reaffirming the ‘origins’ of mahamudra
TRANSCRIPT
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S E R I E O R I E N T A L E R O M A
C V I
ASIAN HORIZONS
GIUSEPPE TUCCIS BUDDHIST, I NDI AN,
HIM ALAYAN AN D CENTR AL ASIAN STUDIES
Edited by A. A. DI CASTRO and D. TEMPLEMAN
M E L B O U R N E
2015
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i x
CONTENTS
Preface ............................................................................................................ xi
Introduction ....................................................................................................xv
PART I
1. Giuseppe Tucci, anti-Orientalist .................................................................3GUSTAVOBENAVIDES
2. A glimpse of some archives on Giuseppe Tuccis scientic expeditions
to Tibet: 19291939 .................................................................................. 16
FRANCESCODARELLI
3. The problem with folk: Giuseppe Tucci and the transformation of
folksongs into scientic artefacts.............................................................45
RUTHGAMBLE
4. A very useful lie: Giuseppe Tucci, Tibet, and scholarship under
dictatorship ..............................................................................................68
ALEXMCKAY
5. The thought of Giuseppe Tucci .............................................................83
FRANCESCOSFERRA
PART II
6. Reafrming the origins ofMahmudr.............................................. 113
GIOVANNIARCA
7. The implication of Giuseppe Tuccis work for epic and Puric studies.......175
GREGBAILEY
8. Merchants, mercenaries and monarchs: Christians in Safavid Iran ........ 184
JAMESBARRY
9. A survey of Sassanian seals ...................................................................197
ZOHREHBASERI
10. The Bodhisattva VajrapisLaghutantrakand the rotation
ofyogins: structure of the maalaand dynamic motion ...................... 210
CLAUDIOCICUZZA
11. Nibbna as the fruit of meritorious deeds in the Apadna......................229
CHRISCLARK
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x
12. Mapping the Buddhist sacred status of Triloknth................................. 241DIANACOUSENS
13. Goat heads and goddesses in Swt , Gandhra and Kashmir and
connected problems ................................................................................263
ANGELOANDREADICASTRO
14. The theory and practice of the Mandala: ritual and identity in
the Kabr Panth......................................................................................296
PETERFRIEDLANDER
15. Philosophical reasoning and spiritual practice: Giuseppe Tucci on
Buddhist philosophical systems ............................................................. 313
ANDREWMCGARRITY
16. The story of Bon in the Naxi Dongba religion ........................................348
CHRISTINEMATHIEU
17. Under the female gaze: Isabella Birds travels among the Tibetans ........409
ISABELLAOFNER
18. The creation of theism personied: a conceptual history of the
god-maker Avalokitevara...................................................................... 431
IAINSINCLAIR
19. Revising Tuccis sixteenthseventeenth century: new data on
Tibets Civil War (16031621) ................................................................ 479
DAVIDTEMPLEMAN
20. Google Earth @ Ghazni ......................................................................495
DAVIDTHOMAS
21. Rediscovering rainbow colour in the textile aesthetic of Bhutan ............ 529
ALATHEAVAVASOUR
22. The classical Arabs thought, Bayazid al-Ansari (15251572) and his
mystical workMaqsud al-Muminin: mysticism and Sunni orthodoxy
in the Pakhtun zone. ...............................................................................544
DENNISWALKER
23. Culturesof the body: medical pluralism, bacteria and Tibetan refugees .........585
TANYAZIVKOVIC
List of Illustations .........................................................................................597
Contributors ..................................................................................................605
Rome Oriental Series ....................................................................................609
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6
IOVANNI RCA
EFFIING TE "OIGINS OF
MAHMUDR
In the vast culural landscape two great spiritual traditions,
ahimudri and rDzogs chen, have crossed paths many and in many
ways. A debate about their origins, similarities and dierences developed
not later than the twelfth century and went on r ma hundreds of years .
Socio-political considerations, technical" aspects of the practice, insti
tutional esoteric" value of spiritual tranmission may all be considered
concurrent in this debate. What stands out in the texts preseed ad
commented on here, however, is the concern of the authors r
what can be deed as a spiritual itegrit" of the Mahimudri traditio.
The main reason r this concern seems to be the eectiveness of the
teaching itself, and the dierence any contamination" can make the
resuls of the relative spiritual practices. This, and not a judgement of
dierent teachings, was in ct the us of the debate on the origins" of
ahimudri.
MAHUDR, RZOGS CHEN, HAN AND THE UCCI LEGACY
The debate around the origins of ahimudri is closely connected to
the studies on the origins of rDzogs chen, to which Giuseppe Tucci hascontributed with his research. Tucci explored the possible connections
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etwee te Ciese Ch 'an ad rDzogs chen, reviewing and updating hisargumets when ew documents and translations became vailable.1 His
argumets on possible original links between Ch 'an ad rDzogs chen have
been the object of a variety of reactios : scolars have alternated acceptance,
resal and a varied mix of te two, according to teir inerpretations and the
evidence that became progressively available .2 The dculty of the subject
is clearly by the simple ct that the discussion is still alive today and
it does ot seem that a coclusive position can be easily reaced. s nevtable that new ndings and new evidences inrm newer and more
precise interpretations of texts and historical peomea: o pioeer scholarly
work can survive itact through time, cononted with new research other
scolars have been able to make, which oe build on the previous works.
What I think is more relevant, though, is that cci was able to identify
the ndamental element in a of views which
spaed may the gradualist and te on-graalist approach topaths, whic ecompassed interest i the Tantric traditions,
Tibetan Buddhism, te exus between Cinese and Taoism, and
Mogol socio-religious strategies. This approac is the same core element
whic is present in the around the origins of Mahimudr ad
its dierences with rDzogs chen, and is also the reason why it represents a
ndamental point in this article. It is repeatedly mentioned in the Sa skya
bka' bum, i rerence to a rDzogs chen of Chiese style". Tis Chinese
rDzogs chen" was apparently quite close to Ch 'an and possbly inuenced b
oter religious traditions as, r example, Taoism.
Evidence of a complex coexistence of dierent religious elements whose
origi is uncertain is provided by the ongoing research on the
in particular those related to Ch 'an and Tatric Buddhism.4
114
Initiay in Tcci 1 958: 1 02, with ater reections present in Tcci 1 988 :1 1 1 5
Among those who highighted the doctrinal simiarities between Ch an and rDzogs chen
we nd Water vans Wentz, amost at the same time of Giseppe Tcci's Minor Buddhist
Texts (Evans Wentz 1 954, 20 00); Ueyama Daishn (1 983); Jefey Broghton (1 983); Carmen
Meinert (2002) Among those more inclined to view a reatively more independent origin of
the two traditions, distancing themseves om Tcci's view, there are Per Kvaee (1983);
Samten Karmay (1 988); Raymond Robertson and Kenneth K Tanaka (1 992)
From the eighth century to at least the thirteenth century.
From the seminal work of Paul Demivile, Le Concile de Lhasa: un controverse sur le
quitisme entre bouddhistes de l 'Inde et de la Chine au VJe sicle d< ! 're chretinne
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r 6 G i v i A r
These show that the interactions between Chinese Buddhism and TibetanBuddhism included historical and doctrinal not only between
Ch 'an and rDzogs chen, but between Ch 'an and Tantra in general . Scholars
have dierent views about how and how much Ch 'an ideas were integrated
into Mahyoga Tantric teachings, and about the possible existence of a
proto-rDzogs chen" which absorbed Ch 'an ideas.5
The relevance that Tucci attributed to commonalities btween
rDzogs chen and Ch 'an not be overlooked, under-evalated ordisregarded, especially in light of the pronounced tendency to harmonise"
dierent Buddhist traditions that scholars now see as having been an mportant
phenomenon during the Sung rule (960-1279). The debate arnd the original
identities of these traditions and on the interactions between diere rms
of Buddhism and other religious is therere likely to remain open.
MAHUDR RZOGS CHEN
Mahmudr (Great Symbol" or Seal") is the Sanskrit name of a religious
tradton and of an ner, ndvdual state of sprtual realsato. dees
both a edtatoal, psychophyscal path ad ts al acheveent. Is corps
of teachgs ad technques s rooted n Tantrs, and ore speccall
into the Tantric practices of visualisation and transrmation. Its practices
have been widely incorporated into many Ind-Tibetan religious traditions
and beliefs .
rDzogs chen (Great Perction") is the Tibetan name of a religious
tradition which also represents an state of spiritual realisation.
Cosdered as the nal stage ofAnuyoga, it is also known as Atiyoga.
rDzogs chen is a self-liberating" path, where the initiation is
by a direct introduction" to the experiential knowledge of the practitioner 'satural state". Ths s generall dened with the ter rig pa or chos nyid
mngon sum (real dhrmat", or true condition of all dharma") and it is
(1952), to the research work of Robert Mayer and Cat Cantwell on early Tibetan
documents, among which is Early Tibetan Documents on Phurpafrom Dunhuang (2008).
See the opposing arguments provided by Meinert one side, ad Van Schaik and Dalton
on the other, regarding the interpretation of the commentary in document PT
9 9 (Menert 2002; Van Schaik & Dalton 2004).
Chn ng 200 1.
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considered a non-dual state of pure aareness, beyond any conditioningmental activities and emotions.
The need r stressing the distinctions beteen Mahimudri and rDzogs
chen has alays accompanied the coexistence of the to traditions in Tibetan
cultural history, the most obvious reason r this being the similarities
present in their systems.
The debate regardg the real or cttous nature ofthese smlartes has
produced an abundance of discordant interpretations, hich go many centuries back in time and are still present and a matter of discussion noadays.
Systems like Ch 'an, Mahiyoga and rDzogs chen undoubtedly do share
enough commonality to justify the interest of practitioners and scholars
attempting to investigate their respective origins and distinctive traits,7
though the questions regarding the relevance of late syncretism or remote,
common roots, are probably destined to remain mostly unansered.
The nuece of rDzogs chen on Mahimudri seems to be essentially dueto the lloing circumstances :
1 coexstence o te two sstes n te man tratona scoos o
etan Busm
2. nterretaton o te o an oter wrtten sources
3 sea casscato a teroo
4 ctua smartes
These ill be discussed in order belo.
Coexistence
The coexistence of Mahimudri and rDzogs chen has resulted in a certain
ber ofloaords, her ternology specc to one or the other sstehas been consistently used. At the same time, representatives of dierent
schools tend to adopt examples and concepts taken eely om both systems
hile delivering their teachings.
116
Rerring to stdies condcted by Meinert, van Schaik and Dalton, Kapstein and Dotson
(2007:xi) write: "(. . .) the creative evoltion of religious practices between China and Tibet
in multi ethnic Dunhang ( . . . where) trends sch as Ch 'an, Mahiyoga and rDzogs chenenjoyed a degree of idity prior to their codication as distinct systems of teaching
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For example, sometimes the same method has been called Mahmudr'by the rNying ma pa school and rDzogs chen" by the bKa' brgyud pa
and the other schools. This is simply due to the ct that the rNying ma pa
traditionally the term rDzogs chen" as a name r all their
hghest, ost portant practces, reectg how great was the regard
which they hold Atiyoga, which they consider the method
Another example is that in the Mahmudr teachng of bKa' brgyud pa
tradition there is a of to the state (of the mind)" that hasthe aim of introducing the disciples to the state of contemplation, to make
them understand the nature of the true Mahmudr. This state is expressed
using three words: essence, nature and rm", in a very similar way to
what we d rDzogs chen, where the same concept is expressed with the
words: essence, nature and energy" (ngo o rng bzhin and thugs rje)8
Both the rNyg a pa and bKa' brgyud pa had portat practtoers
of rDzogs chen and Mahmudr and these masters were of course
to examples and practices om both these traditions,
the overlapped ad ueced each other. Ths happeed regardless of
the ct that teachers did not always actually mix up" dierent teachings
and traditions, becse word borrowings, comparisons and parallelisms
were ofte supercally terpreted by the students and practtoers.
example of the practice of linking" Mahmudr and rDzogs chen, but
assimilating one teaching to the other, is well represented by the
llowing quote:
Tug te cmmn acceptance f the term thugs rje revlves arund the cncept f
"cmpassin (varibly rendered and interpreted), its meaning in rDzogs chen invlves
mre thn mercy nd cmpassinte etics, strngly implying te ideas f "energy,
"ptential energy, "activity, "dynamic rce, etc, as the reectins and rendering
f severl schlars suggest: N. Nrbu, Clemente 1 999:235; Acard 1 999: 1 1 1 (Nte 41);Gdman, Davidsn 1 992: 14; Berzin 2001 :7 Furthermre, the use fte wrd in the Klng
chen snying thig rter suggests te idea f a creative energy: "As it (thugs rje) is ceaseless,
it i s the bsis f varius manisttins, (m the gZhi lam 'bras bu' i smn lam, a srt
prayer f aspiratin attributed t 'Jigs med gling p nd included in the Klng chen snying
thig cycle). Terere, te term thugs rje is a gd example f Tibetan plysemy,
nd the umpteenth piece f evidence f the prevailing value f context in semantics. I d
agree tht, as pinted ut in dierent ways and degrees by the abve mentined schlars,
translating thugs rje s "cmpssin in sme specic rDzogs chen cntexts wuld
intrduce te idea f an eticlly inspired actin, whic is an element nt nctinllypresent Atiyga as part f its essentially self liberating and nn dual methd f practice .
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I te mn s clear, osere te essence o clart: ts s Mahmudrunon o o an clart.
I te mn reoces, osere te essence o leasure : ts s Atiyoga,
o o an leasure.
I e mn se osere e ce o e o: s sMahdamik,
unon o o an nowlee.
The qote beons to a ver short text, entted The Rened God ofthe Ora Teaching About the Practice of Understanding, and
Behing According to the Mahmur',9 written by an imortant master
of the 'Brug pa bka' pa schoo. Nag dban kun dga' bstan 'dzin
khams spru (1680-1728), ho had aso rNying ma a teachers (ike the
brothers gTer chen 'Gr med rDo rje and Lo chen Dhra Sr Kun dga'
bstan 'dzin, both om sMing 'gro gin monastery).
Three are reeant here: gsal stong, bestong and rig stong. Stong means void", emptiness", and it is sed in
counction ith three dierent words, resective meaning carit"
(gsal), peasre" (be) and knoedge" ig).10 The three resting
expressions conve the meanng of of void and carit", union of
vod and peasre" and non of vod and knoedge", cear denng
stong, the void, as ther common denominator.
What I nd nterestn s that gsal stong (nion of void and carit")
is eqated to Mahmur bde stong with rDzogs chen and rig stong
ith Mahmhyamika. An anaysis of the doctrina which
is at the basis of this shared connecton to nyat od dente be
interestin to prsue, bt we beond the imits of this short document.
I on bre notce here that ths mpes a stron coonat beteen
dierent teaching traditions, and the overa imression is that these are
perceived just as dierent aspects of one ath, each of them essentia
10
118
Ngag dban kun dga' bstan 'dzin khams sprul, (Ngag dban kun dga' bstan 'dzin dge legs
dpal bzang po), Phyag ra chen po'i lta bsgom spyod gsum i nyams su Zen tshul zhal
gdams gser hun ma.
Na ro cos drug texts of the 'Brug pa dkar brgyud pa traditions: a collection of rare
texts on the Six Doctrines ofNaropa, 1 978, TBRC W2652 2393 . Also in the translation
by Dell'Angelo and Maglietti (1993)
The semantic value of these words (and ofrig pa in particular) is extremely wide, as well
as their dierent possible translations in English.
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Chapter 6 I I Giovanni Arca
corresponding to a type of experience. Interestingly, this is not obtainedthrough assimilation or juxtaposition; it is not syncretism but rather a kind of
essental classcaton of dierent sstes of practce, organsed accordng
to one's experience, any doctrinal belonging and practice.
Tantric Mahmdr and self-liberating Atiyoga are here considered as
connected expressions of qualitatively dierent experiences or planes"
of one and only realisation, sharing unyat as the common basis of all
phenomena (dhrma). Historical and doctrinal origins and aresimply not relevant here, as the author his of puriying",
rening" everythng o an exteror shell, to show what he beleves s
the golden" core of these teachings.
This text, and the passage quoted above in particular, represents
therere an ineresting example of how teachers eely created links
between dierent according to their on
experience and hat they thought more usel and eective r their
teachng purposes. Soetes these lnks could be justed n ters of
historical and doctrinal relations, other times they be the of a
more esoteric" understanding and others still were simply determined by
personal or reasons and convenience .
Although certainly not common in the dGe lugs pa tradition, rDzogs
chen had soe great representatves n that school too, like the rst Pa
chen Laa, Blo bzang chos ky rgal tshan (50-662) and te fth
Dalai Lama (16171682). It seems reasonable to suppose that rDzogs chen
had very probably other llowers among the dGe pa, particularly in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, not only of the
and ascendency of these leaders, but r the links that the teachings of
the Great Perction had with the "Mahmdr of the dGe pa", also
called dGa' lan phyag rgya chen po, expounded b the Pa chen Laa
in his work dGa' ldan bka' brgyd rin po che ' i phyag chen rtsa ba rgyal
ba'i gzhng lam (Root Text of the Precous dGe lgs-bKa' brgy1
Mahmdr: The Man Road of the Victorous Ones). As Kara
interestingly points out:
II The expression bka' brgyuds been interpreted both as the name ofbKa' rgyd school
and as "oral or "whispered transmission. In the rst case it wold indicate a combined
tradition, while the second interpretation wold rer to a specic dGe lgs tradition of
Mahimudri. The subject has been investigated by Roger R. Jackson (Newland 20 01 :1 5 ).
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Asi a n Studi es i n Ho n o ur ofG iuseppe Tuc c i a n d L egacy
rtn t or, te Pan cen Lama n ct rout an areayetae en teacn traton amon te Ge u a non
a dBen sa brnyan bud ane on om on-a-a. (. . . e
Pan-cen Lama yncrete te dBen sa brnyan brud t a oter
eoterc teacn o etan Bum (. . . For [m an oter ater
Ge u a mater o te 6t an 8t centure] , MP [Man ngag
lta ba'i phreng ba] contan te enune teacn o
an terere tey coner t to e te rnca or exounn teoctrne o rDzogs ch en c n ter ve eeay an to dGe
ldan bka' brgyud (sic passim).12
Thee doctrinal borrowings and sharing occurred amon all schools,
except the Sa skya pa, who never had any relevant, important rogs chen
master, and becase of this the Mahmudri teachings present in their
tradto have bee ess eced by rzos chen terminology, rerenceand contents.
We ca d aother exaple of how rogs chen eced
Mahimudri in the rNying ma pa school, here the explanation of the
prpose of Mahimudri is llowed by an introdction to the state of
Mahimudri, wherea in the Mahimudri tradition of the Sa kya pa
chool , there is ot evidet rm of introdction quite the oppoite,
it is expresly denied, as we can read in one of the text reented in thelowg pages S a pa :
nce te mn a no eence, o can tere e an ntroucton o
te
Ad aother text by Sa skya ata abbrevated as Sa pa"
hereaer):
1 2
13
120
en I am ae t, (o to ntrouce te nature o mn, accorn
to my ay (o I aner tat te mn a no eence
an tere notn to ntrouce.13
Karmay (2007:89).
Sa sa bka' 'bur, Vol 5: 416, 1 5 , ("Answers to questions of bKa' gdams pa nam mkha'bum)
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C a e 6 i v a i A a
S a pa's logc s ths case very basc, bt hs argets are spportedboth by the ct that this actally represents a daetal
of rDzogs chen, and by the absece of rDzogs chen ece the
Mahmudr of Sa skya traditio, provdig stregth to his
does ot seem irrelevant or icosistet. What he is ackowledgig here is
that the knowledge of the state mst arise alone, by itself, according to the
meanig of the ter lhag mthong,14 that is something which arises
he sole practce of zhi gnas,15 a consideration that is partly preset i thedGe pa school as well.16
This Introdctio to the state (of the mind)"17 s ct perctly jsted
and appropriate in the Atiyoga system, it the key r the immedite
recognitio of the adept's of the mind. All is i perct accord
with the essence of a totally non-graual path, where the step to obtain
the realsato" s sally cosdered a sgle oe. Whe Sa pa states
that he does ot recognise this as a valid practice, he is not saying that the
practice has o vale. he meas is that it is not cosistent with the
Mahmudr tradition, accordig to the teachigs of this syste that were
taght in the Sa skya pa school.
Because the two systems of Mahmudr and rDzogs chen were ot
coexstet the Sa skya pa tradto, Sa pa had o reaso to cor
what appeared to him as a clear borrowig om Atiyoga, or had he to
ded ay Sa skya i which thi s Itrodction" had bee sed as
part of the crriclar" Mahmudr teachigs of his school.
I thk there are sfcet reasos to cosder the presece of sch
a copoet within the Mahmudr system as a example of how
sycretis ca prodce contradictory reslts, that is the itrodctio of
a key eleent into a system based on progressive achieve
ets.
1 4
15
16
17
Lhag mthong literally means "seeing more and, as an extended meaning, can be (and has
been) interpreted, as "more clearly or "more introspectie, and "insightl.
That is, relaxing one's mind, bringing it into its natural state.
"When you hae thus won an imperturbable tranquillity, you must examine again and
again with discriminative and appreciatie acumen the existentiality of mind in itself and
strengthen your certainty about it (Guenther 1 966:92)
Often called rig pa' i ngo sprod ("introduction to the state of rig pa) in the rDzogs chenteachings. For the meaning ofrigpa see note 3
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A second, possible reason r some jxtapositions of Mahmudr and
rDzogs chen s te spercal apprecato of te doh (and to a lesser
extent, of te Songs of la ras pa), when tese are considered as a sort of
poetical description of the metod of the practice, and not as an expression
of its achievements .
We do not know enogh abot te legendary autors or protagonistsof these beatil and inspiring writings, bt te rerences we hve tell
s of people wo were in Tantric practices 1 8 of visalisation and
transrmation, progressing om one stage to another. The actions of
tese hagiographic heroes, whether or and
transgressive, ave captred te imagination of the readers, contribting
to te Mahmudr tradto a mage tat does ot reect ts atre. Tere
as been an assimilation of what is expressed in te doh as an extremespontaneity of practitioners singing of teir victorious acievement (after
what ad been probably a gradal and igly committed training), with
the immediate and apparently spontaneos, eortles s caracter ofrDzogs
chen, wose distinctive metod is precisely te opposite of a gradal path
and does not involve Tantric tecniqes of transrmation. 19
As Roger Jackson writes,
I ct, te preponerance of te evence . . .) cats tat araa,
Ka, a oa a rooe ecc oc racc, wc
were eeve cruca to t stener's at to attan te uate. 2 0
We can certainly make ypoteses regarding te reasons why the songs
attrbted to tese :gres were composed sc a way to sggest a sort
of careless, easy-going" listyl, as if all that mattered in achieving their
spirital goal was having n breaking all rles , while making n of tose
18
19
20
122
For example: Saraha (Guhyasamja T., Tib. gSang 'dus), Virpa (Hevajra T., Tib.
Kye' i rd rje), Tilopa (mainly Cakrasavara T., Tib. 'Khr l sdm pa), Mi la ras pa
(akrasavara T., Tib. 'Khr l sdm pa).
Nevertheless , it is quite common rrDzgs chenteachers to use many Tantric transrmation
methods during the training with their students. Not all of them, though, consider relevant
to distinguish these on a theoretical basis, well on the track of many of their predecessors.Jackson (2004: 29).
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Chatr 6 I I G i v a i r a
who did not. However, we actually do not know the context well enough toake denitive observations here.
we do not know what degree of editing these texts have undergone,
and so we cannot be certain to what lk and religious context they were
ost responsive.2 1 Secondly, whether the choice of style is dictated by
existent lk traditions and/or by accurately marketed propagation ais,
and to what degree, we do not know either. Thirdly, we can see that
use of negation is omnipresent the doh, as ell as a ore specicantiyogic" rhetoric, 22 but we are not able to lly how these
traits link with the overall context and how they were literary
devices and/or instructive elements of any possible Tantric didactics whose
we would certainly il to appreciate.
These traits have contributed to heighten the siilarities that the nal
stage of the Mahmudr Tantric practices has with the essence of the
rDzogs chen teachings, vouring an interpretation of the doh as esoteric
and symbolic instructions of a Great Perction" which does not need
else than an instantaneous and self-liberating recognition of one's
own This has misrepresented the Tantric gradual character of the
Mahmudr and this is precisely what Sa skya Paita strongly opposes.
Classifcation
One classication of the antras ight hae aso contributed to the
consion between elements ofMahmudr and rDzogs chen. The Tantras
classied as Anuttara Tantra in the Phyi sgyur, (New translation") are
21
22
"The spiritual doh and cary songs, themselves of lk origin, were composed by the
Tantric siddhas of India where they had turned out to be an apt medium to propagate their
doctrines, coating and veiling the esoteric message in allusive phrases and in a enigmaticlanguage ( ), rich in imagery and replete with double entendre and homonymous puns
Srensen (1990 15) And D. Templeman (1994 17 ) observes that "As thedohiwas primarily
a means of direct, authentic communication between master and disciples, it had to express
a truth in a way which would resonate within its listeners, rather than being
understood by them at a conceptual level only It had to t into a wide range of lk rhythms
and metres, as such songs had to travel into many cultural areas among unlettered people
whose most practical way of gaining the message might well have listening to such songs
"[he dohi songs] contain what we might regard as "antiyogic rhetoric, which may
leave us rther consed as to what the siddhas were promoting and what they weredenigrating (Jackson 2004:28)
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divided into Paternal, Maternal and sometimes Neutral or Non-dual",and are consdered equvalent to the ones classed as Internal antras n
the sNga sgyur (Old ranslation"), traditionally divided in Mahyoga,
Anuyoga and Atiyoga. To clarify what the element of consion
s n ths system of classicaton, I must very brey consder the two
stages" of bskyed rim and rdzogs rim. While the practice of bskyed rim
primarily consists in transrmations om an vision into a pure"
one (r example in a mla of deities, in which all beings manistthemselves as gods and goddesses), the practice of rdzogs rim mainly
deals with based on the energy"23 of the individual, based on
the channels", the akra and the pra. All antras contain instructions
on b oth bskyed rim and rdzogs rim but some, such as the CakrasaYvara
antra r example, explain mostly the rdzogs rim, though not excluding
the practices related to the bskyed rim. Other types of Tantras (such as
the Guhyasamja Tantra, a Tantra of the Anuttara classcaton)are mostly based on the bskyed rim transrmation practices and mainly
explain the methods through which all beings manist themselves as
gods, in the maala of their pure dimension".24
But there are also some antras, such as the Kalacakra Tantra, which
present a balanced way of practising bskyed rim and rdzogs rim; this
balance has been considered as being eutral, or Non-dual", and this
name has bee n used n the classcaton of such antras. he problem s
that if we assume that the eutral" antra is such precisely becuse its
practices of bskyed rim and rdzogs rim are balanced, it is not possible that
Atiyoga, which has neither bskyed rim nor rdzogs rim, be dented wth a
ethod based on ts balance. Unrtunately ths classicaton potentally
23
24
124
In te context f te Western studies on Tibetan Tantrism, te complex interaction ofrtsal,rl pa and gdangs (tree terms tat convey many dierent meanings and acceptations,
including "manistation, "resonance, "creative power'', "emanation, "function,
"re ection'', "strengt, "potency'', "action and "rce) is often simply translated as
"energy. Wen used to mean te dynamic, vital rce of te individual, "energy mainly
rers to rtsal; in relation to te practice of te metods of transrmation it rers to rol
gdangs can be dened as (Norbu, N 199 6:55 ) "te inerent condition of energy itself
as it really is, in any kind of manistation watsoever
An interesting example of te concrete, practical interrelation occurring between
Tantras as been provided by David Templeman (1992 3:71 ), who as igligted te"completion role of te Cakrasvara Tantra in relation to te Guhyasamija Tantra
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leads towards this wrong understanding, because it has created theidea of some sort of reciprocity between the Neutral Tantra of the new
translation and the Atiyoga of the old translation.
Therere it presents an element of potential consion, which has
certainly not helped to clarify the distinctive elements of both the systems
of Mahmudr and rDzogs chen
Terinology
Another ctthat can be relatively consing is that not only Mahmudr
commonly mean both the Path and its state of realisation, but both
the names ofMahmudr and rDzogs chen are used with exactly the same
meaning when rerring to the highest level of the practice. More precisely,
in the tradition of the rNying ma pa school, Mahmudr means the aim, and
the result, of Mahyoga, and rDzogs chen the aim and result ofAnuyoga,while the other schools do not usually have this distinction and generally
dene te ghest level of te practce only as Mahmudr. Even though
what tey mea by ths s te al stage ofMahyoga, they actually use the
name Mahmudr to genercally dene te nal ad usurpassable result
of any sprtual path. But n the Tibeta Buddhist traditon te same al
result can be obtained through two dierent paths, one om Mahyoga
and the other om Anuyoga In ct, though the common goal or result canbe called Mahmudr, the paths are indeed dierent because it is true that
both Mahyoga and Anuyoga are based on the methods of
but the rst one deals wt the metod of gradual trasrmaton, practisg
bskyed rim and rdzogs rim, while the latter is non-gradual, meaning it
is not necessary to practise bskyed rim, step by step. This is because in the
Anuyoga system the base" of each individual is considered lhun grub, that
is self-percted" ab origine, ad so t is consdered sufcient to mantaa presence, without creating or developing anything. The Anuyoga system
is thus much closer to the rDzogs chen view of the practice, and in ct its
al stage s called Atiyoga, which is rDzogs chen25
25 A hypothesis of a possible, original liaison between Mahmudr and rDzogs chen has
been proposed by J. Dalton (2004 :1 30), according to whom the latter could have beenoriginated om the "stage of completion (rdzogs rim).
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Factual similarities
The similarities between Mahmudr and rDzogs chen, however, might not
only being derived om syncretic elements, misinterpretaton of the doh,
classcatory weaknesses and abguous termnoogy. In ct, f we rer
to Mahmudr as the method relatve to the nal stage of the antrc path
of transrmaton, t does actually present ctual afnties wth rDzogs
chen. These afntes, though, can be anly und n the copletonstage" (rdzogs rim) of the Anuttara Tantra or Tantras.26
Mahmudr and rDzogs chen mght aso share more than cassicatory
and terminological borders, r there is the possible presence of a Tantric
tradtion of Mahsddhas related to the Bon po rDzogs chen teachings,
to the Zhang zhung snyan rgyud.27 If research added rther
evdence and clarity to the rerences already provided by some scholars, 28
26
27
28
126
For the term rDzogs chen as an extension of rdzogs rim, see Karmay (2007:138)
A very usel bibliographical tool r the various editions of the Zhang zhung snyan
rgyuhas been recently provided by H. Blezer (201 1 :135 203)
D Snellgrove (1 986:103 104) writes: "There is no serious reason r doubting the existence
of the Bon sages who come within the historical period, and at the same time there is
no doubt of the Indian Buddhist origin of their philosophical theories and meditative
practices The Oral Traditions of Shang shung' belong to the class of teachings known as
the Great Perction' (rDzogs chen) Such teachings are common to the Old Order'(rNying ma) among Tibetan Buddhists and to certain llowers of Bon, and there would
seem to be a close connection between the Bon sages who practised them and the Indian
Buddhist yogins who were perhaps already spreading in Tibet unconventional teachings
of a non monastic kind during the royal period After the recount of a story connected to
Gyer spngs pa, a hng zhng pa Mahsiddha, Snellgrove adds:
"The willingness of the disciple to sacrice himself r his master, once he was
assred that his master wold be prepared to eat the esh of his corpse, belongs to
Indian Tantric tradition So too do the women, dressed in j ewellery and white clothes,
r they are the kinf (attendant goddesses) who administer to meditating yoginsJM Reynolds (2005:79 81) writes: "( ) in strictly historical terms, it may be asserted
that this Zhang zhung Nyan gyud derived om the oral precepts of a kind of Bonpo
Mahasiddha known by the name of Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo (Gyer spungs snang
bzher lodpo), the disciple of another mysterious Mahasiddha, Tapihritsa, whom he
encountered in a series of visionary experiences This Gyerpungpa, ( ) who is almost
certainly historical, ( ) and hi s master probably l ived in the axial period of the eighth
century to which the Nyingmapas equally look back to as the Golden Age r the
establ ishing in Tibet of the teachings of their own tradition deriving om India, which
also Dzogchen Gyerpungpa was not a Central Tibetan however, but a Zhangzhung pa ( . ) From Gyerpungpa, an unbroken lineage of transmission can be traced
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this could open an interesting chapter on the wider presence of a Tantrismrelated tradition, well beyond the borders of the Indo-Tibetan
Moreover, early intermingling" between Mahyoga and rDzogs chen
has been already mentioned by researchers, as und in texts earlier than
the tenth ceury, in in theRdo rje sems dpa 'i zhus !an (Questions
and Answers of Vajrasattva), a Mahyoga text attributed to Gnyan dpal
dbyangs, n whch Karmay (2007:60) has shown there eist borrowings of
rDzogs ch en material om the Sbas pa' i rgum chung (The Small Collectiono Hidden Precepts). Dalton (2004:1-30) has also highlighted the emphasis
on the Mahyna term bodhicitta present in the early rDzogs chen texts,
and the connections of the Great with the Tantric ritual system
of the Dgongs pa dus pa' i mdo.
HE TEXTS
The six short texts presented belong to the Sa skya canon and were written
by three well known masters and scholars : Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1147-
1216), Sa skya Pa
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Asin Hrizns : in Hn ur Giu s Tu i nd His L
concurrent positions: as and learned masters we my supposetey lt te need to reafrm at tey ad bee taugt ad beieved was
te correct view; as religious and political leaders tey ad to identify and
clearly estabis te ofcia position of te istitutio tey represeted,
ensuring te integrity, consistency and continuity of their traditions.
te point of view of masters and guardians of te traditions,
te need to clearly identify te nature of te Mahimudri teachings was
especially lt in relation to rDzogs chen, wic undoubtedly presentsimilarities wit Phyag rgya chen po, some apparent and oter ctual, as
I ave previously argued.
1. Phyag ra chen po gespo btus man ngag
e rst text, Collection of Selected Instructions o te Mahimudri"
(ereafter rerred to as Grags pa 1), is te oldest document presentedin this study. Te autor, Grags pa rgyal mtsan (1147116), one of the
Great Five" of te Sa skya tradition, wrote it in the second alf of te
twelft century, but te instructions contained terein go back to Lama
Rdo rje gdan pa,29 live around te year 1000 CE.
e text describes a graual practice of visualisation-transrmation, in
wic te practitioner moves toward a state of natural relaxation, throug
te progressive puricatio of te ve mai passios, wic correspodto te Buddas of te ve miies30 te al pase of t practice all
29
30
128
Known aso as Aogavajra, and as one of the "hree antric Brothers (Nigua,
Sukhasiddhi and hisef).
he ve Buddha iies (rigs Inga), Vajra (rd rje i rigs, the Indestructibe), Ratna (rin
hen rigs, the Jewe), Pada (padma rigs, the Lotus), Kara (las kyi rigs, the Action) and
athgata (de bzhin gshegspa'i rigs,the Buddha), representthe ve aspects ofbuddhahood
and are aso equenty rerred to as the ve Dhyni (editationa) Buddhas, though theyare not caled by this name in Sanskrit or Tibetan sources . "Dhyani sees in ct a ter
of Western origin, possiby created by Brian Hodgson in the nineteenth century. Lopez
(2004:73) argues in this regard that "Hodgson's other major error was the introduction
of the ter "dhyni Buddha into the Buddhist exicon. he ve miies are
associated with their corresponding ve negative eotions (nyn mngs pa, Skt. klefo),
respectively hatred (zh sdang), pride (nga rgyal), desire ( dd chags), jealousy (hragdg) and stupidity (gti mug). Bdud 'jos (200 5:425) writes that "According to Kriyatantra
there are three miies : Tathagatha, and Vajra. rers to ur miies :
Tathagatha [the Buddha ily], Lotus, ajra, and a urth iy that combines theAction with the Jewel miy. (Sic r al Sanskrit transliteration in the quote.)
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C a e r 6 G i v a n n i r a
supports of meditation are gradually abandoned, until a state devid ofconcepts is reached.
In the ca se of a not the skills to achieve this state, the
text provides an explanation of the Prajprmit practice, which shold
be", as the author writes, known (to the reader) after having received the
third initiation". It is therere clear that the author assumes the readers of
these instructions he received the proper initiations, which shows that
these practices were included in a preliminary wider initiationcontext, without which they would not have had any sense.
As a sort of practical anology, the text with a very short
explanation of gtum mo, oe of the Sx Yogas of Nrop. A practce of
visualisation-transrmation of ayab yum31 then introduces some
concise instructions and explanations regarding te Tantric union, where
the sexual act becomes the
hs selecto of structos eds wth a explaato by Idrabht
regarding the proper r a practitioner of the Mahmudr.
Ths text clearly exemples the gradual ature of the etods coected
to what s deed as Phyag rgya chen po, at least around the twelfth century.
2. Phyag ra chenpo yan lag bdun dan i rtsa a
The text, entitled: Root text of the Mahmudr ofthe Seven(ereafter rerred to as Sa pa 1) s a root text by Sa skya Pata K
dga' rgyal tsha (11821251). Wrtte the rst half of the thrteeth
this short text the essence of the teaching and practice of
Mahmudr.
31 Te mystical union of the male (yab), and male (yum) is represented in te Ind Tibetan
Tantric iconography by the sexual embrace of two beings belonging to the highest realms of
existence and realisation. In the context ofndo Tibetan Tantrism the male represents the
wisdom (Skt.prajn) of the Enlightenment. The male is a symbol of the so called "skilll
means, trough wich the wisdom can actively manist in the world. Similarities but al so
dierences do exist with the Hindu Tantrism, as Faure (2003:124) highlights: "In Hindu
Tantrism, the god's "female energy, his kti, is personied as his male consort. The
same seems true in the case of the mudr, the sexual partner of Tibetan Tantric gods . As
Agehananda Bharati and Alex Wayman have pointed out, however, this male mudr,contrary to the kti, is a symbol ofprajn (wisdom).
129
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Asian Studies in ofGiuseppe Tucci andHis
Despite the poetical style being gentle, the author does not il to exercisehis well known tendency to clarify and qualify,32 applying it to explain his
point of view regarding the original of Mahmudr as a spiritual
path.
In ths second text we nd the rst direct menton of the two levels
of practice in the Mahmudr teaching method, bskyed rim (process of
creation/genertion) and rdzogs rim (stage of completion),33 which will be
equently mentioned in the llowing texts. These progressive levels areinherent to the practice of Phyag rgya chen po, and represent the main
structural" dierence between Mahmudr and rDzogs chen.
3. De 'i khrid yig yan lag bdun pa
The third text, entitled Commentary on the Mahmudr of the Seven
Levels" (hereaer rerred to as 'Phags pa 1), is a commentary to theprevious root text, written by pa blo gros rgyal mtshan (15-180),
discple and grandson of Sa skya Pa
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Chapter 6 II Giovanni Arca
essece of at te text dees as o-dal realsato". s experetalno-dality is state ofMahmudr s , te al realsato, great
symbol" or great seal". e previos graual practice i seve is
a qite representatve example of te psycopsical tecqes
tat are sed to reac ts al state.
4 Phyag chen nyams fen
e rt text, etitled Te Practice of te Mahmudr" (ereafter
rerred to as 'Pags pa 2) is a sort root text also by pa. As
te prevos root text, e d some oter clarcatos abot te atre
of te Mahmudr metod ad abot te correct approac to its practce.
I particular, te metods of vsalisatio and recitation of matras are
explctly accepted as part of te pracce ad deed as beecal".
e ator oeteless speces tat tese atrc etods are jstmetods", meas", like an axle" joinig te weels of Mert ad Wisdom.
5 rTogs lan ran po 'i dris Ian
e ft text, ettled sers to te Qestos of rogs lda rgya po"
(ereafter referred to as Sa pa 2), s rtte by Sa skya Pata ad deals
wit r importat poits: te lta ba (visio") ofMahmudr ts atre,
its ibeta ame (Phyag rgya chen po), ad te levels of its practice.
partclar, Sa skya Pata observes tat te essetal metods relatg
to Mahmudr are ot preset in te Loer atras (Kriy ., Upa . ad
Yoga .). also metios te possibility of a istat awakeig" ito
te atenic wisdom ofMahmudr bt stresses tat sc a occurrece
is to be cosidered exceptioal ad tat its acievemet geerally
reqres te applcation of te metods ad te gradal progressio of tepractitoer.
6. rNal 'byor pa Phru ma pa la gdams pa
e sixt text, etitled Advice to te yogi Pr ma-pa" (ereafter rerred
to as Sa pa3), s rtte by Sa skya Pata. t explas o tese practces
can become obstacles r te practtioer, creatig a coditio worse ta
the iitial oe. e text is written i te rm of a dialoge, as wit te
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A sin Hrizn s: Stdis i n Hn r T i nd Ly
prevos Sa pa 2, ad t provdes qte drect asers to te qestosspposedly asked by a yogi, met drig a trip.
Te between Mahmudr and rDzogs chen s reafrmed
i all tese texts, maily rerring to te practices ad te
graual atre of te pat, wic are typical of te Tatric metods of
visalisation-trasrmatio to ic te teacigs of Mahmudr are
commoly cosidered to belong. A clear rerece to te preliminary
practices is in Grags pa 1 :
e renar ractces are not resent ere.
Te preliminary practices" (sngon 'gro) te ator rers to are tose
related to te accmlatio of merit ad wisdom. These are not rmally
preset i te rDzogs chen teacgs, c are tradtoally deed as a
pat of self-liberation ad, as sc, distict om te pat oftrasrmatio.34
s Karmay (2007: 107) qotes , examig te capter o rDzogs chen i
te bSam gtan mig sgron35
. . . te octrne of Atiyog, . . . ts nae s te reat Percton.
W? Becase t gves etae teacng t a ve to partng
rect o te rce o ts non-sogt sontanet
wt regar to a exstenta eeents. e o te sontaneos
essence, wc s te nerost treasr o a veces an tegreat niversa grater", is to be experience irect by self
awareness", t ot as a tg to e et n . I s to e ae
to te se-aareness".
d Meert (Kapste & Dotso 2007:2) otes rter tat
34
35
132
The essential aspect of Dzog chen has traditionally been related to an awakening
produced by a direct to one's own nature (ngo ang hog u spod pa),
without the recourse to transrmation practices of a gradual kind. This consideration
mainly stems om the rst verse (or "statement) of the "Three Vajra Verses (rd rj
shig gsum), attributed to the legendary rst master fzogs chen, dGa' rab rdo rje, also
known as the "Three Statements that Catch the Essential Points (shig gsum gnad bdeg)
or, more literally, the "Three Statements that Hit the Nail on the Head (going directly to
the heart of the matter).
Bsam gan mig sgon ("The Torch of the Eye of Meditation), by Gnubs chen Sangs rgyasye shes, possibly written around the tenth century.
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n te spontaneous percte sucness o te supree oga, oAtiyoga, a ara-s se-raate te perct an
pure spere o se-arsng prora gnoss. e are not separe
sougt as cause an uton ecause te are spontaneous percte.
spontaneit", self-awareness", spontaneousl percted
suchness", [no] case and all at the of transrmation
methods.The ct that Grags pa rgyal mtshan mentions the absence of the pre
liminar practices is a clear indicaton the were a common part of the
Mahmudr gradal path. With regard to this notion of gradualit"
though, it shold be noticed that even if, as part of the tradition originating
om the Yoga Tantras, Mahmudr inherits man of the gradal atures
hch ere specc to the stages f transmaton, not a practces
within Mahmudr sstem can be considered literall gradual". Thegradalit" of Mahmudr rers to the presence of the preliminar
practices , of the stages of bskyed rim and rdzogs rim, and of the practices
of gradal transrmation. Bt the borders between gradual" an non
grada" are r o beng xed.
Grags pa 1
In Grags pa 1 the instructions begin in ct with a non-graual
of Prajprmit, in a wa a correspondece to the Anuyoga
style of practice:
n nstant anst ourse as Prajprmit
withot an gradal of the deit's image, but llowed by a
progressve seqence of dened steps, here ghts of derent coorsare the means of specc transraton acts, changg all passons nto
wisdoms.
The practce is then conclded with a rther, clearl graual seqence
of subtractive" until al l mental dualism disappears:
en asor ourse nto te H, te 0 s asore nto te Ha, te Ha
nto te cresce, one nto te thig le, te thig le nto te n da an
te n da ssoves nto te state vo o concepts, an so ou etate.
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As n Horzo ns tu ds n Hon o ur of Gu s u n d L
The reason why the visalisation of Prajfprmit is obtained in atotally non-gradal manner might be that the considered the adept
already well trained in that practice, as a part of those preliminaries which,
being so ndamental and are not described. This seems to be
consistent with what llows at the end of the same instrctions, where the
adept advised to train more in the practice ofPrajnprmit, in case
he or she ds it difclt to reach a o-dal, o-cocetal coditio:
o o o ave e caa o ourse eo e oes,
earn (o prace) te suasaton o Prajnprmit, c o
so know, avn o recee te r ntaon.3 6
As a sort of revision", the method of oneself as
Prajnprmit is the briey desribed
All the instrctions contained in Grags pa are practices of
visalisation and transrmation, with a relevan degree of gradality.
Sa pal 1
I Sa pa 1 the gradal character of the istrctios ad their direct
connection with the Tantric tradition becomes neqivocally clear:
36
37
38
39
40
134
o ercty oan te 37 te ause r raymprovn te to auatons, 38 an te meo r reasn te
two Boes,39 one appes te cotepaton o te to ees,4 0 ten
The initiation "of the wisdom (Shes rab ye shes kyi dbang).
dBang bzh: the ur "Empowerments, or "Initiations, are the llowing: um
dbang, gSang ba' dbang, Shes rab ye shes kyi dbang, Tshig dbang rinpo che (Initiations
"o the vessel, "of the secret, "of the wisdom and "(precious empowerment) of the
voice (word).Wisdom and merit.
sKu gnyis: the dhrmakya and the rupakya, which includes the sambhogakya and
the nirmakya. Kya literally means "body, but can be interpreted as "aspect of
enlightenment.
Rm gnys: "the two levels. "Bskyed rim is bsed rim itself, concrete rdzogs rm is the
peacel and wrthl rlung, and the mind (cused) on one point (as in the) gum mo, etc.
Thus, by not becoming separated om these two, the blessing comes om the rm gnys
(bskyed rim and rdzogs rm). !Ta ba is like a method to clari these two. Mahmudr is
the na l wsdo which has been increased b these two (bskyed rim and rdzogs rm). Saskya bka bum, Vol.4:67, 1.3.
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C 6 II G i v n ni
one must become mar t te ractce o te Mahmudr cs te Wsom (comn) om tese.41
This is in accord with hat is more extensively expressed in another
point of the Sa skya canon:
Practcn bsed rim tout avn receve te rst ntaton;
ractcn te gtum mo, etc. tout te secon naton; metatn
te bss an te emtness te tr; ractcn te Mahmudr
etc., tout te an ben a mkhan po (abbot) tout te vos
o te ornaton, e tryn to tae a jee om te ea o a
snae, an t be te cause o one's on an oters' estructon.
erere, a se eoe sou eave tese (actons) r (om tem).42
And soon after we nd an even ore explct reference to the Tantrc,
gradual character of the aur teachins:
Narotaa sa: Recevn te ntaton an ractcn bsyed rim
an rdzogs rim s an arorate ractce but c beons to te
neae o Naro; ractcn bskyed rim an rdzogs rim an not avn
te s certany n contracton t te antra an aso
t our on customs [o te neae oNaroa]".43
Another closely related text is Common ronds of the Buddhas:
Method (as) and Knowledge (ses ra)".44
41
42
43
44
ome say tat tere s no uson nor non-uson. o become rease
t s not necessary to use a metos an cross a ats Nrjuna
The meaning and vlue of this "Wisdom, as well as its dependence om the two stages
of bskyed rim and rdzogs rim, are clearly stated in the tradition of the Sa skya pa schoo l:"(. . .) Our Mahmudr is the wisdom (ye shes) that comes om the initiation. And
om the prctice of the two rim pa comes the self arising wisdom. This realisation cn
e achieved during this li if one practices wisely the methods of the secret Tantra.
Otherwise, Buddh did not sy tht one can realise the Mahmudr. Bec ause of tis,
one should not commit to the practice of Mahmudr without initiations etc., but one
should practice according to the secret Tantric doctrine. (Sa skya bka' 'bum, Vol. 5:
30 8, . 14) .
Sa skya bka' 'bum, Vol. 5: .3 10, I . 12 .
Sa skya bka' 'bum, Vol. 5 : 3 17, I 5.Sa sa bka ' 'bum Vol. 5: 30 8, I . 2 .
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45
46
47
48
49
A s in Hor izo ns : Su dies in Hon o ur of Giu see Tu i n d His L e
attained libeation ealising only eta ba Padma 'byung gnas withthe bsed rim. Lhpa ealsed hmself wokng, Nagpopa45 with the
help of tuals, Goaka46 though the powe of the rlung, ava wth
the pactic ofgtum mo, Saaha with the Mahmudr, Togtseba47 with
the powe of blessng, Zhi ba lha48 eating, sleeping and going to the
tolet, Indabht lvng n luxuy and Bwapa49 became a siddha
ealising all kinds of inteelations. Theee, one must not slande
all these dieent methods and paths .
Listn to what I will explain about this .
Thee is no method (o path) to become a Buddha, witht the pesence
ofthabs ndshes rab Ts all siddha did not libeate themselves only by
this o that method. One is libeated ealising o inceasing the Wisdom
(e shes), which developed though the and though bsed
rim and rdzogs rim We cannot libeate ouselves only with the gtum
mo o with (the powe o blessings, and so on. One can libeate himself
gh the inteelation ofbsed rim and rdzogs rim, with the blessing
of eceiving initiation. bsKyed rim, rlung, gtum mo, etc., ae not
dieent m the othe two rim: the blessing comes om these, the !ta
ba is a pt of them, the Mahmudr is the uimate wisdom of these.
Indabht pactced the Mahmudr with the elaboate actions[behaviour], the pactice of the non-elaboate behavou s called
bhusuku So the Buddha said.
And the pactice absolutely not elaboated" is the teaching of the two
rim pa [bsed rim ad rdzogs rim] Fo this eason the actions ofall those
siddhas ae known as the conduct of Kun tu bzang po (Samantabhada)".
Usually known as Khapa, and often identied with Kcya.
Also known as Goakhnth.
Known with many vaiations of the names Ghadhai, Kolipa and Kodli .
The geat bodhisava and schola ntideva. his desciption is in accod with the meaning
of his othe name Bhusuku ("vagabond) and lows what Abhayadatta (op cit) writes.
antha descibes him vey dieently, as possessing extaodinay qualities aleady at
his birth (in his work dod kun byung, moe commonly known as ra gar chos 'byung,
"History of Buddhism in India), and only appaently behaving as a "bhusuku. Some
inteesting notes on the possible etymology of this tem can be und in antha ( 1970:217)Vipa.
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at 6 II Giovanni Arca
us, tout te unon o conton an cause, tere e no ote Bua, ut trou ts specc conecto t te mertorous
acts an trou te erence o te nterna nterreatons, one
ncreases an te Wsom (ye shes. s (appens) t te
erent metos.
For te oy o a sc person nees to eat r ut,
to et s mn ecomn open (to te ea) o eatn, at maeste erence s te o. n te sae ay tere are many erent
metos an ettn tem s os. But tnn tat ony (trou
te practce o tese specc metos one ca ecome a Bua,
s asoutey stup. For ts reason one sou mae a (necessary)
erts to receve te ntaton, c s necessary to y eveop
an (to receve te teacns o bskyed rim an rdzogs rim.
Another passage5 0 directly compares ahur and the ros hen
of Chinese style", rerrin to the teachins of Hwa Sha:
tere s not concepton one cannot aanon. one can aanon,
ut tout te presence o concepts, (ten) tere no reason y a
sentet cannot rease te Mahmudr. For ts reason, tere
are no n" or ron pats ean t Mahmudr. tere s
(ts type o conseraton) t s Mahmudr. erere, oneoes not te true Mahmudr, te utmate som, ten
s/er Mahmudr not o eyon te rDzogs chen o nese
type.1
One of the points more debated both in the dieret
ahur traditios as ell as in the comparison between ahur
and ros hen is the Introduction of the mid" sems k no spro). Saskya Pata states Sa pa 1 that ths practce does ot belog to what he
considered the ahur of Tantric heritae, opposi the well kow
arguets of the bKa' bryd pa ad Ny a pa schools , accorg to
50
51
Sa skya bka' 'bum, Vol. 5 309, l. 8.
"This distinguishes Tibetan (and its source: Indian), Buddhis om the peculiar Cinese
frm, the Hwa shang meditation, as it i s called in the Tibetan texts, here contemplationis said to consist in staring into empty space with a blank mind (Guenther 1992).
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An Horon ud n of G u u n d H
which Mahmdr teachings could have also been originated outside adente Tantrc contet.52 This consideration took into particular account
the idea that sGam po pa used the of the mind independently
om any Tantric and yogic practice of visuali sation and
as a more Stra stye" or derent" knd of nstructons . 53
The opposition to the idea of any sort of non-Tantric Mahmdr
contnues wth a specc rerence to the gradua path, hch should ead
the practitioner to realisation dierent several stages, or bhumi",using bskyed rim and rdzogs rim:
52
53
54
55
In te conton s as os: a erson o as ts
noege, n orer to ntegrate Samr anNirvn trs to acev
t s [or er] commtment te tes o conuct,54 eaorate,
non-eaorate an extremey non-eaorate, as t s expane n t
antras, an so crosng te Pat an te nterna bhumi(s),55 reatto ts ractce, otans te 1t bhumi o te Vajrara
Sa ska l stesses his conviction also in anothe text: "Fo the eleventh
How to intoduce the natue of the ind?' when (I) am asked this, accoding to
y way (of undestanding), (I sa that) the ind has no essence and that thee is nothing
to introduce. Thee is not thought no emo to ealise the piordial eptiness, the
emo' of the Sa skya bka' 'bum, Vol. 5: 416, I. 5, ("Answes to questions of
bKa' gdas pa na kha ' bu)."One of the special Geat S eal (phyag gya chen po: Mahmud) teachings which
sGa po pa was best known was his so called intoduction to the [natue o mind'
(sems kyi ngo spod), which the disciple was led to conont and diectl
the natue of hi s o he ind. sGa po pa is said to have given such Great Seal
instructions soetimes not as secet pecepts in connection with initiation
and special ogic pactice s, but athe as a based Great Seal instuction, o even
as a doctine going beyond both Sta and Tanta. Late citics such as S a ska Paita
aintained, howeve, that all true Geat Seal instuctions wee Mantayana teachings
that necessitated ll, al Tantric initiation into a mla These astes deniedin geneal the existence of any based o non Tantic Geat Seal, and in
they consideed the existence of an Mahyna doctine outside of the classes of
Pamityna and Mantayna to be impossible (D Jackson 1 994:2 3).
Spyod pa gsum: "the three conducts. "The Conduct is used to develop the two im pa
(bskyed im and dzogs im), with elaboation', without elaboation' and absolutel
without elaboation', nael the thee tpes of Conduct'. Indabhti aintained the
st tpe, antideva the second, the thid tpe is called Bhusuku' o of Biwapa' and
othe siddha who pacticed the two im pa This is also called The conduct of Kun tu
bzang po [Samantabhada] '. Sa sa bka' 'bum, Vol. 14:167, I . 5 .The bhmi(s) are 10, 12 o 13 stages ofthe bodhisattva path.
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h a t 6 G i v a n n i A a
'Phags pa 1
The Commeary to the root text, 'Phags pa 1, explicitly organise the instrc
tions into the seven levels" (an lag)56 mentoed the ttle of Sa pa 1 .
As it is common in many expositions of Mahmudr teachings, the
grauality and progression of the path is at the same time described and
apparently negated, a recrring trait that has certainly contribted to the
detcaton of Mahmudr as a oe step" pat, atteng or even eminating its om Atiyoga. In 'Phags pa 1 this is explicit:
tat sureme wthot metatng.
This negation is more apparent than real becase it does not
refer to a towards an action rather to a
qality of this action, which leads the adept into a state of non-action :
nce tere s no ot nor consosnss (to perv t), wtout
enterng nto t ont o sometng to metate on an someone
wo metates, srem wtot metatng).
The of the translaton of the term sgom as meditate" are evident
here, becase the abndance of meanings this term conveys in all Western
langages almost totally related to some kind of dalistic mental activity,hether reectve, one-poined or cotemplatve. Moreover, te Tbetan
term tself as a complex story of semat adaptaton, reectg te
efrts of translating the Sanskrit of the Tantras.57 This activity of the
mind, this meditation", has an object, no matter how small", disgised
and hidden into one's mental processes.
The Dala Lama has ncommonly dened medtaton as a lar
ization of the mind ith an objet of meditation". 58 This rendering of the
56
57
58
Yan lag literally means "branches, "limbs, "parts; I have chosen to translate it as
"levels because they contribute here to the creation of a set. In Mahmudr, zhi gnas
and lhag mthong are "parts of the Mahmudr, meaning that they are nctional to the
realisation ofMahmudr. It is in this sense that I translate yan lag as sa, "level, as in the
expression sa bcu, "the ten levels (of the bodhisattva).
Some interesting notes on the etymology and the semantic of the Tibetan sgom pa,
with a comparison with the Sanskrit bhvan can be in Bentor [ed .. by Cabezn] 201 0.(DL 200:207).
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term is etymologically consistent with the Tibetan ndamental meaningof sgom pa (to and apparently distant om that of bhvan,
which is casing to be", bringing ito existence" or a state of existence".
Qite interestingly, however, it does match the idea that something is present
in the meditative action, that there is an object created by the mind or to
which the mind refers applying varios kinds of methods and techniques . 59
Bt at te practtoer is reqested ere s to nd a state were te
meditation" (that is a mental implying an object), or whatcommenced as a meditation", does not exist or does not exist anymore.
This concept is metaphorically stressed soon aer:
As ea s o er om r, e rea coo s o
erent om te penomena, c t s non-a, an n a
crcumstances ter s non.
Of corse meditating withot meditating" i s not possible, as it would
not be possible to conceive something that is at the same time ll and
empty. These contradictions are meant to express a state of non-dality,
which is not part of a reality we are ordinarily able to appreciate. It is
here to note that the non-uality" of this condition can be easily
as an invitation not to engage in any meditative activity,
eqating what is intended both as a point of arrival and an inherent qality,
to an approach based on the spontaneos ariing of experiences, withot
proceeding throgh gradal steps. The jxtaposition to methods resent
in the Atiyoga system, sch as thod rgal, becomes a concrete possibility.
the verses immediately llowing remind of a ndament of the
Tantric path:
Emptness aone, wtou Meo, oes no e o e reasaon, nor
oes te Meo Emptness.
The two componens ofthe negation, the meditation mediation",
are recomposed in the Tantric union of the opposites and sealed" in an
sameness . This is what, the text it is necessary to
obtain the non-dal realisation".
59
140
The choice of meditative objects can be very wide: a physical item, an abstract symbol, adeity, a sound, a recollection of any sensorial or mental experience, a conceptual thought.
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C a t e r 6 G v a n n A r a
'Phags-pa 2
'Pags-pa 2 is a very sort text, written as if its main purpose was to be
an instructive reminder of wat te autor considered te most essential
points of te Mahmudr teacings. For tis reason I would not classify
it as a root text", if not r its brevity. According to te traditional point
of view expressed by te Sa skya pa scool, 'Pags pa stresses te Tanric
nature ofMahmudr:
e vew o te et, te rectaton o te anra etc., are not to e
rese, ecause o a ese eos one can otan (ene) out
(an) conc (eeen ese racces), n e sate o toa Wso.
Te Tantric practices of visualisation and transrmation are not con
sidered as being in opposition wit a condition of non-duality. Tey are, on
te contrary, part of wat can be used to acieve that state, te Dhrmat.
If te main condition is met, tat is te union of Metod and Knoedge,
wic prodces an indissoluble unit of Emptiness and te
practitioner reaces te state ofzung 'ug,6 0 te union of te two bodies of
dhrmakya and rupakya. All becomes te subject of a classic allegory:
e two wees o ert an so, one te axe o te se
etos", an pue y te suree orse o ea to tedienson o Onscence
Te Merit is te karmic condition attained a roper condct;61
te Wisdom is te knowledge", tat is a non compreension
tat is produced by a successl practice of te two levels" or stages"
(im gnyis); te Wise Metods are tose ofTantrism; te orse of Devotion
mainly rers to te pround link between a student and a Tanrc teacer,an initiation reltionsip tat is considered essential r te transmission
of te knowledge and its successl application. All tis sould lead t
60
61
Zung 'jug, "union is a particular term of the Mahmudr tradition. In rDzogs chen the
same concept is conveyed by the term gnyis med, "non dual.
In the Mahmudr teachings, "proper is not only to be intended as a virtuous and
morally elevated conduct, but also as the practice of the Tantric methods that are believed
to purify one's karmic condition much more eectively and rapidly than only virtuousactions.
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A s ian Horizo ns : Stu dies in Hon o u r of Giu seppe Tuc ci a n d His L egacy
Omniscience (kun mkhyen), knowledge" or wisdom", which sdened as the state of Mahmudri.
Sa pai 2
s perhaps n Sa pa 2 that we can most apprecate how the debate
revolving arond the natre of Mahimudri ws alive and eely lt in
twelh and thirteenth centry Tibet. Inserted in a realistic scenario, in
the r of ansers to the qestons of a thl practtoner, we nd a
smmary of the Sa skya poits of view regarding the Tantric ndaments
ofPhyag rgya chen po:
1 Resa o t ea tat te Mahmudr teacng ay orgnate o
te so cae oer" or outr" antras (Kriya, Ua an Yoga anra).
2. Rasserton o te naents o te Mahmudr pat, accorng to
te a sya traton: renary ntaton o y te ractcesnce n two stages of bskyed rim an rdzogs rim. e ortance
o te ntaton, an ence o a connecton t a aster, s st
rter passe as a oent en soe rtunate eoe"
gt excetonay reas t very state o Mahmudr wtot t
recourse to any secc eto o ractc
3 Dnton o bskyed rim an rdzogs rim as te a-ev antrc cor
o a Hger antras o t Ne ransaton (hyi sgyur) Anuttara
gro Mor recsy, a aJ wrts tat al tos o teA
(teacng), r te arsng o so, (are suars nto te to
eves)" wc sos e eve te stages o eveopent" an
copeton" ere an essenta art o te Paterna, Matrna an
or Non-a" antras, at east n regar o a etos o
vsuasaton an ter graua or nstantaneous.
4 e o a aJ to ar as uc as oss to t antrc trs
s rter conr vn n s etyoogc anayss o e or
Phyag rgya chen o" as an naccrat transaton o te ansrt
Mahmudr". Hs rtaton o te wor 'hyag" (n ts acceptaton
o wso/noege o tnss") coe soe o t o an
ost eate aron t coeatve" Mahmudr an
te screte dkar o chig thub, os tatve sste anycse on te reasaton o tness.
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Chapter 6 I I Giovanni Arca
5 A te ar ork" (so stant om te careess an eespontanety o te Masas) s reecte nto a st o eves,
experences an erent erees o reasaton.
6 Rerrn to soe peope (proay Ka' ryu pa scoars), o
accorn to m ere retn te antrc naments oMahmudr
a pa perseveres n s aost actca ntent, metcuousy
mentonn a 1 bhmi, as tey are un n te Mahyana Stra.
7. Rerrn to te suen entenment", e uotes te 'Jam dpal
mtshan brjod, a e knon prase oMajur,62 stressn tat tere s
no suc n te Mahmudr system, one mpes
tat t can e otane trou te appcaton oa necessary antrc
metos, an ony ater avn successy aceve te reasaton
o te erent eves a bhmi.
Sa pai 3
this short and limited selection of Sa skya pa texts on the
Mahimudri, Sa pa 3 exanes reater dept the expereces arsg
during the application of the Tantric methods. The instructions are once
again delivered against a backdrop of ordinary li, as answers to the
question of a yogi who, uite interestingly, quotes a passage om a text
wrtte by Sa skya Pata hmself, askg r clarcatons. The pots
mostly relevant here are the llowin:
62
1 Very stron an repeate exortatons to exercse a posse cons
en ean t te antrc metos. s represents possy
cearest asserton o te practca, amost operatve" an matter-
oct" caracter o te pat a stuent o te Mahmudr teacn
as suppose to o, at east accorn to te more ortoox", orconservatve" a skya pa tratn.
2 e [to te state] o te mn" s expressy neate.
As mentone earer, ts as one o te man aruments n te
controversy rearn te nner an most namenta caracter o
Phyag ra chen po.
The 'Jam mtshan brjod is the Tibetan version of the Majurlnmasagfti.
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A s i an Studies i n of Tu c c i a n d His L eg acy
ONCLUSION
The main point in the debate Mahmudr and rDzogs chen has
always been te distinction between their dierent approaches to the
spiritual path. The teachings of Mahmudr are generally considered
belonging to the Mahyoga and Anuyoga systems of Tantra classicato,
and their main characteristic is the of the Tantric practices of
transrmation. The jxtaposition of Atiyoga (rDzogs chen) in theMahmudr system has triggered and controversies mainly
because rDzogs chen does not contain any practice of transrmation and,
moreover, does not use any initiation.63
For these reasons, the presence ofAtiyoga practices has been considered
an element of contamination", aecting the integrity of the Mahmudr
system. This has nothing to do with any negative opinion regarding
rDzogs chen. In ct it is simply connected with the consideration that in apath all the practices maintain an original" coherence and
must be related to an ninterrpted lineage of transmission. Althogh the
Mahmudr orthodoxy" of the great Sa skya pa masters is certainly not
devoid of institutional care, there is no trace of spirital competition"
nor of aspiration to any sort of Mahmudr supremacy" over Atiyoga.
From the spirital point of view of these masters, stressing the essential,
original" coherence of Mahmudr s ts maly jsted by e belef(especially true in regard to all Internal Tantras) that a practice can be
63
144
some kinds of initiation and "empowerment may be used by rDzogs chen
masters, these are in ct "borrowed om Mahyog and nuyoga, and are actually part
of the Tantric path of transrmation. The practice of tiyoga itself does not imply any
init iation. On the contrary, the initiation is completely substituted by a "direct introduction
to the experiential knowledge of one's "natural state. This knowledge is dened as rigpa or also as chos nyid mngon sum ("real dharmat'', or "true condition of all dharma").
It is considered a non dual stte that is ee om all conditioning mental activities and
emotions. This does not mean that a student of tiyoga is usually supposed to enter this
state as soon as he is to it by a master. The practices leading
to the achievement of that state can be those ofMahmudr (llowing the transrmation
path of and nuyoga) or they can be Atiyoga practices (llowing the three
rDzogs ch en series ofsems sde, kong de and man ngag sde). More ofen, a mix oftiyoga
and Tantric practices of visual isation transrmation is used. To rther complicate this
scenario, in many cases rDzogs chen masters do perrm Tantric style initiations, butinclude the "direct introduction oftiyoga.
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Chapter 6 I I Giovanni Arca
successlly perrmed and its realisation obtained only if it strictly adheresto what is believed to represent the original" corpus of instructions. These
instructions have to be transmitted om master to disciple, together with
their relative initiations.
Many masters o f Tibetan Buddhism have also institutional roles, ad
according to their secular point of view they usually practise, transmit and
teach only what belongs to the lineage of their own scool. Often they
carelly avoid dealing with teachings that belong to other traditions,regardless of ther value or potental sprtual benet. hs sectaran
attitude has also been relevant in the general debate regarding the origins"
ofMahmudr. It certainly has much to do both religious myopia and
the prioritising of secular management of spirituality.
Other teachers show an opposite atttude, eely gathering om all
traditios watever they consider usel r progressing in the path towards
a spiritual realisation". While this conduct is positively non-sectarian,
t ca also rsk a potental mxg of everythng together, atteg the
distinctive traits of dierent traditions.
This i s precisely what some masters have opposed, particularly
in the Sa skya pa school, what they regarded as a consion" and a
contamination" between Mahmudr and rDzogs chen. In ct, they
considered this as detrimental r the eectiveness of both these teachings .
It is in this regard and should not necessarily be
considered mainly or purely politically pragmatc, that those who are
personally involved in any spiritual quest be genuinely interested to know
the orgs" of the teachg they are llowg ad the modicatos"
these may ave undergone. This can be particularly felt as important when
the practitioners deal with the management of their individual physical and
mental as it occurs with the yogic techniques . Even more if they
attribute a ndamental value to a lineag of transmission, as is
the case with practitioners and teachers of Tantric traditio, like the Sa
skya pa masters presented in these pages .
I believe that it is mainly in this sense that these masters attributed a
negative value, such as cotamination", to what they considered surious
elements in the Mahmudr tradition. I also think it is mainly r the same
reason that they showed such a strong terest towards a deto of teofMahmudr, although these orgs" are ot geerally afrmed
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on the basis of historical evidence. are, in ct, rather based on amainly subjective assessment of their consistency with what the hors
considered the correct contes and methods of the practice.
The experience of the authors as spiritual masters and their position of
recognised leaders are the pivotal ctors in the assessment
of origins". is mainly their experiential, hands-on" knowledge
that seems to guide them in the choice of any textual evidence. The texts
they quote, however, together with cts and circumstances report,undoubtedly support their arguments .
The interconnections between religious socio-political interests
are clearly indissoluble in the debate around Mahmudr and rDzogs
chen. Nevertheess, te speccity and te detals of the arguets
provided contribute to strengthen the impression that it was r
the preservation and dense of a spiritual eectiveness" and integrity"
tat tey anted to reafr te orgs" of Mahmudr as deeply and
exclusively rooted in the Tantric path of practices.
RANSLATION THE TEXTS64
1 . Collection of Selected Instructions on the Mahimudr
( Grags pa 1 )65
Phag rgya chen po ges po btus man ngag, by Grags pa rgyal mtshan
These are the instructions given by Lama rje gdan-pa,66 te clear light
of the non-dual Mahmudr.
The preliminary practices are not present here.
Once yu are seated in the lotus position and have placed yor hands in
te udr of edtaton, dra your eyes dow, on te tp of te ose ad,
64
65
66
The transliteration of the Tibetan texts is available online at the llowing l ink : https: //
db.tt/HOIRFHiv.
Sa skya bka' bum, Vol. 6: 302.Pa
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Chapter 6 II Giovanni Arca
sounding Hu, in an instant manist yoursel as Prajprmit witwite body, wo olds a blue lotus wit er ands in te mudr o te
Teacing o te Doctrine, and a book on a Utpala ower.
At the heart se as a Hu1 on a solar disk, spreading rays o wite
ligt wic, throug te top o te ead, it te deities and te suras,
transrming tem into Vairocana. om te top o te ead tey all
disappear, togeter wit their dimensions, into te Huw
Ten rays o ligt spread om te striking te human
beings and transfrming tem into Akobya and all, togeter wit teir
dimensions, nally disappear into te Hu1.
Rays o yellow light ten spread om the navel reacing te animals
and transfrming tem into and ten, togeter wit their
dimensions, tey are all absorbed io te Hu1.
Rays o red ligt then spread om te secret place, reaching te Pretaand transfrming tem into Amitba. Ten troug te triangle, 67 togeter
wit teir dimensions, they are all absorbed into te Hu.
Ten om te anus rays o green ligt spread, itting te inrnal beings
and transfrming tem into Amogasiddi, 68 becoming then absorbed om
te anus in te Hu, together wit teir dimensions.
Ten absorb yoursel into te Hu, te 0 is absorbed into te H, te
Ha into te crescent, tis one into te thig le, te thig le into te nda and
the nda dissolves into te state void o concepts, and so you meditate.69
Continuing to practise in tis way, one discovers te signs o te practice:
ligt and luminous body, parasites, good looking complexion, and
so on many good qualities manist.
67
68
69
The chkr symbolised as a triangle or crossed triangles, near the base of the spine.
Vairoana, Akobhya, Amitbha, and Amoghasiddhi represent the
enlightened states of the main human passions ("Five Wisdoms): Wisdom of the Real
Dimension (Dhrmdhtu), Wisdom of the Mirror (Adrfo jn), Wisdom of Equality
(Smt jn), Discriminative Wisdom rtyveks:w jn) and Wisdom of Duty
(Ktynu{hn jn). For the inconsistency of the "ve main passions within the
Buddhist classication see Wayman 191:85
The visualisation of the syllable H acts as a meditative support r a gradual relaxation
of the mind in its natural condition. The a the Ha, the crescent and the thig le are parts ofthe writing of the syllable and correspond to levels of meditation.
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A s ian Hor izon s: Studies in Hono u r of Giu seppe Tucc i an d Legacy
Obtaining then the Bhmi(s), one realises the Mahmudr in this veryli.
Learn (how to nd yourself ) the state whch s beyod the concepts, r
as long as you are able to remain (sittig) in contemplation.
Eve when you perrm ay actvty (try to) lear (to d yourself )
the state beyond the concepts and to become miliar with it.
If you do ot have the capacity of ndg yourself beyond the concepts,learn (to practce) the vsualsaton of Prajprmit, whch you should
know, having you received the third Initiation.
Thi
* * *
Sgle systematc nstructo on the ncocevable Prajprmt.
In a stant oe mansts as Prajprmt.
Focusing a white, luminous and clear lunar mla on the empty
space of the heart, all the phenomena of the universe are gathered
into oneself, oneself into the moon, the moon to the size of a
mustard seed and transrms ito the nda, which becomes increasingly
thner, the sze of the lotus ' lamets, and then becomes so th as tobe invisible.
Thus remain in the emptiness beyond the eight limitations.
r as much as you retain its memory, on the bliss of the third initiation.
an instant visualise (transrmed) into the deity and,
henticated by the (knowledge) which is lke an illusion, perrm
deeds with body and voce.
This also applies to other practice sessions.
The instruction of bLama rDo rje gdan pa was transmitted by bLaa Pa
ri ba.
* * *
Homage to the Master!
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Chapter 6 II Giovanni Arca
Sitting on a comrtable place, cross-legged, truly practice teBodhicitta; eiter transrmed into te deity or in your ordinary
appearance, beave as in an il lusion.
Ten te main practice begins.
Even if te cannels of te body can be summarised in 32, these can be
rter reduced to3 channels.70
Above and below te nvel te tree channels divide and ten meet onte navel, taking te rm of a rdo rje.
Visualise in tis way te tree cannels, and unify te upper air wit
lower air.
Ten visualise tat om te Ram on te navel, or at a sort distance
om t, a re s gted. So the nave, where te tree cannes eet, heats
up. Te upper air and lower airs unify at te navel, so tat all rlung71 and
Bodhicitta meet on te nave and penetrate n te vadt channel .72
Focus vsuasng tat te re of the gtum mo spreads only at te navel,
but tat it does not circulate inside te central channel.
Medtatng n ts way te body s ed wth warmt and peasure, and
te32 knots of te cannel are untied.
So vsuase that (te body) s ed to te top of te ead wt te 32
Bodhicitta.
your daily activities uni te tree rlung and wen (sitting) in
meditation keep te presen