Mahamudra

Cannot Be Taught

Mahamudra cannot be taught, but
You, who practiced austerities for the teacher from devotion
And patiently bore sufferings, intelligent Naropa
Fortunate one, listen to this and take it to your heart

Tilopa was a yogi who gathered together the tantric teachings as well as teachings on mahmudra and passed them onto Naropa. Naropa was originally a monk and a scholar, one of the four principal teachers at the Buddhist monastic school, Nalanda. At that time it was not possible to be a monk and a tantric practitioner. But Naropa's zeal for finding the truth was so great that he left the monastery, went searching for Tilopa as a teacher, and underwent hardship as his student.

Finding the truth is not hard, but it does require one hundred percent of your effort. The German theosophist Rudolf Steiner once explained the difference between chemistry and alchemy, saying that in chemistry you are holding a test tube over a flame, but in alchemy you are in the test tube getting cooked. Meditation is exactly like that. You cannot do it casually or at arm's length of you want to see the truth. It has to be a complete commitment. And that is how Naropa practiced.

The first line says that mahamudra cannot be taught. This is for two reasons. First, mahamudra is something that needs to pacticed and not learned. You cannot learn to meditate from someone else, you need to practice it yourself and learn from that.

The second reason mahamudra cannot be taught requires explaining some Buddhist philosophy. According to this philosophy, the first moment of perception is free of thoughts. In subsequent moments, the perception of the object is replaced with a generalized concept about the object. For example, in the first moment you see the car as it actually is, but after that the perception becomes one instance of the more generalized idea of a car. You classify it, categorize it, and judge it. The practice of mahamudra is to remain in that original moment of thought as much as possible. Because this moment precedes thoughts and concepts, it cannot be taught.

[sky]

' the first moment of perception is free of thoughts. In subsequent moments, the perception of the object is replaced with a generalized concept about the object. '


Looking at a new babies face when it first starts to look around and focus on an object is beautiful, the wonder is shown by their expressions, they are observing without thought.

Interesting Post JL, thanks...

Thanks sky

It is from a Tibetan practitioner of long standing.

Yes, babies and young toddlers usually still retain that child free innocence and beauty.

[sentient]

Earlier on in Anatta thread I posted this video about Mahamudra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCotuy5Y8u8

The highest realization we can talk about in Buddhism – where subject, object and action become one.
Where one is spontaneously, intuitively and effortlessly one with all things at all times and places and is called Mahamudra.

IamthatIam posted a link – with this quote:
https://upliftconnect.com/mahamudra-...st-meditation/

Though darkness gathers for a thousand eons.
A single light dispels it all.
Likewise, one moment of sheer clarity
Dispels the ignorance, evil and confusion of a thousand eons.

I read the article – enjoyed it also & this stood out for me:

the sky, which triggers the experience of inner space, your actual true nature.

Sky (or outer space) as:
https://www.sites.google.com/site/dh...=221&width=191

And then it got me thinking that I take it for granted what “inner space” is.

But what is “inner space” for you?
- Is it an empty (of thought) head space?
- Is it an open heart? Breathing- chest area?
- Is it an empty head space with an open heart (chest area) together – and sensing one’s beingness there?
- Is is the feeling of openness and emptiness of your Central Channel?
- Is it every cell in the whole of your body as inner space?

Or what?

*

Originally Posted by sentient

Earlier on in Anatta thread I posted this video about Mahamudra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCotuy5Y8u8


IamthatIam posted a link – with this quote:
https://upliftconnect.com/mahamudra-...st-meditation/


I read the article – enjoyed it also & this stood out for me:

Sky (or outer space) as:
https://www.sites.google.com/site/dh...=221&width=191

And then it got me thinking that I take it for granted what “inner space” is.

But what is “inner space” for you?
- Is it an empty (of thought) head space?
- Is it an open heart? Breathing- chest area?
- Is it an empty head space with an open heart (chest area) together – and sensing one’s beingness there?
- Is is the feeling of openness and emptiness of your Central Channel?
- Is it every cell in the whole of your body as inner space?

Or what?

*

I would say it is best to have all above inner-space free of clutter so that your inter-being
can freely play and BE in innocence and purity and always out of Love. And I would say my
inter-being resides in the center of my being in the heart area.

Just a thought.

[Rain95]

Originally Posted by sentient

[But what is “inner space” for you?
- Is it an empty (of thought) head space?
- Is it an open heart? Breathing- chest area?
- Is it an empty head space with an open heart (chest area) together – and sensing one’s beingness there?
- Is is the feeling of openness and emptiness of your Central Channel?
- Is it every cell in the whole of your body as inner space?

Or what?

*

For me, it would be none of those things, as all of that is thought.
Thought cannot find the thoughtless.
This thread starts out with the idea it cannot be taught.
Yet, we are still looking to be taught something.
I cannot be taught "it," because I am thought focused.
"It" is being not thought focused.
There is only one way to it.
To give up that which seeks it, which is wholly a delusional self build with thought.

There is nothing to seek, to get, to achieve, to become.
But yea few will ever get to this space.
Too much attachment to ego, to the delusional self.
One cannot let go of the quest.
Because the "one's" attention is wholly in thought.
It looks for freedom there when looking there is the source of bondage.

It creates an image and seeks it, that is how life is.
But we already are enlightened. There is nothing to do to experience it or get it.
We are already experiencing it.
Our attention, however, is fixed somewhere else.
It's like standing in the ocean looking at a tree on shore.
We perceive the tree because that's where our attention is.
We are looking at the tree while seeking to find the ocean we are standing in.

If you ask "How?" you are already lost. You are still looking at thought.
If you ask "Why?" you are already lost. You are still looking at thought.
If you ask "What?" you are already lost. You are still looking at thought.

There is only now and the unlimited potential of what can be experienced now. If any desire is here now, now is experienced through thought. Any conclusions, any one, means one is focusing the attention on thought and creating reality out of it. Things like....

But I am not experiencing enlightenment.....
This is not enlightenment....
Doing nothing is ignorant...
We must practice....
The sutta's are important..
Teachers are important...
This is wrong...
This is right...
I am right...
He or she is wrong...

That is all thought.
Can you be here now and drop everything in your mind?
So even "enlightenment" is dropped?
After all, enlightenment is only a thought.
It is a tree on the shore while you are standing in the ocean you seek.

Even "dropping" is a thought.

This is not difficult. Just be here now awake and aware.
But yea it seems difficult because we only know how to
experience with thought. What happens when we give up the selves that are based on thoughts?

Suddenly the difference between me and you is gone...
There is this empty quiet perfect space...
and individuals making noise in it...
making conflict in it...
making things to seek in it...

We are all the same, there is no higher or lower...
There is nothing more....
There is nothing else...
Just now as it is...
Without judgment, or conflict.

When selfless, one finds the self, one finds the ocean.

It's like this internal pressure is there in the mind...

It wants to become...
It exerts ideas, opinions, beliefs, thoughts.

There is only one solution...

Get off the treadmill...
One less "person" won't matter...
Be no one and nobody...
Seek nothing.
Stop judging yourself.
Stop judging now.
Stop judging others.
Let go of everything you have learned and know.

Be here now free, innocent, without any conditioning,
brand new, empty, re born empty and new in each moment,

Become yourself by losing yourself...
Become an individual by losing your individuality...

The tree may still be seen there on the shore....
So one must stay awake and alert...
And look away when one notices one is focused there again... selfless...and fully oneself.

[sentient]

Originally Posted by ImthatIm

I would say it is best to have all above inner-space free of clutter so that your inter-being
can freely play and BE in innocence and purity and always out of Love. And I would say my
inter-being resides in the center of my being in the heart area.

Just a thought.

I do mean to pry here, and you do not have to answer ………

In your ‘meditations’ – do you consciously with intent empty yourself out and open yourself up (i.e. become vulnerable or surrender yourself) to all the seven directions: North, East, South, West - Above (Sky) -Below (Earth) …….Within (your Heart)?

To orient yourself - your inter-being in the proper manner?

*

[sentient]

Rain

How do you orient yourself in daily life?
How do you align with the Sacred or position yourself (your 'inter-being')?
What is your practice – or what do you deem to be a good or the best practice?

*

Originally Posted by sentient

I do mean to pry here, and you do not have to answer ………

In your ‘meditations’ – do you consciously with intent empty yourself out and open yourself up (i.e. become vulnerable or surrender yourself) to all the seven directions: North, East, South, West - Above (Sky) -Below (Earth) …….Within (your Heart)?

To orient yourself - your inter-being in the proper manner?

*

Empty out and open up. Yes. As much as is attainable at the time.

Become vulnerable or surrender myself. Absolutely and again as much as I am able to at the time.

7 directions. It's ritualistic so I do not always attend to the ritual aspect.
It is apart of me. And I of the 7 directions.


But Buddhism is hard for me to grasp the language of.

[running]

im not sure if this works for everyone. but i have found its like adding a turbo charger by using chakra music. i most often just use heart chakra music. sometimes third eye. other times ones that go through them all.

if someone can feel the energy it makes it easy get out of the mind if the mind is in the way. its really about going from one place to another. moving from the mind to beyond the mind. which is what makes music so effective. one naturally moves from one to the other. or even if thats not the concern. music can turbocharge ones depth by just simply being on. the ears are a very effective tool for transcedence.