by Longchenpa
The absorption known as “utter nothingness.”
And from this state wherein the mind is free
From all conception of existence and of nonexistence,
There comes the absorption called “not existence and not nonexistence.”123
Then the mind producing manifold defilement
Ceases naturally and achieves a state of peace.
43. When these nine successive stages of absorption
Have been trained in step by step,
Or without order, leaping here and there,
One will know all actions and all states of mind,
In past and future lives, of others and oneself.
One will see what birth will follow after death,
And all things now impeded will be seen.
One will have the power to multiply
One thing and make it many.
And freed from all defilement
One will know things in their nature and their multiplicity.
One will behold the buddhafields
Replete with blissful buddhas and their heirs.
44. Since at that moment one will fully realize
That phenomena are but illusions,
One will achieve “mirage-like concentration.”
Since one’s mind will have no torment,
All impurity subsided, one will have experience of
The “concentration of the stainless moon.”
Because within the one expanse of evenness
Phenomena are not observed, one will attain
“Unsullied concentration similar to space.”
And there are others: hundreds, thousands,
Countless concentrations will be gained.
45. Because the meaning of the teachings
That by virtue of deep insight has been understood
Is fully and one-pointedly retained through calm abiding,
Powers of concentration and of dhāraṇī124
Are jointly and spontaneously achieved.
46. By gradual treading of the five paths
Freedom is attained.
On the lesser level of the pathway of accumulation
One undertakes the four close mindfulnesses
Of body, feelings, consciousness, phenomena.
On the middle level of accumulation,
By means of the four factors—
Power of will, exertion, application, diligence—
One meditates on the four genuine restraints
With regard to what is held as virtuous and nonvirtuous.
On the greater level of accumulation,
One meditates on the four bases of miraculous ability:
Of will, intention, analysis, and mindfulness.125
47. There are four stages of the path of joining:
In “Warmth” and “Peak,” one trains in the five powers:
Confidence, and diligence, mindfulness, and concentration, wisdom.
In “Acceptance” and the “Supreme Mundane Level,”
One meditates most excellently
On the five forces: confidence and all the rest.126
48. On the path of seeing, the ground of Perfect Joy,
One undertakes intensive training
In the seven elements leading to enlightenment:
In confidence and diligence, and mindfulness,
Discernment, concentration, joy, and flexibility.127
49. The nine grounds of the path of meditation
Are based upon a threefold subdivision,
Lesser, medium, and great—
Each one being subdivided threefold:
The lesser, medium, and great divisions
Of the lesser level, and so forth.
These grounds are the Immaculate, the Luminous, the Radiant,
Hard to Uphold, the Clearly Manifest, the Far Progressed,
Immovable, the Perfect Intellect, and Cloud of Dharma.128
Therein one practices the Eightfold Noble Path:
Right view, right thought, right speech,
Right conduct, livelihood, and effort,
Right mindfulness, right concentration.129
50. When the training on the four paths
In the thirty-seven things that lead one to enlightenment
Is all concluded, the ground of no more learning is attained:
Nirvāṇa that abides in no extremes.
51. Without traversing of the grounds and paths,
There is no gaining of the buddhahood
That stays in no extreme.
All who reach this freedom,
After many kalpas, several lives, or just a single life,
Rely upon this method.
Therefore those who enter either of the vehicles,
Of cause or of result,
Should understand, and tread, these grounds and paths.
52. Through the essence of profound and peaceful luminosity,
May all impurities within the minds of beings disappear.
Exhausted in this world through long attachment to conceptuality,
May their minds today find rest.
12. THE THREE ASPECTS OF MEDITATIVE CONCENTRATION
1. The cause accordingly of samādhi,
Where calm abiding and deep insight merge,
Is an unmoving concentration.
Of this there are three aspects to be learned:
The aspect of the person,
By whom the concentration is achieved;
The aspect of the method,
The means by which the concentration is accomplished;
And the aspect of the concentration in itself,
The accomplishment of nonduality.
2. Practitioners determined to forsake saṃsāra,
Who physically withdraw
From the distracting occupations of this worldly life,
And mentally withdraw
Far from the multitude of teeming thoughts—
By such as these is concentration swiftly gained.
3. Those endowed with faith,
Who have a tender conscience
With regard to both themselves and others,
Who, careful and with perfect discipline,
Delight in virtuous things,
Are learned and contented,
Being frugal in their wants—
By such as these is concentration swifly gained.
4. Those who have control of mind and body
And take delight in solitude,
Who shake off laziness and sleep,
Who do not relish conversation,
Who are not prone to agitation or depression,
Who have but few acquaintances—
By such as these is concentration swifly gained.
5. Those who shun the busy occupations
Of the town and its inhabitants,
Who live in lonely places
Far from the society of many friends,
Free from various projects and activities—
By such as these is concentration swiftly gained.
6. Those who do not look for happiness
In this life or the life to come,
Or wish the peace of a nirvāṇa for themselves alone,
Who sorrow at saṃsāra and decide to leave it,
Desiring freedom from saṃsāra for the sake of beings—
By such as these is concentration swiftly gained.
7. Regarding now the aspect of the means
Whereby this is achieved,
When the five obscuring factors are removed—
Sleepiness and dullness, agitation and depression, doubt—
The union of calm abiding and deep insight
Is properly accomplished.
Calm abiding is obscured by sleepiness and dullness,
While deep insight is impaired by agitation and depression.
Both are harmed by doubt.
All these five are incompatible with concentration;
They may be epitomize
d in sinking and in agitation.
One should refresh oneself when sinking
And when agitated, one should meditate one-pointedly.
8. When there is no calm abiding,
Deep insight is a state of moving thought.
Deprived of insight,
Calm abiding is a neutral and amorphous state.
But when they are united, this is the supreme path:
The antidote to obscuration.
9. Calm abiding is achieved
Through resting body, speech, and mind.
When, with regard to things
All equal in their nature,
One’s thoughts subside,
This is the chief character of calm abiding.
To concentrate one’s mind upon a single point of reference
Is the attendant feature.
10. Using or not using an apparent form,
And concentrating outwardly or inwardly,
These are the four means by which the mind is focused.
To focus on appearing forms
Means focusing on one or other of the five sensorial objects.
To focus on the mind without apparent form
Means settling one-pointedly in a nonconceptual state.
Focusing the mind outside
Means concentration on a stone, a tree, a statue, and so forth.
Focusing the mind within
Means, for example, concentrating
On an upturned lotus in one’s heart.
Settling the mind one-pointedly
Upon a single object
Is the aspect of the method
Whereby calm abiding is achieved.
11. When, by these means, one-pointed calm abiding is produced,
It should joyfully be mingled with the wisdom of deep insight,
Thereby nurturing and stabilizing it.
For calm abiding to progress,
It is essential to bring into line one’s way of living.
When one’s calm abiding grows unclear and stale,
One should refresh oneself in mind and body
And pursue the meditation.
It’s thus that calm abiding will be quickly gained.
12. For those who wish to have deep insight,
A state of limpid clarity of mind,
Discernment is the primary component;
Resting evenly within a thought-free state
Is an attendant feature.
13. As for phenomena and the nature of phenomena,
One should look upon the former
In accordance with the eight examples of illusion.
One should train to see their nature
As a space-like emptiness.
And as one rests in such a state,
Primordial wisdom will arise.
14. When deep insight is unclear and stale,
One should exercise it in regard to different things
And view the latter purely
As the inseparable union of illusion and emptiness.
If thoughts proliferate, one should rest in calm abiding.
One will see a space-like luminosity—
An empty clarity devoid of mental movement—
And the clouds of the two veils will melt away.
At times there will appear
A luminosity that’s vast and ocean-like—
A limpid sphere where all arisings fade away:
The state of no-thought will be gained all by itself.
Enhancement is accomplished by applying this deep insight
In the way one lives, and in this way
Deep insight will be swiftly gained.
15. The union of calm abiding and deep insight
Is a state of mind wherein
Stillness is the same as movement.
In both cases, the main feature
Is primordial wisdom concept-free,
While an undistracted freedom from discursive thought
Is an attendant feature.
16. By resting in whichever state of mind arises—
Whether stillness or proliferation—
Thoughts, as soon as they arise, subside;
The stillness is itself the state of evenness.
Within the union of calm abiding and deep insight,
Bliss and clarity and no-thought manifest.
The union of appearances and emptiness,
Of skillful means and wisdom,
Of generation and perfection—
All are naturally accomplished by themselves.130
17. If this union becomes unclear and stale,
One should train in calm abiding and deep insight separately.
When sinking or excitement manifest,
One should meditate upon their opposites.
Here then is a means to reinforce the union
Of calm abiding and deep insight:
When the sky is bright and free of clouds,
One should turn one’s back upon the sun
And contemplate the open sky.
A clear and empty state of mind,
Devoid of thoughts, will manifest.
18. The clear sky in the outer world
Is but an image of the vast sky
Of the ultimate reality within.
The heart of luminosity is the secret sky.
One should understand the meaning of this threefold sky.131
19. The concentration in itself is the third aspect,
And this is the accomplishment of nonduality.
All things are of an equal taste, the state of great perfection.
Nothing is to be accepted; nothing should be spurned.
All grasping should be left aside,
For every kind of clinging is productive of saṃsāra.
But when there’s no fixation,
Then, like space itself,
There comes a state beyond both bondage and release.
20. Just as various images are in a looking glass,
So too are various things within the state of emptiness.
Just as various clouds are never parted
From the sky’s expanse,
So too are various takings and rejectings
Never parted from the nature of the mind.
Just as various rivers are of one taste with the mighty ocean,
So too are various experiences and realizations in the state of meditation.
Just as various magic sleights are in the realm of sorcery,
So too are saṃsāra and nirvāṇa in the state of ultimate reality.
21. Just as in the ten directions
Space is an expanse ungrounded,
Likewise is the view of the primordial state of openness of things.
Just as water poured in water is a state beyond dividing,
So too the mind cannot be parted from the nature of the mind.
Just as various dreams are in themselves the state of sleep,
So too the single taste of both adopting and rejecting
Constitutes the sphere of conduct.
Just as waves and ocean are but a vast expanse of water,
Thought and nonthought are a single state of evenness.
Just as one’s successful business is a state of satisfaction,
So too is the result, the absence of both hope and fear.
All things are one, the sphere of Great Perfection.
This is what is to be recognized:
The expanse all-pervading of the ultimate reality of things.
22. Through the single nondual taste of different things,
May every being find freedom from duality
Of apprehender-apprehended, self and other.
Exhausted in this world because they cling deludedly to things,
May their minds today find rest.
13. THE GREAT, SPONTANEOUSLY PRESENT RESULT
1. When means and wisdom are perfected,
Kāyas, primal wisdoms, and enlightened deeds,
All present of themse
lves, now stand revealed.
2. When main minds, mental factors,
And the universal ground
Subside completely in the dharmadhātu,
The ultimate expanse and primal wisdom
Cannot be divided; they have a single taste.
Twofold purity is at that moment gained,
And all conceptual elaboration ceases.
3. Just as into space the new moon is withdrawn,
The heart of unborn luminosity—
Subtle primal wisdom—gathers
In the lotus of the ultimate expanse.
Peace is found then, free of any thought.132
4. This is ultimate reality that cannot be observed,
Free of change and movement in the triple time.
This nature that is pure from the beginning
Is called the vajrakāya,
The body changeless, indestructible.
It is the final ground expanse
Wherein phenomena are worn away.
5. This nature is completely free
Of the two adventitious obscurations.
Omniscience, ocean-vast in excellence, is found therein.
The qualities of realization and elimination
Come now to perfection.
Assessed in terms of its ten strengths
And other excellent perfections, it is called
Abhisaṃbodhikāya,
The body of manifest enlightenment.
It is the final ground,
The source of the distinctive qualities of buddhahood.133
6. Although in knowable phenomena
The mind is not engaged,
And in the knowing mind no apprehending is observed,134
There is an inward luminosity,
As when the new moon’s light is gathered into space—
The subtle, supreme primal wisdom
Gathered inwardly and yet not dulled.
Thanks to its omniscience,
It is the ground of all arising.
Thence unfolds the body of form, the rupakāya,
Endowed with knowledge of all aspects of phenomena.
This is what appears for others:
A treasure of enlightened qualities.
Because of its consummate peace,
This most subtle primal wisdom
Is called dharmakāya,
The peaceful body of ultimate reality.135
7. These three bodies have no dealings with an extramental world.
They are extremely subtle and therefore are not nothing.
Transcending permanence, destruction,