Published by
Shambhala
Publications, 1985.
Khenchen-Thrangu-Rinpoche-The-Life-Spiritual-Songs-of-Milarepa
I felt faith in him on just hearing his name and I received all these instructions from him.
Marpa Lotsawa told me, "This is the age of degeneration; life is short and uncertain. There are many causes ofdeath, therefore do not make the error in believing the instructions are the mere acquisition of knowledge because practice is their essence. " Due to the kindness of the guru, that has been my view. I meditated upon the fear of death; I meditated with diligence in caves; my meditation transformed my
thoughts and wrong views into merit.
The three poisons ofanger, desire, and ignorance
appear"to be the powerful causes ofthe accumulation of negative karma. But when their essence is seen to be emptiness, those poisons are recognized to be the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya.
The blessings, experiences and realizations of Naropa and Maitripa are transmitted through the
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lineage to the worthy pupil. I shall give their profound instructions to you. Practice them correctly, and spread the Buddha's teachings for the benefit of beings.
I have no need for the gold you have offered me. Gold does not agree with this old man. If you want to practice the dharma properly, observe my conduct and my practice, and do as I do.
The monk who had come with Gampopa came to receive a blessing from Milarepa. Milarepa asked the monk to offer him everything that he had in order to receive a blessing. The monk said that he didn't have anything to give. But Milarepa said, "You have a lot of gold concealed about your body, so your statement that you don't have anything is truly wonderful. If you have no faith you are incapable of receiving a blessing. If you have no faith, the instructions that you receive will not benefit you. Your inner thoughts are of going to Nepal to do business, so that is the best thing for you to do. I will pray that you meet no obstacles. "
Gampopa thought, "This lama knows what people think. It is impossible to deceive him. I will have good control over my mind and think carefully before I ask him anything. He truly is a Buddha. "
Milarepa asked Gampopa, "Have you received any empowerments? What instructions have you been given? What practices have you done? " Gampopa answered Milarepa's questions and described his success in meditation, but Milarepa just laughed and said, "You can't get oil by grinding sand, you have to use mustard seeds. These empowerments you have received are useless for seeing the true nature of your mind. If you meditate on my tummo instructions you will see the true nature of your mind. "
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Milarepa then gave Gampopa the Vajravarahi empowerment, using a sindhura62 mandala. Then he gave Gampopa the instructions and Gampopa put them into practice.
Gampopa had good experiences and realizations, and had many thoughts on view, meditation, and conduct. He asked Milarepa to explain them, and in answer, Milarepa sang a spiritual song describing the view, meditation, conduct, commitment and result, in terms of the true nature as the basis of the path:
The ultimate view is to look at your own mind.
What does Milarepa mean by that line? If one has never practiced that may seem a simple thing to do, but this is the ultimate view in Vajrayana practice. The sutra tradition teaches emptiness and selflessness which are to be understood through analysis by searching vainly for the self from the crown of the head to one's toenails. Deduction brings conviction that the body
and all phenomena have no reality. This is the understanding of emptiness. Meditation upon this conviction will then lead to the ultimate goal. The sutra path is therefore called "the path of deduction. " The Vajrayana, however, does not use deduction, but uses the direct perception of emptiness, of the true nature of phenomena. So it is called "the path of direct experience. "
The true nature cannot be seen directly in outer phenomena, but, by looking into one's own mind and seeing that the mind cannot be found. 63 The mind is the embodiment of emptiness, the essence of emptiness, but throughout beginningless time we have never looked at our own mind. The emptiness ofthe mind is notavacuitybutaclarity. 64 Itisamistaketotryandfindemptiness other than in the mind.
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To illustrate this there is a story of a man who had a jewel iqset into his forehead. Whenever he was tired the skin on his head sagged. One day when he was very exhausted and the skin sagged and covered the jewel completely. The man felt his forehead and thought he had lost the jewel, and ran around anxiously trying to find it, only becoming more tired in the process, so that the jewel was more deeply hidden.
In the same way, Milarepa says, "to search for the true nature anywhere other than our own mind, is like a blind monster looking for gold. "
Milarepa then described meditation to Gampopa in a single line ofsong:
The ultimate practice is not to consider lethargy and excitability as faults.
A beginner of meditation, of course, does need to work on eliminating lethargy and excitability in meditation, but the nature of lethargy and excitability is the nature of the mind and this nature never changes. If you see these two qualities of mind as obstacles or faults, you will not be able to see the essence of the . mind. Therefore you should not attempt to eliminate them, which
would as Milarepa says "be as pointless as lighting a candle in the daylight. " Next, Milarepa described conduct:
The ultimate action is to cease to accept and reject.
The usual Buddhist practice is to accept what is positive and to reject what is 'negative. In terms of the true nature there should be no adoption ofgood actions or abandonment ofnegative actions.
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Whatever arises in the mind has the ultimate nature of the clarity and emptiness ofthe mind, so we should not think, "this is good and has to be cultivated or this is bad and has to be rejected. " Ifwe attempt to adopt and reject, we will be like a fly struggling in a cobweb, which only binds itself tighter the more it does.
Next Milarepa describes commitment:
The ultimate discipline is to rest in the ultimate view.
Discipline is usually made by promising to keep all our commitments and vows. But remaining in the realization of the true nature of our mind is truly keeping the commitment. If we strive to maintain a commitment that is other than the mind, we will always fail. It is just as Milarepa says, "we can't stop water's natural propensity to flow downward. " Next Milarepa describes the accomplishment or result of our practice:
The ultimate accomplishment is full conviction in one's mind.
The ultimate result is the true nature ofthe mind manifest. If one seeks a result that does not already exist, that would be like as Milarepa says, "a frog jumping up into the sky," which is inevitably going to fall back onto the ground. The result can only be found in the mind itsel?
The Buddha's wisdom is described as "the sudden result" even in the sutra tradition, because the wisdom spontaneously appears as soon as the defilements are eliminated without having to be created. In the Vajrayana tradition, the result is described as the manifestation of the true nature of one's mind. This nature is
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primordially present, but unrecognized, within all beings. Once the nature ofthe mind is recognized, the ultimate result is attained.
In the next verse Milarepa describes the guru: The ultimate guru is one's mind.
On the relative level one has a root guru whose instructions one follows. On the ultimate level the guru is one's mind. If one can look at and question one's own mind, the instructions of the ultimate guru will be received. If one seeks a guru that is other than the mind, it is as Milarepa says, "trying to leave one's mind" which is impossible. All appearances are nothing other than one's
mind, so there is no gr1=ater guru than the true nature ofthe mind. On hearing this song, Gampopa felt great faith. He then meditated with diligence practicing the tummo meditation. On the first night, his body filled with warmth and bliss. At dawn he fell asleep briefly and when he woke up his body was cold as stone. After seven days of meditation he had a vision of the five
Buddhas of the five Buddha families. He thought this was very important and told Milarepa. Milarepa said, "If you press your eyes you see an illusion of there being two moons. In the same way, the particular movement of airs in your body caused your experience, which was neither good nor bad. Just carry on with your meditation.
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Victory over the Four Maras
g will conclude this introduction to the songs of Milarepa with this sixtieth chapter65 that describes victory over the maras. This is very auspicious from the Tibetan point of
view. The Buddha taught that there were four maras: the divine mara (Skt. devaputra-mara), the disturbing emotion mara (Skt. klesha-mara), the aggregate mara (Skt. skandha-mara), and the death mara (Skt. matyupati-mara). They cause obstacles, bring suffering, and prevent the attainment of liberation.
The "divine mara'' is traditionally portrayed as a beautiful and attractive being. This mara represents the attachment to the sensory pleasures of samsara, which seems very beautiful at the time, but from the ultimate point of view, these attachments lead people astray and create an obstacle to liberation and omniscience. Therefore it is called the "divine mara. "
The "mara ofdefilement," or the disturbing emotion mara, is the attachment to a self, which leads to the defilements of ignorance, anger, and desire. They appear within our mind and cause the accumulation ofnegative karma, which results in future suffering. This mara is traditionally portrayed as an old, weak Brahmin who doesn't have long to live because it is a delusion,
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without any solid basis, and therefore easy to eliminate. As soon as the truth is realized, delusion ceases to exist.
The "mara of the five aggregates" is next. When there are the aggregates or skandhas (form, sensation, recognition, mental events and consciousnesses), there is samsara. Until the true nature of these aggregates is realized, there is suffering. This mara is traditionally portrayed as a physically powerful being, because the skandhas are an actual presence, and their true nature is more difficult to realize than that of the defilements.
The "mara who is the Lord of Death" is death itsel? At death we must leave all the activities ofour life, and we feel afraid. Death will be a cause of suffering for as long as we remain in samsara. This mara is traditionally portrayed as black and terrifying, because it is brings impermanence and fear.
The way to eliminate these four maras is to practice the dharma and to realize the true nature ofphenomena.
In this chapter Milarepa sings of his own victory over the maras, beginning with a song that describes the need to escape from samsara. Later it is told that Milarepa was blown over a precipice by a wind and was seen to be impaled upon a tree. His students were mortified until Milarepa showed them his body to be unharmed, without any wound at all. He then sang them a song:
The wind made me fall, and an inanimate tree harmed my body causing me unendurable agony. However, the dakinis healed me so that I was healed from all injury.
Another time, Milarepa's students were with him on top of a very high rock when he fell of? They thought he must have died and passed into nirvana and went down to recover his body. But
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when they reached the bottom, Milarepa was still alive and laughed at them. When they asked him what had happened, Milarepa replied with a song:
The vulture of union spreads its wings. When the vulture ofthe union ofemptiness and clarity spreads its wings, it does not fly using only one ofthem. When we meditate, the wisdom of the emptiness of
phenomena alone is not enough, and the wisdom of clarity alone is not enough to cause the realization of the true nature of phenomena.
The essence of clarity is emptiness. Emptiness, the unreality ofphenomena, is not a voidness but has clarity. This is "the union ofspace and wisdom. " The realization of this union will enable us to reach liberation from samsara.
This is what Milarepa meant by "the vulture ofunion spreading
Its wmgs.
The flight was from the peak of Tramar,66 The landing was in the ravine below. I played a joke upon my followers.
Milarepa, through a miracle, flew from the top ofTramar and then landed on the ground below. Then he explained:
There was a purpose to the joke: The wings of the union of wisdom and emptiness realized the true nature so that there is freedom from the obscurations caused by the defilements and the obscurations to
. . ,
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knowledge. 67 Then liberation from both samsara and nirvana is demonstrated. Then there is the peace of emptiness united with perfect bliss.
Another time, Milarepa and his disciples were at the foot ofa rocky cliff. One of his disciples said to him, "You shouldn't stay here, it's too dangerous. " But he did and a little later there was a rockslide. Milarepa stared and pointed at the falling rocks and they immediately scattered into different directions, without harming him. His students returned certain that Milarepa had been injured. When they arrived, he sang them a song:
This yogin's body is like a flower. The avalanche of rocks was like a murderer wanting to kill a flower. A dakini appeared on my right and left so that the rocks did not fall upon me. I am not afraid of the maras, they could never cause an obstacle to me.
The students asked, "You have been in an avalanche, fallen off a precipice, and been impaled upon a tree, without being harmed. How is this possible? "
Milarepa answered, "My realization of the true nature of phenomena has made my body as insubstantial as a rainbow and it has transformed my defilements into wisdoms. My certain knowledge that all phenomena are unborn has blown away the eight worldly dharmas. 68 This is a sign that the four maras are ashamed, have lost their confidence and are powerless.
His pupils then asked, "Does this mean that you have conquered the four maras? " And Milarepa replied, "Yes, there has been victory over the maras. For the next thirteen successions
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of my lineage, the maras will not be able to cause any obstacles to its practitioners. "
A tantrika student arrived from central Tibet, and Sebenrepa
a$ked him what siddhas were in that region. The tantrika replied,
"There are many siddhas there, and they are served by non-
hb. " uman emgs.
Milarepa said, "That doesn't make anyone a siddha. " Sebenrepa then asked Milarepa, "Do non-human beings serve you? " Milarepa replied that they did and sang a song:
The food of samadhi that is served to me is inexhaustible, like the treasury of space. I am free of thoughts and feelings of hunger and thirst. This is a service rendered to me by dakinis, but I do not think of it as a siddhi. It is only an experience within meditation, not the ultimate siddhi69 of realizing the
true nature of phenomena.
The tantrika said that there were masters in the central region that had seen the face of the yidam. But Milarepa said, "Just seeing the yidam's face is of no benefit. " Then he sang:
Due to my meditation on the instructions I have received from Marpa Lotsawa, I have seen the nature ofthe mind. This dispelled the darkness ofignorance from my mind. All the dakinis revealed their faces to me, but there are no faces in the true nature, which contains no objects of perception.
I have seen the yidam's face, but only the root guru's teachings are important. I have attained the
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general siddhis but the realization of the true nature transcends them.
The tantrika then asked, "Can you give me an example of what you mean by 'seeing, the nature of the mind'? " In answer Milarepa sang a song:
The mind has no true reality and is therefore unborn and unceasing. In every instant the mind gives birth to thoughts. But if you see the nature of the mind, you know that it has no reality, and has never been born. You cannot find the mind's location and so it is
unborn.
There is no example that can be given to depict
the unborn mind, because nothing resembles it. It has no birth or cessation. Only what is born comes to an end. When you realize the nature ofthe mind you know that nothing can serve as an example for it, except for the mind itself Then the example and the meaning will be the same.
You can't describe the nature of the mind in the way that you can describe an outer object as white or red. You can't say that the nature ofthe mind exists or that it doesn't exist. The mind is inconceivable, beyond deduction, beyond the scope of speech, but due to
the blessing of the root guru and the lineage gurus, you can see it for yourself.
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1. See L. P. Lhalungpa The Life ofMilarepa.
Published by Shambhala Publications, 1985.
2. For more information on Tsang Nyon Heruka see The Life ofMarpa the Translator. Boston: Shambhala, 1986 pages xx-xxiv.
3. Tib. dbus. This is the region of central Tibet that had Lhasa as its capital.
4. This is the region of central Tibet that had Gyantse as its capital.
5. In the Vajrayana, there are two paths- drollam and thap lam- that are generally followed simultaneously or alternately by the practitioner. Drollam, the path ofliberation, is what sometimes we refer to as formless meditation and includes Mahamudra. In this approach to meditation one relates to the mind in terms of the
awareness aspect of mind.
Thap lam, the path of means or method, includes all tantric
practices employing visualization, mantras, mandalas, yogas such as the Six Dharmas ofNaropa or the Six Dharmas ofNiguma, etc. These practices relate to mind in terms of the energy aspect of mind. By properly integrating the distorted karmic energies ofone's mind, one brings about the same enlightened awareness that is reached as the fruition of the formless meditation approach of the path of liberation. The virtue of the path of liberation is that it tends to be smoother, while the path ofmeans is that it tends to be faster; therefore, they make a good complement to each other.
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Neither path can be practiced properly- and in the case of the path ofmeans it would be dangerous to do so -without the guidance of a qualified tantric master. - Lama Tashi Namgyal
6. These four thoughts also called the four ordinary foundations are more fully explained in Thrangu Rinpoche's The Four Foundations ofBuddhist Practice. Namo Buddha Publications.
7. All meditation can be divided into the two categories of tranquillity meditation (Shamatha) and insight meditation (Vipashyana). Vipashyana in turn can be divided into the Vipashyana of the sutra tradition and the Vipashyana of the Mahamudra tradition. In the sutra tradition there is analytical Vipashyana and placement meditation. In the Mahamudra or tantric tradition, Vipashyana is based on the direct pointing out of the nature of mind and the nature of things by a fully qualified and experienced holder of the
Mahamudra lineage. - Lama Tashi Namgyal
8. One of the greatest lamas of the nineteenth century (1820 - 1892)
and one of the most important tertons. He was considered to be a body emanation ofJigme Lingpa. He was heavily involved in the development of the non-sectarian Rime-movement. The goal of which was for the practitioner to attain complete mastery of the teachings ofall the lineages, so as to then be able to give each ofhis students the precise teaching to fit their individual needs.
9. Gampopa had previously been a great bodhisattva and at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha had taken rebirth as a monk. At that time Lord Shakyamuni in the King ofSamadhi Sutra prophesied that Gampopa would again take rebirth in a distant land as a monk namedTzodzad. The nameTzodzad indicated that the monk would be a doctor, so this prophecy can be seen to point to the case of
Gampopa, who was born in Tibet, became a doctor, and later took monastic ordination at a Kadampa monastery. This prophecy of the Buddha is more fully described in Thrangu Rinpoche's The King ofSamadhi which is one of the few sutras which directly discusses Mahamudra meditation. - Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
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10. The lineage from Dorje Chang to Gampopa is referred to as the "general" Kagyu lineage, because it is the source of all Kagyu traditions. Dusum Khyenpa, founded the Kamtzang Karma Kagyu tradition. Tsultrim Nyingpo received the lineage of Gampopa's monastery, Daglha Gompa, and founded the tradition known as the Tshelpa Kagyu through his disciple Tsondru Trakpa. Baram Dharma Wangchuk travelled north to Baram, settled there his tradition became known as the Baram Kagyupa. Khampa Dorgyal, the most expansive teacher of the group, also went north, found a place called Phagmodru in the forest of Samantabhadra, and built
a monastery there. He became known as Phagmo Drupa, named from the place where he built his monastery. His tradition became known as the Phagmodru Kagyupa.
The Kamtzang, Tshelpa, Baram, and Phagmodru subsects are called the four "primary traditions" of the Kagyu because they originated from the four main disciples ofGampopa.
Phagmo Drupa, from the vastness ofthe teachings he had collected, gave different instructions to various and numerous disciples, and
in doing so gave rise to eight different traditions. These are the Drigung, Taklung, Yabzang, Shugseb, Marpa, Yelpa, Throphupa and the Drukpa Kagyu sects, which are collectively known as the eight "secondary lineages. " From all of these lineages came a large number of siddhas and incarnated lamas.
Due primarily to the efforts of their early teachers, of the eight "secondary traditions," three became especially prominent: Drigung Kyobpa Jigten Gonpo's Drigung lineage; Taklung Thangpa Trashi Pal's Taklungpa lineage; and the Drukpa Kagyupa lineage, which took its name from the Namdruk Gon Monastery founded by Tsangpa Gyarepa, a disciple of Lingchen Repa, and from which came a great many siddhas. - Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
11. Garma Chang: The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1962. Pages 1-10. In Garma Chang's book thischapterisentitled TheTaleofRedRockjewelValley.
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12. Blessing is. the process by which one individual introduces some of their accumulated merit intQ another's "stream ofbeing. " The ability to bestow blessing depends on the donor's degree of spiritual attainment and on the recipient's faith. The donor is usually the root-guru, whose blessing is said to contain that of all the sources ofrefuge combined. Although future experiences are largely shaped by present actions, the root-guru's blessing can partially modify this. That is, it can create conditions favourable to the maturation ofany religious pre-dispositions our past actions may have generated,
giving us the inspiration and energy we require to begin practising. In this way, unless our acts have been extremely unwholesome, the guru's blessing can help us overcome conflicting emotions and other obstacles. Thus the guru's blessing helps us realize the Buddha- potential we all possess.
13. The word is derived from the Sanskrit acharya or a religious master. 14. The word deity is ofren used rather broadly, here it is referring to beings that are not enlightened. Local deities are beings who inhabit
specific places, although they are not visible to most humans they can be quite powerful and can cause harm or obstacles to one if they are not respected; just as we would get upset and angry if someone violated our home, we should consider and respect the home or territory of others, even if we cannot visibly see them. Therefore Buddhist practitioners often make offerings to local deities for good circumstances.
15. In the Sanskrit bodhi means "awakened" or "enlightened" and chitta means "mind," so bodhichitta means awakened mind. The generation of bodhichitta is based on the altruistic wish to bring about the welfare, and ultimately the total liberation, ofall sentient beings from all forms ofsuffering. What distinguishes bodhichitta from the ordinary compassionate aspirations to benefit others shared by all people of good will is the recognition that one cannot
ultimately fulfill these aspirations until one has attained the state of men? tal purification and liberation of Buddhahood, which is the
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source ofall positive qualities, including the omniscience that can see, individual by individual, the causes ofsuffering and the causes and path of liberation &om suffering. This understanding gives rise at some point to the initial generation ofthe aspiration to attain the state of Buddhahood in order to liberate all sentient beings &om suffering and to establish them all in states ofhappiness. This is called bodhichitta ofaspiration, which must be followed by what is called the bodhichitta of application, which is the training in loving-kindness, compassion, the six paramitas or transcendent perfections, etc. , which lead to the accomplishment ofBuddhahood. Aspiration bodhichitta and application bodhichitta are both
included in the term relative bodhichitta. Ultimate bodhichitta is direct insight into the ultimate nature. This st~te of primordial awareness is compassion and loving-kindness and gives rise spontaneously and without preconception to compassionate activity. -Lama Tashi Namgyal
16. Thisis TheSongofRealizationinGarmaChang'sHundre4Thousand Songs ofMilarepa, p. 6-7. Also in Rain ofWisdom, p. 202-204. 17. Garma Chang. The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa. Page
23-37.
18. Garma Chang. The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa. Pages
11-22.
19. Garma Chang translates this as eighteen days in The Hundred
Thousand Songs. The Tibetan is literally "eighteen days and nights" which is explained later in the song as nine daytimes and nighttimes. 20. In Tibetan medicine and meditation the body contains numerous subtle channels (Skt. nadi, Tib. tsa) which are not anatomical in
nature, but more like channels in acupuncture. There are thousands ofchannels but the three main channels are the central channel, which runs roughly along the spinal column and the left and right channels either side of this. Prana is the energy, or "wind," moving through the nadis. As is said, "Mind consciousness rides the horse of prana on the pathways of the nadis. The bindu is mind's nourishment. "
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Because of dualistic thinking, prana enters the left and right channels. This divergence ofenergy in the subtle body corresponds to the mental activity that falsely distinguishes between subject and object and leads to karmically determined activity. Through yogic practice, the pranas can be brought into the central channel and therefore transformed into wisdom-prana. Then the mind can recognize its fundamental nature, realizing all dharmas as unborn [empty].
21. Kleshas, in Sanskrit means "pain, distress, and torment. " This was translated as "afflictions" which is the closest English word to what causes distress. However, the Tibetan word for kleshas is nyon mong and these almost always refer to passion, anger, ignorance, jealousy, and pride which are actually negative or disturbing emotions so we prefer the translation negative or disturbing emotion since "afflictions" imply some kind of disability. The Great Tibetan Dictionary for example defines nyon mong as, "mental events that incite one to non-virtuous actions and cause one's being to be very
unpeaceful. "
22. Garma C. C. Chang: The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa:
"Challenge from a Wise Demoness," p. 38-57.
23. Tib. srin-mo. One of the many types of local Tibetan deities. In
translations from the Sanskrit they are equated with the Indian rakshasa demons. A Rock-Sinmo, is described in Tibetan folklore as the original female ancestor of the Tibetan race- the result of her union with a monkey. These two ancestral creatures became identified as emanations ofTara and Avalokiteshvara.
24. In Tibetan medicine madness is considered to be caused by an influx of subtle airs into the heart. The application of a golden needle is a Tibetan medical method, now very rarely used, which is analogous to Chinese acupuncture.
25. Latencies (Skt. vasana, Tib. bakchak) These latent imprints that enter the eighth (ground) consciousness come through the seventh (afflicted) consciousness. These imprints are not apparently the
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experience itself, but are described more like dormant seeds that are away from soil, water, and sunlight. These imprints are either positive, negative, or neutral depending upon whether they came from a positive, negative, or neutral thought or action. These imprints are then activated with experience and thus help create our impression ofthe solidity ofthe world. There are actually several kinds oflatencies: latencies which are associated with external sensory experiences, latencies which give rise to the dualistic belief of "I" and "other," and positive and negative latencies due to our actions which cause us to continue to revolve around and around in samsara. It should also be pointed out that different schools of Buddhism
treated these latencies differently.
26. With regard to the eight consciousnesses, the first five are called the
"consciousnesses ofthe five gates. " The gates are the five senses: eye ear, nose, tongue, and body. They are called gates because they seem to be the gates by means ofwhich your mind encounters that which is outside your body. These five consciousnesses operating through the five senses or five gates experience their objects directly. The eye consciousness actually sees shapes and colors, the ear consciousness actually detects or experiences sounds, and so on. It is direct experience, thefefore these consciousnesses are non- conceptual and do not generate any thoughts about the characteristics of what they experience; they do not conceptually
recognize the things that they perceive or experience.
That which thinks about what is experienced by the five senses and which conceptually recognizes them as such and such, and conceives of them as good and bad, in short that which thinks period, is the sixth consciousness, the mental consciousness. The
mental consciousness does not work with or appear on the basis of a specific sense organ like the other five. It inhabits the body in a general way and it is that which thinks. The fundamental distinction between it and the others is that the five sense consciousnesses, since they engage only in the direct experience of their objects, can
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only experience the present. For example, the eye consciousness only sees what is there now. It does not see what was there in the past. It does not see what will be there in the future. This is also true of the ear consciousness and so on. Not only can they not think about the past or the future, they do not even conceptualise or think about the present.
The sixth consciousness on the other hand can and does think aboutthings. The sixth consciousness thinks of the past, both the distant and recent past. But while it is capable ofthinking it is not capable of directly experiencing things the way that the sense consciousnesses do. It generates a generality or abstraction on the basis of the things that are experienced by the five sense consciousnesses. This means that when the five sense consciousnesses experience something, it becomes an object ofthought for the sixth consciousness, not in the form ofwhat is actually experienced but
in the form. ofa conceptual generality or generalization or abstraction that is created by the sixth consciousness as a duplicate or replica of what was experienced by that particular sense consciousness. For example, when I look at the glass that is on the table in front ofme, my eyes directly see that glass, but my sixth consciousness, my mental consciousness does not directly see it. It generates a generality or abstraction based upon what my eyes have seen, that it recognizes, that it thinks about, thinks of as good or bad, or having such and such shape and so on.
Those six consciousnesses are relatively easy to detect or observe because they are vivid in their manifestation or function. The other two consciousnesses are less easy to observe. For one thing the six consciousnesses start and stop in their operation. They are generated by certain conditions and when those conditions are no longer present they temporarily stop functioning. Therefore the six consciousnesses are called "inconstant" consciousnesses. They are not constantly there. They are generated as they arise. The other two consciousnesses are called "constant" consciousnesses. Not only
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are they constant, which means that they are always operating, but they are also much less observable.
The seventh consciousness is called the "afflicted consciousness. " This refers to the subtle or most basic level ofmental affliction or klesha. ? Specifically, the afflicted consciousness is the most subtle level offixation on a selfthat is unfluctuatingly present even when one is asleep. When sometimes you have a sense of self and you think "! ," that is not an operation of the seventh consciousness. That is the sixth consciousness thinking. The seventh consciousness
is present until you attain the first bodhisattva level and so on. Although it is not directly observable itself, it is the basis for all coarse fixation on a selfand therefore for all coarse kleshas.
The eighth consciousness is called the "alaya vijnana'' or "ground consciousness. " It is called the ground because it is the basis for the arising of all other types of consciousness. It is that fundamental clarity of consciousness or cognitive lucidity of consciousness that has been there from the beginning. Being the capacity for conscious experience it is the ground for the arising ofeye consciousness, ear consciousness, etc. It is, like the seventh, constantly present, constantly operating, and it persists until the attainment of final awakening or Buddhahood.
Along with the eight consciousnesses there is something else that is often mentioned. This is called the "immediate mind. " The immediate mind is not a separate consciousness. It is the function of the impure mind that links the operations of one consciousness to another. It is that impulse or force of habit that causes the six consciousnesses to arise from the ground of the all basis and the afflicted consciousness. It is that which causes the mental consciousness to arise on the basis ofa sense perception and so on. It is an identifiable function ofthe impure mind, but is not in itself a separate consciousness, therefore there are only eight types of impure consciousness. It is not considered to be a ninth.
Marpa Lotsawa told me, "This is the age of degeneration; life is short and uncertain. There are many causes ofdeath, therefore do not make the error in believing the instructions are the mere acquisition of knowledge because practice is their essence. " Due to the kindness of the guru, that has been my view. I meditated upon the fear of death; I meditated with diligence in caves; my meditation transformed my
thoughts and wrong views into merit.
The three poisons ofanger, desire, and ignorance
appear"to be the powerful causes ofthe accumulation of negative karma. But when their essence is seen to be emptiness, those poisons are recognized to be the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya.
The blessings, experiences and realizations of Naropa and Maitripa are transmitted through the
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lineage to the worthy pupil. I shall give their profound instructions to you. Practice them correctly, and spread the Buddha's teachings for the benefit of beings.
I have no need for the gold you have offered me. Gold does not agree with this old man. If you want to practice the dharma properly, observe my conduct and my practice, and do as I do.
The monk who had come with Gampopa came to receive a blessing from Milarepa. Milarepa asked the monk to offer him everything that he had in order to receive a blessing. The monk said that he didn't have anything to give. But Milarepa said, "You have a lot of gold concealed about your body, so your statement that you don't have anything is truly wonderful. If you have no faith you are incapable of receiving a blessing. If you have no faith, the instructions that you receive will not benefit you. Your inner thoughts are of going to Nepal to do business, so that is the best thing for you to do. I will pray that you meet no obstacles. "
Gampopa thought, "This lama knows what people think. It is impossible to deceive him. I will have good control over my mind and think carefully before I ask him anything. He truly is a Buddha. "
Milarepa asked Gampopa, "Have you received any empowerments? What instructions have you been given? What practices have you done? " Gampopa answered Milarepa's questions and described his success in meditation, but Milarepa just laughed and said, "You can't get oil by grinding sand, you have to use mustard seeds. These empowerments you have received are useless for seeing the true nature of your mind. If you meditate on my tummo instructions you will see the true nature of your mind. "
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Milarepa then gave Gampopa the Vajravarahi empowerment, using a sindhura62 mandala. Then he gave Gampopa the instructions and Gampopa put them into practice.
Gampopa had good experiences and realizations, and had many thoughts on view, meditation, and conduct. He asked Milarepa to explain them, and in answer, Milarepa sang a spiritual song describing the view, meditation, conduct, commitment and result, in terms of the true nature as the basis of the path:
The ultimate view is to look at your own mind.
What does Milarepa mean by that line? If one has never practiced that may seem a simple thing to do, but this is the ultimate view in Vajrayana practice. The sutra tradition teaches emptiness and selflessness which are to be understood through analysis by searching vainly for the self from the crown of the head to one's toenails. Deduction brings conviction that the body
and all phenomena have no reality. This is the understanding of emptiness. Meditation upon this conviction will then lead to the ultimate goal. The sutra path is therefore called "the path of deduction. " The Vajrayana, however, does not use deduction, but uses the direct perception of emptiness, of the true nature of phenomena. So it is called "the path of direct experience. "
The true nature cannot be seen directly in outer phenomena, but, by looking into one's own mind and seeing that the mind cannot be found. 63 The mind is the embodiment of emptiness, the essence of emptiness, but throughout beginningless time we have never looked at our own mind. The emptiness ofthe mind is notavacuitybutaclarity. 64 Itisamistaketotryandfindemptiness other than in the mind.
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To illustrate this there is a story of a man who had a jewel iqset into his forehead. Whenever he was tired the skin on his head sagged. One day when he was very exhausted and the skin sagged and covered the jewel completely. The man felt his forehead and thought he had lost the jewel, and ran around anxiously trying to find it, only becoming more tired in the process, so that the jewel was more deeply hidden.
In the same way, Milarepa says, "to search for the true nature anywhere other than our own mind, is like a blind monster looking for gold. "
Milarepa then described meditation to Gampopa in a single line ofsong:
The ultimate practice is not to consider lethargy and excitability as faults.
A beginner of meditation, of course, does need to work on eliminating lethargy and excitability in meditation, but the nature of lethargy and excitability is the nature of the mind and this nature never changes. If you see these two qualities of mind as obstacles or faults, you will not be able to see the essence of the . mind. Therefore you should not attempt to eliminate them, which
would as Milarepa says "be as pointless as lighting a candle in the daylight. " Next, Milarepa described conduct:
The ultimate action is to cease to accept and reject.
The usual Buddhist practice is to accept what is positive and to reject what is 'negative. In terms of the true nature there should be no adoption ofgood actions or abandonment ofnegative actions.
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Whatever arises in the mind has the ultimate nature of the clarity and emptiness ofthe mind, so we should not think, "this is good and has to be cultivated or this is bad and has to be rejected. " Ifwe attempt to adopt and reject, we will be like a fly struggling in a cobweb, which only binds itself tighter the more it does.
Next Milarepa describes commitment:
The ultimate discipline is to rest in the ultimate view.
Discipline is usually made by promising to keep all our commitments and vows. But remaining in the realization of the true nature of our mind is truly keeping the commitment. If we strive to maintain a commitment that is other than the mind, we will always fail. It is just as Milarepa says, "we can't stop water's natural propensity to flow downward. " Next Milarepa describes the accomplishment or result of our practice:
The ultimate accomplishment is full conviction in one's mind.
The ultimate result is the true nature ofthe mind manifest. If one seeks a result that does not already exist, that would be like as Milarepa says, "a frog jumping up into the sky," which is inevitably going to fall back onto the ground. The result can only be found in the mind itsel?
The Buddha's wisdom is described as "the sudden result" even in the sutra tradition, because the wisdom spontaneously appears as soon as the defilements are eliminated without having to be created. In the Vajrayana tradition, the result is described as the manifestation of the true nature of one's mind. This nature is
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primordially present, but unrecognized, within all beings. Once the nature ofthe mind is recognized, the ultimate result is attained.
In the next verse Milarepa describes the guru: The ultimate guru is one's mind.
On the relative level one has a root guru whose instructions one follows. On the ultimate level the guru is one's mind. If one can look at and question one's own mind, the instructions of the ultimate guru will be received. If one seeks a guru that is other than the mind, it is as Milarepa says, "trying to leave one's mind" which is impossible. All appearances are nothing other than one's
mind, so there is no gr1=ater guru than the true nature ofthe mind. On hearing this song, Gampopa felt great faith. He then meditated with diligence practicing the tummo meditation. On the first night, his body filled with warmth and bliss. At dawn he fell asleep briefly and when he woke up his body was cold as stone. After seven days of meditation he had a vision of the five
Buddhas of the five Buddha families. He thought this was very important and told Milarepa. Milarepa said, "If you press your eyes you see an illusion of there being two moons. In the same way, the particular movement of airs in your body caused your experience, which was neither good nor bad. Just carry on with your meditation.
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? 11
Victory over the Four Maras
g will conclude this introduction to the songs of Milarepa with this sixtieth chapter65 that describes victory over the maras. This is very auspicious from the Tibetan point of
view. The Buddha taught that there were four maras: the divine mara (Skt. devaputra-mara), the disturbing emotion mara (Skt. klesha-mara), the aggregate mara (Skt. skandha-mara), and the death mara (Skt. matyupati-mara). They cause obstacles, bring suffering, and prevent the attainment of liberation.
The "divine mara'' is traditionally portrayed as a beautiful and attractive being. This mara represents the attachment to the sensory pleasures of samsara, which seems very beautiful at the time, but from the ultimate point of view, these attachments lead people astray and create an obstacle to liberation and omniscience. Therefore it is called the "divine mara. "
The "mara ofdefilement," or the disturbing emotion mara, is the attachment to a self, which leads to the defilements of ignorance, anger, and desire. They appear within our mind and cause the accumulation ofnegative karma, which results in future suffering. This mara is traditionally portrayed as an old, weak Brahmin who doesn't have long to live because it is a delusion,
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without any solid basis, and therefore easy to eliminate. As soon as the truth is realized, delusion ceases to exist.
The "mara of the five aggregates" is next. When there are the aggregates or skandhas (form, sensation, recognition, mental events and consciousnesses), there is samsara. Until the true nature of these aggregates is realized, there is suffering. This mara is traditionally portrayed as a physically powerful being, because the skandhas are an actual presence, and their true nature is more difficult to realize than that of the defilements.
The "mara who is the Lord of Death" is death itsel? At death we must leave all the activities ofour life, and we feel afraid. Death will be a cause of suffering for as long as we remain in samsara. This mara is traditionally portrayed as black and terrifying, because it is brings impermanence and fear.
The way to eliminate these four maras is to practice the dharma and to realize the true nature ofphenomena.
In this chapter Milarepa sings of his own victory over the maras, beginning with a song that describes the need to escape from samsara. Later it is told that Milarepa was blown over a precipice by a wind and was seen to be impaled upon a tree. His students were mortified until Milarepa showed them his body to be unharmed, without any wound at all. He then sang them a song:
The wind made me fall, and an inanimate tree harmed my body causing me unendurable agony. However, the dakinis healed me so that I was healed from all injury.
Another time, Milarepa's students were with him on top of a very high rock when he fell of? They thought he must have died and passed into nirvana and went down to recover his body. But
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when they reached the bottom, Milarepa was still alive and laughed at them. When they asked him what had happened, Milarepa replied with a song:
The vulture of union spreads its wings. When the vulture ofthe union ofemptiness and clarity spreads its wings, it does not fly using only one ofthem. When we meditate, the wisdom of the emptiness of
phenomena alone is not enough, and the wisdom of clarity alone is not enough to cause the realization of the true nature of phenomena.
The essence of clarity is emptiness. Emptiness, the unreality ofphenomena, is not a voidness but has clarity. This is "the union ofspace and wisdom. " The realization of this union will enable us to reach liberation from samsara.
This is what Milarepa meant by "the vulture ofunion spreading
Its wmgs.
The flight was from the peak of Tramar,66 The landing was in the ravine below. I played a joke upon my followers.
Milarepa, through a miracle, flew from the top ofTramar and then landed on the ground below. Then he explained:
There was a purpose to the joke: The wings of the union of wisdom and emptiness realized the true nature so that there is freedom from the obscurations caused by the defilements and the obscurations to
. . ,
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knowledge. 67 Then liberation from both samsara and nirvana is demonstrated. Then there is the peace of emptiness united with perfect bliss.
Another time, Milarepa and his disciples were at the foot ofa rocky cliff. One of his disciples said to him, "You shouldn't stay here, it's too dangerous. " But he did and a little later there was a rockslide. Milarepa stared and pointed at the falling rocks and they immediately scattered into different directions, without harming him. His students returned certain that Milarepa had been injured. When they arrived, he sang them a song:
This yogin's body is like a flower. The avalanche of rocks was like a murderer wanting to kill a flower. A dakini appeared on my right and left so that the rocks did not fall upon me. I am not afraid of the maras, they could never cause an obstacle to me.
The students asked, "You have been in an avalanche, fallen off a precipice, and been impaled upon a tree, without being harmed. How is this possible? "
Milarepa answered, "My realization of the true nature of phenomena has made my body as insubstantial as a rainbow and it has transformed my defilements into wisdoms. My certain knowledge that all phenomena are unborn has blown away the eight worldly dharmas. 68 This is a sign that the four maras are ashamed, have lost their confidence and are powerless.
His pupils then asked, "Does this mean that you have conquered the four maras? " And Milarepa replied, "Yes, there has been victory over the maras. For the next thirteen successions
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of my lineage, the maras will not be able to cause any obstacles to its practitioners. "
A tantrika student arrived from central Tibet, and Sebenrepa
a$ked him what siddhas were in that region. The tantrika replied,
"There are many siddhas there, and they are served by non-
hb. " uman emgs.
Milarepa said, "That doesn't make anyone a siddha. " Sebenrepa then asked Milarepa, "Do non-human beings serve you? " Milarepa replied that they did and sang a song:
The food of samadhi that is served to me is inexhaustible, like the treasury of space. I am free of thoughts and feelings of hunger and thirst. This is a service rendered to me by dakinis, but I do not think of it as a siddhi. It is only an experience within meditation, not the ultimate siddhi69 of realizing the
true nature of phenomena.
The tantrika said that there were masters in the central region that had seen the face of the yidam. But Milarepa said, "Just seeing the yidam's face is of no benefit. " Then he sang:
Due to my meditation on the instructions I have received from Marpa Lotsawa, I have seen the nature ofthe mind. This dispelled the darkness ofignorance from my mind. All the dakinis revealed their faces to me, but there are no faces in the true nature, which contains no objects of perception.
I have seen the yidam's face, but only the root guru's teachings are important. I have attained the
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general siddhis but the realization of the true nature transcends them.
The tantrika then asked, "Can you give me an example of what you mean by 'seeing, the nature of the mind'? " In answer Milarepa sang a song:
The mind has no true reality and is therefore unborn and unceasing. In every instant the mind gives birth to thoughts. But if you see the nature of the mind, you know that it has no reality, and has never been born. You cannot find the mind's location and so it is
unborn.
There is no example that can be given to depict
the unborn mind, because nothing resembles it. It has no birth or cessation. Only what is born comes to an end. When you realize the nature ofthe mind you know that nothing can serve as an example for it, except for the mind itself Then the example and the meaning will be the same.
You can't describe the nature of the mind in the way that you can describe an outer object as white or red. You can't say that the nature ofthe mind exists or that it doesn't exist. The mind is inconceivable, beyond deduction, beyond the scope of speech, but due to
the blessing of the root guru and the lineage gurus, you can see it for yourself.
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1. See L. P. Lhalungpa The Life ofMilarepa.
Published by Shambhala Publications, 1985.
2. For more information on Tsang Nyon Heruka see The Life ofMarpa the Translator. Boston: Shambhala, 1986 pages xx-xxiv.
3. Tib. dbus. This is the region of central Tibet that had Lhasa as its capital.
4. This is the region of central Tibet that had Gyantse as its capital.
5. In the Vajrayana, there are two paths- drollam and thap lam- that are generally followed simultaneously or alternately by the practitioner. Drollam, the path ofliberation, is what sometimes we refer to as formless meditation and includes Mahamudra. In this approach to meditation one relates to the mind in terms of the
awareness aspect of mind.
Thap lam, the path of means or method, includes all tantric
practices employing visualization, mantras, mandalas, yogas such as the Six Dharmas ofNaropa or the Six Dharmas ofNiguma, etc. These practices relate to mind in terms of the energy aspect of mind. By properly integrating the distorted karmic energies ofone's mind, one brings about the same enlightened awareness that is reached as the fruition of the formless meditation approach of the path of liberation. The virtue of the path of liberation is that it tends to be smoother, while the path ofmeans is that it tends to be faster; therefore, they make a good complement to each other.
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Neither path can be practiced properly- and in the case of the path ofmeans it would be dangerous to do so -without the guidance of a qualified tantric master. - Lama Tashi Namgyal
6. These four thoughts also called the four ordinary foundations are more fully explained in Thrangu Rinpoche's The Four Foundations ofBuddhist Practice. Namo Buddha Publications.
7. All meditation can be divided into the two categories of tranquillity meditation (Shamatha) and insight meditation (Vipashyana). Vipashyana in turn can be divided into the Vipashyana of the sutra tradition and the Vipashyana of the Mahamudra tradition. In the sutra tradition there is analytical Vipashyana and placement meditation. In the Mahamudra or tantric tradition, Vipashyana is based on the direct pointing out of the nature of mind and the nature of things by a fully qualified and experienced holder of the
Mahamudra lineage. - Lama Tashi Namgyal
8. One of the greatest lamas of the nineteenth century (1820 - 1892)
and one of the most important tertons. He was considered to be a body emanation ofJigme Lingpa. He was heavily involved in the development of the non-sectarian Rime-movement. The goal of which was for the practitioner to attain complete mastery of the teachings ofall the lineages, so as to then be able to give each ofhis students the precise teaching to fit their individual needs.
9. Gampopa had previously been a great bodhisattva and at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha had taken rebirth as a monk. At that time Lord Shakyamuni in the King ofSamadhi Sutra prophesied that Gampopa would again take rebirth in a distant land as a monk namedTzodzad. The nameTzodzad indicated that the monk would be a doctor, so this prophecy can be seen to point to the case of
Gampopa, who was born in Tibet, became a doctor, and later took monastic ordination at a Kadampa monastery. This prophecy of the Buddha is more fully described in Thrangu Rinpoche's The King ofSamadhi which is one of the few sutras which directly discusses Mahamudra meditation. - Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
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10. The lineage from Dorje Chang to Gampopa is referred to as the "general" Kagyu lineage, because it is the source of all Kagyu traditions. Dusum Khyenpa, founded the Kamtzang Karma Kagyu tradition. Tsultrim Nyingpo received the lineage of Gampopa's monastery, Daglha Gompa, and founded the tradition known as the Tshelpa Kagyu through his disciple Tsondru Trakpa. Baram Dharma Wangchuk travelled north to Baram, settled there his tradition became known as the Baram Kagyupa. Khampa Dorgyal, the most expansive teacher of the group, also went north, found a place called Phagmodru in the forest of Samantabhadra, and built
a monastery there. He became known as Phagmo Drupa, named from the place where he built his monastery. His tradition became known as the Phagmodru Kagyupa.
The Kamtzang, Tshelpa, Baram, and Phagmodru subsects are called the four "primary traditions" of the Kagyu because they originated from the four main disciples ofGampopa.
Phagmo Drupa, from the vastness ofthe teachings he had collected, gave different instructions to various and numerous disciples, and
in doing so gave rise to eight different traditions. These are the Drigung, Taklung, Yabzang, Shugseb, Marpa, Yelpa, Throphupa and the Drukpa Kagyu sects, which are collectively known as the eight "secondary lineages. " From all of these lineages came a large number of siddhas and incarnated lamas.
Due primarily to the efforts of their early teachers, of the eight "secondary traditions," three became especially prominent: Drigung Kyobpa Jigten Gonpo's Drigung lineage; Taklung Thangpa Trashi Pal's Taklungpa lineage; and the Drukpa Kagyupa lineage, which took its name from the Namdruk Gon Monastery founded by Tsangpa Gyarepa, a disciple of Lingchen Repa, and from which came a great many siddhas. - Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
11. Garma Chang: The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1962. Pages 1-10. In Garma Chang's book thischapterisentitled TheTaleofRedRockjewelValley.
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12. Blessing is. the process by which one individual introduces some of their accumulated merit intQ another's "stream ofbeing. " The ability to bestow blessing depends on the donor's degree of spiritual attainment and on the recipient's faith. The donor is usually the root-guru, whose blessing is said to contain that of all the sources ofrefuge combined. Although future experiences are largely shaped by present actions, the root-guru's blessing can partially modify this. That is, it can create conditions favourable to the maturation ofany religious pre-dispositions our past actions may have generated,
giving us the inspiration and energy we require to begin practising. In this way, unless our acts have been extremely unwholesome, the guru's blessing can help us overcome conflicting emotions and other obstacles. Thus the guru's blessing helps us realize the Buddha- potential we all possess.
13. The word is derived from the Sanskrit acharya or a religious master. 14. The word deity is ofren used rather broadly, here it is referring to beings that are not enlightened. Local deities are beings who inhabit
specific places, although they are not visible to most humans they can be quite powerful and can cause harm or obstacles to one if they are not respected; just as we would get upset and angry if someone violated our home, we should consider and respect the home or territory of others, even if we cannot visibly see them. Therefore Buddhist practitioners often make offerings to local deities for good circumstances.
15. In the Sanskrit bodhi means "awakened" or "enlightened" and chitta means "mind," so bodhichitta means awakened mind. The generation of bodhichitta is based on the altruistic wish to bring about the welfare, and ultimately the total liberation, ofall sentient beings from all forms ofsuffering. What distinguishes bodhichitta from the ordinary compassionate aspirations to benefit others shared by all people of good will is the recognition that one cannot
ultimately fulfill these aspirations until one has attained the state of men? tal purification and liberation of Buddhahood, which is the
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source ofall positive qualities, including the omniscience that can see, individual by individual, the causes ofsuffering and the causes and path of liberation &om suffering. This understanding gives rise at some point to the initial generation ofthe aspiration to attain the state of Buddhahood in order to liberate all sentient beings &om suffering and to establish them all in states ofhappiness. This is called bodhichitta ofaspiration, which must be followed by what is called the bodhichitta of application, which is the training in loving-kindness, compassion, the six paramitas or transcendent perfections, etc. , which lead to the accomplishment ofBuddhahood. Aspiration bodhichitta and application bodhichitta are both
included in the term relative bodhichitta. Ultimate bodhichitta is direct insight into the ultimate nature. This st~te of primordial awareness is compassion and loving-kindness and gives rise spontaneously and without preconception to compassionate activity. -Lama Tashi Namgyal
16. Thisis TheSongofRealizationinGarmaChang'sHundre4Thousand Songs ofMilarepa, p. 6-7. Also in Rain ofWisdom, p. 202-204. 17. Garma Chang. The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa. Page
23-37.
18. Garma Chang. The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa. Pages
11-22.
19. Garma Chang translates this as eighteen days in The Hundred
Thousand Songs. The Tibetan is literally "eighteen days and nights" which is explained later in the song as nine daytimes and nighttimes. 20. In Tibetan medicine and meditation the body contains numerous subtle channels (Skt. nadi, Tib. tsa) which are not anatomical in
nature, but more like channels in acupuncture. There are thousands ofchannels but the three main channels are the central channel, which runs roughly along the spinal column and the left and right channels either side of this. Prana is the energy, or "wind," moving through the nadis. As is said, "Mind consciousness rides the horse of prana on the pathways of the nadis. The bindu is mind's nourishment. "
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Because of dualistic thinking, prana enters the left and right channels. This divergence ofenergy in the subtle body corresponds to the mental activity that falsely distinguishes between subject and object and leads to karmically determined activity. Through yogic practice, the pranas can be brought into the central channel and therefore transformed into wisdom-prana. Then the mind can recognize its fundamental nature, realizing all dharmas as unborn [empty].
21. Kleshas, in Sanskrit means "pain, distress, and torment. " This was translated as "afflictions" which is the closest English word to what causes distress. However, the Tibetan word for kleshas is nyon mong and these almost always refer to passion, anger, ignorance, jealousy, and pride which are actually negative or disturbing emotions so we prefer the translation negative or disturbing emotion since "afflictions" imply some kind of disability. The Great Tibetan Dictionary for example defines nyon mong as, "mental events that incite one to non-virtuous actions and cause one's being to be very
unpeaceful. "
22. Garma C. C. Chang: The Hundred Thousand Songs ofMilarepa:
"Challenge from a Wise Demoness," p. 38-57.
23. Tib. srin-mo. One of the many types of local Tibetan deities. In
translations from the Sanskrit they are equated with the Indian rakshasa demons. A Rock-Sinmo, is described in Tibetan folklore as the original female ancestor of the Tibetan race- the result of her union with a monkey. These two ancestral creatures became identified as emanations ofTara and Avalokiteshvara.
24. In Tibetan medicine madness is considered to be caused by an influx of subtle airs into the heart. The application of a golden needle is a Tibetan medical method, now very rarely used, which is analogous to Chinese acupuncture.
25. Latencies (Skt. vasana, Tib. bakchak) These latent imprints that enter the eighth (ground) consciousness come through the seventh (afflicted) consciousness. These imprints are not apparently the
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experience itself, but are described more like dormant seeds that are away from soil, water, and sunlight. These imprints are either positive, negative, or neutral depending upon whether they came from a positive, negative, or neutral thought or action. These imprints are then activated with experience and thus help create our impression ofthe solidity ofthe world. There are actually several kinds oflatencies: latencies which are associated with external sensory experiences, latencies which give rise to the dualistic belief of "I" and "other," and positive and negative latencies due to our actions which cause us to continue to revolve around and around in samsara. It should also be pointed out that different schools of Buddhism
treated these latencies differently.
26. With regard to the eight consciousnesses, the first five are called the
"consciousnesses ofthe five gates. " The gates are the five senses: eye ear, nose, tongue, and body. They are called gates because they seem to be the gates by means ofwhich your mind encounters that which is outside your body. These five consciousnesses operating through the five senses or five gates experience their objects directly. The eye consciousness actually sees shapes and colors, the ear consciousness actually detects or experiences sounds, and so on. It is direct experience, thefefore these consciousnesses are non- conceptual and do not generate any thoughts about the characteristics of what they experience; they do not conceptually
recognize the things that they perceive or experience.
That which thinks about what is experienced by the five senses and which conceptually recognizes them as such and such, and conceives of them as good and bad, in short that which thinks period, is the sixth consciousness, the mental consciousness. The
mental consciousness does not work with or appear on the basis of a specific sense organ like the other five. It inhabits the body in a general way and it is that which thinks. The fundamental distinction between it and the others is that the five sense consciousnesses, since they engage only in the direct experience of their objects, can
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only experience the present. For example, the eye consciousness only sees what is there now. It does not see what was there in the past. It does not see what will be there in the future. This is also true of the ear consciousness and so on. Not only can they not think about the past or the future, they do not even conceptualise or think about the present.
The sixth consciousness on the other hand can and does think aboutthings. The sixth consciousness thinks of the past, both the distant and recent past. But while it is capable ofthinking it is not capable of directly experiencing things the way that the sense consciousnesses do. It generates a generality or abstraction on the basis of the things that are experienced by the five sense consciousnesses. This means that when the five sense consciousnesses experience something, it becomes an object ofthought for the sixth consciousness, not in the form ofwhat is actually experienced but
in the form. ofa conceptual generality or generalization or abstraction that is created by the sixth consciousness as a duplicate or replica of what was experienced by that particular sense consciousness. For example, when I look at the glass that is on the table in front ofme, my eyes directly see that glass, but my sixth consciousness, my mental consciousness does not directly see it. It generates a generality or abstraction based upon what my eyes have seen, that it recognizes, that it thinks about, thinks of as good or bad, or having such and such shape and so on.
Those six consciousnesses are relatively easy to detect or observe because they are vivid in their manifestation or function. The other two consciousnesses are less easy to observe. For one thing the six consciousnesses start and stop in their operation. They are generated by certain conditions and when those conditions are no longer present they temporarily stop functioning. Therefore the six consciousnesses are called "inconstant" consciousnesses. They are not constantly there. They are generated as they arise. The other two consciousnesses are called "constant" consciousnesses. Not only
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are they constant, which means that they are always operating, but they are also much less observable.
The seventh consciousness is called the "afflicted consciousness. " This refers to the subtle or most basic level ofmental affliction or klesha. ? Specifically, the afflicted consciousness is the most subtle level offixation on a selfthat is unfluctuatingly present even when one is asleep. When sometimes you have a sense of self and you think "! ," that is not an operation of the seventh consciousness. That is the sixth consciousness thinking. The seventh consciousness
is present until you attain the first bodhisattva level and so on. Although it is not directly observable itself, it is the basis for all coarse fixation on a selfand therefore for all coarse kleshas.
The eighth consciousness is called the "alaya vijnana'' or "ground consciousness. " It is called the ground because it is the basis for the arising of all other types of consciousness. It is that fundamental clarity of consciousness or cognitive lucidity of consciousness that has been there from the beginning. Being the capacity for conscious experience it is the ground for the arising ofeye consciousness, ear consciousness, etc. It is, like the seventh, constantly present, constantly operating, and it persists until the attainment of final awakening or Buddhahood.
Along with the eight consciousnesses there is something else that is often mentioned. This is called the "immediate mind. " The immediate mind is not a separate consciousness. It is the function of the impure mind that links the operations of one consciousness to another. It is that impulse or force of habit that causes the six consciousnesses to arise from the ground of the all basis and the afflicted consciousness. It is that which causes the mental consciousness to arise on the basis ofa sense perception and so on. It is an identifiable function ofthe impure mind, but is not in itself a separate consciousness, therefore there are only eight types of impure consciousness. It is not considered to be a ninth.
