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from
the course 'Essentials of Tibetan Buddhism'
The Kagyu tradition is the second oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism after the Nyingma tradition. The Kagyu and Nyingma have been very close both in terms of lineage and historical connection, mutually influencing each other's traditions and practices. The Kagyu tradition however, belongs to what is known as the New Schools (sarma), which were established in Tibet in the tenth century during what is known as the 'later spread', chidar in Tibetan. The Sarmapas are the ones who followed the new translation of Indian texts after the great translator, Rinchen Zangpo. How to date precisely the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet, post Langdharma, is debated by, and amongst, even the early Tibetan historians, such as Buton Rinchen, Dromton Gyalwe Jungney, and the great translator mentioned previously, Rinchen Zangpo. The texts of the ancient (nyingma) tradition on the other hand, were translated mainly during the reign of Trisong Detsen, and promulgated greatly by outstanding early masters such as Guru Padmasambhava. The Nyingmapas are connected to what is known as the 'early spread' of Buddhism, ngadar in Tibetan, which is traced back to the time of the Tibetan king Nyatri Tsenpo. The movement started with the reign of Nyatri Tsenpo and was given systematic form under Songsten Gampo and promulgated by the Tibetan kind Trisong Detsen, which was then, according to traditional historical accounts, destroyed by king Langdharma. Buddhism was
supposedly wiped out after the upsurge of indigenous Tibetan opposition
in the ninth century. The Bonpos were not happy with the influence
that Buddhism was having on Tibetan culture and practically wiped
out Buddhism, according to the traditional historical accounts.
After the death of King Langdarma however, there was a revival of
Buddhism in Tibet, with new contacts being made with Indian teachers
over the ensuing two centuries. That is where the Kagyu, Sakya and
Gelug schools have their origins. [Readers should also be alerted
to the fact that htis account has been debated and contested amongst,
and by, both Tibetan and western historians.] The teachings
of both the Nyingma and Kagyu had to deal with the issue of what
was Indian, and therefore foreign and extraneous to Tibetan culture,
and what was indigenous to it, in their assimilation of Buddhist
teachings and practices. Even the life of Milarepa, the most well-known
and powerful figure in the Kagyu tradition, demonstrates this fact,
with Milarepa being brought up as a shaman before he became a Buddhist. There is a story
from an early part of Milarepa's life that illustrates the flavour
of the Kagyu lineage quite well. Milarepa's sister went to visit
him in a mountain retreat and found him completely naked. He was
a living skeleton, living solely on nettles, so that his skin had
taken on a greenish hue. She thought he was an embarrassment to
himself and his family and decided to buy him something to clothe
himself with. If you know Milarepa's story, you will know that she
was also very poor, because the family estate had been taken by
relatives. She had hoped that Milarepa would acquire disciples and
wealth as a result of his meditation practice. After this visit,
she went to the market and bought some felt material which she brought
back to him, asking him to cover himself. She left thinking that
Milarepa would now succeed in becoming as famous as other teachers
who have disciples. After some months she decided to go back and
check up on Milarepa, only to find that he had fashioned, from the
felt, garments for each of his fingers, but nothing for the rest
of his body, which remained completely naked. She was very upset,
but Milarepa responded with a teaching about practise and how not
to get hung up on ideas of propriety, prudishness and so forth. This story illustrates what Trungpa Rinpoche chose to call the 'crazy wisdom lineage.' This lineage has its origin in India. The Kagyu masters of Tibet had direct contact with Indian masters who were known as Mahasiddhas. Mahasiddha originally meant 'wandering yogi,' because they were lay practitioners who did not belong to any monastic order. In Tibetan they were known as drub nyon, meaning 'crazy yogi'; drub means 'yogi' and nyon meaning 'crazy.' This style of practice is reflected in the lives of Milarepa and Marpa. In India, it was represented by Mahasiddhas such as Naropa, Maitripa and Tilopa. The Kagyu lineage is therefore essentially derived from this siddha tradition, which was first and foremost non-monastic in orientation. It was Milarepa's foremost disciple Gampopa who introduced the monastic element to what was to become known as the Kagyu tradition. Gampopa was trained in another strand of Buddhist teachings, by teachers who had different inclinations and persuasions to the Mahasiddhas or wandering yogis. These were the monastically inclined Buddhist practitioners known as the Kadampa tradition. Atisha was the representative of this tradition in Tibet. He was an Indian Abbot who was invited to Tibet to teach monasticism, the value of renunciation, the value of generating bodhicitta, loving kindness and so forth. Gampopa was a physician in his early thirties when his wife died. His wife had made him vow not to take another wife after she died and as a result Gampopa decided to become a monk. The Kagyu tradition, until that point, did not have one single celibate monk in their midst. All of the previous teachers were married yogis, apart from Milarepa, but even he was not celibate. When Gampopa first went to Milarepa to receive instructions, the first thing Milarepa did was to invite him to drink some chang, or Tibetan beer. Gampopa was shocked, because as a monk he had taken vows not to consume any form of intoxicant. At this point Milarepa asked what Gampopa's name was. In reply, Gampopa answered, 'My name is Sonam Rinchen,' to whcih Milarepa said ' Sonam, Sonam comes from creating merit; Rinchen, you are the jewel of all sentient beings.' Milarepa then made Gampopa drink a mug of beer with him and Gampopa unhesitatingly took a long draught of chang. Milarepa regarded this as a very auspicious sign, because Gampopa was able to relinquish his preconceived notions out of faith in Milarepa and had thereby shown himself to be ripe for the Mahamudra style of teachings. He taught Mahamudra to Gampopa with the result that it dawned on Gampopa how he had allowed himeself to become rather puritanical and somewhat rigid in his religious outlook. The Kagyu tradition,
therefore, is a blend of the freestyle teachings that were embodied
by the Mahasiddhas and the strict disciplined tradition of the Kadampas,
which were brought together by Gampopa. It is this combination of
discipline and total freedom that characterises the Kagyu tradition. The Six Yogas
of Naropa Unique to the
Kagyu tradition is the practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa and the
practice of Mahamudra. The Six Yoga system came from the Indian
Mahasiddha, Naropa, who taught it to Marpa, who taught it to Milarepa.
From there onwards, the Six Yogas have been the principle practices
of the Kagyu tradition. That is not to say that the other traditions
of Tibetan Buddhism, the Nyingma, Sakya and Gelug, do not practise
the Six Yogas, just that the Kagyupas place more emphasis on them
than anyone else. The Six Yogas consist of Mystic Heat Yoga (tummo),
Illusory Body Yoga (gyulu), Clear Light Yoga (osal),
Dream Yoga (milam), the Yoga of the Intermediate Stage (bardo)
and the Yoga of Transference of Consciousness (powa). Mystic Heat Yoga is about the individual practitioner trying to transform him- or herself as a sexual being, by relating directly to the body. Mystic Heat, or tummo, means 'ferocious feminine energy;' as tum means 'ferocious' and mo is 'feminine.' Heat is generated in the naval region and rises towards the psychophysical centre (chakra) in the crown of the head where the life-essence (bindu) resides. As the heat rises, the life-essence melts and travels through the different psychophysical centres of the body, generating various experiences of bliss. There are four experiences of bliss to be exact, one each related to the crown, throat, heart and naval chakras. Through this method, the practitioner is able to transform him- or herself both physically and mentally, because the life-essence relates to more than the gross physical body. The idea here is that we cannot simply relate to the mind independently from the body. The mind and body are inter-related and the health and well-being of the body is just as important as the health and well-being of the mind. Illusory Body
Yoga is about understanding that the way we see our body is only
one particular way of perceiving it. In these teachings, we have
both a gross body and a subtle body. The gross body is perceptible
and tangible, while the subtle body is not. Despite this, the subtle
body still exists. We can understand this subtle body by recognising
that it has more to do with our imagination than anything else.
Illusory Body Yoga is all about our perceptions, because our perception
has nothing to do with the reality of things; it is just about how
we perceive ourselves. Giving some reality to a reinvented self
and regarding it as real allows us to see that even our gross self
is imagined. Everything regarding our physical image is seen as
illusory. Clear Light Yoga refers to the practice of paying attention to the cognitive nature of the mind whether we are awake or asleep. No matter what happens in the mind there is that sense of mental clarity or cognisance; even when we are completely confused or dull. This clarity can never be taken away from the mind, because it is a natural characteristic of the mind. However, we normally do not appreciate that fact. In Dream Yoga, we can deliberately use our dreams as an opportunity for developing spiritual insights, instead of just passing out when we go to sleep. This Yoga has two aspects: the first being about modifying dreams and the second about realising dreams. Modifying dreams means that when we dream about something fearful, like jumping off a cliff, we can use that dream to create a completely different situation. The second aspect is something like lucid dreaming, because here, one knows that one is dreaming and whatever takes place in the mind is no longer seen as real. In Buddhism, our dreaming state and our waking state are understood as overlapping, rather than the waking state being regarded as completely real and the dreaming state as unreal. In the Yoga of the Intermediate Stage, the idea of bardo usually refers to the stage between death and life. There are actually six kinds of bardo, but here we will deal with the three central ones. The first is the intermediate stage of dying (chikai bardo), the second is the post-mortem intermediate stage (chonyi bardo) and the third is the intermediate stage of rebirth (sipai bardo). In the first bardo, the individual practitioner truly realises that he or she is going to die. The onset of death has taken place and the faculties have gradually begun to diminish and shut down. One cannot see, hear, smell, taste and feel, in that order. Subsequent to that, at the moment of death there is the 'bardo of reality' or Dharmakaya, where there is still the opportunity for spiritual realisation. When our overactive mind begins to calm down at the time of death, it is comparable to our mind when it goes to sleep. There is a moment between wakefulness and dreaming when the mind is very calm, lucid and transparent. The same thing happens in the intermediate stage of death. There is a brief moment when the dying person has the opportunity to come to know his or her own condition. In the bardo of the post-mortem state, the consciousness goes through various stages, first having visions of figures that are comforting, pleasant and peaceful and then having visions of figures that are wrathful, disturbing and obnoxious. The deceased person has to realise that all of these images are projections of the mind. They are just like the dreams one has in terms of Dream Yoga and must be recognised as projections about which there is no reason to be afraid. If one understands that, one will find liberation. If one fails to realise that, one will return back to life. This is called the bardo of rebirth. Even if one was unable to attain enlightenment during this process, it is still possible to determine one's next rebirth if one's practise has been strong enough. The Yoga of Transference of Consciousness means that as living human beings we would be able to eject our consciousness at the time of death. Ejection of consciousness means that we willingly and deliberately eject the consciousness from our bodies. Mahamudra All of the Six
Yogas are practised in order to attain Mahamudrahood. Mahamudra
is the main aim of the Kagyu teachings, just as Dzogchen or Maha
Ati is the main aim of the Nyingma. However, one does not need to
practise the Six Yogas in order to practise or realise Mahamudra.
Even though the Six Yogas lead to a realisation of Mahamudra, there
is another tradition of Mahamudra practice that is quite independent
from these tantric practices. Mahamudra
means 'Great Symbol.' This is chagja chenpo (phyags gya
chen po in Tibetan.) Chagja means mudra, or 'symbol,'
while chenpo means maha or 'great.' So chagja chenpo,
or Mahamudra, refers to the great symbol which is the natural condition
of one's mind. This natural condition of the mind is not something
that changes; it is ever-present and not contingent upon anything.
This relates to the concept of Buddha-nature that is found in Mahayana
literature. Buddha-nature is the innate quality or attribute which
allows us to become enlightened. If ignorance and delusion were
intrinsic to us, it would not be possible to become enlightened,
because our activities would be a self-perpetuating process where
ignorance would only generate more ignorance. On the other hand,
if there is this innate quality of wakefulness inherent within us,
enlightenment can arise from this. This is what the concept of Buddha-nature
refers to. However, unlike
the traditional sutric teachings on Buddha-nature, the Kagyu and
Nyingma traditions take the concept of Buddha-nature a step further
by actually equating it with our own true condition or nature of
the mind. Here, Buddha-nature is not simply the potential for enlightenment,
it is actual enlightenment itself. Spiritual practice is not about
increasing or cultivating anything that we do not already possess,
we are simply tapping into what is already inherent within our own
minds. In other words, there is nothing extraneous that we have
to acquire. The idea of acquiring something, or of developing or
cultivating certain mental qualities, is not encouraged in the Mahamudra
teachings. The practitioner is only encouraged to go deeper into
him- or herself, so that whatever is there already can be recognised
and made use of. In this tradition
we talk about Ground, Path and Fruition Mahamudra. Ground Mahamudra
is the starting point. From this perspective, we do not think that
our minds are confused, deluded and afflicted, but rather that the
natural condition of the mind has three aspects: that of nature,
essence and characteristic. The nature of our condition is openness,
the essence is clarity and the characteristic is unceasing mental
activity. That is what we find ourselves with. We are familiar with
the unceasing mental activity of the mind, but we are not familiar
with its essence and nature. In terms of
the meditation of tranquillity (samatha), the Mahamudra teachings
say that when we can be with whatever we are experiencing, the mind
will become tranquil. We do not cultivate positive thoughts and
emotions and we do not reject negative thoughts and emotions during
meditation. We are not meditating when we are able to suppress thoughts
and emotions, we are meditating when we can be with and be aware
of those thoughts and emotions as they occur. Thoughts and emotions
are not the problem, they are not the enemy. The enemy is lack of
awareness, lack of presence. The mind becomes
settled when one is not judging what arises in it, pushing certain
things out of the mind and hanging onto certain other things. Thinking,
'I want this, I desire this. I had such a quiet meditation. That
was so good, I want it again.' Or thinking, 'I wasted my time. The
whole time I was sitting, the only thing I could think of was how
pissed off I was.' The mind is constantly judging and evaluating,
thinking these are good thoughts, these are nice emotions, I should
actually have more of and those things etcetera, etcetera. Mahamudra
teachings say that we should not be doing that, because in terms
of Path Mahamudra, we will not find our true condition by getting
involved in this kind of divisive thinking. Spiritual realisation
does not come from rejection or acceptance, it comes from being. In terms of
insight meditation (vipashyana), one has to cultivate awareness.
With tranquillity meditation one is practising mindfulness by trying
to be with whatever one experiences, but with insight meditation
one learns about what is going on in the mind. This has two aspects.
The first aspect is that one can learn something about the thoughts
and emotions and how they arise in the mind without trying to work
out why they are there in the first place. Insight is about seeing
how and in what manner thoughts and emotions arise in the mind.
In this way, one will come to understand their nature and realise
that thoughts and emotions are contingent things. Normally, if
we experience deep depression or other habits of emotion, we may
think that they begin to assume some kind of independent existence
outside of our minds. 'I have depression, I am mad, something is
invading me.' With insight meditation, one begins to see that everything
that one experiences is contingent upon causes and conditions. It
is not some independently existing entity out there. This is the
kind of practice that we need to do in order to realise our true
condition. According to
Mahamudra teachings, there are five reasons why we are unable to
realise our true condition. The first one is failing to recognise
our own true potential. We are normally only aware of how bad we
are, how aggressive we are, how obnoxious we are - even though we
do not want to let other people know about that. Nonetheless, admonishing
ourselves constantly is one of the factors that inhibits us from
recognising our own true condition, because our own true condition
is non-diluted, untarnished and non-corrupted. The second reason
we are unable to realise our true condition is that we think enlightenment
and bondage are completely different. We regard the samsaric state
as full of turbulence, dissatisfaction and despair, while nirvana
is peace, quietude and contentment. To see these two realms as completely
opposed to each other is a mistake, because we do not find contentment
independently of, or in spite of, samsara. Bondage is a necessary
condition for liberation. The third reason
we are unable to realise our true condition comes from thinking
that enlightenment is some kind of distant goal that we can only
achieve after going through the long process of the paths and stages,
as it is said in the traditional teachings. Due to that, we fail
to realise that we can have enlightenment instantly; it is not a
reward that we get at the terminus point of the path. The fifth reason
that we do not understand our natural condition is because we do
not think of the enlightened qualities as already present in the
mind. Enlightened qualities are not to be created, they are to be
discovered. One does not need to bring them into existence anew;
they are already there. By approaching
Mahamudra practice in this way, with the practice of tranquillity
and insight meditation, we come to Fruition Mahamudra, which has
four aspects, or Four Yogas: the Yoga of One-Pointedness, the Yoga
of Non-Conceptuality, the Yoga of One-Flavouredness and the Yoga
of Non-Meditation. One-Pointedness
does not mean that the meditator has stopped thinking. Discarding
thoughts and emotions is not part of either Dzogchen or Mahamudra
practice. One-Pointedness occurs when the meditator is not disturbed
by the thoughts or emotions that come up in the mind. The Yoga of
Non-conceptuality is about not getting fixated on whatever experiences
one has during meditation. One should neither encourage nor reject
them as self-existing entities, but realise that they are dependent
upon causes and conditions. This will allow the meditator to realise
that the nature of thoughts and emotions is emptiness or non-substantial.
This does not mean that they do not exist at all, only that they
are contingent on various factors. This realisation is achieved
through observing the process of how thoughts and emotions arise,
dwell and dissipate. The Yoga of
One-Flavouredness means that there is no longer a gap between the
perceiver and what we perceive. Normally, the perceiver is in here
and what is perceived is out there independent of oneself. In reality
however, what is perceived and the perceiver are intimately related,
because how things are perceived and understood is completely dependent
upon the mind. The thought of bondage and the thought of nirvana
are not different either. When we understand the state of bondage,
it becomes liberation. The ultimate
goal of Mahamudra practice is the Yoga of Non-Meditation. While
meditation is something that we do to attain a particular goal,
meditation itself is not the goal. The goal is to go beyond meditation
and non-meditation, so that there is no form of effort involved
whatsoever. In other words there is no distinction between meditation
and post-meditation, one is always 'present.' Meditation is no longer
something one has to do, it becomes part of one's life. Next feature article>> The Meaning of Lineage by Venerable Pema Chodron |
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