Among the many methods of meditation, the one which I usually explain most is the particular practice which is called Mahamudra. My hope is that by doing so I will give people something they can use to actually help them work with their own mind.

The reason I teach Mahamudra is that when the Sixteenth Karmapa came to the West, and was approached by his disciples and asked what practice would be appropriate for Western culture in the present day. He said that he felt the most appropriate type of meditation practice to pursue was Mahamudra.

Since we who are trying to practice dharma have an almost innumerable variety of lifestyles, the practice that we engage in needs to be something that can fit into any lifestyle, that can be worked with and will help anyone. If we look at the history of the practice of Mahamudra in India, the appropriateness of it becomes evident.

During the time of the flourishing of the Mahamudra teachings in India there arose innumerable people who practiced it and who attained realization through its practice, of these eighty-four became very famous as the great attained ones, or the mahasiddhas. If you study their lives you will see that they had a vast variety of lifestyles, occupations and social positions. Some of them were extremely wealthy, influential and busy, but even in the midst of that lifestyle, they could still practice Mahamudra and benefit themselves and others.

An example of this was the king Indrabodhi, who was very wealthy and very busy and had a great deal to do in governing his kingdom. Nevertheless, while he continued to fulfil his responsibilities as a monarch, he was able to practice Mahamudra and attain awakening or enlightenment by doing so.

Another example from among the eighty-four mahasiddhas is the great scholar and teacher, Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna was a teacher and a composer of scholarly literature at a time when India was full of a variety of different religious or spiritual traditions. To clarify the position of Buddhism in respect to all the different questions that were being answered different ways by different traditions, he composed a lot of books. These books are still studied today and are considered eminently trustworthy, and are so powerful in their exposition of dharma that reading them can actually change how you think. Well, he was also very busy with all of his composing and teaching, but he nevertheless found time to practice Mahamudra, and he too attained awakening.

A very different example from among the eighty-four mahasiddhas is the siddha Tilopa, who was a commoner. He was neither a great king nor a great scholar. He made his living by grinding sesame seeds to produce their oil. Nevertheless, while doing this he was able to practice Mahamudra meditation and attained siddhi and realization by doing so.

If we look at the lives of the eighty-four mahasiddhas of India we will see that some of them were merchants, some were labourers and some were simply wanderers. What they all had in common is that they were all able to attain siddhi through the practice of Mahamudra. The point therefore, is that regardless of what our particular responsibilities and work may be in this life, the practice of Mahamudra will be effective, and it is for that reason that it was recommended by the 16th Karmapa.

Among all of the meditation practices which exist in Buddhism, Mahamudra is the most convenient to practice. There are many other instructions of course, many of which are extremely profound, but their implementation requires great austerity, or strict retreat, and so on. In short, some of these instructions simply don’t fit into our lives. But because Mahamudra is basically the cultivation of mindfulness and alertness in our mind, it doesn’t require tremendous austerity or a particularly strict retreat. It simply fits into your life just as it is. The most important thing for our lives to go well is our mind. So, working with our mind makes our mind calm and peaceful, which starts to fill our mind and our life with joy. This reduces the stress and anxiety, which would otherwise lead to both mental and physical illness, and also makes it possible for us to successfully accomplish whatever we are trying to do.

     A Wish-Fulfilling Jewel

We basically have two parts to ourselves, one of which is our body and the other our mind. Because we can see and feel our bodies, we tend to think that they are more important. But actually, if you look at your experience closely you’ll see that your mind is, in the end, more important. It has been said that our body is really like a servant who is employed or commanded by our mind, which is like a monarch. When our mind is happy, we experience a well-being that extends to our physical body. When our mind is in a positive state, our physical and verbal actions will automatically be positive as well. When our mind is aware, clear and lucid, our actions will be more effective.

So, working with our mind, making our mind happy, positive and lucid is extremely important. Basically there is no other way to do this than working with the habits that accrue in our mind. We’re constantly getting used to things, developing habits of doing things which may be positive or negative and the way to work with the mind, with our state of mind, is to cultivate positive and constructive habits and no longer invest in the negative or destructive ones.

The ultimate result in meditation practice is described in our tradition as Buddhahood, or awakening. When we talk about Buddhahood, or the Buddha, it sounds like we’re talking about some kind of god. But in fact this is not what it means at all. The word Buddha means to wake up. For example, in the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit word, Buddha, there are two syllables. The first syllable, “sang,” means to purify or remove. It means to transcend or let go of all of the problems that otherwise afflict one’s mind: sadness, regret, aggression, jealousy, arrogance, ignorance, apathy and so on. The second syllable in Tibetan is “je,” which means to expand or flourish. It means that when you can let go of, or transcend the problems that have afflicted your mind, then all of your innate qualities, which have up to that point been bound, restricted or held in by those problems, can flourish freely. These are the qualities of wisdom, awareness, compassion, kindness, love and so on.

Now the source of these two aspects of awakening; the removal of defects and the natural flourishing or growth of good qualities, is the practice of meditation.

When we start to practice meditation we often doubt the possibility of transcending all of the problems and defects which we detect or experience in our mind. Equally so we doubt the possibility of achieving what seems to be unlimited qualities. But these things can actually be achieved and the reason they can be achieved is explained in a line from a song which is one of many songs composed by the great mahasiddha Saraha.

In the first line of this particular song, he says, “I pay homage to the mind itself, which is like a jewel that grants all one’s wishes.” Normally you would expect that he would begin one of his songs by paying homage to the Buddha, the dharma or the sangha. But here, he doesn’t. He simply pays homage to the mind.

Now, our mind is often filled with things that we regard as unpleasant, like a lot of suffering, misery, fear, anxiety, anger and so on. But these things, as unpleasant as they are, are not in fact intrinsic to our mind. They are not who we are. At the same time, we often doubt our own value and our own capabilities. We think, “I have no wisdom,” “I have no intelligence,” “I’m not very compassionate,” “I’m not very kind,” and so on. But that is not the case, and it is never the case that these things are intrinsically not there. They are there within you, but they are hidden.

For this reason in the Buddhist tradition the basic nature of everyone is called Buddha nature. We all possess within ourselves the potential for the development of all possible qualities and it’s for that reason that in his spiritual song, Saraha refers to one’s mind as like a wish-fulfilling jewel.

Now, if you possess a jewel that is worth a great deal of money, but you don’t know what it is and you therefore don’t take care of it, and you just put it in the garbage, you obviously aren’t going to get much use out of it. But if, recognizing it for what it is, you clean it and use it appropriately, it could lead to great profit. In the same way, if you take hold of your mind, you can actually achieve tremendous qualities. If you don’t take hold of your mind, if you just let your mind remain in a state of misery, all of the qualities within you will never be revealed.

© Copyright Namo Buddha Publications & Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications 2002.