The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: 3 (90 page)

I am extraordinarily happy and joyous that my Regent has made his talks available in the form of a book. This work should be tremendously beneficial to those who would like to follow the path of enlightenment and the practice lineage of the Kagyü tradition.

Dragon thunders:

Rainclouds

Lightning

Power

Strength.

Warrior proclaims:

Gentle

Excellent.

Fruits grow and taste delicious.

As buddha nature blossoms,

The world has no regrets

But experiences the dharma

And rejoices in the Great Eastern Sun.

Let us wake as buddha!

V
AJRACHARYA THE
V
ENERABLE

C
HÖGYAM
T
RUNGPA
R
INPOCHE

Boulder, Colorado

December 16, 1981

Foreword to
Women of Wisdom

C
ONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION
which holds that the vajrayana tradition of Buddhism has been practiced primarily by men, many of the great contemplative teachers and practitioners have been women. In Tibet we found that women practitioners were frequently more diligent and dedicated than men. I am very pleased to see the publication of
Women of Wisdom,
which provides ample evidence to that effect. Tsultrim Allione’s work should not be regarded as mere feminism. This collection of stories is a great contribution to spreading the understanding of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

With blessings,

V
AJRACHARYA THE
V
ENERABLE

C
HÖGYAM
T
RUNGPA
R
INPOCHE

Foreword to
Mahāmudrā

I
AM SO DELIGHTED
that this text is being published in the English language. It will greatly benefit English-speaking students of Buddhism. I myself have used this text in working with my students, and I have always found that it communicates, clearly and simply, the mahamudra teachings of the practice lineage. I am very pleased that now English-speaking students can read and study this book in their own language.

The term
mahamudra
in Sanskrit or
chaggya chenpo
(
phyag rgya chen po
) in Tibetan literally means “the great symbol.” Mahamudra refers to an actual experience of realization that we ourselves might have. As this text makes very clear, the ground of mahamudra is experienced in the sitting practice of meditation. So although mahamudra is very deep and profound, it can only be realized through the direct and simple practice of shamatha and vipashyana meditation.

The precision and accuracy of meditation allow us to rest in our natural state of being, and out of that we are able to realize that hopes and fears and emotions of all kinds no longer need be regarded as obstacles or highlights. In meditation practice, there is always some sense of going and not going, some process of thinking and not thinking taking place. Nonetheless, beyond that process of thinking and not thinking, there is some basis of nonthought, nonconceptualization. No matter how confused we might be, there is a dancing ground of experience that is common to everyone. Another way of saying this is that, although the nature of samsara is like a water wheel that turns around and around, constantly creating actions that produce later effects, nonetheless there is a basic state of mind that is clear and pure and natural. The realization of that basic state of mind is what is known as mahamudra.

The English edition of this text is titled simply
Mahāmudrā.
In Tibetan this work is usually referred to as
Moonbeams of Mahamudra
(
Chakchen dawai özer
). The moon is the brightest source of light at night, and it is the light from the moon that illuminates the darkness. We are so grateful to Dagpo Tashi Namgyal for having written this book to illuminate the darkness of beings suffering in samsāra. We are also thankful to the translator and the publisher for bringing this light of wisdom into the Western world. May it benefit countless multitudes of beings.

With blessings,

V
IDYADHARA THE
V
ENERABLE

C
HÖGYAM
T
RUNGPA
R
INPOCHE

Boulder, Colorado

March 7, 1986

GLOSSARY

S
INCE NONE
of the books in Volume Three included a glossary, this list of terms was compiled to cover some of the basic terms that appear in the volume. For other definitions, please see the index.

abhisheka
(Skt., “anointment”): A ceremony or formal experience of vajrayana transmission. The student is ritually introduced into a mandala of a particular tantric deity by a tantric master and is thus empowered to visualize and invoke that particular deity. The essential element of abhisheka is a meeting of minds between teacher and student.

amrita
(Skt., “deathless”): Consecrated liquor used in vajrayana meditation practices. The term may also refer to spiritual intoxication.

anuttaratantra
(Skt.): The highest of the four tantric yanas (“vehicles”), according to the New Translation school of Marpa and his contemporaries. The first three yanas are kriya, upa, and yoga. The realization of mahamudra is the highest attainment of anuttaratantra.

arhat
(Skt.): A “worthy one,” who has attained the highest level of realization according to the hinayana teachings.

atman
(Skt.): The soul posited by Hindu philosophy, or, as translated by Chögyam Trungpa, the ego.

bhumi
(Skt., “land”): One of the ten stages or spiritual levels that a bodhisattva must go through to attain buddhahood: (1) very joyful, (2) stainless, (3) luminous, (4) radiant, (5) difficult to conquer, (6) face-to-face, (7) far-going, (8) immovable, (9) having good intellect, and (10) cloud of dharma.

bodhichitta
(Skt.): Awakened mind or heart, or “enlightened mind.” Ultimate or absolute bodhichitta is the union of emptiness and compassion, the essential nature of awakened mind. Relative bodhichitta is the tenderness arising from a glimpse of ultimate bodhichitta that inspires one to work for the benefit of others.

bodhisattva path
: The mahayana path of compassion and the practice of the six paramitas. The bodhisattva vows to relinquish the quest for personal enlightenment in order to work for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Bön
(Tib.; also Pön): The old religion of the Tibetans prior to the coming of Buddhism; a form of shamanism.

dakini
(Skt.; Tib.
khandroma
): A wrathful or semiwrathful female deity signifying compassion, emptiness, and transcendental knowledge. The dakinis are tricky and playful, representing the basic space of fertility out of which the play of samsara and nirvana arises. More generally, a dakini can be a type of messenger or protector.

dön
(Tib.): A minor Bön demon, often an agent of a larger demonic force.
Dön
has come to be used to refer to being attacked by depression, resentment, anger, or other negative emotions.

five buddha families
: Five basic qualities of energy in the tantric tradition. The five families refer to the mandala of the five sambhogakaya buddhas and the five fundamental principles of enlightenment they represent. In the mandala of enlightenment, these are five wisdom energies, but in the confused world of samsara, these energies arise as five confused emotions. The following list gives the name of each family, its buddha, its wisdom, its confused emotion, and its direction and color in the mandala: (1) buddha, Vairochana, all-pervading wisdom, ignorance, center, white; (2) vajra, Akshobhya, mirrorlike wisdom, aggression, east, blue; (3) ratna (jewel), Ratnasambhava, wisdom of equanimity, pride, south, yellow; (4) padma (lotus), Amitabha, discriminating-awareness wisdom, passion, west, red; (5) karma (action), Amoghasiddhi, all-accomplishing wisdom, jealousy, north, green. Some qualities differ slightly in different tantras.

guru yoga
(Skt.): A devotional practice in which one identifies with and surrenders to the teacher (guru) in his or her vajrayana form as a vajra master and representative of the lineage of ultimate sanity.

heruka
(Skt.): A wrathful male deity.

jnana
(Skt.; Tib.
yeshe
): the wisdom-activity of enlightenment, transcending all dualistic conceptualization.

kalyanamitra
(Skt.): The spiritual friend or the manifestation of the teacher in the mahayana.

karuna
(Skt.): Compassion, a key principle of the mahayana, describing the motivation and action of a bodhisattva.

kaya
(Skt.):
See
trikaya.

klesha
(Skt.): “Poison” or obscuration. The five main kleshas are passion, aggression, delusion, jealousy, and pride.

lhasang
(Tib.): A ceremony, originally taken from the Bön religion of Tibet, in which smoke from juniper branches, combined with offerings and chanting, is used to invoke the power and presence of various deities.

ngöndro
(Tib.): The foundational practices that are preliminary to receiving abhisheka.

mahasukha
(Skt., “great bliss”): An experience or state of spiritual development that arises from the realization of mahamudra, an advanced stage of realization in the vajrayana teachings, particularly practiced in the Kagyü school.

mandala
(Skt.): A total vision that unifies the seeming complexity and chaos of experience into a simple pattern and natural hierarchy. The Tibetan word
khyilkhor
used to translate the Sanskrit term literally means “center and surroundings.” A mandala is usually represented two-dimensionally as a four-sided diagram with a central deity, a personification of the basic sanity of buddha nature. Three-dimensionally, it is a palace with a center and four gates in the cardinal directions.

mantra
(Skt.; Tib.
ngak
): A combination of words (usually Sanskrit) or syllables that expresses the quintessence of a tantric deity. A mantra may or may not have conceptual content. Recitation of mantra is a vajrayana practice that is always done in conjunction with visualization. Mantra is associated with protecting the mind.

paramita
(Skt., “that which has reached the other shore”): The six paramitas, or “perfections,” are generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and knowledge.

prajna
(Skt.; Tib.
sherab
): Literally, “transcendental knowledge.” Prajna, the sixth paramita, is called transcendental because it sees through the veils of dualistic confusion.

samaya
(Skt.; Tib.
tamtsik
): The vajrayana principle of commitment, whereby the student’s total experience is bound to the path.

shamatha
(Skt.; Tib.
shi-ne
): Mindfulness practice. A basic meditation practice common to most schools of Buddhism, the aim of which is to tame the mind.

shunyata
(Skt., “emptiness”): A completely open and unbounded clarity of mind.

skandha
(Skt.): Group, aggregate, or heap. The five skandhas are the five aggregates or psychophysical factors that make up what we generally understand as personality or ego.

skillful means
(Skt.
upaya
): Skill in expounding the teaching. The bodhisattva guides beings to liberation through skillful means. All possible methods and ruses from straightforward talk to the most conspicuous miracles could be applicable.

skull cup
(Skt.
kapala
): A cup that is either made from a human skull or visualized as being made from a human skull. The kapala is used in vajrayana rituals and usually contains amrita. It represents conquest over extreme beliefs or the intoxication of extreme beliefs.

trikaya
(Skt.): The three bodies of buddhahood. The dharmakaya is enlightenment itself, wisdom beyond any reference point. The sambhogakaya is the environment of compassion and communication. Iconographically, it is represented by the five buddhas, yidams, and protectors. The nirmanakaya is the buddha who actually takes human form. In the vajrayana, the teacher’s body, speech, and mind are regarded as the trikaya.

Vajrasattva
(Skt.): One of the deities visualized at various levels of tantric practice. He is associated with primordial purity.