Mahamudra

MAHAMUDRA Mahamudra ('phyag-rgya-chen-po', 'phyag-ryga-chen-mo') is at the heart of and the unifying principle in Buddhist Tantrism. It is the key to and the pre-requisite for everything. It may be said to be a value-system which is at the bottom of or is the ground from which all human endeavour starts and also the path along which this endeavour proceeds in order to be successful, while, as the solution of man's existential problem, it must be experienced in order to be known. The shortest analysis of the meaning of the word Mahamudra is as follows: 'phyag': the aquisition of the non-dual knowledge; 'rgya': bliss since Samsara's tangled skein is disentangled; 'chen-po': authentic being (Dharmakaya), free in itself and being the shining lamp of coincidence. A fuller definition, introducing several points of philosophical interest, is given by Advayavajra: 'Mahamudra is the fact that all entities coincide with unoriginatedness, that the interpretive categories of subject and object do not obtain 'per se', that the veils of emotional instability and of primitive beliefs about reality have been torn, and the absolutely specific characteristics (of everything) are known as they are. Hence Mahamudra is said to be the immaculate effect. Its actuality is that (i) it has neither colour nor shape as have all other determinate entities which have a beginning, a middle, and an end, that (ii) it is all-encompassing, that (iii) it is unchanging, and that (iv) it is stretches across the whole of time. Therefore Mahamudra is instantaneous awakening to Buddahood, which means that the four time-situations and the four delight-intensities are not disrupted.*' (*Graphically they are: variedness joyous excitement maturation ecstatic delight absence of distinct characteristics co-emergence delight ferment recession of excitement ) The four properties, mentioned in the latter part of Advayavajra's... definitions, are of special interest. All-encompassing, Mahamudra transcends the limits of the knowable in the subject-object dichotomy, and without itself being knowable or unknowable, is the source from which everything has sprung, which therefore also is the path to it. sKye-med bde-chen defines this term as follows: '"All-encompassing" means the foundation of all and everything: it encompasses Samsara and Nirvana, cause and effect, appearance and nothingness, and everything else.' sGam-po-pa uses a simile to illustrate its meaning and says" 'all- encompassing is to be like celestial space; in its unoriginatedness it encompasses the world as outer vessel and the sentient beings as the essence contained in that vessel.' This foundation has neither colour nor shape; only the tangible content of ideas, their definite objects, and the sensible character of all that exists for us have a certain shape and, due to it, a certain peculiarity which distinguishes one thing from another, but in so far as all this takes its life from its foundation it participates in the latter which cannot be said to have an origin or an end unless it is not all- encompassing but merely an event in time. Thus sKye-med bde-chen declares: '"having no colour or shape" means that, although in relation to each other and under certain conditions there is an appearance of the psycho- somatic constituents, of other constituting elements, and all determinate entities, there is nothing tangible in them, there is unoriginatedness as such.' Being all-encompassing and indeterminate Mahamudra is also unchanging. Only that which is determinate changes and this occurs in something unchanging as the background against which everything stands out in its changeability. Of particular significance, however, is the definition of Mahamudra as stretching across the whole of time. Mahamudra is not an event 'in' time, it rather 'is' time, not restricted to a precious now, but including the past and the future which we usually think of as non-existent. This is a gross error which the Buddhist Tantrics must be credited with not having committed, while in the Western world it needed existentialism to make philosophers aware of their error of conceiving time as a succession of nows. Time is the basic structure of our being alive; it temporalizes itself as a future ahead of us in the form of a goal; as a past in which we have already been but still carry with us; and a present with which we are concerned in following a certain path of activity, which is full of risks. Stated otherwise, it is from the future that we interpret the past and so direct our present action or, in terms of Tantrism, in view of the goal we lay the foundation for being on our way to the goal. Thus the three aspects of time - or as Heidegger would say, the three ecstasies of time - fit into an integrated union. The past is not something that once was but now is cut off and gone, and the future is not merely a not-yet- now that until then is nothing. This existential conception of time is precisely the view of sKye-med bde-chen who asserts: '"stretching across the whole of time" means that Mahamudra is not something cut off or non- existent like the horns of a hare or a barren woman's child; Mahamudra remains the indivisibility of nothingness and compassion for the whole of time.' The last part of this quotation in particular assists us in understanding the meaning and purport of Mahamudra as a guiding principle. Although past, present, and future do not exist apart from each other and although there is no cogent reason to give absolute priority to the present, it is the present which offers us an opportunity to choose either to grasp the possibilities that are ahead of us or to maintain and to repeat our past possibilities. If we choose to grasp the possibilities stretching ahead of us and to lead them to decisive action which expresses itself in and is sustained by a feeling of compassion, we live out of the sphere of possibilities which from the ordinary, though mistaken, point of view is nothing as such, but which precisely because of its nothingness prevents us from having our minds filled with dubious ideas and ideals. In this way, being completely open, we link the unfinished possibilities ahead of us in the future with the unfinished possibilities which we have taken over from the past, in meaningful integrity. If, on the other hand, we choose to maintain or to repeat our past possibilities, we fail to provide the link, and the whole structure breaks apart; instead of meaning there is bewilderment-errancy. It is true, we cannot see the past, the future, or the present - indeed, we cannot see time itself; we can only see events in time on the level of a spatial dimension, but we can know time subjectively and practically from within. It is the meaningful integrity that is stressed by sGam-po-pa when he says: 'Mahamudra has four characteristics: all-encompassing, without colour or shape, because it is the actuality of transcending awareness, stretching across the whole of time, and neither coming nor going. When it is present in a man he will not consider Samsara to be something that has to be renounced and therefore he will not shun what is said not to be conducive to enlightenment. Neither will he hold Nirvana to be something restful, and therefore he will not rely on what is said to counter worldliness and so has neither wishful dreams nor thoughts of despair as to the outcome.' Since Mahamudra is not in time, but rather time itself, we can know it either as authenticity in so far as the process holds integrity, or as unauthenticity in so far as there is bewilderment. This latter also is not in time, but is time with the difference that in it, due to our pan-objectivistic tendencies which go by the name of 'ignorance', 'unknowing' time is dissolved into a succession of events and things. Mahamudra as authenticity and unauthenticity is referred to by Padma dkar-po in the following words: 'being as such which is unchanging, is the cause of purity itself; its creativity and manifestations are termed the basis and fount of the pure and impure, because it is capable of turning into everything and anything. By virtue of this changeability, it becomes impure in the presence of the condition of ignorance. Therfore rGyal-ba Yandgon-pa made the distinction between authentic Mahamudra and bewilderment, (unauthentic) Mahamudra, the former being the ground without bewilderment and the latter temporality or bewilderment since time turned into temporality.' The same distinction is made by sGam-po-pa who terms authenticity 'immaculate Mahamudra' and unauthenticity 'maculate Mahamudra'. He says: 'Maculate means that one knows Mahamudra on the surface only, there is not immediate experience of it; it means that the fetter of wishful thinking and despair as to concrete things has not been loosened. - Immaculate means that it is like a sun-rise in a cloudless sky; that there is neither wishful thinking nor despair, that there is no premeditation, that it is beyond words, that it cannot be turned and twisted into something determinate. It is goal-completion.' It is with authenticity that sGam-po-pa and the other philosophers of Tantric Buddhism are mostly concerned. For Tantrism is not content with positing a certain ideology, but aims at educating man in such a way that he can do something with or about the values it reveals in a comprehensive vision, and thus also at conduct that yields the highest quality of satisfaction. And so it demands what mysticism, the perennial philosophy all over the world, asks man to do. As [William Ernest] Hocking puts it: 'The principle of all mystic codes of ethics may be stated in this simple form: *Be what you are*. That is, be in action what you are in reality.' - "The Life and Teaching of Naropa", by Herbert Guenther The beauty of music is that it is both the source of creation and the means of absorbing it. - Hazrat Inayat Khan Posy posy@post.com |

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http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/5003/untitledzd8.png 07/24/06 18:21:17 EDT

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I found this helpful and informative information on "Mahamudra" I am planning a retreat weekend with a Tibetan Lama here in England.I am looking forward to this which is next month.Your website answered all the questions i had.Thank-you. 07/24/06 17:53:27 EDT

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An excerpt from the online meditation manual of Mahamudra Meditation Center at http://www.mahamudracenter.org follows: "Mahamudra is regarded by the Tibetan Kagyu lineage to be the heart essence of all of the teachings of the Buddha. Mahamudra also stands for the essence of mind-itself. The true nature of the mind is called the ground of our existence or ground Mahamudra (gzhi chakchen). Path Mahamudra (lam chakchen) begins with recognition of this essence (ngo-wo) and continues as progress is made at stabilizing this recognition. When the recognition of mind-as-it-is (sem-nyid) becomes completely part of our condition, without wavering (yeng-me), and we bring forth effective means of freeing sentient beings from ignorance and suffering, then this is referred to as fruition Mahamudra (traybu chakchen). It is said that this fruition Mahamudra is free of emotional or experiential bewilderment and is untouched by duality of subject and object or the three spheres of subject, object, and action. Mahamudra is a Sanskrit word consisting of two parts: "maha", which means great or vast, and "mudra", which means gesture or symbol. The Tibetans translated this into chak gya chen po, with gya corresponding to seal or mudra and chenpo corresponding to maha in meaning. In addition, the syllable chak is added which is honorific for "hand". This has been translated variously into English as the "great seal" or "great gesture" or "great symbol". The essence of reality is inherent to everything and like a king who applies his seal to his proclamations which then applies to the entire kingdom, the ultimate reality pervades all of samsara and nirvana. It is the essence of our mind and all its manifestations. The nature of mind or the way mind is (ngas-lug) is completely present in our present mind. It is present when we are awake, when we dream, and when we sleep, before this life, in this life, and after this life. Recognition of the essence of mind is something which we must cultivate. In addition, we must learn to live in accord with the understanding which develops from this recognition. Why is this so? Since if we don’t we will continue to suffer and sometimes our suffering and bewilderment will be unbearably intense. And without doing so this suffering and the causes of it will continue without end." MMC 07/13/05 00:46:44 GMT