The Role of the Bodhicittavivaraṇa in the Mahāmudrā Tradition of ...

Mathes: The Role of the Bodhicittavivaraṇa
It 70 has been also explained as suchness, the limit of reality, signlessness and the
ultimate, the very supreme enlightened attitude and emptiness (Commentary on
Enlightened Attitude 71).
Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes comments on this stanza in the following
way:
[Ultimate enlightened attitude] is suchness, which is nothing else than the true
nature of all phenomena. In view of its unmistaken meaning, it is [also] the limit
of reality. In view of being free from all characteristic signs of apprehension, it
is signlessness. In view of its being the object of the wisdom [of the] noble ones,
it is the ultimate. Since enlightened attitude, which has the previously mentioned
defining characteristics, is the nature of excellent wisdom, it is supreme. [Ultimate
enlightened attitude] is reality, the true nature of phenomena of all phenomena,
and [finally] it is emptiness, the pacification of all mental fabrication. In many
sūtras and tantras, too, it has been explained as having these defining
characteristics. 71
It goes without saying that these synonyms correspond to ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon
nu dpal’s second type of emptiness, namely the one which is also the element of
awareness or the Buddha-nature. In other words, one’s direct realization of
emptiness (ultimate enlightened attitude) is nothing else than realizing the luminous
nature of one’s own and everybody else’s mind. Moreover, seeing that all sentient
beings share a nature that is similar to enlightenment, one immediately develops
supreme love and compassion, thinking that everybody could have a similar
experience if he or she was not hindered by adventitious stains. 72
Conclusion
It could be shown that in the Great Seal tradition of the Dwags po bka’ brgyud the
positive descriptions of the ultimate in the Third Wheel of the Doctrine are taken
as the result of a direct experience of emptiness beyond the duality of perceiving
subject and perceived object. An ultimate existence of mind, such that
self-awareness or the perfect nature exists as an entity, is refuted by ’Gos lo tsā ba
gzhon nu dpal as well as his disciple Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes. If Mind
Only is taken as the non-apprehension of the own-being of external objects, and
the momentariness of mind as the emptiness of mind, the hermeneutics of The
Sūtra on Revealing the Intention can be followed without the usual unwanted
70 The preceding stanza 70 ends in the following way (Lindtner, ed., Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 206, line
2): “…by realizing reality, one attains liberation” (…de nyid rtogs pas grol thob ’gyur).
71 Zhwa dmar pa chos grags ye shes, Byang chub sems ’grel gyi rnam par bshad pa, 105, lines 2-8:
chos thams cad kyi gnas lugs las gzhan du ma yin pa’i de bzhin nyid dang / phyin ci ma log pa’i don
dang ldan pas yang dag pa’i mtha’ dang / dmigs pa’i mtshan ma kun dang bral bas mtshan ma med
pa dang / ’phags pa ye shes kyi yul du gyur pas don dam pa nyid dang / sngar smos pa’i mtshan nyid
dang ldan pa’i byang chub kyi sems ye shes phul du byung ba’i ngo bo yin pas mchog dang / chos
thams cad kyi chos nyid de kho na nyid dang / spros pa thams cad zhi ba stong pa nyid ces bya ba’i
mtshan nyid du’ang mdo rgyud mang po las bshad pa yin no//.
72 See Mathes, Direct Path, 244-45.
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