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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 17

REFLECTING decisive knowledge, since it is now firsthand. Yet such
wisdom could not arise without the use of language
We need to approach the undiluted teaching in a and analytical thinking in the two preceding stages of
spirit of openness and humility and let it speak to us. hearing and reflecting. It is for this reason that those
Subsequently, in the second stage of relating to the who eschew the work of hearing and reflection and
dharma, that of reflecting, a real connection between attempt to rely upon meditation alone will only further
the student’s innate intelligence and the actual entangle themselves in the fabrications of ignorant
unmodified dharma can take place. mind. As Mipham Rinpoche says, “If you do not know
the nature of phenomena, however much you meditate,
Through the magic of reflecting on the teachings, their you are still meditating on ordinary concepts.”
force—sometimes clear, sometimes obscure—will cause
ferment in our minds from which we can gradually distil As has already been made clear, to embark upon this
the wisdom of reflection. This requires discipline, but process of hearing, reflection and meditation, we
also bravery—the bravery to dig deep down to uncover need to rely upon suitably qualified masters. In some
our confusion. Here we cannot progress unless we shun sense, however, our teachers should be transparent so
the easy evasion of blind faith. For when did blind faith that we may see through them to the teachings of the
ever lead to wisdom? Instead we can arrive at certainty Buddha. Teachers themselves are there to assist us in
of the truth of dharma only though inferential reasoning hearing, reflecting, and meditating on the dharma, just
and direct experience. as a skilled master craftsman trains his apprentices
in mastery of a given craft. In this way, the authentic
At this point, some may ask whether such stress on master distinguishes him or herself from the snake oil
certainty leaves Buddhism in the category of religion or salesman, Asian or Westerner, who points only to him or
philosophy. Actually, this question is misplaced, since herself and not to the Buddha and his teaching.
the great divorce between religion and philosophy
that occurred in the West in the 17th century never It might seem that there’s a great distance between
happened in Asia, where everything from theism to us and the days when the traditions of dharma held
materialism to nontheistic dharma coexisted as views of uncontested sway over the culture of much of Asia.
the nature of reality. However, although external circumstances may change,
the way in which realization into the nature of mind
MEDITATING develops is still essentially the same. Even today there
are great masters and people who want to engage with
Resolving hesitations and uncertainties through the dharma through the threefold method of hearing,
intelligent and repeated reflection on the teachings reflecting, and meditating. And as the hour is getting
that we’ve heard leads us to meditation, the final part late, maybe it’s time to make a start. EH
of the threefold path to wisdom. Here, “to meditate”
is to cultivate a direct experience of the truth, heard
and examined in the prior two stages. In the final
analysis, the truth revealed in meditation is the self-
cognizing wisdom through which the mind knows
its own nature without intermediaries of concept or
language. The ultimate truth that is realized through
meditation is not the generic or mental image of
reality accessible through hearing and reflecting
but the definitive nondual realization to which we
give the name “primordial wisdom.” This becomes a