meaning of the union of great bliss and emptiness is that through the force of meditation one’s own mind of great bliss and emptiness become non-dual, just one, like two spaces mixed with each other. This is extremely profound and subtle, and these days those who understand the meaning of this union through experience are as rare as stars appearing during the day.
Great bliss is appearance and emptiness is empty. The union of these two is the union of appearance and emptiness. Conventional truth is appearance and ultimate truth is empty, and the union of these two is also the union of appearance and emptiness. Ourself generated as the supported Deity and the entire supporting mandala are appearance, and emptiness is empty; and the union of these two is also the union of appearance and emptiness. We should know that there are many levels to this union of appearance and emptiness. Normally we perceive appearance and emptiness as two, not one. This perception is dualistic appearance, which is the main obstacle to attaining enlightenment. Dualistic appearance and dualistic grasping that are commonly known refer to appearance and emptiness appearing as two and to the mind grasping at this.
Je Tsongkhapa said in a prayer:
Through identifying the meaning of union correctly,
May I be permanently free from mistaken appearance.
The meaning of union in this context is that appearances and emptinesses are non-dual, of one nature. If we realize this union directly we will be permanently free from all mistaken appearance. Through training, when we realize that appearances and emptinesses are non-dual, of one nature, like two spaces mixed with each other, we should hold this profound knowledge or experience day and night without ever forgetting it. By doing this we will finally be able to abide forever in the vast space of the union of appearance and emptiness as a Heruka. This is the Union of Heruka. Thus we will have attained enlightenment.
In short, when through the force of meditation our mind transforms into the mind of great bliss as mentioned above and this mind realizes emptiness directly, this is the union of great bliss and emptiness, the actual realization of Mahamudra. Then we will definitely become enlightened in this life.
Many of Je Tsongkhapa’s disciples and their disciples in turn became enlightened Buddhas in their lifetime by attaining the realization of the union of great bliss and emptiness through practising the instructions of the Ganden Oral Lineage. However, it is difficult for people to believe that this is true because their minds are obstructed by ordinary appearance.
HOW TO PRACTISE MAHAMUDRA
The root text of the Mahamudra says:
With respect to this there are three – the preliminaries, the actual practice and the concluding practice . . .
This means that to gain the realization of Mahamudra we need to practise these three. How to practise Mahamudra, therefore, will now be explained under three headings:
1. The practice of the preliminaries
2. The actual practice of Mahamudra
3. The practice of subsequent attainment
Buddha Shakyamuni
THE PRACTICE OF THE PRELIMINARIES
It is well known that there are four great preliminary guides:
1. The first great preliminary guide, training in sincerely going for refuge, the gateway to entering Buddhism; and training in the compassionate mind of bodhichitta, the gateway to entering the Mahayana, the main path to the state of enlightenment
2. The second great preliminary guide, training in purification practice, the gateway to purifying non-virtuous actions and obstructions
3. The third great preliminary guide, training in the practice of the mandala offering, the gateway to accumulating the collection of merit and attaining an enlightened Pure Land
4. The fourth great preliminary guide, training in Guru yoga, the gateway to receiving blessings
THE FIRST GREAT PRELIMINARY GUIDE
HOW TO TRAIN IN SINCERELY GOING FOR REFUGE, THE GATEWAY TO ENTERING BUDDHISM
Venerable Sakya Pandita said that if you have no practice of going for refuge to the Three Jewels – Buddha, Dharma and Sangha – you are not a Dharma practitioner. This means that if we are unable to practise refuge purely we will not enter Buddhism, and if we do not enter Buddhism we will have no opportunity to attain permanent liberation from suffering or the supreme happiness of enlightenment. Then we will have lost the real meaning of human life.
Understanding this, we make a determination, thinking:
I will practise refuge purely so that I can enter Buddhism.
We meditate on this determination.
Since without a cause there is no effect, we first need to generate the causes of pure refuge practice in our mind by contemplating as follows:
I and all mother living beings as extensive as space are drowning in the vast and deep ocean of samsaric suffering, where the sea monsters of the Lord of Death devour our bodies again and again.
We experience the suffering of dying in so many different ways and all our countless bodies are consumed by the sea monsters of the Lord of Death.
We have to experience an endless cycle of rebirth, with suffering produced by waves of unbearable pain, and each time we are born, we are born alone and have to experience suffering for our entire life.
Then comes death.
Again we are born alone and have to experience suffering for that entire life.
Then again death.
And again we are born, and so on.
We have to experience this cycle of unbearable suffering endlessly, and the cause of all of this suffering is that we have taken rebirth in samsara, the cycle of impure life.
What does taking rebirth in samsara mean? It means that in each of our lives due to ignorance we grasp our body or mind as our self, thinking, ‘I’ ‘I’, where there is no I, or self. Through this we experience the sufferings of this life and countless future lives as hallucinations endlessly.
Having understood this, we feel how unbearable samsaric rebirth is for both ourself and others; and how unbearable is this uncertainty of suffering and rebirth.
We also think:
I am in samsara, the cycle of impure life; it is like being trapped in a circle of fire.
We generate a feeling of strong fear of this unbearable cycle of rebirth and meditate on this fear again and again, holding it single-pointedly without forgetting it. Through meditating in this way day and night we should never forget the fear of taking rebirth in samsara in general and in the lower realms in particular.
Usually, there is no point in developing fear, but the fear explained here opens the door to pure refuge practice and so is extremely meaningful. It is an indispensable cause of pure practice of refuge. Up to now we have not been able to practise going for refuge to the Three Jewels purely because of the fault of lacking this fear. Therefore we should contemplate:
