Mahamudra: Stillness and Motion

Good morning. Today’s teaching is Mahamudra, which is the same thing as Maha Ati. Mahamudra [Skt. Mahāmudrā] is called Chag Chen [Tib. Chakgya Chenpo, Wyl. phyag rgya chen po],and Maha Ati is called Dzogchen [Tib. Dzog pa chen po, Wyl. rdzogs pa chen po] . They’re the same thing, although you approach them slightly differently.

With Maha Ati, which is the Sanskrit term, you approach through three points: Tawa [Wyl. lta ba], Gompa [Wyl. sgom pa] and Sopa [Chöpa, Wyl. spyod pa]. The first two are doings and the third is not a doing.
In Mahamudra the approach is slightly more gradual, which works for many people. Pay attention today, especially all of you trekchö [Wyl. khregs chod] meditators, and see if this method seems more likely to be effective for you than the one you’re using.

[03:51] lineage prayer

The lineage of this, that I have, is from the sixteenth Karmapa, given in a private teaching to Wangdor Rinpoche and Dzigar Rinpoche, all back forever ago. And from there, passed on by Wangdor Rinpoche to myself. And today I will share it with you. It is in the Kagyü line.
Rinpoche tried me early on in the Kagyü teachings, the Kagyü system of Mahamudra. I was not as good at it. I couldn’t get it to work. So he switched me to the Dzogchen line, Nyingma, and trained me in Nyingma including my second ngöndro. And that worked nicely for me. It is really dependent on the personality you are starting with, which method works better. But don’t make things hard for yourself. Just because you have heard the word Dzogchen as being the highest teachings. Mahamudra are the highest teachings in a slightly different lineage passed down. There is really no difference in what they point at.
[05:35 ]

 

Songs of the Eight Mahasiddhas – The Doha Treasure by Virupa

To the innate mind I prostrate. To those gone beyond I prostrate. Listen to the Mahamudra, the ultimate truth, innate and natural state. There is relative truth of the path of Mahamudra which is taught and the ultimate truth of the natural state which cannot be taught. E ma ho! Samsara and Nirvana are the same in Mahamudra. Essence of unborn completely pure space. One cannot point out the natural resting place of emptiness by conventional means [with a finger or with words]. Listen to the path of indescribable innate nature. Release all Dharmas. Abandon the careful examination of symbols of emptiness. For it is beyond all analogies and understandings. Not permanent, not transitory. Neither Samsara nor Nirvana. [Neither one thing nor another]. Neither appearance nor emptiness, neither reality nor unreality. The natural Dharmata, mind and phenomena, all transcends intellect. Because it neither ‘is nor is-not’. It cannot be described, than that which is unaffected by the rise and fall of phenomena is from the very beginning unchanging. To explain the true essence beyond all doings is like discussing the shape of a rabbit’s horn.

I got Rinpoche once as a joke a stuffed Jackalope, which is a joke from the Midwest in America, where they make what looks like a stuffed hare with horns on it. It bothered him. I think it was when he was giving this teaching. [laughs] It really bothered him, he put a pillowcase over it and abandoned it when he left. Paradigms within paradigms, turtle-fur and rabbit-hair are nothing but symbols, they don’t point at any “where”.

 

First Part

Without differentiating between phenomena and the ideas they’re of, things and what to think about them; one sees all appearance in cyclic existence are empty of any reality whatsoever. The essence itself cannot be named or bound by concepts. [There is not even a little bit of an idea to it]. That which has been there from the very beginning need not be sought. Mind itself cannot be explained by Mahamudra. Your own true nature, empty like the sky, unnamed, unchanging. The essence itself is unborn and beyond all characteristics.

It’s not this or that, here or there, now or then. More than just not round or square, blue or yellow; it has neither location nor time. And in the timeless time beyond time, where all things arise as they are and dissolve as they are without duration, the patterns forever changing, unchanging essence. See this, your own true nature. Like empty space pervading everything, always there unchanging. My cup moves through space, the space is still there; in between the molecules of my cup is space in which atoms and electrons buzz about and itty bitty quarks and little gluons sticking them together. All of this has no location, no duration. It simply is – not.
[11:40]

Throughout all time empty, even of a perceiver, your thinking flows by like a river; not bound, not freed. Don’t waver from the natural state. All mine’s, beings, lively ones emanate from Mahamudra, emanating from the unborn essence of Dharmakaya. The always “was” and “will be”, which isn’t. Joy and sorrow, all of it. Appearance and ideas about the appearances. All occurrence, the natural play of Mahamudra. And that play itself is impermanent. Not true because the great resting place of the innate emptiness is never affected.

 

Second Part: The actual teaching, which takes two forms

Teaching on the path of confusion. Some keep chasing after wangs [Wyl. dbang] and blessings, [how many can you get – lots – until your damtsig (Wyl. dam tshig) piles up and takes over all your time; and then?] some are obsessed with the numbers of rosaries accomplished.

A hundred-thousand of these and hundred-thousand of those, seven-hundred and fifty-thousand of the other thing, and a million of these. How many have you got? How many kora [Wyl. skor ra] have you done? I used to walk around the lake. Neither practicing nor not practicing. I’d mutter a mala. It was fun, just being there. And every time I came around, everyone asked me: ‘How many rounds have you done?’ I don’t know, I wasn’t counting. It’s not how many.

Some perform austerities, fasting, limiting their diet or eating pus and blood and urine and other substances out of a human skull, pretending that’s what ‘one taste’ means. [It isn’t]. Some move prana through their channels and are fooled by the bliss and the tranquility achieved thereby.

All these paths of doing won’t directly lead you to “natural mind”. Oh, they’ll make you feel better, you’ll have a sense of accomplishment. You’re doing something. Well, you could get rich instead or become famous, a rock star. You could count instead of rosaries, the number of hits on your tweet, trying to go viral. Do you see how it’s the same thing? Let go.

 

The Basis of the Undeluded Path of Knowledge

First, decide to follow the oral instructions of the view. E Ma Ho! This is the complete realization of all the great teachers. An attempt to perfect the confused arising is not the realization.

Nonetheless, in the oral instructions, there are methods. And it begins with great simplicity.
Go get yourself a pebble, about the size of the end of your thumb. Just an ordinary pebble from the garden, the more ordinary and uninteresting your pebble, the better.

In Dzogchen I’ve given you the teachings of the body, but they are important here. They affect the chi flow in your channels. Chi is lung [Wyl. rlung], which literally translates as air. But unlike air, which is oxygen, carbon-dioxide and nitrogen molecules in a certain pattern, which adheres to matter by gravity and surrounds the earth, chi is not limited in that way. It fills all of space. It is not simply under the sky, but it pervades the infinite sky.

So here we have a translation issue, which I noticed yesterday [Lama Lena is referring to the teaching the day before], where lung was being translated as air, and you were all thinking of this molecular soup of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide with trace materials in it. That’s not the meaning of lung. Air is included in lung, but lung is not limited to air. Just because A equals B does not mean that B has to equal A. That’s linear algebraic thought. Something we had to break to study Chinese medicine. And my Chinese medicine teacher said: ‘ Look, hair is brown, some kind of vague shade of brown tan, whatever. But brown is not hair, brown is also trees, brown is also fallen leaves, brown is also earth’.

In the same way lung is air. But air is not lung, lung is more than air. It is chi, which is contained in air but doesn’t require air to be contained. This is an important point of the yesterday’s translation, which – going from Tibetan to English – we always run into these ‘doesn’t translate bits’. Or translates right in seven situations out of ten and three of them makes no sense at all. You can’t say air permeates the entire universe, but you can say chi permeates the entire universe.

 

Shiné with an Object

So, while I’ve spoken to you about translations, have y’all got a pebble?
Sit nicely in either a lotus, a full lotus, a half lotus or a Maitreya position. I am sitting in a Maitreya position, my feet are flat on the floor. My thighs are absolutely parallel to the floor and my calves are perpendicular, my shins. I have a bit of lumbar support. No, the support is below my lumbar on my coccyx, which helps with my lordosis, I have a bit of a swayback. I place my hands flat on my thighs – about in the middle between my knees and my hips – finding the relaxed place along there, which leaves my shoulders loose. I tip my head ever so slightly down. I leave my lips just a tiny bit parted and my teeth parted. I lay my tongue naturally on the roof of the mouth to maintain that, that slight parking. I see, as my eyes half close, where the line of my gaze naturally falls. And I place my pebble there.

I rest my eyes on the pebble. I don’t look “at” the pebble. I rest my gaze on it. Understand the difference here. I am not examining the pebble in my [“word”]. I’m simply resting my eyes on the pebble. Since one’s attention follows the line of the gaze with ease, I am also resting my attention on the pebble.

I am letting my thoughts slip naturally by, without paying any attention to them, because my entire attention is focused on the pebble. This is very restful. This will lower your blood pressure and improve your health.

See, the pebble don’t care. If you’re doing it right, or you’re doing it wrong, pebble don’t mind. Pebble ain’t doing nothing. It’s just sitting there being an ordinary pebble. So there’s not a lot of stories you can make about your pebble. You will exhaust them after a bit. They will get boring. The more you simply relax with your attention resting gently on the pebble. Just that.

Shiné with an object. It is the first step of Mahamudra. It feels difficult and you can only do it briefly when you first try. But after some time of doing it regularly, it feels relaxing, warm, reassuring, refreshing, rejuvenating. Slowly over time, you will find that you can sit with your gaze and your attention resting gently on the pebble for longer and longer. Even the awareness of time-passing is muted.
Remember, it’s not a pointed focus, it’s a relaxed focus.

[26:44 ]

Questions

 

Lama Lena: Are there questions of how to do this first step. Nyondo, would you check?

Nyondo: A basic question about which text are you using or teaching from in this minute.

Lama Lena: This is the text I’m using [Lama Lena showing the manuscript]. Handwritten copy. Songs of the eight Mahasiddhas. It’s a text that Wangdor Rinpoche received from Thuksey Rinpoche, who was in his monastery back in Tibet. He actually carried Thuksey Rinpoche out of India on his shoulders. Remember, Rinpoche is not much bigger than me. Strong little guy. At the time, he was a young skinny little monk. Nobody special. Thuksey Rinpoche couldn’t walk well, due to age, infirmity and size; he was a big guy. And not skinny. He couldn’t walk well or far and they were in a group, all running from the Chinese across the wild lands north of Nepal. In the mountains, past barbarians, who hadn’t even clothes and hunted with spears – tribal lands.

And everyone went on ahead, abandoning Thuksey Rinpoche, except for himself and about a dozen people who couldn’t bring themselves to do it. And they tried to acquire a horse but no horse could carry him over those tracks, which were like this and like this, [Lama Lena depicting the steepness of the tracks] and narrow along the sides of cliffs. So Rinpoche carried him on his back like piggy-back, holding his legs. And someone else took Rinpoches backpack. And they walked. For a month they walked.

Rinpoche never after that, ever said he was tired. No matter what we’ve been doing or how far we traveled. That was his reference for tired. And nothing else ever held a candle to it, he thought it would break him. Hardest thing he ever did. Hell of a ngöndro [Wyl. sngon ‘gro]. Better than a nine story tower, yes.

After that Thuksey Rinpoche kept trying to get Rinpoche to come to his monastery, where he could look after him. But Rinpoche wouldn’t do it. He wanted to be a cave yogi.

Thuksey Rinpoche even sent someone and he said: ‘And don’t come back without him!’ Rinpoche was starving alone up in the cave, nobody around, all by himself. And the guy, the monk turned up and said: ‘ Thuksey Rinpoche says, I can’t come back without you’. And Rinpoche said: ‘Let me show you to a nice cave you can live in’. No one else could manage to stay there. There were snakes and mountain lions and wolves, wild animals everywhere.

Rinpoche tells of sitting in his gom tri [Wyl. sgom khri], coming out of Samadhi, starting to stretch and seeing a snake hanging down next to him. And he’s going ‘leaning – moving slowly’. He tells many stories of those days.

Anyway, that’s the text. It hasn’t been translated formally. I’ve got a word for word and my own incomplete translation of parts of it. Still working on it, work in progress. Some parts of it are public; Tilopa’s teaching ‘Beside the Ganges’ is in here. And I think I’ve seen a translation somewhere of Saraha’s bit. The one I’m reading here is one I’ve never seen a translation out there of.

By Birwapa [Virupa], one of the eighty-four Mahasiddhas. The text I’m reading you is his song of enlightenment. These are the songs of eight of the eighty-four Mahasiddhas of North India, that they sang upon enlightenment: song, poem. They’re very beautiful. Whereas the instructions of ‘how to’ that I’m giving you, the pebble and on from there, are from His Holiness Karmapa. So you can see – Thuksey Rinpoche, Kagyü, and Karmapa – this is a Kagyü line teaching.
Anything on the pebble?

[33:16]Nyondo: Somebody asking: What does it feel like and is there a specific chair or kind of chair you would recommend for this practice?

Lama Lena: Personally, I like a straight kitchen chair. Plain wood, slight cushion. The size of the chair and its lack of armrests is what’s important, armrests will interfere with your elbows. So the only way you can find the right chair is to go to a chair store that sells straight up and down kitchen chairs – is my preference. And try them all on. Sit in this chair, sit in that chair. If you must buy one that doesn’t fit, buy one that’s too tall for you and cut down the legs. A saw easy to cut down a pair of a bunch of chair legs, just measure carefully so don’t wobble. Other question?

Nyondo: Can I blink while gazing at the pebble?

Lama Lena: Yes, you can as needed. You’re not trying to stress, you’re trying to relax. You may find yourself forgetting to blink, which is why the eyes are half mast. If you forget to blink, you’ll have visual distortions. You’re going to have them anyway. While you gaze at the pebble, especially early on, you’re going to see things. Sparkles, white out, two pebbles, little eruptions coming from the pebble. These are your eyes learning to relax and attempting to entertain you. These are nyams [], they’re visual nyams and they’re very common with the pebble work. Go right through them and out the other side. Don’t resist them. Don’t try to make them go away. Don’t try to keep them. They are signposts that you’re doing it right. But they are not something to be grabbed. A signpost. Drive past the sign that says ‘San Francisco 200 miles ahead’. If you’re going to San Francisco, be pleased you saw the sign, means you’re on the right road. But don’t stop and camp at the sign! That’s not San Francisco. It’s the sign! In the same way, shine [Wyl. zhi gnas]: shi, the root of peace, shi wa [Wyl. zhi ba], né [Wyl. gnas], a place or a seat.

Power-points in the world are called nés. So shiné: Sitting in stillness, sitting in peace. Not one-pointed-focus, that’s a crappy translation. I don’t know who came up with that one. It’s like mindfulness as a meditation rather than a tool. You use mindfulness, when your mind wanders from the pebble to remember! Mindfulness is just remembering to bring your attention back to the pebble. Mindfulness is a tool of remembering what you’re doing. If you are not mindful, you will find yourself in the bedroom going ‘What the fuck did I come in here for this time?’ You weren’t paying attention, your attention was distracted.

If you are not mindful of where you put your glasses, you can spend an hour looking for them while they sit there [Lama Lena. pointing at the glasses on top of her head]. Mindfulness is a tool, not an end result in this system. Other questions on the pebble?

[37:48]

Nyondo: What is a good session length and frequency for this practice?

Lama Lena: As frequently as you can; if you’re in retreat, you’re going to be making many sessions through the day. In the beginning, not more than 20 minutes. More likely about ten or five. You should be moving up towards the twenty minutes over a few weeks, but gently without forcing it. Use mindfulness when your mind wanders, or your attention wanders, to return your attention to the pebble.
This is an excellent practice to do in retreat. But it is also a practice that can be done morning, evening and in gaps during life. This practice, at this stage, does not merge that well with daily life. Like you can’t really do it while walking around, not at this stage. At a later stage you can. But here we start at the beginning and we don’t push the river, we allow the mind to develop certain abilities. And one is the ability to relax. Which it doesn’t normally do much [?].
What’s happening here, is this activity is impacting you, changing you. Changing the pattern of your channel body from one who is unable to rest their attention as they choose, who is scattered to one who is able to rest their attention as they choose, who is not scattered. And this ability is incredibly valuable later on. If you are on the spectrum of Asperger’s, you may already have this ability to rest your attention for great periods of time on something which catches your attention, but it is not under conscious control. This is getting it under conscious control. Any other questions on working with the pebble?

[41:01]Nyondo: Do you know some antidotes for drowsiness and agitation while relaxing at the pebble? And one other person asked if it’s normal to experience dizziness while concentrating.

Lama Lena: You shouldn’t be concentrating. You’re not concentrating. You’re relaxing. This is not one pointed concentration. This is one pointed relaxation. And yes, intense concentration can make you dizzy. It’s the way that chi is running in your channels that does that. It’s rising up into the head. – Recommendation: you eat some greasy carbohydrates – bread and cheese will do – before your session to avoid dizziness. Drop the lung down a bit if the dizziness is problematic. If it’s not problematic – if it’s mild – it’s just another nyam [Wyl. nyams; meditative experience], drive right on by. It’ll pass, you’ll go past it. But it’s not an unusual nyam. And as for adjusting one’s agitation versus drowsiness. This is your throttle. [Lama Lena grabbing on her chin, showing how to use it as a throttle]Up further, with your pebble further out, decreases drowsiness, but can go too far and lead to agitation. Down further, with your pebble closer in, can lead to drowsiness or can settle agitation. So use your throttle, which this controls the speed of the chi that moves through the neck into the head, which controls the speed of your thinking; how fast you are thinking and processing. You want it right at the midline like tuning a fiddle. Not too tight. Not too loose. Any other pebble questions?

Nyondo: There is a comment that came in earlier about the text you’re using. Thinking that the name you’re looking for there may be Virūpa.

Lama Lena: It is! Virūpa, thank you! That was one of my ‘I knew that once’. Pen, write it down, so you will know it again. Working pen. Thank you so much for helping this old lady, who forgets the damnedest things periodically. Any more pebble questions?

Nyondo: Someone who is already doing the pebble practice, is also finding that it is enhancing their practice of dream yoga. And would like comments on that.

Lama Lena: Oh yes, it does that. It definitely enhances your practice of dream yoga. You are learning to control your mind. This is the ‘nine bowls’ of Zen teaching. This is incredibly important for any practice.

[45:21]

 

Shiné Without an Object

 

Now, I want to talk about how you transition from shiné, seat of stillness, seat of peace, with an object – your pebble – to shiné, a seat of stillness, seat of peace without an object; where you take the pebble away and put it back in the garden or whatever.
When you can sit with your pebble easily and rest with your pebble for a good period, forty-five minutes, an hour, two hours, whatever, it’s easy; pick up your pebble and remove it.
At this point, that resting in stillness has become easy for you, you no longer need the support of a pebble, an object. And you can simply rest in stillness without an object. Do that. Just sit there, resting in stillness. This is the equivalent of Tawa [Wyl. lta ba] in Dzogchen. There is no ‘thing’ there, nothing is moving. Be there as that.

This is the second step, shiné without an object. Become comfortable with it. You will find yourself enjoying it a great deal, because life is full of glitches and problems. And for a little while every day you rest in complete stillness, infinite stillness. You don’t have to fix anything. You don’t have to do anything. You have no responsibilities, you have no problems. Absolute utter peace.
If you have questions on this, type him now. Shiné without an object.

Tawa, stillness. Since your eyes are slightly open, you may have visual effects, nyams. Keep going. Remains still in stillness as stillness.

 

Questions on Shiné without an Object

Nyondo: One person asking: What should we do with our gaze? The object is no longer there. So do we just keep staring in the same direction or?

Lama Lena: You’re not doing anything with your gaze, you’re just relaxing it. Your eyes are half open. Your gaze is neither trying to focus nor trying to unfocus, it is simply relaxed.
Comment: The way this shine practice works on dream yoga, specially shine with the pebble, is the same as the way the A on the stick works. You are learning to relax in stillness, as stillness. Anything else on shiné without an object?

[52:46 ]Nyondo: Is it the same as when you say ‘looking at mind with mind’.

Lama Lena: Very similar, but slightly more limited. It is completely limited to the ultimate stillness aspect of Dharmakaya nature of mind. Tawa, this is the same as resting in Tawa, as Tawa. from Dzogchen. Shiné without an object, resting in stillness, resting as the seat of stillness. Dharmakaya nature of mind does not come and go, unborn undying. It does not move or become. Rest there.
While doing shiné without an object you will get the standard and some on-standard nyams. If your thoughts are intrusive, lower your chin. If you’re falling asleep, raise your chin, splash water on your face. Rinpoche used to keep a branch of Juniper upside down in a glass of water. Because, he said, it just flicked droplets without making him too wet. You can do that.
Return to the stillness. When mind is distracted into following a thought, thinking about a feeling, feeling about a perception, return it to the stillness.
Any other questions about shiné without an object?

Nyondo: While waiting for a bus doing nothing and relaxed and not following mental events, I have no problem resting without focusing. But if I sit down, [quote] to meditate [end of quote] my mind explodes. I can’t transfer this to meditating.

Lama Lena: You need some purification practice, you’ve got a ‘geg’ stuck in your channels, it’s like lint. Pick something. There’s so many kinds. You can do some Vajrasattva, you can do some prostrations, you can do the work with the seed syllables if you’ve had all the prerequisites for that one, the rushen, or you can offer sang which is also a form of purification. Or you can smudge yourself and bathe in it. But that’s just, you’ve got a geg. It is a stubborn pre-formed channel pattern that is stubbornly refusing to meditate. Flush it out! Choose any one of the purification methods that you may know. And then try again. After some time.

[56:57]Nyondo: I was meditating the other night, [and] I found my three dogs barking at me out of fear. What would that mean?

Lama Lena: Your smell probably changed, in some way. I have no idea. You would have to ask the dogs. See if it happens again. See if you can smell the difference, because they can.
[57:52]

Nyondo: I find I tend to get bursts of extreme pleasure while doing shiné, it snaps me out of my meditation. How do I control it?

Lama Lena: That’s called a “dewa nyam”. When it happens, you pray out loud using your speech chakra with any words you want. You can recite a prayer that you know or you can make up the words as you go along. But you have to say them out loud. You pray to your root guru to send their blessing into your heart and take you past that particular experience. This is what you do, if any nyam, meditative experience, is interfering with your meditation. If it’s just happening, you just go right past it. But if it’s interfering, then that’s what you do; you pray out loud to your teacher, whosoever you consider your root- guru to be.
Next question.

Nyondo: Earlier with the pebble you talked about using the chin as a throttle to work against agitation or drowsiness. When you’re no longer focusing on a pebble? [question was not completed, Lama Lena answered immediately}

Lama Lena: Same thing, same thing, raise or lower the chin. It affects how the chi runs through the neck into the head, how fast it flows.

Nyondo: That’s it, I think for questions. There’s, I think you might have mentioned this in passing, but if he could give more detail: I heard that shiné without an object is equivalent to tawa in Dzogchen. Could you please explain a bit more about that relationship?

Lama Lena: They’re the same thing. I just said that, that’s where you heard it. Shiné without an object is resting in stillness, tawa. That openness of awareness we call it, is also resting in stillness as stillness; Dharmakaya and nature of mind, the stillness.
Gom [Wyl.], in Dzogchen is to return your attention again and again, while active, to Dharmakaya nature of mind, tawa.
Here, shiné without an object is done on the cushion, not while active. And there’s a reason for this, it comes later. The order in which you do things is different. In Mahamudra and Maha Ati. You do the same things, you just do them in a different order.
Because the next stage, once you are comfortable with the shiné without an object, is you begin differentiating what is moving and what is stillness.

You become absolutely clear what is being stillness and what is moving. You become clear on the difference of being stillness, in stillness as stillness, and simply perceiving stillness from the outside. Perception is moving, stillness is not. You become absolutely clear on the difference between feeling stillness, the sensation of being stillness in stillness.
What is the difference between the sensation and the stillness. The sensation comes and goes. It’s there on the cushion, it’s not there off the cushion. Whereas the stillness that you return to again and again is always there. It does not move. You get really clear, you differentiate, you separate the moving and the stillness.

The stillness is called tawa. The moving is called trul wa (Wyl .], same root as trul-ku [Wyl. ).
Projection, emanation, moving, which is the same root as Nirmanakaya ().

This is vitally important. In Dzogchen we don’t do this until we do the outer body rushen (Wyl. ]. And we have a completely different method for separating. That’s what rushen means, separating. Separating out the moving from the stillness in Dzogchen. So here’s a divergence, difference in method. Here, once you have stabilized to a great extent, that is you can do it when you wish, shiné without an object. Doesn’t mean it exists when you’re off the cushion. Dzogchen different. Method, different.
Not fruition; fruition same, method different.
Here it is vitally important that you complete this stage. Separate the moving from the stillness. Notice, especially off the cushion, what is moving. Because of the cushion, you’re quite immersed in the moving. Notice, while on the cushion, what is still. Separate them, see the difference. Are there questions on this stage: separating the moving from the stillness.

Nyondo: Is stillness the absence of thought?

Lama Lena: The absence of thought is stillness. Next question.

Nyondo: I recognize the stillness clearly, at least on the cushion. But, unfortunately… I’m sorry, that wasn’t isn’t a question.
What would an example of movement be, comparing to the stillness?

Lama Lena: The perception of my coffee cup, it’s moving. Sometimes I’m out of coffee. The thoughts I’m thinking, as I think about coffee, and expressing this to you. All that’s moving; thoughts, feelings, and perceptions are moving. All phenomena is moving; basic ngöndro, ordinary ngöndro, teaching on impermanence, what moves. Everything moves! Even though your pebble appeared still to the eyes, the electrons going around the protons and neutrons in the molecules which make it up are buzzing about quite rapidly. It’s moving. It was formed geologically. Someday it will be worn away to dust. It’s moving, it changes.

Nyondo: How can I tell when I’m experiencing authentic stillness, as opposed to a nyam?

Lama Lena: It does not move. Nyams come and go. Stillness is still.

Nyondo: So is the movement the same as impermanence?

Lama Lena: The movement, all the things that appear to be moving are impermanent.

Nyondo: Is it correct to understand that stillness and movement are both understood by my mind?

Lama Lena: Yes. Next

Nyondo: Is this a more advanced practice? The perception of the stillness, going from pebble to no pebble to..

[Nyondo] Lama Lena: Yes, we are getting more and more advanced as we go along. Few of you will be past the stage of separating moving from stillness. A few of you might; for your consideration and for the blessing in it, I will continue the teaching on through to completion. Trusting you as adults, reasonable, intelligent and responsible adults, to figure out where you should be starting.
If you’ve already got pretty good shiné without an object, tawa on the cushion, then you can start with separating.

Nyondo: I’m having trouble separating; the movement moves, but it also seems part of the stillness, not separate. In the way that birds are not separate from the sky. They’re having trouble distinguishing.

Lama Lena: This is theoretical for you. The thought that thinks this is moving.
Birds come from eggs, eggs are separate from the sky. Next question.

Nyondo: What is the difference between the Dzogchen and the Mahamudra teaching some stillness in motion?

Lama Lena: Unfortunately, the Dzogchen teachings are secret and can only be taught in person. And we are planning a retreat on that. This stage, rushen, separating the movement from the stillness. Not this summer, but next spring when travel hopefully will be possible. I still haven’t gotten my vaccine, is still not available to me in my area. And I shan’t be traveling until I’m fully vaccinated. Mostly to avoid spreading it. [Covid-19 virus]Because when I travel and teach we will be in a group together and there will be close contact. So to do this teaching, of outer body rushen, we will have to be together in a group. It is buggy, problematic. accident prone.
I need to be there to keep an eye on you. Otherwise, one or two people get into serious trouble. Most of the people do something other than the actual practice requested. And one or two people maybe get it. If I’m there, I can nudge you back into it, provided you’re a suitable candidate for being there. Anything else on rushen separating?

Nyondo: In stillness should we have complete stillness no emotions or thoughts at all?

Lama Lena: At this point, should they arise, simply recognize them as the moving. Mostly none.

Nyondo: A lot of these number of the questions coming up now on this question of stillness seem to be about: Do you analyze it or if you do anything with it is that also a nyam?

Lama Lena: It is a notice-ment at this stage. Especially off the cushion, you do the noticing. On the cushion you rest in stillness, but inevitably from time to time, your nose will need to sneeze, your bladder will need to be emptied, something will move; recognize it as the moving. You’ll have a feeling of tiredness or sleepiness – recognize, that is moving. Separate it from stillness. Y’all have thought come up ‘I wonder how long I’ve been sitting here’ – that’s moving, recognize it is such. Your dog will bark, there’ll be a knock at the door, a perception, a sensation at one of your sense organs, the phone will ring – recognize that perception as part of the moving. Really get into this separation stage, rather intensely. Until you are sure, by your own experience, what is moving and what is still.
Anything else.

Nyondo: So is stillness only in the gaps of other mental phenomena?

Lama Lena: In the gaps? You’re thinking it’s limited to the gaps? No, it surrounds all other mental phenomena, it is the ground of mind itself which never moves. You can perceive it in the gaps. But perception is moving.

 

The Yoga of Dancing Stillness

Taking you on to the next stage. Now, you must complete this stage effectively, going back to it is difficult. And not having completed it will lead to an ‘oops’ and slow down the maturation of your practice. But once you have become completely sure by your own experience, exactly what is stillness and what is moving, now the fun begins.
Trül tra näl jor [Wyl. , moving stillness yoga, literally]. I call it the yoga of dancing stillness. Here is where you permit moving and stillness to merge. Where you see the movement inherent as potential in the stillness. Sambhogakaya. And you see the stillness in which all movement arises with no ‘thing’ moving.
Now it comes off the cushion. In the movement, find the stillness that surrounds it. And on the cushion, in the stillness, recognize its clear light nature, potential for the dance of phenomena.
And that potential itself is awareness. Mid point which you are, Sambhogakaya nature of mind, the vitality of the stillness. And as that you see the moving and the stillness at the same time, at all times, and on all occasions. This is the gom [Wyl. ] of Dzogchen.

With Dzogchen, you don’t do the separating first. Which means you have to do it later. Otherwise, everybody keeps trying to stabilize a perception; which obviously doesn’t work and they get terribly frustrated and they try for years and years. Don’t do that.
In mahamudra, you do it first. So that that doesn’t become a problem and/in stabilization. Allowing gom to mature into sopa [Wyl. ], automatically and quickly. Without having to go through all the Rushens, these Dzogchen’s Ngöndros, which are applied there. This is the beauty of Mahamudra, separating is done early.

Here, there is off the cushion and on the cushion, trül tra näl jor – dancing stillness yoga.
Here is where at all times and in all occasions you recognize the already known Dharmakaya nature of mind, inherent in all the arising phenomena. The space containing
the stuff. This is the beginning of gom, the second word of Garab Dorje; yoga of dancing stillness.
Are there questions?

 

 

Questions on Practice and on the Yoga of Dancing Stillness

[1:20:53]

Nyondo: Do you have advice on meditating with tinnitus, the ringing in the ears?

Lama Lena: Tenzin Wangyal, yesterday [online teaching given by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, hosted by Lama Lena, on february 6th, 2021] , gave a meditation for that. Where you stuff your ears with cotton, making it nice and loud without external noises, and focus on it as shiné. Instead of using a visual sense of a pebble, you use the sound. I suspect he could tell you more about how to do that. Fact, stuffing your ears with cotton eventually the whooshing of your blood becomes the sound. But if you have a tinnitus, that would be the sound. And you simply use that as your example of shyi-né, as your pebble.
Otherwise, leave it be. Tinnitus is a come and go. There was a time before you had it and someday there’ll be a time after you have it.
Next question.

Nyondo: Is or rather, are these practices appropriate, if you have a child who likes to meditate and is willing to practice this?

Lama Lena: Absolutely. There is no reason why children shouldn’t do this. In fact, we’ve got a teaching with a guest teacher, Lama Candice, coming up in a week or two [online teaching given by Tenzin Lama Candice, hosted by Lama Lena, on february 6th, 2021], on Dzogchen for toddlers. Please be welcome to join us for that, it will be on my Facebook and YouTube channel like this.

Nyondo: Can you combine this practice with Dzogchen, for example: doing sessions of shiné and sessions of trekchö together?

Lama Lena: No, this is a different method, don’t mix them until you get to trül tra näl jor. Trül-tra-näl-jor, gom. There are many ways of confusion to get there. There is [a] Dzogchen way to get there. And a chagchen [Mahamudra] way to get there. Choose one.
Once you have reached the point of trül tra näl jor, they come together again.

Nyondo: When I try to work with trül-tra-näl-jor off the cushion, I often feel tense and notice poor breathing. I’m fine on the cushion. Do you have advice?

Lama Lena: Work on your breathing and do a round of some form of purification, you’ve got a geg. That’s making you tense about this. So again, the standard purification: Vajrasattva, prostrations, sang, smudge bath. There are recitations for purification.
Basically the best method I think for this would be to use it in Vajrasattva with confession. You confess the problem out loud! Use the speech chakra. You regret the problem. You do the mantra a while. And then you decide not to do that again.
You might find yourself needing to figure out what it is about, doing this off the cushion that makes you tense. And it’s going to be connected to a bunch of stuff. And getting all that stuff with Vajrasattva, seeing each bit of it as a creepy, crawly that washes out.
If you don’t have a good Vajrasattva teaching and Sadhana, and yes, use the Sadhana for this; I did one very recently that should be up. And it was a public one on these channels, so it’ll be on YouTube and Facebook back ways.

Nyondo: Can you comment a bit about sang [Wyl.]? And people are confused about the exact practice there.

Lama Lena: I have taught this practice and it’s up there somewhere. Probably on the website, you can find a reference to it. It’s burning of incense as a purification ceremony. There’s a long version that I haven’t taught, which is the mountain form. And possibly if we get a lot of requests, I’ll teach that, I do have the text. Mountain sang, and that’s a very beautiful purification.
It feeds, satisfies your imps, dooms, dudes, dri’s, gegs and combs out your parchi’s a bit, pays back your karmic debtors and releases you from that.

Nyondo: A question about experiences during practice: During practice, I have a fear of annihilation. What do I do about this?

Lama Lena: Ngöndro. And there is nothing that exists that’s going to be annihilated. But since that fear is arising, do some purification for it. You’ve got a cork in your tsa. You want to comb that out, because it’s in your way. It’s very easy of course, to confuse fear and excitement. So check it is not that you’re just excited about getting somewhere.

Nyondo: Can you talk a bit about the difference between the stillness and emptiness? Some people are confused. Are they the same? Are they different? What’s the relationship there?

Lama Lena: Emptiness is a descriptive word. In this usage, the stillness is being used as a noun. The stillness is empty of movement.
Emptiness is used as a word in certain contexts, usually descriptively rather than as a noun. Shunyata [ Wyl. ] is empty of phenomena. The stillness is empty of phenomena. However it is full of potential.

Nyondo: A couple of related questions about different visual perceptions during practice: I frequently experience my vision dissolving into something like rainbow smoke. Is this a visual nyam or is it something else?

Lama Lena: Yeah, it is a visual nyam.

Nyondo: And is visual perception always part of movement? Is that part of what’s moving

Lama Lena: Visual perception, sensations of your eyeball are moving.

Nyondo: Even if nothing you’re looking at is moving?

Lama Lena: But they are! The molecules inside them are moving, they’re slowly deteriorating. If you were to look at them for an eon, you would see the movement. If you were to do a time-lapse photograph of my sugar bowl, over – say a millennia – you would see the changes. However, some things are moving too slowly for you to notice. Other things are moving too fast.

So visual perception, everything you are perceiving, since you can look at this and then look at that, your perception moves. The sensations in your eyeballs are changing, they’re always changing; because you’re looking here, you’re looking there, you’re looking at a blue thing, you’re looking at a red thing. You see that? Visual perception is moving. Changing.

It doesn’t changing and.. moving doesn’t mean fast moving, it just means moving. When you stare at your pebble, eventually you’ll get up and go pee and won’t be staring at your pebble. So the visual perception of the pebble moves, changes in time. Characteristic of stillness is that it does not move, ever.

Nyondo: I am experiencing that appearances are not other than the stillness. Is that the next step?

Lama Lena: That’s trül tra näl- or, yoga of dancing stillness. I call it dancing stillness, because I think it sounds pretty. But literally it’s moving stillness yoga.

 

The Yoga of one Taste

Okay, let’s take you on to the next step.
Now we’re past doing. Trül tra näl jor is the last doing in Mahamudra. Beyond here, it does itself. Because you are no longer the person who started. You have changed yourself with the pebble to being one who can control the focus of attention. You have changed yourself without the pebble in shiné to being one who can accomplish shiné. And as you change yourself through the separation and the coming together. You have become a mirror reflection of the dancing stillness.
At this point, turn around metaphorically speaking and gaze into your own eyes.

Who is the yogi of dancing stillness yoga?
Who does this?
See it?

It’s a question but it’s also a shift of attention from the dancing stillness to the perceiver, experiencer of the dancing stillness.
And in that shift it becomes obvious, that it is dancing stillness that sees dancing stillness, and there is no separation what so ever between experiencer, experience and experienced.
And the double mirror reflects itself to infinity. And you are the dance of stillness.
With no separation here, dancing stillness matures into ro chig [Wyl. rog cig]; the yoga of one taste.
Don’t grab anything. Here’s where old Dorje got his hand stuck in the board. Here is where it is strongly advised that, should a yogi find himself able to fly, he not fly over large bodies of water, especially if he can’t swim. Here, the nyams get weird. And you mustn’t grab them or shove them; leave them be.

Allow ro chig, one taste; no separation whatsoever between the perceiver, the perception and the perceived. No separation whatsoever between the drinker of the coffee, the coffee and the drinking. It’s all the same thing, the dance of stillness.
Here, one taste matures into meditation. Here we step beyond words, where even meditation itself matures into the non-meditation. Without a do-er, a doing or a done, there is nothing left to do. Is-ness continues.

In this very moment transcend the extremes of obtaining and not obtaining realization. Since liberation and non-liberation do not exist, they are one in the natural state. This certainty cannot be given by another. Only you can come to this for yourself. Beyond self, beyond you. When all arisings are seen clearly, the mind neither accepts nor rejects anything. Fearlessly transcend the points of meditation and non-meditation.

You can never depend on things that come and go. Be free of ‘should do this or that’.

The mind that hopes and fears is not. Fear arises, no-one as it. Hope arises, no-one has it. No-one holding, it means: it neither is nor is not arising in the free flow of natural phenomena, in stillness as stillness, there is no doing of the deed. No do-er to have done.
This is not the end, but the beginning of the natural state.
The mind that hopes and fears is not; give up trying, it won’t get you anywhere. And the realization of the natural state pointed out by the teacher, both thinking and the thinker dissolve into Dharmadhatu.

Consciousness finds no place to grasp. Consciousness finds no place to grasp. Rest in the truth without attachment to ‘it’ or any other ‘thing’. There is no ‘thing’ to grab, you have no hands to grab with. For there is no do-er, no grabber; separate from the grabbing and the grab-ed. Rest in the truth without attachment, free of achieving or maintaining. Not rejecting, not achieving, not trying, not doing. Give it up

After having studied long and long with the Hindu Sadhus in shiné and magic methods, renunciation, I gained many magical powers, which I proceeded to spend here and there on many entertainments until they wore off. And I found myself working three jobs to support the wonderful wardrobe that needed dry cleaning, the two beautiful men that were not of the sort to support themselves, the mansion I kept them in and all the other accoutrements that I had acquired to play with. In the daytime I worked as an engineer, designing a highway. In the evening, I worked managing a restaurant which was a front for my forgery business, which I did it night afterwards. Those men were expensive. Pretty though. And they got on, you know hard is to find two men that’ll get on with each other.
Well, they sort of got on.
When it wore off, I was on my way to my engineering day job, when I stopped to allow a herd of buffaloes go into the slaughter horse house to go by. And I noticed across the street on a street corner, an old woman with one eye and a red dog. And she looked to me right in the eyes with her one eye and she pointed at me with her finger and burst out laughing hysterically, slapping her thighs. And the dog lolled his tongue out with a big grin and she laughed and laughed.
And I thought to myself: ‘Well, that old woman certainly has a point. Here I am, a sadhu, working three straightish jobs to maintain the lifestyle that I magic-ed up and the magic powers whore of, and…fuck this, I could have done this in Teaneck, New Jersey.
So instead of going to work, I headed on bicycling outside of town and on up into the mountains until my bike wouldn’t go any further. And it was mountain tracks, and I walked up the tracks and I came to the top of the hill, with a garden.
And in the garden was a monk, a Tibetan monk. And he said ‘Hello’, and I said ‘Hello’.
And then I asked him: ‘Tell me, do you Tibetans have something that neither requires maintenance nor wears off?’ And he said to me: ‘Yeah, we do’. And I said to him: ‘Will you teach it to me?’ He says: ‘Yeah, but you’ll have to stick around for a while’.
So I did for the next few years. That was Lama Thubten Yeshe, who just happened to be wandering in the garden. And y’all can figure who the old lady with one eye was. A very dear old friend who I encounter from time to time when I’m stuck.
Lama Yeshe taught me a lot but he kept saying: ‘I’m not your root teacher, I’m your babysitter. I’m gonna pass you on to your root-teacher eventually, you just stay here for now’. Because I kept begging him to show me and he showed me many things, but not that which does not wear off or require maintenance. That was Wangdor Rinpoche.

Rest in the truth without attachment, free of achieving or maintaining. Not rejecting, not achieving, not trying, not doing; give it up! There, the joy of the natural state, most transcendent of Dharmas. Trying hinders realization.

Do not make the mistake here of deviating into doing, remain free of all desire. All arisings are liberated in the uncontrived state. Free of even a whiff of pride and non attachment. Supported by devotion, seamlessly weave together the sacred threads of devotion. Beyond the doings of mind, stainless and free of doubt. All knowledge, all knowing, phenomena directly perceived. Guru yoga, Bodhicitta and shunyata, a single thing, no ‘thing’.

Without the natural Mahamudra realization, one is constantly grasping at duality of self and other. This causes one to want to change things. I want this, I want that, I’m gonna do this, I am gonna do that.
Because this attitude obscures all pervading awareness, one is born again and again in the doing. Both moment to moment and life to life. Seeing the truth clearly frees one from cyclic existence, all attachment and desire for fame and honor, clinging to great learning and understanding, fixation on experience, looking for accomplishment and signs of powers creates an artificial path; let go!
Direct your mind towards the truth rather than knowledge and power, rather than how others see you.
Any mental doing is limited by having a direction trying to climb up; limits you.
This creating of limits is the root of cyclic existence. Simply look at what is the ground of mind, in the direct seeing of mind is certain liberation.

Mahamudra, the complete path, starts with a pebble.

 

Questions

Nyondo: How did Lama Thubten Yeshe know he was not your root guru?

Lama Lena: He was a very accomplished siddha, he knew many things. It’s called ngo shé [Wyl. ngo shes], the knowing.
In the teaching from Jangchub Dorje to Wangdor Rinpoche, the private teaching, talks about: if you do not practice at all times, and under all circumstances, the ngo shé won’t come out, the knowing.

Nyondo: I feel I should do ngöndro to go deeper into Mahamantra; I had a dream of a lama talking to me about ngöndro. Does that mean I should only do the ngöndro with that lama?

Lama Lena: Not necessarily. Dreams contain your own symbols.I would hesitate to tell you the meaning of it for you. Consider it. Does the dream mean you should do ngöndro? Maybe.

Would you like to do ngöndro with that particular lama? Okay. Would you prefer to do it with someone else? Probably okay. Might you want to check in with that lama in the awake time? Not a bad idea. Your choice.

We have ngöndro teachings for those that want it. Or feel they need it. As well as Vajrasattva teachings and sang teachings. And the Riwo Sang I’m going to have to do one of these days soon, for y’all. It’s quite a, it’s a fairly long text. But it’s a lovely text and it’s a nice purification. So I’ll put that together and stick it in maybe later this month. Because when you come upon a glitch, especially one that’s obvious, like meditation scares you or agitates you or causes you to feel tension, yeah, that’s a geg. Sang is good for gegs. Next question.

Nyondo: How should I decide to pick one practice? Dzogchen versus Mahamudra.

Lama Lena: Which one sounds like more fun to you. That’s how you pick. You see, if it’s fun, you’ll actually do it. If you don’t like a practice, you won’t do it. Pick the one that you understand easier, that feels easier. Your choice. We have a couple of trek-chö groups and we also have a Mahamudra group, happening. There is less people in the Mahamudra group, so I’m going to encourage you. But only if that’s the way you want to go. If that method feels good to you, right, comprehensible. doable, fun. Look for those adjectives in choosing a practice.

Nyondo: How do you know when you’ve done enough separating of moving and stillness, to move on to the yoga dancing stillness?

Lama Lena: You are absolutely sure which is which! That certainty. If you’re not sure, you’re not done. You should be sure you’re sure. And then you move on.

Nyondo: Is experiencing trül tra näl jor without having isolated stillness possible? I do practice trekchö.

[Lama Lena] Yes. By the Dzogchen method. In the Dzogchen method, we don’t isolate stillness before trül-tra-näl-jor. We do it after, in ru-shen. Ru-shen, the Dzogchen ngöndro stuff that I teach different bits of, literally means separating. It’s the same stage as separating the moving from the stillness, because many, many Dzogchen practitioners keep trying to stabilize a bit of the moving, like the feeling of trek-chö.
The perception of natural mind, open awareness, or the idea of open awareness, the thought of it, concept of it, the feel of resting in opening awareness, that feeling, or even the very perception of ta-wa.
And these are thoughts, feelings and perceptions and they don’t stabilize. They move.
So, in the outer body ru-shen we work for eleven days, without stopping, there’s no breaks, no night break, 24/7; until we can not do. We find the not-doing and in the not- doing it becomes obvious. And trek-chö simply is without do-er.
Next question,

[Nyondo] If we look at the perceiver and we do not manage to pinpoint anything, what should we do?

[Lama Lena] Stay with that. In the not finding lies the finding.
Next

[Nyondo] Couple of people meeting details on combining or not combining Mahamudra with Dzogchen.

[Lama Lena] No. Do not combine them before trül-tra-näl-jor. They are different.
Guys, you don’t have to do everything! You just have to do one thing!
One practice! You can have a couple more if you want.
I teach you many things. For many people. You cannot do all of them. Do not try. You’ll do yourself a mischief. Did I answer those questions as stated?

[Nyondo] I think so yeah. One person was wondering if you start on one path, you completely exclude the other.

[Lama Lena] It’s not exclusion, you just don’t walk it, you can know about it. Walk and if you determine after starting on one path that you like the other one better, you can switch. But then you start at the beginning, at least a little while with your pebble.

[Nyondo] A couple of people asking about: How is yoga moving stillness different from gom? Or are they the same?

[Lama Lena] They are very similar. The words used to point at them are different. Yoga of moving stillness is based on already having separated, whereas gom does not require that you do that first, you will do it after.

[Nyondo] A couple of questions going back to the practice with the pebble. One is: Can the pebble be replaced with the breath and focusing on that?

[Lama Lena] No, because you cannot take the breath away. This is why we use a pebble, it can be removed. Breathing, focusing just on the breath, will interfere a bit. Because the breath is moving and will never be still. The pebble is not moving and it is easy by removing the pebble to shift to stillness.

[Nyondo] One are the other questions was: Does it have to be a pebble or can it be a statue of the Buddha for example?

[Lama Lena] You can use the statue of the Buddha. I like a pebble because it’s ordinary, and one is less likely to fret about it. But if you would prefer a small statue of the Buddha, but no bigger than your thumb.
Next,

[Nyondo] Once one is experiencing trül-tra-näl-jor and resting is happening, what practice do we do? Or do we just rest there?

[Lama Lena] Stay with that and allow it to mature. If you wish to give it a slight nudge, gently turn around and gaze into your own eyes. Who rests there. Look and see.
Next,

[Nyondo] The stillness appears to me more like a feeling. Is stillness a feeling that persists. Like a tingling?

[Lama Lena] No, it’s not a feeling. Although you may have a feeling, sensation in either your physical body or your mental mind. For instance, you might have an emotional liking, that is a feeling. Or you might have a tingle or a sense of physically being still and relaxed. Those are sensations of the body. You might be having those about stillness. But stillness is not those. Those move. Sensations come and go, emotions come and go.
Stillness does not move.
Next

[Nyondo] A couple of questions about the stillness and awareness; Is awareness the same as the stillness?

[Lama Lena] Awareness is the perceiver of stillness. Yes, awareness is the same as stillness, because the perceiver and the perceived are not separate. This will be noticed in one taste.

[Nyondo] For this yoga of dancing stillness, are you working for the same text?

[Lama Lena] No, I’m working, describing it. All the descriptions that I’m not reading from this, are from Karmapa’s teaching.

[Nyondo] There’s nothing that is publicly available?

[Lama Lena] No, it was an oral teaching passed to me by my teacher. I took notes, but I pretty much memorized them by now and I’m not sure where they’ve gone. They’re around

[Nyondo] Is shyi-né without an object the same as awareness of awareness?

[Lama Lena] It might be, depending on what you meant by ‘awareness of awareness’. Shyi-né without an object is the same as what is often referred to as ‘resting in open awareness’. So yes, but remember, nothing is like anything else.
Remember, in the words of Saraha? All ‘is-es and isn’t aren’t’.
All of your ‘is it like this?’ or ‘is it like that?’; we’re just playing with words and semantics. None of the words actually say how it really be.
A point: the finger pointing and the thing pointed at are not the same. This is a finger, but I couldn’t drink this coffee. I cannot drink this finger.[Lama Lena pointing at her coffee-mug]

Couple more questions, and then we’re gonna be done for today. But I’ll see you all in a couple of weeks in the Mahamudra group, those of you who wish to practice in Mahamudra way rather than in a Maha-ati way.
Next.

[Nyondo] Question about devotion: What is it and how is it being used here or described in this practice?

[Lama Lena] Here this is the same in Dzogchen and in Mahamudra. Devotion to the teacher is the fuel of practice. That devotion, openness. You know how when you really love someone, you’re just sort of open to them. You wish to engulf them or be engulfed by them or both. That feeling of devotion allows you to open your mind sufficiently, that that which is beyond words can go in, transmitted by the teacher. Because all the words in the world in every possible language, even sonar, don’t go there. They only point from outside.
One more.

[Nyondo] How do you know when you’re ready for the outer body ru-shen?

[Lama Lena] You’ve been doing trek-chö for a number of years. You’ve been doing gom at all times and on all occasions. And you’re getting really frustrated because keep losing it under certain stimulus. Like when fighting with your wife. Then it’s time.
And I think we’re done for today, unless there’s anything acute there.

[Nyondo] I don’t think so.

[Lama Lena] Okay, those of you who choose to practice this, I’ll see you in a week or two in the Mahamudra group. Remember, you only get to join one group. This is because there’s too many of you for me to work with in detail at once.

ge wa di yi nyur du dag

de yi sa la göd par shog

[wylie:
dge ba ‘di yis myur du bdag
de yi sa la ‘god par shog]

As all those who have walked before me,
as all those who will walk after me,
as all those who have walked together with me,
and have done will have done,
I offer the gala
created by this teaching
to all life everywhere.
Because we’re all in this together.

If you enjoyed the teaching, there’s a dana-button on the website. Currently, until Thursday, it’s dedicated to geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, who taught yesterday. And I will be offering to him any offerings made to me for today’s teaching. So you’re welcome to make offerings and I shall pass them on.
If any of you wish to merge your practice with a yogi, yogini mostly, we have mostly females, we have; up on the mountain, in the shacks, in the caves. Write me an email specific to that. Don’t mix it in with other topics. Just say that in the email. And I’ll make an introduction for you. Or we will because I have people helping. I’m behind on my email. But you’re all used to that by now. It’ll happen. And anything else practical I need to say?

[Nyondo] I’ve posted the schedule link, for people to check for upcoming teachings and register for the various groups and retreats that are happening.

Okay, so practicals have been dealt with. Thank you all for joining me.
Whatever you choose as a practice, do it. Practice is the key. In a relaxed manner, no pushing, no bird-dogging-stuff, just do it in joyful relaxation.
And we are complete.

 

Excerpt from the text: THE EIGHT DOHA TREASURES Doha Treasures

The Doha Treasure by Virupa

In Indian: Doha kośa nāma
In Tibetan: Do ha mdzod ces bya ba

I pay homage to Śrī Vajrasattva.
I pay homage to Bhagavatī Nairatmyā.

There are three parts to this text
1. The ultimate mahāmudrā: the true nature of the basis.
2. The relative mahāmudrā’s ‘adoption as the path’.
3. Liberation in the inseparability of the two truths.

1. The true nature of the basis: the ultimate mahāmudrā
Wondrous! The mahāmudrā, the equality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,
Is quintessentially completely pure, like space;
It does not have a nature that can be indicated, so it does not have a path of words and terms;
It has an inexpressible nature; its essence is free from all dependant phenomena;
It cannot be examined or analysed, it cannot be indicated by examples;
It does not even exist as inexemplifiable; it transcends being an object of the intellect;
It is not permanent; not measurable; it is neither saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa.

It is not appearance; it is not emptiness; it is neither a thing or nothing; it is not birthless;
It is not the natural true nature; it is not a transcendence of intellect;
It’s not ‘isn’t’ and it’s not ‘is’, because it cannot be described by the intellect;
It has no connection with any dualistic phenomena; it is primordial equality.

Although its essence, etymology and function is taught,
That’s the same as [teaching] the unreal sharpness or bluntness of the unreal horns of a rabbit.

All phenomena are no different from these characteristics.
The phenomenal relativities that exist and appear in this way
Have no essence, they are just the application of names and symbols;
There is not slightest distinctive difference between these names and their meanings.

As it is primordial innateness, there is nothing to seek elsewhere,
The mind’s nature, an empty name, free from conceptualisation, is mahāmudrā,
It is the same as the nature of space, a primordial non-existent emptiness;
It is quintessentially unborn; it is not a conceptual entity.
Like space, it is all pervading and has no change or passing away;
It is empty in all times and circumstances and it is primordially selfless.

It has no memory, thoughts or concepts, like the water of a mirage. It neither binds or frees; it never departs from the natural state,

All beings are the emanations of mahāmudrā
The essence of emanation is primordial birthlessness, the dharmadhātu.
All the features of dualistic appearances also, such as happiness and suffering,
Are the natural true nature, the display of mahāmudrā.
And within that display also there is no truth, no permanence,
And therefore it never departs from the seal of the natural state of emptiness.

2. The relative mahāmudrā’s ‘adoption as the path’.
This is in two parts:
2.1. The deluded ‘adoption as the path’.
2.2. The undeluded ‘adoption as the path’.

2.1. The deluded ‘adoption as the path’.
Some give abhishekhas, causing torment;
Some cry “Hūṃ” and “Phaṭ” and count their mala beads;
Some consume faeces, urine, blood, semen and flesh;
Some are deluded by meditation on the yoga of nāḍī and vāyu.

2.2. The undeluded ‘adoption as the path’.
This is in four parts:
2.2.1. The instructions on the definite view.
2.2.2. The instructions on the practice of meditation.
2.2.3. The instructions on the conduct of ‘adoptionas the path’.
2.2.4. The result: the complete accomplishment of the mahāmudrā.

2.2.1. The instructions on the definite view.
Wondrous!
In the care of a pure guru, realise the single knowledge in this way:
As everything is delusion, there is no true realisation;
As there is no realised or realiser, this is freedom from all extremes and bias;
As there is no freedom or non-freedom, it is a state of natural equality;
If one has that certain realisation, there will be stainlessness in all else.