{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/ettt/ettt24.htm","path":"bud/ettt/ettt24.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/ettt/ettt24.htm","text":"Esoteric Teachings of the Tibetan Tantra, by C.A. Mus\u00e9s, [1961]\nWith Commentary (in smaller type)\nby the translator and\nnotes by the editor\nI pray to the Guru, to the Yidam, and to those holy beings in the Mandala,\n I pray to the Buddhas and to their Sons (Bodhisattvas) in the Three Times and in the Ten Directions,\n Remember me, have compassion and pity on me,\n Bless with accomplishment my wishes.\nFirst, according to the traditions of Buddhist Tantric ritual, a supplication is offered to one's teacher (who is considered more important than the Buddhas), next to one's patron Buddha, then to the Darginis, Guardians, and other beings of the Mandala who grant protection and certain powers to the yogi. This supplication to the esoteric or Tantric lineage is followed by one to the esoteric lineage of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the past, present, and future, and in all directions of space.\nThe pure action of my body and my mind\n My virtuous deeds and those of all sentient beings\n Are like clear streams flowing from the Snow Mountain\n \u00a0\u00a0\u2014devoid of the defilements of the Three Circles\n May they flow freely into the great ocean\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0the ocean of the Buddha's Four Bodies.\nThe pure action of body and mind and the virtuous deeds of sentient beings exist (pure in essence) only if one realizes that the action, the doer, and the receiver (The Three Circles) are alike empty and void. The unimpeded realization of this enables one to merge with (obtain) the Four Bodies of Buddha, or the three-in-one\u2014the Dharmakaya, the Sambhogakaya, the Nirmanakaya, in the all-encompassing (Tantric) Body of Universal Essence.\nUntil I attain the Four Bodies of Buddha,\n May even the name of Samsaric miseries and sins\n Be unheard in all my future lives\n While I enjoy the happy Dharma-Oceans.\nIt is a long journey from sentient being to Buddhahood. Even a diligent and well-gifted person, after strenuous efforts, may not attain Buddhahood in one lifetime, even though he depends on Mahamudra which is considered an \"Abrupt\" or \"Sudden Enlightenment\" teaching like that of Zen. Therefore, in Buddhist countries, people are made mindful of this and taught to pray for auspicious conditions and favorable environments in their future incarnations.\nMay faith, intelligence, diligence and leisure,\n Good Gurus and the essential teachings come to me,\n May I practice rightly without stumbling and hindrances\u2014\n The blessings of Dharma filling my future lives.\nMahamudra is not just philosophical. Without faith, intelligence, diligence, favorable environment, and skilled teachers there would be no base for its study and practice and no result for sentient beings still existing in the realm of causation.\nThe Holy and Wisdom reckonings liberate me from ignorance\n The pith-instructions destroy my dark doubts forever\n Through the light from meditation, vividly and unmistakenly, I behold Reality\n Increase, O Light of the Three Wisdoms!\nBuddha taught that to judge rightly one should rely on the admonishments of the Sutras and on one's own innate reason (the Holy and Wisdom reckonings). By not leaning blindly on just one or the other, one is less likely to err.\nSome doubts can be dispelled through intellectual reasoning, but more subtle and deeply intrenched doubts cannot be eliminated through reasoning or study of the Sutras. These can only be destroyed by the \"pith-instructions\"\u2014the clear, precise, practical instructions given by one's own Guru.\nThe real nature of mind can best be compared to the transparent brightness of physical light. Here, however, the word \"light\" is also used in a symbolic aspect to refer to the experience of the Three Wisdoms of the Foundation (the undeveloped Buddha-nature in every sentient being), of the Path (the partially realized Buddha-nature from meditation practice), and of the Fruit (or full enlightenment).\nThe Root-Principle is the Two Truths\u2014the absence of the concrete and the null views\n The superb Path is the Provisions\u2014without either the exaggerating or minimizing views\n The Fruit is the Two Benefits of neither Nirvana or Sa\u1e43sara\n In future life, may I meet such right teachings.\nThese three terms\u2014Root or Foundation, Path, and Fruit\u2014are frequently used terms to explain the complete philosophy and procedure of Buddhism, though in Hinayana, general Mahayana, and Tantric Buddhism the terms Root, Path, and Fruit are applied differently. Here, the author points out that the basis or \"Root\" of Mahamudra is the view which transcends Yes and No, which goes beyond the truth of either existence or non-existence. The Path of Mahamudra is knowing the mind in its essence without either adding or deducting anything to its original nature. The Fruit is Buddhahood, the realization which transcends the concepts of both Nirvana and Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra. This Fruit is expressed in the Two Benefits\u2014blessings accruing to oneself and blessings bestowed on others.\nThe Essence of Mind is the Two-in-One\u2014the void and radiant original source,\n Mahamudra, the Diamond-Practice, is the Purifier\n The Purified are the flickering and insubstantial Blindness and Defilements\n May I attain the immaculate Dharmakaya, the purified Fruit.\nMahamudra is called the \"Diamond-Practice\" because it is held to be the strongest antidote for delusory thoughts and worldly desires. To the sentient beings the Blindness (ignorance) and Defilements (desires) appear real and substantial, but the enlightened being knows them as insubstantial and nonexistent.\nThe View of Mahamudra lies in neither adding nor deducting from the nature of mind\n Being mindful of this, (the View) without distraction, is the root-action of Mahamudra\n Of all meditations, this is the highest practice p. 295\n Let me always find this right teaching of the View, Action, and Practice.\nTo understand the nature of mind is easy if one can recognize it without making any mental effort, and grasp it instantaneously as it is at this very moment. The practice of Mahamudra lies in the constant awareness of this view. Other teachings using visualization, mantras, and bodily and prana exercises must all employ effort and are With Form. Compared to them, the practice of Mahamudra, effortless and Without Form, is superb.\nAll Dharmas (manifestations) are the expression of mind\n The mind is of no-mind\u2014void in essence\n Void, yet not extinct, it manifest all\n Let me observe this essence, and retain this immutable view.\nDharma: In Buddhism \"Dharma\" has two meanings. It means \"Doctrine\" and is also a general term to include all \"objects, manifestations, and existences\".\nIn our confusion, we consider the self-manifestation (which never came into being) apparent in outer objects\n In our blindness, we hold the self-awareness to be the real ego\n Because of the Two Clingings, sentient beings wander in Sa\u1e43sara\n May I cut this root of Confusion and Blindness.\nTwo Clingings: 1) The Clinging of Ego\u2014clinging to the individual conditioned and continuously changing consciousness\nas the ego. 2) The Clinging of Dharma\u2014clinging to objects and manifestations as real.\n\"Nothing really exists!\" Buddha, himself, sees no existence\n \"All is not empty!\" since the causes of Nirvana and Sa\u1e43sara exist\n This, is the Middle Path of the Two-in-One, neither agreeing nor contradicting.\n May I realize the discrimination-free Mind-essence.\nOne trying to understand Buddhism is often puzzled by its apparently contradictory statements such as, \"Everything exists,\" \"Nothing exists,\" \"There is an ego,\" \"There is no ego,\" \"Meritorious deeds are beneficial,\" \"Meritorious deeds do not exist.\" Such statements can be understood only if one learns to think from the standpoint of different categories of truth. For instance, in the Mundane category (or point-of-view) everything exists; but from the standpoint of Transcendental truth, nothing exists. * This distinction in Buddhist philosophy between the Mundane and Transcendental views must be kept in mind.\nNo one can describe that by saying, \"This is it!\"\n No one can deny that by saying, \"This is not it!\"\n Such is the Non-created nature of Being which transcends the realm of Consciousness\n May I attain, decisively, this uttermost truth.\nBecause \"the Non-created nature of Being\u2014Mind-essence\" lies beyond the realm of words and thoughts, it is indescribable; therefore, it can neither be affirmed nor negated. Furthermore, this Mind-essence though beyond words and thought is, nevertheless, all-pervading. Since it embraces all, no one can deny it by saying of anything, \"This is not the Mind-essence\".\nIgnorant of this, we drift in the ocean of Sa\u1e43sara\n If one realizes this essence, there is no other Buddha\n In the final truth, there is neither Yes nor No\n May I realize the Dharma-nature\u2014the principle of Alaya!\nThe cause of Sa\u1e43sara is the Blindness\u2014the subject-object pattern of thought which does not exist in the dualistic-free Mind-essence. Enlightenment or the attainment of Buddhahood is nothing but the complete realization of this Mind-essence. The experience of the final realm of truth lies beyond the opposites and thoughts of Yes and No.\nThe manifestation is mind, the Voidness is also mind\n The enlightenment is mind, and the Blindness is also mind p. 298\n The springing of things is mind, and their extinction is also mind\n May I understand that all Increasing and Decreasing inhere in mind.\nAll activities, existences, experiences, Sangsaric or Nirvanic, all stem from the mind. If one understands and realizes the mind, he understands and realizes all.\n'Increasing' and 'Decreasing' here means the two opposites: the purity and defilement, the merits and sins, the enlightenment and blindness etc.\nUnsullied by intentional practice or meditation-with-effort\n Away from the Worldly-Wind of distraction\n With no effort and correction, I rest comfortably on the natural state of mind\n May I find the adroit and subtle teaching of Mind Practice.\nThe difference between Mahamudra and other types of meditation is that in Mahamudra no meditation-effort and no correction is employed; but in most other types of meditations such as visualizing a subject, holding the breath, meditating on love and divine mercy a mental effort is always required *,\nconcentration\u2014choosing one and rejecting the other\u2014is always stressed, whereas in the practice of Mahamudra, no effort whatsoever is required. After one has realized the essence of mind, concentration or non-concentration, distracted thoughts and Samadhi all become Mahamudra itself. Though for the beginners of Mahamudra, the distractions are obstacles for their meditation, they still should not 'intentionally practice Mahamudra' or meditate Mahamudra with effort. Because any effort or intentional practice helps not but impedes the realization of Mind-Essence. Hence, to comfortably rest on \"the awareness of mind\" and observe it is the key-instruction of Mahamudra.\nThe waves of Thought-Flow\u2014strong and weak, clear and dim\u2014subside\n Without disturbance the River-of-Consciousness flows naturally\n Far from the mud of drowsiness and distraction\n Let the steady and immutable Ocean of Samadhi, absorb me!\nThe chief difficulty for the meditator arises from the habitual flow-of-thought common to everyone and which, according to Buddhism, has had this characteristic flowing nature from the very no-beginning. Besides this uncontrollable and habitual thinking the two chief obstacles hindering the meditator are drowsiness and distraction. Only through the attaining of a steady Samadhi can these obstacles be overcome.\nRepeatedly contemplating the incontemplatable mind,\n Clearly discerning the indiscernable meaning,\n I forever eliminate the doubts of Yes and No\n Let me surely behold my original face.\n\"Original face\"\u2014A symbolic term denotes the original Buddha-nature innate in every sentient being from the very no-beginning. It is interesting to note that this term, \"Original face\", is widely used in Chinese Zen as well as being found in the Mahamudra teaching of Tibet. [Here we have a fleeting reference to the all-important gotra concept. See our introduction. Ed.]\nWhen I observe the (outer) objects, I find nothing but my own mind\n When I observe my mind, I find nothing but the Voidness\n Observing both mind and objects, free am I from the Two Clingings\n Let me realize the true nature of the illuminating Mind-essence.\nIn the first step of Mahamudra practice, the yogi is taught to observe the outer objects and to keep on observing them. Continuing in this, he will come to the actual realization (not merely through belief or intellectual reasoning) that all objects are the phenomenal reflections of mind. Then he is taught to observe the mind, itself. From this continual observance, the yogi finally arrives at the realization that mind, itself, is merely voidness. When the yogi observes both mind and objects he is liberated from the Two Clingings\u2014the Clinging of Ego which is the subjective-illusory conception of mind, and the Clinging of Dharma, which is the objective-delusory conception of mind. When one realizes the illuminating Mind-essence, one finds\nthat neither ego nor objects exists. [The two-fold egolessness\u2014of persons and of things\u2014taught also in the Lankavatara Sutra, one of the texts basic to Mahamudra and Zen. Ed.]\nBecause that transcends the mind, it is called the Great Symbol\n Because that frees from the extremes, it is called the Great Middle Way\n Because that encompasses all and embrace all, it is called the Great Perfection\n Let me understand that knowing one is knowing all.\nThe Great Symbol (Tib. Pyag Rgya Chen Po) literally means \"The Great Hand-Seal,\" referring to the custom of ancient times when the Emperor signed imperial edicts with the print of his hand. Mahamudra is like the imperial law which was supreme in its own realm and came to be called \"The Great Symbol,\" being acknowledged as the teaching which could not be violated and which surpassed all others.\nSince Mind-essence is intrinsically apart from the subject-object pattern of thought, the teaching of realizing the Mind-essence is in this respect called the teaching of the Great Middle Way (Tib. Dwu Ma Chen Po). Since Mind-essence intrinsically encompasses all and its teaching is the consummation of all teachings, it is called the Great Perfection (Tib. Rdzogs Pa Chen Po). If one succeeds in practicing one teaching, no matter by what name it is called, he succeeds in realizing all.\nWith Clingings absent, the great bliss continuously arises\n With no form to cling to, the radiant light outshines the dark hindrances p. 302\n May I constantly practice the practice of no-effort\u2014transcending mind\n The natural and spontaneous Non-Discerning.\nThe sufferings and miseries of sentient beings are the result of 'tensions' which are originated from the 'fundamental tension'. Buddhism denominates this fundamental tension as 'clinging' (Tib. atsin Pa). If one can eliminate, or even subdue this Clinging to some extent, a great bliss or Nirvanic ecstasy will arise.\nHindrances cannot exist without being embodied in forms; therefore, if the yogi can realize in his Mahamudra meditation that no forms whatsoever exist at all, he automatically overcomes all hindrances.\nAny effort, or intentional practice in Mahamudra meditation is redundant, useless, and even harmful since the Mind-Essence is ever-present and has always existed. The closest description one can give of the experience of the enlightenment mind is the feeling of a natural and spontaneous non-discriminating, subject-object-free awareness.\nThe craving for ecstasy and good experience in meditation naturally dissolves\n The evil thoughts and blindness rest innately pure in Dharma-dhatu\n In the \"ordinary mind\" there is no loss or gain, no claim or disclaim.\n Away from words, let me realize the truth of Dharma Essence.\nIt is common for the yogi to cling to the rapture, brightness, and pleasant visions and feelings experienced during meditation-practice. Buddha, however, has warned that those who continue to crave such experiences cannot liberate themselves. In practicing Mahamudra rightly, the yogi will find his craving for such ecstasies diminish and finally dissolve.\nDharma-dhatu may be translated as \"the Universal Whole\" in which evil thoughts and virtues, blindness and enlightenment are innately identical *.\nThere is a famous Zen story that once a monk asked the Zen master Chow Chu, \"What is Tao (reality or path)?\" The master answered, \"The ordinary mind is Tao.\" This \"ordinary mind\" can be easily misunderstood as referring to the ignorant and illusory mind of the ordinary person. However, it really means the Mind-essence which the enlightened being sees and which is not a new mind or something which is different in essence from the common mind. The enlightened see mind as it is\u2014natural, common, and intrinsic. In this sense, Mahamudra denotes the Mind-essence as \"the ordinary mind\" wherein one finds no loss or gain, no claim or disclaim, since it excludes all discriminations and includes all differentiations.\nBefore actually and directly realized the Mind-essence, whatever philosophy or theories one holds (\"Reality is one,\" \"Reality is two,\" \"Truth is this or that\") are nonsense like 'Playwords' of children. When one directly and actually realizes the Mind-essence, he reaches the world-beyond or the state called here \"Away From Playwords.\"\nNot knowing their natures are identical with Buddha's\n Sentient beings wander endlessly in Sangsara\n To those misery-bound who have undergone endless sufferings\n May I forever pity [\"Succour\" would be a better translation then the condescending \"pity,\" we feel. Ed.] them with the unbearable great compassion!\n May I forever pity them with the unbearable great compassion!\nRight in that moment when the Great Compassion arises\n Emerges nakedly and vividly the Great Voidness.\n Let me always find this unmistakable Two-in-One Path\n And practice it day and night.\nThe teaching of Buddhism on Great Voidness and Great Compassion is not rightly understood by most people. These two are, actually, one entity manifested in two aspects. But to the Sangsaric beings, these two are seemingly irreconcilable since in many characteristics they seem opposed, the wisdom seems 'cold' while the compassion is 'warm'; the Voidness has no object while the Compassion demands an object, etc. Only the Buddha and enlightened beings can merge the two, or, more accurately speaking, realize and unfold the identicalness and simultaneous-existing-nature of the two. Here the author points out that the unmistakable sign of the experience of the enlightened being is that during the moment of enlightenment, when the great Voidness is seen, the Great Compassion automatically arises, or, in some cases, a great and unbearable compassion, should it ever arise, will automatically bring forth the emergence of the Great Voidness.\n[In this stanza is expressed the essence of the Buddhist Tantra: that the \u015aunya (or praj\u00f1\u0101) and active Love (or vajra)\nmust be and are forever joined at the heart of reality. Here is the true inner meaning of the profound Yab-Yum symbolism of the phrase \"the jewel (or diamond, i.e. up\u0101ya, vajra) is in the lotus (padma, \u015bunya, praj\u00f1\u0101).\" In the terms of the Hindu Tantra, with its emphasis on the formative center and energy, \u015aakta and \u015aakti are forever united in a not indistinct, but rather in a dynamic polar union. Ed.]\nWith meditation-produced clairvoyance and other miraculous powers\n May I ripen all the sentient beings and adorn Buddha's Pure Land\n May I fulfill the compassionate vows of all Buddhas\n And eventually achieve the highest enlightenment and perfections.\nThe power of the compassion of Buddha\n The power of the loving Bodhisattvas\n The power of all virtues and good deeds\n May I bind these powers into one great force\n By which the pure vow of mine\n And the benevolent wishes of others may be readily fulfilled!\n296:* We most strongly disagree with the translation of the idea that there is nothing that is not S\u016bnyat\u0101 as \"there is nothing that exists.\" S\u016bnyat\u0101 is by no means non-existence (see our comments on notes 55 and 96). Until this is clearly understood, Zen and Mahamudra will remain word-play, only sparkling but unenlightening. Without experienced knowledge of the nature of S\u016bnyat\u0101 no treatise on Mahamudra is very helpful, and with such experiences, such treatises are unnecessary except as confirmation. The transcendental view is not that \"nothing exists,\" but rather that it is not true to say either \"nothing exists\" or \"everything exists.\" The view that there is nothing that exists is the \"Nihilistic Extreme\" criticized in Tsong-kha-pa's text of N\u0101rop\u0101. See note 95 and the text of page 238. Ed.\n298:* Here the translator is repeating, and we fear incorrectly, a conversation between himself and the editor, who pointed out to him that in the true meditation of love (not \"on\" love, as it is a meditation without seed) there is a spontaneous awakening and melting of Bodhi Heart, distinctively characterized by the fact that no mental effort is required. The translator, in saying here that mental effort is required in the love-meditation, evinces that he did not apprehend either the editor's meaning p. 299 or that meditation. Long before the Buddhist Mah\u0101mudra sect, the Hindu Tantra and the higher yoga practice of Patanjali taught the effortless meditation\u2014become part and parcel of spontaneous living\u2014\"without seed\" or partaking of the nature of the unconditioned.\n303:* Here we strongly disagree; Dharma-dh\u0101tu may not so be translated; defilements and the buddha-nature are not at all identical in the context of Dharma-dh\u0101tu, much less innately so. If they were, and hence if blindness and enlightenment were innately identical, there would be no point in either the translator's translation or comments, nor indeed in the existence of this or any other book. The expression of the matter by the translator tends to confusion. We would rather see it put that the essential Buddha-nature is the self-nature of all things, and constitutes the ultimate reality stripped of all manifestation, and even the ultimate substance of those manifestations we call evil or defilements. It is important to point out, however, that in the sa\u1e43sara, what is evil uses the innate nature parasitically, while what is good tends to increase the explicit manifestation (nirmanak\u0101ya forms) of the Buddha-nature.\u2014Ed.","title":"Esoteric Teachings of the Tibetan Tantra: Appendix: The V...","type":"page"}