Shenpen selThe Clear Light of the Buddhas Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

December 1999 January 2000Volume 3, Number 3

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

Tilopa

2 SHENPEN SEL

The Clear Light of the Buddhas Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

ContentContentContentContentContentsssss

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

33333 IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

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

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

66666 33333 TTTTThrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rinpoches Vinpoches Vinpoches Vinpoches Vinpoches Vajra Vajra Vajra Vajra Vajra Vidya Institute: Tidya Institute: Tidya Institute: Tidya Institute: Tidya Institute: To Ensure To Ensure To Ensure To Ensure To Ensure That the Vhat the Vhat the Vhat the Vhat the VajrayanaajrayanaajrayanaajrayanaajrayanaTTTTTeachings Endureeachings Endureeachings Endureeachings Endureeachings Endure

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

TTTTTextextextextextsssss 5 Mahamudra Upadesha (text used in Thrangu Rinpoches teaching)11 Supplication to the Takpo Kagyus72 Mahamudra Upadesha (Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoches translation)

Volume 3 Number 3

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

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

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EditorEditorEditorEditorEditorLama Tashi Namgyal

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

DatDatDatDatDatabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerDarren Beil

Mailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMark Suver

Mailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMembers of the Seattle sangha

Shenpen sel

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

SHENPEN SEL 3

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

The teachings in this issue of Shenpen sel, Thrangu Rinpoches commentary onMahamudra Upadesha, contain the mahamudra pointing-out instructions given onthe banks of the Ganges River by the Indian mahasidda Tilopa to his foremostdisciple, the great pandit and mahasiddha Naropa, sometime in the eleventh century ofthe common era. Tilopa is regarded as preeminent among Indian siddhas. According totradition, it was based on these instructions that Naropa attained enlightenment.

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

For practitioners of long standing who have received the fourth initiation or othermahamudra pointing-out instructions, this text will represent the lama in the form of thedictates of the sugatas, and will remind them of and enhance their understanding of theirown mahamudra practice and help them to fine-tune it. For the very rare and extraordi-nary beginner, this text may serve as an effective practice manual, but for most beginnersin the study and practice of dharma, as simple as this text may sound, it will serve as akind of roadmap of future practice possibilities. For all practitioners, the experience ofstudying and meditating on this text will be enhanced by receiving its transmission fromone of our great Kagyu lamas. The text is very pithy, some 120-130 lines, and most lamascould give the transmission of it in five or ten minutes. I may get in trouble for suggestingthis, but the next time such a great lama for whom you have great devotion is teaching inyour neighborhood, dont be shy to tell him or her that this commentary of ThranguRinpoches has been published and ask for the transmission of the text; ask for a lung or alung-tri. We would offer the same advice for the other texts that have been published inthe pages of Shenpen sel, the study of which will be enhanced by receiving the appropri-ate transmissionThe Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra, the teachings on the bardo byTsele Natsok Rangdrol, the mahamudra instructions of the great Indian and Tibetanmahasiddhas from The Ninth Karmapas Ocean of Definitive Meaning, etc.

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

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Lama Tashi Namgyal

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

vvv

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

vvv

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

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Mahamudra Upadesha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If, free of all intention, you do not abide in extremes, you will see without exceptionthe meaning of all the Buddhas teachings or of all the takas, the sections of theBuddhas teachings.

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

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

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

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

Kye ho!

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

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

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

attained or revealed.

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

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

unsurpassable awakening.

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

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

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

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

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

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

appears and exists will be liberated as mudra.

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

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

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

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

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

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

meeting of mother and child of all the rivers.

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

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

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

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

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

Mahamudra Upadesha

Tilopas Most Significant Teaching, Received Directly from Vajradhara

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dohas were composed by all of the great

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

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Supplication to the Takpo Kagyus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

considered to be the cause of Naropas realiza-tion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The only thingyou need to do iswhat Tilopa says. . . , which is,Rest relaxed inthe naturewhich means thenature of yourmindwithoutalteration

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Mahamudra Upadesha

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

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thranguo Rinpoches teaching onTilopas Mahamudra Upadesha.

Thank you for coming back. I am going to continue from where we left offlast night explaining Tilopas Mahamudra Upadesha, and as I did lastnight, I am going to begin by reciting the lineage supplication. Thereason why I begin with this recitation is that I myself have no compassion orblessing, so in order to generate the blessing I pray to the lineage first. Soplease join me in doing so with the utmost faith and devotion. [See page 11.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the practice ofmahamudra, the practice of

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

In this expression, look at the dharmas of

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

would see its nature, which is always emptiness.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: Yes. Both.

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

Any degree ofrealization ofyour mindsnature will makeyour practiceand your lifecompletelyworthwhile andmeaningful

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Editors note: For further discussion of the substantialmara, see Shenpen sel, Vol. 3, No. 1, page 36.

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

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

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

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

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

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

So we could stop there for this evening.

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

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Continuing the Very Vener-able Khenchen ThranguRinpoches teaching onTilopas MahamudraUpadesha.

Mahamudra Upadesha

On the Necessity of Cultivating a StrictMindfulness in Meditation

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

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

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

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

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

SHENPEN SEL 29

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

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