Namogurujo:
Homage and reverence to Lama Choki
Gyelpo
Whose seven-horsed mandala of all-illuminating wisdom and
love
Radiates all-embracing beams of boundless compassion
Instantaneously
enlightening beings of the three realms.
Homage and reverence to
Ngakchang Dorje:
From clouds of loving kindness and compassion piled
high
In the vast expanse of his radiant, empty dharmakaya,
A downpour of
dharma descends upon the earth,
Upon his fortunate disciple
vessels.
The winds of diligence blowing into the unfurled sails
of
high aspiration,
The ship of vision carries all beings drowning in the
ocean
of existence
To the Island of Jewels, the Buddha's
trikaya:
Homage to the captain of that ship, Jamyang Gyatso!
The sun
of wisdom and love of these my three Lamas,
Radiating warming rays of potent
grace,
Struck the white lotus of this lucky vagrant,
And the bud of
Knowledge fully opening
A thousand petals of mystical experience and insight
were exposed.
Piled high on the pistils of intelligence
Lies nectar
that liberates by taste,
The ambrosial nectar of these songs of
vision:
This I offer to my lucky disciples, the swarm of bees,
To drink in
devotion to their hearts'content.
(verses from "Song One", to
follow...)
EHMAHO! This carefree and free-speaking vagrant with the deep
intelligence now
sings "The Flight of the Garuda", a song of vision,
facilitating fast ascent of
all the stages and paths. Listen attentively, my
beloved sons and daughters!
Like the roar of the dragon, the great name
of Buddha resounds throughout the
universe, in samsara and nirvana.
Constantly vibrating in the minds of the six
types of sentient beings, how
wonderful that this resonance is not silent a
moment!
They may be
ignorant of the Buddha's existence within, but how amazing that
fools search
for him outside! Clearly visible like sunshine, bright and
radiant, how
surprising that so few can see him!
The Mind, the Buddha himself, having
neither mother nor father, how wonderful
it is that he knows neither birth
nor dying! Suffering all our multifarious
feelings, how marvelous that he is
unaffected for better or worse!
The original face of the mind, unborn and
primally pure--how wonderful it's
authenticity and natural perfection!
Intrinsic knowledge itself, our naturally
liberated nature--how marvelous it
is that no matter what occurs it is released
by letting it be!
EHMAHO! Nobel beloved sons and daughters, listen without
distraction! All the
Victorious Buddhas if the past, present and future have
taught eighty-four
thousand books of scripture, teaching as boundless as
space itself, but all to
one end: how to realize the nature of mind. The
Buddhas taught nothing more
than this.
If the principal root of a tall
tree is severed, its ten thousand branches and
leaves will wither and die all
together; likewise, when the single root of mind
is cut, the leaves of
samsara, such as dualistic clinging, perish.
The empty house that has
stood in darkness for millennia is illuminated
instantly by a single lamp;
likewise, an instant's realization of the mind's
clear light eradicates
negative propensities and mental obscurations inculcated
over countless
aeons.
The brilliance and clarity of sunlight cannot be dimmed by aeons
of darkness;
likewise, the radiance of the mind's essential nature cannot be
obscured by
aeons of delusion.
Indeterminate is the color and shape of
the sky, and it's nature is unaffected
by black or white clouds; likewise,
the color and shape of mind's nature is
indeterminate, and it cannot be
tainted by black or white conduct, by virtue or
vice.
Milk is the
basis of butter, but the butter will not separate until the milk is
churned;
likewise, human nature is the ground of Buddhahood, but without
existential
realization sentient beings cannot awaken.
Through gnostic [a pure nature
of mind, or basic cognizance independent of
intellectual constructs]
experience of the nature of reality, through practice
of these precepts, all
beings can gain freedom; regardless of the acuity of
his [one's] faculties
even a cowherd attains liberation IF his [one's]
existential experience is
nondual realization. [caps. mine]
When you realize the clear light of
mind's nature, the pundit's words of wisdom
are redundant. How relevant is
another's description of the taste of treacle
when your mouth is full of
it?
Even the pundit is deluded if he [one] has no existential
realization. He
[One] may be skilled in comprehensive exposition of the nine
approaches to
Buddhahood, but he [one] is as far distant from Buddhahood as
the earth is from
the sky if he [one] knows of it only from second-hand
accounts.
You may keep your strict moral discipline for an aeon and
patiently practice
meditation for an eternity, but if you have yet to realize
the clear light of
the mind's immaculate nature you will not extricate
yourself from the three
realms of samsara. Diligently examine the nature of
your mind!
EHMAHO! Now listen further, all my best beloved sons and
daughters! No matter
what system of mind-training you practice, unless you
realize the nature of
your mind, severing its root, you miss the point of
Dzokchen. [Dzogchen]
The errant aspirant blind to this imperative is like
the archer who places his
[a] target to the front only to shoot off his [the]
arrow in another direction.
He is like the householder who searches outside
for a thief who is still in
the house; like the exorcist who sets his [a]
spirit-trap at the west door
when the demon lives in the east; like the poor
man [person] who begs, blind to
his [their] hearth-stone of
gold.
Therefore, my beloved children, you who wish to resolve life's
frustrations and
anxieties by the direct method of discovering the nature of
mind, examine your
minds in the following way:
What we call "mind", is
an insistent chatterer, hopping, skipping and jumping
about. Try to catch it
and it slips away, changing shape or vanishing;
attempt to focus it and it
will not be still, proliferating and scattering;
try to pin it with a label
and it resolves into unutterable emptiness. But, it
is tis same mind that
experiences the gamut of human feeling, and this is the
mind that must be
scrutinized.
First, what is the origin of this mind? Is it a function of
external
phenomena--mountains, rocks, water, trees and celestial breezes--or
is it
independent of them? Asking yourself where the mind comes from,
investigate
this possibility thoroughly.
Alternatively, consider
whether or not the mind originates from the
reproductive fluids of our
parents. If so, enquire into the process by which
it emerges. Continue this
enquiry until it is exhausted and you admit the mind
has no
origin.
Then secondly, answer the question, "Where is the mind now?" Is
it in the upper
or lower part of your body, in your sense organs, in your
lungs or your heart?
If it lodges in your heart, in what part of the heart?
What is it's color and
shape? Thoroughly investigate the present location of
the mind and it's
characteristics until you are certain that they are not to
be found.
Finally, examine the movement of the mind. When it moves, does
it pass through
the organs of the senses? In its mementary embrace of
external objects, is
there physical contact? Is it only a mental function, or
are both body and
mind involved together? Investigate the process of
perception.
Further, when a thought arises with it's attendant emotion,
firstly,
investigate its source. Secondly, find its present location, its
color and
shape and any other attributes. Look long and hard for the answers
to these
questions. Lastly, when thought has subsided into itself and
vanished, where
has it gone? Examine your mind closely for the
answers.
At the time of death, what occurs to the mind? How does it leave
the body?
Where does it exit? Consider these questions and all their
ramifications in
detail.
Persevere in your careful enquiry, examining
the mind until you reach a
positive conclusion that it is empty, pure and
utterly inexpressible, that it
is a non-entity and free of birth and death,
coming and going.
The arid assertions and metaphors of others--statements
such as "Mind is
emptiness!"--are worse than useless. Until you know the
answer yourself such
statements tend to bring doubt and hesitation to the
mind. It is like a
dogmatic assertion that tigers do in fact live in a
country where it is
generally supposed that tigers are extinct. It leaves
doubt and uncertainty on
the subject. After tenatively examining your mind
and having established its
nature, it is as if you had explored the valleys
and hills where the tigers are
said to exist and, having seen for yourself
whether tigers live there, are
fully informed. Thereafter, if the question of
tigers' existence in that place
arises, you will have no doubt as to the
truth of the matter.
EHMAHO! Again, my beloved sons and daughters, gather round and
listen! During
the analysis and examination of your minds in the manner
described above, when
you failed to find a "mind" that
you could point to
and say "This is it!" and when you failed to find so much as
an atom that you
could call concrete, then your failure was a supreme success.
Firstly,
"mind" has no origin; since it is originally emptiness its essence
is
insubstantial. Secondly, it has no location, no color and no shape.
Finally,
it does not move: without moving, it disappears without a trace; its
activity
is empty activity, its emptiness empty appearances.
Mind's
nature is not created by a cause in the first place, and it is not
destroyed
by an agent or condition at the end. It is a constant quantity:
nothing can
be added to or taken from it, it is incapable of increase or
decrease, and it
cannot be filled or emptied.
Since mind's nature is all-pervasive, the
ground of both samsara and nirvana,
it is without bias or partiality. No form
demonstrates its actuality more
clearly than another, and it manifests all
and every-thing equally without
obstruction.
Mind cannot be
established or defined as anything at all specific, since it
goes beyond the
limits of existence and non-existence. Without coming and
going it is without
birth and death, without clarity and obstruction.
The nature of mind in
its purity is like a stainless crystal ball: its essence
is emptiness, its
nature is clarity, and its responsiveness is a continuum.
In no way
whatever is the nature of mind affected by samsara's negativity.
From the
first it is Buddha. Trust in this!
Such is my introduction initiating
recognition of the original nature of mind,
the ground of our being, our true
existential condition.
EHMAHO! Again, my beloved heart-sons, listen. [in another
translation,
this familial phrase is consistently referred to as simply
'children', in my opinion that
is so much more to the point!] Hear how
Dharmakaya Kuntu Zangpo is free
without need for so much as an instant of
meditation, and how the six types of
beings wander in samsara without having
performed even the slightest negative
or vicious act.
In the
beginning, before anything was, nameless samsara and nirvana were
pure
potential in the original ground of being. This is how Knowledge arose
from
the ground at that time: in the same way that the natural light of a
crystal
shines out when a sunbeam strikes it, when the primal awareness of
Knowledge
was vitalized by life-force, the seal of the Vase of Eternal Youth
was broken
and spontaneously originated clear light shone in the sky like the
light of the
rising sun, as pure-lands of pure-being and primal
awareness.
Then Dharmakaya Kuntu Zangpo understood this to be his [how
about if this read:
"understood this to be spontaneous manifestation?"...with
no gender reference?]
spontaneous manifestation, and instantaneously the
outer light of pure-being
and primal awareness dissolved into the inner clear
light. In the original
ground of being, pure from the beginning, he [this?]
attained Buddhahood.
We unenlightened beings, however, did not understand
that the nature of
spontaneously originated [original] appearances was [is]
our own natural
radiance, and unmindful perception and bewilderment were the
result. This is
called "the ignorance that accompanies every
perception."
Also at that [this] time ['time'] the clear light and the
appearances arisen
[arising] out of the ground of clear light were [are]
perceived as two. This
is called "conceptual ignorance." It was at this
juncture that we fell into
the trap of ignorant dualism. [or, It IS at this
juncture we FALL into this
trap of ignorant dualism.]
Thereafter,
[Hereafter,] as the potentialities of our experience
proliferated
[proliferate] with the gradual widening of the scope of our
activity, the
entire gamut of samsaric action emerged. [emerges.] Then [So
now] the three
emotional poisons appeared [appear] together with the five
poisons that evolved
[are evolving] from them, the eighty-four thousand forms
of passion developing
from the five poisons, and so on. Since then, [Even
now,] until [at] this very
moment, we have endured [endure] the pleasure and
pain of the wheel's constant
revolutions. We spin endlessly in this samsaric
existence as if tied to a
waterwheel.
If you need elaboration of this
topic, consult Kunkhyen Longchenpa's "Treasury
of the Supreme Approach", and
the "Dense Cloud of Profound Significance,
amongst others.
Now,
although your Lama's profound personal instruction has made you aware of
the
self-deception and delusion harbored in the dark cave of your mind, you
have
also recognized your mind as Buddha. You have encountered the original
face
of the Original Lord, the Adibuddha, and you know that you possess the
same
potential as Kuntu Zangpo. My spiritual children, contemplate
this joy from
the bottom of your hearts!
EHMAHO! Again, beloved children of my heart, listen! "Mind",
this universal
concept, this most significant of words, being no single
entity, manifests as
the gamut of pleasure and pain in samsara and nirvana.
There are as many
beliefs about it as there are approaches to Buddhahood. It
has innumerable
synonyns.
In the vernacular it is "I"; some Hindus
call it the "Self"; the Disciples
say "self-less individual"; the followers
of"Mind-only call it simply "mind";
some call it "perfect insight"; some call
it "Buddha-nature"; some call it the
"Magnificent Stance" (Mahamudra); some
call it the "Middle Way"; some call it
the "Cosmic Seed"; some call it the
"reality continuum"; some call it the
"universal ground"; some call it
"ordinary consciousness". Since the synonyms
of "mind", the labels we apply
to it, are countless, know it for what it really
is. Know it experientially
as the here and now. Compose yourself in the
natural state of your mind's
nature.
When at rest the mind is ordinary perception, naked and
unadorned; when you
gaze directly at it there is nothing to see but light; as
Knowledge, it is
brilliance and the relaxed vigilance of the awakened state;
as nothing
specific whatsoever, it is a secret fullness; it is the ultimacy
of non-dual
radiance and emptiness.
It is not eternal, for nothing
whatsoever about it has been proved to exist.
It is not a void, for there is
brilliance and wakefulness. It is not unity,
for multiplicity is self-evident
in perception. [here I think of "in
perception... only? ...and I'm inclined
to think in answer to this...yes. Then
beyond this, follows a thought of
total interdependence, regardless of
perception or not,of course, and yet
beyond this "I" come to a thought of, in
reality a non-interdependence due to
this very non-separatedness encountered or
perceived in total
interdependence, spontaneously and so - 'ad infinitum.' So
anyhow, to
continue...] It is not multiplicity, for we know the one taste of
unity. It
is not an external function, for Knowledge is intrinsic to
immediate
reality.
In the immediate here and now we see the face of
the Original Lord abiding in
the heart centre. Identify yourself with him, my
spiritual sons [children].
Whoever denies him, wanting more from somewhere
else, is like the man [person]
who has found his [their] elephant but
continues to follow its tracks. He
[They] may comb the three dimensions of
the microcosmic world systems for an
eternity, but he [they] will not find so
much as the name of Buddha other than
the one in his [their]
heart.
Such is my introduction initiating recognition of our true
existential
condition, which is the principle realization in
Cutting
Through to the Great Perfection.
EHMAHO! Once more listen attentively, my noble sons and
daughters. The
three modes of Buddha's being--essence, nature and
responsiveness--and the five
modes of being, as well as the five aspects of
primal awareness are all
completed and perfected in the naturally luminous
intrinsic knowledge of the
here and now.
The essence of Knowledge,
indefinable by any term such as color, shape or other
attribute, is the
dharmakaya; the inherent radiance of emptiness is the light
of sambhogakaya;
and the unimpeded medium in which all things manifest is
the
nirmanakaya.
The three modes are explained like this: the
dharmakaya is a crystal mirror;
the sambhogakaya is its nature--brilliant
clarity; and the nirmanakaya is the
unobstructed medium in which the
reflection appears.
From the first, people's minds have existed as these
three modes of being.
If they are able to recognize this spontaneously, it is
unnecessary for them to
practice even so much as a moment of formal
meditation--the awakening to
Buddhahood is instantaneous.
In this
introduction to the three modes they are defined separately. In truth,
my
heart-children, do not fall into the error of believing them to be
separate,
belonging to different continuums.
From the beginning, the
three modes of being are empty and utterly pure.
Understanding them as a
single essence that is the union of radiance and
emptiness, conduct yourself
in a state of detachment.
Further, since the primal awareness of
self-existing Knowledge manifests
everything whatsoever, this awareness is
the pure-being of the Creator,
Vairocana; since it is unchanging and
unchangeable, it is the pure-being of
Immutable Diamond, Aksobhya-vajra;
since it is without centre or
circumference, it is the pure-being of
Boundless Light-form, Amitabha; since
it is also the gem that is the source
of supreme realization and relative
powers, it is the pure-being of the
Fountain of Jewels, Ratnasambhava; since
it accomplishes all aspiration, it
is the pure-being of the Fulfiller of All
Ambition, Amoghasiddhi. These
deities are nothing but the creative power of
Knowledge.
The primal
awareness of Knowledge is mirror-like awareness because of the
manifest
clarity of its unobstructed essence. It is awareness of sameness
because it
is all-pervasive. It is discriminating awareness because the entire
gamut of
diverse appearances is manifest from its creativity. It is the
awareness that
accomplishes all actions because it fulfills all our ambition.
It is
awareness of the reality-continuum, the dharmadhatu, because the
single
essence of all these aspects of awareness is primal purity. Not so
much as an
atom exists apart from these, which are the creativity of
intrinsic knowledge.
When a pointed finger introduces you directly and
immediately to the three
modes--essence, nature and responsiveness--and the
Five Buddhas and the five
aspects of awareness, all together, then what is
experienced is brilliant,
awakened Knowledge unaffected by circumstance and
uninfluenced by clinging
thought; it is cognition of the here and now,
unstructured and unaffected.
All the Buddhas of the three aspects of time
arise from this Knowledge.
Constantly identify yourselves with it, beloved
sons and daughters, because
this is the spirituality of all the Buddhas of
the three aspects of time.
Knowledge is the unstructured, natural
radiance of your own mind, so how can
you say that you cannot see the Buddha?
There is nothing at all to meditate
upon in it, so how can you complain that
meditation does not arise? It is
manifest Knowledge, your own mind, so how
can you say that you cannot find it?
It is a stream of unceasing radiant
wakefulness, the face of your mind, so how
can you say that you cannot see
it? There is not so much as a moment of work
to be done to attain it, so how
can you say that your effort is unavailing?
Centered and dispersed states are
two sides of the same coin, so how can you
say that your mind is never
centered? Inbtrinsic knowledge is the
spontaneously originated three modes of
being, which is achieved without
striving, so how can you say that your
practice fails to accomplish it? It is
enough to leave the mind i n a state
of non-action, so how can you say that
you're incapable of attaining it? Your
thoughts are released at the moment of
their inception, so how can you say
that the antidotes were ineffective? It is
cognition of the here and now, so
how can you say you do not perceive it?
EHMAHO! Once again, beloved sons and daughters, listen with
devotion! "Mind
in its insubstantiality is like the sky." Is this true or
false, my children?
Confirm it by relaxing completely and looking directly at
the mind, gazing with
your entire mind, free of all tension.
"The
emptiness of the mind is not just a blank nothingness, for without doubt
it
is the primal awareness of intrinsic knowledge, radiant from the
first.
Self-existent, natural radiance is like sun-light." Is this indeed
true? To
confirm it, relax completely, looking directly at the nature of your
mind.
"There is no doubt that it is impossible to objectify or grasp
thought or the
movement of memory. This capricious, changeable movement is
like the cosmic
wind!" Is this indeed so? To confirm it, relax completely,
looking directly at
the nature of your mind.
"Without doubt all
appearances whatsoever are our own manifestation. All
phenomena, whatsoever
manifests, is like reflection in a mirror." Is this
indeed so? To confirm it,
relax completely, looking directly at the nature of
mind.
No
experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is nothing to
see
other than that seen at the moment of vision. No experience is
possible
anywhere but in the mind, so there is nothing to meditate upon other
than mind.
No experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is
nothing to do
other than what is done in the mind. No experience is possible
anywhere but in
the mind, so there is no samaya to be sustained outside the
mind. No
experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is no goal
to be
reached that is not in the mind.
Look, look, and look again.
Look at your own mind!
Project your attention into external fields of
space, and, attentively watching
the nature of your mind, see if it moves.
When you are convinced by
observation that the mind does not move, retract
your attention and concentrate
upon the mind within, and look carefully for
the projector of diffused thought.
When you have decided that there is no
entity responsible for thought
patterns, look carefully for the color and
shape of the mind. When you arrive
at the emptiness that has no color or
shape, look for a center or
circumference. Certain that middle and margin are
the same, search for an
inside and an outside. Finding no distinction between
inside and outside, you
arrive at Knowledge, which is vast as the
sky.
"By virtue of its all-penetrating freedom this Knowledge that has no
center or
circumference, no inside or outside, is innocent of all partiality
and knows no
blocks or barriers. This all-penetrating intrinsic knowledge is
a vast expanse
of space. All experience of samsara and nirvana arises in it
like rainbows in
the sky. In all its diverse manifestation it is but a play
of mind."
You need only look out from the motionless space of intrinsic
knowledge at all
experience, illusory like the reflection of the moon in
water, to know the
impossibility of dividing appearances from
emptiness.
"In a state of Knowledge there is no separation of samsara and
nirvana." Look
out from the motionless space of intrinsic knowledge at all
experience,
illusory like the reflection in a mirror, and no matter what
manifests it can
never be tasted, its existence can never be proved. In this
dimension samsara
and nirvana do not exist and everything is the
dharmakaya.
All beings wandering in the three realms of samsara remain
trapped in dualism
until they realize that within their own perception
resides the primal
awareness that is the ultimate identity of all experience
of samsara and
nirvana. Due to the power of the delusive subject/object
dichotomy, they hold
samsara and nirvana to be different states of mind. They
remain bound because,
where in truth there is nonduality, they see a
duality.
In reality no distinction between samsara and nirvana can exist
in anybody's
mind. However, when the worldly fool rejects some things and
indulges in
others, avoiding the "bad" and cultivating the "good", despising
one while
loving another, then due to partiality, prejudice and bias,
aimlessly he [one]
wanders through successive lives.
Rather than
attain the spontaneously accomplished three modes of intrinsic
knowledge
[essence, nature, responsiveness] without striving, thick headed
aspirants
explore the techniques and stages of many time-consuming methods
of
"self-improvement", leaving them no time to reach the seat of the
Buddha.
"Emphatically, all phenomenal appearances whatsoever are one's
own vision."
Look out from the state of motionless intrinsic knowledge and
all light-form
and animate existence is like reflection. Appearances are
empty, sound is
empty and indeed one's own nature is originally
empty.
Similarly, turn your attention inwards to the mind that is the
viewer, and your
thought processes, naturally subsiding, are empty like the
sky, unstructured,
free of conceptual elaboration, utterly indeterminable,
beyond description,
concept and expression of any kind.
All events
whatsoever are an illusory magical display of mind and all the
magical
display of mind is baseless and empty. When you have realized that all
events
are your own mind, all visual appearances become the empty
dharmakaya.
Appearances are not binding. It is through attachment to them
that beings are
fettered. Sever all delusive attachments, children of my
heart!
EHMAHO! Best beloved, fearless sons and daughters, without
applying the spur,
the horse will not gallop; without thorough churning, the
butter will not
separate; without detailed explanation you will not be
convinced of my meaning.
So while I sing my long but lyrical songs, listen in
comfort, relaxed, without
drooping ears!
Until you perceive all
appearances as mind you will never realize the meaning
of emptiness. To
facilitate this understanding, you favored children must
apply yourselves
fully to a diligent analysis and thorough search. Firstly,
where do
appearances come from? Secondly, where are they now? Lastly, where
do they
go?
During your examination you will see that just as mist arises out of
the sky
and dissolves back into the sky, appearances are the magical display
of your
mind, arising in the mind and vanishing back into it.
Take as
an example the shimmering effect seen by a man [person] with an
impaired
sense of vision when he [they] gaze(s) ahead. Although the shimmering
appears
to exist in front of his [their] eyes, nothing is there--it is an
optical
illusion.
In the same way, when mental functions are impaired by negative
propensities
that cause clinging to apparently external objects as discrete
and substantial
entities, then visual and auditory phenomena appear to exist
where not so much
as an atom can be proved to have ultimate reality.
Everything is a figment of
the mind.
All these figments of mind are
baseless and empty. They are non-existent
light-forms, apparition and magical
illusion, like the reflection of the moon
in water. Compose yourself in the
reality of inseparable appearance and
emptiness!
Now, in our sleep we
may dream of our native country, our parental home, and
our relatives or
friends, as if they were actually present, and an appropriate
strong feeling
may arise. Although our family and friends are not actually
present and we
have not stirred an inch from our beds, we may experience a
face-to-face
encounter with them of the same vivid intensity as in the
waking
state.
Each and every sensual experience of our lives is an
experience similar to last
night's dream. Just as we attach labels to dream
entities, objectifying and
clinging to them as substantial entities, so
appearances are modified and
apprehended by mind in the waking state. In the
same way that dreams have no
substance, so the figments of the mind, all
appearances whatsoever, are also
empty.
EHMAHO! Only children of my heart, most well-beloved! All
appearances are
indeterminate and equivocal, so much so that what some can
see, others cannot.
Further, regarding the sentient beings of this world,
some conceive of the
world as earth, some conceive of the world as fire; some
conceive of the world
as wealth and others conceive of the world as
suffering.
Some sentient beings conceive of water as water, some conceive
of water as
fire, some conceive of water as nectar; some conceive of water as
their home,
while others conceive of water as earth.
Some sentient
beings conceive of fire as fire, some conceive of fire as wealth;
some
conceive of fire as their home, while others conceive of fire as
food.
Some sentient beings conceive of space as space, some conceive of
space as
their home, while others conceive of space as earth.
Thus,
insofar as appearances are equivocal, they appear as they do through
the
power of the karmic proclivities of the perceiver. The four elements
conceived
of as the four elements are human perceptions.
Other beings
conceive of the earth as the fires of hell, as the farmers'
wealth, or as the
misery of the racially oppressed.
Likewise, the fire-gods conceive of
fire as enjoyment, hungry-ghosts with
bodies of fire conceive of it as their
home and fire-flies conceive of it as
food.
Likewise, regarding water,
denizens of hell conceive of it as fire,
hungry-ghosts see it as pus and
blood, elephants conceive of it as earth, the
gods know it to be nectar,
shape-shifting gods conceive of it as jewels and a
shower of flowers, and
nagas conceive of it as their home.
Finally, regarding space, all the
gods conceive of space as earth, since they
are made of
space.
Furthermore, all phenomenal appearances manifest in whatever
manner they have
thus been perceptually defined.
When Devaputra asked
Sakyamuni, "Who made Mt. Meru, the sun amd the moon?",
the Buddha himself
said, with his own lips:
"In answer to that, surely no creator exists oter
than the karmic
potentialities and habitual patterns and conditioning of our
thought processes.
These define and label appearances, reifying and
objectifying them, forming
them accordingly. All things are created by our
own minds."
Again, Devaputra asked the Buddha, "Our habitual thought
patterns and
conditioning may form the nature of appearances, but from whence
comes the
solidity and density of Mt. Meru, the sun, themoon and so on?" And
the Buddha
replied:
"In Benares there once lived an old woman who
visualized herself as a tiger
and transformed her human body into the body of
a tiger, and the people of
Banares, having set eyes upon her, fled, and the
city was deserted. If in a
very short time an old woman can effect such a
transformation by visualization,
is it not indeed probably that apprarances
have been created in the same way,
when the mind has been conditioned by
karmic propensities instilled from
beginningless time?"
Thus all
things are created by mind.
Further, Hindu sadhus are wont to visualize
themselves in a solitary place in
order to prevent distraction from the
mundane hustle and bustle and diversions
round about them, and after they
have attained a tangible solitude to live in
even other people can appreciate
it.
One Hindu yogin is alledged to have visualized a rock in the sky, and
after it
became as stone it impeded the human body.
Therefore, since
all appearances are modified by conceptualization, they are
the mind's
self-manifest display, and all such manifestation is in
reality
empty.
Further, denizens of the short-lived hells conceive of
their bodies as doors,
pillars, ovens and ropes, and so on, and suffer the
pain of it. In whatever
way appearances are conceived in the mind, inevitably
in that form they
manifest.
All the pleasure and pain of all sentient
beings of the six realms is created
only by their own minds. On account of
this, while you remain absorbed in
equanimity, strive for conviction that all
things are your own mind's illusory
magical display, insubstantial
appearances with an empty essence.
Further, it is said in the scriptures
that the three dimensions of microcosmic
world systems of suffering beings
exist in a single speck of pollen on a pistil
of the lotus that Saint
Mountain Lake, Muni Himavat-sara, holds in his hand.
The scriptures also
assert that when the yogin adept on the path of the
Immediate Crossing has
fully potentiated his vision of reality as Knowledge, he
sees boundless
Buddhafields, and also boundless fields of residence of sentient
beings of
the six types, in each and every pore of his body. Into each of the
six
realms he projects emanations to transform the different beings, and
the
ultimate purpose of all those beings is served as in a dream.
In
such ways all experience of samsara and nirvana is the natural
and
spontaneous manifestation of one's mind, and the ground of this
spontaneous
display is emptiness. You must cultivate and sustain conviction
in the
dimension of emptiness and radiance, remaining free of all attachment
to it.
Furthermore, it is said that in a single speck of dust there are
as many
Buddhafields of infinite dimension, and also innumerable realms of
sentient
beings of the six types, as there are motes of dust on the earth.
The
Victorious Buddhas have said that none of these Buddhafields and realms
of
sentient beings intermingle, affect each other, or produce any ill
omen.
And again, people say that in the stomach of every insect there is
an infinite
number of hives of microscopic insects. People also believe that
in the
reaches of space there are an infinite number of cities constructed
upside
down, and, likewise, innumerable other cities built on their side or
right side
up. If you question who made these cities in this way, the answer
given by the
Victorious Buddhas is that they were all conceived in the minds
of the sentient
beings who perceived them.
You must understand that
the nature of mind, from the beginning, is like space,
and that all
experience is also, necessarily, like space. All relative visual
and auditory
experience is only the natural and spontaneous manifestation of
mind in
itself.
Although, indeed, there are changes in the mindstream at death,
it is the
mind's projections that change--there is no external
change.
Since all experience is the manifestations of mind, all manifest
appearances
are baseless and empty. Sustain the experience of the state of
Knowledge where
there is no duality between radiance and emptiness, where
there is luminous
appearance without substance, like the reflection of the
moon in the water.
All visual appearances, everything that you see, are
the spontaneous
manifestation of mind. The chalice, the inert phenomena of
the world that form
a receptacle, is mind; the elixir, the animate existence
of the six types of
sentient beings that inhabit the world, is also mind; the
blissful phenomena
of gods and men of the upper realms are mind; the painful
phenomena of the
three lower realms are mind; the loss of awareness and the
passion that
manifests as the five poisons are mind; the noumena of Knowledge
and primal
awareness, self-existent and spontaneously arisen, are mind;
the
manifestations of negative thought processes created by cyclical mental
habit
patterns that potentiate transmigratory tendencies are mind
[karmic
propensities ?]; the manifestation of positive thought patterns,
Buddhafields,
are mind; the phenomena of obstacles erected by hostile forces,
spirits and
demons are mind; fully manifest divinity and spiritual powers are
mind; the
manifest diversity of discursive thought is mind; the phenomenon
of
one-pointed thoughtless trance is mind; the phenomena of apparent
concrete
entities with color and shape and other attributes are mind; that
which is
indeterminate and without specific characteristics is mind;
phenomena in which
there is no duality of unity and multiplicity are mind;
phenomena that cannot
be established in any way as either existent or
non-existent are mind.
There is no noumenal or phenomenal manifestation
whatsoever that is not mind.
The mind is like an artist. The body is created
by mind, as are all the many
worlds existing in the three dimensions of
microcosmic world systems: all of
them are also drawn by the mind. All beings
possessing this puerile mind are
seduced and inveigled by the pictures drawn
by their thought processes.
Thus it is of crucial importance to cultivate
absolute conviction that all
things are the illusory, magical display of
mind.
Such is my introduction initiating recognition of mental
projections, the
concepts of dualistic thought processes, as mind.
EHMAHO! Listen further, noble, beloved sons and daughters of my
heart! The
Buddha taught that the creator of all these appearances mentioned
above, mind
in itself, has no knowable essence and neither color nor shape
nor any other
characteristic. From the beginning empty and intangible like
the sky, the
nature of mind is unquestionably empty and
baseless.
However, although we may use the sky as a metaphor indicating
the nature of
mind, it is only pointing at mind's emptiness. Mind is also
cognitive, its
emptiness manifesting everything: the sky is non-cognitive, an
empty, blank
nothingness. The sky, therefore, does not illustrate the nature
of mind.
Such is my introduction initiating recognition of emptiness as
appearances.
From the very beginning appearances and emptiness are
indivisible: because the
mind is empty, appearances are unimpeded, and
ungraspable phenomena arise in
the dimension of emptiness as variegated
radiance. Appearances, on the other
hand, do not obstruct or fill emptiness:
although they are manifest, their
nature is originally empty.
For the
yogin who realizes the indivisibility of phenomena and emptiness like
a
rainbow in the sky or the reflection of the moon in water, every experience
of
samsara and nirvana is a play of magical illusion. Watching the play
of
indivisible appearances and emptiness, the yogin whose intellect and
mental
processes are still is content.
Are your minds still, my
beloved children? Look to see if the emptiness and
appearances of your mind
can actually be divided. Appearances and emptiness
are indivisible.
[!]
Such is my introduction initiating recognition of indivisible
appearances and
emptiness.
It follows, then, that naturally
indivisible appearances and emptiness, the
inherent radiance of self-existent
Knowledge, clear and alert, constitutes the
three modes of being that are the
Buddha's spontaneously originated dynamic.
Threrfore, children of my
heart, without regard for sessions and intervals of
formal practice, in
constant meditation sustain this recognition day and night.
Such is my
introduction initiating recognition of natural, spontaneous
gnostic
liberation.
EHMAHO! Listen again to this vagrant's
song! There are two ways of defining
the three modes of being: in terms of
Knowledge as the universal ground of
being, and in terms of the process of
appearances emanating from the Knowledge
that is the universal
ground.
Clearly understanding these two definitions you will intuitively
recognize
samsara and nirvana as pure-lands of the three existential
modes.
This is the definition of the three modes of being that structure
originall
Knowledge. I have used this metaphor previously, but here it is
again:
Original intrinsic knowledge is like a crystal ball: its emptiness
is the
dharmakaya's nature; it's clear natural glow is the sambhogakaya; and
as the
unimpeded medium of whatever appears, it is the
nirmanakaya.
That is how the three modes of being are defined as original
Knowledge, and
although they are not identical to it, neither are they
separate from it.
Just as the five colors of the spectrum arise out of a
crystal, so the
manifestations of the ground of being arise out of original
Knowledge.
In the process of manifestation the pristine emanations of the
Buddha's
Pure-Lands and the bewildering emanations of phenomena and of
beings, all
things whatsoever, are empty in essence, and this emptiness is
the dharmakaya;
their nature is radiant light, which is the sambhogakaya; and
their
unobstructed manifest diversity is the nirmanakaya.
This is how
the three modes of being are defined as the process of
manifestation of
appearances in the universal ground of being.
The distinction between
these two definitions is rarely made, but it is vital
that it be clearly
understood. It was made clear to me through Longchenpa's
generous
explanations.
If you understand this, then you know that the entire
universe of phenomena and
noumena and the energy that animates it is, and has
been from the beginning,
the spontaneously originated mandala of the three
modes of being, and that it
is futile to look for the pure-lands of the three
modes anywhere else.
If people were capable of spontaneous reflexive
recognition of just the six
types of sentient life as the three modes of
being, then without the necessity
to perform even the slightet practice of
meditation, they would all attain the
Buddhas' awakening.
Further,
since the three modes of the ground of being are ultimately the
dharmakaya,
do not regard the three as different. Since the three modes of the
process of
manifestation in the ground of being are the rupakaya, do not
regard them as
different either. Ultimately the dharmakaya and the rupakaya
are also not
different: in the dimension of the dharmakaya, emptiness is the
one
taste.
Finally, reaching the end of the path, after appearances
manifesting in the
ground have spontaneously dissolved back into the ground,
when the dynamic of
the universal dharmakaya is revealed, the ultimate goal
is attained.
Thereafter, without stirring from the space of the dharmakaya,
the two aspects
of the rupakaya (sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya) are displayed
like a rainbow,
and there is an uninterrupted stream of activity for the sake
of all beings.
EHMAHO! Now listen once again to this vagrant singing! At one
time or another
all of you have been injured by others. Conscientiously
recollect in detail
how others have wrongfully accused you and victimized
you, humiliating you and
grinding you into the ground, and how you were
shamed and deeply mortified.
Brood on these things, letting hatred arise, and
as it arises, look directly at
its essence, at hatred itself. Then, discover
firstly where the hatred comes
from, secondly, where it is now, and finally,
where it goes to. Look carefully
for its color and shape, and any other
characteristics.
Surely the vision of your anger is ultimately empty and
ungraspable. Do not
reject anger! It is mirror-like awareness
itself.
Then, all you lovers, think of the beautiful man or woman in your
heart. You
gluttons, consider the food you crave--meat, cake, or fruit. You
strutting
peacocks, recall and dwell on the clothes you like to wear. You
avaricious
traders, think about the form of wealth you desire--horses,
jewelry, or cash.
Carefully considering these matters, allow desire to arise,
and when it arises
look directly at its essence, at the greedy and lustful
self. Then discover
firstly where it comes from, secondly where it is now,
and finally where it
goes to. Look carefully for its color and shape, and any
other characteristics.
This vision of your desire is ultimately empty and
ungraspable. Do not reject
it! It is discriminating awareness.
When
you are tired, depressed and dull, accept your sloth, and as it arises
gaze
directly at its essence. Who is it that is slothful? Firstly, where does
it
come from? then, where is it now?, and finally, where does it go to?
This
vision of your sloth is ultimately empty and ungraspable. Do not reject
your
stupidity! It is awareness of the vast plenum of space,
the
reality-continuum.
Then think about your class and status, your
race and influence and your
wealth. Consider how handsome or how beautiful
you are, and how pleasant and
effective your voice. Recall to what extent you
are virtuous and successful in
study, contemplation and meditation, in
reading and writing, in learning in the
sciences and arts, and also in the
ritual arts, and in converting and
controlling others, and so forth. After
considering your talents and virtues,
thinking that you are a little superior
to others, allow pride to arise. As it
appears, look directly at its essence,
at pride itself. Discover firstly where
it comes from, then where it is now,
and finally where it goes to. Look
carefully at its color and shape and for
any other characteristics.
This vision of your pride is ultimately empty
and ungraspable. Do not reject
your pride! It is awareness of
sameness.
Then consider how much more influential and wealthy others are
than yourself.
Recall their talent and success, their large numbers of
followers, their wisdom
and ability in the arts and sciences, their superior
singing, oratory and
effective speech, their superior knowledge of life and
how to live it, and
their worldly wisdom and persuasiveness. After you have
considered all the
talents and virtues of others, allow the fear that they
are superior to
yourself to arise, together with envy and jealousy. Upon its
arising gaze
directly into the essence of jealousy, at jealousy itself. From
where does it
come? where is it now? and finally where does it go? Look
carefully at its
color and shape and at any other characterisic.
The
vision of your envy is ultimately empty and ungraspable. Do not reject
your
jealousy! It is all-accomplishing awareness.
If you intuit the nature of
your passions this way, emotional defilement
becomes primal awareness. [I
love this!] How ridiculous to expect to find
primal awareness and emptiness
after you have suppressed passion! How tragic
to spend your life searching
for something in a place where it is
inconceiveable that you should find
it!
After you have realized the five poisons as emptiness by this method,
it is
unnecessary to examine every passion that arises as described in
this
introduction; there is no need to search for the seat of the passion,
its
present location, its eventual destination, its color and shape, and so
on.
Once you have understood the five poisons as emptiness, avoid
pursuing the
passion from the moment it arises.
Such is my
introduction initiating recognition of transformed emotional
expression, and
such also is my instruction in purification through creative
emotional
efflorescence.
If you have practiced purification through creative
emotional efflorescence by
the method described above in the past, henceforth
whenever the five
poisons--defiling passions--arise, by virtue of your
habitual reflexive
recognition of their hidden core, emptiness and primal
awareness will arise as
one. Then, release and the arising of appearances are
simultaneous!
In the biographies and teaching of the Lamas of the past,
the axiom "The
greater the passion and the greater intensity of discursive
thought the greater
the dharmakaya" occurs frequently. Know that it means
exactly what it says!
For beginners, when powerful and intense emotion
arises it is best to examine
the passion and then to rest in
equanimity.
This is the Lamas personal advice, so keep it in your
heart.
Such is my introduction initiating recognition of spontaneous
release of the
five poisons.
Song 14:
EHMAHO! Once more listen to me, beloved sons and daughters
who I treasure like
my heart! Wrap soft, silken clothes around your body and
observe the mind that
thinks "How soft!" Wrap coarse yak wool or sheepskin
around your body and
observe the mind that thinks, "How coarse!" When
observing the mind, emptiness
is the one taste in both
perceptions.
Look at the form of a beautiful statue or a great painting
and observe the mind
that thinks "How beautiful!" Look at the form of a
hideous frog and observe
the mind that thinks "How repulsive!" When looking
at the mind, emptiness is
the one taste in both perceptions.
Put
something sweet like molasses or honey in your mouth, and observe the
mind
that thinks "How sweet!" Then taste something like ginger and look at
the mind
that thinks "How pungent!" When observing the mind, in both
perceptions
emptiness is the one taste.
Smell something aromatic like
sandalwood incense and look at the mind that
thinks "How pleasing!" Then
smell something repungnant like asafoetida or wild
garlic and look at the
mind that thinks "How foul!" When observing the mind,
emptiness is the one
taste in both perceptions.
Listen to the sound of a bell or flute, and
observe the mind that thinks "How
lyrical!" Listen to the sound of stones
grating or hands clapping and look at
the mind that thinks "What cacophony!"
When observing the mind, emptiness is
the one taste in both
perceptions.
Imagine that you are reborn as a world emperor ruling the
lands of the foru
continents, that you are surrounded by an entourage of
queens and ministers, in
a palace constructed out of the five types of
precious substance (gold, silver,
turquoise, coral and pearl), where you are
eating a feast of a hundred tastes.
When such a vision arises in your mind
watch the mind that thinks "How delightful!" Then imagine yourself a beggar
without even a single companion,
with nowhere to lay your head but a cow
shed, where rain drips in from above
and moisture seeps in from down below,
your body afflicted by many diseases,
your hands and feet rotting off from
leoprosy, tormented by so many troubles
that truly you know the meaning of
suffering. When such a vision arises in
your mind, watch the mind that
thinks, "Oh, the pain!" Observing the mind,
both in happiness and sadness,
emptiness is the one taste.
After you have realized the emptiness of the
six sense-fields in this way,
whenever any positive or negative feeling
arises from any of these fields you
need not examine them as in this
introduction. Every perception is without
foundation, released from the
beginning and empty; and refraining from
pursuing any of them at the moment
of their inception, relax into your own
space, into the nature of your mind.
Undoubtedly, every sense impression is
spontaneously released.
Such is
my introduction initiating recognition of the spontaneous release of
the six
sense-fields.
Song 15:
EHMAHO! Again listen attentively, my noble sons and
daughters! Relax, let
yourself be at rest in the free space of mind's
original nature, and observe
the quiescent state of mind. Gazing into the
mind at rest, you abide in the
infinite space of Knowledge. Know, therefore,
beloved children of my heart,
that a quiescent mind is an empty mind in a
state of knowledge.
Such is my introduction initiating recognition of
quiescence as an adornment of
mind.
Then, as thought moves in the
mind, observe how it is manifest: it moves not
the slightest degree out of
the space of empty and radiant Knowledge. Know,
therefore, that an active
mind is still an empty mind in a state of Knowledge,
beloved sons and
daughters.
Such is my introduction initiating recognition of the movement
of mind as its
play.
No matter how large or violent the rolling wave,
it cannot escape the ocean for
a moment. In the same way, mind, passive or
active, cannot escape Knowledge
and emptiness to the slightest degree. If it
is quiescent, it is in a state of
Knowledge, so you can relax. If it is
active, whatever arises is the radiant
glow of Knowledge itself, so again,
relax.
The assertion that mind in quiescence is in meditation and that an
active mind
is out of meditation, sognifies failure to understand the
inherent emptiness of
both quiescence and activity, and it indicates that
quiescence, movement and
Knowledge, these three, are not yet fused into
one.
Therefore, best beloved sons and daughters of my heart, because
quiescence and
movement are both states of Knowledge, and because in the past
you have fully
comperhended both these states separately, now in your
existential praxis you
should condition yourself in the experience of
quiescence, movement and
Knowledge as one.
Such is my introduction
initiating recognition of nondual quiescence and
movement.
Song 16: "Introduction to Dzogchen--with Cautions"
EHMAHO! Listen, only beloved children of my heart, listen
with your ears
attentive and calm! Set the sweet melodies of this vagrant
minstrel, Tsokdruk
Rangdrol, upon the white peaks of your heart with the
Sweet-voiced Maiden!
When we have established that all experience is the
one taste of emptiness, we
have no attachment or aversion to samsara or
nirvana. The error of
apprehending external entities either as aliens or as
allies, as enemies or
friends, is precluded. No "self and other" dichotomy
arises in any situation:
all things are known as the one taste of
emptiness.
The following is a complete exposition distilled into
aphorisms. In the
pinnacle of approaches to Buddhahood, the Great Perfection
known as Dzogchen,
the whole of samsara and nirvana has been realized as
unfounded and acausal.
From the beginning, "Buddha" is the one taste of
the dharmakaya. In the
Dzogchen dimension there is no distinction between
gods and demons. In the
Land of Dzogchen there are no Buddhas and no sentient
beings. In the ground of
Dzogchen there are no moral dualities. There is no
near or far on the Dzogchen
path. There is no attainment or non-attainment of
the Dzogchen goal. There is
no correct or incorrect behavior in Dzogchen.
There is no meditation or
non-meditation in the reality of Dzogchen. Such is
Dzogchen vision.
When we realize this Dzogchen vision, all constructs
pertaining to the gross
and subtle planes of the three doors subside, and,
thereafter, like tangled
wool made manageable by moistening, our three
doors--body, speech and
mind--reach a state of quiet, self-directed
responsiveness.
Coincident with the development of a happy, glowing,
thought-free samadhi is
the birth of authentic compassion, which is like the
love a mother holds for
her only son, except that here the love is directed
towards all beings roaming
in samsara who lack the Dzogchen vision. This
compassion is a very special
feature of Dzogchen vision, and this you must
know.
After you have resolved that all things are empty, if then in your
conduct you
abandon virtue and no longer shrink from vice, you have fallen
under the spell
of a demon of infinite and intense evil. It is crucial to
avoid this demonic
pitfall.
Such are my introductions initiating
recognition of Dzogchen, the Great
Perfection.
The following introductory advice about Dzogchen is
crucial.
While you have yet to realize that all visual and auditory
experiences of the
relative, external world are totally empty, when you
contemplate Dzogchen
vision you will tend to ask "Why meditate?" In order to
counteract this
tendency, remember to perform these exercises:
While
making supplication to the Lama, observe your mind. From time to time,
when
you are in a relaxed state of concentration, observe your mind intently.
At
these times you will feel totally contented, and appearances will arise
as
emptiness so vividly that you will think", "Although I can touch those
things
out there with my hand, there is really nothing there!" Profound
affirmations
and confident thoughts will certainly follow, like, "This is
definitely the
Dzogchen vision!" At such times you will gain confidence in
your vision. But
do not spoil it by clinging to it. Just relax in spacious
detachment.
Even if you do not practice what is transmitted in this
introduction, if you
have understood that everything manifests from your own
heart center as
reflexive forms of emptiness, at the time of death, no matter
what fears arise
in the bardo, you will attain the Buddha's awakening in the
universal ground,
pure from the beginning.
He [Anyone] who practices
the substance of this introduction without having
received the transmission
is like someone who starts in error on the first day
and remains in error
until the fifteenth. To say "I've realized emptiness!"
when you have not yet
understood that there is no reality in any experience of
the relative world,
is a great falsehood.
In order to avoid such pitfalls at the outset, as
described above, sit at your
Lama's feet, and having established the nature
of your original existential
condition through direct transmission, you will
avoid any deviation, double
binds and pitfalls that may arise later on.
Therefore, my dearest children,
keep this advice in your hearts.
EHMAHO! Once more, most beloved sons and daughters, listen!
After you have
fully intuited and established the original existential
condition of the
Dzogchen vision, you must utterly sever the ties of
attachment and aversion to
your family and homeland.
Go alone to the
forest or to a mountain hermitage. Abandon all physical work
and dwell at
ease; cease all verbal expression and remain in silence;
transcend all
objects of thought and let your mind merge with space. In this
state, relax,
without attempting to change anything, and without diffusion or
fixation of
your consciousness.
When the mind is free of all ambition and all
belief-supports, that is Dzogchen
vision. Abide in a state of non-meditation.
Realize Dzogchen's goal of
non-attainment.
Further, when you are
composed in equanimity, living the vision, do not become
entangled in any web
of judgmental thought by saying to yourself, "Now I've
arrived at a state of
Knowledge!" or "Now I'm caught in manic depression!"
No, stay wakeful in the
continuum of reality without any notion of present or
future attainment,
flexible and responsive in unobstructed freedom.
You cannot perceive
non-conceptual truth with your structured intellect, and
you cannot reach the
place of non-action through temporal activity. If you
want to attain the
non-conceptual goal of non-action, rest in naked Knowledge
free of dualistic
grasping.
The supreme vision is free of all conceptual duality. Supreme
meditation is
free from the cultivation of some attributes and rejection of
others. Supreme
action is beyond all striving and effort. The supreme goal is
ever immanent,
beyond aspiration.
Looking for 'it', the vision cannot
be seen: cease your search. 'It' cannot
be discovered through meditation, so
abandon your trance states and mental
images. 'It' cannot be accomplished by
anything you do, so give up the attempt
to treat the world as magical
illusion. 'It' cannot be found by seeking, so
abandon all hope of
results.
Do not be biased or partial, thus spoiling your free and easy
uncontrived
consciousness of the here and now by clinging attachments. This
radiant
insubstantiality, Knowledge of the here and now, this is the summum
bonum of
all vision. This all-pervasive, all-embracing object of mind
transcending the
intellect, this is the summum bonum of all meditations. This
unforced,
detached, free and easy spontaniety, this is the summum bonum of
all behavior.
This unsought, spontaneous accomplishment, present from the
beginning, this is
the summit of all attainments.
The matrix of vision
is observation of emptiness and radiance without clinging
to it. The matrix
of meditation is maintenance of reflexive release without
clinging to it. The
matrix of action is relaxation with a free and easy
response to the six
sense-fields. The matrix of the goal is collapse of all
expectation and
apprehension.
When the mind has no limitations, we see the sovereign
vision. When it has no
point of reference, we practice sovereign meditation.
When we are free of all
inhibition and indulgence, we perform sovereign
activity. When mind is free of
hope and fear, we have attained the sovereign
goal.
As there is nothing to see, abandon all fixed ideas, all
preconceived notions
and all parameters of vision. As there is nothing upon
which to meditate, let
be whatever arises adventitiously. As there is no
particular way to behave,
give up evaluation, judgment, and criticism. As
there is nothing to attain,
forsake all expectation of
results.
Whatsoever can be is Knowledge, so do not cling to any one
thing. Nothing is
'it', so do not judge and criticize. No intellectual
concepts are valid, so do
not presume.
Primally pure intrinsic
knowledge, naturally radiant, transcends the intellect
and objects of mind,
so there is nothing to see. As its essence has no root or
ground, there is
nothing to meditate uon. As its reflexive release is beyond
all limitations
and extremes, there is nothing to do based on conscious and
rational design.
As it is beyond striving, accomplishment and ambition, there
is no
fruition.
Its essence is emptiness, so abandon self-denial and
self-improvement. Its
nature is empty radiance, so let your diligent effort
drop away. Everything is
unobstructed, so forget your preferences. Just as
phenomena arise, let them
be, and do not cling to them.
The yogin's
perception is like the flight-path of a bird in the sky. The
bird's
flight-path vanishes without a trace: each previous perception
vanishes
without repercussion--do not attempt to prolong a perception by
pursuing it and
clinging to it. The bird's future flight-path is as yet
nonexistent: do not
anticipate the next perception. The present bird-print in
the sky is colorless
and shapeless: the present perception has an ordinary,
unremarkable
form--leave it alone and refrain from contaminating it or
modifying it by
applying antidotes.
Just as phenomena arise let them
be and do not cling! This is the radical,
essential practice during the daily
round. If you do not cling to whatever, or
however, phenomena appear,
emotional defilements, naturally freed, are sublime,
primal
awareness.
The vision is unoriginated, non-conceptual, capable of any
departure
whatsoever, for in intense concentration the vision has no specific
content.
Meditation is a natural, innate process of being free, for in
intense
meditation there is non-meditation. Conduct is a perfromance of
magical
illusion, innocent of any distinction between giving and taking,
abstinence and
indulgence, for intense activity is purposeless. The nature of
the goal is
absence of both hope of attainment and fear of failure, for with
intense
practice the goal vanishes.
In past, present and future the
mind is acausal and baseless. Its spontaneous
manifestation of vivid
appearances is a constant wonder. From the first to the
last the nature of
all experience is pure! miraculously arisen! eternally
free! completely free!
effortlessly accomplished! This ordinary
consciousness, unforced and
authentic, is the Buddha's dynamic, a vast space
without
limitation.
What is more, with effort, examining and contemplating the
mind, you do not see
its intrinsic original nature. In the unthinkable,
inscrutable ordinary nature
of reality there is neither meditation nor
non-meditation, neither distraction
nor non-distraction. Many are liberated
through natural no-meditation.*
[Here in the text is a note I think is
important to include, in an attempt to
clarify, and avoid misunderstanding:
*At this stage reflexive recognition of
the nature of mind has become a
habit. Examination of the mind is now an
obstacle to the spontaneous arising
of Knowledge. No-meditation indicates a
state where even the notions of
meditation and meditator are absent, free of
both meditation and
non-meditation when both states are self-conscious. This
double negative has
the same meaning as Naropa's mahamudra statement of simple
negation, the
oft-quoted lines:
Without thought, deliberation or analysis,
Without
meditation and without action,
Without doubt or expectation,
Mental
constructs and dualities spontaneously dissolve
And the original face of
reality shines forth.
The mendicant pilgrim is best placed to recognize
anonymous, unlearned (or
learned) realized beings whose attainment has arisen
in spontaneous
no-meditation.]
In the unthinkable, inscrutable,
ordinary nature of reality there is no
difference between freedom and
bondage. No matter what arises, when you
perceive your original nature the
joy arises automatically -- and what joy!
Trapped by the thought of
desiring thoughtlessness, conflicting thoughts
multiply, and in mounting
frenzy you run aimlessly hither and thither. Relax
and merge into the primal
space of Knowledge, which is free of coming and
going. Cut loose and just let
be. Then, ready for anything, you remain firm
and stable, as solid as a
rock.
Grasp this paradox, my sons and daughters! There is not so much as
a mote of
dust upon which to meditate, but it is crucial to sustain
unwavering attention
with presence of mind.
EHMAHO! Once more gather round and listen, my children! It is
absurd to try
to purify external objects, which are insubstantial
appearances, the natural
forms of emptiness. They are empty from the
beginning, like the reflection of
the moon in water.
It is absurd to
apply forceful antidotes to thoughts and concepts, and internal
objects. They
vanish by themselves without a trace. It is absurd to try to
improve mind's
manifestations with your renunciation, your practice of
self-improvement, or
your hopes and fears. They are free from the beginning
and primal awareness
by nature.
Do not dress up Knowledge, which is naked clarity itself, in
the clothes of
elaborate intellectual analysis. Rather, rest in relaxation in
that
magnificent sameness that is without partiality. Stay free and easy,
without a
care in the world, in the place where there is no residue to
perception.
No matter what thoughts arise in that space, know them to be
the natural
radiance of impartial and spontaeously existent Knowledge. Then
we are able to
let go of the mental residue of perception. Abandoning the
manifestations of
mind to vast all-embracing space as the play of elusive,
effervescent,
shimmering reality, we immediately reach the plenum of Kuntu
Zangpo's dynamic
mind.
The foregoing is called the universal,
self-liberating yoga of the naturally
accomplished and originally liberated
Great Perfection.
Although we do not move, we arrive at the Buddha's
seat. Although we do not
practice, the goal is spontaneously accomplished.
Although we do not abandon
emotional defilements, they are purified as they
stand. Thus our Mind is the
same as the dynamic minds of the great Lamas, and
following in their footsteps
our karma is exhausted.
You should
understand the enormous significance of this, my sons and daughters.
By the
generosity of the wise old man Choki Gyelpo, I, Tsokdruk Rangdrol,
attained
the spontaneously originated, dynamic mind of Vagrant Non-action.
This
non-action may be crucial, but it is not understood by some. Everything
is
already done, but they say, "I must work hard!" Everything has been
liberated
from the beginning, but they say, "I want to be free!" Everything is
at rest
from the beginning, but they say, "I want peace of mind!" The mind is
in
meditation from the beginning, but they say, "I must meditate!" The
vision
exists from the beginning, but they say, "I must see it!" The goal is
attained
from the first, but they say, "I must reach it!"
People who
trust in an analytical view are learned, but they know only the
taste of dead
words and divisive concepts. They claim understanding, but it is
an idle
boast. They meditate, but their meditation consists of mental
structures.
They examine the mind, but cling to duality. They are successful,
but it is
all in samsara.
It is certain that the intellectual with an analytical
view of reality has no
connection with the Heart-essence of the Great
Perfection, the Dzogchen
Nyingthig. No specific activity is necessary, for
action does not lead to the
exhaustion of karmic activity. It is beyond
reckoning in terms of action and
inaction.
In the non-meditation
beyond meditation, meditation is detrimental. Beyond
vision, where there is
nothing to see, upon what can you focus? Beyond
seeking, where there is no
seeking, there is no finding. Knowledge is direct
recognition of the here and
now.
How ridiculous that someone should have this explained and not
listen. Such a
person has no connection with Dzogchen.
When you
observe something that is arising in a dynamic mind of immense space,
utterly
pure from the beginning, then there is no duality of samsara
and
nirvana.
To have taken this Mind as the subject of my song will
indubitably please the
Victorious Buddhas of the past, present and
future.
"However," you may ask, "although at first I may rest free
and easy when
perceiving external, delusive objects of mind, later will I not
again regress
into bewilderment?"
The answer to your question is that
ordinary individuals attached to their ego
will certainly go astray. But as
for the yogin who understands all appearances
as causeless and baseless and
who refrains from attempting to change himself
[oneself] or phenomena,
rejecting some things and cultivating others, because
he [one] is naturally
composed in detached equanimity he [one] will not err.
"Are there no
potential traps or dilemas in this dimension?" you may
further
enquire.
There is no pitfall or trap possible on this path.
Dilemas and traps are
caused by clinging and attachment. If there is no
attachment to anything that
may arise, what can possibly be the cause of
downfall?
However, when Knowledge arises co-emergent with an object,
looking at the
essence of the thought of what has arisen should not be
considered the
meditation. The crucial practice is to constantly sustain the
aspect of
Knowledge that is naked radiance.
Furthermore, when
Knowledge is quiescent, neither diffused nor concentrated,
the lack of
concepts and thoughts associated with the quiescent aspect is not
the central
point of the meditation. In that state you should sustain clarity
and
strength of mind, crystal clear and acutely awake.
If you fail to
understand this vital point and think, "Observing either
diffusion or
quiescence of mind is the essence of meditation," you will go
astray, my sons
[children]. Mere quiescence is a trance state of the gods and
mere diffusion
is ordinary conceptualization. You may meditate on these but
you will not
attain Buddhahood.
In short, until you realize your goal, at all times
whatsoever you should
sustain the aspect of Knowledge that is naked,
unobstructed clarity,
maintaining a vivid awareness of it as a crystal ball.
After your goal is
attained, continue to sustain constant identification with
that state.
It is said that the central reality of the vision of Cutting
Through is
Knowledge, and that Knowledge should be sustained in all its
radiant clarity by
stripping the mind naked. This point is of unique
importance. It is an
aphorism reduced from a hundred words, so remember it
well, beloved sons and
daughters.
EHMAHO! Once again, sons and daughters of my heart, listen with
devotion and
respect! Here is the instruction on the four infallible guiding
stars. The
infallible guiding star of vision is called a guiding star because
of its
unfailing radiance: it is vivid perception of the here and now.
The
infallible guiding star of meditation is called a guiding star because of
its
unfailing radiance: its vivid perception of the here and now. The
guiding
star of action is called a guiding star because of its unfailing
radiance: its
vivid perception of the here and now. The infallible guiding
star of the goal
is called a guiding star because of its unfailing radiance:
its vivid
perception of the here and now.
Here is instruction on the
four unshakeable bolts. The unshakeable bolt of
unchangeable vision is vivid
perception of the here and now, and it is called
an unshakeable bolt because
of its permanence throughout past, present and
future. The unshakeable bolt
of unchangeable meditation is vivid perception of
the here and now, and it is
called an unshakeable bolt because of its
permanence throughout past, present
and future. The unshakeable bolt of
unchangeable conduct is vivid perception
of the here and now, and it is called
an unshakeable bolt because of its
permanence throughout past, present and
future. The unshakeable bolt of the
unchangeable goal is vivid perception of
the here and now, and it is called
an unshakeable bolt because of its
permanence throughout past, present and
future.
There are a vast number of different visions, but in the
self-existent
intrinsic knowledge of the here and now, which is pure
awareness, there is no
duality of vision and viewer. Do not look at the
vision but look for the
viewer. Looking for the creator of the vision, if you
fail to find him [one],
then your vision is at the point of resolution. This
vision in which there is
nothing at all to see but which is not a blank
nothingness of ultimate void, is
vivid and unalloyed perception of the here
and now: this is Dzogchen vision.
There are innumerable dissimilar
methods of meditation, but in the unobstructed
clarity, which is ordinary
perception of the here and now, there is no duality
of meditation and
meditator. Do not perform the meditation, but look for the
meditator.
Searching for the meditator, if you fail to find him [one], then
your
meditation is at the point of resolution. This meditation in which there
is
no meditating whatsoever, free of depression and elation, free of
cloudy
vision and sluggishness, is the natural radiance and unalloyed
perception of
the here and now -- it is meditation fixed in uncontrived
sameness.
There is an infinite variety of different modes of behavior,
but in the cosmic
seed of intrinsic knowledge and pure awareness there is no
duality of action
and actor. Do not perform the action, but look for the
actor. Searching for
the actor, if you fail to find him [one], then your
conduct is at the point of
resolution. This conduct, in which there is no
activity whatsoever but which
is not governed by delusive habit patterns, is
the unforced, natural radiance
of perception of the here and now -- this is
immediate, immaculate action,
where nothing whatsoever is contrived or forced
and nothing is inhibited or
indulged.
There are innumerable goals, but
in the spontaneously originated, effortlessly
accomplished intrinsic
knowledge of the three existential modes, there is no
duality of
accomplishment and he [one] who achieves the goal. Without striving
for the
goal, seek the sadhaka, the yogin on the path. Looking for him [one]
who is
accomplishing the goal and failing to find him [this one], then you are
at
the point of achievement. This goal in which there is no striving
for
accomplishment, completely free of renunciation and cultivation, hopes
and
fears, is the spontaneously natural radiance of Knowledge that is
perception of
the here and now: this is empty, natural radiance of the three
existential
modes of the Buddha manifest. It is the ultimate goal of
Buddhahood.
EHMAHO! And again, beloved sons and daughters, listen
well!
If you sustain this practice unwaveringly from the beginning, until
you abandon
yourself totally in complete freedom there will be no coming and
going from the
supreme truth and no departure from the here and now. [Here, I
believe, may
possibly be an error in context translating, or possibly
printing...read,
instead of, "...in complete freedom there will be...",
"...in complete freedom
will there be...", and see how it works for you. At
this point, it's just an
observation...but imo, has definite ramifications in
the 'overall view'.]
When there is no distinction between appearances and
emptiness, then perfect
vision is realized. When there is no distinction
between dream and the waking
state, then perfect meditation is realized. When
there is no distinction
between pleasure and pain, then perfect conduct is
realized. When there is no
distinction between this life and the next, then
your original existential
condition is realized. When there is no distinction
between your mind and the
sky, then the dharmakaya is realized. When there is
no distinction between
your own mind and the Buddha, then the goal is
realized.
EHMAHO! Once again, beloved children, listen to me! Regard this
corporeal
body like the reflection of the moon in water. Perceive all vocal
expression
as echo. Dissolve the multitude of your mental concepts in the
purity of their
own nature.
Live all visual and auditory experience
without attachment, as hallucination,
dream, the reflection of the moon in
water, a fairy palace in the sky, a
distortion of sight, an apparition, a
bubble and an echo. Perform all your
daily activity in this state. Without
making any division between sessions of
meditation and the intervals between
them, practice constantly, day and night.
Do not seek to alter your
thoughts in any way. Leave them in their natural
state, without forcing them
or adulterating them. Let them alone as empty
radiance, without clinging to
them, and thus allow self-expression to release
itself by itself. Let them
be, without reification, without meditation,
without any effort, and leaving
no trace whatsoever.
Treat all past thought as the trackless path of a
bird in the sky, all present
perception as clear dustless space, and all
future thought as the water in a
mill with its sluice gate closed. Without
cultivating or modifying any
thought, with a free and easy attitude leave
thoughts alone in their natural
state of open space.
Treat all gross
and subtle concepts, the three poisons, the five poisons, and
so on, like
thieves entering an empty house. Treat external appearances of the
six
sense-fields, which leave no residue in the mind, like a city of
magical
illusion.
In short, regarding creation, existence and
cessation; the ground, the path
and the goal; vision, meditation, conduct and
fruition; time, place and verbal
expression; the disposition and the
disposer; liberation and the liberator;
and so forth: when the innate
radiance of all these events is unaffected by
evaluation and judgement, and
one is free of effort and striving, without
clinging or any partiality, then
moment by moment every single experience is
brought to a final and certain
resolution, without attachment, in the ultimate
purity of the empty continuum
of mind -- like droplets of water merging in the
great ocean.
So do
not be disheartened when during meditation many thoughts disturb you and
you
think, "This is not meditation." The mind may be actively generating
thought,
but because the mind is empty, thought is also empty. Since whatever
arises
is a state of Knowledge, do not attempt any alteration based on
judgement and
evaluation, but leave it alone in its natural, authentic,
uncontrived state.
In that way, thought will certainly be released into its
own natural
purity.
If you are a practitioner of lesser capacity, unable to stay in
the natural
state, you should practice a combination of examination followed
by rest in
equanimity, as described in the introductions. [Songs 3, 8, 9 and
13.]
Alternatively, you can force thought to its own demise: provoke
relevant or
irrelavant thoughts and then pursue them, one after the other, in
various ways,
prolonging each thought until the mind is exhausted. Finally,
when you have no
more grasping, rest in ease.
Another method is to
meditate upon the real Lama in the center of your heart.
Keep your mind fixed
on him [or, her] for as long as possible, and then,
finally, letting go, rest
in the state of Knowledge.
Or again, meditate upon a tiny point of bright
light in the center of your
heart. Imagine it descending until it reaches the
Seat of Indra (the navel
center). This method will certainly destroy diffused
and rampant thought.
When agitation is stilled, rest in the state of
Knowledge. When torpor is
present, sharpen your gaze, and after stripping
Knowledge naked, sustain the
radiance.
Or, as a further option,
imagine your mind as a light-seed, and when the image
is still, shout "PHAT!"
Instantaneously the mind shoots from the fontanelle
like an arrow, and you
should imagine it mixing with the clarity of the sky.
Then identify your
intellect with the nature of the sky. It is impossible that
your torpor will
not be eliminated by this method. When your torpor has
vanished, rest in a
state of detachment.
Since this advice is the result of personal
experience, remember it well.
Without being trapped by thought of desire
for thoughtlessness, increasing the
dimensions of Knowledge, abandon yourself
to it smoothly, and be happy and free
in that vast, open
space.
Initially (in your practice of meditation), thought is like a
rushing river at
the bottom of a gorge. In the middle, it flows calmly and
majestically like
the River Ganga. Finally, just as all rivers become of one
flavor in the
ocean, so thought is resolved in the state where the
mother-light merges with
the son-light.
In particular, whatever
disease, hostile spirits, or apparitions afflict you,
do not make any attempt
to ward them off by magical rites. Rather, practice
the following meditation
that attacks the problem directly and reduces the
affliction to the same
taste as all other experience.
Go to a spot that tends to breed fear --
to a forest, a burning ground, or an
island -- or to an isolated garden, a
rock-cave, or an empty house, or go sit
under a tree, for instance, and
visualize the following: Transmute your own
body, the vessel and its
contents, all phenomena and noumena, into elixir.
Then offer the elixir to
all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten
directions. After they have been
satisfied, they dissolve into light with a
disposition of loving kindness,
and the whole of samsara and nirvana is
completely filled with the elixir of
clear light. Then, with your elixir that
liberates by taste you satisfy all
beings under the sky. The Oath-bound
Spirits and Dharma-protectors, who are
qualities and talents, become your
guests, and then the supreme field of
compassion consisting of the sentient
beings of the six realms, as well as
all karmic creditors, hostile spirits,
obstructive forces and elementals --
all are satiated.
Then with the conviction that samsara and nirvana are
of one taste, in the
unalloyed nature of mind that is the dharmakaya, walk
and sit, run and jump,
talk and laugh, cry and sing. Alternately subdued and
agitated, act like a
lunatic. Finally, abide in a state of peace and
happiness.
At nigh-time, sleep peacefully and naturally, free of all
discursiveness, free
of diffused or concentrated thought. Sleep in the space
inherent within,
maintaining perfect attention to pure potential.
When
you practice in the above manner, disease and hostile spirits
are
automatically assuaged and pacified. Your view and meditation are then
brought
to resolution, your realization is like the sky, your meditation is
naturally
radiant and you act like a child. Without any frame or points of
reference you
act spontaneously, like a madman [crazy-person, lol!] Making no
distinction
between self and others, you are a saint. Detached from whatever
you say, your
speech is like melodious echo. Without desire for anything at
all you are like
a Garuda soaring aloft; you are like a fearless, intrepid
lion [lioness (!?!)
lol!]. All is free from the beginning, like bright clouds
in the sky. Such a
yogin [or yogini] is a real Sugata, a Vidyadhara. He [She]
is worthy of
enormous respect and homage. He [She] is even far superior to
the
wish-fulfilling gem.
EHMAHO! And yet again, my beloved sons and daughters, listen to
the song of
this vagrant! Vairocana is not outside; he exists within. He is
the
reality-continuum (dharmadhatu), the nature of mind free of movement, the
true
nature of sloth, pure as it stands. That is the real Bhagavan
Vairocana.
Vajrasattva is not outside; he exists within. He is the
mirror, the
unobstructed medium of creative Knowledge, the true nature of
anger, pure as it
stands. That is the real Bhagavan
Vajrasattva.
Ratnasambhava is not outside; he exists within. He is the
sameness that
rejects nothing and indulges nothing, judges nothing and
evaluates nothing, the
true nature of pride, pure as it stands. That is the
real Bhagavan
Ratnasambhava.
Amitabha is not outside; he exists
within. He is sensory discrimination,
where pleasure and emptiness vanish
into the continuum of space, the true
nature of desire, pure as it stands.
That is the real Bhagavan Amitabha.
Amoghasiddhi is nooutside; he exists
within. He is total accomplishment,
Knowledge arising unimpeded and naturally
liberated, the true nature of
jealousy, pure as it stands. That is the real
Bhagavan Amoghasiddhi.
EHMAHO! Once again my best beloved heart-sons [and daughters],
listen with
rising joy to my vajra-song! When you realize that the five
Buddhas are
inherent in the mind's nature and in emotional defilement, then
the whole of
phenomenal creation and the life therein is a book of
instruction and is itself
the ultimate mandala. On the parchment of diverse
red and white phenomena the
bamboo quill of self-existent primal awareness
and Knowledge inscribes
baseless, unattached ciphers liberated from the
beginning, creating images to
be read in the space of co-emergent appearances
and emptiness.
This spontaneously accomplished mandala, which is the
entire three dimensions
of microcosmic world systems, is consecrated by the
natural sprinkling of
rainwater; its streets and alleyways form the natural
lines of its design;
our footprints are the dots of colored powder; our own
bodies of apparent
emptiness are the existential mode of the Yidam deity; our
speech of auditory
emptiness is vajra-recitation (of mantra); our thought,
detached and naturally
liberated, is the deity's spirit; and all the
movements of our limbs are the
deity's mudra.
Food and drink are
offerings of the nature of reality, and all phenomenal form
is the deity's
body; the expression of all articulated sound is music. There
is nothing to
protect and nothing to be impaired in this natural samaya.
Whatsoever the
yogin [or yogini] who practices in this manner does, he [she]
need not rely
upon a path of cause and effect and diligent striving, because in
the space
of clear light reality his [or her] instruction and the creative
stage of
meditation, and the samayas, are naturally fulfilled. To attain
quickly the
great miracle of the ultimate power, without striving, is the
special
characteristic of the Great Perfection, my heart sons and daughters.
When
we practise like this consistently, just as clouds vanish into the sky,
the
welter of thoughts and concepts of samsara and nirvana dissolve into
the
primal ground of being.
After the dharmakaya is revealed as the
clear light of intrinsic knowledge like
the radiant, unobscured solar
mandala, we are able to raise the dead and
comprehend the mysteries, and
demonstrating various miracles we can direct
beings.
After perfecting
all the qualities of the ten stages and the five paths without
exception,
individuals of superior capacity are liberated into the pure ground
of being
in this lifetime, individuals of middling capacity at the moment of
death,
and those of lesser capacity in the bardo (the after-death
state).
Thereafter, remaining forever inseparable from the pure awareness of
the three
modes of being in the continuum of reality, emanating apparitional
bodies to
transform all beings in whatever way is required, we work
unremittingly to give
ultimate meaning to all sentient beings.
Keep
the significance of these words in your mind, and surely the inner sun
of
happiness will shine upon us.
He who has expressed such aspiration
in song is the vagrant Tsokdruk Rangdrol.
Through its virtue may all those
many aspirants who have such good fortune
swiftly dissolve all the
defilements inherent in loss of awareness, and in
emotion and thought, in the
primal continuum of purity. May they attain the
goal of Buddhahood in this
lifetime.
This song of the vision of Cutting Through to the clear light of
the Great
Perfection, which has the potential of leading us quickly through
the stages
and paths, is called "The Flight of the Garuda". It is based on
many
scriptural treasures of Dzogchen: "Introduction to Direct Vision of
Knowledge"
by Orgyen Rinpoche, Longchenpa's "Seven Treasures" and "Three
Chariots", and
"An Afterword on the Great Perfection: The Three Cycles of
Space", The Vast
Cloud of Profound Truth", "Heartdrop of the Dzogchen
Dakini", and "Buddha in
the Palm of the Hand", all by Longchenpa. The secret
instruction of my Lamas
and my own meditation experience decorate its
margins. It is written by
Tsokdruk Rangdrol for the sake of many devoted
disciples. May it cause
boundless advantage to the tradition and to sentient
beings.
Since these vajra-songs were composed for all those concerned
with liberation,
they should be sung by yogins [and yoginis] when they are
focusing upon
Dzogchen vision. As the Knowledge Bearer Sri Simha said
regarding the purpose
of such songs:
"The Buddha's Mind is
all-pervasive; sentient beings' Knowledge is
fragmented: to create openness
like the sky is of great advantage."
So, just as Sri Simha advises,
identify Knowledge with the vast space of the
sky, infinitely increasing its
height and depth, and out of this space, which
embraces all sentient beings,
sing these songs to benefit your meditation on
vision.
"Samaya! Sarva
mangalam!"
Maintain the commitment! May all beings be happy!