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The Fivefold Path of Mahamudra with Avalokiteshvara

May 24, 2024
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In the short text I present in translation below, Jigten Sumgön teaches the Fivefold Path of Mahamudra with the Yidam Avalokiteshvara. Usually, the yidam of the Fivefold Path is Cakrasamavara, but this is only so because Cakrasamvara is the main yidam of the Kagyüpas. Other yidams like Vajrayogini or Tara are also possible. In the text below, Jigten Sumgön says: “If you don’t have a yidam for this practice, take mine, namely Avalokiteshvara.” Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen explains that the people of the Himalaya area naturally have the yidam Avalokiteshvara. — Of course, we immediately asked him what the natural yidam of Europeans is. After some deliberation, we decided on Maria / Tara ; )

At one point in the text, when Jigten Sumgön teaches the true nature , he says: “When [in that state] the mind is distracted by high and low thoughts, no matter whether you are going, standing, or lying somewhere, by transforming your conduct and practicing, the uninterrupted spiritual practice will become the essence of non-thought in the nature of spontaneous accomplishment.” Here, Khenchen explains that when you are, for example, sitting, and a high or low thought arises, you should “change your conduct,” i.e., get up and than continue to practice as explained in the text. In other words, whatever you do at the moment when you watch your mind — going, standing, lying, etc. — when high or low thoughts arise, you immediately change to another kind of conduct and continue your practice.

Here is the translation:

The Essence of the Practice of Sutra and Mantra: A Concise Guide to the Five-Part Mahāmudrā (vol. 3, p. 211)

I prostrate to noble holy gurus.

In general, since the definite cause for attaining perfect buddhahood is the resolve for awakening, at all times and in all ways, at the time when you produce the root of virtue that is [like] a vast wave, at the time of whichever practice you are nourishing, at the beginning of the practice session, make the following commitment to the generation of the resolve for awakening:

“May all sentient beings, my mothers, who are equal to space, be happy and free from suffering, and may they attain the precious state of unexcelled, perfect, and complete awakening. For that purpose, until I attain enlightenment, I will bind my body, speech, and mind to virtue. Until I die, I will bind my body, speech, and mind to virtue. Until the same time tomorrow, I will bind my body, speech, and mind to virtue.”

Having formed the motivation by thinking in that way, practice your body as the yidam deity. If you have no yidam, practice my yidam deity, the Lord of Great Compassion, the excellent Avalokiteśvara.

Practice the excellent guru in your heart. At the time of death, it is said that you practice him on the crown of your head.

Then look at your unrestricted clear self-awareness. Since it is said: “When you look, you see nothing at all; that is seeing true reality,” rest in that state without thinking anything. When [in that state] the mind is distracted by high and low thoughts, no matter whether you are going, standing, or lying somewhere, by transforming your conduct and practicing, the uninterrupted spiritual practice will become the essence of non-thought in the nature of spontaneous accomplishment. Therefore, maintain [that state] uninterruptedly!

Having created the roots of virtue or having entered meditative equipoise, call to mind from time to time the roots of virtue that are accumulated by yourself and others in the three times and the roots of existent virtue:

“May through the roots of virtue that are accumulated by myself and others in the three times and the roots of existent virtue I and all sentient beings quickly attain the precious unsurpassable and perfect awakening.”

Dedicate the roots of virtue!

In this way, practice continuously and maintain the precious vows of the fasting retreat. Of the four roots, it is most important to keep the vows of a layperson. In that sense, the Blessed One said, “Those who do not keep even one rule are not in my retinue.” Since that has been taught, knowing that all activities are meaningless if they are not done within the retinue of the teacher, you should strive to observe disciplined conduct! [The teaching] is complete.

Translated for Shenyen by Jan-Ulrich Sobisch at the Milarepa Retreat Center, Schneverdingen, Germany, on the 24th of May, 2024.

Here is the Tibetan text of Jigten Sumgön’s Works (pecha form), vol. 3, p. 211:

མདོ་སྔགས་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་ཉིང་ཁུ་ཕྱག་ཆེན་ལྔ་ལྡན་གྱི་ཁྲིད་སྙིང་བསྡུས༎

བླ་མ་དམ་པ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།།

སྤྱིར་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐོབ་པར་བྱེད་པའི་རྒྱུ་ངེས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཡིན་པས། དུས་དང་རྣམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་། རླབས་པོ་ཆེའི་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་བྱེད་པ་དང་། ཉམས་ལེན་གང་དུ་བསྣུན་པའི་དུས་དང་བསྒོམས་པའི་ཐུན་འགོ་ལ། སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པའི་དམ་བཅའ་འདི་ལྟར་བྱ་སྟེ།

མ་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་མཉམ་པའི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེ་བ་དང་ལྡན། སྡུག་བསྔལ་དང་བྲལ། བླ་ན་མེད་པ་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཐོབ་པར་བྱ། དེའི་ཆེད་དུ་སངས་མ་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་བར་དུ་ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་ལ་བཀོལ། མ་ཤིའི་བར་དུ་ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་ལ་བཀོལ། དུས་དེ་རིང་ནས་བཟུང་ནས་ཉི་མ་སང་ད་ཙམ་གྱི་བར་དུ་ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་ལ་བཀོལ་སྙམ་དུ་བསམས་ལ། རང་གི་ལུས་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷར་བསྒོམ།

མེད་ན་ངའི་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷ། ཇོ་བོ་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་རྗེ་བཙུན་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་གང་ཡང་རུང་བ་ཞིག་ཏུ་བསྒོམ།

བླ་མ་དམ་པ་ཐུགས་ཀར་བསྒོམ། ནམ་འཆི་བའི་དུས་སུ་ནི་སྤྱི་བོར་བསྒོམ་པ་ཡིན་གསུངས།

དེ་ནས་རང་གི་རིག་པ་རིག་རིག་ཏུར་ཏུར་པོ་འདི་ལ་བལྟས་ལ། བལྟས་པའི་དུས་སུ་གང་ཡང་མ་མཐོང་བ་དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་མཐོང་བའོ་ཞེས་པས། དེའི་ངང་ལ་ཅི་ཡང་ཡིད་ལ་མི་བྱེད་པར་བཞག། རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་མཐོ་དམན་གྱིས་སེམས་རྣམ་པར་གཡེངས་ན། འགྲོ་འཆག་ཉལ་འདུག་གམ། སྤྱོད་ལམ་བསྒྱུར་ནས་བསྒོམས་པས་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པའི་དགེ་སྦྱོར། རྣམ་རྟོག་མེད་པའི་ངོ་བོ། ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་དུ་འོང་བ་ཡིན་པས། དེ་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པར་བསྐྱང་།

དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་བྱས་པའི་རྗེས་སམ། ཐུགས་དམ་ལ་མཉམ་པར་བཞག་པའི་རྗེས་ལ། སྐབས་སྐབས་སུ་བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་དུས་གསུམ་དུ་བསགས་ཤིང་ཡོད་པའི་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་དྲན་པར་བྱས། བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་དུས་གསུམ་དུ་བསགས་ཤིང་ཡོད་པའི་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་འདིས། བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་མྱུར་དུ་བླ་ན་མེད་པར་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཐོབ་པར་གྱུར་ཅིག་ཅེས། དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་བསྔོ་བར་བྱའོ།།

དུས་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པར་ཚུལ་དེ་ལྟར་ཉམས་སུ་བླང་ཞིང་། བསྙེན་གནས་ཀྱི་སྡོམ་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བསྲུང་བ་དང་། རྩ་བ་བཞི་ལས་གང་ཐུབ་ཐུབ་ཀྱི་དགེ་བསྙེན་གྱི་སྡོམ་པ་སྲུང་བ་གལ་ཆེ་སྟེ། དེ་ལྟར་ཡང་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱིས། ཁྲིམས་གཅིག་ཙམ་ཡང་མི་བསྲུང་ན་ངའི་འཁོར་དུ་མ་གཏོགས་སོ།། ཞེས་གསུངས་པས་སྟོན་པའི་འཁོར་དུ་མ་གཏོགས་ན་བྱས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་མེད་པར་ཤེས་པར་བྱས་ནས། ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་བསྲུང་བ་ལ་འབད་པར་བྱའོ།། རྫོགས་སོ༎

Buddhist Metaphors and the Inexpressible

September 30, 2018
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Buddhism certainly presents itself as a metaphor: the Awakend One, the assemblage (samgha), the path, the vehicle, and so forth. Quite a number of very old metaphors are agricultural: root of merit, karmic seed, fruit to be obtained, field of merit (and later: Buddha fields), and refuge tree. Some metaphors appear to be intercultural and interreligious, for instance colours: white merit is virtuous, black is non-virtuous. Or spatial metaphors: upwards is positive, downwards is negative. Knowledge, wisdom and understanding are interculturally represented by light, ignorance as darkness. Probably through the notion of an increased visibility in luminosity, understanding is metaphorically expressed as “seeing,” not understanding as “blindness.” Some metaphors are very productive. They produce many more metaphors that produce whole clusters of metaphors, like the above cluster of agricultural metaphors, or like the metaphor of space, which is the basis for the metaphorical field containing metaphors like upwards and downwards, lack of hindrance (= succes), or pervasion (= understanding, compassion, wealth, etc.).

With this knowledge in mind, how much deeper is our understanding of Jigten Sumgön’s opening words of his Simultaneously Arising Mahamudra (Phyag rgya chen po lhan cig skyes sbyor gyi ngo sprod):

I bow down to the Gurus, who remove the darkness of ignorance of beings by pervading the sphere of the unborn pure space of true reality with a thousand lights of unhindered compassion.

From early on, the Buddha himself has created numerous similes on the basis of metaphors. The website Access to Insight lists ca. 250 such similies that occur in their translations of Pali sutras. A recent Thai Buddhist master has similarly collected 108 similes.♦ 1 There is for instance a story in an old Pali sutra (SN 35.206) where several different kinds of animals are bound togther by a rope. Each animal pulls into a different direction. This is a simile that shows how the thoughts of the mind contest for dominance. The simile builds on the metaphor of thoughts being wild animals. In this way, the figurative language of metaphors and similes was used throughout the history of Buddhism as a hermeneutical tool to explicate the doctrine.

From very early on, Buddhist philosophers and commentators have understood the power of figurative language and described its elements and functions. In a metaphor, they explained, the metaphorical term (e.g., “lotus born”) indirectly refers to a concept (e.g., “purity”). Thus, when someone says “I take refuge in the Buddha,” both “refuge” and “Buddha” are metaphors — we are not literally trying to hide behind the broad shoulders of Shakyamuni. Such figurative speech opens up a world of interpretation and understanding. The Drikungpa master Garchen Rinpoche, for instance, would explain that what we seek is not the person Siddharta Gautama, but his awakening to the true nature of the mind, which we ourselves cannot get from him, but only find in ourselves. “Going for refuge in the Buddha” is according to him a metaphor for searching for the nature of one’s own mind within oneself.

Such a deep penetration of the language of the sutras and other scriptues is on the one hand possible through the experience of a teacher like Garchen Rinpoche. But it has also been made possible through the forerunners of mahamudra yogis, the philosophers of Yogacara Buddhism. Beginning from the 3rd century they have developed a theory of language according to which not only metaphors, but actually all language is figurative: If all phenomena to which language refers are only appearances of the mind, the words that refer to such phenomena do not have a direct referent, since that referent does not exist as it appears.♦ 2 This understanding, namely that words can never refer directly to any real object, has also led them to proclaim that the ultimate truth is, therefore, actually inexpressible and completey beyond language. Paradoxically, however, it is just this figurative language that best illustrates this inexpressibility. Consider these words of the Great Brahmin Saraha (quoted in the above mentioned mahamudra instruction of Jigten Sumgön):♦ 3

If you dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to the authoritative [instructions] of the guru and strive respectfully,
there is no doubt that the simultaneously arisen will come forth.
Since it is without color, attributes, words or illustrations,
unable to express it, I will try a rough illustration:
Like a young girls joy in her heart,
Holy Lord, whom could it be told?

Apart from that, it is certainly important to keep in mind that the language of Buddhist texts, be it technical or metaphorical, refers to phenomena that do not exist as they appear. As Garchen Rinpoche pointed out in his teachings this week in Munich, all the words of the texts, however skillfully expressed, are of no particular value if the reality that is expressed at best indirectly by them is not directly experienced in meditation.


Notes
1. http://www.accesstoinsight.org and http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/chah/insimpleterms.html. ↩

2. See the new study A Yogācāra Buddhist Theory of Metaphor by Roy Tzohar, Oxford University Press, 2018. ↩

3. Another version is recorded by Kurtis Schaeffer, Dreaming the Great Brahmin, Oxford University Press, p. 154: Free of color, quality, words, and examples,// It cannot be spoken, and in vain I point it out.// Like the bliss of a young woman, desirous for love,// Who can teach its noble power to whom?// ↩