No More Learning

Marpa kept the pigeon for several days, feeding it well, and taking good care of it. While he was meditating, he realized what needed to be done. Marpa told his son, now incarnate as the pigeon,
about a charnel ground in India. Having been there himself, Marpa knew the directions and outlined the way very clearly. Marpa lived near the southern border of Tibet, where the journey to India is relatively short through the low passes over the Himalayas. "Fly to India," he said, "and find this charnel ground. The cremation of a young man is about to take place. You will be able to transfer your consciousness from the pigeon's body to his, and thus experience human existence again. " Then he let the pigeon go. It circled three times around Marpa and his wife, and flew off south.
When the bird reached India, it found the funeral procession, led by a Brahmin couple whose fifteen-yer-old son, bright and full of promise, had contracted an infectious disease and suddenly died. As the mourners laid the corpse out for cremation, the pigeon land- ed on the head, and immediately fell over dead. Right then the boy began to wake and move again. At first the onlookers thought a ghoul had taken possession of the corpse and ran away in fright. But the boy was able to speak to them, and soon convinced the brahmin family that their son had indeed come back to life, and without the help of demons.
In time this boy grew up to become a famous Buddhist meditator and teacher. Because of the pigeon that landed on his corpse, people called him Tipupa, meaning "Pigeon Boy," but his personal name was Trimay Shenyen [dri med bshes gnyen] which means "undefiled spiritual friend. "
Tipupa was still alive and teaching in India when Milarepa's student Rechungpa [ras chung pa] decided to go there to seek out teachings the lineage had not yet received. He met and studied with Tipupa, and one day was going through a bazaar when someone ap- proached him out of nowhere and said, "Well, if it isn't the young Tibetan yogin. You're in a lot of trouble. You have only seven days to live. Such a pity! " and then disappeared. Rechungpa was shocked, and wondered if the omen was genuine. He hurried to his teacher, Tipupa, who said, "It appears that this was an accurate prediction. A big obstacle to your life is coming, and unless you can deal with it skillfully, you will die. The most effective thing I can recommend is for you to go to see the woman teacher who is very skillful at transmitting the practice of Amitayus, the practice of im- mortality and longevity. "
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The woman was Machik Drupay Gyalmo. She was called Machik, "one mother" or "only mother," since she was maternally affectionate towards her students, who came to regard her as a mother. Drupay Gyalmo means "Queen of Siddhas. " Tipupa sent Rechungpa to take teachings from her; by receiving the Amitayus empowerment and practice, Rechungpa was able to forestall the threat to his life. Through his connection with Machik, he received the teachings he would bring back to Tibet, where they entered into all the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, especially the mainstream of the Kagyii school. To this day we find reference to the Longevity Empowerment of the Queen of Siddhas.
Gelongma Palmo
During the early development of Buddhism in India, before its transmission to other countries like Tibet, there lived a princess, daughter of an Indian king, an unusually beautiful and intelligent girl, a most promising heir to the kingdom. At a certain point in her youth, however, she contracted a particularly virulent form of a disease resembling leprosy. Open sores began to cover her entire body and her flesh started to fester. As terrible as this was, doctors could find no cure. Gradually it became obvious that she was becoming a dangerous source of contagion and, as the disease pro- gressed, she became disgusting to see. So cutting off all ties with her life as a princess, she left the palace and went into a forest her- mitage. She took the vows of a nun in order to devote the last years of her life to intense Dharma practice.
During this time, she met a teacher who became very fond of her and was deeply moved by her situation. This teacher gave her the empowerment and the instruction for meditation on the eleven- faced, thousand-armed form of Chenrezi. For several years this was her main practice. During this time her disease got worse and worse; her extremities began to rot away, and her whole body was so com- pletely covered with open sores that she couldn't even sleep at night; she was in extreme pain and dying. Then, in the semi-waking state that was her fitful way of sleeping, she had a dream, or vision: the impression that somebody dressed in brilliant white came into her room with a large vase filled with pure water and poured it all over her body. She felt that the disease was being shed like the skin of a
snake, and that her body was being made whole again. When she woke up, she found her body renewed, as though nothing had ever troubled it. There was no sign of disease. Instantly she was filled with intense devotion and the conviction that her cure was due to the blessings of Chenrezi. At that moment she began to pray and meditate, and was blessed with a direct vision of the Bodhisattva, who dissolved into her. With this experience she attained a very high state of Realization and the direct experience of the nature of her mind.
The nun's name was Palmo [dpal mo], which means Lady of Glory, and she is known to the tradition as Gelongma Palmo. "Gelongma" [dge slong rna] simply means a fully ordained Buddhist nun. The teachings connected with the fasting ritual of the thousand-armed, eleven-faced form of Chenrezi were principally developed and spread by this nun; in fact, this popular practice is still referred to as the method or tradition of Gelongma Palmo. Many people used it as one of their main practices and now that Tibetan Lamas are bringing this meditation to the West, many westerners have also been inspired by it, and have taken part in nyung nay [smyung gnas], the fasting ritual.
Niguma; Chungpo Nal_jor, and Sukhasiddhi*
Because of the great wisdom, learning and skillfulness the Bud- dha embodies, he gave appropriate teachings to counteract all our emotional afflictions-eighty-four thousand different ones are men- tioned. To eliminate them, he gave eighty-four thousand teachings, traditionally known as the Eighty-four Thousand Collections. Twenty-one thousand emotional afflictions arise from the root poison of desire. As an antidote for these, the Buddha explained the teachings of the Vinaya collection, the prescriptions for ethical behavior. To eliminate the twenty-one thousand emotional afflic- tions arising from hatred, he gave the twenty-one thousand teachings that make up the Sutra collection. The twenty-one thou-
? At this point the text follows a teaching by Lama Norlha on three teachers fundamentally imponant to the Shangba Lineage and, through it, to other traditions of practice in Tibet.
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sand teachings given in the Abhidharma, the third collection, were designed to annihilate the twenty-one thousand emotional afflic? tions arising from the root of ignorance. Yet there remain twenty? one thousand which result from the complex intermixture of the three-desire, hatred and ignorance. As antidotes to these, the Bud? dha gave the twenty-one thousand teachings which make up tantra, the teachings of the Vajrayana.
The teachings given by the Buddhas are not intellectual speculation, but are based on their personal experience of absolute Enlightenment. Having given up all that concerns "me" and "I," and having committed themselves to the benefit of all beings, whatever the difficulties, Buddhas continually experience perfect Enlightenment. These enlightened beings manifest in skillful ways to liberate beings, using whatever forms or appearances are ap? propriate.
Thus Buddhas and Bodhisattvas take all sorts of births: sometimes they come as kings and queens, princes, ministers, sometimes as commoners, peasants, animals-whatever is most practical to benefit beings, whatever is necessary to present the Dharma. Sometimes they appear as men. Sometimes as women. I will tell the story of two women, Niguma and Sukhasiddhi, who took the responsibility of demonstrating the Dharma in such a way that their teachings continue to benefit sentient beings to this day.
Niguma
Niguma was born in Kashmir, a Muslim country, in a region called the Land of Great Magic. During the time of the previous Buddha, this land had been covered by water, and a naga king was in possession of it. An arhat, who was a disciple of the Buddha of that time, longed to erect a temple there, so he went to ask the naga king for a piece of solid ground. The naga king promised one, but only as big as the arhat's body could cover when he was sitting in meditation. The arhat gratefully accepted what was offered, and when the time came to take possession of the land, he performed a miracle: his sitting body covered the whole of that land. The naga king kept his promise, and the whole new land was offered to the arhat, whose name was Nyimay Gung.
With his miraculous power, the arhat made all the water disap- pear, and a magnificent temple and monastery were soon built there. People in the surrounding regions began to take notice of this new landscape and, especially, its most beautiful temple. They wanted to live there and discussed how to go about it. They finally decided to invite a great magician who could create a city all round the temple. Once he had done this and before he could undo his magical creation (as magicians are wont to do), the people destroyed him. So the settlement continued there, and the district acquired the reputation of a land of great magnificence and great magic.
This special place later became the binhplace of many mahasiddhas, among them Naropa. And here too was born the great female Bodhisattva Niguma, who by auspicious coincidence happened to be born as the sister of Naropa, in a vinuous, noble family. In former lives she had generated the enlightened mind and followed the path of the Bodhisattvas. She now chose voluntary binh as a woman who would benefit and liberate others. During her lifetime as Niguma, the experiences and profound teachings that she had made her own in many previous eons were now funher enlarged and reviewed with the other learned Mahasiddhas of her time. As Niguma, she experienced the perfect state of the ultimate awakened mind. Enlightenment manifested through her so that her entire being, including her physical form, transcended mundane ex- istence, and experienced perfect Buddhahood within her lifetime.
Niguma received the ultimate teachings directly from Vaj- radhara, the primordial Buddha, in the form of personal initiation into all levels of the teachings-Sutra, Abhidharma, and Tan- tra. As a result, she manifested as a tenth stage Bodhisattva; this means that even the subtlest obscurations were dispelled, so that her mind became one with the mind of the Buddha, attaining the Three Bodies of perfect Enlightenment. From her lifetime to this present day, she continues to manifest whatever subtle or more material form is necessary to benefit beings over limitless time.
Her foremost disciple was the Mahasiddha Chungpo Naljor (khyung po mal 'byor], who was born in Tibet and travelled to India to receive the full transmission from her. In granting him the em- powerments, Niguma also confirmed that not only he, but all his successors and followers would in the future have the good fonune
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to receive the blessing of dakinis, encounter enlightened beings, and perfect Liberation.
Chungpo Naljor
Chungpo Naljor was born in a year of the tiger in the southern part of Tibet, into a distinguished family. Chungpo is the family name-the clan of the khyung, or Garuda, the legendary great bird that is guardian of the north. His father's name was Chungpo Chu- jar, and his mother's, Tashi. Thus, his own name meant "the yogin of the Garuda clan. "
A portent marked his birth: The great Mahasiddha Amogha came flying through the air from India and made the prophecy that this newborn child, who was already highly realized, would in time come to India and there receive the profound transmissions that would make him a greater guide of beings.
The qualities of Chungpo Naljor began to manifest while he was still very young. When he was five years old, he told detailed stories about his past existences, and revealed insight into his lives to come, and into the future in general. By the age of ten, he had com- pleted the secular curriculum, the studies any learned person would undertake: philosophy, astrology, astronomy, and so on. By his twelfth year he had commenced the study of religion, beginning with Bon. He then began studying and practicing Nyingma teachings, including the core practice of Dzok chen [rdzogs chen], the Great Perfection.
At this point Chungpo Naljor journeyed to India, where he studied with many learned and highly realized beings. Foremost among them were the two dakinis, Sukhasiddhi and Niguma. From
them he received the ultimate pith instructions which led him to ex- perience the highest stages of the Bodhisattva's path and established his mind in the enlightened state of Dorje Chang.
His meeting with Niguma came about in this fashion. After he had received teachings from many great Siddhas, Chungpo Naljor again searched for highly realized teachers from whom he could receive more advanced instruction. The most realized teachers he encountered told him that one with his qualities should seek the great Bodhisattva who was not separate from Dorje Chang in her
realization and in the profound teachings she could skillfully transmit.
Chungpo Naljor asked where he could meet such an enlight- ened being and was told that her presence could manifest anywhere to highly purified beings. Unfortunate beings, those still caught in emotional afflictions, would find it very difficult to encounter her at all, since she had dissolved her physical form, attained the rainbow body, and achieved the level of Dorje Chang. Every now and again, however, she would visit the most sacred cremation grounds and, leading a host of dakinis, would preside over great ritual offer- ing feasts, ganacakras (tso chi kor lo [tshogs kyi 'khor lo]). There someone might have an opportunity of seeing the great Niguma.
As soon as Chungpo Naljor heard the name of the great dakini, he felt such devotion, like an electric shock, that tears welled up in his eyes. Immediately he set out to find her at the great charnel ground called Sosaling [so sa gling]. As he travelled, he continuously made supplications to the Three Jewels. When he reached the cemetery, he saw above him in space at the height of seven banana trees, a female deity bluish in appearance, who wore elaborate bone ornaments and held a trident and a skull. As he gazed at her, he sometimes saw one deity, and sometimes many; some were in meditation posture, and some were dancing or making graceful gestures. He felt sure that this was the great Bodhisattva Niguma, and began to make reverent prostrations to her, sincerely imploring her for transmission of the teachings.
Niguma mocked his request and sneering, warned him, "I am a flesh-eating dakini and I have a large retinue of other dakinis like myself. When they come, we may eat you. Run away before it's too late! "
But her words did not dismay Chungpo Naljor or make him retreat. Again he proclaimed his longing to receive the transmission from her. After his second plea, Niguma made this stipulation: he must offer gold if he really wished to receive teachings from her. Fonunately, Chungpo Naljor had five hundred gold pieces with him, and these he took out and tossed up to her as an offering. As the gold came into her hands, she scattered it into the air, so that it fell all over the forest. This behavior just increased Chungpo
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Naljor's confidence that she was indeed the great Niguma. A flesh- eating dakini would certainly have felt attachment to the gold and kept some.
With deepening conviction he continued to beseech her for the teachings; Niguma turned her head from side to side, and looked into the different directions with her blazing eyes. So summoned, a great throng of dakinis surrounded her, all busily at work. Some were building palaces, some constructing mandalas, and others were making preparations for Dharma teaching, and for the ganacakra that would follow.
On the day of the full moon, Niguma gave Chungpo Naljor the empowerment and transmission of the teachings of the profound Dream Practice. In the middle of this, she said to him: "Son from Tibet, arise! "
Suddenly Chungpo Naljor found himself in midair at the height of three banana trees. Looking up towards Niguma, he saw that the great being was on top of a golden mountain, surrounded by a vast retinue of dakinis. Down the four sides of the mountain, rivers fell. Chungpo Naljor wondered out loud if this amazing mountain was truly there or whether he was witnessing a miraculous performance by the dakini.
Niguma answered, "When the ocean ofsamsara is turned over, when all attachment and ego-clinging are totally uprooted, then every place and every thing is covered with gold, forming a golden field of non-attachment. The actual nature of samsara, this phenomenal world, is like a play of dreams and illusion. When you have realized experientially that the play of the phenomenal world is nothing but a dream, or is like the illusion created by some magi- cian, then you have gone beyond the ocean of samsara. This re- quires the greatest devotion to your Lama. Understand this. Now you must leave here. Go and grasp your dream! "
Chungpo Naljor understood her instructions and entered the dream as he had been taught. In the dream state he was given full empowerment for the Five Golden Dharmas of Niguma. Three times in the dream he received the empowerments, including those of the Six Yogas of Niguma. At the end, Niguma told him this: "In this land there have been no other beings except yourself who re-
ceived the total transmission of these doctrines three times in one dream. "
On the following day, Niguma once again gave him three times the complete transmissions, with the detailed explanations of these doctrines; this time the transmission took place in the waking state. One commitment she asked him to keep was this: only he and another Mahasiddha, by the name of Lavapa, had had the transmission into the six doctrines of Niguma; the teachings should be kept secret until seven generations had passed in an unbroken line of transmission from one Lama to one chosen disciple in each generation. After the seventh generation, it would be appropriate to give these teachings more widely for the benefit of all beings. Niguma's prayers of aspiration and her blessing would be directed toward that end.
There is really no essential difference between the Six Yogas of Naropa and the Six Doctrines of Niguma. The notable difference is in the transmission lineage. The Six Doctrines of Naropa came from Naropa to Marpa and his successors, while the Six Doctrines of Niguma came through the great Mahasiddha Chungpo Naljor. Thereafter, the two doctrines were transmitted by the successive lineage holders so that there is to the present day an unbroken line in the Kagyii tradition of both doctrines, Naropa's and Niguma's.
Sukhasiddhi
At another point in his career Chungpo Naljor questioned the Mahasiddha Aryadeva about those who would be able to advance his understanding. Aryadeva said that he himself had received teachings for seven months from a highly realized dakini, whose in- structions had brought him to the eighth Bodhisattva level. Then, urging Chungpo Naljor to search her out for himself, he told the story of how the dakini, whose name was Sukhasiddhi, had herself achieved realization.
In that same area of India where Niguma had lived, there was a great city in which lived a family: a father, mother, three sons, and three daughters. A time came when that land suffered such a ter- rible famine that this family's provisions were reduced to one small jar of rice, which they were keeping as a last resource. In despera-
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tion, the three sons left home and went towards the north, the three daughters towards the west, and the father towards the south, all searching for food, but all in vain. While they were away on their futile search, the mother stayed at home. One day there came to her door a great Siddha, who by his clairvoyance knew that she had a jar of rice tucked away. He told the mother that he had not eaten for a very long time, and begged her to offer him some of the rice. Moved by his plea and by his virtue, she offered him the rice, cooking it for him and eating a little herself. When the sons, daughters and father came back empty-handed, exhausted and famished, they told the mother to bring out the last of the rice, so they could have at least one meal. Then she had to confess that there was no rice, that she had given it to a Siddha who had come begging. She explained that she had been certain that at least one of them would bring some food home, so she had felt it proper to offer the rice.
They were all outraged and turned her out of the house; she would have to go her own way and take care of herself.
She had never been away from her family before. She went among her neighbors asking for advice. Everywhere she got the same suggestion: she should go to the west, to Oddiyana, a rich country whose people were understanding and generous. There she might find the basic necessities of life.
So the mother went to Oddiyana and found that its people were indeed sympathetic. She had come at an auspicious time, the season of the harvest, and the people gave her quantities of rice. She took that rice to a town called Bita and used it to make chang, a kind of beer. She sold the chang, bought rice with the proceeds, made more chang, and so gradually began to make her living as a brewer. She was soon able to open an inn, and amongst the people who came to buy her wares was one regular customer, a young girl who came every day to buy chang and meat. The mother became curious about this girl, who never ate or drank anything, but carried it all away. Where was she taking it? One day she ventured to ask the girl. The young woman answered, "Quite a way from here in the moun- tains, there is a great Mahasiddha, Virupa, who is constantly in meditation. Every day I take this as an offering to him. "
The mother thought about this, and said, "In that case, I would certainly like to make my chang an offering to the great Mahasiddha. "
She went on to tell the young woman the story of her misfor? tunes, her exile from her family, and how now in her declining years she was realizing the futility of involvement with material existence. As a way of accumulating merit, she wanted to make offerings of her chang to the Mahasiddha.
From that time forward, she regularly offered the best chang to the Mahasiddha, and the young attendant brought it every day to the master. One day Virupa happened to ask how she was able to bring chang and meat every day without ever having to pay anything-who was making these offerings? The young woman ex- plained that an elderly woman, new to the town, seemed very devoted to him and wanted to make regular offerings.
The great master Virupa said, "Today this elderly woman, who must already be someone of great merit, should be brought to me in person.
I will guide her to complete Liberation. " When this message was brought by Virupa's young attendant, the mother grew excited, and taking along generous offerings of chang and meat, went to visit Virupa.
When she came into his presence, Virupa bestowed Empower- ment upon her. She was ripe for such an experience and in many ways was nearly a realized yogini already. The transmissions Virupa gave enhanced her Realization, with the result that she became a great Dakini. This woman, who was to be called Sukhasiddhi, was fifty-nine years old when she was banished from her family, and it had taken her a year to establish a livelihood, so when she received the profound instructions from Virupa she was sixty-one. With one- pointed conviction and commitment she received the totality of the empowerment and became an enlightened Dakini not only in essence, but also in form and appearance. She took on the form of a sixteen year old maiden.
Sukhasiddhi was completely dedicated to practice and had sur- rendered her ties to the phenomenal world. Through practice and devotion she in time equalled in Realization other great yoginis such
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as Niguma. Like them, she had visions of Dorje Chang from whom she received complete transmissions. After attaining such Realiza? tion, she devoted her profound abilities to manifesting in ways that would help and guide other beings. For over a thousand years since then fortunate beings have been and still are able to perceive Sukhasiddhi, in the form of an unchanging, youthful woman.
This was the story Aryadeva told Chungpo Naljor about the life and Liberation of Sukhasiddhi. Aryadeva went on to explain that sometimes on the tenth day of the month, Sukhasiddhi could be seen in the thick of a certain forest, surrounded by a retinue of Dakinis. Fortunate beings sometimes encountered her there, if she made herself visible to them.
So Chungpo Naljor, carrying gold to offer, went towards the forest as he had been directed. There, above a most beautiful juniper tree, a great Dakini was to be seen, brilliantly white, her hand in the "unborn" mudra. She was surrounded by a retinue of other Dakinis in the midst of a vast cloud of light. At his first sight of this great being, intense devotion was born in the heart of Chungpo Naljor; his hair stood on end, and tears sprang to his eyes. The presence of the Dakini brought immense joy like that at the attain- ment of the first Bodhisattva level.
He made offerings of flowers, and circumambulated the tree below the great Dakini and her retinue. With a one-pointed mind, he begged her to teach. Sukhasiddhi said that the teachings she held were the highest in the Vajrayana, transmitted to her directly by Dorje Chang; to be worthy of receiving them, he must have an ac- cumulation of merit, and make offerings of precious substances such as gold. Then, with palms joined together, he must generate intense devotion in order to receive the Empowerment, the Scriptural Transmission and the Instruction (wang, lung and tn? , the three phases of preparation in the Vajrayana). Chungpo Naljor was directed to sit in the most respectful position to receive the profound teachings. Looking at him, Sukhasiddhi said that the experience of the precious human birth, and the opportunity of receiving the supreme Dharma in her presence was a great wonder.
In this way Chungpo Naljor made offerings and received her instruction. Sukhasiddhi told him that in the future he would be the main lineage-holder of the teaching she had transmitted, and that
the teaching itself would continue to exist and be available for the benefit of beings. Chungpo Naljor received the four empower? ments-of body, speech, mind, and the union of all three-into the Six Doctrines of Sukhasiddhi, which are similar to the Six Doctrines of Niguma. Then she prophesized that he would attain supreme Enlightenment and from the pure realm of Amitabha his activities would benefit all. Sukhasiddhi's Realization as embodied in her teachings has continued to this present day through practitioners in many countries of the world:
Deeds of Bodhisattvas Awaken Conft'dence
Stories about the lives of enlightened beings provide us with ex- amples of conduct that will inspire us and, especially, arouse a con? fidence that we too can follow in their footsteps. Our commitment to Dharma and our practice of it can result in exactly the same sort of Enlightenment we see manifested in their lives. A strong sense of conviction and of dedication is essential, as we can see in the life of the great yogi Milarepa. After all the exhausting tasks Marpa had set him were completed, Milarepa was finally able to see the manifestation of Marpa as the Yidam Hevajra-in form as well as essence. After Marpa had appeared with all the splendors and or? naments of the Yidam, he asked what Milarepa had experienced. Milarepa said that devotion had arisen in him, and confidence that such a state as Marpa had manifested could be realized. Milarepa then made a one-pointed aspiration to achieve it himself.
In our own situation as intelligent beings able to communicate, listen, make sense and explain, we have to understand clearly the distinction between samsara and Nirvana, learn what really needs to be done, and then take practical steps to do it. That is the real teaching and intention of the Buddha.
The greater our involvement in samsara, the greater our suf- fering. That is how things work. The Buddha said, "The greater the power, the greater the misery; the greater the wealth, the greater the miserliness; the more caught up we are in samsaric situations, the greater our self-deception. " We have to realize that what we want to experience, and can experience, is ultimate happiness, a state that is indestructible, beyond circumstances and conditioning
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factors. To attain this we must give up temporary satisfactions, which in any case are full of false promises and pretense. We go to restaurants and social spots to have fun, to try to cheer one another up and grasp some measure of good feeling and security. Even if we don't mean it, we say how good everything looks, how well everything is going, and so on. But eventually we have to face real- ity, and that's very painful. The more we try to run away from suf- fering by pretending that it really doesn't exist, the more suffering we bring ourselves. That is not the way of Dharma. If you have recognized your need for Enlightenment, you will give up these deceptive pursuits and work towards ultimate happiness, which in- volves a total commitment to the practice of Dharma.
Enlightened beings, whether from long ago or in our own day can inspire admiration and then devotion. Therefore, we should take their examples sincerely to heart, and follow them by working towards Liberation for our own benefit and the benefit of all beings.
8
Mahamudra
The vast body of teachings we know as the Buddhadhanna is traditionally said to consist of eighty-four thousand collections, and each one of these is said to contain as many texts as could be written with all the ink an elephant can carry on its back. The Bud- dhadhanna contains an inexhaustible wealth of teachings and techniques; and every one of these has the same fundamental pur- pose: to benefit beings in their many conditions by helping them to understand the nature of mind.
According to the Buddhadharma, Enlightenment has three aspects (see pages 36-38): One of these is the Dhaimakaya," which is often represented by the figure of Vajradhara or Dorje Chang [rdo rje 'chang]. It is from the level of awareness expressed by Dorje Chang that the teachings known as the tantras have been prom- ulgated among human beings. In the Secret Heart tantra, called in Tibetan the Sang way nyi'ng po [gsang ba'i snying po] and in San- skrit the Guhyagarbha-tantra, we find a prayer of praise to mind itself:
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I pay homage to the mind
which is like a wish-fulfilling gem,
through which one can realize all one's aims. Mind-nature is the basis for everything;
There is nothing in samsara or Nirvana that does not come from it.
The four main orders of the Buddhist tradition in Tibet-Sakyapa, Geliigpa, Kagyiipa and Nyingmapa-use many techniques of practice. Each has preliminary practices that consist initially of taking Refuge in the Three Jewels, then formalizing that commitment by acts of prostration and recitation, offering, purification, and meditations that identify us with our Lama. Each school has techniques for calming the mind and developing insight into its nature; each employs Vajrayana meditation practices that involve the stages of Development and Fulfillment. All of these many practices are geared towards deepening an authentic understanding of the nature of mind; they exist for no other pur- pose.
In the Kagyiipa school one of the main cycles of teaching is termed the Six Dharmas or Yogas of Naropa, six techniques through which we can begin the profound transformation of all aspects of our experience. All these techniques employ a rapid approach. They are a supremely effective path to Enlightenment, and involve Mahamudra meditation and the cycle of teachings concerned with the Mahamudra Realization.
Mahamudra is a Sanskrit word meaning "supreme symbol" or "supreme seal. " In Tibetan it is translated as cha j'a chen po [phyag rgya chen po). Cha is an honorific word for hand, which in tum is a code word for the Emptiness of mind and all phenomena. The sec- ond syllable, j'a, means seal, as on a document. It signifies something that gathers everything under one heading and seals it in its embrace. It refers to the all-embracing nature of Mahamudra Realization: no aspect of experience falls outside it, for it is the all- embracing awareness of the essential Emptiness of experience and phenomena. Chen po means great, and signifies that this experience is ultimate- there is nothing greater.
Mahamudra Realization and the teachings leading to it can be considered the quintessence of all Buddhist practice. The doctrine is
profound and difficult to grasp; the experience is intangible and cannot be demonstrated to the senses. A stanza from the teaching of the Buddha praises Prajiiaparamita, the Perfection of Wisdom, who personifies this experience.
The first line says that the Perfection of Wisdom cannot be spoken about, cannot be described, cannot be conceived of. The traditional comparison is with a mute person tasting sugar: the ex? perience cannot be communicated to anyone else. In the same way Mahamudra must be experienced personally to be understood: one cannot describe it clearly and effectively to another person, but one can make an attempt, and this is what the quatrain does.
The second line specifies that although realization of the nature of mind, the Perfection of Wisdom, is indescribable, we can say that it is not subject to origination or cessation. There is an eternal qual? ity to the nature of mind, which is empty, like space.
The third line identifies the realization of mind as the province of one's own awareness; it is properly understood only in one's own awareness and experience, not in someone else's description. Primordial Awareness is the direct and authentic experience of the mind as empty, clear and unimpeded, as dynamic and intelligent. This can only be verified through personal experience and the use of one's own intelligence.
The founh line is a personification: "I pay homage to the mother of the Buddhas of the three times. " In this metaphor our realization of the nature of mind, as well as that nature itself, is described as the origin of Enlightenment, because it is through this direct Realization that we experience Buddhahood. This is how enlightened beings experienced it in the past, how they experience it now, and how they will experience it in the future. Any being that achieves, has achieved or will achieve Enlightenment, realizes the same nature of mind, personified here as the mother of the Vic- torious Ones, the Buddhas. As a mother gives birth to a child, so the mind, once its nature is discovered, gives binh to enlightenment. As surely as we are born from a womb, so surely can we give binh to Enlightenment by directly realizing the empty, clear and unimped? ed nature of mind; other than that, there is no means. Iconographically, this supreme feminine principle is represented by such deities as Prajiiaparamita herself, Dorje Phagmo, and many
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others whose female forms symbolize this state of awareness,
Mahamudra Realization.
Approaches to Mahiimudrii
In all the schools of Buddhism in Tibet, a threefold approach to the Dharma is recognized. The first stage involves intellectual study, listening to the teachings and understanding their meaning. The second stage is one of contemplating what has been learned in order to deepen one's understanding. The third stage involves meditation and direct experience of what has been understood. Given this similarity in approach, however, each school tends to develop its own style, favoring either a predominantly intellectual or academic approach, (shay pay ka bap [bshad pa'i bka' bab]), or a more intuitive, meditative one, (drup pay ka bap [sgrub pa'i bka' bab]). The Sakyapa and Geliigpa schools, in particular, are noted for their intellectual skill in the doctrine. They maintain that to attain the state of awareness, one first must understand thoroughly what has been written and taught by those who have experienced it. One therefore approaches the direct experience of mind on the basis of a very thorough and far-reaching intellectual understanding of the nature of reality, experience, mind, and so on. For such persons, the first stage of hearing involves thorough intellectual preparation.
The other, more pragmatic, meditative approach is stressed by the Kagyiipas and Nyingmapas. Although these schools do not deny the validity of an approach based on vast intellectual understand- ing, their view is perhaps best summed up in the words of Atisa, who brought transmissions and teachings from India to Tibet, and from whom all lineages derive inspiration. Referring to the Indian myth of the swan that can extract pure milk from a mixture of milk and water, he said: "The field of knowledge is incredibly vast, and life is very, very short. Thus, the most important approach is to extract milk from the water, like the swan, and to practice what is most rele- vant to one's situation. " This is the approach the Kagyiipas and Ny- ingmapas aspire to when they emphasize involvement in meditative development without the preliminary requirement of extensive in- tellectual training. There is not always enough time for that, since there is no guarantee that we shall live long enough to cover all the necessary ground. But if we can extract the essence of the teaching
and apply it to our lives directly, we have a valid approach to Dhar- ma practice.
Despite these differences in emphasis, however, all schools have the same ultimate goal, and all agree that the threefold approach of intellectual study, contemplation, and meditation is necessary for true Realization.
The intellectual approach to the three-fold process emphasizes a thorough understanding of Buddhist scriptures and commentaries on them. In the Sutra tradition, one studies the Vinaya, or rules of monastic discipline; the Sutras, or discourses; and the Abhidharma, which is sometimes termed the psychology of the Buddhist tradition. In the tantric tradition one studies the four levels of tantras, Kriya, Carya, Yoga and Anuttarayoga, the Action, Performance, Yoga, and Highest Yoga tantras. For a person taking the intuitive, meditative approach, sufficient intellectual preparation consists of first finding a qualified Lama, someone of exceptional accomplish- ment, to give authentic and accurate instructions in meditation technique, and, secondly, studying the technique thoroughly.
Whether we follow the scholastic or meditative approach really depends on our inclination, but regardless of how extensive or specialized our own interest may be, some intellectual basis is cer- tainly necessary. It is said that someone who tries to meditate without a conceptual understanding of what he or she is doing is like a blind person trying to find the way in open country: such a person can only wander about, with no idea how to choose one direction over another.
On the other hand, we also have a saying that one who studies a great deal without ever applying it in meditation is like a person without hands trying to climb a rockface; one can see it, know how to get to it, know exactly what route to take, but without hands it's useless.
Although Mahamudra is not a vast subject, its meaning is very deep. To understand what is said about it is necessary, but not in itself sufficient. We must reflect on the teachings, and analyze them, asking, "Is this really true or not? If it is true, how and why is it true, and how do I know? " Such examination, in which the mind comes to some certainty, is the second phase of the process. Once we
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have recognized something in the teaching as true and valid for our situation, then we try to apply it in meditation.
The Nature of Mind
The fact that appropriate questions about the teaching arise in the mind at all indicates a considerable accumulation of merit brought about by virtuous thoughts and actions in the past. Nonetheless, we have only a vague, naive understanding of the mind. We know that we have a mind, but there is a great deal of ig- norance about its nature.
What is mind, then? Mind is that which is aware, which gives rise to thoughts, emotions and feelings such as ''I'm happy," or ''I'm sad. " Mind is what experiences all this. In Buddhism we term the nature of mind Emptiness. By this we mean that mind is devoid of, empty of, any limiting characteristics. It has no form, no color, no shape, no size, no limitation whatsoever. Analogous to this is the open space in a room. Like this space, mind is intangible and can- not be described; just as space itself is intrinsically empty-just as one never says "space is empty up to this point, while beyond it space is no longer empty"-so mind is intrinsically empty.
If we take the illumination in the room into account, we have a further analogy, because the mind has its own kind of clarity, though not in a visual sense. This illuminating capacity is mind's in- herent ability to experience. No thing in and of itself, mind never- theless experiences everything, and that ability is Clarity. We ex- perience this when we sit quietly by ourselves and, thinking of some far away place like New York or San Francisco, find we can call it to mind immediately. In speaking of mind, then, we can refer to its Emptiness- fundamental intangibility- and to the illuminating Clarity it demonstrates. Like the space and light in the room, these are not things separate from each other, but are two aspects of a single experience.
The properties, Emptiness and Clarity, do not complete our description of mind. Mind is more than empty, illuminated space; it is also the awareness that can decide "this is form, this is sound, this is a shape. " The intelligence that allows us to make judgments and recognize particular details is a manifestation of mind's Unimpededness.
Although the mind's Emptiness, Clarity and Unimpededness are inseparable, we can examine it from different perspectives, and speak of them separately or in combination. The mind's essential Emptiness and its clear nature taken together are what we call its Unimpededness, its power to experience. The fundamental threefold nature of mind-empty, clear and unimpeded-is Tathagatagarbha, the Seed of Enlightenment, possessed by every living being, human or otherwise. Tathagatagarbha is the fun- damental purity of the mind's intrinsic nature. In the words of the Buddha Shakyamuni: "This Tathagatagarbha, this Seed for Enlightenment, pervades all forms of life. There is not a single being that does not have it. " A tantric text states that all beings are innate- ly enlightened but that adventitious obscurations block the ex- perience of Enlightenment. If through practice we begin to recognize the inherent nature of mind we can become completely enlightened.
The Nature ofExperience
Although the concept that mind is empty of any limiting characteristic may be at least superficially understandable, many people find great difficulty in the idea that what we experience is likewise empty. What does it mean to say that the phenomenal world-this animate and inanimate universe we perceive-is empty? How is that true for this world full of rocks and trees and houses, earth, water and all the elements, living creatures moving about liv- ing their lives?
There is actually no contradiction in saying that something that appears to be so real is essentially empty. We can illustrate this by an example, the dream state.
When we go to sleep at night we dream. The mind is active in the dream, there is perception of form that is seen, sound that is heard, odors that are smelled, tastes that are tasted, textures that are felt, thoughts that arise. All these happen in the dream state, but when we wake it is obvious that nothing real was experienced. What occurred had a conventional reality during the dream, but no one will maintain that what took place in the dream happened in the same way things happen in our waking state. The dream was a
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series of mental projections: it had a conventional, temporary reali- ty, but not an ultimate one. Because the dream lacks an enduring self-nature, we can say that it is empty.
We can think of our perception of the waking world in just such a way. All sorts of ideas, emotions, concepts and reactions arise in us. Things we experience can make us happy, sad, or angry, can in- crease our attachment or aversion. But even though all these thoughts and responses arise, none has any nature of its own: we should not take them to be real- they are simply ongoing mental projections produced by particular circumstances. For this reason we can again say that our experience is empty, because it lacks any ultimate self-nature. We can say that no aspect of our experience, of the outer phenomenal world or the inner mental world, has one atom of reality. Nothing we experience is anything more than the mind's perception of its own projections, the reality of which is only conventional.
By understanding this and coming to experience it, teachers such as Milarcpa can demonstrate miracles and make things happen contrary to the normal laws that govern the universe. If the universe were something ultimately real in its own right, its laws would be in- violable, and miraculous events impossible. In fact, the laws govern- ing conventional reality are flexible, and once we realize this we have at least some limited power to manipulate the phenomenal world.
If it is the case that all experience is only the projection of mind, what determines the way in which our perceptions take place? The force that influences the way in which mind experiences the world is karma, actions and their results.
On the basis of fundamental ignorance about the real nature of mind, karmic tendencies and other obscurations develop. The fun- damental state of unawareness is like the earth, in which seeds can be planted. The seeds represent karmic predispositions, which are reinforced by physical, mental and verbal actions. Once a seed is planted, it needs support from the earth, and nourishment, water, light, heat: without these, it remains inert. When all the requisite circumstances are present, the seed germinates, grows, flowers and multiplies. In the same way, the tendency established and rein- forced by an action is stored in the fundamental state of confusion
and remains latent until circumstances in the environment or in the mind itself provide a channel by which the tendency emerges and comes to fruition as an active part of our experience.
As human beings we exist in a relatively superior state. This is a result of positive karmic tendencies reinforced by virtuous ac- tions- mental, verbal and physical- in countless previous lifetimes. All human karma is similar enough for all of us to experience more or less the same world: we have engaged in actions that result in similar, if not identical, impressions of what the world is like.
In addition to this general karma, there is also individual kar- ma, which accounts for the particular variations in the experience of each and every being. To be greedy or to steal establishes a tendency which, if reinforced, results in experiences of poverty and want, often in a future lifetime. On the other hand, to be generous, materially or otherwise, establishes conditions which, if reinforced, result in prosperity. Deliberate acts of killing establish a tendency which, if reinforced, results in a great deal of sickness and shortness of life, whereas to protect and respect life is conducive to good health and longevity. In short, while human beings share general qualities that are common to the human condition, some are richer or poorer than others, happier or unhappier, healthier or unhealthier, longer or shorter lived.
So, karma has both general and specific aspects, which together account for our group and individual experience. To understand the nature of that experience, however, and how the karmic process of cause and effect works, we have to understand the nature of mind. To understand the nature of mind, and to attain direct experience of i t - Mahamudra Realization- we have to meditate.
In Mahamudni practice there is an advanced level of realiza- tion called ro chik [ro gcig] in Tibetan, meaning "one taste. " At this point the sameness of subject and object becomes apparent, and causality becomes empirically obvious. We can see a given cause leading to a given effect.
How is it that we do not have this experience already?