Tilopa

Song of the Mahamudra composed by Tilopa to Naropa.
Mahamudra, the royal way, is free
from every word and sacred symbol.
For you alone, beloved Naropa,
this wonderful song springs forth from Tilopa
as spontaneous friendship that never ends.
The completely open nature
of all dimensions and events
is a rainbow always occurring
yet never grasped.
The way of Mahamudra
creates no closure.
No strenuous mental effort
can encounter this wide open way.
The effortless freedom of awareness
moves naturally along it.
As space is always freshly appearing
and never filled, Continue reading »

Naropa

Tilopa’s Mahamudra Instruction to Naropa in Twenty Eight Verses

Homage to the Eighty Four Mahasiddhas!
Homage to Mahamudra!
Homage to the Vajra Dakini!

Mahamudra cannot be taught. But most intelligent Naropa,
Since you have undergone rigorous austerity,
With forbearance in suffering and with devotion to your Guru,
Blessed One, take this secret instruction to heart.

Is space anywhere supported? Upon what does it rest?
Like space, Mahamudra is dependant upon nothing;
Relax and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity,
And, your bonds loosening, release is certain.

Gazing intently into the empty sky, vision ceases;
Likewise, when mind gazes into mind itself,
The train of discursive and conceptual thought ends
And supreme enlightenment is gained.

Like the morning mist that dissolves into thin air,
Going nowhere but ceasing to be,
Waves of conceptualization, all the mind’s creation, dissolve,
When you behold your mind’s true nature. Continue reading »

Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra
Homage to the Co-emergent Wisdom!
Mahamudra cannot be shown; Continue reading »

The Summary of Mahamudra by Naropa
Sanskrit: Mahamudra Padametha
Tibetan: phyag rgya chen po tshig bsdus pa (Chagya Chenpo Tsig Dupa)

Homage to the great state of bliss!

First, stating the nature of the Mahamudra of perception: Continue reading »

The View, Concisely Put by Naropa

Sanskrit: Adhi Siddhi Sama Nama
Tibetan: lta ba mdor bsdus pa zhes bya ba (Tawa Dordupa)

Homage to the Vajra Dakini!

To the omniscient lord of refuge,
The protector of beings, I pay homage! Continue reading »

The great Mahasiddha Tilopa

Pith Instructions on Mahamudra from Mahasiddha Tilopa: The Ganges Mahamudra Upadesha 

I bow to Vajra Dakini.
1 Mahamudra cannot be taught, Naropa,

But your devotion to your teacher and the hardships you’ve met

Have made you patient in suffering and also wise:

Take this to heart, my worthy student.

2 For instance, consider space: what depends on what?

Likewise, mahamudra: it doesn’t depend on anything.

Don’t control. Let go and rest naturally.

Let what binds you let go and freedom is not in doubt.

3 When you look into space, seeing stops. Continue reading »