The Five-fold Profound Path of Mahamudra Of the Glorious Drikung Kagyu Lineage

Adapted from the website of the Wogmin Thypten Shedrup Ling, Drikung

Kagyu Buddhist Monastery

Pictures by Ani chime

Mahamudra Teaching is a system of practices and techniques that contains

the culmination of all the practices of the so called new translation

schools of Tibetan Buddhism, who believe it to be the quintessential

message of all of their sacred texts.

Mahamudra is regarded by the Tibetan Kagyu lineage to be the heart

essence of all of the teachings of the Buddha. Mahamudra stands for the

essence of mind-itself. The true nature of the mind is called the ground of

our existence or ground Mahamudra. Path Mahamudra begins with

recognition (experience) of this essence and continues as progress is made

at stabilizing this recognition (condition). When the recognition of mind-as-

it-is becomes completely part of our condition, without wavering, and we

bring forth effective means of freeing sentient beings from ignorance and

suffering, then this is referred to as fruition Mahamudra, which is said to be

free of emotional or experiential bewilderment and is untouched by duality of subject and object or

the three spheres of subject, object, and action.

The Drikung Kagyu Mahamudra lineage can be traced according to the “far-lineage”

as well as the “near-lineage.” The “far-lineage” is traced from the current holders of

this profound lineage back all the way to the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. The

“near-lineage” on the other hand is traced from the current holders back to the Indian

Mahasiddhas such as Saraha, Maitripa, Tilopa and Naropa

who received Mahamudra teachings directly from Buddha

Vajradhara. However, it should be pointed out that although

these Indian Mahasiddhas received Mahamudra teachings directly from

Buddha Vajradhara (and hence is part of the “near-lineage”) they are also

holders of the “far-lineage” as they also received Mahamudra teachings from

human teachers who were holders of this “far-lineage.” Hence, the Mahamudra

lineages that are currently held by the various Kagyu lineages are both of the

“far” as well as “near” lineages. It should be pointed out that Mahamudra

lineages are also found in the Gelug tradition as several past masters of this

tradition also received Mahamudra instructions from holders of the Mahamudra in the Kagyu

tradition.

Marpa

Milarepa

Drikung Kagyu Refuge Tree

Most of Kagyu Mahamudra lineages stem from the Mahamudra teachings that were given by Gampopa

(1079-1153) to his students. Gampopa himself received Mahamudra from his root-teacher Milarepa

(1052-1135) who in turn received it from his root-teacher Marpa (1012-1096). Marpa was a Tibetan

who traveled to India and Nepal and received many teachings from the Indian Mahasiddhas – the most

important being Naropa and Maitripa who transmitted to Marpa the complete Mahamudra ground, path

and fruition. Gampopa himself combined the profound teachings of Mahamudra with the graduated

approach of practice as taught by the Kadam tradition. The Indian pandit Atisha founded the Kadam

tradition in Tibet. Gampopa was a monk in the Kadam tradition before he became Milarepa’s disciple.

Although there are many scholarly debates in Tibetan Buddhist history over the status and types of

Mahamudra, Gampopa seemed to have mainly advocated two possible approaches to Mahamudra.

According to Gampopa, Mahamudra can be approached via the way of sutra as well as via the way of

tantra. Hence, there is sutra-Mahamudra and tantra-Mahamudra. Sometimes it is said that Gampopa

also taught a third approach to Mahamudra which is neither sutra-based nor tantra-based.

The Kagyu Lineage Masters – Tilopa, Naropa and Marpa

From Gampopa onwards, many different

Mahamudra lineages began to crystallize

according to the different styles of

Mahamudra taught by Gampopa and his

spiritual descendents. Some of the

Mahamudra traditions that can be traced

back to Gampopa or his descendents are

the tradition of “Simultaneous Production and Union,” the “Six Equal Tastes,” the “Four Letters” and

the “Fivefold Profound Path.” These traditions are still upheld by the four surviving Kagyu lineages

(Karma, Taglung, Drukpa and Drigung Kagyu).

In the Drigung Kagyu, the main Mahamudra system is that known as the “Fivefold Profound Path of

Mahamudra” or also known as the “Possessing Five.” Although Gampopa himself also taught this

particular approach of Mahamudra, its name was given by his successor Phagmo Drupa (1110-1170)

who was the root-teacher of the founder of the Drigung Kagyu, Kyobpa Jigten Sumgon. Although this

system of the Five-fold Profound Path is chiefly held by Drigung Kagyupas, Phagmo Drupa himself

also authored a text on this system known as “Verses on the Fivefold Path.” Masters of Trophu Kagyu

(this particular Kagyu lineage no longer survive as an independent lineage) and Taglung Kagyu have

also written on this particular system. Gyalwa Yang Gonpa, a teacher of the Drukpa Kagyu wrote the

“Drop of Nectar: the Fivefold Path.” The Omniscient Pema Garpo of the Drukpa Kagyu also wrote

about this system in his “Kernel of Mind.” Situ Chokyi Jungne also wrote extensive commentaries on

the Fivefold Profound Path. In his “Preface” to Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche’s book “The

Garland of Mahamudra Practices,” (a translation of Gyalwang Kunga Rinchen’s [1475-1527]

Tilopa Naropa Marpa

“Clarifying the Jewel Rosary of the Fivefold Profound Path.”) His Holiness Drigung Kyabgon

Chetsang Rinpoche points out that these days those who rely on this system mostly follow the

commentaries given by Drigung Dharmakirti. Many other Drigung Kagyu teachers of the past also

wrote extensive commentaries on this system of the Mahamudra. It goes without saying that Kyobpa

Rinpoche himself also wrote several texts and many songs on this subject.

Dharma Lord Gampopa

According to this system then, the five “folds” of this profound path of

Mahamudra are:

1) bodhicitta – the altruistic intention of liberating all sentient beings from

samsara,

2) yidam – practice of visualizing oneself as a supremely enlightened being,

3) guru-yoga – seeking union with the wisdom-mind of the Teacher or

Guru,

4) mahamudra – actual engagement of Mahamudra (shamatha and

viphasyana), and finally,

5) dedication – perfect dedication of one’s virtues.

Before one can begin to engage in the practices laid out in this system, one

first needs to focus on the foundational practices. Practice of the first “fold”

assumes the prior completion of what is known as the “foundational practices” (Tib. ngondro). These

foundational practices are divided into the outer and inner. The outer foundational practices refer to the

“Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind” taught by Gampopa. These are establishing in one’s mental-

continuum the four realizations of

1) the good fortune of obtaining a precious human birth,

2) the universality of impermanence,

3) the infallible workings of cause and effect and

4) the nature of samsara as unsatisfactory.

After a firm foundation on these four thoughts has been established in one’s

mental-continuum, one can begin to engage in the inner foundational practices. These are:

1) going for refuge which confirms and establishes one’s commitment to the Triple Jewel,

2) Vajrasattva purification practice for the eradication of one’s negative karma and karmic imprints, 3) mandala-offering for the profound accumulation of merit necessary for attainment of complete

Buddhahood and

4) guru-yoga for the inspiration-blessings of the root and lineage teachers.

Only after these practices have been “completed” (100,000 practices of each of the four) does one

properly begin the first fold of the Five-fold Profound Path – bodhicitta.

Regarding bodhicitta, Kyobpa Rinpoche sang in one of his many vajra-songs,

“If the steed of love and compassion

Does not run for the benefit of others,

Gampopa

It will not be rewarded in the assembly of gods and humans.

Attend therefore to the preliminaries.”

Drigung Kyobpa Rinpoche

Bodhicitta is briefly defined as the “altruistic intention to free all sentient beings from samsara.” Very

often bodhicitta is confused with compassion. Although compassion is one of the most important

factors in the generation of bodhicitta, it is not in itself bodhicitta. The arousal of bodhicitta begins by

first attending to the generation of loving-kindness for all sentient beings.

It is said that loving-kindness is the feeling that one gets when one

sees a newborn child. When we see a small child, we often

automatically think kind and friendly thoughts towards the child.

We spontaneously wish that the child be safe, happy and protected

from all harm. There is nothing as soothing as the sight of a soundly

sleeping child. It is that warmth and unconditional love that we are

trying to generate for all sentient beings. We try to regard all

sentient beings as our own children whom we love unconditionally.

We pray for their well-being, safety and protection and are willing

to give up our own lives for their sakes. When we are able to feel

this way towards all sentient beings, we will naturally be able to

generate compassion. Compassion is the feeling of wanting to free

others from suffering and the causes of suffering. It is the feeling

that we get when we encounter someone suffering from a terrible

disease or undergoing intense physical and emotional pain. We want

to be able to help and to ease that pain; that suffering. Having thus

generated and cultivated both loving-kindness and compassion, we

can then arrive at the point when we are ready to truly generate

bodhicitta. As defined earlier, bodhicitta is the “altruistic intention to free all sentient beings from samsara.”

Realizing that sentient beings are completely under the power of samsaric suffering, we come home to

the powerful recognition that only by arriving at the state of complete Buddhahood can samsaric

suffering be conquered once and for all. Although there are many ways to ease the suffering of

sentient beings, they are all temporary and non-final. Only by completely uprooting the cause of

suffering are we then thoroughly free from suffering. And this is the state of ultimate liberation; of

complete Buddhahood. This knowledge – the knowledge of the faults, cause, end of and path to the

end of samsara is wisdom. Hence, bodhicitta is the resolve that arises from loving-kindness and

compassion on the one hand and wisdom on the other hand. When these two aspects come together,

bodhicitta is generated.

The second section of the Five-fold Profound Path is the practice of Yidam. Yidam practice refers to

the generation and completion practices of the highest yoga tantra and in this particular case in the

highest yoga tantra system of the Chakrasamvara cycle of teachings. Although the principal yidam of

Marpa was Hevajra, his teacher Naropa predicted that Marpa’s lineage would eventually rely on

Chakrasamvara as their main yidam. Hence, it was the practice of Chakrasamvara that Marpa

transmitted to his main disciple, Milarepa.

Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön

Chakrasamvara

There are many different forms of Chakrasamvara appearing with

different number of faces, hands, and number of surrounding retinues. In

the Drigung Kagyu lineage, the most popular and common Chakrasamvara

deity practice is in the form of the Five-deity Chakrasamvara. The Five-

deity Chakrasamvara includes the central deity of the two-armed, single-

faced male Chakrasamvara deity in union with the female Vajravarahi

deity (these two in union are taken as a single deity) and four surrounding

dakinis in the four directions.

Yidam practice is a very special tantric practice in which one transforms

one’s normal, samsaric experience of reality into an extraordinary

experience of the true state of all phenomena. While the teachings of the

sutra-level consider ignorance as the root cause of samsaric existence, the

tantric teachings identify the ordinary appearances as the root cause of

samsara. The practice of Yidam is a special and profound method to quickly transform ordinary

appearances into enlightened appearances. To be more accurate, this practice uncovers the actual state

of appearances and reveal them to be pure and empty unceasingly. Yidam practice does not make

ordinary appearances into something they are not – pure and empty of inherent existence. Rather, it

uncovers the purity and emptiness that have always been there but obscured and unseen. Due to the

tantric nature of these teachings, it is best that one receive the details of these teachings directly from

an authentic teacher of the lineage. It is hoped that this brief description of Yidam practice as the

second section of the Five-fold Profound Path of Mahamudra will

encourage the reader to seek out these profound teachings from a valid and

reliable teacher of the lineage when the time and conditions are right.

Kyobpa Rinpoche sang,

“If one's body, the King of Deities

is not stabilized on this Unchanging Ground, The retinue of dakinis will not assemble.

Be sure, therefore, of your body as the yidam.”

The third section of the Five-fold Path is the practice of Guru-yoga or the

practice of attaining union with the wisdom mind of the Teacher (guru).

There are many types of teachers – our parents as our first teachers, our

grade school teachers who taught us to read and write, teachers in the

secular arts and sciences, spiritual teachers who gave us the Refuge vows, those who gave us the lay or

monastic vows, the Bodhisattva-vow preceptors, Vajra-teachers who conferred tantric empowerments

on us and finally those teachers who introduced to us the nature of our mind. In a sense, the Teacher

referred to here in the practice of guru-yoga is all of them; all of these teachers. However, it is not so

much a practice directed at a particular individual or person whom we call our “Teacher” but the basic

wisdom-mind within all these teachers who have taught us. By having confidence in and relying on

this basic wisdom-mind that we locate within our teachers (and in particular in the teacher(s) who

introduced to us the nature of our mind), we strive to recognize this same wisdom-mind that is

inherent in us. In particular, we need to rely on an authentic and experienced teacher who has him/

herself recognized his/her own nature of mind and can help us recognize ours as well. The practice of

Guru-yoga is extolled in the tradition as the most direct and profound method to the quick recognition

of the nature of mind. Many Kagyu teachers have taught that the quickest and surest way to recognize

the nature of mind is a mind filled with devotion. When devotion is present, recognition of the nature

Chakrasamvara

of mind is not far. Kyobpa Rinpoche sang,

If on the Guru, the Snow Mountain of the Four Kayas,

The Sun of Devotion fails to shine,

The Stream of Blessings will not flow.

Attend, therefore, to this mind of devotion.

The Guru-yoga practiced as the third section of the Fivefold Profound Path is slightly more involved

and detailed than the Guru-yoga practice found in the set of practices found in the inner foundational

practices (ngondro). Specifically, the Four-kayas Guru-yoga” is practiced here. These four kayas or

“bodies” refer to the Emanational body (Skt. nirmanakaya, Tib. trul-ku), Enjoyment body (Skt.

sambhogakaya, Tib. long-ku), Reality body (Skt. dharmakaya, Tib. cho-ku) and Nature body (Skt.

svabhavikakaya, Tib. ngowo nyi-ku) which is the inseparability of the first three bodies. Within this

context, the first three bodies are considered relative truth and the fourth body is ultimate truth. A

practitioner will first practice the Emanational body Guru-yoga practice where the Teacher is visualized

in the form of Shakyamuni Buddha (herself in her ordinary form). She then meditates on the Teacher

on the Enjoyment body level as Vairochana (and herself as the yidam) Buddha and for the Reality body

in the form of Vajradhara Buddha. Finally, when she arrives at the Nature body level of guru yoga

practice, the Teacher meditated on without any form, color, name or shape.

The current Drigung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche writes:

“Externally are the three bodies of the

Teacher, the relative truth (On the level of)

absolute truth the self-arising luminosity of

the teacher is the nature of one’s own

mind.

The Teacher, one’s own mind and the

Buddha are inseparable. Appearing as the

manifestation of the Nature body.”

When the mind has become ripened

through Guru-yoga practice, one finally

arrives at the heart of the Five-fold

Profound Path – the actual practice of

Mahamudra itself.

Regarding the Mahamudra, again, the

present Drigung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche writes:

“Sustain the fresh, non-arising mind without delusion.

In this uncontrived, natural state

Completely avoid the fabrication of meditation and meditator

The non-meditating, undisturbed, ordinary mind

Remains non-attached and non-separated

Free from hope and fear, grasping and letting-go

Rejection and acceptance, meditation and post-meditation.”

We will not be discussing this topic any further as Mahamudra is best

learnt directly from a living teacher. However, there is a link to a

simple but yet profound teaching on Mahamudra given spontaneously

by one of the most important Drigung Kagyu lineage masters alive

today – His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche who is the main Drigung

Kagyu Rinpoche in Eastern Tibet (now living in the US), says: “So to

see the nature of Mahamudra, the nature of the mind that dispels the

duality of the conceptual thoughts, Lord Jigten Sumgon said, “If we

have not dispelled the cloud of the conceptual thoughts, the stars and

planets of the wisdom will not rise.” So therefore to make sure that we

see the all-pervading space of the wisdom mind, dispel the cloud of the

conceptual thoughts. So when we can do that, when the clouds of the

duality of the conceptual thoughts are fully dispelled, then that is called Buddha, that which is

within us.” [ http://www.dharma-media.org/media/kagyu/drigung/garchen/mamamudra-

trans_khenchen/mahamudra.pdf ]

Finally, there is the section on Dedication as the fifth section of the Fivefold Profound Path.

Dedication is one of the most distinctive features of Buddhist practice – a practice that is done

at the end of all practices be it of the hinayana or mahayana (both sutra and tantra levels). By

dedicating the merit of one’s practice for the welfare of all sentient beings’ complete liberation

from all suffering and the causes of suffering one ensures that one’s practice remains pure and

beneficial. As with most practices, there are relative and ultimate aspects (and it is important to

remember that one does not privilege one aspect over the other but rather perfectly practice on

both levels as they are in reality inseparable). On the ultimate level of Dedication – Dedication

in the context of Mahamudra – one dedicates the merit with the understanding of the emptiness

of oneself, the merit dedicated and the dedication itself; the threefold emptiness.

The Five-fold Profound Path of Mahamudra is a complete path to the attainment of perfect

enlightenment within one lifetime. Many practitioners in the past have taken this Path and

arrived at the other shore of complete peace. At the present, there are also many sincere

practitioners of this Path practicing under the expert and compassionate guidance of the lineage

teachers of the Drigung Kagyu lineage. There are also many other sincere practitioners of

Mahamudra tradition of Gampopa following the different Mahamudra traditions that have

developed out of Gampopa’s basic Mahamudra system. Furthermore, aside from the purely

Kagyu Mahamudra lineages, there is also the Mahamudra practice lineage within the Gelug

lineage. Mention should also be made of the “union” of Mahamudra and Dzogchen practices

derived from some lineage masters of the Kagyu and Nyingma.

“In order that all beings who have been my mothers

May quickly be liberated from samsara and

May attain perfect enlightenment,

Garchen Rinpoche

I dedicate all merit accumulated by

Myself, and all ordinary and enlightened beings in the three times

As well as the merit of the innately pure Buddha-nature.”

This Mahamudra is sometimes compared to Dzogchen (“Great Completeness,” another system

of techniques and teachings within the Drikung Kagyu and other lineages) – the essence of the

Buddhas’ teachings according to the Nyingma lineage. Not surprisingly, there have been a

number of figures in the history of Tibetan Buddhism who taught the synthesis or union of

Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Others mastered both but taught them separately to different

students as they saw fit. There are yet others – in the majority – who focused on mastering

either Dzogchen or Mahamudra.

Recommended Reading:

“The Practice of Mahamudra” by Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, great little manual

“Mahamudra and Related Instructions: Core Teachings of the Kagyu Schools (Library of

Tibetan Classics,” translated by Alan Roberts

Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eightyour Buddhist Siddhas (Suny

Series in Buddhist Studies) by Keith Dowman and Abhayadatta

Links:

Garchen Rinpoche on Mahamudra: http://www.dharma-media.org/media/kagyu/drigung/garchen/

mamamudra-trans_khenchen/mahamudra.pdf

Online Dirkung Mahamudra Manual: http://www.chagchen.com/index.htm

Many Teachings: http://www.rinpoche.com/teachings.html

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamudra

The Berzin Archives: http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/x/nav/n.html_94726721.html online book

on Mahamudra

A guide to Shamatha Meditation: http://www.rinpoche.com/shamatha.html

The Ganges Mahamudra: http://www.naturalawareness.net/ganges.html