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Homage to the Eighty Four
Mahasiddhas!
Homage to Mahamudra!
Homage to the Vajra Dakini!
Mahamudra cannot be taught. But most
intelligent Naropa,
Since you have undergone rigorous
austerity,
With forbearance in suffering and with devotion to your
Guru,
Blessed One, take this secret instruction to heart.
Is space anywhere supported? Upon what
does it rest?
Like space, Mahamudra is dependant upon nothing;
Relax
and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity,
And, your bonds
loosening, release is certain.
Gazing intently into the empty sky, vision ceases;
Likewise, when
mind gazes into mind itself,
The train of discursive and conceptual
thought ends
And supreme enlightenment is gained.
Like the morning mist that dissolves into thin air,
Going nowhere
but ceasing to be,
Waves of conceptualization, all the mind's creation,
dissolve,
When you behold your mind's true nature.
Pure space has neither colour nor shape
And it cannot be stained
either black or white;
So also, mind's essence is beyond both colour
and shape
And it cannot be sullied by black or white deeds.
The darkness of a thousand aeons is powerless
To dim the crystal
clarity of the sun's heart;
And likewise, aeons of samsara have no
power
To veil the clear light of the mind's essence.
Although space has been designated "empty",
In reality it is
inexpressible;
Although the nature of mind is called "clear
light",
Its every ascription is baseless verbal fiction.
The mind's original nature is like space;
It pervades and embraces
all things under the sun.
Be still and stay relaxed in genuine ease,
Be quiet and let sound
reverberate as an echo,
Keep your mind silent and watch the ending of
all worlds.
The body is essentially empty like the stem of a reed,
And the mind,
like pure space, utterly transcends
the world of thought:
Relax
into your intrinsic nature with neither abandon nor control -
Mind
with no objective is Mahamudra -
And, with practice perfected, supreme
enlightenment is gained.
The clear light of Mahamudra cannot be revealed
By the canonical
scriptures or metaphysical treatises
Of the Mantravada, the Paramitas
or the Tripitaka;
The clear light is veiled by concepts and ideals.
By harbouring rigid precepts the true samaya is impaired,
But with
cessation of mental activity all fixed notions subside;
When the swell
of the ocean is at one with its peaceful depths,
When mind never strays
from indeterminate, non-conceptual truth,
The unbroken samaya is a lamp
lit in spiritual darkness.
Free of intellectual conceits, disavowing dogmatic principles,
The
truth of every school and scripture is revealed.
Absorbed in Mahamudra, you are free from the prison of
samsara;
Poised in Mahamudra, guilt and negativity are consumed;
And
as master of Mahamudra you are the light of the Doctrine.
The fool in his ignorance, disdaining Mahamudra,
Knows nothing but
struggle in the flood of samsara.
Have compassion for those who suffer
constant anxiety!
Sick of unrelenting pain and desiring release, adhere
to a master,
For when his blessing touches your heart, the mind is
liberated.
KYE HO! Listen with joy!
Investment in samsara is futile; it is the
cause of every anxiety.
Since worldly involvement is pointless, seek
the heart of reality!
In the transcending of mind's dualities is Supreme vision;
In a
still and silent mind is Supreme Meditation;
In spontaneity is Supreme
Activity;
And when all hopes and fears have died, the Goal is reached.
Beyond all mental images the mind is naturally clear:
Follow no path
to follow the path of the Buddhas;
Employ no technique to gain supreme
enlightenment.
KYE MA! Listen with sympathy!
With insight into your sorry worldly
predicament,
Realising that nothing can last, that all is as dreamlike
illusion,
Meaningless illusion provoking frustration and
boredom,
Turn around and abandon your mundane pursuits.
Cut away involvement with your homeland and friends
And meditate
alone in a forest or mountain retreat;
Exist there in a state of
non-meditation
And attaining no-attainment, you attain Mahamudra.
A tree spreads its branches and puts forth leaves,
But when its root
is cut its foliage withers;
So too, when the root of the mind is
severed,
The branches of the tree of samsara die.
A single lamp dispels the darkness of a thousand aeons;
Likewise, a
single flash of the mind's clear light
Erases aeons of karmic
conditioning and spiritual blindness.
KYE HO! Listen with joy!
The truth beyond mind cannot be grasped by
any faculty of mind;
The meaning of non-action cannot be understood in
compulsive activity;
To realise the meaning of non-action and beyond
mind,
Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness.
Allow the muddy waters of mental activity to clear;
Refrain from
both positive and negative projection -
leave appearances
alone:
The phenomenal world, without addition or subtraction, is
Mahamudra.
The unborn omnipresent base dissolves your impulsions and
delusions:
Do not be conceited or calculating but rest in the unborn
essence
And let all conceptions of yourself and the universe melt
away.
The highest vision opens every gate;
The highest
meditation plumbs the infinite depths;
The highest activity is
ungoverned yet decisive;
And the highest goal is ordinary being devoid
of hope and fear.
At first your karma is like a river falling through a gorge;
In
mid-course it flows like a gently meandering River Ganga;
And finally,
as a river becomes one with the ocean,
It ends in consummation like the
meeting of mother and son.
If the mind is dull and you are unable to practice these
instructions,
Retaining essential breath and expelling the sap of
awareness,
Practising fixed gazes - methods of focussing the
mind,
Discipline yourself until the state of total awareness abides.
When serving a karmamudra, the pure
awareness
of bliss and emptiness will
arise:
Composed in a blessed union of insight and means,
Slowly send
down, retain and draw back up the bodhichitta,
And conducting
it to the source, saturate the entire body.
But only if lust and
attachment are absent will that awareness arise.
Then gaining long-life and eternal youth, waxing like the
moon,
Radiant and clear, with the strength of a lion,
You will
quickly gain mundane power and suprem enlightenment.
May this pith instruction in Mahamudra
Remain in the hearts of
fortunate beings.
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