Khenchen Nyima was born in 1976 in Tibet and entered at the age of eleven at Lho Lungkar (Kham) the monastery Ogmin Thubten Shedrub Ling, where he underwent traditional studies for six years. In 1994, he left Tibet and studied for ten years at different Tibetan Buddhist institutions in India. At the beginning of 2002, he was authorized to teach at the Kagyu College at Jangchub Ling (Dehradun, India) and in 2004 he was enthroned as a Khenpo (teaching professor) of that College. In 2013, he became the Head Khenpo of all Drikung monasteries in exile.

The interview with Khenchen Nyima took place at the beginning of August 2016, at the Milarepa Retreat Centre, Schneverdingen (Germany), where he led a study program for translators. As an opener, we first discussed a brief passage from the colophon of a Tibetan text. In this autobiographical passage, the Tibetan historian and Tantric master Amé zhab reports the following incident:

When I had reached my nineteenth year, on the third day of the second month of the hare year (1615), (…) I saw again and again in my dream clearly [Mahākāla] Gurgi Gonpo with eight deities in the midst of rainbows, clouds and masses of flames on top of the Eastern Mountain of Sakya. [Upon reporting this to his teacher Müchen Sangyé Rinchen, the guru said]: “This is not a positive sign since it is a confused appearance of the mind, and the mind is beyond expression since it is unborn. It is also not a negative sign. If we decide that it is a pure vision purifying a few veils of the mind, it is [all right to leave it] like that.”

Question: What is the difference between Amé zhab’s dream sign and a sign occurring through a divination ritual? If we compare the two, could the sign appearing through the Achi Mo not also be a confused appearance of the mind?

Khenchen Nyima: Yes, because here [pointing to the Tibetan text passage translated above] it says regarding Amé zhab’s dream that he saw the appearance of Lord Mahākāla. He asked his guru about it, and the teacher said that it was not particularly good or bad. So, when we think of someone who is an authentic religious practitioner, it is said that there is no talk about good or bad. However, in mundane terms, if gurus, tutelary deities, protectors, and so forth, appear in someone’s dream, then it is considered a good sign. That is the way of the world. Now, concerning these words of the guru who said that it is neither good nor bad—if we think in terms of someone who is an authentic religious practitioner, then it is said that he should not make any particular divisions of good and bad. [Therefore, this dream vision] is not a particularly good sign. Since [the dream] is a mental illusion, all sorts of things might appear—sometimes it might occur to us to be good, sometimes it might occur to be bad. On the other hand, however, it is [in a religious sense] also not [only] bad.When one is practicing religion, gradually the veils [of illusion] will be purified bit by bit, and different pure appearances will occur. [The main thing is] that [as a religious practitioner] one should not keep hopes and fears about [such things] being specifically good or bad.

In general, Jetsün Milarepa said a lot of similar things to Dagpo Rinpoche (Gampopa). Sometimes when Dagpo Rinpoche meditated, appearances of the buddhas occurred [to his mind]. “Now I am probably quite good because I see the buddhas,” he said to Jetsün Mila. However, Mila replied: “Oh, that is nothing particularly good or bad! Because of the different movements of the wind energy (Tib. rlung) in your [inner] channels (Tib. rtsa), you see such different appearances. Do not keep any hopes or fears about those!” So when the great Müchen talked in that way to Amé zhab, he was probably talking within a similar context. When we speak of someone who is an authentic religious practitioner, he should not have hopes and fears, and so there is no good or bad [in that sense]. This is what he seems to be saying.

Someone who has a very firm faith in Achi, a lama, performs the divination with the purpose of benefiting the people. [When he does that], he temporarily accomplishes the objectives of other sentient beings. [Ultimately], he works to accomplish the activities of awakening for the sake of others. When one performs the divination, one supplicates Achi. One thinks she can cause anything to happen through her activities of awakening. [That means] to make divination with faith. In the divination, sometimes good and sometimes bad [signs] occur. They occur from supplicating Achi. It is like when we do an exam: the results come from [our efforts]. That is the difference between the dream appearances in the case of Amé zhab and the good and bad [signs] in the case of divination [which occur through supplication].

Question: In the case of the signs that appear to the lama who performs the divination, if they are not the confused appearances of his mind, how are they the activities of the awakening of Achi?

Khenchen Nyima: When we talk about performing divinations, an accomplished yogi does not need any divination, right? [He does not need to know]: “Does it look like I will get sick? Will I die? How might this turn out for me?” An authentic religious practitioner does not need such divinations. Jetsün Milarepa, for instance, did not ask other people for divination. [He did not ask]: “Will it be good if I go to Lapchi [mountain]? Will it be good if I go to Mount Kailash?” Also, he did not perform divinations himself.

For which purpose does one do divination? If, for instance, an ordinary person plans some undertaking or loses a valuable thing, or he or his parents or relatives are sick—which method can be applied to help in such a situation? He is perplexed. He does not know where to search [for the lost item], or whether it would be appropriate to change the doctor or the medicine. He has carried out many undertakings in the past that may not have been completed, and he still has more plans for the future, but does not know what their prospects are—what does such a mundane person need? He needs to ask the lama, right? He needs someone to perform a divination.

Regarding the person who performs the divination, if it is someone clairvoyant, he can probably say it directly [and does not even need to perform divination]. If that person is not clairvoyant, he needs to supplicate a deity, like Achi or Palden Lhamo. He directs the question to the deity and asks: “How will it turn out? What is the best method for him?” The requestor of the divination asks the lama, and the lama performs the divination accordingly. When [the lama] receives the prognosis, he proceeds accordingly. He says: “According to the prognosis, that sick person will probably get cured.” Or: “He probably needs to go to another doctor.” If something has got lost, he might say: “If you search it in the eastern direction, you will probably find it,” all in accordance with the prognosis.

Anyone who performs the divination first has to do the practice [of the sādhana]. For instance, even [an experienced] lama performing the Achi Mo first has to recite a lot of Achi mantras and accomplish Achi completely. Therefore it is said here [in the sādhana] that one has to practice until the signs occur. That means, for instance, that through the practice of this Achi sādhana you receive dreams where you see her face. It is not as in the case mentioned before, where a good dream [is seen as neither good or bad] in the practice of a Mahāmudrā yogi. Here, when one achieves a sign through the practice of Achi, you see the sign as a valid proof of [success in] the practice of Achi. When one is convinced that it is like that, one proceeds by performing the divination.

If we analyze properly, this kind of sign is an appearance of the yogi’s mind. In general, there are many types of appearances of the mind: Confused appearances, karmic appearances, conditioned appearances, the pure appearances of yogis—there are many levels. According to this analysis, the appearance of signs [in the practice of Achi] can be [understood as] appearances of a yogi who has purified his karma. As the great Müchen said above: [The appearance of Mahākāla in a dream] is also not bad because it is a pure appearance arising due to a slight purification of mental veils. Müchen did define it like that, right?

Thus, when someone wants to perform the divination, he [first] practices the Achi [sādhana], and when signs occur in his dream, he must form the clear determination: “Having practiced Achi, this is a sign and valid proof of that practice.” Moreover, when such appearances get progressively more sublime, we can apply an explanation in terms of the view of Mahāmudrā, namely [that such signs are] still slightly confused appearances. There are many levels of confused appearances. If we take water as an example, when hell-beings look at water it appears [to them] as something like burning lava, hungry ghost perceive it as mucus, human beings see it as water, but yogis [with pure perception] see it as the nature of the goddesses. When the minds of the beings get progressively purified, the appearances change in accordance to [the level of] the purification. Similarly, when someone practices Achi, and the sign and valid proof of the practice occurs, generally, those are appearances that are still slightly confused, but these are not like our usual confused appearances. When one performs divination while having confidence concerning these [purified, but still slightly confused] appearances, one can temporarily accomplish the purposes of oneself and others. On the basis of that, it is possible to help. [The divination] can temporarily clear away the problems for those who make an inquiry. Based on that [the lama who makes the divination] can also benefit other persons by bringing them onto the path of religion.

Question: Is that what is called “the awakened activity of Achi?”

Khenchen Nyima: Yes, that is what is called Achi’s awakened activities. When we speak of “activities of awakening,” these consist not only in bringing all sentient beings to Buddhahood. Generally, Buddha activity is to bring sentient beings to Buddhahood. Persons with Śrāvaka potential are brought to the level of the Śrāvakas, those with Pratyekabuddha potential to the level of the Pratyekabuddhas, and those of the lower realms to the higher realms. The suffering of those who have great suffering is pacified, and the illnesses of the ill is cured. In brief, the activities of awakening accomplish temporary and ultimate benefit and happiness for sentient beings. All these activities [with temporary and ultimate results] are called Buddha activities. Accordingly, the performance of the Achi divination can accomplish many temporary purposes of others [and thereby lead them to the ultimate path].

If you are a beginner on the path, you might wonder: “Which place would be good for a retreat? Would it be appropriate to go for a retreat to the Lapchi Mountain? Alternatively, is it better to stay here for a retreat in Germany?” A person without a high realization needs to know for a retreat whether particular problems may occur at that place, for example regarding food. In that case, one can turn to the Achi Mo, which has [for each prognosis] a section called “outlook concerning the religious activities.” This section provides a prognosis about how religious activities will turn out. The prognosis may be that it will turn out very well, or that there will be problems, like getting sick. In that way, the diviner can perform the Achi Mo for the sake of beginners concerning religious activities.

Most other sections concern worldly issues: Will a sickness be cured? Will travelers return? Will I have a son? Will I get pregnant? Will my business go well? Such divinations are necessary since worldly people have those kinds of problems. Religion is also meant to clear away the problems of worldly people, right? Moreover, the text offers many practical methods to clear away problems. Sometimes it is recommended to request certain religious activities [to be performed], sometimes problems need to be cleared away by [ritual practices such as] beating drums and making tormas, and sometimes there is the advice to consult a different doctor regarding an illness. In that way, the problems of others are cleared away. These are Achi’s awakened activities that are in accordance with religion.

Question: How does the divination relate to the “supramundane” level?

Khenchen Nyima: It is not appropriate to ask for divinations directly concerning supramundane matters, like asking whether one will reach the first bodhisattva bhūmi [in this lifetime] or not, or whether one will achieve Buddhahood, and so forth. However, according to Jigten Sumgön, there is an indirect relation to the supramundane path. He says in the Single Intention (2.11) “the sixteen pure codes of human beings, and so forth, and the divine codes have the same vital point.” When he says, “pure codes of human beings,” that refers to the conduct in the society of human beings; it is about being a good person, and so forth. Other scholars hold that the “pure codes of human beings” are a mundane religious practice, which is different from the “divine codes” because one has to give up saṃsāra to practice them. Jigten Sumgön, however, maintains that it is not like that. He teaches that the human codes and the divine codes have the same vital point.4 Based on the practical methods of this divination manual, the pure codes of human beings will become authentic, and that will benefit the divine [supramundane] religious activities. Temporarily, in the mundane world, we need things like long life, freedom from illnesses, and material enjoyments. The divination helps to create conditions conducive to those needs. In this way, the divination manual is a means to make the supramundane path arise authentically in the mind-streams [of people].

Question: How can the Mo-practice be described in terms of “conventional” and “ultimate” truth?

Khenchen Nyima: When we speak in terms of the conventional and the ultimate, the performance of divination is a conventional practice. Generally, in the ultimate truth, there is no performer and no receiver of the divination. In the ultimate truth, there are no things like a mālā [or dice, and so forth] to perform the divination. In the context of the conventional truth of ordinary beings, however, we have categories like “performer” and “receiver” of the divination. These exist as separate categories, and based on the appearance of these persons and things we perform the activity of divination. Therefore, generally, divination is conventional reality, it has a provisional meaning. When we speak of provisional meaning, it means that the divination helps to prevent problems and troubles and guides one unto a convenient path. Thus, the prognoses offered by the divination provide guidance that helps to avoid unfavorable conditions and paths and achieve favorable conditions and paths.

The Achi Mo [is done with dice] showing three to eighteen dots, [i.e., sixteen possible results]. [Each of the sixteen sections starts with] an explanation about how your religious [activity] might turn out. It is an explanation about how it might turn out when you are really practicing the essence of the Buddha’s doctrine, the Dharma. You find this explanation at the beginning of each of the sixteen sections. It is regarded as the most important [part of] the divination. Below that, there follow [the explanations for] the mundane issues.

Actually, Achi’s main awakened activity is concerning the supramundane [path]. Therefore [in many sādhana’s of Achi] it says:

You combine the power over the three spheres of existence, you protect all beings,

and you guard the teachings of a thousand buddhas.

You accomplish the wishes of beings in accordance with the Dharma—

I pay homage to the wish-fulfilling Achi!

When it says, “protecting all beings,” that includes the Achi Mo. It refers to helping the beings. When one determines a person’s positive or negative prognosis based on the Achi divination, one accomplishes her awakened activity concerning the mundane level. However, if one asks what Achi’s main awakened activity is, then it is bringing all sentient beings to Buddhahood. It is guiding the beings [and fulfilling] their wishes in accordance with the Dharma.

Yet, to guide the beings to the path of Dharma, first one has to proceed based on the practical methods of the mundane path. Therefore, the Indian master Ācārya Bhāvaviveka says:

Wanting to climb to the top

of the great mansion of absolute truth

without the ladder of pure relative truth

is not suitable for a learned one.

Based on the authentic, mundane, conventional practices, one climbs to the top of the great mansion of the ultimate. The conventional is like a ladder. Therefore, the divination is like that ladder that is the conventional reality, a Dharma of provisional meaning. However, based on that, it leads into the path through which Achi can bring all sentient beings to Buddhahood. Therefore, Achi’s main awakened activity concerns the supramundane path; but to accomplish that path, one must first practice the mundane practical methods. That is the reason why the Achi divination has appeared.

Question: Is it possible to ask other questions than those that are making up the various categories of prognosis in the divination manual? Could one inquire through the Mo whether it would be appropriate to start a meditation retreat now or later, and which practice one should emphasize?

Khenchen Nyima: The manual has no specific category for retreats. However, you can include it in the main category that is concerned with the category “outlook concerning the religious activities.” The lama can make two divinations: one concerning the present year, one concerning the next. If the divination concerning this year turns out better, then it is appropriate to start your retreat in this year. In such cases, we have to include the many small activities [in the main categories] like that.

Question: So it is appropriate to ask such questions concerning meditation retreats, and so on?

Khenchen Nyima: Yes, it is appropriate! Usually, as I said before, the advanced yogis do not have to determine [such a question] in that way. They determine it by themselves. Jetsün Mila said that one should not cheat oneself with divinations, astrology and so forth. It is [more] appropriate for an advanced yogi to determine [such questions] by himself. However, if one is a beginner like we are and is unable to determine [things] like that, one proceeds by way of divination. Mainly it is about faith, right? If divination about going to retreat this year turns out well, then, thinking “this year I will not get obstacles,” one proceeds with this thought in one’s mind. In that case, if you go this year, you will not get sick, you will not face problems, and the retreat will be good. However, if the lama says that the divination for this year is not good and one nevertheless enters into a retreat, then one lacks faith in one’s mind. If one thinks that one has to enter the retreat despite the bad prognosis, then one lacks the comfortable feeling in one’s mind. [As a consequence], one probably will face problems. There is a great relation [between occurrences and] the feelings of one’s mind.

Question: There are many types of divination. Some people use dice, some a mālā, others a mirror—what are the main differences between those? Is there a method that is particularly suited for accomplishing the supramundane religious activities?

Khenchen Nyima: As I see it, there are probably no particular differences. Some people use a mālā, some use dice, and then for some people there seems to be the so-called unique accomplishment of mirror-divination of Achi. In the mirror-divination, one looks into a mirror and whatever is going to happen will appear in the mirror. For this [practice] one has to be a particular type of person possessing the so-called mirror-divination-eye. In most cases, people use either dice or a mālā. However, people who have transformed the channels in the body may have the mirror-divination-eye. If we take something like a bird of prey, it has the eye-capacity to see the prey many kilometers away. Likewise, some persons have special abilities in the channels of their eyes. Thereby, having accomplished the mirror-divination like that, some people can determine [issues] by looking into a mirror. Otherwise, however, most people perform divinations using either a mālā or dice, whatever is convenient.

Question: There is no difference?

Khenchen Nyima: There does not seem to be a particular difference between those two. It does not seem to be the case, for instance, that if one uses a mālā, it is for the sake of religious activities and if one uses dice it is for the sake of mundane issues. However, when one is using dice, there is a difference regarding the way the dice-holes are made in dice for playing games and in dice for divination. I do not remember this well or clearly, but if the number one is on this side, some dice have the number six here [on the opposite side]. The dice for divination and the dice for playing seem to be a bit different. However, I do not remember the details.

Question: Is there a difference between Buddhist divination and Bönpo divination?

Khenchen Nyima: There is probably a slight difference, right? Mostly they are quite similar in scope. The divinations that our Buddhist lamas perform and those that the Bön lamas perform … it is hard to say. Long ago, in the very beginning, the Bönpos probably used divination first. In my view it is like this: When the Buddhist lamas saw that the Bönpo lamas used divination, [they decided that] we Buddhists also need divination. By attaching our own deities and protectors to the practice, a Tibetan Buddhist tradition of performing divinations came about. There was probably also a mutual exchange [of the elements of divination]. The most important aspects [of the divination manuals] in both [traditions] are probably very similar. However, in the performance of their [respective] divinations, there are differences concerning the deity practice.

Question: Regarding the lama who performs the divination—what are his specific characteristics? Is it also appropriate when other practitioners perform divinations?

Khenchen Nyima: Concerning the person who performs the divination, we usually say that it is done by a “high lama.” That does not mean that he has a high throne or that someone with a low throne must be a low lama. A “high lama” is one who has the qualities of abandoning [the veils] and accomplishing [the qualities]. The more qualities such a person have accomplished, the better the divination will turn out when he performs it. [As the text says], one has to accomplish [the deity]. Possessing the qualities of abandoning [veils] and accomplishing [qualities], one has accomplished the deity.

Someone who performs the Achi Mo has in the best case the qualities of abandoning and accomplishing. He can directly see Achi’s face; he can directly converse with her—if it is such a lama, he can perform the divination most perfectly. However, it is not always possible like that. Generally, in deity practice, we talk about three ways of accomplishing the deity. The first is the accomplishment of signs, the second the accomplishment of the number, and the third the accomplishment of time. In deity practice, the accomplishment of signs means that one can bring forth all the signs of accomplishing the deity. That is called the “approach of the sign” [i.e., mantra recitation until the signs appear]. The accomplishment of the number means that even if one cannot bring forth all the signs, one accumulates the mantra recitation exactly as it is prescribed, such as 100.000 recitations. That is called the “approach of the number” [i.e., mantra recitation until one accomplishes the prescribed number of recitations]. Accomplishment of the time means that one has accumulated mantra recitations for the required time. Here, for performing the Achi Mo, the minimum requirement is that you have to accomplish the required number of mantras, i.e., you have to do the mantra of the sādhana 100.000 times. That kind of characteristic definitely seems to be necessary.

Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen 2024 at the Milarepa Retreat Center in Germany

Question: Thus, if he has accomplished that minimum requirement, an ordinary religious practitioner too can perform the divination.

Khenchen Nyima: There are also a lot of people [like that] who practice and perform divinations. Other people, however, out of principle never perform divinations. For instance, if you were to request someone like Jetsün Mila to perform a divination, he would probably scold you. In our Drikung Kagyü tradition, if we requested Drubwang Rinpoche to perform a divination, he would scold us. He said: “We are monks! We are religious practitioners! Just practice religion, and then all issues will be solved! Why should one perform divinations? This so-called divination is for the sake of the mundane laymen and women!” He would never help us with divinations. Other lamas will perform divination out of kindness when a monk or layperson asks him to perform one. It is up to the individual lama, right?

[Khenchen also explains later that the person performing the divination should not just take the outcome literally, but should count on his intuition about the outcome. The best would be to combine the divination with astrology as Lamchen Gyalpo Rinpoche did.]

Question: Are there also monks, yogis, and other lamas requesting a lama to perform divination?

Khenchen Nyima: Yes, the requester could be anyone. It is possible that sometimes one lama might request another one to perform a divination, as one doctor goes to another doctor [when he is sick]. He cannot do an operation on himself! [He laughs]. Likewise, it is possible that a lama, a monk, a layman, a laywoman, an old person, or a young person might ask a lama to make a Mo.

Question: But most people who make an inquiry are lay people?

Khenchen Nyima: Mostly this divination is for the sake of the lay men and women. As I said before, it is mainly a practical method for helping with the problems and troubles of mundane people. There are great problems and troubles for the ordinary people, right? Therefore, one needs to perform divinations for their sake.

Question: Does the lama who performs divination thereby generate income for his monastery?

Khenchen Nyima: There is no specific fee for performing divination. If you give an offering, that is fine, if you do not give an offering, that is also fine. You mainly have to offer your faith. You need to have faith in the one who is performing the divination. You have to offer your faith, and if you offer a gift on top of that, it is fine, if not, it is also fine. The performance of divination is not for the sake of business. If it were, there would have to be an exchange of object and payment, but divination is not like that. Mainly, one needs to have faith in the lama and the divination. Without that, the divination will not benefit you.

It will be just trouble for you. In the monastery, we usually do have divinations, pūjas, group prayers, and so on. However, that is not for the sake of generating income for the monastery. It is mainly for the sake of helping the people. On the other hand, it is a tradition that the people individually make offerings that the monk community is allowed to use. Divinations and pūjas are not specifically for the sake of improving the monastery’s economy; they are mainly for the sake of helping the mundane people. We have a saying: “If you throw a stick upwards and fruits fall down, there is profit.” [He laughs]. If I stand underneath an apple tree and just by chance throw a stick upwards, and if some apples fall down because of that, then I have to eat them. If I throw them away, it is a waste. Likewise, it is often so that divinations are done, and when the divination is done, an offering is made to the lama, and the lama uses the offering for the monastery. That is the general situation, but we do not perform a divination to get money. It is possible that some strange person performs divination for the sake of money.

That is different. The religion taught by the Buddha, the Exalted One, is a method for clearing away the problems of sentient beings. That is what he has taught. However, it happens that some person uses religion as a business for making a living. That is not the problem with the religion; it is a problem with that person. Likewise, it is possible that someone performs divination, thinking “based on performing the divination I will make good money.” I cannot say that there is nobody like that, right? However, from the religious perspective, divination is not for the sake of that.

[The Interview was translated by Solvej Nielsen. The Interview together with an introduction and a translation of the Achi Mo was published in Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, 2019 as “Divining with Achi and Tara: Comparative Remarks on Tibetan Dice and Mālā Divination: Tools, Poetry, Structures, and Ritual Dimensions, Prognostication” in History 1, Leiden: Brill. If you would like to have a copy of my translation of the Achi Mo, drop me a note at jusobisch@gmx.de].

Trophu Lotsāwa’s Instructions on the Fivefold Mahāmudrā

February 20, 2024

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Trophu Lotsāwa Jampé Pel (1173–1225) was the translator of the Indian Mahāpaṇḍita Śākya Śrī Bhadra (~1127–1225) in Tibet and afterwards related the story that Śākya Śrī had received the prophecy from Tārā that Jikten Sumgon was a rebirth of Nagārjuna.

Śākya Śrī said that Tārā was his special deity, and she had told him that Nagārjuna had been reborn in Tibet as Jikten Sumgon. When, at one time, one of the lesser Panḍitas named Vibhūticandra badmouthed Jikten Sumgon, Śākya Śrī was shocked and related that prophecy. He also said that Jikten Sumgon was a Buddha without error and that Vibhūti should go to him, confess, and request his Dharma teachings. Moreover, Tārā told him that Vibhūti should construct a Samvara temple to purify his sin, which he did.

Having been born three decades after Jikten Sumgon, Trophu must have received the Fivefold Mahāmudrā teachings from the Drikungpa or one of his close disciples. However, he traces the teaching back to Gampopa in the present instruction. In fact, the way he introduces mahāmudrā here, especially in 4.2., “Introducing thoughts as clear light,” is very reminiscent of Gampopa’s teachings.

Interestingly, Trophu Lotsāwa presents the branches of deity practice and guru yoga in reverse order, as did later the Drikungpa Trinlé Zangpo, the second Kyabgon Chetsang. in his short manual for daily practice. Trophu did not specify a deity, but in most cases, we find Cakrasaṃvara as the deity of the Fivefold Path.

* * *

Instruction Manual of the Fivefold Mahāmudrā from the Throphu Kagyu
by Throphu Lotsāwa Jampé Pel

I pay homage to the excellent gurus!

The heart essence of the great guru Nāropa, the introduction of the Fivefold Mahāmudrā, has five parts:

1. Cultivating the resolve for supreme awakening
2. Practicing guru-yoga
3. Practicing the pride of the deity
4. Introducing the nature of mind as the Buddha
5. Dedicating the root of virtue to complete awakening

1. Cultivating the resolve for supreme awakening
Practice up to three times with strong love and compassion from the depth of your heart the preliminary resolve for awakening and its actualization.

2. Practicing guru-yoga
During the day, cultivate the notion of your root guru as the Buddha by practicing him clearly visible with the mudrā of equipoise on a seat with the three layers of a lion throne, a lotus, and a moon on the crown of your head. At night, hold this notion in your heart. Pray intensely.

3. Practicing the pride of the deity
Cultivate the pride of your own body, the root mandala that is the deity. Recite the mantra one hundred and eight times.

4. Introducing the nature of mind as the Buddha
The fourth part has two sections:

4.1. Introducing the uncontrived innate state
4.2. Introducing thoughts as clear light

4.1. Introducing the uncontrived innate state

With the dhyāna mudrā, relax the mind by loosening it without modifying it. Rest serenely. Let go completely. ^{♦ 1} Eliminate the impediments of the four sidetracks^{♦ 2} and the three traps. ^{♦ 3} Remove the obstructions through drowsiness, agitation, and mental fabrication.

4.2. Introducing thoughts as clear light
By looking directly at whichever thought arises from that state, that which is nothing to be looked at will be self-liberated. Thereby, that thought that is caused to arise as an appearance conditioned by various objects is called “self-awakening primordial wisdom conditioned by sight and sound.” By looking directly, nothing is found that could be looked at, and that is called “knowing by its own nature the primordial wisdom as primordial wisdom.”

5. Dedicating the root of virtue to complete awakening
All three preliminaries are the accumulation of merit. ^{♦ 4} The fourth—the actual practice—is the accumulation of primordial wisdom. Thus, since the two fruits of “awakening” and “expanding” arise through these two accumulations, you dedicate them as they arise: “May I accomplish through these roots of my virtue Buddhahood for the sake of beings.” Recite this three times.

The oral instruction of the venerable Dagpo Rinpoche (Gampopa) is complete.

Thus, it appears in the Hundred Pith Instructions [of] Throphu Lotswa Nub’s scriptures.

[Translated by Jan-Ulrich Sobisch on 31.1. and 1.2.2009 in Hamburg. Revised on 15.2.2024 in Schneverdingen.]

Notes
^{1. []↩}Read: phyam gyis btang ngo.
^{2. []↩}Four sidetracks: (1) by a contrieved emptiness, (2) artificial nothingness, (3) conceptual antidote, and (4) dualistic sealing. See Gongchik 6.9.
^{3. []↩}Three traps: The realms of (1) desire, (2) form, and (3) formlessness. See Gongchik 6.9.
^{4. []↩}The “three preliminaries” refers here to the first three practices of (1) producing the resolve for awakening, (2) practicing guru yoga, and (3) practicing the pride of the deity.

Spinning the Brahmin’s Thread

October 17, 2023

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Here is the famous simile of spinning the Brahmin’s thread in Jigten Sumgon’s version (German further down):

As one spins the thread of the Brahmin, rest fresh, uncontrived, and at ease, it is said. If the Brahmin’s thread is too tight, it knots and breaks. If it is too loose, it becomes limp. So spin it when [the thread] is free from extreme tightness or looseness! Similarly, in this case. If your consciousness is too tight, your virtuous practice will not penetrate to the vital point and your thoughts will multiply. If it is too loose, your consciousness will jump back and forth. So: free it from extreme tightness or looseness, and if you keep it in just that uncontrived state, it is easy to penetrate to the vital point. So please maintain it like this!

In German:

Wie man den Fadens des Brahmanen spinnt, ruhe frisch, ungekünstelt und entspannt, heißt es. Wenn der Faden des Brahmanen zu fest ist, verknotet er sich und reißt. Wenn er zu locker ist, wird er schlaff. Also spinne ihn, wenn [der Faden] frei von extremer Festigkeit oder Lockerheit ist! Ähnlich verhält es sich hier. Wenn dein Bewusstsein zu eng ist, wird deine tugendhafte Praxis nicht zum Kernpunkt vordringen und deine Gedanken werden sich vermehren. Wenn es zu locker ist, wird dein Bewusstsein hin- und herspringen. Also: befreie es von extremer Festigkeit oder Lockerheit, und wenn du es in genau diesem ungekünstelten Zustand hältst, ist es leicht, zum Kernpunkt vorzudringen. Also halte es bitte so!

Jigten Sumgon, Collected Works, vol. 9, p. 382

བྲམ་ཟེ་སྐུད་པ་འཁལ་བ་བཞིན། སོ་མ་མ་བཅོས་ལྷུག་པར་ཞོག གསུངས་པས། བྲམ་ཟེའི་སྐུད་པ་དེ་གྲིམས་ཐལ་ན་འཇུར་མདུད་དུ་སོང་ནས་ཆད་ནས་ཡོང། གློད་ཐལ་ན་འབྱུང་ནས་ཡོང། དེས་ན་གྲིམས་གློད་གཉིས་ཀའི་མཐའ་དང་བྲལ་བར་བྱས་པའི་དུས་སུ་བཟོ་ཉན་པ་དང་འདྲ་བར། འདིར་ཤེས་པ་སྒྲིམས་ཐལ་ན་དགེ་སྦྱོར་གནད་དུ་མི་འགྲོ་ནས་རྟོག་པ་མང་དུ་འཕྲོ་ནས་འོང། གློད་ཐལ་བར་སོང་ན་ཤེས་པ་གཡས་གཡོན་དུ་འཕྱོ་ནས་འོང། དེས་ན་སྒྲིམ་གློད་གཉིས་ཀྱི་མཐའ་དང་བྲལ་བར་བྱས་ནས། མ་བཅོས་པ་འདི་ཁོ་ན་བཞིན་དུ་བསྐྱངས་པས་གནད་དུ་འགྲོ་བ་ལ་ཚེགས་མེད་པ་ཡིན་པས། དེ་ལྟར་སྐྱོང་བར་ཞུ།

Prayer for Quick Rebirth of H.E. Tokden Rinpoche

June 11, 2023

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མྱུར་འབྱོན་གསོལ་འདེབས།

༄༅། །རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་དབང་ཏཻ་ལོ་ནཱ་རོ་དང་། །

མར་མི་དྭགས་པོ་ཕག་གྲུ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན། །

གདན་རབས་གསེར་གྱི་ཕྲེང་བའི་བྱིན་རླབས་ཀྱིས། །

དེང་འདིར་སྨོན་པའི་འབྲས་བུར་བདེན་བྱིན་སྩོལ། །

May the blessings of powerful Vajradhara, Tilopa, Nāropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmo-drupa, Jikten Sumgon, and the golden garland of Drikung throneholders grant here and today the blessing of true reality as the fruit of this prayer.

དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་གྱི་བསྟན་པ་འཛིན་པ་ལ། །

དཀའ་སྤྱད་སྙིང་རུས་བོད་དུ་ཆོས་ཞུགས་མཛད། །

འབྲི་གུང་ཉི་ལྕང་བཤད་གྲྭར་ཐོས་བསམ་ཀྱིས། །

མཁས་པའི་དབང་པོར་སོན་དེར་གུས་པས་འདུད། །

Respectfully I bow down before the one who holds the teachings of three jewels, who, with great determination, practiced austerities, came to Tibet for the Dharma, and gained the authority of learned-ness by studying and reflecting in the academy of Drikung Nyima Changra.

ཐུབ་བསྟན་སྤྱི་དང་༧རྒྱལ་བ་འབྲི་གུང་པའི། །

བཤད་སྒྲུབ་ལས་གསུམ་ཆོས་སྲིད་ཟུང་འབྲེལ་གྱིས། །

ཐབས་མཁས་བསྟན་པ་སྐྱོང་ལ་ཆེས་དཔའ་བ། །

ལ་དྭགས་ཆོས་རྗེའི་ཞབས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །

I supplicate at the feet of the Dharma Lord of Ladakh, who was vastly courageous in skilfully preser-ving the teachings through explanations, practices and deeds of the teachings of the Great Sage in general and of the victorious Drikungpa, and by uniting the Dharma and the world.

རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཁམས་ལ་གཞོམ་ཞིག་དང་བྲལ་ཡང་། །

རེ་ཞིག་གདུལ་བྱར་མི་རྟག་སྟོན་པའི་ཕྱིར། །

ཞིང་གཞན་གཤེགས་པའི་ངང་ཚུལ་སྟོན་ནའང་། །

ཐུགས་བསྐྱེད་དབང་གིས་ཡང་སྤྲུལ་མྱུར་བྱོན་མཛོད། །

Even though the Vajra sphere is indestructible and imperishable, to reveal impermanence to trainees from time to time, you show the mode of leaving for another Buddha-field. I beseech you to manifest again due to your powerful resolve quickly.

མཆོག་གསུམ་བསླུ་མེད་ཨ་ཕྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒྲོན། །

རྟེན་འབྲེལ་བསླུ་བ་མེད་པའི་བདེན་པ་དང་། །

བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་སྲིད་མཐར་བསྒྲེངས་པའི་ཕྱིར། །

འཁྲུལ་བྲལ་ཡང་སྲིད་མྱུར་དུ་བྱོན་མཛད་གསོལ། །

By the power of Achi, the light of Dharma, who never deceives the three supreme ones, by the truth of infallible dependent origination, and to hoist up the victorious banner of the teachings until the end of existence, I beseech you to take genuine rebirth quickly.

ཞེས་པ་ཡང་སྲིད་སྲི་ཞུ་ལྷན་ཚོགས་ནས་བསྐུལ་བའི་ངོར།

༧རྒྱལ་བ་འབྲི་གུང་པའི་མཚན་གྱིས་བྱིན་ གྱི་བརླབས་པ།

དཀོན་མཆོག་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཀུན་བཟང་ཕྲིན་ལས་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ཀྱིས།

དྭང་བའི་བློས། རབ་ གནས་ཆུ་ཡོས་ ༢༠༢༣ ལོའི་ཟླ་ ༥ ཚེས ༢༩ སྔ་དྲོའི་ཆར་དགེའོ།།

In view of the requests from the council for rebirth, I, the one who is blessed with the name of the victorious Drikungpa, Konchog Tendzin Kunzang Trinlé Lhundrub, have written it with a pure mind in the morning the 29th day of the fifth month of the water-hare year 2023.

Translated by Jan-Ulrich Sobisch with the help of Claude Jürgens and Khenchen Nyinma Gyaltshen, who also edited the Tibetan text slightly.

Gampopa on Māra’s Obstructions

May 9, 2023

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In an instruction on the teaching and practice styles of his Kadamapa and Kagyupa teachers, Gampopa makes a few interesting remarks on “māra obstacles.” He says:

There are two kinds of māra that cause “māra obstacles” to the practitioner: Human and non-human māras and the māra of thought. There are three methods to dispel them. (1) They are dispelled through the practice of love and compassion. By practicing love and compassion, no harming of the child by the mother exists. (2) They are dispelled by practicing [māras] as illusionary dreams and emptiness. The harmed and the harm doer both do not exist, it is said. (3) By understanding them to be confusion, [māras] are pacified. By understanding them all to be projections of the mind, no harm is done. Even if done, it does not upset.

Accordingly, there are either sentient beings (human and non-human) who cause māra obstacles or obstacles caused by thoughts. But no matter whether sentient or not, all causes of obstacles are treated through means of the mind. The first method is love and compassion. In Tibetan Mahāyāna Buddhism, one imagines all sentient beings to be one’s mother who has raised one lovingly many times. Thereby one cultivates gratitude, love, and compassion for those beings who once have been one’s mother and now are in a state of despair. Such a mother, towards which one cultivates love, will not harm the child. This is a method of conventional bodhicitta.

Secondly, one practices emptiness and understands all māras as being like a dream. In truth, someone who causes harm and someone who experiences harm do not exist. That is a method of absolute bodhicitta.

Thirdly, one can understand all appearances as confusion since they are nothing but projections of the mind. This is a method that is based on the realization that all phenomena are only the mind. Then Gampopa continues:

This large retinue and the material wealth that presently appears is, on the one hand, in mantra taught to be an ordinary siddhi, and on the other hand, also said to be an obstacle of māra.

Here, Gampopa seems to speak about his own situation: Having settled in a monastery, there is a retinue of followers and material wealth. One can see that either as a siddhi or as an obstacle. Remarks like that can be found in many biographies of Tibetan masters. “Success” as a teacher can be quite a problem. He continues:

Māra, however, does not really cause obstacles. Earlier, obstacles are caused by the retinue. Then, great material wealth causes obstacles to virtuous practice. Then, the practitioner will be hindered by desire and hatred. Look at your own mind if that is an obstacle of the māra or not! If it harms you, it is an obstacle of the māra. If it doesn’t harm you, it is a siddhi, it is said.

Māra, however, does not really cause obstacles. Already on the conventional level, they are a cause for cultivating love and compassion, and on the absolute level, they do not exist and, therefore, cannot cause harm. All the trouble that arises for the successful master depends on his or her own mind. If afflictions like desire and hatred arise, that is the obstacle. If not, that is the siddhi.

The Kusāli Yogis

September 14, 2022

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The book I am about to finish will deal with the convergence of Vinaya, Mahāmudrā, and tantric Yoga in the teachings of Jigten Sumgön. One chapter of the book shows how Jigten Sumgön envisions the ideal person in whom these three converge. It is the kusāli yogi who embodies this convergence.

We know from Jigten Sumgön’s biography by his nephew Sherab Jungné that Jigten Sumgön spent more than a decade in retreats of strict solitude. In his early years, he wandered from place to place, sometimes wearing nothing but rags, sleeping under the open sky. Eventually, he and his disciples became monastic, wore monastic robes, and ate food from the monasteryʼs kitchen. However, that does not mean they gave up the frugal lifestyle of earlier years. Even in the environment of the monastery, Jigten Sumgön continued to recommend wearing rags. He told the assembly:

Rags are sufficient as clothing. That includes discarded and also worn clothing. Discarded clothes are those others no longer want to wear and left behind. One collects these and cleans them. If in that way harmful influences were avoided, one can wear them. … Therefore, part of [the Buddhaʼs] teaching discourses is devoted to the merits of rags.

Jigten Sumgön talks here about the “twelve virtues of ascetic training.” These twelve virtues are the Buddha’s recommendations regarding frugality in the context of clothing, food, and places of residence. Although ascetic in style, they are not meant as a form of self-mortification. Instead, they are a way of life conducive to the practice of meditation.

In the vihāra of Phagmodrupa, where Jigten Sumgön spent almost three years, it was the rule that the disciples had to build their temporary hut within only a day. Phagmodrupa himself spent half of each month (during the waning moon) in retreat and taught the assembly during the afternoons of the other half while remaining in seclusion during the morning hours.

The shining examples of such a frugal lifestyle provided by the commentaries of the Single Intention mention Milarepa, Phagmodrupa, and Lama Zhang Tshalpa. Phagmodrupa praised Milarepa:

   The mighty lord of yogis, Mila, 
   ate unsalted nettle [soup], transformed into nectar. 
   Cast off attachment! The supreme being 
   will have whatever food he wishes; have no doubt!

Jigten Sumgön said:

   The father, the dharma lord, the precious guru 
          [Phagmodrupa],
   abandoned the attachment to meat and cheese,
   merely preferred a bit of curd,
   nourished himself only on vegetable soup,
   and, based on that, accomplished awakening.

As a further illustration of this lifestyle, Lama Zhang Tshalpa is mentioned. Planning for a retreat, he brought together such things as a bag of flour, hardened fat for soups, salt, and so forth. He was about to enter a suitable cave when suddenly, a thought of happiness about these favorable circumstances crossed his mind. He recognized that happiness as an attachment and immediately destroyed the retreat facility, scattered the flour, and went away to practice elsewhere.

Thus, this form of asceticism is not practiced like an exercise in penance but is a mental training: The practitioner has to watch out for attachment and aversion to pleasurable and disagreeable objects and circumstances. When Lama Zhang recognized the signs of such an attachment arising in his mind, he immediately counteracted it. That is what Jigten Sumgön meant when he said: “Expert skill is necessary concerning means of preventing the māra from entering [the mind], and if it has entered, to repel it.”

Ideally, a kusāli yogi is, according to Jigten Sumgön, ordained. The kusāli strives to become “a pure monk in the most perfect way,” takes up the twelve virtues of ascetic training, and “has few desires, remains frugal, and is an expert concerning the dharma.” In praise of such frugality, Jigten Sumgön says:

By maintaining a frugal and moderate [lifestyle] with clothing that merely sustains the body and alms that merely fill the stomach, one has a virtuous practice of frugality like the birds. Wherever they soar, they float on their wings—wherever one goes, one goes endowed with the alms bowl and dharma robes.

Elsewhere he provides a list of similar qualities. The kusāli yogi should

be easy to nourish, easy to satisfy, possess few desires, be frugal, parsimonious, sober, possess the virtues of ascetic training, be graceful, and be temperate.

Again in another instruction, he puts frugality, which he describes as wealth, into the context of mindfulness:

Mindfulness, alert awareness, attentiveness, and frugality are synonymous with wealth. Therefore, if you did not dwell earlier in these, the faults of desire will later arise. If you have been frugal earlier, qualities arise naturally.

In his teachings to the great assembly in Drikung, he contrasts the right and the wrong kind of frugality:

To be frugal with sense pleasures is the Buddha’s dharma; to be frugal with the dharma is māras dharma.

In several of his works, Jigten Sumgön identifies himself with the kusāli-yogi-monk, whom he differentiates from the scholar (paṇḍita). Quoting Gampopa, he states that such a kusāli

must be one who can carry a large load of suffering with great compassion, guide others with great wisdom, and does not even have a hair tip’s concern regarding his own life.

In another text, he relates what Phagmodrupa had told him about his teacher, Gampopa. He calls Gampopa a kusāli who was in possession of knowledge. What he learned from him was this:

All phenomena combined as samsara and nirvana are one’s mind, which is unestablished from the beginning, like the center of space.

Kusāli yogis do not analyze external objects. They see them as the mind’s natural display, that is, just mind. When phenomena are understood as the mind, they disappear into their origin, the mind. To realize the mind, one needs the guru’s instructions. One needs devotion to understand how to put the guru’s teachings into practice. To practice the instructions in solitude, one needs great effort. In solitude, defects and qualities will arise. Asking the guru about them, the guru will point out the causes for their arising and how the defects can be removed and qualities enhanced. Practicing accordingly, one will be a yogi or yogini who is free from defects and endowed with qualities. At that point, wisdom will arise from practice. The wisdom that arises from practice is such that hundred-thousands of learned panditas may ask questions, and not a single question will remain unanswered.

In the Instructions that are Like a Mighty King, Jigten Sumgön, once again, contrasts the kusāli yogi with the scholar pandita. The pandita treats words as essential, cutting off the false projections from the outside. The kusāli yogi treats meaning as essential, cutting off the false projections from the inside.

In the Three Words of the Lord, he says that in contrast to the pandita, the kusāli does not study and reflect many teachings. He meets with an excellent guru. He cultivates devotion and values just a single teaching and practices it. Through the power of the guru’s blessings and his own devotion, he realizes the innate mind, and all the appearances “arise like a book.” This is again due to the wisdom that arises from practice. In that way, the Kagyupas have “the system of the kusālis, who cut off false projections from inside.”

In the Three Words, he furthermore describes the kusāli as someone who realizes all phenomena of samsara and nirvana by practicing just one teaching. What kind of teaching is that? It has few words, a concise meaning, and is easy to practice. An example is the teaching of the Fivefold Path of Mahāmudrā. Practicing just that, three things arise. The first is the original state of reality. The body’s original state is that it is, from the very beginning, a male or female buddha. The mind’s original state is that the nature of the mind is, from the very beginning, the utterly pure dharmakāya buddha. The other two things that arise through the Fivefold Path are the method and the fruits.

In this way, the kusāli embodies frugality in many ways: He or she maintains a frugal and moderate lifestyle and practices the virtues of ascetic training. Thereby, a great wealth is obtained, namely mindfulness, alert awareness, and attentiveness. Kusālis carry the load of suffering with great compassion for the sake of other beings. They do not aim at great learnedness and need only a few teachings. As practitioners, however, they are insatiable.

To think or not to think. Is that the question?

March 8, 2022

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Already in India, the teaching styles of Mahāmudrā were quite diverse. There is a bewildering multitude of terminology like “mental inactivity” (yid la mi byed pa), “innate yoga” (lhan cig skyes sbyor), “ordinary consciousness” (tha mal gyi shes pa), or “natural mind” (gnyug ma[ʼi sems]). This posting will look at some aspects of the “natural mind” in Gampopa’s writings. We will see that, like the innate yoga, the natural mind practice uses thoughts for realizing the dharmakāya, yet it seems that it does so (at least at Gampopa’s time) in a more radical way. Future research may show that subsequent masters like Jigten Sumgön might have combined both into a single approach.

However, before I investigate Gampopa’s instructions on the matter, I would like to make a few remarks about translating esoteric instructions. My main point is that there is something not right when the terminology of such instructions is treated as if we are reading a philosophical debate or a more systematized form of a text. Esoteric instructions in the Kagyüpa tradition, especially those pointing out the nature of the mind or teaching mahāmudrā practice, are often spontaneously spoken words recorded by disciples or sketchy notes that reply to questions from disciples. Sometimes they are delivered in the form of poetry or song. Characteristic for them is the use of colorful metaphorical language (“space,” “light,” etc.), sometimes in the form of similes (“like a rainbow”). These metaphors are done an injustice when we translate them like the technical terms they sometimes turn into in the later literature of systematical treatises and commentaries. Such powerful metaphors as “clear light,” which originally illustrates the unobstructed quality of the mind, then turns into the abstract noun “luminosity,” and a term like “innate,” which refers to inborn qualities, morphs into such a terrible linguistic monstrosity as “co-emergent.” Translated like that, they are not metaphors anymore; they have solidified from a once-dynamic metaphor to a cold technical term. To use such technical terms when translating esoteric instructions is, in most cases, a mistake.

When we read a scholarly work, its technical language is often well-explained and specified by definitions. Although these explanations and definitions may vary between traditions or even from scholar to scholar, the scholarly activity of analyzing, defining, and teaching makes it often relatively easy to analyze and translate such terms. On the other hand, esoteric instructions are often brief to the point that they even seem cryptic. Their colorful terminology is much harder to pin down. Such texts virtually avoid definitions. They are on the spot compositions spontaneously delivered by experienced masters, often to remedy a problem in the meditative practice of their disciples. However, even though the terms are sometimes literally the same as in more technical texts, we should never make the mistake in our translations to define esoteric language through later technical terminology. That would be like putting the cart before the horse: The mahāmudrā instructions of the early Kagyüpa masters precede their more technical explanations of later generations. Therefore, translations of such texts should reflect the original and powerful metaphor, not the technicality of a philosophical debate.

That being said, let us have a look at the term “natural [mind]” (gnyug ma[ʼi sems]) as it appears in numerous esoteric instructions of Gampopa. To understand this key term in Gampopa’s system, we must carefully read it in the context of the teachings in which it occurs. Looking at more than fifty occurrences of the term in Gampopa’s instructions, we find it often in close vicinity of such terms as these:

– ordinary consciousness (tha mal gyi shes pa)

– nature of the mind (sems nyid)

– innate gnosis (lhan cig skyes pa’i ye shes)

– dharmakāya (chos sku)

– true reality (de nyid)

– sameness (mnyam pa nyid)

– unerring emptiness (stong pa nyid ma nor ba)

All these are terms pertaining to the level of the absolute truth. Accordingly, when we find descriptions of the qualities of the natural mind, we find that it

– cannot be seen, pointed out, or expressed

– has no basis or support, and no labels can be attached to it

– has no tendency toward anything and no aim

– is not produced from causes and conditions

– is like a dream or an illusion

In Buddhism, these descriptions through negation are typical for something belonging to the sphere of the absolute truth. After all, absolute truth is beyond the sphere of the mind and cannot really be expressed in words. The experience of the natural mind is therefore like a dream or an illusion, not because it is false, but because it cannot be expressed. Gampopa says that it is like the happiness of a young girl and the dream of a mute person—both the girl and the mute person cannot express their experience. However, there are also a few descriptions in positive terms. The natural mind is also described as genuine, fresh, and simple, and it is explained to possess clarity and bliss. The descriptions through negation tell us what the natural mind is not, and the positive descriptions provide us with some kind of an idea of how it feels when such a mind is recognized. Nevertheless, these are not precise definitions as we can find them in scholarly works. Such a mind seems to escape all attempts of precise linguistic expression.

In some instructions, however, Gampopa provides several interesting statements about the natural mind that can provide us with a clearer idea of what it is. First of all, he describes some preliminary steps for attaining it. Accordingly, an essential preliminary practice is to cut off all kinds of thoughts pertaining to subject and object, or, in other words, to the apprehending and the apprehended. This places the natural mind in the vicinity of the teaching that all phenomena are nothing but mind: If there is no thought about subject or object, then there is no idea of an apprehending mind and an apprehended thought or object. This is the state in which one must dwell, namely a state of nonduality, in order to experience the natural mind. However, this is not a state of total emptiness or nothingness. Gampopa says (vol. 6, 8r, all quotes are from the Derge edition):

The essence [of the natural mind] is not nonexistence but to be separate from all arising and ceasing. The result [of the natural mind] is that nonexistence of arising and ceasing, the dharmakāya.

Therefore, thoughts are not merely cut off. Instead, one dwells in the realization that the thought that arises has no place where it originates from, no space where it dwells, and nothing into which it finally disappears. Moreover, Gampopa explicitly says (vol. 27, 9r): “Thought is the path of the natural mind.” But how does that fit with the many other passages where he speaks in the context of the natural mind of “nonthought” and “cutting off all thoughts?” A crucial passage may be the following, where Gampopa explains two systems of taking thoughts as the path. The first part of the passage says (vol. 10, 47v):

What is the difference between the natural [mind] (gnyug ma) and the innate yoga (lhan cig skyes sbyor, Skt. sahajayoga)? Innate yoga [also] takes thoughts as the path. Thoughts have two aspects: good thoughts and bad thoughts. Whichever arises, the thought is taken as the path by understanding it as a blessing. Thus, concerning the roaming in samsara, one roams because one has not recognized thoughts. There is no fear of samsara since one has made thoughts the path.

This is a very abbreviated explanation of the innate yoga. He states that thoughts are understood as a blessing, but he does not explain here how thoughts are used for practice. Elsewhere, Gampopa is more explicit and thus, before we continue with the above quote, let us briefly look into some other passages. In an instruction on innate yoga, Gampopa says (vol. 19, 17r):

All phenomena of the whole world are one’s mind. Come to a definitive decision [about that], thinking that the mind is without origination. Rest serenely inside yourself without evaluation. Remain without evaluating “this is fresh,” “it exists,” or “it does not exist.” Rest without hesitation, like a swallow enters its nest. “Unfabricated:” remain free from blocking or establishing, as the garuda soars in the sky. “Loosely:” remain without exertion. Have a smooth attentiveness that has abandoned all the activities of a person and remain [like that]. “Remain:” remain without blocking faults and establishing qualities. Remain lose and utterly without fabrication. Like that, be without focussing and rest at ease. Thereby, with a clear and unobstructed essence of the consciousness, loosen [the mind] through relaxation within complete purity, and practice! If relaxation is best, practice is best. If it is medium, practice is medium. If it is low, practice is low; it is impossible that it is any other way than that. Within dwelling like that, pacify any proliferating thought! This is like a cloud adventitiously rising in the sky that is pure by itself: It arises from the sky, and in the end, it dissolves back into it, yet it dissolves into the sky itself, and it is of the sky’s nature. An adventitious thought may arise, but it arose from the innate nature of the mind itself. In the middle, it remains, but it remains as the innate nature of the mind itself. In the end, it dissolves, but it dissolves into the innate nature of the mind itself. Know it to be not beyond the innate nature of the mind itself and practice [like that].

Although later authors like Jigten Sumgön go into more details, this should suffice here. The meditative practice described here is characterized by being both relaxed and attentive. Arising thoughts are to be pacified but not by blocking them, but by understanding that the thought arises from and dissolves back into mind itself, and between that, while it remains, it is none other than the mind itself. This is often explained through the example of waves and the ocean: The waves are not different from the ocean itself. Understanding it like that, Gampopa’s disciple Phagmodrupa, who was Jigten Sumgön’s root guru, says about the innate yoga (vol. 2, p. 288):

The rainbow of duality disappears in space. The emerging of thoughts and getting involved in them disperse like clouds. In this fine palace of spontaneous victory, the person of the natural mind who is free from proliferation sits cross-legged on the seat beyond thoughts.

And elsewhere very clearly (vol. 4, p. 292):

Thoughts arise in the essence of the natural mind, but like the darkness at daybreak, they disappear by themselves.

Garchen Rinpoche has pointed out that this innate yoga practice of mahāmudrā is a training, but when one dwells entirely without thoughts as described in Tilopa’s Gangama Mahāmudrā, that is the result. Probably to point out the difference between the training and the result, Gampopa, from the perspective of the natural mind, stated these critical words to those who practice the innate yoga (continuing the above passage of vol. 19, 17r):

Because you take thoughts as the path, the thing to be cut off and the means of cutting off are perceived as two, and there is no end to thoughts. A thought that arises is recognized. However, that one that arises may be recognized, but if you do not perceive the essence, you are not up to the task! When a chance to perceive [the essence] arises, that is it! There is no other chance to perceive [the essence]!

The point is here that a practitioner of the innate yoga may dwell in a state where mind and thoughts are like the ocean and its waves, but the actual task is to perceive in that arising thought the “essence.” Gampopa teaches explicitly that apart from thoughts, there is no other way to realize the dharmakāya! Gampopa’s disciple, Lama Zhang, also taught that one must take thoughts as the path. He said (vol. 8 of the 2004 edition, pp. 566‒67):

Following after afflictions or thoughts one is an ordinary person, abandoning or stopping them, one is a Hīnayānist, purifying and transforming them with mantra, mudrā, and samādhi, one is [a practitioner of] the outer mantra. Here, through the endeavor of bad thoughts, one is not spoiled. By looking at the essence of an arising thought, thoughts subside for those in whom experience arises, and something is inevitably added to their experience. For those in whom realization arises, there is nothing to subside.

And he quotes the “precious guru” (Gampopa?):

If one does not use thoughts for one’s favor, the time when gnosis arises will never come. A fire whose firewood is discarded is like a lotus on dry ground. If you know how to use thoughts in your favor, all outer and inner obstructions become aids for meditative practice.

Thus, what is that essence of thoughts? There is an interesting passage in the collected works fo Marpa Lotsāva, where he says (vol. 2, 211‒12):

Just that essence of thoughts (rtog pa’i ngo bo) is the “self of phenomena” and the “self of the person.” If you know the nature of thoughts to be clear light, then they stop by themselves.

Thus the self of phenomena—the belief that phenomena have an independent existence—and the self of the person—the belief in an independent existence of the self, like a soul—are here likened to thoughts. This is undoubtedly an interesting remark and deserves further investigation. I believe that the point here is that, like thoughts, the self has no origin, abiding, and cessation. Since the self shares these characteristics with the thoughts—the very thing with which we identify ourselves so much—realizing the essence of thoughts will cause the realization of the self: There is no identifiable essence. Therefore, the essence, the true nature of the self or natural mind, can be realized by understanding thoughts. Once one has realized the essence, thoughts and mind are realized as having no origin, abiding, and cessation—they are the dharmakāya. Gampopa actually explains this in the continuation of the above-quoted passage on the difference between the natural mind and the innate yoga (vol. 10, 47v):

If [the essence, i.e.] the “I” is not perceived [as it is], thoughts have no end. Through that, you possess the defect of endlessness with regard to that [arising of thoughts]. The “I” is [in truth] at the beginning unborn, in the middle without remaining, and at the end without cessation. It is without an essence to be identified. Its nature is uninterrupted. Its charateristics are beyond the mind. Now, from the perspective of mantra, with respect to the characteristics, even the buddhas of the three times do not perceive it. With respect to the absence of characteristics, it is uninterrupted at all times. From the perspective of the perfections, there is nothing to be removed from the “I” and there is not the slightest thing to be added. Watch perfectly the perfect purity! If you see the perfectly pure, you are free. Here, the perfectly pure is the “I.”

This essence, the perfectly pure self, the “I,” is, of course, the “natural mind” (gnyug ma), or dharmakāya. Thus, thoughts are used to attain the state of nonthought, just as firewood is completely burned up in a fire.

The Mahāmudrā Instruction for Ladrangpa

August 10, 2021

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(German translation below)
Judging from their titles, many instructions in the Collected Works of Jigten Sumgön have been granted to a particular person. The recipient of the present instruction – Geshe Ladrangpa – is otherwise unknown. However, his title “Geshe” at least reveals that he was an educated student who had probably received his title in one of the training centers that already existed at that time, such as Sangphu (founded in 1074), Bodong, Sakya, Zhalu, and so on.

The core of this mahāmudrā instruction is once again the Fivefold Path with (1) bodhicitta, (2) the practice of one’s personal deity, (3) guru yoga, (4) mahāmudrā, and (5) dedication. What is special about this instruction is that the section on mahāmudrā practice is highlighted by its length and is quite tantric in nature. This practice instruction is an instruction for a secluded retreat. It is explicitly mentioned twice here that one should practice compassion for all those who harm one, since from this arises a compassion that is not merely feigned. The two practices of the deity and guru yoga, which are the second and third limbs of the Fivefold Path of Mahāmudrā, are mentioned only briefly at first, and the main focus of this instruction is mahāmudrā practice.

However, in the mahāmudrā instruction that follows, the two previous limbs of yidam practice and guru yoga are clarified once again. After all, one practices mahāmudrā after visualizing oneself as the deity and, although it is not explicitly mentioned here, one also visualizes the guru in one’s heart. In many yidam deity practice texts it is said that one should practice at certain external tantric pilgrimage sites, each of which is associated with places on oneʼs own body and with certain stages of the bodhisattvas, and so on. However, since the vīras, herukas, and ḍākinīs who reside at these places have all originated from the Vārāhī family, one should, according to Jigten Sumgön, focus primarily on practicing Heruka and Vajravārāhī in a retreat.

What is it about all the outer pilgrimage sites and their inhabitants? The first Chungtsang Rinpoche, Rigdzin Chökyidragpa, in his History of the Cakrasamvara Tantra, describes how at the beginning of kaliyuga, the age of discord, some gandharvas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, nāgās, asuras, kinnaras, and ḍākinīs wanted to dominate the three realms of existence. They therefore invited the fearsome Maheśvara and his consort Kālaratri. Maheśvara then emanated 24 lingams to 24 places and called these beings to hold sacrificial festivals at these places. Therefore, sex, human flesh, blood, etc. were offered at these places to please Maheśvara. Thereupon, innumerable Buddhas came and emanated innumerable deities who manifested samādhis and maṇḍalas, by which innumerable corrupt and malignant beings were liberated from Maheśvaraʼs retinue. Eventually Cakrasamvara and Vajravārāhī manifested, subdued Maheśvara and Kālaratri, and made them their disciples (they also eventually became Buddhas). The deities of Cakrasamvara’s maṇḍala eventually subjugated all the gandharvas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, nāgās, asuras, kinnaras and ḍākinīs. Thus, all these places where previously the demons celebrated perverted sacrificial festivals became tantric pilgrimage sites of Buddhism.

However, as Jigten Sumgön teaches here, in a retreat it is sufficient to practice Heruka and Vajravārāhī, for all the deities of the various pilgrimage sites actually emerged from Varāhī. Then “there is no doubt that the vicious vīras and ḍākinīs will be destroyed by wrath.” It is therefore important to perceive all the deities of the maṇḍalas exclusively as Heruka and Vārāhī, that is, all the vīras are the Heruka, and the 37 ḍākinīs are the Vārāhī. Thus, in practice, one accomplishes the subjugation of the malicious Maheśvaras and his consort Kālaratri. In fact, the first torma to be offered after the blessing of the nectar goes to these gandharvas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, nāgās, asuras, kinnaras and ḍākinīs, who were formerly of Maheśvara’s retinue and are now bound to Cakrasamvaras maṇḍala.

The practice lineage of the Cakrasamvara Tantra has been transmitted in such a way that all members of the lineage have attained complete realization and therefore each bless their disciples “with the boundless ocean of the qualities of Heruka and of the Yogini.” This blessing is transmitted through the lineage of gurus alone. Therefore, one should “practice day and night without interrupting one’s efforts!” This uninterrupted practice and passionate devotion to the guru brings about the blessing transmission. “This is the vital point of the ultimate mahāmudrā!”

Then follows in the text the profound instruction on the actual practice of mahāmudrā as Jigten Sumgön had received it from Phagmodrupa, and the dedication of the merit.

I would like to thank Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen for his advice and Katrin Querl, Yeshe Metok and Sonam Spitz for their support in translating this text. This perfect teamwork is always a great pleasure!

Translation

Summary of the Key Points of the Unsurpassed Vehicle for the Great Geshe Ladrangpa
[Homage]
I bow with the crown of my head to the lotus feet
of the peerless, precious guru
who is the essence of the body, speech, and mind
of all the Buddhas of the three times.

[Foundation of All Practice: The Fivefold Path]
I heard this guru say:
“Wholesome in the beginning, middle and end
is what has been taught by the Buddhas of the past,
what will be taught by the Buddhas of the future,
and what the perfect Buddha who appeared in the present
has taught over and over again.^{♦ 1}
The key points are (1) the resolve to awaken, (2) [practicing] one’s personal deity,
(3) respectful devotion to the excellent guru,
and (4) ultimate mahāmudrā,
as well as (5) dedicating what has been accumulated in the three times
and the inherent virtue^{♦ 2} to supreme awakening.
Apart from these [five points], there is no other excellent dharma.
Practice this until perfect awakening is attained!”

[Bodhicitta]
First, the key point of the resolve to awaken:
Practice great compassion again and again
for the enemies who hate you and adversaries who harm you,
and for those who stand in the way
of your liberation and omniscience and hinder you.
This is to be practiced as follows:
Mark a retreat place in a very secluded place
and give up all activities and busyness.
You must dwell without distractions to body and mind!
Practice compassion for all those who harm you
with uninterrupted effort and familiarize with that.
When compassion has authentically arisen,
until you have attained perfect Buddhahood,
commit body, speech, and mind to virtue,
so that all immeasurable beings may attain perfect joy,
freedom from all suffering, and finally Buddhahood.
Commit your body, speech and mind to virtue
until you die and until tomorrow at the same time!
Imagine this and commit yourself!
With this special yogic discipline you will achieve it like this!

[Yidam]
Visualize yourself as your unsurpassed deity
and practice it as something that appears but is without a true nature,
like a brilliantly clear rainbow.
When you visualize like this,
then strive until you are exhausted!
Visualize this and commit yourself!
With this special yogic discipline, you will achieve it like this!

[Guru Yoga]
The glorious Phagmodrupa
‒ precious protector
and embodiment of the Buddhas of the three times ‒
is my excellent personal guru,
who removes the defects and perfects the qualities
in all of us, disciples and servants.

[Mahāmudrā]
As the King of Empowerment teaches,^{♦ 3}
and as it says in the Vasantatilakā:^{♦ 4}
“Practice continuously in the places
of Heruka and Vārāhī!”
The Heruka subdues the vicious ones,
and the venerable Ḍākinī
grants the immeasurable qualities that are beneficial and joyful.
Following the countless authoritative scriptures,
there are many views regarding the practice
relating to the primary and secondary seats (pīṭha and upapīṭha),
the primary and secondary fields (kṣetra and upakṣetra),
the primary and secondary assembly places (chandoha and upacchandoha),
the primary and secondary funeral places (śmaśāna and upaśmaśāna),^{♦ 5}
and the palaces of the five Buddhas,
however, all the vīras of herukas
and all the thirty-seven kinds of ḍākinīs
all have come from the Vārāhī family.
Since the Exalted One has taught this,
do not practice anything other than these two!^{♦ 6}
There is no doubt that the malicious vīras and ḍākinīs
will be destroyed by the wrath,^{♦ 7}
and that the precious protector of beings
will bless you with the boundless ocean of the qualities
of Heruka and of the Yogini.^{♦ 8}
The precious guru who blesses all the qualities in us
through the methods of the hidden mantra
brings about all happiness and well-being.
You should practice day and night
without interrupting your efforts!
Never interrupt your passionate devotion!
When you realize the blessing of your precious guru,
he will be there!
This is the vital point of ultimate mahāmudrā!
I heard the Venerable One say:
“Your own mind is self-originated and spontaneously present.
Do not spoil that which is immutable in the three times
by the notion of meditative absorption and post-meditative phase.
You would fall into the teachings of the Vaibhāśikas!”^{♦ 9}
Since this is what the Protector of the World taught,
follow this instruction!
Your own mind is self-originated and spontaneously present.
It was not created at a previous time,
nothing should be taken away from it at present,
and nothing should be added to it in the future.
From your own mind, which was not created, nothing should be taken away
and nothing should be added to it – it is unchanging and nothing to be practiced.
Should it seem possible to practice it, that is a mistake.
It is spontaneously present and uncreated.
It is to be introduced by the spiritual teacher!
The excellent beings should realize it!
You should not put your hope in anyone other than yourself!
The excellent, peerless guru said that,
apart from realizing and not realizing,
there is no attainment or non-attainment of the fruit.^{♦ 10}
Although it is actually inappropriate to write this down in words,
the spiritual teacher, who is the perfect master
of the precious teachings of [Shakya]muni,
has adorned it with the precious three trainings
and enriched it with the jewels of study, reflection, and practice.
He carries the banner of victory of the teaching that never disappears.
Since the great teacher Ladrangpa
has made this request with faith and devotion,
I have written this down. May all become bearers of the vajra
through the merit that has arisen!

[Dedication of Merit]
Thus, the root of merit is dedicated:^{♦ 11}
“May all merit present in all beings,
which has been accomplished, is being accomplished, and will be accomplished,
result in all beings manifesting themselves according to this good nature
on the respective stages as the supreme excellence (Samantabhadra).”

Follow what has been expressed in this dedication
by the unsurpassed vajra victory banner!

This precious instruction requested by the teacher Ladrangpa, which is a summary of the key points of the unsurpassed vehicle, is hereby concluded.

Die Mahāmudrā-Instruktion für Ladrangpa
Viele Instruktionen in den Gesammelten Werken Jigten Sumgöns sind von ihrem Titel her jeweils einer bestimmten Person gewährt worden. Der Empfänger dieser Instruktion – Geshe Ladrangpa – tritt anderwertig nicht in Erscheinung. Sein Titel „Geshe“ verrät jedoch zumindest, dass es sich um einen gebildeten Schüler handelt, der seinen Titel in einem der zu jener Zeit bereits existierenden Ausbildungszentren erhalten hatte, z.B. in Sangphu (gegr. 1074), Bodong, Sakya, Zhalu, und so weiter.

Der Kern dieser Mahāmudrā-Instruktion ist wieder einmal der Fünfgliedrige Pfad mit (1) Bodhicitta, (2) Praxis der persönlichen Gottheit, (3) Guru-Yoga, (4) Mahāmudrā, und (5) Widmung. Das besondere an dieser Instruktion ist, dass der Abschnitt zur Mahāmudrā-Praxis durch seine Länge hervorgehoben und sehr tantrisch geprägt ist. Diese Praxis-Instruktion ist eine Instruktion für eine Klausur an einem abgeschiedenen Ort. Es wird in ihr zweimal ausdrücklich erwähnt, dass man Mitgefühl für alle üben soll, die einem Schaden zufügen, denn daraus entsteht ein Mitgefühl, das nicht bloß vorgetäuscht ist. Die beiden Übungen der Gottheit und des Guru-Yoga, die das zweite und dritte Glied des Fünfachen Pfades der Mahāmudrā sind, werden zuerst nur kurz erwähnt, das Hauptaugenmerk der Instruktion ist die Mahāmudrā-Praxis.

In der folgenden Mahāmudrā-Instruktion werden die beiden vorherigen Glieder der Yidam-Praxis und des Guru-Yoga aber noch einmal präzisiert. Tatsächlich ist es ja so, dass man Mahāmudrā praktiziert, nachdem man sich selbst als Gottheit visualisiert hat und – auch wenn es hier nicht ausdrücklich erwähnt wird – den Guru in seinem Herzen. In vielen Praxistexten zur Yidam-Gottheit heißt es nun, das man an bestimmten äußeren tantrischen Pilgerstätten praktiziert, die jeweils mit Stellen am eigenen Körper und mit den Bodhisattvastufen verbunden sind, und so weiter. Da jedoch die Vīras, Herukas und Ḍākinīs, die an diesen Orten wohnen, allesamt aus der Vārāhī-Familie hervorgegangen sind, sollte man – so Jigten Sumgön – sich vor allem darauf konzentrieren, den Heruka und die Vajravārāhī in einer Klausur zu praktizieren.

Was hat es mit all den äußeren Pilgerstätten und deren Bewohnern auf sich? Der erste Chungtsang Rinpoche, Rigdzin Chökyidragpa, beschreibt in seiner Geschichte des Cakrasamvara Tantras wie zu Beginn des Kaliyuga, dem Zeitalter der Zwietracht, einige Gandharvas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Nāgās, Asuras, Kinnaras und Ḍākinīs die drei Bereiche der Existenz dominieren wollten. Deshalb luden sie den furchterregenden Maheśvara und seine Gefährtin Kālaratri ein. Dieser emanierte dann 24 Lingams an 24 Orte und rief diese Wesen dazu auf, an diesen Orten Opferfeste zu veranstalten. Deshalb wurde an diesen Orten Sex, Menschenfleisch, Blut usw. dargebracht um Maheśvara zu erfreuen. Daraufhin kamen unzählige Buddhas herbei und emanierten unzählige Gottheiten, die Samādhis und Maṇḍalas manifestierten, durch die unzählige verdorbene und bösartige Wesen aus dem Gefolge Maheśvaras befreit wurden. Schließlich manifestierten sich Cakrasamvara und Vajravārāhī, unterwarfen Maheśvara und Kālaratri und machten sie zu ihren Schülern (sie wurden schließlich auch zu Buddhas). Die Gottheiten des Cakrasamvara-Maṇḍalas unterwarfen schließlich alle Gandharvas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Nāgās, Asuras, Kinnaras und Ḍākinīs. So wurden all diese Orten, an denen zuvor die Dämonen perverse Opferfeste feierten, zu tantrischen Pilgerstätten des Buddhismus.

Wie Jigten Sumgön hier jedoch lehrt, reicht es aus, den Heruka und die Vajravārāhī in der Klausur zu praktizieren, denn alle Gottheiten der verschieden Pilgerstätten gingen aus der Varāhī hervor. Dann „gibt es keinen Zweifel, dass die bösartigen Vīras und Ḍākinīs durch den Zorn vernichtet werden.“ Es ist deshalb wichtig, dass man alle Gottheiten des Maṇḍalas ausschließlich als Heruka und Vārāhī wahrnimmt, das heißt: Alle Vīras sind der Heruka, und die 37 Ḍākinīs sind die Vārāhī. So vollziehen man in der Praxis die Unterwerfung des bösartigen Maheśvaras und seiner Gefährtin Kālaratri nach. Tatsächlich geht der erste Torma, der nach der Segnung des Nektars dargebracht wird, an diese Gandharvas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Nāgās, Asuras, Kinnaras und Ḍākinīs, die früher zu Maheśvaras Gefolge gehörten und nun an Cakrasamvaras Maṇḍala gebunden sind.

Die Praxislinie des Cakrasamvara Tantras wurde so überliefert, dass alle Mitglieder der Überlieferungslinie eine vollständige Verwirklichung erlangt haben und deshalb jeweils ihre Schüler „mit dem grenzenlosen Ozean der Qualitäten des Heruka und der Yogini segnen.“ Dieser Segen wird allein durch den Guru überliefert. Deshalb soll man „Tag und Nacht üben, ohne die Anstrengungen zu unterbrechen!“ Diese ununterbrochene Übung und die leidenschaftliche Hingabe zum Guru bewirken die Segensübertragung. „Das ist der Kernpunkt der letztendlichen Mahāmudrā!“

Dann folgt im Text die tiefgründige Instruktion zur eigentlich Praxis der Mahāmudrā, wie Jigten Sumgön sie von Phagmodrupa erhalten hatte, und die Widmung des Verdienstes.

Ich möchte an dieser Stelle Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen für seine Hinweise danken, sowie auch Katrin Querl, Yeshe Metok und Sonam Spitz für ihre Unterstützung bei der Übersetzung dieses Textes. Dieses perfekte Teamwork ist immer eine große Freude!

Übersetzung

Zusammenfassung der Kernpunkte des unübertroffenen Fahrzeugs für den großen Geshe Ladrangpa

[Ehrerweisung]
Ich verneige mich mit der Krone meines Kopfes vor den Lotusfüßen
des unvergleichlichen, kostbaren Gurus,
der die Essenz von Körper, Rede und Geist
aller Buddhas der drei Zeiten ist.

[Grundlage aller Praxis: Der fünfgliedrige Pfad]
Ich hörte diesen Guru sagen:
„Heilsam am Anfang, in der Mitte und am Ende
ist das durch die Buddhas der Vergangenheit Gelehrte,
was auch die Buddhas der Zukunft lehren werden,
und was der vollkommene Buddha, der in der Gegenwart erschien,
immer und immer wieder gelehrt hat.^{♦ 12}
Die Kernpunkte sind (1) der Entschlusses zu erwachen, (2) [die Praxis] der persönlichen Gottheit,
(3) die respektvollen Hingabe zum exzellenten Guru
und (4) letztendliches Mahāmudrā,
sowie (5) der Widmung des in den drei Zeiten Angesammelten
und des innewohnenden Heilsamen^{♦ 13} für das höchste Erwachen.
Abgesehen von diesen [fünf Punkten] gibt es keinen anderen exzellenten Dharma.
Praktiziere dies, bis das vollkommene Erwachen erlangt ist!“

[Bodhicitta]
Zuerst der Kernpunkt des Entschlusses zu erwachen:
Übe immer wieder großes Mitgefühl
für die Feinde, die dich hassen und Widersacher, die dir Schaden zufügen,
und für die, die deiner Befreiung und Allwissenheit
entgegenstehen und dich behindern.
Dies ist wie folgt zu üben:
Stecke an einem sehr abgeschiedenen Ort
deinen Klausurplatz ab und gebe alle Aktivitäten und Geschäftigkeit auf.
Du mußt ohne Ablenkungen für Körper und Geist verweilen!
Übe mit ununterbrochener Anstrengung Mitgefühl für alle,
die dir Schaden zufügen, und gewöhne dich daran.
Daraus entsteht ein Mitgefühl, das nicht bloß vorgetäuscht ist.
Übe dies dann in Hinsicht auf alle Wesen.
Wenn Mitgefühl authentisch entstanden ist,
verpflichte, bis du vollkommene Buddhaschaft erlangt hast,
Körper, Rede und Geist dem Heilsamen,
damit alle unermeßlichen Lebewesen
vollkommene Freude, Freiheit von allem Leid
und schließlich die Buddhaschaft erlangen mögen.
Verpflichte bis zu deinem Tod und bis morgen zum selben Zeitpunkt
Körper, Rede und Geist dem Heilsamen,
Stelle dir dies vor und verpflichte dich!
Mit dieser speziellen yogischen Disziplin wirst du es so erreichen!

[Yidam]
Visualisiere dich als deine unübertroffene Gottheit
und übe sie als etwas, das erscheint, aber ohne eine wahre Natur ist,
wie ein strahlend klarer Regenbogen.
Wenn du so visualisierst,
dann bemühe dich, bis du erschöpft bist!
Stelle dir dies vor und verpflichte dich!
Mit dieser speziellen yogischen Disziplin wirst du es so erreichen!

[Guru Yoga]
Der glanzerfüllte Phagmodrupa
‒ kostbarer Beschützer
und Verkörperung der Buddhas der drei Zeiten ‒
ist mein exzellenter persönlicher Guru,
der bei uns allen, den Schülern und Dienern,
die Fehler beseitigt und die Qualitäten vollendet.

[Mahāmudrā]
So, wie der König der Ermächtigung es lehrt,^{♦ 14}
und wie es im Vasantatilakā heißt:^{♦ 15}
“Praktiziere ununterbrochen an den Plätzen
des Heruka und der Vārāhī!”
Der Heruka unterwirft die Bösartigen
und die ehrwürdige Ḍākinī
gewährt die unermeßlichen Qualitäten, die nützlich und freudvoll sind.
Folgt man den zahllosen autoritativen Schriften,
gibt es viele Auffassungen hinsichtlich der Praxis
bezüglich der Haupt- und Nebensitze (pīṭha und upapīṭha),
der primären und sekundären Felder (kṣetra und upakṣetra),
der Haupt- und Nebenversammlungsorte (chandoha und upacchandoha),
der primären und sekundären Leichenplätzen (śmaśāna, upaśmaśāna),^{♦ 16}
und der Paläste der fünf Buddhas,
jedoch sind alle Vīras der Herukas
und alle die siebenunddreißig Arten von Ḍākinīs
allesamt aus der Vārāhī-Familie hervorgegangen.
Da der Erhabene dies gelehrt hat,
praktiziere nichts anderes
als diese Beiden!^{♦ 17}
Es gibt keinen Zweifel, dass die bösartigen Vīras und Ḍākinīs
durch den Zorn vernichtet werden,^{♦ 18}
und dass der kostbare Beschützer der Wesen dich
mit dem grenzenlosen Ozean der Qualitäten
des Heruka und der Yogini segnet.^{♦ 19}
Der kostbare Guru, der alle Qulitäten in uns
durch die Methoden des verborgenen Mantra segnet,
bewirkt alles Glück und Wohl.
Du solltest Tag und Nacht üben,
ohne die Anstrengungen zu unterbrechen!
Unterbreche niemals dein leidenschaftliche Hingabe!
Wenn du den Segen deines kostbaren Gurus erkennst,
wird er da sein.
Das ist der Kernpunkt der letztendlichen Mahāmudrā!
Ich hörte den Ehrwürdigen sagen:
ADein eigener Geist ist selbst-entstanden und spontan gegenwärtig.
Verdirb nicht das, was in den drei Zeiten unwandelbar ist,
durch die Vorstellung von meditativen Vertiefung und nach-meditativen Phase.
Du würdest den Lehren der Vaibhāśikas verfallen!^{♦ 20}
Da dies der Beschützer der Welt lehrte,
folge dieser Instruktion!
Der eigene Geist ist selbst-entstanden und spontan gegenwärtig.
Er wurde nicht zu einer früheren Zeit erschaffen,
gegenwärtig sollte ihm nichts entzogen werden,
und in der Zukunft sollte ihm nichts hinzugefügt werden.
Dein eigener Geist, der nicht geschaffen wurde, dem nichts entzogen
und nichts hinzugefügt werden sollte, ist unwandelbar und nichts, was zu praktizieren ist.
Sollte es möglich erscheinen, ihn zu praktizieren, ist das ein Irrtum.
Er ist spontan gegenwärtig und unerschaffen.
Er soll durch den spirituellen Lehrer eingeführt werden!
Die exzellenten Wesen sollen ihn verwirklichen!
Du sollstest in niemand anderen als dich selbst deine Hoffnung setzen!
Der exzellente, unvergleichliche Guru sagte,
dass es, abgesehen vom Verwirklichen und Nicht-Verwirklichen,
kein Erlangen oder Nicht-Erlangen der Frucht gibt.^{♦ 21}
Obwohl es eigentlich unpassend ist, dies in Worten niederzuschreiben,
hat der spirituelle Lehrer, der der vollkommene Herr
der kostbaren Lehren des [Shakya]muni ist,
es mit den kostbaren drei Schulungen verziert
und mit den Juwelen von Studium, Reflexion und Praxis angereichert.
Er trägt das Siegesbanner der niemals untergehenden Lehre.
Da der große Lehrmeister Ladrangpa
mit Vertrauen und Hingabe diese Bitte vorgebracht hat,
habe ich dies niedergeschrieben. Mögen Alle durch das entstandene Verdienst
zu Trägern des Vajra werden!

[Widmung des Verdienstes]
So wird die Wurzel des Verdienstes gewidmet:^{♦ 22}
“Möge alles Verdienst, das bei allen Wesen vorhanden ist,
das vollbracht wurde, wird, und werden wird,
dazu führen, dass sich alle Wesen dieser guten Natur entsprechend
auf den jeweiligen Stufen als die höchste Exzellenz (Samantabhadra) manifestieren.”

Folge dem, was in dieser Widmung durch den unübertroffenen Vajra-Siegesbanner
zum Ausdruck gebracht worden ist!

Diese von dem Lehrmeister Ladrangpa erbetene kostbare Instruktion, die eine Zusammenfassung der Kernpunkte des unübertroffenen Fahrzeugs ist, ist hiermit abgeschlossen.

NOTES/ANMERKUNGEN
^{1. []↩}Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti, D vol. 77, 2r5.
^{2. []↩}The virtue accumulated in the three times is the accumulation of merit and wisdom, and the inherent virtue is the Buddha nature present in all beings.
^{3. []↩}Phagmodrupa, Yid bzhin gyi nor bu rin po che dbang gi rgyal po lta bu’i gdams ngag blo gros, Collected Works, vol. 2, pp. 1‒66.
^{4. []↩}Kṛṣṇācāryaʼs Vasantatilakā (dPyid kyi thig le) from the Cakrasaṃvara cycle, D no. 1448, vol. wa, fols. 298b2‒306b4.
^{5. []↩}In very general terms, these places came into existence when the Heruka of the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra destroyed the fearsome Maheśvara and distributed his body parts in 24 main and eight secondary places.
^{6. []↩}“These two” means Heruka-Cakrasaṃvara and Vārāhī.
^{7. []↩}Vīras and ḍākinīs, before being subdued by the main deity (Cakrasamvara) and integrated into the maṇḍala, are dangerous beings. It is therefore important to perceive all the deities of the maṇḍalas exclusively as Heruka and Vārāhī, that is, all the vīras are Heruka, and the 37 ḍākinīs are the Vārāhī (Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen).
^{8. []↩}“Guardian of beings” (ʼgro baʼi mgon po) is here Jigten Sumgönʼs guru Phagmodrupa. He grants the qualities of separation from afflictions and the maturing of qualities (Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen).
^{9. []↩}Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen explains this as follows: Usually the phase of meditative absorption is considered to be the same as space and the post-meditative phase is considered to be something completely different from it. But this is a mistake. The realization of that “which is unchanging in the three times,” that is, the nature of mind or mahāmudrā, is spoiled by such divisions. “Vaibhashika” here stands for the lowest Buddhist view, which is known for dividing things and then considering them to be truly existent.
^{10. []↩}That is, the only thing that matters is whether or not one achieves realizatopn. Other results are of no importance. Phagmodrupa’s Works, vol. 3, p. 393.
^{11. []↩}Buddhāvataṃsaka Mahāvaipūlyasūtra, D vol. 36, 165v. Read: red ʼgyur cig.
^{12. []↩}Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti, D vol. 77, 2r5.
^{13. []↩}Das in den drei Zeiten angesammelte Heilsame sind die Ansammlungen von Verdienst und Weisheit, und das innewohnende Heilsame ist die in allen Wesen vorhandene Buddhanatur.
^{14. []↩}Phagmodrupa, Yid bzhin gyi nor bu rin po che dbang gi rgyal po lta bu’i gdams ngag blo gros, Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 2, S. 1‒66.
^{15. []↩}Kṛṣṇācāryas Vasantatilakā (dPyid kyi thig le) aus dem Cakrasaṃvara-Zyklus, D no. 1448, Bd. wa, fols. 298b2‒306b4.
^{16. []↩}Ganz allgemein gesagt entstanden diese Orte, als der Heruka des Cakrasaṃvara Tantra den Maheśvara vernichtete und seine Körperteile an 24 Haupt- und acht Sekundärplätzen verteilte.
^{17. []↩}Mit “diese Beiden” sind Heruka-Cakrasaṃvara und Vārāhī gemeint.
^{18. []↩}Vīras und Ḍākinīs sind, bevor sie von der Hauptgottheit unterworfen und in das Maṇḍala integriert wurden, gefährliche Wesen. Es ist deshalb wichtig, dass man alle Gottheiten des Maṇḍalas ausschließlich als Heruka und Vārāhī wahrnimmt, das heißt: Alle Vīras sind der Heruka, und die 37 Ḍākinīs sind die Vārāhī (Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen).
^{19. []↩}“Schützer der Wesen” (‘gro ba’i mgon po) ist hier Jigten Sumgön’s Guru Phagmodrupa gemeint. Er gewährt die Qualitäten des Getrenntseins von Geistesgiften und der Heranreifung von Qualitäten (Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen).
^{20. []↩}Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen erläutert dies folgendermaßen: Gewöhnlich wird die Phase der meditativen Vertiefung als raumgleich und die nach-meditative Phase als etwas komplett davon verschiedenes betrachtet. Das ist aber ein Fehler. Die Verwirklichung desses, „was in den drei Zeiten unwandelbar ist“, also der Natur des Geistes oder der Mahāmudrā, wird durch solche Unterteilungen verdorben. „Vaibhashika“ steht hier für die niedrigste buddhistische Sichtweise, die dafür bekannt ist, die Dinge zu unterteilen und dann als wahrhaft existent zu betrachten.
^{21. []↩}Das heißt, dass es allein darauf ankommt, ob man Verwiklichung erlangt, oder nicht. Andere Resultate sind ohne Bedeutung. Phagmodrupa’s Werke, Bd. 3, S. 393.
^{22. []↩}Buddhāvataṃsaka Mahāvaipūlyasūtra, D vol. 36, 165v. Lies: red ʼgyur cig.

Quintessential Practice of Sūtra and Mantra: Essential Instruction of the Fivefold Path of Mahāmudrā

August 4, 2021

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(German translation below)

Once again, Jigten Sumgön teaches the practice of Mahāmudrā as the Fivefold Profound Path. He calls this instruction the “quintessential practice of sūtra and mantra.” This is interesting in view of the fact that in recent years, many Western writers have described the teachings of Mahāmudrā that come from Gampopa as “sūtra mahāmudrā,” following the lead of some Karma-Kagyü teachers of the 19th and 20th century, starting with the first Kongtrul Rinpoche. But Gampopa himself has never described his method as “sūtra mahāmudrā.” Instead, Gampopa himself has differentiated the Buddhist paths of practice in other ways. Once, in reply to a question of the first Karmapa, he said that there is

1. the path of inference (= sūtra)

2. the path of blessing (= receiving empowerment and practicing deities, mantras, etc.)

3. the path of direct perception (= the mahāmudrā of innate luminosity)

Here, the sūtra is a path where one identifies through arguments what is to be accomplished and what is to be abandoned. In mantra, through the blessing of the gurus of the transmission, one realizes the purity of all phenomena, whereby, in a way, the faults are transformed into qualities. In mahāmudrā, the innate luminosity of the mind is directly perceived. The point is that mahāmudrā does neither need inferences nor transformations. The mind itself already is mahāmudrā; directly perceiving that is liberation. But such direct perception needs masses of merit, and these are accumulated through the practices of the sūtra path and—much faster—through the mantra path of blessing, empowerment, practicing deities, and so forth. Thus, unless you are an instantaneous realizer with masses of merit from practice in previous lives, your mahāmudrā approach will be one through practices of sūtra and mantra.

Moreover, the third path of direct perception, too, is not outside of mantra. Only the sūtra approach is outside of mantra, since Gampopa explained that sūtra is an indirect approach (through inferences) while “mantra takes the actual, direct object as the path.” Hence, the third path above—the path of direct perception—is also a mantra path. To conclude this point, Gampopa’s mahāmudrā is not a “sūtra mahāmudrā.” For those few individuals who are instantaneous realizers (and not even Milarepa and Gampopa counted themselves among such lucky individuals), it is a mantra path of direct perception, and for everyone else, including Mila and Gampopa, mahāmudrā is achieved through sūtra and mantra practices.

This is also the case in Jigten Sumgön’s Fivefold Path of Mahāmudrā. Both the first and the last of the five limbs are sūtra practices, namely (1) love, compassion, and bodhicitta and (5) dedication of merit. The second and third limb are mantra practices, namely (2) practicing the deity (in this instructions, it is explicitly mentioned that one can use Avalokiteśvara for the Fivefold Path) and (3) practicing the guru in one’s heart, or, at the time of death, at the crown of your head. Having practiced the first three limbs, one dwells within one’s clear awareness without thoughts, which is the practice of mahāmudrā, embedded in practices of sūtra and mantra. Dwelling in that state, from time to time, one dedicates the merit to all sentient beings, which is the fifth limb.

This instruction of Jigten Sumgön is explicitly directed to laypersons.

Translation

In general, the certain cause of attaining perfect buddhahood is the resolve for awakening. Therefore, at all times and in all ways, when you practice the root of the great waves of virtue, when you do any practice, and at the beginning of any practice session, practice as follows to bring forth the resolve:

“May all my mothers—the sentient beings who are as limitless as space—have happiness, be free from suffering, and attain the precious, supreme, and perfect awakening. For that purpose, I will, until I reach buddhahood, bind body, speech, and mind to virtue. I will, until I die, bind body, speech, and mind to virtue. I will, until the same time tomorrow, bind body, speech, and mind to virtue”—thinking that, practice your body as your cherished deity. If you do not have such a deity, practice my cherished deity, the lord of great compassion, the noble Avalokiteśvara, or any powerful lord whatsoever. Practice the excellent guru in your heart. At the time of death, practice him at the crown of your head, it is said.

Then, look at your own vigilant and clear awareness and “not seeing anything at the time of looking is seeing true reality.” Therefore, dwell in that state without any mental activity.

If your mind begins to stirr again with high and low thoughts, transform your going, standing, lying, sitting, or any other conduct so that through practice, it becomes uninterrupted virtuous practice, the essence of being without thoughts, and the spontaneously accomplished nature. Then maintain that without interruption.

After you have cultivated the root of virtue or dwelled in meditative balance in your practice, recollect from time to time the root of virtue that has been accumulated by yourself and all sentient beings in the three times and the virtue that is existent [in the buddha nature of all beings]:

“May through this virtue that I and all sentient beings in the three times have accumulated, and that is existent, I and all sentient beings quickly attain the precious, supreme, and perfect awakening.” Thereby the root of virtue is to be dedicated.

You must practice at all times uninterruptedly in that manner, guard the precious approximation vow(*) and whichever lay vows from among the four roots you can maintain. Accordingly, the Exalted One said: “If you do not guard at least one rule, you are not part of my retinue.” Thus, knowing that all activities are without purpose if you do not belong to the retinue of our teacher, make efforts to guard disciplined conduct! This is complete.

Note

(*) “Approximation vows” (bsnyen gnas kyi sdom pa, Skt. upavasasaṃvara), are vows where laypersons practice the first four vows of ordination, relinquish alcohol, fancy clothing, jewelry, and high seats, and also cease taking meals after noon for one day to approximate the vows of ordination.

Quintessenz der Praxis von Sūtra und Mantra: Die Wesentliche Unterweisung des Fünffachen Pfades der Mahāmudrā

Einmal mehr lehrt Jigten Sumgön die Praxis von Mahāmudrā als den Fünffachen Tiefgründigen Pfad. Er nennt diese Unterweisung die “Quintessenz der Praxis von Sūtra und Mantra”. Dies ist interessant angesichts der Tatsache, dass in den letzten Jahren viele westliche Autoren die Lehren der Mahāmudrā, die von Gampopa stammen, als “Sūtra Mahāmudrā” bezeichnet haben, in Anlehnung an einige Karma-Kagyü Lehrer des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, beginnend mit dem ersten Kongtrul Rinpoche. Aber Gampopa selbst hat seine Methode nie als “Sūtra Mahāmudrā” bezeichnet. Stattdessen hat Gampopa selbst die buddhistischen Praxispfade auf andere Weise unterschieden. Einmal sagte er als Antwort auf eine Frage des ersten Karmapa, es gäbe

1. den Pfad der Schlussfolgerung (= sūtra)

2. den Weg der Segnung (= Empfang von Ermächtigungen und Praxis der Gottheiten, Mantrarezitation, usw.)

3. den Weg der direkten Wahrnehmung (= die Mahāmudrā der angeborenen Lichthaftigkeit)

Hier ist das Sūtra ein Weg, auf dem man durch Argumente feststellt, was zu erreichen und was aufzugeben ist. Im Mantra erkennt man durch den Segen der Gurus der Überlieferungslinie die Reinheit aller Phänomene, wodurch gewissermaßen die Fehler in Qualitäten verwandelt werden. In der Mahāmudrā wird die angeborene Lichthaftigkeit des Geistes direkt wahrgenommen. Der Punkt ist, dass Mahāmudrā weder Schlussfolgerungen noch Umwandlungen benötigt. Der Geist selbst ist bereits Mahāmudrā; dies direkt wahrzunehmen ist Befreiung. Aber eine solche direkte Wahrnehmung erfordert Massen von Verdienst, und diese werden durch die Praxis des Sūtra-Pfades und – viel schneller – durch den Mantra-Pfad des Segnens, der Ermächtigung, der Praxis der Gottheiten und so weiter angesammelt. Wenn man also kein plötzlicher Verwirklicher ist, der durch die Praxis in früheren Leben massenhaft Verdienst erworben hat, wird man Mahāmudrā durch die Praxis von Sūtra und Mantra verwirklichen.

Aber auch der oben erwähnte dritte Pfad der direkten Wahrnehmung liegt nicht außerhalb von Mantra. Nur der Sūtra-Pfad ist außerhalb von Mantra, da Gampopa erklärte, dass Sūtra eine indirekte Annäherung (durch Schlussfolgerungen) ist, während “Mantra das eigentliche, direkte Objekt als Weg nimmt.” Daher ist dieser dritte Pfad – der Pfad der direkten Wahrnehmung – ebenso ein Mantra-Pfad. Um diesen Punkt abzuschließen: Gampopas Mahāmudrā ist kein “Sūtra Mahāmudrā.” Für jene wenigen Individuen, die plötzliche Verwirklicher sind (und nicht einmal Milarepa und Gampopa zählten sich selbst zu diesen glücklichen Individuen), ist es ein Mantra-Pfad der direkten Wahrnehmung, und für alle anderen, einschließlich Mila und Gampopa, wird Mahāmudrā durch Sūtra- und Mantra-Praktiken erreicht.

Dies ist auch der Fall in Jigten Sumgöns Fünffachem Pfad der Mahāmudrā. Sowohl das erste als auch das letzte der fünf Glieder sind Sūtra-Praktiken, nämlich (1) Liebe, Mitgefühl und Bodhicitta und (5) Widmung von Verdienst. Das zweite und dritte Glied sind Mantra-Praktiken, nämlich (2) die Praxis der Gottheit (in dieser Instruktion wird ausdrücklich erwähnt, dass man Avalokiteśvara für den Fünffachen Pfad verwenden kann) und (3) die Praxis des Gurus im Herzen oder, zum Zeitpunkt des Todes, auf dem Scheitel des Kopfes. Nachdem man die ersten drei Glieder geübt hat, verweilt man in seinem klaren Gewahrsein ohne Gedanken, was die Praxis der Mahāmudrā ist, eingebettet in die Praxis von Sūtra und Mantra. In diesem Zustand verweilend, widmet man von Zeit zu Zeit den Verdienst allen fühlenden Wesen, was das fünfte Glied ist.

Diese Unterweisung von Jigten Sumgön richtet sich ausdrücklich an Laien.

Übersetzung

Im Allgemeinen ist die sichere Ursache für das Erreichen der vollkommenen Buddhaschaft der Entschluss zu Erwachen. Gelobe daher zu jeder Zeit und auf jede Weise wie folgt den Entschluss hervorzubrigen wenn du die Wurzel der großen Wellen des Heilsamen praktizierst, wenn du irgendeine Praxis übst, und zu Beginn einer jeden Praxissitzung:

“Mögen alle meine Mütter — die fühlenden Wesen, die so grenzenlos wie der Raum sind — Glück besitzen, frei von Leiden sein und das kostbare, höchste und vollkommene Erwachen erlangen; zu diesem Zweck werde ich, bis ich die Buddhaschaft erreicht habe, Körper, Rede und Geist an das Heilsame binden; ich werde, bis ich sterbe, Körper, Rede und Geist an das Heilsame binden; und ich werde, bis zur gleichen Zeit morgen, Körper, Rede und Geist an das Heilsame binden”—wenn du das denkst, übe deinen Körper als die Gottheit, die du am meißten schätzt. Wenn du keine solche Gottheit hast, praktiziere meine geschätzte Gottheit, den Herrn des großen Mitgefühls, den edlen Avalokiteśvara, oder irgendeinen anderen mächtigen Herrn. Praktiziere den ausgezeichneten Guru in deinem Herzen. Zur Zeit des Todes praktiziere ihn auf dem Scheitel deines Kopfes, so heißt es.

Dann schaue auf dein eigenes waches und klares Gewahrsein und “nichts zu sehen zum Zeitpunkt des Betrachtens ist das Sehen der wahren Wirklichkeit.” Verweile also in diesem Zustand ohne jegliche geistige Aktivität.

Wenn dein Geist wieder beginnt, sich mit hohen und niedrigen Gedanken zu bewegen, wandele dein Gehen, Stehen, Liegen, Sitzen oder jedes andere Verhalten so um, dass es durch die Praxis zu einer ununterbrochenen heilsamen Praxis wird, die Essenz des ohne Gedanken Seins und die spontan vollendete Natur. Dann halte dies ohne Unterbrechung aufrecht.

Nachdem du die Wurzel des Heilsamen hervorgebracht oder in meditativer Ausgeglichenheit in der Praxis verweilt hast, rufe dir von Zeit zu Zeit die Wurzel des Heilsamen, das von dir und allen fühlenden Wesen in den drei Zeiten angesammelt wurde, und des Heilsamen, das [in der Buddhanatur aller Wesen] vorhanden ist, ins Gedächtnis:

“Mögen ich und alle fühlenden Wesen durch dieses Heilsame, das von mir und allen fühlenden Wesen in den drei Zeiten angesammelt worden ist und das [in der Buddhanatur der Wesen] existent ist, schnell das kostbare, höchste und vollkommene Erwachen erlangen.” So ist die Wurzel des Heilsamen zu widmen.

Es ist sehr wichtig, dass man zu allen Zeiten ununterbrochen auf diese Weise praktiziert, das kostbare Annäherungsgelübde(*) bewahrt und je nach Fähigkeit eines oder mehrere der vier Wurzelgelübde aufrecht erhält. Dementsprechend sagte der Erhabene: “Wenn du nicht mindestens eine Regel bewahrst, gehörst du nicht zu meinem Gefolge.” Da ihr also wisst, dass alle Betätigungen zwecklos sind, wenn ihr nicht zum Gefolge unseres Lehrers gehört, bemüht euch, diszipliniertes Verhalten zu bewahren! Dies ist vollständig.

Anmerkung

(*) “Annäherungsgelübde” (bsnyen gnas kyi sdom pa, Skt. upavasasaṃvara), sind die Gelübde, bei denen Laien für einen Tag die ersten vier Gelübde der Ordination praktizieren, auf Alkohol, besondere Kleidung, Schmuck und hohe Sitze verzichten und auch die Einnahme von Mahlzeiten nach dem Mittag einstellen, um sich den Gelübden der Ordination anzunähern.

Collected Works of Jigten Sumgon, vol. 3, p. 67‒70.

མདོ་སྔགས་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་ཉིང་ཁུ་ཕྱག་ཆེན་ལྔ་ལྡན་གྱི་ཁྲིད་སྙིང་བསྡུས༎ བླ་མ་དམ་པ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །སྤྱིར་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐོབ་པར་བྱེད་པའི་རྒྱུ་ངེས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཡིན་པས། དུས་དང་རྣམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་། རླབས་པོ་ཆེའི་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་བྱེད་པ་དང་། ཉམས་ལེན་གང་དུ་བསྣུན་པའི་དུས་དང་བསྒོམས་པའི་ཐུན་འགོ་ལ། སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པའི་དམ་བཅའ་འདི་ལྟར་བྱ་སྟེ། མ་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་མཉམ་པའི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེ་བ་དང་ལྡན། སྡུག་བསྔལ་དང་བྲལ། བླ་ན་མེད་པ་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཐོབ་པར་བྱ། དེའི་ཆེད་དུ་སངས་མ་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་བར་དུ་ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་ལ་བཀོལ། མ་ཤིའི་བར་དུ་ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་ལ་བཀོལ། དུས་དེ་རིང་ནས་བཟུང་ནས་ཉི་མ་སང་ད་ཙམ་གྱི་བར་དུ་ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་ལ་བཀོལ་སྙམ་དུ་བསམས་ལ། རང་གི་ལུས་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷར་བསྒོམ། མེད་ན་ངའི་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷ། ཇོ་བོ་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་རྗེ་བཙུན་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་གང་ཡང་རུང་བ་ཞིག་ཏུ་བསྒོམ། བླ་མ་དམ་པ་ཐུགས་ཀར་བསྒོམ། ནམ་འཆི་བའི་དུས་སུ་ནི་སྤྱི་བོར་བསྒོམ་པ་ཡིན་གསུངས། དེ་ནས་རང་གི་རིག་པ་རིག་རིག་ཏུར་ཏུར་པོ་འདི་ལ་བལྟས་ལ། བལྟས་པའི་དུས་སུ་གང་ཡང་མ་མཐོང་བ་དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་མཐོང་བའོ་ཞེས་པས། དེའི་ངང་ལ་ཅི་ཡང་ཡིད་ལ་མི་བྱེད་པར་བཞག། རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་མཐོ་དམན་གྱིས་སེམས་རྣམ་པར་གཡེངས་ན། འགྲོ་འཆག་ཉལ་འདུག་གམ། སྤྱོད་ལམ་བསྒྱུར་ནས་བསྒོམས་པས་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པའི་དགེ་སྦྱོར། རྣམ་རྟོག་མེད་པའི་ངོ་བོ། ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་དུ་འོང་བ་ཡིན་པས། དེ་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པར་བསྐྱང་། དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་བྱས་པའི་རྗེས་སམ། ཐུགས་དམ་ལ་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་པའི་རྗེས་ལ། སྐབས་སྐབས་སུ་བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་དུས་གསུམ་དུ་བསགས་ཤིང་ཡོད་པའི་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་དྲན་པར་བྱས། བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིs་དུས་གསུམ་དུ་བསགས་ཤིང་ཡོད་པའི་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་འདིས། བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་མྱུར་དུ་བླ་ན་མེད་པར་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཐོབ་པར་གྱུར་ཅིག་ཅེས། དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་བསྔོ་བར་བྱའོ། །དུས་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པར་ཚུལ་དེ་ལྟར་ཉམས་སུ་བླང་ཞིང་། བསྙེན་གནས་ཀྱི་སྡོམ་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བསྲུང་བ་དང་། རྩ་བ་བཞི་ལས་གང་ཐུབ་ཐུབ་ཀྱི་དགེ་བསྙེན་གྱི་སྡོམ་པ་སྲུང་བ་གལ་ཆེ་སྟེ། དེ་ལྟར་ཡང་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱིས། ཁྲིམས་གཅིག་ཙམ་ཡང་མི་བསྲུང་ན་ངའི་འཁོར་དུ་མ་གཏོགས་སོ། །ཞེས་གསུངས་པས་སྟོན་པའི་འཁོར་དུ་མ་གཏོགས་ན་བྱས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པར་བྱས་ནས། ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་བསྲུང་བ་ལ་འབད་པར་བྱའོ། །རྫོགས་སོ༎་༎

mdo sngags nyams len gyi nying khu phyag chen lnga ldan gyi khrid snying bsdus//» bla ma dam pa rnams la phyag ‘tshal lo/ / spyir rdzogs pa’i sangs rgyas thob par byed pa’i rgyu nges pa byang chub kyi sems yin pas/ dus dang rnam pa thams cad dang / rlabs po che’i dge ba’i rtsa ba byed pa dang / nyams len gang du bsnun pa’i dus dang bsgoms pa’i thun ‘go <68>la/ sems bskyed pa’i dam bca’ ‘di ltar bya ste/ ma nam mkha’ dang mnyam pa’i sems can thams cad bde ba dang ldan/ sdug bsngal dang bral/ bla na med pa yang dag par rdzogs pa’i byang chub rin po che thob par bya/ de’i ched du sangs ma rgyas kyi bar du lus ngag yid gsum dge ba la bkol/ ma shi’i bar du lus ngag yid gsum dge ba la bkol/ dus de ring nas bzung nas nyi ma sang da tsam gyi bar du lus ngag yid gsum dge ba la bkol snyam du bsams la/ rang gi lus yi dam gyi lhar bsgom/ med na nga’i yi dam gyi lha/ jo bo thugs rje chen po rje btsun spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug gang yang rung ba zhig tu bsgom/ bla ma dam pa thugs kar bsgom/ nam ‘chi ba’i dus su ni spyi bor bsgom pa yin gsungs/ de nas rang gi rig pa rig rig tur tur po ‘di la bltas la/ bltas pa’i dus su gang yang ma mthong ba de kho na nyid mthong ba’o zhes <69>pas/ de’i ngang la ci yang yid la mi byed par bzhag/ rnam par rtog pa mtho dman gyis sems rnam par g.yengs na/ ‘gro ‘chag nyal ‘dug gam/ spyod lam bsgyur nas bsgoms pas rgyun chad med pa’i dge sbyor/ rnam rtog med pa’i ngo bo/ lhun gyis grub pa’i rang bzhin du ‘ong ba yin pas/ de rgyun chad med par bskyang / dge ba’i rtsa ba byas pa’i rjes sam/ thugs dam la mnyam par bzhag pa’i rjes la/ skabs skabs su bdag dang sems can thams cad kyis dus gsum du bsags shing yod pa’i dge ba’i rtsa ba dran par byas/ bdag dang sems can thams cad kyi[s] dus gsum du bsags shing yod pa’i dge ba’i rtsa ba ‘dis/ bdag dang sems can thams cad myur du bla na med par yang dag par rdzogs pa’i byang chub rin po che thob par gyur cig ces/ dge ba’i rtsa ba bsngo bar bya’o/ /dus rgyun chad med par tshul de <70>ltar nyams su blang zhing / bsnyen gnas kyi sdom pa rin po che bsrung ba dang / rtsa ba bzhi las gang thub thub kyi dge bsnyen gyi sdom pa srung ba gal che ste/ de ltar yang bcom ldan ‘das kyis/ khrims gcig tsam yang mi bsrung na nga’i ‘khor du ma gtogs so/ /zhes gsungs pas ston pa’i ‘khor du ma gtogs na byas pa thams cad don med par shes par byas nas/ tshul khrims bsrung ba la ‘bad par bya’o/ /rdzogs so// //

The One-Taste of View, Practice, and Realization

April 20, 2021

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There is brief instruction found in the third volume of Jigten Sumgön’s collected works that brings together three main instructions he had received from his guru, Phagmodrupa.

(A) The first is the ever-present Fivefold Path of Mahāmudrā, consisting of the resolve for awakening, the practice of the cherished deity (yi dam), guru yoga, mahāmudrā, and dedication. It is presented here very briefly as the following stages:

(1) Recollecting impermanence and death and the disadvantages of transmigration as the basis of all practices, which are a part of the four thoughts that turn the mind to the dharma, namely (a) the leisures and endowments of the precious human body, (b) impermanence and certain death, (c) karma, cause, and result, and (d) the disadvantages of saṃsāra. Jigten Sumgon urges his followers to practice these at the beginning of each practice session or at least at the beginning of the first session in the morning (vajra statement 2.14).
(2) The practice of love, compassion, and the resolve for awakening (bodhicitta).
(3) The practice of the body as the cherishes deity (yi dam).
(4) The practice of guru yoga by visualizing one’s guru in the center of one’s heart.
(5) The practice of “the mind,” i.e., of mahāmudrā, which is the central instruction here.
(6) The dedication of merit, which closes the instruction.

Mahāmudrā is here presented directly as the practice of the nature of the mind and in its very essence of non-attachment. This kind of non-attachment is not only the very essence of disciplined conduct, but also of mahāmudrā, which is why vajra statement 6.13 says: “That mahāmudrā and disciplined conduct (śīla) are one is an unsurpassed special teaching of Jigten Sumgön.” In the present context, Jigten Sumgon teaches that the practice of the mind is essentially non-attachment to the concept of existence and non-existence of the mind, non-attachment to the theory of “only mind,” which teaches that all appearances are only mind (an allusion to the philosophy of cittamātra), and non-attachment to the theory of remaining in the middle between these extremes, which is an allusion to the philosophy of madhyamaka.^{♦ 1} Moreover, this practice of the nature of the mind is also the non-attachment to the “three spheres,” which refers to the mental imputation of a practitioner, a practice, and an object of the practice, such as a deity or a mantra. It is in this way of perfect non-attachment to any dualistic conception that one should “abide perfectly with deity and mantra in the nature that is free from proliferation.”

(B) The second main instruction that is contained in this brief instruction is that such a practice that is free from these dualistic concepts of establishing and abandoning, where no conception of anything to think or to practice is left, is the point on the path were the third yoga of mahāmudrā, one-taste, is accomplished and view, practice, and realization become indistinguishable. The lines that we find here and that are attributed to Phagmodrupa are an approximate rendering of a verse found in the works of Phagmodrupa:^{♦ 2}

If you do not let go or not let go, invoke or not invoke,
focus on an object, or set up a support,
and if you, not practicing anything, rest in that innate state,
you will experience that which has no boundaries nor center, like space.

This is to be practiced at all times while going, standing, lying down, and sitting.

(C) The third main instruction contained in this brief instruction is that the liberation that occurs when realization arises in such a practice is the guru’s blessing. This is expressed in the famous passage of the Hevajra Tantra that teaches that the innate “is to be known through the final moment of guru attendance.” As Jigten Sumgon explains elsewhere, this

“final moment of guru attendance” does not refer to making great offerings, performing many services, and attending the guru for a long time. Since beyond seeing the guru as dharmakāya and the arising of certainty about that, there is no occasion of regarding him as anything superior to that, this [seeing of the guru as dharmakāya] is called “the final moment.”^{♦ 3}

Such an “attendance” is the true guru devotion as it is also taught in the Samādhirāja Sūtra, also known as the Candrapradīpa[sūtra], and it is the “supreme intention of the precious one” (Phagmodrupa).

The guruʼs profound intention:
View, practice, and realization are of one-taste and indistinguishable

Oṃ Svasti!

I bow my head to the feet of the supreme guru,
who has permanently overcome total darkness,
leads the beings away from the swamp of saṃsāra,
and reveals the meaning as it is and in all its variety.
For the sake of the devoted ones, I will write down these words
that have been requested by the good disciple,
who has gathered together the great collection of supreme accumulations
and has spoken a supplicated with respectful devotion.

In general, the state of being for all of us is that of [certain] death and impermanence. There is neither bottom nor limit to the sufferings of transmigration and the lower births. Because you and all others wish to escape from the sufferings of transmigration and lower births, practice at first love, compassion, and the resolve for awakening. Then practice that your body is your cherished deity. Imagine the excellent guru in the center of your heart. Then, your mind:

Don’t practice it as existing, that would be eternalism.
Don’t practice it as not existing, that would be nihilism.
Don’t practice it as mind, that would be ‘only mind’ (Skr. cittamātra).
Don’t practice it in the middle [between the extremes], that would be grasping.
The practitioner does not exist, the practice does not exist,
the deity does not exist, and the mantra, too, does not exist.
The Exalted One taught
that you should abide perfectly with deity and mantra
in the nature that is free from proliferation.

And the protector of the world [Phagmodrupa] taught:

If, neither letting go nor not letting go, neither invoking nor not invoking,
you practice that where there is nothing to think or practice,
View, practice and realization become one and the same taste, indistinguishable.

The meaning of this well-expressed instruction is this:
Rest freshly, unfabricated, and in an unbound state.
You must practice uninterruptedly
in all kinds of conduct such as going, standing, lying down, and sitting.
The Precious One maintained that when realization arises in that,
the complete liberation is the guru’s blessing.

Furthermore, Vajradhara instructed on that meaning repeatedly in the [Hevajra-Tantra], saying:

That which cannot be expressed by others, the innate,
which cannot be found anywhere,
is to be known through the final moment of guru attendence,
and through one’s own merit.

[And furthermore]:

Previously, for the sake of the King of Samādhi
I have served billions of Buddhas
to the East of this kingdom.

[This] has been taught in detail in the Candrapradīpa[sūtra]. And Maitreya said:

The absolute truth of the renunciants
is to be realized through devotion alone.

And since this has been taught, I request you to undertake great efforts with regard to devotion [to the guru], for realization arises from devotion. This is the supreme intention of the precious one.

Should the Ḍākinīs of the three places
not be pleased with the profound words I have written,
I request them to tolerate it
and also to extend their blessings.

May all the sentient beings
reach as much excellence as there exists
on the pure grounds that match the excellence
as much as excellence exists
and as much as has been, will be, and is [obtained].

[This instruction] is complete.

[This translation has been completed by Jan-Ulrich Sobisch on February 13, 2009 and slightly improved on April 20, 2021.]

‘Jig-rten-mgon-po’s works, vol. 3, pp. 291‒294.
བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་དགོངས་ཟབ་མོ་ལྟ་སྒོམ་རྟོགས་པ་རོ་གཅིག་དབྱེར་མི་ཕྱེད་པ༎
ཨོཾ་སྭསྟི། གང་ཞིག་ཀུན་ནས་མུན་པ་གཏན་བཅོམ་ཞིང་།། འཁོར་བའི་འདམ་ནས་འགྲོ་བ་འདྲེན་མཛད་པ།། ཇི་སྙེད་ཇི་བཞིན་དོན་རྣམས་སྟོན་པ་ཡི།། བླ་མ་མཆོག་གི་ཞབས་ལ་སྤྱི་བོས་འདུད།། བསགས་པ་རབ་གྱུར་ཚོགས་ཆེན་བསགས་པ་ཡི།། སློབ་མ་བཟང་པོས་དད་ཅིང་གུས་པ་ཡིས།། གསོལ་བ་བཏབ་ནས་ཞུས་པའི་ཡི་གེ་འདི།། མོས་གུས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་ཕྱིར་འབྲི་བར་བྱ།། སྤྱིར་བདག་ཅག་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་འདུག་ལུགས་ནི་འཆི་བ་མི་རྟག་པ་ཡིན། འཁོར་བ་དང་ངན་སོང་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ལ་གཏིང་མཐའ་མེད་པ་ཡིན། འཁོར་བ་དང་ངན་སོང་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ལས་རང་གཞན་ཐམས་ཅད་བརྒལ་བར་འདོད་པས། དང་པོར་བྱམས་པ་དང་སྙིང་རྗེ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་བསྒོམ། དེ་ནས་ལུས་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷ་བསྒོམ། བླ་མ་དམ་པ་སྙིང་གི་དབུས་སུ་བསམ། དེ་ནས་རང་གི་སེམས། ཡོད་པར་མི་བསྒོམ་རྟག་ལྟ་ཡིན།། མེད་པར་མི་བསྒོམ་ཆད་ལྟ་ཡིན།། སེམས་སུ་མི་བསྒོམ་སེམས་ཙམ་ཡིན།། དབུ་མར་མི་བསྒོམ་འཛིན་པ་ཡིན།། སྒོམ་པ་པོ་མེད་སྒོམ་པའང་མེད།། ལྷ་མེད་སྔགས་ཀྱང་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན།། སྤྲོས་པ་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ལ།། ལྷ་དང་སྔགས་ནི་ཡང་དག་གནས།། བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱིས་གསུངས་པ་དང་།། འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོའི་ཞལ་སྔ་ནས།། གཏང་ཡང་མི་བཏང་དགུག་ཀྱང་མི་དགུག་སྟེ།། བསམ་དུ་མེད་པ་སྒོམ་དུ་མེད་པ་ཉིད་བསྒོམ་ན།། ལྟ་སྒོམ་རྟོགས་པ་རོ་གཅིག་དབྱེར་མི་ཕྱེད།། བཀའ་བསྩལ་ལེགས་པར་གསུངས་པ་འདི་ཡི་དོན།། སོ་མ་མ་བཅོས་ལྷུག་པ་ཉིད་དུ་ཞོག།། འགྲོ་འཆག་ཉལ་འདུག་སྤྱོད་ལམ་ཐམས་ཅད་དུ།། རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པར་ཉམས་སུ་བླང་བར་བྱ།། དེ་ལ་རྟོགས་པ་སྐྱེ་ན་རྣམ་གྲོལ་བ།། བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་ཡིན་པ་རིན་ཆེན་བཞེད།། ་དེ་ཡང་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཛིན་པ་ཡིས།། གཞན་གྱིས་བརྗོད་མིན་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས།། གང་དུ་ཡང་ནི་མི་རྙེད་དེ།། བླ་མའི་དུས་མཐའ་བསྟེན་པ་དང་།། རང་གི་བསོད་ནམས་ལས་ཤེས་བྱ།། དོན་འདིར་ཡང་ཡང་བཀའ་བསྩལ་གསུངས།། ངས་སྔོན་ཏིང་འཛིན་རྒྱལ་པོ་འདི་ཡི་ཕྱིར།། རྒྱལ་པོ་ཁབ་ཀྱི་ཤར་ཕྱོགས་འདི་ཉིད་དུ།། སངས་རྒྱས་བྱེ་བ་ཁྲག་ཁྲིག་རིམ་གྲོ་བྱས།། ཟླ་བ་སྒྲོན་མ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་གསུངས་པ་དང་།། མི་ཕམ་མགོན་པོའི་ཞལ་སྔ་ནས།། རང་བྱུང་རྣམས་ཀྱི་དོན་དམ་ནི།། དད་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་རྟོགས་བྱ་ཡིན།། ཞེས་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་གསུངས་པས། མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པ་མོས་གུས་ལས་སྐྱེ་བ་ལགས་པས། མོས་གུས་ལ་ནན་ཏན་ཆེ་བར་མཛད་པར་ཞུ། རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཡི་ཐུགས་དགོངས་མཆོག།། ཟབ་མོ་ཡི་གེར་བྲིས་པ་ལ།། གནས་གསུམ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་མཉེས་ན།། བཟོད་པ་དམ་པ་བཞེས་ནས་ཀྱང་།། བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབ་པར་མཛད་དུ་གསོལ།། འགྲོ་ཀུན་དགེ་བ་ཇི་སྙེད་ཡོད་པ་དང་།། བྱས་དང་བྱེད་འགྱུར་དེ་བཞིན་བྱེད་པ་དང་།། བཟང་པོ་ཇི་བཞིན་དེ་འདྲའི་ས་དག་ལ།། ཀུན་ནས་ཀུན་ཀྱང་བཟང་པོ་རེག་གྱུར་ཅིག།། རྫོགས་སོ༎ ༎

Notes
^{1. []↩See also the Samādhirāja Sūtra 9.27, which says: “Existence and nonexistence are extremes, and pure and impure, likewise, are extremes. Therefore, having abandoned such extremes, the wise one should not dwell in the middle either.”}
^{2. []↩dGe ba’i bshes gnyen chos kyi blo gros la bskur ba’i gdams ngag, vol. 4, pp. 654‒661, p. 657: btang yang mi btang dgug kyang mi dgug ste/ /dmigs yul med par rten yang mi bca’ bar/ /bsgom du med pa gnyug ma’i ngang bzhag na/ /mtha’ dbus med pa nam mkha’ lta bur myong/ /.}
^{3. []↩’Jig rten gsum mgon, bsTan bcos rdo rje ri zhes bya ba rgo na ba dang shākya dbang phyug gnyis la gnang ba, collected works, vol. 3, pp. 297–309, fol. 150v5. This interpretation builds on reading dus mtha’ (final moment) instead of dus thabs (timely method?) in the tantra.}

—dGongs1

the teachings of Drikungpa Jigten Gonpo (1143–1217)

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