GOING BEYOND ONE TASTE
After the separation comes what is known as one taste. One taste does not mean that everything becomes gray and tasteless. By one taste, we mean the absence of all tastes. Tasting in this way becomes very natural and very beautiful. One taste is no taste; therefore, it is everything. Recently, I asked my cook to prepare my meals without any spice, and instead to just boil the meat in hot water. That turns out to be the best gourmet cooking altogether. That is one taste.
But one taste is not quite enough. That particular taste is no taste, and it is every taste of every thing: pleasure and happiness, good and bad. So everything is fine. That’s great. But although that is somewhat good mahamudra-wise, it is not really good enough. One taste is also a hang-up. So there has to be something that goes beyond the level of tasting, something much larger than that. That larger vision is called ati, which means “ultimate.” At this point, you are not giving up, but you are opening yourself up. You are in the process of letting go altogether of that experience of one taste.
Here we are talking about the borderline, where mahamudra dissolves into the teachings of the higher tantra. The need for mahamudra is that you have to develop one taste before you get into totality. In other words, first the tip of your tongue has to pick up the taste of something, then it is necessary to cut out your tongue altogether. It is a very delightful thought. Horrifying, if you like.
Cutting out the tongue also means scooping out the eyes, digging out the heart, and scooping out the brains. You do not even have one taste at this point: there is not even one anymore; it is nonexistence. So at the higher tantric levels, your tongue is cut out, so you cannot taste any oneness; your eyes are scooped out, so you cannot see any oneness; and your heart has been dug out, so you cannot feel anything.
At this higher tantric level, you begin to experience a sense of reality in which the absence of heart, eyes, and tongue begins to become very real and very powerful. The absence of all those things creates a magnificent kingdom, complete openness. That has been happening in my work with some of my students. They do not exist, they don’t have tongues or brains or hearts; but at the same time, they have brilliant tongues, brains, and hearts.
It is necessary for you to realize that such concepts can actually be transferred into ordinary human beings. It is very important for you to realize that you can experience what they have experienced. Actually, the vajrayana presentation is more a demonstration than a presentation. Usually, that is how it happens.
Part Twelve
THE TANTRIC JOURNEY: HIGHER TANTRA
MAHAYOGA: THE YANA OF GREAT UNION
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Mahayoga: The Dawning of the Wisdom of Self-Existence
The lower tantric yanas were based on vajra nature, transcendence, and great joy or mahasukha. But in higher tantra, simplicity, or self-existence, is the point.
THE HIGHER TANTRIC YANAS
Up to this point, we have been discussing the lower three tantric yanas of kriyayoga, upayoga, and yogayana. These yanas as well as anuttarayoga are all connected with the Kagyü tradition, and also with the Sakya and Geluk traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. But from this point onward, we will be considering the three higher tantric yanas—mahayoga, anuyoga, and atiyoga—which are regarded as the area of the Nyingma tradition.
The higher tantric yanas are known as the all-encompassing yanas of skillful means. They are known as the imperial or conquering yanas. They conquer not only samsaric problems, but also the sophistries of the previous yanas. The higher yanas are all inspired, shaped, and highly influenced by the maha ati tradition.1 However, the lower tantric schools also actually acknowledge these three higher tantras, regarding them as super-anuttarayoga practice.2
In the lower tantric yanas, the disciplines are path oriented, but at this point, there is a shift. What changes is that there is no need for reference points. In the three lower tantric yanas, there are still reference points, such as those based on physical activities and on developing purity by washing yourself constantly and putting on clean clothes. But in the higher tantric yanas, there is definitely no need for reference points. In the three yanas of the higher tantra, reference points have become old hat.
Students of Higher Tantra
According to Longchen Rabjam, the great fourteenth-century dzokchen master, mahayoga is associated with father tantra and with the masculine principle. It is taught to those who have many thoughts, especially thoughts that are active or aggressive in nature. In mahayoga, the phenomenal world is seen as a form of upaya or skillful means.
Anuyoga is connected with the teachings of shunyata and dharmata, and with the feminine principle, or prajna. It is taught to people who are passionate and who would like to maintain their equilibrium. It is for those with a state of mind that is even and solid, and for those who like to dwell on ideas.
Atiyoga is taught to ignorant people who are extremely lazy and do not want to do anything. Such people have no particular allegiance toward the shunyata or upaya of the previous two yanas: they are neutral.
Maha Ati and Mahamudra
Compared with the hinayana and mahayana, the mahamudra idea of working with your basic fundamentality or buddha nature is fantastic. But at the maha ati level, even that becomes primitive: do not just think you possess buddha nature, but you are actually a buddha in full glory. Maha ati, or in Tibetan, dzokchen, is the final approach of the final path.
The difference between maha ati and mahamudra is that in mahamudra, we ordinarily base our approach on what is called ground tantra. In ground tantra, samsara and nirvana are turned upside down. You are working on your own basic ground as you are. But in maha ati, you are working with the inspiration of your fruition or your enlightenment experience. You are not only working on what you are, but you are also working on what you are from the point of view of complete enlightenment. Enlightenment is in you already, and since you are an enlightened being, you are working from that basis. So in the three higher or imperial yanas, you no longer approach things from the bottom upward, as in mahamudra.
MAHAYOGA: GREAT UNION
The first of the higher tantric yanas is mahayoga. Maha means “big,” “great,” or “none above,” and yoga is “union”; so mahayoga means “great union.”
Mahayoga seems to be so very vast that it is quite impossible to discuss the whole thing, but we can talk about some highlights, and the principles and magical aspects that are involved. The reason mahayoga is called “great yoga” is because your understanding of the indivisibility of kündzop and töndam is complete. You have settled down in the confidence of that understanding. That is to say, all possible self-consciousness, such as the idea that you are on this yana and having problems with it, has fallen away.
LHÜNDRUP: SELF-EXISTENCE
Mahayoga practice is very solid and definite. In terms of the symbolism involved, it is much more imaginative than the previous tantras. It is the work of a much greater artistic talent, if one can use such a phrase. The whole thing is a masterpiece. The style and setup of its organization, based on a group of students working together, is much more real.
The lower tantric yanas were based on vajra nature, transcendence, and great joy or mahasukha. But in the higher tantric yanas, simplicity, or self-existence, is the point. Self-existence, or self-existing wisdom, is referred to as lhündrup.3 Lhündrup begins to dawn in mahayogayana, and continues on to the final yana of atiyoga. Mahayoga tantra is where that particular trend or approach begins.
COGNITIVE MIND AND FUNCTIONING MIND
Practitioners of mahayogayana view the phenomenal world in terms of cognitive mind and functioning mind; but the cognitive mind and the functioning mind are regarded as one thing. When you function, you actually recognize situations as they are, so there is no difference between the action itself and the experience of the action. They are seen as the same. Therefore, Longchen Rabjam calls this the yana of seeing the indivisibility of gold and its gold quality.
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sp; When your mind functions, it usually does so in a very biased way. But this is not viewed as particularly problematic. What is important is that when your mind functions in the phenomenal world, the operation of basic cognitive systems is taking place. That is the real magic. The magic actually happens when there is a cognitive mind operating. From this point of view, the subsidiary or offshoot of that basic cognition is not particularly important. It is seen as part of the same process. So the whole world, the entire universe, is highly magical. The burning quality of fire is very magical. The solidness of the earth is very magical. The blueness of the sky is very magical. Even the neurosis of your own nature is very magical. Nothing is rejected, but everything is seen as the realistic world.
The world is realistic in the sense that its magic is not based on trickery or on magical spells. It is not a matter of “Abracadabra!” or “Poof!” and then you produce a rabbit out of a hat or birds out of your pocket. The magic is not on that level. In the Occidental world, people used to be fascinated by the magic of the Orient. Westerners hoped that they could produce some kind of spell that would make them live longer, be better business people, or better at con man–ship. But those stories are now regarded even in the West as completely old-fashioned and obviously very absurd and childish.
KAYA AND JNANA
The kaya and jnana principles are very important in mahayoga. In terms of visualization practice, kaya is the form of the visualization; but at the same time, there is an understanding that the form is based on jnana, on wisdom or wakefulness. The more awake you are, the more you see the sharpness and brilliance of form. You could hear form as sound, see form as image, or smell form as odor. A feeling of actual solidity, actual image, or actual experience develops. You realize that in this world, any sensorial experience develops into the form of the herukas, or wakefulness. This is not based on taking an attitude of sacredness; it is direct experience. So the jnana principle is also very important.
When we talk about jnana, we are talking again in terms of a psychological state. The emotions and everything that happens in your state of mind are seen as very penetrating, and at the same time, quite simple. The mind acts as a reminder of itself. The mind represents itself; it stands for itself. You do not have to borrow in any way to remind yourself to develop jnana. There is a sense that you are complete in a complete world, a sense that the world contains itself. Jnana represents all five types of jnana, all the five wisdoms. So the self-existing energy of wisdom operates all the time.
RELATING WITH ABSOLUTE TRUTH
Jnana is based on the different ways of relating with the twofold truth, the relative and the absolute, and understanding them both properly.
Conditional Töndam
The common or conditional level of töndam, or absolute truth, is based on knowing that the self does not exist. Therefore, since there is no seed, there are no shoots from the seed, which seems to be an enormous discovery. Conditional töndam means that the nature of everything is empty by itself. The nature of everything that we experience is empty by itself, because there is complete negation. There is no room for anything other than itself; it is completely castrated.
Unconditional Töndam
Unconditional or superior töndam is based on knowing that since this seed does not produce shoots, other seeds also do not produce shoots. You begin to expand your intelligence and venture into the world outside yourself. This is called nonsolidified töndam, because you begin to loosen up.
With unconditional töndam, the nonexistence mind operates at the level of nonduality, within dharmata wisdom; but at the same time, there are activities taking place in that nonexistence mind. Here, the question of its nonexistence is not the main point; the question is whether that nonexistence mind is operating or not. As far as the tantric tradition is concerned, the question is whether the workings of the universe operate—and they do operate!
TWO KINDS OF NEGATION: NO AND NOT. There are two ways of talking about nonexistence or negation. The first way is complete negation; this is the deadly one. The second way is just simple negation, which is not complete.
The closest the English language comes to those two kinds of negation is no and not. You might say, “I am not a cow,” but you cannot just say, “I am not.” You have to find an object in order to qualify your notness. You have to say what you are not, to compare yourself with something else. That kind of negation is more tantric, more workable. It has its root, and it also has its reference of intelligence.
If you say, “I am no,” or simply, “No,” it is a form of rejection. You are completely cutting the root. There is a quality of refusal that does not contain any experimentation or playfulness. This logic may seem to be at the madhyamaka level, but it still applies. And it is necessary to continue working with this kind of logic, if we are going to discuss the maha ati level. Such logic has to be used, and it has to be experienced—and the experience is that although your mind is nonexistent, at the same time this nonexistent mind produces a constant play of all kinds of forms, shapes, sounds, and thought processes.
RELATING WITH RELATIVE TRUTH
There are also two types of relative truth, or kündzop: pure kündzop and confused kündzop. From a so-called sane person’s point of view, or pure kündzop, the phenomenal world is seen as just a very vague and hazy image. But from a slightly freaked-out person’s point of view, the phenomenal world is seen as either a complete enemy and absolutely hopeless, or as a friend. The first view is somewhat true kündzop, and the second view is false kündzop.
The superior understanding of pure kündzop is that you can perceive, and that your perception works. In your everyday life, when you put out energy, it bounces back on you and confirms your perceptions. With false kündzop, you can perceive and put out energy, but it does not bounce back. Somehow you miss the point, and you do not get any feedback.
It has been said that both kündzops are at the level of kaya and jnana, or form and wisdom, because they both have some kind of perception at the beginning, whether you get feedback or not, and whether it is a relative reference or not. With both kündzops, there is an experience of feeding rather than being fed.
The two types of kündzop, although they have different qualities, are considered to be statements of the illusory quality of the whole world; and the two types of töndam are considered to be statements of unoriginatedness.
APPROACHING THE DHARMAKAYA
In mahayoga, along with the understanding that the kündzop and töndam principles are indivisible, there is a greater realization of dharmakaya. Since mahayoga is based on a more complete realization, it is much superior to the lower three tantric yanas. You approach the dharmakaya much more closely than before, by means of a complete understanding of relative and absolute truth. In the earlier tantric yanas, you went back to reality, back to the relative world and the relative truth, but you did not reach the understanding of dharmakaya. But in mahayoga, the idea is that if you approach reality deeply enough from the relative-truth point of view, you gain dharmakaya experience at the same time. You realize that dharmakaya does not exist by way of absolute truth alone, but by way of relative truth as well. It is like the design of the vajra: you have a point above and a point below at the same time. So in mahayoga, you are getting completely into the dharmakaya by means of relative truth. That is the basic point; that is its meaning and purpose.
1. The term maha ati, or dzokchen in Tibetan, can refer to the three higher tantric yanas as a whole, or to the ninth yana in particular. In this text, we will use the term atiyoga to refer to the ninth yana.
2. The three divisions of anuttarayoga—father, mother, and nondual—can be likened to mahayoga, anuyoga, and atiyoga respectively.
3. The term lhündrup (lhun grub) has many different translations. It is referred to as “spontaneous presence,” one of the two main aspects of dzokchen teaching, the other being “primordial purity” or kadak (ka dag). Other translations include: effortless fulfillment, spo
ntaneously self-perfected, inherently present, manifesting effortlessly, natural achievement, natural spontaneity, and naturally perfect. Lhündrup is one of the five enlightened activities, or trin-le (’phrin las), and is self-existing, spontaneous, and wish-fulfilling.
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Mahayoga: Meditation and the Mandala Principle
Mandala means the state of experience that is fearless and all-pervasive. Because of that fearlessness, there is no doubt about this, and since there is no doubt about this, you can include that at the same time. Therefore, this and that can be brought together.
TWO TYPES OF MAHAYOGA PRACTICE
Mahayoga practice is divided into two types: tantra and nopika, or “essential practice.” The practices of tantra and nopika are both based on having an attitude toward life in which the five elements are seen as the five female buddhas: earth is ratna; water is vajra; fire is padma; wind is karma; and space is buddha. It is based on seeing the five skandhas as the five male buddha principles: form is buddha; feeling is ratna; perception is padma; formations are karma; and consciousness is vajra.
Tantra and nopika are based on combining kaya and jnana, the form or body aspect and wisdom, although they are leaning more toward the kaya principle than the jnana principle. They are involved with bringing intellect and intuition together in a person’s understanding of the phenomenal world.
The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness Page 68