Through a Glass Clearly
By Michael Erlewine
Ven. Khenpo Thrangu Rinpoche wrote:
“What is the nature of this thought that arises from within coemergent mind? “
“It is an emptiness that cannot be identified or fixed as this or that. The thought is vivid and clear, and the clarity of that thought is inseparable from its emptiness. The luminous aspect of thought and the emptiness that is its nature are inseparable. “
“When this thought arises without any obstruction, and the meditator does not become attached to it, that’s Shamata. When the meditator sees that this thought has no nature of its own, that’s Vipashyana. To accomplish the meditation fully, Shamata and Vipashyana must be completely integrated.”
End of quote.
As mentioned, Shamata and Vipassana are connate. They arise together as one, a unity.
When I first experienced this, I was stunned. I never took to Shamata, which for me was the instruction to focus on a pebble, a twig, or a spot on the wall. Of course, I tried to do just that, but nothing ever came of it. In fact, I did this for 32 years and still had nothing to write home about.
And then, one year, one of the worst of my life, I was, along with hundreds of other folks, let go, laid off, or essentially fired from my job, the only way I had to support my family. I was dejected to say the least. I was inconsolable to myself, because I was the provider for the family and suddenly, nada. I was not. I did not take this calmly.
In fact, I went out into Mother Nature, in the fields and streams, and watched the sun come up each morning for six months straight. And I took my camera with me, and you could find me just outside of town, crawling around on my belly in the dew and wet morning grass peering through a camera lens at whatever plant or critter I could find. And then one day, one single day a life, a marvelous thing happened.
There I was, on my belly, peering through a very fine macro lens at a little flower and in an instant, I was no longer seeing that flower through my lens but instead I was seeing the Seeing itself. In that moment, as the poet said, “The dewdrop slipped into the shining sea.” I was one with the Seeing seeing itself.
Of course, words cannot express this.
I relate this here because in that moment, not only was I experiencing what is called Vipassana (Insight Meditation) but simultaneously with that the Shamata (Tranquility Meditation) that had never worked for me was suddenly present to the complete degree.
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This is to say that Shamata and Vipassana are connate. They appear together to an equal degree and they did. You can’t have one without the other if you are doing Mahamudra. And despite 32 years of no success with Shamata, at that moment Shamata was fully present along with Vipassana. Wham!
And because of that moment, for the rest of the summer, until the frost and ice drove me inside, I spent every morning when it didn’t rain out there in the grassy fields watching the sun rise and learning to manage Insight Meditation. It changed me forever and has never left me.
[Midjourney graphic prompted by me.]
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As Bodhicitta is so precious,
May those without it now create it,
May those who have it not destroy it,
And may it ever grow and flourish.
