Knowledge

Shérab (shes rab) means intelligence or insight. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche called it: ‘. . . the all – seeing eye, the opposite of the ego’s watching itself doing everything.’

Shérab is complete insight into the referential patterns of the participants playing in every situation. The highest intelligence is to know the process of referentiality for what it is.

Practitioners develop shérab as they develop their practice. This process emerges through immersion in the relationship with the Lama, and the Lama’s teaching. Under these conditions of commitment and devotion – there is no choice regarding the development of shérab – flashes of insight simply begin to occur. You find out and understand who you are. You discover the stylistics of the patterns by which your perception is conditioned. You discover the texture and fabric of your concept consciousness, your projections, and your relationship with your world.

This only occurs when we apply the teachings to ourselves and when we agree to accept a degree of discomfort, horror, hilarity, regret – and a great many other tones in the mind.

Shérab manifests at the point at which experiences of nyi’mèd percolate through the structure of the Tantric ngöndro (sNgon ’gro) . This is the point at which the preliminaries are no longer preliminaries and one begins to see that one could practi s e in this way for the rest of one’s life.

Shérab exists in two forms. There is the shérab of knowing and the shérab of seeing. The shérab of knowing deals with the emotions – it cuts through self – referencing and its resultant emotions. The shérab of seeing is the transcendence of primitive preconceptions of the world, seeing situations as they actually are without our own projections. It allows for the possibility of pure appropriateness when dealing with situations.

Shérab is regarded as the two – edged sword that cuts the bondage of the confusion of self – referencing. The sword is two – edged – because it can cut in any direction – which is the manner of spontaneous appropriate activity.

To develop shérab is to become a vajra politician – aware of surrounding circumstances, yet aware of creating our version of those circumstances.

Vajra politicians do not submit to their perception of what is happening – they are slightly suspicious of their versions of reality and yet know that their versions are nonetheless connected with reality. Shérab enables vajra politicians to see around conditioned perceptual corners.

Shérab is immediate non-conceptual insight , yet—at the same time—it provides the basic inspiration for intelligent study. There is a natural desire to clarify and articulate the teachings and a curiosity to read and hear of how others have expressed their insight into mind and the nature of Mind. At the same time it is necessary to maintain continuing discipline of meditational training. In this way concepts are never ‘merely concepts’ – and one’s approach remains fresh and alive.

Shérab or discriminating awareness is the state of clarity in which one is able to distinguish different states of mind; we are no longer excited or depressed by particular states of mind. States of mind are the ornaments of one’s awareness. Shérab—or intellect—is intuitive, yet intellectually precise. The working of shérab is such that when we pay proper attention to persons or situations, they automatically give us answers or understanding. The quality of intelligence is all – pervasive but at the same time it is precisely to the point. It is sharp, accurate, and direct. It has the qualities of the water element.

The purpose of shérab is to cut through intelligence when it changes into intellectual speculation or when it obscures itself with philosophical beliefs. Intellectual speculation is reinforced endlessly by beliefs and dogmas – either: theological, moral, ethical, culturally empirical, or societally pragmatic. Intellectualism such as this should be destroyed on the spot. It is extremely damaging because it bases itself on shoring up self – image. Intellectualism such as this is entirely self – referencing and gives rise to bulimic informational vomiting which poses as conversation. Information regurgitated for its own sake eliminates the possibility of spontaneous communication and the appropriateness of linguistic play. It is often the case that the intellectualism becomes the two – edged sword of indiscriminate aggression.

The quotation from the film ‘Emma’ at the beginning of this short description of shérab, is based on the irony of this situation.

The man in question was Mr Frank Churchill, at one time the darling of Highbury society, but later exposed as a schmuck – a liar who toys with the emotions of others in a callous manner for his own ends.

We have met people with enormous funds of informational knowledge but who seem singular most unpleasant affronts to decent society. This informational knowledge for its own sake must never to be mistaken for shérab.

Where information is deified, there is resistance to the Lama. The Lama is the root of the two aspects of wisdom, shérab and yeshé (ye shes – jnana – primordial wisdom)and therefore the student who takes refuge in information loses his or her refuge in Dharma and becomes little more than an esoteric philatelist. Such esoteric philatelists are so deeply mired in their referential patterns that they remain untouched both by the relationship with the Lama and by the teachings.

The fabrication of dualism causes us all to exhibit some form of spiritual materialism – but the practice is to hold the knowledge of this fact in one’s heart so that one can recognise it and observe what unfolds. Awareness of our motivation must pervade practice. If we fail to acknowledge that our motivation it is mixed—and mistake intellectualism for Dharma—then we will sink ever further into the swamp of duality and shérab will remain beyond our experience.

The Ten Paramitas

(Parol-tu Chinpa Çu – pha rol tu phyin pa drug phar bCu)

1.    Generosity (jinpa – sByin pa – dana paramita)
2.    Discipline [energy / morality] (tsultrim – tshul khrims – shila paramita)
3.    Patience (zopa – bZod pa – kshanti paramita)
4.    Diligence (tsöndrü – brTson ’grus – virya paramita)
5.    Openness [transcendental knowledge or insight] (samten – bSam gTan – dhyana paramita)
6.    Knowledge (shérab – shes rab – prajna paramita)
7.    Method – skilful means (thab – thabs – upaya paramita)
8.    Aspiration power (mönlam – sMon lam – pranidhana paramita)
9.    Strength (tob – sTobs – bala paramita)
10.  Primordial wisdom (yeshé – ye she – jnana paramita)