Gampopa's Mahāmudrā: View, Meditation, Conduct Open Access
Bhuchung, Tenzin (Summer 2021)
Abstract
Despite a plethora of meditative traditions and techniques, contemporary practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism are nearly unanimous that the pinnacle of meditative practice can be found in the profound yet simple instructions of the Mahāmudrā (literally, “Great Seal”) lineage. Although this lineage is brought to Tibet by his lineage masters, Gampopa (1079–1153), a twelfth-century Tibetan scholar and adept, departed from the tradition of his teachers by transmitting the Mahāmudrā teachings publicly, and outside the tantric context, to such an extent that it became the most important defining feature of his Dhakpo Kagyu tradition.
This dissertation is the first book-length work on Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā, presenting it through the traditional rubric of view (lta ba), meditation (sgom pa) and conduct (spyod pa). The first chapter explores main features of Gampopa’s Non-Tantric Mahāmudrā and contextualizes it within the greater Indo-Tibetan Tantra and Sūtra traditions. The second chapter expounds on Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā view. It demonstrates that establishing the nonduality of the innate mind and its phenomenal appearances constitutes an important feature of realizing the ultimate view of Mahāmudrā. It also argues that Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā view amounts to a synthesis of the Yogācāra and the Madhyamaka view on the ultimate. The third chapter explores Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā meditation referred to as the yoga of coemergence (lhan cig skyes sbyor) that offers techniques to help sustain the ultimate nature of the mind nonconceptually in meditation.
Gampopa’s nonconceptual approach to philosophical view and meditation raises the question of the role of ethical practices, such as compassion, that are conceptual in nature. This issue emerges as a raging debate between “sudden” (cig car ba) and “gradual” (rim gyis pa) approaches in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. The fourth chapter therefore delves into the conduct or ethical foundations that Gampopa deems necessary for Mahāmudrā practice and its realization.The fifth, concluding, chapter offers a short consideration of Gampopa’s Non-Tantric Mahāmudrā view and meditation as well as their foundational ethical conduct, ending with a brief discussion on their potential contribution to future research in religious studies and phenomenology.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Introduction to Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā1
1 Situating Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā Tradition 1
2 Gampopa’s Life and Works 3
3 Research Methods and Sources 8
3.1 Primary Textual Sources 11
3.2 Secondary Sources 20
4 Gampopa’s Non-tantric Mahāmudrā 26
4.1 The Tantric Context of Mahāmudrā 29
4.2 The Indian Context of Non-tantric Mahāmudrā 32
4.3 Common Instructions for Non-tantric and Tantric Mahāmudrā 39
4.4 Non-tantric Mahāmudrā Contrasted with Tantric Mahāmudrā 42
5 Our Path Ahead 45
Chapter 2 – Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā: The View 48
1 Reconstructing Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā View 48
1.1 Structure of the Chapter 59
2 The Three Aspects of Appearance of the Mind 62
2.1 Clarity: The Nature Aspect of the Mind 63
2.2 Diversity: The Characteristic Aspect of the Mind 64
2.3 Non-Arising: The Essence Aspect of the Mind 65
3 The Unity of the Three Aspects of Appearance of the Mind66
3.1 The Unity of Coemergent Mind And Coemergent Appearances 68
4 Summarizing Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā View74
4.1 Direct Perception of Ultimate Reality as Natural Mahāmudrā 75
4.2 The Innate Mind as the Mahāmudrā View 79
4.2.1 Nonduality of the Innate Mind and Phenomenal Appearances 83
5 Key Mahāmudrā Concepts and Issues 86
5.1 The Two Truths and Their Unity: Resonance with Madhyamaka 86
5.2 Mahāmudrā As a Synthesis of the Yogācāra and Madhyamaka Schools 92
5.3 The Ultimate and the Limits of Language to Express the Ultimate 97
5.4 The Mahāmudrā View of Ultimate Reality in Relation to Implicative or Non-Implicative Negation 102
5.5 Buddha nature and Mahāmudrā Ultimate Reality 105
6 Conclusion 108
Chapter 3 – Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā: The Meditation 111
1 Introduction 111
2 Contextualizing Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā Meditation Within The Perfection of Wisdom Tradition113
2.1 Meditation, Its Meaning, and Two Broad Types 113
2.2 From Conceptual to Nonconceptual Understanding of Reality Through the Union of Calm Abiding and Insight and the Three Types of Wisdom 116
2.3 Gampopa’s Nonconceptual and Nondual Approach to Meditation 120
3 The Yoga of Coemergence: The Contemplative Technique of Integrating the Three Aspects of Appearance of the Mind121
3.1 Inducing a Nonconceptual Mental State by Focusing on the Nature of the Mind. 123
3.1.1 Nonconceptual Clarity and Its Significance for Meditation 123
3.1.2 Contemplative Techniques for Inducing Nonconceptual Clarity 124
3.1.3 Undistracted Continuity and the Noetic Quality of a Meditation that Sustains the Clarity of the Mind 129
3.2 Coemergence of Nonconceptual Clarity and its Non-Arising Essence 130
3.2.1 Nonconceptual Meditation as the Main Method for Inducing Direct Realization of the Emptiness of the Mind and Its Phenomenal Appearances 131
3.2.2 Unique Method of Sustaining Certainty of the Emptiness of the Mind Within a Nonconceptual State 133
3.2.3 Sustaining the Union of Nonconceptual Clarity and its Emptiness is Sustaining the Mahāmudrā State 135
3.3 The Coemergence of the Coemergent Innate Mind and Coemergent Phenomenal Appearances 136
3.3.1 Sustaining the Clarity Inherent in all States of Consciousness 138
3.3.2 Settling Phenomenal Appearances in the Form of the Six Modes of Consciousness in a Relaxed Manner139
3.3.3 Not Modifying Phenomenal Appearances in Meditation 140
3.3.4 Thoughts Experienced as Clarifying the Meditative State, Not as Distractions 141
4 Results of Mahāmudrā Meditation 144
4.1 Meditation to Realize Mahāmudrā and Meditation After Realization of Mahāmudrā 144
4.2 Method of Realizing Self-Liberation145
4.3 The Actual Process of Self-liberation of Negative Emotions Within a Meditative State 147
5 Analysis: Uniqueness of Meditation148
5.1 Mind Focusing on Mind to Achieve Calm Abiding and Insight 148
5.2 A Method of Finding the View on the Basis of Meditation: Developing Insight Based on Calm Abiding 149
5.3 Authentic Union of the Two Truths and the Union of Method and Wisdom151
5.4 Inseparability of Meditation and Post Meditation Stage 155
5.5 A Unique Method of Dealing with Distractions 156
6 Conclusion 158
Chapter 4 – Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā: The Conduct 162
1 Introduction: Merging the Kadampa and the Mahāmudrā Traditions 162
2 The Necessity of Foundational Practices for Mahāmudrā Meditation 165
2.1 The Union of Method and Wisdom 167
2.2 Gampopa’s Four Dharmas 172
2.3 Scopes or Persons as an Essential Foundation for Mahāmudrā Meditation 179
3 The Self-Sufficient White Remedy, Instantaneous Practitioners, and the Question of Foundational Practices 183
3.1 Mahāmudrā as a Self-Sufficient Practice and Its Critics 183
3.1.1 Direct Realization of Mahāmudrā State as the Self-Sufficient White Remedy 191
3.2 Instantaneous Practitioners and the Question of Foundational Practices 197
3.2.1 Finding Meditation Within the View: A Meditation for Instantaneous Practitioners and the Significance of Guru Devotion 203
4 Guru Devotion 208
5 Conclusion 212
Chapter 5 – Conclusion: The Contribution of Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā 215
1 Concluding Remarks 215
2 Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā Tradition’s Contribution to the Contemporary Conversation on Mystical Experience 226
2.1 Unmediated Account of Mystical Experience 228
2.2 Mystical Experience Through the Perspective of the Constructivists 230
2.3 Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā State as an Instantiation of Soft Constructivism 235
3 Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā and Phenomenology: Reflections on Phenomenological Reduction 238
Bibliography 245
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