Sakyong Mipham on meditation and the power of the breath

The following article appeared at the last issue of Fit Yoga magazine. The article was edited quite a bit so below is the extended version of the interview. Sakyong Mipham, the spiritual head of Shambala International, speaks about the mind as a “the rider” and living a life of calm and courage. By Vidura Barrios Before I met Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, considered by many as the reincarnation of Mipham the Great, revered in Tibet as an emanation of Manjushri himself, I was a bit mortified of encountering him for the first time with my current state of mind. It had been a particualry hectic week and I had traveled to another city to meet him and worried about finding the address and being late, Would he pick up on my stress level and react to it? Would it affect the interview? In fact, at the appointed time, I had the pleasure of being warmly greeted by an easygoing, athletic and youthful looking gentleman. Sitting down to speak with him, I was drawn into his beautiful aura of calm and kindness and I too felt completely at ease. My mind was gently brought into the present moment and the conversation was natural and exiting. I left the interview energized and inspired but most importantly I was reminded on how easy it can be for the mind turn around into a place of steadiness and calm. l Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is the spritual head of Shambala International, a global network of Buddhist meditation centers and retreats founded by his father, renowned master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is a high lama in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. On his first visit to Tibet in 2001, Sakyong Mipham was welcomed by thousands of people, not only as the rebirth of Mipham the Great, but also as living proof of the vital energy of Buddhism today. Sakyong Mipham is a prolific writer, his most recent book, Ruling Your World, is a delightful work that explores how ancient spiritual principles can be applied to every day life. Shambhala focuses on the practice of mindfulness and meditation as a means of connecting with one's Inner Self and using the insight gained as an inspiration for one's daily encounters with the world. Hatha Yoga is also often part of the curriculum. The Sakyong himself is a regular practitioner of Hatha Yoga, and was introduced to it in India by master Pathabi Jois. In his first interview with Fit Yoga, Sakyong Mipham speaks about the practice of meditation and how to live a life of calm and courage. FY Tell us about the relationship of meditation and the mind. Sakyong: Well, in Buddhism we say that if you meditate, eventually you get to your mind. Otherwise your mind is always a nuisance to you. You cannot utilize your mind if your mind is being difficult, bringing up heavy emotions and things that create obstacles. So how do you deal with that? You deal with it through meditation. You first need to develop the tools to steady your mind before you talk about more profound issues such as compassion and selflessness. FY: In Ruling Your World you speak about the direct relationship between generosity and a steady mind. Would you explain that? Sakyong: There is a fundamental relationship between the state of mind and the wind energy inside. (It is said the rider is the mind and the horse is the wind, with the wind representing the breath.) For example, when people’s minds are disturbed there is a lot of wind energy, the mind is going a lot of places. A human being needs to be able to discipline and utilize the mind. And if you can do that then you are able to be truly generous. FY: You seem to have a lot on your plate. You’re a prolific writer, you do events all the time, there seems to be constant activity around you, and yet I notice a stillness. Besides a regular meditation practice what do you recommend to help the mind relax? Sakyon: You know, for myself--and I don’t think it’s different for anyone else--I try to balance my personal life with my spiritual and meditation practice. Also there are times when I do deeper, longer retreats. FY: How do meditation and spiritual retreats help you? Sakyong: I think the main thing for myself is, when I am engaged in things, is to feel a sense of purpose. I feel like when I’m meeting with you, I’m not doing it for the sake of doing it, so there’s a quality of helping. I think when you lose that, you do become frantic. You feel like, “I need to fill the space.” And some people can do more and some people can do less. Speed is always going to be more. It’s more, more, and more. At a certain point you realize that you can’t do everything and that’s okay. It’s just not going to happen. It’s endless. So at a certain point you realize it is fine. There are people who die saying, “I need to do one more thing.” I deal with people who are sick and old and it’s amazing. They’re eighty-five years old and they’re saying “Just one more thing” and I say, “That’s it, you just have to relax now.” FY: It sounds related to the idea that we need to allow the mind to settle in the present moment. Sakyong: Yes, though I think that the mind has to want to settle. It has to find a reason to settle, because the point of settling in the moment is to learn, to appreciate and to find something in the moment. If the mind is not aware of the meaning and the learning opportunity available in the moment, then why would it want to settle? FY: The idea of “courageous warriorship” based on wisdom and compassion is central to Shambhala. How do we get to a point of courage and fearlessness in our life? Sakyong: I think you first have an inspiration. You see more of what you’re capable of, of who you are. Maybe you see that you want to be more helpful to people, or you want to be more useful. You want to do something meaningful. A lot of people feel that way, but they don’t do it. So now you need to do it. And doing it is a notion of warriorship. When you see warriors, even in the traditional sense of going into battle, there is a sense of courage, doing what they intended to do. They’re going against death and all these things. Here, it’s not aggressive, but it is still about courage, and to be willing to go out and take action. FY: In spiritual practice there is a sense of always moving forward, which implies getting out of the comfort zone and having the focus and energy to accomplish things. You talk about the vital energy as windhorse—Lungta in Tibetan-- the unlimited energy of basic goodness and inherent wakefulness available to all of us. How does one bring more of that energy into our lives and how does it manifest in a person? Sakyong: Windhorse is the energy and courage that comes from steady meditation practice. When you’re doing a spiritual practice, you’re doing something that is virtuous, strong, it is moving forward. And that energy, where you feel good and you feel like you’re being helpful and you’re taking that forward momentum, that sort of success is windhorse. When you see somebody’s leading their life in an inspiring way, it is the windhorse energy in action. The energy has a quality of accomplishment. For more information on Shambhala and Sakyong Mipham please vist www.shambhala.org For Inner Splendor site please visit www.apsari.com