Rinpoche
Dorjechang Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche (included at the request of faithful disciples)
Practitioner’s table showing inner offering, vajra and bell, damaru, action vase and mala
Vajrasattva with consort
Twelve-armed Heruka
Nada and HUM
Offering tormas for the assembly of Heruka
Two-armed Heruka
Heruka fire puja mandala
Khatanga, victory vase, fire puja funnel and fire puja ladle
One-pronged vajra
HAM, OM, HUM, short-AH
Quick Path to Great Bliss
Guru Vajradharma
Hero Vajradharma
Venerable Vajrayogini
Kinkara
Dorje Shugden
PART ONE:
The General Explanation of this Practice
Vajradhara
INTRODUCTION
This book principally presents the practice of meditation, through which we can develop and maintain a peaceful mind all the time. If our mind is peaceful all the time, we will be happy all the time. So, if we really wish for ourself and others to be happy all the time we must learn to practise meditation. Eventually, through practising Mahamudra meditation we will be able to benefit each and every living being every day. There is no greater meaning than this.
The function of meditation is to give rise to mental peace. The supreme permanent mental peace is enlightenment. What is enlightenment? Enlightenment is the inner light of wisdom that is permanently free from all mistaken appearance, and whose function is to bestow mental peace upon each and every living being every day. Only human beings can attain this through practising meditation. How fortunate we are!
Meditation is a scientific method to transform human nature from bad to good. Everybody needs to be good-natured with a good heart. This is the real method to solve our own inner problems – problems of ignorance, depression, anger and so forth – and is also the real method to benefit others practically.
To ensure that our meditation is effective, each meditation practice is presented in two stages: the contemplation and the actual meditation. We should memorize the contemplation and during the meditation session mentally repeat it again and again. Through this we will generate or find the object of the actual meditation. Having found the object we then hold it strongly and meditate on it single-pointedly. This way of meditating is very practical and important, so we should keep this advice in our heart.
In the term ‘Mahamudra’, ‘Maha’ means ‘great’ and refers to great bliss, and ‘mudra’ means ‘non-deceptive’ and refers to emptiness. The actual Mahamudra, therefore, is the union of our own great bliss and emptiness.
The instructions of Mahamudra presented in this book are based on Je Tsongkhapa’s oral instructions of Mahamudra, his uncommon instructions of Mahamudra that he extracted from the Ganden Emanation Scripture.
Until the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, these instructions were not written in normal human language. The first Panchen Lama wrote the root text of the Mahamudra The Main Path of the Conquerors, and its autocommentary, based on the Ganden Emanation Scripture. From then on the Ganden Oral Lineage instructions of Mahamudra were gradually taught publicly.
These instructions are very blessed. Je Tsongkhapa received them from Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. He passed the lineage blessings and instructions to his disciple Togden Jampel Gyatso, and they were then transmitted through a continuous unbroken lineage until they reached Vajradhara Trijang Rinpoche, who is a manifestation of Buddha Heruka. Through the great kindness of this precious Lama we now have the opportunity to listen to and practise these precious instructions. We should rejoice in our good fortune.
The Ganden Emanation Scripture is a holy scripture emanated by Wisdom Buddha Manjushri that reveals the uncommon instructions of the Ganden doctrine. There are emanation scriptures, just as there are emanation Teachers and so forth. In the Sutras Buddha says, ‘In the future you will meet Spiritual Guides in the aspect of ordinary beings. You should know that they are my emanations.’ In fact, there are countless emanation scriptures, emanation Teachers and so forth. Emanations of Buddha can be anything, animate or inanimate. There is not a single place that is without emanations of Buddha. The fact that Buddha has countless emanations is one of the main reasons proving that Buddha has the ability to benefit each and every living being every day.
Through the oral instructions of Mahamudra presented in this book we should know the special characteristics of Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine. In Prayer for the Flourishing of the Doctrine of Je Tsongkhapa the great scholar Gungtang says:
The emptiness that is explained in Buddha’s Sutra teachings
And the great bliss that is explained in Buddha’s Tantric teachings –
The union of these two is the very essence of Buddha’s eighty-four thousand teachings.
May the doctrine of Conqueror Losang Dragpa flourish for evermore.
In Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings we find a clear, unmistaken and complete explanation of emptiness, and also a clear, unmistaken and complete explanation of great bliss. This is the special characteristic of Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine. Understanding this, we should rejoice from the depths of our heart in our good fortune at having met Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine.
It is said that the unmistaken Dharma is Mahamudra, Lamrim, or stages of the path, and Lojong, or training the mind. Therefore, we should put great effort into practising these instructions ourself and teaching them to others, as they are the very essence of Buddhadharma. If we do this we will accomplish the real purpose of having met Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine.
In the root text it says ‘Geden Kagyu’. This means ‘Ganden Oral Lineage’. In this context ‘Ganden’ – which means ‘Joyful One’ – refers to the doctrine of Je Tsongkhapa, and practitioners who follow this doctrine are called ‘Gandenpas’.
Some texts explain that emptiness is the ‘great seal’ or ‘Mahamudra’, but ‘Mahamudra’ is simply a name given to emptiness. The real Mahamudra is the union of great bliss and emptiness.
Mahamudra, or the union of great bliss and emptiness, has two parts: great bliss and emptiness. In Highest Yoga Tantra great bliss is necessarily a bliss that arises through the melting of the drops inside the central channel due to the inner winds of the right and left channels entering, abiding and dissolving into the central channel through the force of meditation. Only Highest Yoga Tantra practitioners and Buddhas experience such bliss.
The second part of this union, emptiness, was explained by Buddha in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras and, following Nagarjuna’s commentaries to the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, Je Tsongkhapa explained clearly and in detail the meaning of emptiness.
The
