mahamudra dzogchen
Autor: Julio Cesar Tafforelli | Publicado: 2010-10-05T21:26:00-07:00

The Union ofMahamudra and DzogchenVenerableKhenchen Thrangu RinpocheA Commentary OnThe Direct Instructionsof The Great Compassionate OnebyKarma Chagmey RinpocheTranslated from Tibetan by Lama Yeshe GyamtsoCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."ForewordThese teachings come from the text written by Karma Chagmey [ 1605 - 1670 ] aprominent master of the Karma Kagyu lineage. He authored more than 55 volumes, andhis teachings are so revered that they are practiced to this date in both the Kagyu andNyingma traditions. This text is entitled, The Direct Instructions of The GreatCompassionate One. It is a collection of eighteen chapters and is structured for usagewithin a formal eighteen day retreat. Each chapter is presented in the mornings by theteacher and the students then meditate on the instructions for the rest of the day. In thatway the students are able to travel the entire path, beginning with the preliminaries andincluding the final practices. In addition, countless meditator yogis and lay practitionerswould use this text, as a guide for their practice.In June of 2003, the Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche presented his commentaryorally on the last nine chapters from the text to a group of students at Crestone, Colorado,with Lama Yeshe Gyamtso providing the translation. Rinpoche omitted the beginningchapters on devotion, the common and the uncommon preliminaries, and began theteachings with the generation of bodhicitta chapter. He then presented the remainingchapters, the generation stage, the completion stage, the Mahamudra sections and theGreat Perfection practices.What follows are Rinpoche’s comments transcribed from just five of the audio tapes.Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche begins with the direct insight teaching from both traditions,the Mahamudra and the Great Perfection traditions, called the analytic meditation of aPandita. Rinpoche presented pointing out instructions from Rangjung Dorje, the ThirdKarmapa, from Kunga Nangyal, the Fourth Trungpa Rinpoche and from Jigmey Linpathe realized master of the Nyingma tradition. These commentaries contain practicalexamples from these three masters own experiences, which can be applied immediatelyby practitioners. Rinpoche then uses quotations from the Mahasiddha Tilopa, JetsunMilarepa and Guru Padmasambhava, which contain the instructions on the practice ofMahamudra and the view of the Great Perfection, Trekcho.Thrangu Rinpoche is able to bring these direct pointing out instructions into plainview to the students, by sharing his understanding on the meanings in these quotations.In the concluding sections Rinpoche provides the students with the explanation of theDzogchen leap-over practice or Togel instructions. He began by presenting both aspectsto the Togel practice. The preliminary practice is the separation of samsara from nirvana.The samsara part is called the instructions for preventing rebirth in the six realms, and thenirvana part is the contemplation of the Three Jewels and the natural settling of the body,speech and mind. He then taught the second aspect to the Togel practice, the six lamps,the main part of the Togel practice. The six lamps are the training or familiarization toachieve liberation at the time of death in the bardo of dharmata. Through thefamiliarization with these practices in this lifetime the present bardo, the practitioner withthe ability of some recognition of his or her minds nature, can gain the ability not to beoverwhelmed by the appearances during the bardo of dying. This recognition is what isknown as the merging of the luminosity of mother and child; their previous recognitionwill mix with their identification of it. The mother is the luminosity of the ground whichis recognized and the child is the experience of dharmata which one previouslycultivated.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."Analytic Meditation of a PanditaWithin the instructions on Mahamudra and The Great Perfection which are presentedin this text, we have reached the insight methods from both of these traditions. I feel ofthese two systems of instruction the one that is most beneficial for practitionersnowadays are Mahamudra. And, I feel therefore that Mahamudra teaching and practice isthe most important.The reason is that, although, there are many profound instructions which if practicedwith great diligence while living in retreat, and having given up the world are veryeffective, nowadays it is very rare for people to be able to give up all the concerns of thislife. What we really need, practically speaking, is a system of practice that can beproperly implemented while we continue to maintain active lives, a system that can bepracticed without any harm to the course of our lives, or our livelihood. The system ofpractice most applicable in this context is Mahamudra.King Indrabhuti was not only a ruler but lived a life of luxury where as Nargarjunawas a great scholar and teacher. Both reached realization thru the practice of Mahamudra.The Kagyu forefathers Tilopa, Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa all had different lifestylesinvolved with certain different responsibilities. Whatever their circumstances theyintegrated it with Mahamudra preserving mindfulness and alertness throughout all oftheir activities.In short, whatever your lifestyle may be and whatever form your practice may take, if itincludes the practice of Mahamudra it will be successful. Mahamudra is essential ornecessary practice even if you do other practices as well. For example, there are profoundmethods such as the Six Dharmas of Naropa, and the leap-over or Togel practice withinThe Great Perfection tradition; but if you do these practices without Mahamudra practicethey are not as affective. For example, you can practice Tummo or Dream Yoga and soon, and if you do them conjoined with Mahamudra practice they are tremendouslypowerful and effective. If you don’t conjoin them with Mahamudra they are really notthat useful. Now we can’t say that they are useless, no Dharma practice is useless, butthey don’t fulfill their proper function unless Mahamudra practice is integrated into them.The same thing is true of the leap-over practice or Togel practice of The Great Perfection.Togel includes powerful methods such as the white instruction, red instruction, yellowinstruction and the darkness teaching, but if these techniques are practiced in the absenceof Mahamudra experience, not much benefit will accrue. Where, if they are practices inthe context of Mahamudra they are tremendously powerful. On the other hand, you canpractice just Mahamudra without any of these methods and it is still tremendouslybeneficial by itself.In this text the practice of direct valid cognition is divided into two styles of practice.One called the analytical meditation of a Pandita, and the other called the placement of aKusulu or yogi. A Pandita is a scholar, and here it means the use of some kind ofexamination or analysis like direct observation. On the other hand the other aspect of theusage of direct valid cognition, the placement meditation of a Kusulu or yogi is verysimple and direct without the usage of directed or analytically oriented observation.In the analytical direct observation of a Pandita you are observing specificcharacteristics or things.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."What you are doing is attempting to directly observe certain features or characteristics.The practitioner looks directly at his or her own mind. In this practice you think, well themind appears to be there, where? And you try to look at the mind and determine where itis? Where it is seated? Again, if the mind is present if the mind is there, how is it there?In what way is the mind present and what is it?We believe the mind to be around somewhere. What is this mind? Now looking atthese things you have to remember there are two aspects to things, how they appear andhow they are. In the contexts of how things appear, it appears of course. It appears thatour minds are seated in our heads or our hearts or all over the body. It appears that ourminds are composed of lots of thoughts and so on. Here you are not looking at howthings appear, you are looking at what the mind is. So in order to do this you first let themind settle down, let it come to rest of itself. And, then you look at it to see what it isreally like, and what it is that experiences. We define the mind as that which experiences;well what is it that experiences everything? This is not analysis, because you are notinferring these things, you are trying to observe them. This is called the eradication ofmisconception within; rather than an outward direct way.The Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje wrote, “When you repeatedly look at the mindwhich can not be looked at.” This means that when you look at your mind you don’tdiscover or find your mind as an object or as a subject, but nevertheless, you can stilllook, you are still searching. Now, when you do this repeatedly by thinking, “What is mymind really like?” and looking at it, “Where is it?” and looking for it, “What is itsnature?” and looking at that. “What are its characteristics?” And really looking for them,you can do so. And when you do so, as Rangjung Dorje continues, “The mind that cannot be seen is clearly seen.” Now, again this means when you look at your mind youdon’t see anything in the sense of discovering some object, such as a color or a shape.You don’t discover anything like that, but on the other hand, the mind is not nothingeither. You experience clearly without any vagueness or doubt, the mind in a way that isnot seeing something; and at the same time you see clearly through that experience, thatthere is nothing to be seen. Now, this means in spite of the fact that there is nothing in orof the mind that can be seen in the usual sense, the mind can experience, and theexperience of the mind clearly just as it is, is what we call insight or vipashyana. Whenyou do this repeatedly doubts about the mind, is it or isn’t it, and so forth, are alleradicated. “In that way may I come to know my own nature without bewilderment.”This means, when you see the mind or experience the mind as it is, any kind of ideas,confusion or doubts about it being one thing or another are transcended or thereforeeradicated. What you experience is your own nature. It isn’t something outside ofyourself that you have to reach outside of yourself to find.When you see that which can not be seen; when you experience your mind as it is,what do you experience? What do you discover? The Third Karmapa continues, “It is notsomething and therefore not seen by the Buddhas.” When you look at your mind youdon’t find anything that can be called something, anything, that you can say exists. Youmight think that the reason that you don’t discover anything is because the mind issomehow too subtle or maybe it is too small to be seen or maybe you are just not lookingat it in the right way.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."These are not the reasons for which you do not find anything, because even Buddhas,who certainly know how to look at it, in the right way don’t see a thing, something, thatexists, when they look at the mind. Nevertheless, Rangjung Dorje continues: “It is notnothing; it is the ground of all samsara and nirvana.” While when you look at the mindyou don’t find anything, nevertheless, your mind remains the source or root of allexperience. All of the pleasure and pain and variety of experience that you experience,are experienced by your mind. And when you recognize the nature of your mind youachieve buddhahood. In that way it is the mind that experiences samsara and nirvana.Now, normally in ordinary simple logic, we would say; that if a thing is notsomething, it must be nothing. If it does not exist it must not exist. And, if a thing is notnothing it must be something. If it does not, not exist it must exist. So we would regardthese statements as contradictory, that the mind is not something and yet not nothing.Nevertheless the Karmapa continues: “This is not a contradiction, this is the middle wayof unity.” Unity here means that the mind is the abiding unity of cognitive lucidity andemptiness. He goes on to say, “This is the Dharmata or nature of the mind beyondextremes.”The nature of your mind is beyond any kind of concept, conceptual elaboration orextreme you can come up with. It is not something, it is not nothing, it is not both, and itis not some other thing that is neither something or nothing. We describe this nature inusing all sorts of terms, ‘the unity of the expanse and wisdom,’ ‘the unity of cognitivelucidity and emptiness,’ ‘the unity of bliss and emptiness,’ and so on. All of these thingsrefer to the mind’s nature, and is how in his Aspiration of Mahamudra, the ThirdKarmapa describes what you experience when you look at the mind. In that way, thenature of the mind is described in the Mahamudra tradition.In the tradition of The Great Perfection, it is described similarly. For example, fromthe words of the omniscient Jigme Lingpa, “It is not something and is not seen even bythe Buddhas. It is not nothing for it is the ground for all samsara and nirvana. This is nota contradiction; this is the Middle Way of unity. May the nature of the ground, the GreatPerfection be realized.” In other words, exactly the same thing is said in both traditions.And the way you discover this is simply by looking at your own mind, without makingany attempt to alter it or to control what you experience.When we use the word ‘looking’ in ordinary speech, we mean to look at somethingand to see it as it is. So for example, with your eyes when you look at a color you wantand expect to see the color properly. You want to see red as red, and white as white, andso on. In the same way the practice of vipashyana or insight, is looking directly andwithout prejudice at your mind’s nature, so that you see it, as it is. This is therefore not anattempt to control what you experience or to prejudice yourself about what you willexperience. When you look at the mind you don’t attempt to reinforce a conceptual view,such as the ‘mind is empty,’ it is nothing whatsoever. That is what I must see and so on.At this point in the text a quotation is provided from Karma Chagmey, by the FourthTrungpa Rinpoche, Kunga Namgyal. The instructions given in this quotation areparticularly beneficial. He says, “When you are meditating by looking at the nature ofyour mind, whether you are doing so through primarily the application of consciouseffort in tension or through a conscious effort in relaxation, what you need to do isengage in direct observation.” Direct observation means you are not using faculty ofreasoning, here you are using your faculty of observation. So one thing that will happenCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."when you are meditating, at some point your mind will come to rest. When your mind isstill, when your mind is at rest, then you look at that state of stillness. If your mind is atrest, what is that stillness? Of what does it consist? What are the qualities of thatstillness? What are the characteristics of that stillness? For example, does the stillnesshave color? Does it have form or shape? And, if so ‘what?’ and if not, ‘what does ithave?’ Here you have to be careful, Kunga Nangyal says, to observe these thingscarefully. Which means you keep on looking until you have directly observed the presentor absence of the looked for characteristics. You don’t stop when you decide, well itprobably doesn’t have these things, or it must not possess these things. That is notenough you have to experience it directly through observation.Now, when you are in the midst of this observation at some point a thought is going tosuddenly appear. Since your mind is no longer in a state of stillness you look at thethought. It doesn’t matter whether the thought is a particular coarse or vivid thought, or amore subtle one. And it can be any kind of thought, even the most unpleasant ones. It canbe thoughts of hatred, of jealousy, of intense sadness or fear. In any case whatever thethought is, you look at it. By looking at it with the faculty of direct observation, you seethe thought arise.Now thoughts do arise, we do experience thoughts. The first thing you need to look tosee is, when we say thoughts arise, do they arise from somewhere? Do thoughts arisefrom some prior state, or place, or origin? So first you look to see where the thought hascome from. Now, after a thought arises it remains present for a little bit. While thethought is present, while it is still apparent within your mind, look directly at it and try toobserve its nature.Now the problem that can occur here is the temptation to use the faculty of reasoningin this instead of direct observation. If you use the faculty of reasoning you wouldn’t beable to detect or observe anything. You’ll just be trying to figure it out. So here you aretrying to observe these things directly, and only through experiential direct observation,will there be experience of the nature of thought. At a certain point the thought willdisappear, this is how thoughts are. A thought initially appears in your mind, remains fora bit, and then it disappears.When the thought disappears where does the thought go? Where does it end up? Whatdoes it become? Kunga Nangyal says; “When a thought disappears is it that it existedand it then ceased to exist? Or is it that it is a product of some source and then dissolvesback into that source? Or is it that the thought becomes emptiness? Which of these thingsis actually happening when a thought dissolves or disappears?” He continues,“Sometimes the thoughts that arise in our minds are not so much as concepts, but asimages. For example it might be an image of a person, or people, of a horse, of buildingsand places.” Nowadays we would have to add of cars, of airplanes and images frommovies and so on. Now technically, such an image is considered as an abstraction derivedfrom experience, but fundamentally speaking these things do appear in our minds asfairly concrete images. Kunga Nangyal continues, “When such an image appears in yourmind look to see where it came from? We say they appear, and they do seem to appear,from where do they appear? Do they come from outside your body, and somehow enterinto it? Do they come from some place in your body? While the image is present withinyour mind, where is it? And finally when the image dissolves and disappears like anyother thought, where does it go? What does it become? What happen to it?”Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."Now when you look at this in the manor or sense of direct observation, you see thateven while the image is apparent, even while the image is vividly present as an image inyour mind, it is empty of existence. While being utterly empty, even while being present,it still appears vividly. Now these two things, its being empty and its being apparent arenot contradictory. We might imagine that something can either appear, or be empty, butin fact things are both. And, you can experience this directly by looking at these images.This is finally what your mind is like which is why we categorize it as the unity ofcognitive lucidity and emptiness, or appearance and emptiness. So, in this way,conducting direct or experiential observation of the mind, and of the thoughts and imagesthat arise within the mind and in that way discovering that the mind is appearance, that atthe same time is emptiness, is what is called the analytic meditation of a Pandita.The ViewIn the fourteenth chapter of the Karma Chagmey text, the practice of Mahamudra andthe view of The Great Perfection called Trekcho, are presented together. Most of it ispresented in the context of Mahamudra and it points out that what is taught here appliesalso to the view and practice of Trekcho.The next quotation comes from the Mahasiddha Tilopa, and Tilopa taught: “This isself- aware wisdom; it is beyond the speech and is not an object of conceptual mind,therefore, I, Tilopa have nothing whatsoever to show you. Know by yourself your ownsupreme self-awareness.” Now the first thing that Tilopa explains is that what isdiscovered as the nature of the mind is self-aware, and it discovers itself. So it is calledself-aware wisdom. But it can only be discovered in that way, as an object of directexperience. The reason is because it can not be correctly contained in thought orlanguage. This means that we always assume in the way we think and in the way wespeak about things that something must either exist or not. Sometimes we come up withideas like it might both exist and not exist, or it might neither exist nor not exist.The nature of mind is way beyond all of these ideas or concepts and it is notcomprised within or contained within any such linguistical description of its state. In fact,not only can you not describe it in words, you can’t even think about it. It can only beexperienced directly. Therefore, the Buddha said that Prajnaparamita is inconceivable,indescribable and unnameable. So Tilopa is saying what has to be recognized can’t bedescribed or even thought about. He can’t show it, there is nothing for him to show. Allhe can do is direct you to look at your mind because it is discovered by someone lookingat their own mind in the way which is the mind looking at itself.In this chapter another quotation is given from Guru Rinpoche, GuruPadmasambhava, in which he is giving meditation instructions. He says, “When youallow your mind to rest naturally and simply without alteration, then in that state look atthis knowing, look at this cognition, this experience directly. When you look at yourmind in that way your thoughts will subside, they will be pacified; the thoughts will stop.When you do that is there a state within the context of no alteration? Is there a state ofthe mind being completely at rest? That is tranquility; it is not the nature of the mind.” Itis not the nature described in Mahamudra and it is not the view of Trekcho. He continues,Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."“But in that state of tranquility look directly at the nature of that which is at rest. Whenyou do so you observe that it has no substantial entity, nor the characteristics of suchthings as shape and color. It has no substantial existence whatsoever. In that way thereisn’t an utter emptiness, an utter absence of a substantial entity that of itself is nothingwhatsoever. That is what is called the empty nature of the mind.” The quotationcontinues, “But if you look further at that emptiness which you experience the mind tobe, don’t you see that while it is utterly empty it has an unceasing and unlimited lucidityor knowingness that is its characteristic, and that lucidity is limpid or clear without anycrud in it? Isn’t it a lucidity that is completely open and spacious, not blank or neutral?That is what is called the cognitive lucidity that is the mind’s characteristic.”So Guru Rinpoche is pointing out two things. The first is the mind’s nature which isemptiness and the second thing is the mind’s characteristic quality which is cognitivelucidity. So, it seems at this point, as if there are two distinct aspects to the mind.However, if you keep on looking you will see that utter emptiness that is the absence ofany kind of essence, any kind of creative substantial entity, and the radiance of thatemptiness which is this unceasing cognitive lucidity; these two are not really differentthings, they are the same thing.And their sameness is that very receptive glaring awareness, that in its receptivity isempty and in its glaring quality is lucidity.So when you look at your mind you see that in spite of its emptiness, it is literallyglaring and blaringly aware. Other than the fact that the mind is aware, and you canexperience that, there is nothing else you can say about it. You can’t say that thisawareness is like this or like that. For example Lord Marpa, one of the Kagyu lineageforefathers said: “The experience of recognizing it is like the experience of a mute persontasting sugar. They can experience it, but they can’t describe it.” This awareness, whichis glaring in its intensity and always present, in the present, that is what is given the nameawareness or rigpa.The Fifteenth chapter of this text talks about how to practice this in meditation. Thereare basically two ways of viewing or looking at the mind, one is looking at the mind instillness and the other is looking at the mind in motion or occurrence. When no thoughtsare present, this is looking at the mind in stillness. When thoughts arise, which are seenas occurring in the brain, and you look at the nature of the thought, rather than the natureof the mind; that is looking at the mind within occurrence.These two things are distinct. In one case you are looking at the nature of the minditself and in the other case, you are looking at the nature of thoughts. These two states aredistinct. One state is stillness, no thoughts are present, and the other state is occurrence.The mind is full of thoughts and possibly very busy. But the nature that is looked at is thesame nature; and the characteristic is the same characteristic. When you look directly atyour mind, you experience its characteristic cognitive lucidity and its nature, which isemptiness. When you look at thoughts you see that thoughts are cognitive lucidity thatare empty in nature. Now, if you feel that one of these two states is preferable to the otherand substantially different, then there is a third way of looking that is the remedy for that,the belief which is looking to see if stillness and occurrence are the same or different. Asto how you implement them, you implement them as these states arise, and these methodsare designed to enable you, within different types of states of mind, to rest in theDharmata.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."All of this is summarized in a clear way by Jetsun Milarepa in one of his songs inwhich he says: “Appearance, emptiness and their inseparability, these three thingssummarize the view.” Now appearance here means not only external appearance but thewhole aspect of appearance or lucidity. So it includes cognitive lucidity and the cognitivelucidity which is the mind’s defining characteristic as a mind, and is at the same timeutterly empty; not only is the mind’s cognitive lucidity empty, but the cognitive lucidityand its emptiness are not two different things. So knowing this summarizes the view. Asfor meditation he says: “Lucidity, non-thought and non-distraction, these threesummarize meditation.” Now when we meditate and rest in and look at the mind’s nature,we experience cognitive lucidity, but while we experience that lucidity, the lucidity isneither created by, or limited to, thought. It is innate to the mind and does not depend onthe existence of thought in order to be maintained. So, therefore, the lucidity is not onlyexperienced, it is recognized as being fundamentally non conceptual.Now in order to rest in this you need the faculties of mindfulness and alertness. So thekey point in resting in the mind’s lucidity, a non-thought or non-conceptuality is beingundistracted, because sometime you observe this nature and are able to rest in thatobservance, and then you find that you’ve lost track of it, which means you’ve becomedistracted. So the key points to meditation are lucidity, non-conceptuality and non-distraction. That is how you practice in even placement, in meditation.The most important condition, the thing that needs to be present for progress insamadhi, both in meditation and post meditation is faith and devotion. Both are necessaryfor your practice to develop and to increase. Even more than that, faith and devotion arenecessary to even practice at all. If you don’t have faith and devotion you are not going todo the practices.The first and foremost devotion is Dharma itself. If you have the attitude that Dharmais what you need in this life, to insure your welfare and benefit in future lives, to be abenefit to yourself and others, you will continue to progress. To practice you mustbelieve there is something to be realized and that the methods you’ve been taught willenable you to realize it. If you believe these two things you will do the practice and if youdo it you will realize it. The second object of faith and devotion are the root and lineageGurus. The previous masters put the teachings into practice and by doing so they gainedrealization. If you have confidence in the practice and the transmission of the practiceyou will be diligent and will achieve the result. The other aspect of practice is postmeditation. The practice of meditation is not enough because no matter who you are youstill have enough normal everyday activity to do that you are going to be spending a lotof time in post meditation. If you don’t do anything about your state of mind in postmeditation, even if you are diligent in meditation, you are not going to progress. Thereason for this is if you let your mind wander utterly lost the whole time in postmeditation then whatever is achieved in your formal meditation will be undone. Soattempt to carry the awareness and mindfulness achieved in meditation as much aspossible into your post meditation activity. From time to time you will lose track of it andyou will become bewildered but at least you won’t become bewildered intentionally. Ifyou don’t try to maintain awareness in post-meditation then, from the end of onemeditation session until the next, there will be one whole interrupted period of utterdistraction. By attempting to bring what is achieved in meditation into your postmeditation, each part of your life will enhance the other and you will make progress.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."TogelPreliminariesThe second half of the Dzogchen is called Togel or leap over. The outlook of thispractice is that the mental events of the mind’s cognitive lucidity, when experienced intheir true or pure form they are the peaceful and wrathful deities. The peaceful ones arein the heart, the Vidyadharas in the throat and the wrathful deities in the mind. Theyabide in the channels as body, speech and mind.Because they are there if the right circumstances are created, they can be seen. Youcreate these circumstances through external and internal conditions, such as gaze, as youwill see. Initially, when you first see them, you see them as circles or spheres of light orrays of light. When you see them within the context of the proper conscious applicationof method, such as the use of light and the use of darkness, then what you will seegradually ripens or develops and gradually the circles become more distinct and brighter.Then the forms of the deities with their ornaments and scepters will appear. This methodis called Togel.There are two situations in which you can see these deities; one is within the Togelpractice of meditation and the other when you experience the bardo of death.While alive these deities abide within your body, within the various channels. Theyare not present physically in the form of deities; they are present in the form of thoughtsand the function of mind. When we die the body and mind separate and these deitiesemerge from the channels where they are present until this time. When they do so you seethem, sometimes as the peaceful deities, other times as the wrathful deities and at othertimes as the Vidyadharas. If you are unfamiliar with them, you will not recognize them.Either they will appear so quickly that you will not notice their appearance, or you willnot recognize them at all, and be terrorized by them and run away from them. The terrorthat you generate for the display of your own nature is the immediate cause generatingthe mental body in the bardo. The mental body is in turn the vehicle for the nextcultivation of attachment, craving, acceptance, which causes you to seek andunfortunately find a rebirth. At that point, once you are conceived in your next life, thedeities are withdrawn once again into the channels in which you are starting to develop.Now during this life you can see these deities using the technique of light, either thesun or an electric light or darkness. If you perform these techniques their appearanceswill arise as sound, light and as rays of light. However, for this to be of any use, you needto have experience of your mind’s nature. The nature of these deities is spontaneouspresence, they are the natural display of Dharmata itself. But if you have no experience ofthat nature of mind, Dharmata, you will mistake them to be substantial which will in turncause further bewilderment.The practice of Togel has two parts, the preliminary and the main practice. The Togelpreliminaries consist of the separation of samsara from nirvana, and this is done in body,speech and mind, [the separation of body, the separation of speech and the separation ofmind.]Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."We start the practice with the focus on samsara. Now samsara consists of six realms orthe six states; so there is a separate meditation for each of these. In each case youmeditate on the sensations of that specific realm and then on the emptiness of thosesensations. You do so by looking at the direct nature of your own mind and therebyexperiencing the emptiness of the sensations.So the first realm is the hell realm and, among the two types of hell realms, the hothell. During these meditations you will be visualizing yourself in your ordinary form withthe exception that you visualize your body as hollow. So, from the outside, you will lookas you look and from the inside there are no bones or guts.In the center of your right foot towards its heel, visualize a black Duh syllable. Youthen think that all of the karma which is likely to cause your rebirth anytime in hell, all ofthe karma accumulated by others which will cause their rebirth in hell, and all of thehellish kleshas that afflict you and others, are drawn into that black Duh syllable. Thesyllable in your foot is then transformed into the realm of the hot hell, clearly like animage in a mirror. Then you imagine that you, in the form of a little body, are actually inthat hot hell inside your right foot. Try to imagine it as clearly as possible, theinconceivable suffering of the hot hells. While you are doing so, you repeat the mantraRam Naraka at least seven times. The first part, while doing this contemplation, is toimagine yourself burning in the hot hell and then towards the end of it you look directlyat the nature your mind which causes the appearance and the sensations of the hot hellrealm to dissolve into emptiness.Next, in the same way, you visualize in the corresponding place in your left foot anidentical black Duh syllable, and withdraw into that all the karma and kleshasaccumulated this life and in previous lives by yourself and others that causes rebirth inthe cold hell. Again, imagine that you are stuck there and are experiencing all theinconceivable suffering of extreme cold. While doing so, you recite the mantra KhamNaraka seven times and then you look at the nature of the mind of the meditator, theperson visualizing this, the experiencer, the person who is experiencing the suffering andlooking at the nature of the mind. At this point of course is the return to the practice ofMahamudra or Trekcho, and by doing so the appearances dissolve into emptiness.The purpose of these first two meditations is, through the direct experience ofemptiness, to purify the habit of the two hells. The second realm, from the bottom up, isthe preta or hungry ghost realm. The corresponding meditation concerned with this realmbegins by visualizing a red Preh in your lower abdomen that is in the center of your bodyat the level of the genitals. You think that all of the karma accumulated by yourself andothers, through greed and the klesha of greed itself, in short all wrong doings andobscurations that can cause birth as a preta are withdrawn into this red syllable. At thatpoint, it is transformed into the preta realm. You imagine, after being born there, intensesuffering of hunger, thirst and craving. You recite the mantra Sarva Pretaka at lease seventimes and then again you look at the nature of the mind of the person meditating, theperson experiencing, and by doing so the contents of the meditation dissolve intoemptiness.The third samsaric realm is the animal realm. For this you visualize a dark red coloredsyllable at the level of the navel in the center of your body; its a dark red Trih.You think that all of the karma and kleshas that cause the rebirth as an animal,principally the karma and kleshas associated with stupidity and apathy, are drawn intoCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."this syllable which is transformed into the habitat or realm of animals. You imagineyourself born in this realm and, as vivid as possible, imagine the suffering you areexperiencing being born an animal, such as enslavement and being preyed upon. Thesuffering that is fundamental to this realm is the suffering of stupidity and the inability tocommunicate. You recite the mantra Sarva Tiryaka, at least seven times. Then at the end,as before, you look at the nature of the mind of the meditator, the experiencer, causing allthe appearances of the meditation to dissolve into emptiness.The fourth realm, the first of the so called fortunate or higher realms, is the humanrealm. Here you visualize the syllable at the center of the heart and the syllable is Nrih, itis green. Then you think of all of the causes of human rebirth, principally the klesha ofdesire and the karma accumulated through desire by yourself and others, dissolving intothis green syllable which becomes the four continents of the human world. Imagineyourself born there and the sufferings most astigmatic to the human realm are birth,aging, sickness and death. Try to imagine these four as clear as possible. While doing sothe mantra that is recited is Sarva Anuse, seven times. Then afterwards you look at thenature of the mind, the meditator, the experiencer, and the appearances dissolve intoemptiness.The second of the higher realms and the fifth realm in samsara is the realm of theAsuras or non gods. Here the place is the center of the throat, the syllable is Suh, and it isyellow. You visualize that while thinking that all of the causes of rebirth, principally theklesha of jealousy and the actions motivated by jealousy, are drawn into that syllablewhich is transformed into the Asura realm. You then imagine you are born in and stuck inthis realm and that you are undergoing the suffering of an Asura. Now, because theirnature is jealousy, their principal suffering is unsuccessful warfare against the gods andyou imagine all the experiences of being killed and wounded. You recite the mantraSarva Asurra seven times. And then again you look at the nature of the mind, themeditator, the experiencer, and the appearances of the Asura realm dissolves intoemptiness.The sixth and highest realm within samsara is the god or deva realm. You visualizethe syllable Ah, white in color, inside your head toward the top. Again you think that allof the causes for rebirth in the deva realm are withdrawn into the syllable. Principalamong these are the klesha of pride and actions motivated by pride. All of this dissolvesinto the syllable which is transformed into the god realm, specifically the type of godrealm which is called the deva realm of desire. You imagine that you are born in thatrealm and experience the suffering of a deva. Now, generally speaking, the devas enjoytremendous pleasure, comfort and prosperity, but since they are still within samsara itends and when it ends they experience incredible suffering, the suffering of death anddownfall. Because the deva realm and life in the deva realm is so pleasant, when they seesigns of their impending death, [they do sometimes before it occurs] they suffer terriblybecause of what they are losing. Now, because of the contrast with the subsequentrebirth, which they can see; so obviously if they know that they are going to be reborn inone of the three lower realms they suffer. But, even if they are going to be reborn as ahuman or as an Asura, they suffer because of not having control or choice. Think that youare experiencing the suffering of a deva, and repeat the mantra Sarva Deva seven times.And as before, look at the nature of the mind of the meditator, the experiencer, which isCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."the practice of Mahamudra or Trekcho, and the appearance of the meditation of the devarealm dissolves.In that way you eradicate or prevent the birth in and experience of the suffering of thesix realms. At the end of all six phases of the meditation you again look at the nature ofyour mind. The point is to realize that the experience of suffering, such as the individualsufferings of the six realms, the experience of suffering is mind; it is not something otherthan mind. These sufferings occur, but they occur as manifestations or display of mindand mind is not anything, it is empty of being anything. So by recognizing the emptinessof mind and the emptiness of the experiences of mind, this is an instruction forpreventing rebirth in the six realms. This is also referred to closing the door of rebirth inthe six types of existence.At this point or phase of the contemplation you recite the six syllable mantra of TheGreat Perfection, which prevents rebirth in the six realms.AH AH SAH SAH MAH HAHNext, in the same meditation, you visualize the embodiment of the wisdom bodyspeech and mind of all buddhas, as the three syllables in your three places. So, insideyour head, you visualize a white Om, inside your throat, a red Ah, and in your heart, ablue Hum. You then think that the blessing and wisdom of the body speech and minds ofall the buddhas are drawn into these three syllables. Once these blessing and wisdom ofthe buddhas are drawn into these syllables, they blaze with wisdom fire, the fire of fivecolors in each case.Now, previously after visualizing each realm, you looked at the nature of your mind,and the visualization of each realm dissolved, but you didn’t totally get rid of the realms.Here you are going to get rid of them. So you think that the wisdom fire which comesfrom these three syllable fills your whole body, burning up and away the six realms all atonce, and the seeds which cause the rebirth in them. While visualizing that, you recite themantra OH AH HUM. That’s the samsara part.Now we come to the nirvana part. The nirvana part is the contemplation of the ThreeJewels, but starting from the bottom up. So first sangha, the dharma and then the buddha.Now during the previous meditation you visualized yourself in your ordinary form. Youare going to change that; first you are going to visualize yourself as the sangha. Thesupreme member of the Mahayana sangha is the Bodhisattva Maitreya because he isgoing to be the next buddha. He is the closest member of the sangha to buddhahood. Youvisualize yourself as Maitreya and while doing so you recite the mantra; NAMOSANGHAYA.Next is the contemplation of the jewel of the dharma. You think that your body, as theBodhisattva Maitreya, is transformed in an instant into the embodiment of dharma. Therealization of dharma is depicted as the female deity. The cause of all awakening, thecause of all buddhahood is the perfection of discernment, Prajnaparamita. Although theperfection of discernment is truly the realization of the nature of all things, because it isthe cause of all awakening when it is depicted as a deity, it is called the great motherPrajnaparmita. So you visualize yourself as her because she is the embodiment of alldharma. She is gold in color with four arms and so on. You recite the mantra; NAMODHARMAYA, three times.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."Then there is the jewel of the buddha. You think that you, as the form of the greatmother, are transformed in an instant into the Buddha Sakayamuni, and visualizingyourself as the buddha you recite the mantra NAMO BUDDHAYA, three times. Thenhaving visualized yourself as the buddha, you visualize yourself as the BodhisattvaAvalokiteshvara. The reason you visualize yourself as Chenrezig at this point is that he isthe embodiment of the compassion of all buddhas. So you think that you, the BuddhaSakayamuni, are transformed into the Bodhisattva Avlalokiteshvara, and you visualizeyourself as him in the usual manner, white in color with one face and four arms, and yourecite the mantra OH MANI PADME HUM, three times.Then in order to reveal or enhance the power of compassion you think thatAvalokiteshvara is transformed into his ferocious or wrathful form, Hayagriva. NowAvalokiteshvara has these two aspects because compassion itself is embodied in thepeaceful form and the power or effectiveness of compassion is in the wrathful form. Soyou visualize yourself as Hayagriva, who is red in color and recite the mantra; OMHAYAGRIVA HUM PHAT, three times.Now all of this is basically connected with the purification of the body, and yourbody is composed of the five elements, earth, water, fire, air, and space. Not only yourbody but all of the external phenomena are composed of the five elements as well. Whilereflecting that the five elements do not exist independently, that things appear that way asthe display of mind, you recite the essence syllable of the five elements; E YAM RAMBAM LAM, three times. E, the essence of space, YAM, the essence of wind or air,RAM, the essence of fire, BAM, the essence of water and LAM, the essence of earth.That section is the purification of body.The second section is the purification of speech. The purification of speech is donethrough the use of the syllable HUM, by mantra.You sit in the same posture, except that you join the palms of the hands above the topof the head, and you visualize your body as a five prong golden vajra. In the center of thevajra you visualize your mind as a blue HUM, and you think that from the bindu at thetop of the HUM lots of blue HUMS emerge and come out of your body, the golden vajra,and fill the entire universe with HUMS. Then you think; they return and come togetherinto one cubic size HUM, in the space in front of you. Then you think from the HUM, inthe center of the vajra, which is somewhat identified with your heart, more HUMS comeout and this time they fill your body. While doing this recite three long HUMS, and thenafter that, for the rest of the time you do short HUMS, recited in groups of three.The final part of the preliminaries done after that is called the natural settling of body,speech and mind. So after doing all of these you then rest your mind without anycontrivance or artifice in primordial purity, which means you return to the Trekcho orbreak through practice that you did earlier.TogelPrinciple PracticeThe principle practice of The Great Perfection can be divided into two aspects;Trekcho, or breakthrough, and Togel or leap over. Of these two, this section is concernedwith the practice of Togel. The practice of breakthrough or Trekcho is the basis for theCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."teachings and practice of the six lamps, which constitute the path of the leap over. Thepractice of Togel in itself has two aspects, the preliminaries and the main practice.Now we come to the presentation of the actual practice, which is called theintroduction of the six lamps. The use of the term lamp, or torch, connotes or denotessomething that dispels darkness. What we are trying to do in our practice is recognize adirect experience of the Dharmata, or nature of all dharmas or things. This is of coursethe nature of our own mind. Principally we recognize it by looking at our own mind. Thefirst thing you can say about your own mind is that it is emptiness because it is empty ofany substantial existence. If that was all the mind was, just emptiness and it was nothing,then we could not call the mind, or the nature of the mind, a lamp. It would not have thecapacity to dispel darkness; in fact it would be darkness itself. While your mind’s natureis emptiness, it is not obscurity or darkness, it is illumination. Along with the mind’semptiness, the other character that defines the mind is cognitive lucidity or awareness. Sohere the first use of the term lamp is to refer to the nature of your mind, which is like alamp, in being the unity of cognitive lucidity and emptiness.There are six aspects to this lamp or the illuminating quality of ones basic nature. Thefirst is called the abiding lamp of the ground. This is what was pointed out in the chapterwhich introduced Mahamudra and Trekcho or breakthrough. Any sentient being bydefinition has a mind. Any being that has a mind possesses the same fundamental nature.All minds are of the same nature and this nature is emptiness, not obscurity. It is anemptiness that is inseparability from lucidity. This lucidity which is the definingcharacteristic of a mind, or of cognition, is at the same time the innate ability to achievethe perfect wisdom of buddhahood, the innate ability to realize the nature of all things.Therefore, this lucidity, which characterizes any and all minds, is called Sugatagarba orthe seed or nature of those who have gone to bliss. Now the term sugata refers to abuddha and it means those who have gone to bliss, those who no longer are remaining ina state of suffering. When it is said we all possess the basic nature of that, it means we allpossess the ability to transcend suffering, the ability to achieve buddahood. So cognitivelucidity in and of itself is the seed of the potential to achieve and the ability to achieveawakening. And this is so because we always have this as our basic nature.The first of the six lamps, the abiding lamp of the ground, is in a sense an explanationor common to Togel and Trekcho. The others are uncommon, in that they are onlyexplained or pointed out in the contents of Togel instruction. Now Dharmata, the natureof things, if you look at it from the point of view of its vastness in scope is literally thenature of all things. Therefore it is all pervasive. But the root of Dharmata is the mindand therefore the primary observation of Dharmata is in one’s own mind.We saw before that the mind has two aspects, what it is or how it really is, and what itappears to be or how it appears. In terms of how the mind appears, the mind appears toreside in the body. The way we experience is our appearing to be a resident of our body.This means that while Dharmata is all pervasive, because it is the nature of mind andbecause the mind appears to reside within the body, Dharmata is most apparent withinyour body. Now your mind pervades your whole body, but especially the mind itself.In the primordial wisdom of the sugatas, the principle mind is seated within the heart.Therefore, the second lamp is called the citta flesh lamp. So the heart is the lamp made offlesh or living tissue. The reason for this is that, as we saw earlier, while you are alive thefundamental seat of the eighth consciousness is your heart. Now when you die and yourCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."mind leaves your body, that’s a whole different thing. Your body becomes a corpse. Butas long as you are alive, your body and mind are interconnected. Therefore, the secondlamp is the heart, which is the seat of mind.The third lamp is called the smooth white channel lamp. This is the channel whichconnects the heart to the eyes. The eyes are the fourth lamp and the third lamp is thechannel that connects these two. It is this channel that causes the appearances ofDharmata, seated in the heart to be visible. In order to be visible obviously they have toappear to the eyes and the connection between the heart and eyes is called the smoothwhite channel lamp. Now it is a channel, but it is a channel that does not contain eitherblood or lymph. It is empty of everything except wind. For example, in some Dzogchentantras it says, “It is in the white place of the brain that the appearances arise to thesenses.” This refers to the vision of the eyes because this channel passing from the heart,the smooth white channel lamp, passes via or through the brain.The fourth lamp is called the distant lasso water lamp. This refers to something that isin the center of the eyes. Because you can see things that are distant, its called the distantlasso water because of the composition of the eye. It refers, not to the entire eye, but tothe sense faculty within the eye that is at the end of the smooth white channel lamp. Thesmooth white channel lamp starts at the heart and ends at the optic nerve.The fourth lamp is the gate for the appearance of wisdom. The wisdom, in this case,refers to the display of Dharmata and the condition for its appearance is the use of theeyes in a particular way, or gaze, in connection with a source of light. Traditionally thesun is given as the main example but it can also be the light of the moon, an electric light,or a light from a flame. Through the application of gaze you cause to appear to the fourthlamp, or in the fourth lamp, the eyes, a rainbow like light phenomenon. This embodiesthe purity of the Dharmakaya and the five certainties of the Sambhogakaya, initiallyappearing as multi colored light and circles of light. The gate for that appearance is thedistant lasso water lamp. When you do this and apply the gaze and make use of the fourlamps explained thus far, what you will see looks something like the tail of a peacockwhich contains circles, which are often five different colors; one surrounding another likecircular shields used in warfare.What you are seeing with the fourth lamp is the fifth lamp which is called the purelamp of the expanse. Here it is called the pure lamp of Dharmadhatu. Through themeeting of the fourth and fifth lamps you experience the spontaneous display of thenature of all things. This means that what you are seeing is not a created or compositephysical phenomenon. Within the rays of light, which are created by the gaze, you seenot only large circles or spheres but lots of minute or little ones, like a net of pearls orlittle drops like fish eyes, and sometimes they appear in moving patterns of latticenetworks. That aspect of what you are seeing is the appearance of the unceasing activityof Nirmanakaya. What you experience is called the display of the Trikaya in the form ofrainbow lights; they are the unlimited display of the same nature; the Dharmata. Whatyou are seeing are the three kayas as the unified appearances. Know that they appear indifferent ways; know that in reality the different modes of appearances of the threeembodiments are in essence indivisible from reality itself.The way you do this is by using a light source and in this text the example used is thesun. Usually you use the sun as soon as it has arisen or as it sets. But, whenever you do it,it has to be done in a certain way for this to work and for it to be safe.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."First thing, you do not look at the sun. You are not trying to get the direct light of thesun into your eyes. Nor do you look at the rays of the sun in the usual sense, as the sunhas rays coming out of it. What you do is look one cubit below the sun, some distancefrom it, and you cause the appearance of rays by squinting. By closing your eyes halfway you adjust them exactly as to how much you close them, to what or how much youneed to, in order to generate the appearance of rays. When this happens, one of the thingsthat occurs is you cause the appearance of refractions of the light, so that it appears indifferent colors. The squinting of the eyes causes the rays of light to appear like alignedweapons, like parallel spears, which seem like a downpour of weapons shooting intooneself at your heart.This one aspect of this training, and one benefit of this, is that you prepare yourself forthe appearances of the bardo. Because, in the bardo after death the light of wisdomappears in part as brilliant rays of light that you perceive as threatening, as weapons, assomething that you have to be afraid of. So one thing you are doing in this practice islearning to recognize such phenomena as your own display and not as something comingfrom outside yourself.When you do this you see five colors of light. The five colors of light are consideredthe display of emptiness. The reason that you see the five colors is because in the impurecontext or form, we experience the five poisons, attachment, aversion, pride, jealouslyand apathy. If they are recognized in their pure nature, these are the five wisdoms, whichare inseparable from the five buddhas. In the impure context we experience the fiveaggregates, form, sensation, perception, mental formation and consciousness. In the pureform they are the five buddhas; Varochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha andAmoghasiddhi. In the impure contents we experience the five elements. Blue light is theelement of space, white light of water, yellow light of earth, red light of fire and greenlight of air. In their pure form they are the five female buddhas. The dark blue light isAkasadhatvisvari; the white light is Buddhalocana; the yellow light is Mamaki; the redlight is Pandaravasini and the green light is Samayatara.The five colors of light are the five families in nature, white sugata family; blue vajrafamily; yellow ratna family; red padma; and green karma. But if they are unrecognized,they are the five winds which give rise to the five physical elements. Again, ifunrecognized, they are the five directions; the center, south, west, east and north. If theirnature is recognized they are the five pure realms. If unrecognized they are the fivemaras; the mara of the lord of death, means everyone is subject to death which of courseinterrupts their practice. The mara of the aggregates refers to the physical body, encasedin this material human body subject to its changes. The klesha mara or mara of disturbingemotions is to be caught up in these emotions, as all sentient beings are. The mara of thechild of the gods is the demon of seduction. It is our inner voice that whispers to oneselfand gives wrong advice, such as, there is something more interesting than practicing. Doit later, tomorrow, next week or next month. If recognized they are the five wrathfuldeities, vajra heruka, ratna heruka, and so forth.The technique just presented using the creation of appearances of rays from a lightsource, such as the sun, is called the ‘introduction to rays.’ The appearances are classifiedas light rays and sound.Another instruction that is given is called the ‘introduction to squeezing the oceans.’The word ‘oceans’ is referring to the eyes and this is the technique where you squeeze orCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."press on your eyes with your fingers, and by doing so you see light. The light that you seeis said to be the display of the wisdom light of the peaceful deities in your heart. In orderto see this particular light you have to squeeze quite hard. So don’t do it for very long.The third one which is connected to sound is called ‘the introduction to the waves ofthe ocean.’ This one, with your fingers, you block the ears by pressing on them. Firstvery indistinct and then progressively louder and louder, you hear a hum or humming,that is said to be the nature sound of Dharmata.Now the point of all these techniques is to use the appearance as a means for realizingthe nature itself, or Dharmata. You can also do this by remaining in complete darkness.Generally speaking the techniques that use light are called instructions or guidance inbrightness and the ones that depend on darkness are called the instruction in darkness.These appearances can arise through meditation practice using these techniques orthey also happen after you die in the bardo. When these appearances arise in the bardothey constitute the sixth lamp, which is called the ‘bardo lamp of time.’ Although in thebardo the appearances of light and sound are far more intense then what you experiencethrough practice in this life. Nevertheless, through familiarization with this phenomenonin this life in practice, you gain the ability not to be intimidated by these appearancesthrough your recognition of them as empty display.Now the part of the bardo or the phase of the bardo, in which these things appear, iscalled the ‘bardo of Dharmata.’ When you are dying, what is called the life wind isgradually weakening. Now, it is the life wind that keeps you alive, and the life wind alsokeeps the white element, which you have inherited from your father in place at the top ofyour body; and the red element that you have inherited from your mother in place in thelower abdomen. As the life wind becomes weaker and weakening, these two start tomove. It is as though the wind has a pressure that keeps these elements in place. As thelife wind starts to become more and more impaired the white element, inherited fromyour father, descends from the top of your head downward through your body, youexperience an all encompassing whiteness. As the red element inherited from yourmother begins to move upward from the lower abdomen, you experience an allencompassing redness. When the life wind is no longer functioning, then these twoelements meet at the heart and encapsulate the seed of the mind within the heart causingan experience of all encompassing blackness, or darkness.Immediately after that there is an experience of emptiness, an experience of the natureof all things, just as it is, without any other appearances or other factors interfering withit. That initial experience of emptiness and what happens immediately after that, is calledthe ‘bardo Dharmata,’ because it is the display or experience of the nature of things itself.If you have become familiar with the nature of things through meditation, in thepreceding life, then there will be no difference between the Dharmata that you haveexperience and the Dharmata that presents itself to you at that point and being able torecognize the present Dharmata. Because of your experience with it in practice is calledthe ‘meeting of the mother and child Dharmatas.’ The mother is what arises for everyone,and the child is what you have cultivated and familiarized in practice.So in that way through practice you are able to recognize the nature, then you remainin that recognition in the state of samadhi for sometime. If you do not recognize it, thenthat brief glimpse of emptiness ceases and you start to see the appearances of the clearlight such as the peaceful and wrathful deities, lights and sounds and so on. It is at thatCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."point that familiarity with these, through meditating on the lights, circles and the forms ofdeities will be of benefit.In Trekcho and essence Mahamudra the main point is to be able to rest in and sustainthe continuity of the view. When practicing Togel while maintaining the view, one useswhatever manifests as an adornment in the sense of acknowledging that all the differentexperiences are actually the display or manifestation of innate wakefulness.If you have the habit of meditating on this aspect of The Great Perfection, then youcan achieve liberation at that point in the bardo. So therefore, at this point, KarmaChagmey Rinpoche says, “In order to prepare for that aspect of the after deathexperience, you should regularly gaze at light in this way.” He also says, “If you do thisassiduously you will see truly wondrous things.” He cautions us at this point. He says,“Make no mistake what you are seeing when you do this authentically is not like lookingat a rainbow that appears in the sky. It is not external light in that way, because it is thespontaneous display of the five families. Therefore, when you see these five color rays oflight, it is no different from seeing the five Buddhas themselves.” He concludes, “If youhave purified karma you will actually see the forms of deities, peaceful deities likeAvalokiteshvara, Amitabha and Guru Rinpoche, wrathful deities, like Hayagriva, and soon.”As I mentioned before, the main requirement for this technique to function properly isthere needs to be some degree of recognition of what was pointed out in the Mahamudraand Trekcho presentation. It is our ability to simply relax in ordinary mind, in the statewhich is empty yet cognizant emptiness indivisible from cognizance.DedicationThe eighteenth chapter is concerned with dedication and aspiration and in this chapterwe find advice about these. The first point that Chagmey Rinpoche makes here is how weneed to be diligent and he quotes previous teachers who said: “It is not enough that theDharma be the great perfection, in addition the practitioner, the person, must be greatlyperfect. However, I have seen many people who in spite of the profundity of what theyclaim to practice, remain completely ordinary.” In other words we need to actually applyourselves to practice and this involves the two aspects of diligence, continuous diligenceand devoted diligence. Chagmey Rinpoche says that if you are diligent in practice thefinal result will be good. In the best case this means the achievement through the utmostdiligence of perfect awakening of buddhahood in this life. If not, but one has assiduouslypracticed the generation and completion stages in general, and Mahamudra andDzogchen practices, then in the bardo after one’s death, then one will achieve the state ofone’s yidam and, in that way, achieve awakening and liberation. If not that, then at leastone should, through intense aspiration, insure that one is born in a pure realm. To bereborn in most of the great pure realms, one needs immeasurable store of merit. Theexception to this is the realm of Sukhavati; which, although an authentic pure realm, iseasy to be born in because of the aspiration by the Buddha Amitabha. So, therefore,Chagmey Rinpoche advises us to make the intense aspiration to achieve rebirth inSukhavati. If you are not born in a pure realm and if you don’t achieve awakening then ofcourse you might be reborn in one of the higher realms within samsara, but it is not reallyCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."that great. So at best we wish, through the practice of generation and completion, thepractice of Mahamudra and Dzogchen to achieve awakening, but if not, we must insurethat we are reborn in a pure realm, and he advises us to aspire to be reborn in Sukhavati,in particular.Chagmey Rinpoche summarizes the context of his entire book and how to implementall the things he has taught in the eighteen chapters. The practice, of course, consists ofthe common preliminaries, the four thoughts, the uncommon preliminaries, the practiceof generation and completion of Mahamudra and the Dzogchen practices of Trekcho andTogel. So at this point he presents a way to apply these as an on going practice. First ofall, whatever you practice you must insure that you don’t do it for your own benefitalone. At the beginning of any session of practice clarify concisely your motivation fordoing it. Recollect that there are innumerable beings who are suffering intensely, wholack the happiness that they seek. So resolve that whatever practice that you do, whatevervirtuous actions that you perform will be done for their benefit. In that way, before thesession begins, generate bodhicitta. Then at the beginning of the session briefly recollectin sequence the four thoughts which turns the mind and then briefly meditate in sequenceon the uncommon preliminaries; each of the four or five, if refuge and bodhicitta areconsidered separate uncommon preliminaries. For the main practice visualize yourself asChenrezig, as instructed in the text, and visualize the Buddha Amitabha present aboveyour head as the lord of your family. Then think that Amitabha is the embodiment of allthe root and lineage gurus and in order to reinforce that thought, invite all the root andlineage gurus, including all of the siddhas of India and Tibet, and cause them to dissolveinto Amitabha. Next invite all of the yidams which you are connected with, such asVajrasattva, whomever, invite all of them and dissolve them into yourself as Chenrezig.Then visualize the seed syllable HRIH in your heart and the six syllable mantra OMMANI PADME HUNG surrounding it. Reflect upon the fact that the mantra is theessence mantra of all yidams without exception. Now the reason for this recollection ofAmitabha as the embodiment of all gurus and Chenrezig as the embodiment of allyidams, and his mantra as the embodiment of all essence mantras, is so while doing thisone practice you can be simultaneously accomplishing all gurus, all yidams, and allmantras. Think that rays of light from the syllable HRIH and its surrounding mantra inyour heart emerge filling the entire universe which is transformed into the realm ofSukhavati. These rays of light also strike all beings, transforming each and every one ofthem into the bodhisattva Chenrezig, resting in the attitude that the entire universe isSukhavati, and all beings within it are Chenrezig. It is the maintenance of the first ofwhat are called the three barings, and this is the baring or outlook of all appearances asthe body or presence of the deity.After that commence the repetition of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUNG, andwhile you recite it, think that simultaneously all beings in the form of Chenrezig recitethe mantra along with you. Contemplating that, while reciting the mantra, is the practiceof the second baring or outlook, which is the attitude that all sound is the speech ormantra of the deity. The particular value of this is that by contemplating, withoutdistraction, that all beings without exception recite the mantra along with you, everysingle mantra that you recite is the equivalent of billions of mantras. After the recitation,then look at your mind and whatever thoughts arise, good or bad, simply look at themwithout distraction and without any attempt to alter them. Practicing that is the thirdCourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."baring, the attitude that all thoughts and memories are the mind or wisdom of the deity.In that way, you practice what is called the three fold baring.The third part of the three fold baring is the outlook that all thoughts and recollectionsare the mind of the deity includes the practice of Mahamudra and the Trekcho aspect ofthe practice of the Great Perfection. In that way, the practice of the three fold baring,appearances as the deity’s presence, sound as the deity’s speech or mantra and thoughtsand recollections as the deity’s mind or wisdom, includes the practice of the generationstage, the completion stage and their unity. As to how to perform these, you can practiceall three barings simultaneously. In that way, you have one simple practice whichincludes all the essential points. But if that is difficult, you can also practice them insequence as they were explained here.Now in addition to this Chagmey Rinpoche says: “At sunrise and sunset or if youdon’t use the sun, when you have access to a suitable electric light or candle, do theTogel practice of gazing at the rays and when you first arise in the morning and the lastthing before you go to sleep at night practice Tonglen, taking and sending. This is thetaking of the suffering of others and the giving to them of your happiness, in coordinationwith the breathing. Finally, just before you go to sleep, dedicate all of the virtue you haveaccumulated during that day to the awakening of all beings with the aspiration that allbeings achieve buddhahood without impediment as quickly as possible. In addition, fromtime to time, make the aspiration to be reborn in the pure realm of Sukhavati. If youpractice all of this in a relatively simple and concise format you have a complete practiceof dharma.The main point of this eighteenth chapter is how to implement the contents of thisbook in continuing practice, extensively. However this chapter is about dedication. Aparticular point is made about the practice of dedication. In general the dedication ofvirtue and the dedication of merit consist of the dedication of all of the virtue you haveaccumulated to the awakening of all beings. This is due in connection with a sincereaspiration that all beings actually receive and benefit from that virtue, so that theyachieve the desired awakening as quickly as possible. However, if such a dedication ismade with a spirit of fixation grasping at the reality of things it is weakened. Thereforewe are instructed to perform dedication that is free of three fold recertification, which isthe belief in the true or inherent reality of the person making the dedication, the virtuethat is dedicated and those to whom it is dedicated. Therefore the ideal dedication is onewhich you are free of the idea that the dedication exists, the dedicated virtue exists andthe recipient of the dedication exists. But you might ask, how do you do this? The bestway is to rest in the state of practice without straying and remain looking at the nature ofyour own mind, without straying from that recognition, dedicate the virtue to all beings.That is the most effective way to dedicate virtue. That completes an explanation onKarma Chagmey Rinpoche’s text, The Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.As I said, this text contains eighteen chapters. Of these I omitted most of the chaptersconcerned with the preliminary practices, the exception to this being the chapter onbodhicitta. But I gave an explanation and practical instruction in the chapters on allaspects of the main practice.Now I realize that all of you are already practicing so you don’t need myencouragement to practice, but remember if times arise where the conditions conduciveto practice are not present don’t despair. Maintain the attitude I will practice as much as ICourtesy Namo Buddha Publications © Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."can given the conditions, because every time you practice, every time you contemplatethese things and every time you listen to them, seeds or habits are imprinted in you all-basis consciousness, habits of generation stage practice, completion stage practice,Mahamudra, and so on. So you are very fortunate to have exposure to these things, topractice these things, to gain experience of these things. Recollecting that even when itbecomes difficult, maintain an attitude of confidence, enthusiasm and devotion. In shortpractice as much as you can.If there are any mistakes, I ask the realized ones for forgiveness.May all beings attain rebirth in the realm of Sukhavat.Transcriber Lodro GyatsoNovember 2004