Mahayana Approach: The Meditation State

This mindfulness is closely connected or related to the meditative state of our experience. It's basically working with our mind in the meditation state, beginning with our practice of shamatha and vipashyana, and continuing all the way up to tantra. The Vajrayâna practices are closely connected to this mindfulness of mind. In this practice, we are developing the discipline of simply watching our mind, simply guarding our mind, simply bringing our mind down to some sense of grounded-ness. Right now, our mind is up in the air, perhaps in the form of that wild elephant we talked about. The mad elephant. It's totally in the state of dreaming, in the state of non-reality, in the state of non-existence. This mindfulness is actually doing the work of bringing that mind down to the basic, fundamental state of now-ness, now-ness of this reality, of this moment. Basically, that is the mindfulness of mind.

Dwelling in the Past and Anticipating the Future

Because of this total state of dreaming, what's happening in our basic experience of mind is that we have never, ever lived. We have never, ever lived in all of these years. We think we are living. We believe we are living. We dream we are living. Although we imagine we are living, we have never actually lived. We are either in the state of having lived or will be living, but we have never lived; we are never living. That's how our mind functions in our basic world, in our samsaric world. On the one hand, our mind is in the state of dwelling in the past, dreaming about the past. Such good old experiences of the past have always occurred in our mind, and we have always been "sort of living" in the state of past memories. Or we have been bothered, disturbed, and totally destroyed, in some sense, by certain memories of the past, which keep reoccurring in our present lives. Our mind has never been free to live in the present. It's always been under the dictatorship of our memories of the past or living as a service for the future.

We've been living for, dreaming of, or anticipating the future, where we have a multitude of dreams, typical American dreams, pure American dreams. We have many dreams, which is not bad in itself, but they are dreams of the future. We have a list of plans miles and miles long for how we will really live in the future, how we will practice, how we will achieve this and that. And so we invest our energy, our time, our effort in these dreams. As a result of investing all of our time, effort, and energy towards these achievements, we may actually achieve a certain part of our list in the present. We may have already achieved a certain number of these things, and we will achieve others. But when the future becomes the present, we don't have time to experience it. We don't have time to appreciate it. We don't have the prajña to relate with it. We don't have the space, the freedom, to totally be with and enjoy our own dreams that have come true in the present. We have totally forgotten how we planned to live at this stage.

We have totally, totally gone out of control. We have lost our freedom and our dreams, along with our basic beliefs in those dreams. Our idea of living has altogether disappeared, slipped out of our hands, like the present moment. Therefore, this practice of mindfulness teaches us to bring our mind to a greater state of freedom. It teaches us to free our mind from the imprisonment of dwelling in anticipation of the future. In the freedom of that space, we are able to experience the actual sense of living, the simplicity of completely being present with our state of mind, as a living mind.

The Present Moment

Hence, this mindfulness of mind works with that basic principle of freedom, and when we look at that principle, the present state of our mind is a very tiny spot. It's a very tiny and slippery spot. It's so tiny and slippery that we always miss it. It's so tiny that it's an infinite spot. The whole purpose of this mindfulness of mind is to bring us back to this tiny spot of the present momentary nature of our mind and to the experience of the infinite space and freedom within that speck of existence. In order to do that, we must experience the lively nature of our mind, which is so present and so momentary and so fresh. Every individual moment and every individual fragment of that mind is completely pure and fresh in its own state.

The whole point here is to experience that freshness, that genuineness, the honest face of that tiny spot, without really coloring it with our memories, concepts, philosophy, theory, or expectations. Totally experiencing it without all of these is what we call simply being there. And that cannot happen if we can't let go of our memories and thoughts, if we can't let go of our memories of our understanding, our memories of our expectations. We have to simply understand our thoughts. We have to see the nature of our thoughts directly and genuinely to be there, rather than living in our memories of understanding, our memories of meditation, or memories of our expectations of our meditation. If we are living in the memory of thoughts, then we are still not being there; we are still not experiencing the fundamental, tiny, infinite spot.

Imprisonment

To the extent that we are living in this memory of thoughts, we are not experiencing any of the freedom of space. To the extent that we are living in the memory of understanding, while we may have good memories or a good understanding, it's like we are decorating our prison. Our prison may look a little different; it may look a little better and more refreshing, but we still are living within that limited space, within that barrier. We haven't freed ourselves from the prison of memory, from the prison of dwelling in the past, from the prison of anticipating the future. Therefore the total sense of mindfulness of mind is just simply being there in that tiny spot, that infinite space. That experience only comes through letting go, totally letting go of our expectations. When we totally let go of our clinging, when we totally let go of our thoughts, we totally free our thoughts.

Dressing Up Our Thoughts

In a way our thoughts are imprisoning us. On the other hand, we are imprisoning our thoughts. We are imprisoning our thoughts in the same way that our thoughts are imprisoning us. We're not just simply letting thought be thought. We're imprisoning our thoughts and trying to turn them into something else. We're not simply letting these thoughts be thoughts in their own state. We're not giving them the freedom to be thought. We are coloring them. We are clothing them. We are dressing up our thoughts. We're painting the face of our thoughts. We're putting hats and boots on them.

It's very uncomfortable for the thoughts. (laughter) We may not realize it. We may not recognize it, but if you really look at the state of the thoughts themselves, it's very uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable for them to be what we want them to be. It's like your parents or your society putting great expectations on you to be someone else, someone you don't want to be. At that point, you can feel the imprisonment. You can feel clearly and strongly the imprisonment of samsara. In a similar way, our thoughts are experiencing this imprisonment by our expectations; by the way we color and clothe them. It?s really equally uncomfortable, you know, with all these hats and boots on. It's like dressing up a monkey in the circus. We have monkeys, chimpanzees, all dressed up in beautiful tuxedos and bow ties, with dignified hats and beautiful shiny boots. But you can imagine the discomfort the chimpanzee feels at that point. No matter how beautiful he may look, no matter how dignified this monkey may appear to be, from the point of view of the monkey's basic instinct, it's so uncomfortable to put up with all these expectations of your human boss.

Recognition of the Arisal of Thoughts: Freeing our Thoughts and Ourselves

In a similar way, our thoughts are going through the same torture when we put labels and different expectations on them. When we color these thoughts with philosophy, religious beliefs, and theoretical understandings, they feel tortured by all of these things that we're going through. Therefore, mindfulness of mind is simply freeing our thoughts, freeing our mind, and coming back to this basic spot, infinitesimal spot, that is the state of our thoughts or the state of our mind. Coming back to and experiencing the infinite space of freedom within that spot of now-ness, that tiny spot of the present moment, is what we call the mindfulness of mind. It's simply being there, and simply letting it be whatever it is.

In that process of letting it be, how do we practice? In our meditation and post meditation exercises, we have to recognize the first stage of the arisal of our thoughts and emotions. We have to be clear about and acknowledge all of these thoughts and emotions that are arising and coming to our door as our guests. We have to be aware of, acknowledge, and recognize these people, these little beings, these fragments of beings, in their own way. We have to recognize them. We have to acknowledge them at the first stage of their arisal. That's our method here. For example, if a strong anger or aggression arises in your mind during the state of meditation or post meditation, the first thing to do is simply recognize it. However, we have to recognize it again and again, because it only exists in this tiny spot. Every moment, every fragment is a new anger. It's a new guest. It's a new state of Mr. Anger. So whenever a new guest arrives, first he or she rings your doorbell, then you have to acknowledge that guest, recognize him or her and let your guest in. In a similar way, we have to recognize our anger, in every moment. One anger may have hundreds of moments, and we have to distinguish these moments as many times as possible. When we identify a moment of anger, we just simply let the anger be anger. We give some freedom to the anger. As much as we want freedom from our anger, our anger is striving for freedom from us. Therefore, at this stage of recognition, we must let it go. We must let it go, allow it to be in it's own state. We must not bind our anger to our sofa. We must not chain our anger to our chair. He or she is simply our guest, so we must respect this guest in order to be a more civilized meditator. There is a great need for us to practice this, because recognition is the first stage in working with our thoughts, the first stage of freeing our thoughts and freeing ourselves.

Recognition: The Speed Bump

My usual analogy for recognition is a speed bump. What does a speed bump do? It slows us down; it slows down the speed of our car. The purpose of the speed bump is not to stop the car. We must understand that. And the purpose of recognizing our anger is not to stop our anger. It's not to chain down or hold onto our anger. Its purpose is the same as the speed bump. It slows down the speed of our klesha mind. No matter whether it's anger, aggression, passion, or jealousy that we're feeling, it slows down the speed of that klesha mind, that thought, that memory, that anxiety. In the process of slowing down, we are creating more space. And the greater space that is created here with this simple moment of recognition is the space of wisdom, the space of compassion, the space of love, the space of prajña, and the space of mindfulness. That space will help us handle this car we are driving. And when we develop more control, more space, it gives a greater sense of safety, not only to the driver, but to the pedestrians who are walking on the street. We must look at it both ways, you know. It's not just creating more space for ourselves, but for others too, the pedestrians who are crossing the road. We're creating some space between ourselves and our anger, between ourselves and our emotions, between ourselves and our klesha mind. The space we experience from the speed bump is this tiny spot, which is infinite space. This is the beginning of experiencing our infinite space.

This aspect of mindfulness practice, recognition of the first stage of arisal, is very much emphasized, not only in the general Buddhist journey of mindfulness, but also in the most supreme vehicle of the Mahayana.

Three Stages of Recognition

Because the process of recognition is so strongly emphasized, we should look at it in more detail. There are three stages of recognition. The first stage is, recognizing the very tip of the arisal of thought. This is the very first moment, the very first tiny spot, so to speak, of the movement of thought, of the movement of emotion. Recognition of the very first moment is the foremost way of recognizing thought, which happens only after we have some shinjang, some development or sense of suppleness in our practice. The second stage of recognition is recognizing thought when it has arisen. At this stage, our thoughts are a little bit blown-up, or grown-up. It's like diagnosing a disease at a later stage of development. Because it has already developed, its treatment requires a little more work. It's a little bit late, but still manageable. The third stage of recognition is recognizing thought after everything has happened. We don't recognize it until after it has arisen and grown to the full-blown stage. By then it has destroyed everything, and at that time we recognize it. This is like recognizing our monkey in the zoo. We recognize our monkey wearing the full tuxedo. Maybe he's doing a tango. (laughter) Something like that. It's a little late, because we have totally imprisoned him at that stage; we have totally imprisoned our emotions, our thoughts, and ourselves. This is the stage where our disease is fully grown, and there's nothing much we can do except to take pain killers and wait.

These are the three stages of recognition, and the Mahayana Path very much emphasizes the first method. Through the development of our courage, skill, and compassion, we increase our power to recognize thought at the first stage, which is?? (Students: Tip of its arisal.) Yes, the tip of its arisal, the first tiny spot of the existence of any thought, which is, you know, infinite space.

Manure for the Seed of Enlightenment

In another analogy from the Sutra tradition, Mahayana people are regarded as farmers and Hinayana people are regarded as city dwellers or city slickers. The reason for this comparison is that, from the Hinayana point of view, practitioners relate to their emotions like city people relate to their human waste. From that point of view, we are trying to get rid of it and get away from it, as soon and as far away as possible. There's no sense of really needing to keep it, because we see our human waste as a total waste. So the Hinayana view of emotions is similar to the city person's view of human waste. Whereas in the view of the Mahayana Path, the practitioner is more like a farmer who sees that human waste is great manure. It can be recycled and used effectively so that it becomes a great help and support for us in growing the seed of enlightenment. This seed of enlightenment sown by the Mahayana farmers cannot grow without this manure. It cannot grow without fertilization. So without the manure of our emotions and our thoughts, we cannot cultivate any seed of enlightenment.

Guarding the Crops of Enlightenment

The process of cultivating our crops, in the Mahayana Path, involves guarding our farm. We must guard from intruders the seeds of enlightenment that we have sown. In the history of Mahayana farming, there has always been some disturbing being, like a pig, that comes around and breaks into our farm. This pig has destroyed many of our seeds. As soon as it enters our fields, it starts digging up everything. All of the seeds that we've sown have been totally destroyed by this pig. The Mahayana method of dealing with this is simply to wait. We wait for this intruder with a strong, solid club. We just wait at the gate, or any possible entrance, and when the pig is about to enter, the first thing we'll see is the snout, right? In the general Buddhist view, the pig symbolizes ignorance. So as soon as we see the snout entering our property, we have to use the club and hit the pig on the snout with as much force as possible, with great love and compassion. (laughter) You have to strike it directly on the snout. It's very different than hitting the hip or body, which doesn't provide as much of a lesson. It's more forcefully chased away by hitting its snout. It's a very painful form of compassion. We can only hit the snout of the pig if we catch it at the very beginning stage of its entrance into our farm. Then we can hit it as hard as possible and be most effective. If the pig has slipped by us and already entered, then we can only strike it on its back. We'll never get the snout. In the same way, the Mahayana method is like hitting the snout of the pig, which means you're recognizing the arisal of the movement of mind right at its very beginning stage, at the first moment. Isn't that a great compassionate analogy? Yes, it is because the pig is destroying the seed of enlightenment, so it's a bad karma.

With that analogy, we can see how the recognition process takes place. As soon as any thoughts or emotions arise, at the very first trace of their arisal, we must try to maintain this mindfulness. In this process, we're letting emotions be emotions and letting mind be mind. We simply observe the movement of mind and work with it. When we experience that tiny spot of the now-ness of our mind, of our emotions, of our thoughts, we are experiencing the infinite space of our mind, infinite space of our thoughts, infinite space of our emotions. We are freeing our emotions, and we are freeing ourselves at that very moment. In a way, it's a very simple process. At the same time, it takes many words. This fundamental process of working with our mind begins with working with our meditation process. In the practice of meditation, we repeatedly bring our mind back to its present state of now-ness or to the present momentary fragment of our mind. That's why we use different techniques, to come back to that very tiny spot and experience the infinite space, which is the whole purpose of our meditation.

General Buddhist Approach: Interdependence

The fourth mindfulness is called the mindfulness of phenomena or mindfulness of dharmas. After working with the development of the mindfulness of mind, this mindfulness brings us to the next stage, which is the experience of panoramic awareness of the phenomenal world. The phenomenal world is not only within our thoughts, within our mind. The phenomenal world is also the object of our mind, the world that is experienced around us with body, speech, and mind. Having a sense of relating with these surrounding phenomena in a mindful way is what we call the mindfulness of phenomena. That mindfulness is basically the recognition of the interdependent relationship of our mind and the phenomenal world. It is working with the relationship of each individual phenomenon existing around us as the object of our experience. In order to understand that particular phenomenon and relate with it properly, we must develop the mindfulness of phenomena. And that, in some sense, is not really separated from awareness.

This mindfulness is very much related to the notion of awareness, of having a three hundred sixty degree awareness of the phenomenal world existing around us. When we can relate that kind of panoramic awareness with the simple, present nature of phenomena that is what we call the mindfulness of phenomena. It is simply having the prajña to relate with the phenomenal world outside more directly, more precisely, without any fear, and without any conceptions. Without any philosophical conceptions, we simply relate to the most fundamental state of phenomena.

The Six Objects

What we are working with here is the six objects of our six sensory perceptions. That's pretty straightforward. We are working with form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas. The sixth object is a little more complicated. The object of mind, the sixth sensory perception, which is called the mind perception, is known as dharmas. So working with the six objects in a precise way is the full understanding of the true nature of pratityasamutpada, the interdependent origination of the phenomenal world. Relating to the phenomenal world in its own interdependent state is called the mindfulness of phenomena, which means not conceptualizing, not labeling the phenomenal world as something else. We experience it as it is, with its own interdependent nature. Understanding that interdependent nature begins with the understanding of the twelve links of interdependent origination, known as the twelve nidanas.

Mahayana Interdependence

Beginning with the twelve nidanas, we have the Mahayana understanding of interdependent origination, which is basically the understanding that everything arises from emptiness and everything dissolves into emptiness. There is no separation between form, or appearance, and emptiness. Emptiness arises from appearance, and appearance arises from emptiness. There is no emptiness without appearance, and there is no appearance with out emptiness. That is what we call the interdependent nature. If there is no phenomenal world appearing, then there's no emptiness of that phenomenal world. If there's no emptiness, there's no appearance of the phenomenal world. That's pretty simple, right? (laughs) It's very simple; it's very easy.

Actually, it's a somewhat complicated notion, which has to be looked at in greater depth to really be understood. But in the most basic sense, we are talking about the inseparability or the dependent nature of the two truths. There is no absolute truth without the relative truth, and there's no relative truth without the absolute truth. They are dependent on each other. Especially when viewed from the ordinary level of understanding, then the phenomenal world is seen to be totally in the nature of dependent origination, or the interdependent state. Therefore, in the Mahayana sense of relating with the phenomenal world, the mindfulness of phenomena is simply understanding the realization of emptiness, the selflessness of phenomena, the emptiness of phenomena, the ego-less-ness of phenomena. That understanding, experience, and realization is what is known as the mindfulness of phenomena. That realization is basically developed through the cultivation of the three prajñas of hearing, contemplating, and meditating, which we discussed earlier. By going through this three-stage process of analyzing the phenomenal world from the Mahayana perspective, we can reach the level of the realization of emptiness, the realization of the ego-less-ness of phenomena, the realization of the non-existence of these outer phenomena, which we ordinarily believe are solidly real.

Not only do we arrive at this insight through the process of philosophical analysis, but we can also see this in the development of today's science. Although I've not personally studied modern physics, friends and people who know a little more about it tell me that modern physicists now say they can't find the existence of atomic particles, at any level. All they can find existing at this level is something called a "quark" or a form of energy or light, which is still better than saying "emptiness." We feel a little bit more comfortable, you know, with these terms, because there's still something to hold onto. Other than that, I think we're reaching pretty much the same level of seeing the non-existence of phenomena. Furthermore, this wisdom resulting from the development of modern science was discovered and taught by Lord Buddha Shakyamuni 2,500 years ago. The process presented to us by the Buddha to lead us to that stage of understanding is very much like the development of science. It's very interesting. At the first stage of his teaching, Buddha taught about the existence of atomic particles. Following that, the Buddha went into the details of how these atoms function, how they form gross objects, and how these indivisible particles cannot be perceived. All of these things, which are very similar to the view of science, were introduced gradually by the Buddha up to the level of seeing the selflessness of phenomena, the ego-less-ness of phenomena. Therefore, the Mahayana mindfulness of dharmas, or phenomena, is working with this realization and understanding of the selflessness of phenomena.

Analytical Meditation: The Gong

In general, we practice this mindfulness by taking the objects of our sensory perceptions as the objects of our meditation and analyzing them by simply being present with that particular object in the tiny spot of its existence. This state of now-ness, the state of the present, clicks us into the experience of infinite space through the analytical meditation process.

My analogy for the analytical meditation process is the ringing of a gong. The actual beauty of the sound, the beautiful humming of the gong, is produced by our effort. First, we pick up the striker with our hand, then we move our hand and striker to ring the gong. From there the sound is produced, the beautiful humming sound, which is beyond our hand, our effort, the striker, and the bell itself. It is beyond all of this, beyond the combination. It is beyond all this existence.

As beginners, we get attached to the beauty of that sound. As soon as we hear it, we become totally passionate about it, so we unskillfully grasp the gong. We want to hug the gong and make it all our own and say, "Yes, I got it." In that process, we have already frozen this beautiful humming sound. As soon as we say, "I got it," it's gone miles away. And so in that process, we are screwing ourselves up on the path of analytical meditation. But at the same time, we don't have to be discouraged by that. We still are holding the striker, and we still have the gong in front of us. We still have our hand, which can move and hit the gong. Therefore, we can still produce the beautiful humming sound of the gong again and again, as often as we want. And we can touch it; we can hold it. We can hug the gong over and over, as much as we want until we get totally tired of hugging the gong. Then there's a certain point where we reach the peak of holding onto the gong.

At that point, we can totally let go. We can totally let go of the thought of hugging; we can totally let go of the thought of touching, the thought of making it mine. Only then can we live in the presence of this beautiful sound of humming.

Resting Meditation: Freedom from Clinging

It is through analytical meditation that this beautiful humming sound of the experience of selflessness, the shunyata experience, is produced. The analytical process is the ringing of the gong that leads us to the effortless enjoyment of the beautiful humming sound, which is resting meditation. And that resting meditation experience of ego-less-ness, or selflessness, is very difficult to attain without the analytical process of meditation. How can you get the gong humming without ringing it? It's pretty difficult. Maybe you can do that in virtual reality later, but now we need to have this method of ringing the gong in order to experience the humming sound of the bell. In order to totally let go of holding onto the gong, of our attachment to the gong, we need to ring the bell again and again. As far as vipashyana, as far as mindfulness is concerned, that is the whole process we work through in analytical meditation, which leads us to the stage of resting meditation.

That's a brief discussion on the techniques or the methods of practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which was the fourth point. We have talked about different points, and that was the fourth point, if you still remember, if it has not become gigo. "Garbage in, garbage out." (laughs) But it's good garbage. It's mindfulness.

The fifth point, in our description of the five points of mindfulness practice, is the result. To review these points, they are the five main stages that we progress through in our study and cultivation of the wisdom of prajña, and which then become the means for integrating that understanding into our own experience. We progressively develop that experience into the full state of realization or prajña. Point one is the "object of intention." Point two is "understanding the essence." Point three is "assistant or support." Point four is "the method of practicing," where we have the actual description of the Four Foundations practices. And point five is "the result" of mindfulness practice. As I mentioned earlier, the mindfulness practices are the basic method of developing the three principle prajñas.

On the most basic Buddhist level, the result of these four mindfulnesses is fundamentally the realization or actualization of the Four Noble Truths. It is said that through the mindfulness of body and the mindfulness of feeling, we come to the realization of the truth of suffering, and the causes, or origins, of the truth of suffering. With the mindfulness of mind, we come to the realization of the truth of cessation, of completely being freed. This means the complete experience of the freedom of thoughts, freedom of emotions, freedom of oneself, and the total sense of spacing out in this tiny spot, in this infinite space. That is the truth of cessation. And the fourth mindfulness, the mindfulness of dharmas, or phenomena, brings us to the realization or actualization of the truth of the path that leads to cessation. If you understand the interdependent nature of all phenomena, if you can relate with all phenomena as selflessness, emptiness, shunyata, ego-less-ness, then that is the actual cause, which is the path leading us to the actual result of nirvana or cessation.

So that is the basic result of this mindfulness practice, the fifth point. From the Mahayana point of view, the result of these four mindfulnesses is basically the realization of two fold ego-less-ness, the ego-less-ness of self and the ego-less-ness of phenomena, or selflessness of person and selflessness of phenomena. That is essentially what this mindfulness is all about.

Mahayana View: Fourteen Points of Difference with the Hinayana

In general, there are fourteen very small points of difference in the basic Buddhist view of mindfulness and the Mahayana view. I'll give you a brief account of these fourteen.

The first point is called the basis or origin, the difference in the basis or the origin.

The second point is the antidote. In the Mahayana path, the antidote is to overcome all aspects of ego clinging, all aspects of elaboration, whereas in the Hinayana path, the antidote is that which overcomes only one aspect of ego clinging and one aspect of elaboration. It's not an antidote for all aspects. So you can think about that.

The third point is the entrance. Entrance here refers to the object of our contemplation of mindfulness or to the person who's entering into this path of mindfulness. In the Hinayana path, one enters alone into this path of mindfulness through the Four Noble Truths. Whereas, in the Mahayana state, we do not enter alone. We enter with all sentient beings, with bodhicitta, the supreme ambition. At this level, we're entering the path of the Four Noble Truths but not alone; we're entering together with all sentient beings. That's the difference.

The fourth point is called the object. In the Mahayana Path, the object is all phenomena. If you look at the four mindfulnesses, according to our prior discussion, the object of the four mindfulnesses in Mahayana becomes the whole of phenomena. All dharmas are the object of mindfulness.

The fifth point is attention or engagement. The difference in attention or engagement of mind is that, in the Mahayana sense, all dharmas are regarded as projections of our mind. All dharmas are seen as illusory. All dharmas are seen as ego-less-ness, selflessness. That's the difference here.

The sixth difference is the attainment. Attainment is the resultant stage. Through the basic mindfulness practice in Hinayana, the attainment is cessation, the nirvana that is the complete state of thoughtlessness, complete state of mindfulness. Whereas, in the Mahayana view, the result, or the attainment, is the state of enlightenment. The complete state of enlightenment goes even beyond the truth of cessation, beyond the notion of thoughtlessness, and beyond the notion of just simply nirvana being peace. That is the difference here in the attainment.

The seventh point is called agreement. Agreement here refers to the fact that all of the Mahayana Path practices of mindfulness are in agreement with the practices of six paramitas. No matter which mindfulness you may be engaged in, it is related or connected to the six paramita practices.

The eighth point is appropriateness. In the Mahayana Path, mindfulness is practiced in accordance with what is appropriate for all sentient beings and what is appropriate for the whole environment, rather than practicing it for the sake of oneself alone.

The ninth point is called utterly understanding or true understanding. In the Mahayana Path, true understanding is understanding the body as illusory body, understanding feeling as a dream-like feeling, understanding the mind to be like space, and understanding all phenomena as sudden arisal, as suddenly arising like the clouds. That's the general sense. There's a lot of meaning behind these analogies.

The tenth one is the attainment of power. In the Mahayana sense, we attain the power of transcending our emotions even though we constantly come back to the samsaric world to benefit sentient beings. It's not like the Hinayana Arhats who practice mindfulness to leap out of samsara, to completely leave samsara behind. The intention of the Mahayana practice of mindfulness is to come back and do whatever beneficial work we can for the benefit of all living beings. And when we come back again and again to help and work on the development of one's own path, as well as the paths of other sentient beings, we have attained the power of not being attached to that samsaric world, even though we are living in it. We have the power of not being attached to our emotions, not being attacked by our emotions, even though we live with emotions and use emotions as our path. That is the attainment of power here.

The eleventh point is outshining others' greatness. Isn't that interesting? This means that, even though we are beginners on the path of Mahayana, even though we have very little practice, very little achievement as a result, because of the power of our courageous heart, because of the power of this infinite compassion and love and bodhicitta, the qualities of the Mahayana practitioner outshine all of the achievements of any other realization. Any other attainments of greatness are out-shown or overpowered by the simple seed of bodhicitta, the simple seed of love and compassion, and the simple method of being skillful.

The twelfth point is called the quality of excellence. That's simple; that's excellent.

The thirteenth point is called infinite meditation, which means the Mahayana path has a variety of meditation methods so that our development does not simply end at the state of cessation. Cessation is attained, and then we go further, beyond cessation, to a greater development in meditation.

And the fourteenth point is the result. The difference in result is that in the Mahayana path, the result attained is the ten bhumis. We progress through the result of the ten bhumis, attaining Buddhahood at the end of the tenth bhumi. That is the Mahayana result.

We have briefly touched on the topics of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness from both the general Buddhist view and the view of the supreme Mahayana path. We are trying to develop this genuine path of spirituality through the three principal prajñas, which are naturally cultivated through our study, contemplation, and meditation on the practices of mindfulness.