The Oral Instructions of Mahamudra. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

then recite:

      From the heart of the Protector of the hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land,

      To the peak of a cloud, which is like a cluster of fresh, white curd,

      All-knowing Losang Dragpa, King of the Dharma,

      Please come to this place together with your Sons.

      We think that the wisdom beings that we invited dissolve into the commitment beings and they become inseparably one.

      We then recite the remaining verses from ‘In the space before me on a lion throne, lotus and moon,’ up to and including the dedication in the usual way while contemplating the meaning, and then we make either a long or short mandala offering. We then recite the Migtsema request prayer according to Highest Yoga Tantra seven or more times.

      Then, we meditate briefly on Lamrim, Lojong and the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra while reciting the prayer Request to the Lord of All Lineages (see here). We do not just recite the words but focus on the meaning of each stage of the path with strong concentration. If we do this every day in two, three or four sessions, through the force of this meditation it will not take us long to develop realizations of the entire Lamrim of Sutra and Tantra. This is very important advice that we should keep in our heart.

      After this we recite:

      O Glorious and precious root Guru,

      Please sit on the lotus and moon seat at my heart.

      Please care for me with your great kindness,

      And grant me the blessings of your body, speech and mind.

      As a result of this request, all the Buddhas of the ten directions in the space in front melt into light and dissolve into Je Tsongkhapa. He in turn melts into light and dissolves into Buddha Shakyamuni at his heart. Then Buddha Shakyamuni melts into light and dissolves into Heruka at his heart.

      With delight, Guru Heruka comes to our crown and abides in the centre of our crown channel wheel. Lights radiate from his body and bless the channels, winds and drops at our crown.

      Then we recite:

      O Glorious and precious root Guru,

      Please sit on the lotus and moon seat at my heart.

      Please care for me with your great kindness,

      And bestow the common and supreme attainments.

      As a result of this request, Guru Heruka comes to our throat and abides in the centre of our throat channel wheel. Lights radiate from his body and bless the channels, winds and drops at our throat.

      Then we recite:

      O Glorious and precious root Guru,

      Please sit on the lotus and moon seat at my heart.

      Please care for me with your great kindness,

      And remain firm until I attain the essence of enlightenment.

      As a result of this request, Guru Heruka comes to our heart and abides in the centre of our heart channel wheel. Lights radiate from his body and bless the channels, winds and drops at our heart.

      Then Guru Heruka’s mind of the clear light of great bliss mixes inseparably with our mind. Through the force of this, our mind becomes the nature of Heruka’s mind of the clear light of great bliss. In this way we generate our mind as Heruka’s mind by mixing it with Heruka’s mind through correct imagination. We should remember that Tantric realizations can be accomplished through correct imagination. We think:

      Mixing my mind with Heruka’s mind is a powerful method to purify my ordinary appearance and conceptions permanently. I will maintain this experience day and night.

THE ACTUAL PRACTICE OF MAHAMUDRA

      The actual Mahamudra has two parts: great bliss as explained in Tantra and emptiness as explained in Sutra. The union of such bliss and emptiness is the actual Mahamudra.

      When through the force of meditation our mind of great bliss becomes one with emptiness, this is the union of great bliss and emptiness. During a Highest Yoga Tantra empowerment when we receive the fourth empowerment, the word empowerment, the Spiritual Guide verbally explains the meaning of union, which is why it is called the ‘word empowerment’. Although we hear this verbal instruction from the Spiritual Guide, many people understand nothing because this union is very subtle and profound.

      Great bliss has to be attained in dependence upon skilfully applying completion stage methods such as penetrating the vajra body, as will be explained in detail below.

      Emptiness is the real nature of all phenomena; it is a profound and very meaningful object. It is impossible to attain permanent liberation from suffering without understanding the real meaning of emptiness. However, because it is not easy to understand the real meaning of emptiness many people reject the value of understanding it. For many, their minds are completely full of confusion with regard to emptiness. So how fortunate we are that we can find a clear, unmistaken and complete explanation of the meaning of emptiness in Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings.

      There are five stages of the actual practice of Mahamudra:

      1. Having identified our own mind, meditating on tranquil abiding

      2. Having realized emptiness, meditating on superior seeing

      3. Meditating on the central channel, the yoga of the central channel

      4. Meditating on the indestructible drop, the yoga of the drop

      5. Meditating on the indestructible wind, the yoga of wind

      Manjushri

      We should know that we need to identify our own mind, our own body and our self correctly. Since beginningless time our way of identifying our self has been mistaken. We believe that our self that we normally see is our self. This belief is ignorance because our self that we normally see does not exist. This is explained in detail below. Due to this ignorance we develop and experience various kinds of mistaken appearance, and because of this we experience various kinds of suffering and problems as hallucinations throughout this life and in life after life, endlessly. On the other hand if we identify our self as a mere appearance that is not other than the emptiness of all phenomena, the mere absence of all phenomena that we normally perceive, our mistaken appearance will reduce and finally cease completely. Then we will automatically experience the ultimate happiness of enlightenment.

HAVING IDENTIFIED OUR OWN MIND, MEDITATING ON TRANQUIL ABIDING

      This has two parts:

      1. The stages of identifying our own mind

      2. The actual meditation on tranquil abiding

      THE STAGES OF IDENTIFYING OUR OWN MIND

      In one Sutra Buddha says:

      If you realize your own mind you will become a Buddha; you should not seek Buddhahood elsewhere.

      The actual meaning of this Sutra can be understood from the instructions of Highest Yoga Tantra as follows.

      There are three stages of identifying our own mind: identifying our gross mind, identifying our subtle mind and identifying our very subtle mind. The mind we have now while not asleep that understands various kinds of objects is our gross mind. This is not difficult to identify or to know. The mind we have during dreams that sees or perceives various kinds of dream objects is our subtle mind. This is difficult to identify or to know. When, through the force of the gross and subtle inner winds dissolving into the central channel, all gross and subtle minds cease and there manifests a mind called ‘clear light’, this is our very subtle mind. This mind is very difficult to identify or to know. When we identify, or realize, such a very subtle mind directly it is effectively no different from being enlightened. This is the meaning of the words from the Sutra quoted above.

      In general, the meaning, or