Mahamudra with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche in Columbus

Hi everyone!

I am still in Columbus attending a teaching with Tibetan lama, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche on Mahamudra.

I am on on the run, so please forgive this Frankensteined blog!

Over the weekend I heard many people ask for Rinpoche’s advice on meditation…

Seems like many people just can’t (which means won’t) take the time to practice, or do practice and have many thoughts arising that they find undesirable.

Many people seem to think that proper meditation requires absence of thought which is entirely erroneous.

I came across some interesting words regarding meditation that many of you might find useful.

But before I get to that, some of you are probably wondering what Mahamudra is…

Mahamudra literally means “great seal” or “great symbol”.

Thubten Yeshe explains the use of the term: “Mahamudra means absolute seal, totality, unchangeability. Sealing something implies that you cannot destroy it. Mahamudra was not created or invented by anybody; therefore it cannot be destroyed. It is absolute reality”.

The term Mahamudra refers to the realization arising from certain advanced forms of Buddhist meditation practice, comprising methods of attaining a direct introduction to the nature and essence of the mind. Mahamudra also includes practices to stabilize the accompanying transcendental realization.

The practices associated with Mahamudra draw upon instructions from multiple levels of Buddhism, including Sutra and Vajrayana, to provide a range of approaches to enlightenment suited to the needs of various practitioners. Mahamudra is believed to enable one to realize the mindstream’s innate purity, clarity and perfection, summed up by the term “buddha nature”, the topic of the Third Turning of the Dharmachakra, the final phase of Gotama Buddha’s teachings.

Aryadeva summarises: “The discussion of how to attain mahamudra entails methods for meditating on mind itself as something having voidness as its nature.”

Another way of putting it is…”Mahamudra is the union of great bliss and emptiness – the very subtle mind that experiences great bliss and realizes ultimate truth. By enabling us to go within to uncover the deepest level of our mind and then to use the very subtle mind to meditate on ultimate truth, Mahamudra practice destroys all our delusions at their very root and thus propels us quickly to the state of full enlightenment.”

Now back to the issue of meditation…

I would like to share some words I came across that some of you may find useful. They are the words of a man I have never met or heard of until this weekend. I only know of him as “Kip.”

Here is what he had to say about meditation:

“I often hear people saying they can’t meditate.

But what they are really saying is they won’t meditate.

Whatever reasons they give, the truth is in meditation they have come across an experience they do not wish to experience.

Whether they are conscious of it or not, they have felt a sensation that they do not wish to feel.

The reasons on top of this are just excuses.

The moment you allow yourself to experience those sensations you are avoiding, then you see the futility of your reasons, the futility of your thoughts.

The futility of trying to figure it all out.

It really has nothing to do with mind.

You just didn’t want to feel a certain sensation, and once you did, it wasn’t so bad, ironically, it was quite blissful.

Suddenly you are filled with love and peace until the next sensation you unconsciously resist makes itself known.

Once you realize this one very simple point, that the reason you can’t meditate is that you do not wish to feel a certain sensation, then meditation becomes very clear.

Then you see the power is in your hands.

Most people are just looking for the bliss and they don’t want to do the work to get it.

And that is perfectly fine, a little relaxation and meditation will give you this.

But if you want more than this…

If you want freedom, from this constant conflict of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain and all the stress & suffering that goes with it, then you will be willing to sit through the uncomfortable experiences and enjoy the peace that goes with it.

Unconditional peace does not come from feeling happy all the time.

Unconditional peace comes by being present with what is here regardless of how you think it feels.

You give it a try and I bet you’ll really like it.”

Until next time…

Kind Regards,

Anthony