The Concise Mind Instructions 

 The Concise Mind Instructions Called Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet

If you do virtuous actions, happiness will result, and if you do unvirtuous actions, suffering will result. This is an unfailing fact, so we must identify what we call virtue and misdeed. In order to do that, we first need to point out what body, speech, and mind are. After recognizing what those are, we need to know which is most important in virtues and misdeeds: body, speech, or mind.

If you ask which is most important, mind is most important. As it is said:

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

The mind rules over everything like a king.

The mind is like the king, and the body and speech are like servants. Thus if the mind does not think of something, the body cannot possibly do anything either good or nasty, nor can the speech possibly say anything kind or mean. Thus we must recognize that the root comes down to the mind.

Next we must analyze whether the mind is something or nothing. It is not unilaterally something, because it has no color-white, yellow, red, or green-and no shape-triangular or square-to be seen. It is not unilaterally nothing, because this all-knowing, all-aware king that does all your thinking and remembering is unceasing. Thus as the glorious Rangjung Dorje said,

Not something, even the victors cannot see it.

Not nothing, it is the ground of all samsara and nirvana.

This completes the discussion of the preliminaries.

For the main practice, let the mind and body be comfortable, soft, and relaxed. Do not think of anything, let yourself settle naturally, and look up with your eyes into space. Open your mouth slightly and let the breath flow naturally. At that point, without any concern about what you are thinking, what you remember, what is nice or what is painful, this mind-essence is clear and expansive, vivid and naked. This is the nature of the minds of all sentient beings of the three realms. This is the heart of the glorious master, the supreme guide. This is what the buddhas of the three times intend. It is also called the dharmakaya mahamudra. It is also called the luminous great perfection. It is also called the path and result. It is also called emptiness and compassion. It can be given many names, but they all point a finger at just this.

Thus it is as the glorious Rangjung Dorje said,

Everything's not true, not false,

Like moons in water, say the wise. This ordinary mind itself

Is dharma expanse, the victors' essence.

Directly, whatever arises, do not change it-rest naturally. This fulfills the essence of all creation stages, completion stages, mantra recitations, and meditations.

Here you must differentiate between being distracted and not being distracted. If you are undistracted and natural, there can be neither help nor harm. That is awareness. If you get slightly distracted, it is possible that likes or dislikes might arise in your mind. On top of that, you accumulate white or black karma. Because of that, you wander in samsara. For this reason you must distinguish mind and awareness. Mind and thought are like cloud banks and must be purified. You must rely on inner awareness.

You must take sickness as the path, afflictions as the path, the bardo as the path, and delusion as the path. The heart of all these applications is to rest naturally in the essence.

There's no need to bore you now.

This was kindly given by Gangshar Wangpo, who is both learned and accomplished, to the assembled students of Thrangu Tashi Chafing's school Shedrup Dargye Ling on the seventh day of the sixth month of the Fire-Bird year (August 3, 1957). Mangalam. Translated by David Karma Choephel in Boudhanath, Nepal, March, 2007.