The Very Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Seven Points Of Mind Training

Birmingham Karma Ling, December 2002

Shinay Without Characteristics

There are two types of methods we can have with the meditation the shinay with characteristics and without characteristics, so the first one I will explain is the method of shinay without characteristics. With this method one just rests the mind naturally without making anything without doing anything one just rest naturally. It’s like finishing one's work when one rests, totally relaxed.

There is a story connected to how one should be. The story is about the British Queen, it's just an example it's not a real story. The Queen has two palaces, an old one, and a new one, she wants to move all her precious things, jewels and furnishings and so on to the new palace, but she can’t move them herself obviously so she’s trying to think. I don’t trust anybody to move them for me. Then she has an idea and she thinks of this one particular minister who she has trust in, She tells this minister I want you to take all of my precious things and the jewels to the new palace, but she makes this stipulation, you have to move everything in one day, and only you can carry the things you can’t give this work to anybody else. At that time the minister didn’t have a car.

The Queen said to the minister if you accomplish this work carrying all my valuables in one day I would reward you very handsomely. I’ll you a house with land and money and food, so you will never have to work again in your life. Then the minister was thinking, well if I can accomplish this work in one day then like the Queen said she will give me a house, land and lots of money and food and I will never have to work again, that will be absolutely wonderful. But then he thought oh but what if I can’t manage it then I won’t get any of these things, so he had two things arise in his mind hope and fear.

He had this great hope thinking oh if I manage to do this I’ll get all these things then he had fear also thinking well maybe I can’t do it and I’ll have nothing. So the minister got up really early in the morning, at that time it was summer so the days were pretty long anyway, but he got up really early, maybe about three o’clock in the morning.

He started to carry all the big diamonds and the precious jewels and lumps of gold and stuff on his back walking. When it was lunch time he only gave himself a twenty minute lunch break, about eight o’clock in the evening he had completed the whole move he had finished everything, moved everything.

He had great happiness arise in his mind, he slowly went up to where the Queen was staying, he said to the Queen I have accomplished the task I have move all the precious things to your new palace. The Queen replied to him thank you very much now I will give you the estate and lands and money and everything you want and you will never have to work again. Having obtained all of the things from the Queen he went back to his house and had a really nice wash in not too hot water not too cold just right. He was extremely tired and exhausted, but he wasn’t upset in his mind at all he had no hope and fear he had become completely happy because he had achieved his aim. He had done the job and he had been paid for it. He went to his bedroom and sat on his bed and just sat down and went phew! And completely sat there naturally, tired but completely resting.

Like that man at the end of his labours we have to be relaxed like that when we meditate, just like him. Do you think you can do that? Resting naturally like the man who had completed his heavy work just sitting there, resting. You have to do it just like that. You don’t have to meditate, you don’t have to do anything, you don’t have to visualise, but one needs non-distraction. There are two points in short, non-distractiveness, not meditating, that's easy isn’t it?

It’s difficult to meditate isn’t it? I have to visualise the deity and its moving all over the place and I can’t do it. It very difficult visualisation because the deities' head falls off or the legs move around. When I’m thinking of the arms the legs disappear and the colour doesn’t come right and its mouth is all twisted it is really difficult to visualise.

If one is meditating and thinking I need the clarity I need to be vast open mind I need to have this now and that is very difficult also isn’t it? You don’t need all that, you don’t need anything, just leave the mind resting naturally. If one can rest the mind naturally that’s the best meditation. Non-meditation is the supreme meditation

The Buddha said that all of the sentient beings possess Buddha Nature, because of this all beings processing the Buddha Nature they have this natural purity, peacefulness and power. We all have that, we all possess that. It is not that we don't have it and at some point in the future we’re praying to get it. We already have it we possess it already, we just rest naturally. We can rest the mind naturally because we are already in possession of the qualities so we don’t have to get them. That is why we can rest naturally, it's just like that.

You don’t have to look in the front and to the side and think what is going on? One doesn’t need to do anything; you don’t have to think is it clear? Is it vast? Is it good? You don’t have to have all these ideas about it, if you are sitting there thinking clear, clear, relax, relax, you will just get more and more tight won’t you.

One doesn’t entertain all these ideas of hope and fear one thinks I am going to practice the shinay to the best of my ability, if it’s a good meditation that fine if it a bad meditation that’s fine, whatever happens, happens. If I make a mistake in meditation or not that’s fine. If I go to the Hell Realms or become enlightened its fine, whatever happens let it happen.

If I am meditating or not meditating it's fine, if I go on a mistaken path or not then that’s fine. At the actual time one is meditating then one does not have to entertain hope or fear, this is the way one has the mind when in meditation practice, without hope and fear. But generally speaking, when one is not in the meditation practice one has to feel I take refuge in the Buddha, the Three Jewels and I have to rely on a perfect path, I have to give up negativity. I need to have compassion for the sentient beings. I have to generate virtue. One has that when one is not in the Meditation State, but when one is in the actual practice of resting naturally one does not have to entertain anything about hope and fear.

Whenever we have a session of practice, we think I will perform this practice to the best of my ability. If one rests one's mind naturally one doesn’t have to think about am I one pointed or have I got the mindfulness or where is the mindfulness. One doesn’t have to think like that. If one has the non-distractedness with the relaxed mind then naturally the mindfulness and the one pointed mind will arise. If one has the mindfulness first, non-distraction, and the one pointedness will come with it, the three will come together.

As beginners it won’t be easy for us to be like that, we won’t be able to achieve it for a long time, two for three seconds it will last, maybe ten seconds. If one can manage one minute of non-distracted meditation that is fine, it is possible that some people can sit for five minutes. You can’t say that everybody is of the same type, everybody has a different experience of that. For the majority of people though, normally they can’t rest in meditation for a long time. Now I'd like us to meditate together for a short while. Please keep your body straight and have a relaxed mind.

It’s finished. How was that? Does anyone have any questions?

Q. Is there an object of mindfulness?

A. At this moment there is not object for the mindfulness, one doesn’t have any idea of object, there is not even the idea I am not going to be distracted one just rests. There is no idea that there is an object that one is going to say to oneself, I am not going to be distracted from this, there is not an object at this moment.

Q. So how are we resting the mind?

A. Rest the mind naturally, without object. Just how the mind rests itself naturally leave it like that.

Q. What if thoughts arise, what do we do then?

A. You don’t have to do anything, if the thoughts come up they come, if they don’t come, they don’t come, and you don’t do anything. This is the meditation of Shinay without characteristics; with the meditation of Shinay with characteristics in some way you relate with the thoughts. I will explain that later.

Q. Do we have to look at a particular object?

A. You are not looking at any particular object. If you are looking straight ahead you still have a perception of everything that is around you. You are not looking at a particular thing, you can look at something if you want, but normally one doesn’t pick a particular object and stare at it one just rests the mind and perceives.

Q. [Inaudible]

A. When you are meditating it depends upon one's mindfulness. So whether there are thoughts or no thoughts the difference is whether one has mindfulness or not. We don’t say that if one has thoughts that is not meditating or if one has no thoughts that is meditating. We don’t say it like that, what we are saying is that the mindfulness is the key point here, whether one has mindfulness or not, not the presence or absence of thoughts.

Q. If one is just resting how can we have non-distraction?

A. If one is just resting naturally you are not distracted. If one is resting naturally then one has this idea of being in town, if at the time one is meditating and the thought of going to town arises, you have become distracted if you forget the feeling of "I am meditating". That is distraction.

A more correct way to say it is that one has a very subtle feeling that one is meditating, then if one has the idea of going to town arise, if one is not distracted by that then that thought hasn’t stopped you from meditating. We have this subtle idea that I am resting. The mindfulness doesn’t have to pinpoint on to something, why is it like this, it’s because the mind itself has a natural clarity like the flame of the candle. It has this clarity naturally with it we don’t need an object for that clarity to be with, it's just naturally arising, naturally present, it doesn’t depend on an object. If one doesn’t have a good understanding of this Shinay without characteristics then it is better to practice Shinay with characteristics.

Q. What is the difference between mindfulness and awareness?

A. The meaning is the same.

Q. How do we deal with the various experiences that can arise which are not just like thoughts of going to town?

A. If you have an experience then one can look at the experience itself undistractedly. It is possible to be non-distracted with the experience, if one rests ones mind naturally, then naturally you will have the clarity and bliss, most people will experience some bliss at some point.

Q. Sometime I sort of experience fear though?

A. For beginners that can happen, one can experience fear and that’s not bad.

Q. Initially I experienced restfulness, then I had sleepiness.

A. As a beginner, then these kinds of experiences will arise, you will feel like this, this is not a problem do not worry about it if one starts to feel sleepy. One looks at that itself directly, that feeling of sleepiness that becomes one's support for the mindfulness this actual feeling of the sleepiness. That would be good wouldn't it? You can look at that support when you are falling asleep. The mind that is non-distracted with the idea of falling asleep, if you are not distracted when you eventually go to sleep the sleeping becomes like Shinay. If you can accomplish this, the mindfulness with the sleeping then if you sleep a lot it will be very good for you won’t it? But if one hasn’t got mindfulness when one is asleep then it is a lot of wasted hours, generally you can apply this kind of technique.

Q. Are we trying to rest our mind in its natural essence?

A. You don’t have this specific idea of thinking that I have to look at the awareness or where is it? Is it there or not? You don’t have to look around one for that one just has natural arising awareness, just rest the mind. You are not doing anything you are not looking for anything you’re not inspecting it one just rests. So if one rests the mind, the awareness will arise naturally.

Q. There's no need to look at the awareness

A. Just relax, just relax, that’s all, mindfulness, awareness will naturally come.

Q. If you are doing that meditation and you realise that the body has leaned over to one side, do you just bring it back up straight?

A. Yes of course yes.