Mahāmudrā 3

continue from Mahāmudrā 2

Mahāmudrā śamatha and vipaśyanā

As in most Buddhist schools ofmeditation, the basic meditative practice of mahāmudrā is divided into twoapproaches: śamatha ("tranquility","calmabiding") and vipaśyanā ("specialinsight"). This division is contained in the instructions given byWangchuk Dorje, the ninth Karmapa, in a series oftexts he composed; these epitomize teachings given on mahāmudrā practice.

Mahāmudrā śamatha

Mahāmudrā śamatha contains instructionson ways to sit with proper posture. The mahāmudrā shamatha teachings alsoinclude instructions on how to work with a mind that is beset with variousimpediments to focusing, such as raising the gaze when one feels dull orsleepy, and lowering it again when one feels overly excited. Two types ofmahāmudrā śamatha are generally taught śamatha with support and śamatha withoutsupport.

With support

Mahāmudrā śamatha with support involvesthe use of an object of attention to which the meditator continually returnshis or her attention. One of the main techniques involved in Mahāmudrā śamathawith support is mindfulness of breathing (S.ānāpānasmṛti). Mindfulness of breathing practice is considered to be quiteprofound means of calming the mind to prepare it for the stages that follow.For the Kagyupa, in the context of mahāmudrā, mindfulness of breathing isthought to be the ideal way for the meditator to transition into taking themind itself as the object of meditation and generating vipaśyanā on that basis.The prominent contemporary Kagyu/Nyingma master Chogyam Trungpa, expressing the KagyuMahāmudrā view, wrote, "your breathing is the closest you can come to apicture of your mind. It is the portrait of your mind in some sense. . .Thetraditional recommendation in the lineage of meditators that developed in theKagyu-Nyingma tradition is based on the idea of mixing mind and breath."

Without support

In objectless meditation, one rests themind without the use of a specific focal point.

Mahāmudrā vipaśyanā

The detailed instructions for theinsight practices are what make mahāmudrā (and dzogchen) unique in Tibetan Buddhism. InMahāmudrā vipaśyanā, Wangchuck Dorje gives ten separate contemplations that areused to disclose the essential mind within; five practices of "lookingat" and five of "pointing out"the nature of mind. They all presume some level of stillness cultivated bymahāmudrā shamatha. In retreat, each contemplation would typically be assignedspecific time periods.

 Thefive practices for "looking at" the nature of the mind are asfollows:

 Looking at the settled mind. One repeatedlylooks at the mind's still state, possibly posing questions to arouse awareness,such as "what is its nature? It is perfectly still?"

§  Looking at the movingor thinking mind. One tries to closely examine the arising, existence, andceasing of thoughts, possibly posing oneself questions so as to betterunderstand this process, such as "how does it arise? What is itsnature?"

§  Looking at the mindreflecting appearances. One looks at the way in which phenomenaof the external senses occur in experience. Usually, a visual object is takenas the subject. One repeatedly looks at the object, trying to see just how thatappearance arises in the mind, and understand the nature of this process. Onepossibly asks questions such as "what is their nature? How do they arise,dwell, and disappear? Is their initial appearance different from how theyeventually understood?"

§  Looking at the mindin relation to the body. One investigates questions suchas "what is the mind? What is the body? Is the body our sensations? Whatis the relation of our sensations to our mental image of our body?"

§  Looking at thesettled and moving minds together. When the mind is still, one looksat that, and when the mind is in motion, one looks at that. One investigateswhether these two stages are the same or different, asking questions such as"if they are the same, what is the commonality? If different, what is thedifference?"

The practices for "pointing outthe nature of mind" build on these. One now looks again at each of thefive, but this time repeatedly asks oneself "What is it?" In thesepractices, one attempts to recognize and realize the exact nature of,respectively:

§  The settled mind,

§  The moving orthinking mind,

§  The mind reflecting appearances,

§  The relation of mindand body,

§  The settled andthinking mind together.

The above practices do not havespecific "answers"; they serve to provoke one to scrutinizeexperience more and more closely over time, seeking to understand what isreally there.

Four yogas of mahāmudrā

Mahāmudrā is sometimes divided intofour distinct phases known as the four yogas of mahāmudrā (S.catvārimahāmudrā yoga, Wylie: phyagrgya chen po'i rnal 'byor bzhi). They are as follows:

1.    one-pointedness (S. ekāgra, T. rtse gcig)

2.    simplicity (S. niṣprapāncha, T. sprosbral) "free from complexity" or "not elaborate."

3.    one taste (S. samarasa, T. ro gcig)

4.    non-meditation (S. abhāvanā, sgom med) Thestate of not holding to either an object of meditation nor to a meditator.Nothing further needs to be 'meditated upon' or 'cultivated at this stage.

These stages parallel the four yogas of dzogchen semde.

The four yogas of mahāmudrā have beencorrelated with the Mahāyāna five paths (S. pañcamārga)as follows:

According to TseleNatsok Rangdrol (Lamp of Mahāmudrā ):

§  Outer and inner preliminary practices: path ofaccumulation

§  One-pointedness: pathof application

§  Simplicity: paths ofseeing and most of the path of meditation (bhūmis one through six)

§  One taste: last partof the path of meditation, most of the path of no-more-learning (bhūmis seventhrough nine)

§  Nonmeditation: lastpart of the path of no-more learning (tenth bhūmi) and buddhahood (bhūmiseleven through thirteen)

According Dakpo TashiNamgyal (Moonlight of Mahāmudrā)

§  Outer and innerpreliminary practices and one-pointedness: path of accumulation

§  Simplicity: path ofapplication

§  One taste: paths ofmeditation & no-more-leanining

§  Nonmeditation: pathof no more learning & buddhahood

According Je Gyare asreported by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Moonlight of Mahāmudrā)

§  One-pointedness:paths of accummulation and application

§  Simplicity: path ofseeing (first bhūmi)

§  One taste: paths ofmeditation and part of the path no-more-learning (bhūmis two through eight)

§  Nonmeditation: restof path of no-more-learning, buddhahood (bhūmis nine through thirteen)

According DrelpaDönsal as reported by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Moonlight of Mahāmudrā)

§  One-pointedness:paths of accummulation and application

§  Simplicity: path ofseeing (first bhūmi)

§  One taste: paths ofmeditation and no-more-learning (bhūmis two through ten)

§  Nonmeditation:buddhahood (bhūmis eleven through thirteen)

§   

Six Words of Advice

Main article: Tilopa#Six_Words_of_Advice

Tilopa was a Bengali mahasiddha who developed the mahāmudrāmethod around 1,000 C.E. Tilopa gave Naropa, his successor, a teaching on mahāmudrā meditationcalled the Six Words of Advice.

In the following chart a translation isgiven of the Tilopa's Six Words of Advice.

Six Words of Advice
	First short, literal translation	Later long, explanatory translation	Tibetan (Wylie transliteration)
1	Don’t recall	Let go of what has passed	mi mno
2	Don’t imagine	Let go of what may come	mi bsam
3	Don’t think	Let go of what is happening now	mi shes
4	Don’t examine	Don’t try to figure anything out	mi dpyod
5	Don’t control	Don’t try to make anything happen	mi sgom
6	Rest	Relax, right now, and rest	rang sar bzhag