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vision of the breath. Visualize it like a tiny white rainbow. The visual is to enable
you to concentrate properly. Gently, you inhale and exhale a long breath. This will
make the mind more relaxed, and clearer.
(Q): In the Pujas, there is the dissolving phase where the Buddha dissolves into
oneself. Should one do this phase of the meditation and still be very much concen-
trated on the breath?
(A): These are two different kinds of meditations. The Shi'nay meditation where
we are concentrating on the breath and counting each breath is one type of medita-
tion. The various Sadhana practices following the meditation texts, where the Bud-
dha dissolves into oneself, Chenrezig for example, are an entirely different type of
meditation.
(Q): Do I count the breath during the dissolving phase in the practice on Chen-
rezig as when I feel that my mind becomes active then I concentrate on the
breath?
(A): When you are doing the Sadhana practice, then you are not doing the
breath-counting practice. You don't do the two together. Are you doing that?
How can you concentrate on the breath when you are visualizing on Chenrezig, or
reciting the mantra?
Suppose you are doing the Chenrezig practice. You visualize Chenrezig. Then you
recite the mantra, and concentrate on Om Mani Padme Hung. After, during the
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completion stage, you visualize that the body absorbs the lotus moon seat, and
then the body is absorbed by itself. That is the procedure.
(Q): I did not count then, but just concentrate on the breath.
(A): After the dissolving, when you are into the Dzogrim phase of the prac-
tice, you can then concentrate on the breath. In other words, when the Sadhana
part of the practice is finished, then you can focus on the breath. That would
be good. But don't do the two practices together.
(Q): When we are practicing Shi'nay and Prostrations, is it possible that our
mind will react with some strange emotions because of this re-education?
(A): Mind is empty. In an empty mind, you can learn everything comforta-
bly. If it were not empty then every time you learn something new, it'd be like
adding more things to the mind, like packing many things into a suitcase,
compressing them. If you regard your mind as a substantial thing, then of
course, when you add the many, many things into it, it just might bust. How-
ever, because mind is empty, there is no problem. You can change the con-
cepts any way you'd like.
Don't think of your mind as a machine. Many westerners regard mind like an
electronic device, isn't that true? You think that when you are thinking, you
are sending something from your brain. You think that is how your thinking
works. That concept is your habit now, inaccurate as it may be with respect to
the nature of mind. There is no transmission of energy involved when you are
learning something, neither is there anything that is absorbed by your mind.
Thinking, or learning does not happen like that with the mind.
Mind is unobstructed, very spacious and very clear. In that clarity, you will
know everything. There is nothing in mind that you can specifically identify as
a form of light, or as magnetic energy that could be recharged. This is very im-
portant to know.
(Q): I have practiced Shi'nay for a long time now, and I did practice as you
advised about counting the breaths. I also know another technique where one
just looks at the sensation of the breath at the tip of the nose where it comes in
and out. However, both techniques did not work very well for me. Instead, I
can count the breath very well when I concentrate on the movements of the
belly. However, you told us that it is not correct to do so. Still I wonder what is
wrong with this technique? When I concentrate on this in and out movement
of my belly, my mind gets really calm. But now it seems that I am doing some-
thing wrong.
(A): To concentrate on the belly is not recommended. You may get some
feeling but it is just your feeling. However, it will not create the real concentra-
tion power. Moreover, to concentrate on some sensation is very, very wrong.
The sensation will soon become an artificial sensation, and that is not good.
You must follow the technique as I've taught in the last few days. You will de-
rive two benefits from it: it gives positive stimulation to the body system and it
trains your mind to keep the concentration. The focus on the belly, and other
sensations, I think, are found in the Hindu traditions.
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(Q): From the Theravada, Arya Khema.
(A): I think it is a westernized Theravada then. There are many westernized
Theravada and Hinduism.
Here in the West, people attend seminars everywhere. They also read all kinds
of books and they listen to everything. Then, they mix everything together. This
is how people get very confused by the various Dharma subjects. It is better to
follow properly. If you bring all kinds of concepts into the Dharma, you will be
totally confused.
Rightly, it is the Dharma that could clear up the confusion of sentient beings.
But if you read all kinds of Dharma books and bring all the concepts together
all at once, then you are in effect, creating extra confusion Dharma confusion.
In the Theravada, the Bodhisattvayana, and the Vajrayana, the one and same
principle of Shi'nay is taught. True, there are varieties of Shi'nay but none sub-
scribe to building up sensations, or belly moving. This form of Shi'nay has
never existed in the Buddha's teachings. You may feel calm, but it is not the
true calm. It will never reduce the thoughts. Moreover, the result of Shi'nay
does not depend on what you feel at one moment. Your temporarily feeling
comfortable or not does not attest to the success of Shi'nay, or to the lack of it.
The evidence of Shi'nay achievement comes through your achieving freedom of
mind as I taught in the last few days total freedom, that's the result of Shi'nay.
(Q): From my experience, this is a kind of concept, and then you have expe-
riences and sensations. For me, the way to deal with this feeling is just to let go,
to recognize there is a concept, there is a sensation, and to go beyond it. There
is a kind of clinging, or identification with the sensational experience.
(A): No, it depends on which meditation you are doing. If you are doing the
mindfulness meditation, then you concentrate only on mind. You are ever mind-
ful of the view that a thought has no shape, size, etc. Any thought that arises
then you implement that view on it. This is the analytical way where you exam-
ine every thought whether it has a color, or shape, where does the thought
come from, and where it goes. You simply examine each thought.
There is another way, and it is resting the mind. Any thought that appears, you
are aware of it. That's all. But it is a different meditation.
Right now, we are training the mind by Shi'nay. While you are concentrating
on your breath and counting, you are aware of any thought that arises. Be aware
of any rising thought, and do not follow it. Simply come back to the point of fo-
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