Maha ati plays a part in everything, but it is not particularly concerned with highlights. It is concerned with the complete totality of the phenomenal world and with the spaciousness of phenomena. Passion and aggression have their respective existences, of course, but that is no big deal. In maha ati, there is allegiance to neither passion nor aggression.
You could say that maha ati is the highest level of cool boredom,1 which is very exciting. However, maha ati people are not particularly cool people. In fact, they are usually very temperamental. Vimalamitra was supposedly a short-tempered person. If you asked the wrong question, he would lose his temper and kick you. Because he was so involved with maha ati, as far as he was concerned, manifestation was no problem.
Maha ati is straightforward. It is talking business. In maha ati you have everything, and at the same time you have nothing. The only technique maha ati provides is the leap, but that is absurd, because maha ati does not provide any place to leap from. That is the big joke.
1. For a discussion of cool boredom, see volume 1 of the Profound Treasury, chapter 42, “Mindfulness of Mind.”
APPENDIX 1: KAMALASHILA AND THE GREAT DEBATE
In his discussion of the origins of the vajrayana tradition, Chögyam Trungpa told the story of a debate between the Indian teacher Kamalashila and the Ch’an teacher Hashang Mahayana. The story contrasts the Tibetan emphasis on the gradual path with the sudden enlightenment or “zap” approach of Chinese Ch’an masters. The interplay between gradual progress and sudden breakthrough has continued to this day.
TRISONG DETSEN (755–797), the king of Tibet, decided to invite the Indian teacher Kamalashila to Tibet in order to debate with the Chinese Ch’an master, Hashang Mahayana. Through the intelligence work of the king and Kamalashila, it was discovered that generally Chinese masters had no understanding of the vajrayana emphasis on the gradual path. What they taught was the approach of a sudden zap.
We actually have the same issue in the West. Many Western Tibetan and Zen masters are concerned with the zap alone, rather than with teaching how to go about the whole process. In the Zen tradition here, one exception to this zap approach was Suzuki Roshi,1 who worked with people individually.
Kamalashila had developed a good way of testing the Chinese Ch’an master. When they met, Kamalashila waved his walking stick three times above his head in front of the Ch’an master, meaning, “What is the cause of our involvement with the three realms of the samsaric world: the world of passion or desire, the world of form, the world of formlessness? What is the story behind that?”
In response, Hashang Mahayana covered his head to say, “Twofold ego.” Their communication took place fantastically, since both were intelligent, sophisticated scholars of India and China.
Then Kamalashila covered his head with his robe, and the Ch’an master answered this by also covering his head with the collar of his robe, and shaking his robe sleeve twice.
The meaning of Kamalashila’s question was: “What causes people not to get into dharma practice? What is the confusion?” In response, Mahayana’s answer was, “Ignorance” (covering his head) and “The absence of twofold egolessness” (shaking his robe sleeve twice).
The conversation between the Ch’an master and the Indian pandit went on in this way and, believe it or not, Kamalashila won. Fundamentally, the argument came down to the question of whether we should actually practice or just be zapped. The Chinese were more on the side that we should be zapped, and the Indians more on the side of practice.
So at this point, what we are doing in vajrayana is a combination of the two. We are going to be zapped and we are going to practice, both together, and the zapping part is the lower of the two.
1. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1904–1971) was a Soto Zen master, affiliated for years with the San Francisco Zen Center, who introduced many Western students to Zen practice. He is the author of the well-loved guide to meditation entitled Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (New York: Weatherhill, 1973; Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011).
APPENDIX 2: THE SONG OF LODRÖTHAYE
The Song of Lodrö Thaye is a beloved realization song of Jamgön Kongtrül the Great. It can be found in the collection of vajra songs of the Kagyü gurus, titled The Rain of Wisdom.1
HE WHO was foretold by the Victorious One in the Samadhiraja Sutra and elsewhere, the glorious, holy guru Lodrö Thaye, also called Karma Ngakwang Yönten Gyatso, composed this vajra doha having accomplished the realization of mahamudra. It is entitled, “The Self-Arising Innate Song upon Acquiring a Mere Glimpse of Certainty in the View and Meditation of the Incomparable Takpo Kagyü.”
The illustrious one, Vajradhara,
Who is said to possess the eight good qualities,
Is seen in human form by ordinary men like us.
You are the refuge called Padma, endowed with blessings.
From the eight-petaled lotus dome of my heart,
I supplicated you not to be separate even for an instant.
Though I did not have the good fortune of realization and liberation at once,
I was blessed with just recognizing my own nature.
Therefore, concern for the eight worldly dharmas diminished,
And I clearly saw the famous luminous dharmakaya
By mixing my mind with the guru’s.
I discovered nonthought in the midst of discursive thought,
And within nonconcept, wisdom dawned.
Now, with the joyous appreciation of a lineage son of the Takpo buddha,
I am inspired to speak out.
In the west, in Uddiyana, the secret treasure ground of the dakinis,
The great siddha Tilo
Opened the treasure of the three gems.
In the north, in the hermitage of Ravishing Beautiful Flowers,
The learned Mahapandita Naro
Showed the mark of a siddha, indivisible prana and mind.
In the south, in the land of herbs, the valley of Trowo,
The translator, emanated from Hevajra,
Established the source of the river of all siddhas.
In the west, in the Lachi snow range,
The supreme being, Shepa Dorje,
Attained the state of unity in one lifetime.
In the east, in heavenly Taklha Gampo,
The honorable physician, the second victorious one,
Realized the samadhi of the tenth bhumi.
In the chakras of body, speech, and mind,
The host of siddhas of the four great and eight lesser lineages
Obtained the life force of mahamudra
And could not help but attain enlightenment.
Skilled in magnetizing through bodhichitta,
They could not help but benefit beings.
Having obtained the profound wealth, the perfection of the two accumulations,
They could not help but become prosperous.
Fully understanding that knowing one liberates all,
They could not help but fulfill the great prophecy.
Lineage sons of these wealthy fathers
Possess the great self-existing riches of this previous karma.
They are the children of snow lionesses and great garudas.
By the power of their family bloodline, they are completely mature at once.
As followers of the lineage of Kagyü siddhas,
Their meditation is naturally born through the power of these blessings.
Bragging of their pain in many years of practice,
Proud of dwelling in indolence,
Boasting of having endured such pain,
Undermining others and haughty,
Keeping score with discursive thoughts of self and others
In counting up the realizations of the bhumis and the paths,
These are the qualities of the ignorant meditators in this dark age.
We do not possess these, and though I do not have the title of a siddha,
Nevertheless, through the excellent oral instructions o
f the example lineage,
I have seen the wisdom of ultimate mahamudra.
Ground mahamudra is the view, understanding things as they are.
Path mahamudra is the experience of meditation.
Fruition mahamudra is the realization of one’s mind as buddha.
I am unworthy, but my guru is good.
Though born in the dark age, I am very fortunate.
Though I have little perseverance, the oral instructions are profound.
As for ground mahamudra:
There are both things as they are and the way of confusion.
It does not incline toward either samsara or nirvana,
And is free from the extremes of exaggeration and denigration.
Not produced by causes, not changed by conditions,
It is not spoiled by confusion
Nor exalted by realization.
It does not know either confusion or liberation.
Since no essence exists anywhere,
Its expression is completely unobstructed and manifests everything.
Pervading all of samsara and nirvana like space,
It is the ground of all confusion and liberation,
With its self-luminous consciousness
And its alayavijnana.
As for the cognitive aspect of this neutral state,
Its essence is empty and its nature is luminous.
These two are inseparable and are the quintessence of insight.
It is space, ungraspable as a thing.
It is a spotless precious clear crystal.
It is the glow of the lamp of self-luminous mind.
It is inexpressible, the experience of a mute.
It is unobscured, transparent wisdom,
The luminous dharmakaya, sugatagarbha,
Primordially pure and spontaneous.
It cannot be shown through analogy by anyone,
And it cannot be expressed in words.
It is the dharmadhatu, which overwhelms mind’s inspection.
Established in this to begin with,
One should cut all doubts.
When one practices meditation with the view,
It is like a garuda fathoming space.
There is no fear and no doubt.
The one who meditates without the view
Is like a blind man wandering the plains.
There is no reference point for where the true path is.
The one who does not meditate, but merely holds the view
Is like a rich man tethered by stinginess.
He is unable to bring appropriate fruition to himself and others.
Joining the view and meditation is the holy tradition.
As for the ignorant aspect of this neutral state,
One does not know one’s nature because of the five causes.
In the ocean of coemergent ignorance,
The waves of ego fixation’s confusion roll.
Cognition becomes a self, and projections become objects,
And so the habitual patterns of grasping and fixation solidify.
Thus, karma accumulates and then fully ripens.
The rim of the waterwheel of samsara turns,
But even while it turns, its essence is unstained.
Even while it appears, it is empty of reality.
Mere appearance is the vividness of the trikaya.
Unborn is the nature of birth;
That unborn is unceasing.
On the threshold of nonduality, there is nowhere to dwell.
From this mind, difficult to express,
Various magical displays of samsara and nirvana arise.
Recognizing these as self-liberated is the supreme view.
When this is realized, everything is suchness.
When there are no obstructions or attainments, this is the innate nature.
When conceptual mind is transcended, this is the ultimate.
As for path mahamudra,
Mind and the phenomenal world are mahamudra.
Coemergent mind is dharmakaya.
Coemergent appearance is the light of dharmakaya.
When the blessings of the glorious guru
And one’s karma come together,
One realizes one’s nature like meeting an old friend.
There is no point in much talk,
But the beginner needs various things.
One should abandon either welcoming or sending off mahamudra thoughts of past and future.
The instantaneous mind of nowness
Is the unfabricated innate nature.
In meditation, there should be no trace of deliberateness.
One should not stray for an instant in confusion.
Nonwandering, nonmeditation, nonfabrication are the point.
With freshness, looseness, and clarity,
In the space of the three gates of liberation,
One is mindful, establishing proper watchfulness.
Always keeping the mind balanced between tight and relaxed,
One pacifies the accumulation of subtle, tangible, and gross thoughts.
Rest in the state of natural, unfabricated mind.
The four levels of experiences arise in succession,
And the sun of luminosity continually dawns.
The root of mahamudra meditation is established.
Without it, one’s talk of higher realization
Is like building a house without a foundation.
However, excessive desire for this is the work of Mara.
Those who persevere but have little learning
Are deceived by superficial virtues
And lead themselves and others along the way to the lower realms.
Even the good experiences of bliss, luminosity, and nonthought
Are the cause of samsara if one fixates on them.
When you intensify devotion in your heart,
Rock meets bone in insight,
And the ultimate lineage blessing is received.
Not straying into the four strayings,
Not falling into the three misunderstandings,
Transcending the four joys, free from the three conditions,
Realizing through the three stages of birth,
Untouched by the mind of the three great ones,
This is the self-existing nature, undefiled by experience.
Like the center of a cloudless sky,
The self-luminous mind is impossible to express.
It is wisdom of nonthought beyond analogy,
Naked ordinary mind.
Not keeping to dogmatism or arrogance,
It is clearly seen as dharmakaya.
The appearance of the six sense objects, like the moon in water,
Shines in the state of wisdom.
Whatever arises is the unfabricated innate state.
Whatever appears is the nature of mahamudra.
The phenomenal world is dharmakaya great bliss.
Both shamatha meditation of natural resting
And vipashyana which sees the unseeable,
Should not be separated but unified
In stillness, occurrence, and awareness.
Beyond abandoning discursive confusion,
Beyond applying antidotes,
There will be a time when you spontaneously reach this.
The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness Page 84