modes of apprehending.
We are taught to give these up. The text discusses proper behavior of body, speech and mind to adopt while receiving teachings. Negative or faulty behavior must be discarded and positive or good conduct encouraged.
The Three Faults of the Vessel
Initially, improper conduct is taught; the three faults of the vessel must be identified. Not listening is the fault of an upside-down vessel; not remembering what you have heard is the fault of a vessel with a leaking bottom; mixing the teachings with afflictive emotions is the fault of poison. These faults must be cast off when listening to the Dharma.
Defect of an upside-down vessel
Your hearing should not be at all distracted from the teaching. You must listen to the instructions with single-pointed concentration on the words
and a completely focused mind. Thus, the conduct to be adopted while attending a teaching is to listen attentively on the teachings being given, without being sidetracked by any other sound. The mind consciousness must also focus wholeheartedly on what the lama is saying, the words and meanings of the Dharma being taught. We must listen to the Dharma in that way.
If the ear consciousness is unfocused and preoccupied by other sounds from outside, the mind consciousness also becomes distracted. When both mind and ear are diverted elsewhere, although you are physically present, you cannot grasp even a single word of Dharma. The sutras usually attribute inconceivable merit to listening to Buddhist teachings, but this refers to listening with complete attention. Merely being physically present does not qualify as listening to the Dharma nor does it gather the benefit of listening.
The best is to understand the words and meanings of the teachings. Being attentive and diligent, with undistracted ear and mind consciousnesses, and the ability to comprehend the profound words and meaning is excellent. Even if you cannot grasp the complete meaning and words, simply hearing them has immeasurable benefits. However, merely being physically present while your mind is wandering elsewhere does not accumulate any merit. Flies and other creatures are present where teachings are being given, but do not accumulate virtue. Nowhere is it taught that they accumulate merit. One must listen with full attention of the ear and must understand with the mind.
Not listening is like pouring water over an overturned vessel. However much the lama teaches, the student will understand nothing. Not listening with the ear and mind consciousnesses is the greatest fault when listening to the Dharma. You must eliminate this defect and learn to concentrate single-pointedly. Otherwise you will not succeed in understanding a single word of the teaching, which is the same as not listening. No benefit results from attending a teaching in this way. You must focus single-pointedly with the ear and mind consciousness.
Defect of a leaky vessel
The second fault is not keeping the teaching in mind, or being like a leaky vessel. Leaving the teachings merely as something you have heard or understood without retaining is the same as pouring water into a broken cup. Listening to the Dharma with your ear and mind consciousness
focused develops some degree of understanding. Next, you must reflect on the teachings again and again, attempting to maintain them in your mind. Since time immemorial we have not been habituated to the Dharma, so we cannot grasp the teachings simply by listening and thinking that we understand. After the teaching ends, consider well what the lama taught, and try to retain it. Otherwise, you may feel that you understand the teaching when you are sitting in the teaching hall, but later you will forget it. If you forget, it is as though you had not heard the Dharma at all. For example, when you put an iron into a fire it turns bright red, but once you remove it the iron again becomes black. In the same way, without contemplating the teaching after the talk is over, you will not remember the meaning. Nothing remains if you pour something into a leaking vessel.
Without retaining the teachings in your mind, the power of the Dharma cannot shine forth. For the power of the Dharma to reveal itself in your mindstream, you must hold on to the meaning. If not, no matter how much teaching you receive, it will not influence you. Not understanding the Dharma, you cannot practice, so you might as well not have heard the teaching in the first place. Therefore, grasping the teaching in one’s mind is a very important positive quality, and failing to grasp is a fault.
Defect of a vessel mixed with the poison of afflictive emotion
If your motivation for receiving teachings involves wanting to understand the Dharma in order to become a famous scholar or to attain a high position, that aspiration – wanting to be well-known and powerful – is negative. Although the teaching is good, the intention is bad. Mixing these two is damaging, like mixing poison into good food, and will not help anyone. Never mix listening to the Dharma with the wrong motivation. The teachings should not be received for the wrong reasons.
If you are experiencing strong attachment, aversion, ignorance, pride or other negative emotions when listening to the Dharma, even though your ears are listening and the teaching is good, the generation of afflictive emotions will cause harm. Attachment and aversion are afflictive emotions, which inevitably cause harm and never bring benefit. Practicing the path of the unsurpassable Secret Mantra can transform afflictive emotions into the nature of wisdom, and in that case the power of those emotions can bring forth the great bliss from our mindstream. On such occasions afflictive emotions are taught as the path, and at that time the afflictive emotions are not the specifically characterized phenomena but are arising as the nature of
the primordial wisdoms.
In all other cases, the nature of afflictive emotions is to harm. For example, any fire will burn your fingers, be it large or small. The size does not matter since burning is characteristic of fire. Likewise, afflictive emotions will harm you whether or not you are receiving the teachings. The fault is even greater when the negative emotions arise during a teaching. Allowing such emotions to come up during a Dharma teaching will not only keep the mindstream from benefiting, but the emotions will cause even greater harm than usual, thereby turning Dharma into non-Dharma. Our incorrect concept will turn the Dharma that we hear into non-Dharma, increasing the harm. This is like putting good food into a vessel containing poison. No matter how good the food one puts into a contaminated vessel, it becomes poison and can make you sick. Eating good, pure food nourishes our body, but food mixed with poison damages us. Similarly, Dharma unmixed with afflictive emotion benefits our mindstream, while Dharma polluted with negativity – although it is Dharma – nonetheless causes serious harm.