Topic: Becoming a Stable Vessel

[Firestarter]

Becoming a Stable Vessel

~Rob Preece

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In order to integrate the process involved in practicing Tantra it is important to have a sound and stable identity. When water is poured into a clay pot that is cracked or has not been fired properly, the pot will not be able to contain the liquid. The water may eventually weaken and destroy the pot. In a similar way, the practice of Tantra requires a vessel that will remain stable and be able to contain the process. A grounded, healthy identity will remain stable as the process of transformation unfolds. This may sound obvious, but some of those who become involved in exotic or spiritual practices do so from an unstable psychological basis, and are therefore unsuited to the practice of Tantra.

Unless they have considerable experience of Western students, Eastern teachers are often unaware of how much emotional wounding we suffer. They usually assume we have well-established, strong egos, and speak of abandoning or surrendering the ego and its related self-oriented egotism as the root of misery in our lives. However, this teaching requires the student to have a healthy ego and sense of self-worth that has become a solid center of identity. When the occasional Westerner becomes psychologically unstable thru practicing Tantra, Eastern teachers often dont know how to deal with it.

Perhaps the most common misconception among westerners is that Buddhism aims to negate the ego. This is a misunderstanding of emptiness and egolessness, which is more subtle than simply meaning we have no ego. This misunderstanding generally arises fro a failure to recognize the difference between relative and ultimate truth. The object of emptiness is not to negate the existence of the ego on a relative level, but to cut thru the ego-grasping (Tib. dagdzin), which holds the ego to be a solid self-existent entity, an ultimate truth. When we erroneously negate the relative self, we are in danger of becoming nihilistic. If we are to function normally in a relative world, we need a stable sense of ego-identity, a focus of awareness that cognizes, filters, and understands the events of the day, both inner and outer. This enables even a highly evolved individual to say "I am eating" "I am sitting," and so on. This "I" is a valid relative truth. Without it we can have severe psychological problems, and even go into psychosis, where our normal sense of self is flooded by material coming from the unconscience.

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So all understand I do understand the difference, its not about killing the 'ego' or whatnot, but about stopping the ego from clinging or grasping

A HUGE difference.

[Firestarter]

"The ego has two dimensions, which for most of us are not differentiated. One is healthy; the other is emotionally wounded. Problems arise when the ego is damaged thru traumatic experiences particularly in childhood. Ego-identity gradually becomes overwhelmed by layer upon layer of emotionally held beliefs about the sense of "I" or "me." These are often painful wounds that we cling to and believe to be real and solid. We become fearful for our safety, and feel we are bad, worthless, unlovable and so on. We cling to this core traumatized sense of "I" as absolute and permanent, and experience a powerful emotional feeling of "I" as bad, worthless, and so on. This is emotional tone of ego-grasping which we instictively cling to as though it were real and absolute." Rob Preece

[Firestarter]

Another way in which the ego becomes damaged has less to do with being wounded, and more to do with how it is formed. This often occurs in early infancy when a normal sense of identity fails to develop. In the normal infant-mother relationship, a protects unfolds, that enables the infant over time to become aware as a separate identity. Slowly this consolidates a sense of "I" and "other" that gradually stabilizes, giving a clear feeling if identity. Individuals who fail to develop this because of a dysfunction in the maternal relationship often feel they are losing their sense of self and disappearing. They ma have terrifying feelings of annihilation, as though they were on the edge of a black hole. These feelings can arose both when alone and in a relationship to others.

A spiritual practice that negates the ego is not the answer when the ego has failed to form in this way, as egolessness and emptiness are not useful concepts, when there is no solid sense of self in the first place. There are people who enter a spiritual practice such as Tantra in the belief that it will help solve this problem, but psychotherapy would be more uselful for them first, to prepare the ground for later spiritual practice."~Rob Preece

[Firestarter]

The practice of Tantra therfore requires a well-formed, stable sense of self, which for most people means few problems will arise. This stable identity provides the necessary foundation to practice, and gives an appropriate vessel to contain the experience of the tantric processes. Milarepa, a renowed figure in Tibetan Buddhism, once said , "It is easy to meditate on the sky, but not so easy to meditate upon the clouds.'" He was implying to understand the spacious nature of emptiness is not difficult; the difficulty is in understanding how conventional forms such as the ego exist.

In the sixties, Zen was perhaps the most familiar Buddhist tradition in the West, Zen emphasizes viewing reality from the perspective of ultimate truth as a negation of false conceptions about reality. In this view there is no ego, no path, no person. It is the path of no practice, no goal. However, it is easy to misunderstand Zen, and to think that because thereis no ego, there is no personal responsibility, either, no matter what may happen. Sadly, this misinterpertation of one of the essential aspects of Buddhist thought can lead to much confusion. We need to establish the ego before we negate it, or we negate the wrong thing. ~Rob Preece                                                 
 

[erik]

Ellen, you cite various sources massively, but what do you do in practice to really become a stable vessel?

[Firestarter]

meditate, read and absorb in the dharma, go walking outside, do art, and cook!

[erik]

meditate, read and absorb in the dharma, go walking outside, do art, and cook!

What sort of meditations do you do? What sort of Lamrim do you follow? Is there a clearly defined sequence of meditations?

[Firestarter]

I told you Lamrim Chenmo, but I still do straight up zazen cause its effective.

I chant mantras as well. For this now im concentrating on attaining bodhicitta mind.

[erik]

I told you Lamrim Chenmo.

Yes, I remember that. I thought you might give an outline of how it is structured and what it focuses on.

[Firestarter]

I will when I can. I cant type as well since going on meds. Lam btw way and rim means stages. So it mean stages of the path, for the record.

[erik]

Ok, it's fine. There's no hurry. Take all the time you need.

[Firestarter]

"The Dalai Lama once said that a bodhisattva- one who aspires to rescue all beings from the ocean of suffering thru becoming a Buddha-must have a huge ego. He was, of course, koking, but his point was to contemplate becoming a bodhisattva requires a strong sense of personal identity. What the bodhisattva does not do is to cling to the identity as an ultimate truth. The ego-grasping that leads to inflated omnipotent is entirely absent. This is the principle behind the bodhisattva, although in practice the human, predisposition to cling to a sense of "I" may still be subtly present.

Understanding the need for a stable yet relatively true identity is extremely important in the practice of Tantra. Like many esoteric practices, Tantra requires the establishment of a solid basis sufficient to stabilize and ground experiences. Without it there is the danger that as the forces of the psyche are released and transformed there is no vessel to contain them. Rather than being able to integrate them, those liberated forces will make us increasingly disoriented and unable to maintain a normal, functional life, like a lightning rod with no ground wire connected to the earth. In extreme cases, powerful experiences can disrupt the normal sense of identity, bringing about disorientation close to psychosis." Rob Preece

[Firestarter]

When entered skillfully, Tantra is a vast resource with many profound approaches to transformation, and practicing this path can be deeply integrating experience. The dangers mentioned can be avoided so long as a 'balanced lifestyle' is maintained and a healthy practical basis so life is kept that the transformation process has a grounded form to which to manifest. I have heard my own teacher, Labal Thuben Yeshe, say many times, "You be practical" when we tend to get caught in idealistic fantasy. another highly venerated old Lama, Song Rinpoche, was clear in his pragmatism. During an initiation of many Westerners into a highest deity, he stated that first we needed to get our livelihood together, then build the foundations, He would then gladly, "Open the door to Vajrayana."

[erik]

I'd still be interested in hearing your explication of Lamrim you study.
How is zen meditation structured, how do you do it?

[Firestarter]

I'd still be interested in hearing your explication of Lamrim you study.
How is zen meditation structured, how do you do it?

Zen meditation isnt structured for myself. I sit in zazen position and do no-thing. Lamrim, whilst involves meditation of course, the Lamrim Chenmo, its bedrock as I said is bodhicitta mind. It also goes over the bodhisattva vows, its more designed for the bodhisattva, whereas zen is more geared for individual liberation, esp. rinzai zen which I was initially studying before attempting to study this view of buddhism.

Like I said, im still learning, so not qualified yet to speak on it. I havent taken the vows, cause I wont take vows unless im certain I wont break them, I see vows as statements for life.