About Mahamudra: Part 1

By Victor M Fontane

Mahamudra is a body of teachings found in the many of the Tibetan Buddhist schools, which includes methods for truly understanding the very nature of our own minds, leading us to enlightenment. Different schools might propose slightly different approaches for achieving this goal, but regardless of which one is followed, working on knowing the actual nature of our minds is a way of making our lives incredibly meaningful.

Mahamudra, a Sanskrit word meaning “great seal,” refers to an advanced and sophisticated system of meditation on the nature of the mind, and the realizations gained through it. Just like wax seals are stamped on legal documents to authenticate their signature, similarly the great seal of mahamudra is stamped on authentic practices that bring enlightenment for the benefit of all.

Mahamudra meditation’s distinctive characteristic is that it focuses on the mind itself and its intimate relation with the world of conventional appearances and with voidness (emptiness). Confusion and unawareness (ignorance) of this relation drive our disturbing emotions and compulsive behavior, resulting in unrelenting suffering and problems. Mahamudra meditation is a highly effective method for attaining liberation from this suffering, and for becoming enlightened, but only when undertaken on a firm foundation. This means that extensive training in the entire lam-rim graded path is required for progress to be made.

Mahamudra-style practices are found in the Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. In Kagyu and Gelug, it has both sutra and anuttarayoga tantra levels of practice, which focus on the usual levels and clear-light level of the mind respectively. Sakya transmits only the anuttarayoga tantra level. Here, we’ll focus on the sutra level in its Gelug and Karma Kagyu forms. Gelug emphasizes meditation on the voidness of the mind, while Karma Kagyu emphasizes meditation on the mind that non-conceptually realizes voidness.

For both approaches, it is crucial to distinguish what exactly mind is.

Mind is the individual, subjective mental activity of experiencing something.

This activity continues unbroken throughout all our lifetimes, with no beginning or end. The mind itself is extremely difficult to recognize, and so success in the practice is only possible on the basis of extensive positive force and the purification of negative potentials through repeated preliminary practices, or ngondro.