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Dudjom Rinpoche
Video Media Print Media Dalai Lama Penor Rinpoche Video Media Yangthang Rinpoche Video Media Print Media Khenpo Jigphun Video Media Getse Rinpoche Tulku Sang Ngag Video Media Khenchen Namdröl Video Media Penam Rinpoche Lobpön Nikula Kusum Lingpa Dodrubchen Rinpoche Chagdud Rinpoche Drugchen Rinpoche B. Alan Wallace |
Generation Stage Practice
Training in the visualization of the meditational deity involves four practices. First: the achievement of clarity concerning the deity’s characteristics; second: the achievement of the stable pride of the deity; third: the development of pure recollection regarding the deity’s pure qualities; and fourth: the training in the arising of bliss, clarity, and emptiness. All four of these practices should be present while performing the deity yoga. Unless you can spontaneously visualize the entire form of the deity with a single effort, it is best to generate it step by step. Generate the visualization gradually, from the bottom of the lotus feet to the top of the jeweled crown. In the first session, spend most of your time clarifying the various parts of the lotus base and deity’s seat. Then proceed to the deity’s feet, legs, and so on, clarifying each part before you go on to the next. Eventually you will be able to visualize the entire form. Next, put the ornaments and garments on the deity from the head and going down to the feet. In the beginning, the most important thing is to achieve clarity in your visualization. The goal of the meditator is to visualize the deity and all his characteristics as clearly as the moon is reflected in a crystal clear pond on a clear night, as clearly as the peach fuzz on a face is reflected in a really excellent mirror. You need to be able to visualize every single aspect of the deity in clear, precise detail. The goal is that at some point you will be able to instantly arise as the deity as clearly as you now perceive your ordinary body. The second practice is to gain the stable pride of the deity. Vajra pride is a different kind of pride from the poisonous pride that you have already firmly achieved. It is an expression of a state wherein all faults have been exhausted and all potential enlightened qualities have become actual. When you meditate on yourself as the deity, you are in fact meditating on your own true nature as represented by that form. Holding the pride of your buddha nature, represented by bye enlightened form of the deity, gain a sense of stability. This pride should be with you constantly. The third step is to contemplate the deity’s pure qualities by recollecting the significance of the deity’s attributes, such as the number of heads and limbs that it possesses. This is pure recollection. The essence of pure mind is primordial wisdom. From beginningless time the mind’s nature has been buddha, possessing boundless qualities. These qualities are natural, self-born and spontaneously accomplished. There are two kinds of deities—wisdom deities and meditational deities. The meditational deity is visualized either in the space in front of you or as yourself. The wisdom diety, on the other hand, is a pure emanation of enlightened awareness; it has been pure from beginningless time and is not a mental recreation of a pure image. It might seem that by visualizing a meditational deity you are creating a pure form, but visualizing the deity is more than a creative act. When performing deity yoga, even if you are not able to effect a clear visualization, abandon doubts and impure concepts about the deity’s form. At the very least, always maintain intense, fervent devotion towards the deity’s pure form. While you work on developing a clear visualization, simultaneously contemplate the pure meaning of the deity’s attributes. The two practices—achieving clarity of visualization and practicing pure recollection—must always be performed simultaneously; enter a state of meditative concentration upon both. Without this, your visualization will either lack meaning or clarity. Practicing with both, you will notice that deity pride is generated naturally. The fourth practice is to train in the arising of bliss, clarity, and emptiness. It is vital to remember that the three elements that are so important to the generation stage practice—clarity, pure recollection, and stable pride—are empty in nature. Do not allow these three practices to become just another series of discursive thoughts. It is also extremely important to accustom yourself to the view that, although its nature is empty, the deity’s form appears naturally in the same way that a reflection appears in water or a rainbow appears in the sky. They appear yet have no inherent existence. The best way to practice the generation stage is to seal every aspect of your visualization with the power of the completion stage. You do this by remaining aware that appearances are an expression of your empty nature. Sealing your visualization in this way will make your entire visualization a display of the dharmakaya. This is the best way to practice. Gyatrul Rinpoche, excerpted from The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra (Snow Lion, 2005; originally published as The Secret Oral Teachings on Generating The Deity. |
Training in the Nature of Appearances
Because the buddha nature is void, it is free from the eight limitations of the mind. And what are those eight limitations that it is free from? First of all, it is free from the limitation of birth because the ground of the buddha nature is the dharmakaya, the embodiment of ultimate reality, which is free from a birth place or any owner. Thus, it is free from the limitation of birth. Second, it is free from the limitation of cessation because it cannot cease; it is simply free from the limitation of that concept. Third, it is free from the limitation of eternalism because it has never fallen into being a substantial, something that truly exists. No buddha’s eyes have ever seen the buddha nature; thus it is free from the limitation of eternalism. Fourth, it is free from the limitation of nihilism because it is the general foundation of samsara and nirvana. Thus it is something, and free from the limitation of nihilism. Fifth, it is free from the limitation of going, because, being void, it is simply beyond going or remaining in any place. Sixth, it is free from the limitation of coming because it has never been accomplished as coming from anywhere or remaining anywhere. Seventh, it is free from the limitation of just one meaning because, in the expanse of the foundational buddha nature, all dharmas, all of the meanings of samsara and nirvana, are like the stars in the ocean, unmingled. Each one appears as it is. And so it is free from the limitation of one meaning. And finally, it is free from the limitation of distinctions because no matter how much samsara and nirvana arises, the stars are not other than the ocean. Likewise, the nature of the foundational essence is one taste, one nature. Thus it is free from the limitation of distinctions.
The buddha nature being void, it has not fallen into any of the eight limitations. The empty nature remains unstained by limitation. In addition, it is empty because it is beyond being above or below or in any direction or in any time. And it is empty in another way, because it permeates everything. There is no thing it does not permeate, and it is also empty in terms of being all-pervasive because there is no place where it is not.
Dudjom Lingpa now defines the three entranceways to perfect liberation. The first of these is realizing emptiness, or voidness, both external and internal. In terms of the external emptiness, all external appearance have never been truly established as substantial things, thus they are empty. Internally, one’s own mind is also beyond root and basis, and this is the inner nature of emptiness. And in between external and internal, the nature of the mind, the buddha nature, is devoid of grasping and fixation, so it is the great all-pervasive nature of emptiness. This is the first entranceway to perfect liberation.
The second entranceway to perfect liberation is that the buddha nature is free from any characteristic. The foundational truth body, the dharmakaya, the buddha nature, cannot be expressed. It is beyond verbal expression, beyond illustration, and beyond symbolic indication. Ultimately, it cannot be revealed in these ways. This is the second entranceway to perfect liberation: that it is void of characteristics.
The dharmata is the essence of the sugatas, the nature of truth and of the buddhas of the three times. By merely accruing virtue through you body and speech, the result of which is rebirth in another pure realm, if you think that the buddha nature in any way even compares to that, that somehow it could be the same, then this is a great mistake. It is considered to be extreme confusion. To actually compare an ordinary, confused, deluded intelligence to the all-pervasive unceasing nature of space, the buddha nature, to try to make the buddha nature something that has origin and destination with objectiveness, is itself deluded intelligence and has nothing to do with understanding the buddha nature of the nature of the buddhas of the three times.
The third entranceway is upholding confidence in one’s own place, in the fact that one’s own nature is the buddha nature and that it cannot be realized by going to any other place or searching in any other way, that one has to realize one’s own foundational nature just as it is. And whatever liberation occurs, it doesn’t matter, because it’s going to be the liberation of knowing oneself to be buddha, knowing one’s own true face to be buddha. Otherwise, grasping to liberation as another place, and pursuing that with effort, is to go deeper into confusion, is to compound confusion. So the result of ultimate truth, the result of the buddha nature, is definitely void of the ordinary mental activity of praying and hoping, praying to an object and hoping for accomplishment. Thus the third entranceway is, without fixation or wish, ascertaining with confidence, and without a trace of doubt, one’s own true nature.
… This presentation, this Nang Jang, is training in the nature of appearances. The first step in realizing the true nature of appearances is to realize identitylessness of self, and then identitylessness of appearances, everything other than self. Without that basis one cannot proceed. In other presentations, which are probably more in line with what you’ve received, the basis is shamatha and vipassana, quiescence and heightened awareness. So you must go back to those practices and accomplish them. And they must be accomplished in a nondual way; shamatha shouldn’t be separated from vipassana. They are practiced nondually, indivisibly. This kind of fault isn’t yours only; all Buddhists seem to suffer from it. For example, ngöndro practitioners tend to ignore the four thoughts that turn the mind. Or, others will ignore the four noble truths and jump to another practice. The problem is, by ignoring the fundamentals in this way you are still attached to samsara, and as long as you’re still attached to samsara you can’t proceed.
Gyatrul Rinpoche, excerpted from Training in the Nature of Appearances: Nang Jang (Yeshe Melong Publications, 1995.), an oral commentary (given at Karma Dzong, in Boulder, Colorado, 1992) on Dudjom Lingpa’s visionary text, Buddhahood Without Meditation, widely known by its subtitle, Nang Jang.
Because the buddha nature is void, it is free from the eight limitations of the mind. And what are those eight limitations that it is free from? First of all, it is free from the limitation of birth because the ground of the buddha nature is the dharmakaya, the embodiment of ultimate reality, which is free from a birth place or any owner. Thus, it is free from the limitation of birth. Second, it is free from the limitation of cessation because it cannot cease; it is simply free from the limitation of that concept. Third, it is free from the limitation of eternalism because it has never fallen into being a substantial, something that truly exists. No buddha’s eyes have ever seen the buddha nature; thus it is free from the limitation of eternalism. Fourth, it is free from the limitation of nihilism because it is the general foundation of samsara and nirvana. Thus it is something, and free from the limitation of nihilism. Fifth, it is free from the limitation of going, because, being void, it is simply beyond going or remaining in any place. Sixth, it is free from the limitation of coming because it has never been accomplished as coming from anywhere or remaining anywhere. Seventh, it is free from the limitation of just one meaning because, in the expanse of the foundational buddha nature, all dharmas, all of the meanings of samsara and nirvana, are like the stars in the ocean, unmingled. Each one appears as it is. And so it is free from the limitation of one meaning. And finally, it is free from the limitation of distinctions because no matter how much samsara and nirvana arises, the stars are not other than the ocean. Likewise, the nature of the foundational essence is one taste, one nature. Thus it is free from the limitation of distinctions.
The buddha nature being void, it has not fallen into any of the eight limitations. The empty nature remains unstained by limitation. In addition, it is empty because it is beyond being above or below or in any direction or in any time. And it is empty in another way, because it permeates everything. There is no thing it does not permeate, and it is also empty in terms of being all-pervasive because there is no place where it is not.
Dudjom Lingpa now defines the three entranceways to perfect liberation. The first of these is realizing emptiness, or voidness, both external and internal. In terms of the external emptiness, all external appearance have never been truly established as substantial things, thus they are empty. Internally, one’s own mind is also beyond root and basis, and this is the inner nature of emptiness. And in between external and internal, the nature of the mind, the buddha nature, is devoid of grasping and fixation, so it is the great all-pervasive nature of emptiness. This is the first entranceway to perfect liberation.
The second entranceway to perfect liberation is that the buddha nature is free from any characteristic. The foundational truth body, the dharmakaya, the buddha nature, cannot be expressed. It is beyond verbal expression, beyond illustration, and beyond symbolic indication. Ultimately, it cannot be revealed in these ways. This is the second entranceway to perfect liberation: that it is void of characteristics.
The dharmata is the essence of the sugatas, the nature of truth and of the buddhas of the three times. By merely accruing virtue through you body and speech, the result of which is rebirth in another pure realm, if you think that the buddha nature in any way even compares to that, that somehow it could be the same, then this is a great mistake. It is considered to be extreme confusion. To actually compare an ordinary, confused, deluded intelligence to the all-pervasive unceasing nature of space, the buddha nature, to try to make the buddha nature something that has origin and destination with objectiveness, is itself deluded intelligence and has nothing to do with understanding the buddha nature of the nature of the buddhas of the three times.
The third entranceway is upholding confidence in one’s own place, in the fact that one’s own nature is the buddha nature and that it cannot be realized by going to any other place or searching in any other way, that one has to realize one’s own foundational nature just as it is. And whatever liberation occurs, it doesn’t matter, because it’s going to be the liberation of knowing oneself to be buddha, knowing one’s own true face to be buddha. Otherwise, grasping to liberation as another place, and pursuing that with effort, is to go deeper into confusion, is to compound confusion. So the result of ultimate truth, the result of the buddha nature, is definitely void of the ordinary mental activity of praying and hoping, praying to an object and hoping for accomplishment. Thus the third entranceway is, without fixation or wish, ascertaining with confidence, and without a trace of doubt, one’s own true nature.
… This presentation, this Nang Jang, is training in the nature of appearances. The first step in realizing the true nature of appearances is to realize identitylessness of self, and then identitylessness of appearances, everything other than self. Without that basis one cannot proceed. In other presentations, which are probably more in line with what you’ve received, the basis is shamatha and vipassana, quiescence and heightened awareness. So you must go back to those practices and accomplish them. And they must be accomplished in a nondual way; shamatha shouldn’t be separated from vipassana. They are practiced nondually, indivisibly. This kind of fault isn’t yours only; all Buddhists seem to suffer from it. For example, ngöndro practitioners tend to ignore the four thoughts that turn the mind. Or, others will ignore the four noble truths and jump to another practice. The problem is, by ignoring the fundamentals in this way you are still attached to samsara, and as long as you’re still attached to samsara you can’t proceed.
Gyatrul Rinpoche, excerpted from Training in the Nature of Appearances: Nang Jang (Yeshe Melong Publications, 1995.), an oral commentary (given at Karma Dzong, in Boulder, Colorado, 1992) on Dudjom Lingpa’s visionary text, Buddhahood Without Meditation, widely known by its subtitle, Nang Jang.