85 “Non-meditation” & The Fivefold Practices

85 Spring 2016 “Non-meditation” & The Fivefold Practices

Olaso

[00:04] So I promised that this retreat would be about not only Panchen Rinpoche’s text, but also Naked Awareness, and Panchen Rinpoche brings the Gelugpa tradition together with the Mahamudra, as we’ve seen, is pretty much finished. We’ll have a brief dedication, we’ll be finished with the text. So there’s one great union. And I think he’s done, I think we could all agree probably, it’s quite a magnificent job of seeing how each of these traditions make sense to each other, right. But now in Naked Awareness, and in the preceding volume, for which this is kind of an appendix or appendage, there is the union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, and they’re not identical, not identical. And so we’ve seen this kind of, I think, with real clarity, how these four yogas map onto the five paths, and when is that point? That enormously important one, where you’re not simply having one experience after another - which may be very meaningful, these nyam - but they’re really entering into a current way of flow. [Russell?] and I were just talking about this this afternoon. You have a lot of wonderful experiences, this and that. But at what point can you say you’re on the path, like you’ve entered, not literally stream entry, because that’s for shravakas, but when you’re really on the path, and you know, now it’s just moving ahead, you know, it’s not just up and down, good days, bad days. And it’s on that medium stage, that medium stage of single pointed yoga, which corresponds to medium stage of Mahayana path of accumulation.

[01:34] But the rapidity with which you’re moving through that is quite striking. If we take a step back and look at the same five paths, just from the general, the so-called the common vehicle, the common path of simply the general Bodhisattvayana, this would take so many lifetimes, I mean, really, so many lifetimes, if you’re following this path. And your vantage point, your platform is that of a sentient being, and from that perspective, you have the potential of Buddhahood. Your Buddha nature is the potential. What you are actually, you are a one and only one thing, you are a sentient being. Suck it up, you know. But at least you have the potential, like I have the potential to learn Italian. I don’t think it’s ever going to manifest in this lifetime. But I think I have the potential to go beyond buona sera and molto bene, tutto bene, and so on, this could well be, but it’s a potential, that’s all it is, right? As long as you’re operating out of that platform, your buddha nature is something you have and its potential, and what you are really, actually even if not inherently, as a sentient being that’s what makes for the long haul. And so whether it’s the Mahamudra approach, whether it’s Dzogchen approach, very, very early on, as it’s said in the text, you see it’s not interpretation, you are realizing emptiness with primordial consciousness.

[02:55] So I think I had a slip of the tongue yesterday which from a physicist’s perspective would be hilarious. I was talking about, you know, just using the science fiction thing, you know, go into warp drive, warp one and so forth. And I think I said black hole rather than wormhole. Did I say wormhole? {Mutterings] Someone answers, ‘No’. Okay, because he would have caught me. Phew. I said black hole. I thought what I think … you heard me [laughter] you know what I should have said, and black hole is hilarious. If you’re going to go in a black hole, hang out there, you can be there for a long time. You’re not going anywhere at all. Whereas a wormhole is something they … black holes are, they’re very confident, do exist. Physicists. Wormholes are some things implied by general relativity and they may very well exist and it makes for very good science fiction. And that’s all it is, right. But it’s a nice metaphor. It’s a lot of fun. And so but now this is not such a superficial metaphor if we, if we pause there just for a linger and it’s only a metaphor, I don’t mean to take it too seriously. But if very early on the path then get your shamatha, bodhicitta, you get that done. What are you waiting for? Why are you taking so long? Get your shamatha, vipashyana, shamatha and bodhicitta down. Nail it. Yeah. And then so on that platform, then go right into vipashyana. But as soon as possible, realize vipashyana, even though it’s veiled by this generic idea and veiled by concepts, realize emptiness from the perspective of pristine awareness. Soon, early as soon as possible, right.

[04:26] Why? It’s a wormhole, because if you’re realizing emptiness from the perspective of your coarse or subtle mind, just substrate consciousness, then you’re locked in time. You’re locked in time and you’re locked in locality as well. I mean, that’s it. Your substrate consciousness is where you are, and it’s at the time you are as well. Slip into the … oh, call it the wormhole. Slip into… rigpa. You’ve just gone into hyperspace. And that would be I mean it’s too new agey, too cheesy. But hyperspace would be a pretty good translation for dharmadhatu. It’s space beyond space. It’s hyperspace. It is. It’s just too, you know, too cute, too new agey, I’m not going to use it. But it’s really not bad. You’re slipping into hyperspace, you’re slipping into a space that is beyond three-dimensionality of space. But not only that, you’ve slipped into, let’s call it why not, hyper time. Because you’re resting in the fourth time when you’re resting in rigpa, you’re resting in the fourth time, it’s not located in past, present or future. It transcends all three and subsumes or pervades all three, just as rigpa transcends space, but then permeates all of space. And that’s where your … that’s your locus. That’s your locus. That’s warp drive.

[05:51] What would otherwise take millions of years is a matter of hours, you know. And so, this is how you very rapidly proceed through the stage of accumulation or the path of accumulation, the path of preparation, and then along this path, as you gain that second yoga, freedom from conceptual elaboration, it’s called prapanca by the way in Sanskrit; prapanca, freedom from, prapanca. That is, it’s truly contrary to whatever philosophers may say this is … they just don’t know. So what can we say? They don’t know. It’s okay. But contemplatives know. This is the mode where your awareness is absolutely unmediated by any conceptualization whatsoever. And it’s realizing not just hanging out with a non-conceptual mind, it’s realizing the ultimate ground, it’s realizing dharmadhatu in a non-dual fashion. Now, how do you then go into what warp drive moving through those 10 bhumis, and they can take … they take two countless aeons. They say one countless aeon up to the eighth bhumi and another countless aeon from the eighth to buddhahood. So we’re talking about, you know, traveling at 35,000 miles an hour. And so how do you do that? By warp drive. And in the Mahamudra tradition, in the Kagyu tradition, the Kagyu tradition. I mean, we know this is kind of just universally what’s actually done is you’re complementing your Mahamudra practice with the Six Dharmas of Naropa. And they’re all stage of completion practices. And that powers you through. So those are the skillful means and your Mahamudra is the wisdom. And you’re using those two and then that just jet propels you in warp drive right through the bhumis and to enlightenment very, very rapidly. So that’s it, we’re pretty much done with Mahamudra.

[07:39] But then we, but what about this union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen? And in Dzogchen, again, I’ve been introduced to or guided in a few traditions, not many, but of course, above all and overwhelmingly the Dudjom, the Dudjom Tersar, the Dudjom lineage. And among Dudjom Lingpa’s five treatises in Dzogchen, only one even makes reference to stage of generation and completion. Only one. The other four don’t even mention it. “The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers”, “The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra”, “Buddhahood without Meditation”, “The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra”, those four make no reference to the stage of generation and completion, and yet those four all present the complete path, especially “Buddhahood without Meditation”. It doesn’t have the togal. Even that can be a complete path for very gifted ones, you can achieve rainbow body, even without the the direct crossing over. And so then, so they don’t have those. I mean, it’s not part of the Nyingma tradition, these Six Dharmas of Naropa. But then what the Mahamudra tradition doesn’t have is togal. It’s not there. You can of course … you can practice Dzogchen and Mahamudra. And so it’s the togal that is your warp drive. And it’s really, specifically designed, as Yanthang Rinpoche made perfectly clear, for people who can dwell continuously for a sustained period in rigpa. If you want to look for the gold standard, be a Vidyadhara. A Vidyadhara dwells in rigpa, without any conceptual mediation or filtration, and can remain for hours and hours on end. Then, then there’s no question as a gold standard. Are you a suitable vessel for the practice of togal? Yep, you’re ready. It’s not to say you have to wait until then. But you are ready, but you’re really not ready until you can dwell in rigpa. That’s what Yanthang Rinpoche said. So many people are very eager to jump the gun on that one as well. But it may not be the best way to use your very short human life.

[09:48] And so if we now, we segue over to Dzogchen, since you know, I’m absolutely passionate about path. What’s the path? What’s the sequence? Just have a general idea. What’s the path in just straight Dzogchen? And in straight Dzogchen, Dudjom Lingpa refers to, as the whole Dzogchen tradition does, four levels of being a Vidyadhara, a Vidyadhara. And the first one is a fully matured, fully matured Vidyadhara. And here just straight from the Vajra Essence, but here’s the path and I’m going to be really short here, but it starts … So for the first one is a matured Vidyadhara or [10:39 Tibetan] namen ghe, namen ghe ridzin, namen ridzin, and you become a fully matured Vidyadhara in that moment when you have a direct immediate realization of emptiness with rigpa, which means this corresponds to, he says, and I just quote so there’s nothing of me here, “due to the noble qualities of the vision of direct perception, …” that’s an unmediated realization of dharmadhatu in which you are non-dual, non-dual with, or it is non-dual with dharma, dharmakaya, “… may we experience the benefits of the sublime very joyful stage”, that’s the first arya bodhisattva bhumi, “and the ground and path of a mature Vidyadhara.” So he’s equating those, there’s the first one.

[11:23] We move right on, the second Vidydhara. “By the power of progress in meditative experiences…” this is the second of the four visions, " … may we cross over to the fifth stage," the fifth bodhisattva level or ground, “known as difficult to cultivate, and may we attain all the noble qualities of ground and path of a Vidyadhara with power over life.” That actually means power over your lifespan. You live as long as you want to. That’s the second one. Corresponds to the fifth arya bodhisattva bhumi. “Thirdly, due to the virtues of reaching consummate awareness, …” the third vision, " … may we cross over to the eighth stage, the crossing over, …" this is why it’s called togel, " …having achieved" with shamatha, vipashyana and trekcho, “the first bhumi, a fully matured Vidyadhra.” Now you start leaping and you don’t progressively go through the first bhumi, second bhumi, third bhumi, fourth bhumi. You just leap like a deer from the first to the fifth. And then you achieve the third vision. And you leap like a deer from the fifth to the eighth. So due to the virtues of reaching consummate awareness, the third “… may we cross over to the eighth stage known as immovable, and may we attain all the noble qualities of the ground and path of a Mahamudra Vidyadhara.” Eighth. That’s the pure stage. It’s extremely advanced. “And then finally, by the power of the intellect transcending extinction into ultimate reality, where all impure appearances of samsara dissolve into dharmata forever from your perspective.” The fourth vision. “May we cross over to the great 10th ground, known as the cloud of Dharma and may we swiftly attain the noble qualities of the ground and path of a spontaneously actualized Vidyadhara.” The fourth, the fourth level of Vidyadhara.

[13:22] And so, he doesn’t give us any rungs on the ladder corresponding to this and through the path of accumulation and preparation. In that regard, the Mahamudra with the four yogas is very inviting. It shows you something that, a benchmark, a benchmark earlier than that, the single pointed, the single pointed yoga. But it’s really that, above all, it’s very so similar to being in a non-lucid dream. This is a non-lucid dream, from another perspective. And within the context of a non-lucid dream and taking yourself even nominally, accepting yourself even nominally, as the individual in the non-lucid dream, right? Then you may meet gurus, you may meet spiritual friends, meet great lamas, and so forth, and practice all kinds of stuff. Lojong, lamrim, and stage of generation and completion, all kinds of stuff, you know. There’s a tremendous array of practices and still remain non-lucid, you know. And from the Dzogchen perspective, it says, look, the most important thing is become lucid, and then do everything else. But don’t keep grinding away from a perspective that is true, but it’s a superficial truth. It’s a truth that obscures a deeper truth, this conventional reality that we are sentient beings and so forth. Yeah, of course, it’s true. You know, it’s not delusional. But it’s so thin and it obscures an infinitely more important truth. And that is our own rigpa. And it’s not just a potential. From up here, it looks like potential. Down here, up there looks like pure delusion, pure fiction, you know, a construct, a silly construct, as silly as thinking you’re Napoleon or a kernel of corn.

[15:24] And from this perspective, all the arduous effort that goes into gradually cultivating the six perfections and the stage of generation and completion and, and so forth and so on, and he says, Dudjom Lingpa himself says, oh it looks so tiring. Why are they doing that? Why not just wake up? [laughs]. And then proceed along the path from that perspective. So that’s the wormhole. If you want to know, that’s the wormhole. On the Dzogchen, it’s just for, according to Dudjom Lingpa, and he is the most consummate teacher we’ve had of Dzogchen for centuries, 13 disciples. And we look at the last 60 years of let’s say Tibetan Buddhism gone globally, being practiced in Australia and or South America, Europe and so forth and so on, in Tibet, India, and so forth. How many, how many manifestations of rainbow body do we have in India? And Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh, Europe, America, South America, Australia, how many rainbow bodies? Nada! What do we all have in common in terms of the way Dharma centers are being operated? No shamatha. [Laughter]. Little, oh, give it, you know, give it a wink and a nod, do a dhatum of shamatha and call it a day.

[16:42] So maybe there’s a correspondence there, that we’re missing something that not only Dudjom Lingpa but he really emphasized. This is the first big step. Preliminaries? No question about it. But on that basis, the first big step, and he says this is indispensable. Padmasambhava said it’s indispensable in “Natural Liberation”. And we’re skipping something that Padmasambhava said in olden times and in recent times, and in his teachings for the modern world, where Dharma will flourish in the cities of the West. That shamatha is indispensable. Fully achieve that and now you’re at a whole another base camp. Focus right in, you know, take a breather, enjoy bliss, luminosity and non-conceptuality for, oh give yourself at least five minutes, [laughs] and then get on with it, you know, get on with it and realize emptiness, from … you know, and then just get on with it, and then cut right through that paper wall to receive the pointing out instructions. And he gives pointing out instructions and I will pass on some of them during this retreat.

[17:43] Because that’s the distinction. That’s what you don’t find, the kind of pointing out instruction that Dudjom Lingpa gives, Padmasambhava gives by way of Dudjom Lingpa. The pointing out instructions. And it’s specifically … this is unique to Dzogchen. I’ve not seen it anywhere in these fantastic teachings of Mahamudra. Haven’t seen it, like what I see in one text after another, I think actually all of them, from Dudjom Lingpa. Most of them direct transmissions from Padmasambhava. These drawing, these clear distinctions, is a little bit like [roosia? 18:15], but it’s not the same.[ Roosia?]. Never mind that. [Laughs]. But if you know what I’m talking about it is good, if you don’t, don’t worry about it. But it’s drawing clear distinction between mind, conditioned mind and rigpa, between substrate consciousness and primordial consciousness. And he just comes in like a surgeon. And just, just flays [makes sound]. Comes in, comes the scalpel. [makes sound]. “And when you’ve identified the conditioned mind, and you release it, you don’t search for rigpa.” Rigpa was the one who was doing the meditation in the first place. Rigpa’s what’s left. And just release. So let’s practice.

[19:19] And on the website, you’ll have all of the brief description I just gave of the four levels of Vidyadhara and how that maps onto the arya bodhisattva levels. Just good to have in mind. Big picture. Big picture.

[19:35] [Bell rings] [Meditation in session]

[19:52] Prior to entering into the practice, the main practice, we arouse the motivation. The motivation needs to have two levels. And one is an utter commitment, absolute resolve, no matter how long this takes. The commitment, the pledge to all sentient beings, no matter how long it takes. Here’s a path I will follow to its conclusion. On the one hand, however many hardships, how many obstacles, challenges. On the other hand, a sense of utmost urgency. If there was ever a time in recorded history when the world is desperately in need of awakened beings, who can manifest their qualities, not just paranormal abilities, manifest all the qualities of awakening. I doubt that there was ever a time when it was more urgent, more desperately needed. Time is so short.

[21:00] So with such a motivation, the sense of urgency driven by great compassion, and not simply impatience, arouse the intensity of bodhichitta that is suitable for Vajrayana, and with that motivation, with refuge in your own buddha nature, settle your body, speech and mind in their natural states.

[23:01] So let your eyes be utterly softly open, the gaze soft and unfocused. [Pause]. Your awareness evenly resting without object, without target, without a basis, nothing to hold on to in the space in front of you, this open expanse.

[23:50] And now we will practice our best approximation, our closest facsimile of non meditation. [Pause]. This entails as you’ve done before, letting awareness rest in its own place, holding its own ground, [pause], resting in that stillness without being distracted outwards to any appearances, sensory or mental. [Pause]. Utterly loose, relaxed, free of grasping, free of grasping out to any subjective impulse, thoughts, desires, emotions.

[25:18] It is an issue of pure being. Just being aware. [Pause]. It does not entail suppressing the mind, but rather simply releasing the mind. Whatever thoughts or memories or images come up, let them appear by themselves and disappear by themselves, without a ripple, without a flicker, without a wavering of your awareness.

] [26:01] Let the light of your awareness shine forth unimpededly, permeating all the six domains of experience, without preference, or partiality, without direction, without moving from its own place, illuminating all appearances but not entering into them. Not conceptually designating anything, not apprehending any object.

[27:19] This is a non practice of non meditation, of not doing anything. Not activating your sentient being’s mind in any way. Releasing it into space, resting in awareness. Without desire or expectation. [Pause]. Without striving to realize anything that has not already been realized, with no effort at all, just resting effortlessly. [Pause]. Resting without seeking to modify, to correct or improve your mind or anything else. There’s nothing to add or subtract from rigpa. Rest there.

[29:57] Without desire. Without striving. Without modification. Without doing anything, no investigation, no searching, no analysis.

[30:37] Just rest in this ordinary consciousness of the present moment. [Pause]. And let it melt into its ground - pristine awareness.

[33:18] There’s no such thing as doing this practice incorrectly. Because if you’re doing something, anything at all, you’re not doing this practice. So, when any doing occurs, you’ve left the practice. Release the doing, the desire, the striving, the modification, the doing of any kind, release it all. And return to the practice that is no practice. The practice that is simply being aware.

[34:07] Without inverting the awareness, without directing the awareness outwards, leave the awareness right where it is. Permeating, pervading this open space, simultaneously and indivisibly, luminous and empty. Let’s continue in silence.

[43:36] [Bell rings]. [Meditation sessions ends].

[43:55] Olaso. So let’s conclude the text. The conclusion is quite short, it’s dedication of merit. So here we are, “Dedication of virtue arising from the composition”. So now Panchen Rinpoche, having completed his commentary to his own text, he is aware that there’s merit or virtue from this so he’s going to be dedicating it and we’ll see how he dedicates it. “Thus …” so, in the root verses, “a renunciate who has heard many discourses I, who am called Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen, say, ‘by my virtue, may all beings quickly win conquest through this path that is a door to peace apart from which there is no second.’” I’m going to change that just a little bit. Whoops. Change that just a little bit. Gain victory. That’s going to be my choice rather than win conquest.

] [45:00] “May all beings quickly gain victory through this path that is a door to peace apart from which there is no second” [in his commentary]. This is the way of fulfilling the promise made at the beginning of the text and as a dedication of virtue entailed by composing the work, so that all beings may gain victory in the battle with the two obscurations, afflictive obscurations and cognitive. I say it’s the supreme essence churned from the sea of the sutras and tantras. The pith of the complete enlightened view of the scholar adepts, the pundits, siddhas of India and Tibet, the path traversed by every supreme and holy adept or siddha. May the son of Mahamudra teaching rise here today. Embodied beings whose minds are drunk on the wine of ignorant delusion and enter the prison house of fearsome, mundane existence, [that’s synonymous with samsara] where they’re tormented by the three sufferings, [you know, those blatant suffering, suffering of change, pervasive, existential suffering] where they’re tormented by the three sufferings, for them Mahamudra is a pleasure grove, a resting place where pain is soothed. The eye that sees the excellent path for every being, the tradition of explanation of Great and Holy beings, the clear and beautiful form of unmixed Mahamudra. This is the jeweled mirror, in which everything manifests. In Mahamudra, the binding fetters of the eight mundane concerns are cut. It is also the guru who exhorts us on the excellent path, which does not deceive those many fortunate beings, who practice in solitary places, bending desire towards the bliss of samadhi. In this way, the massive virtue that has arisen from effort like jasmine opened by the moon’s cool rays, any supremely positive karma I have amassed I dedicate to Great Awakening. So motherly beings may be free. By virtue of that may the excellent mind vase of every being be filled with the divine nectar of Mahamudra, which unites the Sutrayana and Mantrayana. And may they enjoy the great bliss of union.” And that concludes his text. There is then just the colophon, his explanation of how this composition came about.

[47:35] So read that, now "As for this lamp, so bright and extensive explanation of the Mahamudra root text of the teaching tradition of the precious geden oral transmission, “my student Nechu Rabjampa, Gendun Gyaltsen,, who has attained certainty about this path, undertaken the essential practice and made perfect offerings of the flowers of practice unsullied by the weaknesses of the eight mundane concerns. He asked me: 'would you yourself please compose an extensive commentary on this root text, which severs extreme views, clarifies the essential meaning that is to be taken to heart, provides authoritative backing for the combination of scripture and reasoning, and is adorned with instructions from the hearing transmission?” That’s where the pith instructions come in. “Based on his enthusiastic exhortation, I the renunciate Chokyi Gyaltsen, who have gone to the far shore of the sea of individual Mahamudra tenet systems, have written this quickly under prodding at the temple in the greater Dharma school of Tashi Lhunpo.” And this, of course, is his home monastery in western Tibet, in Shigatse. “By this, may the precious teaching be a banner of victory that is never lowered.” Om svasti. “The fully branching, wish-fulfilling tree of the conqueror’s teaching which are the source of benefit and bliss is planted at the great Dharma School of spontaneous auspiciousness, Tashi Lhunpo, so that all beings may practice for the excellent fruit of supreme liberation. May this inexhaustible cloud of Dharma spread like a slow moving stream. Sarvajakatam.”

[49:30] And I want to once again thank Roger Jackson for his translation, without which we really couldn’t have held this teaching. And so I thank him and hope that my suggestions for editing the translation, I hope, may be helpful. Very simple, simple aspiration. So that concludes the oral transmission and the commentary on this text. First time I’ve ever taught it, I received it 40 years ago, and it’s been an enormous privilege to be able to share this with others. So thus is the union of the Gelugpa and the Kagyu tradition on the theme of Mahamudra. And then we’ll go directly back to Naked Awareness. We still have a bit of time.

[50:29] So as you can see, in the morning, I’ve been just gradually reading a few of these delightful parables. And looking right now at the table of contents we did cover, slowly, leisurely, hopefully clearly, the first chapter on Mahayana refuge and bodhicitta. I encourage you to read the second two chapters on karma. And then introduction to parables and meanings, going through those slowly in the mornings, we have the prose identification of rigpa, the identification of Mahamudra. These two are on Mahamudra, of course, on trekcho, corresponding to trekcho. I think everything that’s there will be, should be quite clear actually, from all of the citations, the references, the quotes and the explanations from Panchen Rinpoche, I think quite clear. And then how to follow the path of the leap over or the direct crossing over. I don’t teach that to people who are not prepared. I figure, let’s just get prepared. Other lamas can teach it, though I’m sure, I’m sure they do a splendid job. But I don’t see any reason to teach that to people that are not yet resting in rigpa. And then the guide on the path of transference, phowa, very, very useful. We don’t have time for that. And then we have these three chapters: An introduction to The Ground, Path, and Fruition, The Four Stages of Yoga, How to Progress Along the Grounds and Path, that is, gosh, that’s 180 pages or so. No, a hundred … not quite that many, about 80. 201 to 260. Yeah, no 60. 60 pages.

[52:11] So all the detail you could hope for about the four yogas, how they map onto the five paths and the 10 bhumis. But I think we’ve taken the essence of it. And then at your leisure, you can read this and fill in a lot of detail. I have just my own predilection as I want to know all the detail necessary about the beginning and then further along the path, the vaguer my understanding is, you know, that’s my sense, because life is short. But I’d like to know, you know, if you’re on a journey, it’d be really good to know, if you’re on like an expedition, like one of those wagon trains heading to the West 200 years ago, the most important thing is: ‘do you know the next leg of your journey?’ And not what’s it like 500 miles over yonder. It’d be good, good to have some idea. But what you really want to know is how do you get through the next day, next 10 miles or so. So I’m leaping to, here’s the direct leap over from chapter four to chapter 12, the conclusion which is quite marvelous. And that’s where we go now. I think very appropriate.

[53:13] And so, Conclusion, Homage to Avalokiteshvara. “These are the profound practical instructions of Avalokiteshvara. At the end of these 30 chapters of instructions on the union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, I should synthesize the meaning of these teachings.” So you’ll see, there are 12 chapters here. And that means there had to be, had to have been 18 chapters in “A Spacious Path to Freedom”, including all the chapters on the preliminary practices that Gyatrul Rinpoche said we won’t, that’s covered elsewhere, we don’t need to do that. So Gyatrul Rinpoche took me kind of like midway through the text, and we just picked up right there. So you can read exactly what he taught, in A Spacious Path to Freedom. But what this means is that in 30, at the end of these 30 chapters, okay, 30 chapters, he covered all of this in 30 chapters. Okay? And now he’s finished with that. Okay, so up to chapter 11. And now he’s going to synthesize everything he taught in A Spacious Path to Freedom, and everything he taught in this volume as well. So, we return to Orgyen Rinpoche, Padmasambhava. Orgyen Rinpoche says, “the synthesis of the meaning is for the sake of bringing delight in the teachings.” And that is, once you’ve taught the teachings, then synthesize them. Reminds me of that old cliche we’ve heard so many times about public speaking, say what you want to say, say it, and then say what you said. Tell everybody what you’ve just said. Very straightforward. That’s what he’s doing here. I’m now going to tell you what I’ve said. But I’m going to summarize it. So you really remember it, right? And it’s to make you happy, to inspire you, to encourage you.

[54:56] The way to synthesize the meaning is suggested by Orgyen Rinpoche’s prophecy. ”‘My speech emanation…’" Orgyen Rinpoche is Padmasambhava. “‘My speech emanation…’”, 'Oh, Lake-Born Vajra, right? Lake-Born Vajra. Ring a bell? Lake-Born Vajra? Saroruhavajra, in Sanskrit. “‘My speech emanation by the name of Dipamkara…’”, that’s Atisha. "'My speech emanation by the name of Dipamkara will be a bodhisattva who will purify the land of Tibet. In accordance with that prophecy, the venerable Lord, the glorious Atisha, who was like the crown jewel among 500 pundits in India, came to Tibet.” That’s very interesting from Padmasambhava himself. It’s not just lore, some people say, but actually prophecy from Padmasambhava that Atisha would be a speech emanation of him. The Lake-Born Vajra. It’s widely, I mean universally, regarded that the Panchen Rinpoche was reincarnation of Atisha. So is Khedrup Je who sits on Tsongkhapa’s left. And on Tsongkhapa’s right is Gyaltsab Gendun Drup. So there’s Tsongkapa right in the middle, right? To his right is Gyaltsab Gendun Drup, that was a previous incarnation of the Dalai Lama, his senior disciple. And his junior disciple, the junior of his two spiritual sons is on Tsongkapa’s left. You see a little bit frown. Can you see a little bit frown? Khedrup Je is a bit tough. Get out of the way! I want to see Khedrup Je. [Laughs]. You want to see Khedrup Je? A little bit frown. Because he was known to be very tough, he’s tough debater. Don’t mess with Khedrup Je. If you debate with him, you’ll really regret it. So is the Lake-Born Vajra. A little bit, a little bit, remember? A little bit, a little bit? Mmmm. Not too happy with your mental afflictions. So that’s Panchen Rinpoche. Khedrup Je was an early incarnation of Panchen Rinpoche. So Atisha was incarnation of Panchen Rinpoche and his principal disciple was Dromtonpa. He was incarnation of Dalai Lama; and the fifth Dalai Lama, his guru, was the Panchen Rinpoche. And so they’ve gone back and forth over centuries now. Guru-disciple relationship, guru, disciples, disciple- guru, guru-disciple, back and forth, back and forth.

[57:37] He has quite a lineage, Panchen Rinpoche. I checked it out. I found it so interesting, I wrote up a file on it. From the most reliable sources, I mean, very, very authentic sources. And so the Panchen Rinpoche himself traces back to Khedrup Je, traces back to Atisha, traces back to Padmasambhava, traces back to Subhuti. Subhuti is an arhat in the … both the Pali Canon, he’s there, not highly emphasized, but Subhuti appears very prominently in the Mahayana canon, in the Diamond Cutter sutra. He is the chief figure, apart from the Buddha, he is the chief one and that was the earlier incarnation of the Panchen Rinpoche. So he too, like the Dalai Lama, could say I remember what it was like being with the Buddha. And then where did he fundamentally stem from? Amitabha. So, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama stems from Avalokiteshvara, so the Panchen Rinpoche stems from Amitabha. And that lineage just keeps on flowing, flowing, flowing right into the anomaly of the 20th century, where … Very interesting dynamic between the 13th Dalai Lama and the Panchen Rinpoche of that time. Panchen … Thubten Choekyi Nyima. Thubten Choekyi Nyima was his name. Very remarkable. Travelled to … spend a lot of time in Nepal and China. Very, very, very interesting dynamic between the two. Shortly after the 13th Dalai Lama passed away, very abruptly, like in his mid 50s, he just kind of like died. Then Panchen Rinpoche was off in Beijing, I think, in China. Then he was called back immediately. Come back, come back. And so he’s coming back to a Tibet bereft of the Dalai Lama. He passed away, the 13th. He was coming back, coming back, hastening back, they’re saying please, please come back. We need you now. And he’s coming back, coming back and he came to Kekundo [? 59:38]. [Kekundo], kind of a very remote region of Kham right on the border of Amdo. He came there, and then he passed away, spent 18 days in the clear light of death. 18 days. Now the story about the Panchen Rinpoche and all the, the drama that followed that is quite remarkable. A lot of drama, a lot of strangeness. And of course the present incarnation nobody … well, there can always be more than one incarnation. These are great beings. But the one that was identified by the Dalai Lama as an incarnation of this very problematic, last Panchen Lama. Of course, he was put under house arrest when he was like three or four years old. So he … nobody knows what’s become of him.

[1:00:18] But one other little interesting caveat is that, widely regarded in Tibet, it is said that Panchen Rinpoche in one of his earlier incarnations quite a few hundreds of years ago, he was one of the kings of Shambhala. One of the kings of Shambhala and he took the vast Kalachakra Tantra, which is enormous, and we don’t have it in our world, it’s only in Shambala. But we don’t have it here. Right. But he was the king of Shambala and he was also a great scholar, a great adept of course, and he synthesized the great Kalachakra Tantra into the Laghutantra, the abbreviated tantra, he just condensed it down. A lot, right. So he wrote that and condensed it. That one we have. That made its way to India. And then I believe it was the very next king of Shambhala, Pema Karpo. So that king, his name is Yashas. Manjushri Yashas, that was earlier incarnation of Panchen Rinpoche. He wrote the condensed version, the Laghutantra of Kalachakra. And I’m almost certain it was the next, he’s the next king, King Pema Karpo, or literally the White Lotus. He then wrote the Great Commentary. That’s why they always call the Great Commentary, the Vimalaprabha. Enormous. Vimalaprabha. And it was the commentary on the Laghutantra of his predecessor. And those two texts - the Laghutantra, the short Tantra and then this extraordinary commentary that totally unpacks it.

[1:01:52] Well, the commentary was written by an earlier incarnation of the Dalai Lama. So even back then it wasn’t quite guru-disciple, or might have been for that matter, but it was the king and the next king, the earlier king was the Panchen Rinpoche and the second king was the Dalai Lama. And those two texts, the Laghutantra and the Vimalaprabha, those we have in Sanskrit, and of course in Tibet, and then many, many commentaries, many, many commentaries. So, but then the interesting part again, by broad consensus, widely accepted that there will be these 25 kings of Shambhala. This is like a parallel universe, you know, just like Mount Meru and the world that we know, parallel, that’s north of India. But nobody will ever get it. You’ll never get it from a satellite photo. But in that land, there’ll be 25 kings, 25 Kalki kings they’re called, of the lineage, 25 Kalki kings, each one a great Dharma king. And when the 25th one comes, the 25th one, that will again be an incarnation of Panchen Rinpoche. He will be the final king in that whole sequence. And that’s when our world and Shambhala will come together. Be totally manifest. And that is that that will start what is called Golden Age, fortunate era, a golden age of tremendous bounty, spiritual and mundane. So there are good times ahead. And the Panchen Rinpoche, Atisha, Panchen Rinpoche plays a key role all the way through. Very interesting.

[1:03:23] Olaso. I will post that just for your interest. I did a fair amount of research just to make sure I’d get it as authentic as possible. But the whole lineage of the Panchen Lama is coming right up into the present time. Very interesting sequence. So I have a file on that. I’ve already sent it to Claudio and to Sangay. And I sent something, two other texts. One was, and then I was just kind of checking that out, and I found on the internet there was just a nice downloadable PDF by a very good scholar named John Newman. And he wrote an introduction to Shambala, giving its history and so forth, its distinctive characteristics, what’s the prophecy and so forth. And they made a free download. It’s the first general chapter edited by Geshe Zopa on the Wheel of Time Kalachakra. And the first chapter is free download. So I already have the text, but I downloaded that one chapter. I’ve snapped that over to Claudio too. Quite interesting. I think there was a third one, I can’t remember what it is. That’ll do. That’ll keep you busy for a little while. [Laughter].

[1:04:28] Olaso. So let’s read this story. It’s a very nice story of now, Atisha in Tibet. “At that time”, so during Atisha’s visit to Tibet, he stayed there, I think it was 13 years and passed away there. “At that time, the great translator, Rinchen Zangpo [really, foremost of the translators of the New Translation School] who was an emanation of Manjushri, had studied and trained under more than 20 pundits; [So he’s spent a lot of time in India training with all these pundits, mastered Sanskrit.] and he was like the snowy source of all the streams of Dharma of the New Translation School. [Sakya, Kagyu, Gelug]. He thought, ‘Nowadays there’s no one with greater qualities than mine, and I have nothing to ask the pundit Atisha.” He heard that Atisha had come to town. But this man is accomplished. He trained under 20 pundits. I mean, there’s very … you know, great scholar. And so he’s hearing, you know, 21, big deal. I’ve already studied with 20, what do I need 21 for? So, he says, no…, there’s nobody …, I don’t need to look elsewhere. That was it … I don’t think this is arrogance, he just get it, you know, if you know what you’re doing, then you know what you’re doing. But then, that was his thought: I have nothing to ask pandit Atisha. “However, due to an auspicious sign in a dream, [So he had some kind of dream] I shall simply pay my respects.” Just do that. In a dream that night so when he made this resolve: Well, I’ll just drop in and say hi. But I don’t have any questions, I have the answers, I know what I’m doing.

[1:06:01] “But then in a dream that night, a white man appeared and told him, ‘you are being very pompous about your service to sentient beings, there are still many questions for you to ask. Even if you combined all the translators and pundits in one, this single individual would not have all the excellent qualities of this pundit. [That is, they are not comparable to Atisha.] Tibet has not received all the oral instructions.’ He then disappeared. [It seems he took his dream quite seriously.] Rinchen Zangpo then took the long journey to meet Atisha and invited him to his place, where he gave him a seat equal in height to his own. [Laughs]. [This is a big deal in Tibet, you really … you know, watch when they, you know, the different tulkus and so forth when they’re getting .. laying out the seating arrangement. You’re talking about one cushion, you know, one little layer higher, and so forth. This is part of the culture. So equal. I am a pundit, you’re a pundit, welcome to my home. Eye to eye] equal in height to his own, in his shrine room on the ground floor with the deities of the common Hinayana or Shravakayana. [There’s the ground floor, he’s got his hierarchy well established] In a room on the second floor, were those of the Mahayana [Mansjuri, Tara, Avaloketishvara, and so on.] And on the third floor were images of deities of the Mantrayana [like Vajrayogini and so on]”

[1:07:37] “Atisha [then he showed him into his home and he gave him the guided tour. Here’s my ground floor, Shravakayana. Second floor, Mahayna. Here’s the Vajrayana on the third floor, and he showed him all his shrines, and] Atisha composed verses of praise for them all. [For all of them.] For the first time experiencing faith in Atisha’s words, poetry and so on, [he was really just very, very moved by these verses. I mean, Atisha is obviously a master]. So for the first time experiencing faith, [he didn’t really have faith in Atisha before but now he saw his words, poetry and so forth and so on] the translator removed the three layers of his own seat, so that he had no cushion at all. [So he kind of demoted himself] The translator asked him many questions. And hearing many things for the first time, he was struck by Atisha’s knowledge and his pride collapsed. To all the questions Atisha asked of the translator, he replied only that he knew.” I know, I know, I know, didn’t elaborate.

[1:08:46] “Atisha was also pleased with the translator and he commented, ‘with someone like you in Tibet, there’s no need for anyone to ask me to come to Tibet.’ [What did they invite me for? You’re here.] He then asked, Translator - Lotsawa, if you combine all those teachings [Shravakayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana] if you combine all those teachings in one meditation session and practice them, how can you do it?' The translator replied, ‘I, I do not combine the yanas. Rather, I keep each one distinct, and without mixing them, I practice each one by itself.’ Lord Atisha then remarked, ‘this indicates that you, the translator, are wrong.’ [There is a need for me to be in Tibet after all! [Laughter]. That night the translator meditated during three sessions, visualizing the three yanas in progressive order in three places in his body. [Wouldn’t be surprised at all if it were Shravakayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana. Crown, speech, and then heart. That’s a guess, wild guess.] The pundit knew what he was doing, [Atisha, as he’s doing this, pundit was eavesdropping in on his mind] and the pundit Atisha knew what he was doing and told him, ‘Translator, that’s no good, you won’t get anywhere!’” [Laughter]. It can be really quite shake you up a little bit. I thought I was practicing in private.

[1:10:09] “Rinchen Zangpo asks him, ‘Well then how do you do it?’ And then Atisha’s response: ‘Whatever I say, wherever I am, whomever I accompany, whatever I am doing, I make the ethical discipline of vinaya my foundation. Since all sentient beings have been my mother, I meditate on them as such. I train in the pure view of seeing them as my mother. As the deities are unborn, I meditate on them as such. [Unborn again. When he says, I meditate that means he’s not reifying them.] If you do not know how to combine those, you will not obtain the essence. Lord Atisha also said, [Now you see, it’s indented here, this means he’s now spoken verse. I’ve said before, can’t really convey verse so well in English, but we can get the meaning and that’s … will have to be good enough.] Our Teacher, [refers to the Buddha] our Teacher has well taught that ethical discipline, shila, [Shila, samadhi, prajna. Shila] that ethical discipline, is the basis of all excellent qualities, the spirit of awakening bodhicitta, which is linked with great compassion - Mahakaruna - is praised above all. Enlightenment is certain with the union of the stages of generation and completion, which are not fettered by the signs of good thoughts.’”

[1:11:31] Speak of signs here, “fettered by signs”, you know that means reification, “not fettered”. Even by tainted virtue of reification of good thoughts, it must be permeated with insight into emptiness. “'These are the tasks of individuals of small and great capacity and medium capacity as well.” [Small capacity, those who are practising for the sake of achieving fortunate rebirth in the future. Medium capacity, those who are practising striving for their own liberation. Great capacity, those who are dedicated to the bodhisattva path, to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings. So these are the tasks. What he just described are the tasks of individual of small and great capacity and medium capacity as well. ”‘Emphasize meditation on impermanence, making offerings and requesting that the Wheel of Dharma be turned. If you abandon selfishness, you’re following the jina’s counsel. [Selfish is not a kind of a general vague term. It means self-centeredness, placing your own well being above that of others. And therefore it is antithetical to bodhicitta.] If you abandon selfishness, you are following the jina’s counsel. Extensive teachings of this are for the learned.’" So if you’re a scholar, if you’re a pundit, okay, then get elaborate teachings. But if you’re simply a practitioner, just go right to the core.

[1:12:54] “Righteous are those individuals who synthesize the essence and practise it.” There’s a quiet kind of very gentle criticism there. And that is, people who are highly intelligent, who have a knack for academia, you find them in Tibet, in Europe and North America, everywhere. Some people are just very good students. You know, they excel, they get good grades, whether they’re getting their Geshe training, or high school, university, and so on. And so they naturally like to go with their gifts. And in this traditional context of classical India, early Tibet, they might very well become pundits. But the problem with that, and I’ve seen it so many times, is that if you just relish what you’re good at, and what you’re good at is studying and memorizing and debating, and analyzing and writing and teaching and composing and that you never actually get around to taking the essence of it, and putting into practice. It’s easy to fall into that. Very understandably. But “'righteous are those individuals who synthesize the essence, [draw from their learning, whether it’s a great learning medium or very modest learning, whatever that is and then synthesize it, they turn it, they extract from it, the pith instructions.] and practise it.”

[1:14:16] ”'Noble, I say, are those conscientious people who are not dismissive of their actions and the consequences. [Don’t regard with kind of a casual nonchalance, teachings and karma, actions and the consequences.] Knowing everything, but clinging to one thing is a flaw of scholars. [So in pure scholarship, it’s, it’s very hard to be, to free oneself from grasping, from partiality and for that matter, sectarianism.] Not engaging in practice is a mistake. Not adopting the good and rejecting evil makes for an empty facade of nobility. Live with wisdom, Rinchen Zanpo! This is the admonishment of the Great Compassionate One. [That is Avalokiteshvara] Certainty arose in the mind of the translator Rinchen Zangpo and he made a vow to spend the rest of his life in meditative retreat." So it looks like Atisha had quite an impact on him, you know. There he was, renowned, scholar of scholars, being perhaps the greatest scholar in Tibet at that time. He had one meeting with Atisha and he just then just went into retreat. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu. “As a result of his practice, he moved onto Khasarpana, without leaving his body behind." That speaks volumes. Khasarpana is a Pure Land of Vajrayogini. Without leaving his body behind - rainbow body. So it looks like Atisha served him well. “Lord Atisha also gave practical instructions on practising the four classes of Tantra on a single cushion, [So how do you, how do you take all of the classes and synthesize them into one, integrated practice in one session] and he composed Indian treatises [that would be in Sanskrit] on the fivefold practice.” [which we’re about to discuss].

[1:16:08] "Accordingly, the glorious Phagmo Drupa… [This was a disciple, an early disciple … wasn’t he of Gampopa? I think he was a Gampopa’s disciple but a Kagyu lineage. Kagyu lineage. Very early Kagyu master, great, great master.] the glorious Phagmo Drupa had 5,800 illustrious disciples, all of whom were liberated solely by means of the fivefold practice. [So that should, is that design I think to arouse our intense interest, what’s the fivefold practice? And] The protector Jigten Sumgon [again, one of the early great, great Kagyu masters] says Mahamudra is like a lion. But without the fivefold practice, it is like a blind man. [So Gyaltrul Rinpoche, in his oral commentary ended in smaller font here, he tells what they are but it’s going to come up in the root text, so I’m going to go right on.] It is reported that by training his disciples by way of the fivefold practice, 180,000 of them attained extrasensory perception and supernormal abilities.” Siddhis. Jigten Sumgon, I presume.

[1:17:17] When saying something like that, I think, my speculation is that for a being of this caliber, Jigten Sumgon, that many of his disciples would be non-human disciples. Tibet wasn’t that heavily populated. It’s possible he’s referring to 180,000 people, but human beings… but my speculation is probably that refers to a lot of other beings. When great beings come, and this goes back to the time of the Buddha, when great beings give teachings, it’s not only human beings come. Nagas may come, devas will come, bodhisattvas will manifest. You won’t even be able to see them, they’ll be manifesting there. And so when great beings teach, they will be addressing all the people, all the individuals who are evident to each other, and then addressing all the others behind them, you know, who are there. Because not only human beings were drawn to Dharma, and especially when a great being, a Mahasattva, a person like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Gyalwang Karmapa, and so forth. Dudjom Rinpoche and so on, what have you, all kinds of beings come. There are stories, I can’t remember the exact details. But I think it was His Holiness the Dalai Lama who was up in Ladakh. I don’t remember the details of the story, I won’t try to convey it. But he just passed along and it was quite clear that just the local spirits of the area were paying homage to him as he just passed by. That’s vague, I know. [Some laughter]. But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. I’m not trying to persuade anybody of anything. I’m just kind of reading my teleprompter that’s when it came up.

[1:18:54] “Regarding that practice, [okay, he aroused our curiosity, I think, what’s this fivefold practice?] Regarding that practice, it is said: Cultivating the spirit of awakening [okay, bodhicitta] and your chosen deity.” Well look up there, just, you know, go back and forth. First of all cultivate bodhicitta. Secondly, meditating on your own body as being that of the deity. So this is self-generation. That’s what you’re doing, is self-generation, stage of generation. Okay. So the first one, the bodhicitta. Second one is some degree of self-generation. But we now, we know in this, it’s perfectly clear in this Mahamudra lineage, and it’s equally clear in the Dzogchen lineage, that on this path, you don’t necessarily have to fully achieve the stage of generation. If your Vajrayana practice is comprised only of stage of generation and completion, then Tsongkhapa says, completely finish the stage of generation. And that is if you’re not yet achieved shamatha prior to your practice of stage of generation well for heaven’s sake, achieve it while you’re in.

[1:20:20] And His Holiness commented, I just read this recently, that if you can abide in flawless samadhi for four hours in your stage of generation practice, holding the whole mandala - because it’s not just a deity, it’s the whole mandala, the palace within. It’s three-dimensional; it’s quite an elaborate virtual reality. Anybody who’s had empowerment you know what I’m talking about. You should be able to hold the whole mandala, and the palace, and yourself, and any other beings are maybe in the visualization, in the mandala. And full detail of yourself, the appearance of yourself within the mandala as the deity, with pure vision, sustaining simultaneously the divine pride, suffused with the realization of emptiness of all that, and sustain that fusion of shamatha, vipashyana and stage of generation, and be able to remain there for four hours. So then you’re ready for stage of completion. Well all that really said was, 'You’ve achieved shamatha in the stage of generation.’

[1:21:05] So if that’s your path, this is the Gelugpa path, it’s a Sakya path, the Sakyapa path. Then that’s it. So you’re going to be spending a good deal of time in stage of generation. Because if you don’t complete it, you can always go into tummo and the other, you know, stage of completion practices. But they’re just the same old thing I’ve been saying all along, they will not come to fruition. Full fruition. You’ll probably get some experiences, some insight, some benefit, they will not come to full fruition if you’ve not completed the stage of generation, and the Dalai Lama just said how you do that. So you can always venture into more. Anybody, anybody can just start doing the practices, yes you can, but they will not bear the full fruition. You haven’t laid the foundation sufficiently. And people are so impatient. Not just Westerners, Tibetans all over the place. Just don’t … they just don’t want to linger. So I guess they’re just not taking the very notion of path very seriously. Here in this yana and the Mahamudra and clearly in the Dzogchen, you don’t necessarily have to fully develop the stage of generation. You do need to develop the pure vision, the divine pride, you do need to and it can be simply on Avalokiteshvara. That could be sufficient. He made that perfectly clear in A Spacious Path to Freedom. There’s no rights to mandala and, you know, very complex visualization, right? Sadhana is right there for everybody to read. It’s very simple. Pure vision, divine pride, Avalokiteshvara. Do it and then move on. Move on to shamatha, vipashyana and into Mahamudra itself. So we have so far two - bodhicitta and then generating yourself as the chosen deity, the personal deity - yidam. Yidam. That’s the second. Third: “Meditate on your spiritual mentor” Guru yoga. That’s the third one. Guru yoga. And this is Vajrayana Guru yoga.

[1:22:54] There are multiple levels often overlooked. There’s Shravaka, Shravakayana level Guru yoga. Very meaningful. Where you look upon your guru as an emissary of the Buddha, of the historical Buddha, an emissary, not the same thing at all, not even remotely, but an emissary. An emissary is not a king or a prime minister. But if the ambassador comes to your town, you treat him with all the respect, him or her with all the respect of the king, the prime minister, the president, whoever is being represented. This is representative of a whole nation. So you show him an enormous amount of respect. Whether they’re ugly or fat, or have whiskers or bald or whatever, doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter what their personality is. This person’s representing a whole government. You show them great respect. That’s Shravakayana. Mahayana, you’re viewing your guru as if he or she were Buddha, as a conduit of the blessings of dharmakaya but not as a Buddha. The Dalai Lama made this really clear to me. Mahayana, Mahayana, as if Sangye [Tibetan 1:25:52], you place kind of the attitude of viewing as if, as if, so that you can receive, so the guru can be a clear conduit of the direct blessings of dharmakaya. Pure, right.

[1:24:08] But when it comes to Vajrayana, then there’s no emissary business and there’s no as if business. You look upon your guru, and you identify your guru as Buddha, as Samantabhadra, right. So that’s it. So this is the most powerful guru yoga and it’s the only one that is suitable for Vajrayana in general, and for Mahamudra and Dzogchen. So now we have four, bodhicitta, no just three, no just three - bodhicitta, generating yourself as a yidam, your guru yoga. Fourth is Mahamudra, which was earlier called the view of non-conceptuality, or you can insert Mahamudra or Dzogchen. But, Dzogchen or Mahamudra, you know what that refers to. That’s four. “And [then finally] practice the Dharma of dedication.” Dedicate merits. So those are the four. “There are no kinds of practices of the Sutrayana or Mantrayana according to the New Translation School that are not included among those five topics. [He does say New Translation School. So there is something left over. If you’re following the Old Translation School of Nyingma, but he’s going to go right there immediately]. The tradition of these instructions [These instructions means this whole text and the preceding one, the Spacious Path to Freedom are all about the union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, New Translation School and Old Translation School. So] The tradition of these instructions [called the Payu lineage, the Payu lineage, of the Nyingma] adds on to them the Leap over [or the direct crossing over] of Great Perfection, [So you have those five, and then you also have the leap over] thereby completing the practices of the nine yanas.” So then you’ve included, fully included the atiyoga, or the Mahasandhi, the ninth yana, which is Dzogchen, which is comprised of the cutting through and the direct crossing over.

[1:26:00] “You should practise them upon a single cushion, or within a single session. [So that was really the import of Atisha’s counsel to Rinchen Zangpo.] I shall give a concise account of their meaning as taught in The Design of Mahamudra composed by Phagmo Drupa and Jigten Sumgon’s Three Dharmas.” So he’s drawing from two of the greatest of the great in the Mahamudra lineage. That then gives you a concise kind of pith instructions, the core of this fivefold practice, which is the necessary complement to your practice of Mahamudra. So it’s so helpful to know what is indispensable. In the path of Dudjom Lingpa, we know so clearly - preliminary practices, shamatha, vipashyana, trekcho, togal. We’re done. That’s absolutely essential. Does this mean don’t do anything else? He never ever suggests or implies that. What about if you’d like to augment that with stage of generation practice? Maybe some tummo practice. But if you’d like to augment it with maybe some seven point mind training, or what have you? What about your Dharma protector practice? Can you augment that? Of course, you can augment it. Of course, of course, not exclusive. But what’s indispensable if you want to proceed on this path - shamatha, vipashyana, trekcho, togal. Here on this path of Mahamudra, the fivefold practice, that’s indispensable, right? And then, and then Mahamudra. That’s indispensable to achieve the first yoga, single-pointed, achieve the Mahayana path of accumulation and proceed on the path.

[1:27:36] So I love this clarity, the openness of it, the depth of it, quite extraordinary. So I think we’ll enjoy this conclusion, which will go on a bit, but really summing up everything that he did in the preceding 30 chapters, and then putting it all into one. It’s very, very juicy. So I’m very glad, and I feel it’s quite sufficient. I don’t feel I’ve left out anything. I don’t think I’ve gypped you. By the time we finish next Monday, we will one way or another we will finish this chapter and then I will leave with no regret. Okay. So enjoy your day.

Transcribed by Shirley Soh

Revised by Sueli Martinez

Final edition by Kriss Sprinkle

Transcript formatted and posted on the website of the course by Rafael C. Giusti

Discussion

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