Mahāmudrā Explorations

Meditate and connect with the vast unified field of ALOHA.

Take warrior posture and recite the following:

PRAISE

I pay homage to all true teachers of awakenment.
Steeped in your attainment of authentic being, you manifest the Great Seal.
All-victorious embodiments who received the command of ultimate Ashe, 
With blazing all-knowing-spaciousness, you manifest great Ziji.
With humbleness, I bow.
Please grant your blessings.

Bow Deeply

Repeat 3 times:

RAISING SUN & MOON LUNGTA

In the absolute expression of self-confidence, I take the vow of self-awareness.
In the relative expression of self-confidence, I take the vow of living as an example.

Repeat 3 times:

REFUGE & BODHICHITTA

In the great Open Sky of ALOHA,
The expression of awakened mind has always existed.
In this primordial confidence, I take refuge.
On the ground of fathomless compassion,
I take the warrior’s vow of bodhi.

TRANSMISSION

As a warrior of goodness and brilliance, I now release the past, present, and future, relaxing into freshness and simplicity. Pause

Within this great space, I raise Windhorse, the four-legged miracle:

KI KI – Aware of Sky energy, I feel it radiating down through me. Pause
SO SO – Aware of Earth energy, I feel it radiating up through me. Pause
ASHE – Aware of both energies, I feel them combine at my Heart Centre. Pause
LHA – I hold as the energies accumulate and intensify. Pause
GYALO – I relax in complete confidence as the combined energy radiates out in all directions to infinity. Pause

Now, this confidence reveals my mind to me, opening the doors of self-liberation on the path of warrior dignity. On this journey, Awareness protects me, guides me, and reveals my own true nature.

Resume normal meditation posture.

THE GREAT SEAL GUARDED BY THE TIGER

KI KI SO SO TAK
The world of appearances – sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch –
is but arising from the mind.
Now the Tiger, ever mindful, never fooled,
Content in its own being,
Shows me the constant array of appearing sense perceptions.
Senses are only expressions of mind.
In this first great truth I meditate.

TAK
As a warrior of Tiger, now I meditate,
Knowing that all appearances are mind.

Umdze rings gong.

All appearances are mind, all appearances are mind, all appearances are mind…

Connect with ALOHA and complete confidence in your primordial wakefulness. With a mind that is neither too tight nor too loose, be present and content like the Tiger. Simply reflect again and again on how all appearing sense perceptions arise from the mind. Those perceptions do not exist separately but are purely emanating from the mind itself. Release thoughts of the past. Stop indulging in plans and fantasies for the future. Be present and completely satisfied with being who you are. This can occur because the warriors of Tiger are friendly to themselves. Thus, they discover their own fathomlessness.

Umdze: All appearances are mind.

Benefit

Having meditated that all appearances are mind, I am released from following every sense faculty, no longer seduced by every sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Knowing appearances to be projections, day and night, I am no longer lured and fooled.

When Humility reveals this realization, I am content. My mind is free from discursiveness and constant distraction, free from being scattered and over-whelmed. My body is free of sickness, discomfort, and stagnation. Increasing my life-force energy, this brings good health. Clearing head, heart, and channels, I now rejoice in the benefit of the expression of Humility.

THE GREAT SEAL GUARDED BY THE SNOW LION

KI KI SO SO SENG
With the confidence of ALOHA firmly in my heart,
Now I journey to the great land of the Snow Lion,
Who instructs me in looking for this powerful mind itself.
Now I meditate, seeking this mind and reflecting that mind 
Cannot be found, cannot be traced, and is ultimately empty.

SENG
As a warrior of Snow Lion, now I meditate,
Knowing that mind is unfindable and empty.

Umdze rings gong.

Mind is unfindable and empty, mind is unfindable and empty, mind is unfindable and empty…

Relax even further. Arouse great simplicity, and pluck the arrow of insight. In this way, follow the Snow Lion, who is unafraid to go beyond doubt and hesitation. With unashamed confidence, the Snow Lion preens itself, revealing splendor: a feeling of worthiness that gives it access to the mind’s very origins.

When the warriors of Tiger examined mind, they were stunned and amazed to realize that all of heaven, earth, and humanity are but mind’s display. Now, when we look for this mind itself, it is unfindable.

Since only the virtuous can see the Snow Lion, only through virtue does one discover that the mind lacks location, shape, and color. Through experience in that environment, we discover the mind’s emptiness. This great truth and mudra relieves the mind of delusion and self-torture. Therefore it is the ultimate source of happiness and delight.

Knowing this, the Snow Lion is always joyous. Thus, meditate like the Snow Lion, un-afraid. Look at the very skylike nature of the mind.
Look to see if there is such a thing called mind.

If there is, what shape and color is it? Is it inside or outside of the body? Does it arise from somewhere, dwell somewhere, and go somewhere? Is the mind moving or still? Look, asking such questions. When your search is exhausted, relax in the mind’s unfindable nature.

Umdze: Mind is unfindable and spacious.

Benefit

Meditating with the confidence of Awareness in my heart, I contemplate Tiger’s discovery – that all appearances arise from mind. Now, as a Warrior of Snow Lion, with delight and thoroughness I look for mind itself. Knowing the mind not to be found and to be spacious is the source of Snow Lion’s joy.

Conventionally, when I assume that the mind exists, that creates duality and makes me aggressive, leading to depression and endless other mental states. Because mind itself is inevitably free, confining it is unnatural. However, without looking for mind and its origin, I will inevitably assume that it does exist. This concept of existence brings stress, an existence full of suffering.

The Snow Lion shows me the inherent non-solidity of the mind, which is known as emptiness. Emptiness should not be understood as losing identity. Rather, it should be seen as release and freedom. Because this liberation takes time and patience, I avoid lapsing into speed or disillusionment. Riding on the Snow Lion’s back, eventually I ascend to the peak of existence, and witness Sky itself. Accomplishing this, my mind becomes healthy.

This Snow Lion meditation brings harmony, vitality, and balance. By doing it, I am no longer deluded. I have a greater wish to follow the path of mind’s natural virtues. Coarse and strong emotions have less power over me. Because now the mind is unfettered, it accomplishes things more easily. Since there is less anxiety, love and compassion expand. This brings the mind levity and delight.

THE GREAT SEAL GUARDED BY THE GARUDA

KI KI SO SO KHYUNG
Now as a Warrior of Garuda,
I fly in mind’s fathomless space,
knowing this emptiness to be infused 
with the brilliance of Awareness.
Thus, I experience emptiness as luminosity.

KHYUNG
As the Warrior of Garuda, now I meditate,
Knowing that emptiness is luminosity,

Umdze rings gong.

Emptiness is luminosity, Emptiness is luminosity, Emptiness is luminosity…

Now the warrior develops tremendous wisdom, discovering that true emptiness is not a devoid state. Rather, it holds perpetual luminosity. The inseparability of emptiness and luminosity represents the mind’s inherently complete wisdom.

The Garuda is the warrior’s ability to balance, never falling into extremes. Like the Garuda, the warrior has wings of luminosity and emptiness. We have realized that all appearances are mind, and that mind is untraceable. Even though it cannot be found, it is totally radiant with Awareness.

Therefore, meditate like the Garuda. Armed with luminosity-emptiness, it is able to fly in any direction. This is the highest of views. Conventionally, meditators fall into the trap of emptiness or of luminosity. Meditate like the Garuda, with self-existing wisdom and outrageous strength.

Look. See how the mind is empty yet luminous with Awareness. Even if the mind is unfindable, it is still aware. When you realize that the mind is empty and yet there is wisdom — that the mind is knowledgeable and radiant — relax in that understanding.

Umdze: Emptiness is luminosity.

Benefit

I, the warrior, meditate with primordial confidence in my heart, which engenders confidence. Thus I am able to travel where others have not gone to experience inherent brilliance and celebrate the knowing aspect of mind.

In the dark ages, nihilism and destruction tend to occur. Through luminosity, I am freed from that trap, attaining cheerfulness and delight. Such luminosity is the vision of ALOHA, which allows me to celebrate human wisdom and knowledge. Freed by emptiness, this wisdom does not need to be bound by permanence.

Therefore, luminosity is the experience of not being able to find something while simultaneously having a mind that is here, experiencing a moment of not-finding. Thus, we experience luminosity constantly, for it is a feeling of knowing. Ultimately, it is wisdom. Once we are on the path of luminosity, insight assists us, instantly seduced by the cry of the Garuda.

Now, as a warrior of Garuda, I experience the natural luminosity of the mind, which is none other than my inherent confidence.

THE GREAT SEAL GUARDED BY THE DRAGON

KI KI SO SO DRUK
With the confidence of inscrutability,
Now I meditate like the Dragon,
Who spontaneously arises in a play of emptiness and luminosity.
Thus, as the warrior of Dragon,
I realize that luminosity is spontaneously present.

DRUK
As the warrior of Dragon, now I meditate,
Realizing that luminosity is spontaneously present.

Umdze rings gong.

Luminosity is spontaneously present, Luminosity is spontaneously present, Luminosity is spontaneously present…

As the warrior of Garuda, we recognized that reality is unborn, un-originated, and therefore complete, perfect, and spontaneous. The Dragon’s vast realization is the ability to recognize that everything is present in one moment. With the meditation of Dragon, we unify all dignities. Here the warrior of Dragon rests in pure confidence.

Know that you are awake primordially. Expand your mind so that all seeming concepts, doubts, and problems just wither away. Let any fetters of doubt dissolve like shadows at sunrise. The Dragon’s thunder will terrify any vestiges of fear.

Thus, relax into supreme confidence. Trust the primordial confidence in your heart. Take your seat fully, and the entire universe will become your domain. Meditate knowing that without causes or conditions, you are spontaneously awake.

Umdze: Luminosity is spontaneously present.

Benefit

By meditating in the way of the Dragon, I am relieved from fear. Because fear arises from causes and conditions, it manifests as concepts. Even though these concepts can be tamed or reduced, they disappear only when the warrior has complete confidence in the mind’s inherent wakefulness.

Spontaneous presence means that enlightenment is now, the moment one realizes that there is no path or stages toward enlightenment. The fact that it is complete dawns immediately and suddenly. This awesome understanding shows concepts for what they are: unilluminated ground, like shadows. Similarly, due to mind’s inherent confidence, fear that arises one moment can dissolve into nothing in the next. What is a problem today is no longer a problem tomorrow, due purely to our understanding.

The Warrior of Dragon realizes that samsara, with its fear and doubt, is none other than a shadow that needs to be illuminated. When I understand this, I am no longer living in a dualistic world. I no longer strive for enlightenment, nor fear not achieving it. I see the inseparability of samsara and ALOHA.

Such complete confidence allows the Warrior to appear anywhere. The Dragon has the confidence to go up into the heavens or down into the lowest hells, because the confidence in its heart never wavers. Thus, my mind is inscrutable and incomprehensible like the elements free and untamable. Always rejoicing in my own wakefulness naturally arises as cheerfulness, delight, and humor.  This is the smile of the werma.

THE GREAT SEAL GUARDED BY ZIJI

KI KI SO SO TAK SENG KHYUNG DRUK DI YAR KYE
Now that I have journeyed through these four investigations,
I meditate with primordial confidence in my heart
Knowing all experiences and perceptions
to be the great cosmic mirror: presence.

ZIJI
Now, as the Warrior of Ziji,
I meditate with primordial confidence.

Umdze rings gong.

Rest.

I now relax with dignity and confidence. I return to the cosmic mirror which is none other than presence. In that, I relax into my original innocence. This is confidence – pristine, fresh, whole, never created, and never diminishing. It is Oneness with ALOHA. In this meditation of non-meditation, I can just be and recognize my being as primordial confidence itself. I proclaim my splendor, radiance, and brilliance by verbalizing “Ziji” spontaneously and realize the powerful existence arising out of ALOHA as the great universal truth. By understanding this, all practices are accomplished. All paths are achieved. All victory is attained.

Benefit

Now that I have journeyed the way of the Tiger, Lion, Garuda, and Dragon, I meditate with primordial confidence in my heart, knowing that all I experience and perceive is the great cosmic mirror. Since there is nothing to strive for and nothing to abandon, I can just be. I need neither to create experiences nor to correct misunderstanding; thus there is nothing to be done. At this very depth of the mind’s mirror, I experience the beginningless beginning of my inherent confidence, the one Great Seal of truth known as Ashe.

DEDICATION

By the Tiger Lion Garuda Dragon Ashe,
I dedicate all the confidence discovered here
To the welfare of beings in the three realms.
May they be free from following their projections,
Be liberated from extreme views,
And rest in the natural state of freedom.
May they discover the great confidence
Possessed by all beings.

DEDICATION OF MERIT

In anjali:

By this merit may all obtain omniscience. May it defeat the enemy: wrong-doing. From the stormy waves of birth, old-age, sickness and death, From the ocean of samsara may I free all beings.

In warrior posture:

By the confidence of the Golden Sun of the Great East, May the lotus garden of the Rigden’s wisdom bloom. May the dark ignorance of sentient beings be dispelled. May all beings enjoy profound brilliant glory.