Practicing Gratefulness
Lama Gursam visited Baltimore the weekend of August 1st to 3rd in 2025. While here he spoke on gratefulness as a meditation practice. These are my notes from his talk. They have been edited to read like a transcript, but they are notes and only the highlights from his talk.
I have nothing to say that the great masters haven't said before. I don't think of myself a teacher. I have always been a student. I have spent my time studying and practice with masters from different traditions. We forget what we have learned in the past, so the teachers need to remind us of what we have learned. I came to the USA for the first time in 1996. So I wonder what I have learned in that time. Nothing is ever perfect, even Buddha had many challenges on the way to enlightenment. What matters is to keep studying and practicing the dharma.
The first noble truth is the reality of life, the truth of suffering: birth, aging, sickness, and death. No one can change that. It is as it is. But as Shantideva said, if we can't change something, why worry about it? Sometimes I look back at what I said a while ago and ask myself, did I really say that? No, I was only repeating what I heard in school. Now I have experienced the first noble truth. I have seen how India has changed over the 60 years of my life. What I am sharing today comes from my experience and not from a book. When I was working by helping my mother what I learned is gratefulness, joy, and thankfulness. This is the most important meditation, more powerful than mahamudra. Sometimes we don't realize the importance of gratefulness and how easy and powerful it is. In one way it was difficult to appreciate what I have. Then I taught myself to do this. When I do this, I feel so relaxed. It brings me such happiness and joy. It also brings compassion. Then from that comes bodhicitta. I feel great joy for anyone who has been in my life in the past and wish the best for them. It also brings closeness to others. It is easier to be patient and have compassion with them. So that is what I would like to share with you. So I try to do this meditation every day. Here is how I do the practice.
The first thing we have to feel grateful for is our precious life. As long as we can breathe, we are alive. A week ago, before coming from India, I had problems with my left leg. It was from over stretching in yoga. I I worried about how that would hamper me. I went to a chiropractor and was able to resolve the problem. So I was very grateful for that. During the day use any opportunity for practicing gratefulness.
The practice of gratefulness seems easy, but it is not so easy to do at practice time. It has to come from the heart, not from the mind. You need to practice it again and again in many ways, for all things. Everything must become an object of practice in order to completely understand it from the heart. Bodhicitta has many causes and conditions. Love and compassion will arise naturally, without looking for it.
Preliminary practice is any practice that must be done first. It must be completed properly. Everything we do must be connected to our every day life. Dharma can't remain in the monastery. Otherwise it won't remain long. So it is important to not miss this point. So every practice must be useful in our daily life. It can't stay in the clouds, it must be grounded. This practice can be done by everyone, not just Buddhists. The Dalai Lama emphasizes the importance of nonsectarian practice. In Buddhism this practice is called immeasurable joy.
Another practice is called mind training. These are several practices. The one I found interesting and necessary for me is the four mind trainings. It is especially about training the emotions. One of my practices comes from a vajra song. It goes "what is the mind? It is like space. Space is boundless and completely open. Likewise the true nature of mind is like open space. Because space is open everything is possible." The Tibetan word for conceptual thought is nam thok (rnams rtog) It includes both positive and negative thoughts. All these thoughts are equal from the standpoint of mahamudra. They are like clouds in the sky. They come and go. Sometimes the grosser thoughts disappear, and only subtler thoughts are there. If we do not understand the nature of these thoughts there is no way of recognizing the mind. Thoughts are always occuring in our mind, even in our sleep. Every being has these thoughts. Jigten Sumon says, don't focus on space, focus on the clouds. He says if realizes the nature of the cloud it dissolves back into space, where it arose from. When the clouds are not there, we see the sun. Relative truth is the arising and disappearance of thoughts. These cannot be stopped through effort, only through understanding them. If instead of this we chase after thoughts and judge them as good or bad or grasp them, that is bondage instead of liberation. So in mahamudra, we only remain relaxed when thoughts arise. In dzogchen whatever thought arises, only look at it and it will resolve. So that is my advice on how to deal with thoughts. And this is very important in every day life. Don't create more thoughts by chasing after them.
I would like to say a few words about mind training, which is sometimes called mahamudra or dzogchen or insight meditation. Whatever word they choose to use it is mind training. All the different thoughts, which in Tibetan are called nam tok, have different ways of understanding them and understanding how to deal with them. Each way of dealing with them is wonderful. Today I am speaking from my experience. Mahamudra says not to follow the thoughts. Dzogchen says to not accept or reject thoughts. Sutra says to apply the antidote to each thought that arises. I find the most powerful practice is breathing. As soon as I recognize my energy of breathing it is easy to recognize the energy of thoughts. So it is important to recognize the energy of breathing. The two are very strongly connected. If emotions arise we normally try to get rid of the emotion. That didn't work for me. It makes the emotion more and more solid so I cannot transform it. Through training breathing I have a powerful way to deal with the emotions. It is an easy and gentle way of recognizing them. Normally we try to force our emotions. So I need a way of recognizing them that doesn't involve thought. Tilopa says "Looking at the mind free from subject and object is called insight meditation." So what I am emphasizing is when thoughts and emotions arise let them go. I am not trying to prove something, but just sharing my thoughts with you. So I have tried to learn the different breathing practices. Life starts at the first breath and ends with the last. So breathing is very special. So these are my thoughts about insight meditation.