Q & A with Robina

QUESTION

Dear Venerable Robina,

Hello! I am wishing you well and hoping you are feeling healthy and happy. 

It has been a while since I have written you. You often come in and out of my mind. A lot of my retreat experiences are arising in my mindstream. I am continuing to feel my dedication to this path, as well as the curiosities and challenges that are arising. I am so grateful that I can write you. If you have any suggestions or advice, I would love to hear them. 

Firstly, I am finding that I am less enthused by following the gradual path and more excited about exploring the nature of mind. Dzogchen and mahamudra like practices are very appealing to me. At a recent event the teacher’s personal approach is to study and practice via the lam rim, but not to take it too seriously, and continue to experience the state of rigpa. As I write this, I am feeling like I may be thinking too dualistically about this.

The natural medicine that has arisen for me is trust. Trusting that the truth is already here, I don’t have to strive for it. I can trust the refuges, their guidance and support. 

I want to watch my mind for what is naturally arising, not overpowering what is happening in my current mind by forcing thoughts. But this has created so much tension and headaches.

I want to continue my daily practices, but as soon as I formalize anything too much it starts to feel tight. So I am yo-yoing from too tight, too loose in my practice. I want to find the middle way. I want to be more kind to myself. I want to feel security in realizing that what I am doing in the day, my motivation, my effort, is enough. 

I think it’s why I love the mahamudra approach because I feel like I can just drop it all and be. All this stuff I talked about above loses its power. It just feels like silly games because it is all empty and all part of the great space anyway.

Many Thanks for your kindness, guidance, and support.

Lots of Love,

S

ANSWER

Good, S, keep to your daily practice. That’s it.

As for learning the words about Buddha’s view of the universe – the gradual approach; the lamrim – I can’t imagine how you think you can help others without them! Fine: see the nature of your mind. We all need to. But how to guide others without words? How do you know those words without learning and internalizing them? 

As Lama Yeshe says in his Mahamudra book: we need both approaches. 

The dzogchen and mahamudra approaches sound simple; but experiencing the ultimate nature of your mind is huge! You could say that the person in this life who’s capable of seeing the emptiness of their mind is the person who’d done all the other work in past lives anyway.

The studying-the-theories approach is like learning all the Bach’s musical theories and then applying them on the piano. The mahamudra approach is going straight to the piano and intuiting Bach. That’s pretty advanced!

Lots of teachers advise lots of things. But, having recognized our root lama, the main thing is to follow their style with devotion in our hearts.

As for pushing and perfectionism: rest in the nature of your mind, as Lama Yeshe and that teacher would advise. Relax.

Love,

Robina

QUESTION

Hello Robina,

Thank you for your message back. Your words hit me very clearly, especially about following the lama. I do strongly feel that my root lama is Lama Yeshe, and I wish to follow that path.

I understand that we need both approaches. Thank you for your words on that.

I hope that I can be even one quarter as dedicated as you have been in your lifetime. 

Thank you and much love,

S