When a wave rises and falls, has the ocean
basicaUy
changed?
Wang-ch-ug-Dor-je-Mahamudra-Eliminating-the-Darkness-of-Ignorance
~2 Mifll.
lMUDJLl
down. Because your cognitions are not sticky with respect to their objects, they do not grasp at all their details and thus your mind does not indulge itself in mental wandering.
At all times your mind should be stable like Mount Meru and clear like a mirror able to reflect anything. You should not be excited or inquisitively looking everywhere. I f you focus too minutely on details. your mind will spin and become overwhelmed with thoughts. Be subdued and just let all thoughts and appearances pass through your mind without grasping onto them. If you are walking down a
busy street and even should a dancing girl happen to bo performing on the side of the road, just let her image pass through your awareness without Jetting your attention become glued to her. To be able always to maintain your mental composure is a sign of mental quiescen. ce.
There are three equal boons you receive (in this -state)-bliss, clarity and (bare) non-conceptuality. Depending on which is in a greater proportion, many things can occur such as the boon of heightened vision, the boon o f heightened hearing, e x t r a - sensory perception and even extra-physical powers. There are the ten signs (of single-minded concentra- tion) and so forth. Any of these may happen when your mental quiescence is faultless, and such things will develop on your mind-stream ? like this. These are the foundation that will give rise to all benefits
such as those deriving from penetrative insight.
So at this point, whether you have physical sickness, mental suffering, good or bad dreams, extra-sensory or extra-physical experiences, boons such as bliss, clarity or bare non-conceptuality- no matter what happens, good or bad-do not be attached or compulsively attracted. For sure they have no essence at all, so do not indulge yourself with
? MENTAL QUIESCENCE MEDITATION 63
any thoughts of happiness or depression about them. I f you are obsessed with these boons, they will only serve as a root for sams-ara, making you circle into one of the Three Realms. They cannot liberate you
from cyclic existence. Even non-Buddhists have such accomplishments (as these boons), but they are of
no benefit to them.
Extra-sensory and extra-physical experiec. ces are a side product of single-minded concentration and mental quiescence. Even non-Buddhists attain them through various meditational techniques. In themselves, they are of no consequence unless used as a means for benefiting others.
The boon experiences of bliss, clarity and bare non? conceptuality are the field from which the crop of penetrative insight into their V oidness arises. T o be obsessed with any of them, not realising their Voidness, leads to a rebirth in samsara as a god. Being born as a god in the Desire Realm comes from attachment to the boon of bliss, in the Form
Realm from clarity and in the Formless from compulsive desire for bareness.
In short, if you are obsessed with and attached to whatever experiences and insights you have, you will destroy them. Be detached from them and remain steadily in a non-compulsive state of being unattracted. With enthusiastic perseverance, pull yourself out of restrictive laziness. If you meditate while increasing your tolerance for hardships, you will reap benefits beyond all imagination.
Be like Je-tziin Mi-la r l - p a who meditated in high mountain caves for twelve years eating only nettles. Do not give up if your food runs out or your bed is too hard. Like lifting yourself out of a box, uplift yourself from making excuses for not practising. With perseverance you will reach
. ? Enlightenment.
Therefore you must study about this (with a teacher). As both the Guru and disciple must not make any
? 64 MAHAMUDR. . l
mistakes about the actual boons, comprehension {o( the instructions), meditational insights and the way to develop (mental quiescence}. make sure to recognise
and know them with certainty.
The main thing is not to have any compulsive attraction to sensory objects and to have uncon- trived admiration and loving respect for your Guru. Cultivate an Enlightened Motive of Bodhicitta with. respect to the six types of beings. Have your mind- fulness keep a close check so that you have no- mental wandering. Make short-term plans as if you had no time and execute them straight up and down like bellows. Accomplish what you begin. Do not let yourself come under the sway of polite affecta- tions or the eight worldly feelings.
The root of all attainments is your Guru-devotion and unwavering faith in his instructions. This, combined with. the highest motivation of Bodhicitta, will propel you on to? become a Buddha.
As death can come at any moment, do not make long- term fanciful plans such as . . Next year I shall build a bouse: and then take a wife. Tbia room will be the nursery. l11.
have three children and the furniture will be walnut. . . . . and. so forth. Live in the present moment with the aoal of En- lightenment. Whatever you set out to do, such as a acvcn-day- retreat, carry it through to completion. If you give up in. the middle, this sets up a very self-defeating pattern.
Do not let yourself come under the influence of polite? affectations such as flattering others for favours or trying to- save face. Be like Je-tziin Mi-la ra-pa who had no servants. or masters to worry about. Cast off your bondage to the:
eight worldly feelings of being pleased when receiving gifts, love, attention and so forth, displeased when not, elated. when everything is going well, depressed when it is not,. delighted when hearing pleasant things, annoyed when not,. being happy when praised and upset when abused.
? MENTAL QUIESCENCE MEDITATION 65
All this is very important. If you practise faultlessly like this, you will develop experiences and insight without any effort. Therefore exert yourself to act in this way. That is the eighth point (for mental quiescence meditation).
? Looking A t tire SettletllJiintl
The second main topic is penetrative insight meditation (vipa? yana). You should sit in the essential bodily posture as before. At this point the way of looking is extremely important. Your eyes should not be blinking, wavering to and fro or changing focus, but should be staring intensely with sharp focus
directly ahead (slightly upwards) at the empty space before you.
In mental quiescence your mind bas become like a clear mirror. With penetrative insight you examine the nature or this mirror and the images in it. The way of looking is slightly different for these two. In mental quiescence your eyes should be looking straightforward, relaxed and in focus. For penetrative insight look more intensely and slightly upwards. This uplifts and sharpens the mind. The differ~
ence is like between your arm when it is at ease and when flexed.
Place your mind in a faultlessly settled state of equipoise in which it is natural, at its own level, uncontrived, unself-conscious, not anxiously caring and then make it slightly more intense so that it is clear and vivid, and have your mindfulness keep an ever-present check so that you have no mental wandering.
? 70 MAHAMUDRA
Now look scrupulously at the nature of your mind when it is in fun, perfect mental quiescence. By nature does it have a colour, a form, a shape 1 Does it have an arising, a ceasing, an enduring, or not ? Is it outside, inside, or where is it settled ? Aside from this settled state, is there another consciou'! - ness separate from it 1 Is it nothing whatsoever, a blank emptiness that cannot be identified (as this or that) ? Or, in this settled state, is there conscious- ness which although it cannot be identified (as this or that) is still a vividness, a pristine purity, a resplendence but which just cannot be put into words (like a mute person's tasting of sugar) ? The nature of this settled mind, is it a total blackness, or is it a clear, vivid brightness 'l
All the crucial (attainments) are in terms of what it means by the true abiding nature of the reality of this (mind).
If you realise the true nature of your mind, your Buddha- nature, you have Enlightenment. If confused about it and shrouded in the darkness of ignorant:e, you have sams~a and bring yourself suffering.
Therefore (when your Guru questions you about your meditation) if you spout forth intellectual ideas about it, or parrot descriptions you have heard, or use high-falutin Dharma jargon (you do not under- stand), or, because your mind is gripped by the eight worldly feelings (and you want to impress him), you say you have had fantastic flashes and insights when you have not-if you respond like this, it is like pulling the wool over your own eyes. Y ou are only deceiving yourself. And if you are ordained, then you have broken your vow not to
? PENETRATIYE INSIGHT MEDIT. 4TION 7 [
lie to your Guru with polite affectations. Therefore practise conscientiously. Do not patch up (some experience) out of your imagination, but be com- pletely honest and (speak from) the experiences and insights that develop within yourself from the force of your own meditation.
Do not worry if what you experience sounds a bit silly. Ifafter looking you find that your mind is white, report this to your Guru. He will say, for instance, to check if it is ever yellow. If you come back and say, "It is yellow," he will then say, ? ? No, actually it is neither. " Through such honest exchange and interplay, your Guru will be able to lead you to recognise the nature of your mind. When you look at or examine your mind with incessant questions as above, you may not recognise its nature even if you sec it. Therefore you must rely on your Guru and be totally honest with him, otherwise be oannot help you. What is at stake is your liberation from suffering, Enlightenment and ability to help others.
As this is imperative, tighten your awareness and look (at your mind). Then take a rest and after- wards have another look. As it is necessary to look at the nature of the mind when it is settled, the way you should set it throughout all of this is to place it in a clear, lucid, shining state like the sun free of all clouds.
Tightening your awareness at this point and making an effort to look at its nature is the first way for you to be made to recognise (the nature of your mind). As this is so, the Guru must question and train his disciples in accordance with their mental temperaments and capacities. In order to tame some, it may be necessary to push and question them repeatedly in order to see if they have an intellectual understanding, a flash experience,
? 72 M,. H. lMUDRA
an insight or a solid experience, and to make them recognise these without mixing in affected Dharma jargon. The disciple likewise must exert himself in this. That is the first point (for penetra- tive insight meditation) : looking at the nature of the
(settled) mind.
? Looking 11t tlte Hloving or Thinking 1Jii1ttl
Next, to cut from its root the foundation (of ignorance) you must examine thoroughly the moving mind or train of thought, and be made to
? recognise it for what it is. Adopt the bodily posture, way of looking and acting as before. Place yourself in a state in which you have bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality-aJI three, and then relax in this
pristine purity and let a fleeting thought arise all of a sudden from this (state), or purposely emanate a thought of whatever seems suitable.
Look at the nature of the cognition that has been emanated. Look at it at the time it is -emanated. Having looked at the enduring of what bas been emanated, does it have a colour, or a shape? Is there a place it arose from, a place it endured in, a place it ceased into ? What about it ? Is (this thought) located outside, or inside the body ? If it
is inside, i? it in the centre cf the heart, for instance, (in the brain} and so forth '1 Inside, outside, wher- -ever it is, just how does it endure and how is it ~manated ? Investigate this.
This mind, is (its nature) a conditioned pheno- menon (arising from causes}, or is it unconditioned?
? 74 MAHAMUDitA
Does it have an arisal. a cessation, a colour, or a shape 1 If it does, then what kind does it have~ or is it the case that you think it does not (have any arisal and so forth) 1 If you say that it cannot be thought of as being like this, well then, is there still some conscious aspect of it which nevertheless ha~ no arisal or cessation and so forth 1 When you look at a thought, is it that all thoughts arc a voidness,: free from all mental fabrications (of extreme modes. of existence), with no arisal or cessation 1 After you have looked at a thought, is it that it disappears completely, leaving no trace 1 All thoughts that occur, is it that they pop up but cannot be identified (as being like this or like that) 1 Take a look. Ir you say that they pop up but cannot be identified (as being like this or like that), then at that very moment (when a thought pops up). is there or is there not (another) thought to the effect that there is no- identifiable component here 1
There is no end to the amount of questions to which you can subject a thought such as "I saw my friend yester- day. " Where is this thought ? Where did it come from ? ? What is it made of? 1s this thought the same shape as. your friend and is the image of your friend the same as your friend himself? When this thought passes, docs it leave? no trace like a cloud disappearing from the sky, or does it leave a footprint like a child walking on the beach 'l I f you: say this thought has no qualities and cannot be found, then what about the thought that thinks that ? Ifa mute person cannot put his thoughts into words, does this <mean he has no thoughts ? ?
By interrogating thought like this you can ? ? question it to death". If you are plagued by thieves and you catch one and publicly flog him, and then do the same for several' more, the thieves will get the idea not to come any more? and you will be free of them. The same thing will happen?
? PENETRATIJIE INSIGHT MEDITATION 1S;
with your thoughts. Persistent questioning takes the life- out of them and they will not bother to come so often? . And when they do, they will be weaker in force and not so bold. In this way you will come to see the nature of your mind and thoughts.
After a thought has arisen or you have made one come, take a look at it without blocking or grasping on to it. Whether it has a happy (feeling)
to it or an unhappy one, look at the individual natures of happy and unhappy (feeling tones). No matter how many thoughts you have, look at them. When a delusion has arisen strongly, such as one or the five poisons (of desire, anger, closed-mindedness, pride or jealousy), or you make one arise, take a look at it too. Making sure to cut out any exaggerated ideas_you might superimpose from within, look at the (deluded) thought itself (such as anger), the object
of that thought (an image of an enemy) and the . immediately preceding thought and check to see, for instance, if there is any difference as far as the mind
(or consciousness aspect of them) is concerned. When you see that the nature of thought is a bright, clear awareness, then look to see whether there is any difference between the bright, cJear awareness you saw previously with respect to the settled mind and the bright, clear awareness you see now with respect to a thought. If you cannot decide, then draw the thought back and place
yourself into a state of clear awareness.
This is a figure of speech. Thoughts are not like a jack- in-the-box which you can stuff back into your mind. What is meant is to cease interrogating the thought and let it dissolve.
When (another) thought all of a sudden comes up when you are not looking, then look at its very'
? 76 MAH. . llt/UDR. . l
nature to see how it in no way adulterates that of . your original, normal consciousness.
When a wave rises and falls, has the ocean basicaUy changed? Does a cloud affect the sky ?
As this is what you must see, look very well.
In short, when the Guru and disciple working together have reached this conclusion based on how thoughts arise (in the disciple) and how he under- stands them, then the root has been cut ofthe foundation (of his ignorance) and the true meaning has been reached. That is the second point (for penetrative insight meditation) : making an effort in the methods to look at (the nature of the moving mind) so as to see and be made to recognise it for
-what it is.
? Looking at tl1e Alind BeReeting Appearances and at tl1e Alind
in Belatio11 to tl1e Body
Next, in order to be made to recognise the- inseparability of the mind and appearances, you should look (at the mind) when it is reflecting an appearance (in a moment of bare perception). With. your way of looking and bodily posture as before, focus your eyes and attention single-pointedly on a
specific object, such as a vase, your image in a mirror, Mount Meru or any suitable visual form in the space (before you). Look at it scrupulously. Relax your awareness of it slightly, and then look at it again.
Likewise, look at the nature of a sound that is the object of your ears' (consciousness) and see if there is any difference (in nature) between a pleasant and an unpleasant, or a loud and a soft one. Look at the sound of your own voice and that of someone else, and so forth. Likewise look at a fragrant smell that appears as an object to your nose's (consciousness) and at a foul one, at both a delicious and an unpalatable taste on your tongue,. .
? ? 18 MAH. . lMUDRA
at both a pleasant and an unpleasant, a hot and a -cold and at an intensely painful physical sensation on your body-look at whatever comes up. At such a time, is the appearance something that passes away by ceasing to exist ? When reflecting an appearance, ar~ the mind and the appearance two separate things ? Does the appearance come into the mind
-(from outside) or is it that when the mind reflects ? something it goes out and catches hold of an . appearance thinking "I am going to reflect it" ? Actually, the mind and appearances (on it) are
inseparable (like a "magic mirror'' and the images on
it). There is just the resplendence of an appearance . and Voidness, with no (truly existent) object.
Take a look at the consciousness that is doing the looking and at its five types of sense objects, -each in turn (first sights, then sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations). Look to s. ee if there is any -difference between these two (namely, consciousness
and the appearance of its sense objects), and then look for what is the difference between an appearance that is the object (of a consciousness) and the consciousness that has it as its object. When you have looked at an object, is it the case that the
-object is something out there, solid and real ?
When you close your eyes, does it disappear? When you put your hand in front of your eyes, where is the clarity of the appearance ?
If you say it is not, then it seems as though there is no difference at all &tween an object (on the one side) and the mind (on the other) that can look starkly at (this object) without any obstruction but
which (on its own part) is at ease: does not hold
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 79
(anything as its object) and in which nothing (appears) clearly. If you say it is impossible to think that there is no difference between these (two), but rather it is the case that the object is something . out there, solid and real, then what about the very thought that thinks that ? (Is its object something . out there? ) Take a look at this:
Likewise, look to see whether the body and the mind are the same or different. If they are the same (or one thing), then the body which is something that arises and ceases and the mind which is something permanent (by nature) with no arisal or cessation would have to be the same.
Although your cognitions, like your body, change from moment to moment and are thus impermanent, the nature of the mind as a clear, void, blissful awareness is something that does not change and is permanent in the sense that it does not depend on causes or circumstances. The nature of your mind does not arise out of nothing when you are born or wake up, nor does it cease when you die or fall asleep. The awareness is by nature the same regardless of what it is aware of.
And if they are different, then you should be able to identify two separate things, the body and the mind (totally apart from each other}. But the mind is not something that you can pinpoint here (or there). It is not (only) at the top of your body or at the bottom, it completely pervades it. The fact that you can expr. rience feelings (all over), what is that due to?
The body and mind are like something that supports and the thing that is supported (like a cup and the tea in it). But, if you say that the body is outside and the mind inside, (as two separate things)
? 80 MAHAMUDRA
like a man and his clothing, then when it comes t<> experiencing feeling, if you think that it is the body alone that has feelings, then a corpse would also have to have feelings. If you say that the mind (alone) has the feelings, then the two (body and mind) would have to be dilferent (and unrelated).
Now the mind is something that cannot be killed or in any way affected. If when your body is pricked by a thorn your mind feels it, then how
is this different from the example when you burn the clothes worn by someone you burn the person who is wearing them too?
When you prick the body, do you prick the mind also? After looking at this thoroughly, you
must reach a firm decision.
Namely, you must decide that the body and mind are neither the same, nor different. Conventionally they art like something that supports and the thing supported, but ultimately they are not two inherently existing objects. sharing such a relation.
In connection with this you must also realise that whatever feelings arise are like waves and (your mind is like) water. Because when you place your mind on this realisation you cut through from this state to the true meaning of the actual nature of
reality, you must look (at your mind) like this. That is the third point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? Lool,i11gat tl1e Settletl anti Jflot'iltg Alinds Togetlter
Once more settle your mind into a state of pure clarity and Voidness and look at its nature. Then make a thought arise and look at its nature. Look to see if the natures of these two-the settled mind and the moving mind-are the same or different. After looking, if you see that they are different, then how are they different ? Do the settled and moving minds alternately come up like when you have strung thread around two poles and twirl it together (to make a string) ? Is the settled mind like a field and the moving mind that arises like the crops growing in it ? Or are the two of them the same like a snake or rope and its coils (in that you cannot have a coil separate from the rope)? If so, then when the mind is settled without any thought arising, is it also moving, and when it is l)loving, is it also settled? There is a big difference between the moving mind which can think up anything and fantasise in endless variety and the settled mind which stays without moving. But if you think that the two are different in nature, then is the difference in terms of colour, shape and so forth ? Is it in terms of arisal, endurance and cessation, or of past, present and future, or of permanence and imper? manence ? Look to see how they are different.
? 82 AIAHAMUDRA
When you know? through meditation what thoughts truly are, then (you realise that) the nature of both the settled and moving minds is nothing but the same. The way they arise is by alternating, and when it is settled there is nothing that is moving and
when it is moving there is nothing that is settled. like water and waves, it is the mind alone that functions and acts. That is all there is to it. When you understand that both the settled and moving minds are nothing more than a brilliant, clear Voidness, then you have a little understanding.
It is like a mirror, which has the same void clarity whether or not it is reflecting an object.
Now, when you draw a thought in (for interroga- tion) and then place yourself in meditation, is it that (the thought) has gone into a clear Voidness, or has it disappeared and afterwards in its place is a clear Voidness?
In other words, is it like the darkness of night dissolving into the clarity of daylight ? Or is it like the darkness dis- appearing and being replaced by daylight ?
Or is it that the vivid thought itself is a clear Voidness ? Ifyou think that it is like either of the former two, you still must make very stong requests to your Guru (for his inspiration) and then look once more with effort and try to see with certainty
how things really are.
The ways of looking at the nature (of the mind)
can be approached in three styles.
These ways o f looking have been a t the settled mind,
the moving or thinking mind, the mind. reflecting an appearance, the mind in relation to the body and both the settled. and moving minds together.
Those who skip ahead develop penetrative insight first and then m~ntal quiescence, or sometimes they
? PENETIUTlYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 83
develop both together at the same time when previously they had neither. Those for whom it happens at once develop both mental quiescence and penetrative insight at the same time by merely being taught their descriptions. This is due to the power of their previous training.
This refers to instincts from former lifetimes as is the case with Incarnate Lamas (Tulkus).
Those who progress gradually develop these in stages. Here (the explanation has been given) in accordance with this latter type of person's approach and it must be taught after assessing the way in which the disciple has his experiences.
When looking, you must place yourself in a state of clarity without any grasping, like a small child looking (at the paintings of deities) in a temple.
Exert yourself with great enthusiasm to look in this way and abandon laziness. Turn away from your compulsive obsessions and have no requirements (which you feel must be met before you can practise). Have a renounced mind and faith, admiration and loving respect for your Guru. Make your mind-
. fulness firm so that your mind does not wander and practise in an uncontrived state without being fettered by expectations or worries. Be interested only in your future lives without letting ? yourself go after ever-changing worldly concerns. If you make an effort to look at the mind (with an Enlightened
. Motive of Bodhicitta), then it is impossible for you not to develop quickly and with certainty the pristine awareness o f penetrative insight. Therefore decide about the settled and moving minds. That is the fourth point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? BecotJnising tl1e Nature of tlae Settled Alintl
If you have cultivated looking at the nature (of the mind) like this in accordance with the oral teachings concerning the mind, there is practically no need for (your Guru) to make you recognise (its nature). It will reveal itself to you from within. Some people, however, do not recognise it even if this has happened. Others will have only a dry intel- lectual understanding of it from reading or hearing teachings and, although they have developed no expe- rience or insight despite their desire to do so, will say they have and describe them in unerring Dharma iargon. The Guru must be able to differentiate these (types of people) and the disciple on his part must practise taking all this to heart.
After you have examined or looked at the nature of the mind and reach~ a decision about it, you must experience? it in meditation and recognise the experience in terms of what you have previously ascertained. Therefore the Guru is essential, for through his interplay and questioning he lead$ you to the correct decision about the nature of your mind and confirms for you when you have had a true medita- tional experience or insight into it. This is what it means for a Guru to make you recognise your mind or, literally, to introduce you to it.
The first way to make beginners recognise the n:~ture (of the mind) when they are looking at it (is
? PENETRATIYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 8S
as follows). Look at the nature of the settled mind in the way as was done before. The nature of the settled mind is a clear, vivid brilliance, not a- total nothingness. In this settled state there is clear, open, resplendent, gently flowing consciousness which cannot be identified (as this or that). You cannot say that it is like this, that it has a colour, a shape and so forth. It cannot be put into words or expressed as being like this or that. Athough it cannot be identified (as this or that), nevertheless pristine, pure, brilliant, resplendent, vivid (moments of) consciousness which make things clear with no obstruction happen to you (all the time). This consciousness is not something that previously you did not see, but now you do; or
previously you did not experience, but now you do ; or previously you did not know about, but now you do.
It has always been the case, for the nature of the mind is permanent.
But you must know from the depths of your heart that it cannot be pinpointed or said to be like this or that.
If you have only a (dry, smug) intellectual understanding that it is a clear, resplendent, unidentifiable state of clarity and Voidness, you will be unable to make any progress. Therefore this wiU not do. But if this (realisation) has dawr. ed
from within (from your own meditational practice), then you have really had penetrative insight into the (nature of) the settled mind. Therefore except for conscientiously (meditating) starkly on the nature (of the mind), there is no way to see it.
? 86 MAH. lMUDRA
I f (the Guru) introduces you to it prematurely, you will be left with only a dry intellectual under- standing and will become jaded. Then no matter what other things he may try to explain to you, they will only cause harm. Therefore (the Guru) must not try to make you recognise (the nature of your mind before you are ready to see it).
If the Guru tries to make you recognise the nature of your mind before you have had any meditative experience, you will have only an intellectual understanding. Because of your smugness and self-satisfaction, you will become jaded, lacking all appreciation for the profundity ofthe teachings. Closed-mindedly you will feel you understand everything already and therefore will disparage all your Guru's further efforts to teach you. Like a stone in water, you will not absorb anything be says and thus you will make no progress. Therefore it is better for the Guru to be reserved about teaching the nature of the mind, lest be
do so prematurely and jade the disciple.
If you have not cut the stream of your thoughts, you will not see the nature (of your settled mind). If you do not see this nature, you cannot be made to recognise it for what it is. And if you have not recognised it, then your meditation will not become an actual path (to Enlightenment).
When you have excellent experiences and boons (in meditation), look at them. Even when things are going poorly, try repeatedly to intensify the clarity.
In other words, when you are in pain, do not indulge yourself but rather look at the nature of the mind experienc- ing this pain and try to intensify and focus on its clarity. This is similar to the technique used to eliminate mental wandering in tantric visualisation meditations, namely inten- sify the clarity of the visualisation and extraneous mental activity disappears.
To teach the methods for cultivating such type of
? PENETRATifiE INSIGHT MEDITAT/ON 87
practice is called a (meaningful) oral explanation. When you know how to meditate, it is called a finished oral explanation. Then if you cultivate this state without any mental wandering, there will be no trouble in developing experiences and insights. Therefore, in order to reach certainty about the nature (of the mind) after you have seen it and to have all your doubts cut, it is necessary (for a Guru) to introduce you to it (in other words, cause you to recognise it).
In general, there are two things (needed) in meditation, mental quiescence and penetrative insight. Of these, (mental quiescence) is when your mind has been placed in its relaxed, natural state and you have a settling of the mind into its natural, clear, resplendent state after all thoughts have been quieted in their place (having looked at them the moment they arose). Your conventional mind does not indulge in any mental wandering concerning this life or worldly things. It is blissful and tranquil, with all delusions quieted into a fine sleep. Settled single-pointedly on the nature of virtue, your mind
stays wherever you place it for as long as you want. It is under your control. You do not feel even the passing of your breath in and out. If your (meditation) is like this, then it is a distinguished state of mental quiescence.
The flash experiences and boons of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality (you receive in this state) are very important. They do not fulfil the requirement to count as insights, (for that you need penetrative insight), but you cannot do without them. If you cultivate them without any compul? sive attachment, and remain in this state (of mental
? 88 MAHAMUDRi
quiescence) without Jetting yourself lapse into any mental duJiness, agitation, or unspecified state of indifference, you wiU come to know and experience what kind of object your mind is-although you cannot say that the nature of the mind is like this or that, or has this colour or that shape, for it is beyond all words, thoughts and description. It
cannot be put into words, like the sexual bliss of a young adult. A unity of clarity and Voidness, it is free from all extremes of mentally fabricated (modes of existence) and cannot be identified (as this or that). It is unadulterated by any conceptual thoughts of the Dharma. It is unsullied by any conceptual worldly thoughts. It cannot be
pinned down (with the conceptual thought that) this is a non-conceptual state or one of mental quiescence.
Such a consciousness which is in its own state, at its own level. in its own place is calJed the root of all good qualities, the normal mind or simply the mind. If you are unconscious of it, then you have ignorance or unawareness and the cyclic existence of sams~ra. But if you are conscious of it, this is
called awareness, pristine awareness, Nirvar:ta, the pristine awareness of simultaneity, the primordial state, the Clear Light, or penetrative insight. Therefore now you should divide clearly this head- water of either sams~ra or NirY~r:ta?
If you recognise the mind, it is Nirvir,ta; but if you do not, then it brings you samsilra. Thus the nature of samsira and NirVilQa is the same. Their difference is in terms of your awareness of their nature.
When your Guru introduces you to the nature (of your mind), you will recognise it like meeting (an
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDIT A TION 89?
old friend) you knew long ago. Such a recognition is called recognising the mind. (The nature of the mind) is not something produced by the great discriminating intelligence of a disciple or the skil? ful oral teaching of a Guru.
It has been there all the time and is something you come to recognise only through meditational practice.
From time immemorial (your mind) has been like this, but because it has been obscured by delusions and thoughts you did not recognise it. But now that the stream of your thoughts has been cut and you have been introduced to it, you know it.
The mind is a pristine clarity that cannot be identified (as this or that). Although it has no inherently existent nature as such, yet it allows for clear appearances. The defining characteristic of the mind is that by nature it is clear, void awareness. It is pristine and alert with no discontinuity.
down. Because your cognitions are not sticky with respect to their objects, they do not grasp at all their details and thus your mind does not indulge itself in mental wandering.
At all times your mind should be stable like Mount Meru and clear like a mirror able to reflect anything. You should not be excited or inquisitively looking everywhere. I f you focus too minutely on details. your mind will spin and become overwhelmed with thoughts. Be subdued and just let all thoughts and appearances pass through your mind without grasping onto them. If you are walking down a
busy street and even should a dancing girl happen to bo performing on the side of the road, just let her image pass through your awareness without Jetting your attention become glued to her. To be able always to maintain your mental composure is a sign of mental quiescen. ce.
There are three equal boons you receive (in this -state)-bliss, clarity and (bare) non-conceptuality. Depending on which is in a greater proportion, many things can occur such as the boon of heightened vision, the boon o f heightened hearing, e x t r a - sensory perception and even extra-physical powers. There are the ten signs (of single-minded concentra- tion) and so forth. Any of these may happen when your mental quiescence is faultless, and such things will develop on your mind-stream ? like this. These are the foundation that will give rise to all benefits
such as those deriving from penetrative insight.
So at this point, whether you have physical sickness, mental suffering, good or bad dreams, extra-sensory or extra-physical experiences, boons such as bliss, clarity or bare non-conceptuality- no matter what happens, good or bad-do not be attached or compulsively attracted. For sure they have no essence at all, so do not indulge yourself with
? MENTAL QUIESCENCE MEDITATION 63
any thoughts of happiness or depression about them. I f you are obsessed with these boons, they will only serve as a root for sams-ara, making you circle into one of the Three Realms. They cannot liberate you
from cyclic existence. Even non-Buddhists have such accomplishments (as these boons), but they are of
no benefit to them.
Extra-sensory and extra-physical experiec. ces are a side product of single-minded concentration and mental quiescence. Even non-Buddhists attain them through various meditational techniques. In themselves, they are of no consequence unless used as a means for benefiting others.
The boon experiences of bliss, clarity and bare non? conceptuality are the field from which the crop of penetrative insight into their V oidness arises. T o be obsessed with any of them, not realising their Voidness, leads to a rebirth in samsara as a god. Being born as a god in the Desire Realm comes from attachment to the boon of bliss, in the Form
Realm from clarity and in the Formless from compulsive desire for bareness.
In short, if you are obsessed with and attached to whatever experiences and insights you have, you will destroy them. Be detached from them and remain steadily in a non-compulsive state of being unattracted. With enthusiastic perseverance, pull yourself out of restrictive laziness. If you meditate while increasing your tolerance for hardships, you will reap benefits beyond all imagination.
Be like Je-tziin Mi-la r l - p a who meditated in high mountain caves for twelve years eating only nettles. Do not give up if your food runs out or your bed is too hard. Like lifting yourself out of a box, uplift yourself from making excuses for not practising. With perseverance you will reach
. ? Enlightenment.
Therefore you must study about this (with a teacher). As both the Guru and disciple must not make any
? 64 MAHAMUDR. . l
mistakes about the actual boons, comprehension {o( the instructions), meditational insights and the way to develop (mental quiescence}. make sure to recognise
and know them with certainty.
The main thing is not to have any compulsive attraction to sensory objects and to have uncon- trived admiration and loving respect for your Guru. Cultivate an Enlightened Motive of Bodhicitta with. respect to the six types of beings. Have your mind- fulness keep a close check so that you have no- mental wandering. Make short-term plans as if you had no time and execute them straight up and down like bellows. Accomplish what you begin. Do not let yourself come under the sway of polite affecta- tions or the eight worldly feelings.
The root of all attainments is your Guru-devotion and unwavering faith in his instructions. This, combined with. the highest motivation of Bodhicitta, will propel you on to? become a Buddha.
As death can come at any moment, do not make long- term fanciful plans such as . . Next year I shall build a bouse: and then take a wife. Tbia room will be the nursery. l11.
have three children and the furniture will be walnut. . . . . and. so forth. Live in the present moment with the aoal of En- lightenment. Whatever you set out to do, such as a acvcn-day- retreat, carry it through to completion. If you give up in. the middle, this sets up a very self-defeating pattern.
Do not let yourself come under the influence of polite? affectations such as flattering others for favours or trying to- save face. Be like Je-tziin Mi-la ra-pa who had no servants. or masters to worry about. Cast off your bondage to the:
eight worldly feelings of being pleased when receiving gifts, love, attention and so forth, displeased when not, elated. when everything is going well, depressed when it is not,. delighted when hearing pleasant things, annoyed when not,. being happy when praised and upset when abused.
? MENTAL QUIESCENCE MEDITATION 65
All this is very important. If you practise faultlessly like this, you will develop experiences and insight without any effort. Therefore exert yourself to act in this way. That is the eighth point (for mental quiescence meditation).
? Looking A t tire SettletllJiintl
The second main topic is penetrative insight meditation (vipa? yana). You should sit in the essential bodily posture as before. At this point the way of looking is extremely important. Your eyes should not be blinking, wavering to and fro or changing focus, but should be staring intensely with sharp focus
directly ahead (slightly upwards) at the empty space before you.
In mental quiescence your mind bas become like a clear mirror. With penetrative insight you examine the nature or this mirror and the images in it. The way of looking is slightly different for these two. In mental quiescence your eyes should be looking straightforward, relaxed and in focus. For penetrative insight look more intensely and slightly upwards. This uplifts and sharpens the mind. The differ~
ence is like between your arm when it is at ease and when flexed.
Place your mind in a faultlessly settled state of equipoise in which it is natural, at its own level, uncontrived, unself-conscious, not anxiously caring and then make it slightly more intense so that it is clear and vivid, and have your mindfulness keep an ever-present check so that you have no mental wandering.
? 70 MAHAMUDRA
Now look scrupulously at the nature of your mind when it is in fun, perfect mental quiescence. By nature does it have a colour, a form, a shape 1 Does it have an arising, a ceasing, an enduring, or not ? Is it outside, inside, or where is it settled ? Aside from this settled state, is there another consciou'! - ness separate from it 1 Is it nothing whatsoever, a blank emptiness that cannot be identified (as this or that) ? Or, in this settled state, is there conscious- ness which although it cannot be identified (as this or that) is still a vividness, a pristine purity, a resplendence but which just cannot be put into words (like a mute person's tasting of sugar) ? The nature of this settled mind, is it a total blackness, or is it a clear, vivid brightness 'l
All the crucial (attainments) are in terms of what it means by the true abiding nature of the reality of this (mind).
If you realise the true nature of your mind, your Buddha- nature, you have Enlightenment. If confused about it and shrouded in the darkness of ignorant:e, you have sams~a and bring yourself suffering.
Therefore (when your Guru questions you about your meditation) if you spout forth intellectual ideas about it, or parrot descriptions you have heard, or use high-falutin Dharma jargon (you do not under- stand), or, because your mind is gripped by the eight worldly feelings (and you want to impress him), you say you have had fantastic flashes and insights when you have not-if you respond like this, it is like pulling the wool over your own eyes. Y ou are only deceiving yourself. And if you are ordained, then you have broken your vow not to
? PENETRATIYE INSIGHT MEDIT. 4TION 7 [
lie to your Guru with polite affectations. Therefore practise conscientiously. Do not patch up (some experience) out of your imagination, but be com- pletely honest and (speak from) the experiences and insights that develop within yourself from the force of your own meditation.
Do not worry if what you experience sounds a bit silly. Ifafter looking you find that your mind is white, report this to your Guru. He will say, for instance, to check if it is ever yellow. If you come back and say, "It is yellow," he will then say, ? ? No, actually it is neither. " Through such honest exchange and interplay, your Guru will be able to lead you to recognise the nature of your mind. When you look at or examine your mind with incessant questions as above, you may not recognise its nature even if you sec it. Therefore you must rely on your Guru and be totally honest with him, otherwise be oannot help you. What is at stake is your liberation from suffering, Enlightenment and ability to help others.
As this is imperative, tighten your awareness and look (at your mind). Then take a rest and after- wards have another look. As it is necessary to look at the nature of the mind when it is settled, the way you should set it throughout all of this is to place it in a clear, lucid, shining state like the sun free of all clouds.
Tightening your awareness at this point and making an effort to look at its nature is the first way for you to be made to recognise (the nature of your mind). As this is so, the Guru must question and train his disciples in accordance with their mental temperaments and capacities. In order to tame some, it may be necessary to push and question them repeatedly in order to see if they have an intellectual understanding, a flash experience,
? 72 M,. H. lMUDRA
an insight or a solid experience, and to make them recognise these without mixing in affected Dharma jargon. The disciple likewise must exert himself in this. That is the first point (for penetra- tive insight meditation) : looking at the nature of the
(settled) mind.
? Looking 11t tlte Hloving or Thinking 1Jii1ttl
Next, to cut from its root the foundation (of ignorance) you must examine thoroughly the moving mind or train of thought, and be made to
? recognise it for what it is. Adopt the bodily posture, way of looking and acting as before. Place yourself in a state in which you have bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality-aJI three, and then relax in this
pristine purity and let a fleeting thought arise all of a sudden from this (state), or purposely emanate a thought of whatever seems suitable.
Look at the nature of the cognition that has been emanated. Look at it at the time it is -emanated. Having looked at the enduring of what bas been emanated, does it have a colour, or a shape? Is there a place it arose from, a place it endured in, a place it ceased into ? What about it ? Is (this thought) located outside, or inside the body ? If it
is inside, i? it in the centre cf the heart, for instance, (in the brain} and so forth '1 Inside, outside, wher- -ever it is, just how does it endure and how is it ~manated ? Investigate this.
This mind, is (its nature) a conditioned pheno- menon (arising from causes}, or is it unconditioned?
? 74 MAHAMUDitA
Does it have an arisal. a cessation, a colour, or a shape 1 If it does, then what kind does it have~ or is it the case that you think it does not (have any arisal and so forth) 1 If you say that it cannot be thought of as being like this, well then, is there still some conscious aspect of it which nevertheless ha~ no arisal or cessation and so forth 1 When you look at a thought, is it that all thoughts arc a voidness,: free from all mental fabrications (of extreme modes. of existence), with no arisal or cessation 1 After you have looked at a thought, is it that it disappears completely, leaving no trace 1 All thoughts that occur, is it that they pop up but cannot be identified (as being like this or like that) 1 Take a look. Ir you say that they pop up but cannot be identified (as being like this or like that), then at that very moment (when a thought pops up). is there or is there not (another) thought to the effect that there is no- identifiable component here 1
There is no end to the amount of questions to which you can subject a thought such as "I saw my friend yester- day. " Where is this thought ? Where did it come from ? ? What is it made of? 1s this thought the same shape as. your friend and is the image of your friend the same as your friend himself? When this thought passes, docs it leave? no trace like a cloud disappearing from the sky, or does it leave a footprint like a child walking on the beach 'l I f you: say this thought has no qualities and cannot be found, then what about the thought that thinks that ? Ifa mute person cannot put his thoughts into words, does this <mean he has no thoughts ? ?
By interrogating thought like this you can ? ? question it to death". If you are plagued by thieves and you catch one and publicly flog him, and then do the same for several' more, the thieves will get the idea not to come any more? and you will be free of them. The same thing will happen?
? PENETRATIJIE INSIGHT MEDITATION 1S;
with your thoughts. Persistent questioning takes the life- out of them and they will not bother to come so often? . And when they do, they will be weaker in force and not so bold. In this way you will come to see the nature of your mind and thoughts.
After a thought has arisen or you have made one come, take a look at it without blocking or grasping on to it. Whether it has a happy (feeling)
to it or an unhappy one, look at the individual natures of happy and unhappy (feeling tones). No matter how many thoughts you have, look at them. When a delusion has arisen strongly, such as one or the five poisons (of desire, anger, closed-mindedness, pride or jealousy), or you make one arise, take a look at it too. Making sure to cut out any exaggerated ideas_you might superimpose from within, look at the (deluded) thought itself (such as anger), the object
of that thought (an image of an enemy) and the . immediately preceding thought and check to see, for instance, if there is any difference as far as the mind
(or consciousness aspect of them) is concerned. When you see that the nature of thought is a bright, clear awareness, then look to see whether there is any difference between the bright, cJear awareness you saw previously with respect to the settled mind and the bright, clear awareness you see now with respect to a thought. If you cannot decide, then draw the thought back and place
yourself into a state of clear awareness.
This is a figure of speech. Thoughts are not like a jack- in-the-box which you can stuff back into your mind. What is meant is to cease interrogating the thought and let it dissolve.
When (another) thought all of a sudden comes up when you are not looking, then look at its very'
? 76 MAH. . llt/UDR. . l
nature to see how it in no way adulterates that of . your original, normal consciousness.
When a wave rises and falls, has the ocean basicaUy changed? Does a cloud affect the sky ?
As this is what you must see, look very well.
In short, when the Guru and disciple working together have reached this conclusion based on how thoughts arise (in the disciple) and how he under- stands them, then the root has been cut ofthe foundation (of his ignorance) and the true meaning has been reached. That is the second point (for penetrative insight meditation) : making an effort in the methods to look at (the nature of the moving mind) so as to see and be made to recognise it for
-what it is.
? Looking at tl1e Alind BeReeting Appearances and at tl1e Alind
in Belatio11 to tl1e Body
Next, in order to be made to recognise the- inseparability of the mind and appearances, you should look (at the mind) when it is reflecting an appearance (in a moment of bare perception). With. your way of looking and bodily posture as before, focus your eyes and attention single-pointedly on a
specific object, such as a vase, your image in a mirror, Mount Meru or any suitable visual form in the space (before you). Look at it scrupulously. Relax your awareness of it slightly, and then look at it again.
Likewise, look at the nature of a sound that is the object of your ears' (consciousness) and see if there is any difference (in nature) between a pleasant and an unpleasant, or a loud and a soft one. Look at the sound of your own voice and that of someone else, and so forth. Likewise look at a fragrant smell that appears as an object to your nose's (consciousness) and at a foul one, at both a delicious and an unpalatable taste on your tongue,. .
? ? 18 MAH. . lMUDRA
at both a pleasant and an unpleasant, a hot and a -cold and at an intensely painful physical sensation on your body-look at whatever comes up. At such a time, is the appearance something that passes away by ceasing to exist ? When reflecting an appearance, ar~ the mind and the appearance two separate things ? Does the appearance come into the mind
-(from outside) or is it that when the mind reflects ? something it goes out and catches hold of an . appearance thinking "I am going to reflect it" ? Actually, the mind and appearances (on it) are
inseparable (like a "magic mirror'' and the images on
it). There is just the resplendence of an appearance . and Voidness, with no (truly existent) object.
Take a look at the consciousness that is doing the looking and at its five types of sense objects, -each in turn (first sights, then sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations). Look to s. ee if there is any -difference between these two (namely, consciousness
and the appearance of its sense objects), and then look for what is the difference between an appearance that is the object (of a consciousness) and the consciousness that has it as its object. When you have looked at an object, is it the case that the
-object is something out there, solid and real ?
When you close your eyes, does it disappear? When you put your hand in front of your eyes, where is the clarity of the appearance ?
If you say it is not, then it seems as though there is no difference at all &tween an object (on the one side) and the mind (on the other) that can look starkly at (this object) without any obstruction but
which (on its own part) is at ease: does not hold
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 79
(anything as its object) and in which nothing (appears) clearly. If you say it is impossible to think that there is no difference between these (two), but rather it is the case that the object is something . out there, solid and real, then what about the very thought that thinks that ? (Is its object something . out there? ) Take a look at this:
Likewise, look to see whether the body and the mind are the same or different. If they are the same (or one thing), then the body which is something that arises and ceases and the mind which is something permanent (by nature) with no arisal or cessation would have to be the same.
Although your cognitions, like your body, change from moment to moment and are thus impermanent, the nature of the mind as a clear, void, blissful awareness is something that does not change and is permanent in the sense that it does not depend on causes or circumstances. The nature of your mind does not arise out of nothing when you are born or wake up, nor does it cease when you die or fall asleep. The awareness is by nature the same regardless of what it is aware of.
And if they are different, then you should be able to identify two separate things, the body and the mind (totally apart from each other}. But the mind is not something that you can pinpoint here (or there). It is not (only) at the top of your body or at the bottom, it completely pervades it. The fact that you can expr. rience feelings (all over), what is that due to?
The body and mind are like something that supports and the thing that is supported (like a cup and the tea in it). But, if you say that the body is outside and the mind inside, (as two separate things)
? 80 MAHAMUDRA
like a man and his clothing, then when it comes t<> experiencing feeling, if you think that it is the body alone that has feelings, then a corpse would also have to have feelings. If you say that the mind (alone) has the feelings, then the two (body and mind) would have to be dilferent (and unrelated).
Now the mind is something that cannot be killed or in any way affected. If when your body is pricked by a thorn your mind feels it, then how
is this different from the example when you burn the clothes worn by someone you burn the person who is wearing them too?
When you prick the body, do you prick the mind also? After looking at this thoroughly, you
must reach a firm decision.
Namely, you must decide that the body and mind are neither the same, nor different. Conventionally they art like something that supports and the thing supported, but ultimately they are not two inherently existing objects. sharing such a relation.
In connection with this you must also realise that whatever feelings arise are like waves and (your mind is like) water. Because when you place your mind on this realisation you cut through from this state to the true meaning of the actual nature of
reality, you must look (at your mind) like this. That is the third point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? Lool,i11gat tl1e Settletl anti Jflot'iltg Alinds Togetlter
Once more settle your mind into a state of pure clarity and Voidness and look at its nature. Then make a thought arise and look at its nature. Look to see if the natures of these two-the settled mind and the moving mind-are the same or different. After looking, if you see that they are different, then how are they different ? Do the settled and moving minds alternately come up like when you have strung thread around two poles and twirl it together (to make a string) ? Is the settled mind like a field and the moving mind that arises like the crops growing in it ? Or are the two of them the same like a snake or rope and its coils (in that you cannot have a coil separate from the rope)? If so, then when the mind is settled without any thought arising, is it also moving, and when it is l)loving, is it also settled? There is a big difference between the moving mind which can think up anything and fantasise in endless variety and the settled mind which stays without moving. But if you think that the two are different in nature, then is the difference in terms of colour, shape and so forth ? Is it in terms of arisal, endurance and cessation, or of past, present and future, or of permanence and imper? manence ? Look to see how they are different.
? 82 AIAHAMUDRA
When you know? through meditation what thoughts truly are, then (you realise that) the nature of both the settled and moving minds is nothing but the same. The way they arise is by alternating, and when it is settled there is nothing that is moving and
when it is moving there is nothing that is settled. like water and waves, it is the mind alone that functions and acts. That is all there is to it. When you understand that both the settled and moving minds are nothing more than a brilliant, clear Voidness, then you have a little understanding.
It is like a mirror, which has the same void clarity whether or not it is reflecting an object.
Now, when you draw a thought in (for interroga- tion) and then place yourself in meditation, is it that (the thought) has gone into a clear Voidness, or has it disappeared and afterwards in its place is a clear Voidness?
In other words, is it like the darkness of night dissolving into the clarity of daylight ? Or is it like the darkness dis- appearing and being replaced by daylight ?
Or is it that the vivid thought itself is a clear Voidness ? Ifyou think that it is like either of the former two, you still must make very stong requests to your Guru (for his inspiration) and then look once more with effort and try to see with certainty
how things really are.
The ways of looking at the nature (of the mind)
can be approached in three styles.
These ways o f looking have been a t the settled mind,
the moving or thinking mind, the mind. reflecting an appearance, the mind in relation to the body and both the settled. and moving minds together.
Those who skip ahead develop penetrative insight first and then m~ntal quiescence, or sometimes they
? PENETIUTlYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 83
develop both together at the same time when previously they had neither. Those for whom it happens at once develop both mental quiescence and penetrative insight at the same time by merely being taught their descriptions. This is due to the power of their previous training.
This refers to instincts from former lifetimes as is the case with Incarnate Lamas (Tulkus).
Those who progress gradually develop these in stages. Here (the explanation has been given) in accordance with this latter type of person's approach and it must be taught after assessing the way in which the disciple has his experiences.
When looking, you must place yourself in a state of clarity without any grasping, like a small child looking (at the paintings of deities) in a temple.
Exert yourself with great enthusiasm to look in this way and abandon laziness. Turn away from your compulsive obsessions and have no requirements (which you feel must be met before you can practise). Have a renounced mind and faith, admiration and loving respect for your Guru. Make your mind-
. fulness firm so that your mind does not wander and practise in an uncontrived state without being fettered by expectations or worries. Be interested only in your future lives without letting ? yourself go after ever-changing worldly concerns. If you make an effort to look at the mind (with an Enlightened
. Motive of Bodhicitta), then it is impossible for you not to develop quickly and with certainty the pristine awareness o f penetrative insight. Therefore decide about the settled and moving minds. That is the fourth point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? BecotJnising tl1e Nature of tlae Settled Alintl
If you have cultivated looking at the nature (of the mind) like this in accordance with the oral teachings concerning the mind, there is practically no need for (your Guru) to make you recognise (its nature). It will reveal itself to you from within. Some people, however, do not recognise it even if this has happened. Others will have only a dry intel- lectual understanding of it from reading or hearing teachings and, although they have developed no expe- rience or insight despite their desire to do so, will say they have and describe them in unerring Dharma iargon. The Guru must be able to differentiate these (types of people) and the disciple on his part must practise taking all this to heart.
After you have examined or looked at the nature of the mind and reach~ a decision about it, you must experience? it in meditation and recognise the experience in terms of what you have previously ascertained. Therefore the Guru is essential, for through his interplay and questioning he lead$ you to the correct decision about the nature of your mind and confirms for you when you have had a true medita- tional experience or insight into it. This is what it means for a Guru to make you recognise your mind or, literally, to introduce you to it.
The first way to make beginners recognise the n:~ture (of the mind) when they are looking at it (is
? PENETRATIYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 8S
as follows). Look at the nature of the settled mind in the way as was done before. The nature of the settled mind is a clear, vivid brilliance, not a- total nothingness. In this settled state there is clear, open, resplendent, gently flowing consciousness which cannot be identified (as this or that). You cannot say that it is like this, that it has a colour, a shape and so forth. It cannot be put into words or expressed as being like this or that. Athough it cannot be identified (as this or that), nevertheless pristine, pure, brilliant, resplendent, vivid (moments of) consciousness which make things clear with no obstruction happen to you (all the time). This consciousness is not something that previously you did not see, but now you do; or
previously you did not experience, but now you do ; or previously you did not know about, but now you do.
It has always been the case, for the nature of the mind is permanent.
But you must know from the depths of your heart that it cannot be pinpointed or said to be like this or that.
If you have only a (dry, smug) intellectual understanding that it is a clear, resplendent, unidentifiable state of clarity and Voidness, you will be unable to make any progress. Therefore this wiU not do. But if this (realisation) has dawr. ed
from within (from your own meditational practice), then you have really had penetrative insight into the (nature of) the settled mind. Therefore except for conscientiously (meditating) starkly on the nature (of the mind), there is no way to see it.
? 86 MAH. lMUDRA
I f (the Guru) introduces you to it prematurely, you will be left with only a dry intellectual under- standing and will become jaded. Then no matter what other things he may try to explain to you, they will only cause harm. Therefore (the Guru) must not try to make you recognise (the nature of your mind before you are ready to see it).
If the Guru tries to make you recognise the nature of your mind before you have had any meditative experience, you will have only an intellectual understanding. Because of your smugness and self-satisfaction, you will become jaded, lacking all appreciation for the profundity ofthe teachings. Closed-mindedly you will feel you understand everything already and therefore will disparage all your Guru's further efforts to teach you. Like a stone in water, you will not absorb anything be says and thus you will make no progress. Therefore it is better for the Guru to be reserved about teaching the nature of the mind, lest be
do so prematurely and jade the disciple.
If you have not cut the stream of your thoughts, you will not see the nature (of your settled mind). If you do not see this nature, you cannot be made to recognise it for what it is. And if you have not recognised it, then your meditation will not become an actual path (to Enlightenment).
When you have excellent experiences and boons (in meditation), look at them. Even when things are going poorly, try repeatedly to intensify the clarity.
In other words, when you are in pain, do not indulge yourself but rather look at the nature of the mind experienc- ing this pain and try to intensify and focus on its clarity. This is similar to the technique used to eliminate mental wandering in tantric visualisation meditations, namely inten- sify the clarity of the visualisation and extraneous mental activity disappears.
To teach the methods for cultivating such type of
? PENETRATifiE INSIGHT MEDITAT/ON 87
practice is called a (meaningful) oral explanation. When you know how to meditate, it is called a finished oral explanation. Then if you cultivate this state without any mental wandering, there will be no trouble in developing experiences and insights. Therefore, in order to reach certainty about the nature (of the mind) after you have seen it and to have all your doubts cut, it is necessary (for a Guru) to introduce you to it (in other words, cause you to recognise it).
In general, there are two things (needed) in meditation, mental quiescence and penetrative insight. Of these, (mental quiescence) is when your mind has been placed in its relaxed, natural state and you have a settling of the mind into its natural, clear, resplendent state after all thoughts have been quieted in their place (having looked at them the moment they arose). Your conventional mind does not indulge in any mental wandering concerning this life or worldly things. It is blissful and tranquil, with all delusions quieted into a fine sleep. Settled single-pointedly on the nature of virtue, your mind
stays wherever you place it for as long as you want. It is under your control. You do not feel even the passing of your breath in and out. If your (meditation) is like this, then it is a distinguished state of mental quiescence.
The flash experiences and boons of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality (you receive in this state) are very important. They do not fulfil the requirement to count as insights, (for that you need penetrative insight), but you cannot do without them. If you cultivate them without any compul? sive attachment, and remain in this state (of mental
? 88 MAHAMUDRi
quiescence) without Jetting yourself lapse into any mental duJiness, agitation, or unspecified state of indifference, you wiU come to know and experience what kind of object your mind is-although you cannot say that the nature of the mind is like this or that, or has this colour or that shape, for it is beyond all words, thoughts and description. It
cannot be put into words, like the sexual bliss of a young adult. A unity of clarity and Voidness, it is free from all extremes of mentally fabricated (modes of existence) and cannot be identified (as this or that). It is unadulterated by any conceptual thoughts of the Dharma. It is unsullied by any conceptual worldly thoughts. It cannot be
pinned down (with the conceptual thought that) this is a non-conceptual state or one of mental quiescence.
Such a consciousness which is in its own state, at its own level. in its own place is calJed the root of all good qualities, the normal mind or simply the mind. If you are unconscious of it, then you have ignorance or unawareness and the cyclic existence of sams~ra. But if you are conscious of it, this is
called awareness, pristine awareness, Nirvar:ta, the pristine awareness of simultaneity, the primordial state, the Clear Light, or penetrative insight. Therefore now you should divide clearly this head- water of either sams~ra or NirY~r:ta?
If you recognise the mind, it is Nirvir,ta; but if you do not, then it brings you samsilra. Thus the nature of samsira and NirVilQa is the same. Their difference is in terms of your awareness of their nature.
When your Guru introduces you to the nature (of your mind), you will recognise it like meeting (an
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDIT A TION 89?
old friend) you knew long ago. Such a recognition is called recognising the mind. (The nature of the mind) is not something produced by the great discriminating intelligence of a disciple or the skil? ful oral teaching of a Guru.
It has been there all the time and is something you come to recognise only through meditational practice.
From time immemorial (your mind) has been like this, but because it has been obscured by delusions and thoughts you did not recognise it. But now that the stream of your thoughts has been cut and you have been introduced to it, you know it.
The mind is a pristine clarity that cannot be identified (as this or that). Although it has no inherently existent nature as such, yet it allows for clear appearances. The defining characteristic of the mind is that by nature it is clear, void awareness. It is pristine and alert with no discontinuity.
