Mahamudra Teaching - Dharma Media

therefore look inside the mind, meditate, and get used to it as explained before. First we get the
instruction, then we meditate and then we keep that meaning within our mind and sustain that all
the time.
Progressing From Cascading Stream to Wide River to Vast Ocean
Progress in this practice is not a matter of going from place to place. Rather it involves exercising
within your own mind and habitualizing or familiarizing yourself to this practice. Get used to it and
purify the habitual tendencies of the other negative thoughts. Sometimes when strong thoughts or
strong afflictive emotions arise, at that time, without that they in “force you” in one way or another,
look at their nature directly. When you look at that nature directly, there is nothing to see it. That
seeing there is nothing to see is called “you saw it.”
With this kind of meditation the mind becomes more calm and peaceful. As mentioned earlier, at the
outset our mind is like a stream cascading down from the mountains, for example, from the Rocky
Mountains, so fast, so rapidly. Then, through this meditation, our mind is more like a wide river
floating on the ground. Flowing so smoothly. You are aware of the movement of the mind, but it is
not so powerful or stormy. Then after that, when you get used to this practice more and more, then is
it like the water mixing with the ocean. It all has no place to go it is just there. That kind of experience
or meditation can arise through the continuity of mindfulness, by sustaining this practice. So at that
time it is very easy to see. When the mind give rise to strong thoughts, without chasing or pushing
them, you can just meditate like this.
The Great Joy of Cause and Effect
When we do these practices they may give rise to many different types of experiences. We may feel,
“Oh, I have to know all these things, one has to know everything.” This is something that we don’t
have to worry about. What we should do is be sincere to ourselves according to the Dharma
teachings. Buddha gave so many Dharma teachings. So many teachings depend on the individual.
Every individual has his or her own size of clothes. Similarly, in that way Buddha presented all the
different teachings. In this way, he addressed beings of all different dispositions and according to all
the different mental capacities. But what is really the important thing is to first see how everything
arises in dependence upon the law of cause and effect. For example, meditating on calmly abiding is
a special cause for actualizing special insight, and special insight is the special cause to delete
delusions, ignorance. When we get this kind of understanding, experience, then one will give rise to
great joy, great happiness. We see how wonderful that is and that stabilizes our mind in the precious
Dharma teachings.
That kind of realization of the Mahamudra depends on the blessings of the lama. The more we have
the blessings of the lama, the greater that our opportunity to experience Mahamudra realization is. So
one will experience Mahamudra commensurate with one’s level of devotion to the lama.
Generally in the teachings there are what are called the attainments or achievements. Sometimes you
may have heard of “siddhis” or powers. There are ordinary siddhis and extraordinary siddhis. An
ordinary siddhi is like flying in the sky, showing miracle powers, like the fax machine. [Khenpo:
Sometimes I think the fax machine is like a miracle power, isn’t it? And TV, you know.] These are