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DEVELOPING BALANCED SENSITIVITYPractical Buddhist Exercises for Daily Life

Alexander Berzin

www.berzinarchives.comTable of ContentsPreface to the First Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

PART I: DEALING CONSTRUCTIVELY WITH SENSITIVITY

ISSUES

1 Identifying Sensitivity Imbalances

What Is Sensitivity?

Exercise 1: Identifying Sensitivity ImbalancesForms of Hypersensitivity

Manifestations of Insensitivity

2 Quieting the Mind and Generating CareFeasibility of Improvement

Required Skills

MeditationBasic Approach

Order of PracticeRational and Intuitive Approaches

Abbreviating the Training

Posture

Initial Procedures for Each Training SessionProcedures for Each Part of an Exercise

Concluding Procedures for Each Training Session

Nonlinear ProgressExercise 2: Creating a Quiet, Caring Space

Creating a Quiet Mental Space

Creating a Caring Space

1The common view of Daoism is that it encourages people to live with detachment

and calm, resting in nonaction and smiling at the vicissitudes of the world. Most

people assume that Daoists are separate from the human community, not antisocial

or asocial but rather supra-social and often simply different. Daoists neither criticize

society nor support it by working for social change, but go along with the flow of the

cosmos as it moves through them. They are not much concerned with rules and the

proprieties of conduct, which they leave to the Confucians in the Chinese tradition.

Versetul ICuvantul Tao" poate fi rostit, ins acesta nu este Tao cel venic.Numele su poate fi numit, ins acesta nu este numele venic.Ceea ce nu are nume este inceputul Cerului i al Pmantului; ceeace are nume este obaria celor zece mii de fiine i lucruri"1.De aceea, cel ce nu are niciodat dorine, ii va cuprinde taina, iarcel mereu impovrat de dorine ii va zri hotarul numai.

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Aceste dou lucruri au aprut dimpreun, ins au numiri ce sedeosebesc le voi numi laolalt adanci". Mai adanci decat adanculinsui: poarta ctre noianul de taine.1 wanwu, cele zece mii de fiine i lucruri", reprezint totalitatea fiinelor ilucrurilor din Cosmos; uneori, termenul desemneaz numai fiinele vii sauexclusiv fiinele umane.

5

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Versetul II

Pe Pmant toi tiu c frumosul este frumos, astfel devine el urat!Toi tiu c bunul este bun: iat cum devine el potrivnicul su!Prin urmare, fiina i nefiina se nasc una pe cealalt, ceea ce esteanevoios i ceea ce este lesnicios se alctuiesc reciproc, ceea ce este lungi ceea ce este scurt se desluesc unul prin cellalt, ceea ce este sus i ceeace este jos se sprijin unul pe cellalt, sunetele creeaz laolalt muzica iarceea ce gsete inainte i ceea ce se afl inapoi ii fac loc unul altuia.De aceea Omul Sfant infptuiete lucrrile ce aparin non-aciuniii furete invtura dat fr vorbe. Cele zece mii de fiine i lucruri"propesc iar el nu se pune in calea lor; le nate, ins nu caut s lestpaneasc; le creeaz, ins nu atarn de ele; ii desvarete lucrarea,ins nu o ia in stpanire: numai i numai pentru c nu o ia in stpanire,

meritul su rmane cu el.Versetul IIIDac nu-i vom mai venera pe cei vrednici i virtuoi, ii vom facepe oameni s nu mai lupte pentru mrire.Dac nu vom mai preui obiectele greu de cptat, ii vom face peoameni s nu se mai dedea talhriei; dac nu vom lsa vederii obiecte lacare se poate ravni, vom face ca sufletele oamenilor s nu mai fietulburate.Prin urmare, iat cum va carmui Omul Sfant: va seca inimile i va

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umple pantecele; va domoli poftele i va intri oasele; va face mereu caoamenii s nu aib tiin i s nu aib pofte; ii va face pe cei invai snu se incumete a fptui.Slujete-te de non-aciune i astfel nu va mai fi nimic neranduitcum se cuvine.6Versetul VIIIBuntatea desvarit se asemuiete apei: apa aduce de bun voievoie folos celor zece mii de fiine i lucruri" i nu caut a lupta cuacestea. Ea se gsete in locurile pe care oamenii de rand le ursc, iat dece apa se inrudete cu Tao.Printre oameni, s fim modeti; gandurile s ne fie adanci; sslujim fiinele, cu buntate; vorba s ne fie neprefcut; cand carmuimara, s aducem pacea; cand randuim lucrurile, s fim destoinici; sinfptuim fiecare lucru la vremea cuvenit.Numai i numai din pricin c nu lupt, iat de ce apa este frpcat.Versetul IXA pzi cu strnicie bunuri i a le spori nu este mai presus de ainceta la vremea cuvenit. Ingrijind de sbii i ascuindu-le nu le vomputea avea la venicie. Cand aurul i jadul umplu odile, nu se va puteagsi nimeni care s le poat strjui. Cunoscand indestularea i mrirea, dete vei arta trufa, tu singur ii vei pricinui prpdul.Desvarindu-i lucrarea, numele tu se va face cunoscut, iar tus te retragi -- acesta este Tao al Cerului.12

The Mahayana Councils and theSutras, Tantras and Shastras

The Mahayana Councils and theSutras, Tantras and Shastras

The Mahayana Councils and the Sutras, Tantras and Shastras

How the Bodhisattvas authentically preserved the Buddha's Teachings

by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

This history of the three councils actually relates more directly to the way in which

the Hinayana teachings were preserved, particularly, the hinayana tradition of theVinaya.

But a similar councils occurred in the Mahayana tradition. Some time after the

passing away of the Buddha, one million bodhisattvas met together under the

leadership of the three great bodhisattvas Vajrapani, Maitreya and Manjushri on the

top of mount Vimalasvabhava, which lies south of Rajagriha in southern India.

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All the teachings of the Buddha were also collected in the three same sections of

Sutras, Vinaya, and Abhidharma. The bodhisattva Vajrapani recited the Sutras. The

bodhisattva Maitreya recited the Vinaya, and the bodhisattva Manjushri recited the

Abhidharma. So in this meeting they also collected all the teachings of the Buddha

and classified them into these three main categories.

A similar thing took place with the Vajrayana teachings. The Buddha taught four

categories of tantras: the kriya tantra, the carya tantra, yoga tantra, and

anuttarayoga tantra.

With the lower three tantras, i. e. the kriya tantra, the carya tantra, and

yoga tantras there was a special meeting of all the bodhisattvas in the god realm to

gather all of these teachings led by Vajrapani. For this reason, in the vajrayana

tradition he is known as the Lord of Secrets, with secrets referring to the secret

mantra, that is, the vajrayana. How did he come to be the Lord of Secrets? First he

was the one who requested the Buddha to turn the profound Dharma wheel of the

tantras and then when it was turned, he was the most prominent of the disciples.

Later when there was this meeting of all the bodhisattvas to collect all the lower

tantras, Vajrapani was the leader of this gathering and it is through his action that

the tantras have been preserved up to now.

As far as the anuttarayoga tantras, the father tantras and mother tantras were

mostly requested and received by dakinis such as Vajrayogini, and it was also the

wisdom dakinis who collected and preserved these teachings. The Hevajra Tantra

was transmitted mostly to the bodhisattva Vajragarbha. He later on gathered the

teaching and transmitted them in their integrity.

The Kalachakra Tantra was transmitted mostly to the Dharma King Sucandra. He

was actually an emanation of Manjushri. He was the one who also kept the

teaching, collected them, and passed them on.

What follows is an explanation of the Sutras, Tantras and Shastras.

The Sutras

Now the first turning of teachings were given in Varanasi which you can visit in India

nowadays. The Buddha taught in the deer park (which is now called Sarnath) which

at the time was a very remote and very solitary place.9 After the Buddha reached

his enlightenment, he remained completely silent and didnt teach for seven weeks.The reason for this was to show that the Dharma is very rare, very special, very

valuable, and this is why the Buddha just remained silent for some time and until he

was

requested to teach. The request was made by many gods including Brahma.10

Having had the request to teach, the Buddha went to Varanasi and gave the

teachings in the deer park. He gave the teachings to five men who were called the

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five good followers who were connected by previous karma to the Buddha and who

through this link, were the first ones to receive his teaching.

The subject matter of this first turning of the wheel of Dharma was the teaching of

the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha expounding these Four Noble Truths to make it

very clear to all those who were going to follow the Buddhas path what theteaching was, why one needed to practice it, and what kind of results one could be

expected from the practice. So to clarify the path the Buddha laid it out in a very

clear form of the four truths.

He showed that if we dont practice the path of Dharma, we will wander on and on

in samsara, but if we practice the Dharma, we will gain the liberation of nirvana.

The Buddha first taught that suffering is inherent to samsara and that this is what

we must really overcome. Secondly, he taught that the cause of this suffering are

the disturbing emotions or kleshas and karma. To counteract samsara we must

engage in the aspect of nirvana which again has two parts. The third noble truth of

cessation or peace shows what we can achieve. Nirvana is cessation of suffering.And fourth the way to achieve this is the truth of the path.

Since samsara is by nature suffering, we have to go beyond samsara to eliminate

samsara. Since nirvana is peace, this is what we have to try to achieve. But

achieving nirvana and eliminating samsara can not be done automatically. So it is

done through working on the causes of these that we can achieve our goal. This is

why the Buddha expounded on the four truths in the form of causes and their

effects. The causes of the suffering of samsara are the disturbing emotions such as

lust, anger, and ignorance

and karma which need to be overcome. In the same way, the cause of peace andbliss of nirvana is the path which needs to be practiced.

So this is how the Buddha gave the whole outline of his teaching in the form of

these four truths. Within each aspect of samsara and nirvana, there is this causal

relationship between cause and effect. This series of teachings which began in

Varanasi were called the turning of the first wheel of dharma.

Later the Buddha taught the second wheel of Dharma at Vulture Peak in Rajagriha,

India.12 The people who were present during this teaching were arhats and

bodhisattvas in great numbers. The teaching itself was mostly the exposition of the

Prajnaparamita. This is when the Buddha gave the teachings on emptiness and onthe conduct of a bodhisattva through the teachings on the six paramitas. In the first

turning of the wheel of Dharma, the Buddha showed that one had to abandon

samsara to achieve nirvana. But how is this possible? Does it mean that we have to

go on a long journey to where we have never been before to find nirvana? Does it

mean that we have to create something new called nirvana? In fact, it doesnt mean

that at all. All it means is that we have to understand the actual nature of

phenomena13 that we have to understand that our present view of reality is

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mistaken, and we have to remove our impurities. And once we see things as they

really are, this is when we can achieve Buddhahood.

The third turning of the wheel of Dharma is also called the teachings that gave

complete clari-fication. These teachings were given in Shravasti and other places in

India in the presence of all the great bodhisattvas. These teaching revealed thatBuddha-nature is present in the mind of all beings. We may wonder why this was

taught last. The reason is that in the second

turning, the Buddha taught that everything was empty of inherent nature. This

teaching could lead to the belief that the goal of the Buddhist pathnirvanais

actually simply complete emptiness or annihilation. To avoid this mistake, the

Buddha gave this third set of teachings showing that the mind is not just

nothingness. When one achieves Buddhahood, the original intrinsic luminosity of

the mind becomes manifest. This luminosity or clarity of the mind means that the

mind is not a dark, obscure thing by nature, but it has its own inherent, intelligent

clarity. Once one has removed the veils, the thick shroud of ignorance, the inherentclarity of the mind, this brilliance of the intelligence of mind, will shine in its fullness.

Once this clarity of the mind has manifest, then one can understand all things of

nirvana and samsara very clearly. One has the understanding of phenomena and

this knowledge is accompanied by the greatest of bliss and peace.

The Tantras

The three turnings of the wheel of Dharma that have just been described

correspond to the sutras taught of the Buddha. The Buddha also taught the tantras

which are the teachings of the vajrayana. The Buddha gave four tantras: the kriya

tantras, the carya tantras, the yoga tantras, and the anuttarayoga tantras.

These teachings were given in many places. Sometimes the Buddha gave these

teachings in some of the god realms such as Tushita and some of the teachings

were given in physical places in India. Those receiving these teachings were

bodhisattvas and dakas and dakinis practicing the secret mantas. The sutras

already provided very deep and vast teachings on the nature of phenomena. But

with the vajrayana, the Buddha was able to give people the possibility to achieve

the fruition of the Buddhist path very quickly and without major hardships. The

vajrayana can do this by providing special skillful means such as the meditation on

the generation

stage and the completion stage of a deity, and using meditation techniques of

looking at the nature of the mind directly.

So the Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma and gave all the various teachings of

the hinayana, the mahayana, and the vajrayana14 in different places with different

people and at all different times. But also because he was teaching students of

vastly different abilities, at times it seemed to them as if the Buddha was mainly

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spreading the hinayana; at times it seemed to them as if he was teaching the

mahayana and sometimes as if to the vajrayana. Of course, this was just a matter of

the way in which the people were perceiving the teachings of the Buddha; it

seemed to some that the Buddha was giving completely hinayana teachings and to

others that he was giving completely mahayana teaching. The Buddha could also be

somewhere else and through his miraculous powers giving other teachings toothers.

Because of this, some people started having the impression that the Buddha had

only given the hinayana teachings, and had not given the maha-yana teachings

which were made up by someone else. Others believed that the Buddha had given

the mahayana teachings, but had not given the vajrayana teachings and that these

vajrayana teachings had been fabricated by his followers. The belief that the

mahayana and the vajrayana teachings were created by someone else is based on

the belief the Buddha was just an ordinary man with no extraordinary qualities of

enlightenment instead of seeing a Buddha as being a very exceptional being who

came into the world to help people out of his great compassion and to lead them toliberation. Once one thinks of the Buddha as an ordinary Indian man, then next one

will have doubts as to whether he actually gave the various teachings attributed to

him and one begins picking and choosing between teachings of the various

vehicles.

It is a mistake to identify the Buddha as an ordinary person and to start thinking

that maybe the Buddha didnt have complete knowledge, or was not able to teach a

complete range of teachings or that the Buddha could have taught in this place, but

not in that place. It is not worth entertaining such doubts because the Buddha was

not an ordinary person nor was he a god who if pleased with you will send you to

heaven and if displeased throw you into the hell realms. But at the same time,

saying the Buddha is not a god doesnt mean that we should think of the Buddha as

someone devoid of any special qualities of knowledge, intelligence, and

understanding or without any special direct intuition and insight. He was indeed a

very special being who gave the complete set of Dharma teachings which were not

in contradiction to each other. Each has its own relevance. Whoever practices a

teaching of any level or vehicle properly will be able to achieve the respective result

of that particular path. So this was the eleventh deed to the Buddha, the turning of

the wheel of Dharma.

The Shastras

All the different categories of the Buddhas teaching including the sutras and the

tantras were transmitted to disciples who didnt just hear these teachings, but who

practiced and preserved them so that they were transmitted all the way down to

the present time without any defect, alteration, or loss.

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There are two main categories of the Dharma. First there are the actual teachings of

the Buddha (the sutras) and there are the shastras which are the works that

elucidate the meaning of the Buddhas teaching. Weve seen how the twelve deeds

of the Buddha and the three councils and how this allowed all the actual teachings

of the Buddha to remain intact and faultless up to now. As Buddh-ism developed

and spread in India, many different scholars wrote works trying to elucidate andclarify the meaning of the

Buddhas teachings for others. So these works are what we call the shastras.

The shastras are intended to make the original teaching of the Buddha easier to

understand. They do not contain any personal ideas of the writer and do not put

forward the authors own theory about anything. So when a teaching of the Buddha

was very long and very detailed, the shastras may present a more summarized

easier to understand form of these teachings. Then when the teaching of the

Buddha was rather complex, the shastras may make these teachings much more

easily under-standable. Finally, when a teaching of the Buddha on a particular topicwas scattered in many different sutras, then a shastra might take all these different

points concerning the same subject and collect them in one place.

So the importance of the shastras is to present the meaning of the Buddhas

teaching in a form that was easy for people to understand. One could say that the

meaning of these shastras is so close to the Buddhas teaching that it could almost

be counted as being part of the actual teachings of the Buddha.

Some people have doubts because they think that maybe the shastras were just

concoctions by different writers and scholars that dont really have anything to do

with the Buddhas teaching. They also make too much between what is in thescriptures of the Buddha and what is in the shastras.

Imagining Ideal Sensitivity

Qualities Suggested by the Enlightening Networks

Forms of Sensitive Response

Qualities of Mind and Heart

Exercise 3: Imagining Ideal Sensitivity

Feeling Balanced Sensitivity Toward Someone in Person and

Toward Ourselves

4 Affirming and Accessing Our Natural Abilities

The Necessity for a Pragmatic Means

Buddha-Nature

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Basis, Pathway, and Resultant Levels

Acknowledging Our Network of Positive Potential

Appreciating Our Network of Deep Awareness and Our Ability to Be

Inspired

Exercise 4: Affirming and Accessing Our Natural Abilities

5 Refraining from Destructive Behavior

The Need for Ethics

Definition of Destructive Behavior

Ten Destructive Actions

Motivation for Ethical Training

Exercise 5: Resolving to Refrain from Destructive Behavior

6 Combining Warmth with Understanding

The Necessity for Joint Development of Warmth and Understanding

Taking Others Seriously

Being Unafraid to Respond

Taking in All Information

Acting Straightforwardly

Refraining from Offering Unwanted or Unneeded Help

Exercise 6: Five Decisions for Combining Warmth with

Understanding

PART II: UNCOVERING THE TALENTS OF OUR MIND AND

HEART

7 Shifting Focus from Mind and from Ourselves to Mental Activity

Integrating Mind and Heart

Mind Is Not Some Physical Entity in Our Head

2

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But one shouldnt think that there is a great difference between what the Buddha

taught and the shastras and the meditation instructions and the spiritual songs.

They should be thought of as a whole, as the same teaching which originated from

what the Buddha taught. So whether dealing with the actual words of the Buddha or

the instructions of realized masters, we should consider them as all having the

same value.

Whether we practice the teachings given by the Buddha or the teachings laid out in

the shastras, there is no difference except that maybe we will find the shastras a

little easier to understand. This is why Tibetans favored the shastras so much.

The Buddha taught the various levels of the Dharma by giving teachings of the

hinayana, the mahayana, and the vajrayana. It is said in a sutra of the Buddha that

whenever the Buddha speaks even one word, that word can be heard in different

places, in different times, in a different ways by the various people according to

their spiritual maturity.

This means that when the Buddha was teaching, those who are ready for the

hinayana received his teaching from the hinayana viewpoint and accordingly were

able to practice this path and be able to achieve the hinayana fruition. Simul-

taneously, someone who is ready for the mahayana received the teaching from the

mahayana point of view and through practicing this was able to achieve the

mahayana fruition. The same applies also to the vajrayana.

In the hinayana tradition it is the Buddhas teachings that are most important. But

in Tibet, the shastras became extremely important. One might think that this was

rather strange because these shastras in Tibet became even more important in a

way than the actual sayings of the Buddha.

But this shouldnt lead us to think that the Buddhas teachings were forgotten and

put aside and replaced by the shastras that were just fabricated by scholars who

lived after the Buddha. In fact, what happened was that some individuals practiced

the Buddhas teaching. They assimilated the meaning of his teachings so well that

through the power and blessing of the teaching, they managed to achieve the

fruition of the path; so that if they practiced the shravaka aspect of the path, they

became

arhats. If they practiced the mahayana, they achieved the bodhisattva levels from

the first up to the tenth bodhisattva level. Or if they practiced the vajrayana, theyachieved the ordinary and the supreme spiritual accomplishments, in particular, the

power of direct, intuitive knowledge.

the

Other-Voidness Point of View

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Accepting the Conventional Facts of Reality That We Validly Experi-ence

Rejecting the Appearances That Contradict the Deepest Facts of Reality

Exercise 11: Validating the Appearances We Perceive

12 Deconstructing Deceptive Appearances

The Need for Deconstruction Methods

Focusing on Lifes Changes

Past and Future Lives

Raising Awareness of Parts and Causes

Using the Image of Waves on the Ocean

Three Forms of Compassion

Developing Compassion for Ourselves to Avoid Overreacting to Slow

Progress

13 Four Exercises for Deconstructing Deceptive Appearances

Exercise 12: Visualizing Lifes Changes

Exercise 13: Dissecting Experiences into Parts and Causes

Exercise 14: Seeing Experiences as Waves on the Ocean

Dispelling Nervous Self-consciousness with Others

Becoming More Relaxed with Ourselves

Exercise 15: Combining Compassion with Deconstruction

PART IV: RESPONDING WITH BALANCED SENSITIVITY

14 Adjusting Our Innate Mental Factors

Ten Mental Factors That Accompany Each Moment of Experience

The Spectrum These Innate Mental Factors Encompass

How These Factors Function During Moments of Insensitivity

Exercise 16: Adjusting Our Innate Mental Factors

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Focusing These Factors on Others and on Ourselves

Gaining a Balanced View of Others and of Ourselves

15 Unblocking Our Feelings

Differentiating Various Aspects of Feelings

Feeling Some Level of Happiness or Sadness

Ridding Ourselves of Upsetting Feelings That Block Sensitivity

4 Once they had achieved this fruition of the path they were then able to write a

shastra which is a landmark, a guidebook for others who were to follow to show

them that if they understood the Buddhas teaching very well and practiced

properly, this is what would happen this is how one could go about it, and this is

how one should understand it and so on. So the shastras that they wrote were not a

contradiction of the Buddhas teaching, but a reinforcement of the Buddhasteaching.

Those scholars or panditas who wrote the shastras didnt necessarily write from

their realization. If they wrote from their experience, the result was the same as

teachings of the Buddha because they were so completely penetrated with the

meaning of the Buddhas teaching and they had assimilated it so perfectly that

whatever they wrote was out of total conviction in the validity of the Buddhas

teaching.

Whatever they wrote wasnt just their own ideas put down on paper, but it was to

make the Buddhas teaching more easily understandable to most people. This iswhy we should consider the shastras as being the same as the Buddhas teaching,

not as being something foreign to the teaching.

The Development of Buddhism in India