of Mahayana Buddhism have the same result in mind or have the same goal in the two aspects of Buddhahood, that is the formless omniscience of the mind of Buddhahood and the formal communicative aspect of Buddhahood. Buddhahood, like everything else in existence, is the result of causes and conditions, is the result of right causes and right conditions. In exoteric Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, these six paramitas, or these six spiritual perfections, giving moral conduct, etc., were enjoined as the right causes, enabling one to obtain the result of Buddhahood.

[01:18]

Buddhahood or enlightenment is the product of the accumulation of a sufficient amount of merit and of wisdom or insight. Merit is the result of wholesome actions and insight is the result of either analysis or application of the mind in the various stages of meditation.

[02:29]

So, these two accumulations of merit and wisdom are the essentials which the Bodhisattva seeks to develop through his training in these six perfections. It's said that the first three and the fifth perfections, that is, of giving, of moral conduct, of patience and of meditation, all are perfections which produce merit, whereas the sixth and final parameter of perfection, the perfection of wisdom, produces insight.

[03:33]

perfection, diligence, is required in the development of both merit and wisdom. So it attains the bodhisattva, the mental efforts, it attains the mental efforts of the bodhisattva in developing either merit or wisdom. As a result of sufficient accumulation of merit, one obtains in enlightenment the formal body of Buddhahood, that is, that aspect of Buddhahood which enables one to communicate with unenlightened beings, to appear among beings in countless ways and to promote their liberation also. It is the result of one's efforts for others.

[04:41]

One's perfection of wisdom results in enlightenment in one's attaining the Buddha's body of reality or his the omniscience of an enlightened being. This is the This is the result of one's training in the six paramita, the perfection of wisdom, and it is the culmination or the result of one's efforts for oneself. One seeks enlightenment not only for oneself but for others. For oneself one obtains the omniscience for others, one obtains the ability to communicate one's transcendent knowledge or wisdom to other beings.

[05:53]

So, these two essentials then, merit and wisdom, are developed in Vajrayana Buddhism. These same perfections are present. These same essentials of merit and wisdom are also thought. The only difference is in the speed with which these perfections are accomplished through resorting to tantric methods.

[06:57]

If for these reasons Vajrayana Buddhism is a superior approach to one's spiritual goal, then one should undertake to receive Vajrayana initiation, which is a preliminary to all Tantric practice. There are, however, a number of considerations that one should bring to mind before one seeks initiation. One should have adequate knowledge about the transmission of the of the meditation or the practice, system of practice into which one seeks initiation.

[08:11]

One should also make efforts to become thoroughly satisfied about the qualifications of the teacher from whom one receives initiation. One must oneself be endowed with the requisite qualifications in order to receive initiation and so forth. It is of utmost importance that the meditation or the practice of tantric meditation into which one obtains initiation have been transmitted through an unbroken, uninterrupted line directly from the Buddha.

[09:17]

If this line of transmission has been broken, then one will not receive the benefits or the blessings that have been transmitted from one generation of Masters to the next. Secondly, one should be very careful and thoughtful in requesting a teacher for initiation. One should study a teacher well to determine whether that person is truly qualified to bestow initiation or not. Apart from having himself become well-versed in tantric

[10:25]

literature, tantric instructions and tantric knowledge thoroughly well-versed, he must also have accomplished the minimum attainments through his own tantric practice in that particular meditation. In other words, he must have obtained some degree of expertise in the meditation, some spiritual attainments to that practice before he would be able to transmit anything. And it's not enough merely to have been able to accomplish a retreat for a requisite period, but must also be clearly endowed with the qualities of moral conduct, purity in motive, one who must also be compassionate towards beings and that compassion should be his motive in transmitting the initiation and so forth.

[11:52]

If one has found such a teacher, then only should one request such a teacher for initiation. If these qualities are not present, one should not seek teachings there. If one has found such a qualified, compassionate, moral teacher, then one should request initiation, not just once, but many times. In the process of initiation, one will receive the transmission of four of the four bodies of Buddhahood.

[12:57]

First of these is the... First initiation is that of the... The first initiation is that of the body or the empowerment of the mandala of psychic channels within the body. The second initiation is that of the nipa-tattva. The second initiation is that of the mandala of sacred letters within the body.

[14:31]

That is the location within the psychic channels within the body of certain sacred syllables or letters. The third initiation is that of the mandala of... The third initiation is that of the mandala of the elements within the body. And in particular this refers to the transmutation of sexual energy, the play of sexual energy within the body.

[15:40]

The fourth initiation is that of the the mandala of transcendent wisdom which comes about through the effect of the psychic air or prana upon the central psychic channel within the body. So these pour mandalas are the basis for the four complete tantric initiations. Since within the human body these four mandalas make

[16:43]

the human body extremely valuable in one's quest for liberation. Through the wise use of these elements within the human body, one can, as we have described, very quickly and effectively obtain the liberation one seeks and the perfection of Buddhahood one seeks. Because of the presence within the body of these mandalas, psychic airs, psychic centers, channels, nerves and elements, one can appreciate why the Vajrayana finds immediate answers for us in the quest for enlightenment.

[18:02]

So Rinpoche would like to ask you to just spend a few minutes in relaxation. He would like you to sit and perhaps sit in meditation, sit quietly. You can practice any kind of quiet meditation you would like. The relationship of these various components within the body that we mentioned, the various mandalas or psychic centers, the psychic airs, nerves, channels and elements are are the source of our experience of this world. All are the appearances that appear to us external, real, our relationship to objects.

[19:14]

In short, everything that we experience is due to the relationship of these various components of the human body. When experienced in a deluded state, that is, when one is not aware of their relationship, when these energies are not channeled toward enlightenment, their experience, the experience that we have is one of delusion, that is, our deluded, impure perceptions of the ordinary world. When these same elements, components are experienced as a result of tantric meditation, one's experience is of the pure land or the Buddha realms.

[20:24]

That is the pure perception of things as they really are. So, these methods are, as we indicated, extremely effective. They are also dangerous. If one meditates improperly, with poor instruction, with wrong motive, carelessly and without observing the Vajrayana vows that attend tantric initiation, then one will not only fail to obtain the spiritual goal you seek of liberation and enlightenment, but You will also be sorry.

[21:28]

You will experience various difficulties and other unwanted results from your practice. Our discussion of the Vajrayana vows will be taken up tomorrow morning. In exoteric Mahayana Buddhism, we hear much of the two levels of reality. That is the conventional reality of unenlightened beings. That is the perception and acceptance of things as they appear to be, as they are taken or mistaken to be by ordinary human minds. And the second level of reality, the level of ultimate reality, that is, the perception of things as they really are when perceived by an enlightened, purified mind.

[22:46]

In Vajrayana Buddhism, One speaks instead of the two processes of meditation or two stages of meditation. First being the process of creation, the second the process of completion or perfection. In this first stage of tantric meditation, that is the process of creation, one undertakes to purify from one's being all of those deluded impulses and habits

[23:50]

and conceptualization that involve the mind in delusion. And as we said last week, this process of deluded becoming, of worldly existence. All of these impulses and habits are purified and re-channeled, all that mental energy is re-channeled by this stage, directed towards and is used instead in coming to recognize the true nature. coming to recognize once the true nature of mind, that is to say its Buddha nature.

[24:59]

This is done through meditations upon so-called deities, deities which serve as objects of meditation. that are not accepted as real in themselves, but as the embodiment or representation of various aspects of enlightenment, such as the compassion or wisdom or power of an enlightened mind. All of these are represented for the sake of is in meditation in the form of tantric deities. And by training the mind to identify with these spiritual ideals or these principles of the enlightened state, rather than with the ego principle,

[26:07]

all of that, all of those impulses, habits and delusions that attend the ego-making process are purified and that energy becomes a part of the process of attaining enlightenment. So, in this way the, in this way the process of creation is the essential first stage of tantric meditation. We had said that ignorance, ignorance of one's own, of the nature of one's own mind and therefore ignorance of one's innate buddhanature was the root of all

[27:10]

negative mental states and experiences of pain, suffering, bondage, etc. In Vajrayana Buddhism this primordial ignorance is removed through meditations which employ one's knowledge of the five chakras within the body, the three psychic channels, the 72,000 psychic nerves, etc. within the body to purify this ignorance and to transmute that ignorance of one's own being, of the components of one's own being into wisdom.

[28:32]

This also purifies all of the impulses, habits and conceptualizations deluded conceptualizations that keep us bound up in the deluded process of decay, death and dying. And re-channels all of that energy that we ordinarily put into decaying and dying into the purification of this, the purification of of delusion and therefore the attainment of wisdom. So this is the basis for all of the various Dzogrem or process of completion practices, whether it be the six

[29:39]

The six doctrines or dharmas of Naropa, of the Kagyu tradition, of the six doctrines of Niggu in the Shambha Kagyu tradition, or the six doctrines of the Lamdre in the Sakya tradition to which Rinpoche himself belongs. All of these have identical practices, based on this premise that ignorance can be transmuted into wisdom. These six aspects of the urging the children to die, These six principles of Dzogre or process of completion meditations are the heat yoga or tummo as it's known in Tibetan.

[30:58]

The dream yoga. Illusory body. Clear light. Vardo, definitely the transference of consciousness. It's extremely important that one who undertakes tantric practice understand these two processes of creation and completion thoroughly and well, that one understand the purpose of these meditations, of these stages of meditation, and that one obtain

[32:35]

thorough, precise, clear guidance in their practice from a qualified teacher. The purpose of this process of creation, for example, is to help us overcome the tendency of mind to be egocentric, to identify with the deluded concepts, deluded habits, based on this belief in an ego and its Everyone's belief in the ego. So, for that reason, we meditate, we're asked to meditate on tantric deities. These tantric deities are, one should understand, are ciphers or are symbols of the true nature of our own mind.

[33:50]

they're not to be reified or thought of as real in themselves, nor even though we're encouraged in our visualization of ourself as the deity. This practice has its intent, the purification, the re-channeling of all of that ego-making energy into freeing us from that whole habit of mind that builds egos and to help us to come learn to identify instead with the true nature of mind, which is what the deities represent. This should be understood as the basis for our practice. While we are identifying with the deity, we think of we cling to this concept of deity as real, we cling to our visualization of ourselves as a deity as real and solid.

[35:05]

If we're just substituting flesh and blood visualization, a visualization of ourself as a flesh and blood deity for our present self-image, then this will be very harmful to us in our career, because as it has always been stressed that one should not cling to views, one should not be attached to ordinary worldly objects, much less to the objects of the path. If one reifies all of these visualizations of self as deity without understanding either their meaning or their true nature, one can create other

[36:07]

karmically harmful patterns within one's mind. There are tales told of well-known meditators who meditated on wrathful deities and were reborn in that shape as demons or of people who meditated on the major tantras who through carelessness in the practice, who didn't take the trouble to understand the teachings or the intent of the practices or the way to practice carefully, who didn't practice with pure compassion, they experienced, instead of liberation, they experienced downfall. They, as Atisha, the great Pandita teacher who introduced so many of the new tantras from India said that these major tantras practiced wrongly are a quick way to get reborn in hell.

[37:21]

So if for these reasons one should If one should keep in mind that these teachings are priceless because they enable one to attain enlightenment and the benefit of the world and oneself very effectively. If one's motive is pure and one takes the trouble to apply oneself intelligently to practice, there is nothing to fear, one will obtain that result. If one goes about it with poor intent and practices carelessly and foolishly, then one has accomplished nothing but trouble for oneself. Therefore, one should keep these things in mind whenever one applies oneself to tantric meditations. Murshid made an analogy saying that the tumour was like the root.

[38:35]

I mean, he said that his purpose, I think, was to cut off the catcher, and then he went on to use his body, and then he went on to follow on. Well, he mentioned, and he did go into them. He also said that these are not a topic of discussion. He just listed them. He said that. All right. All right, any other questions? Is that written in English? Is there an English translation of that? There has been a translation of One Redemption by David Snowgrove. What's that? Yeah, I've heard that too.

[39:36]

It's available, but it's reputed to be worthless. Any other questions? Yes, Josephine. One time you mentioned emptiness and then you mentioned your art. Hmm, all right. The realization of emptiness, or the perception of the empty, Empty nature of all phenomena is a part of the path to enlightenment. It is not the result, but part of the path of purification.

[40:36]

It serves to purify the mind of conceptualizations of things as real, that is, real as we like to think them. And whereas nirvana is an epithet for the result. the resultant enlightenment that is attained through that path of which emptiness, the meditation of emptiness, is at heart. That's right. It's a stage on the path, like the speaker said. It's a corrective meditation that remedies our tendency to take things at face value, to think of things as real, as real as we like to think of them or we habitually think of them as real. So this meditation of emptiness corrects that. that wrong perception. But then, as the Buddha always warns, it would be wrong just to substitute the view of emptiness as the right view.

[41:37]

That would be even more erroneous. So the real view is that things as they are in reality are neither real nor unreal, neither empty or unempty. I still have some question regarding what the difference is in practice between tantric and non-tantric practices. For example, recently I heard that a certain meditational practice on Chakravarti was a non-tantric meditation and therefore could be given by any lama who had the sutra, whereas other meditations have to be given by a tantric master. a Tibetan Shakyamuni meditation that was not done. Yes, I was told it was a sutra meditation.

[42:40]

Did it entail visualizations? You're right, there are two. You were doing great. There are two such meditations on the Buddha. In non-tantric, that is, meditations based on sutras or exoteric Mahayanist literature, one is encouraged to visualize the Buddha. and the sky in front of one, and then make that an object of one's meditations, whether it be taking refuge, particularly taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, or developing a sense of rapport with the spiritual ideal and so forth, or confession of sins and so forth.

[43:45]

These are exoteric meditations for which no initiation is required. However, visualizations of yourself in the form of Shakyamuni Buddha or any other deity definitely are tantric and definitely require initiation before one may practice this. Is that the difference in whether one visualizes oneself as a manifestation of deity versus just visualizing I'm sure there's a lot more to it. I mean, as you know, visualization is just a part of the meditation. But as far as the matter of can you visualize the Buddha and make that an object of meditation, I would say yes, that's true. Definitely you need an initiation to do the meditations where you visualize yourself as the Buddha, but not so when it's externally visualized. But I don't think that's the only reason. processes like using all the psychic chakras and so forth like that in tantric meditation which initiation empowers you to use in addition to these visualizations.

[45:00]

Are you receptive to these teachings? You're asked to think of Rinpoche himself as being none other than Shakyamuni Buddha, from whose golden body rays of light shine forth to touch the whole of your being, removing there all distractions, delusions, obscurations to receiving these teachings of the path to enlightenment and that spontaneously there arises in your mind discerning wisdom and the realization of selflessness.

[46:02]

Think of yourselves also as being none other than the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjushri, who tirelessly seeks out all the teachings of Dharma for the sake of living beings. And think of our surroundings as being not the ordinary workday human world, but the pure realm of Dharma, the Buddha land. And with the mind, free from all distraction, from all clinging to concepts and especially to ordinary concepts, concepts of oneself and the present moment as being ordinary. Try to make the mind open to receive these teachings by approximating

[47:10]

this moment as it occurs on the level of ultimate reality, that is, as things are truly happening in the pure realm of the Buddhas and not as we experience them from the standpoint of ego. So with this mental preparation we will resume our discussion today. Yesterday we had said that Buddhism in general and Buddhahood in particular are a matter of attitude and perspective. Attitude refers to the way in which one relates to one's fellow beings and in Mahayana Buddhism

[48:17]

We have learned that that entails an attitude of great compassion for all beings. Perspective, the matter of perspective, which we will be discussing this morning, concerns an accurate, valid perception of things, as they really are. The right view in Buddhism is then a view that sees the true nature of all phenomena. In Mahayana Buddhism, this true nature or this perception of the true nature of all things is described as one which sees that reality

[49:44]

Reality is a state for which human conceptualizations are inadequate. It is therefore called a state of extremelessness, a state that is away from all extremes of conceptualization and is cannot be adequately rightly described as being either existent or non-existent, real or unreal, etc. This insight into the true nature of things is the is, along with compassion, the principle factor which results in Buddhist liberation or Buddhist salvation.

[50:59]

It is the goal of the Mahayanist striving, whether that takes place on the exoteric paramita path or in the esoteric tantric path. As the great Sakya Pandita rightly said, there is no difference in the view of the ultimate, in the ultimate view of the sutras and the tantras. This direct perception of the state of ultimate reality, the nature of ultimate reality, is known variously by different names among the Buddhist schools.

[52:10]

but it remains the same regardless of the name. In the Sākya tradition to which Rinpoche belongs, it is the saving insight known as the unity of saṁsāra and nirvāṇa, the korde yermed, the essential oneness of liberation and worldly existence. In the Kagyu tradition it is known as the great symbol or the Mahamudra insight. In that school there are two kinds of Mahamudra practice and perception taught.

[53:29]

One belongs to the Sutrayana or the exoteric Mahayanist path. The other belongs to the esoteric tantric path. And in order to undertake this practice, it is required that one receive all the four initiations which were described yesterday afternoon. In the Sākya tradition to which Vijñanirvache belongs, this view of ultimate reality, known variously as the Mahamudra, or the oneness of samsara and nirvana,

[54:46]

is taught extensively after one has received initiation into the Vajra Tantra and it is taught as one of the essential of the vast meditative system known as the Lamdre, Lamdre system of practice. the philosophical view of the nature of ultimate reality is expounded in four stages.

[56:00]

Firstly, it is established that all appearances, have their all appearances, that is all phenomena, have their origin in the mind itself. Consciousness is central to our experience of the world. Secondly, that The mind itself is illusion-like in the sense that it too has no innate self-nature, no innate inherent identity of its own.

[57:06]

Thirdly, it is established that that mind exists in the way that it does exist through a concatenation of causes and conditions. That is through interdependent origination. And finally it is established that that nature of mind which is non-dually, which non-dually which is non-dually apparent or luminous and empty at the same time, the nature of that mind is ineffable.

[58:32]

Though its nature can be directly, non-dually, intuitively experienced, yet it cannot be described in terms of human concepts. Though ineffable, one can indicate the nature, the ultimate nature of reality and the experience of that perception of ultimate reality through, by means of similes, similes and examples. Thus the Lamdre system enables us, enables the unenlightened to understand

[59:41]

to understand that experience by relating it to examples of experiences available to them. Experiences available to them. Thus, we are taught eight examples to establish that all appearances have their origin in mind itself. Eight examples to establish that that mind is illusion-like.

[60:46]

Eight examples to establish that mind exists through interdependent origination. And finally, eight examples to establish that the ultimate nature of reality is ineffable. So, through meditation on these 32 examples, the yogi is brought step by step to attain that direct non-dualistic experience of ultimate reality.

[61:52]

We haven't the time today to go into the details of these 32 examples and the instructions for meditation which accompany each For those of you who are strongly interested in the teachings of the lamdre path to enlightenment, who feel a karmic affinity for this, these teachings, Rinpoche says that he will be willing to teach those people who are karmically prepared for this teaching at some future date.

[63:03]

Today we will take, we will in our discussion of these four essential stages of Mahamudra practice take up another meditation which though not a part of the Lamdre system is nonetheless contains within it the elements of these four stages of approach to the realization of ultimate reality. Many of you received from Rinpoche two Sundays ago the initiation of Avalokiteshvara. The initiation that is the non-duality of Avalokiteshvara and Mahamudra.

[64:10]

It is this particular meditation which has been Rinpoche's main practice, doing this throughout his lifetime, and though it is a brief meditation, it does, as we say, contain all of the elements of this Mahamudra inside. So we will make that the basis for our description of these four stages this morning. has any personal insight into this view of ultimate reality. It's founded in the Landry literature and by the masters of the Sakya tradition.

[65:14]

However, though he himself has denies that he has any insight. He does have, he has had, he says, the benefit of receiving the teachings on a number of occasions from masters who had attained the full Maha-Midra insight. In particular, he received the full Lamdre teachings, the full teachings of the Lamdre system, some four times from his own personal teacher, the great mastered the Sakya tradition, got the Ngawan Dekpa Rinpoche, and also from another great Sakya sage, Jamyang Kintsi Rinpoche of Tsongsar. And from these two great teachers who were blessed by their meditation of Sakya Pandita,

[66:21]

and by the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, he does feel that he, while not qualified to speak from personal insight, nonetheless is familiar enough with the teachings to be able to bring to mind the teachings of his teachers and of the Lamdre literature. So with this, in this context then, we will and turn to our discussion of the four stages of Maha Mudra Insight. The great Sariputra Master, Ngorchen Khonjo Lhundrup, summarized these four stages of Mahamudra meditation.

[67:26]

In the following verse, it runs, of happiness and sorrow, of samsara and nirvana, of all phenomena, mind is the substratum. If mind itself be examined, we see it has neither color nor shape. and hence is neither a single entity nor manifold. Because of its emptiness, it never arises nor dwells nor ceases. Nonetheless, its nature of luminosity is never stopped, is never checked.

[68:37]

That peaceful mind itself, away from all extremes, is the great ultimate. At the center of our individual worlds of experience is consciousness. All our experience of sense data, Our concepts of inner, outer, internal, external, time, space, all the elements of our experience have as their center, as their substratum, the fact of consciousness.

[69:54]

It is therefore a tenet of this lamdre system of practice that mind is the substratum of all phenomena, whether it be the bliss of liberation or the pains of worldly deluded existence. All of these depend upon the fact of of our individual consciousness. Our experience then of all sense data and our reactions to those responses to sense data, our experience of everything has its origin therefore in mind, in our individual minds.

[71:09]

Just as, to give an example, in a dream we experience We have various experiences, painful, pleasurable. And though while dreaming we believe those dream events to be taking place and we respond in dreams, we respond to those events believing them to be real. We are frightened when threatened. by tigers and the like and respond in dreams with fear. But upon awakening we realize clearly that none of those dream events had taken place outside the mind. Those dream tigers were never any threat to our security.

[72:14]

Our responses of fear were totally inappropriate because there was no real cause for fear. All of these, all that had happened had taken place within the mind. So, when one, through meditation, awakens to enlightenment, is likened to awakening from this this dream of worldly existence where we mistake things to be real as they appear to be real from our ego's point of view. And all of our responses to stimuli are based on this premise that things are real as they appear.

[73:21]

So the first step then is to understand, to realize that all the components of our experience have their origin in our mind alone. Then turning to that mind, which is the source of all things, we seek to learn its nature. Yet when we search for the mind, whether within the body or without or anywhere in between or in any other place, we can find no thing which corresponds to our concept of mind.

[74:25]

We know that we are endowed with consciousness. We all take for granted the presence of mind. And yet, when we search for anything which corresponds to our concept of mind, we discover that it is not easy. If mind where a thing as we like to think of it, it should have at least location, dimension, qualities such as color, shape, etc. And yet upon examination we discover that mind has none of these. Mind also is momentary.

[75:36]

Mind consists of discrete instants or moments, flashes of cognition. beyond these moments of cognition which have only a momentary duration. we can find nothing which corresponds to our concept of mind. Mind, even those moments of cognition, have no qualities, no location, no attributes whatsoever, apart from the very fact that consciousness or cognition

[76:46]

the mental energy we call cognition is taking place. So the first step is to learn that mind cannot be considered, cannot be dealt with in terms of things, of entities. It is not a thing that like other objects have an have an origin. It is not something that comes into being and having endured for a while, passes away. It is, the mind is not a thing like other things. It is, mind is a no-thing, it is nothing. It has no independent existence in itself whatsoever. Yet, even though we see the nothingness, or as we say, the emptiness of mind, still we cannot say that it is simply the absence of anything, like blank, empty space.

[77:59]

Though it is empty like space, still mind is equipped with, endowed with, a nature of knowingness. It is consciousness. This is the insight into the non-dual emptiness and luminosity of mind. Though empty, it cognizes, though it cognizes it is empty, just as fire and heat cannot be separated. So, mind has this non-duality of emptiness and luminosity. As all things have their origin in mind, so appearances, the appearances that we experience in this world, have their origin in this luminous aspect of mind.

[79:22]

Yet their nature, though they appear, they are by their very nature empty in themselves. and have their origin in this emptiness of dharmas, of phenomena, has their origin in this empty aspect of mind. Now the non-duality, the realization of this non-duality of mind, which is the source of all phenomena, is called the Mahamudra insight. And though it can be directly experienced, it cannot be communicated to others adequately through words.

[80:24]

Therefore, as the sutras speak of it, it is It is inexpressible, ineffable, the perfection of wisdom, unarisen, undwelling and unceasing. It is the... It has the very nature of space. It is the realm of self-cognizing insight, that is, mind cognizing its own true nature.

[81:28]

And this insight is the mother of all the enlightened ones. This insight into the true nature of mind is the saving insight which the Buddhas obtain. It is their perception of the ultimate nature of mind. Now, this ultimate nature of mind is away from all extremes. As we said, one can experience it, one cannot communicate it, one cannot describe it. But because human concepts are inadequate to describe it, it is away from all the extremes.

[82:31]

One cannot say of it that it either exists or does not exist or both or neither. It is these human concepts of being and non-being simply do not suffice to describe that state correctly. Though it is profound and subtle, still this insight, this saving insight, of the true nature of mind may be attained, and it is attained through right meditation. It is only attainable through right meditation.

[83:34]

Its attainment leads instantaneously to enlightenment, to Buddhahood. Failure to recognize this true nature of mind results in continued worldly, that is to say, deluded existence on the round of birth and death. The key to approaching this realization is to receive valid instructions from a qualified teacher and to train one's own mind in this meditation on the true nature of mind.

[84:39]

Practice is the key to its attainment, as the great Indian master Padampasangi said when he visited Tibet. He said, the trouble with Tibetans is not that they don't know the Dharma, it's that they don't practice the Dharma. They all know the teachings of Buddhism, they all know to They all know and recite Om Mani Padme Hum, but they don't practice. So this is true also with us. It is not enough to know about these meditations. One must practice them. Your sessions of meditation on this Mahamudra, nature of mind, should first of all put aside all distractions, turn the mind

[86:02]

within, focus the mind upon mind itself, not upon the contents of your mind, but upon the nature of that mind from which these thoughts, your mind's contents, arise. It doesn't matter what the contents of your mind are, but upon the nature of your mind. And there, focus not upon not upon past moments of thought or future moments of thought, but upon the very present moment of consciousness. And by observing that present moment of consciousness, try to discern there its nature of non-dual emptiness and luminosity.

[87:04]

Since that is always its nature, whether we recognize it or not, one need not pretend to see its nature. You need not be artificial in your practice. There is nothing to to add or subtract to the mind. Nothing to add or subtract to your practice or to... There is no need for artifice at all. You need not strain in this meditation. Just be mindful, aware, alert and observant to see what you discover about the nature of your own mind. It is... The best way to meditate is to relax. First you should seat yourself in the correct posture of meditation. One should be seated correctly and apply discipline in putting your mind into meditation.

[88:20]

But once in meditation, relax. Don't grasp. at a view, don't grasp at a nature of mind. It's there to be discerned, but this discernment can only grow when the mind, when one's meditative practice is clear and attentive. So, for a few minutes then, we'll join Rinpoche. in an observation of our minds. Just we'll sit for a few minutes in silent meditation and try to discover there the nature of your mind. All right. Make yourselves comfortable in some sort of cross-legged posture.

[89:27]

@Transcribed_v004
@Text_v004
@Score_JJ