Читать книгу The Oral Instructions of Mahamudra - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso - Страница 14

Je Tsongkhapa and his Two Sons descending from Tushita Pure Land

HOW TO PRACTISE AFFECTIONATE LOVE

To generate the realization of affectionate love observing all living beings we contemplate as follows.

In general, Highest Yoga Tantra is known as the quick path to the attainment of enlightenment, but in the Sutras it is the spontaneous mind of compassion observing all living beings that is explained as the quick path. If we have this mind, then through its power we will never waste a single moment, but draw closer and closer to the attainment of enlightenment every moment of the day and the night. With such a mind of compassion we will be like the Kadampa Geshe Chekhawa, for even if we wished to go to the hell realms in our next life we would definitely be born in the Pure Land of Buddha through the power of our pure karma and pure mind. We should think:

All the previous Buddhas attained the state of enlightenment in dependence upon the realization of compassion for all living beings, and it will be the same for all future Buddhas.

Attaining enlightenment is the main purpose of obtaining this present human life; therefore I must attain enlightenment, Buddhahood.

We generate this thought strongly, and then think:

Although attaining enlightenment depends upon generating the realization of compassion, this is impossible without an object of compassion. Only living beings can act as this object.

Therefore, for me, all living beings are my Spiritual Guides who are leading me to the Mahayana path by acting as the objects of my compassion.

They are also all my kind mothers of previous lives.

Understanding and contemplating all of this, from the depths of our heart we generate a mind that feels very close, warm and happy towards all living beings equally. This is affectionate love for all living beings. We transform our mind into this affectionate love and meditate on it continually until we develop a mind that spontaneously feels very close, warm and happy towards all living beings equally. When we develop this affectionate love our mind is pervaded by pure love for all living beings, and this makes our mind peaceful and balanced, free from anger and attachment. Thus, this affectionate love is also called ‘equanimity’.

If we have on our consciousness the ground of equanimity – affectionate love observing all living beings – it is very easy to develop the remaining realizations of cherishing love, great compassion and bodhichitta. Detailed explanations of training in cherishing love, great compassion and bodhichitta can be found in the book Modern Buddhism and other Lamrim texts.

In short, Lamrim and Lojong together with generation stage are the preliminaries for Mahamudra. The actual principal practice of Mahamudra is a completion stage practice. The real Mahamudra is a higher realization of completion stage – the union of great bliss and emptiness, meaning clear light.

There are two ways to practise Lamrim and Lojong as preliminaries for Mahamudra – extensive and condensed. The extensive practice is done according to the great texts of Lamrim and Lojong as mentioned above.

The condensed practice is done according to the Prayer of the Stages of the Path, or the prayers requesting the blessings of the stages of the path in Offering to the Spiritual Guide, or the request prayer of the stages of the path of both Sutra and Tantra in The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land According to Highest Yoga Tantra: the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa as a Preliminary Practice for Mahamudra.

We make these requests while doing analytical meditation on Lamrim, Lojong, generation stage and completion stage. For example, we can understand the condensed way of practising bodhichitta from the verse in Offering to the Spiritual Guide:

For the sake of all mother sentient beings,

I shall become the Guru-Deity,

And then lead every sentient being

To the Guru-Deity’s supreme state.

This is the way to generate bodhichitta according to Highest Yoga Tantra. In the line, ‘I shall become the Guru-Deity,’ the Guru-Deity is our personal Guru-Deity. For modern Kadampa practitioners their Guru-Deity is Guru Heruka. This is because their principal Highest Yoga Tantra practice is the practice of Heruka Father and Mother. Through contemplating the meaning of the verse above, we should generate the mind of bodhichitta according to Highest Yoga Tantra and meditate on it.

THE SECOND GREAT PRELIMINARY GUIDE, TRAINING IN PURIFICATION PRACTICE, THE GATEWAY TO PURIFYING NON-VIRTUOUS ACTIONS AND OBSTRUCTIONS

As a result of the non-virtuous actions of rejecting the value of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in previous lives, animals have no opportunity to listen to or practise Dharma.

Although we humans have such an opportunity, the vast majority of us have no interest in Dharma; and for those who do have some interest, when they listen to Dharma they experience difficulty in understanding the meaning, when they contemplate they do not develop joy, and when they meditate they do not develop any realizations. They experience so many outer and inner obstacles that they are unable to practise Dharma purely. These are also the results of the non-virtuous actions of rejecting the value of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in their previous lives.

Non-virtuous actions are the main causes of all our suffering in this life and countless future lives; and especially they are the main obstacles to attaining Dharma realizations. Therefore we definitely need to purify them through purification practice. Buddha taught many different methods to purify non-virtuous actions, downfalls and broken commitments, but the supreme method is the practice of meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva. This practice is a scientific method to purify our mind and transform it from an impure mind into a pure mind using Tantric technology.

All Buddhas specifically appear in the form of Vajrasattva to purify the minds of living beings. For this reason the practice of meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva is superior to other purification practices. We should practise the meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva by following the sadhana, the ritual prayer for the attainment of Vajrasattva. A simple, essential practice for the attainment of Vajrasattva can be found here.

In this purification practice it is most important to practise sincerely the four opponent powers, which are the power of regret, the power of reliance, the power of the opponent force and the power of promise. Detailed explanations of these can be found in the books Joyful Path of Good Fortune and The Bodhisattva Vow.

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

In general, the practice of accumulating the collection of merit is very extensive. However, in this context there is great meaning in giving a separate explanation of the practice of making mandala offerings. Here, ‘mandala’ means a Pure Land of Buddha generated through the power of correct imagination.

The practice of the mandala offering is a scientific method to attain the Pure Land of a Buddha. It contains the practice of the four complete purities mentioned in Tantric teachings – the complete purities of worlds, body, enjoyments and activities. For qualified practitioners this practice of the mandala offering is very profound and powerful, and attainments are achieved quickly. For this reason, to show an example to others, Je Tsongkhapa made offering the mandala one of his principal practices.

How do we offer the mandala? We stop our appearance of impure worlds, their inhabitants and enjoyments through correct imagination, and believe that every appearance of worlds, their inhabitants and enjoyments appears as the worlds, inhabitants and enjoyments of a Buddha Land. In this way we generate a new Pure Land of Buddha through our correct imagination, and we offer this new Pure Land of Buddha to the assembly of Deities of the Guru-Deity. The principal object of offering, the Guru-Deity, is Guru Heruka. He is also our Spiritual Guide, Je Tsongkhapa and Buddha Shakyamuni, and is therefore called ‘Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka’.

In short, offering the mandala is offering a Pure Land generated through the power of correct imagination. There is no difference between offering a Pure Land generated through the power of correct imagination and offering an actual Pure Land – both are mere appearance to the mind. If we have a pure mind both exist, and if we do not have a pure mind neither exists.

It is said that a person who has strong faith who practises Tantra continuously with correct imagination can accomplish Tantric realizations easily. Sometimes we see people who have faith who externally appear to be dull and foolish and not to know much, but who in fact have achieved high Tantric realizations through the force of great faith and imagination. The Kadampa Geshe Jayulwa for example, spent all his time in the service of his Spiritual Guide and did not have time to listen to Dharma extensively or to meditate, but his practices of faith and correct imagination were extremely powerful and as a result he attained high realizations. This was widely known among the scholars of the time.

There is no such thing as a Pure Land that exists from the side of the object; the Pure Land is merely an appearance to a pure mind. Equally, there is no such thing as an impure world that exists from its own side; an impure world is merely an appearance to an impure mind.

If our mind is impure we are an impure being, and if our mind is pure we are a pure being. In Ornament for Clear Realization, Buddha Maitreya says:

Impure worlds develop because living beings are impure. This proves that we can accomplish a pure world, or Pure Land of Buddha, by becoming a pure being ourself.

This clearly shows that if we really want to be born in a Pure Land we must purify our mind and make it pure and clean. Every day we clean our body regarding this as important, but how much more important is it to make our mind clean and pure so that we will experience everything as pure, including the world?

How do we accomplish a Buddha’s Pure Land? Through the power of faith and correct imagination we stop all our appearances of an impure animate and inanimate world, and generate all our appearances as a pure animate and inanimate world. If we meditate on this generation continually, then through this practice our mind will become pure and so we will become a pure being, and in this way we will be able to attain a Buddha’s Pure Land.

The practice of attaining a Buddha’s Pure Land just explained is included in the practice of offering the mandala. If we are born in a Buddha’s Pure Land in dependence upon this practice, it is almost no different from becoming a Buddha for one’s own purpose.

An extensive general explanation of how to offer the mandala can be understood from the clear explanations in Lamrim texts.

THE FOURTH GREAT PRELIMINARY GUIDE, TRAINING IN GURU YOGA, THE GATEWAY TO RECEIVING BLESSINGS

Offering to the Spiritual Guide, or Lama Chopa, is commonly regarded as the Guru yoga that is the preliminary practice of Mahamudra. It was composed by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, who was an emanation of Buddha Amitabha appearing in a human form. The way to practise this Guru yoga is explained in the book Great Treasury of Merit, a commentary to Offering to the Spiritual Guide.

The Guru yoga of The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land, which is extracted from the Ganden Emanation Scripture, can also be used as the preliminary practice of Mahamudra. This is not so widely known and has to be understood through instructions from Gurus of the Ganden Oral Lineage.

There are two ways to practise the Guru yoga of The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land: according to Sutra and according to Highest Yoga Tantra. They differ in the way of visualizing the principal commitment being of the Field of Merit. According to Highest Yoga Tantra, the principal commitment being of the Field of Merit should be visualized as Je Tsongkhapa with Buddha Shakyamuni at his heart and Heruka Father and Mother at his heart. This principal commitment being of the Field of Merit is called ‘Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka’. In this context ‘Guru’ means one’s own root Guru, ‘Sumati’ refers to Losang Dragpa – Je Tsongkhapa’s ordained name – and ‘Buddha’ refers to Buddha Shakyamuni.

We can understand this through the following explanation. Although Buddha Shakyamuni appears in a different aspect in reality he is Conqueror Vajradhara Heruka, although Je Tsongkhapa appears in a different aspect in reality he is Buddha Shakyamuni, and although our Spiritual Guide appears in a different aspect in reality he is Je Tsongkhapa. These Gurus are simply one person appearing in different aspects, just as an actor might appear in different aspects performing different roles while in fact being the same person. Through recognizing our Spiritual Guide in this way and then practising this Guru yoga, we will receive powerful blessings very quickly. This is proved by the experience of many practitioners, including myself.

As mentioned above, this Guru yoga according to Highest Yoga Tantra differs from that of Sutra mainly in the visualization of the principal commitment being of the Field of Merit; there is no difference in the remaining practices from inviting the wisdom beings up to the dedication. The practice of this Guru yoga is a very blessed instruction and is easy to practise, so we can use it as a preliminary practice for Mahamudra in all our sessions.

What is the relationship between the practice of Mahamudra and its four great preliminary guides? The practice of Mahamudra is like a car with four wheels. By depending on it we can swiftly travel to the ground of the Union of Buddhahood. The four preliminaries are like the four wheels of the car. If any of the wheels is missing, the car will not be able to function; and, in the same way, if any of the four preliminaries is missing we will not be able to travel to the Buddha ground through the practice of Mahamudra.

Therefore, if we really wish to attain permanent liberation from the sufferings of samsara and experience the ultimate bliss of enlightenment by depending upon the practice of Mahamudra, it is very important that we put great effort into the practice of the four great preliminary guides. The function of the preliminary practices is principally to accumulate merit, purify non-virtues and receive blessings; therefore we need to practise these every day with our daily activities when we are not in meditation sessions.

Commonly, completing the four great preliminary guides means that in the practice of refuge we accumulate or collect a hundred thousand refuge prayers, in the practice of meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva we accumulate a hundred thousand Vajrasattva mantras, in the practice of making mandala offerings we accumulate a hundred thousand mandala offerings, and in the practice of Guru yoga we accumulate a hundred thousand Migtsema request prayers. Guidelines for practising the four great preliminary guides of Mahamudra can be found in Appendix I.

How to practise The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land According to Highest Yoga Tantra is as follows. We begin by reciting the following while contemplating the meaning:

In the space before me appears my root Guru, Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka, surrounded by all the Buddhas of the ten directions.

We meditate briefly on these objects of refuge and commitment beings of the Field of Merit generated through the power of correct imagination.

Then we contemplate and promise:

O Gurus, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas please listen to me.

I and all mother living beings as extensive as space

From now until we attain enlightenment

Go for refuge to the Three Precious Jewels – Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

By reciting this promise three times we take the Mahayana refuge vows.

Then we contemplate and think:

For the sake of all mother sentient beings,

I shall become the Guru-Deity,

And then lead every sentient being

To the Guru-Deity’s supreme state.

By reciting this promise three times we generate bodhichitta and take the Bodhisattva vow according to Highest Yoga Tantra.

We then recite:

From the heart of the Protector of the hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land,

To the peak of a cloud, which is like a cluster of fresh, white curd,

All-knowing Losang Dragpa, King of the Dharma,

Please come to this place together with your Sons.

We think that the wisdom beings that we invited dissolve into the commitment beings and they become inseparably one.

We then recite the remaining verses from ‘In the space before me on a lion throne, lotus and moon,’ up to and including the dedication in the usual way while contemplating the meaning, and then we make either a long or short mandala offering. We then recite the Migtsema request prayer according to Highest Yoga Tantra seven or more times.

Then, we meditate briefly on Lamrim, Lojong and the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra while reciting the prayer Request to the Lord of All Lineages (see here). We do not just recite the words but focus on the meaning of each stage of the path with strong concentration. If we do this every day in two, three or four sessions, through the force of this meditation it will not take us long to develop realizations of the entire Lamrim of Sutra and Tantra. This is very important advice that we should keep in our heart.

After this we recite:

O Glorious and precious root Guru,

Please sit on the lotus and moon seat at my heart.

Please care for me with your great kindness,

And grant me the blessings of your body, speech and mind.

As a result of this request, all the Buddhas of the ten directions in the space in front melt into light and dissolve into Je Tsongkhapa. He in turn melts into light and dissolves into Buddha Shakyamuni at his heart. Then Buddha Shakyamuni melts into light and dissolves into Heruka at his heart.

With delight, Guru Heruka comes to our crown and abides in the centre of our crown channel wheel. Lights radiate from his body and bless the channels, winds and drops at our crown.

Then we recite:

O Glorious and precious root Guru,

Please sit on the lotus and moon seat at my heart.

Please care for me with your great kindness,

And bestow the common and supreme attainments.

As a result of this request, Guru Heruka comes to our throat and abides in the centre of our throat channel wheel. Lights radiate from his body and bless the channels, winds and drops at our throat.

Then we recite:

O Glorious and precious root Guru,

Please sit on the lotus and moon seat at my heart.

Please care for me with your great kindness,

And remain firm until I attain the essence of enlightenment.

As a result of this request, Guru Heruka comes to our heart and abides in the centre of our heart channel wheel. Lights radiate from his body and bless the channels, winds and drops at our heart.

Then Guru Heruka’s mind of the clear light of great bliss mixes inseparably with our mind. Through the force of this, our mind becomes the nature of Heruka’s mind of the clear light of great bliss. In this way we generate our mind as Heruka’s mind by mixing it with Heruka’s mind through correct imagination. We should remember that Tantric realizations can be accomplished through correct imagination. We think:

Mixing my mind with Heruka’s mind is a powerful method to purify my ordinary appearance and conceptions permanently. I will maintain this experience day and night.

THE ACTUAL PRACTICE OF MAHAMUDRA

The actual Mahamudra has two parts: great bliss as explained in Tantra and emptiness as explained in Sutra. The union of such bliss and emptiness is the actual Mahamudra.

When through the force of meditation our mind of great bliss becomes one with emptiness, this is the union of great bliss and emptiness. During a Highest Yoga Tantra empowerment when we receive the fourth empowerment, the word empowerment, the Spiritual Guide verbally explains the meaning of union, which is why it is called the ‘word empowerment’. Although we hear this verbal instruction from the Spiritual Guide, many people understand nothing because this union is very subtle and profound.

Great bliss has to be attained in dependence upon skilfully applying completion stage methods such as penetrating the vajra body, as will be explained in detail below.

Emptiness is the real nature of all phenomena; it is a profound and very meaningful object. It is impossible to attain permanent liberation from suffering without understanding the real meaning of emptiness. However, because it is not easy to understand the real meaning of emptiness many people reject the value of understanding it. For many, their minds are completely full of confusion with regard to emptiness. So how fortunate we are that we can find a clear, unmistaken and complete explanation of the meaning of emptiness in Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings.

There are five stages of the actual practice of Mahamudra:

1. Having identified our own mind, meditating on tranquil abiding

2. Having realized emptiness, meditating on superior seeing

3. Meditating on the central channel, the yoga of the central channel

4. Meditating on the indestructible drop, the yoga of the drop

5. Meditating on the indestructible wind, the yoga of wind