Transform Adversity Into The Path Of Bodhi | Atisha's 7-Point Mind Training

"When beings and the world are filled with evil, transform unfavorable circumstances into the path of bodhi." - Atisha. Unconsciousness is the greatest evil that is the root cause of all misery of this world. When you come across unconsciousness, meditate to transform it into an opportunity to become more aware and silent.

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Join me in a 30 min LIVE meditation session every day at 7 AM CET on my website.

Transcript

Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily morning live meditation session with me,

Dhyansay.

30 minutes every morning with me towards spirituality into meditation is going to take you one step closer to where you should be in life.

Not towards what you desire,

What you want,

But towards where you should be,

What brings you inner peace,

What brings you more joy,

What brings you happiness,

And what puts your life slightly back in order towards more light,

More awareness,

More silence.

In this series,

We are currently going through the 7 point mind training given by Atisha.

It's a part of a Tibetan Buddhist practice as well.

What we are learning is how not only to train our mind,

But also how to open our heart and how to unleash our spirit towards love,

Compassion,

Awareness and silence.

We are on pillar number 3.

Point number 3,

We are going to start today.

Now on this path,

Several things happen.

Atisha in point number 3 is telling us what to do when things happen on this path.

This point number 3 is entirely dedicated towards uprising yourself out of adversity,

Out of bad conditions,

Out of misery,

And uplift yourself towards the path of awakening,

Towards the path of consciousness.

Let us hear what Atisha has to say first and then we'll dive into it.

Atisha says,

When beings and the world are filled with evil,

Transform unfavorable circumstances into the path of bodhi.

Drive all blame into one.

Be grateful to everyone.

The unsurpassable protection of emptiness is to see the manifestations of bewilderment as the four kayas.

An excellent means is to have the four provisions.

In order to bring any situation to the path quickly as soon as it is met,

Join it with meditation.

Meditation is transformation.

Transformation does not happen without any effort.

You can see this in your life if you are facing some challenge,

If you are in a situation,

Either good or bad.

The nature of that situation does not change for you,

It does not transform for you on its own.

Especially when you are in a situation which is difficult,

The conditions are bad,

The winds are against you,

Then you need transformation.

Then you need an effort,

Then you need a process to pull yourself out of that situation and rise above that situation.

And that transformation is what meditation offers.

That energy,

That space,

That wisdom of transformation is what meditation offers on this entire path towards spirituality,

Towards raising one's consciousness.

Atisha says,

When beings and the world are filled with evil,

Transform unfavorable circumstances into the path of bodhi.

Several things I would like to highlight here.

When beings and the world are filled with evil.

Now imagine this sutra was given several hundreds of years ago.

Even at that time,

The idea of evil was there.

Even today,

The evil is there.

What is this evil?

I would like us to understand what is this evil that we have been facing throughout centuries and as humanity for thousands of years.

It has always been there.

Is this something that is supposed to end at some point of time?

Is this something that is not a part of the realm of our experience or shouldn't be a part of the realm of our experience?

What is this evil?

What is this evil that we have been fighting throughout centuries,

Generations,

In all different ways,

Through religion,

Through spirituality,

Through science,

Through all sorts of ways we have been fighting this evil in us,

In the world.

What is this evil?

There are two states of this existence.

To me,

There are only these two states of this existence.

One is the conscious and the other is unconscious.

Which is,

In a way,

One realm of existence,

But you can divide this into two if you like.

It's easier to understand this realm of existence into two,

Which is the conscious and the unconscious.

This unconscious is what creates this sense of evil,

Which creates all the problems,

Which creates all the trouble,

All the trouble in your life,

All the misery in your life.

If you see,

If you analyze,

If you observe it,

You will see its arising out of the unconscious.

Not just for one person as an individual,

For us collectively as humanity,

For collectively as aliveness,

As this existence.

The source of all misery in our experience is this unconsciousness,

Which can be called as evil.

And throughout the centuries and different civilizations came in and went by and new civilizations came in,

The whole effort was to uprise the consciousness,

Move more towards the conscious than the unconscious,

Which creates the experience of bliss,

Of all the pleasantness and takes us away out of the miseries,

Out of the evil.

So,

Aatishya says,

When beings in the world are filled with evil,

Which means when everything around you is surrounded with unconsciousness,

It might be that you are in a situation where people around you are more unconscious than they should be,

When everything around you is favoring the evil,

Is favoring the unconsciousness or is in unconsciousness,

Transform these circumstances into the path of Bodhi.

Meaning,

Take all these opportunities,

All these situations also as an opportunity to move towards consciousness,

To move towards Bodhi,

To move towards intelligence,

Buddhi.

And how do you do that?

Through meditation.

This transformation happens through meditative awareness,

Meditative silence.

You need these two instruments,

The awareness to see,

To recognize this unconsciousness,

This act of unconsciousness and silence to absorb it.

To absorb it,

To not respond to it,

To not let it overpower you and allow the consciousness to rise further up.

You can take a simpler example in your daily life when anger arises in you.

Where does it arise?

It arises in the unconscious.

It comes,

It creates destruction,

But it arises in the unconscious.

I am reminded of Gurdjieff.

He was a great master who gave this humanity also all the tools to uplift the consciousness.

And he was taught a very powerful formula by his father when he was a very small kid,

I think he was 10 or 11 years of age.

His father told him,

Son,

I don't have riches to give you,

But there is something I would like to tell you which you should always keep and apply in your life,

Always keep this tool with you throughout your life.

And that is,

If someone creates anger in you,

Don't respond for the next 24 hours.

And afterwards,

Whatever you feel like,

Go and do that.

Gurdjieff followed that advice throughout his life and it not only transformed him,

But it empowered him to transform others,

To bring this secret formula to others.

It's no secret,

But it's very,

Very powerful to apply this in one's life when anger arises or any other unconscious energy arises in you.

Observe.

Observe and be silent.

When that observation allows you to understand the source of this energy,

It allows you to see the pattern in your mind.

And that silence gives you that anchor to absorb that and let that pass.

That's the transformation which can take you from the unconscious to the path of bodhi,

To the path of awareness,

To the path of consciousness.

With that,

Let us close our eyes and contemplate on this sutra for the next few minutes before we sit in silence for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Close your eyes and sit in an upright posture,

In a posture that is comfortable for your body.

And allows you a few moments of going inwards with awareness,

Away from all different directions,

Moving inwards towards your inner space.

Let's close our eyes and let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Opening up your consciousness,

Resting your body,

And calming your mind.

Notice how are you feeling right now.

Your inner sensations.

Are you feeling hot or cold?

Rested or restless?

Is there any pain or your body is at ease?

Become aware of how you're feeling right now.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Use whichever state you are in to move towards more silence,

More awareness.

Don't wait for a perfect situation,

A perfect mindset,

A perfect body.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Every moment.

Every moment.

Move towards light.

Move towards more awareness,

More silence.

Move towards more awareness,

More silence.

Follow the awareness.

Follow the silence.

Use every circumstance,

Every moment to move towards more consciousness,

More silence.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

If the body is in pain,

Use the pain to become more aware.

If the mind is restless,

Observe this restlessness.

Use the mind,

Use this restlessness to become more aware.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Whatever arises in your consciousness,

Transform that to move towards light,

Towards silence,

Towards awareness.

Let go of all effort and simply remain silent and aware for the next couple of minutes.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

Let's take a few more minutes of going inwards.

And very gently and slowly you may open your eyes.

While maintaining this sense of awareness,

This sense of silence,

And this inner transformation to take every moment,

To take every circumstance,

To take every energy that you come across and transform this towards light,

Towards the path of becoming more aware and becoming more silent.

Practice less for today and I'll see you tomorrow.

Namaste.

Reviews

A bit more talking than I like, but the rhythm and information was helpful. Thank you.

Powerful. Thank you 🙏🏼

Amazing how he he transformed a single statement into an entire 30-minute meditation practice. Very calm and peaceful

Thank you 💙🙏💙