MAHAMUDRA PRACTICE OF THE KAGYUPAS - MILAREPA
Mahamudra Practice Of the Kagyupas - Milarepa
After the yogi has trained himself in the essentials of quiescene and is able to at least attain at least the first absorption level, and after he has acquainted himself to some extent with the analysis aimed at direct perception of voidness, he is directed to the central practice of the kagyu tradition, the mahamudra (great gesture" or " great seal").
Like the great Liberation teachings of the Nying, or Old School, and the exercises in analysis of the Kadam and Gelug sects, Mahamudra practice is aimed directly at revelation of the natural reality of the apparent world.
The system is aligned with the Peerless ((anuttara) Yoga Tantras, and its practice and scriptures date back to the eighty-four siddas of India. It is an example of the deepest, most penetrating phase of yoga, and its expression in words is characteristically paradoxical and metaphorical. The key instructions are given orally from teacher to student, and the fourth empowerment, the empowerment of words, relates directly to it:
By conferral of the fourth and supreme empowerment, One becomes focused in the fabrication-free state
Through perception of the import of Mahamudra.
It is not as "sudden" a practice as its scriptures seem to imply. The struggle to attain its goal, the natural state (Tib.gnas lugs)wherin the perception of voidness is totally unified with perception of the apparent world, is long and arduous.
Without confronting the goal, the natural state,
You won't find escape to freedom
From the highs and lows of Samsara.
If you wish to see the goal of reality, Cleanse previous obstructive sins with the hundred-syllable mantra
And compile the two stores by Mandala, and so on.
Then after aligning your mind with lama's
Through intense longing prayer,
Practice the graded instructions for quiescene
From mere inception of stability
Onward into gradual stages.
Because the natural state is the root,
It looks so easy but is very hard.
But when awareness is focused on reality
After analysis by learning and reflecting
This is the only realization that librates totally;
It looks so hard but is very easy
Upon such good stabilization
Collect the nectar of explicit scriptures,
Then through examination by learning and reflecting
On the profound meaning personally taught
By a realized, experienced Lama
Take up practice as long as life lasts
Through the combination of analytic and focusing medatations.
Integrate compassion and voidness,
And with mind aimed at enlightenment for the sake of beings
And gnosis without fixed objective,
Mount the horse of good supplication.
By the forces of thorough comprenhension,
Knowledge of the keys to meditation,
And constant cultivation like a river stream
Of that gradual path process,
You'll complete the developmental signs of the path.
Realization will then gradually occur,
Conventional appearances seen as dream illusions,
Dependent origination known to be the inner workings of Samsara,
And illusiory appearances seen as baseless, rootless,
You'll know that beings are inseparable from Buddhas,
That not even the names"Samsara" and "Nirvana" exist.
This comprehension of the natural condition-
The actual state-is understanding,
The various events in one-pointed concentration
Are meditational experiences;
When they lead to confrontation of the goal,
That's realization.
In a rather unusual text-like precept from Recoginizing Mahamudra's Illuminating Wisdom, milarepa explains that "Mahamudra " means three things: the ultimate reality of things, termed the basis; the practice leading to realization, termed the path; and the illumined state of mind, the result.
Reference: Drinking the Mountain Stream- Songs of Tibet's Beloved Saint: Lama Kunga Rinpoche & Brian Cutillo
Articles - Latest
- DNA ANALYSIS SPANNING 9 GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE REVEALS MARRIAGE PRACTICES OF MYSTERIOUS WARRIOR CULTURE
- LOST CITIES HIDDEN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS DISCOVERED UNDER FOREST
- LETTER: ALAN ARKIN OBITUARY
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS CRACK MYSTERY OF ANCIENT MAYA AFTER 7,000-YEAR-OLD REMAINS FOUND
- NEW JERSEY REP. DONALD PAYNE JR. DEAD AT 65
- WORLD'S TALLEST WOMAN' MARIA FELICIANA DOS SANTOS, 7FT3, DIES AGED 77
- UNDERWORLD DISCOVERY CHALLENGES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
- MUSLIM SOLDIER MEMORIAL FUND £1 MILLION TO IMPROVE RELATIONS AFTER ISLAMOPHOBIA ISSUES
- SCIENTISTS DISCOVER 1ST-OF-ITS-KIND CELL PART BORN FROM A SWALLOWED MICROBE
- NYC TIKTOK STAR EVA EVANS DIES AGED 29
- LADY GARDNER OF PARKES, CONSERVATIVE PEER WHO CHAMPIONED WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE EU AND UN – OBITUARY
- WEBB TELESCOPE DETECTS LIGHT FROM AN EARTH-LIKE PLANET
- FORMER LABOUR MINISTER AND CROSSBENCH PEER FRANK FIELD DIES AGED 81
- LOURDES PORTILLO DEAD AT 80:OSCAR-NOMINATED FILM DIRECTOR HAS PASSED AWAY
- VAMPIRE' NEUTRON STAR BLASTS ARE RELATED TO JETS TRAVELING AT NEAR-LIGHT SPEEDS
- THE MOON IS 40 MILLION YEARS OLDER — EXPLAINED
- BARBARA O.JONES DEAD AT 82: ACTRESS WHO STARRED ALONGSIDE MUHAMMAD ALI IN TV SERIES, HAS PASSED AWAY
- SIR CHIPS KESWICK, SCION OF THE JARDINE MATHESON DYNASTY WHO CHAIRED HAMBROS AND ARSENAL – OBITUARY
- NORMAN JEWISON OBITUARY
- TED TOLEMAN OBITUARY
- NASA FINDS MUTANT BACTERIA ON ISS THAT DOESN'T EXIST ON EARTH
- KENYA’S MILITARY CHIEF DIES IN HELICOPTER CRASH
- TERRY ANDERSON, US JOURNALIST HELD HOSTAGE NEARLY 7 YEARS IN LEBANON, DEAD AT 76
Articles - Most Read
- Main
- Contact Us
- The science behind Ouija boards
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness-2
- Cosmic Consciousness-Introduction
- Cosmic Consciousness - Introduction-2
- MASSIVE 6.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS NEW ZEALAND AS NATION STILL REELING FROM CYCLONE
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNRAVEL THE TRUTH OF APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE, ON VALENTINE'S DAY
- The Human Condition-Thomas Keating
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - 1V - 2
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - V -
- Cosmic Consciousness V - 2
- Cosmic consciousness - First Words - IV
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness?
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 2
- The Human Condition - Thomas keating-3
- The Human Condition-2-Thomas Keating
- Drinking From The Mountain Stream - Milarepa
- Cosmic Consciousness-On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- The Human Condition - 4
- Cosmic Consciousness - 3 - On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 1
- The Human Condition - 6
- Shakyamuni Buddha or India the 1st “Black Revolutionary Hero.”
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness - 2
- Milarepa's World
- The Human Condition - 5
- Milarepa's World-2
- The Buddhist System of Liberation
- Contemplation and the Divine Therapy - 2
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV
- The Buddhist System of Liberation - 2
- JERRY RAWLINGS, GHANAIAN STRONG MAN WHO CAME TO POWER IN A COUP BUT INTRODUCED DEMOCRACY – OBITUARY
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV - 2