Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet

Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path

With the devotion of self-knowing I pay homage to Guru Vajradhara. A worthy student is one who aspires to practice the profoundest of the profound and secret vajrayana -the essential oral instructions of all the anuttara yoga tantras or the nature of the realization of effortless ati. To meet the needs of such a student, these three points should be taught:

• The preliminary steps of mind training.

• The main practice of pointing out.

• The subsequent application, combining the profound advice into key points.

The first of these is in two parts: the general preliminaries and the special preliminaries, which represent the unique qualities of this particular path.

THE GENERAL PRELIMINARIES

First of all, you should practice the following steps according to the general teachings:

• Taking refuge, which is the difference between this path and an incorrect path.

• Arousing bodhichitta, which raises you above the inferior paths.

• The meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva, which purifies misdeeds, obscurations, and adverse conditions that prevent the essence of refuge and bodhichitta from dawning in your being.

• The mandala offering, which is the method for gathering the accumulations-the harmonious conditions.

• Guru yoga, the root of blessings and the means by which the special qualities of experience and realization quickly arise in your being.

THE SPECIAL PRELIMINARIES

Next, the special preliminaries, which, according to this system of teachings, are called the analytic meditation of a pandita.

It is an unfailing fact that happiness results from virtuous action and that suffering results from having committed unvirtuous karmic deeds. Therefore, you must first recognize what is virtuous and what is evil. In order to do this you must determine which is most important: your body, speech, or mind. To decide this, you must understand what your body, speech, and mind are.

The "body" is your physical body that serves as the support for benefit and for harm. "Speech" is the making of sounds and talking. The "mind" is that which can think of and recollect anything at all-that which feels like or dislike and at every moment shows different expressions of joy and sorrow. This briefly explains the body, speech, and mind.

When you commit a virtuous or evil action, you must ask yourself, "Is the body the main thing? Is speech the primary aspect? Or is the mind most important?" Some people will reply that it is the body, some that it is speech, and some will say that the mind is the primary aspect. In any case, whoever claims that the body or speech is most important has not really penetrated to the core with their examination.

It is the mind that is the most important. The reason is that unless your mind intends to do so, your body cannot possibly do anything good or bad. Nor can your voice express anything good or evil. Your mind is therefore the primary factor. As it is said

The mind rules over everything like a king, 

The body is a servant for all good or evil deeds.

In that way your mind is like a king and both your body and speech are its servants. For instance, when you get angry at your enemy you must examine whether the primary factor is your mind or the enemy. Similarly, when you feel attached to a friend, examine whether your mind or the friend is the primary factor. Examining in this way, you must acknowledge that although the friend and enemy are the circumstances in which attachment and anger arise, the real cause originates in your own mind. Thus, your mind is most important.

Once you master you own mind, neither friend nor enemy will be able to benefit you or cause you harm. If you don't gain control over your mind, attachment and anger will automatically well up, wherever you go and wherever you stay. You must understand that your mind is the root of all joy and sorrow, good and evil, attachment and anger. The Great Omniscient One (Longchenpa) has said,

When under the influence of dhatura,

All the various experiences you have, whatever they maybe,

Are all, in fact, mistaken images without existence. Likewise, understand that under the influence of a confused mind

All the mistaken experiences o f the six classes o f beings, whatever they may be,

Are all empty images, nonexistent yet appearing.

Since they appear in your mind and are constructed by your mind,

Exert yourself in taming this mistaken mind.

That is how it is. But you shouldn't take your understanding from books or stories heard from others. Recognize, yourself, that appearance is mind and understand that your mind is the root of all phenomena.

In this context, you must distinguish between appearance (nangwa) and the perceived object (nang-yul). Without doing that, it will be like the Great Omniscient One stated,

Ignorant people claim that everything is mind.

They are deluded about the three types of appearance,

Have many shortcomings, mix things up and overexaggerate. 

Meditators, give up such unwholesome ways!

The mere presence of visible forms, sounds, and so forth, that are the objects of the six types of consciousness is called "perceived objects." Thoughts of attachment, anger, or delusion based on the "perceived objects" are "appearances," for example, the feeling of attachment to a pleasant object, the feeling of anger toward an unpleasant one and the indifferent feeling toward something neutral. You must understand that such appearances are the functions of your own mind.

Perceived objects, such as form, sound, and so forth, have appeared due to mind, but they are not mind-they are the shared appearances of sentient beings and do not possess any true existence, besides being phenomena of dependent origination.

You should now examine where this mind dwells: from the top of the hair on your head to the nails on your toes; from the outer layer of skin, the flesh in between, to the bones, five organs, and six vessels within. When investigating the dwelling place of mind, most Chinese will claim that it abides in the head. Tibetans will say that it dwells in the heart. Neither one is sure because when you touch the top of the head the mind seems to leap there and when you touch the soles of the feet it seems to jump there. It has no fixed place. It dwells neither in outer objects nor inside the body, nor in the empty space in between. You must become certain that it has no dwelling place.

If your mind has a dwelling place, what are the outer, inner, and middle aspects of this dwelling place? Is it identical with or different from the dweller?

If they are identical-since there is increase or decrease, change and alteration in outer objects and within the body-your mind will change in the very same way. So it is illogical to think they are identical.

If they are different, then is the essence of this different mind something that exists or not? If it is, then it should at least have a shape and color. Since there is no shape or color, it does not unilaterally exist. However, since this "Ever-conscious and Ever-aware King" is unceasing, it does not unilaterally not exist. For this reason the glorious Karmapa Rangjung Dorje proclaimed,

It is not existent since even the victorious ones do not see it.

It is not nonexistent since it is the basis of samsara and nirvana.

This is not a contradiction, but the middle way of unity. May we realize the nature of mind, free from extremes.

The explanation up to this point completes the preliminary teachings of the analytical meditation of a pandita.

THE MAIN PART OF THE PRACTICE

The second part, the steps of the teachings on the main part of the practice, the resting meditation of a kusulu, is presented under two points:

• Pointing out the nature of body, speech, and mind by means of the instruction in resolving.

• Pointing out (dualistic) mind and awareness, one by one, by means of the instruction in distinguishing.

RESOLVING

Keep your body straight, refrain from talking, open your mouth slightly, and let the breath flow naturally.

Don't pursue the past and don't invite the future. Simply rest naturally in the naked ordinary mind of the immediate present without trying to correct it or "re-place" it. If you rest like that, your mind- essence is clear and expansive, vivid and naked, without any concerns about thought or recollection, joy or pain. That is awareness (rigpa).

At the same time, there is no thought of, "Sights and sounds are out there." Everything appears unceasingly. There is also no thought of, "The perceiver, the six types of consciousness, is within." Clear and nonconceptual naked awareness is unceasing.

While in that state, your body is left to itself without fabrication, free and easy. That is the body of all the victorious ones. That is the essence of the creation stage.

Your speech is free from fabrication, without efforts to track down the root of sound but simply expressing directly and openly whatever comes to mind. It is all-pervasive from the very moment of being heard, a nonarising empty resounding. That is the speech of all the victorious ones. It is the essence of all recitation.

When you rest your mind in unfabricated naturalness, no matter what thought may arise, good or evil, happy or sad, the mind-essence, which is free from concerns about joy or sorrow, is clear and empty, naked and awake.

This mind-essence is the nature of all sentient beings, the realization of the buddhas of the three times, the essence of the eighty-four thousand Dharma-doors and the heart of the glorious master, the supreme guide. It is the transcendent knowledge of the second set of teachings and the sugata-essence of the last turning of the wheel of the Dharma. According to the general system of mantra it is called continuity of ground, the spontaneously present mandala of the innate nature. According to the anuttara tantras it is called Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, Kalachakra, and so forth.

As for the three inner tantras: according to mahayoga, it is the great dharmakaya of the exalted inseparability of the two truths. According to anuyoga, it is the basic mandala of bodhichitta of the "son of great bliss." According to atiyoga, it is the great perfection of awareness and emptiness.

All these renowned expressions point a finger at this mind-essence itself, and nothing else. This point is also presented in the Gelug school, as stated by the Great Lord (Tsongkhapa),

Appearance, the unfailing dependent origination,

And emptiness, understanding beyond statements- As long as these two seem to be separate,

You have still not realized the intent of Shakyamuni. When all at once and without alternation

Your conviction and your notion of an object fall apart, That is the moment of having completed the analysis of the view.

The Lord of Dharma, Drakpa Gyaltsen, has said,

When you have clinging, it is not the view.

The Dharma masters of the Sakya school regard their view of undivided samsara and nirvana to be nonfixation. Moreover, according to the matchless Kagyupa masters, glorious Rangjung Dorje proclaimed,

Everything's not true, not false,

Like moons in water, say the wise. 

This ordinary mind itself

Is dharma expanse, the victors' essence.

Thus, the luminous mahamudra is also nonfixation. It is said that all the learned and accomplished masters of India and Tibet had the same realization and there is not a single master who claims that the realization of the main pan of practice is anything other than nonfixation. That is the meaning you should understand yourself and what you should point out to others.

This completes the section that indicates that your body, speech, and mind are the Body, Speech, and Mind (of the victorious ones). It has the same meaning as in the verses by the Great Master of Uddiyana, beginning with, "Do this toward all that you see," and so forth.

DISTINGUISHING

It is very important to distinguish the difference between mind (sem) and awareness (rigpa). The Great Omniscient·One said,

The big oxen pretending to know ati nowadays 

Claim that discursive thinking is awakened mind. 

Such ignorant people, in their realm of darkness, 

Are far away from the meaning of the natural Great Perfection.

If you fail to distinguish between mind and awareness you may engage in conduct that confuses cause and result and thus turn away from the path in which view and conduct are united.

When experiencing the continuity of undistracted naturalness, awareness is free from a reference point, like sky, without even a speck of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, benefit or harm, whether you meet with positive or negative conditions. The character of (dualistic) mind is evident the moment you get slightly distracted and encounter (the same) conditions and you feel joy or sorrow. Having given rise to joy or sorrow, you will accumulate karmic actions.

For example, mind (sem) is like the clouds gathering in the sky. Therefore, you must gain stability in awareness (n'gpa), which is like a cloudless sky. You must be able to purify the aspect of mind that is like the douds in the sky.

Through this you will be able to separate mind and awareness.

THE PROFOUND ADVICE

The third part explains the profound advice on the subsequent application, which is based on the oral instructions that reveal direct self-liberation.

While you remain in undistracted naturalness it is utterly impossible to accumulate karma and you have cut the stream of the further accumulation of karma. Although you are not accumulating (new) karma, do not get the idea that there is neither good nor evil to be experienced as (past) karma ripens. That is, unless you purify all the karmic deeds you have previously accumulated through confession, purification, and so forth, they will ripen without fail. The ripening of karma is still possible.

This ripening will manifest in your body or mind and nowhere else. When it ripens in your body you will fall sick. When it ripens in your mind you will feel joy or sorrow and the thoughts of the six types of disturbing emotions will arise. When that happens, it is important to possess the oral instructions on taking sickness as the path, taking joy and sorrow as the path, taking disturbing emotions as the path, and so forth. But, if you simply rest in naturalness, the essence of all these applications, it will suffice.

If you feel happy when meeting with good conditions and sad when encountering negative circumstances and indulge in the feeling of happiness when happy and the feeling of sadness when sad, you will accumulate immense karma. Therefore, you must immediately recognize a thought, be it happy or sad, in any circumstances, positive or negative.

After recognition, you should rest in naturalness. Look into the one who feels happy or sad, without repressing one feeling or encouraging the other. Your clear, empty, and naked mind-essence, free from any concern about joy or sorrow, freely becomes the innate state of awareness.

Furthermore, when your body falls sick, don't indulge in the illness, but rest in naturalness. Look into the painful sensation itself. The pain doesn't cease when resting like that. However, you will directly realize the innate state of awareness free from any thought about where it hurts, what hurts, how it hurts, as well as the subject and object of the pain. At that moment the sickness grows less intense and becomes somewhat insubstantial.

A person who has one disturbing emotion will also possess the others. But due to the differences in people, some will have more anger, some more stinginess, some more dullness, some more desire, some more envy, and some will have a greater portion of pride. That is why there are different types of buddha families.

The disturbing emotion of anger is an agitated state of mind caused by a painful sensation based on an unpleasant object.

Stinginess is the inability to give away to others some attractive object because of retaining a tight clinging to owning it.

Dullness is like darkness and is the root of all evil. It is the lack of recognizing one's essence and it obscures the nature of things.

Desire is to accept, long for, and feel attached to pleasant things like sights or sounds and so forth. In particular, carnal lust for the union of male and female is the primary attachment.

Envy is to reject and therefore disapprove of the virtues of someone who is higher than or equal to oneself.

Pride is to regard others as lower and to feel superior in either religious or mundane matters.

These six disturbing emotions create the causes for the existence of the six classes of beings, such as rebirth in the hells through predominant anger. Whenever one of them arises you must recognize it immediately. When recognizing it, don't reject it, don't accept it, just rest in naturalness [looking] into that particular disturbing emotion. At that same moment it is self-liberated and is called mirror-like wisdom, etc. This is mentioned in a song from the Second Treasury of Ratna Lingpa:

The essence of your angry mind is clear awareness, Bright and empty the moment you recognize it. This nature is called mirror-like wisdom.

Young maid, let's rest in the natural state.

The essence of your dull mind is clear self-awareness, Wide open the moment you look into your natural face. This vital nature is called dharmadhatu wisdom.

Young maid, let's rest in the natural state.

The essence of your proud mind is the unfolding of self-awareness,

Naturally empty the moment you rest, looking into your natural face.

This state is called the wisdom of equality. Young maid, let's rest in the natural state.

The essence of your lustful mind is attachment for sure, The state of empty bliss, the moment you sustain it without clinging.

This nature is called discriminating wisdom. Young maid, let's rest in the natural state.

That is how it is. But if you regard disturbing emotions as faults and reject them, they may be temporarily suppressed but not cut from their root. Consequently, at some point, the poisonous remnant will reemerge, as is the case of the mundane dhyana states. On the one hand, when you regard disturbing emotions as emptiness, your practice turns into "taking emptiness as the path" and not the disturbing emotions. Thus your practice doesn't become the short path, the special quality of mantra. On the other hand, if you indulge in the disturbing emotions, thinking they are something concrete, it is like eating a poisonous plant and is the cause that binds you to samsara, just like the copulation of ordinary people.

For these reasons, just as poison can be extracted from a poisonous plant and taken as a medicine, the special quality of this teaching lies in the fact that any disturbing emotion that may arise is wisdom the moment you relax in naturalness. Look directly into it, don't deliberately reject it, regard it as a fault, indulge in it concretely, or regard it as a virtue.

Beyond this, if you are interested in the system of direct instructions, such as the teachings on the path of means, you must learn them in detail from the oral instructions of your master.

TAKING THE BARDO STATE AS THE PATH

When you press your fingers on your ears or on your eyes, sounds naturally resound and colors and lights naturally manifest. Rest naturally for a long time and grow accustomed to the appearance of utterly empty forms that don't exist anywhere-neither outside, inside, nor in between. Since, at the time of death, there is nothing other than this, you will recognize these sounds, colors, and lights as your self-display and be liberated, just like meeting a person you already know or a child leaping onto its mother's lap.

This teaching corresponds to the key point of darkness instruction among the daylight instructions and darkness instructions for practicing the manifest aspect of the thogal of spontaneous presence. There are also the systems of practice based on the rising and setting rays at day- time and on the moonlight, electric light and lamps at nighttime.

TAKING SLEEP AS THE PATH

Without depending on mental effort, such as emanations or trans- formations during the dream state, sleep in a state of undistracted naturalness. During that time, you may slip into deep sleep devoid of dreams. As soon as you awake you are vividly clear in the natural state. This is called the luminosity of deep sleep.

It may happen that sleep doesn't occur at all. Instead, you remain awake and vividly clear or you fall asleep. But, though various dreams take place, they are forgotten the moment you wake up the next morning with nothing to remember. That is the beginning of having purified dreams.

It is said, for the person of the highest capacity and diligence, that dreams cease by being forgotten. For the intermediate person they cease by being recognized. For the person of a lesser capacity they cease through the experience of excellent dreams. The fact that dreaming must be purified in the end is commonly agreed upon in all the sutras, tantras, and treatises.

The additional points about the practice of phowa should be learned from other sources.

These teachings were merely a condensation of the basic points of the instructions. 

From the core of realization of all the victorious ones and their sons,

The root advice of the profound points of the new and old tantras,

I have extracted the fresh essence of the profound oral instructions

And written them down concisely in a few words.

It is taught that in these times when it is difficult to tame

beings through the vehicles of effort,

The teachings of effortless mind will appear.

By the power of the times, if you practice these points, They are a teaching that is easy to apply and devoid of error.

At a time when I saw many reasons

And was also requested by several eminent people, Setting aside elaborate poetry and lengthy expressions, 

This was written by Gangshar Wangpo, a khenpo from Shechen,

Naturally and freely, in a way that is pleasant to hear and easy to understand.

By the virtue of this, may an infinite number of beings

Be victorious in the battle with the demigods of platitude, May they shine with the majestic brilliance of the essence of profound meaning

And may there be a celebration of a new golden age.

SARVA DAKALAYANAM BHAVANTU

Translated in accordance with the oral teachings of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche at Nagi Gompa, 1984, by Erik Pema Kunsan~Edited by Ward Brisick, 1989. Revised 2009.