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.

How to Lose Your Mind

 How to Lose Your Mind

or

The One and Only Path of Mahamudra

by the peerless Lord Gampopa

 

I bow to my excellent teachers.

 

There are three points to this presentation of mahamudra:

1. Nailing down how it is,

2. Knowing how it comes to be, and

3. Honing thatness.

 

1. The first has five points:

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.

 

2. Knowing how it comes to be also has five points:

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

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

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.

 

3. Honing thatness has four points:

1. For groundwork, practice teacher-union with faith, reverence, and devotion, 
three times a day and three times at night;

2. For the main matter, consistently place mind without distraction and 
rest without affectation.

3. For the conclusion, once all that appears is experienced as mind, 
hone the vitality of awareness.

4. As energy shifts arise, keep practice and meditation steady 
until any sense of mind is gone.

 

Energy shifts arise in two ways:

1. Unconducive energy shifts and 

2. Conducive energy shifts.

 

For the first, whatever the unconducive energy shifts — unstable attention, illness, panic attacks, doubts, and so on — they arise from your practice. Knowing all these are energy shifts, without suppressing them, settle in the outlook and practice of thatness and practice from there. When you do this, at some point a conducive energy shift suddenly arises.

 

For conducive energy shifts, first the shift into mind resting arises, then the shift into presence emptying, then the shift into knowing arriving, and then the shift into clinging unwinding. 

 

When these shifts arise, don't be content with your practice. Keep moving forward steadily.

 

First, don’t be content with just mind resting.

Practice seeing presence emptying again and again.

 

Don’t be content with just seeing presence emptying. 

You must practice coming into knowing arriving again and again.

 

Don’t be content with just coming into knowing arriving. 

You must practice clinging unwinding again and again.

 

Don’t be content with just clinging unwinding. 

You must practice until your mind is freed in pure being, 
any sense of mind is gone, and you are completely awake.

 

This concludes The Pure Essence of Mind, The One and Only Path of Mahamudra.

Translated by Ken McLeod in Windsor, CA in April 2025

 

What is pragmatic Buddhism?

  Pragmatic Buddhism at Unfettered Mind is about effective methods of practice:

• effective ways to build skills and abilities, 
• effective ways to instill, uncover, or open to deeper understandings, and 
• effective ways to live practice in your life.

Pragmatic Buddhism is about the tools, understandings, and experience you need to meet the challenges you may face in your spiritual journey. It does not mean merely using Buddhist perspectives and methods to resolve problems in your life. 

While one of the effects of practice may be the resolution of various problems, another effect may be the compounding of such problems to the point that you have to make radical changes in your life. 

One aim of pragmatic Buddhism is to provide you with ways to develop the skills and capabilities you need to meet such challenges.

Pragmatic Buddhism is grounded in the bodhisattva vow. This is where it starts. As it is presented in the Diamond Sutra, the bodhisattva vow is the intention to free beings from the vicissitudes of samsara without ever conceiving them as beings. Compared to how compassion is usually understood, this is a compassion of a completely different order — the union of compassion and emptiness.

Pragmatic Buddhism is based in traditional Mahayana and Vajrayana and their time-tested methods of practice that include: 

• The development of stable attention, insight, and the uncovering of direct awareness; 
• Mahayana mind-training including loving kindness, compassion, taking and sending (tonglen), the six perfections including the perfection of wisdom, and the Great Middle Way;
• Vajrayana practice, including teacher union, deity creation and completion, energy transformation, and protector practice.

Pragmatic Buddhism means that you are resourceful and practical. Its motto might be “I don’t do what I know does not work.” 

In every generation teachers have enhanced, combined, and distilled the practices they received from their their teachers to meet the particular situations of the times. This willingness to be creative and innovative applies not only to methods or practice, but also to the translation of texts, the integration of prayer and meditation, how students and teachers meet to talk about practice experience, the formats of retreats, the rituals and ceremonies that support practice, and the skillful use of technology.

To visualize or not to visualize

 Today, I am going to consider the word visualize, or visualization. The Tibetan word is dmigs.pa (pron. mikpa). I've long suspected that there was a problem with the usual translation of visualize, but it was only when I was writing The Magic of Vajrayana that I was forced to face the fact that there was something seriously wrong with that translation.

After a few conversations with other translators, my doubts were confirmed. The word dmigs.pa is used in a number of other contexts and seems to mean "to hold something in mind." It is also used in the phrase dmigs.med.snying.rje, which is usually translated as non-referential compassion, but could be glossed as "compassion that arises when nothing is held in mind."

Okay. That's the background. How does this affect practice?

First, despite all that is written, don't feel that you need to generate a mental image. Some people can do so quite easily, but many of them find that the mental image that they see so clearly in their mind doesn't help them in their meditation.

As I wrote in The Magic of Vajrayana (see pg. 82), forget about visualizing the deity and forget about imagining you are the deity. Instead, be the deity. Don't hold in mind an image of the deity. Instead, hold in mind that you are the deity.

Let's take Chenrezi as an example. Chenrezi is awakened compassion, compassion and emptiness arising together, just as a candle flame arises as both heat and light. Say to yourself, "I am empty compassion. I am Chenrezi." What happens?

You may feel a sudden shift in your body as much as your mind. For many people, that shift is not subtle. The mind goes empty and the body does not know what to do.

Okay. That's a good start.

Now rest in that shift. It will probably feel unfamiliar and, quite possibly, a little uncomfortable. No matter. Rest there. Rest and be empty compassion, be Chenrezi. Let your body and mind absorb the fact that you are empty compassion and that you have all the capabilities and qualities of awakened compassion. Don't think about it. Don't visualize. Don't imagine. Just hold in mind that you are empty, groundless compassion and open to the infinity of possibilities that entails.

Parts of you may arise in rebellion. If they do, remember that you are the deity. What does Chenrezi do with those parts? You know because you are Chenrezi. You don't have to think about what to do or strategize. It's right there. It's a knowing that is right there. It's a muscle that you, the ordinary you, has not flexed before, but it's still right there, ready and waiting.

The feeling of being Chenrezi will, of course, come and go. Whenever it fades, don't try to recover it. Instead, take a short break. Let mind and body rest. And then, be Chenrezi and rest in the shift.

Practice questions

 Newsletter, Nov. 6, 2007

Nagarjuna said that Buddha nature is empty. 

In the Tibetan Kagyu tradition, Thrangu Rinpoche sees buddha nature as the indivisible oneness of wisdom and emptiness.

The Dalai Lama, representing the Gelukpa School of Tibetan Buddhism, sees buddha nature as the "original clear light of mind" but is at pains to point out that it ultimately does not really exist, as it is emptiness.

The view of Buddha nature varies from school to school. 

Do we just pick one? And what does a practice on buddha nature look like?

The way that can be named

Is not the way

Neither buddha nature or emptiness are things. They are words used to refer to certain experiences. The experiences cannot be expressed in words. Nor can they be understood conceptually. But you can have the experiences, which is to say that buddha nature and emptiness can be known through experience, even though they cannot be understood.

One doesn't "practice" emptiness, or, for that matter, buddha nature. In such practices as mahamudra or dzogchen, one rests in experience, neither entertaining thoughts or emotions, nor suppressing them:

don't be distracted

don't control what arises

don't work at anything

Best to do this in short periods, so mind and heart stay clear and awake. Gradually, as my teacher said, you will come to know you are nothing, and, in being nothing, are everything.

how do I simplify my life

 Practice tip -- how to simplify your life.   (newsletter 29, June 2012)

  

Question

 

I wondered if you would ever consider writing on the subject of "how to simplify your life"? I'm thinking of how to use dharma teaching as a way to interact with our daily world -- such as suggestions on how to limit the amount of stuff, engagements, technological distractions, just to name a few.  

 

Response

It's a matter of inclusion and exclusion, what you include in your life, and what you exclude. 

If you have trouble deciding, you aren't clear about your priorities. If you try to simplify your life before you are clear about your priorities, you usually end up in a mess. Different agendas come into conflict and without an overall vision or direction, you can't make the necessary decisions.

Think of the proverbial starving musician. She knows what is important in her life. She's willing to put up with bad bar gigs and difficult audiences so she can write, play and sing her own songs. Yes, she certainly hopes to win a following, but it's the music that is important to her, and that's that. Music comes first, and as long as she is able to eat and find a place to sleep, she's more than okay with that.

And then there is the young attorney or MBA. He's equally clear about his priorities. Money heads the list. He endures brutal workloads, long hours, demanding and unsympathetic bosses, time away from his wife and children, all to realize his dreams of being rich. You may not agree with his choices, but he knows exactly what to include and exclude.

How do you use dharma teachings as a way to interact with your daily world? Very carefully. 

Buddhist practice, like art, like business, has its own set of priorities and one is to be free of distractions. If you are going to probe what is beyond thought, it's helpful to have less to think about. And that translates directly into a simplified life with relatively few decisions that have to be made.

Do you really want to reduce the number of decisions you have to make each day?

Then the first practice is reflection on change and death. Why? It leads you to reorder your priorities from top to bottom so that you doradically simplify your life and, as a consequence, have much less to think about.

It's a straightforward practice, but not that easy. It consists of taking in two facts that you already know.

You know you are going to die. And you know you don't know when. 

Imagine you are going to die in ten years. Ten years from today, the lights go out in your world. What would you do with you life? 

Now imagine you are going to die in one year. What would you do? 

And imagine you are going to die in one month. How would you spend that month?

These are not gentle questions, but they do serve a purpose. They give you a pretty good idea of what's important to you in your life. 

Now go further. You do not know, and cannot know, when you are going to die. What happens to conventional notions of success - happiness, gain, fame or respect? These are important to most people. For many, they form the basis of their lives. 

What about you? How important are happiness, gain, fame and respect to you? Or are you looking for a deeper connection with life itself? 

Think about this. You won't be able to simplify your life until you are clear here.

You are going to die and you don't know when. How do you live in this paradox? There is only one way. Dowhat life calls for now because life calls for it, not because you hope to enjoy the results. Whether its planting a garden, going to school, saving money, building a career, time with friends, a political campaign, a vacation or hobby, you engage it because it is your life calls for it. Forget about being around for the results of your efforts. You have no idea whether you will be or not.

Now you have much less to think about, no?

In letting go of hopes (and fears), you become clearer about what is important and what is not and that makes it much easier to let go of (i.e., exclude) other considerations. 

Stuff? What do you really need in order to pursue what is vitally important to you? 

Engagements? Friends, associates, activities, there is no end to what you can do. Time is one major factor, and energy a second. 

Technological distractions? What use do you have for email, Facebook, an iPad, a car, a refrigerator, or a book? These are all forms of technology, some older than others. For any technology, consider if and how it is useful to you.

Reflection on change isn't the only approach to simplification. There are others, of course. 

In Mahayana Buddhism, it is the ideal of compassion. Compassion, and the cultivation of compassion, inform your every thought and action. This naturally leads to the practice of awakening mind (bodhicitta). 

For others, it is awe, a sense of being intimately connected with something that is infinitely greater or deeper than you. This leads to a path based in faith and devotion.

A little practical advice. Before you start to simplify, tighten up your life a little. Organize your day a bit better and pay more attention to time. As an example, arrive at appointments and meetings on time and end them on time. You soon find that you have more time - to consider the questions suggested above, to reflect on what is vital, important and meaningful to you, to decide what to cultivate and what to let go. 

Once you are clear about that, everything else follows.