7/25/2019 The Nature of Habitual Patterns

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Phowe bakchak: the nature of habitual patterns

Chogyam Trungpa | Vajrayana Seminar 1981:

When our mind is protected from conditionality, that also tends to overcome

further habitual patterns, which are called phowe bakchak ('pho.ba'i.bag.chags) in

Tibetan. Got it? !aughter.l "howa means #transmigration# or #changing,##departing from one to another#$ phowe makes it #of that.# %akchak is

#habitual pattern.# &abitual patterns of transmigration usually happen to us when

one thought begins to die when, for instance, we begin to lose interest in our

orange uice, then we would like to order our coffee which is the ne*t thing. That is

precisely the habitual pattern of transmigration we get one thing$ therefore we

would like to change it to something else. We keep umping like grasshoppers that

way, throughout our lives. We would like to have something in e*change, constantly.

That is phowe bakchak.

There is also the tendency to be bored this particular type of consciousness, orstate of habitual patterns, is what allows us to miss the reference point of

understanding what is known as the fourth moment. We will talk about the fourth

moment much later on, but we could say a little bit about it now, ust as a reference

point. The first three moments are the past, present, and future$ and then there is a

fourth moment that transcends all past, present, and future. There is another

moment, a pure moment that is not connected with what you have missed, what

you are having, or what you are about to e*pect the past, present, and future. The

fourth moment is a pure state of consciousness, free from habitual tendencies it is

pure, clear.

+o phowe bakchak is that which does not contain the fourth moment state of mind.

n other words, phowe bakchak allows no abruptness it doesn't like shocks of any

kind. -ou would ust like to rela* a little bit and take your time$ have your uice and

then your coffee, and maybe a cigarette afterwards$ ust lounge around and have a

pleasurable life.-ou would ust like to lead your life in the habitual patterns that you

used to enoy$ you recreate them all over again.

"howe bakchak is one of the problems that makes it difficult to practice patience,

particularly in the varayana sense. The habitual tendency of phowe bakchak is one

of the outstanding problems that keeps you from being able to receive propertransmission. sually, when a student receives proper transmission from a vara

master, that transmission is an abrupt one$ it usually cuts thought, cuts mind

abruptly, on the spot. The habitual tendency of phowe bakchak completely goes

against that you would ust like to sociali/e a little bit more with your samsaric

mind. +o mantra, or yeshe, cuts through that.