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APPENDIXI

THE TEXTS OFI KHENPO GANGSHAR

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II WHor FoLLows ARE rHE Two rEXTS Bv KHpNpo GaNcsHnn

I referred to in the text. First are the short instructions, "The Concise

I tr,tina Instructions Called Naturally Liberating \Thatever You Meet,"

I written by Khenpo Gangshar in August of ry57 while he was visiting

I rnr"ngu Monastery in Tibet. In zoo5, a handwritten copy of these

I it-rstru.tions was found in Thrangu Rinpoche's personal library, from

I which this translation was prepared.

I fn. second text is the slightly longer "Naturally Liberating \What-

| .u.. You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path." lt Ii *r, written a few weeks after the "Concise Mind Instructions" and ex- I

plains in greater detail the points made briefly there. It was translated

by Erik Pema Kunsang and published inThe Crystal Qque-(RangiungYeshe Publications). It has been revised for this volume in coopera-

tion with Erik Pema Kunsang.

- DevIo Knnnn CHoppHEr

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The Concise Mind Instructions CalledNaturally Liberating Whateuer you Meet

I r you Do vrRruous AcrroNs, happiness wi l l result , and i f youdo unvirtuous actions, suffering wil result. This is an unfailing fact,so we musr identifi, whar we call virtue and misdeed. In orJer todo that, we first need to point out what body, speech, and mind are.After recognizing what those are, we need to know which is mostimportant in virtues and misdeeds: body, speech, or mind.

If you ask which is mosr imporranr, mind is mosr important. As itis said:

The body is a servant for all good or evil deeds;The mind rules over everything like a king.

The mind is like the king, and the body and speech are rike servanrs.Thus if the mind does not think of something, the body cannor pos-sibly do anything either good or nasry, nor can the speech porriblysay anything kind or mean. Thus we must recogn jze that the rootcomes down to the mind.

Next we must analyze whether the mind is something or noth_ing.It is not unilaterally something, because it has no color-white,yellow, red, or green-and no shape-triangular or square_to beseen. It is not unilaterally nothing, because this all-knowing, all-awareking that does all your thinking and remembering is un.easing. Thusas the glorious Rangjung Dorje said,

Not something, even the victors cannot see it.Not nothing, it is the ground of all samsara and nirvana.

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AP P ENDIX

This compleres the discussion of the preliminaries.For the main practice, let the mind and body be comfortable.

soft, and relaxed. Do not think of anything, let yourself seftle nar-urally, and look up with your eyes into space. Open your mouthslightly and let the breath flow naturally. At that point, withour anyconcern about what you are thinking, what you remembeq what isnice or what is painful, this mind-essence is clear and expansive, vividand naked. This is the narure of the minds of all sentient beings ofthe three realms. This is the heart of the glorious master, th. ,rpr.*.guide. This is what the buddhas of the rhree times intend. It is alsocalled the dharmakaya mahamudra. It is also called the luminousgreat perfection. It is also called the path and resuk. It is also calledemptiness and compassion. It can be given many names, but they allpoint a finger at just this.

Thus it is as the glorious Rangjung Dorje said,

Everythingt not true, nor false,Like moons in water, say the wise.This ordinary mind itselfIs dharma expanse, the victors'essence.

Directly, whatever arises, do not change ir-rest naturally. This fulfillsthe essence of all creation stages, compretion stages, manfta recita-tions, and meditations.

Here you must differentiate between being distracted and notbeing distracted. Ifyou are undistracted and natural, there can be nei-ther help nor harm. That is awareness. If you get slightly distracted,it is possible that likes or dislikes might arise in your mind. on topof that, you accumulate white or black karma. Because of that, youwander in samsara. For this reason you must distinguish mind andawareness. Mind and thought are like cloud banks and must be puri-fied. You must rely on inner awareness.

You must take sickness as the path, affiictions as the path, the bardoas the path, and delusion as the path. The heart of all these applica-tions is to rest naturally in the essence.

Theret no need to bore you now.

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THE TEXTS OF KHENPO GANGSHAR

Tbis was kindly giuen by GangsbarWangpo,who is botbIearned and accomplished, to the assembled students ofThrangu Tashi Chiilingl school Shedrup Dargte Lingon tbe seuenth day of the sixtb rnonth of the Fire-Birdyear (August 3, r95il.Mangalam. Translated by DauidKarma Choephel in Boudbanath,Nepal, Marcb, zoo7.

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