Mahamudra of the Training

by Dorjé Lopön Hun Lye 

An excerpt from “Self-Liberated Wakefulness” (a terma teaching discovered by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and given to Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye). This excerpt comes at a point in the text where Padmasambhava has just briefly discoursed on the first three out of four points of Mahāmudra: Mahāmudra of the view, Mahāmudra of the meditation and Mahāmudra of the fruition. And now he begins discussing Mahāmudra of the training, first quoting a tantra that says:

In order to bring forth sequential blessings,
There is the Mahāmudra of the training.

Then Padmasambhava continues:

“You must request the oral instructions from a master who possesses transmission, realization, and compassion. From that day onwards, you must supplicate him, regarding him not as a form-body (rupakaya) but only as dharmakaya. Unable to bear any separation, dissolve into him with deep yearning, so that through the master’s blessings the realization of Mahāmudra arises spontaneously. This – the singularly sufficient shortcut with no need to depend upon any other method among the two stages – is known as the Mahāmudra of the training.”

“To use an analogy, when the sun is bright and you have an undamaged, untainted lens, dry moss will catch fire the very moment you correctly arrange the three. Similarly, when a master’s blessings, your own devotion, and pure sincerity of your being all coincide, the original wakefulness that is Mahāmudra automatically arises by simply making supplication with deepfelt yearning. “