The Flight of the Garuda: Teachings of the Dzokchen Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism

The

LIGH of the

GARUDA COMPILE}) AND 'FRAN. LATED BY

Keith Dowman

Teachings of the Dzokchen Tradition

of Tibetan Buddhism

The

FLIGHT of the

GARUDA OMP/LED

D TRAN. LA 'ED

Keith Dowm n

Fir t published 1994 Wisdom Publications 361 ewbury treet Boston, MA 02115 Phone: (617) 536-3358

For jdSon and his generation Mayall manner ofthings be well

© Keith Dowman 1994 All rightS reserved.

Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Flight of the Gacuda / [compiled and translated by] Keith Dowman. p. cm. Translated from Tibetan. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 86171 085 1 1. Rdzop-chen (Rfiin-ma-pa) I. Dowman, Keith. BQ7662.4.F55 1993 294.3'85--dc20 90-26418 CIP 99 98 97 96 95

7 6 5 4 3 2 Com- painting by Terris Temple ~ by Lorenc Warwick, counesy of Steve Johnson, widt rbanb to Vcncrablc Carol Corradi

Guanaond and Diacritical Garamond at Wisdom Publications by Andrea Thompson eJ Orpheus Korshak DaillMld'"

Thompson eJ Lisa J. Sawljt

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CONTENTS Silvius Dornier and the The pu bLIS' her WIS. he.'S to thank Mr. . . . lJ hey roun C dationfor thezr generous contr'lbutzons toward Barry]. ners . the production ofthzs book. ~~~

Vtl

T ECHNICAL NOTE

LX

PREFACE INTRODUCTION

r.

The Theory and Practice of D zokchen II. The Language of Dzokchen

3 40

EMPTYING THE D EPTHS OF H ELL

Introduction From "The Sovereign Rite of Confession ... "

53 59

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

Introduction The Flight ofthe Garuda

65 82

THE WISH-GRANTING PRAYER OF K UNTU Z ANGPO

Introduction The Wish-Granting Prayer ofKuntu Zangpo SECRET INSTRUCTION IN A GARLAND OF

VI

Introduction Secret Instruction in a Garland of Vision NOTES

139

148

ION

15 18 1 19

GLOSSARIES

I. Selected Tibetan D zokchen Terms II. Sanskrit Terms III. Numeral Terms SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

21 21

_1 221

223 v

T

IN my attempt to keep the language of thi bo k acce ible

the layman, the convention I have adopted are t How. I have capitalized the initial letter of orne common ngli h words that d note a tfansc ndental meaning in Dzokchen terminology (e.g. Awaren Knowledge); but there are few of the e. I hav u ed Tibetan or anskrit words in the text only when I have b n un able t find an Engli h equivalent. Tibetan words, in their phonetic fo rm are italicized the first time they are u ed and thereafter app ar in roman. Tibetan proper names appear in a phonetic form in th text with their transliterated form in the index. In the note (and occa i nally in the text), technical Tibetan term are transliterated (according to the Wylie system) and italicized. Many techni al an krit word have now been assimilated into Engli h (yoga amadhi, nirvana mandala, etc.); those that have not appear in italic. Whenever the Sanskrit equivalent of a Tibetan word may be of u e primarily in the footnotes, I have included it after the transliterated Tibetan word.

..

Vlt

t

PREFACE the English translation of four Dzokchen texts belonging to the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism . Dzokchen, the Great Perfection, is the quintessence of the tantric paths to Buddhahood. Among these texts, Secret Instruction in a Garland of Vision is one of three texts said to have been written by Padma Sambhava, Tibet's great Guru, who visited Tibet in the eighth century. It belongs to the lam rim genre, a stage-by-stage description of the path to Buddhahood. The Flight ofthe Garuda, written by Shabkar Lama in the nineteenth century, comprises a series of twenty-three songs designed to inspire and instruct the yogin practising Dzokchen trekcho meditation. The two shorter versified works are extracts from liturgical "revealed texts." Emptying the Depths of Hell revealed by Guru Chowong in the thirteenth century, provides a Dzokchen confessional liturgy, and The Wish-Granting Prayer ofKuntu Zangpo, revealed by Rikdzin Godemchan in the fourteenth century as part of an extensive Dzokchen tantra, is a prayer for attainment of the Dzokchen goal. In the introduction to the book I have attempted to place Dzokchen in a nondogmatic, less abstract and more human context, by providing a subjective explication of it. Necessarily, western notions and personal proclivities, needs and biases have slipped into this interpretation. Insofar as my understanding is imperfect the result is partial and unorthodox. However, the reader may benefit from this personal commentary if, through inspiration derived from the translations, he fills the gaps, bridges the contradictions, and jumps beyond the verbal inadequacies to a Dzokchen view. But no text or commentary is a substitute for THIS BOOK CONTAINS

IX

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INTRODUCTION

I NTRODUCTION I. T HE THEORY AND PRA T ICE OF D ZOKCHEN

The Starting Point:] A Personal Perspective "Simplicity" was a word that my Lama2 often extracted from his small store of abstract nouns to express the nature of Dzokchen in English. It is the simplicity of Dzokchen that m~es ~t so ~ifficult .to speak about, so elusive and also, when the mind 1S veIled by Its usual ignorance, somewhat nebulous. But what is implied by simplicity3 is the key to the Lama's mysteries, his power and knowledge, the key to the state of being that would make a World Emperor envious. It is the "simplicity" of Dzokchen to which the highest yogin aspires, and it is the reward that the Lama proffers his disciples during the frequent discourses upon karmic cause and effect and the precious human body and during the arduous practice of prostrations at the beginning of the path. T he build-up is systematic, prolonged and intense, but from the very beginning Dwkchen is the goal. This Dzokchen of which I am speaking is the highest, most secret and most direct of the paths to Buddhahood in the tradition of Tibetan tantric Buddhism. It is the most sacred of paths, the essence of the mystic wisdom of the East, the most treasured jewel in the sacred treasury of Buddhist Tantra, and it is called the Great Perfection. 4 Before and after shades of the prison-house closed around me, I ~elt, yet sought reassurance, that a human being is perfectible. Many 10 the generation that matured during the 1960s found confirmation of this intuition in Buddhism's teaching that there is no limit to

3

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

the potential of a human being. Later, such individuals, becoming the harbingers of a significant social moveme.nt, fou~d th~t the Buddhist Tantra presented this and other essentIal .practIcal eXIstential theses in a vital and immediate form that exercIsed the intuition more than the intellect. The Bodhisattva path of the exoteric mahayana, which teaches without any equivocation m an's perfectibility, demands many su~cessive lif~,tim es of self-~acrificial devotion before the goal is achIeved. The here and now ethos of the sixties was not conducive to a long hard slog towards a goal to be achieved after innumerable rebirths. Besides, to the childhood conviction that man was perfectible had been added the post-adolescent belief that the rational, speculative intellect was at best a tool for manipulating reality and was ~ore l.ik~ly to. be. a guileful deceiv~r creating mental miasmas, sometimes In IntoxICatIng for:n s, but ultImately to be damned by its onanistic nature. Such notIons btought into question even the supportive, liberating concepts of both eastern and western philosophical and metaphysical systems. Logical, systematic analysis and deductive and dialectical thought was of use in science, but Truth was enigmatic, paradoxical and supra-mental. Gnosis,5 compassion, tranquility, a radiant multi-dimensional Gestalt and existential fearlessness were the functions and attributes that I required of my reality. This reality was best expressed in paradox. The reality of the Indian mahasiddhas 6 of the eighth to the twelfth centuries as demonstrated in their songs and legends evinced these characteristics, and the Tibetan Lamas were the holders of the lineages the mahasiddhas founded. The Indian sadhus of the Nath community, for instance, also held lineages originating from the mah:isiddhas, and their life-styles were also attractive and their existential fearlessness self-evident. But to identify a living eastern tradition that teaches the techniques of awareness and mastery that I desired Vias one thing; to gain access to the tradition, find a teacher, and obtain initiation was another. What is it that determines which path is followed when we reach a crossroads lacking A

. po st?. What determine whi ch peo ple we meet a slgn . and with .h whom we fall in love? What allow which turtles to W111 races Wit hares.~ On. the Great Indian Spiritual Quest, or the Q duest blfor the Holy Grail in Albion, action taken in the face of im~on era es at a crossroads determines whether we are to find the T Ibetan Lama or the Nath Guru or whether we return the way we came. T he quest can .rarely begin if the seeker has a round-trip ticket and a home and family awaiting him, or if he runs hither and thither on. a preconceived mission with the pretension that he can con trol hIS fate. "Non-action" and "aimlessness"? are required to de elop the receptivity and tranquili ty necessary to take correct action at the point of indecision, to find the teacher- and the tradition. In the search for a master, the truth of the adage "When the disciple is ready the m aster will appear" eems fundamen tal and incontrovertible. There is nothing to do but await in mental silence for recognition of the G ur u, the Guru within and the Gur uBuddha outside, when he appears. The holistic law of synchronicity may consummate the enco unter with the Guru immediately, or perhaps the seeker must wait u ntil the moment before the final goal is attained- there is no telling. But the twelve-year sadhana the Indian siddha Naropa practised before his Guru Tilopa decided the time was ripe for his initiation, for instance, was as significant a part of his training as the post-initiation period. Thus the teacher chooses the disciple, and the trad ition entered upon is determined by the shape of the receptive framework of the mind that allows this Guru, rather than another, to embrace it. So when, for example, I say that I came to India to study T ibetan Buddhi m, find a teacher and practise Tantra, the Gur u knows that actually ~hile roaming aimlessly in sarnsara I was sufficiently one-pointed 111 my dissatisfaction, and in my drive to reach existen tial root , that emotional attachment along with preconceptio n and trona belief was su~ciently neutralized for me to recognize the shape of the Guru resldent from the first in the simplicity of our original

THE FLIGHT Of THE GARUDA

, 'al con d'mon, , Th e shape of my karmic led , " ,predisposition , eXIstentl Into a tantric , me to theTl'b etan Buddhist Tantra" and InItlatlOn , " bl ft r reaching the requIsIte degree of honesty '" IIneage was InevIta e a e {" d est proclivities without eqUIvOCatIon and necessary to race my eep without veiling reinterpretation, So TI'betan Buddh'Ism, the tradition of the Lamas, was my own , ' h h he beginning I had not heard the name of predIlectlon, t oug at t d' h' , , uarantees Buddhahoo m t IS ltfetIme, I h ,, {", Dzokchen, the yoga t at g unded any traditIOn that rormaltzed my had not yet heard expo ,, ' ' te intultlo ns about RealIty, or the process of ' f' untutored an d dIspara " 'h' h ed to me to be the maIn purpose 0 lIfe, reallzmg It, W IC seem was never any doubt about my fate, that It may be th at th ere , ' I uld do would alter my destiny, But In the Dzokchen ' h ",", not h mg co , d ' an d {"ree-will are no dIChotomy: w atever, IS anses VIew esnny Il , ical illusion in the ground of beIng, neither spontaneousIy as mag , , ' Xl' tence nor ceasmg to be, In the ceaseless dance of commg mto e s , an d yogl'nl's l'n the Buddhafield of Pure" Pleasure there is neiyogms ther freedom nor bondage, no awareness or Ignorance, no commg or going, no renunciation or self-development, n,o self-determination or predestination; and if such transcendence IS not the present actuality, then it is better to keep quiet rather than utter this or that partial, biased opinion. This may appear to be an elitist viewpoint. It excludes those not yet on the path from knowledge of it. But the truth of Dzokchen is applicable only to those on the path of Knowledge (rigpa). For others there is validity and purpose in the truth of karmic inevitability, moral cause and effect, and the progress of self-determined self-development on a relative level to a place where the Dwkchen vision is glimpsed and nondual precepts have meaning. There was never any doubt in my mind about the credibility of the tradition or its teachers. The lineage was at least a thousand years old, and before the Communist invasion of Tibet in 1949 the entire culture of the Land of Snows was directed towards the

INTRODU TION

, f the Dzokchen goal or a similar formulation of attalll ment 0 T'b Buddhaho od,8 While I was wearing me maroon robe of the I etan Buddhist orders, mere mentio n of the word Dzokchen to the informed layman would evoke respec~ fo~ the west,ern, student ~~o ' d to l't ' Acknowledgement of thIS hIghest asplratlon , to a VISltaspIre , Lama invariably provoked amazement that a foreIgner had lllg , {" I' l'k gained access to D~o,kchen ,instruction, leaVIng one ree mg ~ e .a worm aspiring to dIvme rebum. Perhaps such a Lama would mdlcate in his inevitable circumlocutory style that Dzokchen was so secret that even he had no knowledge of it, and certainly never was his conceit so great that he had ever aspired to attain its goal! If he was prevailed upon to impart precepts, he would announce perhaps an elementary topic and speak about the rainbow body, or maybe he would label a talk on karmic retribution an essential lesson in Dzokchen: the theoretical axiom that D zokchen cannot be spoken of directly is constantly demonstrated by the Lamas in practice. The most potent source of teaching is the mudra, mantra and tantra of the Dzokchenpa Lama's walking, sitting, talking, eating, drinking, laughing and meditation, while the most potent exterminator of doubt is the real Lama's blessing. 9 There were few texts pertaining to Dzokchen available in English translation at that time. The exceptions were the Evans-Wentz books, particularly The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the short text in The Book of the Great Liberation called "The Yoga of Knowing the Mind" which made one feel already at the end of the path , and-before knowing them- that the Lamas would welcome one as a Buddha from the Western Paradise! The early work of D r H.V ~uenther, The fer:el Ornament of Liberation, being a literary translation of Gampopas renowned Thar-gyen in the Kagyupa Mahamudra tO tradition, was reading highly recommended by the D zokchen ~amas despite the work's attribution to a similar though di tinct lmeage. Dr .Guenther's Buddhist Philosophy in Theory and Practice was also available at that time. This work provided a valuable I on

THE FUGHT Of THE GARUDA

. f al . tho king that was to be transcended once lfi the manner 0 an ytIC m . d fi . . f h .. fi·.lfill d and after Its e 11lltlOn 0 t e path, ItS functions had been w Ie , d 'b . h G mpopa used to eSCfl e It, ad been h and the vocabulary t at a , I' h c'11 d ' 'I ble texts m Eng IS was 11 e m part absorbed. The lack 0 f avat a . h c,.. . f liturgIcal texts t at gave lUSt mdlcaby many literal trans IatIons 0 . ' D k hen's foundatIon practices. For myself tions of the nature 0 f zo c . . 'a1 ncouragement to Iearn th e T'b 1 etan lane h I' . al they also gave the mltl L 'I' practice of t e ltUrglc me eli tation fl d h ,. uage not only to laci Hate g d translation that re ecte t e ongmal as . b also to pro uce fltes, l i t . "red scriptural poetry, with multi-layered divine revelatIon, or mspl ~ d d H . 1 with nuance, pun an para ox. owever symbolic meanmg rep ete . ,,' . _painting, musIC, poetry, engIneenng_ ,,_. unless an art or sCience ' ted into the yogtn s sadhana In the manner of can be full y m tegra _ d - 'ddhas like Tantipa the Weaver or Dharmapa the the mahamu ra SI , dvised that these talents should be abandoned Scholar, th e Lamas a I . t'l the purihcation phase was comp ete. ThIS was " for medltatlon un 1 • ..,. fellow artists seeking InitlatIOn learnt with l a a lesson th at sever some misgiving. . .. . Then what of the Lamas themselves? The muror-lIke inscrutabIlity that provides the perfect tabula rasa. f~~ devotees' mental projection; the unique Tibetan Buddhist sensIbIh~ and refin~ment whereby Buddhafields are simulated in every detail of the daily round, even to the extent of transforming faeces by mantra into liberating nectar for insects; the humility allowed by the complete self-assurance and integrity of a consummate spiritual aristo~racy. who ~ave served as the high-priests of Central Asia for centunes with an mco~parable magic; and the profound depth of huma~ unders~andmg an~ responsiveness, which I will call the Buddhas compasslOn, exempltfied by the exceptional Lama: these four elements can create a certainty within the seeker that many of these divine beings actually hoJd the secrets that others claim for them, and that their tulkus (incarnations who have undergone unique conditioning) are indeed the tenth or fifteenth reincarnations of Buddha-Lamas. In the

INTR DU -~-------

euphoria and with the hi?h expectations of th~t time there was no difficul ty at all in acceptlng the elder genera non of Lamas, those who had ompleted their training and e tablished themselves as .t acher of their peers in Tibet as accomplished Bodhi atrvas at the very least. Even the younger generation of Lamas, who almost without exception were tulkus whose training had been broken by political turmoil, had a certain conviction and awareness about them, together wi th the same aura of compas ion. This added to the sense that Dzokchen training was like a miracle panacea, invariably bringing automatic results, In the older Lamas' formula for success that brought them disciples from all over the world it may be that the unique element was the extraordinary catalyst to their spiritual evolution provided by barbaric foreign invasion, war, rape and pillage of their country, their exile, and that vast welter of suffering. As the legends of the eighty-four Indian mahasiddhas demonstrate, suffering provides the essential motivation for renunciation and meditation practice. In the Lamas' pure-land "exile' means «renunciation of homeland and ~am,ily," a vit~ precept found in all the texts. I I Poverty, a practice ms~ltuted ~y Saky~uni Buddha himself, is a wellspring of experientlal.learn~ng, partIcularly if those with whom the beggar interacts perceIv,e hIm as a mendicant with some ethical integrity. The monastic cloth has the effect on its wearer of intensifying the hells and heightening the heavens. The wholes~le destruction of Tibet's ancient religious culture and the .genocidal extermination of "reactionary" monks and lay~en. dunng the Cultural Revolution of the sixties can in no way be Justified. But a Lama whose vision is always a Buddh fi Id

;;arked thar the lesson of impermanence taught by the C~i~:se Ar d Guards, the truth o~ suffering taught by the People's Liberation ed ~y, not to ~orget the Instruction on karmic retribution inculcat. y defeat, IS worth three lifetimes of meditation in a h

The th

h ermltage. eocracy t at was so abused by Maoism was by no nleans

--

perfect, and the inflexibility and attachment to th d e status quo th at h ad ossified parts of Tibetan conSClOusness cne out for surger The radical solution provided by the to the almost genetically conditioned co~s~rvat1sm was a hellish fantasy made manifest by demonic appantlons. T he Red G uard leaders were driven by a "rational" ideal divorced from existential understanding. They pursued a machiavellian goal justified by a means that mutilated human sensitivity and affection, while their follow_ ers were possessed by hungry ghosts, by denizens of hell, and b animal spirits revelling in jungle law. But this grist to the D zokche: yogin's mill of meditation that history has recently provided, like the stroke of the za-zen master's cane on the acolyte's back, can have a highly beneficial effect on the mind's state of awareness. In many ways, experientially, this generation of Lama-exiles has been blessed by the silver lining in the disastrous political misfortunes of o

0

~hinese

Tibetan~:

Tibet. 12 An existential glow radiated from the pain-lines superimposed upon the wind and sun-worn faces of yogins and monks recently descended from the Tibetan plateau in the winter. This created a strong positive impression upon this cultural exile from the West in quest of the means to deal with his own small burden. Later, the Tibetans' success in establishing themselves in the harsh alien environment of the Indian plains, sustaining communal feeling, maintaining their spiritual practice, building monasteries and temples to reproduce in detail the monastic ambience they had left behind: all this was nothing short of magic, or at least the demonstration of mastery of the skilful means that when applied with flexibility overcome whatever obstacles arise in the adept's path. So it was not only the attraction of the metaphysics, the aesthetics and the theory of meditation that brought many of us to the Lamas, but also their good humour and a demonstrable power and high awareness all fired in the crucible of vast suffering. In a broader analysis, social and poli tical circumstances were 10

I NTRO U TI

conspiring in Europe, the United States and Central Asia to create in India and Nepal the conjunction that would fulfil both Lamas' and students' destinieso While the T ibetans were arriving in their Indian exile, numbers of Europe's son and daugh ters were for the first time in history setting out for India to absorb and practise the practical philosophies and psycho-spiritual arts and sciences of th e East-their forebears had come to India to trade and rule. In the middle of the twentieth century, after pursuing rational cientific dualism beyond their ability to retain connection with their subconscious roots, western societies were losing touch with the irrational subjective, nondual foundation of consciousness. T he thousands of western seekers in the East demonstrated the need, and the inn umerable Asian-originated sects in the West now show the result, The Lam as' physical need for food , shel ter and clothing the imperative. to fulfil the prophecy that "when the iron bird flie~ the d~arma wIll go to the west, " coincided in synchronistic harmo ny WIth the needs ,of western societies represented b y post-SiXtleS . 0 seekers. needs were fulfilled through thelor m agnetlc 0 recepo 0 The Lamas 0 0 tiVIty. At thIS pomt they were mainly unaware of the social pressu~es and both personal and social neuroses that had formed the mIn~s 00f the g~thering numbers of potential disciples and yo ins Jnmucnon, but they were none the less eager to fulfil C d estiny.bIndIVIduals who had travelled East ror a mont h or a year rawn y adventure into Indias vast psychic space and ersonal frequently fOund . themselves involuntarily pulled a

~eeking

t~eir

~~m,

~ithin

mon~s r:a~dala and appomted to any of many various functions'

f

'R.i~ gm , hscholar, secretary, translator, patron. The legend uru mpoc e, . Padma ' B ddh' or 0 Sam bh ava, th e eIghth-century founde 0 f 1st lantra III TIbet h r 0 u Ob' d ' w 0 convened the Bonpo ham d T1 et s go s and d ' an an s return for cenain ;:e: , e~onIllg vows of service to the dharma in G

status in the nascent spi:i~ ~:::~ss associated \~th ~ guaranteed upon the relationship between the ~' casts an~oglcal illumination as and thelf western acolytes. 11

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA ----------------~~~~~~~~--------------------

Certainly I for one had not gone to India with any intention of devoting my life to the translation of Dzok~hen texts, and if anyone had then suggested that I leave England In search of a vocation that promised a life of poverty, I would have responded with incredulity. The Starting Point: Ignorance

To avoid the unnecessary obstacles that the ego will erect when it is asked to accept its own ignorance as the starting point, ignorance must be clearly defined. In Buddhism ignorance is dualistic perception, the absence of gnostic awareness.l 3 It is easier to accept our failure to achieve Buddhahood than to come to terms with living in ignorance. Still, in so far as "thinking of the key confirms the prison," any consideration of the means to attain enlightenment asserts our ignorance. At the same time, thinking of the key confirms the possibility of freedom, even if we are ignorant of it. My belief is that everyone at some time has glimpsed a state of beatitude that is liberation from the state of ignorance,14 or nirvana, although it may not have been recognized as such at the time. Further, I think that the Buddha's liberation is known to us all, familiar like an old friend with whom we have lost contact but whose mind we know intimately. If it were not so, how could the imagery of the mahayana sutras describing the Buddhas' Pure-lands strike such vibrant chords of recognition and appreciation? How is it that so many of us identify immediately with the events of Sakyamuni's life? Why do we immediately intuit the veracity of the abhidharmas psychological analysis of the process of enlightenment? Chjldhood with its "trailing douds of glory" can be the most fertile period of gnostic experience, the least "ignorant" period of life, because the preconceptions and preoccupations that form the veil of mental concepts have not yet evolved into rigid mindsets. Chemical psychedelics can, if only temporarily, have the effect of

-

I NTRODUCTION

d the result is "regression" to a child-like dh ' . those concepts, an freelDg f eptual blocks. In the mahasid as songs f freedom rom conc tl state o. . h al of childhood is employed freque n y to f reallZatlOn t e an ogy . tho ligh. "" o the siddha's state of enlightenment. Seen l~ IS t tgIlo1S evok~, . nl phemeral twin veil obscunng what the sages nce IS not 0 y an e " . . ra" e us is the natural state of gnosuc awareness, It 15 nd scnptures assur " . a f hing a fundamental level of reallty, omrupresent the means 0 reac . . d and indestructible- vajra-like- that w~ can know expenentially an abide in constandy and umnterruptedly. can 1earn to . f th This is not ro underestimate the dogged pe.rslstenCe 0 e pro" .. s that o-ive rise to emotional clouds and lllcompLete thoughtcIIVltle 0. • f r s that obscure reality. One of the most slgruficant features 0 ro~ Dzokchen, an aspect that characterizes it as a "h s o~tcut a~p.r~ach" to Buddhahood, is a glad acceptance of the virtual ImpossibilIty of eradicating the ptopensities conditioned genetically, karmically or in childhood "education" that produce our habitual reaction patterns. This understanding is reflected in the basic meditation precept "Leave alone whatever arises in the mind. Do not seek to change or alter anything. It is all perfect as it stands," and so on. Relaxing the mind, the propensity to evaluate, judge and react positively or negatively to whatever arises, falls away. Thus detachment evolves. Detachment is the key to penetrating the two 'eil. In other words, the twin veil is not to be torn down, but, rather penetrated by the eye of perfect insight that perceives the emptines within through detachment from the form without. Thus we have a more precise notion of ignorance: it is a function of attachment. The unifying factor of gnostic awareness i the emptiness of both the sensory stimulus and penetrating insight. Dualistic perception, ignorant perception, is the tendency to objectify the form of the sensory stimulus due to attachment to it. In a more blunt formulation, for the D zokchenpa hatred, Iu t and the th r passions are not ignorance; they are friendly helper on th path that create energy and light. and they turn the Wheel of lif t cr at the

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IN R OU TI _

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

six mental environments that give our lives shape. Thus, altho u h still we may be faced with heaven and hell, the animal's jungle real g ~ the realm of hungry ghosts, and so on, W hen we are free of attach_ ment we are exemplars demonstrating the techniques of liberation in the guise of the "Hungry-ghost Buddha," "Dharmaraja-Buddha " "Lord-of-Beasts Buddha,» etc. This is one of the meanings of d~e axiom "The starting point is the goal."

The Starting Point: Initiation This introduction is structured according to the traditional triadic format of starting point (or ground), path and goal. In Dzokchen "The starting point is the path, the path is the goal and the goal is the starting point." If the mind is dull or meditation unusually bleak, a predictable response to that statement may be "Since there is nowhere to go and nothing to do, what is the purpose of Dzokchen, and why practise any form of yoga?" "The starting point is the goal" refers to the unchanged form of awareness: the forms that arise are the same as ever. The difference lies in the all-important detachment from these forms and the cessation of grasping and clinging. The purpose of Dzokchen is to bring the aspirant to recognition of what is as obvious as daylight; and the blinders to recognition are attachment to the twin veil of emotion and intellect. With a modicum of detachment it becomes evident what happens to emotion and thought. They may not disappear but there is a radical transformation of quality, and motivation becomes that of the Bodhisattva Vow. Thus although there may be no striving towards a Bodhisattva's mind-state, there is a spontaneous evolution towards it. However, in a state of ignorance, how do we meditate with detachment? If nothing is to be done, if nothing can be done because all effort is derived from counter-productive attachment, . llltl. .. how . can we break the continuum of ignorance~. Th e answer IS atJOn, initiation by direct introduction to the nature of mind. Such

. d that breaks the icious circle of the state 0 f mm . al" . al d ffect replacing honzont ration 'nitiation tIl uces 1.. al cause a n ' -::1-: - ' • d . h. ' rtl' cal' creative, muselq.wIll-msptre moral and ment ,s W It a ve , (C I rhought-processe Meditation upon that state Iorm e s f ' al awareness. , . al ' effusion 0 pnm d" cOllsciou nes lea ing the ongln eXlS, ) deco n mons meditation ' . taneously moment by moment. , dition to anse spon , d d reno al con f h ods If initiation IS un erstoO as '11 ot out 0 t e wo ' We are stl n , how can thi spontaneous event be , h ment expenence, . bl an en I19 ten, ' 1 matter of formal initiation? Thl pro em a1' ., ' dt Is It sImp y a in duce ' d What error to mistake form lIllnanon be glosse over. shou Id n~t" . ' ce upon which m editation can be based! al nltlatory expenen . for a re I, ' d" f the real Buddha-Lama (in distinctIon " 'on Imphes Iscovery 0 . Inman tor) and seeking precludes finding. The basls of to a human precep , . .. , . ',. t is not attained without llllo aoon; lIlltlatlOn · Dzokchen ach levemen . . , fun' f the Lama; and the "Lama' is a state of acausal pnIS the ctlon 0 . ( d ' bl " the In omita e, he Indian mahaslddha N aropa, mal awareness. T h' with his unflagging quest for .the ~n~nda?le rep.resented by . 1S Guru, Tilopa, is the exemplar 10 thlS SituatiOn. ~lthout expenenrial initiation we must practise preliminary technIques and the trekcho meditations described in The Flight of the Garuda. These are the meditative techniques of Dzokchen, so finely-honed by generations of yogic experiment in the laboratory o f the m ind t hat inevitably they bring quick results. They prepare the mind for initiation, and initiatory experience can arise during practice of them. The mainstream Dzokchen schools, the nyingthik lineages for example, do not teach the uncompromising dogma of "sudden liberation," the doctrine that implies the fu t ility of attempting to condition the relative mind to an absolute reality. Goin g beyond specious argument there is commitmen t to a middle p ath of "absolute relativity" in which the aspirant is induced to ac ept intuitively "Buddhahood here and now." In practice, con ideratio n of the dichotomy of sudden and gradual enlightenment should not enter the mind, while at the same time the aspirant practi es on . d

THE FLIGHT OF T HE GARUDA

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the graduated path that may lead to the pith meditations of The Flight of ~he Garuda. But ~ervice to sentient bein~s, gen~rosity, regular offenngs of flowers In the temple, prostrations, VIsualization and mantra, are all skilful means to the attainment of D zokchen, and any of them can provide the psychic environment in which initiation, or sudden liberation into one's true condition, is achieved. Furthermore, such practices generate vital merit- credit in the karmic bank. On this path the mind m ay be reconditioned by replacing useless, confused thought-processes with meri t-gener_ ating processes that induce the requisite susceptibility to the Lama's blessing-premonition of initiation-and the ground of initiation is cultivated thereby. The nature of the ground of initiation can best be understood by introducing the basic concep ts and meditations that the Buddha Sakyamuni taught. It may appear at times that Tantra in general, and Dzokchen in particular, are far divorced from the teaching of early Buddhism. On the contrary, it is assumed that the fundamental truisms contained in the Four Noble Truths form the bedrock of the aspirant's mentality: suffering as the nature of existence, desire as the principal human drive, nirvana as the only human goal worthy of aspiration, detachment as the path to happiness. Any progress towards eradication, neutralization, transformation, or full awareness of the twin veil of emotion and mental concepts can prepare the ground for initiation. Discursive contemplation derived from the Four Noble Truths, discussed in the following paragraphs, can be highly efficacious in establishing a receptive attitude to the Lama. When such analysis is understood experientially the roots of desire and suffering are severed. If our attachment to thoughtforms can be decreased, gaps in our slavish obedience to the mind's "rational" dictates leaves space for the Lama to make himself known. Since much neurotic or uncontrollable thought is provoked by fearour insecurities sometimes arise in the most outrageous thoughtforms--fear can be reduced by quietening anxiety about the nature of

existence and the purpose of life. Experiential understanding tames our mundane hopes and fears about food, helter and clothing, and the eight worldJy obsessionsl 6-all the rubbish of the mind. The following questions and answers were the Buddha Sakyamuni's own. T he Four Noble Truths arose out of these questions on the nature of existence and reality. The primary question is "What is the principal attribute of existence?" An wer: uffering, the First Noble Truth. T he second question is "What is the cause of suffering?" Answer: desire, the Second Noble Truth. The answer to the first question is reached by equati ng existence with suffering. Existence consists of birth, sickness, old age and death. Exi tence is sustained on every level by desire: desire (including its antithesis), and concomitant attachment and clinging, is the dynamic of exi _ tence. Any taste of true happiness that we achieve in existence is the result of the cessation of attachment. H appiness is not nonexistence since the same situations (birth, sickness, etc.) still arise; and it is not existence because the quality of happiness is unending, "empty," blissful awareness. If happiness does not possess these attributes it i not the Buddha's happiness, but rather, a lesser degree of suffering in which attachment is still operative. Thus, in the Buddha's term , the happiness of the gods is not true happiness because attachment, as .fear ~f eventual loss of divinity through death, works in the gods' mmds like a canker conceived in their spring of seeming contentment to mature in a winter of bile and gall. Suffering is failure to get what we want; suffering is getting what we do not want; suffering is fear of loss; suffering is losing what we have. Afte~ obtaining our desires we suffer the pride of possession; we suffer Jealousy if someone else has what we want or omethinobetter than we have. In all these situations desire and gra ping ar: the. cause of our suffering. To take sexual desire, one univer al deSIre, ' - the . as an exam p 1e.. we su f1:Ier pangs 0 f deSIre; we uffer angUIsh of Ion ' . cr . . gtng, we SUITer unsatIsfied lust; we uffer selfish ati f:action· we s ft 1 . I ' , u er oss tn ust s aftermath; we uft r 10 of the object

THE FLIGHT OF T HE GARUDA

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of desire· we ~uffer the perv~rsions of desire; we suffer unformed ~dolescent de~l!e, the frustrat1o~s of mature desire, and the rage of lmpotent deslre; we suffer lovesIckness, falling out of love, and all the neuroses of love and desire; and we suffer sexually transmitted disease. There is some form of pain involved in every stage of sexual desire. Indeed, love and desire are all suffering unless and until there is detachment from this desire. Whatever of the Buddha's happiness there is in desire, and in its corollary love, is the result of transcendence of desire, a state obtained through eradication, neutralization or intensification of passion. 1? The Third and Fourth Noble Truths are the truth of cessation of desire (nirvana) and the truth of the path to cessation, which is practical experience of Buddhadharma, particularly Dzokchen precepts. The yogin is separated from those who have no knowledge of the Four Noble Truths by his conviction that happiness has nothing to do with satiation of desire. By karmic propensity, by the grace of a teacher, by fortuitous revelation or insight, he has seen that nothing so ephemeral as desire fulfilled is worth the striving. Life is short; death is always at hand; the potential of the human being is far too great to waste on simple psychological, sensual or physical gratification. He must have had a vision of the greater existential potential, a vision partaken of by yogins, saints, seers and sages in every part of the world since time began. His definition of happiness begins at freedom from desire. And what remains after desire no longer directs his body, speech and mind? Simple but pure sensory perception! 18 Such was the Buddha Sakyamuni's insight. Virtually the entire Buddhist canon, both sutra and tantra, is concerned in some way with the mechanics of desire and of sensory perception, the part played by ethics and behavioural discipline, and particularly in the mahayana by selfless giving, which arises simultaneously with the attainment of the primal awareness inherent in unobstructed s~n~ ual perception. To comprehend the sophistication and complextty of the vario solutions to a problem that in its bold, unadorned

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I NTRODUCTION

interrogative form see~s to be a. simple .psychological ~rob!em) ~ut which upon investigatlon turns mto an msoluble labynnthlne emga we need only look at the mandalas, mantras and metaphysical :~ations that constitute a "root tantra.". Such is the compl~ty of . d and it is all in answer to the question of how to sustam pure rolO , sensory perception unclouded by thought and emotion. Sensory perception begins at the moment of birth and continues every moment until death. In sleep our senses are interiorized in dream. What is the constant in this sensory process? It can only be the absolute element of being. Some Hindus call it satcittanandatruth, consciousness and bliss. In Buddhism, since this constant cannot be located or specified in any way, it is called funyata-emptiness.l9 This emptiness, which can also be conceived as a "fullness,' is synonymous with "thatness," (the nature of mind,' (the womb of Buddhahood," and "reality": there is no trace of world-denial in the Buddhist tantric view of life. Emptiness does not exist -if it can be said to exist at all-as an independent entity;20 it is best described as "all-pervasive," "all-peneuating"; and there is nothing that it excludes. Further, since it is identified with the nature of mind, once detachment is achieved it is with emptiness that the yogin identifies, and identifying with emptiness he identifies with the nature of all things. In this way the Buddha's omniscience and omnipotence are a function of simple sensory perception, and simple- pure-sensory perception is the starting point and the goal. The ground of initiation is laid by absorption of this vision and by any of the innumerable techniques of meditation that facilitate it. The primal awareness, the pure gnostic awareness of en ory perception that is the starting point and the goal, is also the initiation. I ha~e already defined initiation as the enlightenment experien e that IS the condition sine qua non of finding the Buddha-Lama. The Buddha-Lama is the agent of the initiation. After initiation th practice of maintaining constant union with him is the e. nt ial Dzokchen discipline. Upon initiation, both r lad and absolut

- - - -_ _ _ _THE

Fu

HT OF T HE G ARU A

pledges (the samayas) are Sworn' the r I ' I . aUve p ed es f Speech and Mind suppOrt the yogin in h ' . g 0 Body . . . . IS actIon, Spe ch ' samadhI, whIle hIs central practice is to c d " . and . " on ltIOn hIs b . m amtamll1g the constant primal awareness inhe ' e1ng in . . . . . . rent ln each mo o f perceptIon untIL gnostIc VISIOn IS the irrevocable norm. tnent

The Starting Point: Karm ic Acceleration The Dzokchenpa consciously entered a dangerous sh . ' .I '. Ortcut eXlsten_ tIa path when he commItted hImself to his samayas at h . .InItIatIOn. '" I t IS ' pro b a bl e that the wisdom that guided hit e time of '" f . m was the preCIpItatIOn 0 a senous trauma, or was it the product f ' . 0 a senes of extraordInary events th at caused rapid karmic acc 1 . . . . e eratIon? Meditation IS the most prudent, controlled and highly tested karmic accelerator. ~ar, rape, a n ear fatal accident or disease, or any profound emotIonal trauma, can also give the victim an understanding of his own mortality and bring consequent appreciation of the rare and precious opportunity that human birth affords. Such experiences impress the victim with the significance of the truth of impermanence and with the urgency of making up for time lost, and it involves an awakening to the laws of moral or behavioural cause and effect (karma). Such understanding is vital in accelerating karma to the point where renunciation of the hedonistic world is a necessary prerequisite to continued existence on the planet, and where it becomes evident that one's own best interests are intrinsically bound up with the good of all sentient beings. The "four mind-benders,"21 discursive contemplation comprising preliminary exercises to tantric meditation, are undoubtedly effective and induce such realization without risking life and limb or sanity, and th y may provide other benefits besides. But experiential I n engraved in consciousness never to be forgotten, informing every impuls , provide the more valuable foundation to Dzokchen

ti .

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N

The Path: Entering the Stream ," winner" is already a yogin. He gains this status by a '19norance. "1gnOlance, ' " d e fi n d 1 hec stream dr cognition of h. iS own un . Proro sence of gnostlC awar" ness, IS expenenced .10 everyd ay b . . . above as an a .c fust'o n neurosi stupidity sloth, beWilderment, and ine as con " . c d enl otiviry and thought. There ar vulgansm that best unrettere . . describe this state. Recognition o~ the emotL~nal con.fu 1. n of our lives and the psychologically negatJve. role of ~nter~retlve, Ju~g~en­ tal thought is the first positive step 1fl ~he directlon of attaInlI~g a higher state of awareness, ~d our emo~lOn.s a~'e the mo. t acceSSIble field of experience where WIth penetratmg ll1s1ght emptiness can be perceived. As The Flight of the Garuda ha.s it, «How ridiculous to expect to find primal awareness and empnnes after you have suppressed passion!"22 Thus the Dzokchen precept "Do not uppress thought and emotion" is as valid for the egoist, whose uperego refuses to allow him to acknowledge his "base self," as it is for the self-righteous, pious, "disciplined" altruist who rationalizes away his fears and inhibitions by invoking the moral code of his order. To deny desire is to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. In this way recognition of our confusion, which is only thought and emotion, is the beginning of the path. Complete and perfect recognition 23 is initiation itself. But it i a very lucky person indeed who h as a moment of sudden recognition of the nature of his entire being and sustains it. Most of us go through a process of self-knowledge gradually unfolding succe sive levels of the subconscious mental waste that h ave accumulated ince childhood and through many lives. T he revelation of this ubconscious material can be a very painful experience, exacerbated by the pain inherent in understanding how far we fall short of the view we have of ourselves . Some New Age cults are d edicated to the ~dmirable task of revealing this aspect of the psyche, ach cult with its own aim and different degrees of compassion for the initiate. In

_ _ _ _ _ _ __ T ..:....::..; H= E-=F-=L::.. IG::.:H :..:..T =--= O.:::.. F-=T...::..:= H E~G =_AR =UD ::.:::.:A~_ __

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D~~chen~ recognition of the nature of mi~d alo,ne is the aim, Onc thiS IS achIeved, the power of pure perceptJon WIth its inhere e .. d nt self ongmate Knowledge leads on to perception of the next ins tan · prod ' a stream 0 f ' seIf-reve1anon, ucmg conSClOusness that can b t of ecorne a continuum of pure pleasure and delight. Confession is the ritual formulation of this necessary ps ch' cleaning. The Dzokchen prayer of confession, Emptyinu the; hlc , • 0 ept J of Hell shows how the Dzokchen VlSlOn must be applied to wh ~er mental rubbis,h or conflicti~g emotio~s are r~vealed during t~t~ tIme of self-appraIsal. A false view of thIS rubbIsh, identification with it or total rejection of it, is identification with a demon Or escape from the reality of our own being: it is evident that the dangers of departing from a neurral, middJe view into extreme, potentially unhealthy reactions and emotional upheavals can produce insanity. Indeed, even if this process of purification is practised in [he light of Dzok~hen vision the dangers a:e m~ifold. The Flight of the Garuda mentIons only the greatest evIl, whIch is identification with the vast psychic power released at the end of the process, creating a malicious demonic force. 24 Another more potent technique in the canon of preliminary Dzokchen instruction teaches the initiate how to evoke the psychic environments produced by the various six basic emotions and how to utilize emotion to fuel this fire.25 This is instrucrion in the method of recognition of emotion and thought when they arise in daily practice. To apply the axiom "the starting point is the goal" to this particular aspect of the path, recognition is the first act of the initiate and the last, and it is the path itself. The ground of the path consists of emotion and thought. The more intense the emotion, and the more fearfuJ and fragmented the thought, the greater the potential for the light and awareness that penetrates to the emptines of the form: th p th con i t of a razor's edge that the yogin walks in constant peril f fa1Jjng into the vajra-heH. However, in the mainstream of I..n()JCl:hen pr tice [hi razor' edge is internalized. Pas ion is nor [0

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I TROD UCTIO

, any publ'lC rorum. C The uncontrolled ,nvo ked an d exaggerated m 1- a1 . be 1 . fr . IS not f ree 0 f moral cause and effect, and gross ner , practlce yoglll will result in a fall as surely as smoke arises om f these precepts ., . ' uffi o anl if the yogin's karma is such that his recogn~non ~ illS n fi.re. Yneutralize gross active manifestation of pasSlO will he fall Clent to , " . " 'h f taking his medltatlon mto passlOnate Situations lllto t e error 0 , " . th . dul 'd hl'S retreat hut, The overriding precept IS nel er ill ge outsl e 'd d . " 'n respect of the situations that karma provl es, an nor reject I " (h ' al . ' in this pracTIce modifies karma, as orl7.ont constant trammg « " • f or linear causation, becomes subservient to the erucal effuslOn 0 , compasSiOnate ener gy.26

The Path: The Dharma as a Raft The dharma is likened to a raft: carrying sentient being across me ocean of life. On the bank of the other shore is the death beyond which is eternal life. In the case of the Dzokchen adept th ere awaits a rainbow body. The mind of the adept become one "vim the vast field of space that is the ground of being. Out of this ground are emanated all of sam sara and nirvana in variegated lightforms, and tulkus are manifest in bodies of light to work for me salvation of all beings. The raft of dharma is abandoned on the other shore, for here the names of samsara and nir vana are unknown, the path called no-more-Iearning begins. and imultaneous with the landing is the realization that the dharma i a temp ral and ephemeral as the rest of creation and that it truth i e_'pedient to accomplishment of its own end. It purpo e i u urped by n purpose, for the keyword on the other shore i pontan it.-. Certainly, a purpose can be discerned by the ignorant - n ptu izing mind, and clearly the intent of all movement and qui ~ - n is the enlightenment of all sentient being. But th a -au -at n noriginated emanations, which compri e the Dan of th • ikini arise adventitiously and pontaneou 1. • forming a '. n -hr ni tic

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

pattern lacking evident linear relationship. However, from the point of view of the devotee at the boarding stage on the near shore, the raft seems to be an absolute. There must be no doubt as to the efficacy of the method upon which the sa.dhaka's entire life-fortune and future lives depend. So the Lama and the scriptures make much of the safety of each particular boat, stressing the superior design and construction that allows quick and easy access to the other shore. In Dzokchen the proclivity for doubt is especially potent, and invariably at some point the questions "Why meditate? " and "What use i~ the dhar~a?" will arise. Before realization of the nature of realtty as empt1Oess, of form as phantom and illusion, of speech as empty echo, and of the dharma as an expendable prop, becomes a spontaneous and reflexive response, there is danger of the yogin cutting off the hand that feeds him while his appetite is yet unsated. The Flight ofthe Garuda recommends recommitment and re-initiation at the Lama's feet in times of doubt and prideP

The Path: Vision «Vision" is an unchanging perspective on the nature of reality. The path, the Four Noble Truths, the nature of ignorance and Dzokchen is all "vision." The concept of vision will be discussed in detail in the introduction to the Garland of Vision (see p.160). In the fourfold framework of analysis of the path provided by vision, meditation, action and the goal, 28 vision or view is the first head, and everything that can be written, spoken or thought is seen from the standpoint of Dzokchen vision. Thus this entire work is a commentary on Dzokchen vision and the discursive mind is the filter through which the vision is expressed. Another analysis identifies "vision" as the starting point, (meditation" as the path and "action" as the goal. N o doubt such a view teaches a valuable truth about the fun damen taJ but limited use of the intellect, but "vision" has another

24

INTRODUCTION

- - - - - · h ' best translated as "seeing.~' This is th. e practl.~ . W h IC IS . al . meantng, . " . , "as opposed to the theoretIc exerCIse f the precept VISIon " aspect 0 I ' n of the Dzokchenpas perspective. Perhaps · verbal exp anatio fl' in thIS . ' . b tween these twO aspects is the level 0 canty tnC ly dlst (lon e . h' the on . . I d When the Lama writes this introductlon 1S e mtnd tnVO ve . .' of th hts are the d'lrec t expression of hIS enlIghtened . detachment ' . . at h ' . When he rises from hi seat of msplranon, thoug oment 0 fWrIting. t e ~., .ned He still "sees" all appearances as the Buddhas h's VISIOn 15 sustat . th B ddh ' 1 all d as the Buddha's word and all thought as e u as body, so~n reness When the Lama thinks «all emptiness is ure gnostIC awa . . L: P C m is emptiness" (if such an absurdity ever crosses IllS form and all ror . d)"It IS so. When we think such a thought we may be affected for mtn good or bad by the d.eg~ee of our attachment to t.he words. There is a dialectic 10 Dzokchen thought, difficult to catch and all concepts an al pe, t hat is effective in detaching the mind from . whatsoever and persuading the intellect that the mlddle path of perfect detachment is the path to that holistic balan ce wherein the human potential for power and awareness is maximized. Evidently, this process is not neti neti ("not this, not that"), the process of systematic denial and refutation of whatever concept arises, which has been employed by Hindu schools to great effect. Rather it is an application of Arya Nagarjuna's formula of fourfold refutation. 29 The nature of the Dzokchenpa's reality is frequently described a "indeterminable"30 or "that which cannot be described by any of the eight extremes": coming into being, ceasing to be; eternal, momentary; existent, nonexistent; as appearance or emptiness. Thi indeterminable nature of the Dzokchenpa's reality can be restated in the anuyoga metaphor: the energies of the right and the left psychic channels emptied into the central channel, the avadhiiti. When a perfect holistic balance is obtained the "excluded middle" i realized. Guru Chowang's confessional Emptying the Depths of Hell i a fine expression of this balancing act. Since no concept is ultimately valid, every con ept i

alid

t

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

some degree. The validity of an idea is ~etermined by its efficacy, Ideas such as those embodied in the BodhIsattva Vow and the Heart Sutra are universally efficacious, although even these tra~sc~n~ental notions may be poison in the minds of some unbalanced m~IVIduals, Every idea has its time and place. From t,he ~zokchen vle,,:,point argument as to the ultimate validity of an Idea IS the occupation of fools.

The Path: Meditation If "vision" is the function of pure perception, "meditation" is an unbroken stream of seeing. (''Action'' is the dynamic form of the yogin's being.) Dzokchen meditation is a ~ormless meditation, which means that there is no object upon whIch to concentrate, no visualization ro construct and contemplate, no distinction made between subjective cognizer and sensory object. Meditation in the Dwkchen context is the active expression of gnostic awareness. It is outside the realm of cause and effect, so there can be no question of directing the mind towards any form of samadhi. Whatever arises appears spontaneously without coming into existence or ceasing to be, and the awareness from which it is inseparable is likewise an aspect of the continuum of space, colour and name that is beyond the function of the mind to express. Attachment and detachment are perceptual errors in the dualistic realm of sensory object and mental subject: in Dzokchen meditation there is no duality and no problem generated by ignorance. The Dzokchen meditations described in the translations herein are "preliminary" exercises. The adjective "Dzokchen" indicates the goal of a lineage of practitioners, but may not pertain to the definition of "meditation" as given above. The analysis of consummate Dzokchen meditation is a description of the enlightened mind from the standpoint of perfect awareness, Knowledge (rigpa), and remains unutterable.

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INTRODU TJON

The Path: Action 'first a shape-shifter. No outer or inner form h Dzokch enpa IS . T e h' ret nature, which is emptlne s, more than any resses IS sec . d exp h no one specl'filC IICorm of practice is correct practlce' an nof or er; C f conduct can be adopted as a universal method 0 e outer Iorm 0 h' ' on , ' t beings over any other. Insofar as eac SituatiOn serVIce to sentlen , h D k h ' a: ent form of response and expreSSIon, t e zo c en deman ds a dUler " h meleon. Just as the chameleon naturally and spontaYogm IS a c a es colour as the chemistry of response works'm h 1' neous1Y ch ang d he yogin changes his mudra (gesture, posture) an mantra bo dy, so t , fl d h ' b' (spoken word) as the bodhicitta of compaSSlOn 00 s 1 emg at The ' ' n of each new human situation in hi sense-fields. the mceptlo , , ga mut of emotivity, intellectual stance , and SOCIal role comentlre . , h' wardrobe' he is as much at home In the temple as In a pnse IS , . brothel; and his friends may as well be found among thIeves ~s courtiers. Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, the Dzokchenpa can manIfest in any form in any milieu. However, until he has reached the end of the path, there are certain inner modes that the Dzokchenpa may find more expedient than others. After all, the Bodhisattva Vow is an unsleeping master, and some social roles virtually preclude loving one's neighbour on an overt level. So before the drawing of breath also becomes fulfilment of the Vow, it may be expedient to seek situations where altruistic aspiration has free play. Later, when the bodhicitta arise spontaneously in a constant stream, when transcendent compassion is an integral part of every moment of pure sense perception the Dzokchenpa can manifest only bodhisattvic emanation . Thu the compassionate nature of the Dzokchenpa's vision and his con equent activity is not systematically cultivated. Rather, compassion is the goal itself under a different name, and having achieved the goal, nothing that can be done is free from compassionate motivation. As Shabkar Lama says in The Flight of the Garuda, "Coincident with

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

appy glowing, thought-free samadhi is the '.. . th e deve1opment 0 f a h birth of authentic compassion, whICh Is.hke the love a.mother holds c IY son .... This compassion IS a very speCIal feature of lor h er on Dzokchen vision."31 Whatever his outer form, the Dzokchenpa is always a yogin and the yoga he practises is atiyoga (sustaining Knowl~dge). ~y other 32 to mampulatlon of the £ sl'mple calisthenic. yoga · tec hlllque lrom . . . vital breath with mantra and visualIZatiOn, IS employed as requued. The Dzokchen-yogin's cave is the cave of emptiness, where Kuntu Zangpo, the Primordial Buddha, sits .in etern.al medit~tion .. In the realm of radiance and vibration he IS the Yidam deity, hIS bone ornaments the five passions33 recognized as the five aspects of primal awareness. In the realm of compassionate reflexive action he is Guru Rimpoche; his vajra-sceptre, unfailing compassion; and his bell, penetrating insight into the nature of all situations as emptiness; and so forth . . However, in Himalayan Asia many renunciate yogins skilled in yogas besides atiyoga are Dzokchenpas. My first and most loving Dzokchen teacher was a Khampa yogin named Jortrala, who lived near Darjeeling as his patron's house-priest, wore the hair knot, and demonstrated a traditional disregard for personal appearance. Tibetan yogins rarely went naked or wore the single piece of cotton cloth unless they were practising tu rn 0, heat-yoga, on the snowline. So, the Dzokchenpa may also be a priest, and insofar as many great Lamas of Tibetan refugee society are priests as well as Dzokchen pas , the impression is rife that Dzokchen is essentially a monopoly of the hierarchical priesthood of tulkus. Such an impression is false. Many of the great Lamas of Tibetan refugee society, including the Dalai Lama and, of course, many of the Nyingma School Lamas, are Dzokchenpas, but they all would vie to disavow any superiority in Dzokchen over its humblest mendican t practitioner. The role of priest may actually work against progress in Dzokchen, since the tendency to identify the absolute

28

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INTRODUCTION

d as against the profane, is sometimes present in the

with the sacre ,

. k h . h f Priest'S work. 1 expedient in the pracnce of Dzo c en IS t at 0 Moth er ro e . . ,. d healing is essen nally a relmpOSltlOn of balance an · healer. Slllce . . . h th who stands Idennfied WIt e empty he Dzokchenpa detach ment, t . ealth) . compassion that transcend all SICkness (and h IS awareness an d . . . .' to transfer the energy and love reqUlred to reImpose ill a pOSItIOn . , . Skill ·l·b . within the patient s unbalanced psycho-organism. eqUll flum al h .ill t he SCle . nce of energy-flows in mental, neural and hem sp eres, , . in pharmacology and posology, etc., assists the healer s essennally psyc hoso matic art . A healer may not always be a Dzokchenpa but a Dzokchenpa always has the capacity to heal. . . To those ignorant of psychosomatics- and semanncs- healmg can appear to be magic, and indeed the Dzokchenpa is always a magician in many senses of the word. T he magic of shape-shifci~g and healing has already been mentioned. T he magic of the mahaslddhas, such as materialization, walking through rock, speed-walking, alchemical preparation of the elixir of deathlessness, raising the dead and so forth, (ambiguous statements that must be interpreted on two levels) is attained at the end of the path. T he most important magic, the enchantment that is indicative of the supreme siddhi s accomplishment, is gnostic awareness of the m.oment-to-moment spontaneous manifestation of the grand sensory illusion that is mahamudra. Then besides those powers, called siddhi, the Dzokchenpa has minor powers like extrasensory perception and ability to manipulate "external" phenomena- psychokinesis- that are termed rddhi. There is no inducement to explain the nature of the e power to the sceptically inclined. The sceptic must make the commitment himself and discover experientially the nature of' magic." The Dzokchenpa, however, is not at all a puritan. N Vo\ r inhibits him from sensual indulgence or intellectual reativity. 0 action of body, speech or mind is forbidden him and hi ainthood is attained by means other than conformity to moral la '

TH E FLIG ~H ~T ~ O~ F~=-~~~_____________ ___

----

ery situation and compassion fo r every senDetac h ment f rom ev . ' . . b' . h t exception are the signs of hIS achievement nent elOg Wit ou . . . . d hment is not to be understood as distant dIffidence or AgalO, etac 1 d fi . . . . . d'fi'Cerence The scriptura e lllltlOn moulds the dispaSSiOnate III i Ij .... . » " . h t i'dennficanon with or separation from. T he wor d as wit ou . . . nd the acted upon are a clear and delightful uniactor, the action, a . . . n about which the perceiver has an unequivocal atti. ' tary perceptlo tude of detachment. This prevents Illvoluntary lnvo~vement and . the spontaneous motivating permits . thrust of compasslOn to determine the feeling-tone communIcated. The unbroken stream of compassionate detachmen t is the ~ttitud~ that o~ts iders see as sainthood, if the result of the action IS perceived as VIrtUOUS. To the Dzokchenpa both socially acceptable and non-conventional acts are equally valid means of transmitting joy and awareness. If his karma is so pure that his activity is restricted to conventional virtue, then he will not only be a saint in the mahayana sense but to Christian perception as well. From the Dzokchen standpoint his continuous, compassionate awareness is his great achievement. The Dzokchenpa in any culture is a traveller, a voyager in psychic spaces. In western civilization, where adventure to alien shores, with or without weapons, has always absorbed the inclination to delve into the unknown, the age of terrestrial exploration is over. There is nothing left to explore but inner and outer space. This century has seen a radical intensification of interest in the human mind, and particularly to maps of the psyche drawn by Asians, whose introversive aspirations have been given maximal social support for milJennia. The Dzokchen explorer faces the most dangerous path and the most rewarding goal. So the predicament of a lone space-voyager faced by hostile, disembodied foes on a distant planet may be applied as an analogue germane to the n eophyte Dzokchenpa's career. The Dzokchenpa's milieu is like space because there is nothjng substantial in his universe; there are no concrete pointS of reference to guide him, no infallible dogma to give his intellect

--

INTRODUCTION

ort and no systematic metaphysical charts to ucture or supp , . °d d su. . As' space there is no upSide or downsl e an no cende him m , al . g UI . ' L nce to his mandala, and there is no spiritu graVity or Clrcumrere 'f; f :: ull him down to earth should ~e fall. Th~ sp.a~-voyager s ear 0 p . ity that is his enVironment IS SImIlar to the Dzok. . the vast Immens , ehensive consciousness floaung m the endless expanse ch~npa s appr A voyager or explorer he certainly is, because he left . ' . of lOner space. all known mental and spiritual ternt,o ry b.ehInd him wh~n he co~. d h' elf to his samayas allOWing hlmself to be guIded by hIS mitte lms ' us response to the needs of all sen tient beings and the spontaneo . . . b constant imperative to maintain full awareness, ~e IS alone ecause no matter how close he is to family or dharma-fnends, and regardless of the density of other beings around him, he must always take complete responsibility for his own actions ~d accept the karma of others as if it were his own. At the same time he refuse every offer of complicity and the companionship that share karmic effect. The illusion of hostility is a common ambience in wh ich the lone-travelling novice on the path finds himself until he learns how to become invisible and how to transform negative elements into friendly aids on the way. Since public morality must remain subservient to the imperatives that keep h is samaya intact, if a ny vicious, socially unacceptable propensities remain, inevitably he will find himself an outsider in the tim e-honoured tradition of the sadhu and mystic. This may entail living an alternative, or perhap deviant, life-style on the fringes of society, forever the scapegoat for the guilty moralist and the self-m oti vated critic demanding an homogenous and conformist society. Listen to the western-educated Indian unload his guilt upon the poor H indu sadhu! Even if h i socially negative karmas have b een exhausted in past live regardle of the success of the shape-shifting stratagems that giv him the ~ppearance of conformity, the divergences in the form of th ) gin's mner space set him apart. This leaves h im open to th paean ia

_ T!iE FL!..

~T OF T_H E _' GARUDA

_________

that beset lone individualists. His realization, which maintenance of sa maya inevitably brings, elevates hi~ above the level where ho til forces are embodied and seen as hostile men and women. He lives in a world of spiritual powers or psyc~ol~gical . for~es wher it i imperative that a mirror-like clarity of mmd IS mamtamed, the better to identify and transfix the enemy. . . .. The Dzokchenpa is also a warrior. ThIs IS not a traditIOnal concept in any Buddhist sect of any country (except perhaps Japan), but if the use of such a concept as the spiritual warrior serves to elucidate the dharma and attract the warrior's mind to the path, then its use is justified. Certainly, on any level of Buddhism other than the Inner Tantra the concept would be inimical to the basic precept of ahirhsti (nonviolence); but in the Inner Tantra it has some validity. In the past it was not thought anomalous in Hindu Tantra that sadhus should be formed into a fighting force, and indeed specific sadhu orders became the martial protectors of sanatanam dharam in the face of Muslim aggression. There is little scope for such crass literality of interpretation in Buddhist Tantra, and certainly for the Dzokchenpa conflict, war, killing and slaughter occur only on a metaphysical plain. The Dzokchen warrior is armed with two highly efficacious weapons and he maintains some important allies. His principal weapons are the phurbu and katvanga.3 4 The phurbu is a dorje (vajra-sceptre) with the blade of a dagger at one end. The ngakpa, the Tibetan Dzokchenpa warrior, arrayed in the garb demanded by such a super-ritualized society, carries a symbolic phurbu in his belt, the blades never sharpened, the point as dull as a dog's hind leg. The function of the phurbu is to transfix demons and spirits, liberating them into the space that is their essence. The dorje represents emptiness and awareness, and it is the Dzokchenpa's p enetrating insight into the nature of all things as emptiness that is represented by the point of the dagger. The master's enemies are delusive emotional poisons and thoughtforms, neuroses and complexes, generated by a dark corner remaining in his own mind Of

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INTR DU_ _ _ _ _- - - - - - - -

nother being' ignorant mind. They are p ychological cr ate.d bYha appear to have lIves . f h 1f . own to t h e extent rh at 0 t functions t at .. . 1 d ' -L .. human being propluate them both n rual y an mUle up rS (l tlOUS .., kb wIth other. SteuC y . r daily life and commuOl anon cour e 0 f th el . . , hey dissolve into nothmgness, whIle the mmds that posa p h urb u t . . th l'b expenenced a taste of the ernptme s at 1 erh aving h sessed tern, · . . .' ated the spi rit, are freed 1ll catharsl . h . , A synonym of the e spir~rual forces that:; t,~ yo?m neml~s IS he evocatively onomatopOeIc Tibetan word gek, whlch rn an lttert . " I n b o~h ntu . al 0 b .erally "obstacle," «hindrance" ~r « 0 bsrru tlO~. vance and meditation the yogm devote con Iderable nIne to exerCIses invoking and destroying geks,J5 so that during the period between meditation he can spontaneously effect the destruction of whatever obstacles of this nature arise in his path. Geks ari e, complete their pernicious tasks, and vanish, with the speed of a changing thoughtform, and there is no time for con idered thought nd action. Certainly, geks are m ainly of diminutive size and mere sight of the phurbu or dorje is sufficient to dissolve them. But phenomena of the same psychological category can po sess an individual to the extent that an observer is convinced that the being possessed and the spirit are one, and this perception, by ociety at large or by even the afflicted being's close friends, can doom the sufferer to the asylum. It is the Dzokchenpa Bodhisattva's role to exorcise such spirits: his kind alone in society possesses the skilful means. When the nature of the demon or complex is relatively benign but resides continuously in a fragm en t of the psyche of a man who refuse to acknowledge its presence, it m ay be the duty of the Dzokchenpa gently to bring the possessed individual to the recognition that is the prelude to liberation of the spiri t. When the spirit is hostile and the proximity of the insight that can destroy it excites it and it host to aggressive behaviour towards the bearer of the awarene s, the Dzokchenpa- the warrior- is fo rced to engage the enemy with its host as its protector and agent. In such a ituation the dang r to th

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

Dzokchenpa lies in the tendency to forget that the host is the sufferer and a victim and so become negatively attached to his OWn aggression- "to take it personally' as we say-thus becoming impotent to exorcise the spirit. The liberation of spirits is a function of the Dzokchenpa as exorcist as much as warrior. It must be stressed that although the warrior distinguishes between friend and foe, his attitude towards them both is determined by the same compassion. The compassion towards a friend implies application of a different form of skilful means, but the motivation is identical. Another way of saying it is that the wrathful face that the Dwkchenpa turns towards hostile beings or spirits is as compassionate as the peaceful mien he shows his friends. The detachment that is neither identification nor separation is the key to this conundrum. So "exorcist" is no mean label; it implies the full detached skill and compassion of the Dwkchen yogin. The life-stories of the Great Guru, Guru Rimpoche, are replete with stories of his successful liberation of petty spirits and his subjugation of gods and demons that would serve the dharma as guardians and allies. The monk and abbot Santarak§ita, invited by King Trisong Detsen to ordain the first Tibetan monks and build a monastery, was unable to suppress the naga-serpents and yakfa-elementals that possessed the ground and building materials. Guru Rimpoche, the warrior-sadhu, subjugated the myriad Tibetan gods and demons as well as their Bonpo shaman devotees whom he encountered as he approached Samye from Nepal, before dearing the area around Samye of all aggressive forces. Afterwards he visited all the major mountains in Tibet to suppress the powerful mountain gods, and he also made pilgrimage to the lakes wherein dwelt the life-spirits of the country.36 The victorious Indian sadhu travelling alone in the vast empty spaces and treacherous mountains of the Tibetan plateau, among nomadic Mongol shamans of an aggressive disposition (these same people were then the conquerors of the whole of Central Asia), presents the archetypal image of the

Dzokchen warrior and exorcist. The ngakpa have main rained the tradition of mendicant Buddhist shamans in Tibet. ince the time of Guru Rimpo he the Tibetans have r Ii d upon the mantric power of rhe exorcist to protect th em from external danger. Such reliance may not always effect the deb at of an in ading army, but it can leave the defenders morally victorious and spiritually unbowed. The phurbu is the Dzokchenpa' weapon against his enemies while the katvanga is his weapon against hi own ego. The Tibetan Buddhist katvariga consists of a trident (trifiila), the three-pronged "fork" carried by saivite sadhus in I ndia and by the Greek god Poseidon, rhat pierces the centre of a double dorje on a horizontal plane, a "vase of eternal youth ' filled with the elixir of immortality, and three human heads below the three prong . The double dorje, or crossed vajras,37 is the emblem of the karma-family (at the northern direction of the mandala) , signifying perfect action ac omplished spontaneously for all sentient beings. T he trident itself by its form indicates the unity of the trinity. T he trinity is the three existential modes of the Buddha-dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmarzakaya-and the unity is the Buddha himself, somet imes expressed as a fourth "body" or mode, the svabhavikakaya, or the unity of form and emptiness. The three correspond to secret inner and outer planes of being, and also to ignorance, aversion and desire (although the last two may be transposed circumstantially). Thus the three transfixed heads- the first a blue skull the second a white "dry" head and the third a red head dripping with bloodrepre~ent the Dzokchenpa's recognition of ignorance and sloth , averSIOn and hatred, and desire and lust, as the three mode of being.3 8 It is the katvanga of emptiness that pierces the nature of the thfee pnnclp ' . al 0 bstades to clarity and awareness and transform them into the primal awareness, radiant clarity and all-embracinocompassion of the Buddha's being. Further, it is intere ting to not: :hen Guru Rimpoche was attending Trisong Detsen's coun while IS consort, the Princess Yeshe Tsogyel was bani hed the katvanga

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA ----------------~~~~~~-------------------------

was the form into which the Guru transformed her so that he should always have her with him. Thus the katvanga of emptiness and primal awareness is the Dzokchenpa's consort, as well as his most potent weapon. In the warrior's perpetual battle to penetrate every obstacle to his enlightenment with emptiness, he ,has this consort as his constant support. Transformation, as alteration from an inferior to a superior status, ftom ignorance to knowledge, and so forth, is not a concept consonant with Dzokchen atiyoga. The reason is that all things from the very beginning are pure and complete in the universal ground of being. "Recognition" is the term germane to description of the awakening process of the Dzokchenpa. Thus the five poisons are not to be transformed. They are to be recognized for what they are and what they have always been: the five aspects of primal awareness. Furthermore, recognition is achieved by withdrawing consciousness from the stressful mental functions of dualization, relaxing into the original nature of the mind, and getting behind the mindscape so full of objects of potential attachment. If he does not fall into an effective pattern of meditation drawn by the instinct that constantly directs him towards maturing experience, there are various techniques that the Dzokchen neophyte may be taught by his Lama to assist recognition of his emotions as aspects of awareness. The recognition can be affected in meditation in the crucible of the mind by provoking emotion and then penetrating its Emptiness with the insight that has been developed in "insight meditation. "3') A more direct and forcible method is through the practice called chod;4 11 here the yogin repairs to a desolate and fearsome powerplace, such as a charnel ground or the habitation of ferocious demonr) such as flesh-eaters, spirits of disease, malicious 4akin!S, and so forth. Then preparing his mind with mantra and mUSIC, id ntifYing with (he yidam, he invites the spirits to attack him .. ~he four d mon-!lpiri(s4J arc (hose ~pecifically invoked in the tradltlon

I NTRO DUCTION

of Machik Labdron, an eleventh- to ~elfth-.cent~ry Tibe~ yogini who established the principal chod lmeage In T Ibet. Machik practised sexual yoga, and these four demons, particularly, of course, the devil of emotional passion, are the bane of highly sexed yo gins. But through exercise in this yoga, the yogin or yogini is rendered safe when he or she must spontaneously respond to the demons evoked in a passionate relationship conducted in the course of sadhana. Practitioners of this technique are frequently psychologically and physically mauled, but the greatest warriors of chod become adept in the transformation (recognition or release) of every emotional and spiritual force. Particularly, since the transformation of spirits of disease implies a self-cure, chodpas become immune to illness and learn the art of healing in the process. The Lama will emphasize the folly of evoking passion in the mainstream of life, no matter what altruistic motive inspires the Bodhisattva neophyte, until one of the practices of cutting attachment described above, or a similar yoga, has been successfully accomplished. In the initial phase of practice, probably the period immediately following discovery of a Lama, it is most advantageous to spend time in retreat, or better still, as a monk or nun in retreat. In such a space a solid foundation can be laid, beneficial habits can be developed, and the mind can be established in the purity affected by the initiation received from the Lama. Most of us must practice no-meditation and no-action in the form of simple purificatory techniques. Further down the path, in freedom from expectation of results, we can assimilate the whole of life's potential into our practice. Intense intimacy, emotional harmony and tru t, and pirit~al attunement, can be developed to an optimal degre in a pasSIOnate, sensually interactive relationship, which thu proyid s on of the most effective situations in which to practi and learn. 0 better occasion may arise to develop the Bodhi attva' re p n ~i\' _ ~ess. The cynic may laugh because th primar univer al m ti ~a­ Hon, sexual pleasure, which he consider all in ..til to .til. in ~ludi n

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

--

the Dzokchen-Bodhisattva, is not given primacy here. Of c .' .' OUrse sexual desIre IS the startmg pomt. The sexual centre is the se at of our vital energy42 and of KUI)4alini herself, and the more intense sustained and object-less is sexual desire the better. But what 1ll be simultaneous with the arousal of desire is the penetrati~St insight into desire as emptiness; and the motivation that sprin g from empty awareness of desire is the Bodhisattva's aspiration ~~ selfless service. The pure pleasure, dewachenpo, mahasukha, that i to be found within sexual interaction-which is indeed found i~ the adept's yoga has been effective and if negative karma is not to be gleaned from the encounter-is the inevitable fruit of all OUI labour; but pleasure must never be the conscious motivation. If this .moment is to be ~ros~ituted to the next, if a relationship is motIvated from the begmnmg by a selfish desire, if lust is not recognized as emptiness and attachment not destroyed, then the seeds of disaster are sown. Although some physical pleasure is obtained, t~e r~su1t of the relationship may be a break in samaya and an etermty m the Dorje Nyelwa. 43 Retribution can take the most violent ~d sadistic ~orms; and .the ~egati~e propensity to repeat the expene~ce, de~plte the retnbutlon, wtll become increasingly hard to reSIst, untIl a downward spiral destroys all hope of even a h b' h I uman re lIt , et alone a rainbow body. The craving for mahasukha, de~achenpo , pure pleasure, kills all chance of attaining it. The yo~m. enters a sexual encounter without any hopes or fear, simply enJoymg .the play of rnaglC . al 1'11' . the ramIficatIons .' uSlOn, all OWIng of spontaneIty.to.manifest for the sake of all sentient . b' elngs. IS the key t0 eXIstent! . 'al mvo . Ivement in all passionate . N on-actIon . sltuatlons-a . . . . sexual enco unter, an angry . mteractlon, a proud stance m competItIon . al ry. Th e apparent . ' . 0 f th e . ' or a J'eal OUS flV illogICalIty progressJOn . the karmIC . stream 15. . of passionat e menta I events In reflected , . m the superfic'all 1 Y structure1ess nature of the course 0 fth e ' " . . the seat adept S lIfe. . When the st artmg pomt IS a turning around m of conscIO usness and commitment . to t h e ultim a te D zokchen I

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I NTRODUCTION

samaya, and the goal is a rainbow body, there is no systematic path. At the starting point, when no doubt the asp irant will first experience the spontaneously arisi ng dictates of responsiveness, karmic cause and effect will still be operative. Even initiation will not necessarily destroy the habits of a lifetime or be chan ged by an immutable conviction that there is a higher vision. So, at the beginning of the path, motivation will be mixed with non-motivation. This will lead to some confusion as periods of unsatisfactory horizontal, karmically determined action will seem to domin ate the moments of eternal, resuscitating vertical effusion that seemingly are few and far between.

The Goal Insofar as Buddhahood is inexpressible and inconceivable it would be best to omit any verbal comment upon it. However, the follow ing epigrams, stated or implied in the foregoing commentary have been useful to me as koans, verbal paradoxes, that point directly at the goal. Only a Buddha can recognize a Buddha. The Lama is every moment of perception: all vision is his body, all sound is his speech and all pure awarene s is his mind. Nothing exists that is not a function of mind. Nothing i.s e~il or undesirable but evil thought makes it (Hom solt qui mal y pense).

0

The starting point is the path is the goal. Anything that promotes certainty in the middle way i th only path. #

Form is emptiness and em ptiness is form.

THE FUGHT OF THE GAROn

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II.

THE LANGUAGE OF DZOKCHEN

If at the beginning there is a viable basis of ~nderstanding between Lama and disciple on a nonverbal level, stIll there may be many problems of communication in ~e conceptual r~~m. ~he n,?tion of secrecy can be one such stumblmg block. The secret or mystic" dimension is the third in a triadic hierarchy of categories completed by the "outer" and "inner" dimensions. The.se categories define the relationship between hinayana, prajiUparamltayana and tantrayana, for example. In metaphysical analysis they classifY, for instance, the Buddha's Body, Speech and Mind and the three modes or bodies of Buddha's being: nirmfu).akaya, sambhogakaya and dharmakaya. In Tantra, what pertains to the secret or mystic dimension remains forever secret in the same way that subatomic particles remain hidden from sensory perception. It is impossible to divulge the Buddha's Mind, or the dharmakaya, outside its own frame of reference. However, in Tantra there are injunctions against the initiate revealing the Guru's precepts transmitted at the time of initiation. It may be destructive to the faith and comprehension of the initiate on a different level of practice if he is regaled with precepts irrelevant to his mind-state. For the non-initiate who may be sympathetic to the teaching, it is futile and perhaps destructive to inform his mind with a structure that is significant only after initiation has provided a framework. Lastly, although no harm can be done to the ultimate truth of Tantra, there is the danger of an outsider, either through honest miscomprehension, or through devious twisting of meaning and rearrangement of context, representing what is sublime and intelligent as something vulgar and stupid. At worst this can provoke persecution of initiates, or it can create prejudice and partiality in social consciousness. However, the most j~portant r~~o~ for ~eepin~ the Guru's precepts secret is to maintam the yogm S llltegnty dunng the process of realization: exposure

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INTRa Due

ION

utside heart-secrecy will inevitably introduce obstacles of samayas O to their fulfilment. . ., The "initiate" in the above context refers to an IndIVIdual who has experiential knowled~~ of the goal ofTantra. The "outsider" is a person WI·th blinkered VISiOn unable or unready to enter the path, whose spiritual development is limited by mindsets and beliefs labelled as "hedonistic," "realistic," "nihilistic" or "eternalistic."44 Thus an individual who has had mere formal initiation into the tradition may in fact have a non-initiate's vision and may be negatively influenced by secret revelations. On the contrary, the individual who receives initiation spontaneously and informally outside a practice lineage may gain enormous benefit from fortuitously obtained "secrets." In general, regarding the propagation of Dzokchen instruction outside the framework of a G uru-disciple relationship, in the light of the inscrutable level of forever secret mystic realities, and insofar as the current social climate is sympathetic to gnostic traditions, most contemporary D zokchen Lamas teach and actively support the public dissemination of their lineages' truths. This discussion of secrecy has introduced the "secret' or "mystic dimension," and in the context of the h ighest Inner Tantra, 5 Dzokchen, or atiyoga, is the secret level, anuyoga the inner level and mahayoga the outer level. D zokchen's "secrecy" is a corollary of its ineffable nature, and, therefore, the adjectives that describe the state of being that is D zokchen are strained to capture its ambience. In fact, there is little compromise with the statement that the goal is beyond the intellect to comprehend- it is inexpressible. Adjectives employed to evoke this inexpressible existential condition, are indi~ators of the direction in which the yogin must go to attain it. Naked, stripped, stark"; "direct, immediate, here and now"· and " ' natural, simple, pure, uncontrived, unelaborated": are three strin~ of such didactic terms. These words indicate the lack of any co~­ cept~al screen between the yogin and his experience, the ab ~nce of any Judgment about the elements of th e situation that c nfront

THE FUG IT Of THE G

him and the absence of preconceprio

about the nature of Tealj in geneal. An discursive mental am' obscures p e percept; a1ui Howevu all these sarements are examples of e glib, expression rha the precep enjoining the ogi 0 abho mempa a mionalizario aims at p 'eduding. There ' co these St2temeo c . tdlecrual s ppo ' be avoided if the force of reality is to be ape .e ced in a thoughrfr; . made ~. order to ess ilia language . lDtlentlOll

,[0

is .....-...Jcd. The ....~...-

'1I1I.IIIl'br.c-.eahrlilrDl:our

ce

a.o.scendence 0

-

I

1 Of)

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA

----

object, the sense organ and the consciousness that is aware of sensa_ tion. Since the consciousness of the psycho-organism is capable of only serial, ljnear perception (although a subconscious Strata Constantly synthesizes the streams of data produced by all five senses) when there is full concentration at the door of one specific sense th~ mental commentary of "the observer" is silenced for a moment. So in such direct sensory perception, there is intimation of nondu~ experience. In the next moment this experience becomes less than perfect if the perceiver's clarity of awareness is clouded by either emotivity provoked by the sense object or by mental interference. The mental veil may here be defined as the (muted) chatter of mental apparatus engaged in the preparation of a "linguistic definition" of the perception. Even at the moment of direct perception when gnostic awareness of emptiness as form and form as emptiness is experienced, the mind is preparing to dualize the situation. Only when there is no emotional attachment to the object of perception and when the mind is still, emptied of all discursive thought, can a legitimate paradigm of nondual, direct perception obtain. The centre of the mandala represents the emptiness of the perceptual situation-there is no substantial essence in subject, object or their interaction. The field of the mandala represents the form- visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory or, indeed, mental. Emptiness and form comprise a unity in the same way that the centre and circumference of the circle are inseparable. The indivisible relationship between such polarities are ,called nondual, and ramifications of this unity t.hat may not be evident are both the beauty of Dzokchen expressl~n an.d our linguistic hurdle when approaching these texts. i Ho,":, IS thl~ ~ondual direct sen.sory experience verbally articul~t­ ~d. EVJde~dy It IS not to be done 10 the manner of ignorant, dualIst I C expressIOn. But it has to be done with the same vocabulary and grammar. T he sacred languages of Tibetan and Sanskrit provide vocabularies sanctified by scripture and the poetry of the adepts of

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INTRODUCTION

s The profane language of commerce and science is illsecret cult ' . . .. . . d to adaptation to thIS purpose, although SClence IS Increasmgly suite . ' able to provide terminology that compensates for ItS lack of poenc beauty by a precision of abs tract concept. Some commentators retain Tibetan or Sanskrit terms, and some use the typographical device of putting the initial letters of prosaic words in the upper case to imply a higher order of meaning. Certainly, insofar as grammar and patterns of meanings reflect mind's intrinsic psychological structure, its habits of perception and its levels of awareness, the Dzokchen vision would ideally require a new form of language. As an increasing number of English-speaking Dzokchen adepts intuitively adapt the material at hand, this language will evolve. The sacred language of the tantras is mantra: this means that the syllables that comprise a word resonate to a pitch that evokes the prototypical nature of the form that is being articulated. When the master is questioned on this point he is evasive regarding the specific relationship between sound and form. But there is no ignoring his conviction that sound is intimately related to the realm of form and has the power to affect it. The Indian story of one of the great Uffad sitarists of an earlier generation, whose instrument burst into flame during a perfect rendition of a fire raga, is explained in terms of the uHad's ability to reproduce the sound of the seed-syllable of the element fire precisely, so creating fire itself. However, it is a general principle in many sacred traditions that it is not so much the form of the consonants as the power and thoughtform inserted into the vowel sound by a master, a siddha, that is efficaciou . That the resonance that vibrates in an inanimate object, such as a fine wine glass) a conch shell, or a singing-bowl, is of the nature of rowel ~at~er than consonants supports this notion. Meditativ e 'peri n ~ndlcates that the sacred language of Dzokchen is effectiye in inducIng the states of mind that are evoked . It is imperati that v take great care in selecting the equivalent of th s t rn1 in Engli h. T

THE FUGHT OF THE GARUDA

-

Frequently the need to render the form of a meaning exactly takes precedence over aesthetic demands. A definition of one radical Dzokchen term-nonduality_has already been offered. The paradox of expressing the nondual in dualistic terms is parallel to experience of the relative world in a nondual mode. The next term to be discussed is the synonym of nonduality that indicates that nonduality encompasses duality and that we know nonduality only through a specific mode of awareness that unites polarities and gives the relative world a unity. This term is literally translated as "two-in-oneness," "co-incidence," or "arising as a pair."48 Since absolute nondual reality itself-emptiness- per_ vades the relative world and does not exist independent of it, the "co-incident pair" of space and Knowledge is given as the primary level of reality. "Space"49 is best conceived as the universal, all-pervasive field. Like emptiness itself, it is nothing separate from form, and yet nothing else but it exists. All form is space: thus it is possible for siddhas who have dissolved the constituents of their body-mind in space, identifying with it, to walk through walls and eat rock. "Space" is no cold, vacuous void. It is the richness of the Goddess Mahamaya, and all the playfulness and energy of the Qakini. "Knowledge"50 is an epistemological synonym of emptiness and the cognitive aspect of space. Again, since the epistemological absolute cannot exist independent of its objective constituent, it is not separate from the sensory fields that constitute ordinary knowledge. For this reason it is translated as Knowledge. Knowledge (rigpa) is probably the single most significant term in Dwkchen, and it is peculiar to Dwkchen. It is found in the Dohas of the mahamudra siddhas, but generally the term 'pure awareness"'1 is preferred there, where it is used as a synonym of Knowledge. In Dwkchen the compound phrase Knowledge-Awareness-2 (or the Awareness of Knowledge," where Awareness is the less comprehensive constituent) indicates both the "objective" and "subjective" aspects of Emptiness as [he universe (or dharml1dhiitu) in terms of

Since sensory consciousness is constantly active, the Awarenes S. t of Knowledge-Awareness is referred to figuratively as a rnovemen nd since Knowledge-Awareness is represented figuratively · . dwa, a d wthropomorprucally as the Qaklni, the constant movement of ~owledge is called "the Dance of the Qakini." But it wo uld be incorrect to characterize Knowledge-Awareness as inherently active, as it is essentially a field co-extensive with pace. Perhaps the best image by which to describe it is that of a whirling firebrand: the body that twirls it remains still, while the whirling flame on the end of the stick creates the impression of a static wheel of fire. Fire is symbolic of dynamic cognition. If space (dbyings, dhtitu) and awarene s (ye shes, jiitina) are the coincident pair that form the essence of reality, the nature of reality is light. 53 Again, this light is co-extensive with Emptines) pace and Knowledge, and insofar as it is inseparable from its forms in the same way that the light of the sun is inseparable from its ource, it is best conceived as a field of lightform in potential. It is for chi reason that selwa can be uanslated as luminosity ) and clarity. "Luminosity" is intended to indicate the abstract quality of light ~efore its emanation, and udarity indicates the inherent quality of ltghtform. Although the image of the sun and its beams adequat 1)' ~onveys the relationship between light and its manifest qualitie , the Image fail~ insofar as the sun i a substantial entity, where the source of hghrform is empty pace.

T~e final attribute of emptine s to be mentioned is a quality Pfieculiar to the Buddhist analysis: re ponsivene . It is the third and mal .denomin a t or In . t h e I'1st 0 f categorIe . or aspect by ,\,hi h emptiness can be defined: e sence, nature respon iven ,- It ~p~ears anomalous, an attribute rather than a category, The third OglCal . 'functIon, . 'b catego ry IS or manife t function, and th attn Ute £ d' . . . . oun m ItS stead IS respon Ivene and it qualifi r i ~'allpervasIve. "s· V· ' . ~ lewed as a functional attrtbute of pac . Knowl dg

_ _ _ __ _ _ _T ~ H=. E~F...:L~ IG~H~ T OF THE GARUDA

and light, the implication is that the dynamic, the intentionali . the purpose of being, is compassion, which is a synonym of respo~ siveness and demonstrable as the responsive aspect of love, and it is this compassion that is co-extensive with space, the hean of the Buddha pervading all beings. Viewed as the potential form or manifestation of emptiness, the implication appears to be that eVer vibration of body, speech and mind is a form of compassionat~ energy, nothing excluded. Consider the distinction between responsiveness and compassion. In Dzokchen, compassion is much more than the virtue of loving kindness. 56 Nor does the word compassion in the Dwkchen context denote its English etymological meaning "suffering together" or "empathy," although both these meaning~ may be inferred. Essentially, compassion indicates an open and receptive mind responding spontaneously to the exigencies of an ever-changing field of vibration to sustain the optimal awareness that serves self-and-others' ultimate desire for liberation and wellbeing. The conventional meaning of compassion denotes the latter, active part of this definition, and, due to the accretions of Christian ~onnotat~on, re,~ponse is limit.e~ to specifically virtuous activity. ResponSIveness defines the ongm and cause of selfless activity that can encompass all manner of response. On this nondual Dzokchen path virtue is the effect, not the cause; the ultimate compassionate ~esponse is whatever action maximizes Knowledge-loving kindness IS the automatic function of Awareness. The terms defined above are all synonyms of emptiness and aspects of emptiness like facets of a jewel. If reality is all creation then just as the universe, the cosmos, all things under the sun and the totality, give inclusive definitions, so do emptiness, space, light, Knowledge and responsiveness- they are simply different names for ~he same ineffable reality. Each indicates a different aspect useful lD developing a vision of the path and expressing experience along it. To the yogin they are sacred and secret words that should never be bandied about in idle metaphysical gossip lest the power

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IN TRUU U'-- ~

tv . ,

·r reality is lost. The reality they evoke is to be consid(0 recious and more worthy of respect than any particular ered more p h ower these words represent .IS more potent than nucIear go~; [ ~ more subtly efficacious than all the miracles of the sidfiSSlOnThey describe the uIo.rnate m~ de 0 f b.elng, . th ' b 0 dy dhas. e uI umate evO ke t hel

f Buddha, the dharmakaya. There IS nothIng but the dharmakaya ~o the Dzokchen master, and the paradox, which in it elf is a powerful Dzokchen koan, is that the Dzokchen master appears as an ordinary human being and his immediate environment, his mandala, has the same form as o ur own.

EMPTYING THE DEPTHS OF HELL

EMPTYIN G THE D EPT H S OF H ELL by Guru Chowong I NTRODUCT IO

Guru Rimpoche Choki Wongchuk, or Guru Chowong, is one of the greatest names among the treasure-finders or tertons (gter ston). He lived in the thirteenth century (1212- 1280) and heralded a major revival in the N yingma School. His epithet 'The Second Guru Rimpoche," whence his title is derived, is given to only a small elite of Nyingma School yogins. He was the second of the Sovereign Treasure-finders and the second of the Three Supreme Emanations of Guru Rimpoche.5 He is also said to be an incarnation of the Buddha's Speech. This array of superior qualifications entitled him to a Qakini of similar first rank attainment, and he found her in the first of the two Tibetan yoginis possessing all the marks and signs of the Qakini58- Jomo Menmo Padma Tsokyi (1248- 1283), an emanation of Yes he Tsogyel. Guru Chowong was born in western Lhodrak, midway between the Bhutan border and Yamdrok Lake, where his family had lived for generations. The residence, in Layak Village, in which he pent most of his life is called Guru Lhakhang. H e was a scion of the Pang family. The founder of the Pang lineage, Pangje Tsentran1, was honoured by King Trisong Detsen for destroying the Bon Magician ~yaring, who had attempted to kill the King by hurling meteors at him from the Bon stronghold on top of Hepori, above am," Chokhor, during the great king's persecution of the Bon hamans. P ., . angJe s son settled In western Lhodrak in Layak, and hi d produced a famous line of Bodhisattva tantrika . Guru Chowong's education was eclectic. H is father taught him '-

THE FLIGHT OF THE GARUDA --------------~~~~~~~~~-------------------

Dzokchen, Chakchen (mahamudra), Zije and Chod, the highest meditations of all schools, and he became highly accomplished in the yogas of Dorje Phurba (VajrakIlaya) and Shinjeshe (Maiijushri Yamantaka). But apart from his vast formal book-learning, he obtained direct experiential knowledge and empowerment from meditative experience and dream-vision. The discovery of his principal treasure-trove was attended by ~azi~g vis~ons. He had obtained two lists of hiding places, one ongmatmg with Drapa N gonshe,59 which had caused disaster to many incompetents who had attempted to retrieve the treasure, and a list of twice-hidden books that he had found himself. The nine-headed serpent-demon arId awareness4akinI protectors took the form of a humarI womarI to give Guru Chowong the keys to the treasure-house. As he opened the door a gigantic vulture (Garuda) emerged, and recognizing it as the essence of the treasure he mounted it arId flew to the thirteenth stage of enlightenment, where he found a tent of rainbow light arId Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva), who initiated him into the «creativity of Knowledge"GO and presented him with a flask full of the nectar of immortality. Then from the treasure-house cave he withdrew two Jarge chests containing 108 volumes of secret instruction arId an enormous hollow statue of the protecting serpent-demon containing four sets of general instruction. This treasure of NamkecharI,61 the Drakmar Cave of Chimphu above Samye Chokhor, was the first of his nineteen discoveries made at power-places throughout Central and Southern Tibet: at Lhodrak Kharchu, Samye Chokhor, Samye Drakm ar Drinzang, Mon Bumthang, Tsang Tsi Nesar, Samye Hepori, Rong Drak and Kyabo) arId at many minor sites as well. Guru Chowong's vision of his spiritual father, demonstrating his dear vi ionary capacity is also germarIe to our text. Two young girls guided him on a winged white horse to the sphere of Guru Rimpoche's presen t residence-Ngayab Zangdok Peri the Copper Coloured Mounrain Paradise of Ngayab in the Southwest. Here ()rgy n Rimpoche transmitted to him the empowerment of the

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EMPTYING THE D EPTHS OF HELL

M andates called th e Consummate Secret. He also Eight LogoS'J::lC dvice instructing him to follow the Bodhisattva , d speclI a ", . receIve h sentient beings. (At thIS time, as mtermittently th and to teac " pa T'b tan history the temp tation for Nymgma School hout Ie ' rhroug 11 h 'r magical power for personal gain was a particularly o ins to se t el yg C h negative karma.) Guru Chowong was then returned orent rorce or . d f dazzl' l' h P ' d' state of consciousness on a shiel 0 lng 19 t. o hIS or mary , r that the bulk of Guru Chowong s ueasure-texts have It appears . , , on Kongtrul Rirnpoche, whose lIfework m the nmebeen Iost. Jamg " . . h century included gathenng, edItlng and ordenng the once teent L : them In . h'IS of tertons of centuries past an d pu bl'IS1llng orks potent w , 'ous compendium called the Rtnchen Terdzo, found only a voum 1 m few volumes of Guru Chowong's ueasures. Among them were The Consummate Secret of the Eight Logos Mandates and Emptying the Depths ofSamsara, which includes The Wrathful and PeacefuL Deities

ofthe Spontaneously Originated Eight Fierce Logos Deities: The Rite of Confession and Restoration of the Samaya while Emptying the Depths of Hell.62 The Sovereign Rite of Confession Atoning for Brea hes and Breaks of the Samaya and Expiating All Errors and Faults known b its short title Emptying the Depths of Hell (Narak Dongdruk),6' is a litany written by Jamgon Kongtrul , in the nineteenth century based upon the two treasure-texts of Guru C howong mentioned above. Thus seven hundred years after Guru C howong's death hi highly potent "secret mantra"64 texts are again in full u e by the lineal initiates of the eclectic Red Hat lamas. It is a well knO\ 'n and highly respected Nyingrna School litany. The first section of the rite begins with the ogin visualizin:--. in front of him the Lama who embodies the hundred \Xrathful an Peaceful Deities. The yogin then invokes the Wrathful and P a - ful Deities, calling them by name and offering beisance 'ith r Terence. The Great Treasure-finder assures the p ractition r that m r l~' by sounding the names of the deiti s with homag and r ~p -t th full effect of the rite is achieved . Verbal a k n wledg ment f : p -it! ,

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T HE F UGHT OF THE G ARUD

fault and breaks in the 'ow has the arne effe t. Then r Iaxin in meditation the }ogin recite the Hundred lIable Mantra (the yi a) . Vajrasattya mantra of confes ion wi th the enainry tha[ eight hundred repetition in a ingle itring confer rebirth as a Bodhi arrva. There foHows acknowledgement of the yogin failure to maintain the Roor and Branch Vow the tantric sa.rna 'a 6' thereb: resroring these commltmencs. T he nexr pan of the rite is the Dzokchen confession which is included herein. Thi concludes the litany. As addenda. verse are included to be recited with offering of the butter lamp, the kullcup of grai n the rakta and the tOT7JU1-cakes during the eucharistic sacrament when the confession i included as part of the rire of ga!lt1cakra. Again the purpo e i restoration of the samaya. The entire rite is composed of a eries of techniques thar guarantee aronemenr and refulfilment of the sarna a. How can admission of error and "sin be part of D zokchen practice? Confession is a process of mental and spiritual purification indispensable to mental and spiritual 'well-being. On a mundane level the pressures of guilt are released, liberating festering cankers in the subconscious mind. On a transcendental level confession is an acknowledgement of undesirable, repressed rnindforms with coincident recognition of their nature as emptiness and liberation. If guilrs errors and faults are thoughtforms to which the subconscious is negatively attached, then they may be visualized as spirits or ghosts of past experience lurking in dark and murky corners of the mind. Then confession is self-induced exorcism effecting liberation 66 of these spir~ its. When the mind is completely empty of these spirits- black gre 1 or white-and when every experience whatsoever arises full y into awareness leaving no trace, "like the llight-path of a bird in the sky, '6then the mind is fully liberated. As our text states, the "sin" and the "sinner" are one: when the undesirable thoughtform is released the mind of the penitent is also liberated. "Sin" in this conte t is d efined as an action that is not immediately released and dissolved upon its inceprion. If the mind is innocent and insight into all

THE D EPTH

F H ELL

tine penetrat ea h moment of the ontmuum 'en e a em P . ' . e/pen. . ari es then there 1 no m and no mner but a on-

f aht\' a J( > re , a and Buddhahood. It i our moral and mental premate sarna um . and bias that ob trUct pontaneous in ight into events n cpoon , illusion echo or bubble on th illfa e 0 f the ocean and as empn"d ' All'Ignorant entlent . be'mgs what Buddhi ts call sm. that pro uce . yo .ns whose mindflow f pure awareness 1 broken e en for and all gI eed th rite 0 f OIlles - C IOn . r th · . to atone ror elI IDS. aITlomenr , n . . . To atone ('at one' in the BuddhIst onte t mean to Idennfy iill the Guru D eity and Dakini and thu re tore the oneseIf \ ' . . . amaya. The rites of confes i~n and sarna a r~toranon . illvanably come together in tantric pracn e for they ar different Id of the ame coin. Confes ion is to remember and hence to r live, e; perien e that was not fully understood and , ho e nature was not pen trat d to its true reality. Sarnaya restoration i to r tore the onnnuity of release of e err experience through penetrating in io-ht into mpciness and thus to restore the ama a union, ith the Guru and Qakini who represent uninterrupted gno ti awaren . On th relative level, where sarna a means YOW or oath after onfe i n f failure to maintain a vow the vow is taken again and thu re tored. The Root Vows of Bod r Speech and Mind are a foll \V : the Vow of Divine Bod r is to serve and enerate the Guru and tOY his instruction. to respect the Guru's Con ort and the yogin' Jra brothers and sister, and to maintain a correct vi i n f the uru' the Vow of Divine Speech is to practi e vi ualizaci n and re it ti n in meditation upon the deity regularl and frequen t! ~. th \ w of Divine Mind is to keep the Tantra ecret. The T\venty-fi 'e Bran h Vows are injunctions guiding i ion, meditation and < ti n. thu~ keeping the samava of union with the Guru. Dein' and akini intact. . Emptying the Depths ofHell is a mahayoga te~. Yirt~ally all pm-£lees associated with the Eight Logo 1andate fall int th mahayoga category. But since Dzokch n visi n i th uitimat perspective on everything that ari ,n matter \ -holt the t rm. J

Dzokchen practice embraces all the techniques of the hinayana mahayana and vajrayana approaches to Buddhahood. The essenti~ practice of Dzokchen is to penetrate each moment of consciousness with the purifying flame of awareness as it arises, so the successful Dzokchenpa has no need of the confessional rites of the gradual approaches. What is provided for him is c.onfession of lingering traces of dualistic thought-patterns and dIChotomous concepts, confession of failure in vision: this is precisely the nature of the verses extracted from Emptying the Depths ofHell included here. However, in this liturgy there is no trace of the terminology of penitent devotee seeking expiation from an external source that would admit a duality of penitent and confessor. The confession is couched in strong affirmative terms strengthening the convictions of Dzokchen vision, and the confessor is a point instant of gnostic awareness of infinite empty space as various aspects of the absolute. 68 This point instant of atonement is a moment in the uninterrupted continuum of naked existential awareness that is neither within nor without. There is no ''1'' to be the yogin's own confessor, nor any "external," higher plane of being in which the yogin bathes. Each dichotomy is resolved in an immediate, unutterable, non-objectifiable, moment of primal awareness. A sense of contrition is assumed, since contrition is recognition of the absence of continuous Buddhahood, and knowledge of the necessity to atone for one's ignorance. It is also recognition of humility in the face of the divine pride of the moment of atonement and primal awareness. However, instead of contrition toned with selfabnegation and abasement, we have a lament for incorrigible human nature driven by self-destructive desire, ever refusing to see the insubstantial universe as an enchanting magical web of empty illusion, in which Dakas and Qakinis dance in a constant compassionate display of delight and pure pleasure. Alas! What misery! Thus the self-abasement characteristic of the path of renunciation is replaced with an eVOcation of the Bodhisattva Vow. The "secret mantra" magic of the verses should demonstrate their own efficacy.

((THE SO VEREIGN RITE OF CONFESSION A TONING FOR fROM ND BREAKS OF THE SAMAYA AND E XPIATING ALL ncAGHES A r: " Bj{U' ERRORS AND r AULTS 69

EMPTYING T HE D EPTHS OF HELL HONG! How futile to project notions of being and nonbeing U on an unformed and inconceivable reality-continuum! ~at misery to cling to delusions of a substantial reality! Atone in the spaciousness of formless, concept-free pleasure. How pointless to project notions of purity and impurity Upon Kuntu Zangpo,70 who transcends all moral qualities! How guilt-ridden are those who cling to moral dualities! Atone in the spaciousness of Kunzang's pure pleasure. How exhausting to cling to notions of self and others In the sameness where superiority and inferiority cannot be! What anxiety to cling to the duality of success and failure! Atone in the spaciousness of the pure pleasure of sameness. How futile to cling to concepts of this life and the next When the Bodhisattva's mind is free of birth and dying! What anxiety lies in obsession with birth and death! Atone in the spaciousness of the deathless swastika.?l How foolish to project concepts of concrete form and substance Upon the cosmic seed that has no corners or edge~! What boredom lies in the limitations of quare and rectangles!

T HE F LIGHT

F THE GAR

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Atone in the spaciousne of the all-embra ing ph rical nucleus. How stupid it is to project notions of beginning and nd In the timeless, unchangeable dimen ion of past pre em and future! What misery lies in the duality of transformation and grad ual change! Atone in the spaciousness of unchanging past, present and future. How pointless to project causal relationships Upon Awareness, naturally arising without strain or accomplishment! What grief lies in distinguishing effort from attainment! Atone in the spaciousness of effortless spontaneity. How exhausting to ding to concepts of subject and object In Knowledge-Awareness neither eternal nor temporal! What misery to separate time from eternity! Atone in the spaciousness of Knowledge-Awareness. How futile it is to hold mental and physical pain distinct In the formless, pristine reality beyond conception! What anxiety to separate centre from circumference! Atone in the spaciousness of the immaculately real. How pointless the concepts of inside and out In the Buddha's boundless palace that has no measure! What folly to differentiate length from breadth! Atone in the spaciousness without measure or dimension.

F

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th! ' ni. n Atone in the paci un How exhausting t pr j ct noti n ut In the dharmakaya that r 01 What mi ery to distingui h 1 and ont nt ! Atone in the p cio u ne f immut ble dh rm k- ~a. How pitiful are entient bing, d Iud d and ign rant r aI'I . Conceiving fluid, forml n Man's bewildered mind-how adl In an unborn reali ty projecting noti ns f (I" and "min Failing to see the illu or enchantnl nt of ph n m nal eXIstence, He lust after po se ion and wealth; Failing to realize the in ub tanciality of am ara He clings forever to equally deluded friend nd r lati n : Mans imperceptive intellect-how adly rrand Fors~ng the value of truth , striving in unh althy a tivi , Ignonng t~e Exenlplar , injunction, beguiled by ifr 1 ant attractIons,

For~etting the imperative of self-Knowledg ,ob db Idle pleasures b elng ' How pitiful . . are sentient who have 1 t their wa T! Atone In the spaciousnes of nondi crimination.

THE FUGHT OF THE GAR

THE FLIGHT O F THE G ARUDA by Shabkar Lama Jatang Tsokdruk Rangdrol I NTROD UCTION

The rag-clad, lock-matted, mystic-minstrel hermit of the Tibetan lateau is a potent archetypal figure in the orien tal mythic imagina~on. This figure is embodied in Shabkar Lama, Tsokdruk Rangdrol, author of The Flight of the Garuda. Shabkar was not a product of a noble family producing tulkus in each generation-he was of humble origin. Lacking the advantages of a princely education, he was a scholar of the type who wrote from experience, directly from his heart. Living much of his youth in the solitude of cave and hermitage, he practised what he wrote and taught. H is biography73 is replete with stories depicting the magnanimity of a beggar, the humility of a saint without a shred of pretension or affectation, and the good humour and compassion of a man familiar with the hardship of life on the survival line. Although he was initiated into a Nyingma School lineage and order, he had little time for sectarian distinctions and took initiation and instruction from Lamas of every sect. He was a ptoduct of the great eclectic revival in eastern Tibet in the nineteenth century. Shabkar Lama was born in Rekong in Amdo in 184 1. The great Khyentse Wongpo, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro T haye and Patrul Rimpoche were his contemporaries among the great figures of the mature blooming of the Eastern Tibetan renaissance. He spent his childhood and youth in the Rekong Gompa .7 Rekong wa a monastery renowned for its yogin-tantrikas, a school of ngakpas, whose feared and respected graduates, with their unshorn hairknots roamed throughout Tibet, practising ritual magi for villag r

T H FLl

THE FLIGHT OF TH GARUDA

and teaching Tantra and Dwkchen to tho e r ady and willi ng learn. At the age of twenty Shabkar took ordination at the el to gompa of Labrang Tashi Kyil75 against hi family' will and c ukpa ntrary to the custom of Rekong students. But throughout his life he III ° tained Rekong's ethos, his appearance resembling that of a n akl nmore than that of a gelong, parncularI yd unng period of UStga. pa a1ned retreat. His preceptor at Labrang, Jamyang Gyatso, directed him the Lama who was to be his Root-Lama, a district governor and to . ' great Lama named Chokl Gyelpo Ngakl Wongpo, who lived n Kokonor Lake. Choki Gyelpo transmitted to him his principa11~ar of initiation into the mandala of Tamdrin (HayagrIva) and D l~e o. or)e Phakmo (Vajra VarahI) ,76 Tamdnn and DorJe Phakmo in yabYUlll became Shabkar's yidam, his personal deities. After initiation Shabkar spent several years in retreat, practising the preliminary techniques, the creative and fulfilment stages and Dwkchen-Cutting Through and Immediate Crossing-accordin to the Tamphak Yeshe Norbu,77 his Lama's chief practice and now hi~ own. After many more years with his Lama, during which time he received all the initiations of his lineage, he entered a further period of rigorous practice. In the middle of the Kokonor Lake, the vast Turquoise Blue Lake sacred to Avalokitesvara, is an island called Great God Heart of the Lake, Tsonying Mahadeva. Since no boat was permitted to sully the lake, the island could only be reached on foot, crossing the ice that covers the lake for a brief period each year. Yogins would provide themselves with a year's provision and isolate themselves in the perfect solitude on the island at the centre of the lake-mandala. Shabkar remained there three years practising the maha-, anu- and ati- yogas of the Tamdrin-Phakmo cycle. During his sojourn on this island Shabkar wrote The Flight ofthe Caruda. It was an early work of his genius. °

°

Shabkar was known as an incarnation of Milarepa, Tibet's Great ~ogin, and his Lama, Choki GyeJpo Ngaki Wongpo, as an incarnation of Marpa the Translator, the family yogin. Milarepa's talent in

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GARUDA _~

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· . g mystical songs extempore was shared by an d stngln . , .C h compostng h' propensity for the anchonte sine. Bur t e d so was 15 Shabkar, an h fOes of (he Tibetan ethnic world was also a wan. fi m t e nng d d yogJO ro . . °lgrimage throughout the TIbetan heartlan an amtng on pl . ' d h derer, rO . his pilgrimage WIth retreats m caves an erd punctuating . . h beyon . . ° d Arone Machen, Arodo's sacred mountatn; e s he VISl te . ' mirage , h T . Rongkhor (circumambulation of the Tsan ft med t e san per Of. . h sent a year at Gang Rimpoche, Mt. Kailash. On untatn), e p . 'd f mo. . il nmage to Labchi , to the west of Mt. Everest, it .was Sal . 0 hls P g h r he travelled he left the people establIshed tn the him thar w ereve « 1 k " d wherever he stepped he converted b ac , or tarDharma, an « . " • • Th h ° d rldlings into white, or refined, practltloner . us . e Dlshe , wo o · hi il . ° d h'IS so briquer "Shabkar"(Whlte Foot). Dunng s p . gnmalne gage, between retreats , he would continue his instruction at the feet . of Lamas of every school, particularly the Drukpa Kagyu, wIth which his own heterogenous brand of yogin-monk mix had a suong affinity. However he was also interested in the Kadampas (the school founded by Atisa and assimilated by the Gelukpas) and Tsongkhapa himself, whose great work, The Stages of the Path received sustained attention from Shabkar. Shabkar's study and practice bore fruit in his own writing. He had the gift of speed-writing. It was said that he could write a hundred pages daily. If so, he could have spent only a month or so to produce his thirteen volumes of writing, the chief of which concerned his principal practice, the Tamdrin-Phakmo cycle. Other volumes treated the Kadampa School, Bodhisattvahood, the yingma tantras. and Mafijusri, demonstrating the wide purview of hi cholae hip. Shabkar's rounded personality is evinced also by his meritorious works: the gift of a solid gold butter lamp to the great monastery of Samye; the gilding of the superstructure of the Boudhanath tupa in Kathmandu; the construction of nun1erou mona terie and t mpl in his own Amdo homelands. No antisocial, can tank rou h rmit, he had the Bodhisattva's ability to transform him elf int a re pta I °

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TH E F L~~FTH£UA~_U._ A____-----------

-------. that he used for the good of.all sentient beings. of offenngs . Shabkar lived on well into the twentieth centu~y, passmg away in rvOn the completion .of a long dis 1922 at t he age 0 f eigh ~/ one.. . ' .h' disciples, his SpIClt left hls body whtle he stIll Sat course to IS " r . ." f . h . I tus posture So passed the carefree splnt 0 the "little ' . d d . upng. t In 0 . " who , l'n many ways, In example an wor s, dId more to anc honte feed the faith and support the spiritual needs of the common peoIe than a multitude of tulkus on brocaded thrones. His spirit never ~etUmed to inhabit another body, or if it did it was in the obscurity in which the original Shabkar spent much of his «public" life. His lineage, however, proliferated. Tulshik Ri.~poche o~ T~ubten Choling in Solu, Nepal, is a contemporary praCtltlOner of hlS lmeage. This, then, is the Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol who wrote and sang The Flight ofthe Caruda. In his own judgment he was a simple, perspicacious mendicant without a care in the world. The clarity and power of the succinct, simple, exprcOo. Thereafter, as the potentialities of our experience proll'C . . . rerated . gradual widenmg of the scope of our activity the en . With the . . ' tire ga samsanc actlon emerged. Then the three emotional POI' lllUt of sons ap together with the five poisons that evolved from them th ~eared four thousand forms of passion developing from the five' . e eighty. th il tho POISons and ' so on. Smce en, unt IS very moment, we have endured th ' sure and pain of the wheel's constant revolutions. We spin e e plea. in this samsaric existence as if tied to a waterwhee1. ndlessly If you need elaboration of this topic, consult Kunkhyen Lon h ,gc enpas Treasury of the Sup reme Approach and the Dense Cloud of"p ,{; 'J rojolmd 94 Significance, among others. Now, although your Lama's profound personal instruction has made you aware of the self-deception and delusion harboured in the dark cave of your mind, you have also recognized your mind as Buddha. Y~u have encountered the original face of the Original Lord, the Adibuddha, and you know that you possess the same potential as Kuntu Zangpo. My spiritual children, contemplate this joy from the bottom of your hearts!

T Il

FLI HT

F_ H

RUO

I has innumerable ynonym . ddhah oo d . t u [o13 , 's "I", some H'tn d u c 11. 'It t h "5 e1f" ; t h e ular It 1 , rh verna: f 1 s individual"; the follow rs of Mind-only call it 1!liscip1es say , . h t" . some call 'It "Bu ddh a. ".sel - e e call it "perfect mSlg D somit the "Magniflcent Stance" (Mah-amu d ra; -) some siJ1lply "111lOd , all " ome c Way"; some cal l'It t he"C . See d" ; orne Cal -'1 nature; " 'dd! o ffilC . 1 groun d" ; call .j( [ he Nil e , uum"; some ca11 'it t h e « umversa ntin . ir [he "reality-cO , " d' ry consciousn ess. " 95 Since t h e synonym 0 f 11 It Of lll a . r h ' some ca bI apply to it, are countless, know It ror w at it . d " he la e s we "mLn , t . xperientially as the here and now. Compose . KnoW It e really 15 .. h t ral state of your mind's nature. elf In t e na u yours ind is ordinary perception, naked and unadorned;

When at rest them' recdy at it there , . b l' h IS nothIng to see ut Ig t; di

as

h n yOU gaze weI d 96 it is brilliance and the relaxed vigilance of the awakKnow e ge, . . , full .' . . othing speclfic whatsoever, it IS a secret ness, it IS ened state, as n . . y of nondual radiance and empnness. the u1nmac

It is not eternal, for nothing whatsoever abo ut it has been proved t~ exist. It is not a void, for there is brilliance and wakefulness. It IS not unity, for multiplicity is self-evident in perception. It is not multiplicity, for we know the one taste of unity. It is not an external function, for Knowledge is intrinsic to immed iate reality.

Such is my introduction initiating certain recognition of delusion.

SONG SIX: INITIATION INTO OUR TRUE EXISTENTIAL CONDITION

EHMAHO! Again, beloved children of my heart, listen! "Mind,' this universal concept, this most significant of words, being no single entity, manifests as the gamut of pleasure and pain in sam sara and nirvana. There are as many beliefs about it as there are approaches

In the immediate here and now we see the face of the Original Lord abiding in the heart centre. Identify yourself with him, my spiritual sons. Whoever denies him, wanting more from somewhere el e is like the man who has found his elephant but continues to follow it tracks. He may comb the three d imensio n s of the microco mic world systems for an eternity, but he will not find so much a - th name of Buddha other than the one in h is h eart.

- - - - - HE --

UGHT _O F TH _ E GARtJ DA

--

THE

Such is my introduction initiating recog , , 'al .. ., nttlon of tl condition, whiCh IS the principal real" lZatton i OUr true ex' to the Great Perfection.97 nUtting 1'LIsten,

I lro~

SONG SEVEN: ASSERTION OF INTRINSIC BUD

BABOO

EHMAHO! Once more listen attentive! D daughters. The three modes of Buddha's ~' .my noble Qns eIng-ess a~~ . an d responsIveness-and the five modes of beIng, ' ence, nat\) as well It aspects of primal awareness are aU completed and as thefite naturally luminous intrinsic knowledge of the h perfected in ~t ere and now, The essence of Knowledge, indefinable by any t erm such shape or other attribute, is the dharmakaya' th . h as coloul, , e In erent d' of emptiness is the light of the sambhogakaya; and h ora lance medium in which all things manifest is the n irm-af.1i:lKaya, _I_t:: e unlmpede~ The three modes are explained figuratively like thOIS.. t h e dharmaka ' . IS a crystal . mIrror; the sambhogakaya is its nature- bn'II'lant clarity,ya and the ' W h'lCh tne L' . mrma.f.1akaya is the unobstructed m ed ium ill refl ectlOn appears. •

Fr~m the first, people's minds have existed as these three modes of

bemg. If they are able to recognize this spontaneo usly, it is unneces· sary for them to practise even so much as a moment of formal med" itation- the awakening to Buddhahood is instantaneous. In this introduction to the three modes they are defined separately, In truth, my heart-children, do not fall into the error of believin~ them to be separate, belonging to differen t contin uums. from the beginning, the three modes of being are empty and utter' ly pure. Un d erstanding them as a single essen ce that is the union of

·,.. ..,ce an d

emprine

$,

Fu ,rl' OF TH E GARUDA

conduct y ur elf in a tate of detachment,

d

f a J .....

" d of c sence, nature and re p n iven $ , again correspond The rna akaya, sam. bh gak-aya an d nt' rma~a - kay . Under tanding m r rO dha e as the my tl"C un ion 0 f em ptln ' and radian conduct ~~ t~ h yOU

rse

If"n a state of detachment.

,

1

since the prim al awarenes 0 elf-cxi d ng Knowledge Furt her" . , ifests everythlOg what oever, thl awarenc 1 the pure-b ing')8 :ra~he Creator, Vairo~ana; inc it i un~hanging nd unch ngeable, it is the pure-bemg of Immutable D Iamond, A~obhy -vaj r ; since it is without centre or circu mferene , it i the pure-being of Boundless Light-form, Amitabha; inee it i also the gem that is the source of suprem e realization and relative powers, it i the pure-being of the ~ou~tai~ o.f Jewel , Rat~ a ambhava; in e it accomplishes all aspuanon It 1 the pure-bemg f the Fulfiller f All Ambition, Amoghasiddhi. T he e deitie are nothing but the creative power of Knowledge.99 The primal awareness of Knowledge i mirror-like awarene s becau e of the manifest clarity of its unob tructed es ence. It i awarene of sameness because it is all-pervasive. It i di criminating awarene because the entire gamut of diver e appearances i manifi t from it creativity. It is the awareness that accompli he all action beeau e it fulfils all our ambition. It is awarene of the reality-continuum, the dharmadhatu, because th e single essence of all the e a peer of awareness is primal purity. Not so much as an atom exi t apart from these, which are the creativity of intrinsic knowledge. When a pointed finger introduce you directly and immediately to the three modes-essence, nature and responsivene - and the Five Buddhas and the five aspects of awareness, all together, then what is experienced is b rilliant, awakened Knowledg unaffe ted

b

.

1 HE}i -----LIGHT OF THE G ARUDA

Y CIrCumstance and . f1 . f unln uen d b ' tlon 0 the here and ce y clInging th h' now, unstructured and oug t; it is Co ' unaffected gOl. All the Buddhas of th th ' 1d e ree aspects f ' e ge. Constantly identify 1 0 t1~e arise from thi 1'". d h yourse ves w h ' S!~ow aug ters, because this is th " , It It, beloved Son . e SPIrItUalIty f all sand h tree aspects of time . too 0 the BUddhas 0 f the Knowledge is the unstructured natural d' , r a lance of so h ow can you say that you h your own mind . cannot see t e Buddh ~ Th ' ' Ing at all to meditate upon in I't h a. ere IS noth· . . ,so ow can you co I' h ltatton does not arise? It is man' fc Kn 1 d mp am t at med· h 1 est ow e ge, your own mind can you say that you cannot find it? It is a stream of unce ',so ra Iant wakeful~ess, the face of your mind, so how can you say~~:~ you cannot ~ee It? There is not so much as a moment of work to be done to attaIn .it, so how can you say that your effort is unavailing? Centred and dIspersed states are two sides of the same coin, so how can you say that your mind is never centred? Intrinsic knowledge is the. spont~neously originated three modes of being, which is achIeved WIthout striving, so how can you say that your practice fails to accomplish it? It is enough to leave the mind in a state of nonaction, so how can you say that you are incapable of attaining it? Your thoughts are released at the moment of their inception, so how can you say that the antidotes were ineffective? It is cognition of the here and now, so how can you say you do not perceive it?

:v:

SONG EIGHT: THE METHOD OF ATTAINING CONVICTION

!.. HMAHO! Once again, beloved sons and daughters, listen with devo tion ! "Mind in its insubstantiality is like the sky." Is this true or faJ ~e, my children? Confirm it by relaxing completely and loo~ng d irectly at the mind, gazing with your entire mind, free of all tenSIOn,

------

T HE FL~ 2F.!!:IE ~A~UDA -

-- -

.- - -

-

-

f hind is not just a blank nothingness, for .ne ss 0 t e m . kn 1 dg "The eJ11ptl . . h primal awareness of intrins1c ow e e, bt 1t 1S te d' . 1'k 'tho ut dau Co S If-existent, natural ra lance 1S 1 e sunWI c. m the Ilrst. e , 1 ki diane rfO . d ( 'T'o confirm 1t, relax completely, 00 ng ra h' 1ndee true. 11 " Is t 1S light. h ature of your mind. directly at ten doubt that it is impossible to objectify or grasp "There 1S n t of memory. This capricious, changeable ht or the movemen 'T' fi ' thoug "k h mic wind!" Is this indeed so? 10 con rm 1t, ement 1S it e t e cos f' d moV 1 1 I king directly at the nature 0 your mm . relax camp ete y, 00 .

0

. d b all appearances whatsoever are our own manifesta"Without Oll t . .' fl' . , All h ena whatsoever manIfests, 1S like re ectlon 1n a tlon P enom , 1 1 ki , ' "I th's 'l ndeed so~ To confirm it, relax complete y, 00 ng mlffor. s 1 . directly at the nature of your mind. No experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is nothing to see other than that seen at the moment of ~ision. ~o experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so ~here 1S, nothmg to meditate upon other than mind. No experience IS poss1ble an~­ where but in the mind, so there is nothing to do other than what 1 done in the mind. No experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is no samaya to be sustained outside the mind. No experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is no goal to be reached that is not in the mind. Look, look, and look again. Look at Y9ur own mind! Project your attention into external fields of pace, and att nti\' ly watc~ing the nature of your mind, see if it mov ,Wh n , ou are convlllced by 0 bservatlon . that the mind does not move, r tra t your attention and concentrate upon the mind within, and 1 k ~ r full · y

fc

------

'Di~E!:IGl-ITOF THE G ~- ~DDA

Or th~ projector of diffused h - __________ there IS n ' t ought \\7h o ent1ty responsible fc . en you have d ' the colour and shape of the ,ordthought patterns look e Ided that th h mIn . Wh 'earen.lil at . as no colour or shape 1 k en you arrive at the e ~ for CertaJn that middl d ' . 00 for a centre 0 ' tnPtlness e an marglll ar h r ClrcUlllfer and an outside. Finding no d" ~ t e same, search for an ,en:e, . IStInctlOn b . Inside you arnve at Knowledge h' h ' etween Inside and ' ,w lC IS as vast as the sky. OUtside,

"By virtue of its all-penetrating freedom th'

centre or circumference, no inside 0 ,IS ~~wledge that has no tiality and knows no blocks or b .r OUtTslhd.e, IS Innocent of all par. kn arners. IS all-p ", SIC owl edge is a vast expanse f All e~etratmg mtnnd' '. 0 space. expenence of an n. Irvana anses In it like rainbows in the sky. I all' sdi~sara . It " IS but a play of mind.» . n Its verse m anI'fcestatlon

~u

need only look out from the motionless space of intrinsic . owledge at all experience, illusory like the reflection. of the moon In water ' 'b'l' f dIvldmg ' .. . ' to know th e Impossl 1 Ity 0 appearances from emptIness. "In a state of Knowledge there is no separation of samsara and nirvana." Look out from the motionless space of intrinsic knowledge at all experience, illusory like the reflection in a mirror, and no marter what manifests it can never be tasted, its existence can never be proved. In this dimension samsara and nirvana do not exist and everything is the dharmakaya.

All beings wandering in the three realms of samsara remain trapped in dualism until they realize that within their own 'perception re id th e primal awareness that is the ultimate identity of all experience of samsara and nirvana. Due to the power of the delusive subject/object djchotomy, they hold samsara and nirvana to be different states of

THE FUGHT OF THE _ ARUDA

. d because, where in truth there is nondualmalO boun ,Od They re nll ' see a duality. it}', [hey . b etween samsara and nirvana can exist in · ' non d when the worldly fool reject some In reality no , lsnnc d Howeve r, d ul ' . body's mtn· . h s avoiding the "bad" an c tlvanng Y all d ' dulges m ot er , 'al' things an 10 . ' hile loving anomer, then due to part! 1" desplstng one w . l' the "gOO d, . ' 1 ly he wanders through suc esSlve Ives. , dice and blas, alm ess ty, preJu

. h ontaneously accomplished three modes of Rather than attaldn t ~thsp t suiving, thick-headed aspirants explore h d f « If . ' knowle ge Wi ou intrinSIC f time-consuming met 0 s 0 seh 'ques and stages 0 many ddh the tec 01 " 1 . them no time to reach the seat of the Bu a. improvement, eavmg

, . 11 all phenomenal appearances wha.t oever are one "Emp hatlca y, f . 1 . 'n ic " "\01 Look out from the state 0 motion e s lntn own VlSlon. . . l'k fl kid d all light-form and animate eXIstenCe IS 1 e re ecnowe ge an d . pty and indeed one' own tion. Appearances are empty, soun 1 em nature is originally empty.

, '1 . , d t the mind that is the viewer, Simi arly, turn your attention Inwar 0 b 'd' pty like the and your thought processes, natur ally su SI mg, are em . sky, unstructured, free of conceptual elaboration, utterly l~deter­ minable, beyond description, concept and expression of any kind. All events whatsoever are an illusory magical di play of mind and all the magical display of mind is baseless and empty. When you have realized that all events are your own mind, all visual app arance become the empty dharmakaya.

~pearances are not binding. It is

through attachment to th m th t betngs are fettered. Sever all delusive attachm nts, children of m heart! T

--- ---SONG NINE: MIST, DREAM AND OPTICAL ILLU I N

EHMAHO. ! Best beloved, fearless sons and daughte ' rs, WItI applying the spur, the horse will not gallop; without th lOUt churning, the butter will not separate; without detailed ex 1orOl~gh you will not be convinced of my meaning. So while I sin p anatlo n but lyrical songs, listen in comfort, relaxed, without droop~ my long lUg ears! Until you perceive all appearances as mind you will never rear . 0 f emptIness. . 'T' c '1 ' h' lze the meanIng 10 faci Itate t IS understand ' lUg, you favoured children must apply yourselves fully to a diligen al' · t an YS1S h FIrstly, where do appearances co an d t h orough searc. c me HOm) Secondly, where are they now? Lastly, where do they go? ' During your ~xamination you will see that just as mist arises out of t~e sky and dIsso~ves ba.c~ in~o the sky, appearances are the magical display of your mmd, ans111g 111 the mind and vanishing back into it.

THE FLlGJ:1T OF T H E GARUDA

.

, parable app In se

,

earance an d em ptmcss.

we may dream of our native country our parental . . . our s1eC P Now,1O d relatives or fnend , as tf they were actually pre ent, aD our . . ho[1le, fl' ate strong feelIng may anse. Although our family approp an d a~ d not actually present and we hav not stirred an inch fJ leD s are and r b ds we may experience a face-to-face encounter with . our e , . ' . fro[1l f h arne vivid intensIty as 111 the waking state, (he[1l 0 ( e s sensual experience of our live is an experi nce imia l ight's dream. Just as we attach label to dream entitie , lar to ast n . .. . 'fyin and clinging to them as substantial enntle , so app arobJectl godified and appre hen dedby ffim ' d'lD the waki ng state. m ances are way that dreams have no substance, 0 the figment of In t he same . d, all appearances whatsoever, are also empty. [ emm

E ch an d every

h

SONG TEN: THE MIND- REATED UN[VERSE

EHMAHO! Only children of my heart, most well-beloved! All :rake.as an example the shimmering effect seen by a man with an Impaired sense of vision . . . when he gazes ahead . Altho ugh t h e sh'Immenn~ ap?ears to eXIst 111 front of his eyes, nothing is there- it is an Optical Illusion. In the same way: when al C • .. ' ment fUnctIOns are impaired by negative propensIties that cause d' . mgmg to apparently external objects as eli crete and substantial en . . h . . titles, t en VISUal and auditory phenomena af~ear to eX1I.st where not so much as an atom can be proved to have u tlmate rea Ity. Everything is a figment of the mind.

All these figments of . d

b l' h mm are aseless and empty. They are non. eXIstent Ig t-forms a .. f1 . f h ,ppantlon and magical illusion, like the re ectIOn 0 t e moon in C . f water. ompose yourself in the realI ty 0

appearances are indeterminate an d equivocal, so much

0

that what

some can see, others cannot. Further, regarding the sentient beings of this world, some conceive of the world as earth, some conceive of the world as fire; orne conceive of the world as wealth and some conceive of the world as suffering. Some sentient beings conceive of water as water, orne conceive of water as fire, some conceive of water as nectar; orne conceive of water as their home, while others conceive of water as arth. Some sentient beings conceive of fire as fi re, some conc ive of fue as wealth; some conceive of fi re as their home, while oth r conceive of fire as food.

'Otl' 1t1lnS I ' 'O

, P:l

. n " I V 0 f' ~pa " :ts spa " 80m a" t1:1 II' . I101 J '1 11 ,W li e orh 'rs (on c.:i 'of ,' ' l ( :,

rl hll ) insofu :1 ' ' < , s nppt'ttran S 'I r' ]IIi 0 nt rh " PP ' t lH 11 h (h r I . " . r ;l~ th I c t.; pow ro t 1 karll1i fl' 'Ii irilS of rhe 1) " to n ur cl t r I 'r '11 n1. nts d . cht: r Uf J I1l " ll tS:11' hUt n p . 't' c

,

r

'pti

11

'.

ther b'in rsl walth, Or ,

Lik wise th fir - ' cis f fir' of j( ,s f od.

with b()cii
U

Com ment on the

' ry C ause·

mtah Realization of t e

~ne

no cause or conclUSIOn

. . . . of uni{j'. There . cause is reahzatton f a binh.... . the accomplishment 0

OIen r on Sacre G h manrra is inruitive realization of c om J0 rhe final devent hU yasacred letters being the door to the tree Btlddhahoo. . In rhe final event the sponraneity of complere is complere liberation. "A" is the Body. Speech. . . . "0" is the door of manifest miracf non-ongmano , door of nonduality, door 0 U , «OM" J'Snthe lous i uSJO n ) u . ediate Reai'lzatlOn: eot on Imm , , , Com m d' ealization is the direct, ImmedIate power " ' imme late168r There is no other ImmedIacy, DIrect, , 'h Further, ffect mSIg t, " 0 per that gold is tested by meltIng, Cutung an d the ' h ed. By 10 . same heway value of realization should be estabIts . .t discovers weer rubbmg, h th or not a met aI .IS go ld ; by meltIng It one . . . e ascertains whether or n ot a metal Contarns cuttmg . d' dIt bonrubbing it on a black stone one tests the quahty of gold.YAccordingly, if ones . arma IS golthe, an ' dh " m h armony.wI. th . al transmission, there IS. In general, no error In It: scnpruf this test of dharma is similar to the proof of gold by melting . In scriptural transmission there is no explanation of the It· , and because it is difficult to extract the meaning of words the words of a realized mind from th e root texts and to h' " n1 h h ' h understand t eir meanmg, It IS 0 Y w en t ere IS no confliet with the Lama's secret instruction t at defects revealed thereby are removed: this test of dharma is similar to the test of gold by cutting it. In the same way, although there may be no conflict with transmission or with the Lama's instruction till the words may be mere sound, an d 1'f no proIOun L d s expe-

liber:;~ind

rience is transmitted, reliance upon the words of scrI'ptural

~mission and instruction should be abandoned altogeth-

~

In favour of profound confidence and immediate realizanon, and dwhich £ can th be depended upon to remove obs uratI' n, e eces:

as,l: -~~---~~----'----o

is test of dharma is similar to the t

_ __

~

__

L~-'1-.

t

f" I

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

TH E FLIGHT OF T H E G ARV DA

---

-

-

-

---------

by rubbing it on a black Stone. T his imm diacy lti t c . cIden~ with dIscnmInatIng perfect insight, and wh n ?I~actualIzed through the power of yoga, it is th goal ' It I It elf. Rongzom Pandita has defin ed the fOu r realizatio ground and the three components (cognition, applican . as the , , , fr uitIOn) as the means, But agaIn we cannot strive to pract'tlon Iand . The Flight of the ISe t lese three elements: as Shabkar Lama says In Garuda it is the paradox of "concentrating on something quite specific': th at is indetermi n ate, T h ese elemen ts originate spontaneo usl thro ugh transmission or initiatory experience or they do nOt aris~ at all. Even the application component must arise Spontaneously in a constant stream, The three principles (contingent effect, the imperative and categorical imperative) demonstrate the necessity of th e three components, Then the four degrees, two of approach and two of accomplishment, in Rongzom's analysis are the fruition of the three components as skilful means with the intuitive realization and confidence of Knowledge as the ground. T he terms "approach" and "accomplishment"1 69 belong to m~ay~ga, where t~ey.are used d 'b he entire process of visuallZatlOn and recltanon, and to escn e t ' h " h" lfl t e yoga: approac then m o re speC!'fiICally to define success " " ' can 1 'ty in invocation of the deity, and accomrefers to p rogressIve " , . h " t o t h e process of l' dentIficatlOn with the deny. In P IS men t' exp 1anatio ' n 170 assumption of mahayoga practice. is R ongzom '1 " bs " s t ill c ear t h at 'In atiyoga there is no progressIve . implIcIt, ut It IS ' H' alysis of Sublime Accompllshth h practlce, IS an h development t roug, h f h root text. These are e tiC than t at 0 t e l ment is more systema f 0 k hen that are spontan ous y ects, 0 zo c .. al h th ree groups, or tree as P C' ' ht and bodhlcma; m e 'lful pen ect Inslg . d accomplished: skI means, e r and sister emanations; an d female con sorts and broth l'b ation, desirelessness and an d f complete I er emptiness- the oor 0

r

ignlessn ess. , of demon-spirits. e then treats t he> su ppresslO n

_ ' INSTRUC rIO N IN A G~~P..9 F VI ..!.O N_ _ ~_ Sf:.CRE~

£che Four D emon-spirits in "Sublime Accomplishment": vestrUction 0 h of the various bodies of root texts describes a In general, . t pecl~fiac IC method of vanquishing the demons, Here the vanan s , Ives the four degrees of approach and accomhod lllVO " h" h f met Accordingly, in approac t e component 0 pljsh~,ent. nition [or Bodhisattva-cognition] destroys the b dhlCJtta-cog 'h dh' f ", o L rd of Death WIth t e sarna 1 0 non-ongmauon; demon of divine self-identifica_ ,, . "dose 0app roach" the component" 10 WIth maya-vlslOn ' n destroys the demon . of embodIment » (10 dhi' in "accomplIshment the compo nen t of Femalesama 'eneration destroys the demon of passion with the Consort g d ' " bl ' I' h ' th e arom-Iiree samadhi; an III su Ime accomp IS ment onent of means and insight in tandem destroys the comp ' di " WIth the Sarnadh'1 that " prl' nce's obstructlve stractlOns , dIvme IS. co-extensive with non-referential space, the mode of the Great ' all ~ the ultimate accompl ishment, Fm , ' n, is described in terms of Its mandala (p,192), This is a PerfeetlO , , mandala quite different from yantras, the sym metncal de Igns of coloured powder or the three dimensional palaces of the lower vehicles, and no initiation followed by siddhi-gen erating practice i involved, Shabkar Lama's description in Song Twenty-one is an excdlent metaphor for a mandala whose fo rm is the universe, the six enes giving it six dimensions, The "stages o f initiation' into thi Dzokchen mandala are coincident, but Rongzom Pandita enlarge upon the method as if hearing, contemplation and meditation are serial events, This should not detract from the essential fact that ntn-

~d ...mation are one hundred percent dependent upon the piritu~ IiIend who transmits the rOOUext and the vital ini tia tory e.'p ri n e. CorullUcting the Ultimate Dzokchen Mandala:

£ony [into the Dzokchen Mandala] i a hi ' d b • man' f

THE FLIGHT

OF THE GARUDA

the Three Secrets [OM AH HUNG] F h . . . un er, fro a1 fr d ' tu len who IS an unernng exemplar of th _1ll. a spiri_ 1· - first Isten to th e reading of the root texts with he lhahaYana, . h . h t e perfe . In erent In earing, and the mandala' ct Insight S '. . IS revealed econdly, l~t~1tmg the meaning [of what is heard to You. the perfect mSlght of contemplation vou se th ) through • J e e lhandal recogmze the absolutely specific nature Df th d" a and Th ' dl e IVltle b . If y, having realized the nature of the m dal etng. I . an a thro con temp arIon, accustom yourself to const . ugh . . an t reahza . th rough the perfect mSIght of meditation, and en . tlO n . mltlatlon . '" man da! a you attatn and empowerment Utenng the · you attatn . the Great Siddhi. . pon entry an d actual · lZatlon o

CCThe G reat Assembly of Sacred Letter Wheels" (P.192) This name , given in Dzo kchen to the thirteenth stage of the Bodhisattva's path, is fraught with all the mystique of Tantra. In the mahayana, the highest level, which is that of the Buddha and counted as the tenth level, is called "Universal Light," and both names refer to the same reality. In short, the "great assembly of sacred letter wheels" consists of the infin ite n um ber of absolutely specific events that constitute the ~zokche~( man~ala'"each event being, and at the same time symbolIzed by, a letter or compound letter." Rongzom again:] ?! The level of the great assembly of sacred letter wheels: this ~s spontaneous accomplishment as a great assembly of expenent!'a1 man dalas that are the consummation of the'fitwo types f fc immaculate form and that of some speC! 1C appearo ormthat define the attributes of the spontaance I . , ted mandala of Awareness and AttrIbute. h n eous y ongina

effortle~s,

h

ature of sacred letters, or even t e

But t his does not tell us t e n . f "letters" is one of the deepest nature of th e alphabet . The m eaning 0 J76

INSTRU SECRST__ -

_---.-::c--

~~ D~O~F~V ~IS~]~ ON ~_________ CTI"~~~A~G 9 N IN ~~~ .

b' th at only intuition can elucIdate, d a su Ject h' . tra ren.es a fTan ., an pable 0 f an alyzing objectively w at dIS at H Jts mYS . te11ect is mca f; h eyes to look into the hea . ere for the lD I is impossible or t e own root. t ceptUal'd al s.. e con f . h are sam alogue of the facets 0 empuness, t e Sacred letters are ~ anal patterns of primal awareness. In the . .es d functIon . qualm ayanthat Ie t t give form to the content of expreSSiOn, ers. . same W rent 0 f a 11 experience gIves form to emp ti ness. the con.IS never separate from form, and meaning is n ever Emptiness . from syllables. separate th e Letters are the most rudimentary form of expression, _ first leve1 0 f m anifestation out of the . dharmakaya. As 1such, L al oint of creative energy IS represented by a etter. each 10C P f ' h' :I: · 1etter represents the face t 0 emptmess t at IS manu estThIS d in a specific centre. e Insofar as these letters represent the most basic level of manifestation they are themselves nodal points o f power and awareness. It is a m istake to conceive of them as m ere symbols, or, indeed, even as intensely potent symbols. We are conditioned to treat letters as a convenient graphic mode of expression. In the tantric view the alphabet is n o t m erely a mechanical aid to speech and memory. T he soun d and the form arise simultaneously, and because t h e letter is more definite it is more miraculous. The neologism "gnoseme" has been coined to express the specific wonder and m ystery of mystic letters or seed-sylla-

bles. The word "g~oseme" coul~ mean "a graphic particle of gnostIc awareness, w here gnostic awaren ess is the cooniu' ~

fu'

f

b

\e

nctlon 0 emptiness. Thus gnosemes are graphic parti Ie. or hologlyphs, of emptiness.

I~ this Dzokchen COntext, gnosemes are introdu

ed a an app r"Ph", mechanism that allows insight into and create,

ntJ.

177

•

CI.f'

I'fI}:

r

A_

In the self . . ~UDA T' -eXIStent D k lbetan or Sanskrit s Zo chen mandala S or Greek 'f h yllabl es in Ou c . houl d w ,1 t ese I r lOCal· e exp jng if We are i anguages have sacred POInts of ener eq to See ultimately

m

im~~~::~alt of these alphabets~:inhg? Do w~'s:: Latin

1 ,mere1 e s ape f nOth ystery, the potency and h y repreSentational 1h 0 the letter " complex, dense and . t e potential that man: r ~ wonder thIS varIegated h !test" e Words, words sentences and s apes and colours as l~ Increasingly the three realms th all .s~ntences strings of ,tters beconle ' ese resld111' th meanIngs d l' Th us gnosemes ar g 111 e fact of bein . enning t b e transcendental . g manIfest o e categorized as riipakh expenences and the . realm of name and t aya p enomena. Words b I yare nOt Th' orm, gnosemes b 1 e ong to the e relatIve shape of gnosemes i d' e ong to pure-being (kii.1Jf/) As· n lCates conce al d' J' , Our text Informs us OM . d' ptu Ifferentiation c th· ' I n lCates the nirm - ak" ates . e sambhogakaya and HUNG the ~ aya, AH IIldi· ferentIation may already ha .1d ~armakaya,' .and this dif· ve mlS e us 111 to C h tree kayas as different ent" Th OnCelVIng of these lt1es. e pure fact of b' f gnosemes is limited by the d" '. eIng 0 these lst111ctlOns 111troduced by the various . h . . . d' s h apes. t e cruCIal nub IS th ". e sameness 111 lcated by generic letter, an~ the dlstInct1~n is the diaphanous gossamer screen giving the radIance of dear lIght some definition and specificity.

The Warning (p.193) Warning of the dangers of Dzokchen practice is usually included in texts of Dzokchen instruction. In the Garland of Vision Padilla Sambhava's warning is to the preceptor rather than the stu~e~r: "The preceptor should not initiate the many students who fa.t! I:: thjs preliminary work (in the lower vehicles) and prove unw~rt~Y' . . I .h h ssary perspIcaCIty, Immature disciples, or dlSClP es WIt out t e nece c. I, . k h though they are llfm} attempting to practice Dzo c en, even bl _makers · 1 n become trou e based in practice of the 1ower veh lC es, ca . ral due co . . f dharma 111 gene ~Jnd arc likely to form a negatIve VIew 0 178

, ucn oN IN A GA "T INS1R

S£CRE~

RLAND

F VISION

-

.• very different .. ar dons. ThiS IS a . brain the intultlve re lza Sh bkar Lama'S injun Ctlon heir failure to 0 k hen's dangers from a S him and turn r roach to Dzo c f he demon that can posses apP in beware 0 t t (he yog . . I . na black magICIan. ,

hirn lOto a

. . m (p.195) Non_AscettctS

h "Unsurpassable the passage on t . e It may not be clea~. r~~ne involved in no-discipline is the most Asceticism" that the ISCIP h . has gained some control d' ng Once t e yoglO h . rigorouS and d eman.l d' h h discipline of any kind, whet er It h b dy and mm over teO . t roug k . - ga will-power is d eve 1ope d . If r be football, gymnastlcs °h rzyda-yo ·'nation will be equally strong . . n is strong t en eterrnl fd . the mot!vatlO h' '11 be capable of superior feats 0 iSCld h human mac me WI h b : ndurance and .. the hero or the super-achIever, the yOgi on hIS 1 1 f ScottS and Shackletons of the mundane world. ~hatever eve 0 Dzokchen discipline is considered-physical, ethlCal or m~ntal­ one central precept governs action of body, speec~ and mlOd:. no indulgence or abstinence, no judgment or evaluatlon, no ~ultlv~­ tion or rejection. This does not mean that the personality Will remain the same under Dzokchen discipline, and neither does it mean that it will change. It is an eccentricity to judge and condemn one's own vices, just as it is to cultivate one's virtues: they are to be left alone. Cultivation of virtue is something that has been perfected in the lower approaches to Buddhahood. The preceptor should not give Dzokchen precepts to a student whose accumulation of virtuous qualities is unfinished. In Dzokchen·, "Let it be" is the watchword. On the mental level the discipline is the same: the s~madhi of universal identity is not attained by mental discrimination of any kind. If a silent mind has been cultivated . h d' . l' 11 10 anot er ISCIP me, a the better, but in Dzokchen it is of ffi . d . no greater e lcah cy t an a mm that 1S constantly chattering Th'l . . e SI ent mind i no f

;~in:,

acc~mplishment Dzok~h:~s o~o~a:~s~~rt th~

179

1

tiE flIGHT OF T liE GAR

cIoser to Dzok h UOA Ob c en aCcom h -----, viousl y nothin P IS ment than the ~ att pltne-physi a1 g can be said in ch rer. d' c ,moral terms of Iscipline. So here w or mental-that is r I Con" ntional d' , h e may h . d' e e"an ISCI w atever may be said' ave ,lscovered an i t to Dzokch . ?n Dzokchen conduct l~ conventional moral te;::on ant indi at~; lstic analysis is is a nondua] no beari'g P to posit an antithetical- 0 Uctlve. Whenever the te lOe, ~nd du~. bl extreme as an 'd mptatton ' pro em, forget it. The middl antI Ote to a moral Or anses any form of dichotomy; thee-::~d~:nnot be approached t~~:t~ extreme whatsoever the ml'ddl -way passes through g . d ' e-way auto . al every Ism an polarities; the middle-wa is mattc Iy resolves all du~. analysis. Look for the source f Y be!o~d dualistic thought and 0 t h e untfYmg P d a1 rea dy e' raIled to find it W: . d OWer an you have . ant It, an you have I k d trap firom which desirele . h oc e yourself in a . ssness IS t e only way B d OUt. ut esire d eSlrelessness and the d 1m , ar ess grows deeper Thinkin b . you are caught' . g a out It In counter-productive dualistic analysis' b t " to think b ' ' u ceasing , a out It, you are at the mercy of passionate reaction. 0 wha~ IS the answer? The True Lama and initiatory experience. FInally, then, we are back to intuitive realization of sustaining grace. As the text stresses, there are many sources of sustaining grace, but through experience the blessing of the Lama is the rno [ accessible, certain and potent. The Garland of Vision does not emphasize the role of the Lama, but in The Flight of the Garudll Shabkar Lama's explicit remarks and his implications are clear: the Lama is the source of transmission and initiation, and when in

r

counte~ rZ~kch~n

doubt take refuge in him.

disc:p~as

A GARLAND OF VISION: 172 . nt;T INSTRUCTION ,IN SECIU'

A SPECIAl.

AID TO V[ TON

NO V EHICLE

CONDENSED M EM RY

Homage to M

afiiusrikumarabhuta and Vajradharma! :J

I. MtJNDANE VISION

,. of sentient beings in the mundane . ble errant VISiOns d ' The IOnumera d d four broadly inclusive heads: he on1Sh e are subsume un er .' . , sp e~. h'" .on nihilistic vision and eternahstlc VlSlon. tic VlSlon, at elSUC VIS I , 1. The Hedonist The hedonist fails to realize that all events have a cause and an

effect. He is totally confused, 2. The Atheist Blind to past and future lives, the atheist strives for power and wealth in this single lifetime. He depends upon intrigue.

3. The Nihilist The nihilist i convinced that there is no causal relationship between events. In his rejectionist view he sees everything that happens to him in this lifetime as adventitiously arisen chance events that vanish into the void. In the end, death is ultimate cessation.

4. The Eternalist The eternalist filters all eve n t s th rough h'1S creative , .lmaglnatiOn, , , . . percelvmg an eternal so u1. 'vanous T' 1y, eternallst ' see th oul as . h avmg a cause but no f~ e ect, an effect but no cause, and a lRO

181

,

"'l' I NSTrW( ~ II()

N IN A

(~Ald.A

V Or VJ in Bh utan, G u ru Chowong di co ered a major cache.

bKa' brgyad bsang ba yongs rdzogs and the 'Khor ba dong sprugs which includes the bKa' brgyad drag po l"ang byung ba'i zhi khro narag skong bzhags gyi cho gao 63. Nyams chag sdig sgrib tharns cad bshags pa'i rgyal po na rau dorw sprugs is the full title. 64. ~uh!amantra: "secret mantra" language has the power of manife t -

62.

109 l~S actuality when recited under optimal conditions. This text provides a fine example of mantric lanauaae, its m aning realiz d I:> I:> 1 d sp.ontaneo~s y an automatically wh n repeated bv the sadha -,a with devouon and attention. . 65. rTsa ba'i dam tshig dang dam t. h' an La . tg'y g ny' shu tS(lln a. 66. The T ibetan verb a pplied to'5 tht process is sgroi btl. at nc "t 20 1

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No-rES_ _- - - - - - - - - -

THE

------

!-RUDA

rele- se" nd "t kill." (7.

.

)


,

yog~yiinas. d' I ur int rm di ce, n dir nd '/. nid ' {en directions: four r tn , ,. f h Sodhi