by Longchenpa
Now some may ask, “If all appearances, such as earth, stones, and so on, are neither inside nor outside the mind, what are they?” To this I say that such people are like pigs, taking for real what is merely the product of dualistic clinging. In the very moment that the entire range of phenomenal existence—the phenomena of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa—appear, they cannot be found either inside or outside the mind. Nor are they somewhere in between! It is said that they are similar to the eight examples of illusion. The Samādhirāja-sūtra declares,
When a woman with her face adorned
Looks on a mirror or an oiled plate,
The circle of her face is what she sees,
And yet it is not there, nor is it somewhere else.
Know that all phenomena are thus.
More explicitly, it is from these nonexistent appearances that the illusion of apprehended and apprehender (whereby the appearances are identified as this or that) originates. In this context, the apprehended (gzung ba) is the cognition that arises in the first moment in which the object of engagement (gzung yul) is detected. It is the mind that arises in the guise of the thing apprehended, whereas that which apprehends is the subsequently arising mental factor of discernment. As it is said by Avalokitavrata, “The apprehended is the mind itself, apprehended as an object. The apprehender is the mental factor that discerns it.”
Here, ordinary people, who being unlearned, are as pretentious as they are mistaken, say, “The apprehended are the things that appear, mountains and so on. The apprehender is one’s own mind.” Away with the ideas of such foolish cowherds! In the experience of noble beings, who have eliminated the duality of apprehended and apprehender, do such sense objects appear or do they not appear? If these people claim that they appear, it follows that noble beings perceive the duality of apprehender and apprehended. For they have said that the object is the apprehended, while the cognizing mind is the apprehender. If, on the other hand, they say that sense objects do not appear to them, then this flies in the face of countless scriptural passages that say, on the contrary, that the appearances seen by the noble ones are like illusions; that the śrāvaka arhats see mountains and temples; and that the enlightened wisdom that knows phenomena in all their multiplicity perceives all objects of knowledge. Although many such demonstrations and arguments can be found, there is nevertheless no end to the wrong ideas that people have about this point. But what is one to do? It is as Dharmakīrti says:
Because there is no end to false, mistaken paths,
Here there’s no explaining them.
The assertion that outer appearances are the mind has been refuted. Nevertheless, these people persist in taking mountains and other such things as objects and the first moment of consciousness that apprehends them as perception. In truth, they fail to distinguish the perceived appearance (snang ba) from the object that appears (snang yul). Such is the great intelligence of these cowherds—reifying deceptive things and assuming them to be true.
The object that appears is not the mind. For it remains where it is when one is not in its presence and does not change its position when one goes elsewhere. Likewise, the object appears endowed with color and so on. Now if the appearing object were really the mind, it would necessarily follow one around. It would be necessarily present wherever one might be and would disappear whenever one was absent. And just as the mind has neither color nor shape, the object would be without them too, as was previously explained. Since the determination of something as either appearing or not appearing is a matter for the mind, it is certainly appropriate to state that the “mere perceived appearance” of something is a mental state. However, it is extremely ignorant and unacceptable to say that the appearing object is the mind.212
[Taken from the autocommentary, 856: 1–858: 6]
THE OMNISCIENT LONGCHENPA SPEAKS ABOUT HIS REALIZATION
THIS VAJRA SONG213 illustrates the kind of realization that is devoid of center or limit. When this level of realization occurs, whatever arises subsides into the ground nature, like clouds melting away in the sky. The primordial expanse of the mind’s nature and the primal wisdom (the spontaneously arisen state of openness and freedom) mingle together. When this happens, there is no retreating from the nature of one’s own mind, for there is nowhere left to go. The point of the exhaustion of all phenomena is reached. One has escaped the dangerous path of the mind that adventitiously clings to, or rejects, things through taking them to be truly existent. It is at this point that the field of ultimate reality beyond coming and going is reached. Where else, then, can one go? There is nowhere. Yogis who reach such a state have left behind the land of delusion, and they will never again return to the city of saṃsāra. For they have reached the space-like ground.
So it is that I have come to the expanse of the nature of my mind. Apprehending thoughts are purified in the primordial ground like clouds that melt away in the sky. My body, speech, and mind rest in a state of openness and freedom without any effort on my part. Is it possible, therefore, for anyone to perceive the state in which I am? Even if I were to explain this to those of lesser fortune, they would be unable to see it as it truly is. For this is the moment of the certainty of my own realization.
Reaching thus the very heart of the ultimate mode of being, I aspire for nothing more. Other yogis have gained freedom by the same manner of realization as myself. Now no questions and no doubts remain for me, and none can teach me more than I have now understood. As it is said in the Songs of Realization,
Before me and behind me, and in all the ten directions,
Everything I see—that, that it is!
Now like the Lord, this day I sever all delusion.
Now no questions shall I ask of anyone.
In times gone by, thanks to the excellent sequential arrangement of view, meditation, and action, I relied on the higher and lower grounds and paths as if they were rungs on a ladder, and I became familiar with the way in which these manifest in the higher and lower yogas. But now that the ground and root of the mind have passed away, all these things have likewise passed away. I now have no further goal; no objective remains for me to strive for. Whatever now occurs, I do not cling to it, like a madman drunk on beer. And like a little child, I do not identify appearances. For me there remains no practice to be performed in any sequential arrangement. Everything is an all-embracing evenness, relaxation, openness, a condition free of all objectives. I am in a state of equality or sameness that transcends all clinging. It is a marvelous state of sheer wonderment. As the Songs of Realization say,
Like a wish-fulfilling gem this realization is.
Now I know—great wonder—all delusions fall away!
Now, whatever arises manifests as dharmatā. For delusion is purified in the ground and I have attained a realization similar to space beyond all reference. Karmic action and all conditioning factors have subsided. As it is said in the Songs of Realization,
Beings are bound by their respective karmas.
Freed from these, their minds are liberated.
And when the current of their mind is freed, then surely this is nothing else
Than the attainment of the supreme state beyond all sorrow.
All that I do is performed in a state of freedom devoid of all fixation. Consequently, I have no clinging, and thus for me bondage and freedom are no more. It is as the Songs of Realization say,
When one truly understands [the sameness of] both action and nonaction,
There is no bondage and there is no freedom.
When this state is attained, freedom is accomplished through the transfer of one’s teacher’s realization to oneself. As the Songs of Realization say,
This is the nature, unborn and primordial
That my glorious teacher showed to me.
Today I have accomplished it!
Now that such a realization has been gained, I sing my song of the self-arisen, uncontrived primordial wisdom, the nature of the mind. The nature of phenomena is a state
unlimited and unconfined; it transcends both being and nonbeing. The realization of this nature is like the orb of the sun. Its myriad stainless rays of light213 illuminate the world of beings with good fortune, causing the lotus garden—the minds of those who wish for freedom—to burst into flower. And having done so, they depart for the land of Samantabhadra, the supremely blissful state.
[Taken from the autocommentary, 895: 4–896: 2 and 896: 6–898: 5]
NOTES
For the list of abbreviations, see the bibliography on this page.
1. See Tulku Thondup 2014, p. 119.
2. Ibid., p. 121.
3. The Tibetan term (rnam thar) literally means “perfect or complete liberation.”
4. See the biographies composed by Dudjom Rinpoche and Tulku Thondup. An even more detailed account may be found in Nyoshul Khenpo’s history of Dzogchen in Tibet, while Jampa Mackenzie Stewart has gathered together the most detailed collection of hagiographical stories and legends. All these accounts are warmly recommended to the interested reader. Works of a more academic nature may be found in Gene Smith and David Germano.
5. See Smith, p. 278n71–72.
6. See Davidson, pp. 94–96.
7. See Smith, p. 279n75–76.
8. See Tulku Thondup 2014, p. 139, and Stewart, pp. 35–37.
9. Tulku Thondup 2014, p. 140.
10. See TPQ, Book 2, pp. 254–55.
11. The rainbow body, of which there are several kinds, is the achievement of enlightenment through two practices of the Great Perfection: trekchö (khregs chod) and thögal (thod rgal). Generally speaking, it is marked by the dissolution of the physical body into rainbow light. For a full description, see Tulku Thondup 1984, p. 192. See also TPQ, Book 2, p. 456n514.
12. This account is based on the oral teaching of Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, who remarked that they have never reappeared and are still waiting to be rediscovered.
13. For a detailed explanation of the concealment and recovery of Dharma treasures (terma), see Tulku Thondup 1986.
14. Ibid., p. 68.
15. In Guru Rinpoche’s tradition, these seventeen tantras are supplemented by an eighteenth tantra, Kun tu bzang mo klong gsal nyi ma’i rgyud. This was also concealed as a treasure and was revealed by Ratna Lingpa (1403–1471).
16. For an overview of the history of the Drikung monastery, see Sperling 1987.
17. See Dudjom Rinpoche, p. 591.
18. For a lively account of the political and social condition of Tibet at that time and of events surrounding the rise to power of the Phakmodrupa school, see Shakabpa, pp. 73–82.
19. Longchenpa’s arrival in Bhutan was celebrated for many years afterward by a special dance in which, instead of a mask, the lead dancer would wear the skull of the actual animal that served as Longchenpa’s mount. See Ura, p. 25.
20. See Mackenzie, p. 78.
21. See Ura, p. 27.
22. Owing to his opposition to Longchenpa, Tai Situ usually receives a rather bad press in the traditional biographies. History records, however, that he was a beneficent if short-lived ruler. He is said to have restored the infrastructure of the country, building bridges and repairing roads, and to have established a rule of law of such efficacy that it was said that during his reign an old woman carrying a sack of gold could travel unmolested from one end of the country to the other. Maintaining his vows, at least in the article of celibacy, he remained a monk till the end of his days in 1364.
23. See Tulku Thondup 1996, p. 117, and 2014, p. 144.
24. See Nyoshul Khenpo, pp. 131–45.
25. For brief descriptions of the contents of Longchenpa’s works, see Tulku Thondup 2014, pp. 145–48. See also Germano, pp. 10–38.
26. See Germano, p. 23.
27. Ngal gso skor gsum gyi spyi don legs bshad rgya mtsho.
28. chings chen po lnga and dgos ’brel yan lag bzhi. See TPQ, Book 1, pp. 439n4 and 440n7.
29. “When the turbidity of the mind (sems) and mental factors (sems byung) subsides, luminous primordial wisdom, the nature of the mind, arises from within. To habituate oneself to this is called the path to enlightenment. It is quite simply to persevere in this practice, remaining uninterruptedly, day and night, in a state in which sleepiness and idleness are abandoned. As it is said in the Pañcakrama,
When all activity of mind and mental factors
Comes to complete rest, it is then that
Luminous, primordial wisdom manifests,
Free of concepts, without center or periphery.
“In this context, the mind is defined as the cognitions that assume the existence of the three worlds and examine them accordingly. Since they are the turbidity that conceals suchness, if they are made to subside completely, one has access to nonconceptual primordial wisdom. As it is said in the Satyadvayavibhaṅga,
The mind and mental factors are the cognitions
That falsely ascribe existence to the triple world.
“The detecting cognition (rtog pa) that perceives the general presence of an object when it first sees it is the ‘mind.’ It is the first moment of knowledge of an utpala lotus [for example]. Then, when the particular features of the object are adverted to, there is the mental factor of examination or discernment (dpyod pa). These are the cognitions of the flower’s blue color, its round shape, its pistil and stamens, and so on. As it is said in the Madhyāntavibhāga,
That which sees the thing is consciousness.
Its features then are seen by mental factors.
“And as the Abhidharmakośa says, ‘Detecting cognition and discernment: coarse and fine.’
“The detecting cognition and the discernment, which are habitually labeled as mind and mental factor, are arrested in enlightenment. As it is said in the Introduction to the Middle Way,
The tinder of phenomena is all consumed,
And this is peace, the dharmakāya of the Conquerors.
There is no origin and no cessation.
The mind is stopped, the kāya manifests. [9: 17]
“Moreover, when the self-cognizing primordial wisdom is wrapped in the webs of defilement caused by the illusion of duality, it is called ‘mind.’ For it consists in the nonvirtuous mental factors of detecting cognition and discernment. Liberation from this is called buddhahood. For even though [in that state] an object is known, there is a freedom from duality, as implied in detecting cognition and discernment. As it is said in Praises of the Mind Vajra,
When it is enveloped in defilement’s webs,
It is what may be called the ‘mind.’
But when this from defilement had been freed,
‘Buddhahood’ it will be named.”
[AC 130: 5–131: 4]
30. See part 2, “The Mind Is the Root of All Phenomena,” pp. 167–170.
31. Seven suns, arising in succession, destroy the world. The fire then mounts upward and consumes the heavens of the first samādhi. There then comes a rain that washes away everything from the level of the second samādhi down. The ensuing wind scatters the remaining debris, from the level of the third samādhi down. See TPQ, Book 1, p. 364.
32. du byed kyi sdug bsngal. Even when not obviously negative, the actions performed with the defiled consciousness make or compound manifest future suffering. For this reason, one speaks of “suffering in the making.” [TPQ-YG I, p. 296]
33. See part 2, “Mind, Intellect, and Consciousness,” pp. 171–173.
34. See part 2, “The Eight Consciousnesses as the Basis of Delusion,” pp. 175–177.
35. See part 2, “The Three Natures,” pp. 179–190.
36. See TPQ, Book 1, pp. 360–64.
37. yi dvags dbying la gnas pa. The principal abode of the pretas is five hundred leagues below Rajgir, while their subsidiary habitations are in the human and divine realms. See TPQ, Book 1, p. 360.
38. “It is said in the Middle-Length Prajñāpāramitā: ‘O Subhūti, because the five aggregates, whereby existence is perpetuated, are defiled, they are the place of all suffering.
They are the basis of all suffering, the receptacle of all suffering, and the source of all suffering.’
“The physical body is the place of suffering because it is here that pain manifestly occurs. Feeling is the receptacle of suffering because it seizes eagerly upon it. Perception is the basis of suffering because it gives us first access to it through the stirring of thoughts about it. Conditioning factors and consciousness are the sources of suffering because they respectively supply its agent and perceiver. All this is explained in the great commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā in Eight Thousand Lines.”
[AC 258: 5–259: 2]
39. See part 2, “The Universal Ground,” pp. 191–200.
40. “The mind engages in thought within a coarsely dualistic framework of apprehender and apprehended, and through actions of virtue and nonvirtue it falls into the desire realm. The cultivation of concentration unassociated with the [realization of the] fundamental nature of phenomena, in which the appearing object is detected but no discernment occurs, is an activity that, stored in the universal ground, causes one to be born in the form realm. Finally, the kind of meditation in which the appearing object is blocked in a completely blank state of mind plants the seed in the universal ground for rebirth in the formless realm. As it is said in the ‘Chapter on Concentration’ in the Ratnakūṭa: ‘Those who are agitated by mental activity—giving rise to action that is virtuous, unvirtuous, or neutral—take birth in the realm of desire. Those who one-pointedly practice the yoga in which the mind is without discernment but does not discard its object, and who have no realization of the nature of phenomena, contrive for themselves a birth in the realm of form. Those who are in neither the desire realm nor the form realm, whose minds behold no object and who are used to meditating a great deal, circle within the formless realm. For them there is never any liberation from the three realms of saṃsāra. Therefore, persevere insistently in excellent study and assimilate it through meditation.’” [AC 280: 5–281: 4]