on the moon disc rotate clockwise or anticlockwise?

A: The arrangement circles clockwise from inside to out, with the letters facing outward in our direction. Note that you don't need to imagine the letters moving - just focus on their circular arrangement.

31. #Breath in Meditation
Q: During absorption, my breathing naturally becomes slower and subtler, but eventually I feel suffocated and must readjust my breathing. Is this due to tension? What should proper absorption be like?

A: When breathing becomes slow and barely perceptible, this isn't necessarily due to tension. Some practices naturally slow down your heartbeat and breathing - this is possible and isn't necessarily due to tension.

Generally, proper absorption means your mind stays on the object of meditation without wandering. For example, if you're focusing on the breath, your mind should just be with the breath, without other thoughts or ideas. That's basically the state of absorption. So don't worry too much about the breathing - it's not a particular problem and doesn't need special adjustment.

32. #Types of Meditation States
Q: What's the difference between absorption meditation, dullness, and neutral states?

A: Good morning. First, absorption meditation means your mind is focused on one object, without too many other thoughts or ideas, while maintaining clear awareness of other things.

For example, when absorbed in mantra recitation, although your mind is focused on the mantra, awareness of external sensations isn't completely shut off. In Tibet, they compare it to a vulture circling - before eating meat, it circles above but never leaves its object, continuously circling above the meat. If we can achieve this kind of absorption, that's sufficient.

Absorption meditation has different levels. Of course, it's possible to achieve very focused absorption - that's concentration power. It's not necessarily complete meditation but part of it - the shamatha aspect - reaching a state of complete one-pointedness. But for your four thoughts that turn the mind practice, basically achieving the vulture-circling kind of absorption I just described, staying with the relevant content, is sufficient.

[Would you like me to continue with the remaining explanations and questions?]

Q: In the Vajrasattva practice, what are the "three doors" mentioned in the final line "The three doors unite in self-aware essence AH"?

A: Body, speech, and mind - these are the three doors.

30. #Mantra Visualisation
Q: Should the hundred-syllable mantra circling around the HUM on the moon disc rotate clockwise or anticlockwise?

A: The arrangement circles clockwise from inside to out, with the letters facing outward in our direction. Note that you don't need to imagine the letters moving - just focus on their circular arrangement.

31. #Breath in Meditation
Q: During absorption, my breathing naturally becomes slower and subtler, but eventually I feel suffocated and must readjust my breathing. Is this due to tension? What should proper absorption be like?

A: When breathing becomes slow and barely perceptible, this isn't necessarily due to tension. Some practices naturally slow down your heartbeat and breathing - this is possible and isn't necessarily due to tension.

Generally, proper absorption means your mind stays on the object of meditation without wandering. For example, if you're focusing on the breath, your mind should just be with the breath, without other thoughts or ideas. That's basically the state of absorption. So don't worry too much about the breathing - it's not a particular problem and doesn't need special adjustment.

32. #Types of Meditation States
Q: What's the difference between absorption meditation, dullness, and neutral states?

A: Good morning. First, absorption meditation means your mind is focused on one object, without too many other thoughts or ideas, while maintaining clear awareness of other things.

For example, when absorbed in mantra recitation, although your mind is focused on the mantra, awareness of external sensations isn't completely shut off. In Tibet, they compare it to a vulture circling - before eating meat, it circles above but never leaves its object, continuously circling above the meat. If we can achieve this kind of absorption, that's sufficient.

Absorption meditation has different levels. Of course, it's possible to achieve very focused absorption - that's concentration power. It's not necessarily complete meditation but part of it - the shamatha aspect - reaching a state of complete one-pointedness. But for your four thoughts that turn the mind practice, basically achieving the vulture-circling kind of absorption I just described, staying with the relevant content, is sufficient.

33. #Practice Obstacles
Q: I wasn't very busy when I started the Vajra Bridge practice, but suddenly worldly matters have become hectic. Are these obstacles to practice? How best to remove them?

A: When we're not practising dharma, everything seems favourable - I mean temporary worldly conditions - as if there are no obstacles and everything's fine. But when you start to practise, you discover many obstacles and unfavourable conditions. From one perspective, this itself is a form of obstacle removal; from another perspective, it's indeed due to our obstacles - perhaps from past lives we created obstacles to others' practice, or our habits of laziness emerge, making external conditions more challenging and making us want to retreat.

At such times, pray frequently to Guru Rinpoche, recite the Seven-Line Prayer or Guru Rinpoche's mantra. Before your four thoughts practice, the teacher assigned preliminary practices - reading, reciting 120,000 Guru Rinpoche mantras, memorising the Eight Verses of Mind Training - these were all obstacle-removing preparations.

Here are the missing detailed translations:

34. #Meditation Focus Points
Q: During meditation, should we focus our attention on the point between the eyebrows? Or concentrate on the nose tip or breath?

A: While some practices involve focusing on the point between the eyebrows, these are few and generally not recommended for long periods.

As I've likely mentioned elsewhere, our mind and energy are closely connected - thoughts guide energy. So if you continuously focus strongly on the eyebrow point for a long time, your energy and blood will rise up, potentially causing dizziness, pressure, or headaches. Generally, you should let energy sink to the lower dantian, though occasionally some practices do involve visualising at the eyebrow point.

Most commonly, focus is placed on the nose tip, heart centre, breath, or navel chakra. I'd say it depends on your state. For instance, if you're experiencing dullness or sleepiness, entering a neutral state, you might focus on the eyebrow point or crown to raise energy and alertness.

Conversely, if you're scattered with many thoughts, you should focus on the navel area. For regular practice, either the heart centre or nose tip/breath is fine - adjust according to your meditation state.

35. #Limited Practice Material
Q: Khenpo, due to limited life experience or other factors, after practising for some time I run out of material to contemplate. Is it acceptable to just sit quietly, thinking nothing, or only observing the breath or visualising buddhas and bodhisattvas?

A: If you lack material or can't think of relevant content, occasionally just observing the breath or experiencing the present moment is acceptable. However, we strongly encourage everyone to read and study more relevant texts, books, or teachings. There's actually abundant material on these topics. Our lack of ideas often stems from not having thought deeply about or studied these matters enough, leading to a shortage of contemplation material.

So while occasional simple sitting is acceptable, we encourage everyone to read more, study more, and listen to more teachings on these topics.

36. #Balance of Practice Types
Q: I've noticed my analytical meditation and absorption meditation are imbalanced, roughly 9:1 ratio. Does this state need adjustment? How should I adjust it?

A: The ratio between absorption and analytical meditation is fine. It's normal to have more analytical meditation at the beginning, so having more analytical and less absorption meditation is natural. No special adjustment is needed.

37. #Breath Awareness
Q: Does noticing my inhalation and exhalation during absorption meditation count as conceptual thinking?

A: Whether breath awareness counts as conceptual thought depends on what you're meant to be absorbing in. If you're meant to be absorbed in the breath, then awareness of breathing isn't conceptual thought. If you're meant to be absorbed in impermanence but your mind wanders to noticing body breathing or pain, that's straying from your original absorption object and does count as conceptual thought. While strictly speaking everything is conceptual thought, in absorption meditation we usually have an object of focus - as long as you maintain your original focus point, it doesn't count as straying.

38. #Managing Scattered Thoughts
Q: I find I do very little absorption meditation - I remember Khenpo saying that not thinking anything is absorption meditation, but after a brief period of absorption I easily get thoughts, then return to analytical meditation. How can I improve this?

A: This is quite normal. During absorption meditation, for instance when you've reached a state of strong renunciation and are fervently praying to the guru and Three Jewels, then resting in a state without reference points, our discursive thoughts might pause for a few seconds or less than a minute before thoughts appear again - this is very normal. When teaching meditation, we say the first stage is called "rushing like a waterfall", meaning you'll actually feel you have more thoughts. Noticing these many thoughts is actually the first sign of entering meditation - it's not that your thoughts have increased, but that they were always this numerous.

Before, because your mind was racing so fast, you never noticed how many thoughts you had. But now that your mind is starting to slow down, you notice how fast everything else is moving, like noticing cars going 100mph. So in this first stage, as your mind begins to slow, you feel "I have so many thoughts, they're so chaotic, so fast". This is completely normal for beginners. There's nothing to adjust - just maintain consistent practice, and gradually the thoughts will settle.

39. #Complete Practice Sequence
Q: For maintaining practice, do we just need to recite this refuge prayer three times?

A: The maintenance practice requires going through the entire ritual. For the four thoughts practice, this means three repetitions of the Seven-Line Prayer, then the four thoughts verses, then refuge and bodhicitta, then mandala offering and Vajrasattva practice, ending with dedication. All these steps must be completed. There should be materials about how to do the maintenance practice in the shared folder - please check those details. It's not just reciting the refuge prayer three times.

40. #Practice Timing
Q: Are there strict timing requirements for unbroken practice? If I'm busy and can only practice near midnight, practicing until 12:30 or 1:00, does this count as unbroken?

A: Generally, we count from midnight, not from when you go to sleep - similar to the eight precepts. So we count from local midnight. If you start at 11:55, that counts as starting even though you finish after midnight.

But normally, we count from midnight. If someone is very tired and lies down at 9pm, intending to rest briefly, but wakes up after midnight, that unfortunately doesn't count. But starting at 11:55 should be acceptable.

This completes the translation of the entire text. Would you like me to clarify any particular points or provide more context for any specific sections?