Category: Saranagamana Yoga Academy

Rely not merely on the person, but on the words

Rely not merely on the words, but on their meaning

Rely not merely on provisional meaning, but on definitive meaning

Rely not merely on intellectual understanding, but on direct experience

Set forth in the Catuhpratisarana sutra

---

ngo rang thog tu’phrad
thag gcig thog tu bead 
bdengs grol thog tu’cha’

Directly discover your state
Do not remain  in doubt
Gain confidence in self-liberation 

-Garab Dorje 

༄༅། །མཁས་པ་ཤྲཱི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁྱད་ཆོས་བཞུགས་སོ། །
The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King
by Patrul Rinpoche
 
བླ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
lama la chaktsal lo
Homage to the master!

ལྟ་བ་ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་ཡིན། །
tawa longchen rabjam yin
The view is Longchen Rabjam: infinite, vast expanse.

སྒོམ་པ་མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་འོད་ཟེར་ཡིན། །
gompa khyentsé özer yin
Meditation is Khyentse Özer: rays of wisdom and love.

སྤྱོད་པ་རྒྱལ་བའི་མྱུ་གུ་ཡིན། །
chöpa gyalwé nyugu yin
Action is Gyalwé Nyugu, that of the bodhisattvas.

དེ་ལྟར་ཉམས་སུ་ལེན་པ་ལ། །
detar nyam su lenpa la
One who practises in such a way,

ཚེ་གཅིག་སངས་རྒྱས་ལ་ཐང་མེད། །
tsé chik sangye la tangmé
May well attain enlightenment in this very life.

མིན་ཀྱང་བློ་བདེ་ཨ་ལ་ལ། །
min kyang lo dé a la la
And even if not, what happiness! What joy! A la la!

1. Introducing directly the face of rigpa in itself

ལྟ་བ་ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་ནི། །
tawa longchen rabjam ni
As for the view, Longchen Rabjam,

ཚིག་གསུམ་དོན་གྱི་གནད་དུ་བརྡེག །
tsik sum dön gyi né du dek
Three statements strike the vital point.

དང་པོ་རང་སེམས་ལྷོད་དེ་བཞག །
dangpo rangsem lhödé zhak
First, relax and release your mind,

མི་སྤྲོ་མི་བསྡུ་རྣམ་རྟོག་མེད། །
mi tro mi du namtok mé
Neither scattered, nor concentrated, without thoughts.

ངང་ལ་ཕྱམ་གནས་ལྷོད་དེའི་ངང༌། །
ngang la cham né lhödé ngang
While resting in this even state, at ease,

ཐོལ་བྱུང་བློ་རྡེག་ཕཊ་ཅིག་རྒྱབ། །
toljung lo dek pé chik gyab
Suddenly let out a mind-shattering ‘phat!’,

དྲག་ལ་ངར་ཐུང་ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། །
drak la ngar tung emaho
Fierce, forceful and abrupt. Amazing!

ཅི་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ཧད་དེ་བ། །
chiyang mayin hé dewa
There is nothing there: transfixed in wonder,

ཧད་དེ་བ་ལ་ཟང་ཐལ་ལེ། །
hé dewa la zangtal lé
Struck by wonder, and yet all is transparent and clear.

ཟང་མ་ཐལ་བྱུང་བརྗོད་དུ་མེད། །
zangma tal jung jö du mé
Fresh, pure and sudden, so beyond description:

ཆོས་སྐུའི་རིག་པ་ངོས་ཟུངས་ཤིག །
chökü rigpa ngö zung shik
Recognize this as the pure awareness of dharmakāya.

ངོ་རང་ཐོག་ཏུ་སྤྲད་པ་སྟེ་གནད་དང་པོའོ། །
ngo rang tok tu trepa té né dangpo o
The first vital point is:  introducing directly the face of rigpa in itself.

2. Deciding upon one thing, and one thing only

དེ་ནས་འཕྲོའམ་གནས་ཀྱང་རུང༌། །
dené tro’am né kyang rung
Then, whether in a state of movement or stillness,

ཁྲོའམ་ཆགས་སམ་སྐྱིད་དམ་སྡུག །
tro’am chak sam kyi dam duk
Of anger or attachment, happiness or sorrow,

དུས་དང་གནས་སྐབས་ཐམས་ཅད་དུ། །
dü dang nekab tamché du
All the time, in any situation,

ངོ་ཤེས་ཆོས་སྐུ་ངོས་བཟུང་ལ། །
ngoshé chöku ngö zung la
Recognize that dharmakāya you recognized before,

སྔར་འདྲིས་འོད་གསལ་མ་བུ་སྤྲད། །
ngar dri ösal ma bu tré
And mother and child clear light, already acquainted, will reunite.

བརྗོད་མེད་རིག་ཆའི་ངང་ལ་བཞག །
jömé rikché ngang la zhak
Rest in the aspect of awareness, beyond all description.

གནས་བདེ་གསལ་འཕྲོ་ཡང་ཡང་བཤིག །
né dé sal tro yang yang shik
Stillness and bliss, clarity and thinking: disrupt them, again and again,

ཐབས་ཤེས་ཡི་གེ་གློ་བུར་འབེབས། །
tabshé yigé lobur beb
Suddenly striking with the syllable of skilful means and wisdom.

མཉམ་གཞག་རྗེས་ཐོབ་ཐ་དད་མེད། །
nyam zhak jetob tadé mé
With no difference between meditation and post-meditation,

ཐུན་དང་ཐུན་མཚམས་དབྱེ་བ་མེད། །
tün dang tüntsam yewa mé
No division between sessions and breaks,

དབྱེར་མེད་ངང་དུ་རྒྱུན་དུ་གནས། །
yermé ngang du gyündu né
Always remain in this indivisible state.

འོན་ཀྱང་བརྟན་པ་མ་ཐོབ་པར། །
önkyang tenpa matobpar
But, until stability is attained,

འདུ་འཛི་སྤངས་ནས་སྒོམ་པ་གཅེས། །
dudzi pang né gompa ché
It is vital to meditate, away from all distractions and busyness,

མཉམ་གཞག་ཐུན་དུ་བཅད་ལ་བྱ། །
nyam zhak tün du ché laja
Dividing the practice into proper meditation sessions.

དུས་དང་གནས་སྐབས་ཐམས་ཅད་དུ། །
dü dang nekab tamché du
All the time, in any situation,

ཆོས་སྐུ་གཅིག་པོའི་ཡོ་ལངས་བསྐྱང༌། །
chöku chikpö yolang kyang
Abide by the flow of what is just dharmakāya.

དེ་ལས་གཞན་མེད་ཁོ་ཐག་བཅད། །
dé lé zhenmé kho takché
Decide with absolute conviction that there is nothing other than this—

ཐག་གཅིག་ཐོག་ཏུ་བཅད་པ་སྟེ་གནད་པ་གཉིས་པའོ། །
tak chik tok tu chepa té nepa nyipa o
The second vital point is: deciding upon one thing, and one thing only.

3.Confidence directly in the liberation of rising thoughts

དེ་ཚེ་ཆགས་སྡང་དགའ་སྡུག་དང༌། །
detsé chakdang ga duk dang
At that point, whether attachment or aversion, happiness or sorrow—

གློ་བུར་རྣམ་རྟོག་མ་ལུས་པ། །
lobur namtok malüpa
All momentary thoughts, each and every one,

ངོ་ཤེས་ངང་ལ་རྗེས་མཐུད་མེད། །
ngoshé ngang la jetü mé
Upon recognition, leave not a trace behind.

གྲོལ་ཆའི་ཆོས་སྐུ་ངོས་བཟུང་བས། །
drol ché chöku ngözungwé
For recognize the dharmakāya in which they are freed,

དཔེར་ན་ཆུ་ཡི་རི་མོ་བཞིན། །
per na chu yi rimo zhin
And just as writing vanishes on water,

རང་ཤར་རང་གྲོལ་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད། །
rangshar rangdrol gyünché mé
Arising and liberation become natural and continuous.

ཅི་ཤར་རིག་སྟོང་རྗེན་པའི་ཟས། །
chi shar riktong jenpé zé
And whatever arises is food for the bare rigpa emptiness,

ཇི་འགྱུ་ཆོས་སྐུ་རྒྱལ་པོའི་རྩལ། །
ji gyu chöku gyalpö tsal
Whatever stirs in the mind is the inner power of the dharmakāya king,

རྗེས་མེད་རང་དག་ཨ་ལ་ལ། །
jemé rang dak a la la
Leaving no trace, and innately pure. What joy!

འཆར་ལུགས་སྔར་དང་འདྲ་བ་ལ། །
char luk ngar dang drawa la
The way things arise may be the same as before,

གྲོལ་ལུགས་ཁྱད་པར་གནད་དུ་ཆེ། །
drol luk khyepar né du ché
But the difference lies in the way they are liberated: that’s the key.

འདི་མེད་སྒོམ་པ་འཁྲུལ་པའི་ལམ། །
dimé gompa trulpé lam
Without this, meditation is but the path of delusion,

འདི་ལྡན་མ་བསྒོམས་ཆོས་སྐུའི་ངང༌། །
diden ma gom chökü ngang
With it, even without meditating, there’s the state of dharmakāya—

གདེང་གྲོལ་ཐོག་ཏུ་བཅའ་བ་སྟེ་གནད་གསུམ་པའོ། །
deng drol tok tu chawa té né sumpa o
The third vital point is: confidence directly in the liberation of rising thoughts.

4. Colophon

གནད་གསུམ་ལྡན་པའི་ལྟ་བ་ལ། །
né sum denpé tawa la
For the View which has the three vital points,

མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་འབྲེལ་བའི་སྒོམ་པ་དང༌། །
khyentsé drelwé gompa dang
Meditation, the union of wisdom and love,

རྒྱལ་སྲས་སྤྱི་ཡི་སྤྱོད་པ་གྲོགས། །
gyalsé chi yi chöpa drok
Is accompanied by the Action common to all the bodhisattvas.

དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བའི་ཞལ་བསྡུར་ཀྱང༌། །
dü sum gyalwé zhal dur kyang
Were all the buddhas to confer,

འདི་ལས་ལྷག་པའི་གདམས་ངག་མེད། །
di lé lhakpé damngak mé
No instruction would they find greater than this,

རིག་རྩལ་ཆོས་སྐུའི་གཏེར་སྟོན་གྱིས། །
riktsal chökü tertön gyi
Brought out as a treasure from the depth of transcendental insight,

ཤེས་རབ་ཀློང་ནས་གཏེར་དུ་བླངས། །
sherab long né ter du lang
By the tertön of dharmakāya, the inner power of rigpa,

ས་རྡོའི་བཅུད་དང་འདི་མི་འདྲ། །
sa dö chü dang di mi dra
Nothing like ordinary treasures of earth and stone,

དགའ་རབ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཞལ་ཆེམས་ཡིན། །
garab dorje zhal chem yin
For it is the final testament of Garab Dorje,

བརྒྱུད་པ་གསུམ་གྱི་ཐུགས་བཅུད་ཡིན། །
gyüpa sum gyi tuk chü yin
The essence of the wisdom mind of the three transmissions.

སྙིང་གི་བུ་ལ་གཏད་དོ་རྒྱ། །
nying gi bu la té do gya
It is entrusted to my heart disciples, sealed to be secret.

ཟབ་དོན་ཡིན་ནོ་སྙིང་གི་གཏམ། །
zab dön yin no nying gi tam
It is profound in meaning, my heart’s words.

སྙིང་གཏམ་ཡིན་ནོ་དོན་གྱི་གནད། །
nying tam yin no dön gyi né
It is the words of my heart, the crucial key point.

དོན་གནད་ཡལ་བར་མ་དོར་ཅིག །
dön né yalwar ma dor chik
This crucial point: never hold it cheap.

གདམས་ངག་ཟགས་སུ་མ་འཇུག་ཅིག །
damngak zak su ma juk chik
Never let this instruction slip away from you.
 
མཁས་པ་ཤྲཱི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁྱད་ཆོས་སོ། །
khepa shri gyalpö khyechö so
This is the special teaching of the wise and glorious king.

Dharmakaya (Sanskrit) chos sku (Tibetan) according to Mahayana Buddhism, the buddha-nature is fully enlightened in the presence comprising three, four or five buddha-bodies (kaya). Among these the Dharmakaya refers to the ultimate nature of the fully enlightened mind, a coalescence or union of pure appearances and emptiness. As emptiness it is: non-dualistic, pure and free of all levels of conceptuality and can only be directly experienced; and as pure appearance it is: the underlying pristine nature of mind, a non-dualistic and subtle inner radiance, present as an uncultivated seed in unenlightened beings and fully developed as the resultant Buddhahood from which the diverse Sambhogakaya (“enjoyment body”) and Nirmanakaya (“emanation body”) manifestations of buddha-body arise. Realized in Chikai Bardo. 

Rigpa (Tibetan) vidyā (Sanskrit)
As a verb, means ‘to know.’ When used as a noun it has several though not unrelated meanings: 
1) as a general term encompassing all experiences of consciousness and mental events; 2) intelligence or mental aptitude; 3) as a science of knowledge; 4) as pure awareness. The last of these meanings is found in Dzogchen (“Great Perfection”) terminology, where rang-rig  refers to an intrinsic or natural awareness which is the fundamental  innate mind in its natural non-dual state of spontaneity and purity, beyond the alternating states of tranquility and motion. As such, rig-pa gives the meditator access to buddha-mind itself. 

from: “A Handbook of Tibetan Culture”

I am not the intellect, mind, ego, or perception,

I am not the sense of hearing, taste, smell, or sight,

I am not the sky, earth, fire, or air,

I am the essence of consciousness and bliss–

Shivoham!

Shivoham!

Nirvanashtakam by Adi Shankaracharya

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥

Aum

Bhuh Bhuvah Svah

Tat Savitur Varenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi

Dhiyo Yo nah Prachodayat

The Rig Veda (III LXII 10)

“May we attain that excellent glory of Savitar*
So May he stimulate our prayers.”

* Solar deity, off-spring of the Vedic primeval mother goddess Aditi**

** Vedic goddess, the personification of the sprawling infinite and vast cosmos. Goddess of motherhood, unconsciousness, the past, the future and fertility. Mother of the celestial deities. 

From: The Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Intermediate State. (Bardo Thodol)

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, abiding in the Ten Directions, endowed with great compassion, endowed with foreknowledge, endowed with the divine eye, endowed with love, affording protection to sentient beings, condescend through the power of your great compassion to come hither; condescend to accept these offerings actually laid out and mentally created.

Compassionate Ones, who possess the wisdom of understanding, the love of compassion, the power of divine deeds and of protecting, in incomprehensible measure. 

Compassionate Ones, [one of us] is passing from this world to the world beyond. That one is leaving this world. They are taking a great leap, with no friends. Misery is great. [They are without] defenders, without protectors, without forces and kinsmen. The light of this world hath set.

They go to another place. 
They enter into thick darkness. 
They fall down a steep precipice. 
They enter into a jungle of solitude. 
They are pursued by Karmic Forces. 
They go into the Vast Silence. 
They are borne away by the Great Ocean. 
They are wafted on the Wind of Karma. 
They go in the direction where stability exists not. 
They are caught by the Great Conflict. 
They are obsessed by the Great Afflicting Spirit. 
They are awed and terrified by the Messengers of the Lord of Death. 
Existing Karma has put them into repeated existence. 
No strength have they. 
They have come upon a time when they must go alone.

Compassionate Ones, defend (who) is defenseless. Protect them who is unprotected. Be their forces and kinsmen. Protect [them] from the great gloom of the Bardo. Turn them from the red [stormy] wind of Karma. Turn them from the great awe and terror of the Lords of Death. Save them from the long narrow passage-way of the Bardo.

Compassionate Ones, let not the force of your compassion be weak; but aid them. Let them not go into misery [or into miserable states of existence]. Forget not your ancient vows; and let not the force of your compassion be weak.

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, let not the might of the method of your compassion be weak towards this one. Catch hold of them with [the hook of] your grace. Let not the sentient being fall under the power of evil karma.

Holy Trinity, protect them from the miseries of the Bardo.

From: The Debate of King Milinda

Nāgasena to King Milinda- 
"Virtue (Pali: sīla) is the basis of all good qualities: the five controlling faculties and the five moral powers (confidence, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom), the seven factors of enlightenment (mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity), the eight factors of the noble path (right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration), the four foundations of mindfulness (mindfulness of the body, feelings, thoughts, and mind-objects), the four right efforts (effort to prevent and remove unwholesome states and to develop and maintain wholesome states), the four bases of success (eagerness, energy, tenacity, wisdom), the four absorptions (four stages of one-pointedness or jhāna), the eight freedoms (eight stages of release of the mind by intense concentration), the four modes of concentration (meditations on love, compassion, sympathetic-joy, and equanimity), and the eight great attainments (four formless jhānas and four form jhānas)." 

"Each of these has virtue as its support and one who builds on it as the foundation all these good conditions will not decrease.”

“Just as all forms of animal and plant life flourish with the earth as their support, so does the recluse, with virtue as  support, develop the five controlling faculties and the five moral powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, the eight factors of the noble path, the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of success, the four absorptions, the eight freedoms, the four modes of concentration, and the eight great attainments."

"Mindfulness (Pali: sati) is noting and keeping in mind [virtue]. As mindfulness springs up in the mind of the recluse, one repeatedly notes the wholesome and unwholesome, blameless and blameworthy, insignificant and important, dark and light qualities and those that resemble them thinking, ‘These are the four foundations of mindfulness, these the four right efforts, these the four bases of success, these the five controlling faculties, these the five moral powers, these the seven factors of enlightenment, these are the eight factors of the noble path, this is serenity, this insight, this vision and this freedom.’ Thus does he cultivate those qualities that are desirable and shun those that should be avoided.”