Is space anywhere supported? Upon what does it rest?
Like space, Mahamudra is dependent upon nothing;
Relax and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity,
And, your bonds loosening, release is certain.<\/p>\n
Gazing intently into the empty sky, vision ceases;
Likewise, when mind gazes into mind itself,
The train of discursive and conceptual thought ends
And supreme enlightenment is gained.<\/p>\n
A portion of Keith Dowman\u2019s translation<\/a> of Tilopa\u2019s Mahamudra Instruction to Naropa<\/span><\/span> in Twenty Eight Verses<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This beautiful poetry stops me in my tracks \u2013 which is a good thing. Mahamudra<\/span>, or \u2018Great Seal\u2019, is the apex of Tibetan Buddhist<\/a> practice (for three of the four Tibetan schools, one school, the Nyingmapa, has an equivalent practice called Dzogchen<\/span>, or \u2018Great Perfection\u2019). I\u2019ll be using this text on Tuesday in my Intro to Tibetan Buddhism<\/a> course. My plan is, weather pending, to take the students outside and recite parts of the poem to them \u2013 then to discuss. <\/span><\/p>\n A lot of our discussions regarding Tibetan Buddhism thus far have revolved around the apparent inconsistencies between Buddhist ethics (the 5 precepts especially) and life stories of accomplished masters. There are stories of great Buddhists drinking heavily (Virupa), killing a man to keep him from committing bad deeds<\/span> (the Buddha in one Mahayana Jataka tale, Padmasambhava \u2013 though not necessarily to prevent bad deeds, the monk who killed gLang Dharma<\/a>, the \u2018evil\u2019 king of Tibet in 842, and so on), apparently lying (Lotus Sutra), and generally breaking any\/all other \u2018rules of ethics\u2019 you might somehow find in Buddhism<\/span>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s good to see and hear the students inquisitive minds at work, but it will be equally good to see how some of them respond to this. If I have time I would like to give\/prepare a verse by verse commentary.<\/p>\n
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