Vajra Songs of the Indian Siddhas

Analysis of songs from SHENPEN ÖSEL

On the evening of September 22, the Very Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche taught the Vajra Songs of the Indian Siddhas. The following edited transcript is from that evening. Rinpoche gave the teaching in Tibetan; it was orally translated by Ari Goldfield.

Let’s sing the "Song of Meaningful Connections"

[Students sing]

Now, not leaving out anybody we don’t like, for the benefit of all sentient beings please aspire to attain the great state of enlightenment, which depends on the realization of equality for the benefit of all sentient beings. In order to do that, we must listen to, reflect on, and meditate on the vajra songs of the great siddhas with all the enthusiasm we can muster. This is the precious attitude of bodhicitta. Please give rise to it and listen to the teachings.

You have all received a book entitled "Vajra Songs of the Masters from Mahamudra, The Ocean of Certainty," also known as "Mahamudra, the Ocean of Definitive Meaning." First Rinpoche will give us the reading transmission for these songs, and then we will recite them together.

The first song is Tilopa’s. Tilopa was the king of yogis and yoginis, the greatest siddha of India, and also the founder of the Kagyu lineage:

For example, the nature of space is beyond color and shape;

Unstained by black and white clouds, it is unchanging. Like this, your own mind, the heart of a Buddha, transcends color and shape And will not be stained by the phenomena of white virtue and black negative action. For example, although you apply the verbal convention "emptiness" to space, you cannot say about space, "It is like this."

Likewise, although it is said that the nature of your own mind is radiant clarity, the verbal convention that says, "It exists like this," has no basis of imputation. From time without beginning, the true nature of the mind is like space. There is no phenomenon that is not included in this expanse. If the mind has no object of focus, that is ultimate Mahamudra.

If you become familiar with this and used to it, you’ll attain unexcelled enlightenment.

"The verbal convention that says, ‘It exists like this,’ has no basis of imputation," means that you could say something about the mind, but there is no object to which you can impute that name or attribute; the object that is the basis for giving a name does not exist.

These words are very much in harmony with Praise of the Dharmadhatu. Just as the nature of space or the sky cannot be described as having color or shape and is never truly stained by thick black clouds or by white clouds and is uncha

nging, so also the true nature of the mind has neither color nor shape and is not stained by either positive action or negative action. That virtue is something that helps and that non-virtue is something that harms only depends on thoughts. These are just conceptual notions. In the true nature of mind there is neither virtue nor negative, harmful action.

And just as space is inexpressible, because you cannot really find anything there to describe, similarly the mind, radiant clarity, is inexpressible; you can never find words to describe exactly what it is.

The final two lines say, "If the mind has no object of focus, that is ultimate Mahamudra. If you become familiar with this and used to it, you’ll attain unexcelled enlightenment." The highest form of meditation is meditation without conceptual reference, which is called Mahamudra. If there is a focus, then the focus obscures; if there is grasping or effort, then that binds. Where there is no reference point whatsoever for the mind is Mahamudra. The next verse is the speech of the great siddha Saraha, which we will read together:

Mind [itself] is the basis of samsara and nirvana.

Once you realize its nature, rest in the ease of non-meditation.

Other than within yourself, to look for it elsewhere is completely deluded.

There’s nothing of "It’s this." "It’s not this."

Everything abides within the natural state.

In Praise of the Dharmadhatu, Nargarjuna writes that the Dharmadhatu is the basis for samsara when it is not realized and is the basis for nirvana when it is realized. Here Saraha says the same thing, that the mind is the root of both samsara and nirvana. If one realizes the nature of mind there is no meditation; everything is just relaxed. And there is no need to look for enlightenment anywhere outside of the mind’s true nature. Enlightenment is present within the mind.

When the mind’s true nature is realized, there is no meditation. So then what does one do? One just rests, relaxed.

The next verse is from Shantarakshita. Let’s recite it together.

Not moving from the expanse of equality, various magical creations are shown.

Diverse rivers, large and small, enter into the ocean, taking on the same salty taste.

The multiplicity of phenomena have one taste: there is no difference.

Since the taste of the natural state pervades all appearances and all concepts, there is bliss.

The true nature of reality is the expanse of equality or the Dharmadhatu, equality being the Dharmadhatu. And from within this expanse, and not moving from this expanse, appearances arise like magical emanations. When beings take these appearances to be real, then they are confused.

There are many different kinds of phenomena, but they are all of the nature of equality. From within this equality, many phenomena arise. So they are equal; and from within equality, many different appearances can appear.

If you dream a dream, and in your dream it happens to look like this, then what is that, one or many? How is it? Is it many or one? Many different things appear in this dream, but their nature is that they are all the same. In actual reality everything is of one taste.

Now from the Indian siddha Nyimai Tsal, whose name means the play of sunlight:

These various [[[appearances]] are] the magical creations of mind’s true nature.

Mind cannot be pointed out by saying, "It’s this."

Therefore, samsara and nirvana have no root.

Many different appearances appear before us, but they are all just the magical display of the mind’s intrinsic radiance. What is mind? You cannot say what mind is. Mind is inexpressible it is indescribable. Therefore, samsara and nirvana have no root, and this is the Dharmakaya, it is the Dharmadhatu; the Dharmakaya and the Dharmadhatu are the same.

Everything we experience is just the magical display of the mind, and its true nature is equality. Its true nature is all the same, the Dharmadhatu. This explanation is also in harmony with Praise of the Dharmadhatu. So let’s recite this again three times.

[Students recite.]

The next verse, which is from Dhombipa, Dhombe Heruka:

Samsaric existence and nirvanic peace [have the nature of] equality, free of conceptual complication.

Straining for achievement, you’re exhausted for no reason.

To grasp the transparent non-duality of body and mind As separate brings nothing but affliction.

To grasp the non-duality of self and other, the Dharmakaya,

As good and bad is cause for compassion.

Since samsara and nirvana are of the nature of equality, the freedom from all conceptual elaboration, then to exert oneself trying to get something and trying to eliminate something else is a waste of time. * It is tiring. ** Since actually body and mind are a transparent mixture of non-duality, then to take body to be one thing and mind to be something else is the cause of mental affliction. *** Since self and other are actually genuinely of the nature of non-duality, the Dharmakaya, then to think some are good and others are bad is mistaken. Equality is the Dharmadhatu.

Note: One should not adopt this line as justification for not exerting oneself in the practice of dharma and in the effort to benefit others. This instruction is not designed for those whose minds are locked in dualistic perception. This type of instruction is appropriate for those whose experience of non-duality is sufficiently strong that if they stop exerting themselves in the practice of dharma the process of mental purification, of the accumulation of merit, and of benefiting beings will continue automatically and even more powerfully.

- Note: Because at this point, to continue to make effort is like swimming upstream the river of one’s own imminent Mahamudra experience.
  - Note: And also the cause of unnecessary expense and time wasted in the doctor’s office and going to and from the doctor’s office.

[Students recite again three times]

Now we will read from Nyima Bepa, the Hidden Sun:

By looking at the body, you’ll see it’s unborn.

By looking at the mind, you’ll see it’s free of conceptual complication.

The real nature of this non-duality transcends the mind.

I’ve understood nothing at all.

When we look at the body [in meditation], we see that it never comes into existence, it never really happens. When we look at the mind, the mind’s true nature is the freedom from all conceptual fabrication. The real nature of this non-duality, the non-duality of body and mind, transcends thinking mind, conceptual mind. "I’ve understood nothing at all"; I don’t know anything. *

Note: If there is an "I" that knows "something," that is duality.

This teaches that the true nature of reality transcends thinking mind. All subjects and objects of thinking mind are completely false.

[Students recite three times.]

The next verse is from Maitripa, Marpa’s main teacher of Mahamudra:

All phenomena are empty of a self-essence.

The mind grasping them as empty is pure in its ground.

Free of intellect, with no object for the mind,

this is the path of all Buddhas.

All phenomena are empty of themselves. ** And then there is the mind that thinks, "Oh, phenomena are empty." But this thought itself is naturally pure in its own ground, in its own place, [exactly where it was thought]. Because its true nature, the true nature of mind, is free of intellect, meaning it is free of conceptualization. There is no object for the mind, which means that the true nature of mind is inconceivable; it cannot be an object of conceptual mind. This is the path of all Buddhas.

- Note: Empty of anything that is essentially themselves and that therefore differentiates them individually and permanently from the rest of what is.

[Students recite three times.]

Tonight, Rinpoche has given us the transmission, and we have recited the verses, of the great Indian siddhas; tomorrow Rinpoche will give us the transmission, and we will recite the verses, from the Tibetan siddhas. Now let’s recite all of the verses for which Rinpoche has given us the lung tonight.

[Students recite.]

As the mahasiddha Tilopa said, "If the mind has no object of focus, that is ultimate Mahamudra. If you become familiar with this and used to it, you will attain unexcelled enlightenment."

Rest with a child’s independence. Rest like an ocean, free of waves. Rest with a butter lamp’s clarity. Rest like a corpse, without arrogance. Rest like a mountain, so still.

[Students meditate.]

We should recite the verses from the Indian siddhas again from the beginning; and then, when we get tired, we should just rest a little bit in meditation. [Students recite and then meditate.]

Rest with a child’s independence. Rest like an ocean free of waves. Rest with a butter lamp’s clarity. Rest like a corpse, without arrogance. Rest like a mountain, so still.

[Students meditate with Rinpoche.]

One should all recite all of these verses 108 times, and then they will be memorized. Now let us recite the six verses from Praise of the Dharmadhatu. We have to recite these six verses to see what in these verses is similar to the view of the siddhas and what, if anything may be different.

Students recite Selected Verses from Nargarjuna’s Praise of the Dharmadhatu.

Guru Rinpoche was an Indian siddha, so we should sing

•The Supplication to Guru Rinpoche,

•Then The Profound Definitive Meaning Sung on the Snowy Range,

•And then Auspiciousness that Lights up the Universe.

[Students sing]

Sarwa Mangalam.

When We Can Take Suffering to the Path for the

Benefit of Others, We Are Incredibly Fortunate

On the evening of September 23, the Very Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche taught the Vajra Songs of the Tibetan Siddhas. The following edited transcript is from that evening. Rinpoche gave the teaching in Tibetan; it was orally translated by Ari Goldfield.

Sarwa Mangalam. First we will sing "Seven Delights" by the Tibetan siddha Götsampa.

[Students sing]

This is a song about taking difficult circumstances to the path. There is no way to get rid of sickness, to get rid of old age, to get rid of dying, to get rid of difficult circumstances that we meet in life, but we can take them to the path, * embrace them, and see their true nature.

Note: To take something to the path is to incorporate it into one’s dharma practice so that, rather than becoming an obstacle, it becomes the focus, however temporary or long-lasting, of one’s dharma practice and a means to purify mental defilements and to gather the accumulations of merit and wisdom, thereby hastening one’s path to Buddhahood and the ultimate benefit of beings. To see the true nature of old age, sickness, and death is to accomplish all of these ends.

Götsampa himself had many difficult circumstances when he was practicing in retreat. He got sick very often. But he took his sickness to the path and as a result attained realization. And so he sings many songs about taking illness to the path.

When difficult things happen to us, if we say, "Well, I’m just going to clear away these difficult circumstances, I’m just going to wipe them out, and then everything will be okay for me," that type of thinking is a product of ego-clinging. Instead we need to take difficult circumstances to the path. We have to develop the notion that, "For the benefit of other sentient beings, I’m going to suffer some difficult things on this path - for their benefit." When we are able to take suffering and difficult circumstances to the path for the benefit of others, we are incredibly fortunate.

We need to remember all the different ways that we are fortunate; so let’s sing what it Means to be Lucky, the Noble Path laid with Precious Gems.

[Students sing]

Before listening to the teachings, please give rise to the precious attitude of bodhicitta, as has been instructed before and as is the tradition of the great vehicle.

From the fifty-eighth teaching session of Ngedön Gyamtso, The Ocean of Certainty or The Ocean of Definitive Meaning, the words of the siddhas, last night we studied the words of the great Indian siddhas.

Tonight We Will Study The Words Of The Tibetan Masters:

So let’s read Götsangpa’s words together:

Look nakedly at the essential nature of your mind.

Through looking, you won’t see it, for it is not a thing.

We need to look at what our mind really is; and since our mind is emptiness, there is nothing to see.

Lingje Repa said:

If you do not rest within the mind just as it is,

a remedy won’t fix things.

Therefore, throw away your doubts about the mind as this or not this; let them disappear.

The meaning of this is that there is no way to fix or repair the mind. In Mahamudra meditation, we just rest naturally.

Tsangpa Gyare:

Resting [within] the mind just as it is, is the Dharmakaya.

Thoughts created by the intellect are liberated in their ground.

Practice the inconceivable - ultimate reality.

Since there is nothing that needs to be done to the mind - it does not need to be fixed or changed in any way - then the meditation is just to rest in the mind just as it is. This is the Dharmakaya. Thoughts created by the intellect are liberated in their ground. Practice the inconceivable, ultimate reality. The true nature of the mind is beyond being an object of thoughts, so one cannot conceive of what it is.

From Orgyenpa:

There is nothing that is not an appearance of mind.

Delusive ideas, arising through the power of habitual patterns,

are not established as truly existent things;

all appearances and ideas abide in a state equal to the Dharmakaya.

The essential nature is empty within its own ground;

the unborn is like space.

If you see all phenomena that are like a reflection,

to be truly existent, you are deluded by your own mind’s appearance.

If you cling to all possible appearances, the play of the mind,

as existent objects, you are deluded by your own mind’s appearance.

If you cling to all illusion-like phenomena, magical creations,

as real things, you are deluded by your own mind’s appearance.

Orgyenpa, beggar from the land of snow, says:

"Train in primordial wisdom, the reality of the natural state.

Through being blessed by the glorious lama,

the delusions of habitual patterns return to their ground.

Train in the non-duality of samsara and nirvana.

Through everything appearing as Dharmakaya’s play,

Dualistic fixation is brought to extinction.

There is no suffering and I’m delighted."

Kyeme Shang or Shang Rinpoche:

The instant of directly recognizing the true nature of a thought is called "realizing Mahamudra." It is also called "the birth of samádhi in one’s mind stream" and "direct valid perception or noble primordial wisdom arising from meditation." This very instant of recognizing [the nature of a] thought overcomes and purifies without exception negative actions, gathered in samsara that has no beginning.

How do you recognize the true nature of a thought? The thought is not born, it does not cease, nor does it abide; it is not a thing and there is nothing to recognize. The conviction arises vividly that [[[mind’s]] true nature] is like space. This is called "the simultaneous arising of experience and realization." It is called "blending experience and realization into one." It is called "shamatha and vipashyana inseparable." It is called "making the dharmata manifest." It is called "the apprehension of characteristics self-liberated."

This Mahamudra is not realized through extensive study. It is not realized through great superior knowledge. It is not realized through coarser examination and analysis. It is not realized through being an authority on oral instructions. It is not realized through will power or effort. It is not realized through verbal communication or through being an expert in skillful means. It is not realized through any kind of busy dharma activity. From a tantra: "You will not find it anywhere."

Well then, you might ask, "If it is not realized through all these ways, how is it realized?" Since through the blessing of a realized lama realization of the mind’s nature is recognized by the self-awareness that knows its own nature, and since this realization appears from within, it depends solely upon this blessing.

From a tantra:

This self-aware primordial wisdom depends on gradual blessing

because it is beyond being an object experienced through speech.

Omniscient primordial wisdom is like this as well.

We will read this one together, from the unparalleled Dagpo Rinpoche:

Become accustomed to looking at the nature of your own mind.

When you become accustomed to looking at your own mind,

if you do not fall into the duality of object and mind,

you will have the experience of non-dual primordial wisdom.

Special skillful means are taught and also the special time of receiving these instructions is taught.

As you experience meditation with dualistic fixation,

you do not see mind’s reality.

Although this view without realization of mind’s reality

is said to be free of extremes, it is fabricated by the intellect.

From An Abbreviated Sutra From Among The Prajñápáramitá Sutras:

"I see space" is what sentient beings often express in words.

Examine the meaning of the statement, "I see space like this."

The Tathágata taught that seeing dharmata is also like that seeing of space.

One cannot find an example other than this for seeing the dharmata.

When someone says, "I see space," then they are not really seeing anything, because space has neither color nor shape, and cannot really be seen. They are saying that they see something that really is not an entity that really is not there. And similarly, when one says, "I see the true nature of mind," then, since the true nature of mind is emptiness, one is saying that they see something that is not really there. When we look with our intelligence we cannot find anything to look at.

However much we look we cannot find space, because it is just the absence of any form or matter. There is nothing there. Nonetheless, when we rest relaxed without any fabrication, we experience the aspect of mind that is radiantly clear.

From Khorlo Demchok Dompa Jung, A Tantra:

If mental events are taught to have the true nature of mind,

then sentient beings also have the true nature of mind in the same way.

Ultimate reality is similar to space; the true nature of mental events and sentient beings completely rests in space.

Ultimate form without beginning or end

is like the radiant clarity of a crystal or a gem.

Free of conceptual complication, it is not an object experienced by sense faculties.

Without change and without appearance,

all phenomena are empty; there are no afflicting states.

From the Protector Nargarjuna’s Mulamadhyamikakarika or The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way:

The view of permanence states phenomena exist.

And the view of extinction states phenomena do not exist. *

Therefore, an expert will not remain in either extreme of existence or non-existence.

Note: these are our old friends, Eternalism and nihilism.

When we do not examine reality very carefully, then everything that we see looks as though it is really there and really exists. When we examine carefully, we find that nothing really exists and that there is only mere appearance, meaning the appearance of something, which does not really exist at all. Finally, the highest view is to know that the true nature of reality transcends both existence and nonexistence. There are three stages: existence; mere appearance, which is the absence of actual existence; and finally the transcendence of both extremes of existence and nonexistence. With this understanding we will not fall into either extreme of realism or nihilism, of permanence or extinction.

When you are dreaming, if you do not know you are dreaming, then everything looks real in that dream. As soon as you know you are dreaming, you know that your dreams are just mere appearances and that nothing in your dreams really exists at all. And finally, the true nature of the appearances in this dream transcends both existence and nonexistence; it transcends all conceptual fabrications about what it might be, one way or the other.

We can apply the same analysis to the daytime appearances that we see, the appearances of the sun and the moon and all the stars and this planet and all the beings on this planet. When we do not analyze them and we just take them at face value, then they seem to exist. As soon as we analyze, we find that

everything and everyone is just a mere appearance and none of them really exist at all. And finally in their ultimate nature they transcend all of our concepts about what they might be, existence, nonexistence, or any other concept. The true nature of reality transcends all conceptuality. Therefore, Nargarjuna says in this verse that if you say "exist," that is the extreme of realism; if you say "not exist," that is the extreme of nihilism; and therefore the wise ones abide neither in realism nor nihilism. Rinpoche says that if you "exist or not exist," you are not wise, you are stupid. These words are spoken from the perspective of the second turning of the wheel of dharma, but they appear here in a Mahamudra text because, at the time of

gaining certainty about the Mahamudra view, one needs to cut through all of one’s conceptual elaboration about the true nature of reality. Next is the opening verse from the text called The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, the homage. In the Tibetan, actually, there is only the first line. And in this translation the last two lines are not included, which are the actual prostration; but it would go something like this:

Whatever arises co-dependently or dependently

has no cessation and no arising,

No extinction and no permanence,

No coming and no going,

and is neither different nor the same:

Mental elaboration, completely pacified,

it is taught to be peace.

"Neither different nor the same," means there are not different things nor is there only one thing. And it would read something like "to the perfect Buddhas who spoke these words I prostrate." This is the opening verse of the text The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way; the twenty-seven chapters of this text go on to prove that the statements made in this opening verse are true.

Another Verse From The Protector Nargarjuna:

What are called "existence" and "nonexistence" are extremes.

"Empty" and "not empty" are also extremes.

Once such extremes are completely thrown off,

an adept will not remain in the middle, either.

Just as through looking into the depth of space

something to be seen will cease to appear,

likewise, when mind looks at mind itself,

The whole collection of concepts will cease to appear and enlightenment is attained.

"Just as looking into the depth of space, something to be seen will cease to appear," is talking about "seeing." It is not that you look at some object and then the object disappears. It is that you look into space and there is no more seeing because there is nothing up there to be seen.

From Gyu Tagpa Nyipa:

Nowhere in the realm of this world

will the ultimate Buddha be found.

The mind itself is the perfect Buddha.

Nowhere outside will you find the Buddha. The only place to look for the Buddha is the mind.

Here we also need to remember that in the text called Praise of the Dharmadhatu, the true nature of mind is called the Buddha potential but not Buddhahood or the Buddha essence. But here a different word is used; here, the true nature of mind is called the perfect Buddha.

Students recite "Selected Verses from Praise of the Dharmadhatu" and "Selected Verses From Mahamudra, The Ocean Of Certainty." If people have an interest in meditating on Mahamudra, then it would be very good for them to recite each of these verses 108 times. Through this they will come to understand the meaning of the verses and will come to learn them by heart.

Now we will sing "The Supplication To Guru Rinpoche," the supplication that all appearances appear as the deity, all sounds arise as mantra, and all thoughts be liberated into pure being.

•Students sing the supplication, then "The Six Questions,"

•And "The Essence of Amrita."

Rest with a child’s independence. Rest like an ocean free of waves. Rest with a butter lamp’s clarity. Rest like a corpse, without arrogance. Rest like a mountain, so still.

[Students meditate with Rinpoche.]

Milarepa gave four examples of meditative experience. The first example is that meditation is baseless, like in a dream. Experiences in a dream have neither base nor root, and, similarly, experiences that we have during meditation actually have no base; they are baseless. Secondly, Milarepa said that meditative experience is without grasping, like a water moon, like the moon’s reflection on a pool of water. A water moon does not think about things one

way or the other; it is mere clarity, it is merely bright in its own appearance. Similarly, the mind’s true nature does not grasp onto things; it is mere radiant clarity. The mind is like a water moon, from the water moon’s perspective. A water moon is just mere clarity, and that is what the mind is. Third, Milarepa said that experiences are substance-less. They are not made of any substance or matter, like rainbows. In a rainbow you can see the colors of something, but there is nothing there, and that is what meditative experience is like. And finally they are directionless, like space.

[Students Sing]

•"The Ultimate View, Meditation, Conduct, and Fruition,"
•"The Song of the Profound Definitive Meaning Sung on the Snowy Range,"
•"Auspiciousness that Lights Up the Universe."
[[[Rinpoche]] asks translator to sing "No Birth, No Base, and Union."]
The true nature of appearances is that they’ve never been born.
If birth seems to happen, it’s just clinging, nothing more.
The spinning wheel of existence has neither a base nor a root.
If things seem to be stable, that’s only a thought.
The true nature of the mind is union, inseparability.
If you separate its aspects, you are hooked on some view.
The sign of the true lamas is that they hold a lineage.
The ones who make stuff up are just being dumb.
The mind’s basic reality is like the clear and open sky.
But the dark clouds of thoughts just cover it all up.
So let the lama’s pith advice be the wind that blows those clouds away.
Even confused thoughts themselves are clear light that shines so brilliantly.
Experience is so bright, like sun and moonlight.
Without any direction, clarity shines timelessly.
You cannot hold it; you can’t say what it is.
So many kinds of certainty shine like the stars in the sky.
Whatever arises is the greatest bliss.
Its nature is simplicity, the Dharmakaya expanse.
The six dependent appearances are empty naturally.
This natural flow is effortless - there’s not a klesha in sight.
Within this basic state completely relaxed,
Wisdom without fixation abides continuously.
The three kayas inseparable - the greatest miracle!

With Great Compassion and an Understanding

Of Emptiness, We Will Never Be Discouraged

After teaching the Vajra Songs of the Indian and Tibetan Siddhas, the Very Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche answered questions. The following edited transcript is from September 24. Rinpoche gave the teaching in Tibetan; it was orally translated by Ari Goldfield.

Sarwa Mangalam. Let’s sing "The Song of Meaningful Connections." [Students sing.] Rinpoche then began the session with an injunction to engender bodhicitta, and then gave the reading transmission for the remaining verses of Praise of the Dharmadhatu.

The most important and most profound part of this text are the six verses teaching about the self-liberation of the six sense consciousness. These six verses provide for six different meditation sessions. Rinpoche says he feels it would be very good, if you have the interest, to gather and do a series of weekend retreats, meditating on one of these verses each weekend, and then sing the Milarepa songs and the Guru Rinpoche supplication as well. That could last for six weekends.

Now let’s sing, "What it Means to be Lucky, the Noble Path laid with Precious Gems."

[Students Sing]

Do You Have Any Questions?

Question: I had a question on the vajra song entitled, from a tantra. It says, "This self-aware primordial wisdom depends on gradual blessing because it is beyond being an object experienced through speech." And then it says, "Omniscient primordial wisdom is like this as well." It sounds as if there are two different kinds of wisdom, self-aware primordial wisdom and omniscient primordial wisdom. Is that right, and if so, what is the difference?

Rinpoche: Self-aware primordial wisdom is inconceivable. It cannot be described, so it is indescribable. The only way to experience it is to realize it directly, to have a direct experience of it, and this depends on blessing. In the Vajrayâna it is said that realizing the true nature of mind depends on blessing. And it usually depends on gradual blessing because, as our faith increases in the lama, the blessing of the lama also increases. Omniscient primordial wisdom is slightly different from self-aware primordial wisdom because it is talking about the stage of fruition. First primordial awareness or self-aware primordial wisdom is realized, and then, as the realization increases and becomes perfected, it becomes a Buddha’s omniscient wisdom.

There are different stages of blessing and different stages of faith. Some people, because they have practiced and had a lot of faith in past lives, are able to generate great faith naturally without trying; it just rises up from within them, as it did in Milarepa when he heard the name of Marpa Lotsawa for the first time. And for other people their faith increases gradually during their lifetime; based on studying and practice, their faith in their lama grows and grows. So it can happen either way.

It is possible to generate faith even after first being really angry at your lama. This happened, for example, in the case of the hunter, whose name was Gompo Dorje, and Milarepa. He was actually so angry at Milarepa that he wanted to kill him; he wanted to shoot him with an arrow. But then after that his anger became faith. This is called generating faith after first being angry at your lama.

Some people gain faith in dependence upon not having any faith. This was the case of Loden Gendun and others, who, when they first came to see Milarepa, did not have any faith in him at all. But they debated him. Loden Gendun debated with Milarepa a lot, but by the end, because Milarepa had won every debate, Lotun Gendun had developed a lot of faith in him. And so this shows that you can gain faith based on your wrong views and your mistaken conceptions.

Some of Milarepa’s students actually beat him first. They tied him up with a rope, beat him, and threw rocks at him. Milarepa was not very well liked in the shedras, the monastic colleges, because they thought that Milarepa was a nihilist. If you went up to Milarepa’s cave, you did not see any statues, there were no offering tormas, and nobody was doing any Pujas. And so they said, "Milarepa does not believe in religious ritual; he’s a nihilist. He says

religious ritual is not important. He has fallen into the extreme of nihilism." So then one time Milarepa came down out of the mountains and went to a shedra. In those days in the monastic colleges they had the tradition of beating you to punish you if you had done something wrong, and so they beat Milarepa. They said, "Oh, here comes the nihilist," and they tied him up, threw rocks at him, and beat him. But then afterwards they gained faith in

Milarepa, because Milarepa did not get angry. He just said, "Oh, if you beat me, it is okay; if you like me, it is okay; it is up to you." So when they saw Milarepa’s patience and equanimity while experiencing such abuse, they really gained a lot of faith in him. So there are many different ways to give rise to faith, and if we can give rise to faith, then we will be able to realize the true nature of mind. Question: Since we have been given, during this course, so much to read and so much to sing, how do we integrate that with our sitting meditation, which is just as important?

Rinpoche: The way to meditate and actually rest in equipoise is first to study a lot. Read the passages from these texts, and after you have read a lot and you are tired, then just take a rest; take a rest and look at the true nature of mind. Just look at it nakedly and rest, relaxed. There are many verses in these songs and verses that we have given you. The verses are about the view, meditation, conduct, and fruition. But the main

reason why we should read these is to gain certainty about the view; that is what comes first. And to gain certainty means that we develop confidence in the correctness of the view. We become sure about it. And the way to gain that kind of certainty is to read and compare different things. The various texts

that we have studied supplement and aid each other, and thereby help us to gain understanding of the view. So read one and compare it to the next one and so forth. Then, as you gain certainty in the view, rest in meditation. There are a lot of verses on the view, but there are also verses on meditation, which are also very important.

Last year we studied the Sixty Stanzas on Reasoning, the Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness, and The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nargarjuna. Those texts explain things from the perspective of the second turning of the wheel of dharma, the Rangtong or Empty-of-Self School. This year we have studied verses from Praise of the Dharmadhatu by Nargarjuna and from many vajra songs, which explain things from the perspective of the Shentong or Empty-of-Other School, which is in accord with the third turning of the wheel of dharma.

Please read 108 times the verses that we have explained from the Vajra Songs of the Masters. By doing so you will memorize them, and they will then come to mind very easily. There may also be some v

erses that are less clear than others, but studied and recited together, each verse will supplement one’s understanding of the others. Milarepa’s songs are very important because some are in harmony with the Shentong view, the Empty-of-Other view, and some are in harmony with the Rangtong view, the Empty-of-Self view. From the Rangtong some are in harmony with the Svatantrika Madhyamika, the Autonomy School; and some are in harmony with the Prasangika Madhyamika, the Consequence School. And then some are in harmony with the Shentong view, and some are in harmony with the extraordinary view of Mahamudra. So they are all very important.

Now we will sing "The Six Questions." [Students Sing] This is a song from the view of Mahamudra, and it teaches us that we do not need to stop thinking, we do not need to stop being afflicted; we need instead to meditate on the essence of thoughts and on the essence of the kleshas or the mental afflictions. The meditation that is taught in this song is to look nakedly at whatever thought arises, and rest, relaxed. Whatever mental affliction or klesha arises, look at it nakedly and rest, relaxed. To look at whatever arises, nakedly, is the view; to rest, relaxed, is the meditation.

If we looked at it from the perspective of shamatha and vipashyana or calm abiding and superior insight meditation, then looking nakedly would be superior insight, vipashyana, and resting, relaxed, would be shamatha, calm abiding.

We had a question about a verse that talked about the importance of faith. The way to meditate in connection with faith is to sing the verses from the supplication to the lama, calling the guru from afar, and then to look nakedly at the essence of this mind filled with faith. And in that way one meditates on faith while calling the lama from afar.

When we look nakedly at the mind filled with faith, then that is superior insight, vipashyana; when we rest, relaxed, that is calm abiding, shamatha. Now we will call the guru from afar by singing "The Supplication to Guru Rinpoche," and in connection with that, by singing the verse called The Six Kinds of Consciousnesses Self-Liberated:

The meeting of appearances of the six kinds of consciousness, this is the guide that turns adverse conditions into a path.

Is there anyone here who is able to keep to this path and follow it through?

The one for whom desire and craving have been consumed is happy.

The rope that ties perceiver and perceived, when cut, is E Ma Ho!

[Students sing "The Supplication to Guru Rinpoche"]

Are there other questions?

Question: In verse 29 of In Praise of the Dharmadhatu, it says that Buddhas do not perceive the characteristics of their aspiration prayers, and in the commentary you said that their Nirmanakaya forms - their body forms - and their Buddha fields, which others perceive, do not appear to them. If they are omniscient, why is that the case?

Rinpoche: The reason that they do not appear to the Buddhas is that their mode of experience is non-dualistic. If Buddhas perceived their Nirmanakaya forms and Buddha fields they would be involved in dualistic perception. And so they do not appear from the perspective of the Buddhas. But by virtue of the

aspiration prayers made by Buddhas in the past when they were bodhisattvas, they do appear to those who are still involved with dualistic perception. This is explained in the philosophical schools of the Mahayana, the great vehicle. It is explained in the Cittamatra, the Mind Only School, that the Buddha mind does not have duality. There is no duality of perceiver and perceived. According to the Middle Way School, the Buddha is free of conceptual elaboration. The Buddha mind is free of any conceptual activity that says, "Oh, something is this or something is like that." A Buddha’s primordial awareness is free from all conceptual activity.

So how is it that Buddhas can see everything but have no conceptual mental activity, no dualistic mental activity? Well, it is inconceivable how this works, because for us ordinary beings to perceive and be aware of things, we need thoughts, we need duality. There is no other way for us to know things at this time. How Buddhas can know things and not have any dualistic perception is alternatively said to be difficult to understand or inconceivable. These two things mean the same thing.

According to the tradition of the Sravakas, the Buddhas do perceive things dualistically until they die, when they leave their five skandhas behind and just dissolve, basically. The Sravakas have no tradition of the three kayas. After a Buddha leaves his or her body behind, there is no Sambhogakaya and there is no Nirmanakaya.

According to the Vajrayâna, all phenomena are the display or the creative play of bliss-emptiness. And the Buddhas’ primordial awareness is this bliss-emptiness carried or taken to its ultimate perfection. However, within this primordial awareness, there is no dualistic appearance. In order to understand this point fully, we need to analyze the different explanations of all the different vehicles and see what each one has to say; otherwise, it will be difficult for us to understand this point.

There are debates between the schools of the Empty-of-Self, the Rangtong, and the Empty-of-Other, the Shentong, as to whether a Buddha experiences dualistic appearances. It takes a lot of study to understand the positions of both sides very well. This explanation is a brief explanation that is in harmony with meditation.

Second Question?

Question: In the work entitled "In Praise of the Dharmadhatu," verse 99, says, "Those who have reached nirvana with remainder believe they have reached nirvana that is without remainder. The nirvana that is reached in this tradition is a freeing of the mind of any flaw." Will Rinpoche please explain the difference between these two types of nirvana?

Rinpoche: In the tradition of the Sravakas, it is thought that when one reaches nirvana that that is the end. They think that they have gone as far as you can go. But that is not the case according to the Mahayana, because in the Mahayana you do not reach nirvana until you have purified all habitual tendencies and all cognitive obscurations, obscurations to omniscience. And once you have done that, then you really reach nirvana.

The Arhats in the Sravaka tradition who reach what is called in that tradition the "nirvana without remainder," meaning that they have given up their skandhas, are, in fact, just resting temporarily in samádhi. Subsequently they are awakened by the light rays of the Buddhas, who call them, saying, "Now it is time to go on to the Mahayana." So then they have to get up from their samádhi and have to enter the Mahayana.

Arhats think that they have reached the highest nirvana, the actual nirvana, but they have not, and they find that out when the Buddhas call them.

Was there another question back there?

Question: How does one deal with the fact that until one becomes a first-level bodhisattva, there is still a chance that one could fall back into samsara? It seems discouraging to think that one could work really hard in this life and then have a chance to lose everything at the end.

Rinpoche: In the Mahayana we practice developing compassion and emptiness. When we practice compassion, we take the attitude that we actually want to be born in samsara, that samsara is like a garden party and that we really want to come and live in samsara for the benefit of others. We do not want to

leave. And because we understand that all phenomena are actually of the nature of emptiness, that they are only the false appearances of things, which are like dream appearances or illusory appearances, [and that the suffering attendant upon them is also illusory and unreal,] then we should never feel discouraged about the prospects of getting born somewhere in samsara. We should be happy about it, because then we can be of benefit to others. The bodhisattvas’ aspiration is that we will be able to suffer and go through whatever difficult circumstances we need to go through, for the benefit of others, and that we will have the ability to do that.

If we give rise to great compassion, and if we have an understanding of emptiness, then we will never be discouraged. The Tibetan word for bodhisattva, jangchup sempa (male) or jangchub semma (female), means heroic being. So bodhisattvas, male and female, have great courage. They do not get discouraged by anything, not even by the prospects of staying in samsara for a very long time, because they want to stay there to benefit others.

Now let’s sing "Seven Delights," which is about liking sickness, liking getting old, liking dying, and liking whatever bad happens to us. There is no reason to get upset or get down; just be happy.

[Students sing "Seven Delights"]

If we ever feel weary or frustrated with sickness, aging, death, or other difficult circumstances in samsara, we should sing this song many times and think about its meaning.

Sickness, aging, death, and all other difficult circumstances are just like dreams. If we do not know that we are dreaming, then they can make us suffer; but if we know we are dreaming then they are a cause for happiness.

So now let’s sing "The Ultimate View, Meditation, Conduct, and Fruition."

[Students Sing]

Source

Vajra Songs of the Indian Siddhas

Analysis of songs from SHENPEN ÖSEL

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