Heart and Mind Yoga
Yoga in the Deepest Sense
Interview with Tibetan
Buddhist
meditation teacher Rob Nairn.
This article
appeared in Yoga and
Health, June 2004 p9-10
By Sarah Lionheart © 2004,
I have just returned from South
Africa having taken part in a three-week international meditation
retreat run by the sought-after teacher on Buddhism and meditation, Rob
Nairn. It was a marvellous retreat – great teachings,
personal
help, wonderful food and lots of lovely warm sunshine! Rob Nairn
is author of three books, ‘Tranquil Mind’ published as ‘What is
Meditation?’ by Shambhala; ‘Diamond Mind – Psychology of Meditation’
(Kairon Press & Shambhala) and ‘Living Dreaming Dying’ Kairon Press
& Shambhala. His training in modern psychology and Buddhism –
including a four-year isolation retreat at Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist
Monastery in Scotland - enables him to translate ancient Eastern wisdom
into concepts we can understand and apply. Rob has studied and
practised Buddhist philosophy and psychology for over 40 years.
He resigned as Professor of Criminology at the University of Cape Town,
South Africa, in 1979 to commit his life to the practice and teaching
of the Dharma and leads courses and retreats in Africa, the United
States, Britain and Europe.
I first met Rob in July 2000, two
weeks after a pivotal dream that indicated that I must now train within
the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He was the first Tibetan Buddhist
teacher I met and since then I have been introduced to and learnt from
some of the great masters of this tradition – both in India and
Britain. I have taken part in three 10-day retreats led by him,
three weekend courses and now this three-week retreat in South
Africa. I have found that he has a wonderful ability to teach
westerners as he understands the sort of problems we have with
meditation training and can explain the psychological processes of
meditation as well as clarify some of the more obscure practices of
this tradition. The great teachers of this tradition seem to
speak through him and I have gained such insight into my own practice
under his guidance that I am tremendously indebted to him and the
lineage.
First of all I asked Rob about yoga
teachers and meditation.
Rob: ‘I see that a lot of yoga
teachers do not really know about meditation. They do a week –
end course and then start guiding people and often give the wrong
information. This can be very difficult for serious
students. One example is a teacher who tells students that
meditation is about not thinking. This is not a helpful way to
teach as it usually makes the student more tense as they notice how
much they are thinking! I would prefer that yoga teachers who
intend to include meditation training in their classes do training in
meditation first.
Sarah :What would this entail?
Rob: Well, there is one module
running now for a year within the British Wheel of Yoga specifically on
meditation. It is a beginning. And I know you are intending
to start one next year under the guidance of the Lamas who are training
you. Even a year module is really just scratching the surface and
teachers would be advised to go on retreat and of course meditate every
day. There are also courses offered at various centres and as
long as one has contact with a genuine teacher, then one can feel one
had begun a genuine training on this path. It takes a long time
to begin to be stable enough in one’s own practice in order to be able
to teach others. A student of meditation can pass on what they
know and then suggest that people go to more advanced practitioners for
further guidance. We are very strict in our lineage about who is
able to teach as the lineage stretches back in an unbroken line to the
Buddha himself and we have to ensure that the teachings remain pure and
the transmission of them is unbroken.
Sarah: How do Tibetan Buddhists view
Hatha Yoga postures in general?
Rob; As far as I know the yoga
postures were brought into Tibet many centuries ago and the meditation
masters can use body movement as part of training. Breath
awareness and flexibility of the body is very helpful when training in
meditation so that those who have done training in Hatha Yoga often
make good meditation students. The yoga has enabled them to
stabilise somewhat and have greater calmness and awareness. Of
course the whole training of yoga includes ethics and morals and
learning how to live in a balanced way so this is very useful for a
meditation student. Also in this tradition there is great understanding
of the energy in the body and how to harness that, which is what yoga
is also concerned with.
Sarah: Rob, your latest book is
called ‘ Living Dreaming and Dying’. (ISBN 0-9584348-9-1 Kairon Press
or 1-59030-132-3 Shambhala) Could you tell me about it please?
Rob: The material of life, dream and
death in Tibetan Buddhism is fascinating and instructive. It
tells us what goes on in the different dimensions of our existence and
what we can do about it. What it doesn’t mention is that most of
us carry within ourselves the causes that block the inner
journey. We do not understand our complex makeup with unseen
psychological forces working at many levels, some neutralising others,
some preventing us from be able to do what we long to do, some driving
us to despair. So the steps to applying the principles on life, dream
and dying can be very difficult as all the unseen obstacles in our mind
can’t be anticipated and so we need some form of bridging and that is
what this latest book of mine is offering. It has become steadily
clearer to me that it is essential for us to take account of and
uncover experientially our personal psychology and how it plays out in
our lives, dreams and deaths. Unseen psychological forces like
projection and habitual mind patterns govern how we are and what we can
or cannot do at every level of our being but we are unaware of
them. Most of us more of less stumble through life without
learning about them but none of us can progress in life or dream or
death without doing so, because the forces that prevent change and
progress within the personality are located within them.
This book attempts to make
accessible the ancient Tibetan teachings on living, dreaming and
dying. Without presuming to change the teachings, I am presenting
an approach and a perspective, which I hope will make it possible for
you to understand and apply them in your life. Your ordinary
everyday life without taking off into the frozen Himalayas to sit in a
cave!
Much of the focus is on the
psychological issues you undoubtedly have operating in your mind at
this very moment and how these prevent you being happy. Prevent
you being able to do what you want to do. Prevent you becoming
enlightened. Because I am of a practical disposition I have
devised tricks and ways of working creatively with these mind
states. Over the years many students have found these helpful –
some have walked through the door………..
Sarah: Thank you Rob.
Why would we want to know how to dream or die well?
Rob: The dream state of
consciousness is very similar to the death state of the bardos – that
we go through after death. If we can learn to dream with
awareness then we have more ability to enter the states that arise
after death – with awareness. The death bardo holds enormous
potential for achieving enlightenment and once we have become
enlightened we have limitless power and ability to help others in ways
known and unimaginable – help them to freedom and happiness.
Bodhisattvas live only to do this. Although death leads us into
new experiences, these arise out of our own minds; they do not come
from an external source. If we train and make friends with our
minds in life, we have a chance of recognising what is happening in
death. This recognition can result in enlightenment.
The purpose of this book is to
introduce you to the main principles of training, and acquaint you with
some of the age-old Buddhist teachings on liberation through living,
dreaming, dying. We will also examine how the ‘ordinary person in
the street’ can best prepare for death and thus die skilfully.
Also – how to help others who are dying or have already died.
The most important single message to
emerge from the Buddhist teachings on this topic is simple and powerful:
‘If you want to be happy and become
enlightened,
Give up all forms of selfishness and
harmful behaviours.
Live to help others. Above all
– try to be kind.’
Rob Nairn will be teaching in
England and Ireland through out the summer and autumn of 2004. He
will be leading a one week retreat on ‘Living Dreaming and Dying’ on
Holy Isle off Arran 28th August – 5th September 2004. He will
also lead a 7-day retreat in Scotland at Samye Ling July 10th –18th on
the Wheel of Life. He will lead a weekend course there on ‘Intro
to Tranquillity and Insight Meditation ‘ 2-4th July and on ‘Becoming
the Observer’ 28th August – September 5th.
He will lead a one-day meditation
workshop for yoga students, teachers and meditation students near
Manchester in September. Rob will also be travelling around
Britain giving teachings at places such as Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
London and Dublin. Contact Samye Ling at scotland@samyeling.org
or look on the website www.samyeling.org. Phone 013873 732 32.
Rob will lead another international
retreat in South Africa next February starting Feb 6th for one
month. Total cost including airfare about £1,000. It
is nice and sunny and the food is great!
His books include Tranquil Mind – an
introduction to Buddhism and meditation (Kairon Press
0-958-43485-9; 10th anniversary edition in hardcover) Diamond Mind
psychology of meditation (Kairon Press ISBN 0-9584166-3-Xand Shambhala
1-57062-763-0); ‘and Living Dreaming Dying, Kairon Press ISBN
0-9584348-9-1 & Shambhala 1-59030-132-3.
Sarah Lionheart will be leading a
retreat on Holy Isle July 30th to August 6th 2004 and also a weekend
retreat in North Yorkshire June 18th – 20th 2004. Contact her on
sarah@heartandmind.org or
Tel: 01663 732 701.
www.heartandmind.org.
She also leads one-day meditation workshops
for yoga teachers and is about to teach a meditation module for the
British Wheel of Yoga.
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