The Practice of Mahamudra

by Kalu Rinpoche

PRELIMINARIES BEFORE A SESSION 

Practice is simplified if the body is arranged in certain  favourable ways. The first is to sit relaxed with the spine straight. Then, after taking refuge and generating the bodhicitta motivation, each session begins with guru yoga, the yoga of the lama, since the success of practice is linked with receiving blessings. Simply put, we visualise in the space in front of us our root lama in the aspect of Buddha Vajradhara, clear and transparent, with all his characteristics and attributes. He is really present, with his love, compassion, realisation, and all enlightened qualities. In essence, he is all the aspects of outer, inner, secret, and suchness refuges. His mind, speech, and body are, respectively, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; yidam, dharma protector, and lama; dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya. In this presence, we recite a prayer that both expresses and fuels our devotion and aspiration. With intense faith, we think and repeat, "For the benefit of all beings, please inspire me to realise mahamudra as quickly as possible."

The lama then dissolves into light, which absorbs into us. We thereby receive all his blessings, contemplating that his body, speech, and mind and our own body, speech, and mind become inseparable. We remain absorbed in this state of union for a few moments ....

THE MIND OF IMMEDIACY

In itself, the practice of mahamudra is extremely simple and easy. There are no visualisations or complicated exercises. There is nothing to do. It is enough just to leave the mind in its natural state, as it is, as it comes, without contrivance.  It is extremely simple. In the tradition of mahamudra reliquary, it is said that mahamudra is

Too close to be recognised,

Too deep to grasp,

Too easy to believe,

Too amazing to be understood intellectually.

Those are the four obstacles that prevent its recognition. Gampopa said:

Still water is clear;

Mind free of strain is happy.

Just as this verse shows, we leave the mind free and relaxed, completely loose, without forcing it in any way. Then, a state of well-being will arise; when mind is not forced, it is naturally peaceful and clear. In this state, the mind does not fix on any outer or inner reference point; instead, it remains free of all fixation, but not controlled.

Nor is there any determination of mind as empty, lucid, or anything else, not even any observation, because to regard the mind as anything, even as empty, would be yet another dualistic perception which would take mind, emptiness, or lucidity as reference points.

But the point is not to stop seeing, because vigilant attention and clarity should not be interrupted. It is necessary to maintain clear seeing. Seeing requires no special effort when there is light; similarly, clear mind does not scatter or sink into darkness or cloudiness. The mind remains translucent, transparent, lucid, detached. Just as the sky is clear and open, so is the mind left as it is in its natural state.

Meditate, leaving the mind in a state of total presence, without looking at the past or projecting to the future; without thinking, "I did this or that, I will do this or that"; let mind just be vigilant, quite simply, without forcing it, without changing anything, within spontaneous nowness, or the mind of immediacy. 

If the mind actually remains like this "as it comes from itself, as it is in itself," this is what we call natural mind, rangbab in Tibetan. This is also what we call ordinary mind - thamel gyi shepa in Tibetan, or "mind of immediacy," datarwai shepa. When realised, this is the mind of mahamudra.

THE THREE KEY POINTS

The practice of mahamudra can be broken down into three essential points: absence of contrivance, absence of distraction, and absence of meditation.

First, the absence of contrivance or constraint: we leave the mind as is, without altering it through any intervention or contrivance whatsoever. We do not try to produce anything or improve on our present state of mind.

Next, the absence of distractions: The first type of distraction occurs when the mind is distracted from the natural ordinary mind (rangbab, thamel gyi shepa) by starting to grasp at a form, sound, thought, or anything else. Absence of distraction means absence of fixation. A second type of distraction arises when the mind loses its vigilance, its lucid clarity. Third is the absence of meditation, which means that there is no longer any meditation to do at all. We just leave mind in its natural state, without strain, letting it be the ordinary mind.

MIND'S THREE BODIES

Natural mind, rangbab, has a quality of clear transparency in which its three essential aspects exist spontaneously: emptiness, clarity, and unimpededness. Mind's transparency is its essential emptiness; its knowing and luminous nature is its clarity; and the aspects of its enlightened experience are its unimpededness. When mind is in this state of limpid transparency, open and lucid, it is fully aware, in a state of bare awareness - rigtong in Tibetan. It is pristine awareness - rigpa in Tibetan - unimpeded, experiencing in itself its limitless manifestations in all their aspects. This empty awareness, clear and unlimited, is not far from us. It is our actual face, but like our own face, it cannot perceive itself. This is what we call ignorance, or marigpa in Tibetan, which is simply the absence of bare awareness, or rigpa. In order to get beyond ignorance, we have to see its empty nature without conceptualising; then we must accustom the mind to this experience and gradually stabilise it so that it remains free from distraction under all circumstances. This is how practice progresses. But remember that these essential qualities of mind are not anything we have to try to produce; they are mind's very nature and we have only to recognise them.

The mind, being naturally empty, is forever the dharmakaya, the body of emptiness or the Absolute Body of Buddha. Being naturally lucid, it is always the sambhogakaya, the Complete Enjoyment Body of Buddha. And since it is naturally unlimited knowledge, it is forever the nirmanakaya, the Manifestation Body of Buddha. So, mind is always by nature the three bodies of the Buddha, naturally and spontaneously free. Nothing could possibly be done to improve their perfection.

The realisation of mahamudra is called innate primordial awareness because the three aspects of mind's essential nature-emptiness, clarity, and unobstructedness or unimpededness - always exist in it; they are innate.

INTEGRATION AND TRANSMUTATION OF THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS

When we are just beginning to practice, our mind bubbles and effervesces like a pot of boiling water over a fire. The practice of rangbab teaches us to stop interfering with thoughts and emotions, which is like ceasing to feed the fire; then the boiling will stop on its own. 

As beginners, we cannot remain for very long in a state of correct meditation: we are distracted by thoughts and emotions that we fixate on and cling to. We learn, though, not to follow them: simply noting the presence of a thought, we do not follow after it but instead remain alert, in a state of "detached observation" of everything that appears to the mind. We leave the mind as it is, to recognise what is going on within it, and we do not interfere. "Simply seeing," as we just described, is the state of the detached observer. When we remain in this state of uninvested vigilance, as an impartial witness, thoughts and passions arise and disappear in emptiness like waves rising and falling back in the sea, or like a rainbow that lights up and stretches across space.

In this state of mind, all the thoughts and emotions that arise are no longer either beneficial or harmful. If we can practice this way, whatever arises in our mind will not be a problem, and we will be able to live in a state of continuous meditation in all circumstances. Staying in meditation throughout everything we do, whether praying, reciting mantras, or moving around, working, or sleeping is what is called continual practice. All the accomplished masters of the past followed this same path. In true realisation of mahamudra, the afflictions adorn the mind rather than disturbing or contaminating it. Negative tendencies are no longer something to reject; they transmute themselves into primordial awareness.

Take the example of the desire between men and women; it is a passionate tendency, but its nature is bliss. It is possible, without either fleeing or following the impulse of desire, to experience its blissful nature which is ultimately "bliss-void."

The same is true of anger. Here again, it is possible, without either expressing or repressing anger, to experience its essence, the dynamic clarity of mind, and to develop the realisation of "clarity-void." What is true of desire and anger is also true for pride, envy, and the other mental afflictions, which become transformed through the same meditation.

Desire recognised as bliss-void is transmuted into awareness, or the wisdom of discernment; anger experienced in its essence is transmuted into mirrorlike wisdom, ignorance into primordial wisdom of dharmadhatu, pride into wisdom of equanimity, and jealousy into primordial all-accomplishing wisdom. Since we have not yet realised these primordial wisdoms, we might doubt the possibility of such transformation. But through effective practice, a profound knowledge of the nature of mind will indeed awaken. Then we will understand that this really is so. When transformation of the emotions is fully completed, the passions are no longer an obstacle. They even become a help. A traditional image is that they become like wood for the bonfire of wisdom; the more you add, the brighter the flame!

THE MAHASIDDHA MAITRIPA

Maitripa was a pandit, or scholar, of the great monastic university of Nalanda near Benares. He had received full monastic ordination and kept his 253 vows scrupulously.

At one point, he received tantric instructions from the mahasiddha Shawaripa. Through practising those instructions, he attained a high degree of realization. Later on, he took a woman and began to drink while he was still living in the monastery. When the master disciplinarian made routine inspection rounds and Maitripa was in his cell drinking with his consort, he would use his powers to transform her into a tantric bell and his beer into a bowl of milk, so that the discipline master never noticed anything amiss. But one day, caught off guard, he was discovered drinking with his consort. "Whoever breaks the vows and the rules of the monastery must leave," said the master. Maitripa was then expelled. He took with him his bamboo cane and a skin which he used as a mat. Going to the Ganges, he put his mat on the water, sat on it with his consort, and rowed away with his cane. At that point, the monks who had expelled him realised he was a mahasiddha and honoured his accomplishments.

Later on, Maitripa became Marpa and Khyungpo Neljor's teacher.