On Being Free and Traveling Light

An Edited Excerpt from Oral Teachings Given by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Fall 2018

Powa practice is about the transference of consciousness. In one sense it is about preparing to properly transition at the moment of death. In these teachings, though, we've been saying again and again, in a very practical sense, that we all have an opportunity with each of the many different kinds of transitions we go through in our lives to practice letting go of attachment and being more clear. Day transitions, week transitions, month transitions, year transitions, major phase-of-life transitions – we have so much opportunity in each and every one of these. Some are harder and some are easier. But recognizing each as a transition – and recognizing that you have a choice, that you can do better, and then putting all of one's awareness into it – will help with the great transition of the powa.

For instance, when you walked into the gompa for the teachings this morning, at that very moment of entering, how fully did you walk in? That's a good question to ask, isn't it? How much of your stuff are you bringing in here – your stories, plans, leftover conversations, leftover discomfort of your mind and your emotions? How clearly do you walk in? The answer for each of you is different – you have to look at yourself, don't you? All of these moments of transition are telling us something about ourselves. One has to listen and be willing to change, at least pray to change. May I change. Give me the strength to change. I know this is what I need to change.

Each time we practice, we have to reflect a little more on ourselves and try to see what we are doing and why. The whole purpose of doing the powa is for being able to, as Yongdzin Rinpoche once said to me, “be packed and ready” for when the great moment of our passing approaches. Being packed and ready means that just as you are not bringing anything with you when you are entering into the gompa, so, too, when you are entering the other side of this life, you will not be taking anything.

It’s the trying to take things with you at the moment of the great transition that is the problem. First of all, you cannot really take anything. Otherwise there would be quite a lot of packing going on! [laughter] We will not be able to carry anything along at that great moment, so simply trying to do so is disturbing. It’s primarily disturbing yourself. So practice is about working with yourself and the sense of attachment, because we will all find something to get attached to. Our attachment can be one that is pretty dark, disconnected, controlling, limiting, painful – with a lot of stories. Or it can be an attachment that has a lot of light, a lot of joy, a lot of space, a lot of warmth, a lot of good communication, a lot of freedom and connectedness. There are so many different kinds of attachment, aren't there?

These teachings are saying that attachment is not a good thing for transition. Every moment in our lives, when you feel a little challenge – for instance just going from one day to another, like Friday to Saturday – is it easy, is it hard? Or from winter to spring, all of the seasons, the years, all of these transitions, from one job to another job, from one relationship to another – each of these transitions becomes harder with attachments, expectations. Maybe you are used to being able to get up and run or jog. Then comes a time when this isn't possible, and you must forget about jogging, and that's a change that you are not able to adapt to. What things are you used to? Maybe you've been used to going to visit your parents, and you had one kind of relationship, but now when you go to your parents it's another kind of relationship. No more barbecue or party, because maybe now you visit them in a hospital, in bed, and hold their hands. It's a change. You are not used to it. You're used to a different kind of visit. It's hard to transition to the new phase of life if you're too attached to the previous one.

So it is about this sense of letting go now. Of course, we don't have to let go of our nice cup of coffee in the morning right now, but one day we will. If you look at this moment of your life, right now, how many things could you let go of? Just think about one thing at this moment that you are attached to, that you're identifying with, that you are holding onto. Maybe it's the difficult relationship that you have with someone because of not being able to let go, say. Then compare the letting go of that with the letting go at your own death. Compare the two transitions – which would you prefer, dying or letting go of the attachment to that relationship? It's clear. No question, right? You would let go of that attachment. So why don't you just go ahead and do that? If you compare that one thing with the death, and let it go, and then another thing and you let that go, and another and another, then all of these smaller things that you are able to let go of will help you to be free. And each letting go benefits you, because they will help you in letting go of the harder things that come along the way.

If you are not applying yourself to all of these opportunities to let go, if you're not handling well the little things that come along, for sure you will have a harder time with the big things along the way. It's really true. If that's the case, try saying, I'll let go of that, and that and that. It's like cleaning your garage or your closet. How many people are planning to clean their closets? [laughter] How many have cleaned their closet, and there is still stuff in there that you are definitely not using? These are the teachings, the teachings of attachment. When you open your closet, you can see something you put in there five years ago that you still haven't used, that you have not even touched, right? So go ahead and take hold of it and let that one thing go! If you cannot clear your central channel, at least open your closet and clear some of those blockages. [laughter]

Energetically, it definitely helps. For instance, in the monastery the monks clean a lot. When they clean the gompa, shine the floors, it's like a purification. Similarly, the idea of cleaning the shrine is like a purification. Both the shrine and the closet are easier to clean than the chakras. Some people you know have so much stuff, though. Their house almost has no space for people – forget about a sense of spaciousness. Energetically, I don't think that's good. So in some sense, it is nice to engage in clearing the garage and closet. Even deleting photos from your phone – just select and then delete, right?

Some big transitions are harder and small transitions are easier. We have so much opportunity to work. Think about approaching it this way: this little transition I'm going to do so well, so then I can do the next, harder one even better. You are going into a different world. You are going into Saturday – how is it going to look? How does the next year look to you, or the next season? We go through these moments of sadness, depression, different feelings. These feelings, if you look at them, have their logic, why I am feeling this and this – all the reasons for these emotions. When you are stuck in the emotions, then that logic seem to make sense, but when you look from the outside, none of the logic works. You are creating all of it. The bad logic is able to produce a lot of problems, and then you are facing those problems. You say as you face those things that of course you should suffer, because you have taught yourself that. Everything is so much centered around the self – me, and the world out there.

In the end, though, it's about letting go, right? It's always about letting go. The self – letting it go. It is so simple, everything seems so simple. Self creates the problem. Some things you may not call problems, but others you officially do call a problem. When you call it a problem, you know it's connected to the self. With awareness, you can see that it has something to do with not being able to let go – of either an identity or an attachment to something external, right?

Those moments, places, locations, changes, transitions happen all the time in life. It is about being ready and prepared for those. These are all opportunities to cultivate and practice in order to better support the transition of powa practice at the moment of death. In the end, whether it’s doing the powa practice or entering into the gompa, it's about how clearly you enter in, how clearly you go to the next day, how clearly you go to the next thing. Every entrance is interesting, isn't it?

There are many ways for entering into the next moment. Ceremonially, socially, we do various things that are symbolic. In the Tibetan tradition also, we do a lot of big ceremonies at the end of the year. The end of the year is about clearing the old year, and we do a lot of purification and rituals. Then we raise a prayer flag in the new year. We do it on the first day of the new year. Raising a prayer flag is symbolically raising all the forces of elemental energies. So symbolically or shamanically these rituals are done.

The principle is the same – finding a way into the new space, time, purpose, mission, new beginning, new creativity, new life, new phase of life, new moment of life, and trying to bring the best out of it. It doesn't have to be the end of the year. In fact, every morning is like that! Every evening you go to sleep, and then every morning you wake up better. Every morning you get up better, you feel better, you start the day with something right. It's a very simple thing. In the Tibetan tradition, every day we do an offering of the fresh water on the altar. This is an old tradition, and lately I've been feeling a strong connection to it. Bringing something fresh to the shrine, my sense of the day ahead feels very different. Of course, you can say everything is in your mind. Yes, I agree that everything is in my mind, but I prefer it to be that, rather than something else. That sacredness, that freshness, that sense of connection, of offering, that sense of not forgetting the refuge or source, connecting there to start my day – definitely, it's very powerful.

Many times we behave without awareness at these transitions. We behave with condition, with pain, with fear. We feel we don't have a choice. Just knowing I do have a choice can make all the difference. The choice should come through your being still, silent, spacious. Still, silent, spacious means not doing, not saying, not thinking (thinking is harder, but at least not doing and not saying) – at least giving some break. Then once you have calmed down, you find a new space from which you can do and say and think. Then what you will do and what you will say might be different than what you originally would have said. Sometimes when we are not aware, we end up doing things that are not so good, no? That little practice will change those moments.

Each time you are able to make these little transitions, you feel free, you feel good. It opens up the world for you. You may feel uncomfortable about somebody or about something, say, but you don't have to go crazy. You can enjoy your coffee. You can enjoy your meditation. You can enjoy your creativity. Then, not losing the connection to all those things, find a moment and some clarity about how to handle that situation. One thing that you want to be able to see clearly and to say to yourself is, If it's not good, I will definitely not make it worse. Anything that I attempt to say or do about it, the whole purpose is to not make it any worse. Leave it as it is. However, if you are moving forward and feel that you have the strength to do it, then you want to take it in the right direction, to the light, to more of a future opening. If that transition works, then I will see directly that this little transition makes me happy. It makes my life easier, maybe more productive. There are many benefits, as well as its being more preparation for the big transition.