A teaching summary podcast of Mahamudra 1996-97 by Khensur Rinpoche, recorded at Buddha House, Adelaide.
Mahamudra 1996-97
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Tradition: Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism
Venue: Buddha House, Adelaide
Recordings: 18 teaching sessions (1996–1997)
Source: Corrected transcripts from the Bodhi Archive
Overview
This series of teachings was given at Buddha House, Adelaide between November 1996 and March 1997. The root text being expounded is the Mahamudra prayer and instruction text of Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen (the 1st Panchen Lama, 1570–1662), which presents the Great Seal (Mahamudra) according to the Ganden oral tradition — the whispered lineage of Mahamudra that passes through the Gelug school. This tradition is distinguished from the Kagyu Mahamudra in that it grounds the practice firmly within the Sutra–Tantra framework and requires the practitioner to first establish a thorough understanding of emptiness through the Middle Way philosophical analysis before the Great Seal can be recognised.
The text is structured in three parts: a Preparation (refuge, bodhicitta, Vajrasattva purification, confession, and Guru Yoga), the Actual Teaching (the Great Seal as approached through the Sutra path and the Tantra path), and a Conclusion (dedication). Rinpoche followed this structure across the eighteen sessions, though the depth of his exposition meant that the series concentrated most heavily on the Sutra approach, particularly the cultivation of calm abiding (Shamatha) and special insight (Vipashyana), with the Tantra path touched upon in its general outlines.
The overarching argument of the series is that the Great Seal — the direct, non-conceptual, non-dualistic recognition of the mind’s ultimate nature — is not something exotic or separate from the main body of Buddhist practice. It is the natural culmination of the graduated path: refuge generates the motivation; bodhicitta supplies the method; Vajrasattva purification removes the obstacles; Guru Yoga opens the door to the lineage blessings; calm abiding stabilises the mind; and special insight, through rigorous Middle Way analysis, cuts through the root misconception of self and reveals the nature of mind as it actually is. Rinpoche taught with great precision and warmth, drawing consistently on examples from daily life to make abstruse points accessible.
Key Teachings
1. The Preparation: Refuge, Bodhicitta, and the Three Jewels
The series opened with teaching on the foundation practices — not as preliminaries to be hurried past, but as the essential basis without which Mahamudra practice cannot arise. Rinpoche explained the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) in depth: the Buddha is the physician who has perfected both the method (wisdom-compassion) and the result (truth body and form body); the Dharma is the medicine of the three higher trainings (ethics, meditative stabilisation, wisdom); and the Sangha are the nurses and companions who assist one in applying the cure.
Going for refuge is not a passive act of intellectual assent. It requires understanding the qualities of the Three Jewels, understanding one’s own need for liberation, and generating a sincere intention to rely upon the path they embody. Rinpoche distinguished four types of refuge: causal refuge (going for refuge in order to achieve liberation), resultant refuge (recognising the Three Jewels as the state one is aiming to realise), outer refuge (the historical Buddha, the texts of the Dharma, the ordained Sangha), and inner refuge (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as one’s own mind’s potential).
The bodhicitta motivation — the altruistic intention to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings — was presented as what distinguishes the Mahayana path from the Hinayana path, and what distinguishes a Mahamudra practitioner operating within the Mahayana from one working purely for personal liberation. Without bodhicitta, even the recognition of Mahamudra would not generate the full accumulation of merit and wisdom necessary to achieve the omniscient mind of a Buddha.
2. Vajrasattva Purification and Confession to the Thirty-Five Buddhas
Sessions three and four were devoted to the preliminary purification practices. Rinpoche taught the Vajrasattva (Dorje Sempa) meditation and mantra recitation as the primary means of purifying negative karma accumulated over many lifetimes. The practice involves visualising Vajrasattva above the crown of the head, requesting purification, receiving white nectar flowing down through the body and washing away all negativities, and receiving the four initiations.
The four powers required for effective purification were explained in detail: the power of the support (going for refuge and generating bodhicitta as the basis of the practice); the power of regret (genuine remorse for negative actions already accumulated, compared to a person who has accidentally ingested poison and urgently seeks an antidote); the power of the antidote (the actual practice of confession, mantra recitation, meditation on emptiness, etc.); and the power of resolve (a genuine commitment not to repeat the action). Without all four powers, purification remains incomplete.
Confession to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas was also taught as an important practice. Each of the thirty-five Buddhas has a particular capacity to purify a particular category of negative karma. Prostrating while reciting their names and generating sincere regret activates the purification.
3. Guru Yoga: The Lama as Embodiment of the Three Jewels
Session five taught Guru Yoga as the bridge between the preliminary practices and the actual Mahamudra meditation. The lama is not merely a teacher but is visualised as the living embodiment of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha — the Three Jewels in person. This is not blind faith but is grounded in understanding: a qualified lama has themselves traversed the path, carries the unbroken lineage of transmission and blessings from the Buddha through the succession of masters, and is capable of conferring the empowerments and instructions necessary for the student’s practice.
Rinpoche distinguished between outer, inner, and secret Guru Yoga. In the outer form, one makes offerings to the lama and requests teachings. In the inner form, one receives the four empowerments in the course of meditation. In the secret form, the student’s mind merges inseparably with the mind of the lama, which is itself inseparable from the dharmakaya — the truth body of the Buddha. This merging is the moment of Mahamudra, the direct non-dualistic awareness of mind’s ultimate nature.
The lama holds a special significance in the Ganden oral tradition because this Mahamudra teaching is not found in any widely available text. It was whispered from teacher to student across many generations and only committed to writing by Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen himself. Therefore, the living transmission through the qualified lama is not supplementary to the text but is its essential life.
4. The Actual Teaching: Two Approaches to Mahamudra
The root text presents the Great Seal by means of two approaches: the Sutra approach (establishing Mahamudra through the philosophical analysis of emptiness as taught in the Prajnaparamita sutras and commentaries) and the Tantra approach (establishing Mahamudra through the bliss-and-emptiness union cultivated in the completion stage of highest yoga tantra).
Rinpoche explained that these two approaches are not contradictory but complementary. The Sutra approach provides the conceptual map and the initial realisation of emptiness; the Tantra approach uses that realisation as a basis and amplifies it enormously through the power of bliss consciousness. For a practitioner without tantric initiation, the Sutra approach alone is the path. For a practitioner with the appropriate Tantra empowerments, the Tantra approach is ultimately more powerful and rapid.
In both cases, the nature of mind being pointed to is the same: the mind’s ultimate nature as empty of inherent existence, luminous, and beyond the elaborations of conceptual grasping.
5. The Foundation of the Sutra Approach: Ethics and Calm Abiding
Rinpoche was emphatic that the Sutra approach to Mahamudra cannot be entered without first establishing two foundations: ethics and calm abiding.
Ethics (Tib. tsultrim) is the basis that controls the gross negative actions of body and speech. Without ethics, the mind is constantly agitated by the turbulence of guilt, regret, and the ripening of negative karma. Rinpoche used the analogy of a foundation: a beautiful building cannot be erected without a stable foundation, and the superstructure of meditative stabilisation and wisdom cannot be built without the foundation of ethics. He emphasised that ethics here does not mean merely following rules mechanically, but genuinely restraining the body and speech from actions that harm oneself and others.
Calm abiding (Shamatha) is the single-pointed, effortless abiding of the mind upon a chosen object without any distraction. It is one-pointedness of mind. Rinpoche gave extensive instruction on Shamatha over sessions seven through twelve, explaining that it is not merely a peaceful feeling but a specific attainment that requires systematic training and results in physical and mental pliancy — a special suppleness and clarity of the mind and body that makes meditation effortless and joyful.
6. The Five Faults and Eight Antidotes in Calm Abiding
Sessions seven through nine were devoted to the systematic enumeration of the obstacles to calm abiding and their antidotes.
The five faults are: (1) laziness — not engaging with the practice at all; (2) forgetting the instruction — losing the object of meditation; (3) laxity and excitement — the two main opponents of meditative stabilisation; (4) non-application of antidotes — when laxity or excitement are present, failing to apply the corrective antidote; (5) over-application of antidotes — continuing to apply an antidote when it is no longer needed, thereby creating agitation.
The eight antidotes correspond to these five faults: to overcome laziness, one cultivates (1) faith (understanding the benefits of calm abiding), (2) aspiration (the wish to achieve it), (3) effort (the actual engagement), and (4) pliancy (the result that sustains effort); to overcome forgetting the instruction, (5) mindfulness is applied; to overcome laxity and excitement, (6) introspective awareness (self-monitoring of the quality of meditation); to overcome non-application, (7) application of the antidote; and to overcome over-application, (8) equanimity — the willingness to let the mind rest without interference when the meditation is going well.
Laxity and excitement received special attention. Laxity (sinking) is a dulling or loss of clarity in the meditative object. Rinpoche distinguished coarse laxity (the object is lost entirely — the meditator has fallen asleep) from subtle laxity (the object is present but lacks its full sharpness and intensity). The antidote to coarse laxity is to arouse the mind — stand up, look upward, recollect joyful things, or review the benefits of the practice. The antidote to subtle laxity is to tighten the grip of attention slightly.
Excitement (scattering) is the mind’s being distracted away from the meditation object by objects of desire or other pleasant thoughts. Coarse excitement: the object is lost entirely as the mind follows an external thought. Subtle excitement: the object is nominally present but the mind is simultaneously pulled toward a distracting thought like an undercurrent. The antidote is to loosen the grip of attention — recollect impermanence, suffering, or renunciation.
The middle path of meditation is neither too tight (which creates excitement and headache) nor too loose (which creates laxity and sleep). Rinpoche used the analogy of a musical instrument: a stringed instrument that is too tightly strung produces a harsh, unpleasant sound; one too loosely strung produces no sound at all; one tuned correctly produces beautiful music.
7. The Nine Mental Abidings
Sessions ten and eleven explained the nine progressive stages of calm abiding attainment:
- Placing the mind — the meditator places the mind on the object for even a brief moment.
- Continual placement — the mind can remain on the object for longer periods, though distraction is still frequent.
- Patchy placement — when distraction occurs, the meditator is able to recognise it and return to the object.
- Close placement — the field of attention narrows so that gross distraction does not arise, though subtle distraction persists.
- Taming — the meditator understands the qualities of Shamatha through reflection, generating joy in the practice and reducing resistance.
- Pacifying — subtle attachment to distraction is pacified.
- Thoroughly pacifying — attachment and dislike related to the meditation object are thoroughly pacified.
- Single-pointed — the mind can remain on the object without any effort of application; the antidotes are no longer needed.
- Equanimity — the mind rests in perfect, effortless, spontaneous equipoise. This is the attainment of calm abiding itself.
Rinpoche noted that the attainment of Shamatha at the ninth stage is accompanied by physical and mental pliancy — a warm, blissful sensation throughout the body and mind, an effortlessness that makes meditation a source of joy. This pliancy is the sign that the mental factors required for Shamatha are fully developed. Without this sign, even a very peaceful meditation is not yet the actual attainment of Shamatha.
8. The Six Powers and Four Types of Attention
The six powers that correspond to the nine mental abidings were also explained: (1) hearing (learning the technique — sustains the first abiding); (2) thinking (reflection on the technique — sustains the second); (3) mindfulness (maintaining the object — sustains the third and fourth); (4) introspective awareness (self-monitoring — sustains the fifth and sixth); (5) effort (applied perseverance — sustains the seventh and eighth); (6) familiarity (habitual ease — sustains the ninth).
The four types of attention with which the mind engages the object progress from (1) tight and effortful placement, through (2) interrupted placement (natural gaps without loss of the object), (3) uninterrupted placement, to (4) spontaneous placement requiring no intentional engagement.
9. The Transition to Special Insight: What Mind Is
Sessions thirteen through sixteen marked the transition from calm abiding to special insight (Vipashyana). Before teaching how to meditate on emptiness, Rinpoche gave careful foundational teaching on the nature of the mind that is to be understood and the philosophical framework within which to proceed.
He taught the three categories of knowable objects: (1) evident phenomena — objects perceptible directly to the five senses or to mental direct perception (e.g., an apple, pleasure, pain); (2) slightly hidden phenomena — not perceivable by ordinary direct perception but inferrable by reasoning (e.g., the emptiness of phenomena, the subtle impermanence of all composites); (3) very hidden phenomena — beyond the reach of ordinary reasoning and known only through the testimony of a reliable authority (e.g., the precise ripening of very subtle karma).
The nature of mind was presented in two aspects: (1) the conventional nature of mind is its clarity and knowingness — the mind cognises objects, distinguishes them, and experiences their qualities. This experiential luminosity is the conventional nature of mind. (2) The ultimate nature of mind is its emptiness of inherent existence — the mind does not exist from its own side, independently of the causes, conditions, and conceptual imputation that give rise to it. This emptiness, when directly recognised, is what is called Mahamudra — the mind’s own ultimate nature seen directly.
Rinpoche explained that the mind’s ultimate nature as emptiness is not a nihilistic negation. The mind exists — it thinks, feels, knows, perceives. But the mode of its existence is dependent, not independent. It arises in dependence on the body, on karma and mental factors, on the concepts and labels through which we identify it. Because it is dependently arisen, it is empty of the independent, self-sufficient, inherently real existence that it falsely appears to have.
10. The Object of Negation: What We Are Meditating Away
A central focus of the final sessions was the precise identification of the object of negation — what exactly is it that the meditation on emptiness refutes?
Rinpoche was careful to distinguish two extremes. If the object of negation is identified too broadly, one falls into nihilism: denying the conventional existence of persons and phenomena, rejecting cause and effect, creating a worse problem than the original ignorance. If the object of negation is identified too narrowly, one does not reach emptiness at all — one meditates on a limited absence that does not cut the root of ignorance.
The object of negation is specifically: the self as it appears to exist from its own side, independently of the aggregates, self-established, not merely labeled by mind and name. This appearance of independent self-existence is the subtle object of negation. The self exists — but it exists as merely imputed upon the five aggregates by conceptual designation and naming. The self as self-established, independent, not merely imputed: this does not exist. Its non-existence is the emptiness of persons (selflessness of persons).
Rinpoche used three ways of conceiving the I: (1) conceiving the I as truly existent (inherently self-established) — this is ignorance; (2) conceiving the I as qualified by non-true existence (the I as merely imputed, empty) — this is wisdom; (3) conceiving the I in ordinary conventional awareness without philosophical qualification (“I go,” “I eat”) — this is a valid conventional cognition, neither ignorant nor wise in the philosophical sense.
11. The Four-Point Analysis (Reason of Freedom from One or Many)
Sessions seventeen and eighteen focused on the systematic analytical meditation through which the object of negation is refuted and emptiness is realised. The main approach presented is the four-point analysis (also called the reason of freedom from being the same and different, or the reason of freedom from one or many):
Point 1 — Identify the object of negation: The I appears to exist from its own side, independently of the aggregates. This appearance of independent existence is what we are going to investigate.
Point 2 — Identify the entailment (persuasion): If this I exists as it appears — from its own side — then upon investigation it must exist as either (a) inherently identical with the aggregates or (b) inherently different from the aggregates. There is no third possibility. (The law of excluded middle in this context: if it exists independently, it must be either the same as its basis of imputation or different from it.)
Point 3 — Identify the fault of identity: If the I were inherently identical with the five aggregates, absurdities follow: (a) Since I is singular (“I”), there would be only one aggregate, not five — but we know from our own experience that there are five. (b) Since the aggregates undergo production and disintegration, the I would necessarily disintegrate at death, making rebirth and the memory of past lives impossible. Since we know these absurdities do not hold, the I as it appears cannot be inherently identical with the aggregates.
Point 4 — Identify the fault of difference: If the I were inherently different from the aggregates — completely separate from them — then after removing all five aggregates one by one, the I should remain, findable on its own. But no such independently existing I is ever found. The I exists only in dependence upon the aggregates; remove them and there is no I to be found. Therefore the I as it appears cannot be inherently different from the aggregates.
Since the I as it appears — self-established, independent — cannot be found as either identical with or different from the aggregates, and since there is no third possibility, the conclusion is that this I does not exist. This non-existence of the self-established I is the emptiness of persons (selflessness of persons). Rinpoche used the analogy of the striped rope mistaken for a snake in dim light: the snake is merely imputed to the rope; when examined, no snake can be found in the shape, colour, or coil of the rope. Likewise, the self-established I is merely imputed to the aggregates; upon analysis, no such self can be found in any of the aggregates or separate from them.
Rinpoche also presented the analogical extension: just as one analyses the emptiness of persons (the I), one can extend this analysis to all phenomena whatsoever. The five aggregates themselves, external objects, the mind, the emotions — all are empty in the same way. This extension constitutes the emptiness of phenomena (selflessness of phenomena), which is required for the complete abandonment of all obscurations (both afflictive and cognitive).
12. Analytic and Stabilising Meditation in the Realisation of Emptiness
Rinpoche emphasised that analytic meditation is indispensable for realising emptiness. Mere stabilising meditation — simply sitting with the thought “there is no self” — does not produce the realisation of selflessness, just as sitting with the thought “I will eat” does not satisfy hunger. One must actually investigate: Where is the self? Is it the head? The body? The hands? Is it any of the aggregates? Is it other than the aggregates? The investigation must be active, searching, precise.
The ideal is to combine the two. One uses analytic meditation to arrive at the realisation; then, having glimpsed the emptiness, one rests in stabilising meditation upon that recognition, allowing it to deepen and settle. Then analysis again, then stabilisation. The analogy of the fish in a clear, undisturbed pond was used: just as a small fish can move through perfectly clear, still water without disturbing its surface, so the wisdom of investigation should move through the clear awareness of the mind without agitating the fundamental stillness of calm abiding.
The experience of realising the absence of the self-established I was described as initially alarming or vertiginous — a sudden “dropping away” of the sense of solid selfhood — but ultimately liberating. With repeated familiarisation, this recognition becomes stable and spontaneous. This stable, direct, non-conceptual recognition of the mind’s ultimate nature, arising on the basis of both Sutra analysis and (for Tantra practitioners) the bliss of the completion stage, is the Great Seal itself: Mahamudra.
Key Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Mahamudra (Great Seal) | The direct, non-conceptual recognition of the mind’s ultimate nature; the culmination of the Sutra and Tantra paths in the Ganden oral tradition |
| Ganden oral tradition (snyan rgyud) | The whispered lineage of Mahamudra teachings passed within the Gelug school, committed to writing by the 1st Panchen Lama |
| Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen | 1st Panchen Lama (1570–1662); author of the Mahamudra root text being taught |
| Shamatha (calm abiding, zhi gnas) | Single-pointed, effortless abiding of the mind on a chosen object; the foundation of special insight |
| Vipashyana (special insight, lhag mthong) | Analytic meditation that directly investigates and realises the ultimate nature of phenomena, especially emptiness |
| Object of negation | The self as it appears to exist from its own side — self-established, independent, not merely imputed; what emptiness meditation negates |
| Selflessness of persons | The non-existence of the self-established I; realised by analysing the I in terms of the five aggregates |
| Selflessness of phenomena | The non-existence of inherent, self-established existence in all phenomena; required for the complete removal of cognitive obscurations |
| Five aggregates (skandhas) | Form, feelings, discriminations, compositional factors, and consciousnesses — the basis of imputation for the person |
| Basis of imputation | The collection of physical and mental elements upon which the person (I) is conventionally labeled; not the person itself |
| Four-point analysis | The reason of freedom from being one or many: (1) identify object of negation; (2) identify entailment; (3) refute identity; (4) refute difference |
| Merely imputed / merely labeled | The way persons and phenomena actually exist — designated by mind and name upon a basis; not self-established |
| Laxity and excitement | The two main obstacles to calm abiding; laxity is mental dullness or loss of clarity; excitement is distraction toward pleasant objects |
| Five faults / eight antidotes | The systematic analysis of obstacles to Shamatha and the specific antidotes that overcome each one |
| Nine mental abidings | The nine progressive stages of calm abiding attainment from initial placement to spontaneous equanimity |
| Pliancy | The physical and mental suppleness that arises when Shamatha is attained; the sign of actual calm abiding |
| Four empowerments | The vase, secret, wisdom, and word empowerments received through Guru Yoga and Vajrasattva practice |
| Bodhicitta (awakening heart) | The altruistic intention to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings; the defining quality of the Mahayana path |
| Conventional nature of mind | The clarity and knowingness of mind; its experiential quality |
| Ultimate nature of mind | The mind’s emptiness of inherent existence; what is directly recognised in Mahamudra |
| Two truths | Conventional truth (the everyday world of appearance) and ultimate truth (emptiness of inherent existence); both equally real in their respective domains |
| Prasangika Madhyamaka | The highest of the four tenet systems; the philosophical basis for the Gelug understanding of emptiness and Mahamudra |
Practice Points
Daily practice structure: Rinpoche recommended framing every session of meditation within the structure of the preliminary practices:
– Begin with refuge and bodhicitta: “In order to benefit all sentient beings, I will cultivate calm abiding and the view of emptiness.”
– Perform brief Vajrasattva recitation to purify obstacles accumulated since the last session.
– Engage in the main practice (Shamatha or Vipashyana) for whatever time is available.
– Dedicate the merit at the conclusion.
Choosing an object for Shamatha: For most practitioners, a visualised image of the Buddha is recommended as the meditation object — stable, inspiring, and connected to the accumulation of merit. Alternatively, the breath or a neutral mental image can be used. The key is consistency: once an object is chosen, do not change it.
Working with laxity and excitement: Develop the habit of introspective awareness — a portion of the mind monitoring the quality of meditation even while another portion attends to the object. This monitoring should not be so active as to destroy the meditation, but present enough to catch laxity or excitement as they arise rather than after they have become entrenched. Coarse laxity requires strong arousal (stand up, look at a bright object, review the benefits of practice). Subtle laxity requires only a slight tightening of attention. Excitement at any level requires directing attention downward — contemplate renunciation, impermanence, suffering.
Keeping sessions short and consistent: “Short, many times.” A shorter session of good quality is more valuable than a longer session that descends into laxity. It is far better to meditate for ten minutes of genuine single-pointed awareness than for an hour of foggy, distracted sitting. Short, successful sessions build confidence and create positive habitual momentum.
The importance of not meditating when the mind is very agitated: If the mind is overwhelmed by strong emotion — intense anger, grief, anxiety — it is not conducive to attempt Shamatha. Better to take a walk, engage in prostrations, or recite mantra until the intensity subsides, and then meditate. Attempting to force single-pointed meditation when the mind is in turbulence simply reinforces the agitation.
Analytic meditation on the I: When practising Vipashyana meditation on the self: (1) Allow the sense of “I” to arise naturally — the “I” that feels solid, real, independent. (2) Look at it directly. Ask: where is this I? Is it the head? The body? Any of the internal organs? (3) Work through all five aggregates systematically, looking for the self-established I in each. (4) Look outside the aggregates: is the I separate from them? Can it be found apart from them? (5) When no I is found, rest in the recognition of its non-existence. (6) Allow any arising sense of the solid I to be examined again. Alternate analysis and stabilisation.
Extending the analysis to phenomena: Once some stability in the recognition of the selflessness of persons is attained, extend the same analysis to external phenomena — one’s house, one’s body, one’s emotions. All are equally empty of inherent existence. All are equally merely imputed by mind and name upon their bases.
The measure of progress in Vipashyana: The decrease of the afflictive emotions — particularly anger and attachment — is the sign that the understanding of emptiness is beginning to take effect. An intellectual understanding of emptiness that does not decrease anger and attachment has not yet reached the level of genuine insight. When insight deepens sufficiently, the afflictive emotions do not simply diminish temporarily through suppression; they fail to arise in the first place because the ignorance that generates them has been weakened at its root.