No More Learning

Conventionally, there is past, present and future. But if these categories had true, inherent existence as such, then the past would always have been in the past and could never have happened. The future would always be yet to come and could never occur. And the present would be ever so and never cease. Therefore, although it is impera- tive to have a Bodhicitta motivation, you should not conceive of working from now until Enlightenment when
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE 117
this is based on an idea or your being in a truly existent moment now and Enlightenment as being somewhere ? ? out there" in the truly existent remote future.
By the very fact that thoughts arise and dissolve in exactly the same moment, Enlightenment is in each instant. If you are aware of this, that is referred to as "instantaneous Enlightenment". In other Buddhist vehicles, you attain Enlightenment by a long, drawn~out process of collecting
merit over three countless eons. To be sure, the realisation of Voidness and Enlightenment are the result of accumulated merit, but as the mind controls the body and speech, Mabamudr4. meditation on the mind is a peerless vehicle for accumulating enormous merit quickly. Instantaneous or instant Enlightenment does not mean that ignorance is eliminated magically from no cause and that you do not need to practise virtue, meditate or do anything in order to become Enlightened. It means that in each instant you can be Enlightened if you are aware of the true abiding nature of reality in that moment. And if you are not, you remain in samsara.
Do not hold your mind as being vulgar and ordi- nary. Recognise that from time immemorial it has been of the nature of the five pristine awarenesses.
Pristine awareness is of the inseparability of appearance and Voidness, of the two levels of truth, of the abiding nature of reality. It is the natural condition of your mind and has five aspects or functions, known as the five types of pristiue awareness. When you are unaware of them and overlay them with grasping at true existence, they are the major delusions.
Pristine awareness of the void nature of reality correctly discriminates between what is false and true. Overlaid with grasping for true existence, you wish to be rid of objects to which you ascribe such existence and thus you have anger. Unaware of the pristine awareness that is like a mirror you closeu-mindedly shroud yourself and ignore certain objects rather than clearly reflecting their appearance, and thus you have closed~minded ignorance. Unaware of the pristine
? 118 MAH-lMUDR. . l
awareness that sees the individual nature of things as void, you single out certain objects as more desirable by nature than others. This is longing desire. Unaware of the pristine awareness that sees the equality of things in insepar- able Voidness and appearance and so forth, you consider yourself better than others and thus have pride. Unaware of the pristine awareness that effortlessly accomplishes
everything, you are obsessed with others? achievements and do nothing for yourself. This is jealousy. Or you keep possessions to yourself and do not share or Jet things flow. This is miserliness. When you see, however, that the nature of the various delusions is the same as that of the five pristine awarenesses-and as all five are complete in each one, there can be many such lists of correlations-you transform the former into the latter.
Do not hold your own aggregates, cognitive spheres and bases as unclean. Become certain that from time immemorial they have been the male and female meditational deities and the male and female Bodhisattvas.
The aggregate physical and mental faculties are that of form, feelings, recognition, compositional factors and consciousness. The cognitive bases are the objects and cognitive powers of the faculties of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. The cognitive spheres are the above bases plus the consciousness of each of these faculties.
In various tantras there arc numerous s)stems of corres- pondence, equating each of the above with a male or female meditationa! figure. One such system of a hundred deities is found in the ''Tibetan Book of the Dead (B'ar-d'o t'o-dr'ol)". At the time of death, these deities are revealed and they appear clearly. If you recognise them for what they are, you can gain liberation, but if you are frightened you will rush into one of the unfortunate rebirth states.
Abandon the wish to become liberated merely from hearing and thinking (about the teachings). Resolve to become liberated from (the additional) force of meditation and the blessings of the Guru.
? ENHANCING YOUR PRA<. . 'JJI. . ~:. o ? ? ~
In order to train your mind and overcome suffering, yo~ must rely on the powers of hearing, thinking and meditating. You must first hear a correct explanation of the teachings, on the nature of the mind for instance, and then think about them in order to ascertain their meaning. The latter is like looking at the mind and subjecting it to endless questions and logical analysis. Finally, when you have reached a decision about the nature of the mind, you must meditate and actually experience it to be so. Through the help of your Guru you come to recognise it from your meditation. Thus all three are needed to become enlightened.
In other words, abandon the five distorted ideas about objects, time, the nature (of your delusions), the way (your aggregates) are and the discriminating awarenesses (that come from hearing, thinking and meditating).
To have your body in the essential posture and your mind initially placed in single-minded concentration, having looked at the nature of the settled mind when it is settled and of the moving mind when it is moving, is called skill at the beginning of meditation. To rid yourself of fatigue (by taking a rest) when the unity of your single-
pointed concentration and essential bodily posture has become so spread apart they have separated is called skill intermediately in cutting off becoming diffuse. Not to be obsessed or attracted no matter what excellent boons arise (such as bliss, clarity or bare non-conceptuality) is called skill at the end in cultivating the boons. You should train yourself in these three skills.
The four Buddha bodies can be understood in terms of the mind.
The various appearances to and ofthe mind are the Nirm111}ak11ya or Emanation Body. Its aware-
? 120 MAHAMUDRA
ness is the Sambhogak~ya or Utility Body. Its Voidness is the Svabh~vak~ya or Nature Body and the inseparability (of the three) is the Dharmakaya
<>r Body of Truth.
Very often, the definitions of the Dharmakilya and Svabhavakaya are reveraed. A famous analogy for under- standing these bodies is that the Dharmakaya is like space, the Sambho! ! akaya like the moon and the Nirmanakaya like the reflection of that moon in water. All three are totally interdependent and inseparable. You cannot have the moon without the space it occupies and there can be no reflection independent of the moon. Likewise inseparable and interdependent are the Voidness, awareness and appearance ofthe mind.
When you have definitely decided that this is the way that all things are-appearance, existence, sams~ra, NirvaQa-and have ascertained that all things are isolated from all extremes of mentally fabricated modes of existence and are free of (inherent) arising, ceasing and enduring, then place
your mind single-pointedly in a state free of all expectations and worries and of all abandoning and adopting. That is the second point (for enhancing
your practice).
? Tl? e Tl? ree Places Wl? ere
You CanDeviate a11d tlae Pour Wl? ere Yo11 Can Lose
V oidness
Furthermore, because you will deviate into Three Realms if you are obsessed with the three (boons) of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality,
do not hold these boons as supreme, no matter what arises, good or bad.
If you are obsessed with the boon of bliss and grasp at it to have true existence, you will be reborn as a god in the Desire Realm; if with clarity, in the Form Realm; and ir obsessed with bare non-conceptuality, in the Formless Realm.
Once you have ascertained (Voidness) through the insight that things are inherently neither one nor many (for instance that the mind and the body are neither totally the same nor completely different),
you might think that everything by nature is a total nothingness or that the intellectually defived mere negation which refutes true existence is the Voidness of everything (and that nothing exists even
conventionally). If you make this your meditation, you have lost Voidness with respect to its actual nature. Because you might become wild (having no belief) in cause and effect, you must abandon
? 122 MtfH. . IMUDR. . l
meditations that grasp at everything as being totally non-existent and those that are on such an intellec- tually formulated Voidness. Look at the nature or this grasping at total non-existence and then be uncontrived (without intellectually formulating anything).
If you look at the nature of the thought that grasps. at non-existence, it will automatically subside and dissolve- in its own place in the same manner as any other thought~ The nature of aU thoughts, even subtle ones such as grasp- ing, i! a clear, vivid awareness.
When you do not have the insight that all things. are void-both the (delusions) to be abandoned as. well as their opponents (namely V oidness)-then when many delusions or bad thoughts arise on your mind-stream, you might take them as your- enemy thinking, "These are killing my (chance for) Liberation". Then thinking, "These should be des- troyed by Voidness", you hold these two as a (truly existent) thing to be abandoned (on the one hand, and on the other a truly existent) thing to help. To? meditate on Voidness like this is to lose Voidness
with respect to its being an opponent. Recognise the nature of the very thought that grasps at the delusions or what is to be abandoned and the helper (Voidness) as being separate in nature, and place yourself in a state in which there is nothing: truly existent to refute or establish.
When you do not have the insight that the basis (namely the abiding nature of reality), the path (or meditation on that nature) and the result (the realisation of the Dharmaka:ya) are all three Void
(by nature), you might think that Voidness is the? supreme path for attaining Buddhahood (and does
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE l . . . . r
not apply as well to the basis and the result). You might also think that if you understand (Voidness) it is the supreme path and that except for this, all the other Buddhist paths (such as the Hmayana meditations on the Four Noble Truths) are inferior. Not to think of these other paths as belonging to the methods (taught by Buddha), is to lose Voidness with respect to its being a path. Recognise? the nature of the very thought that is obsessed with Voidness and that grasps at it as being the supreme? path. By looking you will realise that everything
is void (the basis, path, as well as the result) and' that in Voidness there is no supreme or inferior,. nothing to be abandoned or to help.
The next place where you can lose Voidness is when? doing the tantric development stage practices of dissolving everything into Voidness with a mantra before visualising a meditational deity.
If you have no solid experience (of Voidness) you might imagine an intellectually formulated (mental image of) Voidness or its mantra spreading out over everything (as if it were a thing). Then because you exclusively thought that everything is this Voidness or that nothing could be established (conventionally) since everything is void, you might discard karma and the law of cause and effect, thinking, "What can come of virtuous actions which are (only) conditioned phenomena. ;, This is losing Voidness with respect to spreading it out (as if it were a thing). Look at the very thought that thinks "This is Voidness" and once you have recognised its nature, place yourself single-pointedly on the actual void nature of Voidness itself and have no thoughts (of a vacuum, for instance~
thinking "This is Voidness". )
? "124 MAHJMUDRJ
These intellectutually formulated ideas o f Voidness, however, are not totally improper under all circumstances. If beginners do not meditate with intellectual formulations (and logical reasonings), they will be unable to gain the insight of Voidness even if they are taught it from the beginning. But, by familiarising themselves with V oidness (concep- tually), they will ultimately gain an effortless
(non-conceptual) insight into Voidness. Therefore even meditating on an intellectually formulated V oidness can be permitted. However, ultimately (such a conceptual understanding) must be abondoned since it can be a place for losing Mah11:mud. nt.
A beginner refers to anyone who has not yet achieved the path of seeing and its bare non-conceptual perception of Voidness, in other words anyone who is not an Arya. If someone has collected an enormous amount of merit in his previous lifetimes, he may "skip ahead" and gain such bare perception immediately upon meditation This is rare. The more usual process is as follows.
First you develop n presumptive understanding of Voidness based on hearing a correct explanation. Presump- tion is reaching a correct conclusion either for a wrong reason or even a right one but which you do not under- stand. Your Guru teaches you about Voidness and although you do not really understand what he has said, you repeat his words and have an idea of Voidness based on hearsay.
Next, by repeatedly thinking about and logically analysing what he has said, you gain a valid inferential understanding of Voidness based on the intellectual, con- ceptual process of logical reasoning. By repeating this logical process and focusing on Voidness by mixing your actual understanding of it with an auxiliary conceptual one, such
as the mental image of space or a vacuum, so that you hav. : a more readily accessible object for concentration on Void-
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE 12S?
ness, you will eventually achieve its bare, non-conceptual perception. This comes about not by a mystic leap of faith, but through the law of cause and effect as the result of your accumulation of merit. Therefore a mental image of Voidness such as one of a vacuum and a conceptual understanding based on logic are necessary aids for the full realisation of Voidness. But they must ultimately be abandoned, for they tend to make a ? 'thing" out of Void~ ness, which it is not, and can be a place for losing it such as when spreading out an intellectually formulated image of a Voidness as if it were a thing.
These, then, are the four places where you can lose (Voidness). Because they are interferences (to proper Mah~mudrlt meditation), you must not confuse what is to. be abandoned and adopted in accordance with (these teachings). Then in this
state, without any presumptive understanding ( o f Voidness), place your attention uncontrivedly on whatever arises. Do not stray from the here and
now. Be fluid and flowing without holding your body in a severe posture or holding your breath and so forth.
Such methods, as found in the "Six Yogas ofNaropa", are useful for achieving the Mahimudri insight, but once achieved arc no longer needed.
Whatever thoughts arise-virtuous, non~virtuous or unspecified- do not block them or establish? (their cessation), do not abandon (them) or adopt (opponents). Whatever arises, do not follow out, but rather place your attention on it without any grasping. That is the third point (for enhancing your practice).
? Tire Danger Points Where Tl1i1rgs "''''Y A rise A s " "
E11e111Y "''" OtlrerIDter- ferelrces
Furthermore, suppose you are feeling self- satisfied and happy that thoughts and delusions (are not interrupting) your meditation. Then all of a sudden many rough thoughts upset you violently and you cannot bring them under control in meditation. You might regard these thoughts as enemies that have arisen. Try to recognise these very thoughts and the nature of these very thoughts. Do not regard them as faults, but think of them with kindness.
For instance, if a thought of anger a1ises, regard it u an opportunity to cultivate patience or, if of desire, to meditate on the impermanence of what you wan? . Ultima- tely, however, if you merely focus on them, they will naturally subside.
Taking them into the sphere of your meditation, see that their nature is free of all mentally fabricated (extreme modes of existence) and that they arise (as the play) of the Dharmakaya. Cultivate (the
insight) that they are like this.
Suppose that previously whatever delusions
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE 127
arose, you were able to wipe them off by (an inteJlectually formulated analysis of) Voidness.
This refers to being able to eliminate a delusion through a logical, intellectually formulated analysis o f its V oidness. For instance, if you desire a person or an object and after analysing whether it is the same or different from its parts, you conclude that it is neither and therefore lacks true exij:tence, your desire will fall apart as you see there is no solid, concrete object for it.
But then aU of a sudden without any control (another) delusion arises such as longing desire. Y ou might regard such a delusion as an enemy that has arisen. For this, whatever delusions arise, recognise their nature. By placing yourself in (a state of) neither blocking (them) nor establishing (their. cessation), they become purified (and subside) in their own place without your needing to abandon them. In other words, go into their own purity as is explained in the (methods for) taking thoughts
as a path, namely (focus on) the void nature of the outstanding aspect (or appearance of the thought) which is blissful, clear and non-conceptually bare. Cultivate yourself in this way.
When you search for the mind by analysis and see that it cannot be found and that all things cannot be established as truly existent, you might then discard (the conventional existence of)? every- thing, what is to be abandoned and what is to help, what is virtuous and what is not. Taking the experienced boon of bareness as the main thing, you might feel that yourself and all others have disappeared into a vacuum and therefore you should do nothing. Such grasping at Voidness is known as Voidness having arisen as an enemy or as spreading blackness an around.
? 12 8 MAH. . lMUDR. . l
Both the extremes of existence and non-existence must be refuted. But if you had to choose, it is better to fall to the former rather than to nihilism. Nagarjuna has said that Voidness refutes all true existence, but if you do not understand it, it is better to understand phenomena. Consider the example of a snake. If you say it is void and nothing, and do not respect its relati. . -e nature, it may bite
you and you will die. Likewise you can fall to a lower rehirth in a hell from disregarding the fact that non-
virtuous actions bring unfortunate results.
For this as well, you should recognise the nature of the grasping at Voidness itself.
Placing yourself in a state of neither blocking nor establishing (its cessation), you will eliminate (such grasping). Therefore place your single-minded concentration like that.
In other words, in the same manner as before, focus on the nature of the thought that grasps at Voidness or nihilism, and it will naturally subside.
Even though you have an (intellectual) under- standing that appearances are dependent arisings, you might still be obsessively attracted to these void (appearances) grasping at them to be truly existent things. If this is the case, you will become up-tight and will either be frightened or enticed by the various appearances you see. For someone unhappy and on edge like this, this (paranoid state of mind) is known as
appearances having arisen as an enemy. For this you should recognise the nature of the appearances and of the grasping at them to be truly existent things. Placing yourself in a state of neither blocking them nor trying to establish (their cessation}, you will eliminate them.
You might have a presumptive, intellectual understand- ing that, for instance, a father and son are interdependent:
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE 129
you cannot have a son without a father, and so fortfl. Yet you may ? till grasp at them to exist inherently as dependent arisings. From such grasping, objects may begin to appear a s enemies. T o hell creatures suffering from extreme paranoia, everyone is seen as their enemy and every object is a weapon.
A classic example is of the tailor who lost his needle and, feeling that he had swallowed it, developed an acute stomach ache. His friend saw that he had merely dropped the needle on the ground, but could not convince him that this was his lost needle. He therefore suggested that the tailor move his bowels. He did and the friend discreetly placed the needle in the stool. As soon as the tailor saw the needle, his atomach ache miraculously disappeared.
Likewise when you sec the true nature of your grasping at appearan~s. they and your suffering will disappear.
When you have been meditating like this, even if you develop (emotional) faith, compassion and so forth more than others, these will dissolve in their own place (being unstable), if they have not
been purified with the Maha:mudrn (understanding of the inseparability of compassion and Voidness). Suppose you develop (emotional) compassion towards someone else who does not have any such good Dharma qualities and in your present (emotional) state you think it would be very beneficial to help him. Although this would not bring about (any ultimate benefit), if you were to drop your own good Dharma qualities ~nd were actually to try to help him, then compassion has arisen as an enemy.
An example is suppose you see a hunter who is having difficulty killing a deer and, feeling compassion for this cruel person, you decide to help him. If you were to give up your own compassion for animals and your vow not to kill, and help him shoot the beast, then emotional com- passion has arisen as an enemy.
? 130 MAHAMUDRA
For this also, you should recognise the (nature of this) attitude of emotional compassion. Placing yourself in a state of neither blocking nor establish- ing its cessation, become clear about the nature of this strong compassion in terms of Maha:mudra. Then by offering extensive prayers (for the sake of all others) while in this state, you will eliminate the (compassion's) arising as an enemy and bring about the other person's benefit in accordance with interdependent origination.
Being able effortlessly to help others comes about due to cause and effect as the result of your prayers to be able to do so, as well as from your joint realisation of com- passion and Voidness. While you are working toward~ Enlightenment, it is essential to have compassion and help others, but you must use wisdom.
There is a great difference between a Bodhisattva using unconventional behaviour to help someone because he scea what will be ultimately beneficial and a beginner with no realisation who, being very emotional, helps others in a bungling fashion which does not really benefit the other person and only harms his own practice. Do not presume to be a Bodhisattva when you are not and use compassion as an excuse to act impetuously on your emotions. But of course if someone is about to fall, you should help him.
You must use common-sense.
Furthermore, suppose you had not ascertained
the correct view (of Voidness), but felt that by learning (first) grammar, logic and so forth in great detail you would thereby gain insight into the correct primordial view. If you were then to give up meditating, this is known as cause and effect arising as an enemy.
It is incorrect to feel that the result of learning worldly sciences will be your understanding of Voidness. It is the other way round. When you have gained insight into
? ENH. . WCING YOUR PR. . 4CI'ICE 131
Voidness, all other knowledge and wisdom will follow. This does not mean, however, that you should not study anything until you gain the full realisation of Voidness, but yo11
? should keep your priorities straight.
For this you should exert effort in (ascertaining) the correct view and meditate upon it. By cultivating this without any expectations or worries, you will eliminate (this hindrance). Therefore you should
practise like this.
In addition, whenever sickness, harm from spirits and such interferences to single-minded concentration as mental dullness, agitation and foggy-mindedness arise-whichever it may be, examine its individual nature (to see) if it has a. colour, shape or an arising, enduring and going. Without blocking them or establishing (their cessation) conclude that they cannot be established as having true, inherent existence.
Also practise giving away (your luppiness) and taking on (the suffering of others). Without any expectations or worries, fearing that you will aciually become sick or hoping you will benefit (the
other person), practise by taking sickness and harm from spirits as (a path for realising) the: four Buddha bodies.
The Voidness of the sickness is the Svabhivakaya, the clarity and awareness of its pain the Sambhogakiya, its. form the NirmlQ. akiya aod the inseparability of the three the Dharmakiya.
As for mental dullness and agitation. if you become dull with respect to objects and so forth in your daily activities, use mental agitation as a
method (to perk you up) and for agitatio:t u:;e dullness as a method (to calm you down).
? 132 MAH. lMUDR. l
These are temporary remedies and are like Sintideva's advice in the ''BodhicaryivatAra. . to use jealousy as an opponent for pride and so forth. If you feel pride, place yourself in someone else's shoes and feel jealousy for your- self. In this way you will curb your pride. Likewise if you have mental dullness, incite some agitation to bring yourself to a balanced state.
Furthermore, if you look at the nature of mental dullness and agitation and place yourself single-mindedly on it, they will be eliminated.
Although there are many such eliminations of interferences, I have not written them all for fear that this would become too wordy. These should be learned from the mouth of your Guru. Also,
for those of sharpest wits there is no need to eliminate interferences for they have the insight that everything is primordially free of all mental fabrications (of extreme modes of existence).
These danger. points (of thoughts, delusions and so forth arising as enemies) occur at the time when you are on the stage called "of a single taste. "
This stage is after you have become an . Arya with bare non-conceptual perception of Voidness and while you are on the fint seven Bodhisattva stages on the path of medita- tion. In other words, they occur when you have already seen Voidness, but because of your instincts of delusion and ignorance, disturbing thoughts and grasping continue to arise, particularly during your post-meditational period.
In terms of Mahamud. nt it is said that these (delusions and so forth continuing to arise are due to) instincts of delusions and thoughts strung on your mind-stream and when they give rise (to delusions and so forth), they should be taken as signs (of the Nirm-a:J}aka:ya) to be wiped clean by
V oidness.
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE 133-
A rosary is made of beads, yet none of the beads arc the roaary, neither are all the beads piled together. A rosary is a mental label or an imputation on a collection of beads strung together. Likewise what is a habit or instincts giving repeated rise to a familiar pattern of behaviour ? A habit is but a mental label, an imputation on a series of similar events which, if you grasp at as being truly existent, gives chronic rise to its perpetuation.
Therefore see the Voidness of your habits and instincts of delusion. When a delusion arises, understand that its form is the NirmilQakiya, its awareness aspect Sarilbhoga- kiya, its Voidness Svabbivakiya and the inseparability of the three Dharmakiya. In this way they can be "wiped clean" by Voidness.
In terms of the general teachings of the paths and their results and so forth, common to (all traditions of Buddhism in Tibet), it is said that at the time when (you are practising) the completing stage (of anuttarayoga tantra) with signs, (all good qualities) will arise from the force of the delusions and thoughts (being blended with) those things in their category and that these will come about as a depen- dent arising from the combining of them with the
(practices o f the) energy-channels, energy-winds, creative energies and the mind.
This refers to another level of methods used to over- come disturbing thoughts and delusions. On the completing stage of anuttarayoga tantra with signs, you deal with and harness the energy-system of the subtle body. This system includes energy-channels (nA4i; tza) equivalent to the body, energy-winds (prar:ta; lung) equivalent to speech, and crea- tive energies (bindu: t'ig-le) equivalent to the mind.
Consciousness rides through this system on the energy- winds and when they run rampant so do your deluded thoughts. When these winds arc channelled into the central energy-channel at the heart centre, these thoughts will automatically subside.
? J 34 J1. . 411AMUDJLI
Furthermore, each of the delusions is homologous with a corresponding good quality. Thus there arc certain practices such as the "Six Yogas of Niropa'" in which a delusion and the good quality in its category become blended and thus the energy of the delusion is effectively transformed into something useful. This occurs through
dependent arising, in other words as a result of the particu- lar practice used. Thus desire becomes blended with bliss through the psychic heat (tum-mo) practices, anger with the realisation of the lack of true independent existence through the illusory body techniques, closed-miodedness with Clear Light by means of dream yoga and so forth. Such practices utilise the energy-sy~tem outlined above.
Although there are many things such as this- the places where you can lose Voidness, the danger- points (where things can arise as your enemy),
sickness, harm from spirits, interferences to single- minded concentration and so forth-perhaps just this much will do as a summary. You should know in these ways the methods for eliminating such faults (from your meditation).
These, then, are the stages for eliminating the three places where you can deviate, the four places where you can lose Voidness, the five danger-points and the three interferences (to single-mindedness). Having realised the faults of these and the benefits
(of eliminating them) as explained above, you should make an effort and not be confused about what should be adopted and abandoned. This is the fifth point (for enhancing your practice).
? The Benefits
of tlae Practices aJUl the Stages and Patlas
According to lJitJiramutlrtJ
As for the way in which benefits (or good quali- ties) arise, the benefits of the preliminary practices is that it brings about the fulfilment of your temporary and ultimate aims. That is because it is suitable for them to be the basis for your attaining both a better future rebirth as well as the paths of Enlightenment.
Not only that, but by meditating on the difficulty of obtaining a fully endowed human body and on death and impermanence, you will turn your mind from thoughts of this life. By thinking about karma and the law of cause and effect, you will gain ~onviction in them and the power to protect (your sworn vows of moral discipline) even at the cost or your life. By thinking about the disadvantages of samsira, you will develop disgust with sams-ara and
its Three Realms. Having developed renunciation, you will wish to attain only the enlightened state of a Buddha. By meditating on love, compassion and the Enlightened Motive of Bodhicitta, you will become free of your (selfish) desires for your own
? 136 MAHAMUDRA
happiness and will have thoughts only for the welfare of sentient beings.
By making effort in the yoga of the hundred- syllable mantra (of Vajrasattva), you will receive the actual signs and those in dreams of having become purified of (having to experience) the unripened unfortunate consequences of your previously commit- ted non-virtuous actions. By means of this, you will (easily) develop experiences and insights. By
offering the mar. u;lala, your body will be blissful, your mind clear, your desires few and you will gain incalculable merit. From meditating on Guru-yoga, your fervent regard and loving respect (for your Guru) will flare up more and more. You will receive his blessings and inspiration as well as single-minded concentration. Y ou will effortlessly develop experiences and insights. Whether or not you develop the actual practices depends on (your Guru-devotion).
As for the actual practices. the benefits of mental quiescence are that you develop faultlessly the boons of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality. Your craving will diminish for food and clothing. Your (body) will become lustrous and shining, your mind flexible and you will attain such things as extra-
sensory powers and the five eyes. Your delusions and thoughts will be outshined.
They will be outshined by the brilliance of your mental quiescence, like the atars by the sun so that they do not appear.
The five extra-sensory eyes are of (l) fleshly sight to see far distant objects, (2) celestial sight for past and future rebirths, (3) that of discriminating awareness to have bare perception of Voidness, (4) that of the Dharma to sec the
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE l3T
mental capacities of others so that you know how and what to teach them, and (5) the sight of a Buddha to understand ? everything omnisciently. According to the "Abhisamayil- lamkira" of Maitreya each of these is attained progressively
on the five paths to Enlightenment.
As for the advantages of penetrative insight, those who are of sharpest wits will traverse the stages and paths (to Enlightenment) aU at once. Those of middling capacity will sometimes travel them all at once and sometimes in stages, progress- ing in the manner of those who skip ahead. Those
of least capacity progress gradually in stages, travelling in order from the stage of the beginner up to the tenth Bodhisattva stage. The way they travel is in accordance with the way they develop? the four times three, or twelve yogas.
The five paths and ten Bodhisattva stages to Enligbt-? enment, as outlined previously, can be divided in many ways and traversed through a variety of techniques. There are the general methods of each of the classical Indian Buddhist schools and the different classes of tantras. According to the system outlined by Gam-po-pa in the "Jewel Ornament of Liberation", these stages can be divided into thirteen : the stages of wishing, fervent regard, the ten Bodhisattva ones and that of Buddhahood. In the Dzog- ch'en or Great Completion sy! >tem there is yet another way of dividing them. Here in Mahamudrii the five paths and
ten stages are divided into the twelve yogas. But regardless of bow the pie is cut, the basic material covered, insights gained and goal achieved is the same.
(In general when you attain mental quiescence) you can place yourself as much as you wish in a state of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality. Although you can place yourself in such a rnedita- tional state, if sometimes (these boons) do not come
even when you are meditating and at other times
? 138 MlfH. lMUDR. l
they do come when you are not meditating, this is (because) you have not yet gained great control over single-minded concentration. This is the early or small stage of single-pointedness. If you have a settling of the mind that is just right such that you are not disturbed by any distractions and whenever you meditate (the boons) come. then you have gained control over single-minded concentration. This is the intermediate stage of single-pointedness. If (your concentration) has no ? discontinuity and you are not distracted even in violent circumstances, if all your thoughts have been pacified into this state, if you are fully mixed into this state even when sleeping and if you are never ? separated from it in an your activities, this is the advanced or great stage of single-pointedness.
At this point because the boons will be present at all times you might gain an insight that this is the great stage of no more meditation (in other words
. Enlightenment). But other than being an insight ? . that you have the boons, it is not an actual insight ? (into V oidness). These (stages o f single-pointed- ness) are at the time of the paths of accumulation . and preparation. Because you do not quite realise the nature of the mind, the boon with which you grasp at bareness (or blankness) is the principal feature of your mental quiescence. By cultivating for a long time not being obsessed with or attracted to this very boon, these experiences will become purified. All enduring aspects of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality will disintegrate splitting apart, (so that this state simultaneously arises and
subsides in each moment) and you then sec the {ultimate) truth of the void nature of things. In
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACJ'ICl 139
other words, when (your obsession with and grasp- ing at the true existence of the boons) has been -quieted into a non-objectifying state of the triple Voidness of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptu-
. ality, the true nature of awareness (or the mind) will dawn on you purely like having peeled away the . skin (from a fruit) or having found a treasure.
Here the skin is your obsession with the boons or flash experiences and your grasping at their true existence. When these disintegrate and are peeled away. you arrive at the fruit within, namely the void nature of your mind charac- terised by a bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality that, being void, arises and subsides simultaneously in each
moment.
This is the attainment of the Mah~y~na path of -seeing and is also called the state free from :mental fabrications (of oxtreme modes of existence). A t this point, i f you are still not completely separated from the vicinity of grasping at (the true -existence of) blankness and being obsessed with it and if you havo only just seen the true nature of the . mind a little bit, this is the early stage of being free :from mental fabrications. When you have purified this from its root, if your normal state of conscious- ? ness has become non-objectifyingly resplendent in . accordance with your insight, this is the inter- ? mediate stage of being free from mental fabrications. When this bas become stable and you have been -purified o f this (state) coming easily in terms o f
thoughts but not coming easily in terms of appear- ances, then you have gained the insight that every- thing is void and that there is not even one thing that is not void. When you have cut all over and
? under-estimations of the Voidness of all external and
? 140 MlfHAMUDR. -1
internal phenomena, this is the advanced stage of being free from mental fabrications.
Du1 ing the post-meditation periods o f these (stages), appearances seem like a mirage. You gain the insight of the true nature of Bodhicitta and abandon the eighty-two (rough delusions) that are abandoned on the path of seeing. You do not take rebirth in (the Three Realms of) cyclic existence in any (of the four ways of) being born or turn away
(from such births by dying) except by the power of your prayers (to continue doing so in order to help others). This is known as the attainment of the path of seeing or of the first Bodhisattva stage called "Extremely Joyful". By cultivating this for a long time, you will progress to the stage of a single taste.
At this former stage it was still a little difficult to be in the automatically subsiding here and now in which whatever thoughts arise are a bliss that is the non-true existence or lack of true existence of all things. But when this is purified, then whether or not you are free of the mental fabrication that things are neither truly void nor non-void, it is enough (just to recognise the nature of) this very state of here and now.
Although you must be free of all extremes such as grasping at Voidness, that is nihilism, or at non-Voidness, namely true existence, such mental fabrications are purified
anyway merely by seeing the nature of the here and now in which such distorted thoughts as these simultaneously arise and subside like drawings on water.
When you have gained the insight of (the true nature of all) things, then (you see that everything is of) one taste in nature and you can understand
? ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE 141
completely, either in terms of appearance or in terms of Voidness, whatever teachings of the paths there may be.
The abiding foundation of the here and now is tho single taste of both appearances and Voidness in the pristine awareness of the inseparability of these two.