2: Understanding Mahamudra

The ten verses in this section set out a conceptual understanding of
mahamudra. A conceptual understanding is at best a support for the practice of mahamudra. At worst it is a distraction and even a hindrance.

Mahamudra is a rich tradition. Its riches are accessible in three ways, through reason, through compassion, and through faith. Rangjung Dorje was steeped in Buddhist philosophy, one of the main subjects of study in Tibetan monasteries. A philosophical approach came naturally to him, and he sets it out brilliantly in concise poetry. While this approach was natural for a medieval Tibetan scholar-monk, it raises the question whether an approach through reason is helpful or even relevant for Western students of this path.

The answer is a clear but qualified yes. A conceptual understanding is helpful because Western thought is based on questions about being and existence, whereas Buddhist thought is based on questions about knowing—ontology vs epistemology for the philosophically inclined. Further, the way we think about life and the world is based in the Cartesian division between a world “out there” and a perceiver “in here,” so much so that the scientific worldview leaves us feeling that the world out there is in some sense more real than we are. This worldview has left us feeling alone, isolated, fragile, and incompetent. Careful study and reflection on the verses in this section go a long way in correcting
the imbalances in contemporary thought.

More important, however, is that this section fosters a worldview that gives
us the confidence to sit in meditation and develop the skills and capacities
needed to do nothing, nothing whatsoever, with what arises in experience. As Rangjung Dorje says in verse 8, “Confidence in outlook cuts assumptions about the ground.”

In these verses, reason is used to refute any idea or notion we might have
about reality, about what we are, about what mind is, about practice, even about result. As such, they challenge us conceptually, emotionally, even physically. In this way, they give us a taste of the challenges we are likely to encounter when we practice mahamudra, that is, when we seek to replace that conceptual understanding with direct experience.

Why would we do this? That is a question that each person must answer for themselves. The Tibetan tradition, and much of Buddhism, presents it as the only reasonable response to a very bad situation—being lost in samsara. Increasingly, over the years, I have found a more powerful answer in the vocabulary of calling. This is something I am called to do. By whom or by what I have no idea, but it does not matter. The calling is there, and when I respond to it, I know I am moving in the right direction. As you read this prayer, as you read the commentaries on the verses, keep this question in mind, and listen, listen as deeply as you can, not only in your mind, but even more in your body and your heart.

Verses in this Section