How To Lose Your Mind Part 5

 I continue to find this little text by Gampopa quite amazing. To do it justice, I am constantly polishing the translation while I write these commentaries. This polishing has resulted in more changes to the translation on the website, some of them quite subtle. 

These mahamudra instructions dovetail beautifully with the Diamond Sutra. I strongly urge you to make regular reading of the sutra part of your mahamudra practice. My translation of the Diamond Sutra, This Unexpected Jewel, is ideal. I translated it to be easy to read aloud, as several of the reviews on Amazon have corroborated. I’d love to hear about your experience of joining the practice of mahamudra as Gampopa teaches it with reading the Diamond Sutra. Please email me at ken@unfetteredmind.org about your experience and please consider posting a review on Amazon, too.

The second section of How to Lose Your Mind is “Pointing out how it comes to be.” These are essentially pointing out instructions, as the commentary below makes clear.

We have already looked at the first and second points, that faith, devotion, and awe are the genesis of mahamudra and that excellent teachers are conditions for mahamudra. Let’s now look at the last three points in this section. 

Although mahamudra has no method, this unaffected mind is a method.

Although mahamudra has no path, this undistracted mind is a path.

Although mahamudra has no result, this freeing of mind in empty experience is the result.

Together, they form a practice unit, a three-legged stool so to speak. If one is missing, practice falls apart.

The first part of each sentence is about how mahamudra is. Mahamudra has no method, no path, and no result. In other words, mahamudra is not something that is fabricated. It is just there. Nor is it something you arrive at. It is already there.  Nor does it become something through your practice. These are the three legs of the stool I mentioned above. 

The second part of each sentence points out how you come to be mahamudra, that is, how you actually lose your mind. For this, there is a method, there is a path, and there is a result.

In developing clear stable attention, you are working at something. At the very least, you are working at developing the ability to rest clear and present. In the development of insight, you are working at looking, looking until you can actually see nothing. Then you learn how to rest in the looking and look in the resting, bringing these two together.

At some point, a subtle shift takes place. It may be initiated by a feeling of deep faith or devotion, by awe, or by compassion. It may be initiated by a pointing out instruction from a teacher. It may be initiated by a chance occurrence when you are doing nothing in particular. In this shift, at least for a moment, you are nothing, or, if you prefer, you are not a thing. Maybe it lasts more than a moment. For today, the important point is that there is a shift. 

You may not experience the shift as a shift per se. You may quietly and undramatically become aware of a quality that you had not known was there. It may be a clarity of unfathomable depth, a peace in which thoughts are like sparks of light, or a feeling of well-being in which all physical and emotional tensions subside on their own, or some combination of these. It may be right at the limit of awareness, a possibility lurking behind clouds that your awareness does not quite penetrate, hiding in the ordinary activity of mind, or intimated in the eruption of strong reactions.

Once this kind of experience insinuates itself into your practice, how you practice needs to change. It needs to move from cultivating qualities and capabilities to becoming accustomed to what is already there. It moves from the metaphor of a path or journey to, possibly, the metaphor of recognizing a room that you have always been in, but forgotten.

As you practice, if and when that quality or qualities arise, don’t do anything. As my teacher used to say, “Just recognize and rest.” Just recognize what is happening, and rest there. This simple instruction is profoundly important. It is the key to gradually becoming accustomed to what the shift is revealing.

Here is where the three instructions come into play. 

In the moment of recognition of that shift, whether it arises explicitly or through intimation, there is almost always an urge to bring it out more vividly, or hold onto it, or to make it happen again. 

Do not do anything. Anything you might do to enhance the experience is an affectation, trying to make something special or different by adding something that is neither needed or called for. Rest in the unaffected mind. Not doing anything is the method. Don’t try to make the mind unaffected. That really does not work. It’s a contradiction in terms. The way to practice is to let things be just as they are, however wonderful, however horrible.

It is also quite common to feel that you are getting somewhere in your practice. You are experiencing intimations of clarity, peace, emptiness, well-being, etc. And you have a method, the unaffected mind. You are on the path! But mahamudra has no path. You are not going anywhere because there is nowhere to go. Again, do nothing. Just recognize what is happening, and rest. 

A third impulse it to turn these shifts and intimations into evidence that you, precious you, are not only getting somewhere, you now know the destination. You have turned mahamudra into a result, something you can achieve.

This is where the third instruction comes into play. Mahamudra has no result. As long as there is any sense of you apart from what arises in experience, you have not lost your mind. Again, do nothing. Let these thoughts be. Just recognize what is happening, and rest.

These three instructions point out what gets in the way of your being mahamudra. You cannot do anything about the arising of thoughts, feelings, and sensations. That is life, and, in the end, that is all that life is. 

What you can do is stop mucking things up. 

Don’t make what you experience into something else. 

Don’t make what you experience into signs of progress. 

Don’t make what you experience a destination.

In other words, don’t panic.

How To Lose Your Mind Part 4

 Translation is just hard, particularly when the two languages are in unrelated language families. Something felt off with my previous translation and I have just consumed a couple of hours revising it to:

While mahamudra is not dependent on conditions, teachers are conditions for mahamudra.

Part of the reason I prefer this translation is that it more easily allows some of the points I want to make in this commentary.

Let’s begin by recalling that in this section, the first part of the sentence describes how mahamudra is, while the second part of the sentence describes how it comes into being.

Mahamudra just is. It doesn’t go in or out of being. When I say “how it comes into being,” it would be more correct to say “how we come to experience it.” The first and second parts of each sentence in this section should be understood this way.

Now, what does this mean, teachers are conditions for mahamudra?

Please note that I translate this sentence without definite articles and in the plural.
“The teacher is the condition for mahamudra” is unduly restrictive. “Teachers are the condition for mahamudra” is less but still unduly restrictive.

Remember also that when it is said that mahamudra can only be received from a teacher who has also received this transmission, the unspoken message is that what was once discovered can never be discovered again. This is just not true.

Teachers do not cause mahamudra, nor are they the source or genesis of mahamudra. 

How, then, are teachers conditions for mahamudra? 

Broadly speaking, teachers perform one or more of these five functions: 

1. help the student remove what gets in the way, 

2. help the student see the right direction and move that way,

3. point out the nature of mahamudra when the student is ready, 

4. help the student stabilize their experience and understanding, and 

5. confirm the student’s experience if needed.

The first is essentially purification. It may take many forms, from purification practices such as Vajrayasattva meditation to the physical hardships Milarepa had to endure building a tower for Marpa. Purification may take place through the trials and demands of life itself or through the deliberate engagement of certain practices. It is not about achieving a state of purity, but coming to the understanding that nothing else in life is worthwhile, or, to put it another way, to recognize and commit to what calls the student to spiritual practice. 

In the Tibetan tradition, the second point, orientation, is usually developed through philosophical investigation, using logic to eliminate any other way of directing effort and attention. For example, verses 9 – 14 in Aspirations for Mahamudra present one way that mahamudra philosophy is formulated. While this approach works for some people, there are many other ways to come to what, in the dzogchen tradition, is called the view. Prayer and faith provide another way and the cultivation of the four immeasurables as I present them in Chapter 7 of Wake Up to Your Life is another. The development and exercise of compassion through service or the exercise of attention and awareness in art, music, crafts, or athletics are also possible paths. Part of the teacher’s role here is to ensure that the student is being shaped by these practices in a way that prepares them for mahamudra and not losing their way in, say, the intricacy of logic, the demands of service, the aesthetics of music, or the competitiveness of sports.

The third point refers to the traditional pointing out instructions, but pointing out can be done formally or informally, by using established methods, by using whatever is available in the moment, by drawing on energy transformation, or by creating conditions in which the student’s mind stops. The point is for the student to let go of beliefs and belief structures and simply fall open, if only for a moment. This may also happen through resonance, startle or surprise, physical, emotional, or cognitive exhaustion, confusion, and so on.

The fourth point, stabilization, applies when the student has experienced mahamudra but their experience is susceptible to distraction, decay, or corruption. For instance, in the Ganges Mahamudra, Tilopa speaks to Naropa very differently from when Naropa was experiencing one hardship after another in following Tilopa’s demands.

The fifth point comes into play when the student experiences a shift, perhaps on their own without any explicit pointing out, yet cannot take it in or does not recognize or appreciate its significance. The four faults of mind nature from the Shangpa tradition come to mind:

Too close — you don’t see it.

Too deep — you don’t fathom it.

Too simple — you don’t believe it.

Too fine — you don’t accept it.

A good teacher can do much to help the student have confidence in their experience without lapsing into pride or any other feeling of specialness.

A teacher must also be attuned to where the student is. For instance, if a teacher does not recognize problems that get in a student’s way, no amount of pointing-out instructions are going to help. In fact, untimely pointing-out instructions often exacerbate problems. Similarly, if a teacher does not recognize that a student has experienced a shift into mind nature but cannot take it in, the student may never develop the confidence to stand in their own knowing. 

Do note that some teachers are especially helpful on certain points, and may not be helpful on others. Because relatively few teachers are capable in all five, you may find it necessary to work with different teachers at different stages of practice.

Are teachers necessary, then? One only has to look at other disciplines to answer that question. Can people learn to play a musical instrument by themselves? Sometimes, but even the most talented musicians usually benefit from studying under a teacher who is both capable and suitable. Ditto for artists and athletes.

More could be said about how teachers are conditions for mahamudra, but this is probably enough. Just make sure that your teacher has visited the ruler of the universe at least once.

How To Lose Your Mind Part 3

 In the last two newsletters I discussed how mahamudra is:

1. Mahamudra has no genesis,

2. Mahamudra has no causes,

3. Mahamudra has no method,

4. Mahamudra has no path, and

5. Mahamudra has no result.

I also described a way of taking in these five points, taking them in to body, speech, and mind in such a way that each of them changes something in you. That change makes mahamudra practice more accessible.

Now we turn to the second section of Gampopa’s instructions. How does mahamudra come into being? Of course, some philosophers will jump all over me for posing such a question, but this is a practice text and we are faced with a simple fact. We may know about mahamudra, but we do not know mahamudra. How do we bring knowing mahamudra into being? 

Here, Gampopa makes five more points:

1. Although mahamudra has no genesis, faith, devotion, and awe are its genesis.

2. Although mahamudra has no causes, excellent teachers are its causes.

3. Although mahamudra has no method, this unaffected mind is its method.

4. Although mahamudra has no path, this undistracted mind is its path.

5. Although mahamudra has no result, this mind freed in pure being is its result.

It seems that Gampopa is negating what he wrote in the first section. This kind of negation is not unusual in Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist practice. Often, what seems to be a direct negation indicates a shift, either of perspective or of level. If we do not recognize the shift in perspective, or, as is often the case, if we have not experienced the shift in the level of attention, awareness, or presence, then we cannot understand what is written. The best we can do is come up with an intellectual interpretation, and that is not much help. Most of the time, we are left puzzled or disconcerted by the apparent contradiction. The Diamond Sutra is filled with these kinds of negations. For instance, see §22.

In this text Gampopa is kind: he presents the negation and then tells us what the shift is — a shift in perspective from what mahamudra is to how mahamudra comes into being. Please note, Gampopa is not writing about what life is. He is writing about how we experience life. Today, we look at the first point: faith, devotion, and awe are its genesis

Why faith, devotion, and awe? 

All of these, if cultivated deeply, leave you speechless, each in its own way. To put it another way, faith, devotion, and awe temper you in both heart and mind, just as fire, folding, and quenching temper steel.

How to cultivate faith, devotion, and awe? 

In the end, I have found only one way that feels true in both practice and result. There are others, no doubt, but I cannot write about what I don’t know.

I go to why I was drawn to spiritual practice in the first place. I go back to the beginning. Why am I doing this? If the answer comes in words, I use those words to pose another question that uses the word why. For example, let’s say the first answer is “I wanted to become enlightened?” Then I ask “Why?” Now I have to go deeper. I repeat this questioning until I cannot go any further. 

For a long time, the answer that I eventually came to was “Because I wanted to know that I knew something.” When I asked, “Why? again, my mind stopped. There was a palpable and powerful feeling for which I had no words. Yet in that stopping I felt a willingness to meet, open, and learn from whatever I encountered on this path, that is, I felt faith. I also felt a deep quiet passion that would keep me connected with my teachers and see me through whatever difficulties I encountered, that is, I felt devotion. And I felt awe, that feeling of being intimately connected with something that is infinitely greater than me.

I have practiced this way for many years. Now and then, the answer just before my heart and mind stop changes or shifts, but the next “Why?” still puts me straight into a profound unknowing where faith, devotion, and awe quietly grow stronger and deeper.

This is how I cultivate these three qualities. How do you get to the Total Perspective Vortex? Write to me (ken@unfetteredmind.org) and let me know.

How to Lose Your Mind Part 2

 In the last newsletter, I discussed the translation of the first point of the five points, that mahamudra has no genesis. This means that mahamudra has no beginning, or, to put it another way, that there is no thing that grows into or becomes mahamudra. I also pointed out that when we sit quietly with that statement and let it sink into the body and into the emotional field, a shift takes place, and we rest a little more deeply and a little more quietly. That shift may not happen immediately, but with a little practice, it happens for most people. In this shift, the sense of time drops away. At least, that’s how it is for me. It may arise differently for you.

Today, we turn attention to the next four sentences in this section:

Mahamudra has no conditions.

Mahamudra has no method.

Mahamudra has no path.

Mahamudra has no result.

We practice with these four points in exactly the same way as the first point. We rest quietly, holding the sentence in mind, and letting it sink into the body and the emotional field. Sooner or later, you sense a shift. The shift has a different flavor for each of these four points. Below, I note how I experience these flavors. Again, they may arise in a different way for you. For more detailed instruction, please look at the last newsletter. 

Mahamudra has no conditions 

This sentence could also be translated as “Mahamudra has no causes.” Here we are using the word “cause” as it is normally used in English. If we water a seed we have planted, we can say the water causes it to grow. Without water, it probably won’t. The same holds for nutrition and sunlight. Causes, conditions, both work in English as translations of the corresponding words in Tibetan and Sanskrit.

The shift here is also subtle. For me, it has the quality of “there is nothing I can do to make mahamudra happen.” When you sense that shift, the best thing to do is nothing. Rest.

The aim here is to assimilate each of these statements, not by trying to understand them or figure them out, but by letting our mind, our emotional sense, and our body become attuned to them and let them in. That is why I say just hold them in mind and let the meaning sink in. The shift for each of them is an indication that the meaning has begun to sink in.

Mahamudra has no method

No translation problems here. In most of our meditation training, we rely on some method, following the out-breath for instance, or holding in mind that we are a deity, or repeating a mantra over and over again. A method is a way of working at meditation practice, refining the quality of attention, developing skills, or building capacity. For mahamudra, there is no method, there is no way to work at it. Now let that point sink in. Again, at some point, you sense a shift. Here the shift may have the quality of “there is no way to work at this, no way to make it happen.” 

As you have probably noted by now, there is physical, emotional, and cognitive resistance to each of these points. The way of practicing I am suggesting here is not mahamudra per se, but a way of preparing mind, heart, and body for mahamudra. Each of these points is easy to understand conceptually, but quite hard to accept. Thinking about each point and trying to convince yourself that that is the case usually reinforces the conceptual mind, triggers various forms of emotional resistance, and negates any chance of the body absorbing or assimilating the possibility. That is why I suggest holding it in attention and letting it sink in.

Two more to go. 

Mahamudra has no path

The metaphor of a path, a journey of some kind, is used extensively in Buddhism. We start here and go there, and these are the stages, etc. Mahamudra is not like that. Mahamudra is not a thing. There is no path and there are no stages. As before, sit quietly with this statement and let it sink in. Cognitive resistance arises in many ways, as arguments or reasoning, for instance. As soon as you notice you are thinking, drop everything and start again. Emotional resistance also arises in many ways, as frustration, as boredom, as confusion, as dullness, or as explicit emotional reactions such as anger, greed, or envy. The body, too, may express its resistance as agitation or sleepiness, discomfort, or inexplicable pains or other sensations. No matter. Just keep resting with the point and let it sink in. With this point, when a shift does take place, it may have the quality of clarity or non-thought.

Mahamudra has no result

Again, hold this in mind and let it sink in. Everyone’s experience is different, of course, but don’t be surprised if resistance in mind, heart, and body arise quite strongly with this point. No result? Then why am I doing this, then? Suddenly, you are thrown right back to why do you practice at all.

Don’t fall into arguing or analyzing. Let the voices quiet down on their own. Let the emotional reactions break, crash, and subside, like waves breaking on a beach. And let tensions in the body resolve themselves. When you sense a shift, it may have the quality of opening into a larger space, a much larger space, as body and mind relax in a way you may not have experienced before.

I suggest you work with just one point for a week or two, until you have a clear sense of the shift that indicates that the point is sinking in. Then move on to the next one. The aim here isn’t to understand the point, but to create the conditions in which the point can actually sink in and start changing you. Each of these points initiates a change in you. The cumulative effect of these changes is to make mahamudra practice more accessible. 

Otherwise, practicing mahamudra may be a bit like being told that 42 is the answer to the great question of life, the universe, and everything.

How to Lose Your Mind Part 1

 My translation of Gampopa's text is now up on the website. You can find it here. It is probably a good idea to bookmark this page as we go through the text line by line.

The text has three sections: how mahamudra is, how mahamudra comes to be, and how to hone thatness. My commentaries are about the aspects of practice that Gampopa is pointing to in each section. In many of the commentaries, I will comment on the translation challenges in that section and explain why my translation may differ from more conventional usage.

First, what is mahamudra? Mahamudra is a word that points to a way of experiencing life in which awareness and experience are not separate. Keep this in mind as you read these notes.

Let’s turn to the first section: how mahamudra is. 

Mahamudra is not a thing. It is not an object of knowing. In particular, it is not something that can be known or understood by the conceptual mind. To drive this point home, to nail it down, Gampopa writes:

1. Mahamudra has no genesis,

2. Mahamudra has no conditions,

3. Mahamudra has no method,

4. Mahamudra has no path, and

5. Mahamudra has no result.

The aim of these absolute negations is to reduce distractions and problems. Mahamudra practice largely consists of doing nothing. We rest in awareness. We try not to fall into confusion. We don’t make an effort to have some particular experience. We don’t try to practice anything. Whatever comes up, we try not to do anything with it or to it. This not doing may be simple, but it is not easy. 

These five negations are useful. How do we use them?

Today, let’s look at the first one: mahamudra has no genesis.

This sentence is usually translated as “Mahamudra has no cause.” This translation is misleading because it is a misuse of English. It’s like saying that an acorn is the cause of an oak tree. No! An acorn grows into an oak tree. It does not cause an oak tree. 

In the context of mahamudra, Gampopa is saying, “There is nothing that becomes mahamudra.” In other words, there is no mahamudra acorn that you can plant and let it grow into the mahamudra oak tree. No such luck. 

Let’s consider this from a practice perspective. Let mind and body settle, and then quietly say to yourself, “Mahamudra has no genesis. There is nothing that becomes mahamudra.” 

What happens?

There is usually a shift. It’s subtle, but with a little practice you can usually feel it in both mind and body. At first you may not even notice it. When you do, it may last only a moment. No matter. That's why we practice.

Again, let mind and body settle for several minutes. Rest with the breath, or say your favorite prayer. Rest in the sensations of your body, the sensations of breathing. Don’t try to do anything. Just rest. After a while, again say to yourself, “There is nothing that becomes mahamudra.” Do this periodically, allowing a good bit of time (5-10 minutes) before trying again each time. Sooner or later, you sense a shift.

For me, when that shift takes place, a stillness is present, but it’s a bit deeper and clearer than the stillness of not thinking and the sense of time drops away. Then the shift fades or I start thinking about something.

Once you start to sense that shift, you will be tempted to try to hold onto it, to deepen it, to explore it, or to regenerate it as soon as it fades away. Too bad. You are no longer practicing mahamudra. You are doing something. You are working at something. Don't! Stop working. Stop trying to make something happen. Stop trying to control what you experience. Stop falling into distraction.

Rest in the shift. When it fades away or you fall into confusion, continue to do nothing. Just rest. The shift opens a door to another possibility. In a half-hour period of meditation, elicit the shift maybe four or five times at the most. The aim here is to let your mind and body assimilate the ineffable clarity and stillness in the shift. You cannot do that. So don’t. All you can do is pose the question now and then, and then allow the assimilation to take place.

That’s enough for today’s newsletter. We’ll continue in the next one. I’ll try to write these weekly, but if I miss one or two here and there, DON'T PANIC. Come to think of it, maybe you should keep a towel handy, too. You may need it.