Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal

For achieving calm abiding…your mind must have two qualities:

– great clarity of both the object and the consciousness itself
– staying one-pointedly on the object of observation.

Two factors prevent these from developing–laxity and excitement. Laxity prevents the development of clarity, and excitement prevents the stability of staying with the object.

That which interferes with the steadiness of the object of observation and causes it to fluctuate is excitement, which includes any scattering of the mind to an object other than the object of meditation. To stop that, withdraw your mind more strongly inside so that the intensity of the mode of apprehension of the object begins to lower. If you need a further technique to withdraw the mind, it helps to leave the object of meditation temporarily and think about something that makes you more sober, such as the imminence of death. Such reflections can cause your heightened mode of apprehension of the object, the mind’s being too tight, to lower or loosen somewhat, whereby you are better able to stay on the object of observation.

It is not sufficient just to have stability; clarity is also needed. That which prevents clarity is laxity, which is a case of the mind’s becoming too relaxed, too loose, lacking intensity–the tautness of the mind having become weak, caused by over-withdrawal inside. Heaviness of mind and body can lead to becoming lax, which can lead to a type of lethargy in which, losing the object of observation, you have as if fallen into darkness; this can lead even to sleep. When this begins to occur, it is necessary to raise, to heighten, this excessive declination of the mind by making it more taut, more tight. To accomplish this, it helps to brighten the object of meditation or, if that does not work, to leave the object of meditation temporarily and think on something that makes you joyous, such as the wonderful opportunity that a human lifetime affords for spiritual practice. If that does not work, you can even leave off meditating and go to a high place or where there is a vast view. Such techniques cause your deflated mind to heighten, to sharpen.

While holding the object of observation with mindfulness, investigate with introspection from time to time to see whether the mind has come under the influence of laxity or excitement and determine the best practice for lowering or heightening it. In time, your will develop a sense of the proper level of tautness of the mind such that you will be able to catch laxity and excitement just before they arise and prevent their arising. (p.50)

–from Yoga Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats by H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications

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