The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness

by Chogyam Trungpa

  The nondirectional nature of long comes from the existence of the all-pervasive mother, Samantabhadri, the primordial feminine principle. Since everything comes from the primordial feminine principle, you cannot discover any place to run away to. There is nowhere apart from that space; therefore, you are captured, cornered. So choicelessness is an aspect of long.

  Long is like a spacious realm in the midst of space. With long, you are in the midst of emptiness rather than experiencing emptiness, for experience implies that there is still a split between subject and object. Long does not have a preference for subject or for object. You are in the midst of space, so your point of view is subjective and objective at the same time. That seems to be one of the basic points about long.

  Ying is space that exists at the conceptual level. Ying may also sometimes refer to a realm. It is a different way of looking at the whole thing. Although ying is somewhat experiential, space is experienced as a projection. Long is very experiential; with long, you feel that you are in the midst of space rather than watching space.

  It is very important to know that there are these two approaches to space, and that the tantrikas in the maha ati tradition deliberately used the word long. However much the Sanskrit language is supposed to be the language of the gods, we have to resort to Tibetan, the language of a barbaric country, in order to understand this.

  As an analogy for the difference between these two terms, when you are watching the horizon of the sky and the ocean, and you feel enormously spacious and open, that is ying. But if you are parachuting, that is long. You feel that you are in the midst of space rather than leisurely watching it. So long is more frightening. It is more personal and more demanding. Once you are parachuting, the only sense of up or down you have is that the ground is becoming bigger and bigger. But as far as you are concerned, there is no way of really telling; you are just in the midst of it. That is why you are terrified of it, and maybe enjoying it at the same time. When your experience changes, you begin to see that the ground is becoming bigger—or maybe not—and then you begin to freak out—or maybe enjoy it. Who knows?

  With long, you are immersed in space like the parachutist. When you are immersed in that type of space, you feel that you are there for a long time, or at least that the space is there for a long, long time. Such space is all-pervasive, which is why you have a feeling of being absorbed in it. It is not as if you are going through a tunnel. When you are in a tunnel, you begin to look for the other end in order to get out. That kind of space is not impressive; it is depressed space.

  FOUR TYPES OF SPACE. There are four types of space, or long, in the second section of maha ati.

  Black space. The first type of long is what is called the long without cause. It is also called black long, or black space. In Tibetan, black space is long nakpo gyu mepa. Long means “space” as we now know, nakpo means “black,” gyu means “cause,” and mepa means “without” or “not”; so long nakpo gyu mepa means “black space without a cause.” That is to say, original wisdom does not have a cause or effect. The original mind does not have a perceptual experience of the phenomenal world, or a transcendent experience of the phenomenal world. The original mind cannot experience liberation or imprisonment. It is a pitch-black experience, a pitchdark, black space.

  The bardo retreat is related with black long.4 In that retreat, black space becomes white and multiple and so forth; it begins to change without using light. The bardo retreat is very difficult to handle, but it is good. It is really juicy. I’ll discuss the bardo retreat a bit more later in this chapter.

  Multicolored space. Next we have multicolored long, which means that whatever arises is its own ornament. In Tibetan it is long trawo natsok rangshar gyen. Long means “space,” trawo is “multicolored” or “striped like a zebra,” natsok is “variations,” rang is “self,” shar is “rising,” and gyen means “ornament”; so long trawo natsok rangshar gyen means the “self-arising ornament of multicolored space.”

  The meaning of this type of long is that one cannot prevent one’s playfulness, the playfulness of one’s mind. You cannot actually cultivate playfulness, and you cannot actually prevent playfulness. It is all-pervasive, without direction, which means it is without guidance or strategies. Your playful action is multicolored constantly. One minute you are shining red, and the next minute you are shining black, blue, green, or some other color. You are multiple. You can flash out all kinds of lights, including black and white. That playfulness is endless.

  White space. The third type of long is long karpo, which is quite simple: it means “white space.” The reason this is called “white long” is that there is no action, and there is no point in acting out anything. You have been completely castrated by nobody. Therefore, there is no point in making any effort, since you cannot hold a grudge against the fact that you have been castrated.

  The word for castration in this particular tantra is kadak, or “alpha pure.” Since everything is already purified, there is no possibility of any dirt, so there is no point in trying to do anything. There is no possibility of trying to hold on to programs to make things juicy, rich, smelly, sweet, bitter, and so on.

  Complete absorption space. The fourth type of long is long rabjam. Rabjam in this context means “deepest” or “complete absorption,” and long again is “space”; so long rabjam is “complete absorption space.” The deepest absorption of long is that whatever you do experience is the play of phenomena, and whatever you do not experience is the natural characteristic of the absolute. If you know that, you will have no trouble relating with anything.

  Generally, when you have a spiritual experience, you think that you should get something out of it. You feel that if you do not get anything out of it after you have made an investment of your energy, your emotions, and even your money, you have been cheated. But with this long, even if you do not experience anything or understand anything, it is still a part of ultimate experience, so why bother to bargain? Why should you feel that you have been cheated?

  The Category of Instruction: Men-Ngag Gi De

  The third section of maha ati is the category of instruction, or secret instruction. This is called men-ngag gi de. Men-ngag means “oral instruction,” de is “characteristic” or “category,” and gi means “of”; so men-ngag gi de means the “characteristic of oral instruction.”

  This category is the closest to ultimate maha ati, if there is such a thing. The idea of this category is that truth is confirmed on the basis of your own understanding, your own realization. It is quite simple. Truth is confirmed on the basis of your own realization in the sense that there is no choice other than simply being here. There is no other choice at all.

  Because maha ati’s approach to reality is very simple and powerful, very direct and compassionate, it transcends the idea of becoming buddha. It transcends the dharmakaya and all the other kayas. It simply relates with what is known as vajradhatu or dharmadhatu. Vajra is “indestructible,” and dhatu is “realm”; so vajradhatu is “indestructible space” or “indestructible realm.” Dharma is “truth,” and dhatu, again, is “realm”; so dharmadhatu is “truth realm.”

  The idea of vajradhatu or dharmadhatu is that nothing can live or survive in relation to that kind of space, because vajradhatu exists always and ever. Therefore, this indescribable space transcends enlightenment or the attainment of enlightenment. Even the notion of becoming a dharmakaya buddha is primitive, because when you personally become a dharmakaya buddha, or enlightened, you become separate from ordinary sentient beings. But in this case, the whole thing is one: it is the vajradhatu level and the dharmadhatu level at the same time.

  In maha ati, all notions, all dharmas, are regarded as just flowing space, constantly flowing space in which there are no reference points or directions. Everything is seen simply and directly as it is, and there is no way that you can capture anything as your personal experience. With men-ngag gi de, you are transcending strategizing and you are transcending usin
g the intellect, even the highest intellect, as a way to understand this particular yana. And because of such hopelessness, the actual message comes to you right on the spot, like moxibustion.5

  THREE TYPES OF MEN-NGAG GI DE. There are three types of men-ngag gi de: randomness, legend or tale, and self-proclaiming.

  Randomness / khathor. The first type of men-ngag gi de is called khathor. Khathor doesn’t really mean much; it is just a sort of scatteredness or random choosing. What we choose out of what comes up is not dependent on any cause or inspiration that exists outside of our own spontaneous experience. So khathor is relating to the spontaneity and directness of nowness.

  At this point, I cannot help mentioning a particular type of experience that might occur, which is known as thamal gyi shepa. You could call it TGS. Thamal means “ordinary,” gyi means “of,” and shepa means “intelligence”; so thamal gyi shepa is the “intelligence of the ordinary.” But in this case, that ordinary mind becomes extraordinary because there is a great deal of emphasis on it. TGS rises in spontaneous suddenness. Therefore, it is known as randomness.

  Legend or tale / khatam. The next type of men-ngag gi de is khatam. Khatam means “legend” or “tale,” which is a very odd definition. Longchen Rabjam and all the other great teachers of the maha ati tradition wrote their textbooks with quotations, philosophical remarks, and such, and they would insert these bizarre words. And such words would become big words, like khatam.

  The context of this particular type of men-ngag gi de is the home or hole that we discussed earlier. Here, discursive thoughts are dissolved. One’s nature, which is difficult to choose, has been chosen, and that which is difficult to spot has been spotted. One’s nature, which is unidentifiable, has been realized. That is the great tale, the big deal. As we get higher, we get more bizarre.

  Self-proclaiming / gyü rangshungdu tenpa. The third category of men-ngag gi de is gyü rangshungdu tenpa. Gyü means “tantra,” and rangshung means “its own proclamation” or “its own text” (shung is “text,” rang is “self”), du is “at” or “as,” and tenpa is “shown” or “taught”; so gyü rangshungdu tenpa means “tantra is self-proclaiming.”

  This category may not seem to mean very much. But what we really mean is that as we go through the contents of this tantra and the Buddhist teachings altogether, we see that this tantra is a proclamation of the great play of birth and death. It is the birthplace of all the teachings of the Buddha, and at the same time this tantra is the way to stop the activities of the busybodies of the lower yanas—it is the death place or charnel ground.

  This tantra is the self-proclamation that silences the logical debate about shunyata. It silences that debate through the sound of dharmadhatu words and the proclamation of the dharmadhatu trumpet. Isn’t that great? Although we did not say what this self-proclamation is, I think we could still understand it and appreciate it. I must say it is quite joyful to teach this tantra!

  1. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche had a very close connection and friendship with the Nyingma master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–1991), from whom he received many empowerments. In 1976, Chögyam Trungpa hosted Khyentse Rinpoche’s first visit to North America, and over the years Khyentse Rinpoche paid further visits to the West and taught frequently in Trungpa Rinpoche’s sangha. Due to the great vastness of his teachings, this beloved teacher came to be known as Mr. Universe.

  2. Both phrases are from the Sadhana of Mahamudra by Chögyam Trungpa (Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nalanda Translation Committee, 1968). In other contexts, the saying “Nothing whatever, but everything arises from it” refers to the dharmakaya level.

  3. Anagarika (Skt.; Pali) means “homeless one.”

  4. The bardo retreat is an advanced retreat practice done in total darkness, traditionally lasting for a period of forty-nine days.

  5. Moxibustion refers to the burning of moxa, a healing herb, on or close to the skin.

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  Atiyoga: Meditation Practices

  It is fantastic that maha ati people talk about practice. We should be thankful, because they might not have talked about practice at all, which would be embarrassing and not very kind. It would be like saying that those who have it, have it, and those who don’t, don’t know anything. Talking about practice means that maha ati masters bothered to think of other people. They thought about how we could do it as well.

  THERE ARE two categories of atiyoga practice: trekchö and thögal. The first category, or trekchö, means “cutting through” or “cutting abruptly”; it is cutting any experientially inclined trips. Trekchö cuts through the subtlest forms of spiritual materialism, the subtlest of the subtlest. In the second category, or thögal, thö refers to the forehead, and gal means “transcending”; so thögal means “transcending the forehead or peak.”

  TREKCHÖ

  To begin with, we could discuss trekchö and the practice of cutting through.

  Visualization and Formless Practice

  The practice of atiyoga is based on sampannakrama, or the meditative aspect of the tantric tradition. It is based on the idea that you are not dependent on the wisdom of example, as described or recommended in the previous yanas; and you are also not dependent on experiencing the third abhisheka; or on experiencing imagined perceptions and having them actually become true. At this point, we just pay lip service to the yidams. Visualization and formless meditation, or utpattikrama and sampannakrama, become a natural process in the realm of maha ati. But at the same time, they become unnecessary.

  Maha ati’s approach to visualization is that there is no distinction between samayasattva and jnanasattva. Actually, there is no samayasattva; the whole thing is a jnanasattva setup. Whenever there is a samayasattva visualization, it is an expression of jnanasattva, so you are already on the higher level. You do not have to invite deities to come to you from outside; you have already concluded that the deity is what it is on the spot. Instead of invoking the jnanasattva, you simply acknowledge by means of devotion that such a thing exists. It is more of a self-confirmation than an inviting of external forces.

  Although maha ati is based on formless meditation, it does not require so much training that it would take thousands of years to go through it. Maha ati is more a question of intensity, and each time you practice, it is more powerful. Maha ati is like electrocution. It does not take long to electrocute somebody; if you have enough electricity, you can do it in one minute. So in maha ati, practice is more a matter of quality than quantity. This kind of training has been done to me, so to speak, so I think that such an approach to practice is possible. It depends very much on how concentrated you are. In maha ati, it is not that your mind should be focused on practice, but that this general area has been so highly “hot-pointed” that a hot spot has developed. This does not particularly involve the idea of repetition or years and aeons of practice; it is based on one-pointedness.

  Because there is more reference to sampannakrama and less to utpattikrama at this level, there is no need to manufacture anything, so that ceases. Such a relief! But we still have to go a long way in order to get there. It is too powerful to swallow right off. At this point, you are just getting a preview of the whole thing. Once you begin to actually do atiyoga practice, the experience is going to be entirely different. It is going to be much more powerful, a kind of mind rape.

  Meditation Guidelines

  If you don’t mind further numerology, there are another three categories, which are based on the three sections of maha ati we discussed in the previous chapter (sem-de, long-de, and men-ngag gi de). The three guidelines for meditation are: resting one’s mind in dharmadhatu, resting effortlessly, and resting without accepting or rejecting.

  These three categories have to do with how to meditate. The question is, once we know all these things, what we are going to do with them? At this point, it is better not to say too much, but just to present a hint or a celebration of some kind.

  RESTING ONE’S MIND IN DHARMADHATU. If you practice according to
the sem-de category of maha ati, you rest your mind in dharmadhatu. It is difficult to say how to do that, but actually, the point is not to do that. This does not mean not to do that at the stupid, simpleton level, but not to do that intelligently.

  RESTING EFFORTLESSLY. If you follow the practice of meditation according to the long-de category of maha ati, you rest your mind without any effort.

  RESTING WITHOUT ACCEPTING OR REJECTING. Finally, if you practice meditation according to the third category of maha ati, or men-ngag gi de, you rest your mind without accepting or rejecting. You just rest freely, or primordially freestyle, as it says in the books.

  Mandala Practice

  The mandala practice of maha ati is to just experience things as they are, fully and completely. At this point, the teaching of the five wisdoms becomes much closer and much more real, because of the feeling of complete desolation. You realize that there is nothing to hold on to, and at the same time you realize that nothing you could do would make your non-holding-on another security. There is no way to make the groundlessness another ground. That seems to be quite clear and obvious, and the whole experience becomes very definite and powerful.

  From this point of view, you are able to recognize the sameness of visual patterns, sound patterns, and thought patterns. You see that visual patterns are thought patterns, and that sound patterns are also thought patterns as well as visual patterns. There is just one big energy. That energy could represent aggressive upsetness, aggressive anger, aggressive confusion, passive confusion, or whatever you are going through. All of those experiences become visual as well as musical.