42 Chapter I: The Essence of Mahiimudril yet seen Thus, identify the moment of the present thought In brief, not think about earlier or future thoughts , but find out how the thought of this very moment is By looking nakedly at j ust this moment of the present thought, the thought is cut off as it is made to pass and one thereby enters an undistracted state free from thoughts When a distraction or a thought again manifests, search for its source [within] By looking nakedly, the thought is liberated by itself and, with balance, one enters non-conceptuality In this way, search for and look directly at any thought that arises Before the session becomes too long, stop while the experience is still fresh and make many short sessions in this way By doing this repeatedly, one gradually comes to understand the nature of thought, whereby one reaches an understanding of all the phenomena of sm71siira and nirvii�ia By this alone, one reaches an insight fully knowing the nature of [all] things and thus one will truly transcend the three realms [of sm71siira] completely 33 The Result of Mahamudra How does such meditation influence the mind? Sho sgom Byang chub ye shes wrote : Settle into the state of the uncontrived nature In the state of mind that ensues [from having meditated] , one should recognize the arising of any thought to be like encountering a familiar person and understand that [all] thoughts about physical sensations are birthless 34 In the texts of Dags po 'i bka ' 'bum, this kind of meditation practice is often referred to as *yoga (rnal 'byor) , which in Tibetan literally means "j oined with the real " while the S anskrit term may literally be taken as meaning "yoking [oneself to a spiritual discipline] " 33 Chas rje dags p o !ha rje 'i gsung/ khrid chos mu tig tsar la brgyud pa, DK.A.Pa l 2b : na mo gu ru/ /bla ma la gsol ba gdab pa lo zla zhag grangs thems pa dang/ dngos gzhi 'i dus su thun mgo la zhe mna ' skyal pa la so gs pa sngon 'gro sdus pa cig byas pa 'i rjes la/ rkang pa 'i rdo rje dkyil dkrungs la so gs pa bcas tel phyag rgya chen po mi bsgom/ skye ba med pa 'am/ rang bzhin med pa 'am/ spros pa med pa 'am/ blo las 'das pa 'am/ stong nyid dam/ bdag med dam/ bde gsal mi rtog gam/ gang du yang ma grub pa la so gs pa 'am/ 'dad 'dad po la so gs pa gang du yang mi bsgom/ 'o na ji !tar byed na/ rnam par rtog pa 'das pa 'i rjes mi bead/ Ima 'ongs pa 'i rdun ma bsu/ da !tar gyi rtog pa skad cig ma 'di ngos 'dzin pa zhes bya ba yin tel mdor na rnam par rtog pa snga ma la mi bsam/ phyi ma la mi bsam par da !tar nyid rnam rtog ci 'dra cig 'gyu yin 'dug/ snyam du da !tar gyi rtog pa skad cig ma 'di nyid la gcer gyis bltas pas/ rtog pa rgyu 'g rul rbad kyis chad nas ma yengs par du rtog pa mi 'ong/ nam yengs pa dang rtog pa yer gyis 'ong tel byung sa 'i rtog pa de nyid la 'dad thog byas la/ cer gyis bltas pas rtog pa rang sar grol nas mi rtog par phyam gyis 'gro/ Ide !tar rtog pa gang byung byung la 'dad thog byas shing ce re blta 'o/ lthun yun mi ring tsam gsal 'phrol bead cing yun thung la grangs mang du bya 'o/ lde !tar yang dang yang du byas pas dus ji zhig tsa na rtog pa 'i rang bzh in shes nas 'khor 'das la sags pa 'i chos thams cad kyi rang bzhin shes pa cig 'ong ngo/ Ide tsam na/ shes rab kyis na chos kyi rang bzhin yangs shes nas/ khams gsum ma lus pa las yang dag 'da ' bar 'gyur 34 Tshogs chos bkra shis phun tshogs, DK.A.Nga lb (critical edition based on manuscripts DK.a and DK.A) : gnas lugs ma bcos pa 'i ngang la gzhag/ rjes kyi shes pa la rnam par rtog pa ci skyes thams cad sngar 'dris kyi mi dang 'phrad pa !tar shes par byas la/ byung tshor gyi rnam par rtog pa thams cad skye med du shes par bya 'o// Chapter : The Essence of Mahiinwdra 43 Bso d nam s rm chen's younger nephew, Shes rab byang chub, defined such yoga in the fol lowin g way: Every focus , thought, perception, o r feeling is nothing but the dharmakiiya found within one' s own mind Yoga is to settle in this view of whatever occurs within the state of dharmakiiya of one's mind A s the ex perience of the co-emergent is cultivated through yoga, the practitioner is said to progress through four stages of Mahiimudrii practice called the "four yogas " (rnal 'byor bzhi, *c aturyoga ) These four are named " single pointednes s " ( rtse gcig, *ekiigra), "freedom from conceptual entanglement" (spros bral, *ni�prapaiica) , " one taste " ( ro gcig or du ma ro gcig, *ekarasa) , and " great meditative absorption" (mnyam bzhag chen po , *mahiisamiihita).3 Shes rab byang chub has given a short description of these: First, at the time of learning, exercise a clear and pure awareness ; then exercise an undistracted mind; and then exercise being undistracted within the nature of awareness Once this has been cultivated, it is said that one has developed certainty within oneself When one no longer loses sight of the nature of the mind, any thought that arises is dharmakiiya The clouds or mist that appeared in the sky have dissolved back into the sky again It is said that if one is still unable to control the arising of thought, one will become able to so later Having generated the deity, meditate only on radiance This is an experience of pure radiance To be undis tracted in that is the abiding The insight that n o longer perceives any kind of [fixed] nature is the [basic] realization The momentary mind that is unobstructed radiance is " the yoga of single pointedness " The realization that the nature of awarenes s is birthless and beyond 'being' and 'non-being' is " the yoga of freedom from conceptual entanglement " The realization that what appears to be a variety is actually of a single nature is "the yoga of one taste " The uninterrupted realization of the inseparability of perception and emptiness is the " great meditative absorption " The essence of the mind is like the center of the autumn sky It is without hope and fear, unchanging and uninterrupted at all times 37 Chas rje dags po lha rje 'i gsung/ snying po don gyi gdams pa phyag rgya chen po 'i 'bum tig, DK.A.'a.4.2b: dran rtog myong tshor ma lus thams cad kun/ !chos sku sems las ma rtogs gzhan med pas/ !gang !tar song yang rang sems chos sku 'i ngang/ Ide !tar lta ba thag chod mal 'byor yin! 36 For a discussion of the four yogas, see GUENTHER ( 992) Chas rje dags po lha rje 'i gsung/ snying po don gyi gdams pa phyag rgya chen po 'i 'bum tig, DK.A.'a l l 6a: dang po slob pa 'i dus rig pa gsal sing nge ba de la bslab/ Ide yang shes pa ma yengs pa la bslab/ Ide yang/ rig pa 'i ngo bo ma yengs pa la bslab/ Ide goms tsa na/ rang la nges shes skye ba yin gsungs/ se1ns nyid kyi ngo bo ma shor bar byas na/ mam rtog ci byung yang chos sku yin/ nam mkha ' la sprin dang/ khug ma la sags pa ci tsam byung yang/ /nam mkha ' rang la dengs nas 'gro ba yin/ Imam rtog 'phror ma btub na slar thub yin gsungsl yi dam lhar bskyed nas 'ad gsal 'ba ' zhig bsgom/ gsal sing nge ba de nyams myong yin/ Ide la ma yengs pa de gnas pa yin! shes rab kyi ci 'i ngo bar yang ma mthong ba de rtogs pa yin/ gsal la ma 'gags pa skad cig ma 'i shes pa de rtse gcig gi mal 'byor yin/ !rig pa 'i ngo bo skye med! yod med las 'das par rtogs pa de spros bral gyi mal 'byor yin/ sna tshogs su snang yang rang bzhin cig tu rtogs pa de du ma ro gcig gis mal 'byor yin/ 44 Chapter : The Essence of Mahamudrii Once the four yogas have been accomplished, the practitioner attains the ultimate goal of Mahiimudrii, which B sod nams rin chen's attendant, B s gom pa Legs mdzes , described as follow s : I t has been said that "the result is a spontaneously accomplished certainty free from hope and fear " The result is dharmakaya That it is spontaneously accomplished means that one understands that everything one sees and hears has always been birthless, the nature of dharmakaya It is the realization of the inseparability of samsara and nirvana 38 S umming up, B sgom pa Legs mdzes wrote: There are three aspects : the flawles s basis, the flawless way, and the flawless result The first is the naturally pure phenomena as such The second is to take co emergent knowing as the path The third is not to be divorced from the inseparability of space and knowing This instruction of taking the penetrating openness as the way is like a [spotless] lotus flower: when one has ascertained the true being to be the flawless basis, one takes it as the path, whereby one attains true being as the flawless result B sod nams rin chen's Mahiimudrii teaching thus commences with that the practlt10ner employs a certain understanding of the nature of the mind It is said that every state of mind has a co-emergent aspect of Awakening, referred to as dha rmakiiya, the state of ultimate reality This view is associated with the highest level of Tantra called Mahiimudrii To introduce his students to an experience thereof, it seems that B sod nams rin chen often avoided bestowing Tantric empowerment or teaching the Tantric methods Instead, he gave a meditation on the teacher, where the student is instructed to make intense wishes for Awakening to the teacher with strong trust It is promised that the student thereby will receive the teacher's blessing, which enables the practitioner to gain a glimpse of the innate A wakened qualities of the mind Once this experience has been achieved, the student focuses on the actual Mahiimudrii meditation Such meditation basically consists in letting go of all contrived effort and to dwell in a clear awareness of the Awakened nature of every snang stong dbyer med du rgyun chad med par rtogs pa de mnyam bzhag chen po yin no/ !sems kyi ngo bo ni ston ka 'i nam mkha 'i dkyil lta bu! re dogs med pal mi 'gyur ba/ dus thams cad du rgyun chad med pa de yin! 38 Mgon po zla 'od gzhon nus mdzad pa 'i tshogs chos legs mdzes ma, DK.A.Ca 2a: 'bras bu lhun grub re dogs med pa 'i gdeng tshud pa dang bzhi 'o/ Ices pa nil 'ong ste de yang 'bras bu ni chos kyi sku yin la/ limn grub ni snang grags kyi chos thams cad ye nas skye ba med pa chos kyi sku 'i rang bzhin du go ste! 'kho r 'das gnyis su med du rtogs pa 'o! Ibid , DK.A.Ca b : de la gsum/ gzhi dri ma med pa dang/ lam dri ma med pa dang/ 'bras bu dri ma med pa 'o/ dang po n i chos nyid rang bzhin gyis mam par dag pa 'o/ gnyis pa ni lhan cig skyes pa 'i ye shes lam du 'khyer ba 'o/ gsum pa ni dbyings dang ye shes dbyer med pa 'i don dang mi 'bra! lo zang thal lam du 'khyer bar byed pa 'i gdams ngag nil gzhi dri ma med pa de nyid gtan la phab nas lam du 'khyer ba la brten nas/ 'bras bu dri ma med pa de nyid thob pa me rtog padma lta bu yin tel Chapter I: The Essence of Mahiimudrii 45 percepti on and thought Having become acquainted with this realization, every state of mind is said to appear as A wakened The ensuing result is to be free from all hopes and fears B sod nams rin chen's approach thus first of all emphasized the role of the teacher, which m ay help to explain the immense importance that devotion to the teacher generally has played in the later contemplative traditions of the Bka ' brgyud schools of Tibetan B uddhism Secondly, this devotional practice enabled B sod nams rin chen to introduce his students to the highest level of Tantra without necessarily teaching them the regular preceding steps of Tantric yoga Mahamudrii was thereby changed from being the climax of Tantric practice into being a meditative practice emphasizing instant Awakening In this regard, it was somewhat similar to other instant approaches in Buddhist contemplative systems, such as Chinese Chan 40 or the Tibetan Rnying ma and Bon traditions of Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) Was this kind of Mahiimudra approach a novelty purely invented by B sod nams rin chen or had it been passed down from or otherwise implicitly inherent in the earlier Indian Buddhist traditions ? And, if it w as a novelty, what then might have motivated B sod nams rin chen to formulate such a doctrine? These are questions to be briefly considered in the following chapter As will be shown, some Tibetan defenders of the classical Indian Tantric traditions reacted quite strongly against the meditative teachings of B sod nams rin chen and his Bka ' brgyud successors By looking into this critique, some of the doctrinal forces at play in the Tibetan contemplative traditions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries begin to emerge, thereby elucidating the Tibetan reception history of B sod nams rin chen's teachings 40 The Chinese word Chan (1�), perhaps better known in its Japanese pronunciation Zen, literally means 'meditation' The Chinese and Japanese words are phonetic approximations of the Indian word for meditation, dhyana (Tibetan bsam gtan) Chapter The Critical Reception of Bsod nams rin chen ' s Mahamudra A Mahamudra Critic Roughly 79 years after the demise of B sod nams rin chen in 1 , a strong criticism of his Mahiimudra teachings was penned by the scion of scholarship in the Tibetan Buddhist Sa skya tradition, namely S a skya Par:ic# ta Kun dga' rgyal mtshan ( 1 82- 25 ) , who also is known in brief as Sa Pan S a Pai:i belonged to the powerful 'Khon clan, which held the Sa skya transmission of the Tantric teachings that had been gathered in Indi a by 'Brog mi Lotsa ba Shakya ye shes (993- 050) In 6, Sa Par:i became the religious head of the clan and its monastic center in Sa skya Until the late twelfth century, the Sa skya lineage had predominantly been a Tantric tradition specialized in the Path and Fruition (lam 'bras) teachings epitomized in Virupa's text generally referred to as " The Vajra Verses " (Rdo rje tshig rkang) , 43 a work having its theoretical basis in the Indian Hevajratantra and the associated literature During the abbacy of Sa Pary's uncle, B sod n ams rtse mo ( 1 42- 1 82), the Sa sky a followers began more broadly to incorporate doctrinal siltra and philosophical sastra study of the Indian Common Mahayana teachings into their curricula, as propagated earlier in Tibet by the translator Rngog Lotsa ba B l o ldan shes rab ( 05 9- 1 09) and other scholars This took place, in particular, through the teaching activities of the learned monk Phya pa Chos kyi sengge ( 1 09- 1 69 ) , who served as a tutor for B sod nams rtse mo With the many writings and religious activities of S a Pa9 , thi s scholastic shift in orientation within the Sa skya tradition seems to have become much more pronounced Besides studying the Tantric teachings held by his clan , Sa Pai:i also spent his formative years studying with a number of Tibetan teachers from the tradition of Rngog Lotsa ba 44 Then in 205, Sa Par:i met the Indian scholar S akyasribhadra ( 1 27- 225) who had come to Tibet in 204 on the invitation of Tibetan B uddhist master and translator Khro phu Lotsa ba Byams pa'i dpal ( 1 72- 225 ) Sa Par:i spent several years under the tutelage of S akyasnohadra and his entourage of younger Indian pm:u;litas, focusing his learning especially on Indian B uddhist epistemology (tshad ma, prama"(la) His study of Indian texts S ee VAN DER KuIJP ( 98 :97) 42 See David P JACKSON ( : 27 ) D2284/Q3 l l , Lam 'bras b u dang bcas pa 'i gdams ngag ( *Miirgaphaliivaviida) 44 For these events in the Sa skya lineage and S a Par.i's life, see VAN DER KUIJP ( 983 : 97-99) ... accomplished means that one understands that everything one sees and hears has always been birthless, the nature of dharmakaya It is the realization of the inseparability of samsara and nirvana... on the invitation of Tibetan B uddhist master and translator Khro phu Lotsa ba Byams pa'i dpal ( 1 72- 225 ) Sa Par:i spent several years under the tutelage of S akyasnohadra and his entourage... that the practlt10ner employs a certain understanding of the nature of the mind It is said that every state of mind has a co-emergent aspect of Awakening, referred to as dha rmakiiya, the state