Shenpen ÖselThe Clear Light of the Buddha’s Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

December 1999 – January 2000Volume 3, Number 3

The intellect cannot see that which is beyond conceptual mind,and you will never realize that which is uncreated throughcreated dharmas. If you wish to attain or realize that which isbeyond the intellect and is uncreated, then scrutinize your mindand strip awareness naked.

—Tilopa

2 SHENPEN ÖSEL

The Clear Light of the Buddha’s Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

ContentContentContentContentContentsssss

This issue of Shenpen Ösel is devoted to a series of teachings given by The Very Venerable Khenchen ThranguRinpoche in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June of 1998. In addition to the translated, transcribed, edited textof the teachings, we have included two versions of the text that was the subject of Rinpoche’s commentary.

33333 IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

99999 CommentCommentCommentCommentCommentary onary onary onary onary on Mahamudra Upadesha Mahamudra Upadesha Mahamudra Upadesha Mahamudra Upadesha Mahamudra Upadesha by Khenchen Tby Khenchen Tby Khenchen Tby Khenchen Tby Khenchen Thrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rinpoche:inpoche:inpoche:inpoche:inpoche:TTTTTilopa’s Most Significilopa’s Most Significilopa’s Most Significilopa’s Most Significilopa’s Most Significant Tant Tant Tant Tant Teaching, Received Directly from Veaching, Received Directly from Veaching, Received Directly from Veaching, Received Directly from Veaching, Received Directly from Vajradharaajradharaajradharaajradharaajradhara

17 The Path of Liberation Is Like Leaping Over the Top of a Mountain28 On the Necessity of Cultivating a Strict Mindfulness in Meditation39 Only With Reliance Upon a Wise Guru Will You Receive the Blessing of Liberation49 At the Instant of Mahamudra Realization, All Ignorance and Negative Karma Are Purified

66666 33333 TTTTThrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rinpoche’s Vinpoche’s Vinpoche’s Vinpoche’s Vinpoche’s Vajra Vajra Vajra Vajra Vajra Vidya Institute: Tidya Institute: Tidya Institute: Tidya Institute: Tidya Institute: To Ensure To Ensure To Ensure To Ensure To Ensure That the Vhat the Vhat the Vhat the Vhat the VajrayanaajrayanaajrayanaajrayanaajrayanaTTTTTeachings Endureeachings Endureeachings Endureeachings Endureeachings Endure

66666 44444 On Achieving ExerOn Achieving ExerOn Achieving ExerOn Achieving ExerOn Achieving Exertion on the Ption on the Ption on the Ption on the Ption on the Path: Fath: Fath: Fath: Fath: Four Tour Tour Tour Tour Thoughthoughthoughthoughthoughts Ts Ts Ts Ts That That That That That Turn the Mind to Dharmaurn the Mind to Dharmaurn the Mind to Dharmaurn the Mind to Dharmaurn the Mind to DharmaBy Lama Tashi Namgyal

TTTTTextextextextextsssss 5 Mahamudra Upadesha (text used in Thrangu Rinpoche’s teaching)11 Supplication to the Takpo Kagyus72 Mahamudra Upadesha (Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s translation)

Volume 3 Number 3

Editorial policEditorial policEditorial policEditorial policEditorial policyyyyyShenpen Ösel is a tri-annual publication of KagyuShenpen Ösel Chöling (KSOC), a center for thestudy and practice of Tibetan vajrayana Buddhismlocated in Seattle, Washington. The magazineseeks to present the teachings of recognized andfully qualified lamas and teachers, with anemphasis on the Karma Kagyu and the ShangpaKagyu lineages. The contents are derived in largepart from transcripts of teachings hosted by ourcenter. Shenpen Ösel is produced and mailedexclusively through volunteer labor and does notmake a profit. (Your subscriptions and donationsare greatly appreciated.) We publish with theaspiration to present the clear light of theBuddha’s teachings. May it bring benefit and mayall be auspicious. May all beings be inspired andassisted in uncovering their own true nature.

Photo creditPhoto creditPhoto creditPhoto creditPhoto credits this issue:s this issue:s this issue:s this issue:s this issue: Ryszard K. Frackiewicz, pp. 9,17, 28, 38, 39, 48,49, back cover; Wolfgang Hirsch, pp. 64,71.

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EditorEditorEditorEditorEditorLama Tashi Namgyal

Copy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, Transcribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,RecordersRecordersRecordersRecordersRecordersGlen Avantaggio, Peter Borodin, AlanCastle, Anita Castle, Ken DeSure, DavidDuBois, Ryszard K. Frackiewicz, MarciaGlover, Denise Glover, Wolfgang Hirsch,Candace Kielbiski, Judy Knapp, DonaldLashley, Linda Lewis, Edmund Liong, EdMacArthur, Yahm Paradox, Chris Payne,Rose Peeps, Mark Voss

DatDatDatDatDatabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerDarren Beil

Mailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMark Suver

Mailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMembers of the Seattle sangha

Shenpen Ösel

The illustration of Tilopa on the coveris from Cutting Through SpiritualMaterialism by ChögyamTrungpa, copyright 1973. Reprinted byarrangement with Shambhala Publica-tions, Inc., Boston.

SHENPEN ÖSEL 3

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

The teachings in this issue of Shenpen Ösel, Thrangu Rinpoche’s commentary onMahamudra Upadesha, contain the mahamudra pointing-out instructions given onthe banks of the Ganges River by the Indian mahasidda Tilopa to his foremost

disciple, the great pandit and mahasiddha Naropa, sometime in the eleventh century ofthe common era. Tilopa is regarded as preeminent among Indian siddhas. According totradition, it was based on these instructions that Naropa attained enlightenment.

Now for nearly a thousand years these instructions have been transmitted through anunbroken lineage of realized teachers, beginning with Marpa the Translator, the first ofthe Tibetan holders of the lineage, all the way down to the Sixteenth Karmapa and thepresent generation of enlightened Tibetan and Himalayan teachers. Thus, the publicationof this commentary of the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche represents some-thing quite wonderful and quite extraordinary.

For practitioners of long standing who have received the fourth initiation or othermahamudra pointing-out instructions, this text will represent the lama in the form of thedictates of the sugatas, and will remind them of and enhance their understanding of theirown mahamudra practice and help them to fine-tune it. For the very rare and extraordi-nary beginner, this text may serve as an effective practice manual, but for most beginnersin the study and practice of dharma, as simple as this text may sound, it will serve as akind of roadmap of future practice possibilities. For all practitioners, the experience ofstudying and meditating on this text will be enhanced by receiving its transmission fromone of our great Kagyu lamas. The text is very pithy, some 120-130 lines, and most lamascould give the transmission of it in five or ten minutes. I may get in trouble for suggestingthis, but the next time such a great lama for whom you have great devotion is teaching inyour neighborhood, don’t be shy to tell him or her that this commentary of ThranguRinpoche’s has been published and ask for the transmission of the text; ask for a lung or alung-tri. We would offer the same advice for the other texts that have been published inthe pages of Shenpen Ösel, the study of which will be enhanced by receiving the appropri-ate transmission—The Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra, the teachings on the bardo byTsele Natsok Rangdrol, the mahamudra instructions of the great Indian and Tibetanmahasiddhas from The Ninth Karmapa’s Ocean of Definitive Meaning, etc.

To receive the greatest benefit from these words of Tilopa’s, a practitioner must giverise to strong, uncontrived, single-pointed devotion to the instructions and to the root andlineage lamas conveying them. An increase in devotion means an increase in realization.Such devotion is not always spontaneously present. But it can be easily cultivated throughthe practice of ngöndro and various yidam practices, and by contemplating the qualities of

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—Lama Tashi Namgyal

the lama and of the buddha, dharma, and sangha. It may take many years of practice toeffect the kind of mental purification necessary to realize fully the meaning of theseinstructions. Preparation is everything. If one accomplishes the preliminary practicesproperly, the more advanced practices will be accomplished very quickly, even instantly.

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We would like to draw the readers’ attention to the following errors in the last issue ofShenpen Ösel. On page 59 and elsewhere in the body of the commentary, the first hinayanatenet system, was misspelled as Vaibhasheka. It should be spelled either Vaibhashika orVaibhasika. Also, the editor’s note on page 71 states that “the principal Buddhist views inascending order are the hinayana schools of Sautrantika and Vaibashika . . .” They shouldbe given the other way around: the Vaibhashika (the Particularist School) and theSautrantika (the Sutra School).

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We would like to give special thanks to the members of the Karme Kagyu Center ofVancouver for sponsoring these teachings and for their cooperation in their publication.We would also like to thank Shambhala Publications for giving us permission to reprintthe line drawing of Tilopa from Chögyam Trungpa’s Cutting through Spiritual Material-ism, and for their permission to reprint Trungpa Rinpoche’s translation of MahamudraUpadesha, originally published in his book, The Myth of Freedom. It should be pointed outthat there are at least two versions of this text transmitted in the various Kagyu lineages.A careful reader will therefore notice that the translation and order of verses as they arepresented in The Myth of Freedom are considerably different from their presentation inThrangu Rinpoche’s commentary. The essential meaning, however, is the same.

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Mahamudra Upadesha

Although mahamudra cannot be taught, intelligent and patient Naropa,tolerant of suffering, who is engaged in austerity and is devoted to the guru,fortunate one, do this with your mind.

For example, in space what is resting on what?In one’s mind, mahamudra, there is nothing to be shown.Rest relaxed in the natural state without attempting to alter anything.

For example, it is like looking in the middle of the sky and not seeing anything. Inthe same way, when your mind looks at your mind, thoughts stop and youattain unsurpassable awakening. If this fetter or bondage of thought is loosened,there is no doubt that you will be liberated.

For example, just as the vapor that, arising from the earth, becomes clouds anddissolves into the expanse of space, not going anywhere else and yet not con-tinuing to abide anywhere, in the same way the agitation of the thoughts thatarise from the mind and within the mind is calmed the instant you see themind’s nature.

For example, just as the nature of space transcends color and shape, and just asspace is therefore unaffected or unchanged and unobscured by the variouscolors and shapes that occur within it, in the same way the essence of your mindtranscends color and shape, and, therefore, is never obscured or affected by thevarious colors and shapes of virtue and wrongdoing.

For example, it is like the luminous heart of the sun, which could never be obscuredeven by the darkness of a thousand eons. In that way, that luminous clarity, thatis the essence of the mind, is never obscured by the samsara of innumerablekalpas.

For example, just as we apply the term empty to space, in fact, there is nothingwithin space that we are accurately describing by that term. In the same way,although we call the mind clear light or luminosity, simply calling it so does notmake it true that there is actually anything within the mind that is a true basisfor that designation.

In that way the nature of the mind has from the beginning been like space, andthere are no dharmas that are not included within that.

Abandoning all physical actions, the practitioner should rest at ease.

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Without any verbal utterance, your speech becomes like an echo, soundinseparable from emptiness.

Think of nothing whatsoever with the mind and look at the dharmas of the leap.

The body is without meaning, empty like a bamboo stalk. The mind is like the midstof space. It is inconceivable. Rest relaxed within that, without letting it go orplacing it. Rest relaxed in that state without sending it out, or placing it in,letting it go or attempting to place it. . . . [If mind has no direction, it ismahamudra.] . . . with this you will attain unsurpassable awakening.

Those who follow tantra and the vehicle of the paramitas, the vinaya, the sutras,and the various teachings of the Buddha with an attachment for their indi-vidual textual traditions and their individual philosophy will not come to seeluminous mahamudra, because the seeing of that luminosity or clear light isobscured by their intention and attitude.

The conceptualized maintenance of vows actually causes you to impair themeaning of samaya. Without mental directedness or mental activity, be free ofall intentionality. Thoughts are self-arisen and self-pacified like designs on thesurface of water. If you do not pass beyond the meaning which is not abidingand not conceptualizing or focusing, then through not passing beyond that, youdo not pass beyond or transgress samaya. This is the torch which dispels allobscurity or darkness.

If, free of all intention, you do not abide in extremes, you will see without exceptionthe meaning of all the Buddha’s teachings or of all the takas, the sections of theBuddha’s teachings.

If you rest in this you will be liberated from the prison of samsara.If you rest evenly within this, all of your wrongdoing and obscurations will be

burned.This is called for those reasons the torch of the doctrine.

Foolish people who have no interest in this will only be continually carried off bythe river of samsara. Those foolish people experiencing intolerable sufferings inlower states of existence are worthy of compassion.

Wishing to attain liberation from intolerable suffering, rely upon a wise guru. Whenthe guru’s blessings enter your heart, your mind will be liberated.

Kye ho!

These things of samsara are meaningless or pointless, the causes of suffering. Andsince all of these things that have been done or made are pointless, look at thatwhich is meaningful.

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If you are beyond all grasping at an object and grasping at a subject, that is themonarch of all views.

If there is no distraction, that is the monarch among all meditations.If there is no effort, that is the monarch among all conducts.When there is no hope and no fear, that is the final result, and the fruition has been

attained or revealed.

It is beyond being an object of conceptual focus, and the mind’s nature is lucidity.There is no path to be traversed and yet, in that way you enter the path to

buddhahood.There is no object of meditation, but if you become accustomed to this you will attain

unsurpassable awakening.

Thoroughly examine mundane things or the things of the world. If you do you willsee that none of them persist, none of them are capable of permanence, and inthat sense, they are all like dreams and magical illusions. Dreams and magicalillusions are meaningless. Therefore, generate renunciation and give up mun-dane concerns.

Cut through the bonds of attachment and aversion toward those around you andyour surroundings and meditate in isolated retreats, forests, and so forth, livingalone. Remain in that state without meditation. When you attain that which iswithout attainment you have attained mahamudra.

For example, if the single root of a tree with a trunk and many branches, leaves,flowers, and fruit, is cut, the ten thousand or one hundred thousand brancheswill automatically die. In the same way, if the root of mind is cut through, thebranches and leaves of samsara will dry up.

For example, just as the darkness that has accumulated over a thousand eons is dis-pelled by the illumination of one lamp or one torch, in the same way, one instant ofthe wisdom of the clear light of one’s mind dispels all of the ignorance,wrongdoing, and obscurations accumulated throughout numerous eons.

The intellect cannot see that which is beyond conceptual mind, and you will neverrealize that which is uncreated through created dharmas. If you wish to attainor realize that which is beyond the intellect and is uncreated, then scrutinizeyour mind and strip awareness naked.

Allow the cloudy water of thought to clarify itself or to clear itself.Do not attempt to stop or create appearances. Leave them as they are.If you are without acceptance and rejection of external appearances, all that

appears and exists will be liberated as mudra.

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This was bestowed on the banks of the River Ganges by the Great and Glorious Siddha Tilopa, who hadrealized mahamudra, upon the Kashmiri pandit who was both learned and realized, Naropa, afterNaropa had engaged in twelve hardships or austerities. This was translated and written down atPullahari in the north by the great Naropa and the great Tibetan translator, the king among translators,Marpa Chokyi Lodro.

This text was translated into English orally by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso in the course of translating theVery Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’s commentary.

The all-basis is unborn, and within that unborn all-basis, abandon or relinquishhabits, wrongdoing, and obscurations. Therefore, do not fixate or reckon. Restin the essence of the unborn or in the unborn nature. In that state, appearancesare fully apparent; but within that experience of vivid appearances allowconcepts to be exhausted or to dissolve.

Complete liberation from all conceptual extremes is the supreme monarch of views.Boundless vastness is the supreme monarch of meditations.Being directionless and utterly impartial is the supreme monarch of conduct.Self-liberation beyond expectation or hope is the supreme result or fruition.

[For] a beginner [mind] is like a river with a fast current running through anarrow bed or a narrow defile.

In the middle or after that, it becomes like the gentle current of the River Ganges.In the end, it is like the flowing of all rivers into the mother ocean, or it is like the

meeting of mother and child of all the rivers.

Those of little intelligence, if they find they cannot remain in that state, may applyor hold the technique of the breathing and emphasize the essence of aware-ness, and through many techniques or branches such as gaze and holding themind, tighten awareness until it stays put, exerting tension or effort untilawareness comes to rest in that state or in its nature.

If you rely upon karmamudra, the wisdom of bliss and emptiness will arise. Enterinto union having consecrated the upaya or method and the prajna or knowl-edge. Slowly let it fall or send it down, coil it, turn it back, and lead it to itsproper place. Finally spread it or cause it to pervade your whole body. If thereis no attachment or craving, the wisdom of bliss and emptiness will appear.

You will possess longevity without white hair and you will be as healthy as thewaxing moon. Your complexion will be lustrous and you will be as powerful asa lion. You will quickly attain the common siddhis or attainments, and you willcome to alight in or attain the supreme siddhi as well.

These instructions of the essential point of mahamudra, may they abide in thehearts of worthy or fortunate beings.

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TTTTThe Vhe Vhe Vhe Vhe Very Very Very Very Very Venerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Thrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rinpocheinpocheinpocheinpocheinpoche

Mahamudra Upadesha

Tilopa’s Most Significant Teaching, Received Directly from Vajradhara

In June of 1998, the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche gave a series of teach-ings in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Tilopa’s Mahamudra Upadesha. Rinpoche gavethe teachings in Tibetan; they were orally translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso. The fol-lowing is an edited transcript.

I would like to express my pleasure at being able to meet with all of you here thisevening and to be able to begin to talk to you about Tilopa’s Mahamudra Upadesha.I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to present this material to you.

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Next I am going to recite the lineage suppli-cation. While I do so, please join me in the sup-plication with an attitude of faith and devotionto both the root and lineage gurus. [See page 11.]

To begin the session I want to talk a little bitabout the appropriate motivation for receivingthese teachings, which is bodhicitta. Becauseyou have decided to come here to hear thisdharma of mahamudra, it is quitelikely that your motivation fordoing so is an excellent one, thatyou want to receive these teach-ings in order to be able to do thispractice, in order to be able tobenefit all beings. If that is yourmotivation, of course that isexcellent. But as we are ordinaryindividuals, while our basicmotivation is good, it is possiblethat from time to time our moti-vation may slip a little. This isnot abnormal for human beings.If you find that the motivationthat is present within you rightnow is inappropriate, then recog-nizing it to be so, simply let go ofit and replace it with the con-sciously generated good inten-tion and good motivation ofwishing to receive these teach-ings in order to be able to prac-tice meditation, in order to be able to liberate allbeings.

It is extremely fortunate to have this oppor-tunity to study Tilopa’s Mahamudra Upadesha.The reason why it is so significant is that it is anextremely useful and beneficial text to be ex-posed to. When we examine what it is that all ofthe great siddhas of Tibet have practiced, wefind that in both their study and their practicethey emphasized not so much the Buddha’soriginal teachings as the commentaries uponthem composed by the great siddhas and schol-ars of the past. You would think that betweenthe Buddha’s actual teachings and the commen-taries, that the original teachings of the Buddhawould be of greater importance and of greater

practical use. However, it has traditionally beenthe case in Tibet that more emphasis was placedon both the study and the practical implementa-tion of the shastras, or commentaries, for thesimple reason that these commentaries containthe condensed essence of the Buddha’s teachingsand are therefore more convenient to study andimplement.

Among the various types ofshastras that exist, those thatare of the greatest importance,because they are the source ofpractical instruction and guid-ance, are the class that arecalled upadeshas, which aretexts of practical or methodicalinstruction. These texts are themost important texts that existin Buddhism because they arethe texts that actually explainhow one is to go about medita-tion practice—how one is toperform the generation stage,the completion stage, and soforth. It is through emphasizingthese texts in their study, andtherefore in their practicalimplementation as well, thatmany individuals have been ableto obtain the state of unity ofVajradhara in one life and one

body, and that others have been able, after livinga life devoted to practice, to attain that stateimmediately [upon their death in the bardo], andthat countless others have been able to bringsamsara to a definite end.

The virtue of upadeshas lies as well in thefact that they are easy to remember, easy tounderstand, and easy to apply. Therefore,upadeshas in general, and especially the style ofupadesha which is known as the doha, or vajrasong, are of foremost importance. The impor-tance is indicated as well by the fact that practi-cally every siddha of both India and Tibet hasleft a wealth of such songs of instruction behindhim or her.

Dohas were composed by all of the great

Among thevarious types ofshastras thatexist, those thatare of thegreatestimportance,because they arethe source ofpracticalinstruction andguidance, are theclass that arecalled upadeshas

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Supplication to the Takpo Kagyus

Great Vajradhara, Tilo, Naro,Marpa, Mila, Lord of Dharma Gampopa,Knower of the Three Times, omniscient Karmapa,Holders of the four great and eight lesser lineages—Drikung, Taklung, Tsalpa—these three, glorious Drukpa and so on,Masters of the profound path of mahamudra,Incomparable protectors of beings, the Takpo Kagyu,I supplicate you, the Kagyu gurus.I hold your lineage; grant your blessings so that I will follow your example.

Revulsion is the foot of meditation, as is taught.To this meditator who is not attached to food and wealth,Who cuts the ties to this life,Grant your blessings so that I have no desire for honor and gain.

Devotion is the head of meditation, as is taught.The guru opens the gate to the treasury of oral instructions.To this meditator who continually supplicates the guru,Grant your blessings so that genuine devotion is born in me.

Awareness is the body of meditation, as is taught.Whatever arises is fresh—the essence of realization.To this meditator who rests simply without altering it,Grant your blessings so that my meditation is free from conception.

The essence of thoughts is dharmakaya, as is taught.Nothing whatever but everything arises from it.To this meditator who arises in unceasing play,Grant your blessings so that I realize the inseparability of samsara and nirvana.

Through all my births may I not be separated from the perfect guruAnd so enjoy the splendor of dharma.Perfecting the virtues of the paths and bhumis,May I speedily attain the state of Vajradhara.

This supplication was written by Pengar Jampal Zangpo. The last stanza is a traditional verse of aspiration.Translated by the Nalanda Translation Committee, slightly amended by the KSOC Translation Committee.

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siddhas of India, which means in general by theeighty-four mahasiddhas and in particular by theeight foremost mahasiddhas, and so forth, for thebenefit of their immediate disciples and forstudents of future generations. So there arequite a number of them. But of all of them, theones that bear the greatest blessing and are themost beneficial are those composed by Tilopa,because, unlike other teachers, Tilopa metVajradhara face to face and received the trans-mission of mahamudra directly from him. There-fore, Tilopa’s songs are extremely important. Inparticular this exposition of mahamudra isperhaps the most important in the doha class ofexposition of mahamudra, especially for thosewho have the good fortune to practicemahamudra, but also for the world in general.

Some of you may not know who or whatVajradhara is, and, if so, you are probably won-dering right now, “Is Vajradhara a person or not,and if Vajradhara is not a person exactly, what isit?” As you know, what we call buddhadharma orBuddhism are the teachings of the BuddhaShakyamuni. Therefore the fundamental sourceand teacher of all Buddhists is BuddhaShakyamuni. And as you also know, BuddhaShakyamuni was born in India, attainedbuddhahood at Bodh Gaya or Vajrasana, firstturned the dharmachakra at Varanasi andpassed into parinirvana or passed away atKushinagara. Saying that the Buddha passedinto paranirvana means that his physical bodypassed away. His mind and the wisdom of hismind did not pass away, which is to say that thequalities of his awakening—the wisdom thatknows the nature of each and every thing andthe wisdom that knows the variety of things, thecompassion that is dedicated to the liberation ofall beings, and the actual ability or capacity tobring about the liberation of all beings—thesethree qualities of wisdom, compassion, andability, did not and never will change. Thisunchanging wisdom mind of the buddha is calledthe dharmakaya. What passed away atKushinagara 2,500 years ago is called a supremenirmanakaya. The dharmakaya does not stop,does not change. Therefore, because of its un-

changing quality, we consider the dharmakaya tobe permanent, and because it is permanent, wecall the dharmakaya “Vajradhara.” We call it“vajra” because vajra means permanence, thatwhich does not change. And it is called “dhara,”or that which holds the vajra, because the mindof the buddha holds this wisdom beyond fluctua-tion or change within it or in its heart.*

The dharmakaya Vajradhara is that mind,that awakened mind of loving kindness, wisdom,and the ability to actually benefit beings. In thatsense, it is the root of all actual achievement ofbenefit for beings. But on the other hand, itcannot itself act directly, for the simple reasonthat the dharmakaya cannot be experienced orencountered directly by any being. For thedharmakaya to benefit beings it must thereforedisplay itself in a form. This form can be what iscalled the nirmanakaya—as, for example, asupreme nirmanakaya like the BuddhaShakyamuni—which is experienced by more orless ordinary beings, or it may be the form calledthe sambhogakaya, which is experienced in a

*Editor’s note: The buddha, with a small “b,” is thedharmakaya, which predates and remains after the BuddhaShakyamuni or any other particular nirmanakaya of thebuddha. The Buddha, with a capital “B,” refers to the histori-cal Buddha Shakyamuni, held to be the fourth supremenirmanakaya of this particular kalpa, which, it is taught, willsee one thousand supreme nirmanakayas. We often refer tosomeone as having attained buddhahood, and in Tibet it wassaid that thousands or tens of thousands of people attainedbuddhahood. Thus their rebirths, whether as human oranimal or god, are all considered to be nirmanakayas of thebuddha. What distinguishes a supreme nirmanakaya such asShakyamuni from other nirmanakayas is that a supremenirmanakaya, like the Buddha Shakyamuni, appears andattains buddhahood and teaches at a time when all teachingsleading to enlightenment have died out in whatever particularworld system they appear. Each supreme nirmanakayateaches three great cycles of teaching, called the threedharmachakras, or the three Turnings of the Wheel ofDharma, which then become the basis for the subsequentdevelopment of the buddhadharma of that era as well astremendous inspiration to other positive developments in theevolution of the culture of sentient beings. If one examines thehistory and culture of our own world system before the life ofthe Buddha Shakyamuni, which was roughly around 500 yearsbefore the common era, one will see a desolate, brutal, andbarbaric place. Whereas, beginning in and around the sametime, one sees throughout the world all sorts of positivemovements in the development of human civilization. All ofthis activity, all activity that truly serves to uplift sentientbeings and is conducive to their ultimate liberation fromsuffering, is regarded as buddha activity.

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pure environment or pure realm by beings withpure or purified perception. The Vajradhara thatis depicted in paintings, the figure that is blueand holding a vajra and bell and so forth, is thesambhogakaya Vajradhara, which is the displayof the dharmakaya Vajradhara in a pure environ-ment as the sambhogakaya, which is experiencedby those of pure perception. As for who canencounter or experience such a sambhogakaya, itis bodhisattvas abiding on any ofthe ten bhumis who will encoun-ter this. And encountering this,they receive instruction andtransmission from thesambhogakaya. This is exactlywhat happened in Tilopa’s case.He encountered thesambhogakaya Vajradhara in apure realm and received instruc-tion from him.

This means that Tilopa wasquite unlike other mahasiddhasin that he would sometimes go topure realms to receive instruc-tion and at other times appear inimpure realms to teach what hehad received. Normallybodhisattvas and mahasiddhasmay choose to be reborn ineither a pure or an impurerealm, but if they are born in a pure realm thenthey remain in that pure realm, and if they areborn in an impure realm then they remain forthe duration of that life in that impure realm.They do not usually have the ability to movefreely from one to another within a given life.Tilopa had this ability, which is extraordinary.He was one of the few people who are supposedto have been able to do this. This means that hereceived these teachings—a vast number oftantras and transmissions—in pure realms fromVajradhara, and then taught them to his dis-ciples in this world.

Among his teachings, that which is of thegreatest significance is this short text which isreferred to as Mahamudra Upadesha.Upadesha, which means practical instruction, is

very significant as both the title of the text andthe explanation of what makes this text sospecial. It is taught in the sutras and in thecommentaries on the sutras that for an ordinaryindividual to attain buddhahood they must firstgo through three periods of innumerable eons ofgathering the accumulations of merit and wis-dom. The significance of the term upadesha isthat it refers to practical methods that are so

efficacious that they obviate theneed for such a long path or longperiod of training.

The actual title of the text isMahamudra Upadesha, but it iscommonly known as GangesMahamudra. The reason for thisis that this was not taught byTilopa in a pure realm; it wastaught on the banks of the RiverGanges in this realm. Thismahamudra teaching was notsomething he could give to all hisdisciples. It was given [only] tohis foremost disciple, the panditNaropa, and it was given to himon the banks of the River Gangesin a very simple and direct way.[The simplicity of his presenta-tion notwithstanding,] this textgiven in that way to Naropa is

considered to be the cause of Naropa’s realiza-tion.

The first stanza in the text says, Intelligentand patient Naropa, tolerant of suffering,who is engaged in austerity and is devoted tothe guru, fortunate one, do this with yourmind. [See lines 3-5 on page 72]

Tilopa begins by referring to Naropa assomeone who is engaged in austerity. Naropaunderwent austerities while he was seekingTilopa, while he was attending Tilopa, andfinally, while he was practicing Tilopa’s instruc-tions. He underwent what are called the twelvemajor and twelve minor hardships or austerities.The reason for all of this earnest seeking andhardship on Naropa’s part was that before meet-ing Tilopa he had already met a number of

Tilopa was quiteunlike othermahasiddhas inthat he wouldsometimes goto pure realmsto receiveinstructions andat other timesappear in impurerealms to teachwhat he hadreceived

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extraordinary, great teachers and mahasiddhas,but Tilopa was predicted by Naropa’s yidam to behis karmically destined teacher or guru. Becauseof that prediction, Naropa undertook an arduoussearch for Tilopa. This search was not based onblind faith or wishful thinking. Before meetingTilopa, Naropa was already an extremely well-trained scholar and was extraordinarily intelli-gent. His search for Tilopa was based upon awell-founded confidence in the prediction thathe had received. Addressing Naropa, Tiloparefers to him as a fortunate or worthy one.“Fortunate” or “worthy” here means that Naropahad such great faith and devotion that he wasable to engage in these austerities and find histeacher. And it was because of this faith anddevotion that it was appropriate for Tilopa togive these instructions to Naropa, because onlysomeone with faith and devotion is capable ofunderstanding their meaning, and only someonewith faith and devotion is capable of actuallyusing them as a basis for practice.

Tilopa’s presentation of the mahamudra inthis instruction consists of seven topics. Theseare (1) the view of mahamudra; (2) the conduct ofmahamudra; (3) the meditation of mahamudra;(4) the samaya of mahamudra; (5) the benefit ofmahamudra practice; (6) the defect of not prac-ticing mahamudra; and (7) how actually to prac-tice mahamudra.

The first of these seven topics is the view,and the function of the view is to reveal theground. Ground means the ground on whicheverything occurs and within which everythingarises. The ground includes the ground of medi-tation, the ground of conduct, the ground ofsamaya, and so on.

The ground or the nature of things can bepointed out by the view in two ways, which arecalled the common view and the uncommon view.The common view consists of the view arrived atthrough logical inference or inferential validcognition. This consists of using your intellectand logical analysis to infer or logically deter-mine that emptiness is the nature of things. Theuncommon view, which is the view of upadeshaor practical instruction, uses direct experience

or direct valid cognition. The reason why in theuncommon view one avoids using the intellect asa tool of logical inference or logical analysis isthat absolute truth is not an object of the intel-lect, because the intellect is itself a relativetruth. This means that because the intellect isitself bewildered it cannot transcend its ownrealm of bewilderment. So therefore, in thegeneration of the uncommon view, one simplylooks directly at things or directly at one’s ownmind to determine its nature. This is usingdirect experience and direct valid cognition inorder to arrive at the view, and that is the spe-cial characteristic of the view of mahamudra.

Because what Tilopa is presenting here is theview of direct valid cognition or direct experi-ence, he begins by saying, Althoughmahamudra cannot be taught . . . [Line 2]

Mahamudra cannot be taught because it isabsolute truth and therefore cannot be ex-pressed in words or even in concepts. As wassaid by Shantideva, “Absolute truth is not anobject of the intellect because the intellect itselfis a relative truth.” The intellect is an aspect ofignorance and therefore the intellect is alwaysignorant. The intellect is always wrong. It neversees things straight. It never sees things as theyare. The intellect, being a symptom of delusion,can only see in a deluded way. So, you cannot usethe intellect to experience mahamudra. There-fore, mahamudra cannot be described in concep-tual terms. The only thing you can do is practicemeditation and allow that innate intelligencewhich is aware of itself to emerge.*

The Ganges Mahamudra says, For example,in space what is resting on what? [Line 57,page 73]

Here Tilopa is using the image of space tocommunicate something about the ground ormahamudra. Space by definition is physicalemptiness; it is an expanse. As such it is the

*Editor’s note: In this context all teachings and all concep-tual knowledge, including the teachings of the Buddha, areinaccurate and delusive. They can be conducive to discoveringthe truth, but are not the truth itself. They are like the fingerpointing at the moon. The finger indicates the whereabouts ofthe moon, but is not the moon itself.

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fundamental medium which allows other thingsto be present. But because space is nothing inand of itself, it does not require any kind ofsupport. Space does not have to rest on some-thing or be supported by something. Therefore,space cannot itself support anything else. Noth-ing can rest on space. Things can only restwithin space. In the same way, becausemahamudra is emptiness, because it is theabsence of substantiality of the mind, it there-fore cannot be shown. Because it is not anything,it cannot be pointed out as being anything. In thenext line it says, In one’s mind, mahamudra,there is nothing to be shown. [Line 58]

Well, if that is the case, if there is nothing tobe shown and nothing to be said about it, whatare we to do? The next line tells us: Rest re-laxed in the natural state without attempt-ing to alter anything. [Line 59]

When you hear that you cannot use logicalinference to realize mahamudra, and thatmahamudra cannot be taught at all, it all soundshopeless. But in fact it is not. You can know themeaning of mahamudra and youcan realize mahamudra and youdo not need logical inference todo it and you do not need it to bepointed out to you or communi-cated to you by a teacher. Theonly thing that you need to do iswhat Tilopa says in this line,which is, “Rest relaxed in thenature”—which means thenature of your mind—“withoutalteration.”

When we say “the mind,” itmeans your mind just as it is.Normally when we think aboutour minds we think of them asmiserable, even pitiful, and quiteafflicted. And indeed they mayseem to us from time to time to be like that. Butin fact, that is not the true condition of yourmind. As was said by Saraha, “Homage to themind that is like a wish-fulfilling jewel.” A wish-fulfilling jewel is something that in legends issupposed to be able to grant any wish. And the

reason the mind is compared to this legendarywish-granting or wish-fulfilling jewel is that, ifyou attend to your mind, if you look at yourmind, then by coming to know it you will realizethe nature of everything. And in order to do thisyou do not need to attempt to alter what yourmind is. Not altering the mind means that yousimply rest in your mind as it is. If your mind issomething, then rest in that something; and ifyour mind is nothing, then rest in that nothing.Do not feel that you have to turn it into nothingif it seems to be something, or turn it into some-thing if it seems to be nothing. Of course, themind is not something. It has no substantialcharacteristics. And it is not nothing, because itis lucid cognition. It is simply your mind and youjust rest in it as it is without attempting to makeit into anything other than what it is. And if youcan do that, then you will realize the view ofmahamudra.

Maybe it is easy to rest your mind in a re-laxed way in its own nature without altering it.But maybe, on the other hand, it is very difficult

to do so. One might ask, “How doI do this? I have never done this.I do not know how to relax mymind in its own nature.” This isnot an unreasonable question.For example, Paldar Bum, whenreceiving instructions fromJetsun Milarepa, sang him asong, saying, “I can meditate onthe mind, but what do I do withthought?” And her point wassimply that it is true, as you say,my mind is my mind. I can rest inmy mind because it is my mind,but what do I do when within mymind thoughts start flying allover the place? We have thisexperience all the time as practi-

tioners. When thoughts arise, they seem toprevent us from resting and prevent us, there-fore, from practicing mahamudra. Tilopa an-swers this implicit question in the lines wherehe says, For example, it is like looking in themiddle of the sky and not seeing anything. In

The only thingyou need to do iswhat Tilopa says. . . , which is,‘Rest relaxed inthe nature’—which means thenature of yourmind—‘withoutalteration’

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the same way, when your mind looks at yourmind, thoughts stop and you attainunsurpassable awakening. [Lines 36-40]

What this means is that, regardless of what-ever is arising in your mind, if you look directlyat it, it dissolves. When thoughtsappear in your mind, they do soby arising and then remaining asan experience and then dissolv-ing. If at any point in this processyou look directly at the thought,it will dissolve. For example, if,when a thought arises, you lookto see whence it arose and how itarose and what arising means inthe case of a thought; or if, whilethe thought is present, you lookto see where it is and what it isand how it is; or if, while itdissolves, you look to see whereit is going and how it is going andwhat it is that is going; if, at anytime, you look at the thought inthat way, it will dissolve, it will not be there anymore. And if you cultivate this practice, thengradually it will lead to liberation from thebondage of thought, which is unsurpassableawakening. Therefore, Tilopa says, If this fetteror bondage of thought is loosened, there is nodoubt that you will be liberated. [Line 60]

This view of mahamudra is something thatsometimes we experience and sometimes we donot, and when we do not experience it, then webecome discouraged. We think, “This is impos-sible, I cannot practice this, even if I try topractice this, I will not see it, I will not realizeit.” But it is not impossible. It is quite possible

and quite workable. But you need to reallyemphasize this in your practice. You need toactually take the time to look at your mind,because by doing so you can know and experi-ence and realize this directly.

Often we think things like,“Well, of course, mahasiddhascan realize this. That is whatmakes them mahasiddhas. But Icannot.” It is okay to think aboutand be impressed by the quali-ties of mahasiddhas, but youhave to remember thatmahasiddhas started out asordinary practitioners likeyourselves, and they becamemahasiddhas by doing thispractice. So it is not impossible.Sometimes you may think, “Icannot look at my mind. Howcan my mind look at itself?Something cannot look at itself.”But your mind can look at your

mind. If I were to ask you to look at somebodyelse’s mind, then that would be difficult. Youcannot do that. But your mind is your mind. Youcan look at it any time you want to.

I am going to stop there for tonight. I wouldlike to thank you for your enthusiasm for thebuddhadharma in general and especially foryour enthusiasm for mahamudra, which is anappropriate enthusiasm, because this teaching isvery timely. Thank you also for your enthusiasmin both listening to and actually practicing theseinstructions. Finally I would like to dedicate themerit.

You have toremember thatmahasiddhasstarted outas ordinarypractitioners likeyourselves, andthey becamemahasiddhasby doing thispractice

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Mahamudra Upadesha

The Path of Liberation Is Like LeapingOver the Top of a Mountain

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thranguo Rinpoche’s teaching onTilopa’s Mahamudra Upadesha.

Thank you for coming back. I am going to continue from where we left offlast night explaining Tilopa’s Mahamudra Upadesha, and as I did lastnight, I am going to begin by reciting the lineage supplication. The

reason why I begin with this recitation is that I myself have no compassion orblessing, so in order to generate the blessing I pray to the lineage first. Soplease join me in doing so with the utmost faith and devotion. [See page 11.]

Continuing from last night, from among the various aspects ofmahamudra—the view, meditation, conduct, and fruition—we are looking atthe view. Yesterday we saw that first of all this nature that we callmahamudra, which we may at times regard to be substantial or to be some-thing, has no substantiality and therefore is said to be empty or emptiness.Although we might think that, since it is emptiness, it is somehow obscured orimpeded by the presence of thought, we saw last night that, when the natureof thought is seen, then thoughts vanish, and that, therefore, even thoughts donot obscure this emptiness that is the mind’s nature.

You might ask, “If that is the nature of the mind all the time, what is the

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use or function of practice?” While we are stillwithin samsara we have a lot of mental andphysical suffering. Mental suffering consists ofthe arising in the mind of kleshas which makeyou suffer right at the time that they arise. Theymake you miserable right away and they causeyou to become even more miserable, depressed,and worried later on. And there are, of course,all kinds of physical suffering, damage or harmto one’s body and loss of possessions, and so on.Physical suffering and mental suffering can beprevented through the practice of mahamudra.

How the practice of mahamudra relieves andprevents mental suffering is explained in thenext stanza with a further image. Tilopa says,For example, just as the vapor that, arisingfrom the earth, becomes clouds and dissolvesinto the expanse of space, notgoing anywhere else and yetnot continuing to abide any-where, in the same way theagitation of the thoughts thatarise from the mind andwithin the mind is calmed theinstant you see the mind’snature. [Lines 41-44, page 73]

The mental suffering that weexperience consists of all thethoughts that arise in our minds,that themselves are miserableand are of the nature of suffer-ing—thoughts of worry, agita-tion, and so on—as well as allthe various kleshas that are notonly unpleasant at the time theyarise, but are the causes offuture suffering as well. At any given time weare both experiencing suffering and creating thecauses of [future] suffering. If you ask, “Can wejust stop this?” you will find that you cannot.Even though you try to stop this process it willstill continue to happen.

An alternative to attempting forcibly to stopthis seemingly ceaseless flow of thoughts,kleshas, and suffering is the practice ofmahamudra, which entails looking at the natureof the thoughts that arise, which enables you to

transcend them. When a thought arises withinyour mind, you can look directly at it to see whatexactly it consists of: What is a thought? Does athought have a certain shape, a certain size, acertain substance; does it have a certain color? Ifit has any of these characteristics, exactly whatshape, what color, what size, and so on, does ithave? If it does not have any of these character-istics, what characteristics if any does it have? Ifa thought had any such characteristics, youwould surely be able to see them, because theyarise in the mind. But in fact, thoughts do nothave any such characteristics; they are by naturepure. You may remember that last night I quotedthe mahasiddha Saraha, who said, “I pay homageto the mind that is like a wish-fulfilling jewel.”The significance of the image of the wish-fulfill-

ing jewel is that it is somethingthat is completely flawless andalways beneficial. The mind,while we erroneously regard it assomehow inherently miserable, isin fact, in its true nature—whenthat true nature is seen—flaw-less and inherently free of mis-ery.

The second type of sufferingthat we experience is physicalsuffering. The way in which thepractice of mahamudra helps toalleviate physical suffering isexplained in the next stanza,which says, For example, justas the nature of space tran-scends color and shape, andjust as space is therefore unaf-

fected or unchanged and unobscured by thevarious colors and shapes that occur withinit, in the same way the essence of your mindtranscends color and shape, and, therefore,is never obscured or affected by the variouscolors and shapes of virtue and wrongdoing.[Lines 45-48]

The implication or meaning of this verse isthat the practice of mahamudra will help allevi-ate physical suffering because the characteristicor essential quality of your mind is like space

The mind, whilewe erroneouslyregard it assomehowinherentlymiserable, is infact, in its truenature . . .flawless andinherently free ofmisery

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and therefore is inherently unaffected by whatoccurs within it. When you engage in wrong-doing, you accumulate a certaintype of karma that will definitelyripen as unpleasant experiencesfor yourself alone.* And thesekarmic seeds will ripen; they willnot disappear by themselves. Andwhen they mature or ripen theyare experienced by you as up-heaval, impediments, and variouskinds of unpleasant circum-stances. However, as this experi-ence of suffering, which is physi-cal—and therefore also includesmental suffering—occurs withinthe expanse of your mind, andbecause the nature of your mind isitself free of solidity and thecharacteristics of solidity, thenwhen you rest in that naturethrough the practice ofmahamudra, you will not experience what wouldotherwise be experienced as suffering at all. Or,if you experience it as slight suffering, it will befar less intense than it would be in ordinarycircumstances.

The fundamental reasons for the practice ofmeditation are that initially it pacifies mentalsuffering and eventually it also helps one dealwith external and physical suffering as well. But

you might ask, “Does it do anything else? Doesone actually generate any qualities or virtues

through the practice of medita-tion?” The answer is yes. Al-though the nature of your mindis emptiness—which is to say, itis free of any kind of substanti-ality or substantial characteris-tic, and, in being empty, it isalso free of possessing anyground or basis for the pres-ence of inherent defects—at thesame time, the mind is notabsolutely nothing. For ex-ample, in the PrajnaparamitaSutra it says, “No eyes, no ears,no tongue, no nose, no tactileconsciousness,” and so on. Andit goes through a list of all thethings that one might think toexist—all relative truths thatappear to us—and points out

that all of them have no inherent, substantialexistence and therefore are emptiness. Butwhile it is saying that all of these things areemptiness, it is not saying that they are nothingwhatsoever. The true nature of things, that istheir emptiness, is at the same time what wastaught by the Buddha in the sutras as buddhanature or sugatagarbha, which is to say that thisemptiness, which is the nature of your mind,contains within it the inherent potential or seedof all of the qualities of buddhahood. This meansthat although, when you look at your mind, youdo not see anything substantial, nevertheless,the mind is not absolutely nothing.

When it is said that you cannot find anysubstantial characteristics in the mind, this alsomeans that you cannot find the mind itselfanywhere. When you look for the mind experi-entially, you can look for it with the greatestscrutiny in all the parts of your body from thetop of your head to the tips of your toes and youwill not find the mind itself anywhere. Often,when people look for the mind and fail to findit, their first thought is that the reason theyhave not found it is that they are not looking

*Editor’s note: Negative actions almost invariably affectother sentient beings, so it might be asked, “Will not mywrongdoing ripen as unpleasant experiences for others aswell?” The answer is yes, your wrongdoing does cause negativeexperiences for others, but from the perspective of karma, thatparticular wrongdoing, though it harms others, sows thecauses of suffering for yourself alone. From the perspective ofthe affected parties—those who receive or experience thewrongdoing—that negative action and the suffering it causesare the ripening of karmic seeds that they have sown in thepast, and not at all the accumulation of karma that will ripenas unpleasant experiences for them in the future. If anyunpleasant experiences arise for them in the future, they willoccur exclusively as a consequence of their own wrongdoing, asa consequence of their own negative actions of body, speech,and mind performed in reaction to the original wrongdoing.Therefore, if, in response to others’ wrongdoing, we do notengage in dualistic negative actions of body, speech, and mind,the original wrongdoing will only serve to drive away, orexhaust, our own negative karma, while it remains powerlessto sow seeds of future suffering for us.

The fundamentalreasons for thepractice ofmeditation arethat initially itpacifies mentalsuffering andeventually it alsohelps one dealwith external andphysical sufferingas well

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hard enough, or that they do not know how tolook. But that is not why you do not find it. Thereason you cannot find the mind is that its truenature is emptiness. Well, you might think, if Icannot find my mind, if my mind has no exist-ence, am I just a walking corpse? Obviously, youare not a walking corpse, and the reason for thisis that your mind has the capacity to know. Yourmind is something that knows but cannot befound anywhere. It is nowhere to be found, andthis nature or fundamental characteristic oressence of the mind is therefore a unity of aninnate cognitive clarity and an emptiness orabsence of substantial existence. And that unityof clarity and emptiness is, in fact, the wisdom ofthe buddha. Therefore, inherentlyyour mind is a lucid awarenessthat is, however, free of any kindof substantiality. The text contin-ues with an analogy for this: Forexample, it is like the lumi-nous heart of the sun whichcould never be obscured evenby the darkness of a thousandeons. [Lines 49-50]

This means that your mindhas an innate lucidity, and whenthis lucidity is revealed, then inan instant that lucidity illumi-nates whatever it encounters.And it does not matter how longor for how many eons that whichit illuminates has been in dark-ness. In the instant that the lucidity of mind ispresent, it is completely illuminated. The dark-ness is not cumulative.

The text continues, In that way, that luminousclarity, that is the essence of the mind, is neverobscured by the samsara of innumerable kalpas.[Lines 51-52]

As the nature of your mind is always cogni-tive lucidity or luminosity, then, when thisnature is recognized, even though you abide insamsara and even though you have abided insamsara for innumerable eons, the ignorance ofthe mind is dispelled automatically, simplybecause ignorance consists of the absence of

recognition of that cognitive lucidity. That inher-ent lucidity of your mind is always there, and therecognition of it is therefore all that is necessaryin order to dispel ignorance. Therefore, when wetalk about buddha nature, what we mean is thisinherent cognitive lucidity, because that inher-ent lucidity is itself the potential for awakening.It is through coming to familiarize ourselveswith this inherent cognitive lucidity that wegradually attain buddhahood. As for the qualitiesof the mind, its inherent lucidity, and so forth,*they are never lost and never affected, andtherefore they are always ready to be recognizedthrough the practice of meditation.

While we refer to the mind as empty oremptiness in order to explainand emphasize that the mind iswithout a true or substantialexistence, it is actually not truethat the mind is just empty orjust emptiness. And while werefer to the mind as luminosityor clear light because it has theinherent quality of cognitivelucidity—causing us to call themind’s nature wisdom or intelli-gence, and so forth—it is not thecase that the mind actually issomething. Therefore, as wastaught by the Buddha, theabsolute truth, the true natureof the mind, is inexpressible,inconceivable, and indescrib-

able. Which means that we cannot accurately saythat the mind is either something or nothing. Inorder to describe the mind’s emptiness we makeit sound as though it were nothing, and in orderto describe the mind’s cognitive clarity we makeit sound as though it were something. But infact, the nature of the mind, buddha nature or

*Editor’s note: These qualities include all positive virtues,which are in fact one unitary virtue that we can only point towith such terms as the union of wisdom and emptiness,lucidity and emptiness, awareness and emptiness, bliss andemptiness, and compassion and emptiness. So long as we arebound in samsara, we use terms like loving kindness, compas-sion, primordial intelligence, devotion, primordial confidence,etc., to refer to these virtues that are really just one virtue.

Your mind has aninnate lucidity,and when thislucidity isrevealed, then inan instantthat lucidityilluminateswhatever itencounters

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mahamudra, is inexpressible. And because it isinexpressible and inconceivable, it can only beunderstood through direct experience. In thetext it says, For example, just as we apply theterm empty to space, in fact, there is nothingwithin space that we are accurately describ-ing by that term. In the same way, althoughwe call the mind clear light or luminosity,simply calling it so does not make it truethat there is actually anything within themind that is a true basis for that designa-tion. [Lines 53-56]

What this means is that in order to describethe mind roughly we use these terms, but wehave to remember that they do not actuallydescribe what the mind really is. That can onlybe experienced directly through one’s own in-sight. This was expressed byMarpa the Translator as beinglike a mute person tasting sugar.The person has a very clearexperience of it, which theyknow within themselves, butthey are incapable of describingit. In the same way, Marpa saidthat he had an experience of thenature of his mind through histraining under Naropa, but wasunable to express it in words.

Up to this point the text hasbeen dealing with the first topic,the view of mahamudra, whichhas been explained using sixanalogies. Of these six analogies,one was clouds, another was thesun. The other four analogies used the metaphorof space to describe the mind. As you can see byrereading the text, either in translation or in theTibetan, these four analogies, all of which usespace as an image, are not repetitious becausethey each have a distinct meaning. There is anoutline of this text that was written by the ThirdGyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. In his outlinehe explains the particular intention of these fouruses of space as an image for the mind. The firsttime it occurs, what is being pointed out is theinsubstantiality of the nature of the mind or

mahamudra. The second time space is used as animage, it is pointing out that when you lookdirectly at your mind, thoughts cease or vanish asthough into space. The third time that space isused as an image, it is pointing out that althoughyou may engage in positive and negative activitiesthat create obscurations of the mind, nothing thatyou do in the way of positive and negative actioncan obscure the clear light, the radiant clarity orluminosity of the mind’s true nature. And thefourth time that space is used as an image, it is topoint out that the nature of the mind is indescrib-able or inexpressible.

The next two lines in the text are a summary ofthe presentation of the view, and therefore, in a sense,they are a summary of the six analogies or imagesthat have been given. The text says, In that way the

nature of the mind has from thebeginning been like space, andthere are no dharmas that arenot included within that. [Lines61-62]

The nature of the mind is likespace, and therefore, everythingthat you experience is includedwithin that space of the mind.This is an answer to the implicitquestion, “Even though themind’s nature is what you haveexplained, what good does know-ing that do me? My problemscome from outside. My enemiesare not within my mind, myenemies are outside me. Sick-ness, harm from the elements,

and disasters all come from outside. What use isit for me to meditate upon the nature of mymind? The nature of my mind is not the prob-lem.”

Although the nature of your mind is not yourproblem, it is of great use to meditate on it.While it may appear that disasters and so forthcome from outside yourself, in fact, most truedisasters start within. The way we experiencethings, which consists basically of intoxicateddelight, depressive misery, intense aggression,and addictive desire and attachment—all of

But in fact, thenature of themind, buddhanature ormahamudra, isinexpressible. . . .it can only beunderstoodthrough directexperience

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these things—come from within our mind. Andas soon as we recognize the nature of our mind,all of these afflicted states are pacified. It is notexternal disasters that need to be avoided andexternal enemies that need to be tamed, but theinternal enemies and the internal disasters thatneed to be subdued.

It was said in this connection by Shantidevathat if you attempt to avoid suffering by subdu-ing external enemies and other external sourcesof suffering, you actually find that for every oneyou subdue two arise to take its place. Ratherthan doing this, the only thing you can do thatwill actually work is to subdue the inner enemy,which is your own aggression. And if you subdueyour own aggression, then theexternal enemies will not arise.“For example,” Shantideva said,“it is like walking barefoot in theforest and discovering that thereare thorns and other things thatharm your feet. If you think,therefore, that you should coverthe forest floor with leather, youwill find that no matter howmuch distance you cover, eventu-ally you will walk too far and runout of covering. You can nevercover the whole world withleather. On the other hand, if youcover your feet with leather, ithas the same effect as havingcovered the entire forest floor orthe entire world.” You cannotcontrol the external world com-pletely, so you must learn instead to control yourown mind.

Thus, one needs to come to a correct view ofthe nature of the mind and one needs moreoverto experience the nature of mind. And that isalso why, according to the view of mahamudra, onemust have direct experience of the mind’s nature,rather than mere inferential understanding.

Following the description of the view, thenext section of the text describes the conduct ofmahamudra, which is explained as the conductof body, speech, and mind.

In order to attain the ultimate result orsupreme siddhi, we engage in the path, andessentially our path [as vajrayanists] has twoaspects, or consists of two complementary paths.One is called the upaya marga or path ofmethod, which consists, for example, of variouselaborate practices, including the setting up ofphysical offerings, various physical actions, therepetition of mantras, the performance of visual-izations, and so on. And the other path is calledthe path of liberation, which is mahamudra—simple and direct meditation on the mind’snature. Therefore, the conduct of body, speech,and mind that is part of mahamudra is really theconduct of this path of liberation.

With regard to body, the textsays, Abandoning all physicalactions, the practitionershould rest at ease. [Line 63]

In the practice ofmahamudra it is not necessaryto run or jump or dance, or to doanything physically elaborate,like sitting in absolute darknessor staring at the sun, or any ofthose things. You simply rest ina state of physical ease. In thesame way with regard to speechit says, Without any verbalutterance, your speech be-comes like an echo, soundinseparable from emptiness.[Line 64]

In the practice ofmahamudra, the practice of

speech does not consist primarily of the recita-tion of mantras, or other uses of speech such asshouting or exclaiming things. It consists simplyof resting without any kind of attachment tospeech or sound. With regard to mind, while wemay think that the mental aspect of mahamudraconduct or practice involves intentionally stop-ping thought, or on the other hand, intentionallythinking of something, the text says, Think ofnothing whatsoever with the mind and lookat the dharmas of the leap. [Line 65]

In this expression, “look at the dharmas of

The only thingyou can do thatwill actually workis to subdue theinner enemy,which is youraggression. Andif you subdueyour ownaggression, thenexternal enemieswill not arise

SHENPEN ÖSEL 23

the leap,” the term “leap,” here used metaphori-cally, literally means to get beyond the pass—pass here meaning a mountain pass. The signifi-cance of this is that when you are trying to crossover a mountain, the conventional way of doingso is to find a pass that you can use to getthrough. If you follow the pass you will go first tothe right and then to the left, and so on, asrequired by the actual shape of the mountain.The image that has been given here is the idea ofjumping or leaping right over the pass. Whatthese images refer to is the distinction betweenthe path of method and the path of liberation.Whether you are practicing the path of methodor the path of liberation, you are doing so inorder to come to recognize the nature of yourmind, so the point of both is the same. But in thecase of the path of method, youare using an approach which issimilar to crossing a mountain byusing a pass and going first to theright and then to the left. It is ina sense very gradual or indirect,because you use one method afteranother to gradually come closerto this recognition. But in thepath of liberation, there is noother method than simply look-ing straight at your mind andsimply seeing right on the spotits nature, which is instantlyrevealed. Therefore, the practiceof the path of liberation is likeleaping or jumping over the topof a mountain.

That completes the section ofthe text that describes the con-duct or practice of mahamudra ingeneral. And as there was nottime for questions last night, Iwill ask you for your questionsnow. You can ask about your experiences of this,your understanding of this, your thoughts aboutthis, anything that you wish to ask about and if Ican answer your questions I will, and if not I willapologize.

Question: Out of curiosity, in the picture ofTilopa, he is holding a fish, and I am wonderingif there is any connection with him or why isthere a fish?

Rinpoche: The depiction of Tilopa holding afish is based upon the story of Naropa’s firstmeeting with Tilopa. When Naropa went to lookfor Tilopa he had no real idea where exactly hewas. Naropa was just going on a prediction hehad received that told him that the one whowould be his guru, Tilopa, was somewhere inEastern India and that his name was Tilop orTilopa. He had no idea beyond that of whatTilopa looked like or exactly where he was. Andtherefore he had a lot of difficulty finding him.Having gone through a lot of difficulty already

and still not having found him,one day he tracked him down toa certain locality, and when hearrived there, he asked the localpeople if the Mahasiddha Tilopalived there. The person he spoketo said they had never heard ofany Mahasiddha Tilopa, but thatthere was a beggar Tilopa whowas right over there, indicatinga place nearby. Naropa wasinspired by this because hethought Tilopa was amahasiddha, and therefore hecould be living as a beggar. Whathe saw when he went over tomeet Tilopa for the first timewas Tilopa sitting there with apile of fish that he had caught,snapping his fingers and therebycausing the consciousness ofeach fish to be liberated into thedharmadhatu, after which hewould eat the fish. As this was

the first one of Tilopa’s more famous recordedmiraculous displays, and was the first occasionwhen Naropa actually came into his physicalpresence, it is commemorated by the traditionaldepiction of Tilopa holding a fish.

Tilopa was sittingthere with apile of fish . . .snapping hisfingers andtherebycausing theconsciousness ofeach fish to beliberated into thedharmadhatu,after which hewould eatthe fish

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Question: Rinpoche, in shamatha sometimes Ihave a thought that comes up and I do not par-ticularly look at it but, boom, it isgone! It disappears so I have notlooked at it to examine its partsbut it seems to be gone . . . [inau-dible]

Rinpoche: That is not reallyanything at all. Thoughts just dothat. Whether you look at themor not, whether you are meditat-ing or not, thoughts vanish.Eventually thoughts justvanish.They do not stay aroundforever.

Question: Rinpoche, within thecontext of mahamudra, what is“true love” as experienced bymost Western people, couples?What is the Buddhist view of love, and how andwhy does it occur? And the second one: What isthe role of causes and conditions with respect tothis?

Translator: By true love do you mean sexuallove, romantic love?

Same questioner: Most people say that truelove that transcends time exists. I mean, “puretrue love.” [laughter]

Rinpoche: Well, there is nothing wrong withthat kind of love, according to dharma. It doesnot contradict it. After all, it says in dharma thatwe need to love all sentient beings, which meansall beings limitless as space, but you have tostart with those who are close by. It does notmake much sense to say that you love all sen-tient beings who equal space if you are aggres-sive and cold to those who are close to you.[laughter] The only addition to that, in a specifi-cally mahamudra context, would be that what-ever arises in your mind—including love, com-passion, any kind of positive emotion—wouldstill be perceived as empty in the sense that you

would see its nature, which is always emptiness.

Question: Rinpoche, KaluRinpoche used to speak aboutthe nature of mind as beingempty, clear, and unimpeded. Iwas wondering if you could saysomething about what unim-peded means. It is mang gakpain Tibetan and I never reallyunderstood that.

Rinpoche: Mang gakpa, theunceasing manifestation of themind, is an aspect of lucidity. Ifyou describe the mind using thetwo concepts, emptiness andcognitive lucidity, then that wouldinclude the aspect of unceasingmanifestation or unimpededness.But in more detail, you can say

that the mind is empty of essence, naturally lucid,and of unceasing manifestation. It is easiest toexplain this by going back to the emptiness of themind. As you know, the mind is called emptybecause when you look for it, it is not there to befound. It has no substantial characteristics, and ithas no substantial existence. When we try toembrace this conceptually—this not having anysubstantiality—we generate a concept of nothing-ness or nothing or nonexistence. If the mind werenothing, then you would not be alive. Your bodywould be inert matter. So while it is true to saythat the mind is empty in the sense that it hasnothing substantial within it or is nothing sub-stantial that can be found, it nevertheless neverstops. And the fundamental meaning of manggakpa is that while there is nothing there thatnever stops, it never stops. It never stops in thesense that you can think, you can remember, youcontinue to experience. What it is that neverstops, if you have to give it a name, is the lucid-ity. It is the unimpededness or unceasing qualityof the lucidity itself. Therefore, it is usuallycalled the unceasing manifestation—nangpamang gakpa—or the unceasing gleam or displayor image.

It does not makemuch sense tosay that you loveall sentientbeings whoequal spaceif you areaggressive andcold to thosewho are closeto you

SHENPEN ÖSEL 25

Question: Rinpoche, with the image of going tothe mountain and using the passage from theright to the left, and actually leaping over thehill, what enables one to avoid the long path ofgoing around and what enables one to actuallyhave the capability of leaping over? Because inthe stories of Naropa andMilarepa it seems that beforethey actually realized the natureof mind, each one of them under-went tremendous difficulties. Dowe need in modern culture toundergo similar hardships? Is thissomehow a preparation for us toleap over?

Rinpoche: A distinction needs tobe made between the simplerecognition of the mind’s natureand the full revelation or realiza-tion of the mind’s nature. In orderto recognize the nature of yourmind, heroic austerities like those of JetsunMilarepa are not necessary. But in order to fullyrealize the nature of your mind they might be.For example, when Jetsun Milarepa first re-ceived instruction from Marpa, he instantlyrecognized the nature of his mind because that iswhat Marpa was explaining to him, andMilarepa understood it. But all of his subsequentausterities and practice were undergone inorder to realize fully what he had already recog-nized.* As for how necessary such austerities arein the present day, well, if you can engage in thatdegree of austerity, then of course that is thevery best, because the result will be very quick,and the result will be indeed extraordinary inother ways. But you should not think that the

success or failure of your practice is based uponyour ability or inability to do what Milarepa did.Because any degree of realization of the mind’snature will make your practice and your lifecompletely worthwhile and meaningful. If youcan generate one hundred percent of the realiza-

tion of Milarepa, of course, thatwould be magnificent. But evenfifty percent or twenty-fivepercent or ten percent or fivepercent or even one percentwould still be extraordinary.You should not think that youare in some way disqualified asa practitioner merely becauseyou cannot equal the example ofJetsun Milarepa. Any amount ofmahamudra practice you do willbe strongly beneficial.

Question: Rinpoche, I under-stand that following your teach-

ings, Tenga Rinpoche will be teaching the chödpractice. I am assuming that the teachings will beabout mahamudra and chöd and I am thinkingabout the various demons and hindrances that arediscussed in chöd practice as they relate to therealization of mahamudra. I am wondering if youcould explain a little bit what some of those hin-drances are that we might encounter in our prac-tice. For example, could you explain further thedemon or hindrance of blocking or solidity?

Translator: Blocking or solidity—is that one ofthe four talked about in chöd, is it top che dup?And exactly what are you asking about it? Whydoes it happen, or how do we deal with it?

Question: Yes. Both.

Rinpoche: First of all, chöd is mahamudra.Chöd is a style or tradition of mahamudra prac-tice. In fact, the name of it is chödyul chakgyachenpo, chöd mahamudra. Chöd is a way ofpracticing or implementing the mahamudraview. What we normally refer to as chöd practiceis the enhancement of the view of mahamudra by

Any degree ofrealization ofyour mind’snature will makeyour practiceand your lifecompletelyworthwhile andmeaningful

*Editor’s note: The first recognition of the nature of mind,which is brought about in the student’s experience through theintervention of the lama—whether during a teaching, a ritualceremony, or guided meditation—becomes the basis for thestudent’s subsequent practice of dharma, the purpose of whichis to enable the student to become accustomed and habitu-ated to experiencing the world in the manner first pointed out.When, through the practice of the path, the student’s experi-ence reaches the ineffable fruition of buddhahood, he or she issaid to have fully realized the nature of mind.

26 SHENPEN ÖSEL

using that which inspires fear or kleshas. Youare working with situations that cause internalkleshas, or cause you to be afraid of externalthings, such as spirits and so forth. You arelearning to cut through your fear and yourconceptualization about those situations. If youcan cut through those most stressful situations,then you can rest in the recognition of your mind’snature under all circumstances. The point of chödpractice is to widen and deepen your recognitionof mahamudra or the nature of the mind.

Four maras are talked about in the chöd tradi-tion: the substantial mara, theinsubstantial mara, the mara ofarrogance, and the mara of delight.The substantial mara is presentwhen, because of various circum-stances, specifically the presenceof kleshas within you and variousconditions such as certain energiesmoving within the channels, youperceive externally something thatyou would identify as a mara, as anexternal manifestation whichappears to be external to you andto be substantial and separatefrom you. It is therefore called thesubstantial mara. The key point inworking with this is to understandthat you do not see these things when your mind isat rest. You see them when your mind is agitatedthrough an imbalance of the elements or othersimilar conditions. The way to relate to the marasis simply to cut through any kind ofconceptualization of their inherent and separateexistence. You recognize that they are simply thenatural manifestation of your own internal beingand processes. In that way, through experiencingthem and cutting through fixation on their exist-ence, you come to a further recognition ofdharmata.*

Question: Rinpoche, could you say more aboutthe conduct of speech?

Rinpoche: The main point in the presentation ofthe conduct of speech here is that, becausemahamudra is the path of liberation, there is notanything to be chanted or practiced verbally. Thepractice of speech connected with mahamudra isbasically silence. And connected with that isperceiving sound or relating to sound as insub-stantial like an echo or like the unity of soundand emptiness. The point of this whole section isthe same for body, speech, and mind. Whetheryou are talking about the body, about speech, orabout the mind, the essence of mahamudra is

that there is no special effortinvolved. This does not meanthat if you are practicingmahamudra you must abandonthe recitation of mantras, orthat it is forbidden for amahamudra practitioner torecite mantras, or that if you area mahamudra practitioner thatyou must cease working, or thatit is forbidden for a mahamudrapractitioner to move. It does notmean this. It means that there isno specific form of physicalactivity and no specific form ofverbal activity, such as therecitation of mantra or liturgy

or ritual, that is required for mahamudra prac-tice.

Question: But what Rinpoche said about insubstanti-ality . . . [further clarification of previous question]

Rinpoche: The section of the line that says,“sound inseparable from emptiness like an echo,”is explaining the reason for this approach tospeech in mahamudra. The reason why no par-ticular speech is regarded as necessary or moreimportant than another, is that speech andsound are just emptiness arising as sound. Theyare just one of the expressions of emptiness. Andin that sense they are like an echo. They are notsomething real. They are just something that youare experiencing. So therefore, whatever speecharises has that same fundamental quality or

What wenormally refer toas chödpractice is theenhancement ofthe view ofmahamudra byusing that whichinspires fear orkleshas

*Editor’s note: For further discussion of the substantialmara, see Shenpen Ösel, Vol. 3, No. 1, page 36.

SHENPEN ÖSEL 27

same fundamental nature, and therefore doesnot especially need to be cultivated.

Question: Rinpoche, could you say somethingabout where devotion comes into mahamudra;what the relationship is between mahamudraand devotion?

Rinpoche: Devotion has two functions in thepractice of mahamudra. One of them you couldthink of as an immediate function or immediatebenefit of devotion, and the other one is themain or true function of devo-tion. The immediate function isthat sometimes, when yousupplicate the root and lineagegurus with intense devotion,your perception, your outlook,changes completely. In aninstant there is a great changein how you experience theworld, and the result is that onthe spot there will be consider-able progress. For example, ifup to then you had had noexperience or recognition ofyour mind’s nature, then youmight have that experience.And whatever recognition andexperience you have had willincrease. So that is kind of animmediate or short-term benefit of devotion,which is simply that devotion brings blessingsand blessings bring progress. But the true func-tion of devotion is even simpler or more basicthan that. It is that the more trust and the more

interest and confidence you have in something,the more you will put into it. To the extent thatyou trust mahamudra, that you are interested inmahamudra, that you regard it as authentic andtrustworthy, to that extent you will actuallyengage in practicing it. If you lack devotion,which means, if you are suspicious ofmahamudra, if you think, “How could it be soeasy, how could this actually work—somethingso simple as this?”—if you think that, if youthink there is something a little fishy about itand you do not trust it, obviously you are not

going to practice it. And whensomeone takes that attitude ofsuspicion, no matter how manytimes mahamudra is taught tothem and no matter how muchinstruction they receive, obviouslyit is not going to do them anygood, because they do not buy it. Ifyou have one hundred percentconfidence, and here devotion isthe same as confidence, if youhave one hundred percent confi-dence in mahamudra, you willhave one hundred percent dili-gence. If you have fifty percentconfidence, you will have fiftypercent diligence. Here, we aretalking about mahamudra, butthis function of devotion is actu-

ally common to all endeavors, whether spiritualor mundane. The more confidence you have insomething, the more you will put into it and themore you will get out of it.

So we could stop there for this evening.

If you have onehundred percentconfidence inmahamudra, youwill have onehundred percentdiligence. If youhave fifty percentconfidence, youwill have fiftypercent diligence

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Continuing the Very Vener-able Khenchen ThranguRinpoche’s teaching onTilopa’s MahamudraUpadesha.

Mahamudra Upadesha

On the Necessity of Cultivating a StrictMindfulness in Meditation

Last night we dis-cussed the second ofthe seven sections of

this text, MahamudraUpadesha. You will remem-ber that the first two sec-tions were the view ofmahamudra and the con-duct of mahamudra. Nowwe come to the third of theseven sections, which is themeditation of mahamudra.The view is the recognitionof the ground, which is alsothe ground of meditation.The conduct is how to use your body, speech, andmind to practice dharma in a way that is foundedin or based upon the recognition of that view.The third topic, the topic of meditation, is spe-cifically how to familiarize yourself with theview that has been recognized. So, meditation inthis context is basically further familiarizationwith the view.

Meditation here has two aspects, which arethe preliminary practices of meditation and themain practice of meditation. In the next line thetext begins a description of the preliminaries:The body is without meaning, empty like abamboo stalk. [Line 66, page 73]

Experientially, there are two aspects of howwe regard ourselves. The first is our body, whichis a physical thing compounded of substancessuch as flesh and blood, and the second is our

mind, which is a mentalthing that is simply lucidcognition. For the dura-tion of this life these twoare somewhat interdepen-dent or co-exist in thesame space. If you thinkabout the nature of experi-ence, you will easily cometo the conclusion that ofthese two, your mind isthe more important andthe more significant. Butnormally, in the way weact and in the way wethink, we seem to regardthe body as more impor-tant. Because of that, mostof what we do is doneeither directly or indi-rectly to sustain, cherish,

or protect our bodies. Although the body is reallyjust an agent of the mind, we make the mind aslave or a servant of the body, and we are con-stantly agitated and we constantly make our-selves miserable mentally with such things as,for example, fear that something terrible willhappen to our bodies, and so on. From the long-term point of view, this is meaningless, becausethe body is a very temporary thing. We regard itas somehow intrinsically valuable, but, in fact,from another point of view it has no value ormeaning whatsoever. The actual implementationof this understanding consists of the preliminarycontemplations on the difficulty of acquiring thefreedoms and resources of the precious humanexistence, impermanence and death, the resultsof actions, and the defects of samsara. One of thebenefits of these contemplations is that your

SHENPEN ÖSEL 29

obsession with your physical body, and with all therelated issues that come out of that, will lessen,which will give you the space to actually practice.

When one performs such contemplations,which are often referred to as the commonpreliminaries, the result is that one becomesinspired to practice meditation, which naturallyleads to exertion or diligence in that practice.The actual practice of meditation itself has twostages to it, which are tranquil-lity and insight or shamatha andvipashyana. These can be pre-sented from the beginning as aunity—the technique presentedcan be unified shamatha/vipashyana from the beginning—or, alternatively, they can bepresented in a sequence. Themost elaborate or completepresentation of the meditationtechnique would have to beginwith the physical posture andthen the mental technique, andalso the use of breathing, and soon. In this text, because it isbrief, the physical posture is notgone through. It is assumed thatyou understand that the physicalposture necessary for meditation practice is theone in common use, which is called the sevendharmas of Vairochana or the sevenfold pos-ture.* As I am confident that all of you have hadinstruction in this, I am not going to go throughthe posture here, except to say one thing. It istrue that in order to practice most fully you doneed to use this type of meditation posture. Butsometimes when people place their bodies inmeditation posture, they do so in a way that isvery tight or very tense. And while it is true thatyou need to have a straightened spine, and so on,if the way that you create or maintain this pos-ture involves too much tension, then it becomescounterproductive. It was therefore said byMachig Labdron, “The physical posture or the

physical technique is to relax the four limbs,”which means that the rule of a correct postureincludes that your limbs, all of the muscles ofyour two arms and two legs, be as relaxed aspossible. So although you need to pay attentionto posture and so forth, make sure that you donot become too tense by doing so.

This is also discussed by the Ninth GyalwaKarmapa, Wangchuk Dorje, in his mahamudra

instruction text, Pointing Out theDharmakaya. There he pointsout that, while we need themeditation posture of the sevendharmas of Vairochana in orderto practice meditation, we haveto ensure that the way we holdor generate this posture is re-laxed. The reason this comes upis that often, when we fix ourminds on something, or when weconcentrate, we automaticallygenerate a state of physicaltension along with that. If youbecome physically tense whenpracticing meditation, you mayexperience some kind of heat ordiscomfort or pain. If thesesensations arise they are not a

big deal, because they just come about from thephysical tension of your posture. Nevertheless,in order to avoid them, The Ninth Karmapamakes the following recommendation: “Maintaina posture that is free of tension, too much exer-tion, or a feeling of being coiled up; in otherwords, make the posture relaxed and comfort-able.” These words seem somewhat unimportantand perhaps what they are saying sounds obvi-ous right now, but when you actually practicemeditation these instructions become verysignificant and important, and very helpful ingenerating a stable meditation experience and inpreventing the arising of unnecessary obstaclesor impediments. Again, the reason for this issimply that when we concentrate our minds,somehow we tend to make our body tight ortense at the same time. It is important to re-member that as focused as your mind may be,

*Editor’s note: For a further description of the sevendharmas of Vairochana, see Shenpen Ösel, Vol. 1, No. 2, pages11-13, and Vol. 3, No. 1, page 41.

‘Maintain aposture that isfree of tension,too muchexertion, or afeeling of beingcoiled up; inother words,make the posturerelaxed andcomfortable’

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you also have to maintain a loose and relaxedphysical state or posture.

The mental technique of meditation, thetechnique of placing the mind, is next explainedin Tilopa’s instruction. With regard to medita-tion techniques in general, perhaps the mostcommon single technique used in all Buddhisttraditions—including the Theravadan, Zen, andVajrayana traditions—is following the breath,which is an excellent technique and extremelyuseful. This was taught by the Buddha himselfwhen he said, “In the case inwhich there are manythoughts, follow the breath.”Breathing meditation is nottaught in this text, so, fromone point of view, you couldthink that the instruction thatis given is for a practitionerwho has already developedsome state of tranquillity orstability in meditation. An-other way to look at it is thatwithin the mahamudra tradi-tion in general there are twotypes of meditation tech-niques: those that employ whatis called a support, whichmeans something on which youare focusing the mind, andthose that employ no support. In this case,meditation using a support or focus is not ex-pressly taught. What is taught is meditationwithout a support: The mind is like the midstof space. It is inconceivable. Rest relaxedwithin that, without letting it go or placingit.* [Lines 67-68]

The first line, which states that the mind islike the midst of space in being inconceivable, issaying that when you look at your mind, you donot see anything. In a sense it seems that thereis nothing there. But there is so much “nothingthere” that you cannot even say that there isnothing there, because that insubstantiality is atthe same time itself a cognition. It is the unity of

emptiness and cognitive lucidity or clarity. This issomething that anyone can experience directly bylooking at their own mind. But it is something thatno one can conceive of. You can experience themind but you cannot accurately think about it,because it transcends the realm of thought. In thatsense, it is something that you cannot conceive ofor imagine, but that nevertheless you can directlyexperience—something that is at the same timedevoid of any kind of substantiality and yet is vividclarity. It is like, in that sense, the midst of the sky

or the midst of space.The nature of your mind is

beyond thought, but nevertheless itis your mind, so it is not beyondexperience. The mind is empty inthat when you look for it there isnothing to find, nothing to see. Butit is a lucidity, a clarity that ismind. It cognizes. It knows. It isimportant to understand that theclarity or lucidity or luminosity ofthe mind refers to cognitive lucid-ity, not to physical lucidity like aphysical light or something likethat. So on the one hand there isnothing to find, but on the otherhand there is cognition. And yetwhen you look at cognition, whenyou look at that which knows, that

which experiences, that which is aware, youcannot say anything about it. What you experi-ence when you experience your own mind, yourown cognition, is something that is indescribableand inconceivable even to the experiencer,because that which is conceivable to us, thatwhich we can think about, has to be either some-thing or nothing. It either exists or it does not.But the mind is beyond being something andbeyond being nothing. So, being beyond all ofthat it is beyond thought. Fortunately you do notneed to try to figure it out or to think about it,because you can experience it directly. And it isfor that reason as well as others that we refer tothe mind as a wish-fulfilling jewel—because it issomething we can experience directly that isright there and that we do not have to figure out.

With regard tomeditationtechniques ingeneral, perhapsthe mostcommon singletechnique usedin all Buddhisttraditions . . . isfollowing thebreath

*Editor’s note: Placing here means placing the mind on anobject of concentration, or in a particular mental state.

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In the text it says, Rest relaxed in that statewithout sending it out, or placing it in, lettingit go or attempting to place it. [Line 68]

When it says, “do not send the mind out orplace it in, do not let it go or force it to rest,”what it means is that it does not matter what ishappening within your mind. When you lookright at your mind or the nature of your mind, ifa thought arises, that is not a problem. If athought arises then you will seeor look at the nature of thatthought, and in that way youwill see the nature of your mind.If a thought does not arise youdo not have to regard that as aproblem, you do not have to tryand cause a thought to arise, yousimply look at the nature of thatmind in the absence of thought.You do not have to alter thestate of your mind in this prac-tice of meditation. You do nothave to attempt to force it tohave any specific characteris-tics. If you experience no clarityor lucidity in your mind, you do not have to golooking for it. You just look directly at what youdo experience. And the way to do this is byrelaxing. If you relax your mind, then you willsee the nature of your mind and you will be ableto remain relaxed within that direct experienceof your mind’s nature.

This instruction is extraordinarily useful andimportant, because if you lack this instruction,you are liable to think that meditation consistsof stopping thoughts, and your goal in medita-tion will be not to think. This is impossible,because if you have that aim in mind, even if yousucceed in stopping the emergence of normalthoughts, what will happen is that you willobserve the cessation of thought, and that obser-vance will become a thought. If you are involvedin an attempt to vanquish or conquer thoughts,you can never win. If, on the other hand, youtake the mahamudra approach and simply lookat the nature of whatever arises in your mind,then without your having to chase them away,

thoughts become pacified of themselves, simplythrough having been seen as they are. In that wayyou have no need to fight thoughts, or to viewthoughts as somehow threatening. To the extentthat we get involved in fighting with thoughts inmeditation, we become tired and discouraged,because it is endless. To the extent that we simplylook directly at the nature of thoughts, it is effort-less, because thoughts themselves, through being

seen as they are, are self-liberatingand pacify themselves. In order forthis to work, however, according toall teachers of the past, you doneed the faculties of mindfulnessand alertness. In fact, you need avery crisp or strong mindfulness,as was taught by Dakpo TashiNamgyal in the text Moonbeams ofMahamudra, in which he says,“Your mindfulness here needs tobe tough and crisp, or sharp andcrisp.” And in theBodhicharyavatara, Shantidevasays, “To those who wish to grasphold of their mind I say, emphasiz-

ing its importance by joining my palms in anattitude of reverence and begging, exert your-selves in mindfulness.”

That is how to rest your mind. Then, withinthat state of resting the mind, you practicevipashyana or insight. The difference betweenthe basic meditation of tranquillity or restingthe mind or shamatha and the practice of insightor vipashyana is that in shamatha, which isdevoid of vipashyana, while your mind comes torest within its own nature, there is no recogni-tion of that nature. In order to developvipashyana some further instruction is neces-sary, and that is given next. The text says, . . . [Ifmind has no direction, it is mahamudra.] . . .with this you will attain unsurpassableawakening. [Lines 69-70]

Direction here means looking at something.The definition here of insight or vipashyana isthat you are not looking at anything, becausethere is nothing to look at. If there were direc-tion to your mind, then you would be looking for

To the extent thatwe get involvedin fighting withthoughts inmeditation, webecome tired anddiscouragedbecause it isendless

32 SHENPEN ÖSEL

a certain location where the mind could besought or you would be looking for certain sub-stantial characteristics in that location, such asshape and color, and so forth. In fact, the natureof the mind that is recognized is the absence ofany such location, or any sub-stantial characteristic. So thatnature, which is mahamudra, isthat with which you are tofamiliarize yourself. Familiar-ization with this nature is thepractice of mahamudra. TheBuddha explained this in differ-ent ways in different contexts.He taught the selflessness ofindividuals or persons, theselflessness of things or phe-nomena in general. He calledthat emptiness, and in anothercontext he called that buddhanature. All of these things areincluded in this one under-standing, because this nature ofthe mind that is itself beyond any kind of loca-tion or direction and is experienced by a mindthat is free of direction, this nature of the mind,is the selflessness of persons. It is the selfless-ness of things. It is emptiness. It is buddhanature. If you familiarize yourself with this, thenthat will lead you to unsurpassable awakening.

All kinds of things constantly arise in ourminds. We become sad, we become fearful, webecome angry, we experience doubt, we experi-ence guilt. Whatever of these things we experi-ence, they are all unpleasant, and whateverparticular thing we are experiencing, we want itto stop. But we simply do not know how to makeit stop. The more you identify these unpleasantmental states as solid, the more sad and themore angry you will become, the more guilt youwill feel, the bigger a grudge you will bear.Finally, if you maintain this strongly enough, youbecome so unhappy mentally that you will be-come ill physically. The solution is to see rightthrough them, because as long as we are at-tempting to flee from or run away from an un-pleasant mental state, it seems very powerful

and threatening. But when you look right at itthere is nothing there. For example, if youbecome intensely sad, when you look right at thesadness, you find that there is nothing there thatyou can really, honestly call sadness. Conven-

tionally we regard anger as verypowerful and very dangerous, andin the context of the way thingsfunction relatively, of course, it is.But that is only true so long asyou are turned away from it. Ifyou look right at your anger,there is nothing there. And this istrue with any mental afflictionsor unpleasant mental states. Ifyou recognize its nature, what-ever it is, it will no longer harmyou. So this point is important,not only in the ultimate attain-ment of buddhahood, but also inthe immediate or short termability to live happily.

That completes the third of the seven topics,which is meditation. Now we come to the

fourth topic, which is the samaya of mahamudra.Samaya refers to a pledge or promise or commit-ment—something you undertake. And the way itis explained in the tantras and in traditionaltexts of explanation, it sounds extremely danger-ous, like some kind of horrific control, a com-plete lack of personal freedom, in which, if youmake any attempt to assert personal freedom,you will be cast immediately into the depths ofthe lowest hell. It is actually explained this wayfor a reason, which is that, in order to accom-plish anything, you need to maintain a certainconsistent direction and diligence. This is obvi-ous and true in anything we attempt to do. It isnot true that by attempting to assert personalfreedom or by impairing samaya you immedi-ately throw yourself into the depths of thelowest hell, but it is true that it is very impor-tant to keep samaya. In order to understandwhat samaya is and why it is so important tokeep it, it is helpful to understand the Tibetanword for samaya, which is dam-tsig. Dam-tsig

If you becomeintensely sad,when you lookright at thesadness, you findthere is nothingthere that youcan really,honestly callsadness

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has two syllables, each of which is a distinctconcept. The first syllable, dam, means a prom-ise. The second syllable, tsig, means words. Sotogether, dam-tsig means words of promise orpledge. Basically, therefore, what dam-tsig orsamaya consists of is saying to yourself or some-one else, “I will do such and such a thing.” Anyaction that is intentional begins with such athought, “I will do such and such a thing.” Inorder to actually accomplish the action, thatthought, “I will do it,” has to be maintained. If atsome point you abandon that, if you think, “I willnot do it,” then obviously you simply will not doit. So if you want to accomplish anything, youhave to maintain the momentum of your inten-tion or your commitment. This is true withanything whatsoever, no matter how small orinsignificant it may seem to be. For example, if Iwant to drink some water I have to first think, “Iwill drink this water,” and then I have to main-tain that commitment or inten-tion until I have drunk the water.If before I have drunk the water,I change my mind and I think, “Iwill not drink this water,” thenthe result will be that I will notdrink any water. So the basic ideaof samaya is that if you abandonyour intention, you will notaccomplish it. And this is true foranything you might attempt toaccomplish in the world or spiritually, no matterhow significant or insignificant it might seem tobe. The samaya talked about in dharma is basi-cally such concepts or commitments as “I willpractice dharma,” “I will practice mahamudra,”or “I will practice the generation stage of suchand such yidam,” “I will take such and suchempowerment,” and so on. If you do not maintainthe momentum of that undertaking or commit-ment, then you will not accomplish whatever itwas that you intended to do by doing thosethings. So on the one hand, failing to keepsamaya is not something that can cast you intothe depths of the avici hell of uninterruptedtorment. But on the other hand, samaya is essen-tial to keep in order to get anything done.

The initial presentation of samaya in the textis in the next five lines which say, Those whofollow tantra and the vehicle of theparamitas, the vinaya, the sutras, and thevarious teachings of the Buddha with anattachment for their individual textualtraditions and their individual philosophywill not come to see luminous mahamudra,because the seeing of that luminosity orclear light is obscured by their intention andattitude. [Lines 88-91 and 95]

On the face of it, this seems a little odd. Itseems what Tilopa is saying here is that none ofthese aspects of Buddhism are of much use. Buthe is not saying that. He is not saying that thesevarious traditions and vehicles or aspects oftraining are useless. He is pointing out that,since they are all ultimately methods for realiz-ing mahamudra, then if they are practiced in theabsence of that intention and that view, then

they will not lead to that realiza-tion which is their true purpose.For example, the first men-tioned are those who followsecret mantrayana or vajrayana.And when he says that vajrayanawill obscure mahamudra, whathe is saying is that if you at-tempt to practice vajrayana,which is a method for the real-ization of mahamudra and a very

effective one, if you attempt to practice it in adifferent way, forgetting about mahamudra,doing it for some other reason, doing it withoutthe view of mahamudra and without the inten-tion of realizing mahamudra, then obviously nomatter how much of it you practice, it will notlead you to that realization of mahamudra. Thesame is true with the practice of the paramitasor perfections. If you practice the six perfections,of course this will lead to the realization ofmahamudra, provided that the understanding ofmahamudra is there from the beginning. But ifyou simply practice the perfections in the ab-sence of that mahamudra view and that inten-tion to realize mahamudra, then you will notrealize it. You cannot simply hope that by prac-

The basic idea ofsamaya is that ifyou abandonyour intention,you will notaccomplish it

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ticing something other than mahamudra, it willcause you in the future at some point to sud-denly pop into a state of mahamudra. And this istrue with any aspect of dharma, because all ofthese various aspects of the dharma, or of theBuddhist tradition, are methodsfor the realization ofmahamudra. But they cannottake their effect as such unlessthe view of mahamudra is therefrom the beginning. If the view isnot present, then you considerwhat you are doing with theseaspects to be some kind of alter-ation. And that concept or wishor intention that you deriveincorrectly from the specifictradition or aspect of your train-ing actually obscures the naturethat you are trying to recognize.*

The main point here is that,whatever you practice—thevajrayana, the paramitas, the vinaya, whateveraspect of dharma—it should be combined withthe practice of mahamudra. The connectionbetween this point and samaya is that ultimatelythe true samaya is the samaya to recognize themind’s nature through transcending or pacifyingthe agitation of thoughts. Therefore the textcontinues, The conceptualized maintenanceof vows actually causes you to impair themeaning of samaya. [Line 96]

Or you could say, to waiver from or dimin-ish the meaning of samaya. The meaning ofthis is that, since ultimately samaya is tran-scending the fixation and grasping of

conceptuality—that which impedes the recogni-tion of your mind’s nature—then conceptualgrasping of the samaya itself is a violation ofsamaya. By grasping at samaya in a conceptualway, you diminish or impair your recognition of

your mind’s nature. Recognitionbeing the essence of samaya,such grasping at samaya istherefore a violation of samaya.If you become conceptual aboutthe samaya, you create a situa-tion in which you are at crosspurposes with the purpose oressence of mahamudra. Ofcourse this does not ultimatelyaffect the true nature itself, butit does affect whether or not youattain the result, which is therecognition and realization ofthat nature.

The instruction continues,Without mental directedness

or mental activity, be free of all intentional-ity. [Lines 92-93]

This means, do not try to figure it out orthink too much about thoughts that arise.Mahamudra deals with thought the way a snakedeals with the knots that it can tie itself into. Itnaturally uncoils itself. Someone does not haveto come along and help the snake out. In thesame way, thoughts will dissolve of themselves.You do not have to do something to them.Thoughts, so to speak, uncoil themselves.**

The instruction continues, Thoughts areself-arisen and self-pacified like designs onthe surface of water. [Line 94]

As a thought arises it is already dissolving,so that, aside from seeing the nature of thethought, there is no need to do anything to it.Attempting to do something to it will actuallyonly obstruct or prevent the recognition of thethought’s nature. Just as a design on the surfaceof water does not have to be erased but takes

*Editor’s note: For example, if one practiced the Meditationof Chenrezig with the intention of replacing angry thoughtswith compassionate thoughts, then one would inevitablybecome involved in trying to suppress anger and trying togenerate a feeling akin to some feeling of compassion onemight have experienced in the past. In both efforts one wouldbe involved in reinforcing clinging to duality, which wouldprevent one from recognizing the true nature of mind, whichtranscends duality and all forms of conceptuality. One needsto remember that the very wisdom of mahamudra thatrecognizes the true nature is itself compassion, and that thevery act of recognizing the true nature of mind or the truenature of thought, in this case the thoughts of anger, is itselfan act of compassion.

**Editor’s note: It has been taught that in the beginningthoughts liberate themselves like meeting an old friend; next,they liberate themselves like a snake uncoiling; and finally,they liberate themselves like a thief entering an empty house.

Ultimately thetrue samaya isthe samaya torecognize themind’s naturethroughtranscending orpacifying theagitation ofthoughts

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care of itself, in the same way, thoughts do nothave to be erased. If you can look at the nature ofthoughts, then all thoughts, including sufferingand agitation, and so forth, will be naturallypacified without your having to intentionally doanything to them.

The text continues, If you do not passbeyond the meaning, which is not abidingand not conceptualizing or focusing, thenthrough not passing beyondthat, you do not pass beyondor transgress samaya. This isthe torch which dispels allobscurity or darkness. [Lines97-98]

The basic idea of samaya, aswe saw, was maintaining anundertaking, and your undertak-ing here is the attitude, I want torecognize mahamudra, thenature of my mind. In order todo that, I have to meditate onmahamudra, I have to meditateon the nature of my mind. Medi-tation here refers simply tolooking directly at the nature ofyour mind and at the nature of whatever arisesin your mind. So samaya here consists of thesamaya to look directly at your own mind. As wehave seen, this nature of mind, that is the objectof meditation here, is emptiness, which is alsoselflessness. Therefore, while emptiness orselflessness is in a sense what we are lookingat—or, you could even say, what we are lookingfor—because it is emptiness, it is not a place. Soyou are not looking in a certain place and youare not resting your mind in a certain place.There is no place to rest your mind while lookingat the nature of mind. And you are not focusingon anything in particular, because it is empti-ness. The way you keep samaya, the way youlook at your mind’s nature, is by being free of theidea of a place or focus.

Even though the nature of your mind isbeyond location or focus, it nevertheless issomething you can experience. The looking atthe nature of mind is not a state of blank or

vacant stupidity. There is an actual clarity. Thereis an actual experience or recognition. It is alsonot a state of distraction. Distraction and mentalblankness on the one hand, and recognition ofthe mind are different things. Recognition is notstupidity and not distraction. If you remain inthat, if you remain in that direct looking at yourmind’s nature without its becoming blankness ordistraction, then you remain within samaya. And

you remain within the only truesamaya, because the samaya is torecognize your mind’s nature. Byresting in the recognition of yourmind’s nature, in fact, you aredoing more than simply keepingsamaya because you are illumi-nating the darkness that hasafflicted you all along. You arelighting the torch that in aninstant dispels the darkness ofinnumerable eons. You are dis-pelling the darkness of igno-rance, and therefore you areremoving the suffering thatcomes from ignorance. The pointof all of this is that we need to

keep samaya by resting in the recognition of ourmind’s nature. And the role of diligence is beingdiligent in doing that.

That completes the fourth topic of the seven,which is the samaya. The fifth topic is the benefit

of mahamudra practice. The text continues, If, free ofall intention, you do not abide in extremes, youwill see without exception the meaning of all theBuddha’s teachings or of all the takas, the sec-tions of the Buddha’s teachings. [Lines 99-100]

Through your practice of mahamudra, in-tense immersion in your mind’s nature free ofextremes, or even through a partial attempt atsuch immersion—such as an appreciation of theview and an interest in the mind’s nature—youwill come to recognize and understand themeaning of the sutras, the vinaya, theabidharma, and all of the vajrayana, becausewhat you are appreciating or working with is theessence of all of them. And further it says, If you

By resting in therecognition ofyour mind’snature . . . youare lighting thetorch that in aninstant dispelsthe darkness ofinnumberableeons

36 SHENPEN ÖSEL

rest in this you will be liberated from theprison of samsara. [Line 101]

This means that, if you rest in this recogni-tion of your mind’s nature, you will free yourselffrom all the sufferings ofsamsara: the sufferings of thelower realms, present suffer-ings, the sufferings of all kindsof rebirths such as human withall of its attendant sufferings,animal rebirth, and so on.

And further it says, If yourest evenly within this, all ofyour wrongdoing andobscurations will be burned.[Line 102]

There are generally twotypes of impediments to therecognition of the mind’s nature.One is called wrongdoing, but inthis case refers to the actualresults of wrongdoing, what weoften call bad karma, the traceswithin you of the negative thingsyou have done with body, speech and mind. Inorder to purify those traces, we normally engagein various common practices such as theVajrasattva meditation, the application of thefour powers of confession, and so on.* The un-

common practice of mahamudra itself can re-move or purify all of this negative karma.

The other impediment to realization is obscu-ration in general, which includes the mental

afflictions or kleshas and igno-rance itself. All of this, wrongdo-ing and obscurations in general,can be purified or removedthrough resting in the nature ofyour mind.

Next, the text says, This isthe torch of the doctrine, orthis is called for those reasonsthe torch of the doctrine. [Line103]

The doctrine, of course,means the Buddha’s teaching.Here mahamudra is being called“the torch of the Buddhist teach-ings” because it is the essence ofthem, which actually dispels ourignorance. The benefits that havebeen explained here, which areessentially threefold, really are

all included in this removal of all ignorance, andtherefore the benefit of mahamudra is simplythat, through removing all ignorance, it causesone to acquire or attain all virtuous or positivequalities and to be free of all defects.

The sixth section or topic of the text is thedefects or problems with not meditating on

mahamudra. The text continues, Foolish peoplewho have no interest in this will only becontinually carried off by the river ofsamsara. [Lines 104-105]

In spite of the fact that mahamudra is ex-tremely easy or convenient to practice and vastlybeneficial, people generally have no interest init. Even though it is a way to effectively accom-plish all positive qualities and free oneself fromall defects, people who could be, strictly speak-ing, extraordinarily intelligent, are in the longterm or in effect foolish, in that they have nointerest in something that is exactly what theyneed. The problem with not being interested inrecognizing the nature of your own mind is that,

*Editor’s note: The four powers, according to JamgonKongtrul Lodro Thaye, in The Torch of Certainty, are: “1. The‘power to renounce’ and regret your previous misdeeds [men-tally before the Three Jewels and the Three Roots] as vigor-ously as if you had swallowed poison. 2. The ‘power to refuse torepeat a harmful deed,’ and to firmly resolve, ‘Even if my life isat stake, I will never do it again.’ 3. The ‘power to rely’ onTaking Refuge and Engendering the Enlightened Attitude. 4.The ‘power to carry out all types of remedial wholesome actsto purify harmful ones,’ including the ‘Six Gates of Remedy,’and others. and so on.” The Six Gates of Remedy are to say thenames of buddhas and bodhisattvas; to set up images, holybooks, and stupas; to make offerings to the buddha, dharma,and sangha, and to the lama, yidam, and dakas, dakinis, anddharma protectors; to recite the sutras and tantras taught bythe Buddha; to recite the “hundred-syllable mantra of theTathagata,” the mantras of Vairocana, Akshobhya, and otherprofound mantras; confident in the potentiality ofbuddhahood, while meditating and reciting, to meditate onthe significance of nonself (emptiness) and three-fold purity,i.e., without regard for the obscurations to be purified, aninstrument of purification, and a purifier, and betweenmeditation sessions, to concentrate on the unreality orillusoriness of all phenomena.

The benefit ofmahamudra issimply thatthroughremoving allignorance, itcauses one toacquire or attainall virtuous orpositive qualitiesand to be free ofall defects

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not being interested in it, you will not attemptto do it. Therefore, you will not realizemahamudra or your mind’s nature, you will notend samsara, and you will instead be continuallycarried off in samsara.

The text continues, Those foolish people expe-riencing intolerable sufferings in lower states ofexistence are worthy of compassion. [Line 106]

The previous line endedwith: “If you are not interestedin mahamudra you are justgoing to continue to be carriedoff in samsara.”

The problem with beingcarried off by samsara, bycontinuing to experience un-controlled rebirth, is thatexactly what you are going tobe reborn as is by no meanscertain. You could possibly bereborn in what are called lowerstates of existence as an ani-mal, a hungry ghost, or a hellbeing. And regardless of whereyou are reborn, exactly what isgoing to happen to you is alsouncertain. And a great deal ofwhat happens to us in samsarais pretty miserable. As long asyou continue to experience uncontrolled rebirth,you will continue to be exposed to a great deal ofuncontrolled and intolerable suffering—mentalsuffering of all kinds, physical suffering of allkinds, unpleasant circumstances affecting you,your friends, your family, and so on. All sorts ofthings can happen and will continue to happenas long as you reject this single point of allowingwhat arises in your mind to be pacified of itself. Aslong as you reject that method or that technique orthat point, your suffering will never end. In thisline, Tilopa is expressing great and sincere com-passion for those who, of course, have no wishwhatsoever to suffer, but by rejecting the onlything that can really end suffering, will definitelycontinue to do so for as long as they continue toreject it.

That completes the sixth of the seven sectionsof the text. I am going to stop here for this

evening. The seventh and last section, which isextensive, is how to actually practicemahamudra. This text of instruction by Tilopa—who was regarded as being like the monarch ofall mahasiddhas, the king of all mahasiddhas—isquite concise. It consists of about twenty-eight

stanzas. And it is really valuable,to the extent that one could saythat every line in it has a distinctvalue, a distinct meaning, which isworthy of continued reflection andinvestigation. So please read itagain and again and think aboutwhat it means and use it as a basisfor your actual practice of medita-tion. You might have a number ofdifferent reactions to this, ofcourse. Through working with thistext and this type of instructionand practice, you might have somekind of realization of your mind’snature. You might have received agreat deal of instruction fromvarious teachers and have somerealization of it. If you have real-ization or recognition of yourmind’s nature, do not be satisfied

with just that. Use that as a basis for the contin-ued lifelong application of mindfulness andalertness until you attain full awakening, so thatyou can really and truly free yourself foreverfrom suffering. Or you might find that you lackrealization. You might find this all a bit of amystery. You might think, “Well exactly what isthis mahamudra, what is this nature of mind? Iwant to know what it is, I want to realize it.”That is good enough. If you have that kind ofinquisitiveness and that kind of enthusiasm, thatwill bring you to a recognition of the mind’snature. Or you might have a third reaction,which is that you might not be that interested init to begin with. But that is why Tilopa gives usreasons for being extremely interested in it. Thereason for being interested in mahamudra,which means being interested in working with

People whocould be, strictlyspeaking,extraordinarilyintelligent, are inthe long term orin effect foolish,in that they haveno interest insomething that isexactly what theyneed

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your own mind directly in direct experience, isthat only by doing so can you be of true and greatbenefit to yourself and to others. In any case,whether you have a realization of your mind’snature or not, and whether you are particularlyinterested in this or not, if you look at yourmind, you will get it.

Some people have said that they are notgoing to be able to be here for the empowermentof Tilopa. Being here is not strictly a require-ment in order to practice this, but because theyare not going to be here they have asked me to

give the reading transmission for the text, so Iwill give it. Having heard it, you will receiveboth the instruction and the reading transmis-sion which makes the text a workable basis forpractical use. [Rinpoche gives lung.]

I would like to conclude by dedicating thevirtue or merit of this teaching to the realizationby all beings of mahamudra and to the freedomof all beings, until they come to attain liberation,from warfare, sickness, famine, disputation, anddisasters of all kinds.

If you have realization or recognition ofIf you have realization or recognition ofIf you have realization or recognition ofIf you have realization or recognition ofIf you have realization or recognition ofyour mind’s nature, do not be syour mind’s nature, do not be syour mind’s nature, do not be syour mind’s nature, do not be syour mind’s nature, do not be satisfiedatisfiedatisfiedatisfiedatisfiedwith just that. Use that as a basis for thewith just that. Use that as a basis for thewith just that. Use that as a basis for thewith just that. Use that as a basis for thewith just that. Use that as a basis for thecontinued lifelong appliccontinued lifelong appliccontinued lifelong appliccontinued lifelong appliccontinued lifelong application of mind-ation of mind-ation of mind-ation of mind-ation of mind-fulnefulnefulnefulnefulness and alerss and alerss and alerss and alerss and alertnetnetnetnetness until you attss until you attss until you attss until you attss until you attainainainainainfull awakening, so that you cfull awakening, so that you cfull awakening, so that you cfull awakening, so that you cfull awakening, so that you can reallyan reallyan reallyan reallyan reallyand truly free yourself forever fromand truly free yourself forever fromand truly free yourself forever fromand truly free yourself forever fromand truly free yourself forever fromsuffering.suffering.suffering.suffering.suffering.

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Mahamudra Upadesha

Only With RelianceUpon a Wise Guru

Will You Receivethe Blessing of

Liberation

I would like to begin by wishing you all goodmorning, and then, as we have been doing, Iwould like to chant the lineage supplication.

[See page 11.] It is my hope that this explanationof the Mahamudra Upadesha will actually behelpful to your minds and your practice.Whether or not it will be helpful depends uponour cultivation of faith and devotion, so pleasechant the supplication with faith and devotiondirected to the root and lineage gurus.

As I mentioned yesterday, according to theThird Gyalwa Karmapa’s division of Tilopa’sMahamudra Upadesha, there are seven sectionsto the text, of which we completed the sixth lastnight. Today we are going to look at the seventh

and last section, which teaches how to actuallypractice mahamudra. The first six were the view,the conduct, the meditation, the samaya, thebenefits of practicing mahamudra, and thedefects of not practicing mahamudra.

The presentation here of how to practicemahamudra follows the two-fold format of thepreliminaries and the main practice. It firstexplains what a beginner needs as resources,and then, how one actually goes about the mainpractice. Continuing from where we left off inthe text, it says, Wishing to attain liberationfrom intolerable suffering, rely upon a wiseguru. When the guru’s blessings enter yourheart, your mind will be liberated. [Lines 107-108, page 74]

The first prerequisite for the entrance intothis path is that you wish to attain liberationfrom intolerable suffering. Intolerable suffering

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen ThranguRinpoche’s teaching on Tilopa’s MahamudraUpadesha.

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The guidancethat the teachergives youconsists,fundamentally, ofshowing you howto turn inward,how to turn inand face yourown nature

refers, in the main sense and in the long-termsense, to all sufferings of samsara and especiallyto those of the lower realms. But in the short-term sense it also refers to one’s present suffer-ings, the sufferings we experience within thislife. Indeed there is a vast variety of problems,disasters, upheavals, and so forth that afflicts useven in this life. So wishing to attain liberationis wishing to attain freedom from all of thesesufferings. The understanding that goes alongwith the wish for liberation here is the recogni-tion that every sentient being, without excep-tion, wishes to be happy andwishes to be free from suffering.That is fundamentally what allbeings want. In order to achievethat end we have to actuallyenter into the path and specifi-cally practice mahamudra,through which you can freeyourself from suffering, throughwhich you can attain a state ofstable happiness. This practicecannot be done on your ownwithout the influence or instruc-tion of someone else. There aresome things in the world that canbe self-taught, but the recognitionof and the familiarization withthe nature of your mind cannot bedone without resort to a teacher. The personwhose influence and instruction you need inorder to practice this path is referred to in thetext as a wise or learned guru.

The reason that we need the guru’s influenceand instruction is that our intellect is directedaway from itself. Your mind tends to look out-ward rather than inward. That is one of its basicqualities or characteristics. The intellect is alsolimited in what it can know or appreciate. Theintellect can only conceive of an existent or anonexistent. The intellect can only conceive ofsomething or nothing. Which means that theintellect cannot directly encounter or appreciatethe nature of things because the nature of things,the nature of each and every thing, is beyondthese concepts of something and nothing. There-

fore, your conceptual mind or intellect can nevercorrectly know the truth or the true nature. Itwas therefore said by Shantideva, “Absolutetruth is not within the realm of the intellectbecause the intellect itself is relative truth.”This means that you cannot figure out the natureof your mind or the nature of things, so you needto approach it in a different way. The way that ithas to be approached is by working with ateacher who can give you precise practicalinstructions or upadesa that enable you toencounter your mind’s nature. Of course, it is

your own mind you are lookingat. The reason, however, thatyou need guidance in looking atyour mind is that frombeginningless time you havealways looked outward. Yourmind has always looked awayfrom itself. The guidance thatthe teacher gives you consists,fundamentally, of showing youhow to turn inward, how to turnin and face your own nature andlook at your own nature. In thetext, the guru is qualified asbeing learned or wise. The term“wise” here means that the guruhas experience of meditationand therefore can methodically

and accurately guide the student’s practice ofmahamudra.

The second line of this couplet says, “Whenthe guru’s blessing enters your heart, your mindwill be liberated.” This refers to the previousline which indicated that the successful practiceof the path depends upon receiving the instruc-tions of and practicing under the guidance of awise guru. What exactly is the benefit of workingwith such a teacher? Exactly how does thisbenefit accrue or occur? All of the benefits ofworking with a wise or authentic guru are in-cluded in this concept of blessing. The word“blessing” normally conveys the connotation ofsome kind of power or energy that is transmittedto us by our teacher, and so forth. The Tibetanword for blessing is jin lap, and the first syllable

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The differencebetween abuddha andourselves is thatour qualitiesare effectivelydormant,because they areobscured bywhat themahasiddhas ofour lineage havecalled thecocoon ofconceptuality

jin is the past tense of the verb “to give.” Itmeans that which has been given or imparted,and by implication, that which has been given toyou or transmitted to you by your teacher. Thesecond syllable, lap, means “waves.” Waves is ametaphor for the actual power or energy of theteacher’s blessing, which engulfs you.

How is this blessing transmitted? Whatexactly is this blessing or energy or power,which somehow causes yourpractice to take effect? It reallyconsists of two related pro-cesses, both of which can becalled blessing. The first of theseis the natural, or one could say,the automatic result ofsomeone’s faith and devotion. Ifyou have strong faith and devo-tion, somehow just throughhaving them, your appearances,your projections, your experi-ences will change, especiallyyour experience of your ownmind. And it will change possiblyquite radically, so that, for ex-ample, in the case of someonewhose mind has no stability, notranquillity, if they develop thiskind of faith and devotion, theywill develop at the same time astate or quality of tranquillity. Ifsomeone has some degree oftranquillity, with an increase ofdevotion, that tranquillity willincrease accordingly. This is also true withclarity. Whatever degree of clarity there is willincrease with the increase of devotion. This istrue of any kind of meditation experience orrealization. When someone has no experience orrealization and cultivates devotion, they willgain experience. And if they have some degree ofexperience, it will increase upon the develop-ment of devotion. This natural or spontaneousresult of devotion is one thing that is referred toas blessing.

The other aspect of blessing is the result ofhearing the teachings of the guru. When you

hear the guru’s teachings, you are benefited bythem directly. Through that instruction youcome to recognize your own nature. You come tounderstand dharma and, therefore, to haveconfidence in it. That confidence in dharmaautomatically leads to diligence, which leads tomeditation experience, which, when it was notthere before, will be there, and if it was therebefore, it will increase. So in a sense, this whole

process is the blessing of theguru’s speech through the powerof the guru’s speech. So the guru’sspeech can also be called bless-ing. When it says in the text thatthese blessings enter your heart,it means that these blessingsactually enter your mind, enteryour experience.

When it says in the text thatthrough the blessings of the guruentering your heart, your mindwill become liberated, it meansthat the nature of your mind willbecome manifest. As was said bySaraha, “The mind is in its na-ture like a wish-fulfilling jewel.”Saraha made the famous state-ment, “I pay homage to the mindthat is like a wish-fulfillingjewel.” The meaning of this isthat, intrinsically, the mind isfree of defects and possesses allpossible qualities in complete-ness and in abundance. In other

words, the potential to benefit not only yourselfbut all other beings is innate within your mind,already present. For example, all of the qualitiesand activities of Buddha Shakyamuni, startingfrom his attainment of unsurpassable awaken-ing, his turning of the dharmachakra and hissubsequent establishment of innumerable beingsin various states of liberation, all of these abili-ties to benefit beings in this way came from thequalities that were always innate within themind of Buddha Shakyamuni, and which herecognized when he attained buddhahood. Bud-dha Shakyamuni is not the only one who pos-

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While formalmeditationpractice isessential, thecontinuousmaintenance ofmindfulness andalertness in post-meditation isequallyessential

sesses these qualities. We all possess thesequalities. The difference between a buddha andourselves is that our qualities are effectivelydormant, because they are obscured by what themahasiddhas of our lineage have called thecocoon of conceptuality. With our thoughts wecreate a cocoon that completely covers all of thequalities that are innate and always there,always present within the mind—which is awaste. We waste the nature of our mind, not inthe sense of its being damaged, but in the senseof its being so hidden that it is effectively dor-mant. Liberation refers to the bringing of themind out from this covering, this obscuration orcocoon.

The text continues with Kye ho, which is anexclamation that has the function of calling one’sattention. These things of samsara are mean-ingless or pointless, the causes of suffering.And since all of these thingsthat have been done or madeare pointless, look at thatwhich is meaningful. [Lines 15-16]

The path begins with relyingupon a teacher, then receivinghis or her blessing, and thenpracticing meditation. When youactually practice meditation,what you discover is a wonder-ment at the experience of yourmind’s nature. The initial excla-mation, “Kye ho,” is an expres-sion of this wonderment. But thewonderment goes together with arecognition of the relative point-lessness of samsara. Samsararefers to a state of being in whichyour mind is bound or fettered or encased withinthought or conceptuality. This means that fromthe moment we awake in the morning until themoment we go to sleep at night, one thoughtfollows after another. Some of these thoughts arenecessary, but most of them are useless. And infact, it is worse than that. They are worse thanuseless. They are actually harmful in that theymake us miserable. It is true that some of our

thoughts make us happy. We have two kinds ofthoughts. We have happy thoughts and we havemiserable thoughts. If you closely follow thethoughts that run through your mind from thebeginning of the day to the end of the day, youwill find that the majority of them are thoughtsof sadness, regret, fear, worry, anxiety, and so on,and far fewer of them are thoughts of any kind ofhappiness, satisfaction or pleasure, which meansthat we torture ourselves constantly, which isworse than useless or pointless.

Since this process of following after thought,which we call samsara, is pointless, why not dothat which is meaningful, which is not useless orpointless, which is to look at the nature of ourmind under all circumstances. Look at thatwhich has some meaning, some benefit. Themeaning or benefit of looking at the mind’snature is that it dispels suffering. It frees one

and it liberates one from allkinds of sufferings.

The practice of meditation, ofcourse, needs to be foundedupon a formal sitting practice ofmeditation. This is clear fromthe instructions of the gurus ofour tradition. Nevertheless,while formal meditation practiceis essential, the continuousmaintenance of mindfulness andalertness in post-meditation isequally essential; otherwise, weend up with an approach topractice and living in which weare extremely careful when weare practicing formal medita-tion, and then completely care-less when we are in post-medita-

tion. The problem with that approach is thatevery time you are in post-meditation, because ofthe interruption, because of the occurrence ofthe state of unmonitored carelessness of mind,the process which has begun in meditation stops.So there is no progress. The progress is impededby the carelessness or mindlessness in post-meditation. The solution to this is to beundistracted, that is to say, to preserve bare

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When you turninward and lookdirectly at yourfear or yourklesha, it is likepopping abubble, becauseyou discover thatthere is nothingthere

mindfulness and alertness in all activities,whether you are working, whether you aresitting around, no matter what. This willstrengthen and reinforce andenhance the formal practice ofmeditation. The absence of thiskind of post-meditation mindful-ness will, as I said, stop orinterrupt the practice of medita-tion. And this type of post-meditation mindfulness andalertness will in no way inhibitor diminish the quality of yourlife, and it will bring directprogress to your practice.

The next line is concernedprincipally with post-meditationpractice, but really with bothformal meditation and post-meditation practice. In one of hissongs Lord Marpa the Translator makes thestatement, “I possess 108 instructions—mixingand transference foremost among them.” Basedon this and other similar statements, we can seethat the most important instructions that LordMarpa emphasized were those of mixing andtransference. Among those two, that of primaryimportance is this instruction or concept of“mixing.” Mixing refers to mixing whateveroccurs with meditation. Often we are overpow-ered by our fear, by feeling intimidated by some-thing, by our anxiety, or by one klesha or an-other. If you mix whatever klesha or fear ariseswith meditation, you will not be overpowered byit. Mixing anxiety, for example, with meditationmeans that you look at the fear. Instead of look-ing away from the fear, at whatever it is you areafraid of, you look at the fear itself. You look tosee where it is. You start with the feeling, “I amafraid,” or “I am worried.” You think, “Where isthis worry, where is this fear, what is its sub-stance, what is its nature?” You look directly atit. Whenever you look directly at whatever ispresent in your mind, such as fear, or anxiety, orworry, you will see its natural emptiness. Andseeing its emptiness, seeing its nature, you willnot be overpowered by it. This is also true of

kleshas. Often we are overpowered by anger oroverpowered by desire. If you mix these withmeditation when they arise, and do the same

with any upheaval or reaction toupheaval that occurs within yourmind, they will have much lesspower. Whereas, before you havelooked right at them they seemmassive and solid and threaten-ing, when you actually lookdirectly at these emotions andfears, you perceive that they arelike bubbles that arise on thesurface of water. Bubbles canbecome quite large but they arehollow and they are very fragile.As soon as a bubble is touched, itpops and then there is nothingthere, and there was not verymuch there to begin with. In the

same way, when you turn inward and look di-rectly at your fear or your kleshas, it is likepopping a bubble, because you discover thatthere is nothing there. And this is what theBuddha meant when he said that the nature ofall things is emptiness. By looking directly atwhat arises in your mind, you can directly expe-rience that nature within your own mind, whichwill enable you not to be overpowered by mentalafflictions and fears.

That completes the presentation of thepreliminaries. Next, the main practice ofmahamudra is presented initially in the fourtopics of view, meditation, conduct, and fruitionor result—in that sequence. The first of these isthe view, which is summarized here in one line,If you are beyond all grasping at an objectand grasping at a subject, that is the mon-arch of all views. [Line 74]

This notion of being beyond all grasping at atruly existent object and a truly existent subjectsounds extremely profound and very far re-moved from our ordinary or present experience.But in fact, it is not far away from us. It might bedifficult to easily transcend the projection ofsubject and object in our relationship to externalobjects or phenomena. But it is easy to transcend

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Hope ofimprovement ofthe mind or fearof lack ofimprovement ofthe mind areunnecessary andoff the track

this by looking at your own mind and experienc-ing that nature beyond subject and object. Whenyou look at your mind, you do not find anything.You do not find anything that is being looked at,and you also do not find anything that is lookingat something that could be looked at. Simply bylooking at your own mind, you experience thatyour mind is beyond being a subject or being anobject. So you experience the emptiness of sup-posed subject and object. Sustaining this lookingat your own mind is the supreme view or themonarch among all views.

Next, with regard to meditation, it says, Ifthere is no distraction, that is the monarchamong all meditations. [Line 75]

Normally when we think of meditation weregard it as some kind of effortful forcing of themind into a state of rigid concentration, but whatis being pointed out by Tilopa here is that this isnot at all what meditation is. Meditation issimply not straying from or notbeing distracted from this look-ing at or awareness of our mindas it is. And our mind as it is isempty, and yet it is cognitivelucidity. Not being distractedfrom this means preserving thefaculty of mindfulness and thefaculty of alertness. Practicallyspeaking, this means that when athought arises, or a klesha arises,or an impediment or a potentialdistraction arises, you simplylook directly at it, and that main-tains this viewing of the mind’snature beyond distraction.

With regard to conduct, it says, If there is noeffort, that is the monarch among all con-ducts. [Line 76]

Effort here means the effortful or intentionalapplication of conceptual energy to meditation.For example, instead of looking at the mind andthinking, “I will look at the mind. I must look atthe mind. I will practice mahamudra. I mustpractice mahamudra,” to transcend that and lookdirectly at the mind is the supreme conduct.

And finally, with regard to the fruition, it

says, When there is no hope and no fear, thatis the final result, and the fruition has beenattained or revealed. [Line 77]

The point here is that hope and fear areunnecessary and inappropriate with regard toour mind. It was said by Lord Maitreya, “Thereis nothing in this that needs to be removed, andthere is nothing at all that needs to be added tothis.” This is the same idea that was expressedin the statement by Saraha which says, “I payhomage to the mind that is like a wish-fulfillingjewel.” In that the mind’s essential nature isemptiness, and in that its defining characteristicis clarity or cognitive lucidity, it is perfect just asit is. It does not need to be altered or improvedupon or cleaned up, or to have anything removedfrom it in any way. So, hope of improvement ofthe mind or fear of the lack of improvement ofthe mind are unnecessary and off the track.When, through experiencing your mind’s nature,

you no longer have such hope orsuch fear, that is the fruition orresult.

The next three lines summa-rize or clarify what went before:It is beyond being an object ofconceptual focus, and themind’s nature is lucidity. [Line71]

The first line means thatyour mind, in being emptiness inits essential nature, is not andcannot be an object of conceptualor intentional focus. It is notsomething to which your mind

can be directed in a certain or exclusive way. Andthis means simply that the mind has no substan-tial characteristics such as color, shape, andlocation. It not only lacks such characteristics, iteven lacks the characteristic of nothingness. Themind is as much beyond being nothing as it isbeyond being a solid substance, because, al-though it is completely free of any kind of sub-stantial or solid existence, it nevertheless isunceasing as cognition. The cognition neverstops, in spite of the fact that there is no solidthing that is not stopping. Therefore, Gampopa

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All of thesethings . . . towhich we allowourselves tobecome soattached, are intheir very natureunfit forattachmentbecause they areconstantlychanging

said about the view, “Look at your mind, becausethat is definitely the view.” So, if you look atyour mind, on the one hand, it is beyond anykind of conceptual focus, but on the other hand,because it is cognition, it can be experienced, itcan experience itself or view itself. Then the textcontinues: There is no path to be traversedand yet, in that way you enter the path tobuddhahood. [Line 72]

On the one hand, there is no path to betraversed because the mind’s nature is what it is.It does not need to be changed or improvedupon, and in fact cannot be. So, in that sensethere is no process to be gone through. Never-theless, the recognition of this nature, which isbeyond process, is the process or path thatproduces awakening. And then in the third lineit says, There is no object of meditation, butif you become accustomed to this you willattain unsurpassable awakening. [Line 73]

There is nothing in the practice ofmahamudra that you are focusing on as an objectof meditation, such as light you might see, oranything you might visualize orimagine. There is no object ofmeditation in that sense. But thisprocess of getting used to orbecoming more familiar with yourown nature is what is calledmeditation in the mahamudratradition. And that familiarizationwith your own nature is what willlead to buddhahood. So in thatway, the text summarizes theview, the meditation, the conduct,and the fruition.

The next two stanzas areconcerned with the importance orvirtues of practice in solitude orisolation. They begin by extollingthe virtues of solitude: Thor-oughly examine mundanethings or the things of theworld. If you do you will see that none ofthem persist, none of them are capable ofpermanence, and in that sense, they are alllike dreams and magical illusions. Dreams

and magical illusions are meaningless.Therefore, generate renunciation and giveup mundane concerns. [Lines 7-10]

The point of the first four lines is that thereis no reason to be obsessed with mundane con-cerns. Because all of these things, with which weallow ourselves to become so obsessed or towhich we allow ourselves to become so attached,are in their very nature unfit for attachmentbecause they are constantly changing. Theycannot, as much as we may want them to, remainthe same. Therefore, it is inappropriate to makean emotional investment in their remaining thesame. In fact, this obsession, this attachment tothings and the resulting aversion towards otherthings, produces all kinds of problems, impedi-ments, suffering, and so forth.

The text continues, Cut through the bondsof attachment and aversion toward thosearound you and your surroundings andmeditate in isolated retreats, forests, and soforth, living alone. [Lines 11-12]

These two lines mean that if you want topractice you have to becomeindependent from what isaround you. What is beingespecially extolled here is thevirtue of practicing in a situa-tion of isolation. The last twolines say, Remain in that statewithout meditation. Whenyou attain that which iswithout attainment you haveattained mahamudra. [Lines13-14]

The meditation practice thatis to be conducted in that way,in solitude and so forth, is, in asense, free from meditation,because there is no object ofmeditation. And what is at-tained through that meditation,because it is not a fundamental

change in the nature of things or the nature ofthe mind, is, in a sense, attaining nothing new. Itis an attainment that is beyond what we wouldconventionally call attainment. But when you

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The essence ofpost-meditationpractice is simplynot beingdistracted fromwhatever you aredoing

realize that there is nothing to be changed,nothing to be attained, that is the attainment ofmahamudra.

Tilopa speaks further of the benefits of thepractice of mahamudra. He says, For example,if the single root of a tree with a trunk andmany branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit, iscut, the ten thousand or one hundred thou-sand branches will automatically die. In thesame way, if the root of mind is cut through,the branches and leaves ofsamsara will dry up. [Lines 24-27]

The meaning of this is thatthe practice of the secret mantrain general, and especially thepractice of the instructions ofmahamudra or of dzogchen,consists fundamentally, mostbasically and most centrally, oflooking at the nature of yourmind. The most essential form ofinstruction in both themahamudra and dzogchen traditions, and themost essential form of practice in both tradi-tions, is looking directly at the nature of yourown mind. The function of this in both traditionsis to cut through or resolve that nature, to recog-nize that nature once and for all. The variousaccessories to these traditions are distinct, andthe distinction among various traditions can bedrawn in that way. But the fundamental practiceand the essence of these traditions are the same.If you want to free yourself from all of the vari-ous sufferings that grow on the tree of samsaralike branches and flowers, if you attempt to freeyourself from these adverse conditions andvarious sufferings one by one, it is very difficult.It is like trying to kill a tree by removing eachbranch separately. So therefore, just as when youwant to cut down a tree, you cut it at the rootand the whole tree will die, if you want to freeyourself from the various physical and mentalsufferings of samsara, then, if you recognize thenature of your mind, automatically all sufferingsare pacified and you are liberated from all ofthem.

I would like to stop there for this morning,but if you have any questions please go ahead.

Question: Rinpoche, the text said that thepractice of mahamudra involves no focus ormindfulness of the mind with particular focus.Another teaching from Tilopa’s text is that when-ever a klesha arises you look directly at it. So, itseems as if in the practice of mahamudra you aregoing from an unfocused resting of the mind to a

focused direct looking at some-thing, a klesha, or whatever.Particularly this movement fromnonfocus to focus becomes diffi-cult in post-meditation whenthere are so many distractions. Iexperience this when drivingdown Granville during rushhour. You become fearful, anx-ious, but you must pay attentionto the road, and then to look atthe mind undistractedly at thistime seems very difficult.

Rinpoche: First of all, in essence, as you say,there is no object of meditation or object of focusin mahamudra, but that is from the point of viewof an unconfused or unbewildered state. Fromthe point of view of a bewildered context, there isa focus. There is an object. For example, youmentioned what you do when a thought arises.When a thought arises, then at the initial mo-ment of directing your awareness to looking atthe nature of that thought, there is, as you indi-cated, a conceptual focus. Because the thoughtarising is a bewilderment, it is a relative truthand is bewilderment; so you are entering a con-text or working in a context of bewilderment.When you see the nature of that thought, throughhaving focused on that thought’s nature, whenyou actually see that nature, the thought is notthere; there is no focus. So when you look, thereis a focus, but when you see, there is no focus.With regard to post-meditation, in fact, theessence of post-meditation practice is simply notbeing distracted from whatever you are doing.There is far less danger in driving if you are not

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To understandmahamudra youreally need to geta handle onmixing [whateveroccurs withmeditation]

distracted, if you are mindful or alert, than thereis in driving if you are distracted. So, in fact,post-meditation mindfulness and alertnessshould alleviate the fear of an accident onGranville Street. [laughter]

Question: Rinpoche, if the nature of all things isemptiness, and if we look at the bubble and itpops and there is nothing there, if we look atfear and we touch it and there is nothing there,I’m just wondering about when we look at familyor friends. Are they also bubbles when we touchthem and they pop and there is nothing there? Isit the same emptiness?

Rinpoche: There exist, of course, logical demon-strations of the emptiness of all things and allpersons. But these are not ap-plied or entertained in the con-text of meditation practice.Because we are concerned withdirect experience, and the easi-est direct experience of empti-ness is the direct experience ofthe emptiness or nature of yourown mind. So, in the practice ofmahamudra, we do not analyzeor examine the existential statusof external objects or persons,but only of thoughts that can beexperienced directly without recourse to analy-sis. It is said in our tradition, “Do not attempt toget rid of or create or alter external appear-ances. Just leave them as they are, because theydo you no harm and bring you no benefit.” Theexternal appearances are not the issue here; it isthe mind and the mind’s grasping, which isthought. Therefore, we take thought and mind asthe basis for meditation.

Question: Rinpoche, you spoke of the quote onmixing and transference. I wonder if you couldexpand a bit more on the transference aspect?

Rinpoche: The reason why I did not talk abouttransference, the other aspect of Marpa’s in-structions, is that it has nothing directly to do

with the subject here, so I did not talk about itand I am not going to talk about it. The reasonwhy I did talk about mixing is that it has verymuch to do with the subject here. The basicconcept or idea of mixing is very helpful inunderstanding mahamudra practice. To under-stand mahamudra you need to really get ahandle on mixing, and for the time being you canforget about transference. [laughter]

Question: Rinpoche, I wonder if you could givesome clarity on the meditation instruction inmahamudra. I understand that the meditationwhen kleshas arise is to feel the texture of thatklesha, feel the context of the klesha, feel theessence of the distraction without the content. Isthis similar to looking directly at the klesha?

Rinpoche: These two ways ofworking with kleshas are differ-ent; they are distinct. The ap-proach that you described inwhich you try to feel the texture,as you put it, of the klesha, andappreciate the origin of theklesha, and so on, as you ex-plained it, is based upon main-taining the concept or the illu-sion of the klesha’s existing inthe first place. Basically what

you are doing in such an approach is treating theklesha as something. Here what is being done isnot working with what the klesha seems to be,but what it really is. And in looking directly at itwithout becoming concerned with the appear-ance of it—which klesha it is and so on—thenyou experience it as being more like nothingthan being something. The significance of this isthat the actual way that you let go of kleshas isthrough determining their nonexistence,through seeing that they have no substantialexistence whatsoever. The technique here is tolook directly at them and in that way see theirnature. What you see or what you experiencewas explained earlier in the text as seeing themas ripples on water or designs drawn on thesurface of water. As they are emerging, they are

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lematic. When you study you are training yourintellect through the acquisition of knowledgeand training yourself in learning more effi-ciently, and so forth. That training of the intel-lect, that cultivation of the prajna of study is nota problem, because essentially what you areworking with is the cognitive lucidity, which isone of the qualities of your mind, the otherquality being emptiness. The problem is grasp-ing at the concepts or fixating on the conceptsacquired through study or knowledge. The wayto work with this is simply to study in a way inwhich you cultivate a mindfulness within theperformance of study analogous to that of medi-tation, and if there is mindfulness while you arestudying, and alertness, then the study will notgenerate grasping and in that way can be mixedto some extent with practice.

We will conclude for the morning with thededication of merit.

dissolving already.

Question: Rinpoche, this is a question on mix-ing. How do you mix the practice of mahamudraand working as a scholar, especially for us asdharma students, or for myself, as someone whois learning new concepts and accumulatingknowledge? How do we mix them together?

Rinpoche: Something that is important tounderstand about mixing in general, and espe-cially in the context that you just brought up, iswhat does and what does not constitute distrac-tion. It was said by Tilopa, “Child, it is not byappearances that you are fettered, but by crav-ing. Therefore, Naropa, relinquish or cutthrough craving.” The distinction needs to bemade between appearances and our craving foror grasping at them. Appearances themselvesare not a problem. Grasping or craving is prob-

It was sIt was sIt was sIt was sIt was said by Taid by Taid by Taid by Taid by Tilopa, “Child, it is not by ap-ilopa, “Child, it is not by ap-ilopa, “Child, it is not by ap-ilopa, “Child, it is not by ap-ilopa, “Child, it is not by ap-pearancepearancepearancepearancepearances that you are fettered, but by craving.s that you are fettered, but by craving.s that you are fettered, but by craving.s that you are fettered, but by craving.s that you are fettered, but by craving.Therefore, Naropa, relinquish or cut throughTherefore, Naropa, relinquish or cut throughTherefore, Naropa, relinquish or cut throughTherefore, Naropa, relinquish or cut throughTherefore, Naropa, relinquish or cut throughcraving.craving.craving.craving.craving.”””””

SHENPEN ÖSEL 49

Mahamudra Upadesha

At the Instant of Mahamudra Realization,All Ignorance and Negative Karma Are Purified

Good afternoon. I would like to begin as before by reciting the lineagesupplication. The particular lineage supplication that we use is the onein common use in all the major seats of the Kagyu tradition, such as

Tsurphu and Palpung. It is used in communal assemblies of recitation by all thelamas and monks and nuns. It is used also in personal practice, not only withinthe monasteries, but by all lay people who practice mahamudra. The reason whythis particular lineage supplication is so much emphasized is that it was com-posed by the great teacher Penkar Jampal Zangpo, who received the transmissionof mahamudra from the Sixth Gyalwa Karmapa, Thongwa Dönden, and, havingreceived it, went into retreat on an island in the middle of a lake called Sky Lakein northern Tibet. He remained in retreat on that island for eighteen years,practicing mahamudra. At the end of his retreat he composed the lineage suppli-cation, which is regarded as being a summary of his experience and realization,gained through eighteen years of intense practice, and, therefore, it is held tohave unparalleled blessing. So I recommend that you use it in your liturgicalpractice, whether you recite it in Tibetan or English. And so we will now chant it,and please do so with faith and devotion. [See page 11.]

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’s teaching on Tilopa’sMahamudra Upadesha.

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If one possessesthe essentialinstructions orupadesha, then itis possibleto attainbuddhahood inone lifetime

The text is now talking about the benefits ofmeditation on mahamudra, and we have seenhow the practice of mahamudra can bring aboutthe relinquishing of the kleshas. The next thingpointed out is how mahamudra can dispel allignorance and all accumulated obscurations andwrongdoing. This is presented with an image oranalogy: For example, just as the darknessthat has accumulated over a thousand eonsis dispelled by the illumina-tion of one lamp or one torch,in the same way, one instantof the wisdom of the clearlight of one’s mind dispels allof the ignorance, wrongdoing,and obscurations accumu-lated throughout numerouseons. [Lines 28-31, page 72]

The image here is of a placethat has never seen any light,like the recesses of a deep cave.No matter how long it has beensince that cave has seen light, assoon as a torch is lighted in that cave, it becomesilluminated. The length of time during which ithas been dark does not in any way inhibit thetorch’s power or capacity to illuminate the cave.At the instant the torch is lighted, all of thedarkness of that entire period of time is dis-pelled. In the same way, when someone realizesmahamudra, at that instant all of their ignoranceand all of their obscurations and all of theirnegative karma are purified right away.

You might doubt this. You might say, forexample, that in the sutras the Buddha taughtthat one cannot attain buddhahood withoutundergoing three periods of innumerable eons orkalpas of the accumulations of merit and wis-dom, at least—and in some sutras this is seven,and so on. And even to begin to realize dharmatatakes an extremely long time, according to thesutras. Yet in the mahamudra tradition we aretold that one can attain the state of completeawakening, the state of unity or Vajradhara, inone lifetime and one body. Surely if one of theseis true, then the other must not be. If it takesthree periods of innumerable kalpas to attain

buddhahood, then what does it mean to say that itcan be done in one life? And if it only takes one life,why is there mention of this very long period? Infact, it is not a contradiction. If someone possessesthe essential instructions or upadesha, then it ispossible to attain buddhahood in one lifetime. Andin the absence of the method or instructions ofupadesha, then it will take an extremely longtime. When someone engages in the path and does

not have the special instructionthat we call mahamudra, thenessentially what they are doing istaking inferential valid cognitionas their technique, as the basis oftheir path, which is to say thatthey use logical analysis to ascer-tain or establish the emptiness ofall things. Using logical analysis,you can determine the emptinessof all things as a logical certainty,and it being a logical certainty, youcan thereby have some confidencein that. But the certainty or confi-

dence that is generated in that way is very difficultto apply in actual meditation practice. Therefore,in order to be able to apply that logical certainty tomeditation practice, you need to gather a tremen-dous amount of merit over a very long period oftime. And that is why the path that takes logicalinference as its technique or basis takes so long.

The tradition according to which one canattain the state of Vajradhara in one lifetime isthe tradition that is based upon these practicalor essential instructions. And the essence of allof these instructions is that you do not attemptto use logical analysis to ascertain emptiness byanalyzing external objects or appearances. Youwork with your mind. The reason why you workwith your mind in the tradition of upadesha orspecial instructions is that, while other thingshave to be logically proven to be empty, yourmind is obviously empty. You can experience theemptiness of your own mind at any time. There-fore, because you are working with somethingthat is obviously or manifestly empty, you experi-ence that same emptiness—which is otherwisearrived at through logical analysis—directly

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The intellect is afaculty thatemploysconcepts, so thatwhich is beyondany conceptcannot beappreciated orrecognized by it

from the beginning when you have learned tomeditate. So, therefore, in the tradition of prac-tical or essential instructions, one is takingdirect experience or direct valid cognition as theprimary technique or basis of the path. Becauseof the fact that there is from the beginning ofthis approach a direct experience of the natureof mind, then it is possible to attain fullbuddhahood in one lifetime.

This statement of the possibility of attainingbuddhahood in one lifetime is not simply anexpression or a slogan. Manymahasiddhas have done it. Forexample, in the case of JetsunMilarepa, at one time hisstudents approached him andsaid to him that, since he hadsuch extraordinary diligence,extraordinary insight, uncom-mon austerity and practice,and a result or fruition sur-passed by none, clearly hemust be the emanation orincarnation of a buddha orbodhisattva. And they said,“Please tell us which buddhaor bodhisattva you are theemanation of.” He replied, saying, “The fact thatyou regard me as the emanation of some buddhais evidence that you have great faith in me and agreat misunderstanding of dharma. Becauseimplied by your statement is that an ordinaryperson could not possibly attain what I haveattained, and that the dharma therefore is notthat effective, that it does not really have thatmuch power.” He went on, saying, “I was anordinary person and I attained what I attainedbecause I met a qualified teacher, received histeachings, and practiced them with diligence.”

The text continues, The intellect cannot seethat which is beyond conceptual mind, andyou will never realize that which isuncreated through created dharmas. If youwish to attain or realize that which is be-yond the intellect and is uncreated, thenscrutinize your mind and strip awarenessnaked. [Lines 17-20]

The basic point of this stanza is that youcannot realize the nature of things through anyother method than looking directly at your ownmind and experiencing that nature within yourown mind. You cannot realize the nature ofthings through logical inference or inferentialvalid cognition, because the faculty that is em-ployed in the use of logic is the intellect, and theintellect cannot realize that which cannot beconceptualized. The intellect is a faculty thatemploys concepts, so that which is beyond any

concept cannot be appreciated orrecognized by it. This means thatyou cannot use any kind of conceptor thought about the mind torealize the mind or to realize themind’s nature. And in the sameway, you cannot use conceptualizedvirtues or effortful practice torealize the nature of mind either.That is to say that all of the thingsyou might do that are not restingin your mind’s nature can be ex-tremely helpful and can accumu-late a great deal of virtue, and canbe very beneficial, but nothingother than looking at your mind

can bring the realization of the nature of yourmind. So if you wish to realize the mind’s nature,which is beyond the intellect and is uncreated—and therefore cannot be realized through engagingin elaborate virtuous practices that consist of acreation of virtue—if you wish to realize this, thesingle thing you must do is scrutinize your mind.

“Scrutinize” can be taken in two differentways. We might understand “scrutinize” to meananalyze the mind, but that is not what it meanshere. Analyzing the mind of course is thinkingabout it. It is trying to determine through rea-soning or logic exactly what the mind must belike. So, it is not using direct experience. Whenyou try to think about the mind, the process isendless. There are endless thoughts or conceptsthat can be generated about the mind: “The mindappears to exist because it functions. Logically,anything that functions must be there. The mindgenerates thoughts. We experience thoughts, so

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they must exist too. And we experience kleshas,so they must also exist.” And in that way you endup with an endless procession of things thatappear to exist.

Here “scrutinize” means to look directly atthe mind, to try to experience directly whetherit is something or nothing. If it is something,what is it? What is it like? If it is nothing, whatis that like? Through looking directly at themind you come to have a direct experience of themind that is beyond any concept that you mightgenerate about it, such as its being something,its being nothing, its being something in betweensomething and nothing, its being both somethingand nothing, or its being some-thing altogether different, nei-ther something nor nothing. All ofthese are concepts you can gener-ate about the mind when youthink about it, but what youexperience when you look di-rectly at it is beyond all of that.Through doing that, throughscrutinizing the mind in thatdirect way, in effect you strip themind free of conceptualizationsabout it. And that is called “strip-ping awareness naked.” The kernel or essence ofmind, which is awareness, is revealed when youstop conceptualizing or thinking about what themind is like. If you do that, and if you rest in thatdirect experience of your mind’s nature, then youwill come to realize that meaning which is be-yond the intellect and beyond any attempt tocreate anything.

When you practice in that way, of coursethoughts will continue to arise from time totime. And the thoughts that arise can be eitherfully manifest or coarse thoughts, or the under-current of subtle, almost imperceptible,thoughts. Therefore, the text continues, Allowthe cloudy water of thought to clarify itselfor to clear itself. [Line 21]

When for example, you have a glass of waterwith sediment in it and you leave it undisturbed,the sediment all falls to the bottom and thewater becomes clear, and is no longer cloudy. In

the same way, if you place your mind at rest, theapparently cloudy or obscuring quality ofthought will naturally subside or dissolve, andyour awareness will not be obscured by thoughts.With regard to appearances it says in the text,Do not attempt to stop or create appear-ances. Leave them as they are. [Line 22]

Stop or create means to change in any way, toreject appearances that are unpleasant, or toattempt to increase or develop those that arepleasant. We continue, of course, to experiencevarious appearances, and normally we regardwhat we experience as either pleasant or un-pleasant. But whatever you experience as an

external appearance, which is tosay, what you see or hear and soon, your mind is of greaterimportance in determiningwhether it is pleasant or un-pleasant than the characteris-tics of the apparent thing itself,which means that as long asyour mind is not lost to appear-ances you will not be particu-larly affected by them. Youbecome affected by appearanceswhen your mind is lost to them,

and it was for that reason that Tilopa said, aswas quoted earlier, “Child, it is not by appear-ances that you are fettered, but by craving.Therefore, Naropa, cut through craving.” Essen-tially, as far as practical instruction is concerned,this means, do not conceptualize as good or bador as inherently pleasant or unpleasant what-ever you see, hear, and so forth. And rememberthat the root of pleasure and pain is not externalappearances, but your own mind. And because ofthat the text says, If you are without accep-tance and rejection of external appearances,all that appears and exists will be liberatedas mudra.* [Line 23]

With regard to the instruction here, which isessentially that the mind looks or should look atits own nature, there is something that I need toclarify. If you read the Bodhicharyavatara byShantideva, you will come across the statement,

*Editor’s note: i.e., mahamudra.

Remember thatthe root ofpleasure andpain is notexternalappearances, butyour own mind

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When your mindlooks at itself itdoes not seeanything, but innot seeinganything, it doesexperience itsown nature

“There is no such thing as self-awareness. Themind cannot see or know itself.” He says thisclearly. There is no question about that. Also, ifyou read the Madhyamakavatara by the gloriousChandrakirti, you will find many similar state-ments: There is no self-awareness, the mindcannot see or know itself. I mention this becausesome of you, no doubt, have read these texts andothers of you no doubt will readthese texts in the future. Andwhen you encounter this youmight think, well, Shantidevaand Chandrakirti say that themind cannot know itself, so whatI heard elsewhere must havebeen nonsense, or perhaps Imisunderstood it. Since it is quitepossible that you might find thisconfusing, I had better clear it upnow. The context in which thestatements by Shantideva andChandrakirti were made is in therefutation of the mind as a substantially existentthing. What is being refuted or denied here isthat the mind could, as a substantial thing,experience itself directly as a substantial thing.The mind, of course, does not experience itselfas substance, which means that, when you lookat your mind’s nature, you do not experience anysubstantial characteristic. When you do experi-ence the mind, you are not experiencing whatShantideva and Chandrakirti say you cannotexperience. There is, in fact, no contradictionhere. When you look at thoughts or you look atthe mind itself, what you experience is thenature of those thoughts, the nature of thatmind, which is emptiness. You do not experiencea substantial presence. You experience some-thing that is beyond elaboration, beyond anykind of conceptualization. But because it has thisinnate capacity of cognition, we characterize itas a unity of emptiness and cognitive lucidity. Sothe context in which Tilopa, in the MahamudraUpadesha, states that the mind can know itself,and uses the term self-awareness, and the contextin which Shantideva and Chandrakirti say that themind cannot know itself and thus refute the term

self-awareness, these two contexts are distinctfrom each other. That distinction has to be made.When your mind looks at itself it does not seeanything, but in not seeing anything, it does expe-rience its own nature.

The text continues: The all-basis is unborn,and within that unborn all-basis, abandonor relinquish habits, wrongdoing, and

obscurations. [Line 78]The term “all-basis” is used,

for example, in the Mind Onlytradition to refer to the all-basisconsciousness [Sanskrit: Alaya;Tibetan: kun shi] which is thebasis for all of samsara, for allimpure phenomena. Here it isbeing used in a different way. Itis being used to refer to theground of everything, the natureof everything. And that groundis the absence of true genera-tion; it is the unborn quality,

which is emptiness. And within that recognitionof that nature, all habits, and so on, are ex-hausted or let go of. The text goes on to say,Therefore, do not fixate or reckon. Rest inthe essence of the unborn or in the unbornnature. [Line 79]

Again, if you let go of concepts and experiencethe nature of your mind directly, without fixatingon it conceptually or trying to characterize it, orreckoning it to be one thing or another, you willcome to rest within that nature itself, which ishere called the unborn nature. The text goes on,In that state, appearances are fully apparent;but within that experience of vivid appear-ances allow concepts to be exhausted or todissolve. [Line 80]

This is much the same as what was referredto earlier with regard to allowing appearancesto be just what they are. In other words, whenyou are experiencing these appearances, theywill be extremely vivid, because their vividnessis not being diminished by involvement inconceptualization. Because there is noconceptualization, there is an exhaustion of theprojection that is produced by concepts. In that

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way, experiencing your mind is the root of expe-rience. Then by not conceptualizing the experi-ence you become free from the bond or the fetterthat that conceptualization produces.

Next, Tilopa again summarizes in four linesthe view, meditation, conduct and fruition. Youremember that he did so several verses beforethis. [See lines 74-77] The difference between hisprevious summary and his present one is thathis previous one is essentially a summary of theview, meditation, and so on, as they could beunderstood by a beginning practitioner ofmahamudra. Here he is summarizing these fourfrom the point of view of the culmination of thepath or the fruition. The first is, Completeliberation from all conceptual extremes isthe supreme monarch of views.[Line 81]

In other words, when there is acomplete and full liberation fromconceptualization of anything, orthe nature of mind, that is thesupreme monarch of views. Andthen, Boundless vastness is thesupreme monarch of medita-tions. [Line 82]

In other words, you havemeditation that is free from anylimitation whatsoever under anycircumstances. And then, Beingdirectionless and utterlyimpartial is the suprememonarch of conduct. [Line 83]

And finally, Self-liberation beyond expec-tation or hope is the supreme result or frui-tion. [Line 84]

What is meant by self-liberation beyond hopeor expectation is that the self-liberation consistsof the direct experience or recognition of thesingle nature of all things. Therefore, there is nohope for liberation since it is recognized thatthings are self-liberating.

Next, Tilopa describes the experiences ofpractitioners of the three levels. The three levelsare: when you are starting to practice meditation,when you are trained in meditation practice, andwhen you have realized meditation practice. The

analogies that he gives suit both the practice oftranquillity or shamatha and the practice of in-sight or vipashyana and can also be applied to theintegrated practice of unified shamatha/vipashyana. He says, [For] a beginner, mind islike a river with a fast current runningthrough a narrow bed or a narrow defile. [Line85]

The meaning of this is that when someonestarts to practice meditation, whether it istranquillity or insight, there is not much still-ness in their mind. They have an experience of agreat deal of agitation and a great deal of speed.There might be moments of stillness but theywill probably be followed by an even strongerupsurge of thoughts. This is explained in all

commentaries on meditation asbeing an experience in which thebeginner will think that in factthere are more thoughts arisingin their mind than there werewhen they did not practicemeditation. In fact, what ishappening is that they haveprovided enough space throughthe meditation technique thatthey are actually for the firsttime aware of how manythoughts have been in theirminds all the time. So it is notreally that there are morethoughts, but nevertheless it

will seem to that person as though there are.Next, the text says, In the middle or after that,it becomes like the gentle current of theRiver Ganges. [Line 86]

The River Ganges does not have huge wavesor turbulence, but it does have a current. It ismoving. So when someone has become practicedin meditation they experience their mind as notstill, yet having a more or less constant flow ofthought, but without the turbulence and uncon-trolled speed that they experienced earlier. Andthen finally it says, In the end, it is like theflowing of all rivers into the mother ocean,or it is like the meeting of mother and childof all the rivers. [Line 87]

The beginner willthink that in factthere are morethoughts arisingin their mindthan there werewhen they didnot practicemeditation

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The text givesmethods that canbe used bybeginners whofind that thesimple or baretechnique oflooking directlyat the mind isinsufficient

And this refers to a point in practice where,from the point of view of shamatha, there is suchstillness or tranquillity that the mind has be-come immovable. And from the point of view ofvipashyana, because of the stillness, there is aclarity that is more or less constant because it isnot diminished or obscured by any kind of agita-tion in the mind.

Next the text gives methods that can be usedby beginners who find that the simple or baretechnique of looking directly at the mind isinsufficient. It says in the text, Those of littleintelligence, if they find they cannot remainin that state, may apply or hold the tech-nique of the breathing and emphasize theessence of awareness, and through manytechniques or branches such as gaze andholding the mind, tightenawareness until it stays put.[Lines 32-35]

These various techniques aregiven for the practice ofshamatha, if your mind simplywill not remain at rest withoutsome kind of technique. And theyare given with reference to thepractice of unified shamatha/vipashyana, when you find that,because your mind is not remain-ing at rest, there is too muchfluctuation in the clarity ofinsight, so that you cannot main-tain a steady clarity. It is a com-mon experience for beginners tohave glimpses of the nature oftheir mind through meditation practice, but tofind that these glimpses are immediately fol-lowed by some kind of distraction, at which timethey are lost. In the case of extraordinary teach-ers dealing with extraordinary students, it maybe sufficient for the teacher to simply point outthe nature of the mind directly to the student,and then the student will be able to rest withinthat, and that will bring progress. But often,even though the student may have some kind ofrecognition at the time of the pointing out, it islikely to be so fragile and unstable, and depen-

dent upon the condition of the teacher’s pres-ence in pointing out, and so on, that it is veryhard for them to work with practically, in whichcase it may be necessary to use some kind ofsupportive techniques, such as the ones that aresuggested here. These techniques are generallyused to increase both the tranquillity or stillnessof the mind and also the clarity or lucidity ofinsight.

The first thing mentioned is using the tech-nique of breathing. That can mean several differ-ent things. It can mean following the breath. Itcan mean counting the breath, for example, as istaught in Pointing out the Dharmakaya—count-ing each breath as it passes out of one’s nostrils.And it can mean holding the breath in variousways. One way in which the breath is held or

used is called vajra repetition, inwhich one evens the breath outso that the period of inhalation,a brief period of retention andthe period of exhalation are ofthe same duration. One identi-fies the inhalation with thesound OM, the retention withthe sound AH, and the exhala-tion with the sound HUNG.These can be coordinated in otherways such as HUNG AH OM, andso on. The actual coordinationvaries with each tradition. Orthere can be the more forcefultechnique of the vase breathing, inwhich the air that has been in-haled is forcefully retained below

the navel and so forth.* The function of all of thesetechniques of using the breath is to allow thepractitioner’s mind to come to rest and therebypromote the clarity of insight.

Also mentioned in the same line of the text isa bringing out or exposing of the essence ofawareness. Awareness here refers to the dual

*Editor’s note: This technique should definitely not be usedwithout formal instruction and guidance from a qualifiedlama, who has learned and practiced this or similar tech-niques according to the strict traditions of the lineage.Otherwise there is the danger of damaging one’s health andsanity.

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faculty of mindfulness and alertness, which, aswe saw before in the quote from Dakpo TashiNamgyal, needs to be sharp and clear for themahamudra practitioner. It may be helpful,therefore, to intentionally sharpen your aware-ness for very brief periods of time within alonger meditation session for perhaps a minuteor two, or three, or four. The reason this may behelpful is that if you can cultivatethe faculty of sharp mindfulnessand alertness, then you will befree from distraction, becausewhenever you lose mindfulnessyou immediately become dis-tracted.

Next, the text talks about theuse of gaze and ways of holdingthe mind. These techniques referto remedies for defects that arisein meditation. There are, ofcourse, many defects that canoccur in meditation, and thereare different enumerations ofthem, such as the five defects ofsamadhi, and so on. For the convenience ofpractitioners in recognizing these defects whenthey occur, and applying remedies to them, theycan all be summed up as two, namely torpor andagitation. Torpor is a state of mind in which youfeel sleepy or dull or devoid of mental clarity.Agitation is a state in which your mind is out ofcontrol. Your mind is wild, excited, and all overthe place. You need to prevent these two defects,or remedy them. The first remedy is to use thegaze. When you are afflicted by torpor, then youraise the gaze, you look upward, and you alsoopen your eyes fairly wide. On the other hand,when you are afflicted by agitation you lower thegaze and you keep the eyes half closed.

Another technique for holding the mind isthe use of visualization. If you are afflicted bytorpor you can visualize a drop or sphere ofwhite light and think that this rises up throughyour body to the top of your head, and then holdyour mind to that. And if you are afflicted byagitation or excitement, you can visualize asphere or drop of black light and think that that

descends into your seat or meditation cushionand hold your mind to that.* Other ways ofholding the mind are, for example, when af-flicted by torpor, to recollect the qualities of theBuddha or of bodhisattvas, to recollect thebenefits of mahamudra, and so forth. And whenafflicted by agitation or excitement, to recollectthe defects of samsara, to contemplate imperma-

nence, and so on. All of thesetechniques are applied asneeded at the discretion of thepractitioner, based upon what ishappening in your practice. Andwhat you are doing here is, asthe text says, Exerting tensionor effort until awarenesscomes to rest in that state orin its nature. [Line 35]

What you are doing is usingan intentional effort or con-scious additional exertion ofmindfulness and alertness tobring awareness back into themeditative state.

The next stanza describes another methodthat can be used to enhance the practice ofmahamudra. And this is for someone who has astable practice but is not able to achieve theintense wisdom of mahamudra. The text says, Ifyou rely upon karmamudra, the wisdom ofbliss and emptiness will arise. Enter intounion having consecrated the upaya ormethod and the prajna or knowledge. Slowlylet it fall or send it down, coil it, turn it back,

It may be helpfulto intentionallysharpen yourawareness forvery brief periodsof time withina longermeditationsession

*Editor’s note: cf. Shenpen Ösel, Vol. 1, No. 2, pages 19-20:“. . . when you are experiencing torpor, you can visualize in yourheart, which is to say in your body at the level of the heart, awhite, four-petalled lotus, which is very, very bright andbrilliant; and in the center of this lotus is a tiny white sphereof light. And then, having visualized that, you think that thesphere of light comes up through the center of your body andshoots out the top of your head. That visualization is veryhelpful for dispelling torpor. . . . in [the case of agitation] youvisualize that this four petalled lotus in your heart is jet blackin color, and the little sphere of light in its center is also black.And this time, instead of going up, you think that it, the littlesphere of light, drops down from the lotus, goes straight downthe middle of your body, out of the bottom, and keeps goingdown, into the ground; and that will help very much to calmyou down.”

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and lead it to its proper place. Finallyspread it or cause it to pervade your wholebody. If there is no attachment or craving,the wisdom of bliss and emptiness will ap-pear. [Lines 109-113]

This is a supplementary technique that isused in order to enhance or intensify the wisdomof mahamudra. This technique, which is calledkarmamudra or the action seal, has two styles orvarieties of practice. And they are called theupper door or upper gate and the lower door orlower gate. The lower door or lower gate is verydangerous, so very few peopleactually practice this. There area few great yogis and yoginiswho do it, but most do not.*What is more commonly prac-ticed in this connection is theupper gate or upper door styleof karmamudra practice, whichis the practice of chandali[Sanskrit] or tummo [Tibetan]as found for example in the SixDharmas of Naropa. Essentially,what this technique involves is using the preex-isting channels, winds, and drops within yourphysical body to produce or to allow to arise thewisdom of bliss and emptiness. The specialbenefit of this is that in the fundamental orcentral mahamudra practice, the wisdom ofmahamudra is the unity of cognitive lucidity andemptiness. Here that same wisdom arises, be-cause of the difference in technique, in a slightlydifferent way. Instead of being primarily lucidityand emptiness, it is primarily bliss and empti-ness, because of the physical technique. Essen-tially what occurs is that physical bliss arises inyour body, and then, looking at the nature ofthat, which is emptiness, you experience orrealize the unity of bliss and emptiness. In moredetail, through the correct application of thepreexisting channels, winds, and drops withinyour physical body, you generate a special typeof warmth or heat. And that warmth or heatproduces a sensation and an affect of bliss. This

bliss becomes the environment or basis for therealization or experience of emptiness. Thetechnique involves visualizations such as ofbodhicitta dripping down from the HAM syllablevisualized in the top of the head and thechandali blazing up from the AH stroke visual-ized below the navel. That is what is describedin the text when it says bring it down, coil it,stop it, send it back up, and so on. The details ofall of this, how to actually do it, are normallytaught in long retreat sessions like the three-year retreat, and so on.** What is of utmost

importance in either form ofkarmamudra—either the uppergate, or the lower gate version ofthis practice—is that there be nocraving for the bliss, that there beno attachment to it. The purpose,of course, is to use the bliss as abasis for the realization of empti-ness. So if there is no attachmentto the bliss, then you will see theemptiness of it, and as the textsays, the wisdom of bliss and

emptiness will arise.The next stanza describes the results or

benefits of this practice of mahamudra. Theactual words in which they are described arefairly clear, but you need to understand thatthere is often a hidden meaning in the presenta-tions of secret mantra, including this one. Thereis a literal meaning and also a hidden meaning.The text says, You will possess longevity with-out white hair and you will be as healthy asthe waxing moon. Your complexion will belustrous and you will be as powerful as alion. You will quickly attain the commonsiddhis or attainments, and you will come toalight in or attain the supreme siddhi aswell. [Lines 114-116]

The literal meaning of this is that throughthe realization of mahamudra your channels andwinds become straightened out or corrected, andas a result, you become healthy, so that you will

**Editor’s note: As with vase breathing, this practice shouldnot be attempted without the instruction and guidance of aqualified lama.

What is of utmostimportance ineither form ofkarmamudra . . .is that there beno craving forthe bliss

*Editor’s note: Karmamudra using the lower gate refers tothe actual use of sexual union as a path to enlightenment.

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have a long life without white hair and all thoseother things that were mentioned. The hiddenmeaning is that when it talks about unchanginglongevity that is free of the signs of aging, suchas white hair, it refers to the unchanging realiza-tion of Vajradhara. When it talks about being ashealthy as the waxing moon, that refers to thefully expanded wisdom of mahamudra. Wisdomin this case is prajna, which can be the knowl-edge or insight coming from hearing, contem-plating, or meditating. Here it refers to thewisdom that comes from meditating, specificallythe realization of the true nature throughmahamudra practice. Your wisdom will be stableand luminous. And when it says you will be aspowerful as a lion, it means that you will possessthe uncommon qualities of buddha, which are theten powers, the four-fold fearlessness and so on.*

The last two lines of the text itself are anaspiration. This is the aspiration that is the

intention or wish with which Tilopa accompanieshis instruction. And he says, These instructionsof the essential point of mahamudra, maythey abide in the hearts of worthy or fortu-nate beings. [Line 117]

In other words, his aspiration is that theseinstructions reach and actually be imbibed andunderstood by those who are going to practicethem. And when he says these instructions,which are the essential point of mahamudra, hemeans that what he has presented here is theessential central point or central essence andtechnique of all mahamudra practice. Followingthat there is the colophon, which says, This wasbestowed on the banks of the River Ganges bythe Great and Glorious Siddha Tilopa, whohad realized mahamudra, upon theKashmiri pandit who was both learned andrealized, Naropa, after Naropa had engagedin twelve hardships or austerities.

*Editor’s note: The ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, theeighteen distinctive qualities, etc. of a perfect being arediscussed in The Changeless Nature, the Mahayana UttaraTantra Sastra, by Arya Maitreya and Acarya Asanga, in thechapter entitled, “Sixth Vajra Point—The Qualities ofBuddhahood.” The ten powers of perfect knowledge are 1)perfect knowledge of the appropriate and the inappropriate,referring to an appropriate result corresponding to the natureof an action, and an inappropriate result lacking such corre-spondence; 2) perfect knowledge of the full maturation ofactions; 3) perfect knowledge of the various sorts of faculties ofbeings; 4) perfect knowledge of their different temperaments;5) perfect knowledge of their wishes; 6) perfect knowledge ofthe paths which lead everywhere; 7) perfect knowledge ofmeditative stability, etc.—that which is unstained by thenegative affects; 8) perfect knowledge of remembrance offormer states; 9) perfect knowledge of divine vision; and 10)perfect knowledge of peace—the way to exhaust impurity.These ten powers are said to be like a vajra because theypenetrate ignorance’s armor, shatter its walls, and hew downits tree.

Because, when enlightenment is reached, everything to bepurified has been purified and everything to be realized isrealized, buddhas are endowed with four fearlessnesses: 1)fearlessness in knowledge of their perfect enlightenment withrespect to every phenomenal domain; 2) fearlessness inteaching the obstacles and how to stop them; 3) fearlessnessin teaching the path; and 4) fearlessness in stating theirachievement of cessation of suffering.

Buddhas can truthfully tell others of their own realizationand in so doing are completely unhindered, 1) because theythemselves know and help others know every aspect of theknowable; 2) because they themselves have relinquished andhelp others relinquish those things which must be relin-quished; 3) because they teach and make taught what ought to

be taught; 4) because they have attained and help othersattain the utterly stainless highest attainment. In thisregard, “what is to be known” is the truth of suffering; “what isto be given up,” karma and the kleshas, is the truth of theorigin of suffering; “what is to be relied upon,” what ought tobe taught, is the truth of the path; and “the goal to beachieved” is the truth of cessation.

The eighteen distinctive qualities of buddhas are that 1)buddhas make no mistakes, 2) they do not chatter noisily, 3)their mindfulness is never at fault, 4) their mind is never not-resting in meditation, and 5) they do not harbor ideas andthoughts of various kinds; 6) their impartiality is neversomething undeliberate; 7) their mighty aspiration to helpbeings is never subject to degradation, 8) nor is their diligence,9) their memory, 10) their perfectly pure and immaculateprajna, 11) their constant perfect liberation, or 12) theirperception through the jnana [primorial awareness] of perfectliberation, which sees all aspects of the knowable; 13) theactions of their perfect bodies are preceded by jnana, 14) asare the actions of their pure speech, and 15) their noble mind;16) their jnana is unobscured with respect to the past, 17) thepresent, and 18) the future.

Since buddhahood is jnana or primordial awareness, thenbuddha activity is the spontaneous activity of jnana and isalways preceded and accompanied by jnana. Therefore, allthree activities—body, speech, and mind—are preceded by andaccompanied by primordial awareness. The perfect knowledgeof buddhas constantly and extensively penetrates the threetimes without hindrance. These eighteen powers having beenrealized, those victors, the buddhas, endowed withcompassion’s magnificence, accomplish a perfect and fearlessturning of the great wheel of the true dharma for beings. —Adapted from The Changeless Nature, by Arya Maitreya andAcarya Asanga, published in Scotland by Karma DrubgyudDarjay Ling (Karma Kagyu Trust).

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That completes the twenty-nine stanzas ofthe vajra words of mahamudra spoken by Tilopa.Tilopa taught this to Naropa after the last ofNaropa’s twelve greater hardships. Naropaunderwent what are called thetwelve minor austerities whilelooking for Tilopa, and then,after he found him, underwenttwelve even greater hardships orausterities. After the last ofthese, Tilopa gave him thisinstruction.

And then finally, the state-ment of the derivation of the Tibetan text is asfollows, This was translated and writtendown at Pullahari in the north by the greatNaropa and the great Tibetan translator, theking among translators, Marpa ChokyiLodro.

We are finished now. If you want to ask anyquestions, please go ahead.

Question: While Rinpoche was discussingkarmamudra, I found myself thinking about anaspiration to offer bliss as mandala and wonderingif it is grasping to wish to have something that youin turn wish to offer up for the benefit of others.That is the first question. And the other was, whileRinpoche was talking about karmamudra, I foundmyself remembering a yidam from Shingonvajrayana, Japanese vajrayana, and that is izenyoho raga raja vidi raja and I was wondering ifRinpoche is familiar with the Tibetan equivalent ofthe raga raja vidi raja, and if you could say any-thing about this yidam.

Rinpoche: With respect to your first question,normally the things we offer are things that arein the external world, that are of a perceptioncommon to different individuals. You will offerthings like all of the beautiful flowers there arein the world, all the valleys full of medicinalherbs, all of the inspiring or uplifting mountainsthere are in the world, and so on. That is a morenormal or standard type of offering that wouldbe included within a mandala. But one would notparticularly offer one’s own sensations, pleasant

or otherwise.With regard to the deity of Shingon Bud-

dhism that you mentioned, I have a great deal ofrespect for the Japanese vajrayana tradition and

am confident that the sadhanas,fire pujas and other practicesthat they do are complete andauthentic, but I do not knowanything in detail about thespecific deities for the simplereason that I neither speak norread Japanese. Therefore, I havebeen unable to really learn

anything precise about the vajrayana traditionsof Japan, and therefore I have to apologize; Icannot really comment on this particular deity.

Question: I have a lot of difficulty with under-standing how to look at the nature of mind.When there is instruction in the text on lookingat external appearances without altering them,without projection, is that the same techniquethat one uses when one looks at one’s mind, andif not, what are the actual mechanics of how tolook at the nature of your mind?

Rinpoche: These two techniques are slightlydifferent. The difference between looking di-rectly at appearances and looking directly at thenature of the mind is that, because we have abeginningless habit of samsara, we experienceexternal appearances as substantial, and we willcontinue to experience them as though they hadsubstantial existence until there is some ex-traordinary level of realization. It is very diffi-cult to work with external appearances in medi-tation in the beginning, because they seem sosolid, and therefore it is recommended in thistradition to just leave them alone, since they arenot the problem. They do not particularly posemuch harm or help. Your mind, on the otherhand, is manifestly insubstantial, and you canexperience this by looking for substantialitywithin it. If you find it difficult to look directlyat the mind and perceive its insubstantiality,then you can select various substantial charac-teristics and look for them in turn. For example,

Tilopa taught thisto Naropa afterthe last ofNaropa’s twelvegreater hardships

60 SHENPEN ÖSEL

you can look for a color, look for a location, lookfor a shape, look for a size, and so on. And if youtake it step by step like that, sooner or later youwill definitely come to experience directly themind’s insubstantial nature.

Question: Rinpoche, I have two questions, if Imay. The first is about kindness and how kind-ness seems to arise from space. Through yourgreat blessings and not my merit particularly, Ihave some experience and understanding ofresting in clarity. I am wonderinghow it is that when one reallydoes rest the mind and allow thatexperience of the insubstantiality,the vastness [to arise], that fromthat arises a feeling of rawnessand tenderness and a longing tobe more kind to others?

Rinpoche: This sounds good. Inthe Third Karmapa’s Aspirationof Mahamudra he says thatbeings in their nature are alwaysbuddha, but through not realizingthis they wander in samsara. Thistype of understanding is some-thing that you naturally arrive atthrough experiencing your mind’snature. When you experience tosome extent your mind’s nature,then right away you experiencethe benefit within yourself. And you also realizeat that time that anyone could do this, anyonecould have this same experience, this samerealization, and derive the same benefit, becauseall beings have the same nature of the mind.Since all beings could experience this samerealization and benefit—as they all possessbuddha nature—and yet do not experience it,and in not doing so, suffer tremendously, you arenaturally touched or inspired to be compassion-ate. This seems to always go along withmahamudra experience.

Question: Rinpoche, this is a favor, if I may ask.Many of your students, our hearts are so full of

appreciation and love for you, we feel so fortu-nate that you have given us these teachings, andI am wondering if you would allow us to expressthis in whatever limited way we can? Could wesay your long life prayer after the teachings?

Rinpoche: Certainly.

Question: Rinpoche, this morning, according tomy recollection, you said that Marpa said thatthe two most important aspects were mixing and

transference, and I was wonder-ing if you would say a few wordsabout transference.

Rinpoche: Really what I shouldbe talking about, if we have timeto talk about things that are offthe topic, and this is still asmuch off the topic as it was thismorning, is the eightconsciousnesses, because Iwould like to explain them insome detail, as I think it ishelpful to understand them inorder to practice mahamudra.But I have not had time toexplain the eightconsciousnesses because wehave only had five sessions to gothrough this text. So if I do nothave time to explain the eight

consciousnesses,* which is less off the topic thantransference is, I am not going to explain trans-ference, which is completely off the topic. If Iwere to explain in detail the meaning of everyword or reference that we encounter in anexplanation like this, it would be endless, andwe just do not have time for that. Transferenceitself is very good to practice. If you practice itand you become trained in it, that is beneficial.Simply knowing about it or hearing an explana-tion of it is not beneficial. I excused myself fromexplaining it this morning, and once again I

If you find itdifficult to lookdirectly at themind andperceive itsinsubstantiality,then you canselect varioussubstantialcharacteristicsand look forthem in turn

*Editor’s note: For a treatment of the eight consciousnesses,see Shenpen Ösel Vol. 1, No. 2, pages 16-18.

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excuse myself from explaining it this afternoon.

Question: Rinpoche, I wanted to ask aboutrelaxing the mind, when you are looking at themind. What is it exactly that relaxes, and isrelaxing the mind somehow connected withmerit and having merit to do that.

Rinpoche: The opposite of the type of relax-ation that is being suggested here is a type oftension that is based upon fear, such as thethought, “I can’t think, I musn’t think, I will notthink, oh I thought, oh I stopped that thought, Idid not stop that one, it slippedby,” and so on. That type ofattitude toward meditationturns the whole thing into afight. What is meant by relax-ation is an attitude towardmeditation, and therefore aconduct of meditation, where,when thoughts arise, you just letthem arise, and you look at them directly. Itmeans less effort and also a different kind ofattitude or environment for the practice. As forthe relationship between the ability to relax inmeditation and the accumulation of merit, theaccumulation of merit is helpful in any aspect ofmeditation. It is always helpful, and that is whyit is recommended that people have completedthe preliminary practices before receiving theinstructions on mahamudra. By doing the pros-trations you have increased your faith anddevotion, which enhances your commitment andinvolvement with the practice. By doing theVajrasattva practice, you have removed some ofthe tendencies that would cause uncontrolledthoughts to afflict you in practice. By performingthe mandala offering, you have gathered accu-mulations that make it more possible or work-able for you to do the practice of mahamudra,and by practicing guru yoga you have receivedthe guru’s blessing, which brings experience andrealization. All of these practices, which lead tothe accumulations of merit and wisdom, arehelpful in many ways in the practice ofmahamudra. However, you should not mistake

These words ofthe MahasiddhaTilopa are utterlyreliable and freeof error

these words to mean that someone who has notcompleted these practices cannot do mahamudrapractice. They can. It is just that these practicesare very helpful.

You have all come here out of a great interestin the dharma in general and especially out ofdevotion for the profound dharma ofmahamudra. With that as your motivation, youhave come here and listened to this explanationand asked questions about what was unclear toyou, and all of this is delightful to me. I feel veryfortunate to have had the opportunity to takepart in this, because, whereas I myself have no

real ability to benefit you undermy own power, nevertheless,these words of the MahasiddhaTilopa are utterly reliable andfree of error. So I am certainthere is great benefit in this,especially since you are commit-ted practitioners of meditationwho have undertaken this prac-

tice and are attempting to bring it to its fruition.So I delight in what we have done here and haveenjoyed it very much, and I thank you all formaking it possible.

Now I would like to talk briefly about aproject of my own. But when I say my own,

I do not mean something that is particularly onlyfor my own benefit. I have created a foundationhere that is called the Vajra Vidya Institute, thepurpose of which is to help ensure that theseteachings of the vajrayana remain undiminished,and if possible increase and flourish into futuregenerations. The basic purpose of the foundationis to help the continuance of dharma. As every-one knows, Tibetan Buddhism in particular hasbeen very much harmed by political events ofthis century. Given that that is the case, we haveto put extra effort into ensuring that our tradi-tion, and especially the uncommon instructionsof the vajrayana and the texts that contain themand the facilities for studying and practicingthem, be preserved and maintained undimin-ished. So, in order to help facilitate all of that, Ihave founded the Vajra Vidya Institute.

62 SHENPEN ÖSEL

In Tibet, women have had far less opportu-nity to practice intensively than men have had.There have always been fewer monasteries forwomen than for monks. And even in the caseswhere there were monasteries for nuns, theamount and quality of training and educationoffered in them was generally less intense and ofa lower quality than what was available to themonks. In order to help remedy this situation, Ihave created the Tara Abbey for women. My aimin creating this is that there be an institution inwhich women have systematic access to a fullcourse of study and practice in our tradition.John Fox knows more of the details of the VajraVidya Foundation. So if you are interested inhelping, you would be better off asking him. Anyhelp whatsoever that any of you can give would

be very much appreciated. [See page 63 fordetails.]

Now I would like to dedicate the merit ofthese teachings and make aspirations, whichmeans that we are dedicating the virtue that Ihave accumulated by teaching and that you haveaccumulated by listening to the dharma to theliberation and the realization of mahamudra ofall beings. And also, we are dedicating all of thismerit so that this world may be free from war-fare, sickness, and famine until all beings areliberated, and then also to the long life of all theholders of the teachings, and in particular forHis Holiness, the Gyalwa Karmapa, and sinceyou asked, you can also chant my long life suppli-cation as well. And so let us do that.

SHENPEN ÖSEL 63

Thrangu Rinpoche’s Vajra Vidya projectsinclude the following:

Primary and Secondary Boarding SchoolNear Boudhanath in Nepal, the Vajra

Vidya Foundation provides a primary andsecondary boarding school offering seculareducation for Tibetan and Himalayan chil-dren. Many of these children’s parents areable to pay their fees, but quite a numbercannot. The school also educates a number oforphans who require sponsorship. Funds areurgently needed for such basics as desks,writing materials, books, toilets, improvementof the water supply, and additional dormito-ries. Without the basic education that thisschool provides, it will be impossible forchildren of this region to lift themselves out ofpoverty, or to pursue the full Buddhist path.

Tara AbbeyTara Abbey for nuns near Kathmandu

consists of a building that has ten sleepingrooms, a kitchen, and a dining room whichdoubles as the shrine room for the nuns’Tibetan Buddhist practices. In 1995, when thenuns first moved into this monastery, theynumbered thirty-eight; now there are sixty-nine, with more wishing to join every year.The women of this region have an intenseinterest in studying and practicing Buddhism.They sleep six to eight in a room, and becauseof lack of space, they often eat their meals onthe balconies,which is difficult in the winter.

The nuns have basic living needs, such asfood, clothing, medicine, books, and all typesof basic furnishings. Teachers need to be hiredfor basic education, and Tibetan Buddhiststudies, to which women historically have hadlittle access. Also, a number of nuns are nowprepared to pursue a higher education in

Tibetan Buddhism. For this they need fundsto attend the Institute for Higher BuddhistStudies in Sarnath, India, or other like insti-tutions. It is expected that many of thesewomen will become khenpos and lamas,teaching in Buddhist centers throughout theworld.

Namo Buddha Monastery and CollegeLocated two-and-a-half hours from

Kathmandu, the Namo Buddha Monasteryand Monastic College offers a ten-year pro-gram of studies and meditation retreats,which trains monks to become skilled teach-ers of Tibetan Buddhism. They will pass onthis religious tradition to less experiencedmonks and nuns in various monasteries inthe Nepal/India region. This facility requiresfunds to support the monks’ daily needs, suchas medicine, food, clothing, bedding, andbooks. There are also the costs of the monkinstructors, the khenpos in residence, andthe costs of visiting teachers.

Medical Clinic and DispensaryThe Vajra Vidya Foundation supports a

clinic that is completely reliant on donations.Free medical care is given to the local people,most of whom are extremely poor, as they liveonly on what they can cultivate on their smallholdings of land. This clinic has helped thou-sands of people since it was founded threeyears ago. In consultation with the clinicdoctor, the Vajra Vidya Foundation seeks toimprove medical care by upgrading the medi-cine and medical equipment at its disposal.

For more information on Vajra Vidya, con-tact John Fox at the Vajra Vidya Founda-

tion, 6171 Riverdale Drive, Richmond, BC,Canada, V7C 2E7. Phone: 614-275-8277.

Thrangu Rinpoche’s Vajra Vidya Institute

To Ensure That the Vajranana Teachings Endure

64 SHENPEN ÖSEL

The following transcript is froma question-and-answer periodafter a talk that Lama TashiNamgyal gave at KSOC in thefall of 1996.

Student: I’d like some adviceabout defeating slothfulness andachieving persistent exertion.

Lama: The classic answer tothat question is the fourthoughts that turn the mind todharma. Maybe we can talkabout this next time. I’ll give itto you briefly this time, and I’llgive you more detail later, because you shouldunderstand this very deeply, and you shouldhear it over and over again.

The first thought that turns the mind todharma is meditation on precious human

birth. This particular situation you’re in—youjust don’t know how rare it is. You think it’s verycute; you get on the bus or get in the car and youcome over to the local lama and sit in his livingroom and talk about the dharma and laugh and itseems like any other PTA or glee club that youever went to, right? It seems like any other kindof social organization. But actually this situationis extraordinarily rare. In fact, until the late1960s it did not exist in America. There was notthis kind of intelligence operating in America.And if you go back through American history itwasn’t operating then either. And if you go backthrough European history, it wasn’t operatingthen either. In fact, this situation is extraordi-narily rare because—according to the way it’spresented in the buddhadharma—given theperiodic formation and dissolution of the uni-

verses, it’s very, very difficultfor a fully enlightened buddhato appear. And when they doappear, they don’t alwaysteach the dharma. And whenthey do teach the dharma, itdoesn’t always survive. Andwhen the dharma survives, itdoesn’t always come withunbroken lineages of enlight-ened teachers who have per-petuated this dharma andcontinued to realize thedharma in their own mentalcontinuums—who have real-ized enlightenment. And these

centers where you can learn the dharma don’talways exist. Some generous person has pro-vided this facility, and some generous person hasbought all of these things. So these five condi-tions that come about as a consequence of others,which create the situation in which dharmateaching occurs, have not always existed.

According to the Buddhist tradition, the timeperiod in which we live lies within a particularkalpa. A kalpa is a huge number of years; I oncesaw it estimated at about 435 million years. Inthis particular kalpa one thousand fully enlight-ened buddhas will appear. And when we say athousand buddhas, it means that one buddha willappear and teach, and then those teachings willendure for many hundreds or thousands of yearsuntil that lineage of enlightenment is broken,until it exhausts itself. At that point there willno longer be any enlightened beings in thisworld system, and the dharma dies out. There’sno dharma, no buddha, no enlightened tradition.Then at some point another buddha appears,gets enlightened, and turns the wheel of dharmaagain. And then there’s another period of time in

On Achieving Exertion on the Path

Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma

LLLLLama Tama Tama Tama Tama Tashi Namgyalashi Namgyalashi Namgyalashi Namgyalashi Namgyal

SHENPEN ÖSEL 65

which there are enlightened teachings, andpeople can then attain enlightenment, and soforth. A thousand of these fully enlightenedbuddhas will appear in this particular kalpa,according to the Buddhist tradition.

According to Kalu Rinpoche, after this par-ticular kalpa there will be twenty kalpas inwhich no buddha will ever appear. It will be“clan of the cave bear;” there will be no effectiveexpression of loving kindness and compassion,just a very primitive existence. Then there willappear another kalpa of a thou-sand buddhas. Then there will besomething like eighty kalpaswhen no buddha will appear inthis particular world system.There are billions of world sys-tems going on, but the situationis pretty bleak.

And so the actual coincidenceof being born in a time in which abuddha actually did appear andteach, and further that thoseteachings still exist to this day,that there are enlightened teach-ers like the ones on the wall herewho are still manifesting, stillteaching this dharma—who havethe ability to point out the natureof your mind, and so forth, whenyou’re ready for that—and finallythat we have the conditionswhich enable us to practicedharma, the fact that all of thishappens is extraordinarily rare.Somehow we don’t understandthat, or we don’t really believe it.

And even further to that, coming from yourown side, there’s the fact that you were born atthis time as a human being in a country to whichthe dharma, during your lifetime, has spread,and that none of your sense faculties are soimpaired that you cannot study and practicedharma. It is easy for you to hear the dharma,and it is easy for you to read the dharma. Andthere’s the fact that you’re not engaged in a wayof life that’s totally destructive of positive val-

ues, which would make it difficult for you tostudy dharma, and the fact that when you meetthe dharma you actually like it. Most people arebored when they hear the dharma; they don’tlike it and so avoid it. That’s why we have twelvepeople in this room now rather than six or sevenhundred. If I were Madonna you could be surethat we’d have to wall off all of Wallingfordbecause that’s what more people are interestedin. So you see how rare it is that someone wouldbe interested.

All of this is very, very im-portant to understand. Under-stand that you’re not a hellbeing, you’re not a hungry ghost,you’re not an animal, all ofwhich vastly outnumber humanbeings. Among human beings,the people who have precioushuman birth—all human beingshave human birth—are thosepeople who have actually comein contact with the dharma andactually like the dharma andactually persevere in studyingand practicing dharma.

So you have to think aboutthis and think about it and thinkabout it and read about it andthink about it. Because other-wise you’re going to waste yourlife. And that’s a tremendousshame because when this oppor-tunity is lost—and it will be lostif you don’t make good use ofit—it won’t come back again for

as long as we can imagine. Who knows when itwill ever come again? Which means that youcould go through a seemingly endless period ofabject misery.

So contemplating your precious human birthis the first thought that turns the mind to

dharma. The next one is death and imperma-nence—the fact that this birth is here today andgone tomorrow. If you don’t think carefully aboutthis, you’re going to be on the brink of death

The people whohave precioushuman birth arethose peoplewho haveactually come incontact with thedharma andactually like thedharma andactuallypersevere instudying andpracticingdharma

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before you realize it. If I live as long as my par-ents, I have less than ten years left. Maybe Iwon’t even live that long. But it seems like justyesterday that I was a sixteen-year-old kid. Thislife goes so fast, and it can be lost so easily. Andwhen it’s lost, you no longer have this precioushuman birth, and who knows what kind of oppor-tunity for birth you will get next.

Then there’s the meditation on the law ofkarma, the law of cause and effect. Because

most of us have vaguely middle-class back-grounds, we tend to have the feeling thateverything’s going to be all right. That we can dowhat we want to do and basically it’s going to beall right. This is because we’ve gotten away withso much. When we werenaughty our parents mighthave gotten a little upset withus, but then they loved usagain. Even though we hear ofthe notion of karma, we don’treally believe it. Even to thisday I almost don’t believe it.Even to this day I have a ten-dency to think that I can getaway with almost anything,because, look at me, I’m sitting pretty. I’ve doneall sorts of things, and here I am. I have thisnotion that I’m going to get away with every-thing.

But we do not get away with anything. Every-thing is absolutely cause and effect. So therefore,if you engage in virtuous action, you’re going tohave a positive effect, you’re going to have happi-ness. And if you engage in negative actions,you’re decidedly and definitely going to havenegative reactions, you’re going to have suffer-ing. The suffering that we have in this life comesabout by and large because of our negativity inprevious lives, and the happiness and goodfortune that we have in this life—for instance inthis dharmic situation—represents a tremen-dous accumulation of very positive action in ourprevious lives.

But we must continue to apply ourselves topositive actions, or we can have no certainty of

ever meeting such favorable circumstancesagain; and we must be absolutely clear in ourminds that we’re not going to get away with anyof our negative actions. We are going to pay forevery one of them. When we practice vajrayanawe think, “Oh, that’s okay, if I do wrong then Ican say OM VAJRASATTVA HUNG and I can dothe long Dorje Sempa mantra and I can do pros-trations and everything.” Well yes, but that’s liketrying to drive up a mountain covered with axlegrease. You just spin your wheels and don’t getanywhere. You go a little bit and then you dosomething negative, and then you go backwards;and then you purify that, and then you again gobackwards, and so on. You must absolutelyrecognize the law of cause and effect; it’s very

important.If you spend your time sleep-

ing in bed in the morning whenyou could be getting up practicingdharma, well, that’s what animalsdo. Animals sleep and then theywake up and run around and wagtheir tails until they get some-thing to eat. And then they eat andas soon as is feasibly possible theygo back to sleep. If we spend all of

our time in bed not doing anything—who’s to saywe’re not going to end up as animals? Of coursewe have to earn a living, so you have to get upand go to school and teach and, so forth, which isvirtuous action. I’m not saying that you’re notengaged in virtuous action, but you have torecognize the entire situation.

When we have this opportunity to practicedharma and we don’t, then we’re throwing ourlife away—because we have this opportunity togenuinely create the causes for attaining happi-ness in the short run, and for complete liberationin the long run. Understanding how things workthrough the law of karma is very important, butwhat we must do once we really gain that under-standing is three things: We have to give up evildeeds, engage in positive deeds, and train themind. Those three things. Train the mind toperfection, train the mind to understand its owntrue nature—in order to be able to establish all

We do not getaway withanything.Everything isabsolutely causeand effect

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sentient beings in buddhahood. You don’t needanything beyond that. That’s the whole story. Wehave the teachings at hand, we have the oppor-tunities at hand. If we don’t do it, what a shame.

So one should think about that. And thenfinally, one should think about the vicious

state of samsara. We don’t like to hear thesethings—it sounds too raw. So sometimes we saythe “unsatisfactory” nature of samsara, since westill harbor the notion that we’re going to gethappiness in this life. But whatdo we have? We have abjectsuffering interspersed withmoments of happiness, which,because of their transitory,ephemeral nature, are reallyjust suffering. If one happensto be doing very well in thislife, those moments of happi-ness may seem quite long. Thisis the plight of those who livegod-like existences. But whenone awakens from one’s dream-like absorption in the god’srealm, it doesn’t matterwhether it lasted fifty years, amillion years, a few minutes, ora few seconds. When it’s overit’s over. And one finds oneselfwandering lonely againthrough painful foreign lands.

We’ve forgotten our gestation in the womband birth, but it is taught to be fraught withsuffering. In the West we have the notion thatreturning to the womb would be an ideal way offinding happiness, but if you read Buddhistbooks, life in the womb is painful and cramped.It is taught that when your mother eats toomuch, you feel like you’re being crushed byrocks; when she doesn’t eat enough, you feel likeyou’re suspended in space; when she eats some-thing too hot, you feel scalded; when she eatssomething too cold, you freeze; when she has toomuch intercourse, it’s like you’re being whippedwith thorny branches. This experience may varyaccording to one’s karma, but if there is any

truth in this, who wants to go through thatagain? And then birth?

And then you get a brief honeymoon, which isyouth. Of course we spend our entire youthbeing fraught with identity crises, with “who amI and how am I going to make it in this worldand what kind of job will I have? Will anybodylove me?” etc. Youth has all of that kind of anxi-ety.

Then you have the aging process, which is nofun I can tell you. I’ve reached that part. It’s no

fun—your body begins to deterio-rate, that’s just the way it is. Andthat aging process brings sicknessand death, which is no fun. Whenwe’re young and we don’t have toomuch bodily discomfort we think,“Well, that’ll be all right, that’s justthe way it is. I’ll grow old withdignity, I’ll grow old gracefully.”But actually, when it comes, it’spainful. Death is painful. Old ageis painful. Sickness is painful. Ofcourse we have lots of drugs todrug ourselves with, but thesedrugs make us a little stupid.

So the situation is dire, eventhe human state, which from theBuddhist point of view we regardas the best place to be in order topractice dharma, the best place,

because we’re not so caught up in suffering thatwe’re incapacitated. We have the capacity andincentive to practice, because we have somesuffering, but not so much suffering that we can’tpractice, And we have intelligence and thenatural desire to want to improve ourselves. It’san ideal situation.

But the lower realms get worse and worse asone goes down. Of course as modern, sophisti-cated, educated people, we don’t believe in hellany longer—that’s some sort of Dark Age notionthat went along with primitive religions—nailhim up on a cross and then pray to him and thenyou get to go to heaven, you won’t have to go tohell. And if you don’t pray to him you’re going togo to hell. Most “sophisticated” people have

What do wehave? We haveabject sufferinginterspersed withmoments ofhappiness,which, becauseof their transitory,ephemeralnature, are reallyjust suffering

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rejected all of that. But the fact of the matter isthat hellish states do exist, according to Bud-dhism. They all exist. All of that stuff you read inDante exists—those people being boiled incaldrons of oil and people being sawed up . . . doyou remember Vlad the Impaler? Do you remem-ber Franz Kafka? He wrote about a man having alittle black design on his back, and this buzz-sawis cutting him up into pieces along the lines ofthe design. In hell realms peopleare getting cut up and the instantthat they’re cut up and die inhorrible pain they’re alive againand they’re being cut up again.According to the Buddhist tradi-tion these states go on for mil-lions of years. And we don’tbelieve it because we’re afraid,we don’t want to believe it. Butthese hellish states do exist. Justlook around the world and ex-trapolate; since everything ismind, anything that you can thinkof can happen, and somewhere probably is hap-pening. I’m not saying that that’s where you’relikely to end up, because I’m sure that peoplewho end up in those kinds of places are peoplewho are vicious and so forth. But there aredefinitely all kinds of lower realms.

There’s the animal realm, and there’s thehungry ghost realm. Being a hungry ghost iswhen you want, want, want. You want to be lovedand you want this and you want that, so youkeep taking and taking and you never giveanything back. And you take when you shouldn’ttake and pretty soon people don’t even want tosee you. What happens is that pretty soon theydon’t see you. You become invisible. Hungry andthirsty and invisible. And then you become ademon if you’re angry about it, or you become amiserable, puny, hungry ghost if you’re justforlorn and have no self-esteem and are filledwith “Nobody loves me, boo-hoo”—like a wall-flower. All of these states exist, but it’s verydifficult to believe that they exist. When I firstread these teachings I thought, “this isn’t spiri-tual.” I was looking for something about cosmic

consciousness and all the goodies and greatpowers I was going to get when I became spiritu-ally awake. But when Buddhists start talkingabout dharma to people in the East, they starttalking right at this level. We just went througha retreat with Bokar Rinpoche and he talked forten days about this. We sat there with him in theshrine room from six in the morning until eightat night and he talked about these four thoughts

that turn the mind to dharmaover and over again, inter-spersed, of course, with someother teachings as well. But thisis what you have to meditate on.

Kalu Rinpoche said that ifyou meditate on these fourthoughts, really meditate onthem and take them seriously, ifyou meditate on them every dayand really internalize them—then you’ll never stop practicingdharma. But if you don’t medi-tate on them every day you

won’t practice dharma. So it’s a pretty soberingmessage.

Bodhicitta is the heart of dharma, the es-sence of dharma. It’s the milk of loving kindnessand compassion. But the four thoughts that turnthe mind to dharma are the adrenaline of thedharma, the kick in the backside. They are atremendous motivator. They appeal to yourgrosser nature, your lesser nature, but it’s some-times necessary to appeal to that nature.

Then the best motivation for practicingdharma is if you can develop, further and fur-ther, a genuine heartfelt desire to help others,not just to make your living, not just to do a nicejob in the classroom, which I’m sure you do, butgenuinely to develop the ability at a very pro-found level to benefit other beings, by developingthe genuine aspiration to attain buddhahood inorder to lead all other suffering sentient beingsto the liberation, the omniscience, and the greathappiness of buddhahood, regardless of whetherit’s going to take you one lifetime or sixteen ortwenty lifetimes. I remember when I first readthat if you took refuge in the vajrayana tradition

Kalu Rinpochesaid that if youmeditate onthese fourthoughts . . .then you’ll neverstop practicingdharma

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you’d get enlightened in, at maximum, sixteenlifetimes. I heard that and I was so depressed.The idea of spending sixteen lifetimes, of havingto spend sixteen lifetimes . . . but now I think,“Wow, that’s great.” When you learn and knowthat you’ve been being born and then dying, andthen born and dying, and born and dying in aninfinite regression of previous existences, andthat you could actually be liberated in sixteenlifetimes, that’s fantastic!

But you could be liberatedmuch faster if you so decide.Twelve years was a very stan-dard figure for the Indianmahasiddhas to get enlightened.Lama Norlha said that it was notat all uncommon in Tibet forpeople to get enlightened intheir second three-year retreat.They say that tens, hundreds ofthousands of Tibetans over thepast thousand years have at-tained enlightenment. It can bedone. And if one does that, it is a tremendousbenefit to oneself and to others. Then, after that,you don’t have to worry about whether or notyou’re going to be beneficial to other sentientbeings. You don’t have to have constant identitycrises—whatever one does will automaticallyand spontaneously and effortlessly benefitsentient beings, even if they don’t think they’rebeing benefited. So, therefore, one can motivateoneself by recognizing that the attainment ofbuddhahood is the only way to bring about theultimate benefit of sentient beings, and that,therefore, it is truly valuable and beneficial toget up in the morning and practice.

Apart from that I don’t have any answer. Tothe extent that one engages in samsaric

activities it tends to put you to sleep, but thereare things that one can do to try to bring thedharma into your daily life. Whatever you do, inall of your activities, try to see very clearlywhere you are, what you’re doing, and whatyou’re experiencing, and try to be doing so inorder to attain buddhahood, in order to liberate

sentient beings. Use your life as best you can.Try to see every moment of your life as a dreamor as an illusion. Keep reminding yourself that itis a dream, it is an illusion. Doing so helps to cutthrough one’s attachments. Curtail the expres-sion of negative emotions. Actually, for peoplewho are living in the world, that’s perhaps thenumber one thing that they can do; almost a pre-condition for being able to practice dharma is to

curtail the expression of negativeemotions. And then have faithand devotion, meditate on thefour thoughts that turn the mindto dharma, and have compassionfor sentient beings.

Then of course you couldleave your wife [the lama is stilladdressing the student’s ques-tion] and go to a monastery andbecome a monk—that wouldhelp. But I don’t think you’regoing to do that. And it’s notnecessary, although it’s very

helpful. But you’re in a very fortunate situation,since your wife is also extremely interested indharma and practices dharma, so you can prac-tice it together, which is great. Meditate on thefour thoughts that turn the mind to dharma overand over every day.

Student: I think that’s a great answer. If you’repracticing there’s no room in the day for slothful-ness—there’s no place for it. If you wake up inthe morning and practice, you don’t have to dealwith slothfulness.

Lama: Well yes, that is, if you get up in themorning. One of the things that they say fordharma practitioners is, when you go to sleep atnight, develop a very, very strong intention toget up the minute you wake up. The minute youwake up, get out of bed, regardless of how youfeel, regardless of how cushy it would be to rollover and turn off the alarm clock and sleepanother five minutes, which turns into an houror an hour and a half. If you make that determi-nation, then get up. That’s a good discipline. It’s

Almost aprecondition forbeing able topractice dharmais to curtail theexpression ofnegativeemotions

70 SHENPEN ÖSEL

good for your character to do so; it strengthensyour character to do so. Then maybe you shouldbuy Tony Robbins’ tapes. Do you know TonyRobbins? He is one of these great motivators. I’mjust teasing you, you don’t have to buy the tapes.But make changes in your life. When you seesomething that you ought to change, change it.Just do it. Just like the Nike commercial. Don’tsay, “I’ll change next week,” or “I’ll practice nextmonth after I’ve done such and such.” When yousee that you’re being slothful, change it. Do it,you can do it. All you have to do is do it.

There’s nothing else worth doing, actually.There are other things that arekind of enjoyable and diverting,but the dharma is good in thebeginning, good in the middle,and good at the end. And it’sendlessly interesting. Thedharma will never let you downin terms of interest. It goes onand on. It has within it an end-less amount of knowledge andinformation, both in terms ofwhat’s in the books, but alsowhat’s inside your mind, in theincreasing depth and expanse ofyour own mind. So actually it’sthe most interesting thing in thewhole world, in my experience.And, ultimately, it’s the mostblissful, happy thing. We usuallythink that sexual union is thepinnacle of human happiness,but really it doesn’t hold acandle to the bliss/emptinessthat arises out of true nonattachment. In themundane sexual experience, you just sort of plugin or connect, crank it up for a time, expendyourself, and then roll over and go to sleep. Inthe higher reaches of human existence there ismore romance, more foreplay and afterplay, anddeep meaningful discussions, flowers, wine,music, food of a thousand tastes, but the basicfeatures are the same. As an ornament of analready liberated experience, these activities arefine. Through seeing their true nature, they can

all be transformed, and utilized as path and tobenefit beings. But, in the absence of deepawareness, they are exhausting and as often asnot lead to turmoil. Dharma isn’t like that.Dharma leads to self-perpetuating happiness, ifone practices it properly, inexhaustible happi-ness, permanent happiness. Self-perpetuatingbliss/emptiness, not the fleeting bliss of samsara,is the potential in dharma. It does not exist insamsara. We waste our lives trying to squeezehappiness out of samsara; we try to figure out athousand different ways we can make our liveshappy by one further samsaric experiment. The

whole situation is sad and ridicu-lous. It doesn’t work. But wenever get the message.

The message is, stop doing itand practice dharma. Dharma isthe only thing that’s going tobring the happiness that we seekand end the suffering that wewant to end. That’s the greatestkindness that you can do forsentient beings. Yogis andyoginis, tantric practitioners whosit in their caves or retreatsmeditating, bring about immensebenefit for sentient beings eventhough they look like they’re justone step up from the homelesspeople on the street. LamaNorlha’s root guru, for all of thetime that Lama Norlha knewhim, usually dressed in onesheepskin. Such a yogi—and thisgoes for yoginis as well— has one

bowl, every meal he eats he takes from that onebowl, has one dishwasher [lama licks imaginarybowl], when he’s finished eating from his bowl hewashes his dishes, puts it in there [lama putsbowl in puja table], has one teapot, one bag oftea, one bag of tsampa, a little bit of driedcheese, maybe a bit of butter that someone gaveto him, maybe some dried meat. He sits therepracticing dharma. Then mealtime comes and hemakes a little fire (he doesn’t even have to getup), puts water in the pot, puts some tea in

We waste ourlives tryingto squeezehappiness out ofsamsara; we tryto figure out athousanddifferent wayswe can make ourlives happy byone furthersamsaricexperiment

SHENPEN ÖSEL 71

there, boils the tea, puts the tsampa in the bowl(tsampa has been roasted and ground by thevillagers who give it to him), pours the waterinto the bowl, stirs it, puts a little butter in, eatsit, cleans it, puts it down, and then carries on.Life is very simple. But there is immense happi-ness compared to what we experience.

But in samsara, particularly in our society,we’ve gone hog-wild trying to create happinessthrough samsaric means. We have more toys andmore gadgets—you can’t believe it. You have abirthday party for a child and you give them allof these toys and gadgets and they’re bored. Yougive them fifty things and they’re bored with allof them within a half an hour, or within a day ortwo. We gave Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche all sorts ofdifferent presents. What he really liked was alittle puppet. He played with that for a longtime. All the high-tech, fancy gadgets he wasbored with in no time. All of the things that wethink we have to have in terms of materialthings don’t really make happiness. Having

sixteen pairs of shoes for sixteen different kindsof occasions doesn’t make happiness. The minutethe weather changes by five degrees we have toleap up and change our clothes. The Tibetansdon’t do that. When it’s cold they’re cold, butthey don’t mind. When it’s hot they’re hot, theydon’t mind that so much either. They have onepair of shoes. They don’t have a pair of shoesthat they wear for dancing, and then hikingboots, and running shoes…

Student: What do the yogis and yoginis accom-plish for humankind by just sitting? I’m assum-ing they’re doing nothing else, they’re not outthere interrelating.

Lama: That’s what you’ll have to find out foryourself.

Student: Well I may never get there.

Lama: Well I hope such a pathetic statementdoesn’t come true. I’m sure you will.

Dharma is self-perpetuating happineDharma is self-perpetuating happineDharma is self-perpetuating happineDharma is self-perpetuating happineDharma is self-perpetuating happiness, ifss, ifss, ifss, ifss, ifone practiceone practiceone practiceone practiceone practices it properlys it properlys it properlys it properlys it properly. It’s inexhaustible. It’s inexhaustible. It’s inexhaustible. It’s inexhaustible. It’s inexhaustiblehappinehappinehappinehappinehappiness, permanent happiness, permanent happiness, permanent happiness, permanent happiness, permanent happiness.ss.ss.ss.ss.

72 SHENPEN ÖSEL

Mahamudra UpadeshaOral Instructions on Mahamudra Given by Sri Tilopa to Naropa on the Banks of the Ganges River. Translated from theSanskrit into Tibetan by Chokyi-Lodro Marpa the Translator.

1 Homage to the Co-emergent Wisdom!

2 Mahamudra cannot be shown;3 But for you who are devoted to the guru, who have mastered the ascetic practices4 And are forbearant in suffering, intelligent Naropa,5 Take this to heart, my fortunate student.

6 Kye-ho!

7 Look at the nature of the world,8 Impermanent like a mirage or dream;9 Even the mirage or dream does not exist.10 Therefore, develop renunciation and abandon worldly activities.

11 Renounce servants and kin, causes of passion and aggression.12 Meditate alone in the forest, in retreats, in solitary places.13 Remain in the state of non-meditation.14 If you attain non-attainment, then you have attained mahamudra.

15 The dharma of samsara is petty, causing passion and aggression.16 The things we have created have no substance; therefore, seek the substance of the ultimate.17 The dharma of mind cannot see the meaning of transcendent mind.18 The dharma of action cannot discover the meaning of non-action.

19 If you would attain the realization of transcendent mind and non-action,20 Then cut the root of mind and let consciousness remain naked.21 Let the polluted waters of mental activities clear.22 Do not seek to stop projections, but let them come to rest of themselves.23 If there is no rejecting or accepting, then you are liberated in the mahamudra.

24 When trees grow leaves and branches,25 If you cut the roots, the many leaves and branches wither.26 Likewise, if you cut the root of mind,27 The various mental activities will subside.

28 The darkness that has collected in thousands of kalpas29 One torch will dispel.30 Likewise, one moment’s experience of luminous mind31 Will dissolve the veil of karmic impurities.

32 Those of lesser intelligence who cannot grasp this,33 Concentrate your awareness and focus on the breath.34 Through different eye-gazes and concentration practices,35 Discipline your mind until it rests naturally.

SHENPEN ÖSEL 73

36 If you perceive space,37 The fixed ideas of center and boundary dissolve.38 Likewise, if mind perceives mind,39 All mental activities will cease, you will remain in a state of non-thought,40 And you will realize the supreme bodhicitta.

41 Vapors arising from the earth become clouds and then vanish into the sky;42 It is not known where the clouds go when they have dissolved.43 Likewise, the waves of thoughts derived from mind44 Dissolve when mind perceives mind.

45 Space has neither color nor shape;46 It is changeless, it is not tinged by black or white.47 Likewise, luminous mind has neither color nor shape;48 It is not tinged by black or white, virtue or vice.

49 The sun’s pure and brilliant essence50 Cannot be dimmed by the darkness that endures for a thousand kalpas.51 Likewise, the luminous essence of mind52 Cannot be dimmed by the long kalpas of samsara.

53 Though it may be said that space is empty,54 Space cannot be described.55 Likewise, though it may be said that mind is luminous56 Naming it does not prove that it exists.57 Space is completely without locality.58 Likewise, mahamudra mind dwells nowhere.

59 Without change, rest loose in the primordial state;60 There is no doubt that your bonds will loosen.61 The essence of mind is like space;62 Therefore, there is nothing which it does not encompass.

63 Let the movements of the body ease into genuineness,64 Cease your idle chatter, let your speech become an echo,65 Have no mind, but see the dharma of the leap.

66 The body, like a hollow bamboo, has no substance.67 Mind is like the essence of space, having no place for thoughts.68 Rest loose your mind; neither hold it nor permit it to wander.69 If mind has no aim, it is mahamudra.70 Accomplishing this is the attainment of supreme enlightenment.

71 The nature of mind is luminous, without object of perception.72 You will discover the path of Buddha when there is no path of meditation.73 By meditating on non-meditation you will attain the supreme bodhi.

74 This is the king of views—it transcends fixing and holding.75 This is the king of meditations—without wandering mind.76 This is the king of actions—without effort.77 When there is no hope and fear, you have realized the goal.

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78 The unborn alaya is without habits and veils.79 Rest mind in the unborn essence; make no distinctions between meditation and post-meditation.80 When projections exhaust the dharma of mind,81 One attains the king of views, free from all limitations.

82 Boundless and deep is the supreme king of meditations.83 Effortless self-existence is the supreme king of actions.84 Hopeless self-existence is the supreme king of the fruition.

85 In the beginning the mind is like a turbulent river.86 In the middle it is like the River Ganges, flowing slowly.87 In the end it is like the confluence of all rivers, like the meeting of mother and child.

88 The followers of tantra, the prajnaparamita,89 The vinaya, the sutras, and other religions—90 All these, by their texts and philosophical dogmas,91 Will not see the luminous mahamudra.

92 Having no mind, without desires,93 Self-quieted, self-existing,94 It is like a wave of water.95 Luminosity is veiled only by the rising of desire.

96 The real vow of samaya is broken by thinking in terms of precepts.97 If you neither dwell, perceive, nor stray from the ultimate,98 Then you are the holy practitioner, the torch which illumines darkness.

99 If you are without desire, if you do not dwell in extremes,100 You will see the dharmas of all the teachings.

101 If you strive in this endeavor, you will free yourself from samsaric imprisonment.102 If you meditate in this way, you will burn the veil of karmic impurities.103 Therefore, you are known as “The Torch of the Doctrine.”

104 Even ignorant people who are not devoted to this teaching105 Could be saved by you from constantly drowning in the river of samsara.

106 It is a pity that beings endure such suffering in the lower realms.107 Those who would free themselves from suffering should seek a wise guru.108 Being possessed by the adhishthana, one’s mind will be freed.

109 If you seek a karma mudra, then the wisdom of the union of joy and emptiness will arise.110 The union of skillful means and knowledge brings blessings.111 Bring it down and give rise to the mandala.112 Deliver it to the places and distribute it throughout the body.

113 If there is no desire involved, then the union of joy and emptiness will arise.114 Gain long life, without white hairs, and you will wax like the moon.115 Become radiant, and your strength will be perfect.116 Having speedily achieved the relative siddhis, one should seek the absolute siddhis.117 May this pointed instruction in mahamudra remain in the hearts of fortunate beings.

From The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation by Chogyam Trungpa, copyright 1976. Reprinted by arrangement withShambhala Publications, Inc.

SHENPEN ÖSEL 75

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