Introduction to Mahamudra Meditation #1
by HH Shamar Rinpoche

A teaching given by His Holiness Shamar Rinpoche at KKBC, Singapore, on 22 Jan 2001

Here in Singapore you do a lot of Chenrezig practice. The Mahamudra meditation can be combined with the Chenrezig practice. It is called the Mahamudra and Maha Ati joint practice. There is a particular lineage that combines the Mahamudra and the Chenrezig practice together. I will teach some of it today so that you will be able to practise both together.

Generally, in Vajrayana practice the visualisation of a deity is used as a means of purification. We can use this as a way to attain enlightenment during this lifetime. In English, this is called the accomplishment stage: after the deity is absorbed into you, you try to focus on the nature of mind. This meditation can influence what will happen at the moment of death: when you die, you will become enlightened at once. Mahamudra and Maha Ati practice are one and the same. When combined with the Chenrezig practice, the Mahamudra meditation will have an effect on your death, whereas the Chenrezig practice will have an effect on your life. Consequently, if you practice both together, and if you practice diligently between now and the time you reach the bardo, you may be able to reach enlightenment within the bardo. (The Bardo is the intermediate state after death).

There are two stages in Vajrayana practice: first the development stage and then the accomplishment or absorption stage.

The practice of the development stage will purify birth in the samsara. The absorption practice will purify death. After both the causes of birth and death are purified, everything will be purified and one will be enlightened.

Through visualizing Chenrezig, one's mind slowly becomes purified. As a result, it will no longer be reborn in the samsara. Unlike one's body or one's life, the manifestation of Chenrezig does not arise from a dualistic mind, negative karma, emotion, or from the ego. It springs from compassion and is aimed at liberating all sentient beings. In this way, we can say that one (manifestation of Chenrezig) is the method and the other (one's body or one's life) is the target.

After the Chenrezig manifestation that you have created in your meditation has been absorbed into you, you yourself disappear, and only then do you go on to Mahamudra meditation.

In order to do the Mahamudra meditation properly, one should know about the nature of mind. Mind is neither form nor material. Neither does it exist as some kind of physical body. Mind is a continuous flow of thought patterns. Thoughts arise, disappear and follow one another in rapid succession. One thought leads to another. The origin of thoughts lies in the mind. Thoughts constitute the illusory aspect of the mind.

Thoughts are countless, they flow just like water down a river, every new instant brings along new water. With the mind, every new instant brings along new thoughts.

On the surface, all our thoughts are different, but in nature they are all the same. Such is the nature of mind. Unlike matter, mind has the ability to understand itself and to clear itself. Mind is pure awareness. Unlike matter, mind has the power of knowing and feeling. Everything you see, hear or feel is first processed by the mind. The mind has the power to know, to understand, to realise and to create awareness, but thoughts in themselves are all one and the same in nature.

All thoughts are illusion, like a mirror, which reflects whatever it faces. If 100 people stand in front of it, the mirror will reflect every single one of them, but none of the faces reflected really exist. All the thoughts in the mind are like the faces in the mirror. Each thought depends on its object; if there is no object, there is no thought. When the mind focuses on an object, a thought will arise, but it is like is a mirage. Whatever one feels, hears or sees through one's eyes immediately becomes a thought but they do not have any intrinsic existence.

Thought by itself can never exist because it depends on its object, like when I look at two of these gentlemen here. One has a white beard, and the other does not. At this moment, the presence of these two gentlemen causes two thoughts to appear in my mind but they have no true existence, they are just illusion. The minds of all beings are filled with thoughts related to external phenomena and this creates a lot of confusion.

When one realises the true nature of the mind, one will be free from dualistic thinking. One uses dualistic thinking when one touches, looks at something, or even when one imagines something: for example I can imagine that this lady here has the same beard as that man. Why? I can do that because my imagination is dependent on things existing and my mind can always think of everything that exists.

Whenever one thinks of something, one does so in a dualistic way. The enlightened state of the mind is when it is completely free from all these dualistic thoughts. In that state, the mind can never be confused.

Such is the correct view or the correct understanding of the nature of mind. Keep this correct view as a support to your meditation and focus your mind on itself. There are two ways to do this:

On the one hand, you can examine your mind; examine how it exists or is existing. Instead of allowing your mind to be distracted by external objects, focus your mind on itself and try to grasp its true nature. Examine each and every one of your thoughts, in order to see its real existence; ultimately you will come to realise that not one single thought exists. That is one way of getting closer to grasping the nature of mind.

On the other hand, you can rest your mind on itself and keep it free from thought, focusing on nothing but keeping that awareness.

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