Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche:
There are two types of mindfulness: deliberate and effortless. By
starting out with the mindfulness of deliberate attention, the
practitioner can make a clear distinction between being distracted or
not. Effortless mindfulness is of course possible if you happen to be
one of the people of the highest calibre - the instantaneous type of
person - who does not really need to go through the path. However, for
most other people, especially in the Mahamudra system, the mindfulness
of deliberate attention is essential in the beginning. Otherwise, by
relying only on effortless mindfulness, you may not even notice whether
you are distracted or not. Even worse, you may convince yourself that
you are never distracted. Rather than this, it is much better to
practice deliberate mindfulness even though it is subtly conceptual, and
gradually progress to effortless mindfulness.
In the Mahamudra teachings, you often find the phrase 'original innate
nature'. This is none other than buddha nature. The training is simply
to become used to that, whether you call it Mahamudra, Madhyamika or
Dzogchen. These are all different words for the same natural state. But
to train, you must first of all be introduced to, and have then
recognized the view. In Mahamudra, once the practitioner has recognized
the view, he or she takes mindfulness as the path; it is a way of
training in that view. If mindfulness is lost, then he/she is led
completely astray into the 'black dissipation' of ordinary habitual
patterns. Black dissipation means one forgets all thought of practice
and simply deviates into ordinary activities. All practice is left
behind. So, either we remember the view and sustain it (remain
undistracted), or the practice is destroyed. We need to know when we are
distracted. Discursive thought is distraction, but once we recognize
the essence of the thought, we arrive at non-thought. A quote from The
Rain of Wisdom by Jamgon Lodro Thaye says: "Within complexity I
discovered dharmakaya; within thought I discovered non-thought."
A person of the highest capacity can immediately arrive at effortless
mindfulness. This is someone who possesses the continuity of former
training from the life before this, who has been reborn with a very
strong aptitude for this type of practice. Needless to say, most people
do not belong to this category. Most of us are not of the highest
capacity, so there is no way around having to remind ourselves of the
view by deliberately being mindful.
That which goes astray is simply our attention. Our mind becomes
distracted, and that which brings us back to the view is called
'deliberate mindfulness'. In the same way, if you want the light to come
on in a room, a conscious act is necessary. You must put your finger on
the switch and press it; the light does not turn itself on. In the same
way again, unless a beginner reminds him/herself determinedly to
remember the view, the recognition of mind-essence never occurs. The
moment we notice we have been carried away, we think, "I have wandered
off". By recognizing the identity of who has been distracted, you
automatically arrive back in the view. The reminder is nothing more than
that. This moment (of recognition) is like pressing the light-switch.
Once the light is on, you do not have to keep pressing the switch. After
a while, we may again forget and are carried away. At that point, we
must reapply deliberate mindfulness.