Books/When the Clouds Part/The ''Uttaratantra'' and Mahāmudrā

{{BookExcerpt |Title=The Uttaratantra and Mahāmudrā |ExcerptImage= |BookTitle=Books/When the Clouds Part |AuthorPage=People/Maitrīpa;People/Sgam po pa;People/Karmapa, 3rd;People/Karmapa, 8th;People/Dwags po bkra shis rnam rgyal;People/Pad+ma dkar po;People/'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal |TopCitation=Brunnhölzl, Karl. "The Uttaratantra and Mahāmudrā." In When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra, 151–282. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2014. |Content=As stated before, texts such as CMW, those by Mönlam Tsültrim, GC, the Eighth Karmapa’s Lamp, and GISM all establish connections between the Uttaratantra and Mahāmudrā. Such connections are also found in a number of Indian and Tibetan Mahāmudrā works. Usually, these connections are made in the wider context of the Mahāmudrā approaches that came to be called "sūtra Mahāmudrā" or "essence Mahāmudrā" (the Mahāmudrā approach that is beyond "sūtra Mahāmudrā" and "tantra Mahāmudrā"). In order to provide some background against which the Uttaratantra-based Mahāmudrā instructions in the above texts can be appreciated more fully, I will next present an overview of the key elements of the different approaches to Mahāmudrā, their origins, their scriptural sources, and the different ways in which they are taught.

Sūtra Mahāmudrā, Tantra Mahāmudrā, and Essence Mahāmudrā

TOK’s explanation of the stages of the path of Mahāmudrā, which relies in significant parts on Gö Lotsāwa’s BA and GC, is the most systematic presentation of the three approaches to Mahāmudrā that are traceable since the time of Maitrīpa and came to be called "sūtra Mahāmudrā," "tantra Mahāmudrā," and "essence Mahāmudrā" from the time of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (1813–1899) onward. Therefore, TOK’s discussion is presented here first as an overview of these three approaches. TOK begins by dividing Mahāmudrā into its two main approaches of sūtra and tantra:

Since this widely renowned "Incomparable Tagpo Kagyü" is not merely a lineage of words, it is called "the ultimate lineage of true reality." The meaning of this is that it is an unbroken lineage of the realization of stainless Mahāmudrā. Therefore, this practice lineage has not deteriorated right up to the present [in that it is alive] in the root guru from whom one obtains the realization of Mahāmudrā. Thus, Mahāmudrā— the instruction that is greatly renowned in this precious lineage—is known as two [systems]. In the one that accords with the sūtra system, one rests in meditative equipoise through being instructed that the subject does not mentally engage in the object—luminosity free from reference points. The mantra system is the Connate Union Mahāmudrā of bliss and emptiness in unison, which is made special through the wisdom that arises from empowerment and through striking the vital points in the vajra body.

      Then TOK explains the origins of sūtra Mahāmudrā, the crucial roles of Maitrīpa and Gampopa in its development, and its being squarely based on the Uttaratantra:

In the teachings of Tagpo Rinpoche, it is said:

The text for this Mahāmudrā of ours is the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra composed by the Bhagavān Maitreya.

After the mighty lord Maitrīpa had obtained the instructions of the great Brahman [Saraha] and his successors, he composed pith instructions on prajñāpāramitā that accord with mantra, such as the Tattvadaśaka. Having heard them, lord Marpa said:

The heart of the matter of the ultimate yāna,
Mental nonengagement free from extremes,
Shall be pointed out as the dharma that is Mahāmudrā.
...
This is the scriptural system asserted by lord Maitrīpa.

Also Milarepa said:

Right now in the gap between saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,
The basic nature being pointed out is Mahāmudrā.
Please determine the view that is the ground.

The meaning of [all] these [statements] is as follows. The manner of the view and meditation of this [sūtra Mahāmudrā is stated in the Uttaratantra]:

There is nothing to be removed in this
And not the slightest to be added.
Actual reality is viewed as it really is—
If actual reality is seen, one is liberated.

The Uttaratantra continues:

The basic element is empty of what is adventitious,
Which has the characteristic of being separable.
It is not empty of the unsurpassable attributes,
Which have the characteristic of being inseparable.

Therefore, in this luminous nature of the mind, there are no stains to be removed because its nature is primordially without stains. Nor are there the slightest previously nonexistent qualities to be produced and added because its essence consists of intrinsic qualities since the beginning. As for the reasons for this, the basic element is empty of the fabricated and adventitious stains that have the characteristic of being suitable to be separated from the [tathāgata] heart. The basic element is not empty of the unsurpassable attributes—the buddha qualities (such as the ten powers)—whose nature is unfabricated and that have the characteristic of being inseparable [from it].

      For example, this is as in the case when a [white] conch appears to be yellow due to a bile disease; the conch is empty of being yellow but is not empty of being white. Therefore, both the wish to remove stains and the wish to add qualities are obscurations due to thoughts of hope and fear. Hence, having relinquished these [wishes], through personally experienced prajñā, one should view and familiarize with just this actual true reality—the present ordinary mind (appearance and emptiness inseparable, free from being real or delusive)—as being precisely that, without contriving it or tampering with it through adopting and rejecting. "Viewing" refers to knowing and viewing through prajñā. "Familiarizing" refers to resting right within that [true reality] in a one-pointed manner without being distracted. This way of being is [also] stated and clarified by venerable Rangjung [Dorje]:

All is neither real nor delusive—
Held to be like [a reflection of] the moon in water by the
      learned.
Just this ordinary mind
Is called "dharmadhātu" and "heart of the victors."

Therefore, glorious Kachö [Wangpo] says:

This sheer lucid awareness that appears at the present time
Is the own essence of phenomena—seeming reality.
If you understand it as the uncontrived essential point just as
      it is,
Ultimate reality is also nothing but this.

The two realities of those dealing with the conventions of texts
Abound with scriptures and reasonings, but they do not
      understand the essential point.
Through taking the two to be different, they deviate from
      nonduality.

Thus, seeming reality consists of the adventitious stains, which resemble [the appearance of] yellow based on a [white] conch. Ultimate reality is the tathāgata heart, which resembles the white of that conch. [However,] these are only mere appearances from the perspective of mistakenness (the subject), whereas there is no yellow or white to be removed or added in terms of the conch [itself] (the object). Therefore, the pith instruction [here] is to rest naturally settled in an uncontrived manner.

      In brief, what are called "saṃsāra" and "nirvāṇa" are [only] presented from the perspective of mere seeming appearances, while the nature of both of them, which is free from reference points and is luminous, is called "sugata heart." Hence, in terms of the definitive meaning, mere appearances and their nature cannot be distinguished individually, just like a fire and its heat. For this reason, also the Mother says:

Form is empty. Emptiness is form. . . .

Venerable Rangjung [Dorje] states:

The basic nature free from reference points, Mahāmudrā
Is empty of all characteristics of the reference points of
      thoughts.
This pure nature, lucid and yet without grasping,
Is also called "the tathāgata heart."

Next, TOK defends the approach of sūtra Mahāmudrā against the common claim of Mahāmudrā’s not being found in the sūtras, while any genuine form of Mahāmudrā must be based on tantric empowerments. TOK rejects this critique, which was first leveled by Sakya Paṇḍita, through referring to two Indian sources that speak about Mahāmudrā in relation to the approach of the sūtras. In addition, the text refers to two of Atiśa’s works and other Kadampa teachings as being major sources of sūtra Mahāmudrā besides the tradition of Maitrīpa and the Uttaratantra mentioned above.

About this, the dharma lord Sakya Paṇḍita asserted that the conventional term "Mahāmudrā" is absent in the prajñāpāramitā system and that the wisdom of Mahāmudrā arises solely from empowerments. Following that, [some] great ones uttered a lot of meaningless chatter, but in the Tattvāvatāra composed by master Jñānakīrti, it says:

Another name of Mother Prajñāpāramitā is Mahāmudrā because it is the very nature of nondual wisdom.

Thus, he not only explains that the prajñāpāramitā taught in the sūtras and the Mahāmudrā of mantra are synonyms, but he also explains these conventional terms:

As for those of highest capacities among the persons who exert themselves in the pāramitās, when they perform the meditations of calm abiding and superior insight, even at the stage of ordinary beings, this grants them the true realization characterized by having its origin in Mahāmudrā. Thus, this is the sign of irreversible [realization] . . .

      Sahajavajra also explains this in a similar way, which will be found below. That Tagpo Rinpoche gave rise to the realization of Mahāmudrā even in beginners who had not obtained empowerment is [precisely] this system of pāramitā [Mahāmudrā]. It consists primarily of instructions that come from the Kadampas. The Pith Instructions on the Two Armors of Connate Union Mahāmudrā, composed by lord [Atiśa] and this present tradition accord in all respects, and even the progression of the four yogas [of Mahāmudrā] is clearly taught in that [text]. Thus, it is said that [Gampopa] guided the majority in his assembly [of students] through the stages of the path that come from the Kadam [tradition], while he guided the extraordinary [students] through the path of means that comes from guru Milarepa. Among these [two approaches, sūtra Mahāmudrā] represents the meaning of the former [approach]. With this in mind, lord Mikyö Dorje says:

Those in whom the fully qualified exemplifying and actual wisdoms have not been revealed through the three higher empowerments do not possess the fully qualified siddhi of Mahāmudrā of the teaching lineage of great Nāropa as transmitted from great Vajradhara. Nowadays, from the perspective of those who are to be guided in this degenerate age and are fond of very high yānas, venerable Gampopa and the protector Pamo Trupa applied the name "Connate Union Mahāmudrā" to the system of guidance through calm abiding and superior insight that is in common with the causal yāna of the pāramitās—the pith instructions of the Bodhipathapradīpa transmitted by the protector Atiśa.

Nevertheless, in the approach to practice of most heart sons of Tagpo [Rinpoche], the instructions on Mahāmudrā are taught in such a way that they are preceded by conferring an empowerment. Thus, they hold [Mahāmudrā] to be the approach that is common to sūtra and mantra.

      TOK also divides Mahāmudrā into the three approaches of sūtra Mahāmudrā, tantra Mahāmudrā, and essence Mahāmudrā. Here, sūtra Mahāmudrā is explained in terms of ground, path, and fruition, which entail its view, meditation, and conduct.

The essence of the first is prajñāpāramitā, its name is
Mahāmudrā,
And its aspects are in accordance with mantra.

The first of these three traditions is the sūtra tradition or this [tradition] that later came to be held as the Mahāmudrā of blending the realizations of sūtra and mantra. It corresponds to what the Tattvadaśakaṭīkā composed by master Sahajavajra clearly explains as the wisdom that realizes suchness and has the three features of its essence’s being pāramitā, being in accordance with mantra, and its name being "Mahāmudrā."

1. Teaching ground Mahāmudrā, the basic nature that is the

    fundamental ground of [all] entities

This has three parts:

1. The actual way of being

2. The way of being mistaken

3. Pointing out the own essence of the way it is

1.1. The actual way of being

The ground is the basic nature without bias, free from
extremes of reference points,
Never mistaken or liberated, and all-pervasive like space.

The ground, the basic nature that is the fundamental ground of [all] entities, is not established as the essence of either saṃsāra or nirvāṇa, does not exhibit any bias in any direction whatsoever, and is free from all extremes of reference points (such as existence, nonexistence, permanence, and extinction). Therefore, it is beyond being an object of speech, thought, and expression and is primordially never bound through mistakenness or liberated through being realized. Due to the essential point of its not being established as any specifically characterized phenomenon whatsoever, it pervades all phenomena of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa like space. This basic nature is taught in the sūtras and tantras through many synonyms, such as Mahāmudrā, prajñāpāramitā, sugata heart, primordial buddha, and causal tantra. This nonduality of profundity and lucidity—ultimate reality, the pure basis of purification, and the very essence of the mind—that has been explained already and will be explained [further] represents the basic nature of [all] that is to be known.

1.2. The way of being mistaken

The way of being mistaken is to appear but be without
reality—

Through the creative display of this naturally pure luminosity, the vajra of mind, not being aware of its own essence, the [afflicted] mind stirs from the ālaya. Through the power of that, basic awareness is taken as a self and its own appearances as objects, that is, as subject and object’s being different. Under the sway of these dualistic appearances, all kinds of karmas and latent tendencies are accumulated and thus [beings] wander in saṃsāra without end in the form of an endless loop of mistakenness. As for the way of being mistaken, since seeming reality—the adventitious stains that are to be purified—is not present within the fundamental ground, it appears but is not established as being real. Therefore, one is able to become liberated through the remedy of [basic awareness] recognizing its own face.

1.3. Pointing out the own essence of the way it is

This mere appearance itself,
In its triad of arising, abiding, and ceasing, is the great play of
the three kāyas.

All of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa arises from the play of the mind. Through the power of this very [play] naturally abiding as the union of lucidity and emptiness, this mere appearance itself is the great play of the three kāyas free from the triad of arising, abiding, and ceasing. Its unborn fundamental ground is the dharmakāya, its unceasing radiance is the sambhogakāya, and its creative display arising as anything whatsoever is the nirmāṇakāya. Through recognizing the own essence of the way it is— that these three are all spontaneously present primordially as being inseparable in essence—all phenomena are free from affirming, negating, adopting, and rejecting in that they [simply] are the wheel of the natural state, suchness, the infinite expanse. This is the recognition of the own essence of the view of Mahāmudrā—the basic nature that is the ground.

2. Teaching path Mahāmudrā, the manner of progressing through

the paths and bhūmis through self-arisen calm abiding and

superior insight

This has three parts:

1. Teaching the samādhi of making this a living experience

2. Cutting off the treacherous paths of strayings and deviations

3. Describing the manner in which the stages of the four yogas arise

2.1. Teaching the samādhi of making this a living experience

At the time of the path, connate mind as such is the
dharmakāya
And connate appearances are the light of the dharmakāya.
This is the natural state without being distracted, without
meditating and without fabrication.

To engage in the actuality that was determined through the view in yoga at the time of the path is called "meditation Mahāmudrā." This is presented by the great system founders of this tradition as follows. (1) What makes the meditation that has not arisen arise is the training in the four preliminaries. (2) What makes [the meditation] that has arisen into the path is the threefold pointing-out instruction. (3) [Finally, there is] the manner of enhancing this and giving rise to qualities.

      (1) One trains in the stages of the path common to Kadampa and Mahāmudrā—the four [reflections] that turn the mind away [from saṃsāra]—as well as [taking] refuge, [giving rise to] bodhicitta, accumulation [of merit], purification [of obscurations], and guru yoga until the signs [of accomplishment] come forth. In that way, one should make the mind turn into the dharma and the dharma into the path.

      (2) The Tantra of Inconceivable Connateness [says]:

Connate mind as such is the dharmakāya.
[Connate thoughts are the display of the dharmakāya.]
Connate appearances are the light of the dharmakāya.
The inseparability of appearances and mind is the connate.

There arose limitless vajra discourses of the mighty lords of accomplishment commenting on the meaning of this [quote]. Accordingly, it is held that [all Mahāmudrā pointing-out instructions] are subsumed under pointing-out the threefold connate. Among these, (a) natural connate mind as such is the dharmakāya. The pointing-out of this has two parts–calm abiding and superior insight. Calm abiding has two parts: with support and without support. Superior insight has three parts: revealing the essence, identifying it, and pointing it out. Through this, the path dispels delusion. (b) As for connate thoughts, mind’s very own display, through the triad of [working with] stillness and movement, back-to-back thoughts, and cutting through self-clinging at its root, the hosts of thoughts blend into the dharmakāya. (c) As for pointing out that mind’s own radiance—connate appearances—is the dharmakāya’s own light, one thoroughly examines the self-appearances of the uncontrived mind and the mistaken appearances of the clinging mind and realizes them to be the play of the native state that is the nature of phenomena. Through that, one makes delusion dawn as wisdom.

      (3) Revulsion is the foot of meditation. Devotion is the head of meditation. Mindfulness is the actual meditation. Without being separated from these three, the stages that arise from [skill in] means give rise to qualities during the enhancement [of one’s practice].

      If the samādhi that is the meditative equipoise of this approach is summarized briefly, it is embodied by the following three: resting freshly without being distracted, resting loosely without meditating, and resting in the self-lucid natural state without fabrication. Through these ways of resting, all the discursiveness of thoughts of the three times is self-liberated and is at peace in the nature of phenomena. This is the meaning of the three doors to liberation.

2.2. Cutting off the treacherous paths of strayings and deviations

One is liberated from the four cases of deviation and the three
      cases of straying.

When one meditates in this way, one is liberated from [the following]. To cling to all phenomena as being empty is to deviate [from emptiness as] the fundamental ground. When one has gained a little bit of understanding and experience of emptiness, to be satisfied with just that much and thus discontinue accumulation and purification is to deviate from emptiness [by mistaking it] as the path. To take emptiness as the path and then hope for a result at a later time is to deviate [from emptiness by mistaking it as] a remedy, without understanding that [all] factors to be relinquished and their remedies are inseparable. [One can also] deviate [from emptiness] in the form of sealing appearances with emptiness in a mentally fabricated manner. These are the four cases of deviation in relation to superior insight.

      If one clings to the three [experiences] of bliss, clarity, and nonthought, they become cases of straying [from the path] and circling in the corresponding ones among the three realms of saṃsāra. These are the three cases of straying in relation to calm abiding.

2.3. Describing the manner in which the stages of the four yogas arise

Beyond the four joys and the three conditions, one makes the
connection
Through three ways of arising and traverses the stages of the
four yogas.

Since the four joys represent [only] the example wisdoms, what lies beyond them is the actual wisdom. Since the three conditions of bliss, clarity, and nonthought are [merely] experiences, what lies beyond them is realization’s own true face. Furthermore, [Mahāmudrā meditation] is beyond being the objects of the three [kinds of] prajñā—the objects understood through study, the experiences through reflection, and the experiential appearances through meditation. Through arriving at the essential point of meditation’s being untouched by any mental states of the three great ones, one makes the connection through three ways of arising (gradual arising, in leaps, and all at once) and thus will effortlessly traverse the inner paths and bhūmis through the four stages of yoga (one-pointedness, freedom from reference points, one taste, and nonmeditation), each of which is divided into lesser, medium, and great, thus making twelve.

      As for these four stages of yoga, in The Tantra of [the Great River of] the Inconceivable Secret of Āli Kāli, we find:

Through the samādhi of the lion’s sport,
Unmoving, one-pointed, and clear cognition becomes lucid,
And self-aware wisdom is awakened from within.
Stable, poised readiness relinquishes the suffering of the lower
realms.

Second, through the illusion-like samādhi,
In the great meditative equipoise free from reference points,
The inconceivable dawns as the display of samādhi.
Having attained heat represents power over birth.

Third, through the samādhi of heroic stride,
The realization of the one taste of the many on the ten bhūmis
arises,
And the children of the buddhas of the three times promote
the welfare of others.
Having attained the peak, increase is uninterrupted.

Fourth, through the vajra-like samādhi,
Due to effort in the practice of nonmeditation,
[All-]knowing wisdom sees the buddha realms.
This is the state of the spontaneously present great supreme
dharma without seeking.

With the same intention, [the four yogas] are also taught in detail in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, and their meaning, which was clearly explained by the great masters Padmasambhava, [Ratnākara]śānti, Nāropa, and others, was elaborated greatly by the protector Daö Shönnu. . . . If the meaning of the various ways of explaining [the four yogas through] these and other presentations is summarized, it corresponds to what the Omniscient Chennga Chökyi Tragpa says:

As for the four yogas in this context, according to the tradition of guidance in the Mahāmudrā of the mantra system, they are explained as the very wisdom of Mahāmudrā that represents the essence of the four joys of descending from above and stabilizing from below. In terms of the tradition of guidance that is common to sūtra and mantra, they represent the ways in which the experiences of Mahāmudrā that are in accordance with these four joys arise.

…

3. Fruition Mahāmudrā, the manner of stainless ultimate buddhahood’s becoming manifest

Understanding the view and making it a living experience
through meditation,
Realization reaches its culmination and the fruition is attained
now.

The view of the basic nature that is the ground is that both appearances and mind abide intrinsically as the three kāyas. Through cutting through doubts about the actuality of this [view] and pointing it out, one understands this actuality without error. Through the meditation of naturally settling the mind without contrivance right within this basic nature, one makes this actuality a living experience. This is enhanced through the conduct of the automatic and unceasing arising of the union of emptiness and compassion, through which the realization of the very nature of the basic nature’s manifesting reaches its culmination. This is the fruition—buddha is found within the mind. Through meeting the own face of the three kāyas, dharmakāya Mahāmudrā is no [longer] an aspiration for a later time but is attained right now.

      As for these stages of the path [of Mahāmudrā], in accordance with Tagpo Rinpoche’s dream visions and Milarepa’s prophecies, [Tagpo Rinpoche] said, "I can benefit many beings through this Kadampa dharma too" and "Even the slightest benefit I have accomplished for sentient beings now represents [nothing but] the kindness of the Kadampa gurus." Also, he [once] dreamt that, through him beating a drum, many deer [came to] listen and he distributed milk to them. All this and more represents the meaning of this approach of guidance. For the meaning of these [statements and dreams] is that, due to having reached the time when the degenerations are rampant, those who have the extraordinary good fortune [of being suitable for] the vajrayāna have become very few. However, by virtue of [initially] guiding those to be guided who have duller faculties and are of lesser fortune through the stages of the path of the three [types of] individuals, they finally evolve into [disciples] of supreme fortune and thus become extraordinary vessels for the mantra [approach]. That is, they attain liberation in a single lifetime or, even if not, many of them will see the actuality of Mahāmudrā through this method and thus will be established on the irreversible path. This is the intention behind [all] of this.

      Therefore, beginning with venerable [Gampopa] himself up through the present, there has been the practice system of guiding everyone to be guided, be they of greater or lesser fortune, without discrimination through this approach of guidance. In addition to this, the fortunate are taught the profound path of means of the mantra [system], and at that time these [instructions here] are given the names "instructions at the time of the cause" or "basic guidance." On this point, the great venerable one from Jonang says:

Nowadays what is known as the Mahāmudrā that is the basic
nature
Is a progression of meditation in the sūtra system of the final
wheel.
By virtue of the progression of faculties, it [also] conforms with
mantra
And therefore becomes like a lamp for beings.
It corresponds to the three appearances of the followers of the
      Path with the Result and so on.

As for tantra Mahāmudrā ("the Mahāmudrā of great bliss"), TOK says that it comes from the Yogānuttara class of tantra, being based on the path of means, such as the highest empowerment, self-blessing, and the stages of mudrā. Thus, tantra Mahāmudrā is realized through practicing methods such as the Six Dharmas of Nāropa. In particular, the ultimate view and realization in the Uttaratantra, the vajrayāna, and Madhyamaka are said to be necessarily the same:

The meaning [of these instruction] is summarized in [the phrase] "Seize luminosity within appearances." When the thoughts of clinging to appearances as being [real] entities have become pure through one’s being skilled in this method, all appearances become empty forms. However, the empty forms such as smoke . . . are merely signs and indications on the path of means that makes one realize this very basic nature that was not realized [before]. The actual ultimate object to be realized is definitely that just these ordinary present appearances are empty forms in every respect. Therefore, both [the teaching] in the Uttaratantra that there is nothing to be removed from, and nothing to be added to, the tathāgata heart and the teaching on the manner of familiarizing with the Mahāmudrā of the inseparability of appearance and emptiness in the mantra [system] must be the same as the basic nature of the view that is Madhyamaka. The eighth lord [Mikyö Dorje] and his successors hold that the Madhyamaka view is nothing but this:

To say "existence" is the clinging to
permanence.
To say "nonexistence" is the view of extinction.
Therefore, the learned should not dwell
In either existence or nonexistence.

And

Neither existent, nor nonexistent, [nor] neither
existent nor nonexistent,
Nor having the character of both—
Being liberated from the four extremes
Is what is realized by Mādhyamikas.

As for essence Mahāmudrā, TOK explains that the path of realizing the profound essence with sudden force is more profound than both sūtra and tantra Mahāmudrā. Merely through the descending of the blessings of the vajra wisdom empowerment conferred by gurus with realization upon fortunate students of the very sharpest faculties, ordinary mind is awakened in the middle of their hearts and thus realization and liberation become simultaneous. Therefore, since this path does not depend on elaborate means and efforts in training, it is nothing but the direct appearance of the liberating life examples of the siddhas of the Kagyü lineage’s reaching infinitely great levels of realization in an immediate manner.

      As already mentioned, at the time of Tagpo Dashi Namgyal (1512– 1587), in practice, Mahāmudrā in the Kagyü tradition is often explained and practiced as a blend of sūtra, tantra, and essence Mahāmudrā. Among the major Karma Kagyü Mahāmudrā works, Tagpo Dashi Namgyal’s Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā is considered to be a sūtra Mahāmudrā text; the works on the Six Dharmas of Nāropa and the Hevajratantra, tantra Mahāmudrā texts; and the Ninth Karmapa’s Ocean of Definitive Meaning, an essence Mahāmudrā text.

The Sūtra Sources of Mahāmudrā

To provide scriptural support for the approach of sūtra Mahāmudrā, the Kagyü tradition lists a number of sūtras and nontantric Indian treatises (for the latter, see below). Within the Tibetan tradition, Gampopa is unanimously considered to be a reincarnation of Candraprabhakumāra, the bodhisattva who was the main interlocutor of the Buddha in the Samādhirājasūtra and who stepped forward as the only volunteer to preserve and propagate its teachings in the age of degeneration (that is, our present times). The Buddha promised to help him do that and is said to have been reborn eventually as Gampopa’s student Pamo Trupa. Thus, the Kagyü School regards the Samādhirājasūtra as one of the main foundations of Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā approach (this approach is sometimes also referred to as the hidden or secret path of the sūtras since the actual method of Mahāmudrā meditation is hidden in the sūtra teachings). In addition, the Samādhirājasūtra is the main sūtra source quoted and referred to in one of the key Indian texts of Kagyü Mahāmudrā, the Tattvadaśakaṭīkā by Sahajavajra, one of the four main students of Maitrīpa.

      According to BA, the famous Kadampa master Potowa Rinchen Sal (1027–1105), one of the main students of Dromtönpa Gyalwé Jungné (1005–1064), agreed on the connection between the Samādhirājasūtra and Mahāmudrā, saying:

There is something that is called Mahāmudrā at present, which is the meaning of the Samādhirājasūtra. We should neither put it down nor engage in it.

      However, this statement in all likelihood did not refer to Gampopa because the latter only began teaching at Gampo in 1121, having stayed in meditation retreat before then. It may have referred to Maitrīpa’s Mahāmudrā and the dohā tradition spread by his student Vajrapāṇi during the 1070s in Tibet.

      Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, the present tutor of the seventeenth Karmapa, says that the Samādhirājasūtra is related to Mahāmudrā through its actual intent rather than through its literal meaning, and that

when the great master Gampopa . . . expounded the Mahamudra system he only used this sūtra. We can find clear statements to this effect in his life story, as well as in many of his songs and teachings. . . . Accordingly, from the time of Gampopa . . . until today, there has been an unbroken lineage of advice on the method of teaching Mahamudra based on this sūtra. . . . When the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, established the Nalanda Institute at Rumtek Monastery, he personally selected the treatises to be included in the standard curriculum. . . . His Holiness included the King of Samadhi Sūtra in this curriculum as the supportive scripture for Mahamudra.

      In his Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, Tagpo Dashi Namgyal additionally provides certain passages in the following sūtras as sources of Mahāmudrā—the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra, Maitreyaprasthānasūtra, Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra, Ratnadārikāparipṛcchāsūtra, Bhadrakalpikasūtra, and Varmavyūhanirdeśasūtra. An Exposition of Mahāmudrā: The Treasure Vault of the Victors, by Padma Karpo, also quotes the Ratnadārikāparipṛcchāsūtra, Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra, Samādhirājasūtra, and Maitreyaprasthānasūtra. In addition, the Atyantajñānasūtra and the Nirvikalpapraveśadhāraṇī are also sometimes mentioned as sūtra sources of Mahāmudrā.

Maitrīpa’s Mahāmudrā of "Mental Nonengagement"

It is well known that Maitrīpa was a highly accomplished scholar in both the sūtra and the tantra traditions, as well as a tantric practitioner, before he left the monastic and academic environment and met his primary guru Śavaripa at the age of fifty-three. From him, he received what TOK calls "essence Mahāmudrā," and later Śavaripa told him to go back to academia and "teach the ācāryas how things really are." Due to his vast training in the sūtrayāna, the vajrayāna, and essence Mahāmudrā, Maitrīpa was able to develop his unique approach of blending the sūtra teachings of the mahāyāna with tantric elements and the pith instructions of the mahāsiddhas. In this way, the teachings of essence Mahāmudrā, which had hitherto been passed on within the wandering community of lay siddhas outside of monastic and academic institutions, found entrance into mainstream Indian Buddhism and thus became accessible to many more people. Naturally, this did not happen without some controversies. However, by combining his advanced spiritual realization of Mahāmudrā with his prior scholarly training in sophisticated terminology and instructions, Maitrīpa was able to spread Mahāmudrā in his former world of the Buddhist monastic and scholarly establishment. It happened there that Maitrīpa was victorious over the tīrthika Natikara in debate, who thus became one of his four main disciples, henceforth known as Sahajavajra. Later, Maitrīpa stayed in solitary retreat in the charnel ground Mount Blazing like Fire, where he, according to Pawo Tsugla Trengwa, composed his "cycle of twenty-five works on mental nonengagement (amanasikāra)."

      Maitrīpa’s pāramitā-based teachings on Mahāmudrā are designed to enable even beginners to practice with direct insights into the luminous nature of the mind, that is, outside the requirements of the classic tantric path, such as having to receive empowerments and practicing the various levels of the generation and completion stages. Maitrīpa’s system teaches a swift path to awakening with the help of pith instructions and blessings of the guru, which is accessible even for ordinary people. Although Maitrīpa’s own texts in his "cycle on mental nonengagement" freely employ several tantric terms and notions in not specifically tantric contexts, the term "Mahāmudrā" itself is only rarely found. Far more frequent are expressions familiar from the dohā tradition, such as "true reality" (tattva), "union" (yuganaddha), "connateness" (sahaja), "nondual" (advaya), "great bliss" (mahāsukha), "natural luminosity" (prabhāsvara/prakāśa), and, of course, Maitrīpa’s key term "mental nonengagement." Among the five works in his cycle of works on mental nonengagement in which the word "Mahāmudrā" appears, the Caturmudrāniścaya provides the most detailed explanation of the term and the clearest link to both the sūtras and the notion of "mental nonengagement." The text glosses Mahāmudrā as follows:

ĀḤ "Mahāmudrā"—Mahāmudrā is what is both great and mudrā. Mahāmudrā is the lack of nature and freedom from obscurations, such as cognitive [obscurations]. (In its stainlessness,) it resembles the sunlit autumn sky at noon. It serves as the basis for all perfect excellence, is the single nature (beyond the extremes) of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, the embodiment of nonreferential compassion, and the single nature of great bliss. Accordingly, [the sūtras] say:

The dharmas of mental nonengagement are virtuous. The dharmas of mental engagement are nonvirtuous.

[The Sarvabuddhaviśayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkārasūtra states]:

I pay homage to you who are without imaginary thoughts, whose mind does not abide [on anything],
Who are without mindfulness, mentally nonengaged, and without focal object.

This is understood as "Mahāmudrā." Through that Mahāmudrā, whose nature is inconceivable, the fruition called "samayamudrā" is born.

      The commentary by Bhitakarma, one of Maitrīpa’s students, explains that Mahāmudrā is the fruition of the other three mudrās. "ĀḤ" refers to being without arising throughout the triad of cause, path, and fruition. Arising due to dependent origination and being without arising are not different. "Mudrā" has the meaning of not going beyond—one cannot go beyond it by way of example, existence, or being something. It is like space. "Great" means that it is superior to the three other mudrās—karmamudrā, jñānamudrā, and samayamudrā. The reasons to present Mahāmudrā as the fruition are as follows. What is called "the very essence of the lack of nature, devoid of superimposition and denial" should be known as Mahāmudrā. The lack of nature means being free from stains—all kinds of momentary aspects including the clinging to them, karmic maturations including examination and analysis, and apprehender and apprehended. For example, from all kinds of different firewood, a single flame arises and does not remain once the wood is consumed. Likewise, Mahāmudrā is the single flame that arises from the variety of phenomena—they are realized to be without arising—but thereafter they are not even apprehended as the mere lack of arising. In fact, they are not apprehended as anything whatsoever. Realizing that is buddhahood, which depends on just that realization. Since one speaks of "perfect buddhahood in a single instant," it is reasonable to be free from any engagement in negating and affirming. How is this Mahāmudrā? It is the lack of hope since it is the very "freedom from obscurations"—both cognitive and afflictive. There is no hope for a remedy—wishing that the six pāramitās (such as generosity) relinquish their respective opposites (such as avarice). There is also no hope for true reality—thinking that some fruition is attained through training well in the generation and completion stages. Nor is there any hope for a fruition— thinking that the fruition of buddhahood is attained from somewhere outside. This is because all afflictions are mastered by it, the suchness of all phenomena cannot be cultivated, and great bliss exists intrinsically. "The sunlit autumn sky at noon" that is not disturbed by clouds, rainbows, mist, fog, or storms is without arising, lacks a nature of its own, includes past, present, and future times, is primordially unchanging, and pervades all of saṃsāra. Likewise, Mahāmudrā lacks any arising by its nature and lacks any nature of existence, nonexistence, both, or neither. All times—being in saṃsāra, training on the path, and having revealed Mahāmudrā—are nothing but Mahāmudrā. Everything possible appears from it, but it never changes in the slightest, just as space remains unaltered by clouds and so on that appear in it or water remains unaffected by waves and silt.

      Just as sesame oil pervades its seeds, Mahāmudrā pervades saṃsāra. However, saṃsāra is nothing but the appearance of Mahāmudrā; it is not such that there is a pervader and something pervaded. Mahāmudrā’s "serving as the basis for all perfect excellence" refers to the qualities of the dharmakāya (being free from superimposition and denial), sambhogakāya (experience), nirmāṇakāya (appearing in all kinds of ways), and svābhāvikakāya (the single nature of the natural state), all of which abide within one’s own experience. This is fresh, natural, and relaxed. In other words, it is the source of all happiness in saṃsāra and the great bliss of nirvāṇa. Mahāmudrā is pure, supreme, and inconceivable. Purity means that it "is the single nature of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa," which is effortless, that is, primordial buddhahood. Supreme refers to the union of bliss and emptiness, free from the extremes of permanence and extinction. It is inconceivable in that it lacks any kind of distraction. This experience of nonreferentiality is an unceasing flow like a river and thus cannot be divided into a duality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Mahāmudrā’s being "the embodiment of nonreferential compassion" means that, through the power of such compassion and extraordinary aspiration prayers, true reality itself manifests as the two rūpakāyas. Still, true reality and those two kāyas are not different but have "the single nature of great bliss," which is free from superimposition and denial and is the kāya of mental nonengagement.

      Bhitakarma also says that the great bliss of Mahāmudrā exists intrinsically in all sentient beings and that its realization means to see one’s own nature by oneself, whereas those who delight in contaminated bliss due to being mistaken about this basic nature are fools.

      As for Maitrīpa’s hallmark term "mental nonengagement," it is also discussed by Kamalaśīla in his Bhāvanākramas and his Avikalpapraveśaṭīkā as being the final fruition of the practice of superior insight based on Madhyamaka reasoning. However, its Mahāmudrā meaning of not only being the process of letting go of dualistic conceptualization but also being a direct nonanalytical approach to realizing mind’s natural luminosity is primarily known from the dohās of Saraha and also appears in some dohās by Tilopā and others. Still, Maitrīpa is certainly the one who discusses this term in the greatest detail, due to which his entire approach later came to be identified with this term. Maitrīpa’s Amanasikārādhāra justifies its use in the Buddhist teachings and clearly explains its meaning, combining a broad range of Indian scholarly approaches with the vajrayāna language of meditative experience, which is so typical of many of Maitrīpa’s works. First, he presents some grammatical considerations and then traces the term back to both the sūtras and tantras, providing the above quotes from the prajñāpāramitā sūtras and the Sarvabuddhaviśayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkārasūtra, as well as a phrase from the Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī:

Once bodhisattva mahāsattvas have relinquished all aspects of characteristics of conceptions through not mentally engaging [in them]. . .

      Though the term "mental nonengagement" is not found in the tantras, Maitrīpa quotes two verses from the Hevajratantra:

Neither . . . mind nor mental factors exist by virtue of a nature of their own.

And:

Therefore, one meditates on the whole world [in this way],
Wherefore one does not meditate with the mind (manasā).

Maitrīpa concludes that this means that one meditates by way of mental nonengagement.

      He also says that mental nonengagement is not a nonimplicative negation since it refers to negating all mental engagement that exists in terms of apprehender and apprehended and so on but does not negate mind as such. What that term teaches is the complete transcending of all conceptions. Nevertheless, to regard it as an implicative negation is without flaw—referring to an awareness that lacks any nature is the understanding of those Mādhyamikas who speak of illusion-like nonduality. When one calls that awareness illusion-like or not truly established, this is not a negation of existence altogether—it is not that it does not exist at all. Obviously, this presentation of a lucid yet nonreified awareness remaining after all dualistic mental activity has ceased corresponds well to the Uttaratantra ’s formula of the tathāgata heart’s being empty of adventitious stains but not being empty of its intrinsic qualities, as well as to later formulations of shentong in the sense of an implicative negation.

      Then, Maitrīpa gives two very special etymologies of amanasikāra. (1) He says that the (correct) mental engagement (manasikāra) in primarily the letter "A" is mental nonengagement (a-manasikāra). That kind of mental engagement means that everything is "A"—primordially unborn, since "A" is the seed syllable of identitylessness (this is supported by quotes from the tantras to that effect—Hevajratantra I.2.1. and II.4.22a, as well as MañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītiV.1c–2b). Hence, all such mental engagement refers to the lack of nature. (2) Alternatively, the meaning of amanasikāra is as follows. "A" stands for luminosity, and mental engagement (manasikāra) is a word for self-blessing. In this way, the state of amanasikāra means to bring forth the pure awareness that is the continuous flow of the nondual inseparable union of prajñā and compassion, which has the character of self-blessing with or within inconceivable luminosity.

      In other words, Maitrīpa’s key notion of "mental nonengagement"—or "mental disengagement"—is just the subjective side of emptiness or what is called "freedom from reference points." The only way in which the mind can engage in the "object" that is the absence of discursiveness is precisely by not engaging in or fueling any reference points, but rather letting it naturally settle of its own accord. In other words, it is only by a nonreferential mind that the absence of reference points can be realized, since that is the only cognitive mode that exactly corresponds to it. At the same time, when the mind rests in its own natural state, free from all discursiveness and reference points, this is not like a coma or being spaced out, but it is vivid and luminous intrinsic awareness.

      Note that Maitrīpa’s two etymologies of "mental nonengagement" highlight the two crucial features of his Mahāmudrā approach that were explicitly spelled out by his student Sahajavajra and others later (see below). Maitrīpa’s linking mental nonengagement with the syllable "A" is an indication that his Mahāmudrā corresponds to prajñāpāramitā. For in the prajñāpāramitā sūtras, the letter "A" stands for emptiness, or that "everything is primordially unborn."To connect mental nonengagement with the three highest levels of the completion stage of the Guhyasamājatantra ("self-blessing," "luminosity," and "union") is a clear sign that this Mahāmudrā also entails vajrayāna elements—not in terms of tantric rituals or techniques but in terms of inner experiences that represent the essence of the former and can be cultivated in Maitrīpa’s sūtra-based approach with the help of the pith instructions of a guru.

      As Mathes (2008b, 20–21) points out, the translation of the Amanasikārādhāra in a collection of Drikung Kagyü works is followed by an anonymous supplementary explanation of the meaning of "mental nonengagement." Manasikāra means mind as such appearing as all kinds of phenomena, while a refers to nonarising. Thus, amanasikāra refers to these two being of the same nature. Its synonyms are utter nonabiding, nonconceptuality, and inconceivability. Mental nonengagement does not refer to the lack of any object, the lack of any cognition, the stopping of discrimination, a weak experience, or analysis through discriminating prajñā. Therefore, it means realization through experiencing the heart of the matter.
      Furthermore Maitrīpa’s Sekanirdeśa 29 says that Mahāmudrā is complete nonabiding in anything and is also self-awareness:

Not to abide in anything
Is known as "Mahāmudrā."
Since it is stainless and since it is self-awareness,
Manifold [appearances] and so on do not arise.

The Sekanirdeśapañjikā by Rāmapāla, one of the four principal students of Maitrīpa, comments that this verse teaches Mahāmudrā, which has the nature of the mind that is single as the essence of connateness. "In anything" refers to the dependently originating skandhas, dhātus, āyatanas, and so on. "Not to abide" means mental nonengagement and lack of superimpositions. This is followed by the same two sūtra quotes on mental nonengagement as in Maitrīpa’s Caturmudrāniścaya above. One should not think that one is not able to make this a living experience because, due to the kindness of one’s guru, Mahāmudrā, which has the characteristic of being endowed with all supreme aspects, can definitely be perceived directly. Mahāmudrā does not have the nature of the four moments (of the four joys) "since it is stainless and since it is self-awareness." Being stainless, the three stained moments of the manifold and so on do not occur in it. Therefore the three (impure) joys do not arise in it either. Rāmapāla also says that nonabiding refers to the inconceivable wisdom that does not arise from analysis but is effortless, occurring of its own accord. Thus, it is clear for Rāmapāla here that the Mahāmudrā practice of complete nonabiding and mental nonengagement is not only mentioned in the sūtras but can be undertaken through the kindness of able gurus (that is, their pith instructions) without having to rely on the practice of the other three mudrās in a vajrayāna context of the path of means.

      Another Mahāmudrā key term—"ordinary mind" (which is one of its synonyms and is found in a few dohās by Saraha and some others)— appears very frequently in the Dohanidhikoṣaparipūrṇagītināmanijatattvaprakāśaṭīkā attributed to Maitrīpa as well as once in Bhitakarma’s Mudrācaturaṭīkā. Thus, the term, which later became such a hallmark of Tibetan Kagyü Mahāmudrā, appears to have been used by some in India much earlier.

      As indicated in TOK above as well as in BA, GC, and other Tibetan sources discussed below, Sahajavajra’s Tattvadaśakaṭīkā is a very important source text for what came to be called "sūtra Mahāmudrā." It is one of the few Indian treatises that explicitly and systematically links prajñāpāramitā with Mahāmudrā and certain vajrayāna approaches. The following are some of the text’s crucial passages in that regard (a number of which are also quoted or referred to in BA and GC). Sahajavajra begins by saying that the pith instructions of prajñāpāramitā as presented by Maitrīpa accord with the vajrayāna:

Since this master [Maitrīpa] gives a summarized explanation of the pith instructions of prajñāpāramitā that accord with the mantra system, through the very being of the nature of phenomena that bears the name "prajñāpāramitā" . . . , he first pays his respect to the very nature of the three kāyas.

      In addition, these pith instructions, which represent the supreme form of Madhyamaka, are further adorned with the pith instructions of the guru:

The pith instructions of prajñāpāramitā are the definite realization of Madhyamaka that is adorned with the pith instructions of the guru. This is the ultimate emptiness, the spontaneously present prajñā endowed with all supreme aspects.

      As will be seen below, for Sahajavajra, this approach is thus a sūtra-based form of Mahāmudrā that includes some tantric elements, for example, the crucial role of the guru in giving direct pointing-out instructions of the nature of the mind as lucid yet empty self-awareness and the ensuing meditative approach of cultivating the direct perception of this awareness as it was pointed out, rather than following the analytical route of classical Madhyamaka that is based on inferential cognitions through reasoning.

      Sahajavajra comments on Tattvadaśaka 5 as representing this supreme Madhyamaka approach of Maitrīpa in the sense of sūtra Mahāmudrā, which is not only based on emptiness in accordance with Nāgārjuna but entails the direct realization of this emptiness as naturally luminous self-awareness:

Thus, phenomena are of one taste,
Unhindered, and nonabiding.
Through the meditative concentration of reality
as it is,
They are all luminosity.

In due order, "of one taste" means to be single-flavored as suchness. . . . "Unhindered" refers to the nature [of phenomena’s] being without superimpositions. "Nonabiding" means being unborn, since [phenomena] do not at all abide in the nature of [either] existence or nonexistence. "Luminosity," due to being naturally free from stains, refers to self-awareness, since [that self-awareness] is very luminous. You may wonder, "How do you see phenomena as true reality, which has the essential character of suchness?" Therefore, [Maitrīpa] says, "through the meditative concentration of reality as it is." The path that is endowed with the union of calm abiding and superior insight is the meditative concentration of reality as it is.

      When connected with this explanation, Tattvadaśaka 2 (which says that, without the words of the guru, even Madhyamaka is only middling) implies that supreme Madhyamaka in the sense of sūtra-based Mahāmudrā must include the pointing-out instructions that enable one to have direct experiences of emptiness as luminous self-awareness through the path of uniting calm abiding and superior insight in a nontantric context, that is, without having to rely on empowerments or the techniques of the vajrayāna. Such pith instructions are explicitly referred to as "(skillful) means" (upāya) by Sahajavajra, while the regular Madhyamaka approach through reasoning alone is middling since it entails only prajñā but not skillful means.

      As Tattvadaśaka 7cd makes clear, this principle of experiencing everything as luminous-empty awareness also applies to all levels of insight or attainment on the path, be they actual or imaginary. Here, Sahajavajra explicitly refers to both this approach and the true reality it reveals as Mahāmudrā:

Even the vain presumptuousness about being free from duality,In like manner, is luminosity.

      . . . [This is elucidated] through the following words [in Maitrīpa’s Sekanirdeśa]:

By not abiding on the side of the remedy
And not being attached to true reality either,
There is no wish for a result of anything whatsoever.
Therefore, it is known as Mahāmudrā.

Here, "Mahāmudrā" refers to the pith instructions on the true reality of Mahāmudrā, that is, thoroughly knowing the true reality of entities. . . . "Being free from duality" means being without duality. "Vain presumptuousness about" [being free from duality] refers to the conceptions that analyze true reality. Even that is [nothing but] "luminosity," since it lacks a nature and is naturally pure. Likewise, also the presumptuousness in terms of something to be accomplished and the means of accomplishment is to be realized as the nature of luminosity.

      Sahajavajra also clearly distinguishes this sūtra-based approach adorned with pith instructions from the vajrayāna and the regular pāramitāyāna. He declares that this approach is inferior to the former but superior to the latter:

{{QuoteIndent|You may wonder, "But then, what difference is there compared to yogins holding the approach of secret mantra?" There are great differences in terms of the aspects of what is accomplished and the means of accomplishment since the [yogins who use this approach here] have no connection with the four mudrās and since, due to lacking the taste of the great bliss of the pride of [being] the deity, it takes them a long time to complete perfect awakening through [just] the [mental] aspect of equanimity [described]. On the other hand, they differ from yogins holding the approach of the pāramitās because they are very much superior by virtue of realizing the suchness of union—emptiness as investigated through the pith instructions of a genuine guru. Therefore, those who do not engage in austerities with regard to this very [suchness but] thoroughly understand the true reality of [everything’s] being of a single taste as emptiness are like [skillful] village people catching a snake. Though they play with that snake, they are not bitten by it. Some express this as "the wisdom of true reality, Mahāmudrā." As it is said:

To unite means and prajñā—
This meditation is the supreme yoga.
To unify with Mahāmudrā
Is meditation, the victor explained.

In addition to quoting numerous authoritative Indian mahāyāna masters (mainly Nāgārjuna; though not only his classic Madhyamaka works but also his praises), Sahajavajra also cites several sūtras, particularly essential passages from the Samādhirājasūtra and the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, in an effort to link Maitrīpa’s Mahāmudrā teachings with the sūtras as the words of the Buddha himself. In brief, through all of the features described here, Sahajavajra’s commentary provides clear evidence against the claim held by some that the sūtra-based approach of Mahāmudrā is just an invention of the Kagyüpas in Tibet.

Connections between Maitrīpa’s Mahāmudrā and the Uttaratantra

As mentioned before, Maitrīpa is credited with rediscovering the then-lost Uttaratantra and Dharmadharmatāvibhāga. However, apart from that, it is not clear how important his role in the transmission of the Uttaratantra and the other texts of Maitreya was. It is remarkable that Maitrīpa, as the reported retriever of the Uttaratantra, hardly ever quotes it in his own works, and there seems to be no significant discussion of the text either by him or in the available works of his students (except for Vajrapāṇi’s comments on what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 in his Guruparamparakramopadeśa right below). Also, what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 in Maitrīpa’s texts and those of his major students, discussed below, is never explicitly identified in these texts as coming from the Uttaratantra, and the available Sanskrit editions of Maitrīpa’s works as well as the Tibetan renderings of this verse in all of these texts suggest rather that it is Abhisamayālaṃkāra V.21 that is quoted. Still, at least Maitrīpa and Vajrapāṇi appear to explain this quote more in line with the context of Uttaratantra I.154.

      As the contents of IM may indicate, Maitrīpa’s teachings on the Uttaratantra might have been transmitted only orally at first, but it is clear that there exist no known works on the Uttaratantra by Maitrīpa, and the text is quoted only twice in the works in his "cycle of mental nonengagement"—in the Pañcatathāgatamudrāvivaraṇa (II.61b) and in the Caturmudrāniścaya (I.154). Unfortunately, neither of these texts explains those quotes in any detail.

      What corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 also appears in the Dohakoṣapañjikā, ascribed to Maitrīpa, in the context of explaining Dohākośa 20d "The nature of connateness is neither existent nor nonexistent." The Dohakoṣapañjikāsays that "existent" here refers to any entities that are perceived by the sense consciousnesses or imagined by the mental consciousness. Connateness is not existent in that way because it is the true nature of this multitude of appearing entities, and one is not liberated through just conceiving this multitude as it appears. Since connateness thus is something to be personally experienced, it is not nonexistent either. This is as taught in what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154. Following this quote, the Dohakoṣapañjikācontinues that it is due to seeking bliss that humans are born from the union of their parents. However, they do not realize what this bliss is because it is to be personally experienced, which is again the reason why this bliss is not nonexistent. For it is inexpressible by virtue of one’s being fully absorbed in it. This is the entity called "the bliss in the presence of death." Thus, in effect, the Dohakoṣapañjikādeclares that one will be liberated only if one directly realizes the nature of connateness, which is equated with connate ultimate bliss, to be neither existent nor nonexistent. By implication, it is thus this connate bliss from which nothing is to be removed and to which nothing is to be added—it simply needs to be personally experienced in a nonconceptual and nondual manner as it really is.

      The noteworthy exception to the Uttaratantra ’s not being discussed in a significant manner in the texts of Maitrīpa’s students appears to be Vajrapāṇi’s Guruparamparakramopadeśa. This text introduces its comments on verses 1–3 of Maitrīpa’s TattvaRatnāvalī , which discuss the notion of "complete nonabiding," by quoting what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154. Vajrapāṇi’s comments in a classical prajñāpāramitā or Madhyamaka fashion in the context of his explanation of the philosophical systems of the pāramitāyāna here suggest either that what he had in mind may rather have been the almost identical Abhisamayālaṃkāra V.21 or that he simply interprets Uttaratantra I.154 in two different ways in the two contexts of ordinary Madhyamaka and Mahāmudrā. As will be clear from Vajrapāṇi’s two explanations below, in effect, he relates Mahāmudrā to both prajñāpāramitā (since we saw above that "nonabiding" is understood as Mahāmudrā by Maitrīpa and Rāmapāla) and the Uttaratantra.

      Based on this quote, Vajrapāṇi’s Madhyamaka section in his Guruparamparakramopadeśa states that one should not abide in any superimpositions of existence or any denials by claiming nonexistence and then continues to comment on this as follows:

Since the experience of mind as such as all kinds [of appearance] originates in dependence, it is unarisen. It is the lack of arising that appears as if arising—arising and the lack of arising are not different. Likewise, if appearances are examined through reasoning, they are empty. Empty refers to not being established, and appearances are what cannot withstand examination through reasoning. . . . For example, a mirage’s appearing as water is empty of water—it is the very nonexistence of water that appears as water. The appearance as water and the nonexistence of water are not different. Likewise, appearance lacks a nature of its own, and the lack of nature is appearance. An appearance and its emptiness in terms of lacking a nature of its own are not different.

      For example, if many [logs of] firewood are burned by a fire, they [all] are the same in having the nature of fire. Eventually, the firewood will be exhausted, and the fire itself will not remain [either]. Likewise, after what appears as manifold [appearances] has been referred to as emptiness through reasoning, [appearances] are neither established as having the nature of entities, nor does emptiness itself remain either. Likewise, when what does not abide as duality is not established as duality, the lack of duality is not established either. Therefore, it is in order to put an end to the clinging of others, to cut through superimposition and denial, or as an expedient meaning that [appearances] are called "empty," "lacking arising," and "nondual." But these [attributions] do not abide as the definitive meaning or as what is assessed by the learned.

      . . . Being without clinging, without anything to be negated, and without anything to be affirmed, meditative equipoise and subsequent attainment are nondual and nonabiding. . . . Mental nonengagement without superimposition and denial and without clinging is meditation. Through the prajñāpāramitā that is without superimposition and denial and without clinging, the [other] five pāramitās . . . are pure of the three spheres. By virtue of that, the welfare of sentient beings is promoted—this is the view. . . . By virtue of all phenomena’s having the nature of not arising as any nature of their own, they do not abide as either existent or nonexistent. Therefore, not to abide in any superimpositions and denials in terms of existence and nonexistence is the knowledge of true reality. Illusion-like and completely nonabiding compassion is nonreferential compassion . . . because it mentally engages in all phenomena as not being observable as anything whatsoever.

      Thus, according to Vajrapāṇi, all appearances are not only nothing other than emptiness, but emptiness is not something that can be reified or that remains after everything has been seen to be empty either. Therefore, ultimately, appearances as well as emptiness do not even abide as emptiness. Consequently, the knowledge of true reality must be the one that is free from superimposing and denying anything in terms of existence and nonexistence. This indeed corresponds to RGVV’s comments on Uttaratantra I.154–55 saying that "these two verses elucidate the unmistaken defining characteristic of emptiness [in the case of the tathāgata heart] since it [thus] is free from the extremes of superimposition and denial."

      When Vajrapāṇi later explains Mahāmudrā, he again uses the terms found in what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 and also repeats some similar ways of explanation. However, in this context of Mahāmudrā, he relates all this much more to the subject side of true reality—the nonconceptual and nondual wisdom of Mahāmudrā as the experience of the union of mind’s luminosity and emptiness—as opposed to the object side that is mere emptiness. Thus, the presentation becomes more experiential and also more in tune with the meaning of Uttaratantra I.154 in its own context. Speaking of instantaneous perfect awakening, Vajrapāṇi says that, when not realized, it is saṃsāra and when it is realized, the same is Mahāmudrā, in which there is nothing to be negated or affirmed. Due to realizing it or not realizing it, it is expressed as nirvāṇa and saṃsāra, respectively, but ultimately there is no difference. For example, for as long as one does not realize that something is a rope, it may appear as a snake, but once one realizes it for what it is, it is clear that the nature of its appearing as a snake is nothing but the rope. There is no snake to be removed, nor is there any rope to be added. Likewise, if one does not realize Mahāmudrā, it appears as all kinds of thoughts. When it is correctly realized, the very nature of all kinds of thoughts is a union with the nature of nonthought. It is nothing but nonthought (Mahāmudrā) that appears as all kinds of thoughts. There is no thought to be removed here, nor is there any nonthought to be added.

      Furthermore, Vajrapāṇi says that Mahāmudrā’s being presented as the three kāyas refers to the experiencing mind (which is something that later Kagyü masters very often say too). Mahāmudrā mind’s being unconditioned is the dharmakāya. That is, the dharmakāya is the mind that is not impaired by any thoughts and thus lacks any superimpositions and denials such as "existence," "nonexistence," "duality," and "nonduality.’ The realization of this Mahāmudrā mind is the sambhogakāya. That is, the sambhogakāya is the experience of great bliss through realizing the nature of nonduality. The nirmāṇakāya means that this very Mahāmudrā mind appears as all kinds of appearances while not moving away from its own nature. The natural undifferentiated state of Mahāmudrā mind is the svābhāvikakāya— though it may be divided into the above three as a mere convention, the knowledge of true reality has no divisions but is of a single nature.

      The term "union" refers to the nonduality of luminosity and emptiness. Though the true nature is undifferentiable, it is designated as these two through dharma terminology. Its lack of entity when examined through reasoning refers to its being empty, while its being experienced as equality refers to its being luminous. Its being luminous is nothing other than its being empty, and its being empty is nothing other than its being luminous. For example, though a mirage may appear as water, there is actually no entity of water. Likewise, if luminosity is analyzed, it is empty in that it is without nature, but it is not empty in the sense of being absolutely nonexistent like the horns of a rabbit. The emptiness of being without nature is the experience of luminosity, whereas the appearance of being established through reasoning as an existing entity is not. Therefore, since being luminous and being empty are not different, they are a nondual union. However, just as before, it is for the sake of putting an end to other’s clinging to dualistic appearance that this is expressed as "union" and nonduality." Actually, union and nonduality are not established in terms of their own specific characteristics and thus do not abide either.

      As for this being effortless, a cairn may appear as a person when not realized for what it is but clearly is a cairn when it is realized as such. However, there is no person to be removed nor is there a cairn to be established. Likewise, when the ultimate essence—the nature of nonduality—is not realized, it appears as duality, but as soon as it is realized, it is nondual wisdom. Such realization is the view, while meditation means to settle the mind without distraction in all situations from the time of that realization onward. Here, Vajrapāṇi also mentions the typical Mahāmudrā instruction that in Mahāmudrā meditation there is no need for blocking one’s senses from their objects. Rather, whatever may appear is to be realized as the nature of Mahāmudrā. It is an inferior approach to examine whatever thoughts may arise with reasoning and "make" them lack a nature. Everything that appears as all kinds of things is mind as such, and once that mind is realized without any clinging, one meditates by realizing whatever arises as Mahāmudrā. Just like letting water settle on its own without muddying it, through which it becomes clear, Mahāmudrā meditation is to settle in an uncontrived manner through knowing the nature of all phenomena. This Mahāmudrā is the fruition of being free from stains (thoughts of negating, affirming, and so on), which is the connate joy free from any characteristics.

      In brief, Mahāmudrā is here described by Vajrapāṇi as the nonconceptual nondual wisdom nature of the mind, which seems to appear as all sorts of unreal thoughts (like a rope’s being mistaken for a snake) until it is realized for what it is. This wisdom mind is the union of emptiness and luminosity, which is not an utter nonexistence after its illusory stains have disappeared but is the incontrovertible experience of its own natural state of lucid yet completely nonreferential awareness, just as the rope does not disappear into nothing when one sees that it is not a snake.

      Now we can return to the verse cited at the beginning of Vajrapāṇi’s Madhyamaka presentation above:

There is nothing to be removed from this
And not the slightest to be added.
Actual reality is to be seen as it really is—
Whoever sees actual reality is liberated.

With the two elements of nonconceptual wisdom and thoughts here in the context of Mahāmudrā in mind, the quotation of this verse appears to be in line with the meaning it has in the Uttaratantra in conjunction with I.155—just as a rope is empty of an imaginary snake, the tathāgata heart is empty of adventitious stains, or in other words, the Mahāmudrā mind of nonthought is empty of fictitious thoughts. Thus, adventitious thoughts are not to be removed and luminous-empty awareness is not to be added, but liberation simply means to see this true reality of Mahāmudrā as it is.

      What corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 is also quoted in three other texts by Maitrīpa’s main students. Rāmapāla’s Sekanirdeśapañjikā cites the verse in a similar context as does Vajrapāṇi, saying that cognition and what is cognized are superimpositions and thus empty. So even within thoughts, in essence, thoughts are nothing other than nonthought. This applies to not knowing all appearances as true reality as well as to knowing true reality. However, there is a difference in that the previous mind of clinging to the duality of apprehender and apprehended does not exist anymore later. Thus, ignorance consists of clinging to apprehender and apprehended. Rāmapāla’s text also quotes Uttaratantra II.61b in the context of a very brief description of the four kāyas.

      Bhitakarma’s Mudrācaturaṭīkā cites and explains what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 in order to ascertain that the undifferentiable connate nature is the ultimate dharmamudrā. His explanation exhibits a prajñāpāramitā or Madhyamaka stance and thus is definitely more in line with the context of Abhisamayālaṃkāra V.21. In this verse, he says, "in this" refers to the dharmamudrā. As for "removing," appearances are the dharmakāya, the guru, the instructions, and books. Something nonexistent does not need to be removed, and if something exists, even if one tries to remove it, it cannot be removed. Therefore, "there is nothing to be removed." Hence, the scriptures say:

Form lacks a nature of its own, and there is no seer either. There is no sound, nor is there a hearer. There is no smell, nor is there a smeller. There is no taste, nor is there a taster. There is nothing tangible, nor is there a toucher. There is no mind, nor is there anything to mind.

      "To add" means "to meditate"—if there are two, it is reasonable for the one to meditate on the other, but since there are no two here, there is nothing to meditate. Therefore, the scriptures say:

There is nothing to meditate, nor a meditator.
There is no secret mantra, nor a deity.
Mantra and deity perfectly abide
As the freedom from reference points and the nature.

Hence, there is nothing to be observed or to be focused on. Thus, not to make arising appearances and unarisen mind into two is called "actual reality." To see this in the manner of not seeing anything whatsoever is called "seeing as it really is." To directly perceive it is "to see actual reality." Immediately upon that, one is liberated in an instant. Therefore, the middle of rasanā and lalanā is the one that relinquishes wrongdoing, which is called "connate wisdom."

      Sahajavajra’s Tattvadaśakaṭīkā quotes what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 in the context of commenting on Tattvadaśaka 3cd, which speaks about mistakenness as the cause of attachment (these two together being understood as the equivalent for obscuration) and how to remove it:

Attachment is born from mistakenness.

Mistakenness refers to one’s own superimpositions. Attachment is fixation. Mistakenness means what is superimposed as the nature of entities, such as existence or nonexistence. Through such [superimpositions], one fixates again and again, which here means attachment, aversion, and ignorance. "Based on what should this mistakenness be relinquished?" In order to [answer that question, Maitrīpa] says:

And mistakenness is held to be without basis.

The meaning of this is that since here even the slightest arising has been negated, [removing mistakenness] is not just like extracting a thorn. Rather, it means to fully understand the nature [of mistakenness] and this nature is again nothing but its being unarisen. As it is [indicated] through the following words of the Bhagavān:

Mañjuśrī, ignorance has the meaning of nonexistence.

[And:]

There is nothing to be removed in this
And not the slightest to be added.
Actual reality is to be seen as it really is—
Who sees actual reality is liberated.

In sum, it appears that the explicit association of the Uttaratantra with Mahāmudrā was not initiated by Maitrīpa or his students except for Vajrapāṇi, who is the only one to establish a clear and detailed relationship between what corresponds to Uttaratantra I.154 (and in effect I.155) and the view and meditation of Mahāmudrā. Thus, at present, the above passage in his Guruparamparakramopadeśa seems to be the sole—and rather slim—Indian basis we know of that could have served as the explicit ground for Gampopa’s famous statement that the scriptural source of Kagyü Mahāmudrā is the Uttaratantra. However, Gampopa’s writings do not refer to the above passage by Vajrapāṇi and thus it is not very likely that he had it in mind when he made his statement. Rather it appears to have been his own general opinion on the relationship between the essence of the Uttaratantra and Mahāmudrā, which was followed by many later Kagyü masters. Still, as CMW and some of the texts by Mönlam Tsültrim indicate, there seem to have been other earlier Indian and Tibetan Mahāmudrā instructions based on the Uttaratantra, but it is not clear whether Gampopa had access to them.

Other Indian Nontantric Treatises on Mahāmudrā

There are at least two other Indian nontantric canonical Buddhist texts that also equate prajñāpāramitā with Mahāmudrā. In his Tattvāvatāra, Jñānakīrti (eighth/ninth century) says:

As for those of highest capacities among the persons who exert themselves in the pāramitās, when they perform the meditations of calm abiding and superior insight, even at the stage of ordinary beings, this grants them the true realization characterized by having its origin in Mahāmudrā. Thus, this is the sign of irreversible [realization].

And: