Homage to
the Eighty Four Mahasiddhas!
Homage to Mahamudra!
Homage to the Vajra Dakini!
Mahamudra cannot be taught.
But most intelligent Naropa,
Since you have undergone
rigorous austerity,
With forbearance in suffering
and with devotion to your Guru,
Blessed One, take this
secret instruction to heart.
Is space anywhere supported?
Upon what does it rest?
Like space, Mahamudra
is dependent upon nothing;
Relax and settle in
the continuum of unalloyed purity,
And, your bonds loosening,
release is certain.
Gazing intently into the
empty sky, vision ceases;
Likewise, when mind gazes
into mind itself,
The train of discursive and
conceptual thought ends, And
supreme enlightenment is gained.
Like the morning mist that
dissolves into thin air,
Going nowhere but ceasing to be,
Waves of conceptualization,
all the mind's creation, dissolve,
When you behold
your mind's true nature.
Pure space has
neither colour nor shape
And it cannot be stained
either black or white;
So also, mind's essence is
beyond both colour and shape
And it cannot be sullied by
black or white deeds.
The darkness of
a thousand aeons is powerless
To dim the crystal clarity
of the sun's heart;
And likewise,
aeons of samsara have no power
To veil the clear light of the mind's
essence.
Although space has been
designated "empty",
In reality it is inexpressible;
Although the nature of mind
is called "clear light",
Its every ascription is
baseless verbal fiction.
The mind's original nature
is like space;
It pervades and embraces
all things under the sun.
Be still and stay relaxed
in genuine ease,
Be quiet and let sound
reverberate as an echo,
Keep your mind silent and
watch the ending of all worlds.
The body is essentially empty
like the stem of a reed,
And the mind, like pure space, utterly transcends
the world of thought:
Relax into your intrinsic nature
with neither abandon nor control,
Mind with no objective
is Mahamudra,
And, with practice perfected,
supreme enlightenment is gained.
The clear light of Mahamudra cannot be revealed
by the canonical scriptures
or metaphysical treatises
of the Mantravada,
the Paramitas or the Tripitaka;
The clear light is veiled
by concepts and ideals.
By harbouring rigid precepts
the true samaya is impaired, But
with cessation of mental activity
all fixed notions subside;
When the swell of the ocean
is at one with its peaceful depths,
When mind never strays
from indeterminate,
non-conceptual truth,
The unbroken samaya is
a lamp lit in spiritual darkness.
Free of intellectual conceits,
disavowing dogmatic principles,
The truth of every school and scripture is revealed.
Absorbed in Mahamudra, you are
free from the prison of samsara;
in Mahamudra,
guilt and negativity are consumed;
And as master of Mahamudra
you are the light of the Doctrine.
The fool in his ignorance,
disdaining Mahamudra,
Knows nothing but struggle
in the flood of samsara.
Have compassion for those
who suffer constant anxiety!
Sick of unrelenting pain
and desiring release,
adhere to a master,
For when his blessing
touches your heart,
the mind is liberated.
KYE HO! Listen with joy!
Investment in samsara is futile;
it is the cause of every anxiety.
Since worldly involvement is
pointless, seek the heart of reality!
In the transcending of mind's
dualities is Supreme vision;
In a still and silent mind is
Supreme Meditation;
In spontaneity is Supreme Activity
And when all hopes and fears
have died, the Goal is reached.
Beyond all mental images
the mind is naturally clear:
Follow no path to follow
the path of the Buddhas;
Employ no technique to gain
supreme enlightenment.
KYE MA! Listen with sympathy!
With insight into
your sorry worldly predicament,
Realizing that nothing can last,
that all is as dreamlike illusion,
Meaningless illusion provoking
frustration and boredom,
Turn around and
abandon your mundane pursuits.
Cut away involvement
with your homeland and friends
And meditate alone in a forest
or mountain retreat;
Exist there in
a state of non-meditation
And attaining no-attainment,
you attain Mahamudra.
A tree spreads its branches
and puts forth leaves,
But when its root is cut
its foliage withers;
So too, when the root of the mind
is severed, the branches
of the tree of samsara die.
A single lamp dispels
the darkness of a thousand aeons;
Likewise, a single flash
of the mind's clear light
Erases aeons of
karmic conditioning
and spiritual blindness.
KYE HO! Listen with joy!
The truth beyond mind
cannot be grasped by
any faculty of mind;
The meaning of non-action
cannot be understood in
compulsive activity;
To realise the meaning of non-action and beyond mind,
Cut the mind at its root
and rest in naked awareness.
Allow the muddy waters
of mental activity to clear;
Refrain from both positive
and negative projection,
leave appearances alone:
The phenomenal world,
without addition or subtraction,
is Mahamudra.
The unborn omnipresent base
dissolves your
impulsion and delusions:
Do not be conceited or calculating
but rest in the unborn essence
And let all conceptions of yourself
and the universe melt away.
The highest vision
opens every gate;
The highest meditation
plumbs the infinite depths;
The highest activity
is ungoverned yet decisive; And
the highest goal is ordinary being
devoid of hope and fear.
At first your karma is like
a river falling through a gorge;
In mid-course it flows like
a gently meandering River Ganga;
And finally, as a river
becomes one with the ocean,
It ends in consummation like
the meeting of mother and son.
If the mind is dull and
you are unable to
practice these instructions,
Retaining essential breath and
expelling the sap of awareness,
Practising fixed gazes:
methods of focussing the mind,
Discipline yourself until the
state of total awareness abides.
When serving a karmamudra,
the pure awareness of bliss
and emptiness will arise:
Composed in a blessed union
of insight and means,
Slowly send down, retain
and draw back up the bodhichitta,
And conducting it to the source,
saturate the entire body.
But only if lust and
attachment are absent
will that awareness arise.
Then gaining long-life
and eternal youth,
waxing like the moon,
Radiant and clear,
with the strength of a lion,
You will quickly gain
mundane power
and supreme enlightenment.
May
this pith instruction in Mahamudra
Remain in
the hearts of fortunate beings.