Essence of Mahamudra Khensur Rinpoche, October 13-21, 2017 [retreat cut short on October 17 at noon due to nearby Bear Fire]

Transcription

1 Essence of Mahamudra Khensur Rinpoche, October 13-21, 2017 [retreat cut short on October 17 at noon due to nearby Bear Fire] Root text translation by Alexander Berzin: Friday, October 13 7:30pm What I'm going to be explaining is a commentary on the Gelug-Kagyu lineage of speech of the Mahamudra which is extremely profound. The profound meaning is emptiness. The Buddha gave a profound number of teachings and all are given as means for understanding emptiness. Just as it says at the beginning of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, all of these teachings are given in order to understand emptiness. During these ten days that we'll be together, what I'm going to explain and what you'll be listening to is very profound and the benefits are limitless. For that reason, then, we should make sure that during this time we use our time fruitfully. Many of us have come here at great expense and time, so we should make sure we use our time for practicing pure dharma. Now, here, our motivation, our attitude, why we're doing this, needs to be something pure, because what we're learning about is something profound and the benefits are great. So it's important that we don't waste this opportunity. This particular dharma practice is a huge thing, it's extremely important, and the benefits are limitless. Think about the Buddha, dharma, and sangha. Amongst these three the one that is our real protector and savior is the dharma. On the one hand method, and on the other hand wisdom. In the case of tantric mahamudra, the mahamudra contains method and wisdom complete. In the case of sutra mahamudra, the emphasis is on wisdom. What mainly protects us from the lower realms is our practice of refuge, and being mindful of karma. What protects us from the suffering of all cyclic existence is practicing, adopting, and discarding in a way aligned with the Four Noble Truths. What protects us from the fear of cyclic existence, and brings one s own liberation, is the union of method and wisdom. What really protects us is the dharma, and this dharma is the complete way of protecting us as the union of method and wisdom. Now the Buddha has already come into the world and brought the dharma, which remains in the world. Yet because we didn't practice the dharma, we still haven't achieved liberation. The Buddha says, I showed you the path of liberation, but whether you gain liberation depends on you. The way the Buddha protects us is by teaching the path that leads to liberation. But because he taught that and we didn't practice, we didn't gain liberation. The real refuge is the Khensur Rinpoche 1 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

2 mahamudra, and that's what we're here to listen to now, to reflect, and to meditate on. Even to be here and hear these teachings requires a great amount of merit. And we also need reflection, and faith. And then we need to meditate. When we spend our time reflecting on the meaning of these teachings we need to have a very pure motivation and a very fine goal. The reason why we're listen to these mahamudra teachings is to help and bring happiness to all sentient beings by achieving enlightenment. We've spent a lot of money to get here, and we're going to be working hard for ten days. And it's all for the sake of sentient beings, to achieve enlightenment. Because if we do, there will be no limit to the extent we can help sentient beings. That's the kind of motivation we need, because the dharma that we're going to be listening to an explanation of now, and thinking about, is a Mahayana dharma. And within being Mahayana, it's a tantric teaching, and not just that but the highest yoga tantra teaching. And it definitely must be held and motivated by the attitude of bodhicitta. If you're only listening for yourself, it won't be a Mahayana practice. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that if you want to accomplish your own welfare then you have to think of accomplishing the welfare of others, and, as a side effect, you accomplish your own welfare: you get everything you need. The reason is that, if you only think of yourself, then you'll only accomplish your own welfare. Because you re only thinking of your own personal happiness in this life, mixing up with the eight worldly dharmas. As soon as your concern is for the happiness of this life, it's not even a dharma practice. For it to be a dharma practice, you have to be concerned with at least something beyond this life's happiness. For your own future welfare, if you are practicing the dharma of the lesser capability; for your own liberation, if you are of the middle capability; and to benefit others, if you are of the great capability. With a motivation to benefit all beings, then the benefit of your practice is limitless. Because the number of beings is limitless, you get limitless benefit, merit equal to the number of sentient beings. The Buddha explained in the teaching on pleasing sentient beings, that there's nothing you can do better to please him than to help sentient beings. It's just like it says in the request, in that refrain, each of the lamas in that whole set of verses we make this request to: the request to each of them is to train in love and compassion - the mind of enlightenment - and to cut the continuum of self grasping. It's like self grasping is something that keeps us tied up. May you bless me to quickly complete the highest path to the supreme mahamudra. With the practice of mahamudra, the highest yoga tantra, it's possible to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime. To achieve that unified state of mahamudra very quickly. That's the kind of attitude we need each day of this course. This kind of motivation is what we need for the activities of listening to the teachings and reflecting on their meaning from tomorrow onward. With that kind of bodhiccita motivation, even if you spend half a minute listening, this dharma is very powerful. With this motivation, you're able to purify very powerful negative karma; and at the same time you're able to accumulate a huge amount of merit. This is what the Buddha did for three countless aeons, and this is what we'll be doing. It's a shame if you spend a couple of days, and if you don't get a feeling from it, you lose heart. With this kind of motivation, everything you do becomes a very powerful purification and way of accumulating merit. Without that altruistic motivation you Khensur Rinpoche 2 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

3 won't. Even if that motivation doesn't occur spontaneously, we need to make an effort to make it stronger and stronger. It all comes down to your attitude, to your mind. If your mind is bad, selfish, vindictive, it won't be dharma; whereas if you have a kind heart your dharma will be very powerful. In the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa, he says if you have a good heart your path and level will be good; and if your heart is bad your path and level will be bad. I won't repeat this every day. You don't want to waste the expense and effort you've taken to come here. If you expend the effort it won't be a waste. In the Bodhisattvacharyavatara it says that we have this very powerful force of negative karma that only bodhicitta can purify, when other practices won't. It's like the fire at the end of this aeon that will completely burn up everything. Just like that, with bodhicitta you're able to completely burn up your karma. QUESTIONS Q: What does Rinpoche mean when he says you can help a lot of sentient beings if you reach enlightenment? If you become an enlightened Buddha then you would be able to help sentient beings in a very effective and extensive way, because you are fully developed in every way. Your wisdom is fully developed. And because of that wisdom you have the clarity of mind to see what sentient beings attitudes and propensities are, and see exactly what they need. And because your compassion is fully developed then you'll definitely help sentient beings. But there also needs to be something from the side of sentient beings: faith. Compassion is like a hook, that needs faith to hook onto. The Buddha also has fully developed power to be able to emanate and appear in various ways that benefit sentient beings according to their needs. Knowing what their dispositions and thoughts are, the Buddha has the ability to appear in just the right way and at the right time to benefit beings. Even if we want to help, we don't know what sentient beings need. And since our compassion is not fully developed, even if we know what they need, we don't feel like it. And even if we know what they need and have the compassion, we don't have the power to truly benefit, e.g. by emanating. Q: When we talk about the fear of cyclic existence, with wisdom you're able to avoid the fears of cyclic existence, because wisdom cuts through the ignorance. And then method, with bodhicitta that frees you from the fear of peace, the peaceful nirvana that heroes and solitary realizes achieve, where they are not able to benefit sentient beings. Compassion, bodhicitta, stops you from going to that extreme. You have your hero and solitary realizer Arhats who, because they have wisdom, cut through afflictive obscurations. But, because they lacked bodhicitta they were unable to cut through the knowledge obscurations. Khensur Rinpoche 3 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

4 Saturday, October 14 6:30am, Ven Rene Six session guru yoga, lineage lamas, no Lama Chopa since doing tonight Chodon Rinpoche says that at our stage it's better to visualize ourselves going to the lower realms than to visualize as a deity, because otherwise we can get a sense of complacency. Understand the karmic results of our actions in this life. Until we have renunciation, renouncing the pleasures of the six senses, we won't effectively practice tantric visualizations. 10am, Khensur Rinpoche Q: is there a benefit to arising as Vajrasattva rather than your own deity in Six Session Guru Yoga? When you're practicing the Six Session Guru Yoga and you have the guru absorb into you and you generate yourself as Vajrasattva, Pabonka Rinpoche says himself that it's fine to generate as Vajrayogini or Yamantaka. We speak of the five wisdoms and one is the wisdom of Dharmadhatu, reality. Vajrasattva is the one that pervades all of the other types of wisdom, just as does Vajradhara. Therefore, the benefit of generating as Vajrasattva or Vajradhara is that it's more powerful for purifying one s obscurations. - We already recited the refuge and bodhicitta prayer, and it's by way of that, that we create a good motivation for what we're doing during this class. That prayer includes the practices of refuge and bodhicitta, and therefore contains the root of the whole path. Because the practice of refuge keeps us away from a wrong path. With the practice of bodhicitta it keeps one from a lower path. It means a life tree, the life of the path. Without them you completely lose the path. From the side of the teacher and those who are listening alike, reciting the refuge prayer gives the teacher the right motivation for teaching, and the student the right motivation for listening. (Mahamudra text starting on page 26) Namo mahamudraya homage to mahamudra, the great seal of reality. I respectfully bow at the feet of my peerless guru, lord of that which pervades everywhere, master of those with actual attainment, who expounds, in a denuding manner, the diamond strong vajra sphere of mind, parted from (what can be expressed in) speech, inseparable from mahamudra, the great seal of reality, the all pervasive nature of everything. Khensur Rinpoche 4 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

5 Namo Mahamudra means I prostrate to the great seal. The great seal of reality, the all pervasive nature of everything. With mahamudra you have the object mahamudra and the subject mahamudra, e.g. The mind that realizes that object. The object mahamudra is emptiness, which is what is meant by this line. What it is that pervades all is the absence of nature, natural existence. Emptiness is the nature of all phenomena. In this way, this line is talking about the great seal which is the object emptiness, which is the nature of all phenomena and pervades all phenomena. The second line is about the subject mahamudra, where it talks about being inseparable, the sphere of the mind vajra. When it says the mind vajra, according to the tradition of tantra, it refers to the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness. The two types of clear light, example clear light and meaning clear light, both are the subject mahamudra referred to in this line. It talks here about the sphere of the vajra, that subject mahamudra which is the wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness is absorbed into the object mahamudra which is the emptiness which is the nature of all phenomena, such that they are described as being of one taste. Like water poured into water. With this reference to the vajra, the wisdom of inseparable non-dual bliss and emptiness destroys all of the counter-forces. Because we are talking about the wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness, that's the supreme antidote to all our grasping at ourself, and all of our mental afflictions. There's nothing better for destroying those. That's why it's referred to as a vajra. Vajra can have the connotation of inseparability - of bliss and emptiness - but specifically here, it can reference the powerful god Gadjin[?] who holds this diamond scepter, able to overcome all other phenomena, something which can destroy everything else. Just like that vajra he holds, this non-dual bliss and emptiness is similar, in being the supreme destroyer of all mental afflictions. This expression the vajra of the mind, although we don't have the exalted non-dual wisdom of bliss and emptiness inside us, we do have simultaneous bliss right now. We don't have great bliss, but we have the bliss. The great bliss is something that occurs when you make the airs enter into, remain, and absorb into the central channel. At all times we have very subtle wind or air and mind. In that same collection, you also have this naturally occurring bliss. Just like that very subtle air and mind we always have at all times, likewise we have this bliss at all times. It's also indestructible. If we're thinking of vajra w.r.t. inseparability it refers to that. That bliss is referred to as the mudra of the basis, at our ordinary level. And there is the mudra of the path and of the result. At all three levels you have the simultaneously occurring, the naturally occurring bliss, contained in the bliss of the very subtle wind and mind. We don't have the mahamudra at the time of the base, path, and result; we have the mudra, the seal, at the time of the base, path, and result. That seal at the ordinary level is something that is beginningless. The very subtle wind and mind are beginningless and remain together inseparably right up until enlightenment. There's no beginning and end. Within that collection of the very subtle wind and mind is the naturally occurring, simultaneously born bliss. That's referred to as a vajra because it's unchanging, it's immutable. It's there when we go into the lower realms, and will be there until enlightenment. When it comes together with bad Khensur Rinpoche 5 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

6 conditions, that mind vajra will be there with us in the lower realms, and when we meet with good conditions it will go with us to enlightenment. When we die, all the course levels of consciousness disappear and it's only the very subtle elements that go on to the next life. When we die we enter the intermediate state, the mind becomes grosser, we take birth, the very subtle state of mind remains, and then the grosser states of mind come about. The remaining two lines, when it says showing without any kind of coverings - denuding manner - what it means is showing or teaching very clearly. Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen received these teachings, and Chokyi Dorje gave the teachings. This teaching is referred to as the Ganden Kagyu, the Kagyu tradition, from the time of Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen, the author of this text. The text wasn't written down from the time of the Buddha, but from Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen s time it was written down and is referred to as the Mahamudra in the Gelug tradition. To clear up this expression Gelug-Kagyu, there is a mahamudra teaching that comes from the Kagyu tradition, but when it says Kagyu here it means the teaching tradition. Gelug-Kagyu means the Gelug teaching tradition. Previously, the only term used was the middle way or the great middle way, they didn't use the expression mahamudra. He with Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen s mahamudra text, he uses this expression, the Gelug teaching tradition. Nevertheless, when going through the gradual steps of the practice, just like in the Kagyu tradition, we start off looking at the conventional nature of the mind. Then we go on to look at the ultimate nature. The difference is that in the Kagyu tradition, when you're mediating on, and teaching the conventional nature of the mind, they call that mahamudra. In the Gelug tradition they wouldn't say mahamudra w.r.t. the conventional nature of the mind. We only talk about explaining the mahamudra w.r.t. the ultimate nature of mind. In the second verse it does use the term Gelug-Kagyu tradition. Kagyu refers to the teaching tradition amongst the Gelugs here. Gathering together and thoroughly condensing the essence of the oceans of sutras, tantras, and quintessence teachings, I shall write some advice concerning mahamudra from the Gelug-Kagyu tradition of the fatherly Dharmavajra, a mahasiddha with supreme actual attainment, and his spiritual offspring. In verse 2, Gathering together and throughly condensing, Kagyu is translated as teaching tradition. This teaching includes the mahamudra according to sutra and tantra. This verse is the promise to compose. For this, there are the preparatory practices, the actual methods, and the concluding procedures. As for the first, in order to have a gateway for entering the teachings and a central tent pole for (erecting) a mahayana mind, earnestly take the safe direction of refuge and develop a bodhicitta aim. Do not have these merely be words from your mouth. Then, since seeing the actual nature of mind is indeed dependent upon strengthening the enlightenment-building networks and purifying yourself of the mental obscurations, direct (toward your root guru) at least a hundred thousand repetitions of the hundred-syllable mantra and as many hundreds of prostrations as possible, made Khensur Rinpoche 6 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

7 while reciting The Admission of Downfalls. In addition, make repeated, heartfelt requests to your root guru inseparable from all Buddhas of the three times. In verse 3 it says that the steps in which one explains mahamudra according to the steps of Gelugpa are threefold: preparatory practices, actual methods, and concluding procedures. The preparatory practices are refuge and bodhicitta. As for the first, in order to have a gateway Refuge is described as the door of entrance into the Buddha s teachings, and then bodhicitta is regarded as the central pole of the Mahayana, referring to the life force of the Mahayana. Just like in tantra the life force of the practice is the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness. All progress in the tantric practice is based on that wisdom. When we talk about refuge there's the general refuge and the special Mahayana refuge. That refuge is also the door entrance to the Mahayana, the life force and foundation basis of the Mahayana. Ordinary or general refuge is the door of entrance into the Buddha s teaching. There's also causal and resultant refuge. Causal refuge refers to enlightenment - Buddhahood - that others have already achieved. Going for refuge to them means pinning your hopes to them, looking to them for help. In the case of the causal refuge, you can't actually become what you're going for refuge to, like Shakyamuni Buddha, he's a separate person from ourselves. We can't become him. He can't wash away our obscurations and negativities, take away our suffering, or transfer his realizations to others. He can only guide us to liberation by showing the way. With the resultant refuge, the resultant Buddha and Sangha, that's unique to the practitioner. Each human being has their own resultant Buddha, dharma, and sangha. You're going for refuge to something you will become. The resultant refuge, there's only a nominal result between that and bodhicitta. Because bodhicitta means thinking of your own future enlightenment in order to benefit others. To achieve future enlightenment you need to benefit others. You're not just pinning your hopes on your object of refuge, you're becoming that refuge. There is a commentary to the Sutra Amkara[?] that says if you meditate on compassion you are going for refuge. This is so because when you meditate on great compassion you have some confidence in it. By meditating on it, it protects you from the suffering of the lower realms. We say going for refuge to the Buddha, dharma, and sangha are what actually protects you. Likewise, this meditation protects you from the lower realms. In the text it says the dharma refuge refers to cessation. But what actually protects us is great compassion. Going for refuge to the dharma, you need confidence that the dharma is going to protect you, and meditating on compassion, you have that same kind of idea. The third paragraph down, since seeing the actual nature of mind If you want to see the actual nature of mind, you need to collect merit and purify. Meditating on mahamudra is mainly understanding the mind, meditating on the nature of the mind. The emptiness of the mind is the object mudra. Meditating on the nature of mind is meditating on emptiness, and, in combination with that, creating merit and purifying. If you receive the teaching on mahamudra and just meditate on emptiness without purifying and collecting merit, you won't see the nature of the mind. Khensur Rinpoche 7 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

8 When we go for refuge and generate bodhicitta, and also offer mandalas, these practices help you to purify and collect merit. Particularly w.r.t. the mandala, it s considered the best way to collect merit. For purifying, we also have the hundred syllable mantra. We need to have the combination of not just meditating on emptiness but also these two other activities, just like when wanting to grow a plant, you need the seed (meditating on emptiness), and along with that moisture, nutrients, light, and freedom from weeds. If the place is filled with weeds, the plant won't grow very well. Just like with seeds you need to provide the good conditions and eliminate the negative, adverse, unsupportive conditions. You need meditation, purification, and accumulating merit. Besides that you need also guru yoga, explained next. We have all put our money together to make this retreat happen - everybody has made their contribution. We have the teaching place, food to eat, etc. - that s like the real mandala offering. All of that is purification and accumulating merit. That's the real mandala offering. In addition make repeated heartfelt requests to your root guru We have the definitive guru and the provisional level, interpretive guru. The definitive guru refers to the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness. That wisdom is the basis from which all of the buddhas of the past present and future emanate. That wisdom is inseparable from the buddhas of the past, present, and future. The definitive guru is the wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness. The provisional guru is the guru that becomes visible in physical form. When you make requests to that one, you're also making requests to the definitive guru. Make requests to the guru inseparable from the guru of the three times. Each time you make requests you become closer to realizing mahamudra within your own being. Making those requests is a supportive condition to actually achieving that resultant mahamudra. As for the actual basic methods, although there are many ways of asserting mahamudra, there are two when divided according to the sutras and tantras. The latter is a greatly blissful, clear light mind manifested by such skillful methods as penetrating vital points of the subtle vajra-body and so forth. The mahamudra of the traditions of Saraha, Nagarjuna, Naropa and Maitripa, it is the quintessence of the anuttarayoga class of tantra as taught in The (Seven Texts of the) Mahasiddhas and The (Three) Core Volumes. The former refers to the ways of meditating on voidness as directly indicated in the expanded, intermediate and brief (Prajnaparamita Sutras). The supremely realized Arya Nagarjuna has said, Except for this, there is no other pathway of mind leading to liberation. Here I shall give relevant instruction on mahamudra in accord with these intentions of his and discuss the methods that lead you to know the mind, face to face, in keeping with the exposition of the lineage masters. As for the actual basic methods There are many ways explaining the great seal, the seal of the basis, path, result/mudra, the sutra way of explaining, the tantra way, the Kagyu way. Although there are all these different ways, they can be grouped into two: the sutra and tantra ways. Questions Khensur Rinpoche 8 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

9 Q: Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen s omission of certain lamas from lineage? There were several lineages of mahamudra that came from Lama Tsongkhapa. For example, he taught a mahamudra tradition to Guru Gyeltsen Sangmo that is not mentioned here. There are five or six lineages. Q: Rinpoche mentions that this tradition came orally from the Buddha. Is there something in this text that is unique and doesn't appear in LTK s treatises on emptiness and clear light? There's nothing explained in this text that can't be found in those other writings of Je Rinpoche. It's only from the time of Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen that you have this term being used, the mahamudra, in the context of the tantric teachings. In the tantric system, mahamudra refers to the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness. In the sutra tradition, where we talk about mahamudra as emptiness. Gampopa says that the expression mahamudra can't be found in the sutras, and he refers to many sutras to make that point. According to the Gelugpa lamas, there is that expression. It seems that in the sutras that were translated directly into Tibetan, you don't find the expression mahamudra, but in the sutras translated into Chinese you do find the term mahamudra. If a translation were made from the Chinese it might explain the term mahamudra being used. Q: Lineage prayer page seven does mention Dharma Vajra. In Tibetan it says Dharma Vajra, which means Chokyi Dorje. Q: is the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness Buddha nature? Rig, meaning lineage, can mean Buddha nature. When studying Uttaratantra, you come across this expression lineage a lot. That can be referred to as the base mudra, but not the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness. E.g. base, path, vajra mudra. It refers to the base. Q: The lineage Lamas are strangers to me - how to generate devotion? Which is a guru that you don't know? [laughter] The lineage gurus go back all the way to the Buddha. For sure there's lots that you don't know. The way to go about this is to keep in mind the practice where we see our guru, the Buddha, and the deity, as inseparable. Whatever qualities an enlightened being has, my guru has those qualities. Make your requests on that basis. Q: When we re describing subtle unchanging mind as beginningless, immutable, unchanging mind, I have trouble understanding that in relation to emptiness and causes and conditions. When we say empty we mean empty of existing by its own nature. If things did exist by their own nature, then an enemy would have nothing to do with causes and conditions, whereas in fact it's our own inner delusions that make a person our enemy. A non-empty enemy would be seen as such by all people, which is not the case. Friend and enemy are empty of existing by their own nature, a friend can become an enemy and vice versa. If they existed from their Khensur Rinpoche 9 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

10 own nature, such change would be impossible. In Wheel of Sharp Weapons it says because friend and enemy are not fixed, it's because they are empty. 2pm, Q&A Lorne The original question Ven. Rene asked is where does one insert the prayer to the lineage lamas in the context of Lama Chopa? If you're engaging in Lama Chopa, there are two options. One is to do the entire Lama Chopa and do the prayer at the end of the Lam Rim prayer, then lineage lamas absorb into you. Or, right before you are the lama, you are the guru Khensur Rinpoche has previously mentioned that the Guru Puja, Lama Chopa, and this text were written by the same author, Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen, writing down practices that had been an oral tradition before. Lamas sometimes will comment on all of them together. When Khensur Rinpoche was young he received the combined commentary from Trijang Rinpoche. There's a tradition of integrating mahamudra practice with Lama Chopa. You don't do the absorption and leave the merit field there. And then throughout the day do mahamudra practice. The lineage gurus above Lama Chopa s head in the merit field are these lineage gurus as Manjushri. E.g. visualize LTK as your root guru. Pages 3 and 4 are the bare minimum preliminary practices. Refuge and bodhicitta, purification, mandala offering. Think of the resultant refuge Rinpoche was saying. Your own future Buddha attainment. Resultant mahamudra. Q: I m confused about the way Rinpoche explains meaning of Gelug-Kagyu. There's one lineage that goes all the way to Shakyamuni Buddha, and another that's distinctly Gelug. There's a shorter lineage from Vajradhara to Manjushri to Lama Tsongkhapa. There's no contradiction. There was a lot of strife between Gelug and Kagyu at the time of Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen. Maybe it is a non-sectarian statement. Q: Naturally born simultaneously arising bliss. What is simultaneous? Is spontaneous the right word? The translation simultaneously born bliss, some people translate as innate bliss. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says the simultaneous part can be taken in two ways: 1) simultaneous with each moment, 2) simultaneous with great bliss. That awareness is naturally the experience of great bliss. Q: Is there another word for the concept of bliss? Khensur Rinpoche 10 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

11 Some translators translate the four levels of bliss, or four levels of joy. What Rinpoche is describing is the most subtle wind and mind. That most subtle wind and mind exists even when a being is in hell. And right now we have that most subtle wind and mind. Lorne's interpretation is that all sentient beings have that potential to experience the most subtle wind and mind. But our gross sensory consciousnesses obscure, and the three appearances also obscure our ability to perceive that. When you do the absorptions you can then experience that bliss. There are a lot of different times in Tibetan Buddhism that people will talk about bliss. E.g. this isn't the same bliss when achieving calm abiding, or the bliss of absorbing the winds someplace other than the central channel. It's naturally present as a potential within us, but we don't actualize that potential until we achieve the completion stage. Q: Difference between bliss and great bliss and if we can abide in a state of happiness/bliss all the time? Psychologically this research comes out of secure attachment domain. That kind of happiness is different from the bliss of calm abiding or simultaneously born great bliss. In tantra the path mahamudra is either example or meaning clear light. If a person in this lifetime experiences the example clear light they become a Buddha in this lifetime, which would normally take aeons. The real meaning of path mahamudra is the person who will attain enlightenment in one lifetime. Q: The four joys? One experiences those at the level of speech isolation. Rinpoche has pointed out that experiencing the fourth of those blisses is called simultaneously born great bliss, but it's not actually that, which comes at the level of mind isolation. We use similar terms over and over at different points in the path. Q: Can mahamudra be connected to the six yogas? Traditionally they are combined. E.g. in the Kagyu tradition, practitioners combine sessions. There are the the sutra and tantra presentations of mahamudra. The majority of the text is the sutra presentation. A lot of the text is on how to achieve bliss via calm abiding upon the conventional nature of mind, which is not mahamudra. In tantric mahamudra one has to combine with the Six Yogas of Naropa, or another highest yoga tantra. The vital points of the subtle body, etc. Q: What is the result of mahamudra? Enlightenment. The meaning of path mahamudra is either example clear light or meaning clear light. Succeeding in highest yoga tantra practice. Equating union of illusory body and clear light with mahamudra. Object mahamudra is emptiness. Subject mahamudra in sutra is the mind realizing emptiness. Khensur Rinpoche 11 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

12 So far Rinpoche mostly makes a distinction between the different minds meditating on emptiness, not the emptiness itself. In either cases it's inexpressible. 3:30, Rinpoche Q: Because the mind is more subtle for the practice of tantra, might the object be the same but the experience different? It's true that the object emptiness is the same in sutra or tantra tradition. There is a difference in the mind but the object is exactly the same. Q: And are the liberating effects different? The result is the same. When the Buddha realizes the emptiness of the vase, it's the same as the one realized by the hero or solitary realizer. Q: Does the Buddha see emptiness and dependent arising at the same time? An enlightened being does see the two truths at the same time. They don't alternate meditative equipoise and subsequent attainment. But even for a Buddha, from the perspective of the buddha s mind seeing convention truth, emptiness is not seen; and from the perspective of seeing emptiness, conventional truth is not seen. Because you'd be seeing emptiness with elaborations, which is not the case. The emptiness seen by any being is the same: Buddha, bodhisattva, heroes, solitary realizers, etc. It's like saying there's a different vase there for the different minds seeing it. - As for the basic methods There are many ways to explain the great seal, mahamudra. We talk about the four types of mudra: action or karma mudra, dharma mudra, samaya mudra, mahamudra. Different types of mudra, not necessarily actual mudra, but etymological classifications. We have the Karma Kagyu tradition explaining the four mudras in relation to the three vehicles: Hero, perfection, and mantra vehicle. There are these different ways of explaining mahamudra and I won't go into those, it comes up later in the root text. In the sutra tradition we hear about the four seals, the four mudras, which verify a teaching as being a teaching of the Buddha: 1. All compounded phenomena are impermanent 2. All compounded phenomena are in the nature of suffering 3. Their nature is emptiness 4. Nirvana is peace For example, we talk about karma mudra, which refers to the mudra that is born through the force of karma. Separate from that we have the meditated goddesses[?], from the perspective of one s own mental consciousness, that's dharma mudra. Those are nominally different types of mudra. Khensur Rinpoche 12 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

13 Now it says that there are these different ways of explaining mahamudra and they are classified into sutra and tantra mahamudra. The latter is greatly blissful clear light mind manifested Even though sutra is mentioned first, tantra is explained first. One reason for this, is that the first one can be explained in less words, so the one that needs more words to explain comes second. Here, tantra is mentioned first because there are less words spent explaining it, and because the mahamudra according to tantra is supreme. When it mentions the vajra body here, this refers to the channels, winds, and drops. Penetrating the vital points of that vajra body means deliberately focusing on those vital points, and, through your practice, causing the airs to enter, abide, and absorb; and at the end of that process you experience the exalted wisdom of simultaneous great bliss. What this means is that first of all you would visualize the channels, then visualize the drops in various location in the channels, then you would make the root and branch winds absorb into those, and then manifest, generate, that exalted wisdom of great bliss. That great bliss is called the mantra or tantra mahamudra. The text mentions the great bliss clear light which arises from those skillful methods. The reason why it's necessary to mention the great bliss of the clear light is because the exalted wisdom of great bliss has to be the clear light mind. It's possible to have the exalted wisdom of great bliss without realizing emptiness, which wouldn't be great bliss; and to experience emptiness without bliss, and that's why it mentions clear light here. You could have the exalted bliss without emptiness: you could bring the winds into, abide, and absorb into the channels, you have that great bliss, but you haven't realized emptiness. You have two types of clear light: example clear light, the clear light mind realizing emptiness with a generic image, not realizing emptiness directly and non-conceptually - it's a conceptual realization. Then there is the other kind of clear light, the meaning clear light. When you have that you've achieved the path of seeing. The mahamudra of the traditions of Saraha, The mahamudra here is that explained by the great masters. Where it mentions the seven texts of the mahasiddhas and the three volumes, they are texts that all explain the completion stages. The essence of the essence is explained here. The Three Volumes is by Saraha, on highest yoga tantra. The Seven Texts of the mahasiddhas are great texts by the Indian masters that I will explain later. Their subject matter is the highest stages of the completion stage. There are various levels of the completion stage: isolation of body, speech, and mind. These are more to do with the mind isolation. These seven are: 1. The Demonstration of the Siddhi by Gompo Dewa Chenpo 2. The Demonstration of Method and Wisdom by his disciple, Yenla Mepe Dorje[?] 3. Demonstration of Exalted Wisdom by Indra Bhutti, his disciple (there are seven Indra Bhuttis) 4. The Demonstration of the Non-dual, by a female relative of Indra Bhutti, Lakshmikara 5. The Demonstration of the Innate by Dombi Heruka 6. The Demonstration of Suchness by Darikapa 7. The Suchness which Follows the Clarification of Things by the yogini Chito Khensur Rinpoche 13 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

14 Regarding The Three Types of Doha by Saraha, there are people who believe the first two are not composed by Saraha, that the only genuine one is the third one, but according to Je Rinpoche all three are decisive, and that the followers made mistakes in deciphering them. In the mahamudra mantra tradition, the method for achieving mahamudra is the practice of inner heat, tummo. Through that practice you cause the airs to enter, absorb, and abide in the channels, and generate great bliss. That instruction is found in the writings of Naropa and found in the completion stage. If you have an understanding of how to practice tummo from the Six Yogas of Naropa, then you'll understand that the great bliss you achieve through tummo is a bliss that comes through the melting of the substances. There are different levels of that bliss. The most fully developed ultimate one is called simultaneous great bliss. In terms of subtlety, there is no difference between the mahamudra that's taught in the Kagyu tradition and the mahamudra taught in the Gelug tradition. They both have a explanation of the mudra of the base, path, and result. And no difference in subtlety. The Kagyu tradition comes from Marpa to Milarepa to Gampopa. They also talk about the mahamudra according to the sutra and tantra traditions. The only difference is how mahamudra is explained. In Kagyu they have many different ways of explaining mahamudra. In the Gelug, it's exactly how Je Rinpoche explained it. And so we have those three: the mudra of the basis, path, and result. As for what that first one, the mudra of the basis, refers to, this is something that all sentient beings in the form, formless, and desire realms all have - something that we've all had since beginningless time. It can't be pointed out as having any physical properties, and it's present at all times. We talk about the mind which is clear light. This has a conventional and ultimate level. The conventional level refers to the fact that the mind is clear and knowing. That clear and knowing aspect of the mind is referred to as the clear light nature of the mind. The ultimate one refers to the mind s emptiness of true existence. Even though we refer to the clear and knowing nature of the mind as the clear light mind, that s not its emptiness. Both of those qualities are there with the mind at all times, from the very moment a given consciousness or awareness is produced. It's never mixed with the stains or impurities, and it's empty of true existence. That's the basis mudra. There are two types of lineage. The increasing lineage is the potential to become the form bodies of the Buddha. The other two are the Dharmakaya[?]. The clear and knowing aspect of the mind is the increasing lineage, the potential for becoming the form bodies. Then the empty nature of the mind is also a lineage, the naturally abiding lineage (better, the lineage which abides as the nature). Our minds always have those qualities whether we know them or not. We have the conventional and ultimate clear light natures of the mind but don't see them. Whenever we do something wholesome or virtuous, we're coming closer to manifesting that nature, closer to achieving enlightenment. In the Golden Rosary commentary by Je Rinpoche he mentions that there are two clear lights. Just as if you had clothing made of stone and put it in a fire, the dirt would be burnt off; Khensur Rinpoche 14 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

15 similarly the clear light of the mind remains as the delusions are removed. When you eliminate the three poisonous minds the clear light mind remains and continues on to enlightenment. The mudra of the basis, the sutra mahamudra is the wisdom realizing that nature. When any being dies from tiny ants up to bodhisattvas on the tenth ground, we have the clear light of death, the mother clear light. The mahamudra of the ordinary level, according to tantra. That mother clear light, some say it is emptiness and some that it is not. In fact it is not emptiness, it is something that occurs in all beings and life forms right up to bodhisattvas on the tenth level. Then there is the clear light that arises from the force of ones meditation. If you meditate on emptiness before clear light manifesting, is a completely empty appearance. Then, through the force of having understood emptiness at the normal times before the clear light, when the clear light arises you'll be able to realize emptiness. That's the path clear light. There are two levels: example and meaning clear light. You can understand this way of bringing the dharmakaya into the path at death. The discussion of how the 25 gross phenomena dissolve: earth to water, water to fire, fire to air, appearance, increase, near attainment, clear light. If you repeatedly familiarize yourself with that process, then, when it actually happens, since you continually made the decision that, when the clear light happens you'll use it for meditating on emptiness. Having that habit, when you actually reach the clear light, you'll be able to realize emptiness at that point. There we would speak of the meeting of the mother and son clear light. The mother clear light is one that's naturally there, and the son clear light actually refers to emptiness. They meet by meditating on emptiness and then your understanding of emptiness coming up and being used at the time of the clear light. This idea of the mother and son clear light is something you only find in tantra. That meeting of the mother and son clear light is the mahamudra of the path. In the sutra tradition with the realization of emptiness free of all conventional elaborations, when you're actually absorbed in meditation on emptiness, a non conceptual direct conception, it s free of elaborations of true existence. That is the mahamudra of the path according to the sutra and tantra traditions. Like on the sutra tradition when you reach the path of seeing. We've reached the resultant mahamudra and we'll leave it there. Q: The conventional clear light, like burning off the poisons from the cloth, left with the unchanging clear mind. How is that different from the mind only school? According to the Cittamatra system, the same would apply. That what prevents us from seeing the real nature of things are the obscurations in our mind. And what remains is the clear and knowing nature of our mind. Q: What does produced mean in the explanation of the clear light states. We're born, aren't we! From the moment this life begins we have the clear and knowing nature of the mind, and the mind being empty of true existence. Q: Is it possible to achieve tantric mahamudra without tummo? Khensur Rinpoche 15 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

16 The completion stage explanation is that we have the body isolation, speech isolation, and mind isolation. When you're practicing the body isolation, then you generate yourself in the form of the deity father and mother, and at the end of the organ you meditate on a drop and focus your attention on that, and through that process you can generate great bliss. And so, when you're doing that kind of practice, it causes the fire of the inner heat to blaze, but that's not referred to as the yoga of tummo. It causes the inner heat to blaze at the secret place that brings about a melting of the elements, and you experience bliss, but it's not called tummo yoga. It's also possible to focus on the heart and cause the airs to enter, abide, and absorb into the heart to make the clear light manifest. This also would not be the tummo yoga. Meditating on the tummo At the navel is easier and less risky. For the person with sharp faculties they can meditate on the heart. There's a risk of wind disease with this approach though. Through relying upon a karma mudra then you can experience simultaneous bliss and gradually achieve the ultimate example clear light. If you achieve that, you achieve enlightenment in one lifetime, achieving the illusory body. Sunday, October 15 6:30am, Ven. Rene Lama Chopa in English *good to transcribe for annotation of Lama Chopa 10am, Khensur Rinpoche Yesterday we talked about the mahamudra of the base and path. Now we need to talk about the resultant mahamudra. For the resultant mahamudra you have two levels: one is the temporary resultant mahamudra and the other is the final or ultimate resultant mahamudra. The temporary resultant mahamudra refers to the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness, which you gain when you achieve the path of seeing. The ultimate one is the mahamudra in the mental continuum of an enlightened being, a non-learner, and is completely pure of any of the knowledge obscurations. According to tantra, the exalted wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness is the resultant mahamudra. Also, keep in mind that sutra mahamudra is identified as the direct realization of emptiness. The resultant mahamudra in tantra would also be the resultant mahamudra in sutra because of the fact that it does realize emptiness. And so then, if we carry on with the root text, where it says, the former refers to the ways of meditation When it says the former, that refers to the sutra tradition, and there the emptiness which is realized is the emptiness explained in those sutras. Khensur Rinpoche 16 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017

17 The expanded, intermediate and brief Prajnaparamita sutras : the hundred thousand, twenty thousand, and eight thousand, which have those number of verses more or less (100,000, 25,000, 8,000). What's explicitly taught in those sutras is emptiness. The hidden meaning of those sutras are the stages of the clear realizations, which refers to, for example, the ten grounds and the five paths. When we talk about the hidden meaning, it's kind of like the implicit meaning, but it's not exactly that. Because, if it's the implied meaning, it should be that, through understands the direct meaning (emptiness) you should be able to realize the path of the clear realizations. But it's not really like that. It's more than just being the indirect or implicit meaning, rather, the Buddha explained specifically to Maitreya that through meditating on emptiness in this way you'll reach various levels: the five paths, the ten grounds, clear realizations, And through Maitreya s quintessential instructions you are able to understand the hidden meaning. The commentaries on those sutras, mainly where you learn about the hidden meaning, are Maitreya s Abhisadamakarda[?], and Saraha s Madyamahakara[?]. In that same section, it says, the supremely realized arya Nagarjuna To achieve liberation you need to cut through the root of cyclic existence, and the path that does so is called the liberation path. There's no other liberation path than this, the realization of emptiness, which will do this. This was stated by the supreme arya Nagarjuna. In general, when we say liberation path we include renunciation, that is a liberation path. When you generate an uncontrived renunciation you have generated an uncontrived liberation path in your mind. Generally when we refer to the five paths in our mind, we're referring to a path that leads to liberation. It is only the wisdom realizing emptiness that can cut through the root of cyclic existence. There are other qualities of mind like loving kindness and compassion, which are methods for achieving liberation. But because their way of apprehending their object is not the direct opposite to the way that ignorance apprehends its object, they are not antidotes to ignorance. The antidote has to act in the completely opposite way. Even though compassion and loving kindness are methods to help you achieve liberation, they are not the actual antidote to ignorance. There is no superior path to liberation than the wisdom realizing emptiness which is explained in the three mother sutras, the extensive, middling, and brief one. If we investigate the root of cyclic existence, the root is self-grasping and self-cherishing. The antidote to self-grasping is emptiness, and the antidote to self-cherishing is bodhicitta. Ultimate bodhicitta is the wisdom realizing emptiness and is the one that mainly cuts through cyclic existence. Conventional bodhicitta is the main antidote to self-cherishing. The actual antidote to the root of cyclic existence is the wisdom realizing selflessness. Selflessness means the lack of existing by self-nature. Countless inconceivable benefits follow from having conviction and reflecting on selflessness. When you learn about selflessness, that activity harms the root to cyclic existence. Likewise, having faith in selflessness also harms the root of cyclic existence. There are many benefits that are also taught in the sutras. There is a text by the master Nagarjuna called Collecting from All the Sutras. There Nagarjuna states that having faith and conviction in selflessness collects all merit, while one is an ordinary being and when one has transcended the world. Khensur Rinpoche 17 of 48 VPI Mahamudra 2017