method of preserving the face of rigpa

THE METHOD OF PRESERVING

THE FACE OF RIGPA,

THE ESSENCE OF WISDOM

AN ASPECT OF TRAINING INTHOROUGH CUT

BY JU MIPHAM NAMGYAL

TONY DUFF

PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

This text is secret and should not be shown to those whohave not had the necessary introduction and instructions ofthe Thorough Cut system of Dzogchen meditation. If youhave not had the necessary instructions, reading this text canbe harmful to your spiritual health! Seal. Seal. Seal.

Copyright © 2009 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. Noportion of this book may be reproduced in any form or byany means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotography, recording, or by any information storage orretrieval system or technologies now known or laterdeveloped, without permission in writing from thepublisher.

First edition, January 2009; revised, February 2011ISBN: 978-9937-8244-1-5

Janson typeface with diacritical marks andTibetan Classic typefaceDesigned and created by Tony DuffTibetan Computer Companyhttp://www.tibet.dk/tcc

Produced, Printed, and Published byPadma Karpo Translation CommitteeP.O. Box 4957KathmanduNEPAL

Committee members for this book: translation andcomposition, Lama Tony Duff; editorial, Tom Anderson;cover design, Christopher Duff.

Web-site and e-mail contact through:http://www.tibet.dk/pktcor search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on the web.

iv

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

The Method of Preserving the Face of Rigpa,�“The Essence of Wisdom�”, by Ju MiphamNamgyal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Supports for Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Tibetan Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

v

INTRODUCTION

This book presents the text The Method of Preserving the Faceof Rigpa, �“The Essence of Wisdom�” by the great Nyingmascholar-practitioner Ju Mipham Namgyal [1846�–1912].Mipham, as he is usually called, has become the most wellknown of Nyingma scholars. He is so well known these daysthat no further introduction to him should be needed. Histext here concerns the practice of the innermost level of GreatCompletion.

Great Completion

The Great Completion system of dharma came from a landcalled Uddiyana, which is thought to have been in what isnow the Swat region of Pakistan. The name of this system ofdharma in the language of Uddiyana was �“mahasandhi�”,meaning exactly �“the great juncture�”. The Tibetans trans-lated this name with �“rdzogs pa chen po�”, which in English is�“great completion�”. The words �“juncture�” and �“completion�”have the same meaning in this case; they refer to that one all-encompassing space, that one great juncture, in which all that

vi PRESERVING THE FACE OF RIGPA

1 For realization, see the glossary.

there could be�—whether enlightened or unenlightened,whether belonging to nirvana or samsara�—is complete.

The name Great Completion refers both to an all-inclusivespace that beings including humans could realize and to asystem of instruction designed to bring beings to the realiza-tion of it1. When a being does realize it, there is nothingmore to be realized or done because all is complete withinthat being�’s space of realization and the work of spiritualpractice is complete. In a Buddhist way of talking, GreatCompletion is the final realization in which that being hasmanifested true and complete buddhahood.

Great Completion is often called �“Great Perfection�” in Eng-lish but that presents an incorrect understanding of the name.The final space of realization is not a state of perfection butone that contains both perfection and imperfection. Thename is not intended to connect us with the idea of perfectionbut with the idea of the juncture of all things perfect andimperfect, to the idea of a state of realization in which allthings are complete.

There is also the unavoidable point that Longchen Rabjam�’sdefinitive explanations in his revered text The DharmadhatuTreasury make it clear beyond a doubt that the meaning of thename is Great Completion and not Great Perfection. Hementions in several places that the point of the name is theinclusion�—just as the original name from Uddiyana states�—of all dharmas within a single unique sphere of wisdom.

INTRODUCTION vii

Completion in the name means that all phenomena are in-cluded at once in a single space of realization. Great is usedto distinguish something known by wisdom in direct per-ception from the same thing known by dualistic mind as aconcept. Thus Great Completion is not the completion under-stood through the use of concept, but the greater version ofthat, the actual state of completion known through wisdom.

Levels of Great Completion Teaching

The Great Completion teaching is divided into sections, witheach section being more profound than the previous one.The three main sections are Mind, Space, and ForemostInstruction sections, with the Foremost Instruction Sectioncontaining the most profound teaching of Great Completion.This final section is sometimes further divided and sometimesnot but, simply stated, the most profound level of ForemostInstruction teaching has several names, the most common ofwhich are �“Nyingthig�” meaning �“quintessential�”, �“unsur-passed�”, and �“innermost�” Great Completion. This level ofteaching is the most essential teaching of Great Comple-tion�—of reality�—that has appeared in our current era ofhuman society.

The text here is concerned with the Quintessential GreatCompletion teaching. It has two main practices, one calledThorough Cut and one called Direct Crossing. Of the two,this text concerns itself with the practice of Thorough Cut.

Even though this text was written as an explanation of Thor-ough Cut practice, the instruction is equally applicable to

viii PRESERVING THE FACE OF RIGPA

2 See the book by Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Trans-lation Committee, of the questions and answers between Gampo-pa and four of his main, yogin disciples.3 For rigpa, see the glossary.

Essence Mahamudra. In fact, this exact same instruction ismentioned by the early Kagyu master Gampopa when teach-ing his senior disciples, Dusum Khyenpa, and so on2. For thismost essential part of the practice, the words and examplesused are exactly the same in both the Thorough Cut GreatCompletion and Essence Mahamudra systems of teaching.

Reading Mipham�’s Text

The content of the text can be understood through its title,The Method of Preserving the Face of Rigpa, �“The Essence of Wis-dom�”. The title has two parts, the main title and the poeticsub-title. The main title, The Method of Preserving the Face ofRigpa, tells us that this text focusses on a specific and essentialaspect of Thorough Cut practice called �“preserving rigpa�”3.The poetic sub-title, The Essence of Wisdom, refers to the factthat the technique of �“preserving�” rigpa is the most essentialof all the techniques taught for developing wisdom.

Thus, this text is not a general text about Thorough Cut orEssence Mahamudra, but deals with a single and specificaspect of the practice called �“preserving�”. The text is usuallyread in conjunction with other texts that give the completeinstructions of these practices, for instance, another of Mi-pham�’s texts on this subject, the very well-known The Way of

INTRODUCTION ix

4 By Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation Com-mittee, first edition, 2009, ISBN: 978-9937-8244-2-2.5 For mindness, see the glossary.6 For wisdom, see the glossary.

the Realized Old Dogs, Advice that Points out the Essence of Mind,called �“A Lamp that Dispels the Darkness4.

The Meaning of �“Preserving�”

Preserving is an important term in both Essence Mahamudraand Great Completion teachings. It is the main subject of thetext here, so reading the text will help to understand what itis about; there is also an entry for it in the glossary. In thistext it refers to maintaining or nurturing the state of mind-ness5 or innate wisdom6, as it is also called, so that it continueson for as long as possible. Note though, that this term is notused only in the context of maintaining the flow of mind-ness�—it is a more general term than that. Overall, it has thesense �“there is a state of mind or mindness, either one, thatyou have been instructed to bring forth; once it has beenbrought forth, it must be preserved or nurtured to the extentthat you are capable�”.

Overview of the Text: Recognize, Train, and Finalize

There is a short set of instructions which sum up the wholepath of Thorough Cut and of Essence Mahamudra, too. It is:

x PRESERVING THE FACE OF RIGPA

7 Tib. ngo shes/ rtsal sbyong/ brtan pa thob/. This instruction isexplained at length in the book Ground, Path, and Fruition con-taining teachings of Tsoknyi Rinpoche, authored by Tony Duff,and published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee in 2006.8 For introduction, see the glossary.9 Authored by Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Transla-tion Committee, 2008, ISBN: 978-9937-9031-9-6.10 Authored by Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Transla-tion Committee, 2008, 978-9937-8244-3-9.

�“Recognize, Train, and Finalize�”7. The first instructionmeans that you have, initially, to be introduced to8, andbecause of that, recognize rigpa. The second means that,after that, you have to train it up, bringing it fully to lifewithin you. The third says that, if you continue the training,you will arrive at the point of its completion, the fruitionlevel. These three points are the skeleton around which theinstruction is given in Mipham�’s text. Thus, Mipham�’s textis as much an explanation of these three instructions as it is anexplanation of preserving rigpa. If you watch for these threetopics as you read the text, you will get a much better under-standing of the text than if you were to look only for the topicof preservation.

The first step of introduction and concomitant recognition isa whole topic in itself. Mipham does not explain it here butShakya Shri�’s Peak Doorways to Emancipation9 is devoted to thetopic and Dza Patrul�’s Feature of the Expert, Glorious King10

also makes this step of the practice very clear.

INTRODUCTION xi

11 The usual translation of �“not rigpa�” is �“ignorance�” but the termliterally means �“not being in rigpa�”.12 For knower, see the glossary.

The second step of training is the focal point of Mipham�’stext. The rigpa which has been recognized in the first stephas to be brought fully to life. To train it up, the practitionerengages in the process of preserving the face of the rigpawhich has at least been recognized, even if it is not veryoperational. Hence the name of the text The Method ofPreserving the Face of Rigpa. The way to preserve it is de-scribed through the standard, three-step progression of in-creasing ability to liberate the discursive thoughts which arethe face of not-rigpa11.

The final step is arrival at the completion of training. Whenthe training has been finalized, one has only the wisdom of abuddha and no other kind of knower12. Essentially speaking,the wisdom was arrived at through the most essential practiceof preserving rigpa, hence the second part of the title TheEssence of Wisdom.

Further Study

Padma Karpo Translation Committee has amassed a range ofmaterials to help those who are studying this and relatedtopics. Please see the chapter Supports for Study at the endof the book for the details.

xii PRESERVING THE FACE OF RIGPA

13 For introduction, see the glossary.

Health Warning

The text here is about a subject that is kept secret. Anyonewho has had these teachings in person will be able to under-stand them or at least go to his teacher and ask for furtherexplanation. Anyone who has had the introduction to thenature of mind13 upon which the teachings hinge, please useand enjoy the text as you will! However, if you have notheard these teachings and especially if you have not had aproper introduction to the nature of your mind, you would bebetter off not reading this book but seeking out someone whocould teach it to you. Nowadays there are both non-Tibetansand Tibetans who can do that for you and who are availablein many countries across our planet. In short, the contents ofthis book could be dangerous to your spiritual health if youare not ready for it, so exercise care.

These days, in the times of rampant globalization, these deepsecrets have become very public. That is not necessarily agood thing. For example, I have many times in the last fewyears run into young men who are extremely confident oftheir understanding of the meaning of these profound systemsbut who just spout words that they have read in books. Un-fortunately, they have read the books and know the words buthave not contacted the inner meaning that the books areintended merely as a pointer towards. The solidity of theirminds is noticeable and not being helped by reading these

INTRODUCTION xiii

things for which they are not ready and, therefore, should notbe reading.

My best wishes to all of you.May you preserve the state!

Tony DuffPadma Karpo Translation CommitteeSwayambunath,Nepal,February 2011

Ju Mipham NamgyalMural on the wall of Dzogchen Monastery, Tibet.

Photograph by the author, 2007

14 For primal guardian, see the glossary. Here it refers to Saman-tabhadra.15 Paraphrase: �“Home in on the naked face of rigpa until you seeit clearly without any of the coverings of dualistic mind�’s concep-tual style of mental analysis which, if present, would distort theview of rigpa�”.

1

THE METHOD OF PRESERVING THE FACEOF RIGPA, THE ESSENCE OF WISDOM

by Ju Mipham Namgyal

Homage to the glorious, Primal Guardian14.

The training of rigpa comes in three steps: recognition,training, and finalization.

First, using the guru�’s oral instruction you home in on thenaked face of rigpa until it is seen clearly without mentalanalysis15. When that has been settled, you yourself trainingin that essence is the only thing of importance. In otherwords, just to recognize it is not sufficient�—it must be trainedup fully.

2 PRESERVING THE FACE OF RIGPA

16 For shine forth, see the glossary.17 For suppression and furtherance, see the glossary.18 While doing this, you do not engage in the usual approach ofcultivating something newly, in which you use thoughts to stopthat which is seen to be opposite to what you want to achieve andto further what you want to achieve. If you did, it would all becontrivance and, as he says, this is about non-contrivance.19 Recalls here does not mean think about, it means �“returns youto�”.

Proceeding with that, you have initially recognized rigpa but,when you begin resting in it, the hindrances of discursivethought make it difficult for naked rigpa to shine forth16. Soat that time, it is important to lengthen the period of stayingin the state of uncontrived rigpa by resting in it again andagain and without any suppression or furtherance17 of discur-sive thoughts while doing it18. By familiarizing yourself withit like that again and again, the waves of discursive thoughtwill subside in strength and the rigpa will grow clearer.When that has happened, stay equipoised on it as much asyou can and, in post-attainment, rely on mindfulness whichrecalls the rigpa19.

By familiarizing yourself with that, rigpa will be trained upfurther and further. Initially, discursive thoughts will arise.However, there is no need to rely on an antidote to stop themother than they themselves; just by leaving them in their ownplace, they will be self-liberated in a few moments, like acoiled-up snake that by itself uncoils itself. After furtherfamiliarization, discursive thoughts will arise as small

THE TEXT 3

20 A thief who comes into an empty house neither does any harmnor improves the situation. Likewise, at this point, the arrival ofthought has no effect, one way or another, on the experiencedstate.21 For more about the complicated subject of alaya, see Mipham�’sother text, mentioned in the introduction, The Way of the RealizedOld Dogs, Advice that Points out the Essence of Mind, called �“A Lampthat Dispels the Darkness.22 Tib. brtan pa thob. This is the third of the three part processof recognizing, training, and finalization.

disturbances but will also immediately fade of themselves, likea drawing on water. Even further familiarization with thatstate will result in the discursive thoughts arising withoutdoing any harm at all. The resulting lack of hope or fear overwhether discursive thoughts arise or not will come forth as anexperience in which they have no effect, being neither helpfulnor harmful, like a thief who enters an empty house20.

By even further familiarization with that state, the process oftraining comes to its conclusion: finally, discursive thoughtsand the alaya21 together with its movement-producing windsdissolve into the uncontrived dharmakaya and rigpa has beencaptured in its place. Like ordinary earth and rocks cannot befound on an island of gold even if you search for them, everyappearance and existence without exception now shines forthas the realm of dharmakaya, having become universal purity.This point is called, �“finalization�”22. At this point, the hopesand fears of samsara and nirvana, and of birth and death havebeen destroyed from the root.


23 The night-time equivalents are the experiences and realizationsthat come from night-time practices, such as being able to recog-nize dreams, then having degrees of luminosity mixed withdreams, and what follows on from that. There are many types ofpractice for utilizing dreams as part of the path. However, in thiscase, none of these types of instruction will be followed. Theinstruction already given covers both daytime and nighttimesituations, equally.

As with that progression in which daytime appearances anddiscursive thoughts are gradually brought under the controlof rigpa, so the night-time equivalents�—the apprehension ofdreams, fine and thick luminosity in them, and so on�—willcome along23 without needing to rely on any other type ofinstruction. Having understood that, you absolutely must, foras long as you have not finalized the practice, have unwaver-ing perseverance in it, a perseverance that is continuous, likethe flow of a river.

Instruction given by Mipham. May virtue and goodness increase.Goodness!

Translated at Tsoknyi Rinpoche�’s request after receiving instructionon the text by Tony Duff of the Padma Karpo Translation Com-mittee, July 6, 1996, at Swayambunath, Kathmandu, Nepal.

5

GLOSSARY

Alaya, Skt. ålaya, Tib. kun gzhi: This term, if translated, is usuallytranslated as all-base or thereabouts. It is a Sanskrit term thatmeans a range that underlies and forms a basis for somethingelse. In Buddhist teaching, it means a particular level of mindthat sits beneath all other levels of mind. However, it is usedin several different ways in the Buddhist teaching andchanges to a different meaning in each case. In the GreatCompletion teachings, an important distinction is madebetween ålaya alone and ålaya consciousness.

Clinging, Tib. zhen pa: In Buddhism, this term refers specificallyto the twofold process of dualistic mind mis-taking thingsthat are not true, not pure, as true, pure, etcetera and then,because of seeing them as highly desirable even though theyare not, attaching itself to or clinging to those things. Thistype of clinging acts as a kind of glue that keeps a personjoined to the unsatisfactory things of cyclic existence becauseof mistakenly seeing them as desirable.

Contrivance, contrived, Tib. bcos pa: A term meaning that some-thing has been altered from its native state.

Cyclic existence: See under saîsåra.


Dharmakaya, Skt. dharmakåya, Tib. chos sku: In the generalteachings of Buddhism, this refers to the mind of a buddha,with �“dharma�” meaning reality and �“kåya�” meaning body. Inthe Thorough Cut practice of Great Completion it addition-ally has the special meaning of being the means by which onerapidly imposes liberation on oneself.

Discursive thought, Skt. vikalpa, Tib. rnam rtog: This means morethan just the superficial thought that is heard as a voice in thehead. It includes the entirety of conceptual process thatarises due to mind contacting any object of any of the senses.The Sanskrit and Tibetan literally mean �“(dualistic) thought(that arises from the mind wandering among the) various(superficies q.v. perceived in the doors of the senses)�”.

Entity, Tib. ngo bo: The entity of something is just exactly whatthat thing is. In English we would often simply say �“thing�”rather than entity. However, in Buddhism, �“thing�” has a veryspecific meaning rather than the general meaning that it hasin English. It has become common to translate this term as�“essence�”. However, in most cases �“entity�”, meaning what athing is rather than an essence of that thing, is the correcttranslation for this term.

Equipoise and post-attainment, Tib. mnyam bzhag and rjes thob:Although often called �“meditation and post-meditation�”, theactual term is �“equipoise and post-attainment�”. There isgreat meaning in the actual wording which is lost by thelooser translation.

Foremost instruction, Skt. upadeùha, Tib. man ngag: There areseveral types of instruction mentioned in Buddhist literature:there is the general level of instruction which is the meaningcontained in the words of the texts of the tradition; on a morepersonal and direct level there is oral instruction which hasbeen passed down from teacher to student from the time ofthe buddha; and on the most profound level there are fore-

GLOSSARY 7

most instructions which are not only oral instructions pro-vided by one�’s guru but are special, core instructions thatcome out of personal experience and which convey theteaching concisely and with the full weight of personal ex-perience. Foremost instructions or upadeùha are crucial tothe Vajra Vehicle because these are the special way of passingon the profound instructions needed for the student�’s realiza-tion.

Key points, Tib. gnad: Key points are those places in one�’s beingthat one works, like pressing buttons, in order to get somedesired effect. For example, in meditation, there are keypoints of the body; by adjusting those key points, the mind isbrought closer to reality and the meditation is thus assisted.

In general, this term is used in Buddhist meditation instruc-tion but it is, in particular, part of the special vocabulary ofthe Great Completion teachings. Overall, the Great Com-pletion teachings are given as a series of key points that mustbe attended to in order to bring forth the various realizationsof the path.

Knower, Tib. ha go ba. �“Knower�” is a generic term for thatwhich knows. There are many types of knower, with eachhaving its own qualities and name, too. For example, wisdomis a non-dualistic knower, mind is the dualistic samsaricversion of it, consciousness refers to the individual �“registers�”of samsaric mind, and so on. Sometimes a term is neededwhich simply says �“that which knows�” without further impli-cation of what kind of knowing it might be. Knower is one ofa few terms of that sort.

Liveliness, Tib. rtsal: A key term in both Mahåmudrå and GreatCompletion. The term is sometimes translated as �“display�”or �“expression�” but neither are correct. The primary meaningis the ability of something to express itself but in use, theactual expression of that ability is also included. Thus, in


English it would not be �“expression�” but �“expressivity�” butthat is too dry. This term is not at all dry; it is talking aboutthe life of something and how that life comes into expression;�“liveliness�” fits the meaning of the original term very well.

Luminosity or illumination, Skt. prabhåsvara, Tib. �’od gsal ba: Thecore of mind has two aspects: an emptiness factor and aknowing factor. The Buddha and many Indian religiousteachers used �“luminosity�” as a metaphor for the knowingquality of the core of mind. If in English we would say�“Mind has a knowing quality�”, the teachers of ancient Indiawould say, �“Mind has an illuminative quality; it is like asource of light which illuminates what it knows�”.

This term been translated as �“clear light�” but that is a mistakethat comes from not understanding the etymology of theword. It does not refer to a light that has the quality ofclearness (something that makes no sense, actually!) but tothe illuminative property which is the nature of the emptymind.

Note also that in both Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist litera-ture, this term is frequently abbreviated just to Skt. �“vara�”and Tib. �“gsal ba�” with no change of meaning. Unfortu-nately, this has been thought to be another word and it hasthen been translated with �“clarity�”, when in fact it is just thisterm in abbreviation.

Mind, Skt. chitta, Tib. sems: There are several terms for mind inthe Buddhist tradition, each with its own, specific meaning.This term is the most general term for the samsaric type ofmind. It refers to the type of mind that is produced becauseof fundamental ignorance of enlightened mind. Whereas thewisdom of enlightened mind lacks all complexity and knowsin a non-dualistic way, this mind of un-enlightenment is avery complicated apparatus that only ever knows in a dualisticway.

GLOSSARY 9

The Mahåmudrå and Great Completion teachings use theterms �“entity of mind�” and �“mind�’s entity�” to refer to whatthis complicated, samsaric mind is at core�—the enlightenedform of mind.

Mindfulness, Skt. smôiti, Tib. dran pa: A particular mental event,one that has the ability to keep mind on its object. Togetherwith alertness, it is one of the two causes of developingùhamatha. See under alertness for an explanation.

Mindness, Skt. chittatå, Tib. sems nyid: Mindness is a specificterm of the tantras. It is one of many terms meaning theessence of mind or the nature of mind. It conveys the senseof �“what mind is at its very core�”. It has sometimes beentranslated as �“mind itself�” but that is a misunderstanding ofthe Tibetan word �“nyid�”. The term does not mean �“thatthing mind�” where mind refers to dualistic mind. Rather, itmeans the very core of dualistic mind, what mind is at root,without all of the dualistic baggage.

Mindness is a path term. It refers to exactly the same thingas �“actuality�” or �“actuality of mind�” which is a ground termbut does so from the practitioner�’s perspective. It conveysthe sense to a practitioner that he has baggage of dualisticmind that has not yet been purified but that there is a core tothat mind that he can work with.

Post-attainment, Tib. rjes thob: See under equipoise and post-attainment.

Prajna, Skt. prajñå, Tib. shes rab: A Sanskrit term for the type ofmind that makes good and precise distinctions between thisand that and hence which arrives at correct understanding.It has been translated as �“wisdom�” but that is not correctbecause it is, generally speaking, a mental event belonging todualistic mind where �“wisdom�” is used to refer to the non-dualistic knower of a buddha. Moreover, the main feature of


prajñå is its ability to distinguish correctly between one thingand another and hence to arrive at a correct understanding.

Preserve, Tib. skyong ba: An important term in both Mahåmudråand Great Completion. In general, it means to defend, pro-tect, nurture, maintain. In the higher tantras it means to keepsomething just as it is, to nurture that something so that itstays and is not lost. Also, in the higher tantras, it is oftenused in reference to preserving the state where the state issome particular state of being. Because of this, the phrase�“preserve the state�” is an important instruction in the highertantras.

Primal Guardian, Skt. ådinåtha, Tib. gdod ma�’i mgon po: PrimalGuardian protector is one of many names for the primal stateof enlightenment innate to each person personified as theguardian who in Nyingma tradition is Samantabhadra and innew translation schools is Great Vajradhara.

Proliferation, Tib. �’phro ba: A term meaning that the dualisticmind has become active and is giving off thoughts. This isactually the same word as �“elaboration�” but is the intransitivesense.

Rigpa, Tib. rig pa: This is the singularly most important term inthe whole of Great Completion and Mahåmudrå. In particu-lar, it is the key word of all words in the Great Completionsystem of the Thorough Cut. Rigpa literally means to knowin the sense of �“I see!�” It is used at all levels of meaning fromthe coarsest everyday sense of knowing something to thedeepest sense of knowing something as presented in thesystem of Thorough Cut. The system of Thorough Cut usesthis term in a very special sense, though it still retains its basicmeaning of �“to know�”. To translate it as �“awareness�”, whichis common practice today, is a poor practice; there are manykinds of awareness but there is only one rigpa and besides,rigpa is substantially more than just awareness. Since this is

GLOSSARY 11

such an important term and since it lacks an equivalent inEnglish, I choose not to translate it.

This is the term used to indicate enlightened mind as experi-enced by the practitioner on the path of these practices. Theterm itself specifically refers to the dynamic knowing qualityof mind. It absolutely does not mean a simple registering, asimplied by the word �“awareness�” which unfortunately is oftenused to translate this term. There is no word in English thatexactly matches it, though the idea of �“seeing�” or �“insight onthe spot�” is very close. Proof of this is found in the fact thatthe original Sanskrit term �“vidyå�” is actually the root of allwords in English that start with �“vid�” and mean �“to see�”, forexample, �“video�”, �“vision�”, and so on. Chogyam TrungpaRinpoche, who was particular skilled at getting Tibetanwords into English, also stated that this term rigpa really didnot have a good equivalent in English, though he thoughtthat �“insight�” was the closest. My own conclusion afterhearing extensive teaching on it is that rigpa is best leftuntranslated. Note that rigpa has both noun and verb forms.To get the verb form, I use �“rigpa�’ing�”.

Samsara, Skt. saîsåra, Tib. �’khor ba: This is the most generalname for the type of existence in which sentient beings live.It refers to the fact that they continue on from one existenceto another, always within the enclosure of births that areproduced by ignorance and experienced as unsatisfactory.The original Sanskrit means to be constantly going about,here and there. The Tibetan term literally means �“cycling�”,because of which it is frequently translated into English with�“cyclic existence�” though that is not quite the meaning of theterm.

Shine forth, shining forth, Tib. shar ba: This term means �“to dawn�”or �“to come forth into visibility�” either in the outer physicalworld or in the inner world of mind.


It is heavily used in texts on meditation to indicate the pro-cess of something coming forth into mind. There are otherterms with this specific meaning but most of them also implythe process of dawning within a samsaric mind. �“Shine forth�”is special because it does not have that restricted meaning; itrefers to the process of something dawning in any type ofmind, un-enlightened and enlightened. It is an importantterm for the higher tantras of Mahåmudrå and Great Com-pletion texts where there is a great need to refer to the simplefact of something dawning in mind especially in enlightenedmind but also in un-enlightened mind.

In the Tibetan language, this term stands out and immedi-ately conveys the meaning explained above. There are wordsin English like �“to appear�” that might seem easier to readthan �“shine forth�”, but they do not stand out and catch theattention sufficiently. Moreover, terms such as �“appear�”accurately translate other Tibetan terms which specificallyindicate an un-enlightened context or a certain type ofsensory appearance, so they do not convey the meaning ofthis term. There will be many times where this term�’s spe-cific meaning of something occurring in any type of mind iscrucial to a full understanding of the expression under consi-deration. For example, �“shining-forth liberation�” means thatsome content of mind, such as a thought, comes forth ineither un-enlightened or enlightened mind, and that, oncoming forth, is liberated there in that mind.

State, Tib. ngang: This is a key term in Mahåmudrå and GreatCompletion. Unfortunately it is often not translated and inso doing much meaning is lost. Alternatively, it is oftentranslated as �“within�” which is incorrect. The term means a�“state�”. A state is a certain, ongoing situation. In Buddhistmeditation in general, there are various states that a practitio-ner has to enter and remain in as part of developing themeditation.

GLOSSARY 13

Suppression and furtherance, Tib. dgag sgrub. Suppression andfurtherance is the term used to express the way that dualisticmind approaches the path to enlightenment. In that case,some states of mind are regarded as ones to be discarded, sothe practitioner takes the approach of attempting to suppressor stop them, and some are regarded as ones to be developed,so the practitioner takes the approach of trying to go furtherwith and develop them. These two poles represent the waythat dualistic mind always works with itself. Thorough Cutpractice goes beyond that duality.

Thorough Cut, Tib. khregs chod: The innermost level of GreatCompletion has two main practices, the first called Thregchowhich literally translates as Thorough Cut and the secondcalled Thogal which translates as Direct Crossing. Themeaning of Thorough Cut has been misunderstood. Themeaning is clearly explained in the Illuminator Tibetan-EnglishDictionary:

Thorough Cut is a practice that slices through thesolidification produced by rational mind as it graspsat a perceived object and perceiving subject. It isdone in order to get to the underlying reality whichis always present in the core of mind and which iscalled Alpha Purity in this system of teachings. Forthis reason, Thorough Cut is also known as AlphaPurity Thorough Cut.

The etymology of the word is explained in the Great Com-pletion teachings either as hè#<-<ß-&ë+-ý- or hè#<-#è-&ë+-ý-. Ineither case, the term &ë+-ý- is �“a cut�”; there are all sorts ofdifferent �“cuts�” and this is one of them. Then, in the case ofhè#<-<ß-&ë+-ý-, hè#<-<ß- is an adverb modifying the verb �“to cut�”and has the meaning of making the cut fully, completely. Itis traditionally explained with the example of slicing off afinger. A finger could be sliced with a sharp knife such that


the cut was not quite complete and the cut off portion wasleft hanging. Alternatively, it could be sliced through in one,decisive movement such that the finger was completely anddefinitely severed. That kind of thorough cut is what ismeant here. In the case of hè#<-#è-&ë+-ý-, the term hè#<-#è- is asan adverb that has the meaning of something that is doubt-less, of something that is unquestionably so. A translationbased on the first explanation would be �“Thorough Cut�” andon the second would be �“Decisive Cut�”.

Other translations that have been put forward for this termare: �“Cutting Resistance�” and �“Cutting Solidity�”. Both aregrammatically incorrect. Further, the name �“Cutting Resis-tance�” is made on the basis of students expressing resistanceto practice and the like, but that is not the meaning intended.Similarly, the name Cutting Solidity comes from not under-standing that the term hè#<- (khregs) has both old and newmeanings; the newer meaning of �“solid�”, �“solidity�” does notapply because the term Thorough Cut was put into use in thetime of Padmasaîbhava when only the old meaning of hè#<-was in use. The term means that the practitioner of thissystem cuts decisively through rational mind, regardless of itsdegree of solidity, so as to arrive directly at the essence ofmind.

Unaltered or uncontrived, Tib. ma bcos pa: This term is the oppo-site of altered and contrived. It refers to something whichhas not been altered from its native state; something whichhas been left just as it is.

Upadesha, Skt. upadeùha, Tib. man ngag: See under foremost in-struction.

Vipashyana, Skt. vipaùhyanå, Tib. lhag mthong: This is the San-skrit name for one of the two main practices of meditationneeded in the Buddhist system for gaining insight into reality.

GLOSSARY 15

The other one, ùhamatha, keeps the mind focussed while thisone, vipaùhyanå, looks piercingly into the nature of things.

Wisdom, Skt. jñåna, Tib. ye shes: This is a fruition term thatrefers to the kind of mind, the kind of knower possessed by abuddha. Sentient beings do have this kind of knower but itis covered over by a very complex apparatus for knowing,dualistic mind. If they practise the path to buddhahood, theywill leave behind their obscuration and return to having thiskind of knower.

The Sanskrit term has the sense of knowing in the mostsimple and immediate way. This sort of knowing is presentat the core of every being�’s mind. Therefore, the Tibetanscalled it �“the particular type of awareness which is thereprimordially�”. Because of the Tibetan wording it has oftenbeen called �“primordial wisdom�” in English translations, butthat goes too far; it is just �“wisdom�” in the sense of the mostfundamental knowing possible.

17

SUPPORTS FOR STUDY

I have been encouraged over the years by all of my teachersto pass on the knowledge I have accumulated in a lifetimededicated to study and practice, primarily in the Tibetan tra-dition of Buddhism. On the one hand, they have encouragedme to teach. On the other, they are concerned that, whilemany general books on Buddhism have been and are beingpublished, there are few books that present the actual texts ofthe tradition. Therefore they, together with a number ofmajor figures in the Buddhist book publishing world, havealso encouraged me to translate and publish high qualitytranslations of individual texts of the tradition.

My teachers always remark with great appreciation on theextraordinary amount of teaching that I have heard in thislife. It allows for highly informed, accurate translations of asort not usually seen. Briefly, I spent the 1970's studying,practising, then teaching the Gelugpa system at ChenrezigInstitute, Australia, where I was a founding member and alsothe first Australian to be ordained as a monk in the TibetanBuddhist tradition. In 1980, I moved to the United States to


study at the feet of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rin-poche. I stayed in his Vajradhatu community, now calledShambhala, where I studied and practised all the KarmaKagyu, Nyingma, and Shambhala teachings being presentedthere and was a senior member of the Nalanda TranslationCommittee. After the vidyadhara�’s nirvana, I moved in 1992to Nepal, where I have been continuously involved with thestudy, practise, translation, and teaching of the Kagyu systemand especially of the Nyingma system of Great Completion.In recent years, I have spent extended times in Tibet with thegreatest living Tibetan masters of Great Completion, receiv-ing very pure transmissions of the ultimate levels of thisteaching directly in Tibetan and practising them there inretreat. In that way, I have studied and practised extensivelynot in one Tibetan tradition as is usually done, but in three ofthe four Tibetan traditions�—Gelug, Kagyu, and Nyingma�—and also in the Theravada tradition, too.

Padma Karpo Translation Committee (PKTC) was set up toprovide a home for the translation and publication work. Thecommittee focusses on producing books containing the bestof Tibetan literature, and, especially, books that meet theneeds of practitioners. At the time of writing, PKTC haspublished a wide range of books that, collectively, make acomplete program of study for those practising Tibetan Bud-dhism, and especially for those interested in the higher tan-tras. All in all, you will find many books both free and for saleon the PKTC web-site. Most are available both as papereditions and e-books.

It would take up too much space here to present an extensiveguide to our books and how they can be used as the basis for

SUPPORTS FOR STUDY 19

a study program. However, a guide of that sort is available onthe PKTC web-site, whose address is on the copyright pageof this book and we recommend that you read it to see howthis book fits into the overall scheme of PKTC publications.In short, this text lays out a specific aspect of the teaching ofThorough Cut. In doing so, it is an important support for themany PKTC publications which set out the whole system ofThorough Cut, some of which are:

�• The Feature of the Expert, Glorious King by DzaPatrul

�• About the Three Lines by Dodrupchen III�• Relics of the Dharmakaya by Ontrul Tenpa�’i

Wangchuk�• Empowerment and AtiYoga by Tony Duff�• Peak Doorways to Emancipation by Shakya Shri�• Alchemy of Accomplishment by Dudjom Rinpoche�• The Way of the Realized Old Dogs by Ju Mipham�• Essential Points of Practice by Zhechen Gyaltshab�• Words of the Old Dog Vijay by Zhechen Gyaltshab�• Hinting at Dzogchen by Tony Duff

This text does not present Direct Crossing but PKTC publi-cations on Direct Crossing are:

�• Key Points of Direct Crossing called Nectar of the PurePart by Khenchen Padma Namgyal

�• Jigmey Lingpa�’s most important text GuidebookCalled �“Highest Wisdom�” (Triyig Yeshe Lama)

We make a point of including, where possible, the relevantTibetan texts in Tibetan script in our books. We also makethem available in electronic editions that can be downloaded


free from our web-site, as discussed below. The Tibetan textfor this book is included at the back of the book and is avail-able for download from the PKTC web-site.

Electronic Resources

PKTC has developed a complete range of electronic tools tofacilitate the study and translation of Tibetan texts. For manyyears now, this software has been a prime resource for Ti-betan Buddhist centres throughout the world, including inTibet itself. It is available through the PKTC web-site.

The wordprocessor TibetDoc has the only complete set oftools for creating, correcting, and formatting Tibetan text ac-cording to the norms of the Tibetan language. It can also beused to make texts with mixed Tibetan and English or otherlanguages. Extremely high quality Tibetan fonts, based onthe forms of Tibetan calligraphy learned from old mastersfrom pre-Communist Chinese Tibet, are also available. Be-cause of their excellence, these typefaces have achieved alegendary status amongst Tibetans.

TibetDoc is used to prepare electronic editions of Tibetantexts in the PKTC text input office in Asia. Tibetan texts areoften corrupt so the input texts are carefully corrected priorto distribution. After that, they are made available throughthe PKTC web-site. These electronic texts are not carelessproductions like so many of the Tibetan texts found on theweb, but are highly reliable editions useful to non-scholarsand scholars alike. Some of the larger collections of these

SUPPORTS FOR STUDY 21

texts are for purchase, but most are available for free download.

The electronic texts can be read, searched, and even madeinto an electronic library using either TibetDoc or our othersoftware, TibetD Reader. Like TibetDoc, TibetD Reader isadvanced software with many capabilities made specifically tomeet the needs of reading and researching Tibetan texts.PKTC software is for purchase but we make a free version ofTibetD Reader available for free download on the PKTCweb-site.

A key feature of TibetDoc and Tibet Reader is that Tibetanterms in texts can be looked up on the spot using PKTC�’selectronic dictionaries. PKTC also has several electronicdictionaries�—some Tibetan-Tibetan and some Tibetan-Eng-lish�—and a number of other reference works. The Illumina-tor Tibetan-English Dictionary is renowned for its completenessand accuracy.

This combination of software, texts, reference works, anddictionaries that work together seamlessly has become famousover the years. It has been the basis of many, large publishingprojects within the Tibetan Buddhist community around theworld for over thirty years and is popular amongst all thoseneeding to work with Tibetan language or deepen their un-derstanding of Buddhism through Tibetan texts.

23

TIBETAN TEXT

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25

INDEX

a single space of realization viiAbout the Three Lines . . . . . . 19alaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5Alchemy of Accomplishment . . 19all things are complete . . . . viall-encompassing space . . . . vall-inclusive space . . . . . . . . viclinging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5coiled-up snake . . . . . . . . . . . 2complete buddhahood . . . . vicultivating something newly 2cyclic existence . . . . . . . . . . . 5daytime appearances . . . . . . . 4dharmakaya . . . . . . . . . 3, 6, 19Direct Crossing . . . vii, 13, 19direct perception . . . . . . . . viidiscursive thought . . . . . . 2, 6Dodrupchen III . . . . . . . . . 19dualistic mind . . . vii, 5, 9, 10,

13, 15Dudjom Rinpoche . . . . . . . 19Dusum Khyenpa . . . . . . . . viiiDza Patrul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19electronic editions . . . . 19, 20

electronic texts . . . . . . . 20, 21electronic tools . . . . . . . . . . 20Empowerment and Atiyoga . . 19entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6equipoise and post-attainment

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 9essence . . i, iv, v, viii, ix, xi, 1,

3, 6, 9, 14Essence Mahamudra . . . viii, ixEssential Points of Practice . . . 19Feature of the Expert, Glorious

King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x, 19final space of realization . . . vifinalization . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 3foremost instruction . vii, 6, 14Foremost Instruction Section

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiGampopa . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiigreat completion . . . v-ix, 5-7,

9, 10, 12, 13, 18great juncture . . . . . . . . . . . . vGreat Perfection . . . . . . . . . viGuidebook Called �“Highest

Wisdom�” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

26 THE WAY OF THE REALIZED OLD DOGS

guru�’s oral instruction . . . . . 1Hinting at Dzogchen . . . . . . 19hopes and fears of samsara and

nirvana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Illuminator Tibetan-English

Dictionary . . . . . . . 13, 21, 30innate wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . ixinnermost . . . . . . . . . . . . . v, 13introduction and concomitant

recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . xintroduction to the nature of

mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiiJu Mipham . . . i, iv, v, xiv, 1, 19Ju Mipham Namgyal . . i, iv, v,

xiv, 1Kagyu . . . . . . . . . . . viii, 18, 30key points . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 19Key Points of Direct Crossing 19Khenchen Padma Namgyal 19knower . . . . . . . . . . xi, 7, 9, 15lack of hope or fear . . . . . . . 3like a thief who enters an

empty house . . . . . . . . . . . 3liveliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7luminosity . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 8Mahamudra . . . . . . . . . viii, ixmain practices . . . . vii, 13, 14main title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiimental analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 1mind . . . . . . vii, ix, xii, 3, 5-15mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 9mindfulness which recalls the

rigpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2mindness . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix, 9Mipham . i, iv, v, x, xiv, 1, 4, 19movement-producing winds 3naked face of rigpa . . . . . . . . 1

naked rigpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2night-time equivalents . . . . . 4not a state of perfection . . . . vinot-rigpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xinurturing the state of mindness

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixNyingma . . . . . . . . . . v, 10, 18Nyingma scholars . . . . . . . . vOntrul Tenpa�’i Wangchuk 19ordinary earth and rocks . . . 3Padma Karpo Translation

Committee . . i, ii, viii, x, xi,xiii, 4, 18, 30

Peak Doorways to Emancipationx, 19perfection and imperfection vipoetic sub-title . . . . . . . . . . viiipost-attainment . . . . . . 2, 6, 9preserve . . . . . . . . . xi, xiii, 10preserving rigpa . . . . . . . . x, xiprimal guardian . . . . . . . 1, 10proliferation . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Quintessential . . . . . . . . . . viiQuintessential Great

Completion . . . . . . . . . . . viirealm of dharmakaya . . . . . . 3recognition, training, and

finalization . . . . . . . . . . . . 1recognize rigpa . . . . . . . . . . . xRelics of the Dharmakaya . . . 19rigpa . . . . i, iv, v, viii, x, xi, 1-4,

10, 11samsara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 11self-liberated . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Shakya Shri . . . . . . . . . . . . 19shine forth . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 11small disturbances . . . . . . . . 3state . . . . vi, vii, ix, xiii, 2, 3, 5,

INDEX 27

10, 12, 14study and translation of

Tibetan texts . . . . . . . . . . 20study program . . . . . . . . . . . 19suppression and furtherance

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 13suppression or furtherance . . 2Swat region of Pakistan . . . . vteaching of Thorough Cut . 19technique of �“preserving�” rigpa

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiiThe Essence of Wisdom . . . . . . i,

viii, xi, 1The Method of Preserving the

Face of Rigpa . . . . iv, v, viii, xiThe Way of the Realized Old

Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . ix, 3, 19Thorough Cut . . i, ii, vii-ix, 6,

10, 13, 14, 19Thorough Cut Great

Completion . . . . . . . . . . viiiTibetan texts . . . . . . . . . 19-21training . . . . . . i, x, xi, 1, 3, 30Triyig Yeshe Lama . . . . . . . . 19Uddiyana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v, viuncontrived dharmakaya . . . 3uncontrived rigpa . . . . . . . . . 2universal purity . . . . . . . . . . . 3upadesha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14vipashyana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14wisdom . . . . i, vi-ix, xi, 1, 7, 8,

15, 30wisdom of a buddha . . . . . . xiWords of the Old Dog Vijay . 19Zhechen Gyaltshab . . . . . . . 19

Tony Duff has spent a lifetime pursuing the Buddha�’steaching and transmitting it to others. In the early1970's, during his post-graduate studies in molecularbiology, he went to Asia and met the Buddhistteachings of various South-east Asian countries. He

met Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal and has followed it since. After histrip he abandoned worldly life and was the first monk ordained in hishome country of Australia. Together with several others, he foundedthe monastery called Chenrezig Institute for Wisdom Culture wherehe studied and practised the Gelugpa teachings for several yearsunder the guidance of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Geshe Lodan, andZasep Tulku. After that, he offered back his ordination and left for theUSA to study the Kagyu teachings with the incomparable ChogyamTrungpa Rinpoche. Tony was very active in the community and wentthrough all possible levels of training that were available during histwelve year stay. He was also a core member of the Nalanda Trans-lation Committee. After Chogyam Trungpa died, Tony went to live inNepal where he worked as the personal translator for TsoknyiRinpoche and also translated for several other well-known teachers.He also founded and directed the largest Tibetan text preservationproject in Asia, the Drukpa Kagyu Heritage Project, which he oversawfor eight years. He also established the Padma Karpo TranslationCommittee which has produced many fine translations and mademany resources for translators such as the highly acclaimedIlluminator Tibetan-English Dictionary. After the year 2000, Tonyfocussed primarily on obtaining Dzogchen teachings from the bestteachers available, especially within Tibet, and translating andteaching them. He has received much approval from many teachersand has been given the titles �“lotsawa�” and �“lama�” and been stronglyencouraged by them to teach Westerners. One way he does that is byproducing these fine translations.

PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEEP.O. Box 4957KathmanduNepalhttp://www.tibet.dk/pktc

method of preserving the face of rigpa

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