Maha Mudra
Maha Mudra
Maha Mudra
By Ken Holmes
Both traditions try to help people reach the state of faith and openness
required for this 'simple' recognition to take place. In the meantime, they
stress the absolute need, for most people, of properly completing a
thorough preparation before entering into the very powerful teachings which
reveal the truth about reality and the human mind. There are two main
stages to this preparation. The first involves reflecting about life until a
newer and franker vision of existence is in place. This training in the four
ways of transforming the mind focusses on the rare potential of a human
mind, on our fragile transience through mortality, on the power of one's
actions to condition the way one experiences reality and, finally, upon the
presence of suffering throughout worldliness. The disciple then proceeds to
the four extraordinary foundation practices. The first involves cementing
Buddhist faith and altruistic motivation. Using precise visualisations, one
takes the sixfold Refuge of vajrayana as one makes prostrations. This is
usually repeated at least 100,000 times. At the beginning and end of each
practice session, the disciple takes the bodhisattva vows. The second
foundation consists of a profound method for freeing the mind of the most
part of its unhealthy conditioning, due to the imprints of past negative
karma. This is achieved through the Vajrasattva meditation, and 100,000
repetitions of the corresponding mantra, the deep meaning of which is one
of always remaining within the sphere of ultimate purity. Purification is
followed by a discovery of the joy of freeing the mind of its clinging and
entering totally into a state of dedication to enlightenment and working for
the welfare of others. This is achieved through 100,000 practices of
mandala practice: making both real and highly-symbolic offerings. The
fourth foundation practice is that of guru yoga. This is, in many ways, much
more internalised, drawing the mind into a state of openness and receptivity
towards its own true, enlightened nature. The revelation of this true nature
must, of necessity, come at first through an external source which can point
out and confirm that the recognition of the Buddha within has been accurate
and not just one of many other beautiful meditation experiences. The
presence of a guru of an authentic Great Seal or Great Perfection lineage
ensures this and this stage of preparation involves making a pure and
sacred bond between the disciple, guru and lineage.
Having thoroughly prepared the ground of their minds, through the various
preliminary practices, the only way to discover the vast wisdom, voidness,
compassion and power to help others which is within the mind is through
skilful meditation. Whatever form this meditation takes, it is always done
with the total conviction that all is already pure and perfect within. All that
remains is to remove the psychological blockages preventing one from
access to the innate perfection. The path of practice has two main areas of
activity. One, called the ultimate stage, is a journey into the depths of mind
itself. Having established total stillness and control, one illuminates the
spotlight of inner wisdom, as mind examines mind in great subtlety. This
eternal voyage of discovery needs expert guidance from a guru. From it will
emerge a recognition of dharmakaya, i.e. the fusion of voidness and
wisdom which lies at the very core of mind. The other area of activity the
creative stage works not with the noumenon of mind but with its
phenomenal manifestations. One needs to discover, in the everyday world
of events, people, feelings, thoughts and reactions the same purity that has
been discovered when alone on the meditation cushion. This process is
usually aided by learning, through visualisation, to identify with one or
another of the many yidams or buddhas. These yidam and guru-yoga
practices each unblock specific areas of the relative mind. Each contains its
own section of ultimate stage meditation.
This creative stage of practice will, at enlightenment, give rise to all the
relative buddha-activity expressed through sambhogakaya and
nirmanakaya, during which one manifests beneficially in the lives of all
those with whom there has been a past connection. Having worked
sufficiently on both creative and ultimate areas of meditation, the time will
come when the meditator is stable and clear enough to be aided into a
recognition of the buddha within. But even then, having recognised
primordial purity, he or she will need to continue with both stages of practice
for many years. Unlike an intellectual realisation, which can lead to wide
and sweeping changes immediately (such as Newton's sudden
understanding of gravity as the apple fell), realising one's buddha nature is
a direct experience which, after the first glimpse, is soon lost and needs to
be constantly rediscovered as it is stifled again and again by the habitual
activities of mind. The glimpses become more frequent, longer lasting and
generally more stable. The journey to their total stabilisation has four main
stages, known as the four yogas.
The first yoga is called one-pointedness. One realises that to remain calm,
relaxed and aware of mind's true, void nature is the one medicine which
cures all mental ills. While cultivating experiences of bliss, non-thought and
crystal clarity, one continuously lengthens the time that can be spent in
deep meditation. The effects of the latter become more and more
widespread, changing the quality of waking life and dreams.
The fourth yoga is called non-meditation. This is the final stage of the
journey to total enlightenment, in which all effort to meditate and become a
buddha has to cease, in the total acceptance of a buddhahood which
already exists, spontaneously. It is the final transcendence of the
conceptual mind, with its mania for interpreting events and defining the
person and the person's world.
Mahamudra can also be described through its stages of basis, path and
fruition.