Glen Svensson: Gelug Tradition of Mahamudra (part 1)

0:02 Good morning everyone. Welcome to Kunsan Yashi and welcome to the Galuk Mahamudra weekend. What I thought we'd do actually to begin, to begin in a nice way, maybe we can begin by sitting quietly for a while, short meditation, instead of good motivation. So maybe we'll begin with that before we launch into any discussions. Report an error in the passage at 0:02 Highlight the passage at 0:02

0:33 You'll want to make yourselves nice and comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 0:33 Highlight the passage at 0:33

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1:17 The two most important things with posture when we meditate is to have a nice and straight back and body nice and relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 1:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17

1:30 So as an act of loving kindness for yourself, allow your awareness to descend into your body, filling the entire space of your body, becoming aware of sensations throughout the body. If Report an error in the passage at 1:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30

2:08 you notice any... Tightness or tension in any part of the body and to the best of your ability, relax and release that tightness or tension. Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:40 And then bring your awareness to the area of the face. Report an error in the passage at 2:40 Highlight the passage at 2:40

2:47 Soften and relax all the muscles in the face, particularly the areas around the mouth and jaw. Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

2:59 And let your forehead be open and spacious and the eyes soft and relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:30 Allow your breathing to settle into its natural rhythm, not trying to force or control the breath in any way. Simply allow the body to breathe itself naturally, effortlessly. Report an error in the passage at 3:30 Highlight the passage at 3:30

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4:22 And settling the mind into a state of ease and relaxation by letting go of any hopes or fears, worries or expectations about the past or the future. Report an error in the passage at 4:22 Highlight the passage at 4:22

4:41 Letting go of all of these things and very gently coming into the stillness of the present moment by focusing on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 4:41 Highlight the passage at 4:41

4:54 So we can either focus on the sensations of the breath at the entrance of the nostrils or focus on the rising and lowering of the abdomen as we breathe. Report an error in the passage at 4:54 Highlight the passage at 4:54

5:07 We can focus on the breath for a few minutes to calm and focus the mind. Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

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8:06 We have a precious human life. Not Report an error in the passage at 8:06 Highlight the passage at 8:06

8:12 only are we human, But we live in a time and place where we have the conditions and opportunity to make our life meaningful, to follow the spiritual path. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:39 We often don't recognize this. We tend to take our life for granted. And as a result, we tend to waste this opportunity that we have. Report an error in the passage at 8:39 Highlight the passage at 8:39

9:04 Realize that we have something so wonderful until we've sort of just about to lose it or we've lost it. We don't appreciate things, we lose them. Report an error in the passage at 9:04 Highlight the passage at 9:04

9:42 Not only do we find ourselves living in a time and place where there's so much access to spiritual teachings and spiritual guidance, but also we find That we have the opportunity, the time and the desire to investigate these things. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

10:29 These opportunities are quite rare. If you look back in human history, we can appreciate that if we were born in a different place at a different time, we probably wouldn't have had this opportunity. Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

11:07 But this opportunity won't last forever. Report an error in the passage at 11:07 Highlight the passage at 11:07

11:13 Conditions change. Our life changes and of course eventually a life will come to an end. Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:32 We don't know how long we're going to have this opportunity. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

11:47 So let's make use of this opportunity while we have it to make our life meaningful, to strive for happiness, to strive to overcome problems and suffering and to help others around ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 11:47 Highlight the passage at 11:47

12:19 You don't want to be one of these people who... As they're approaching their death, look back on their lives and their minds are full of regret, regretting having wasted their life, wasted an opportunity to make their life meaningful. We can avoid this by making most use of this opportunity we have now. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

13:18 So keeping this in mind, we can now begin. Our discussions together on the subject of the Guluk Maha Mudrā. Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:48 But maybe first a few introductions. For those of you don't know me, my name's Glen. I've been invited by Kunzang Yeshe to come along here to give this talk on Guluk Maha Mudrā. In fact, it's one of my favourite texts and teachings that I like to give because I think there's a lot of practical advice. Report an error in the passage at 13:48 Highlight the passage at 13:48

14:16 To help us in our spiritual life. But before I begin, maybe it would help me if each of you then briefly introduced yourself, in particular what you may know or not know about Mahamudra already and in particular what you would like to get out of these next two days. So that'll help me to adjust my presentation. So we can start over to the left here. Report an error in the passage at 14:16 Highlight the passage at 14:16

15:17 Okay. Okay. Is there anything in particular you'd like to get out of this next two days? Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:30 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

15:54 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 15:54 Highlight the passage at 15:54

16:17 So anything in particular you're looking out for? interesting stuff, and I'd like to see you around, Report an error in the passage at 16:17 Highlight the passage at 16:17

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16:38 Part of this text will be looking at meditation and how to approach it in a good way. And of course we'll be also doing a couple of meditations today and tomorrow to get a bit of a flavour of this topic as well. Report an error in the passage at 16:38 Highlight the passage at 16:38

17:03 Joanne. I've been to some of the teachings that my child's given you Martin Luther. I'm very much open to what's going to happen this weekend, but I need more good reasons why to do meditation at home, because I'm very lazy with it. Like you were talking about the other day, you either tend to go for, and I tend to be much more on study inside, and it's like you can always put it on. Report an error in the passage at 17:03 Highlight the passage at 17:03

17:39 meditation a little bit and then you don't get around to doing it. Okay, yeah, we'll try and address that a little bit as well. I Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

17:54 think Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:12 also there, part of the text we'll be focusing on, particularly this afternoon and maybe a little bit tomorrow morning, is going to be addressing exactly that point and some related points. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:46 Okay. and, um, to put it all together. Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

18:56 Once I've created Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:12 We'll be trying to also, as part of this following this text, is try to also have a look at a sort of clear structure in terms of the various aspects of our practice and how they fit together as well. So we're trying to make a bit of a more clear picture. Because sometimes we, you know, if you go into, particularly in the text, it's the expression you... Report an error in the passage at 19:12 Highlight the passage at 19:12

19:41 You lose the forest and the trees or something, you know. So we need to, of course we need to know some details about practice, but then we need to step back and look at the bigger picture and how it all fits together, so we'll be also looking at that a little bit. That's important, otherwise you get a bit lost. So we're trying to put together a bit of a clear framework for that. Report an error in the passage at 19:41 Highlight the passage at 19:41

20:32 Of course, within the Mahamudra system of practice, shamatha is quite an important role, as it is in all systems, and we'll be, in fact, focusing quite a lot on that shamatha aspect, particularly this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Report an error in the passage at 20:32 Highlight the passage at 20:32

20:47 Because the shamatha approach in Mahamudra is a little bit different than the standard shamatha approach you get in a lot of other traditions, so hopefully there's another bit more broader perspective on that. And some good tips about how to engage in that and how that fits with the other aspects as well. Report an error in the passage at 20:47 Highlight the passage at 20:47

21:23 So I'm open to whatever you have to say. At the same time, just finding ways to Report an error in the passage at 21:23 Highlight the passage at 21:23

21:36 concentration. Sometimes it's good and other times it's good. Okay, thanks. I'm Wendy and I haven't had any experience with this either. And I did wonder if to advance that Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

22:09 for me it's... Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:16 bits it's sort of coming together Report an error in the passage at 22:16 Highlight the passage at 22:16

22:29 As I just mentioned, sometimes we tend to lose the forest for the trees. And so I'll also be trying today and tomorrow to have a clear picture of the structure of practice. I mean, we're going to talk about a Mahamudra approach to practice, but it's not some sort of completely different approach. Probably what most of us have been trying to do so far. So I think you'll find that whatever approach that you've been familiar with, there's going to be a lot of overlap. Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

23:03 It's not something completely different. Hopefully we can make that more clear, how that fits together. Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 23:03 Highlight the passage at 23:03

23:15 So as I mentioned, we're going to be doing a few meditation sessions. So probably again tomorrow morning we're going to start with a particular meditation and we'll probably be doing another meditation today after lunch. And again tomorrow after life, so maybe three or four meditations, starting to meditate a little bit more on specific to this style of approach this afternoon. Report an error in the passage at 23:15 Highlight the passage at 23:15

23:42 Also, what I really appreciate is if there's a lot of questions, so if you have any doubts or you need clarification on the things that I'm discussing, then please ask questions because then I sort of know where... How to gauge what I'm saying. I might be talking too high or too low or completely left field or something and no one's really following what I'm saying. Report an error in the passage at 23:42 Highlight the passage at 23:42

24:07 So if you're really not following or have some doubts, please ask questions and that'll be very helpful. Okay, then let's begin. We can begin just with the word Mahamudra. Report an error in the passage at 24:07 Highlight the passage at 24:07

24:34 Mahamudra is a Sanskrit word. Mudrā means seal or stamp. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

24:47 A little bit like in the old days when there was an official letter, they used to melt a bit of wax on the back of the letter and put the official stamp on it. And that would mark the letter as being some authentic letter from either the king or the government or, you know, that would mark it as being authentic. Report an error in the passage at 24:47 Highlight the passage at 24:47

25:08 So likewise here the word mudrā has this meaning, a seal or a stamp. And here we're talking about a seal or a stamp. In terms of how things exist. And the seal or the stamp, the thing that stamps or marks how things exist is this idea of emptiness. The Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:45 Sanskrit word for emptiness is Shunyata. So emptiness is the thing that stamps everything that exists. Meaning that everything that exists is stamped by emptiness. Meaning that everything that exists... Emptiness is in the nature of emptiness. That's how things exist. So the word emptiness, of course, sometimes people think, oh, that sort of means nothing really exists. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

26:14 Because it's sort of the word itself, empty, you know, things are empty, can leave us with the idea that, oh, what Buddhism saying is nothing really exists. But that's not what the word emptiness means. Emptiness means that... Things are empty of a certain type of existence, they lack a certain type of existence, means they're not existing in a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 26:14 Highlight the passage at 26:14

26:38 So emptiness is describing how things exist from a negative perspective, in terms of negation, in terms of how things don't exist. And how things don't exist is that they're not independently existing. So emptiness is the fact that Report an error in the passage at 26:38 Highlight the passage at 26:38

27:12 things are empty of independent existence. Or they're not independently existent. So that's how things are stamped by emptiness, meaning that all phenomena, everything that exists, is lacking independent existences. Nothing exists independently. This is what emptiness means. Now here, that is the meaning of the word mudrā. Report an error in the passage at 27:12 Highlight the passage at 27:12

27:38 But here we've got also maha. Maha in Sanskrit means great. So maha mudrā. Often it's translated as the Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

27:53 great seal. So sometimes you'll see that, the great seal. So the seal or the stem is emptiness. And so emptiness is great because by coming to realize this, coming to realize the nature of reality, we can overcome all of our problems and sufferings. Because according to Buddhism, what's underlying all of our problems and sufferings... Report an error in the passage at 27:53 Highlight the passage at 27:53

28:19 is the fact that we misunderstand how things exist, how we exist and the world around us exists. This misunderstanding is what traps us in this limited existence we have where there's a lot of problems and sufferings. So by coming to realize emptiness or shunyata, we can wipe out this ignorance, this wrong, this misunderstanding, which is the cause of all of our problems and sufferings. Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:49 The great seal, because by coming to realize it, we achieve the great result of freedom from suffering. But here in the Mahamudra system of practice, we're not just talking about emptiness in general. We have a particular focus, and that focus is our own mind. So when we talk about Mahamudra, we're talking about the emptiness of our mind, or the nature of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 28:49 Highlight the passage at 28:49

29:21 So that's really what Maha Mudrā means. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:38 It's talking about the nature of our mind. Because the mind is their central focus of coming to realise the nature of our own mind. If we realise the nature of our own mind, we realise the nature of all phenomena. So this is the Maha Mudrā system of practice, is that we are trying to come to realise the nature of our own mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:38 Highlight the passage at 29:38

30:04 And by so doing, we can wipe out this ignorance, disturbing emotions and the cause of all of our problems and sufferings. So this is the Mahamudra approach. In fact, that's sort of implicitly mentioned in the title of the text. Does everyone have a copy of the text? Actually, I don't know if we've got enough. I think there's one there, actually. Report an error in the passage at 30:04 Highlight the passage at 30:04

30:32 The title of the text, it says, The Main Path of the Victims. Here the word victor is coming from the Sanskrit word jinnah, which means literally, as it says, a victor, someone who has conquered something. So this is the main path of the people, of someone who has gained victory. And here we're referring to Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 30:32 Highlight the passage at 30:32

30:56 So victor here means Buddha, main path of the Buddhas. Meaning if we want to achieve enlightenment, become a Buddha ourself, become fully awakened, We need to gain victory over something. We need to conquer something. And that what we need to conquer is what's called the two obscurations. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:28 Someone who's gained victory over these two things are Report an error in the passage at 31:28 Highlight the passage at 31:28

31:48 called the afflictive obscurations and the cognitive obscurations. We're going to look at these a little bit more tomorrow afternoon. But the afflictive obscurations is again... All of our afflictions or disturbing emotions and the ignorance that underlies them. Things like anger, jealousy, craving, fear, anxiety, depression. Report an error in the passage at 31:48 Highlight the passage at 31:48

32:16 All of these disturbing emotions and the ignorance that is driving them, this misunderstanding of nature of reality, is our afflictive obscurations. That's what's trapping us in this type of existence we have now. Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

32:33 Generally is often referred to as saṃsāra. So saṃsāra often is translated as cyclic existence. We're continuously cycling in this type of life under the influence of ignorance and disturbing emotions. And of course as a result we have a lot of problems and sufferings. So if we can eliminate these afflictive obscurations, we can go beyond this type of existence, we can completely transcend suffering and its causes. Report an error in the passage at 32:33 Highlight the passage at 32:33

33:03 We can achieve a state of what's called Nirvāṇa. So Nirvāṇa is a state completely free of this. So if we manage to get rid of these afflictive obscurations, meaning our disturbing emotions and ignorance, through realising emptiness, then we can achieve a state of Nirvāṇa. But then we have these cognitive obscurations. These are like very subtle stains in our mind, very difficult to get rid of. Report an error in the passage at 33:03 Highlight the passage at 33:03

33:34 What they are, or what they lead to, because remember afflictive obscurations lead to problems and sufferings. Cognitive obscurations don't directly lead to problems and sufferings. What these subtle stains in our mind lead to, or cause, is a mistaken appearance to us. When we look out on the world, there really does appear to be a me here and a world out there, and that world completely... Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

34:05 It seems to be completely independent of us. It doesn't seem to us as if we are in any way contributing to the existence of that world out there. There really does seem to be a me here and a world out there. So sometimes this is referred to as like subject-object duality, this sort of dualistic appearance. Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:26 Independent me, independent world. And it's these cognitive obscurations, these stains in our mind, which cause... Things to appear in this way. If we want to become a victor, a Buddha, we have to get rid of these as well. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:44 So these are the two things that we can, if we can overcome, we can become a victor. And Mahabuddha practice, realizing the nature of our mind, will help us to overcome both of those. And it says here it's the main path of the victors. Now, and if we look at the sub... of the title of the text, it says it's a root text for the precious Gelug Kagyu tradition of So how did this Mahamudra practice come about? The Mahamudra system of practice is something that comes from ancient India. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:32 And of course, it was a practice that was developed. In fact, it became very... Prominent around the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th century in India. And that's around about the same time that Buddhism was starting to spread into Tibet. So that's why you find that in Tibetan Buddhism, Mahamudra practice is quite widely taught. Report an error in the passage at 35:32 Highlight the passage at 35:32

36:06 Also there's another style of practice, very similar to Mahamudra, called Dzogchen. Report an error in the passage at 36:06 Highlight the passage at 36:06

36:26 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th century, around that time that Buddhism was spreading to Tibet. And as it was spreading to Tibet, we have four schools within Tibetan Buddhism being formed. It's Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

36:55 called the Nyingma school. The word Nyingma is a Tibetan word and literally means old school or original school. So this is the first school that was formed in Tibet around about the 8th century. And that mainly was formed as a result of two great Indian masters who came into Tibet, was Patmasambhava and Shantarakshita. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:22 Particularly Patmasambhava introduced this style of practice called Zogchen. And Report an error in the passage at 37:22 Highlight the passage at 37:22

37:36 again, Zogchen is a Tibetan word. Chen means great. In fact, that's a Tibetan word for Maha. Zog here usually is translated as perfection. So sometimes Zogchen is translated as great perfection. And so Zogchen practice is very similar to Mahamudra style practice. It's also about coming to realize the nature of the mind. But there are some subtle differences, which we're not going to go into this weekend. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

38:07 But just to be aware that you're probably going to hear this term Zogchen, and it's quite similar style of practice to Mahamudra. Within the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. So this was the original school that came to Tibet around the 8th century. Report an error in the passage at 38:07 Highlight the passage at 38:07

38:28 And then it was a little bit later, around the 10th century, 10th, 11th century, that a wave of other Indian masters really came into Tibet. And as a result of their efforts, other schools were formed. In fact here, Mahamudra, It came into Tibet around that time, around the 10th, 11th century. There was a great Indian master, Thalopa, and one of his main disciples was Naropa. Report an error in the passage at 38:28 Highlight the passage at 38:28

39:02 So maybe you've heard about Thalopa and Naropa. Well, they basically really had Mahamudra as their essential practice. And so it was through Thalopa and Naropa, Naropa being a student of Thalopa, that it really came into Tibet. One of the main disciples of Naropa was a great Tibetan practitioner, Mapa. He was also known as a great translator because he translated a lot of Sanskrit texts into Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 39:02 Highlight the passage at 39:02

39:34 And one of his main students, probably the most well-known yogi in Tibet, was Milarepa. So that's the lineage of Mahamudra that came into Tibet. We have Talopa Naropa, the great Indian masters, and then Naropa passed... on this Maha Mudrā style of practice to Malpa, who was then his main disciples, Milarepa. Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

39:59 This Mahamudra lineage that came into Tibet this way was an oral lineage. Report an error in the passage at 39:59 Highlight the passage at 39:59

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40:43 Shantarakshita. So Shantarakshita was more giving the basis practices. Like if we've studied in this school of Lamrim, something equivalent to that. Whereas Pappasambhava was more in the higher level Tantric Vajrayana practices and that's really where the highest level of this logchen practice was practiced. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

41:11 So again here we have the great India Masters Talopa Naropa bringing this Mahamudra practice into Tibet through Mapa, Milarepa. And then Milarepa passed, one of his main disciples was Gampolpa. Now, and Gampolpa was considered to be the founder of the Kargyu school. Now, also around the same time, we have Indian Report an error in the passage at 41:11 Highlight the passage at 41:11

41:54 master Atisha, who also came to Tibet and established a style of practice. And one of His main disciples was Drom Thomba. And this lineage here that was established was known as the Kadampa lineage. Report an error in the passage at 41:54 Highlight the passage at 41:54

42:14 Now, what Kambogha did was, this was the oral Mahamudra lineage, and Atisha introduced what's called the lamrim, the stages of the path practice, which is what probably most of you are familiar with, because this centers part. of the Gluck School of Tibetan And this comes back to Atisha's lamrim structure. So what Kanboka did was he took the lamrim from Atisha together with the oral Mahamudra lineage and synthesized those. Report an error in the passage at 42:14 Highlight the passage at 42:14

42:55 And as a result of that, through Kanboka's efforts, we have the second school, was the Kagyu school, Report an error in the passage at 42:55 Highlight the passage at 42:55

43:07 being formed. Report an error in the passage at 43:07 Highlight the passage at 43:07

43:17 Kadam Limich, and there are a number of masters here. And then later, around about the 15th century, have a great Tibetan master Lama Tsongkhapa is Report an error in the passage at 43:17 Highlight the passage at 43:17

43:38 considered to be the founder of the Guluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. So Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

44:02 in the Guluk school of Tibetan Buddhism, In Buddhism, you hear a lot about the lamrim, which is the foundation of the spiritual path, the stages of the path to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 44:02 Highlight the passage at 44:02

44:13 Now, there's a fourth school called Sakya, which I won't really go into because it's so relevant to our text, but that also formed around the same time, and they also have their own style of practice called lamdre, a little bit like lamrim. Report an error in the passage at 44:13 Highlight the passage at 44:13

44:39 What Lama Tsongkhapa did as well, apart from the normal lamrim approach in the Gluck School, he also synthesized his own... Lama Tsongkhapa was very highly regarded as someone who had a very clear way of presenting emptiness. His approach to presenting emptiness, to... To help us to better understand what emptiness means is very clear and methodical, so he's well known for that. So what he did was, he synthesized that profound way of coming to understand natural reality with the oral instructions of the Mahamudra lineage here, which is the basis of the Kagyu school. Report an error in the passage at 44:39 Highlight the passage at 44:39

45:34 He synthesized those two and developed a lineage. of practice in Gelug Gelug Mahamudra. So even though in the Guluk school the main system of practice that you'll hear about is lamrim, there's also a lineage coming from Lama Tsongkhapa where he synthesized his profound way of presenting emptiness together with some oral instructions about the nature of the mind from the oral Mahamudra lineage and together... Report an error in the passage at 45:34 Highlight the passage at 45:34

46:07 Then we have the Guluk Mahamudra lineage, which is not so widely presented in the Guluk skill, but that's where this text is coming from, from Lama Tsongkhapa. So what you're going to find is that you'll get the Lama Tsongkhapa's unique way of presenting emptiness, together with oral instructions from the Mahamudra lineage, and that's what we end up here in this text. Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:37 Because this lineage... So hence, therefore, that's why it says it's a root text for the precious Gelov slash Kagyu tradition of Mahamudra. That even though it's within the Galukh school, a lot of the oral instructions coming through Talopa and Naropa, Mahamudra and Larepa has been used by Tsongkhapa in this lineage of practice. Report an error in the passage at 46:37 Highlight the passage at 46:37

47:02 In fact, you'll see in this text a number of quotes from... From like Milarebha and some of the other Mahamudra practitioners within the hila. So in the Kagyu school, of course, that is the main, this is the Mahamudra. So if you go to Kagyu teachings, they'll talk a lot about Mahamudra, as in Nima Zolchan. In the Galuk, as I said, mainly we hear about lamrim and then on top of that, Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 47:02 Highlight the passage at 47:02

47:34 But also in the Galuk school, there is this, It's Mahamudra Lineage of Practice. And also in Sakya, you'll hear about what's called Landre, Paths and Results. But also in Sakya, there is also a Mahamudra Lineage of Practice available. So in all three schools here, we can have, you'll find Mahamudra present. Report an error in the passage at 47:34 Highlight the passage at 47:34

48:00 But of course, the main school that really uses that as the main approach is the Kadhi school. Where the original Mahamudra style of practice came from. So here, this text, as we see, is written by a person called Panchen Losan Chuggi Geltzen. Report an error in the passage at 48:00 Highlight the passage at 48:00

48:22 Panchen Losan Chuggi Geltzen is a very famous, not only scholar, but practitioner in the Gluck school. In fact, Panchen Losan Chuggi Geltzen was the main teacher of the 50s. And the fifth Dalai Lama was considered to be one of the great Dalai Lamas of the past. And Panchenlos and Chiggy Gyatzen, those of you who are familiar a little bit with some of the practices in the Galuk school, is actually the author of the Guru Puja and the Medicine Buddha Puja. Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:58 So he has a lot of, he's written a large number of texts, particularly in the area of Tantra Vajrayana. As I mentioned, from Tsongkhapa down, then this Mahamudra practice, as before in the Mahamudra lineage, was an oral lineage. You know, you just got oral instructions from the master to disciple and then just passed it on without writing down. But as we're going to see just in the next page of the text in a moment, the Panjshin Lama makes a promise to write down... Report an error in the passage at 48:58 Highlight the passage at 48:58

49:38 Instructions on Mahamudra practice. So in fact here he's now writing down these instructions which have been generally previously passed down in an oral way, just not written instructions. Report an error in the passage at 49:38 Highlight the passage at 49:38

49:56 Yeah, yeah, so that's the date for the Panchen Lama is about 16th century, 16th, early 17th century. Yes, yeah, yes, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 49:56 Highlight the passage at 49:56

50:09 So that's a little bit about the history. Report an error in the passage at 50:09 Highlight the passage at 50:09

50:15 So let's now have a look at the actual text itself and how the text is structured before we really launch into it. But we can look at top of page 1 on the text. It says, Here in explaining the instructions on Mahamudra from the tradition of the holy beings who are scholars and adepts, here the word scholar is a translation of a Sanskrit word pandita. Report an error in the passage at 50:15 Highlight the passage at 50:15

50:43 So sometimes you hear the word pandita. Pandita means scholar, someone who's very scholarly. And here the word adept is a translation of a Sanskrit word siddha. Particularly in the Indian Buddhism you hear a lot about mahasiddhas, great siddhas. So a siddha here, an adept, is someone who is very experienced in practice. Report an error in the passage at 50:43 Highlight the passage at 50:43

51:11 So we're talking about here... Scholars being very knowledgeable and adepts who are highly practiced. Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:23 It says here there are three parts to the text. There's the activities for entering the composition, the actual explanation and dedication of virtue. So let's sort of map out the structure of the text now so we know where we're going to be going and don't get lost. Report an error in the passage at 51:23 Highlight the passage at 51:23

51:43 Lost in the forest, yeah. Lost in the trees. Let's map out the forest so we know... So then we can navigate our way through the forest and get lost in all the trees. And Report an error in the passage at 51:43 Highlight the passage at 51:43

52:11 this structure here is very typical of the standard structure you'll find in Tibetan Buddhism. The first part of the text is for entering into the text. Report an error in the passage at 52:11 Highlight the passage at 52:11

52:45 At the beginning of the text, there's what's called entering into the text, where we'll see, and this is very standard in a Tibetan commentary, Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

52:57 The one who's writing a text usually begins with some sort of homage to someone or something, and then making a promise to finish writing this text. So these are very common, and that comes in the entering into the composition, the homage and the promise to compose the text. And that's the first two paragraphs here. Report an error in the passage at 52:57 Highlight the passage at 52:57

53:16 Then we have the actual explanation, and if we see a little bit down on point two, down the page, it says the actual explanation is divided into three. The preliminaries, the actual practice and the conclusion. Report an error in the passage at 53:16 Highlight the passage at 53:16

53:54 Now the preliminaries here are to do, and that's what we're going to be looking at now, next, is looking at what are the foundation practices. What is the foundation, what practices do we need to engage in as the foundation, the support for this Mahamudra, more advanced Mahamudra level of practice. So this preliminaries is like foundation, foundation practices. Report an error in the passage at 53:54 Highlight the passage at 53:54

54:23 Then within the actual practice, what we find is that here we can talk about two levels of practice within Mahamudra, but also in other systems of practice. We can also, within Tibetan Buddhism, we can also talk about these same two levels of practice, which here are described as Report an error in the passage at 54:23 Highlight the passage at 54:23

54:54 Tantra. Sometimes Tantra is called Vajrayana. So Tantra is the highest level of practice. Sūtra is the sort of level of practice that we begin at and of course that is going to be the main focus of our discussions today and tomorrow. When we talk about the actual practice of Mahamudra we're going to be mainly talking about this level of practice because that's what's relevant to us now. But what we're going to do is have a very brief discussion about what Tantra Mahamudra looks like just so that we know what comes next. Report an error in the passage at 54:54 Highlight the passage at 54:54

55:29 But the thing we're going to focus on today and tomorrow Is this level of practice. And of course at this level of practice, or both levels of practice, we're trying to realise the nature of our mind. We're trying to realise this wisdom of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 55:29 Highlight the passage at 55:29

55:44 And this wisdom practice in Sanskrit is often referred to as Vipassanā. Because Vipassanā, the V-I in Vipassanā means higher or beyond and Pashana means to see. Probably a lot of you are more familiar with the term Vipassanā. Vipassanā is coming from the Pāli tradition. So in ancient India, the teachings of the Buddha spread through both languages, Pāli and Sanskrit. Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

56:19 And the Pāli is the foundation of what's now called the Theravāda traditions. So in all the Theravāda traditions, such as Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, When they refer back to the original text of the Buddha, the sutras, they'll be written in Pāli. And so within those traditions, we have the word Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:44 Sanskrit, quite similar, the word is Vipassanā. Slightly different, spelt differently, but again V-I means higher or beyond. Pashana or Pashana means to see. So Vipassanā means to higher seeing, seeing beyond. Sometimes translated into English as special insight or just insight. I think there's a place down the right here, insight meditation. Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

57:10 So that's Vipassanā. Insight is the Pāli word, Vipassanā. Now, that is the practice. So Vipassanā means to gain insight into something. So it's a very general word, Vipassanā. And we can apply Vipassanā or Vipassanā to mean insight into impermanence, insight into the nature of suffering, insight into the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 57:10 Highlight the passage at 57:10

57:38 It's a very general term. But here, of course, the Vipassanā that we're trying to develop is a very specific type of insight, and that is insight into the nature of the mind. Now, if we want to fully develop that, if we want to come to directly realise the nature of our mind, Then, as a basis, we need to have good concentration. We need to have single point of concentration to be able to do that. Report an error in the passage at 57:38 Highlight the passage at 57:38

58:06 Because we know from our own experience, if we try to not only meditate or penetrate nature reality, but in general in our life, if we're trying to apply ourselves to some task, if our mind is not focused and calm and clear, not very effective. If our mind is agitated and scattered and dull, We can't really even solve problems at work, let alone realise the nature of our mind. So, as a basis then, we need to have this calm, clear, focused mind. Report an error in the passage at 58:06 Highlight the passage at 58:06

58:38 This single point of concentration, if we really want to penetrate the nature of our mind. Hence, here, in Mahamudra practice, there are two aspects of the practice. The first aspect is how to develop this calm, clear, focused mind. And then how to use that to penetrate, to realise the nature of our mind. So the practice to develop calm, clear, focused mind is called shamatha practice. Report an error in the passage at 58:38 Highlight the passage at 58:38

59:15 Again, the word shamatha often into English is translated as calm abiding, or sometimes quiescence. So remember, this is a practice of developing single point of concentration. Report an error in the passage at 59:15 Highlight the passage at 59:15

59:33 Now concentration in general in Sanskrit is called samabhi. So you may have heard of that word samādhi. We have to develop some samādhi concentration. And there are many levels of samādhi. But the minimum level of samādhi we have to develop here, in fact in all Buddhist practice, the minimum level of samādhi we need is shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 59:33 Highlight the passage at 59:33

1:00:01 Shamatha is called single point of concentration. So that's a particular level of samādhi. Higher levels of samādhi than shamatha. And we can develop them if we want, but not necessary for coming to realize emptiness. But to realize emptiness directly, we need shamatha. So therefore here, the first part of our practice is describing how to develop this single point of concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:01 Highlight the passage at 1:00:01

1:00:31 What do we need to do to develop that? And again, remember, with shamatha practice, in general, If we want to develop single point of concentration, we simply have to focus on an object, and that object can be anything. In fact, in the Buddhist meditation manuals, it talks about many different objects you can use to develop this. In Tibetan Buddhism, one popular object that is described is an image of a Buddha, but I think for many of us it's a little bit problematic to use that, because quite often the image of a Buddha is not something familiar to us. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:31 Highlight the passage at 1:00:31

1:01:10 And many of us have problems visualizing, so it's very difficult. But again, in all the meditation manuals, it says, you know, we can also use the breath, the sensations of breath, particularly here at the nostrils. And that's one object that's widely used in many traditions for shamatha practice. Just use the sensations of the breath at the nostrils. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:10 Highlight the passage at 1:01:10

1:01:36 And basically, in the meditation manuals, It says, if you're the sort of person that has a lot of conceptualisation, a lot of discursive thinking, you're all in the head, you're all over the place, you have thoughts and emotions everywhere, then the best object to use is the breath. So probably that applies to about 95 % of the Western population. We're all in the head, we're all discursive, conceptual, we're all over the place. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:36 Highlight the passage at 1:01:36

1:02:09 So there are many benefits for using the breath, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later. But again, here, Mahamudra practice is the nature of the mind practice. So actually, in Mahamudra practice, when it comes to shamatha, the main focus is not the breath, is not an image of the Buddha, but our own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:31 We're simply using our own mind as the object. And there are a lot of benefits in doing that, and we'll be talking more about that this afternoon. So on the basis of delving shamatha, then of course, is Report an error in the passage at 1:02:31 Highlight the passage at 1:02:31

1:02:49 that to realize the nature of our mind, which is the wisdom practice, or in Sanskrit, the passion practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:49 Highlight the passage at 1:02:49

1:03:00 So the main part of our discussions today and tomorrow is going to be focusing on these two practices at this level. How do we develop single point of concentration focusing on the mind? Then how do we come to penetrate to realize the nature of our mind? How do we realize this emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:00 Highlight the passage at 1:03:00

1:03:21 The higher level practice, just to know a little bit about it, but very brief. But then also one other point here is in conclusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:21 Highlight the passage at 1:03:21

1:03:32 Here, of course, we're talking about the actual practice, the actual meditation practice. But of course, if we want to progress in our spiritual life, then this is actually something we need to do the whole day, not just sitting in meditation. So not only are we going to describe what we need to do in meditation, but in the conclusion section we're going to talk about how do we continue to develop this Maha Mudrā in our daily life. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:32 Highlight the passage at 1:03:32

1:04:03 Because if we don't do that, we're not going to notice much progress. The key to progress, success in our practice is continuity. Which means not only do we have to really meditate every day, but we have to continue to cultivate what we're doing in meditation in the day. If we don't do that, if you meditate on whatever it is in the morning, mindfulness, let's say you're focusing on the breath or something in the morning, doing it every day, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, even an hour, and then we jump up off the cushion and we run around like we normally do, then any little progress we've made in that morning meditation will be squashed within about 30 minutes of people running around mindlessly. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:03 Highlight the passage at 1:04:03

1:04:47 And then we'll meditate like this every day for a year. And nothing much will change. We'll go, what's going on? I'm really meditating every day for an hour and yet after a year, not much change. Why? And it's because we're not continuing our practice. We're not consciously trying to be mindful through the day. We're working against our meditation in the morning by running around mindlessly. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:47 Highlight the passage at 1:04:47

1:05:14 So likewise here, in conclusion, is what to do. Outside of meditation. Another way we can just say is daily life. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:14 Highlight the passage at 1:05:14

1:05:32 That's a thing that's unfortunately often overlooked. People sometimes put a lot of effort into meditation. They don't put much effort into integrating these ideas into their daily life. And then they wonder, why aren't I changing? I've still got problems. I'm still... nothing's much changed after a few years. But I'm really meditating every day. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32 Highlight the passage at 1:05:32

1:05:53 I'm going and listening to a lot of teachings. Put a lot of effort into that. Why isn't it working? And most often it's because of this. No effort in integrating into daily life. So there's some advice here about that. So that's what we're going to be focusing on, is now the foundation. What do we need to have as a foundation? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:14 Then on that basis, how do we develop this calm, clear, focused mind? Then how do we use that to come to realise the nature of our own mind? Realize the emptiness. And then a brief look at the higher level of practice, the tantra level of practice, what does that look like? And then what do we need to do during our daily life to support and continue this practice we're doing here? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:14 Highlight the passage at 1:06:14

1:06:41 So basically that's the structure of the text that we're going to be following. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:41 Highlight the passage at 1:06:41

1:06:50 Any questions on that? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:50 Highlight the passage at 1:06:50

1:06:55 Okay, it's just about time for a little short break, but before that, maybe I'll just briefly run through the first part, the entering. into the text, because there's not a lot to be said there. So if we look at that first paragraph, first two paragraphs on page one, it says activities for entering into the composition. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:55 Highlight the passage at 1:06:55

1:07:14 So these two paragraphs are, again, pretty standard in all Tibetan commentaries. First, some sort of homage to someone or something, then a promise to compose. So here he's making a homage to Mahamudra, Namo Mahamudraya. Or in English, homage to the Great Seal. And he's also making an homage to his teacher, his guru. He says, I respectfully bow at the feet of my peerless guru, master of adepts who directly exposed the Great Seal of Mahamudra, the all-pervasive nature of everything, the indivisible, inexpressible and indestructible sphere of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:14 Highlight the passage at 1:07:14

1:07:53 So he's praising his teacher because it's his teacher that directly exposed or... That helped him to come to realize the nature of his own mind. So he's praising his own teacher here. And then he's using a few words to describe this Mahamudra nature of the mind. The all-pervasive nature of everything. So remember, emptiness seals everything. So emptiness is the nature of all phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:53 Highlight the passage at 1:07:53

1:08:19 Everything lacks independent existence. The all-pervasive nature of everything. Indivisible, inexpressible, indestructible sphere of the mind. So again, Mahamudra practice. So we're talking about realizing the nature of the mind. The sphere of the mind means the sphere within which the mind comes into existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:19 Highlight the passage at 1:08:19

1:08:40 And since the nature of the mind is emptiness, figuratively we can often say that everything arises out of emptiness. That's the sphere within which everything comes into existence. So again, talking about emptiness. And the other word here important is inexpressible. Now, the nature of reality is emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:40 Highlight the passage at 1:08:40

1:09:05 Everything lacks independent existence. Another way of putting that is that there's no subject-object duality. We live in a dualistic world of conception and language. Emptiness is beyond that. Meaning that... That experience of emptiness we cannot directly describe using language because it's beyond language, beyond conception, hence inexpressible. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:05 Highlight the passage at 1:09:05

1:09:37 For instance, if we were to come to realise emptiness directly and then someone asked us, please explain or describe your experience to me, we'd go, sort of like this. No. You couldn't describe it because that experience is beyond... Subject-object duality, hence inexpressible. Of course, we can use words to approximate it. We can use words to sort of say it was sort of like this, it was sort of like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:37 Highlight the passage at 1:09:37

1:10:15 Yeah, but you can say what it wasn't. It wasn't a dualistic experience. Absolutely. That's why emptiness is describing reality through negating how things don't exist. Exactly. Not independent. Not dualistic. So that is precise. But then what it really is directly, is because it's beyond it, you know, we can sort of go, sort of like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:15 Highlight the passage at 1:10:15

1:10:43 Yeah, reinforces the... Of course, like everything, and that's what we're going to be looking at, is, particularly tomorrow, is that, and this is a little bit also very, what Tsongkhapa does, is he uses a conceptual framework. In a very clear way to describe nature of reality, but again through negation. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:11:19 It's not independent existence, it's not inherent. So you need an intellectual framework as a basis for meditation, but of course we need to come to directly experience it, not just some intellectual understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:35 Very briefly, and then we're going to take a break, the promise to compose, he says, I shall now write down instructions on Mahamudra. Coming from the Gelug Kakyu tradition of the Supreme Adept Dharmavajra and his disciples, a tradition of excellent instructions having gathered the essence of the sutras and tantras and condensed oceans of oral instructions. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:35 Highlight the passage at 1:11:35

1:11:57 So remember, here it says the essence of sutras and tantras so we can talk about Mahamudra practice at both levels and having condensed oceans of oral instructions. So remember the Mahamudra lineage was an oral tradition. And it says here it's the Mahamudra coming from the Gelug Kagyu tradition, again coming from Lama Tsongkhapa, but it says here it mentions the supreme adept Dharma Vajra. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:57 Highlight the passage at 1:11:57

1:12:22 Dharma Vajra, I think there's about four or five masters between Tsongkhapa and the author of this text, about four or five in the middle. And I think about in the middle there, number three or so, is Dharma Vajra. So he's between Lama Tsongkhapa and the author of this text. And it refers to him as a supreme adept. An adept, again, is a siddha, mahasiddha. Generally, when you see the word supreme adept, it means an adept who has achieved the supreme result, i.e. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:22 Highlight the passage at 1:12:22

1:12:55 enlightenment. So he's basically saying Dharma Vajra, through this practice, became enlightened. That's what it sort of means here. So he's just making a promise to compose the text. And that's very common in any... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:55 Highlight the passage at 1:12:55

1:13:11 traditions and in any commentaries within Tibetan Buddhism to have these first two things at the beginning of a text, some sort of homage and then a promise to So have a short break and then we're going to launch into the text, the actual practices itself. We're having a 15-20 minute break. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:11 Highlight the passage at 1:13:11