The Great Secret of Mind

mind, forsaking unwanted thoughts and clearing them from the mind, is
meditation. The antidote to an absent mind is mindfulness.
For Dzogchen meditation, we need constant mindfulness, and there are two
kinds. The first is conditioned mindfulness, the second ultimate mindfulness. For
beginners, conditioned mindfulness is remembering what the lama taught and
then applying it; that is meditation with a cause, which entails effort. Once that
outer or preliminary meditation has been accomplished, the main practice is to
abide in pure presence, where effort is unnecessary and meditation is natural and
automatic. This is called “mindfulness of reality” and since it is effortless, we do
not need to strive in any way to arrive there.
The main cause of absent-mindedness is failure to rest the mind, a theory that is
supported by doctors. Meditation is the method of resting the mind. In meditation,
through conditioned mindfulness, we first train to keep the mind in its own nature
without grasping. If we return to that point again and again, thought—good or bad
—will naturally disappear. Through this process, the mind becomes rested. If we
can keep that up for a few hours, we will be in constant mindfulness, and no
matter what happiness or sadness arises, attention will not be distracted. Through
this practice, we will become mindful of reality, and thus more gentle, peaceful,
and naturally happy.
Through mindfulness of reality, we can rest the mind. The brain and the heart
relax thereby and stress-induced damage is eliminated. The mind becomes
sharper, and in old age we will not encounter the problem of absent-mindedness.
We can see this in Dzogchen yogins and yoginis who are ninety years or more in
age and who still have sharp memories. When they teach, they can quote many
texts that they had learned by heart. Moreover, they can challenge others on the
topic of the nature of mind. This is not merely a contemporary phenomenon; it has
been happening for thousands of years.
In 2001, I heard on the radio that in Malaysia many religious leaders and
important scientists had gathered to discuss whether religion could help sick
people. They had examined the condition of both religious and nonreligious
persons suffering from HIV/AIDS and TB, and they had found that viral diseases
spread slower among religious people than nonreligious. The nonreligious were
found to be more anxious, and among them, viral contagion was greater. It was
established by the religious leaders and great scientists at that conference that the
degree of suffering varies inversely with the individual’s degree of religious
commitment.
Consider the relationship between mind and body. When we have peace of
mind, we feel healthy. When we are anxious, we feel unhappy. We can actually
observe this. But when we have tamed our minds and see all phenomena as self-
envisioned baseless delusion, we will feel neither happiness nor sorrow. Just like
the king seated majestically upon his own throne, beyond any need of chasing
after desirable material things, we sit upon our own imperial seat of intrinsic
awareness, enjoying the nature of intrinsic presence.
In the autobiography of the rigzin Jigme Lingpa, it is related that once when
Pemo Dharma was practicing Vajrakilaya, accumulating a hundred million