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Unfortunately, people sometimes yearn for the extraordinary. Some expect the divine to come down from above and endow them with special powers. Others think that by forcing a certain experience forth in their minds to intoxicate themselves with, they can be high all the time, drugged on Dharma practice. Such types run around with their eyes turned heavenwards, not looking at the same level as normal people anymore, thinking they are tremendously special.

Some people, when they get into an altered state of meditation, think that the very subtle forms of the three poisons which are known as the experiences of bliss, clarity and nonthought, are actually realization. Many people get stuck in their beliefs.

When you start having clear dreams, the demons will take advantage of you. They will come and act as if they are messengers of buddhas, bodhisattvas and deities. They can lead you astray in all sorts of different ways. Do not attach any importance to these temporay experiences, not at all. There is only one thing to be confident in: the true state of realization that is unchanging like space. Understanding this is of utmost importance.

To be discouraged because nothing extraordinary has happened since you began practicing is missing the point. Renunciation is the true sign of accomplishment, blessing and realization. In other words, there is a natural disenchantment with samsaric attainments, with any samsaric state.

Some people believe that they should just keep on meditating, and someday their egg will hatch and they will fly out of the shell and ascend to a completely different level. Actually, it’s not like that at all. We should not think, “The awakened state must be something really special. If I practice this long enough, one day a door will open and I will see it and all the qualities will pour into me.” It’s pointless to have this kind of attitude.

If we really want something spectacular, we will indeed have opportunities for that, in what is called the ‘temporary meditation moods’ of bliss, clarity and nonthought. These can occur, but such sensational experiences do not help to cut through thoughts. On the contrary, they generate even more fixation because we start to think, “Wow! What is that? This must be it!”. Many subsequent thoughts arise in response to the fascination with these experiences.

As I mentioned before, realization involves a process called recognizing, training and attaining stability. It’s similar to planting the seed of a flower. You plant it, water it and finally it grows up and blossoms. We are not like Garab Dorje, who, at the very instant of having mind nature pointed out, became a fully enlightened buddha without having undergone any training whatsoever. The moment of recognizing mind essence free from thought is like holding an authentic flower-seed in your hand and being certain of what it is. That itself is the self-existing wakefulness, the source of buddhahood. Enlightenment does not come from some other place.

We have the preconceived idea or expectation that rigpa should be powerful, something much more extravagant, incredibly blissful, with clarity in all directions, totally free of thought, some sort of fantastic experience. While the awakened state of rigpa is plain and simple, lucid, present, and undisturbed, we refuse to acknowledge that it is actually rigpa, because it is not fascinating enough.

Pasages from: As It Is Vol. 2, by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, p. 153-156

Posted for educational/informationsl purposes only.