In
addition
you must gain the insight that there is not the slightest difference (in nature) between thoughts and the object of thought, between the mind when it is settled and when it is moving, between past (and present) mind, between past (and present) thoughts and so forth.
Wang-ch-ug-Dor-je-Mahamudra-Eliminating-the-Darkness-of-Ignorance
and Voidness, with no (truly existent) object.
Take a look at the consciousness that is doing the looking and at its five types of sense objects, -each in turn (first sights, then sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations). Look to s. ee if there is any -difference between these two (namely, consciousness
and the appearance of its sense objects), and then look for what is the difference between an appearance that is the object (of a consciousness) and the consciousness that has it as its object. When you have looked at an object, is it the case that the
-object is something out there, solid and real ?
When you close your eyes, does it disappear? When you put your hand in front of your eyes, where is the clarity of the appearance ?
If you say it is not, then it seems as though there is no difference at all &tween an object (on the one side) and the mind (on the other) that can look starkly at (this object) without any obstruction but
which (on its own part) is at ease: does not hold
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 79
(anything as its object) and in which nothing (appears) clearly. If you say it is impossible to think that there is no difference between these (two), but rather it is the case that the object is something . out there, solid and real, then what about the very thought that thinks that ? (Is its object something . out there? ) Take a look at this:
Likewise, look to see whether the body and the mind are the same or different. If they are the same (or one thing), then the body which is something that arises and ceases and the mind which is something permanent (by nature) with no arisal or cessation would have to be the same.
Although your cognitions, like your body, change from moment to moment and are thus impermanent, the nature of the mind as a clear, void, blissful awareness is something that does not change and is permanent in the sense that it does not depend on causes or circumstances. The nature of your mind does not arise out of nothing when you are born or wake up, nor does it cease when you die or fall asleep. The awareness is by nature the same regardless of what it is aware of.
And if they are different, then you should be able to identify two separate things, the body and the mind (totally apart from each other}. But the mind is not something that you can pinpoint here (or there). It is not (only) at the top of your body or at the bottom, it completely pervades it. The fact that you can expr. rience feelings (all over), what is that due to?
The body and mind are like something that supports and the thing that is supported (like a cup and the tea in it). But, if you say that the body is outside and the mind inside, (as two separate things)
? 80 MAHAMUDRA
like a man and his clothing, then when it comes t<> experiencing feeling, if you think that it is the body alone that has feelings, then a corpse would also have to have feelings. If you say that the mind (alone) has the feelings, then the two (body and mind) would have to be dilferent (and unrelated).
Now the mind is something that cannot be killed or in any way affected. If when your body is pricked by a thorn your mind feels it, then how
is this different from the example when you burn the clothes worn by someone you burn the person who is wearing them too?
When you prick the body, do you prick the mind also? After looking at this thoroughly, you
must reach a firm decision.
Namely, you must decide that the body and mind are neither the same, nor different. Conventionally they art like something that supports and the thing supported, but ultimately they are not two inherently existing objects. sharing such a relation.
In connection with this you must also realise that whatever feelings arise are like waves and (your mind is like) water. Because when you place your mind on this realisation you cut through from this state to the true meaning of the actual nature of
reality, you must look (at your mind) like this. That is the third point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? Lool,i11gat tl1e Settletl anti Jflot'iltg Alinds Togetlter
Once more settle your mind into a state of pure clarity and Voidness and look at its nature. Then make a thought arise and look at its nature. Look to see if the natures of these two-the settled mind and the moving mind-are the same or different. After looking, if you see that they are different, then how are they different ? Do the settled and moving minds alternately come up like when you have strung thread around two poles and twirl it together (to make a string) ? Is the settled mind like a field and the moving mind that arises like the crops growing in it ? Or are the two of them the same like a snake or rope and its coils (in that you cannot have a coil separate from the rope)? If so, then when the mind is settled without any thought arising, is it also moving, and when it is l)loving, is it also settled? There is a big difference between the moving mind which can think up anything and fantasise in endless variety and the settled mind which stays without moving. But if you think that the two are different in nature, then is the difference in terms of colour, shape and so forth ? Is it in terms of arisal, endurance and cessation, or of past, present and future, or of permanence and imper? manence ? Look to see how they are different.
? 82 AIAHAMUDRA
When you know? through meditation what thoughts truly are, then (you realise that) the nature of both the settled and moving minds is nothing but the same. The way they arise is by alternating, and when it is settled there is nothing that is moving and
when it is moving there is nothing that is settled. like water and waves, it is the mind alone that functions and acts. That is all there is to it. When you understand that both the settled and moving minds are nothing more than a brilliant, clear Voidness, then you have a little understanding.
It is like a mirror, which has the same void clarity whether or not it is reflecting an object.
Now, when you draw a thought in (for interroga- tion) and then place yourself in meditation, is it that (the thought) has gone into a clear Voidness, or has it disappeared and afterwards in its place is a clear Voidness?
In other words, is it like the darkness of night dissolving into the clarity of daylight ? Or is it like the darkness dis- appearing and being replaced by daylight ?
Or is it that the vivid thought itself is a clear Voidness ? Ifyou think that it is like either of the former two, you still must make very stong requests to your Guru (for his inspiration) and then look once more with effort and try to see with certainty
how things really are.
The ways of looking at the nature (of the mind)
can be approached in three styles.
These ways o f looking have been a t the settled mind,
the moving or thinking mind, the mind. reflecting an appearance, the mind in relation to the body and both the settled. and moving minds together.
Those who skip ahead develop penetrative insight first and then m~ntal quiescence, or sometimes they
? PENETIUTlYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 83
develop both together at the same time when previously they had neither. Those for whom it happens at once develop both mental quiescence and penetrative insight at the same time by merely being taught their descriptions. This is due to the power of their previous training.
This refers to instincts from former lifetimes as is the case with Incarnate Lamas (Tulkus).
Those who progress gradually develop these in stages. Here (the explanation has been given) in accordance with this latter type of person's approach and it must be taught after assessing the way in which the disciple has his experiences.
When looking, you must place yourself in a state of clarity without any grasping, like a small child looking (at the paintings of deities) in a temple.
Exert yourself with great enthusiasm to look in this way and abandon laziness. Turn away from your compulsive obsessions and have no requirements (which you feel must be met before you can practise). Have a renounced mind and faith, admiration and loving respect for your Guru. Make your mind-
. fulness firm so that your mind does not wander and practise in an uncontrived state without being fettered by expectations or worries. Be interested only in your future lives without letting ? yourself go after ever-changing worldly concerns. If you make an effort to look at the mind (with an Enlightened
. Motive of Bodhicitta), then it is impossible for you not to develop quickly and with certainty the pristine awareness o f penetrative insight. Therefore decide about the settled and moving minds. That is the fourth point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? BecotJnising tl1e Nature of tlae Settled Alintl
If you have cultivated looking at the nature (of the mind) like this in accordance with the oral teachings concerning the mind, there is practically no need for (your Guru) to make you recognise (its nature). It will reveal itself to you from within. Some people, however, do not recognise it even if this has happened. Others will have only a dry intel- lectual understanding of it from reading or hearing teachings and, although they have developed no expe- rience or insight despite their desire to do so, will say they have and describe them in unerring Dharma iargon. The Guru must be able to differentiate these (types of people) and the disciple on his part must practise taking all this to heart.
After you have examined or looked at the nature of the mind and reach~ a decision about it, you must experience? it in meditation and recognise the experience in terms of what you have previously ascertained. Therefore the Guru is essential, for through his interplay and questioning he lead$ you to the correct decision about the nature of your mind and confirms for you when you have had a true medita- tional experience or insight into it. This is what it means for a Guru to make you recognise your mind or, literally, to introduce you to it.
The first way to make beginners recognise the n:~ture (of the mind) when they are looking at it (is
? PENETRATIYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 8S
as follows). Look at the nature of the settled mind in the way as was done before. The nature of the settled mind is a clear, vivid brilliance, not a- total nothingness. In this settled state there is clear, open, resplendent, gently flowing consciousness which cannot be identified (as this or that). You cannot say that it is like this, that it has a colour, a shape and so forth. It cannot be put into words or expressed as being like this or that. Athough it cannot be identified (as this or that), nevertheless pristine, pure, brilliant, resplendent, vivid (moments of) consciousness which make things clear with no obstruction happen to you (all the time). This consciousness is not something that previously you did not see, but now you do; or
previously you did not experience, but now you do ; or previously you did not know about, but now you do.
It has always been the case, for the nature of the mind is permanent.
But you must know from the depths of your heart that it cannot be pinpointed or said to be like this or that.
If you have only a (dry, smug) intellectual understanding that it is a clear, resplendent, unidentifiable state of clarity and Voidness, you will be unable to make any progress. Therefore this wiU not do. But if this (realisation) has dawr. ed
from within (from your own meditational practice), then you have really had penetrative insight into the (nature of) the settled mind. Therefore except for conscientiously (meditating) starkly on the nature (of the mind), there is no way to see it.
? 86 MAH. lMUDRA
I f (the Guru) introduces you to it prematurely, you will be left with only a dry intellectual under- standing and will become jaded. Then no matter what other things he may try to explain to you, they will only cause harm. Therefore (the Guru) must not try to make you recognise (the nature of your mind before you are ready to see it).
If the Guru tries to make you recognise the nature of your mind before you have had any meditative experience, you will have only an intellectual understanding. Because of your smugness and self-satisfaction, you will become jaded, lacking all appreciation for the profundity ofthe teachings. Closed-mindedly you will feel you understand everything already and therefore will disparage all your Guru's further efforts to teach you. Like a stone in water, you will not absorb anything be says and thus you will make no progress. Therefore it is better for the Guru to be reserved about teaching the nature of the mind, lest be
do so prematurely and jade the disciple.
If you have not cut the stream of your thoughts, you will not see the nature (of your settled mind). If you do not see this nature, you cannot be made to recognise it for what it is. And if you have not recognised it, then your meditation will not become an actual path (to Enlightenment).
When you have excellent experiences and boons (in meditation), look at them. Even when things are going poorly, try repeatedly to intensify the clarity.
In other words, when you are in pain, do not indulge yourself but rather look at the nature of the mind experienc- ing this pain and try to intensify and focus on its clarity. This is similar to the technique used to eliminate mental wandering in tantric visualisation meditations, namely inten- sify the clarity of the visualisation and extraneous mental activity disappears.
To teach the methods for cultivating such type of
? PENETRATifiE INSIGHT MEDITAT/ON 87
practice is called a (meaningful) oral explanation. When you know how to meditate, it is called a finished oral explanation. Then if you cultivate this state without any mental wandering, there will be no trouble in developing experiences and insights. Therefore, in order to reach certainty about the nature (of the mind) after you have seen it and to have all your doubts cut, it is necessary (for a Guru) to introduce you to it (in other words, cause you to recognise it).
In general, there are two things (needed) in meditation, mental quiescence and penetrative insight. Of these, (mental quiescence) is when your mind has been placed in its relaxed, natural state and you have a settling of the mind into its natural, clear, resplendent state after all thoughts have been quieted in their place (having looked at them the moment they arose). Your conventional mind does not indulge in any mental wandering concerning this life or worldly things. It is blissful and tranquil, with all delusions quieted into a fine sleep. Settled single-pointedly on the nature of virtue, your mind
stays wherever you place it for as long as you want. It is under your control. You do not feel even the passing of your breath in and out. If your (meditation) is like this, then it is a distinguished state of mental quiescence.
The flash experiences and boons of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality (you receive in this state) are very important. They do not fulfil the requirement to count as insights, (for that you need penetrative insight), but you cannot do without them. If you cultivate them without any compul? sive attachment, and remain in this state (of mental
? 88 MAHAMUDRi
quiescence) without Jetting yourself lapse into any mental duJiness, agitation, or unspecified state of indifference, you wiU come to know and experience what kind of object your mind is-although you cannot say that the nature of the mind is like this or that, or has this colour or that shape, for it is beyond all words, thoughts and description. It
cannot be put into words, like the sexual bliss of a young adult. A unity of clarity and Voidness, it is free from all extremes of mentally fabricated (modes of existence) and cannot be identified (as this or that). It is unadulterated by any conceptual thoughts of the Dharma. It is unsullied by any conceptual worldly thoughts. It cannot be
pinned down (with the conceptual thought that) this is a non-conceptual state or one of mental quiescence.
Such a consciousness which is in its own state, at its own level. in its own place is calJed the root of all good qualities, the normal mind or simply the mind. If you are unconscious of it, then you have ignorance or unawareness and the cyclic existence of sams~ra. But if you are conscious of it, this is
called awareness, pristine awareness, Nirvar:ta, the pristine awareness of simultaneity, the primordial state, the Clear Light, or penetrative insight. Therefore now you should divide clearly this head- water of either sams~ra or NirY~r:ta?
If you recognise the mind, it is Nirvir,ta; but if you do not, then it brings you samsilra. Thus the nature of samsira and NirVilQa is the same. Their difference is in terms of your awareness of their nature.
When your Guru introduces you to the nature (of your mind), you will recognise it like meeting (an
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDIT A TION 89?
old friend) you knew long ago. Such a recognition is called recognising the mind. (The nature of the mind) is not something produced by the great discriminating intelligence of a disciple or the skil? ful oral teaching of a Guru.
It has been there all the time and is something you come to recognise only through meditational practice.
From time immemorial (your mind) has been like this, but because it has been obscured by delusions and thoughts you did not recognise it. But now that the stream of your thoughts has been cut and you have been introduced to it, you know it.
The mind is a pristine clarity that cannot be identified (as this or that). Although it has no inherently existent nature as such, yet it allows for clear appearances. The defining characteristic of the mind is that by nature it is clear, void awareness. It is pristine and alert with no discontinuity. That is the nature (of the mind). When you have a stark recognition of this, cultivate it at all times without any wavering. The benefits from this are beyond aU imagination.
Therefore to develop penetrative insight into (the nature of) the settled mind and to recognise it, there is this first actual introduction (by your Guru to your mind). Take it to heart, put it into practice and cultivate it continually. This is extremely important. That is the fifth point (for penetrative insight meditation) : recognising in this way (the nature of the settled mind) and cultivating it.
? Recognising the Nature of . the. llovingor Tl1inking. llind
The second way of looking (namely at the nature of the moving or thinking mind) cuts the root of the foundation (of ignorance). There are two points (in connection with this) : (1) being introduced to the non-conceptual mind and (2) being introduced to the moving mind or thoughts, (this latter one) referring to being introduced to the moving mind when a thought has already arisen
or you make one arise. ?
The first is as follows. You have looked at the pristine, clear, resplendent, non-conceptual settled' mind which is an awareness free of mental dullness and agitation. You know that (its nature) has no arisal or cessation, yet you do not {conceptually) think, "It has no arisal or cessation, no colour, shape and so forth. " To do that is penetrative insight into the non-conceptual mind.
To conceptualise about the lack of qualities of the non? conceptual state of mind is to go to an extreme of making non-existence into a "thing".
As for the second, if you say that all thoughts (by nature) are a total Voidness with no arisal or cessation, you are taking Voidness too literally (and going to the extreme nf nihilism). What they are
? PENEI'IUTIVEINSIGHT MEDITATION ~~
is a vividness that leaves no trace and (the nature of) which has no arisal, cessation or enduring and cannot be identified as having this colour, that shape and so forth. If (you realise) this much, you have developed a little (understanding). Further- more, you must recognise that they cannot be identified as this or that and do so without concep- tually thinking, "They cannot be identified as this or that. " And, without any grasping or contradiction
(in your mind between thoughts being both vivid and void, you must recognise) that thoughts both arise and subside at exactly the same time (like a drawing on water).
In addition you must gain the insight that there is not the slightest difference (in nature) between thoughts and the object of thought, between the mind when it is settled and when it is moving, between past (and present) mind, between past (and present) thoughts and so forth. (They
. are all by nature) clear, brilliant awareness.
When you draw a thought in (for interrogation) or when a thought disappears, it is not that it has gone into a clear Voidness (or one has been left in its place). Rather, the thought that arises all of a sudden is itself a clear Voidness. When you realise or gain this insight, then you have recognised (the nature of thought).
There is not even the slightest difference between the non-conceptual state and that of true insight into the fact that moving thoughts, the settled mind and the nature of thoughts themselves are all three
clear, void and brilliant. To hold the two (as being different) is an interpolation of the mind that does
not recognise them.
? 92 M. . 4HAMUDRA
Previously when you did not recognise (the nature of) thoughts, you were unable to take them into your meditation. This was ignorance (or unawareness). But now that you recognise them, you can meditate on thoughts themselves and thus they become awareness or pristine awareness. Now you can make thoughts the root of meditation. Previously the thoughts themselves were obscuring. themselves, and so you could not see them.
They were so thick, they obscured their own nature. But now they are transparent ; you can see right through them.
This present meditation on conceptual thoughts is known to be more especiaJly distinguished than the meditation on the non-conceptual state. There? fore whatever thoughts arise, you should take them as what to recognise. When thoughts do not arise, they stay in this state of them not arising. There is no need to emanate (or produce) them. When they do arise, then stay in this state of them arising. There is no need to collect them back. Therefore, without giving any heed to expectations or worries, bring your thoughts themselves into the nature of your meditation.
Thoughts are nothing more than the mind. This mind, which naturally subsides, is the Dharmak~ya, by nature a clear, void brilliance, devoid of anything to be subsided or anything to do the subsiding. When you gain this insight, then you have had penetrative insight (into the nature of) thought. You have recognised the Dharmak~ya, which is a unity
of clarity and Voidness.
Thus you must realise that thoughts, being a clear Voidness, arise and subside at exactly the same time, like
? PENEI'IUTIYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 93
a handprint on water. They have no endurance and there is no interval between their arising and subsiding. Nor is there space between them as if they were ? ? things" that could be separated by space. This is what the term "naturally subsides" means, which when translated literally is "self? liberation".
In short, you should recognise whatever (thoughts) arise, place your mind single-pointedly and uucontrivedly right on their very nature, without any mental wandering, and cultivate this state. This is the second actual introduction (by your Guru to the nature of your mind). Having recognised it, however, is not enough. You must cultivate the continuity (of this awareness). That is the sixth point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? Be~ognising the Nature of tl1e JJiiiUI BeRe~ting ApJietlran~es and of tl1e JJlind in Relation to the
Bodg
The third introduction is being made to recognise (the nature) of the mind reflecting an appearance and this is in terms of the inseparability of the mind and appearances. When you look at any o f the five types o f external sense objects (sights, sounds, smells. tastes or tactile sensations), the object which is obvious with no obstruction but
about which you cannot think that it is some object out there, solid and rea), and the vivid mind that is looking at it without actually clutching some- thing-these two are neither the same, nor different. However you should not (conceptually) think that they are neither (the same, nor different).
To do so would imply that being neither was somo sort of inherent nature truly existent in them.
likewise, the body and the mind are neither the same nor different. They are inseparable, a unity of clarity and Voidness, ofappearance and Voidness, Jike the (reflection of the) moon in water.
? PENEI'RAT/I'E~NSIGHTMEDITATION 95-
If the reflection or appearance of the moon in a puddle and the water were the same, then when you put your hand over it, the appearance should still be there. If they were different, you should be able to lift the appearance off the puddle like a piece of paper.
Furthermore, whatever feelings you have, such as bot or cold, are also appearances. Because you do not recognise them as (a unity of) appearance and Voidness, your mind mentally labels them (as truly existent) and thus you have the infinite variety of grasping. But aside from this, on the ultimate level, whatever physical or mental feelings you have are devoid of being an (inherently existing) basis for labelling. You must gain this insight.
In a dream, you have a body and you see many appearances, and they all seem real and truly existent. But when you awake, you see that they were all of your mind and appearing to your mind, and that they had no true basis for their existence or for you to have labelled them "'my body" and so forth. The same is true of death with reference to your life's experiences and when you awake from ignorance and see what you deceptively considered concrete and real is actually void of existing as such.
Appearances all come from the mind. If you think: there ? are ghosts or demons, you will see them. If you do not believe in them, you will not. Once Je-tziin Mi-la rll-pa was meditating in a cave and, noticing a hole in the wall, be wondered if it might contain a ghost. As soon as this thought arose, a horrible ogress riding on a musk deer
appreared and asked him, "Why did you call be ? Your grasping ego sent for me. Quiet your mind and then I can leave. " Likewise, it is because you have been fooled into thinking that appearances exist as real, solid objects "out there" that you believe them to exist that way. This is nothing more than superstition.
? All appearances are reflections of the mind, void of true, inherent existence as something solid "out there'. .
? -96 MlfHAMUORA
uisting from its own side. For instance, great Lamas will come to Bodh Gaya and sec it as a paradise and all the people there as deities. To a beggar, it ? Will appear as a hell. And for each of them, this is reality. Consider a glass of liquid. A hell-creature sees it as molten copper, a hungry ghost as pus and blood, a fish as a home, a human as water and a god as nectar. Each of these is merely an appearance to and of the mind. However things appear to you, that is your mind. But appearances arc all deceptive, because they appear to be real and "out there. ,, when in fact they are not.
Consider the same person wearing the same set of thick clothes in summer and in winter. At one time he labels them heavy, at another thin and light. What is the basis for his labelling them as such ? There cannot be an inherently existing basis for this in the clothing : it is all
appearance. The same is true with feelings.
Snuff and chili pepper are either delicious or terrible
depending on what you are accustomed to, in other words how they appear to you.
Whatever. appearance comes up (before you, such as your finger), look at it (in an intensely staring) manner and focus your mind (on it single? pointedly for several minutes). Then relax your stare a little. At first aU the details are sharply there. But then after a while, the (image) goes away in its very place because either you became nauseated and did not want to look at it any . more, or your eyes went numb or started to tear. But then when you look at it a little (once more), a vivid appearance that cannot be grasped comes (again). It has come back in its very place.
At this point (you should realise) that your own (mind) and the appearances to and of it are inseparable. They are (a unity of) appearance and Voidness, resplendent without any object (inherently
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 97
existing on its own side). Because there is this reflexive appearance of the actual abiding nature of reality, also known as the defining characteristic of the mind, there are no two separate, different things-external appearances and the internal mind. The mind's own lustre arises with no obstruction;
that is all.
Appearances as objects to be grasped and consciousnesses to grasp them are both the arisal of deception. At such a time, these (appearances) can- not be singled out to the side; they appear because they are the self-deception of the mind. Therefore the mind is the appearances. Aside from this, there is no such thing as an appearance that can be established even to the slightest degree as existing inherently as a separate object.
A scarecrow seen at a distance appears to be a mao. What is this appearance, except for your mind?
Previously, because this was obscured by igno- rance or the mind's grasping (for true existence) you could not see it. But now that the stream of your grasping conceptual mind has been cut, you can recognise the (reflecting mind's) own nature and that there are no (truly existent) objects. Without grasp-
ing at appearances (to be truly existent) you see that appearances are resplendent and void and are not (inherently existing) objects. They are known as the light-rays of the Dharmaka:ya, appearances aris- ing simultaneously (with Voidness, like a sprout and its shadow).
Thus when your friend appears before you, just see his appearance and remain in the here and now. Do not think, ''0, what a good friend he is," or "What a horrible friend, he didn't write. " Do not cling to an idea of this
? 98 MAH-lMUDR. . l
person as an unchanging concept, inherently eAi,tent, solid and real. Remain open, fresh and spontaneous, without expectations, worries or preconceptions and realise the inscparabiJity of appearance and Voidness. Remain with
the void appearance of the person and not your fixed ideas.
Now cultivate (this awareness) without any fabrication. Give free rein to your six conglomerates and cultivate practising in terms of whatever appears to the mind.
The six conglomerates are the consciousness, cognitive power and objects of your faculties of seeing, bearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. Realising that a
consciousness, cognitive power and object are all three interdependent, void of existing inherently alone and aU necessary for a cognition, just relax and be aware of whatever comes up.
With your mind comfortable and at ease in this state, place it uncontrivedly on the actual nature of reality. Do not try to achieve bliss, clarity, Voidness or excellence. Do not dwell on the past. Do not think of the future. Have no thoughts of the present. Do not meditate by intellectualising. Letting your mind be at its own level, fluidly flowing in the here and now, without any effort or anxious cares, place your- self in the natural state of the mind itself. Place yourself in a state of the inseparability of appearance and Voidness, the inseparability of the sounding (of sounds) and Voidness, the inseparability of bliss and Voidness, the inseparability of awareness and Void- ness, the inseparability ofclarity and Voidness. When you understand with bare perception the inseparabi- lity of appearance and Voidness like this, namely how appearances are not blocked but likewise cannot be grasped, then you have had penetrative insight into (the mind reflecting) appearances. You have
? PENETRATiVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 9~
recognised the Dharmakl[ya which is a unity of Voidn~ss and appearance. If you cultivate the con- tinuity of this state,? you will develop stable, sublime ~periences and insights. Being made to recognise tfie nature of the mind reflecting appearances is the third introduction. ? That is the seventh point (for penetrative insight meditation) : cultivating your practice in this way.
? BecOf/lfising the Nature ol tl1e Settletl and 6lovi11g Jlintls Togetl1er
Next is the introduction made after having look- ed to see if the settled and moving minds are the same or different. When you analysed whether the settled and moving minds were the same or different, you understood from (the nature of) the two how to make thoughts into your meditation, for the settled and moving minds are nothing but the same. The way they arise is that they alternate~ When the mind is settled it is not moving, and when it is mov- ing it is not settled. But the agent for both is the mind alone and the nature of both is a clear, void brilliance. It is nothing more than that.
Furthermore, it is not that after you draw a thought in (for interrogation) then you see a clear, void brilliance. Nor is it that when a memory or thought disappears, it goes into a clear Voidness or one is left in its place. Rather, the thoughts that arise in the moment all of a sudden are themselves a clear, void brilliance. When you have gained this insight or understanding, you know the abiding nature of the mind.
The settled and moving states can be referre4 to as fingers dividing from the same hand. ,
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 101 They are both or the same nature as the hand, but if
it is one finger it is not the other.
When the mind is settled it is a clear resplendence
if\ a non-conceptual state. When it is moving with thoughts, the nature of these thoughts themselves is a clear, void brilliance. It is nothing more than that.
When you have the insight that all appearances of objects are simply affectations of the mind like waves on water and cannot be ultimately established as having any true, independent existence, this is (known as) the recognition of appearances as the mind. When you analyse the nature of this mind to? see if it has a going, a staying or a coming and have the insight that it cannot be established as having any of these, for the mind, like a dream-elephant or horse, ultimately has no true existence,, this is the recognition of the mind as Voidness.
(Furthermore) when you have the insight that various (appearances) spontaneously arise from this. state of pure clarity and Voidness, without any obstruction like (the reflections of) the moon in water, this is the recognition of Voidness as spontaneous. (arisal). And concerning this spontaneously arisen clear, void awareness which is free of all mental fabrications (of extreme modes of existence), which. is not something that comes about by change, which does not waver from (or in any way block) the Great Bliss and which has just spontaneously arisen -when you are convinced that it arises and subsides at exactly the same moment like the knotting and uncoiling of a snake, this is the recognition of spontaneous (arisal) as automatically subsiding of itself.
The mind you are to be made to recognise is nor-
? 102 MAH. lMUDRA
mal consciousness which can think up anything and everything, is all-aware and all-flexible. It itself is known as the unity ofclarity and Voidness, the Great Bliss, the Voidness possessing that which is perpet- ually supreme, or Mahrunud. nt, the Great Seal of Voidness. When you recognise it, this is known as the insight of Mah~mudra. Therefore place your mind in its own state of vivid awareness without anything to meditate on and without letting it wander for even an instant. Relax and be at ease without any expectations or worries, hopes that your medita- tion will be good or fears that it will be bad. By cultivating the natural state ofyour normal conscious- ness, you will behold in the very instant of here and now the Mahrunud~ Great Seal of Voidness, the unity of bliss and Voidness and (you will see it) like
the clear expanse of cloudless space.
Now that mental quiescence has been joined with penetrative insight, sublime experiences and insights will happen. This fulfils the requirement of actually having entered the path of Liberation. Voidness is the way the mind is, clarity is its defining characteris- tic and the unity of these is the mind's nature. (There are many names for) this clear, vivid brilliance with a nature of bliss, clarity and bare (non-conceptuality), which is freeof all extremes of mentally fabricated (modes of existence) such as good or bad, arising,
ceasing or enduring, existing or not existing, perma. ;. nent or impermanent and which is beyond all words and thoughts, which cannot be identified (as this or that) and yet can be experienced. It is known as the very essence of great pristine awareness, the rea1ity of the great natural occurrence, the abiding nature of the way in which all knowables exist, pure
? PENETRATIYE INSiun~ ? ? ? --~--
awareness, the very nature of things, the equal factor (of salhsara and NirvaQa), the Great Bliss, the Buddha-nature, the perfection o f wisdom, ~mniscience, the Voidness possessing that which is perpetually supreme.
Because everything can be understood by the mind, it is (called) mind-only. Because it is free of all extremes or middle, it is Madhyamaka, the Great Central position. Because it is difficult for everyone to comprehend, it is the hidden, or secret tantra. Because it destroys all deceptions, it is the Vajrayana Diamond-hard Vehicle. Because it beholds the essence of Buddhahood, it is dalled the Dharmakuya. .
In short, what you must recognise is that which is free from all mental fabrications that would grasp at a duality (of truly existent consciousness and objects), in other words the pristine awareness of non-duality, the equal factor (of samsa:ra and NirvaQa), the Great Bliss free from mental fabrica- tions, the Maha:mudra Great Seal of Voidness. Fur- thermore, you should float above (the ocean of salhs-a:ra) on your fervent regard and loving respect (for your Guru) which you take as what is most vital. Then circle continually in making requests (to him for inspiration) without ever feeling you have
done enough. And then alight upon an obvious placing of his inspiration and blessings on you.
When you recognise that there is this stark brilliance as part of yourself, unobstructed, unhidden, free from being unobvious, you have arrived at the Mah~mudra that is the basis. To look at the nature (of the- mind) is the Mah-a:mudru that is the path.
Take a look at the consciousness that is doing the looking and at its five types of sense objects, -each in turn (first sights, then sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations). Look to s. ee if there is any -difference between these two (namely, consciousness
and the appearance of its sense objects), and then look for what is the difference between an appearance that is the object (of a consciousness) and the consciousness that has it as its object. When you have looked at an object, is it the case that the
-object is something out there, solid and real ?
When you close your eyes, does it disappear? When you put your hand in front of your eyes, where is the clarity of the appearance ?
If you say it is not, then it seems as though there is no difference at all &tween an object (on the one side) and the mind (on the other) that can look starkly at (this object) without any obstruction but
which (on its own part) is at ease: does not hold
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 79
(anything as its object) and in which nothing (appears) clearly. If you say it is impossible to think that there is no difference between these (two), but rather it is the case that the object is something . out there, solid and real, then what about the very thought that thinks that ? (Is its object something . out there? ) Take a look at this:
Likewise, look to see whether the body and the mind are the same or different. If they are the same (or one thing), then the body which is something that arises and ceases and the mind which is something permanent (by nature) with no arisal or cessation would have to be the same.
Although your cognitions, like your body, change from moment to moment and are thus impermanent, the nature of the mind as a clear, void, blissful awareness is something that does not change and is permanent in the sense that it does not depend on causes or circumstances. The nature of your mind does not arise out of nothing when you are born or wake up, nor does it cease when you die or fall asleep. The awareness is by nature the same regardless of what it is aware of.
And if they are different, then you should be able to identify two separate things, the body and the mind (totally apart from each other}. But the mind is not something that you can pinpoint here (or there). It is not (only) at the top of your body or at the bottom, it completely pervades it. The fact that you can expr. rience feelings (all over), what is that due to?
The body and mind are like something that supports and the thing that is supported (like a cup and the tea in it). But, if you say that the body is outside and the mind inside, (as two separate things)
? 80 MAHAMUDRA
like a man and his clothing, then when it comes t<> experiencing feeling, if you think that it is the body alone that has feelings, then a corpse would also have to have feelings. If you say that the mind (alone) has the feelings, then the two (body and mind) would have to be dilferent (and unrelated).
Now the mind is something that cannot be killed or in any way affected. If when your body is pricked by a thorn your mind feels it, then how
is this different from the example when you burn the clothes worn by someone you burn the person who is wearing them too?
When you prick the body, do you prick the mind also? After looking at this thoroughly, you
must reach a firm decision.
Namely, you must decide that the body and mind are neither the same, nor different. Conventionally they art like something that supports and the thing supported, but ultimately they are not two inherently existing objects. sharing such a relation.
In connection with this you must also realise that whatever feelings arise are like waves and (your mind is like) water. Because when you place your mind on this realisation you cut through from this state to the true meaning of the actual nature of
reality, you must look (at your mind) like this. That is the third point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? Lool,i11gat tl1e Settletl anti Jflot'iltg Alinds Togetlter
Once more settle your mind into a state of pure clarity and Voidness and look at its nature. Then make a thought arise and look at its nature. Look to see if the natures of these two-the settled mind and the moving mind-are the same or different. After looking, if you see that they are different, then how are they different ? Do the settled and moving minds alternately come up like when you have strung thread around two poles and twirl it together (to make a string) ? Is the settled mind like a field and the moving mind that arises like the crops growing in it ? Or are the two of them the same like a snake or rope and its coils (in that you cannot have a coil separate from the rope)? If so, then when the mind is settled without any thought arising, is it also moving, and when it is l)loving, is it also settled? There is a big difference between the moving mind which can think up anything and fantasise in endless variety and the settled mind which stays without moving. But if you think that the two are different in nature, then is the difference in terms of colour, shape and so forth ? Is it in terms of arisal, endurance and cessation, or of past, present and future, or of permanence and imper? manence ? Look to see how they are different.
? 82 AIAHAMUDRA
When you know? through meditation what thoughts truly are, then (you realise that) the nature of both the settled and moving minds is nothing but the same. The way they arise is by alternating, and when it is settled there is nothing that is moving and
when it is moving there is nothing that is settled. like water and waves, it is the mind alone that functions and acts. That is all there is to it. When you understand that both the settled and moving minds are nothing more than a brilliant, clear Voidness, then you have a little understanding.
It is like a mirror, which has the same void clarity whether or not it is reflecting an object.
Now, when you draw a thought in (for interroga- tion) and then place yourself in meditation, is it that (the thought) has gone into a clear Voidness, or has it disappeared and afterwards in its place is a clear Voidness?
In other words, is it like the darkness of night dissolving into the clarity of daylight ? Or is it like the darkness dis- appearing and being replaced by daylight ?
Or is it that the vivid thought itself is a clear Voidness ? Ifyou think that it is like either of the former two, you still must make very stong requests to your Guru (for his inspiration) and then look once more with effort and try to see with certainty
how things really are.
The ways of looking at the nature (of the mind)
can be approached in three styles.
These ways o f looking have been a t the settled mind,
the moving or thinking mind, the mind. reflecting an appearance, the mind in relation to the body and both the settled. and moving minds together.
Those who skip ahead develop penetrative insight first and then m~ntal quiescence, or sometimes they
? PENETIUTlYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 83
develop both together at the same time when previously they had neither. Those for whom it happens at once develop both mental quiescence and penetrative insight at the same time by merely being taught their descriptions. This is due to the power of their previous training.
This refers to instincts from former lifetimes as is the case with Incarnate Lamas (Tulkus).
Those who progress gradually develop these in stages. Here (the explanation has been given) in accordance with this latter type of person's approach and it must be taught after assessing the way in which the disciple has his experiences.
When looking, you must place yourself in a state of clarity without any grasping, like a small child looking (at the paintings of deities) in a temple.
Exert yourself with great enthusiasm to look in this way and abandon laziness. Turn away from your compulsive obsessions and have no requirements (which you feel must be met before you can practise). Have a renounced mind and faith, admiration and loving respect for your Guru. Make your mind-
. fulness firm so that your mind does not wander and practise in an uncontrived state without being fettered by expectations or worries. Be interested only in your future lives without letting ? yourself go after ever-changing worldly concerns. If you make an effort to look at the mind (with an Enlightened
. Motive of Bodhicitta), then it is impossible for you not to develop quickly and with certainty the pristine awareness o f penetrative insight. Therefore decide about the settled and moving minds. That is the fourth point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? BecotJnising tl1e Nature of tlae Settled Alintl
If you have cultivated looking at the nature (of the mind) like this in accordance with the oral teachings concerning the mind, there is practically no need for (your Guru) to make you recognise (its nature). It will reveal itself to you from within. Some people, however, do not recognise it even if this has happened. Others will have only a dry intel- lectual understanding of it from reading or hearing teachings and, although they have developed no expe- rience or insight despite their desire to do so, will say they have and describe them in unerring Dharma iargon. The Guru must be able to differentiate these (types of people) and the disciple on his part must practise taking all this to heart.
After you have examined or looked at the nature of the mind and reach~ a decision about it, you must experience? it in meditation and recognise the experience in terms of what you have previously ascertained. Therefore the Guru is essential, for through his interplay and questioning he lead$ you to the correct decision about the nature of your mind and confirms for you when you have had a true medita- tional experience or insight into it. This is what it means for a Guru to make you recognise your mind or, literally, to introduce you to it.
The first way to make beginners recognise the n:~ture (of the mind) when they are looking at it (is
? PENETRATIYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 8S
as follows). Look at the nature of the settled mind in the way as was done before. The nature of the settled mind is a clear, vivid brilliance, not a- total nothingness. In this settled state there is clear, open, resplendent, gently flowing consciousness which cannot be identified (as this or that). You cannot say that it is like this, that it has a colour, a shape and so forth. It cannot be put into words or expressed as being like this or that. Athough it cannot be identified (as this or that), nevertheless pristine, pure, brilliant, resplendent, vivid (moments of) consciousness which make things clear with no obstruction happen to you (all the time). This consciousness is not something that previously you did not see, but now you do; or
previously you did not experience, but now you do ; or previously you did not know about, but now you do.
It has always been the case, for the nature of the mind is permanent.
But you must know from the depths of your heart that it cannot be pinpointed or said to be like this or that.
If you have only a (dry, smug) intellectual understanding that it is a clear, resplendent, unidentifiable state of clarity and Voidness, you will be unable to make any progress. Therefore this wiU not do. But if this (realisation) has dawr. ed
from within (from your own meditational practice), then you have really had penetrative insight into the (nature of) the settled mind. Therefore except for conscientiously (meditating) starkly on the nature (of the mind), there is no way to see it.
? 86 MAH. lMUDRA
I f (the Guru) introduces you to it prematurely, you will be left with only a dry intellectual under- standing and will become jaded. Then no matter what other things he may try to explain to you, they will only cause harm. Therefore (the Guru) must not try to make you recognise (the nature of your mind before you are ready to see it).
If the Guru tries to make you recognise the nature of your mind before you have had any meditative experience, you will have only an intellectual understanding. Because of your smugness and self-satisfaction, you will become jaded, lacking all appreciation for the profundity ofthe teachings. Closed-mindedly you will feel you understand everything already and therefore will disparage all your Guru's further efforts to teach you. Like a stone in water, you will not absorb anything be says and thus you will make no progress. Therefore it is better for the Guru to be reserved about teaching the nature of the mind, lest be
do so prematurely and jade the disciple.
If you have not cut the stream of your thoughts, you will not see the nature (of your settled mind). If you do not see this nature, you cannot be made to recognise it for what it is. And if you have not recognised it, then your meditation will not become an actual path (to Enlightenment).
When you have excellent experiences and boons (in meditation), look at them. Even when things are going poorly, try repeatedly to intensify the clarity.
In other words, when you are in pain, do not indulge yourself but rather look at the nature of the mind experienc- ing this pain and try to intensify and focus on its clarity. This is similar to the technique used to eliminate mental wandering in tantric visualisation meditations, namely inten- sify the clarity of the visualisation and extraneous mental activity disappears.
To teach the methods for cultivating such type of
? PENETRATifiE INSIGHT MEDITAT/ON 87
practice is called a (meaningful) oral explanation. When you know how to meditate, it is called a finished oral explanation. Then if you cultivate this state without any mental wandering, there will be no trouble in developing experiences and insights. Therefore, in order to reach certainty about the nature (of the mind) after you have seen it and to have all your doubts cut, it is necessary (for a Guru) to introduce you to it (in other words, cause you to recognise it).
In general, there are two things (needed) in meditation, mental quiescence and penetrative insight. Of these, (mental quiescence) is when your mind has been placed in its relaxed, natural state and you have a settling of the mind into its natural, clear, resplendent state after all thoughts have been quieted in their place (having looked at them the moment they arose). Your conventional mind does not indulge in any mental wandering concerning this life or worldly things. It is blissful and tranquil, with all delusions quieted into a fine sleep. Settled single-pointedly on the nature of virtue, your mind
stays wherever you place it for as long as you want. It is under your control. You do not feel even the passing of your breath in and out. If your (meditation) is like this, then it is a distinguished state of mental quiescence.
The flash experiences and boons of bliss, clarity and bare non-conceptuality (you receive in this state) are very important. They do not fulfil the requirement to count as insights, (for that you need penetrative insight), but you cannot do without them. If you cultivate them without any compul? sive attachment, and remain in this state (of mental
? 88 MAHAMUDRi
quiescence) without Jetting yourself lapse into any mental duJiness, agitation, or unspecified state of indifference, you wiU come to know and experience what kind of object your mind is-although you cannot say that the nature of the mind is like this or that, or has this colour or that shape, for it is beyond all words, thoughts and description. It
cannot be put into words, like the sexual bliss of a young adult. A unity of clarity and Voidness, it is free from all extremes of mentally fabricated (modes of existence) and cannot be identified (as this or that). It is unadulterated by any conceptual thoughts of the Dharma. It is unsullied by any conceptual worldly thoughts. It cannot be
pinned down (with the conceptual thought that) this is a non-conceptual state or one of mental quiescence.
Such a consciousness which is in its own state, at its own level. in its own place is calJed the root of all good qualities, the normal mind or simply the mind. If you are unconscious of it, then you have ignorance or unawareness and the cyclic existence of sams~ra. But if you are conscious of it, this is
called awareness, pristine awareness, Nirvar:ta, the pristine awareness of simultaneity, the primordial state, the Clear Light, or penetrative insight. Therefore now you should divide clearly this head- water of either sams~ra or NirY~r:ta?
If you recognise the mind, it is Nirvir,ta; but if you do not, then it brings you samsilra. Thus the nature of samsira and NirVilQa is the same. Their difference is in terms of your awareness of their nature.
When your Guru introduces you to the nature (of your mind), you will recognise it like meeting (an
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDIT A TION 89?
old friend) you knew long ago. Such a recognition is called recognising the mind. (The nature of the mind) is not something produced by the great discriminating intelligence of a disciple or the skil? ful oral teaching of a Guru.
It has been there all the time and is something you come to recognise only through meditational practice.
From time immemorial (your mind) has been like this, but because it has been obscured by delusions and thoughts you did not recognise it. But now that the stream of your thoughts has been cut and you have been introduced to it, you know it.
The mind is a pristine clarity that cannot be identified (as this or that). Although it has no inherently existent nature as such, yet it allows for clear appearances. The defining characteristic of the mind is that by nature it is clear, void awareness. It is pristine and alert with no discontinuity. That is the nature (of the mind). When you have a stark recognition of this, cultivate it at all times without any wavering. The benefits from this are beyond aU imagination.
Therefore to develop penetrative insight into (the nature of) the settled mind and to recognise it, there is this first actual introduction (by your Guru to your mind). Take it to heart, put it into practice and cultivate it continually. This is extremely important. That is the fifth point (for penetrative insight meditation) : recognising in this way (the nature of the settled mind) and cultivating it.
? Recognising the Nature of . the. llovingor Tl1inking. llind
The second way of looking (namely at the nature of the moving or thinking mind) cuts the root of the foundation (of ignorance). There are two points (in connection with this) : (1) being introduced to the non-conceptual mind and (2) being introduced to the moving mind or thoughts, (this latter one) referring to being introduced to the moving mind when a thought has already arisen
or you make one arise. ?
The first is as follows. You have looked at the pristine, clear, resplendent, non-conceptual settled' mind which is an awareness free of mental dullness and agitation. You know that (its nature) has no arisal or cessation, yet you do not {conceptually) think, "It has no arisal or cessation, no colour, shape and so forth. " To do that is penetrative insight into the non-conceptual mind.
To conceptualise about the lack of qualities of the non? conceptual state of mind is to go to an extreme of making non-existence into a "thing".
As for the second, if you say that all thoughts (by nature) are a total Voidness with no arisal or cessation, you are taking Voidness too literally (and going to the extreme nf nihilism). What they are
? PENEI'IUTIVEINSIGHT MEDITATION ~~
is a vividness that leaves no trace and (the nature of) which has no arisal, cessation or enduring and cannot be identified as having this colour, that shape and so forth. If (you realise) this much, you have developed a little (understanding). Further- more, you must recognise that they cannot be identified as this or that and do so without concep- tually thinking, "They cannot be identified as this or that. " And, without any grasping or contradiction
(in your mind between thoughts being both vivid and void, you must recognise) that thoughts both arise and subside at exactly the same time (like a drawing on water).
In addition you must gain the insight that there is not the slightest difference (in nature) between thoughts and the object of thought, between the mind when it is settled and when it is moving, between past (and present) mind, between past (and present) thoughts and so forth. (They
. are all by nature) clear, brilliant awareness.
When you draw a thought in (for interrogation) or when a thought disappears, it is not that it has gone into a clear Voidness (or one has been left in its place). Rather, the thought that arises all of a sudden is itself a clear Voidness. When you realise or gain this insight, then you have recognised (the nature of thought).
There is not even the slightest difference between the non-conceptual state and that of true insight into the fact that moving thoughts, the settled mind and the nature of thoughts themselves are all three
clear, void and brilliant. To hold the two (as being different) is an interpolation of the mind that does
not recognise them.
? 92 M. . 4HAMUDRA
Previously when you did not recognise (the nature of) thoughts, you were unable to take them into your meditation. This was ignorance (or unawareness). But now that you recognise them, you can meditate on thoughts themselves and thus they become awareness or pristine awareness. Now you can make thoughts the root of meditation. Previously the thoughts themselves were obscuring. themselves, and so you could not see them.
They were so thick, they obscured their own nature. But now they are transparent ; you can see right through them.
This present meditation on conceptual thoughts is known to be more especiaJly distinguished than the meditation on the non-conceptual state. There? fore whatever thoughts arise, you should take them as what to recognise. When thoughts do not arise, they stay in this state of them not arising. There is no need to emanate (or produce) them. When they do arise, then stay in this state of them arising. There is no need to collect them back. Therefore, without giving any heed to expectations or worries, bring your thoughts themselves into the nature of your meditation.
Thoughts are nothing more than the mind. This mind, which naturally subsides, is the Dharmak~ya, by nature a clear, void brilliance, devoid of anything to be subsided or anything to do the subsiding. When you gain this insight, then you have had penetrative insight (into the nature of) thought. You have recognised the Dharmak~ya, which is a unity
of clarity and Voidness.
Thus you must realise that thoughts, being a clear Voidness, arise and subside at exactly the same time, like
? PENEI'IUTIYE INSIGHT MEDITATION 93
a handprint on water. They have no endurance and there is no interval between their arising and subsiding. Nor is there space between them as if they were ? ? things" that could be separated by space. This is what the term "naturally subsides" means, which when translated literally is "self? liberation".
In short, you should recognise whatever (thoughts) arise, place your mind single-pointedly and uucontrivedly right on their very nature, without any mental wandering, and cultivate this state. This is the second actual introduction (by your Guru to the nature of your mind). Having recognised it, however, is not enough. You must cultivate the continuity (of this awareness). That is the sixth point (for penetrative insight meditation).
? Be~ognising the Nature of tl1e JJiiiUI BeRe~ting ApJietlran~es and of tl1e JJlind in Relation to the
Bodg
The third introduction is being made to recognise (the nature) of the mind reflecting an appearance and this is in terms of the inseparability of the mind and appearances. When you look at any o f the five types o f external sense objects (sights, sounds, smells. tastes or tactile sensations), the object which is obvious with no obstruction but
about which you cannot think that it is some object out there, solid and rea), and the vivid mind that is looking at it without actually clutching some- thing-these two are neither the same, nor different. However you should not (conceptually) think that they are neither (the same, nor different).
To do so would imply that being neither was somo sort of inherent nature truly existent in them.
likewise, the body and the mind are neither the same nor different. They are inseparable, a unity of clarity and Voidness, ofappearance and Voidness, Jike the (reflection of the) moon in water.
? PENEI'RAT/I'E~NSIGHTMEDITATION 95-
If the reflection or appearance of the moon in a puddle and the water were the same, then when you put your hand over it, the appearance should still be there. If they were different, you should be able to lift the appearance off the puddle like a piece of paper.
Furthermore, whatever feelings you have, such as bot or cold, are also appearances. Because you do not recognise them as (a unity of) appearance and Voidness, your mind mentally labels them (as truly existent) and thus you have the infinite variety of grasping. But aside from this, on the ultimate level, whatever physical or mental feelings you have are devoid of being an (inherently existing) basis for labelling. You must gain this insight.
In a dream, you have a body and you see many appearances, and they all seem real and truly existent. But when you awake, you see that they were all of your mind and appearing to your mind, and that they had no true basis for their existence or for you to have labelled them "'my body" and so forth. The same is true of death with reference to your life's experiences and when you awake from ignorance and see what you deceptively considered concrete and real is actually void of existing as such.
Appearances all come from the mind. If you think: there ? are ghosts or demons, you will see them. If you do not believe in them, you will not. Once Je-tziin Mi-la rll-pa was meditating in a cave and, noticing a hole in the wall, be wondered if it might contain a ghost. As soon as this thought arose, a horrible ogress riding on a musk deer
appreared and asked him, "Why did you call be ? Your grasping ego sent for me. Quiet your mind and then I can leave. " Likewise, it is because you have been fooled into thinking that appearances exist as real, solid objects "out there" that you believe them to exist that way. This is nothing more than superstition.
? All appearances are reflections of the mind, void of true, inherent existence as something solid "out there'. .
? -96 MlfHAMUORA
uisting from its own side. For instance, great Lamas will come to Bodh Gaya and sec it as a paradise and all the people there as deities. To a beggar, it ? Will appear as a hell. And for each of them, this is reality. Consider a glass of liquid. A hell-creature sees it as molten copper, a hungry ghost as pus and blood, a fish as a home, a human as water and a god as nectar. Each of these is merely an appearance to and of the mind. However things appear to you, that is your mind. But appearances arc all deceptive, because they appear to be real and "out there. ,, when in fact they are not.
Consider the same person wearing the same set of thick clothes in summer and in winter. At one time he labels them heavy, at another thin and light. What is the basis for his labelling them as such ? There cannot be an inherently existing basis for this in the clothing : it is all
appearance. The same is true with feelings.
Snuff and chili pepper are either delicious or terrible
depending on what you are accustomed to, in other words how they appear to you.
Whatever. appearance comes up (before you, such as your finger), look at it (in an intensely staring) manner and focus your mind (on it single? pointedly for several minutes). Then relax your stare a little. At first aU the details are sharply there. But then after a while, the (image) goes away in its very place because either you became nauseated and did not want to look at it any . more, or your eyes went numb or started to tear. But then when you look at it a little (once more), a vivid appearance that cannot be grasped comes (again). It has come back in its very place.
At this point (you should realise) that your own (mind) and the appearances to and of it are inseparable. They are (a unity of) appearance and Voidness, resplendent without any object (inherently
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 97
existing on its own side). Because there is this reflexive appearance of the actual abiding nature of reality, also known as the defining characteristic of the mind, there are no two separate, different things-external appearances and the internal mind. The mind's own lustre arises with no obstruction;
that is all.
Appearances as objects to be grasped and consciousnesses to grasp them are both the arisal of deception. At such a time, these (appearances) can- not be singled out to the side; they appear because they are the self-deception of the mind. Therefore the mind is the appearances. Aside from this, there is no such thing as an appearance that can be established even to the slightest degree as existing inherently as a separate object.
A scarecrow seen at a distance appears to be a mao. What is this appearance, except for your mind?
Previously, because this was obscured by igno- rance or the mind's grasping (for true existence) you could not see it. But now that the stream of your grasping conceptual mind has been cut, you can recognise the (reflecting mind's) own nature and that there are no (truly existent) objects. Without grasp-
ing at appearances (to be truly existent) you see that appearances are resplendent and void and are not (inherently existing) objects. They are known as the light-rays of the Dharmaka:ya, appearances aris- ing simultaneously (with Voidness, like a sprout and its shadow).
Thus when your friend appears before you, just see his appearance and remain in the here and now. Do not think, ''0, what a good friend he is," or "What a horrible friend, he didn't write. " Do not cling to an idea of this
? 98 MAH-lMUDR. . l
person as an unchanging concept, inherently eAi,tent, solid and real. Remain open, fresh and spontaneous, without expectations, worries or preconceptions and realise the inscparabiJity of appearance and Voidness. Remain with
the void appearance of the person and not your fixed ideas.
Now cultivate (this awareness) without any fabrication. Give free rein to your six conglomerates and cultivate practising in terms of whatever appears to the mind.
The six conglomerates are the consciousness, cognitive power and objects of your faculties of seeing, bearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. Realising that a
consciousness, cognitive power and object are all three interdependent, void of existing inherently alone and aU necessary for a cognition, just relax and be aware of whatever comes up.
With your mind comfortable and at ease in this state, place it uncontrivedly on the actual nature of reality. Do not try to achieve bliss, clarity, Voidness or excellence. Do not dwell on the past. Do not think of the future. Have no thoughts of the present. Do not meditate by intellectualising. Letting your mind be at its own level, fluidly flowing in the here and now, without any effort or anxious cares, place your- self in the natural state of the mind itself. Place yourself in a state of the inseparability of appearance and Voidness, the inseparability of the sounding (of sounds) and Voidness, the inseparability of bliss and Voidness, the inseparability of awareness and Void- ness, the inseparability ofclarity and Voidness. When you understand with bare perception the inseparabi- lity of appearance and Voidness like this, namely how appearances are not blocked but likewise cannot be grasped, then you have had penetrative insight into (the mind reflecting) appearances. You have
? PENETRATiVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 9~
recognised the Dharmakl[ya which is a unity of Voidn~ss and appearance. If you cultivate the con- tinuity of this state,? you will develop stable, sublime ~periences and insights. Being made to recognise tfie nature of the mind reflecting appearances is the third introduction. ? That is the seventh point (for penetrative insight meditation) : cultivating your practice in this way.
? BecOf/lfising the Nature ol tl1e Settletl and 6lovi11g Jlintls Togetl1er
Next is the introduction made after having look- ed to see if the settled and moving minds are the same or different. When you analysed whether the settled and moving minds were the same or different, you understood from (the nature of) the two how to make thoughts into your meditation, for the settled and moving minds are nothing but the same. The way they arise is that they alternate~ When the mind is settled it is not moving, and when it is mov- ing it is not settled. But the agent for both is the mind alone and the nature of both is a clear, void brilliance. It is nothing more than that.
Furthermore, it is not that after you draw a thought in (for interrogation) then you see a clear, void brilliance. Nor is it that when a memory or thought disappears, it goes into a clear Voidness or one is left in its place. Rather, the thoughts that arise in the moment all of a sudden are themselves a clear, void brilliance. When you have gained this insight or understanding, you know the abiding nature of the mind.
The settled and moving states can be referre4 to as fingers dividing from the same hand. ,
? PENETRATIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION 101 They are both or the same nature as the hand, but if
it is one finger it is not the other.
When the mind is settled it is a clear resplendence
if\ a non-conceptual state. When it is moving with thoughts, the nature of these thoughts themselves is a clear, void brilliance. It is nothing more than that.
When you have the insight that all appearances of objects are simply affectations of the mind like waves on water and cannot be ultimately established as having any true, independent existence, this is (known as) the recognition of appearances as the mind. When you analyse the nature of this mind to? see if it has a going, a staying or a coming and have the insight that it cannot be established as having any of these, for the mind, like a dream-elephant or horse, ultimately has no true existence,, this is the recognition of the mind as Voidness.
(Furthermore) when you have the insight that various (appearances) spontaneously arise from this. state of pure clarity and Voidness, without any obstruction like (the reflections of) the moon in water, this is the recognition of Voidness as spontaneous. (arisal). And concerning this spontaneously arisen clear, void awareness which is free of all mental fabrications (of extreme modes of existence), which. is not something that comes about by change, which does not waver from (or in any way block) the Great Bliss and which has just spontaneously arisen -when you are convinced that it arises and subsides at exactly the same moment like the knotting and uncoiling of a snake, this is the recognition of spontaneous (arisal) as automatically subsiding of itself.
The mind you are to be made to recognise is nor-
? 102 MAH. lMUDRA
mal consciousness which can think up anything and everything, is all-aware and all-flexible. It itself is known as the unity ofclarity and Voidness, the Great Bliss, the Voidness possessing that which is perpet- ually supreme, or Mahrunud. nt, the Great Seal of Voidness. When you recognise it, this is known as the insight of Mah~mudra. Therefore place your mind in its own state of vivid awareness without anything to meditate on and without letting it wander for even an instant. Relax and be at ease without any expectations or worries, hopes that your medita- tion will be good or fears that it will be bad. By cultivating the natural state ofyour normal conscious- ness, you will behold in the very instant of here and now the Mahrunud~ Great Seal of Voidness, the unity of bliss and Voidness and (you will see it) like
the clear expanse of cloudless space.
Now that mental quiescence has been joined with penetrative insight, sublime experiences and insights will happen. This fulfils the requirement of actually having entered the path of Liberation. Voidness is the way the mind is, clarity is its defining characteris- tic and the unity of these is the mind's nature. (There are many names for) this clear, vivid brilliance with a nature of bliss, clarity and bare (non-conceptuality), which is freeof all extremes of mentally fabricated (modes of existence) such as good or bad, arising,
ceasing or enduring, existing or not existing, perma. ;. nent or impermanent and which is beyond all words and thoughts, which cannot be identified (as this or that) and yet can be experienced. It is known as the very essence of great pristine awareness, the rea1ity of the great natural occurrence, the abiding nature of the way in which all knowables exist, pure
? PENETRATIYE INSiun~ ? ? ? --~--
awareness, the very nature of things, the equal factor (of salhsara and NirvaQa), the Great Bliss, the Buddha-nature, the perfection o f wisdom, ~mniscience, the Voidness possessing that which is perpetually supreme.
Because everything can be understood by the mind, it is (called) mind-only. Because it is free of all extremes or middle, it is Madhyamaka, the Great Central position. Because it is difficult for everyone to comprehend, it is the hidden, or secret tantra. Because it destroys all deceptions, it is the Vajrayana Diamond-hard Vehicle. Because it beholds the essence of Buddhahood, it is dalled the Dharmakuya. .
In short, what you must recognise is that which is free from all mental fabrications that would grasp at a duality (of truly existent consciousness and objects), in other words the pristine awareness of non-duality, the equal factor (of samsa:ra and NirvaQa), the Great Bliss free from mental fabrica- tions, the Maha:mudra Great Seal of Voidness. Fur- thermore, you should float above (the ocean of salhs-a:ra) on your fervent regard and loving respect (for your Guru) which you take as what is most vital. Then circle continually in making requests (to him for inspiration) without ever feeling you have
done enough. And then alight upon an obvious placing of his inspiration and blessings on you.
When you recognise that there is this stark brilliance as part of yourself, unobstructed, unhidden, free from being unobvious, you have arrived at the Mah~mudra that is the basis. To look at the nature (of the- mind) is the Mah-a:mudru that is the path.
