A HOLISTIC THEORY OF NON-DUAL UNION:

THE EIGHTH KARMAPA’S MAHĀMUDRĀ VISION

AS REACTION, RE-APPROPRIATION, AND RESOLUTION

Joseph A. Faria Jr.

Master of Arts Thesis Advisor: Karin Meyers

Centre for Buddhist Studies, Kathmandu University, Nepal 2015

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………....1

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………3

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4

An Intellectual Study of Mahāmudrā……………………………………………………...6

An Introduction to Mikyö Dorjé and His Recognizing the Blessings……………………11

Literary Review………………………………………………………………………….16

Chapter Outline…………………………………………………………………………..29

Chapter One:

Situating the Eighth Karmapa and His Mahāmudrā: The Historical and Doctrinal Context of

Mahāmudrā in Tibet……………………………………………………………………………..32

1.1. Gampopa and Early Kagyü Mahāmudrā:

The Rhetoric of Absolute Transcendence…………………………………………..33

1.2. Sakya and Gelug Critiques of Mahāmudrā and Kagyü Thought:

Demands for Doctrinal Coherence, Intellectual Rigor, and Adherence to Worldly

Conventions………………………………………………………………………...38

1.3 The Context and Position of the Eighth Karmapa and Recognizing the Blessings….46

Chapter Two:

Recognizing the Blessings of the Union of Ground, Path, and Fruition………………………...53

2.1. Articulating the Ground, Path, and Fruition………………………………………...53

2.2. Union as Reaction: Distinguishing Between Authentic and Inauthentic Union…….79

2.3. Resolution in Union: The Non-Duality of the Conventional and Ultimate in

Mahāmudrā………………………………………………………………………….84

Chapter Three:

Concluding Remarks……….……………………………………………………………………98

3.1. A Comparative Analysis of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā Vision…………………….98

3.2. Conclusion: The Holistically Non-Dual Union of Mikyö Dorjé…………………..107

Appendices:

Appendix 1: A Translation of Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā……………………...110

Appendix 2: A Translation of A Response on the Sugatagarbha and the Dharmakāya………..125

Appendix 3: A Chart of Mikyö Dorjé’s Two Truth Schema……………………………………129

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………131

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Acknowledgments:

I would like to take this opportunity foremost to thank my parents Joseph A. Faria Sr. and

Susan Cook, as well as my grandparents Donald and Margaret Doyle, who have given me so

much support over the years, both financially and emotionally, without which the present work

simply would not be possible. Of course I would also like to thank my entire family and all of

my friends who have also been a great source of encouragement for me in my recent studies.

I would especially like to thank my professors at the Centre of Buddhist Studies, in

particular Karin Meyers my thesis supervisor, but also Philippe Turenne, Susan Zakin, and James

Gentry who have all encouraged, guided, and counseled me on several occasions during my

graduate studies here. I also owe thanks to the rest of the students and staff at Rangjung Yeshe

Institute, many of whom have given me feedback on my translation work as well as for the ideas

present in my thesis. Additionally, I feel the need to offer my gratitude to my wonderful Tibetan

language teachers over the years who have helped me reach a competent level of Tibetan fluency

which has allowed me to translate the texts associated with this work and understand the nuances

of Tibetan terminology: in particular, Cinthia Font, Sonam Dikyi, Benjamin Collet-Cassart, Luke

Hanley, Tenzin Phuntsok, Tenpa Tsering, as well as too many others to mention in this limited

space. I would also like to thank my professors who instructed me in my undergraduate

Philosophy courses at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell for their great encouragement

regarding my pursuit of studies at the graduate level: in particular, Eric Nelson, John Kaag, and

Robert Innis.

I would like to especially thank everyone at the Khyentse Foundation and Tsadra

Foundation whose scholarships have provided me with more than enough financial means to

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pursue my studies here in Nepal, and Tsadra Foundation in particular who have shown

remarkable concern for their beneficiaries’ welfare and education.

I also need to thank my spiritual teacher Yongey Mingyur Dorjé Rinpoche and the Tergar

spiritual community which is under his guidance for their immense and incomparable spiritual

influence in my life; it is largely because of them that I decided to come to Nepal to study

Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan language in the first place. Furthermore, I would like to offer

my sincere thanks to Khenpo Gyurmé of Tergar Oseling Monastery in Kathmandu, who gave me

an oral commentary on the text Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā which has been

translated for the present work. Many thanks go out to all of the many other spiritual friends in

my life who have imparted upon me their great wisdom and compassion.

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Abstract:

This research investigates the Mahāmudrā interpretation of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorjé

(1507-1554), particularly regarding his text Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā (Phyag

rgya chen po’i byin rlabs kyi ngos ’dzin). Drawing upon contemporary research, historical

developments, and textual evidence, this work argues that the Eighth Karmapa’s Mahāmudrā

thought can be understood as reaction, re-appropriation, and resolution. Though Mikyö Dorjé

reacted to Sakya and Gelug critiques of Kagyü Mahāmudrā, and accepted that one could re-

appropriate Mahāmudrā by incorporating aspects of sūtra and tantra onto the path of

Mahāmudrā, he ultimately sought to adhere to the subitist tendencies of early Kagyü masters by

resolving all conventional tensions of the ground, path, and fruition via a holistically non-dual

union (Skt. Yuganaddha; Tib. zung ’jug). This demonstrates that both doctrinal eclecticism and

upholding the transcendence of Mahāmudrā were pillars of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought, and that his

theory of union provided rhetorical and philosophical consistency and justification for these

views.

4

Introduction

This work investigates the Mahāmudrā theory and views of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö

Dorjé (Mi bskyod rdo rje, b. 1507-1554), particularly regarding his text Recognizing the

Blessings of Mahāmudrā (Phyag rgya chen po’i byin rlabs kyi ngos ’dzin). Drawing upon

contemporary academic research on Mikyö Dorjé’s spiritual and philosophical views as well as

topics in Mahāmudrā and its relevant issues in Tibet, historical developments pertaining to

Kagyü Mahāmudrā and Mikyö Dorjé himself, and also a close examination of texts written by

Mikyö Dorjé and other relevant scholars, this work argues that his Mahāmudrā thought can be

understood as reaction, re-appropriation, and resolution.

Reaction here is to be understood in terms of how Mikyö Dorjé resisted, challenged, and

generally responded to critiques of the Kagyü tradition of Mahāmudrā from Sakya and Gelug

scholars who demanded more adherence to scholastic and worldly conventions by Kagyü

proponents of such a subitist form of Mahāmudrā. Reaction here is to be understood in the sense

of reacting to a perceived challenge while attempting to preserve or defend one’s own tradition

and values, suggesting that Gelug and Sakya critiques had a strong impact on how Mikyö Dorjé

formulated his Mahāmudrā interpretation and that responding to these challenges was important

for Mikyö Dorjé as he attempted to clarify the intent of and remain true to his own lineage.

Re-appropriation is to be understood in terms of how Mikyö Dorjé, in a manner of

speaking, acquiesced to some of these critiques by allowing for and often explicitly advocating

for views and practices of sūtra and tantra within the context of Mahāmudrā, demonstrating

Mahāmudrā’s provisional compatibility with more mainstream Buddhist doctrines and praxis in

an effort to rebrand Mahāmudrā as not divorced from these other tenets and systems. In other

5

words, Mikyö Dorjé believed that, contrary to the critiques of many scholars, it is appropriate

and even useful in many contexts to connect some of their doctrines and incorporate practices of

sūtra and tantra onto the path of Mahāmudrā. This represents a particular manner of integrating

more gradualist aspects of Buddhist theory and praxis with the suddenist aspects of Mahāmudrā.

Re-appropriation here is to be understood particularly in the sense of empowering a term or idea

(in this case terms and ideas used to identify a spiritual tradition) once used disparagingly: eg.

Kagyü Mahāmudrā being characterized by others as the nihilist teaching of Hwashang or as

incompatible with sūtra and/or tantra. Moreover, such empowerment largely comes through

demonstrating anew that Mahāmudrā allows for other practices and has commonalities with

other doctrines. This suggests that, while Mikyö Dorjé ultimately agreed with and sought to

adhere to the suddenist and transcendental rhetoric of early Kagyü masters regarding the

realization of Mahāmudrā proper, he still accepted that, at least provisionally, sūtra and tantra

could be allowed onto the path of Mahāmudrā.

Resolution is to be understood in terms of how, even while incorporating convential and

gradualistic rhetoric and practices, Mikyö Dorjé ultimately sought to adhere to the subitist

tendencies of early Kagyü masters (specifically Gampopa) by resolving all conventional tensions

of the ground, path, and fruition (and coincidentally, all tensions between Mahāmudrā and other

forms of Buddhist practice and doctrine) via a holistically non-dual theory of union (Skt.

Yuganaddha; Tib. zung ’jug). Thus, Mikyö Dorjé was attempting to resolve the conventional in

terms of the transcendent, in essence uniting transcendental wisdom and conventional means as

an ultimate non-duality. Resolution here is to be understood in the sense of progressing from

dissonance to consonance, which suggests that Mikyö Dorjé viewed the conventional as

inherently conflicting and that all resolution is to be found in the ultimate which transcends

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conditioned and limited phenomena. Additionally, this third aspect can also be seen as the

resolution of the first two points of reaction and re-appropriation, i.e. a resolution of the tension

between the ideal suddenist transcendence of the early Kagyü masters that Mikyö Dorjé was

reacting on behalf of and the Sakya and Gelug demands for gradualist and conventional

coherence for whom he was re-appropriating. That is to say that for Mikyö Dorjé all of this

merely conventional conflict is best resolved in terms of the transcendent quietude of the

ultimate. In this sense then, the rhetoric and concept of union is pivotal for Mikyö Dorjé and thus

has major implications for understanding his Mahāmudrā thought.

These points demonstrate that both doctrinal eclecticism and upholding the transcendence

of Mahāmudrā were pillars of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought, and that his theory of union provided

rhetorical and philosophical consistency and justification for these views. The latter point here

also demonstrates the pivotal importance of the theory of union in understanding Mikyö Dorjé’s

final view, and it suggests that all of Mikyö Dorjé’s views should be reconciled with and based

in an appropriate understanding of holistic and non-dual union which is the ultimate goal of all of

his other merely provisional and contextual hermeneutic methods.

An Intellectual Study of Mahāmudrā

The present thesis work is on the topic of Mahāmudrā, specifically with regard to the

thought of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorjé based on a careful study of one of his more obscure

texts entitled Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā (Phyag rgya chen po’i byin rlabs kyi

ngos ’dzin) which is essentially an exegetical work on the ground, path, and fruition (gzhi

lam ’bras) of the Mahāmudrā system. In the course of my review of the academic literature

available on Mahāmudrā, I have noticed that there seems to be a large consensus of the particular

7

difficulty of studying Mahāmudrā and ascertaining what it is, what it expresses, what it affirms

and/or denies and so forth. Dan Martin succinctly problematizes the study of Mahāmudrā thusly:

If Mahāmudrā differs from other types of views it would be in part at least because the something it bases itself on does not seem to supply a very stable cornerstone for a monumental structure of thought…Those of us who use

philological, anthropological, philosophical and phenomenological approaches can and should take heed of such alternative voices as those of the early Bka'-

brgyud-pa and allow them to have their say. This might prod us to ponder the possible insufficiency of our approaches, to face with a more realistic humility the range of possible knowables, and of possible ways to go about knowing them.1

In this regard, it is clear that the study of Mahāmudrā is inherently problematic: for a system

which unabashedly proclaims the limits and often even the risks of conceptual, analytic,

philosophical, and conventional approaches, it appears that some serious consideration is called

for when considering how to approach an intellectual or academic study of such an

unconventional practice and set of doctrines. Even in Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā,

almost at the very beginning, Mikyö Dorjé cautions the reader, “Such conventional terms, the

black marks of my treatise, are comparable to an old dog gnawing on dry bones; there is no way

for [such conventionalities] to enter into one’s experience…”2 Taking this into consideration, it

is very clear from Mikyö Dorjé’s perspective that, at least in terms of ascertaining Mahāmudrā

proper, a merely textual or philosophical approach is grossly insufficient. Yet, other than relying

on the text and the ideas put forth by their exegetes, there seem to be few other viable options

available for the scholar. At any rate it seems likely that proponents of Mahāmudrā would be just

1 Dan Martin, “A Twelfth-century Tibetan Classic of Mahāmudrā: The Path of Ultimate Profundity: The Great Seal

Instructions of Zhang,” The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15 (1992): 252-253.

2 nga gzhung nag tshig gi tha snyad de/ khyi rgan gyis rus skam mur ba ’dra/ myong thog la pheb par mi gda’. Mi

bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039.

3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 1b1-2:

8

as quick to disapprove of any of the scholastic approaches available in our modern repertoire, as

bound up in conceptual and analytic processes as they are.

Though it is clear that the intellectual study of Mahāmudrā is problematic, it is not that it

is an impossible or pointless endeavor, for even those very same proponents of Mahāmudrā

engage in projects of expression, analysis, formulation, and theorizing. It is precisely this

supposed tension between Mahāmudrā proper—that which is inexpressible and inconceivable—

on the one hand, and the exegesis of Mahāmudrā on the other—that which is expressed and

conceived of—that drew me into this course of study. At the same time that a figure like Mikyö

Dorjé decries theoretical and analytical approaches, declaring the transcendent nature of

Mahāmudrā, he is still engaged in that very project himself, to the extent that he is formulating it

and communicating that nature in a manner that is intelligible and relevant for his audience. It is

a project that is accomplished by means of and simultaneously bound by language, concepts, and

logic. Thus, it cannot be that such approaches are completely meaningless or inapplicable for

proponents of Mahāmudrā, but rather to what extent and under what circumstances they can be

justified or how they can and cannot be interpreted. Based on this, if it is a justifiably meaningful

endeavor for the exegetes themselves, then arguably modern scholars should be able to produce

something meaningful as well, in spite of all the perceived limits of our methodologies.

Considering these issues involved in the study of Mahāmudrā, I seek to take a rather

multifaceted approach that consists of historical, doctrinal, and textual analysis based on a

sympathetic interpretive approach of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought. Embracing the broad perspective of

Mahāmudrā, as elicited by Martin in the previous citation, this work acknowledges the

impossibility of any methodology restricted to a single approach, which would seem to be at

odds with Mahāmudrā’s transcendental spirit which tends to reject any limited means for

9

realizing it. Given that it is within his treatises that we find the most explicit expression of his

thought, this work largely focuses on what is expressed by Mikyö Dorjé textually. However, it

also considers historical conditions and doctrinal issues, such as divergent interpretations of the

two truths and debates over Hashang’s influence on Kagyü Mahāmudrā. These, I argue, have

greatly affected Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā interpretation (or at least how he formulated and

expressed it), analyses which in turn act to balance the overall approach of this thesis, drawing

our attention to extra-textual phenomena.

The interpretative approach of this work binds these different aspects of analyses

together, forming them into a comprehensible and sensible whole, which even seems to be in

accord with the overall spirit of Mikyö Dorjé’s theory and rhetoric of union. This allows us to

appreciate much of the meaning and intention that is not made explicit by Mikyö Dorjé’s within

his own works, but which this thesis argues is critical for understanding his thought. However,

such an approach clearly risks projecting one’s own assumptions and interpretations where they

do not apply, and because of this philological critiques of such qualitative research are indeed

considered here. As was mentioned earlier, this work is to a significant extant based in an

analysis of Mikyö Dorjé’s own words. Focusing on the written word of Mikyö Dorjé helps to

prevent unwarranted interpretations by relating as much as possible any interpretation made in

this work to statements actually made by Mikyö Dorjé himself. For example, in discussing the

doctrinal and scholastic conflicts Mikyö Dorjé had with scholars in the Gelug and Sakya

traditions, I point out direct statements made by Mikyö Dorjé himself in that regard, which lend

credence to claims I make further on about more specific issues and debates between Mikyö

Dorjé and these traditions implicit in Recognizing the Blessings.

10

The interpretive approach here is also informed by an emphasis on sympathetic

hermeneutics, attempting to understand the thought of Mikyö Dorjé on his own terms and how

his ideas and theories were meaningful and true for him, rather than taking a skeptical stance

towards his claims and theories in an attempt to discover an objective truth divorced from his

thought. A major project of this work is to demonstrate the overall consistency of Mikyö Dorjé’s

Mahāmudrā thought and to appreciate his scholastic and intellectual prowess. Such a project is

far better served by clarifying and elaborating upon how he expressed, formulated, and justified

his own views. Though it is ultimately impossible to realize the true intention (if there even is

such a thing) of any figure based merely on inference and furthermore to encapsulate such

meaning through limited conventions and expressions (a sentiment that is clearly in line with the

spirit of Mahāmudrā), this does not negate the value and import of the project of attempting to

represent or approximate Mikyö Dorjé’s thought, a project in accord with those of many

Mahāmudrā exegetes who attempted to convey inexpressible reality in terms that were relevant

and comprehensible for their contemporaries.

Finally, it should be noted that this research has to some extent depended on

interpretation from within the contemporary Tibetan Buddhist tradition, since I relied on the

counsel of Khenpo Gyurmé of Tergar Öseling Monastery (Kathmandu, Nepal) to improve my

translation of Recognzing the Blessings. His explanation of the text proved invaluable for helping

me to understand the text itself, especially in those cases where I found it difficult to interpret

certain passages on my own. Students of Tibetan language know that classical Tibetan literature

can often be quite ambiguous and unclear in terms of grammatical structure, syntax, and

terminology. This can be further problematized by the prominent use of condensed terms (bsdus

tshig) for purposes of keeping to a strict meter or simply as a convention. This, of course, also

11

leads to the omission of particles and terms that English speakers might consider vital to

understanding what is being said in a particular phrase. Additionally, any particular term might

have several different meanings, leading in certain cases to an ambiguity of what the precise

meaning or intented understanding of the term is. In short, the use of an informed aid is often

necessary in interpreting any Tibetan text in order to make adequate use of it. Though Khenpo

Gyurmé’s interpretation provided the framework that allowed me to properly translate the text,

my interpretation of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought for this thesis is based on my own research and

analysis. In closing, I would like to apologize in advance for any possible mistakes in my

interpretation of the text and Mikyö Dorjé’s thought, which are strictly my own.3

An Introduction to Mikyö Dorjé and His Recognizing the Blessings

Mikyö Dorjé (1557-1554) was a prolific scholar and meditation master of the Karma

Kagyü tradition. He was recognized as the eighth incarnation in the lineage of the Karmapas,

though it should be noted that when he was around five years old his status as Karmapa was

disputed by a rival candidate; the issue was eventually resolved in his favor.4 The Eighth

Karmapa’s intellectual contribution to the Karma Kagyü school cannot be understated: he

commented on four of the five main sūtra topics,5 tantric doctrines, Mahāmudrā, as well as topics

3 To clarify issues I had in translation and where in particular I relied on Khenpo Gyurmé’s interpretation, I have

provided footnotes in the translation included in the appendix.

4 For more, see: Jim Rheingans, “Narratives of Reincarnation, Politics of Power, and the Emergence of a Scholar:

The Very Early Years of Mikyö Dorjé” in Lives Lived, Lives Imagined: Biography in the Buddhist Traditions , ed.

Linda Covill et al. (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010), 241-297.

5 Abhidharma, Madhyamaka, Prajñāpāramitā, Vinaya, and Pramāṇa.

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such as poetry and linguistics, with his oeuvre filling more than thirty volumes.6 His main

teacher was the first Sangye Nyenpa (Sangs rgyas mnyan pa, b. 1445/1457-1510/1525) whom

Mikyö Dorjé praises emphatically throughout his works, providing a vivid demonstration of guru

devotion. His other instructors of note include Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Dwags po bkra shis rnam

rgyal, b. 1512/1513- 1587) and Karma Trinlepa (Kar ma prin las pa, b. 1456-1539). Though

Mikyö Dorjé is often renowned for his rather blunt and straightforward challenges to scholars of

other traditions, particularly in his commentary on the Madhyamakāvatāra for example, his

interest in other traditions has also been noted, especially as demonstrated in his life stories.7

More on Mikyö Dorjé’s life, political affiliations, and thought will be elaborated upon towards

the end of the first chapter.

Though a significant amount of modern scholarly work has been done on Mikyö Dorjé,

most of this has focused on his Madhyamaka thought, especially his work on the

Madhyamakāvatāra, The Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas (dwags brgyud grub pa’i shing

rta), and to a lesser extent the debate over whether Mikyö Dorjé was a proponent of other-

emptiness (gzhan stong) or self-emptiness (rang stong). Given the significance of Mahāmudrā to

Mikyö Dorjé’s thought and to the Karma Kagyü tradition as a whole, it is surprising that, until

very recently,8 little work has been done on his interpretation of Mahāmudrā.

The present work seeks to contribute to this lacuna by providing a detailed analysis of

Mikyö Dorjé’s little known yet ideologically significant Mahāmudrā treatise Recognizing the

6 Rheingans, “Narratives of Reincarnation,” 241.

7 Ibid., 242.

8 See for example: Jim Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa's Life and his Interpretation of the Great Seal.” (PhD

thesis, Bath Spa University, 2008).

13

Blessings of Mahāmudrā (Phyag rgya chen po’i byin rlabs kyi ngos ’dzin).9 This short yet dense

text contains a wealth of information clarifying the Eighth Karmapa’s views on Mahāmudrā and

tantric practice, specifically via the schema of ground, path, and fruition (gzhi lam ’bras).

Unfortunately, significant as the ideas in this text are for understanding the Mahāmudrā thought

of Mikyö Dorjé, it is a relatively obscure text and few details about it are known, such as the

time and place of composition. Jim Rheingans has discussed this issue briefly and accepts this as

an authentic text of Mikyö Dorjé:

Not much is known about the historical circumstances and the audience of this work. The first pages of the text are missing and the second part starts with a prostration to Sangs rgyas mnyan pa (ibid. fol. 1b: Pha mnyan pa 'i chen po'i

zhabs la ’dud). In the colophon, the name Mi bskyod rdo rje is not mentioned. This title, however, is mentioned in both title lists (Mi bskyod rdo rje spyad pa

rabs, fol. 7b; dKar chag, fol. 7a). It is thus likely that the Eighth Karmapa composed this text.10

This is a sentiment with which I agree, and thus I believe that this text is an authentic

composition by Mikyö Dorjé. Furthermore, I find strong similarities in this work with ideas

found in Mikyö Dorjé’s other compositions, which will be evidenced further below in the present

work, further suggesting the likelihood that the author is indeed Mikyö Dorjé himself. Although

it is currently impossible to precisely locate this text chronologically in Mikyö Dorjé’s lifetime,

it is at least doctrinally significant in helping to connect his Mahāmudrā views with other

significant areas of his thought such as in sūtra and tantra. Thus, I would argue that it certainly

merits the current analysis taken here, even given the ambiguity surrounding the text. Finally,

there is one small clue as to the time period in which this text was written: within the text itself

9 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. http://tbrc.org/link?RID=O3LS12537|O3LS125373LS13592$W8039

10 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life and His Interpretation of the Great Seal,” 213.

14

Mikyö Dorjé refers to himself as, “this old man.”11 If we take this statement literally—and I see

no reason why the Eighth Karmapa would refer to himself in this way were he actually in his

youth at the time of composition—it would suggest that it was composed sometime during his

final years. Considering his relatively short lifespan of forty-seven years (1507-1554),

commonsense would suggest that this was then probably written in his forties—and, I would

imagine, more likely in his late forties to match a more common sense estimation of when to

consider someone as elderly—allowing us to conservatively estimate that that this text was

perhaps written sometime between 1547 and 1554.

This text in particular has been little studied, but it merits study due to its usefulness for

understanding Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought, which itself has been little studied. Although

Rheingans refers to this text in his doctoral thesis,12 other than mentioning its emphasis on tantric

Mahāmudrā and how this seems to contradict other of Mikyö Dorjé’s statements on the

relationship of Mahāmudrā and tantra, he mentions little about the text itself. Throughout his

thesis, Rheingans focuses largely on the contextual nature of Mikyö Dorjé’s question and answer

texts (dris lan) with his disciples on the subject of Mahāmudrā. By contrast, this work seeks to

emphasize the rather consistent and scholastic nature of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought by

focusing largely on the ideas found in Recognizing the Blessings; other of his exegetical texts

will be analyzed when necessary in order to help clarify his philosophical and doctrinal positions

on certain matters. I am aware of the inherent risks involved with generalizing a figure’s thought

over an entire lifetime and throughout different contexts, given the likelihood that any thinker’s

ideas will evolve over time and be adjusted according to context. However, this also does not

11 rgas pa ‘di. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo

rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 1b4.

12 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 213-216.

15

preclude the likelihood of significant similarities in thought over time and throughout different

contexts, and since one of the major purposes of this project is specifically to point out these

consistencies in Mikyö Dorjé’s thought, I feel this holistic hermeneutic is not only justified but

largely necessary. This should help scholars appreciate how Mikyö Dorjé navigated and related

to different areas of doctrine and philosophy based on certain guiding principles (such as his

general cynicism towards conventional phenomena, his nature of mind theory, his interpretat ion

of the two truths, and so forth) and a grander vision of the finality of Mahāmudrā and its union

(zung ’jug) of all possible aspects of reality.

In particular, I will make frequent reference to another short text entitled A Response on

the Sugatagarbha and the Dharmakāya (Bde gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i dris lan).13

Though this text is quite brief (consisting of only two folios), it is significant in its explanatory

power of certain key points related to the present work, especially with regard to how to

understand Mikyö Dorjé’s two main categorizations of ultimate truth: a provisional ‘categorized

ultimate’ (rnam grangs pa’i don dam) and an absolute or final ‘uncategorized ultimate’ (rnam

grangs ma yin pa’i don dam).14 Furthermore, this text’s identification of the final (mthar) view

as according with a particular theory of union (zung ’jug) and Mahāmudrā is in agreement with

13 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i dris lan . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. http://tbrc.org/link?RID=O3LS12537|O3LS125373LS13570$W8039

14 It is interesting to note that therein Mikyö Dorjé identifies Candrakīrti’s Madhyamaka thought as propounding the

categorized ultimate, which suggests that the rang stong view espoused by Mikyö Dorjé in his dwags brgyud grub

pa’i shing rta is not the final (mthar) view for Mikyö Dorjé, as certain scholars have suggested; See for example:

David Seyfort Ruegg, “A Karma bKa’ brgyud Work on the Lineages and Tradition s of the Indo-Tibetan dbu ma

(Madhyamaka)” in The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle: Essays on Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka . (Boston:

Wisdom Publications, 2010), 355; Also: Cyrus Stearns, Buddha From Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the

Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999), 63.

Furthermore, though I am going with a more literal translation of these two terms, I acknowledge their ambiguity in

English. I choose this particular manner of translation simply due to convention. However, it should be clear from

the context of their usage that the “categorized ultimate” refers to a merely provisional pres entation of the ultimate

that does not represent the truth itself, whereas the “uncategorized ultimate” refers to the final and authentic

presentation of the ultimate.

16

statements made within Recognizing the Blessings, suggesting the finality and consistency of

such views, as I argue throughout this work.

Literary Review

There has been a considerable amount of academic research done on the life and thought

of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorjé, however, as indicated above, almost all of this has focused

on or emphasized his Madhyamaka thought—15more on this below. While it certainly is the case

that his work on Madhyamaka has been highly influential on the Kagyü lineage and the Tibetan

tradition on the whole, the overwhelming focus on this aspect of his thought somewhat belies the

significance and influence of his Mahāmudrā thought, with respect to both the tradition and the

level of importance it held for Mikyö Dorjé himself. This is especially true when considering, for

example, how one of the more important projects for Mikyö Dorje was to demonstrate the

compatibility and common purport of Madhyamaka and Mahāmudrā.16 The focus on Mikyö

Dorjé’s Madhyamaka thought may simply be indicative of the intrigue of its controversial nature

due to his polemical exchanges with scholars of other traditions, in particular against the Gelug

tradition in his famous commentary on Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra, The Chariot of the

15 Other scholars have noted this phenomena as well, for example: “[Mikyö Dorjé] was a prolific writer: his oeuvre

filled more than thirty volumes. Previous academic research on his doctrines has concen trated mainly on his well-

known Madhyamakavatra commentary and his rang stong Madhayamaka philosophical position. His gzhan stong

works, such as his Abhisamayālaṃkāra commentary and the Gzhan stong legs par smra ba’i sgron me, have also

been taken into account. But his Great Seal instructions have been relatively neglected”. Jim Rheingans,

“Communicating the Innate: Observations on Teacher-Student Interaction in Tibetan Mahāmudrā Instructions”

(paper presented at the second International Association of Buddhist Universities conference at the

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Wang Noi, Ayutthaya, Thailand, Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation

Practice. May 31-June 2, 2012), 180.

16 See for example: Brunnhölzl, Karl. The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyü Tradition (Ithaca:

Snow Lion, 2004), 47.

17

Dwags po bKa’ brgyud Siddhas (dwags brgyud grub pa’i shing rta). 17 Whatever the intention in

focusing on one aspect of a particular thinker may be, it risks creating an unbalanced and one-

dimensional image of a figure and their thought, ignoring the multi-dimensional nature of the

thinker and the various influences on their thought and works. One of the purposes of this thesis

is to present the systematic and comprehensive nature of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought, in

which he makes considerable effort to relate it to sūtra and tantra, as well as specific

philosophical areas such as Madhyamaka. In this respect, a greater appreciation of the

comprehensiveness of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought, and the integrated nature and nuanced explication

of his Mahāmudrā interpretation will hopefully have been attained.

A pivotal overview of Mikyö Dorjé’s Madhyamaka thought in contrast to Gelug thought

is Paul Williams’ article “A Note On Some Aspects of Mi Bskod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs

Pa Madhyamaka” (1983) based on philosophical disputes brought up by the Eighth Karmapa in

his commentary on Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra, the dwags brgyud grub pa’i shing rta

against the Tsongkhapa and the Gelug tradition. These issues chiefly pertained to interpretations

of emptiness and ultimate truth from a Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka perspective. Williams notes the

transcendent and other-worldly rhetoric of Mikyö Dorjé, which is contrasted with the

preoccupation towards the mundane phenomenal of ‘this’ world that Tsongkhapa and his

followers adhere to in their explication of emptiness. The Gelugpa interpretation of emptiness for

Mikyö Dorjé is wholly inadequate for achieving liberation and eradicating suffering, thus

highlighting the soteriological concerns underlying his critique. Williams also notes the

pedagogical nature of language for Mikyö Dorjé, in that it represents a skill in means rather than

17 See for example: Paul Williams, “A Note On Some Aspects of Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa

Madhyamaka,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 11 (1983), 125-145.

18

a position claiming doctrinal correctness. Ultimately, Williams concludes that Mikyö Dorjé’s

notion of emptiness and the absolute is seeking something that is independent of context and

conditions—the opposite of Tsongkhapa and his followers—that is to say, an ultimate that is not

made dependent upon phenomena, but one that is an unconditional ultimate. Due to the focus on

a single text by Mikyö Dorjé and a single aspect of his thought, i.e. his Prāsaṅgika interpretation,

this work presents a limited, albeit useful, understanding of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought. This work is

also pivotal for its presentation of Mikyö Dorjé’s doctrinal philosophical disputes with the Gelug

tradition, which are relevant for the current undertaking. Thus, I will expand upon these insights

and incorporate them into the realm of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā and tantric thought as well.

Finally, it should also be noted that Williams discusses possible political and power-based

motivations of the Eighth Karmapa in this work,18 something that, given the lack of explicit

evidence, I deem to be largely speculative and in any case is unhelpfu for examining the

coherence and development of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought.19

Another article focusing on the Madhyamaka thought of Mikyö Dorjé is Michael

Broido’s article entitled “Padma dKar-po on the Two Satyas” (1985), in which he mainly focuses

on the thought of Pema Karpo, yet also discusses Mikyö Dorjé’s thought in the Chariot of the

Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas at great length in this work. Broido emphasizes the great importance of

Vajrayāna in Mikyö Dorjé’s formulation of the two truths and his Madhyamaka thought in

general. He mentions that what differentiates Mikyö Dorjé from certain other scholars, is his

18 Williams, “Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa Madhyamaka,” 138.

19 Other scholars have presented alternative means for interpreting and understanding the polemical motivations of

Mikyö Dorjé, which do not necessitate a Marxist or Foucauldian skepticism of power and authority. Karl

Brunnhölzl, for example, suggests not disregarding possible spiritual and soteriological reasons for debate between

religious figures, such as attempting to establish the proper view, i.e. searching for the truth. Brunnhölzl, The Center

of the Sunlit Sky, 553.

19

formulation of the ground (gzhi) and the view (lta ba); for him, the view of sūtra and the view of

tantra are different, only the view of the latter proclaims the spontaneous and non-discursive

śūnyatā endowed with all qualities. Although Broido presents useful information on Pema Karpo

and Tsongkhapa’s understanding of the term union (zung ’jug), which is highly relevant for the

current work, his presentation on Mikyö Dorjé’s understanding of emptiness and the two truths is

unclear and seems to be mistaken at times, in spite of the fact that he is attempting to correct

some of Williams points on this matter. For example, he claims that śūnyatā for Mikyö Dorjé

merely amounts to svabhāva-śūnyatā20 which is a more appropriate understanding for

Tsongkhapa’s more objective conception of śūnyatā, but not so well suited for Mikyö Dorjé’s

much more subjective interpretation of the key term.21 This is further problematized by the fact

that further on Broido acknowledges that the Karmapa emphasizes a cognition which is free from

mental elaboration (spros bral),22 a subjective interpretation of emptiness that distinguishes

Mikyö Dorjé from Tsongkhapa. Broido also makes the rather bizarre claim that Mikyö Dorjé is

much more inclined to accept a “world” (although he qualifies this by claiming it is a world that

lacks ontological status) than Tsongkhapa is, but as Williams23 has pointed out, Mikyö Dorjé was

very critical of Tsongkhapa’s attempts to relativize ultimate truth and preserve the existence of

phenomena- in-themselves, which are empty of mere true existence. As I will argue throughout

20 M.M. Broido, “Padma dKar-po on the Two Satyas,” The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist

Studies, 8 (1985): 32.

21This is not to suggest that Mikyö Dorjé does not accept svabhāva-śūnyatā, but rather that the objective emphasis

on an entity’s absence of nature is not the main emphasis nor the final import of his interpretation of śūnyatā as

Broido seems to be suggesting. Rather, Mikyö Dorjé’s emphasis on śūnyatā meaning freedom from mental

elaboration (spros bral) suggests the subjective orientation of his conception of emptiness in terms of emptiness

being an absence of mental constructs.

22 Ibid., 34.

23 Williams, “Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa Madhyamaka.”

20

this text, if we here understand “world” in the sense of such relevant Tibetan terms as srid pa

or ’jig rten, which both carry the connotations of conditionality, compoundedness, and

impermanence, these are ideas that Mikyö Dorjé was eager to dismiss ontolologically and

associate with notions of falsehood and non-existence.

Continuing the academic emphasis on Mikyö Dorjé’s Madhyamaka thought, David

Seyfort Ruegg wrote an article entitled “A Karma bKa’ brgyud Work on the Lineages and

Traditions of the Indo-Tibetan dbu ma (Madhyamaka)” (1988), based on the same commentary

analyzed by Williams and Broido above (which further demonstrates the narrowness of

contemporary research on Mikyö Dorjé’s thought). He focuses on the concept of lineage for

Mikyö Dorjé’s understanding of Madhyamaka, as well as how he relates this to sūtra, tantra,

Mahāmudrā, and issues of rang stong versus gzhan stong. Ruegg makes the claim that this

commentary, composed circa 1545, was likely written in response to critiques made by Sera Je

Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsan (Rje bstun chos kyi rgyal mtshan, b. 1469-1544), specifically towards

Mikyö Dorjé’s gzhan stong views on Prajñāpāramitā and the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, which is

significant in highlighting the tension between Mikyö Dorjé’s views and those of Gelugpa

scholars. In this regard, Ruegg also makes a problematic claim that Mikyö Dorjé turned away

from his earlier views on gzhan stong, in favor of a stricter rang stong position later in life

(coinciding with his composition of the Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas).24 This claim I find

problematic mainly for three reasons: 1) it is clear that Mikyö Dorjé held a deep affinity for the

views of both the Third and Seventh Karmapas, both of whom held or were at least believed by

their tradition to have held gzhan stong views, and he believed himself to be adhering to and

24 Ruegg, “A Karma bKa’ brgyud Work,” 355.

21

often defending their views;25 2) rang stong and gzhan stong are not necessarily mutually

exclusive categories, and therefore adherence to one does not imply rejection of the other; and 3)

Ruegg himself notes that in this commentary, Mikyö Dorjé is merely silent about gzhan stong,

there is nothing implying an outright rejection of the doctrine. In my opinion, this silence more

likely reflects the context of engaging in a debate with a Gelugpa scholar who does not accept

such a gzhan stong position at all, and the discussion of Candrakīrti’s Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka

thought, which is widely regarded as much less amenable for explicating a purely gzhan stong

position. Thus it need not imply a refutation of the entire gzhan stong philosophical position by

Mikyö Dorjé. This work is also significant in discussing Mikyö Dorjé’s view that Madhyamaka

and Mahāmudrā can be seen as synonymous via Maitrīpa’s non-mentation (amanasikāra)

doctrine. Relevant for the current research, Ruegg mentions issues that Mikyö Dorjé had with

Sakya Pandita’s critiques of Kagyü Mahāmudrā, and he also points out that Mikyö Dorjé was

critical of attempts to separate Mahāmudrā from Mantrayāna, as some scholars such as Gö

Lotsawa Zhönu Pal had done with his explication of a sūtra-based Mahāmudrā.

In his article, “The Canonization of Philosophy and the Tibetan Rhetoric of Siddhānta in

Tibetan Buddhism” (1990), José Cabezón discusses Mikyö Dorjé’s gzhan stong position in the

Beacon That Thoroughly Distinguishes the Tradition Propounding Other-Emtpiness

Madhyamaka (dbu ma gzhan stong smra ba’i srol legs par phye ba'i sgron me) as an attempt to

present a modified version of the Cittamātra system of Maitreya, Asaṅga, and Vasubandhu as the

25 For more details on this subject, see: Klaus-Dieter Mathes. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsawa's

Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008), 61-63; 415-416. Also:

Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa's Life,” 130.

22

ultimate philosophical view point,26 which Cabezón claims is a novel way of presenting

siddhānta doxography in the Tibetan tradition. He does this by presenting this form of Cittamātra

as Mahāmadhyamaka, thus equating it with Madhyamaka which is widely accepted by Tibetan

scholars as the highest philosophical tenet one can hold in the Tibetan Buddhist doxographical

system.27 This is significant in demonstrating the nuanced nature of Mikyö Dorjé’s doxography,

and that his distinctions of rang stong and gzhan stong, Madhyamaka and Yogācāra, for

example, are much more complicated and subtle than certain scholars have described,28 though

Cabezón himself admits he is uncertain about this matter.29

Karl Brunnhölzl wrote a work that emphasizes the Madhyamaka thought of the Kagyü

tradition in general entitled The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyü Tradition

(2004), which although not a strictly academic work, contains a significant amount of detail on

the thought of Mikyö Dorjé, and is thus invaluable for the present research. In the second chapter

specifically, Brunnhölzl equates the views of both Mahāmudrā and Madhyamaka; for example,

he states that “the explicit teaching of this Mahāmudrā is the Madhyamaka of emptiness free

from discursiveness as taught in the sūtra system,” the latter of which he equates with Maitripa's

notion of “mental non-engagement,”30 a position well-known to belong to Mikyö Dorjé.

Brunnhölzl points out that Mikyö Dorjé himself states that implicitly Mahāmudrā teaches the

26 José Ignacio Cabezón, "The Canonization of Philosophy and the Tibetan Rhetoric of Siddhānta in Tibetan

Buddhism." In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota , ed. Paul J. Griffiths et al. (San Francisco:

Buddhist Books International, 1990), 24.

27 Ibid., 25

28 See Williams above.

29 Ibid., 24

30 Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 55.

23

“profound actuality of both sūtras and tantras.”31 Brunnhölzl also notes that Mikyö Dorjé makes

a distinction between the buddhahood of the sūtras and that of the tantras. Specifically, Mikyö

Dorjé comments that the luminous mind of the sūtras is different than that which is taught in the

tantras. Although the same names are used for the ground, path, and fruitio n for both the sūtras

and tantras—i.e. “the Heart of the Blissfully Gone Ones,” “mind,” and “luminosity”

respectively—what it is that is actually being labeled is different; in short, although distinctions

can be made in this regard with both sūtra and tantra, tantra is supreme in that it incorporates

both.32 This work also contains a useful discussion of the differences between Mikyö Dorjé and

Tsongkhapa’s views on Madhyamaka, such as their disparate interpretations of emptiness, the

two truths, and how Mikyö Dorjé categorized Tsongkhapa’s Madhyamaka views.

In another work, Gone Beyond Volume One: The Prajñā Pāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament

of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü Tradition, Brunnhölzl presents

an important analysis of Mikyö Dorjé’s gzhan stong thought is presented based on his

Abhisamayālaṃkāra commentary. It should again be noted that while this is not strictly speaking

a scholarly work, the analysis here is directed towards scholars, as well some of the claims that

Brunnhölzl is making. Here, he notes two distinct levels of discourse in Mikyö Dorjé’s gzhan

stong presentation: 1) a via negativa approach when discussing the ultimate at the level of

conventional philosophical parlance and 2) an affirmative approach when speaking about the

level of non-conceptual meditative experience and realization.33 Brunnhölzl also points out

Mikyö Dorjé’s significant statement that from the perspective of direct realization in meditative

31 Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 57.

32 Ibid., 61-62.

33 Karl Brunnhölzl, Gone Beyond: The Prajñā Pāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its

Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü Tradition Vol. 1 (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2010), 147.

24

equipoise, neither of the terms rang stong nor gzhan stong applies;34 and it is in light of

statements like this that Brunnhölzl suggests that Mikyö Dorjé should not be so emphatically

categorized as either rang stong or gzhan stong, but rather appreciated for how he treats these

issues and concepts in their respective contexts.35 As mentioned before, I strongly agree with this

sentiment, i.e. not pigeon-holing Mikyö Dorjé with regard to either rang stong nor gzhan stong. I

also think that it is important to understand how Mikyö Dorjé incorporates these and other

systems of thought into his Mahāmudrā presentation, though a thorough study of this lays

outside the scope of the present work. Brunnhölzl also points out that in his commentary on the

Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mikyö Dorjé equates the terms prajñā pāramitā and Mahāmudrā.36

Representing a shift in focus away from Mikyö Dorjé’s Madhyamaka thought in modern

academia, Klaus Dieter-Mathes wrote two works in particular that mention the Eighth Karmapa,

the first being “Blending the Sūtras with the Tantras: The Influence of Maitrīpa and His Circle

on the Formation of Sūtra Mahāmudrā in the Kagyü Schools” (2006) and A Direct Path to the

Buddha Within: Gö Lotsawa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga (2008). In

the former work, Mathes states that Mikyö Dorjé identified Maitrīpa as having realised that his

doctrine of not becoming mentally engaged (which is tantamount to Mahāmudrā for Mikyö

Dorjé) has the same meaning as the Madhyamaka taught by Saraha, Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti,

which Mathes implies was in response to Sapan’s critiques of the origin and lineage of Kagyü

Mahāmudrā.37

34 Brunnhölzl, Gone Beyond, 134

35 Ibid., 132

36 Ibid., 157

37 Klaus-Dieter Mathes, "Blending the Sūtras with the Tantras: The Influence of Maitrīpā and His Circle on the

Formation of Sūtra Mahāmudrā In The Kagyü Schools." In Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis: Studies in its

Formative Period, 900–1400: (Proceedings from the Tenth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan

25

In the latter work, Mathes demonstrates how Mikyö Dorjé followed the tathāgatagarbha

thought of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorjé rather closely. Mathes notes that in his

commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra Mikyö Dorjé distinguishes tathāgatagarbha from

ordinary consciousness by defining the former as kun gzhi ye shes and the latter as kun gzhi rnam

shes, which Mathes equates with Mikyö Dorjé’s gzhan stong view of the mind in its pure and the

impure aspects.38 Mathes later quotes Mikyö Dorjé in that same commentary as criticizing those

who interpret the Third Karmapa as asserting that the tathāgatagarbha exists inseparably within

the dharmadhātu of the mind of sentient beings, and rather claims that mind has an impure

aspect—possessing consciousness (sems can) and not possessing the dharmadhātu, which is

tantamount to the adventitious stains that deviate from the dharmadhātu due to false

imagination—and a pure aspect that possesses the manner of being inseparable from the buddha

qualities which is related to such Mahāmudrā terms as natural mind (tha mal gyi shes pa).39

Mathes also points out a distinction that Mikyö Dorjé makes with regard to the important

Mahāmudrā concept of “thoughts appearing as the dharmakāya,” in that this merely reflects the

realization that thoughts do not exist as anything other than their dharmatā, not that thoughts can

actually appear as the real dharmakāya, with this term being a mere convention to describe the

realization.40 It is a subtle point, but is clearly a distinction between the nature of thoughts as

they actually are and how they appear to deluded beings, with only the former being conducive

for realization. Taken in relation to the present work, this would mean that the ground (ie. the

Studies, Leiden/Boston, 2006), 206.

38 Mathes, A Direct Path to the Buddha Within , 61.

39 Ibid., 63.

40 Ibid., 65.

26

dharmatā) is understood as the nature of thoughts, which is equivalent to the fruition (i.e. the

dharmakāya), and that the fruition can never manifest as the deluded appearances of thought as

ordinary beings perceive them. Mathes also mentions how Mikyö Dorjé was critical of Zhönu

Pal’s interpretation of Rangjung Dorjé’s thought, specifically with regard to his claim that

buddha nature in sentient beings is merely the six sense fields (āyatanas) which resemble a

Buddha. Moreover, he states that for Mikyö Dorjé the buddha element (dhātu) is nothing other

than the dharmadhātu or dharmadhātu wisdom, and is in no way to be interpreted as a cause.

Mikyö Dorjé furthermore defines his and the Third Karmapa’s understanding of

tathāgatagarbha as being identical with the all-pervading kāyas.41 These points are significant in

pointing out the lack of a cause and effect relationship between the ground (i.e the

tathāgatagarbha/dharmadhātu) and the fruition (i.e. the trikāya), illustrating that Mikyö Dorjé

should rather be seen as a subitist with regard to the ground and the fruition, a point to bear in

mind when investigating his conception of union (zung ’jug).

Perhaps most pertinent for the present undertaking is the recent work of Jim Rheingans

who has written two works solely on the Mahāmudrā thought of the Eighth Karmapa, making a

much needed advance in our understanding of Mikyö Dorjé’s non-Madhyamaka thought. The

two works are “The Eighth Karmapa's Life and his Interpretation of the Great Seal” (2008) and

“Communicating the Innate: Observations on Teacher-Student Interaction in Tibetan

Mahāmudrā Instructions” (2012). Regarding the first work, Rheingans discusses at great length

the Mahāmudrā thought of Karmapa Mikyö Dorjé, with a special emphasis on the context and

audience of his teachings in order to demonstrate the pedagogical and pragmatic nature of his

brand of Mahāmudrā. He makes three specific points regarding Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā

41 Mathes, A Direct Path to the Buddha Within , 415-416

27

interpretation: 1) that Mikyö Dorjé emphasizes the nature or essence of conceptualization as

being equal to the dharmakāya and buddhahood; 2) that this teaching is taught differently based

on context, either as letting go of artifice in a sūtra based approach or as employing the tantric

path of means; and 3) that the common origin of these teachings is the instruction of the guru.

Although Rheingans notes that Mikyö Dorjé attempted to secure the Kagyü tradition by

grounding it more firmly in the Tibetan canon and the graded teachings of Atiśa (982-1054) in a

scholastic context, in his Mahāmudrā instructions and question and answer (dri lan) sessions,

there is a much more liberal use of the rhetoric of immediacy akin to earlier Kagyü figures such

as Gampopa, Saraha, and the like. It should also be mentioned here that in this work, Rheingans

briefly discusses Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā (Phyag rgya chen po’i byin rlabs kyi

ngos ’dzin), the current text under analysis here—though his discussion consists of a brief

summary in order to point out that Mikyö Dorjé interprets his Mahāmudrā differently based on

context and recipient of the teaching.42 Though I do not necessarily wish to dispute Rheingans’

claim of the contextual and pedagogical nature of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā teachings, I do

wish to emphasize the rather consistent and coherent nature of his Mahāmudrā thought.

Furthermore, his work may have overstated the amount of influence that circumstance had on

Mikyö Dorjé’s teachings, perhaps in an attempt to avoid the difficult project of clarifying the

philosophical reasonings and doctrinal rationales that he favored, which a great scholar and

polemicist like Mikyö Dorjé surely had to adhere to and uphold to a significant degree in order to

develop a coherent philosophical view and hermeneutical system, which very much influenced

his Mahāmudrā thought as this work will show. Especially within the context of the present

work, Rheingans’ thesis is problematized, because it is clear here that Mikyö Dorjé is attempting

42 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa's Life,” 213-215.

28

to present Mahāmudrā as a coherent and rigorous system of thought that is broadly compatible

with Madhyamaka, sūtra, and tantra. Thus, for the purposes of the present work it is necessary to

recognize Mikyö Dorjé as a serious scholar whose main views can be applied in a consistent

manner throughout different philosophical and doctrinal contexts.

Rheingans’ second work is largely a continuation of the first with elaboration on some of

the concepts therein. In particular, Rheingans discusses the role of the guru as being primary in

Mahāmudrā, with considerations of doctrine being secondary. Since the Mahāmudrā thought of

Mikyö Dorjé is difficult to locate, he claims, the guru should be viewed as the crucial origin,

means, and unifying spiritual element for Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā.43 Rheingans also

identifies key elements of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā which demonstrates commonalities with

Gampopa and Indian Siddhas, such as an emphasis on the removal of any clinging to experiences

resulting from empowerments or to emptiness, as well as the teaching of conceptualization as the

dharmakāya.44 This is significant in that it helps to demonstrate that Mikyö Dorjé attempted to

preserve the Mahāmudrā lineage of early Kagyü masters, even though he was re-appropriating

his Mahāmudrā in response to critiques from Sakya and Gelug scholars. Again, though this

article provides a crucial overview of the Mahāmudrā thought of Mikyö Dorjé insofar as it

emphasizes the contextual and sometimes contradictory aspects of Mikyö Dorjé’s thought it

neglects where he makes great efforts to present Mahāmudrā as a cohesive and coherent system

of thought and practice.

43 Rheingans, “Communicating the Innate,” 201.

44 Ibid., 207

29

Though a considerable amount of research has been done on Mikyö Dorje, considering

the extensiveness of his compositions and the variety of subjects he wrote about,45 as well as the

fact that almost all of the research performed until very recently has focused on his Madhyamaka

thought, there is still much to be explored and understood in order to fully appreciate the vast

breadth of Mikyö Dorjé’s scholarship and influence on such fields as tantra, Yogācāra,

abhidharma, poetry, linguistics, and of course Mahāmudrā. One of the goals of the present work

is to present Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā in detail as thoughtful and coherent and to clarify where

he saw it as necessary and/or appropriate to incorporate elements of various Buddhist systems—

such as Madhyamaka, sūtra, and tantra—in order to further demonstrate the relevance and

coherence of Kagyü Mahāmudrā in the face of growing criticisms from outside traditions.

Chapter Outline

This thesis will consist of three main chapters, which will largely employ the trifold

interpretation of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought as reaction (i.e. to Sakya and Gelug

critiques), re-appropriation (i.e. incorporating sūtra and tantra onto the path of Mahāmudrā), and

resolution (i.e. of all conventional aspects in terms of their ultimate union). The first chapter will

detail some of the historical and doctrinal developments of Mahāmudrā in Tibet focusing on the

teachings of Gampopa, the critiques of Kagyü Mahāmudrā by Sakya and Gelug scholars, as well

45 Of course focusing solely on written works is also a somewhat narrow approach and neglects other possible

aspects of his thought and spheres of influence, other research should be undertaken considering these as well. For

example his influence on the arts is known to be significant, as he is considered to be a founder of the Karma Gadri

style of Tibetan painting; however, such work falls outside the scope of the present research. For more, see: "The

Eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorjé," Treasury of Lives, accessed November 02, 2014.

http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Eighth-Karmapa-Mikyo-Dorjé/6230.

30

as the context of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorjé in particular. This will lay the foundation for

better understanding the element of reaction to these critiques and controversies in Mikyö

Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought.

The second chapter will consist of two parts that focus on Recognizing the Blessings: the

first section will analyze significant ideas and issues that appear in Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of

the ground, path, and fruition, and the second will analyze his theory of union. Both sections will

illustrate how Mikyö Dorjé’s thought may be further understood as reaction towards critiques

and re-appropriation of Mahāmudrā in terms of integrating its path with aspects of sūtra and

tantra. However, the latter section will convey in particular how his Mahāmudrā is to be

understood as resolution in terms of union: that all conventional aspects of the ground, path, and

fruition are ultimately and inseperably non-dual.

Finally, the third chapter will consist of a comparative analysis of different aspects of

Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā interpretation with those of other relevant Mahāmudrā exegetes,

demonstrating how we can understand Mikyö Dorjé as a figure who was essentially negotiating

between two poles: that of Gampopa’s transcendental or hierarchical Mahāmudrā vision and later

Kagyü proponents’ more inclusive Mahāmudrā vision (particularly as found in Mahāmudrā

presentations by advocates of the non-sectarian ris med movement). In closing, the conclusion

will be presented that will summarize and integrate all of the crucial ideas in the present work,

characterizing Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā theory as one of both perspectival and non-dual

presentations that are both based on his nature of mind theory, which leads to the resolution of all

conventional dissonance within the ultimate reality of holistic and non-dual union, thus

establishing the significance of understanding Mikyö Dorjé as ultimately a proponent of union,

i.e. a Yuganaddhavādin.

31

32

Chapter One:

Situating the Eighth Karmapa and His Mahāmudrā:

The Historical and Doctrinal Context of Mahāmudrā in Tibet

The Tibetan Kagyü system of Mahāmudrā (Tib. phyag rgya chen po; lit. “The Great

Seal”), a system of meditation which is said to produce a direct realization of the nature of the

mind (sems nyid), as well as its accompanying theories and rhetoric of the transcendental

nature46 of the absolute, often presents challenges to established spiritual and secular systems

alike, denigrating whatever is perceived to belong to the mundane and the conceptual spheres of

worldly existence. However, Mahāmudrā and its proponents were in turn challenged and

explicitly criticized for such anti-establishment rhetoric as well as for the infamous antinomian

behavior of certain yogins who adhered to its practice. These significant controversies and

debates had indelible effects on the Kagyü tradition of Mahāmudrā and influenced one of the

major Karma Kagyü figures, the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorjé (1507-1554) who can be seen as

attempting to negotiate between these two poles: the transcendental aims of his Kagyü

predecessors and the theoretical and doctrinal demands of rival scholars and traditions.

Therefore, by clarifying and properly understanding the historical context of Kagyü Mahāmudrā

and its controversies preceding the Eighth Karmapa, we can better appreciate Mikyö Dorjé

himself as well as his role in developing Mahāmudrā thought, and specifically how he presents

that thought in Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā (Phyag rgya chen po’i byin rlabs kyi

ngos ’dzin). The current chapter will therefore focus on the development of Mahāmudrā starting

46 When I am using the term “transcendental” or “transcendence” I mean that which has the nature or quality of

being beyond the limits of expression, conceptual mind, and dualistic experience.

33

with Gampopa, as well as Sakya and Gelug critiques, followed by a discussion of Mikyö Dorjé

himself and the significance of Recognizing the Blessings for understanding his Mahāmudrā

thought in light of this context.

1.1. Gampopa and Early Kagyü Mahāmudrā: The Rhetoric of Absolute Transcendence

From the beginning of its appearance in Tibet, Mahāmudrā presented a challenge to the

other established spiritual systems of Tibet, in particular those that adhered to more gradualist or

scholastic approaches. The Mahāmudrā system of the early Kagyüpas was characterized in

particular by its strong rejection of the inferential and gradualist means of realizing ultimate

reality (such as the Madhyamaka reasonings found in sūtra) or more ritualistic approaches (such

as the system of empowerments found in tantra). What such figures strongly advocated for was a

non-conceptual means of directly realizing ultimate reality, i.e. the nature of mind, via the

pointing out instruction (ngo sbrod kyi man ngag) of the guru.

Particularly important for this tradition was Gampopa Sönam Rinchen (Sgam po pa bsod

nams rin chen, b. 1079-1153), who many in the Kagyü tradition recognize as the founding father

of their lineage, a fact which is exemplified by one of the names given to their tradition: “The

Oral Lineage of Dakpo”47 (Dwags po bKa’ brgyud).48 Gampopa is recorded as having identified

47 The term Dwags po is a reference to the birthplace of Gampopa, whom is often identified by the honorific title:

“Dwags po Rin po che”.

48 It should be noted here that Mikyö Dorjé strongly identifies his tradition with that of Gampopa, as is evinced, for

example, by the title of his famous Madhyamakāvatāra commentary: The Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas

(dwags brgyud grub pa’i shing rta). Also, within the current work, Recognizing the Blessings (phyag rgya chen po’i

byin rlabs kyi ngos ’dzin), Mikyö Dorjé notably refers to followers of the Mahāmudrā he is addressing therein as

“those who follow the tradition of Dakpo” (dwags skor ba). Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi

ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a1.

34

three distinct Buddhist traditions: 1) the path of the perfections (pāramitā) which takes

inference49 as its path; 2) the method of mantra, which takes the guru’s spiritual power as its

path, based on the generation and completion stages; and 3) the innately and simultaneously

arising (lhan cig tu skyes pa) luminosity of the mind of Mahāmudrā, which takes direct

perception (mngon sum) as its path.50 Due to its direct and non-conceptual approach, Gampopa

emphasizes this third manner of practice as supreme in its spiritual efficacy. David Jackson

describes the ingenuity of Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā as follows:

In the later part of his life, [sGam-po-pa] gave increasing attention to transmitting directly the highest Great Seal insight, perhaps in part also as an outgrowth of his

own deepened and intensified spiritual insight. What was somewhat revolutionary about the approach sGam-po-pa adopted was that he sought ways to transmit this

insight outside of the traditional Mantrayāna method, which treated it as an ultimate and highly secret “fruit” instruction to be conveyed only after full, formal tantric initiation and in connection with special yogic practices.51

Likewise, the Tibetan scholar and historian Gö Lotsawa Zhönu Pal (’Gos lo tsa ba gzhon nu

dpal, b. 1392-1481) described the teachings of Gampopa thusly:

Concerning that [teaching of the Great Seal], rJe-btsun Mid-la [sic] had not given the Path of Means (thabs lam) and Great Seal [instructions] separately from one another. But [sGam-po-pa] taught the instructions on the Path of Means to those

who were suitable recipients of the Mantra teachings, and he gave instructions on the Great Seal to those who were suitable as recipients of the Perfection-Vehicle

The reference to Gampopa and the identification of his system of Mahāmudrā as the subject here is also highly

significant and peculiar given the tantric nature of Mikyö Dorjé’s text, which will be discussed further on in this

work.

49 Gampopa’s identification of the use of “inference” (rjes dpag) on the path of the perfections implies that it lacks

the use of direct perception (mngon sum) into the nature of mind that Mahāmudrā employs, instead relying on

reasoning (gtan tshigs) to establish the emptiness of outer and inner phenomena, thus investigating the cognitive

image of the universal object (don spyi’i rnam pa yul) but not the actual object (don dngos). See: David Paul

Jackson. Enlightenment by a Single Means: Tibetan Controversies on the “Self-sufficient White Remedy” (dkar Po

Chig Thub) (Wien: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1994), 31-32.

50 Ibid., 26.

51 Ibid., 10.

35

(Pāramitāyāna) teachings, even though they had not received tantric initiation. He composed then a step-by-step manual of practical instruction called the Lhan cig

skyes sbyor, which became popularly known also as “Dags-po’s Realization Teaching” (dags po’i rtogs chos). He taught that although the scriptures mention

many essential qualities of teacher and students, a student need not have many qualities; it is enough if he just has devotion. He quickly produced realization of the Great Seal even in the minds of some unintelligent, poverty-stricken or evil

persons.52

Statements such as these illuminate the main teaching emphasized by Gampopa and how his

teachings were later interpreted: that Mahāmudrā was not exclusive to the path of Mantrayāna,

thus demonstrating an attempt to open up the teachings of the Great Seal for a wider audience

through bypassing the need for tantric rituals and initiations. Indeed, this manner of trans-

mantric Mahāmudrā, as mentioned above, was also generally taught with a rhetoric of

superiority over the teachings of both sūtra and mantra. At times, Gampopa even more explicitly

criticized both Pāramitāyāna and Vajrayāna, stating:

[The teachings of sūtra and tantra degenerate] to the level of the cognitive image

of an object-universal, its object of knowledge. By becoming delayed in that, one doesn’t know how to impress it upon the mind and practice experientially. Because one does not know that, [the teaching] will not become the counteragent

to the cognitive-emotional defilements and conceptual thinking.53

Such a strong and clear statement conveys the heavily implied sense of superiority that Gampopa

imbued his direct and non-conceptual Mahāmudrā approach with over both sūtra and tantra alike,

which he furthermore distinguished as the path of the suddenist (cig car ba) which is of

definitive meaning (nges don) as opposed to the inferior teachings of the gradualist (rim gyis pa)

which are merely of provisional meaning (drang don).54 Gampopa is also said to have elsewhere

52 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 11.

53 de shes bya don spyi’i rnam pa la shor/ de la ’gyangs pas rgyud thog tu bkal nas nyams su len ma shes/ de ma

shes pas nyon mongs pa dang rnam par rtog pa’i gnyen por mi ’gro bar ’dus pas dang po mi ston . Ibid., 34.

54 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 34.

36

stated that his Mahāmudrā instructions were greater even than the “Three Greats” (chen po

gsum): the Great Madhyamaka (dbu ma chen po), the Great [Vajrayāna] Mahāmudrā (chag rgya

chen po), and the Great Perfection (rdzogs pa chen po).55 It is clear, therefore, that Gampopa

intended to demonstrate that his teachings were distinct from all other traditions and doctrines

extant at that time in Tibet, which were relegated to the mundane level of inference,

conceptuality, and ritual means. Finally, the anti-scholastic rhetoric of Gampopa should be

noted,56 for example with the following statement in the text Responding to the Questions of

Düsum Khyenpa (dus mkhyen shus len), “One needs to forget all the technical terms of the

treatises (bstan bcos kyi tha snyad). Those whose learning is extensive are acute in words, but

obtuse in meanings. Their talents turn into faults.”57 Such strong rhetoric of demarcation between

his own teachings and those of others on the part of Gampopa is substantially different from

Mikyö Dorjé’s more inclusive approach in the present work.

A brief mention here should also be made of the controversial figure Lama Zhang (Bla

ma zhang, b. 1122-93), since many later critics of Mahāmudrā may have had him specifically in

mind due to his infamy for both his extreme rhetoric and forceful conduct. Following Gampopa’s

anti-intellectual style, Zhang has for instance remarked, “While falling short of the mark does not

mean an end to development, following what has not entered deep within will give rise to dis-

ease. Those contemplators who have mastered mind-made philosophies will be invaded by the

55 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 35.

56 This is not to suggest that Gampopa was not a scholar in his own right, but rather that he was ultimately critical of

a strict adherence to purely scholastic means divorced from authentic experience and direct non -conceptual

realization.

57 Martin, Dan, “A Twelfth-century Tibetan Classic of Mahāmudrā: The Path of Ultimate Profundity: The Great

Seal Instructions of Zhang,” The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15 (1992): 245.

37

chronic disease of partiality,”58 and, “[This truth] will not be fathomed by those tongue-users

who are conceited about what is a mere object of [conceptual] understanding [accessible]

through their critical investigations of mere [minor] experience and mere words, through the

bustle [?] of mere purposeful effort. Having concealed [this truth] through their own evil

thoughts, they acquire great demerit.”59 Here, we should note that while the strong sense of anti-

scholasticism is the same as Gampopa’s, the rhetoric employed is much more damning. Zhang

was also known for his antinomian and at times even violent conduct, which included armed

conflict and the use of military force against his opponents.60 Though such conduct was not

totally unprecedented given the history of the famously unconventional Mahāsiddhas and divine

madmen (chos smyon pa), it was still quite remarkable for many Tibetans, apparently at one time

even requiring an intervention by the First Karmapa Düsum Khyenpa (Dus gsum mkhyen pa, b.

1110-1193), who viewed himself as a peacemaker in the conflict.61 However, Zhang did provide

a defense for his conduct via the rhetoric of transcendence so common to Mahāmudrā, as in the

following example:

I have abandoned the world. Many years have passed since the link with the

world has been completely severed and I have entirely gone beyond into unborn space. Reckoning by these outer activities of mine, many others cannot comprehend [or accept my behavior]…Taken as objects within a worldly value

system, these things are all seen to be nothing but apparently worldly activities such as metal casting, residence-bases, the closing off and controlling of roads,

[enforcing] secular law, theft, and fighting. But if there fundamentally exists any connection with this world, it has died…62

58 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 247.

59 Ibid., 52.

60 Ibid., 61.

61 Ibid., 63.

62 Ibid., 62.

38

While Lama Zhang was seen by many to have resorted to extreme and unconscionable behavior,

his actions were not totally without precedent and are conceivably justifiable through the use of

such transcendental rhetoric familiar to adherents of Mahāmudrā. It was occurrences such as

these that prompted sharp critiques by powerful figures, and in turn required answers and

justification by figures such as the Eighth Karmapa, as we shall see.

1.2. Sakya and Gelug Critiques of Mahāmudrā and Kagyü Thought:

Demands for Doctrinal Coherence, Intellectual Rigor, and Adherence to Worldly Conventions

The unconventional rhetoric and conduct of the tradition of Kagyü Mahāmudrā prompted

very strong and damning responses from powerful figures, not least among them Sakya Paṇḍita

(Sa skya paṇ ḍi ta, b. 1182-1251).63 In particular, in his famous text Differentiating the Three

Precepts (sdom gsum gyi rab tu dbye ba’i bstan bcos), Sakya Paṇḍita made very strong

arguments against the Mahāmudrā that was being touted in the Kagyü traditions. Sakya Paṇḍita

identified strongly with the sūtric and tantric teachings of India,64 and saw Kagyü Mahāmudrā as

a dangerous departure from these lineages, instead arguing that it was something modern and

novel (ta lta’i),65 i.e. a fabrication and departure from accepted tradition,66 and he identified it

63 For more on Sakya Paṇḍita’s influence in Tibetan religion and politics, see: Ronald M. Davidson, Tibetan

Renaissance Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005).

64 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 85.

65 Ibid., 84.

66 Ibid., 80.

39

pejoratively with the infamous teachings of Hwashang Mohoyen,67 who is renowned for losing

the famous debate with Kamalaśīla (740–795) at bSam yas Monastery due to advocating for a

purely suddenist approach and the suppression of thoughts in meditative equipoise.68

Sakya Paṇḍita very strongly differentiated what he understood as his own tradition of

Mahāmudrā from that of the Kagyüpas, stating for example that, “Our Great Seal is the Gnosis

arisen from tantric consecration and the spontaneously arisen Gnosis that has arisen from the

meditative absorption (samādhi) of the two stages…The Buddha taught no other understanding

of the Great Seal besides that.”69 Such a claim clearly illustrates Sakya Paṇḍita’s desire to isolate

Mahāmudrā within the realm of tantra, an approach in marked contrast to the Mahāmudrā of the

Kagyüpas. In his work on this matter, David Jackson presents three main doctrines that Sakya

Paṇḍita criticizes with respect to Kagyü Mahāmudrā: 1) That a single method or factor (i.e. the

‘Single White Remedy’ dkar po chig thub)70 could ever suffice soteriologically; 2) That the

primordial wisdom (ye shes) of Mahāmudrā could arise through an exclusively non-conceptual

67 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 78.

68 Ruegg explains that the expression “Hashang’s theory” is a typological designation in Tibet for “gnoseological

nativism,” “philosophical ataraxia,” etc., See: David S. Ruegg, Buddha-nature, Mind and the Problem of

Gradualism in a Comparative Perspective: On the Transmission and Reception of Buddhism in India and Tibet

(London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 1989), 130.

Furthermore, A later Sakya scholar, Gorampa Sonam Senge (Go rams pa bsod nams seng ge, b. 1429-1489)

followed Sakya Paṇḍita’s lead and also described two traditions of Mahāmudrā: that of his own tradition (rang lugs)

and a Chinese version (rgya nag lugs) held by others (gzhan lugs). This latter tradition was in error due to its mere

facsimile of insight (lhag thong ltar snang) which fixates solely on emptiness (stong rkyang du lta ba). Gorampa

also saw this Mahāmudrā as characterized by the suppression of thought which rests in a blank void (stong pa had

de ‘jog pa’i rtog pa kha tshom pa nyid). This is significant in demonstrating how the Sakya tradition and those who

perceived similarities between Kagyü Mahāmudrā and the system of Hwashang characterized that tradition of

Mahāmudrā as one that has a false or extreme v iew of emptiness. For more see: Ibid., 105.

69 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 90.

70 The so-called ‘Single White Remedy’ or dkar po chig thub, is a term associated with the Mahāmudrā teachings of

Gampopa meant to convey the soteriological self-sufficiency of the realization of the true nature of mind. As

mentioned, this term was heavily criticized by opponents such as Sakya Paṇḍita. For more, see: Ibid. , 149.

40

meditative method; and 3) That Mahāmudrā could ever be taught apart from the Mantrayāna.71

Jackson also rightfully pointed out that Sakya Paṇḍita had strong scholastic concerns as well,

claiming that doctrines should only be accepted on the basis of scripture and reasoning (lung

rigs):

Acceptance, too, should be done through scripture and reasoning. With scripture,

furthermore, take the definitive meaning as the decisive criterion. Don’t rely on provisional meaning! With reasoning, moreover, you should uphold objectively grounded reasoning. Fallacious reasoning is pointless. To accept and reject after

examining the intention is the way of the learned. To hold as chief the teachings of the non-Buddhist Indian sectarians and the tradition of the “Old [Tibetans]” is

the conduct of the ignorant.72

With the strongly anti-scholastic rhetoric having been employed by proponents of Kagyü

Mahāmudrā, it is clear from statements like this that Sakya Paṇḍita took offense with such

sentiments. Such critiques aimed at the Kagyü traditions were not taken lightly of course, and

this was compounded by the fact that they came from Sakya Paṇḍita. As Ulrich Kragh explains,

“it was a criticism coming from one of the most influential persons in Tibet at the time, whose

power was felt both scholastically and secularly.”73 Indeed a decade after writing Differentiating

the Three Precepts, Sakya Paṇḍita had received favor from the court of the Mongols, thus

establishing the Sakya tradition as the most powerful in Tibet at that time. While it is not the

intent of the current work to suggest or infer political or other worldly motivations for various

figures involved in these controversies, it is important to acknowledge the presence of these

more secular factors due to the demands and challenges they place on various figures and

71 Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 72.

72 Ibid., 118.

73 Ulrich T. Kragh, "Culture and Subculture - A Study of the Mahāmudrā Teachings of Sgam po pa." (Master's

thesis, University of Copenhagen), 1998: 42.

41

traditions for legitimation of their own tradition and philosophical or doctrinal positions. In short,

Sakya Paṇḍita’s criticisms were clearly very significant for how Mahāmudrā was subsequently

perceived and demanded some kind of a response from Kagyü apologists, lest their silence on the

matter appear damaging for their own tradition of Mahāmudrā. As Roger Jackson once put it, all

subsequent upholders of the Kagyü traditions have been “haunted by the ghost of Sa skya

Paṇḍita.”74

Following these critiques made by Sakya Pandita were the philosophical challenges

brought forth by Je Tsongkhapa (Rje tsong kha pa, b. 1357–1419) and his followers in the Gelug

(a.k.a. Ganden) tradition. The Gelugpas in a sense extended the critiques of Sakya Pandita,

arguing against the more suddenist and transcendental language of Kagyü Mahāmudrā75 (as well

as Nyingma Dzogchen) proponents in favor of a strictly gradual approach and insisting upon the

superiority of scholastic and analytical approaches to both theory and practice. Concerning the

74 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa's Life,” 246.

75 As David Jackson has pointed out, Gelugpa responses to the Kagyü Mahāmudrā system itself and its validity

varied from outright rejection to more diplomatic approaches, with the latter approach largely due to the fact that the

Gelugpa had their own tradition of Mahāmudrā, sometimes referred to as the “dGa’ ldan bKa’ brgyud’,

demonstrating some affinity between the two traditions. However, even for those Gelugpas who accepted the Kagyü

Mahāmudrā as a valid tradition, there were still doctrinal, philosophical, and practical issues. For instance, the

Gelugpa scholars Jangkya Rölpay Dorjé (1717-1786) and his contemporary Thükwan Chökyi Nyima (1737-1802),

both seemed much more concerned with refuting the non-mentation doctrine associated with Kagyü Mahāmudrā

than questioning the validity of the tradition on the whole, as Sakya Paṇḍita had done. Although these two figures

come after Mikyö Dorjé’s time, this still demonstrates the overall unease Gelugpa scholars felt towards the ideas,

rhetoric, and practices found within Kagyü Mahāmudrā. See: Jackson, Enlightenment by a Single Means, 123-137.

Roger Jackson has also pointed out that the Gelug Mahāmudrā proponent the Fourth Paṇchen Lama

Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662) essentially sides with the Kagyü tradition over Sakya Paṇḍita on the matter

concerning the legitimacy of a sūtra based Mahāmudrā outside of tantric practice, which further illustrates that the

Gelugpas in their entirety cannot be said to be against Kagyü Mahāmudrā proper—although it should also be noted

that Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen seems to be exceptional in his attempts at demons trating commonalities between the

Gelug Lam Rim tradition and the Kagyü Mahāmudrā, Roger Jackson further notes that later Gelugpa commentators

on Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen’s Mahāmudrā works emphasized a strictly Gelug approach to Mahāmudrā,

demonstrating their discomfort with displaying any commonalities with the Kagyü tradition. See: Roger Jackson,

“The dGe ldan-bKa’ brgyud Tradition of Mahāmudrā: How Much dGa ldan? How Much bKa’ brgyud?” in G.

Newland (ed.) Changing Minds: Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet in Honor of Jeffrey Hopkins.

(Ithaca: Snow Lion. 2001), 155-191.

42

influence of Tsongkhapa, Rheingans states, “Tsong kha pa had a considerable impact on Tibetan

Buddhism, particularly on scholasticism and clerical education. With him, an era began

characterized by widespread scholastic activity and intellectual efflorescence: the beginning of

high scholasticism.”76 Furthermore, the Gelugpas were very critical of non-conceptual,

suddenist, and transcendental rhetoric,77 theory, and any practice based therein, as evinced by

Tsongkhapa’s disciple, Khedrub Je (Mkhas grub rje, b. 1385-1438) in the following statement:

Many who hold themselves to be meditators of the Snow mountains [of Tibet]

talk, in exalted cryptic terms, of theory free from all affirmation, of meditative realisation free from all mentation, of [philosophical] practice free from all denial and assertion and of a fruit free from all wishes and qualms. And they imagine

that understanding is born in the conscious stream when – because in a state where there is no mentation about anything at all there arises something like non-

identification of anything at all – one thinks that there exists nothing that is either identical or different. By so doing one has proclaimed great nihilism where there is nothing to be affirmed according to a doctrinal system of one’s own, as well as

the thesis of the Hashang in which nothing can be the object of mentation.78

Very strong anti-transcendental rhetoric such as this demonstrates that the Gelug critiques of

non-conceptual and non-dualistic philosophical and meditative approaches were very

condemning, and challenges made in this manner by the Gelug tradition produced many

76 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa's Life,” 50.

77 Sonam Thakchoe notes that the Gelugpa do have their own notion of transcendence which should be

acknowledged here, one that is much more epistemologically oriented rather than metaphysically oriented as are

other traditions. This is significant in that it still demonstrates the Gelugpas’ desire to preserve the status of the

phenomenal and the conditional, something that other traditions and scholars—including here Mikyö Dorjé—being

much more metaphysical in their notion of transcendence included in the category of what is to be transcended. For

more, see: Sonam Thakchoe, The Two truths Debate: Tsongkhapa and Gorampa on the Middle Way (Boston:

Wisdom Publications, 2007), 110-111.

78 Though according to Sam Van Schaik, this kind of rhetoric was aimed specifically at the Nyingma Dzogchen

tradition as implied later on in the same text, Van Schaik also notes that this kind of rhetoric was targeted at the

Kagyü tradition of Mahāmudrā as well. Regardless, the fundamental Gelugpa distaste for transcendental and non -

conceptual rhetoric is patently obvious here. See: Van Schaik, Sam, The Great Perfection and the Chinese Monk:

Nyingmapa Defenses of Hashang Mahāyāna. Accessed November, 18, 2014. http://earlytibet.com/about/hashang-

mahayana/

43

polemical and apologetic responses by notable figures such as Gorampa Sonam Sengey, Shakya

Chogden (Shakya mchog ldan, b. 1428-1507), and Mikyö Dorjé himself.79 Again, the Gelugpa

order had risen to prominence already during the life of the Eighth Karmapa, and so their

criticisms were taken more seriously than they would be were that not the case. In order to better

understand what sort of views these scholars were reacting against, a brief presentation of

Gelugpa ideology is warranted.

For our purposes here, it is perhaps best to focus on how Tsongkhapa and his followers

interpret the important Madhyamaka doctrine of the two truths (bden pa gnyis)80—the

conventional truth81 (kun rdzob bden pa) and the ultimate truth (don dam bden pa)—since this

topic is heavily discussed in Mikyö Dorjé’s Recognizing the Blessings, and is critical for

understanding the disparate interpretations of the term “union” (zung ’jug) central to the present

investigation. According to Sonam Thakchoe, Tsongkhapa is a philosophical pluralist when it

comes to interpreting the two truths; this is because Tsongkhapa wants to interpret both of the

79 See for example: Donald Lopez, “Polemical Literature (dGag lan).” in Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, ed.

Jose Cabezon et al. (Snow Lion Publications, 1996). Also: Thakchoe, The Two truths Debate.

80 Although a deeper analysis of some of the unique philosophical and hermeneutical positions of Tsongkhapa and

his followers is perhaps warranted, it is not possible in the limited space here. A brief overview o f the particularly

relevant Gelugpa understanding of the two truths here should sufficiently provide a much needed basis for beginning

to understand where, how, and why Mikyö Dorjé disagrees with Tsongkhapa and his followers. This understanding

will be supplemented by Mikyö Dorjé’s own understanding of their views as well.

81 A note on translation here: in translating the term kun rdzob bden pa, I am interpreting it in a manner more

conducive to Mikyö Dorjé’s understanding as a “conventional truth” rather th an as a “relative truth” which might be

more demonstrative of Tsongkhapa’s interpretation of it. This is so because, as he does in his dwag brgyud grub pa’i

shing rta for example, Mikyö Dorjé strongly equates kun rdzob bden pa with ordinary beings (so skye), conceptual

mind (blo), and falsity (rdzun pa). See: Ari Goldfield et.al, trans., The Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of

Chandrakirti's Entering the Middle Way With Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorjé’s Chariot of the

Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas, (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2005).

Thus, by purposefully using the translation “conventional truth” I hope to emphasize and reflect Mikyö Dorjé’s

understanding of the term as something that is merely relegated to the mundane and conceptual world of ord inary

beings and not given an equal or relative status to that of the ultimate.

44

truths as truth proper, with neither one being conceived as more significant or truer than the

other. In other words, both of the truths are mutually interdependent and exist only in relation to

one another, thereby eliminating the need to proclaim the metaphysical superiority of one over

the other. Furthermore, Tsongkhapa does not accept that the ultimate truth is metaphysically

unconditioned, and therefore the two truths are identified respectively as empirically valid

cognition with respect to conventional truth and ultimately valid cognition with respect to

ultimate truth. Tsongkhapa also views the ultimate truth as conceptually knowable and effable (at

least to a certain extent), thus making a valid conceptual cognition possible. Tsongkhapa also

views transcendental knowledge of the ultimate as tantamount to realizing the interdependent

nature of empirically given phenomena. According to Thakchoe, this all culminates in the belief

for Tsongkhapa that an enlightened being attains the perfection of knowledge of both the

conventional and ultimate truths, thus finalizing the correct view of the equality of both truths.

As Thakchoe points out, such interpretations were in stark contradiction with the views of other

traditions and scholars.82 What is important to take away from these ideas is that Tsongkhapa

held a notion of the ultimate and the transcendent which are highly dependent upon and

conditioned by the relative and the conventional. As Paul Williams notes throughout his article

“Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa Madhyamaka,” Mikyö Dorjé took offense at

such a relativized ultimate truth, and thus his formulation of a two truth theory and their unity

can be viewed as a reaction to the Gelugpa interpretation of this pivotal doctrine, a point which

will be elaborated upon below.

By reviewing the doctrinal and ideological critiques and challenges from monumental

figures like Sakya Paṇḍita and Tsongkhapa, we can begin to form a clear picture of the central

82 Thakchoe, The Two Truths Debate, 2-3.

45

demands being made on the Kagyüpas by their critics: 1) That their system of Mahāmudrā

should clearly demonstrate how it is related to Buddhist doctrine, particularly that found in sūtra

and tantra; 2) That it should be based on reasoning and more amenable to scholastic demands for

rational and doctrinal coherence; and 3) That it should rein in its transcendental fervor and

adhere more strictly to the conventions of the world—not merely in an ethical sense (although

that was certainly part of it) but also in an epistemological and ontological sense by emphasizing

the ontological validity of the conventional truth. As will be demonstrated below, Mikyö Dorjé

was certainly very aware of these critiques, and a large portion of his thought can be understood

as a reaction to these challenges by Sakya and Gelug scholars. Though there has been much

academic discussion of how Mikyö Dorjé’s Madhyamaka thought—particularly in his text the

Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas—was a tract against the Gelugpa tradition and their unique

Madhyamaka interpretation,83 as mentioned above, very little research84 has examined how such

challenges impacted Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought and how he responded to these. The

current examination of Recognizing the Blessings will demonstrate this important aspect of

Mikyö Dorjé’s thought more clearly. In the section to follow, we will examine the context and

position of the Eighth Karmapa himself in light of these controversies and critiques. This will

allow for a better understanding of how to interpret his Mahāmudrā thought, which will prepare

us for a closer examination of Recognizing the Blessings itself.

83 See note 36, for example.

84 With the exception of some recent work by Jim Rheingans. See fo r example: Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s

Life,” 192-210.

46

1.3 The Context and Position of the Eighth Karmapa and Recognizing the Blessings

The Eighth Karmapa was considered to be the supreme head of the Karma Kagyü

tradition, and thus carried a tremendous amount of spiritual and scholastic influence within the

Kagyü tradition itself. The first half of the fifteenth century was a time of nearly unprecedented

scholarly activity within Tibet,85 and Mikyö Dorjé’s own oeuvre filled more than thirty

volumes.86 Included among his own monumental scholarly projects was the composition of

commentaries on the first four of the five major non-tantric subjects.87 In this regard, it is clear

that the Eighth Karmapa was an accomplished scholar of his day, and that his influence also

crossed over into the political realm. In the decades preceding Mikyö Dorjé's birth the religious

and political situation was characterized by tension and conflict between the Phagmo Drupa clan

of Ü and the Tsang-based Rinpungpa clan. Yet, from the 1480s the Karma Kagyü tradition under

the influence of the Fourth Zhamarpa, Chödrak Yeshe (Chos grags ye shes, b. 1453-1524), and

the Seventh Karmapa Chödrak Gyatso (Chos grags rgya mtsho, b. 1454-1507) enjoyed a time of

unprecedented honor and support from the Rinpungpa, which reached its peak in the period

between 1498 and 1517.88 This placed the Eighth Karmapa, born in 1507, in a position of

considerable power, extending his influence to wherever the Karma Kagyü held large estates, yet

this was challenged by the rising influence of the Gelugpa tradition who were supported by the

85 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 48.

86 Rheingans, “Communicating the Innate,” 180.

87 The first four are: Abhidharma, Madhyamaka, Prajñāparāmitā, and Vinaya, with the fifth being Pramāṇa. See:

Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 19.

88 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 49.

47

Phagmo Drupa of Ü.89 Though it is certain that the influence and power held by these figures and

traditions mandated consideration and responses in order to maintain the legitimacy of the

apologists’ own traditions, as I mentioned before it is not the purpose of the present work to infer

political or secular motivations in these disputes. As will be demonstrated, there were also

serious doctrinal, philosophical, and perhaps most importantly, soteriological concerns at play

which were arguably the main concern of Mikyö Dorjé.

In discussing these issues, it is of course improper to merely assume that Mikyö Dorjé

was aware of such critiques, even when coming from such influential figures as they did. As it

turns out, Mikyö Dorjé seemed to be very cognizant of the fact that Sakya Paṇḍita had criticized

the Kagyü tradition of Mahāmudrā, as clearly demonstrated by statements such as the following,

“It also turns out that basing themselves on the mere term [non-mentation], Sa skya pan

chen…[has] developed a hostile attitude to the whole non-mentation cycle, which is the

Reverend Maitrīpāda’s very pure Dharma…”90 This statement is especially significant for Mikyö

Dorjé given the importance that he gave Maitrīpā in his Mahāmudrā thought, whose

understanding of amanasikāra (non-mentation) he employed to demonstrate the connection

between Mahāmudrā and Madhyamaka.91 In fact, it is clear that Mikyö Dorjé was sensitive to

89 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 50.

The political conflicts also included the Sakyapas (though there power and influence were on the decline at that

time), as David Higgins notes: “The sixteenth century was marked by power struggles between the Karma pas and

dGe lugs pas for territory in Khams and gTsang. At this time the Karma pas, Sa skya pas and dGe lugs pas all vied

for patronage and assistance at the Mongol court of Gengzhiz Khan and his successors. The Brug pa sect of the

bKaʼ brgyud was also drawn into the political turmoil.” See: David Higgins, “On the Development of the Non-

mentation (amanasikāra) Doctrine in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist

Studies 29, (2006): 261.

90 Ruegg, “A Karma bKa’ brgyud Work,” 331-332.

91 Higgins, On the Development of the Non-Mentation, 286.

48

critiques of the Kagyü from both the Sakyapas as well as the Gelugpas in their charges against

Kagyü Mahāmudrā. For example, he states in his Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas:

[M]asters of the Sa [skya] and Dge [lugs]…have asserted that this Mahāmudrā theory and practice of the Precious Bka’ brgyud only is the theory and meditative realization (lta sgom) of the Hva shang92…This is, however, not correct. Indeed, it

has been stated [by the Buddha] that among the four recourses…dharma rather than an individual…is to be had recourse to; but there has been a deviation from

this principle because of hostility [on the part of some masters to the Mahāmudrā of the Precious Bka’ brgyud].”93

What a statement like this clearly illustrates is that Mikyö Dorje was aware of and actively

challenged critiques against Kagyü Mahāmudrā. Based on this fact, it is then within reason to

suggest that such challenges from the Sakya and Gelug traditions had affected Mikyö Dorjé’s

Mahāmudrā interpretation insofar as he was pressured to answer such critiques.

As indicated above, it is widely known that Mikyö Dorjé was actively engaged in debate

with various Gelug scholars, and in this regard Paul Williams states confidently:

There can be little doubt that Mi bskyod rdo rje was concerned to establish firmly

the Abhidharma and Sūtrayāna teachings of the Karma bKa’ brgyud in active and crusading opposition to the systematic and sophisticated interpretations dGe lugs

pa scholars were presenting, a crusading opposition seen most notably in the invitation to debate issued by the twenty-three year old Mi bskyod rdo rje to the sixty-one year old dGe lugs pa scholar, yig cha author for Se ra byes, Se ra rje

92 The polemics of Hwashang in Tibetan Buddhism is a well-documented phenomenon by modern scholars (See for

example: Ruegg, Buddha-nature, Mind and the Problem of Gradualism). It began with a famous debate between

Kamalaśīla and Hwashang Mohoyen—with the former representing the gradualist Indian approach of the pāramitās

and the latter representing the suddenist approach of Ch’an. Hwashang is said to have been defeated in debate and

his approach was thereby banned in Tibet. Since then, for a scholar to label an opponent’s view as “Hwashang” in

Tibet was essentially to suggest that it was nihilist in nature and ignored the law of cause and effect as well as the

practice of the pāramitās. Mikyö Dorjé was apparently so concerned with this label, that he wrote a text solely

devoted to detailing what views and theories he thought qualified as subscribing to the view of Hwashang, e ntitled

‘A Presentation That Points a Finger Toward the Meaning Mixed With Hwashang ’ (Hwa shang dang ‘dres pa’i don

mdzub tshugs su bstan pa).

93 Ruegg, “A Karma bKa’ brgyud Work,” 336.

49

btsun chos kyi rgyal mtshan, on the completion of the Karma pa’s commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.94

Based on such a description, it is easy to see that Mikyö Dorjé was more than willing to engage

his scholastic opponents in debate and to directly challenge their views. Keeping this in mind,

the question then is whether such an enthusiasm to oppose the views of others is presented in

how he explicated Mahāmudrā itself, which seems to be the case in Recognizing the Blessings.

Williams addresses what kinds of philosophical and doctrinal issues to which Mikyö

Dorjé took exception in Gelugpa thought, focusing on his critique of the Gelugpa interpretation

of emptiness as found in his Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas. Williams notes that Mikyö

Dorjé sees a divergence between philosophical investigation and the task of liberation, in that for

the Karmapa the mundane, phenomenal world has absolutely no theoretical or philosophical

foundation whatsoever, with liberation involving an otherness or going beyond.95 Mikyö Dorjé

sees Tsongkhapa’s understanding of emptiness as an emptiness that is necessarily connected with

the world and with phenomena, which therefore grants these things an exalted status and an

established position at some level of philosophical or theoretical activity.96 For Mikyö Dorjé

then, in arguing for an emptiness that is the mere emptiness of inherent existence of a given

entity—an entity which must be afforded some existential status due to not being empty of

itself—Tsongkhapa and his followers are preoccupied with the worldly and are ignoring the

actual state of emptiness which, for Mikyö Dorjé, must be something transcendent to these

94 Williams, “Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa Madhyamaka,” 125.

95 Williams, “Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa Madhyamaka,” 129.

96 Ibid., 130.

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phenomena.97 He even goes so far as to define the Gelugpa version of emptiness as a limited

categorical emptiness (nyi tshe ba’i rnam grangs pa’i stong nyid), one that is equal to the non-

Buddhist (phyi rol pa’i) view of the Realists (dngos po smra ba) ,98 and in being so “it is not an

authentic emptiness which is suitable as a support for the path of liberation,”99 a most serious

critique in the world of inter-Buddhist scholasticism. Williams aptly notes that for Mikyö Dorjé,

such a view of emptiness is limited because it depends upon the situation or context to which it

refers.100 This leads Williams to the conclusion that Mikyö Dorjé is after an ultimate truth that is

not dependent upon context, one that is not relegated to the level of conventional truth; in other

words, not a conventional or relative ultimate, but rather an ultimate ultimate that is independent

of contexts, conditions, and conventions.101

What these points demonstrate is the clear unease that Mikyö Dorjé felt with the

Gelugpas’ views, not only philosophically but also, perhaps more significantly, soteriologically.

Recall, for example, that Mikyö Dorjé does not even consider the Gelugpa view of emptiness as

Buddhist and deems it to be inadequate for the path of liberation. Furthermore, it shows in this

case how he differentiated his own views from those of Tsongkhapa and his followers, in that—

97 Williams, “Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa Madhyamaka,” 132.

98 Ibid., 133.

99 Ibid., thar pa’i lam gyi rten du rung ba’i stong nyid yang dag pa ma yin te . See note 30.

100 Williams says that Mikyö Dorjé justifies his application of the term “limited” (nyi tshe ba) to the Gelug view of

emptiness thusly, “The first [quote Mikyö Dorjé uses to justify his use of the term nyi tshe ba] is from the

Laṅkāvatārasūtra, and refers to the itaretaraśūnyatā, the emptiness which occurs where things are mutually absent,

‘This isn’t present here’. This śūnyatā Mahāmati is exhorted to abandon. Obviously such an emptiness is mutual

exclusiveness in a particular context, limited to the situation referred to by its two terms. This needn ’t necessarily be

spatial limitation (cf. absence of thoughts, the absence of bad in good, etc.), it is simply that a situation is limited in

that an alternative (possible or impossible) is not at that time occurring in that locus. It could presumably be a

permanent, universal absence—give that there are no unicorns anywhere at all, and never have been, then it would, I

assume, be an example of itaretaraśūnyatā to refer to the permanent, eternal absence of unicorns at any point in

space. But, and this is the point Mi bskyod rdo rje is seeking to exploit, the absence is limited in that it depends upon

the situations referred to.” Ibid., 134-135.

101 Ibid., 138.

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like the Kagyü masters of yore—he clearly felt the need to strongly assert an ultimate truth that

is utterly transcendent, beyond the phenomenal world and its conditions—an important point that

will be clarified further in the following discussion of Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of the two

truths and union (zung ’jug) in Recognizing the Blessings.

As indicated in the introduction, there are three ways in which I will present Mikyö

Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought explicated within Recognizing the Blessings, namely as: a) a

reaction to Sakya and Gelug critiques of Kagyü Mahāmudrā in defense of the subitist tradition of

Gampopa; b) a re-appropration of Mahāmudrā so that it is provisionally able to accomodate

doctrines and practices of sūtra and tantra; and c) a resolution of all conventional and

conditioned phenomena (specifically here regarding the ground, path, and fruition) in terms of

their ultimate non-dual union. A close examination of Recognizing the Blessings in the following

chapter will demonstrate the presence and significance of these three aspects, and in particular

his theory of union and its significance for understanding his Mahāmudrā thought.

52

53

Chapter Two:

Recognizing the Blessings of the Union of Ground, Path, and Fruition

In Recognizing the Blessings, a short yet very dense text, Mikyö Dorjé seems to make a

great effort to relate the Kagyü system of Mahāmudrā to as many aspects of sūtra and tantra as

possible, as well as to the thought of the Indian Mahāsiddhas, and even Madhyamaka and

Yogācāra philosophical frameworks (though this last part is less explicit). This demonstrates the

remarkably inclusive approach Mikyö Dorjé takes in formulating his Mahāmudrā thought,

especially considering the brevity of the current text in question. Yet, at the same time it is clear

that Mikyö Dorjé still wants to place Mahāmudrā as the system above all other systems, using a

transcendental rhetoric quite similar to his Kagyü predecessors such as Gampopa. With this in

mind, the present chapter will analyze how Mikyö Dorje describes the ground, path, and fruition

(gzhi lam ’bras), the pivotal role of his conception of union (zung ’jug) based on the two truths

(bden pa gnyis), and how this supports understanding Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought as

reaction (to Sakya and Gelug critiques), re-appropriation (of path Mahāmudrā to accommodate

sūtra and tantra), and resolution (of the conventional to the ultimate via union).

2.1. Articulating the Ground, Path, and Fruition

Recognizing the Blessings is categorized as a text of “advice,” “training,” or

“instruction,” (bslab bya), which suggests that it was intended to guide practitioners on the

practice of Mahāmudrā; indeed, it should be noted that the section on the path takes up about half

54

of the entire text, which is six folios total. Yet, much of the text also reads like a philosophical

treatise, in that Mikyö Dorjé attempts to clarify many technical points of doctrine and

terminology. The intended audience appears specifically to be Kagyü practitioners of

Mahāmudrā, yet, as will be demonstrated, the text seems implicitly to be in conversation with

those outside of this tradition as well, particularly those who doubt the authenticity and efficacy

of his system of Mahāmudrā and its concomitant views. With this last point, I am not suggesting

that we read this text as explicitly answering objections (dgag len), which is its own genre of text

in the Tibetan tradition, a genre in which Mikyö Dorjé himself engaged enthusiastically,102 yet I

do wish to emphasize the significant degree to which certain controversies and debates affected

Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought and how he responds to these in the present work.

Furthermore, it is clear from reading the text itself that Recognizing the Blessings is

structured by the common Buddhist theoretical model of the ground, path, and fruition (gzhi

lam ’bras). Explicitly, the text is about blessings (byin rlabs), but Mikyö Dorjé makes it clear

that such blessings are to be found via this three-fold rubric. In the introductory section, Mikyö

Dorjé exhorts his audience to understand the importance of pursuing blessings when practicing

Gampopa’s system of Mahāmudrā. Immediately following that, he suggests that this necessitates

the phases (’gros)103 of the ground, path, and fruition as well as their union. This model is an

interesting choice in that the very structure of it demonstrates the tension between subitist and

gradualist models of enlightenment in Buddhist thought. The ground and fruition, for Mikyö

Dorjé in particular, represent the immediacy (in terms of the ground) and transcendence (in terms

of the fruition) of enlightenment that is to be realized (the view of the subitist) rather than

102 See for example: Lopez, “Polemical Literature (dGag lan).”

103 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2b2.

55

fabricated or engineered (the view of the gradualist). It is only the path that specifically entails

and caters to the contexts and conditions of ordinary beings (so so skye bo), which from their

perspective appears gradual and is a process of removing impurities and obscurations—a

necessary evil of sorts, to realize the unconditioned ultimate which was always present in the

ground104 and appears to re-emerge in the fruition.105 Herbert Guenther, in discussing this

concept with regard to Buddhist tantra in general, describes this mutual reinforcement between

the ground and fruition as “circular causation,” the idea that “the goal is in no way different from

the foundation or starting-point, and the path, therefore, also is not some separate entity leading

from one extreme to another…[a] conception which is often expressed in the words that ‘The

effect is to be sealed by the cause, but also the latter by the former.’”106 This sentiment captures

the spirit of Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of union as well, in that the triad of ground, path, and

104 It should be noted that Mikyö Dorjé’s views about buddha nature should not be defined strictly in terms of

immediacy, as for example many strict gzhan stong pas might be categorized. As Klaus Dieter-Mathes rightfully

notes in A Direct Path to the Buddha Within , even though Mikyö Dorjé accepted the doctrine of sugatagarbha, he

did not accept that all of the enlightened qualities of a buddha are possessed by sentient beings (55). In commenting

upon the thought of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorjé, whose views he strongly claims to adhere to, Mikyö Dorje

states that sentient beings are actually equivalent to the impure adventitious stains and deviate from the

dharmadhātu, which is the pure natural mind, which is also clear considering his strict distinction between the

ordinary consciousness of the ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi rnam shes) and the primordial wisdom-ālaya (kun gzhi ye

shes). However, the strong perspectival approach that Mikyö Dorjé follows in the present text in line with Saraha’s

views—from one perspective the ground is saṃsāra (sentient beings lacking realization) and from another it is

nirvāṇa (āryas with realization)—as well as Mikyö Dorjé’s insistence that buddha nature is not in any sense a cause

(415-416). This suggests that he rejected a strict gradualist model which would favor a causal understanding of the

sugatagarbha and also that he still adhered to a form of immediacy based on perspective rather than the existence of

essential qualities. See: Dieter-Mathes, A Direct Path to the Buddha Within .

105 In his commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mikyö Dorje cautions against adhering to a cause-and-result view

of something impure becoming pure, “A presentation of the ālaya-consciousness as the cause and mirrorlike

wisdom as its result is not something that is obtained through reasoning. Rather, with respect to the mode of being of

causes and results in terms of [such] causes and results in the abdhidharma that actually fulfills these functions (that

is, what produces and what is produced), the ālaya-consciousness and mirrorlike wisdom are not adequate as a cause

and result that fully qualify as such. Also, since the very nature of the ālaya consciousness is [nothing but] the

adventitious stains, it is presented as impure. No matter how it may be refined by something else, it will not turn into

something pure. It is not possible within the sphere of knowable objects that something impure turns into something

pure, or that something pure turns into something impure”. Karl Brunnhölzl, Luminous Heart: The Third Karmapa

on Consciousness, Wisdom, and Buddha Nature (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2009), 56.

106 Herbert Guenther, The Life and Teachings of Naropa. Translated from Tibetan with Philosopical Commentary

based on the Oral Transmissions, 189.

56

fruition are not merely mutually reinforcing yet actually distinct phases that a linear model of

causation might suggest. Rather, these phases of ground, path, and fruition are all primordially

inseperable as Guenther’s circular model of causation suggests.

Mikyö Dorjé addresses the intimate relationship and seemingly contradictory nature of

these three concepts (i.e. that something always present could be produced as a later result

through the conditions of the path) in an intriguing statement early on in the text: “If one

authentically refines [the ground] by means of the path, since the fruition is Vajradhāra, the

extraordinary being who has the power to appear as though re-emerging, it expresses the ground,

the pervasive lord Vajrasattva.”107 Based on this statement it seems that Mikyö Dorjé was quite

aware of the difficulties in negotiating these conceptual tensions involved in upholding the

ground, path, and fruition schema. Here he notes that the immediacy of the ground—which he

describes as unalterable (gzhan du mi ’gyur ba), timeless (thog ma dang tha ma med pa), and

unblemished by ordinary consciousness (rnam par shes pa’i rgyun dang ma ’dres pa)108—is

something that nevertheless needs to be worked with in terms of the path that attains the

transcendent result.109

107 de lam gyis yang dag par sbyang na‘bras bu rdo rje ’chang slar ’byung du rung ba ltar snang ba’i nus pa khyed

par can gyi bdag nyid yin pas gzhi khyab bdag rdo rje sems dpa’ shes bya’o . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen

po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004.

2b1-2.

108 Ibid., 2b1.

109 How Mikyö Dorjé resolves this issue of needing to practice the path in spite of the immanence of the ground may

be clarified by how Rheingans discusses the Eighth Karmapa’s views of the manner of purity and/or impurity of the

minds of sentient beings, bodhisattvas, and buddhas respectively in his text Bla ma’i khams pa’ dris lan mi gcig

sems gynis: “Referring to the Third Karmapa's Zab mo nang gi don, Mi bskyod rdo rje relies on a teaching well

known from the Ratnagotravibhāga : the pure aspect, the Buddha nature inherent in beings, shows itself in the three

phases: impure (for ordinary beings), pure and impure (for bodhisattvas), and completely pure (for Buddhas). How

does the impure aspect of mind comes about? The mind is in essence (ngo bo) empty, its nature (rang bzhin) clear,

and its expression (rnam pa) is unhindered - but this is not known by itself (rang gis rang ma rig). Therefore the

mind at first (sems dang po) is timeless awareness (ye shes), and at the same time obscured by ignorance, which is

called 'consciousness' (rnam shes). Conventionally (tha snyad du), the former is an existing phenomenon, the

natural, self arisen inherent, undeluded Buddha nature.” Thus, for Mikyö Dorjé the path is merely a process of

coming to see what has always been there, rather than developing or producing something that was not there before.

57

It may seem odd that Mikyö Dorjé here associates the fruition with the primordial

buddha, Vajradhāra, but he only associates the dharmakāya with enlightened beings.110 Since

Vajradhāra is the dharmakāya buddha (with Vajrasattva being the sambhogakāya buddha,

representing the bliss and clarity of the ground), it makes sense that he would emphasize

Vajradhāra’s context as being that of the fruition. Yet, it is also clear from the above statement

that Vajradhāra as the fruition is not actually made to reappear subsequent to the stages of the

path, but rather that is simply how the manifestation of the fruition appears from the

unenlightened perspective. This latter notion also further demonstrates the primordial, or one

could say “timeless,” nature of Vajradhāra that is never actually absent throughout any of the

phases of ground, path, or fruition. Unfortunately, Mikyö Dorjé does not clarify the statement

any further; however, his theory of union (zung ’jug) may help shed light on this matter. Later in

the text he says, “all the phases of the ground, path, and fruition of those aspects are inseparable

and in union.”111 The implications of which will be discussed in-depth below.

Given the importance of the ground, path, and fruition within this text, it seems important

to at least briefly address how Mikyö Dorjé defines and describes each of these phases and how

this relates to his Mahāmudrā thought overall. This will further allow us to see how he deals with

The path then is a process of shifting perspectives from ignorance to gnosis. See: Rheingans, “The Eighth

Karmapa’s Life,” 220.

110 For example, he states in his Response on Buddha Nature and the Dharmakāya, “as the buddha nature of the

cause is not the dharmakāya, the dharmakāya itself is the perfection of the two accumulations, it is what brings

about the final purification of the two obscurations, it is free from the obscurations of the five aggregates, the twelve

sense sources, and the eighteen elements, and being together with the three kāyas which are the transformation of

the eight consciousnesses, the five wisdoms, and enlightened activity, these features are referred to as ‘the

dharmakāya.’” rgyu bde gshegs snying po ni chos kyi sku ma yin la chos kyi sku ni tshogs gnyis rdzogs/ sgrib gnyis

sbyangs pa mthar thug tu byas pa/ phung po lnga skyes mched bcu gnyis khams bco brgyad kyi sgrib pa bral ba/

rnam shes tshogs brgyad gnas gyur gri sku gsum ye shes lnga phrin las dang bcas pa de yi tshogs don zhig la chos

sku zhes sgra sbyar ba yin. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i dris lan . In gsung 'bum of Mi

bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 1b1-3.

111 gzhi lam ’bras bu’i gnas skabs thams cad dbyer med zung ’jug yin. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin

rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4a1-2.

58

subitist and gradualist tendencies in this work, and to demonstrate how the text may be profitably

read as reaction, re-appropriation, and resolution.

Demonstrating the importance of union in his Mahāmudrā thought and ground, path, and

fruition theory, Mikyö Dorjé sets out by defining each phase succinctly as some manner of

union. The ground, he says, is the union of clarity and emptiness (gsal stong zung ’jug), the path

is the union of the two accumulations (tshogs gnyis zung ‘jug) i.e. the accumulations of merit

(bsod nams) and wisdom (ye shes), and the fruition is the union of the two kāyas (sku gnyis

zung ’jug)112 i.e. the rūpakāya and the dharmakāya—with each one of these pairs corresponding

to the conventional and ultimate truths respectively. Based on this concise manner of describing

the ground, path, and fruition, Mikyö Dorjé then elaborates each phase in more detail.

When discussing the phase of the ground, Mikyö Dorjé makes it clear that he is

discussing the “intention of the Anuttarayoga tantras,”113 revealing that there is indeed a strong

tantric element to this Mahāmudrā text, one which was already implied by the text’s emphasis on

blessings mentioned earlier.114 In fact, tantric view and practice heavily influences Mikyö

Dorjé’s explication of Mahāmudrā here, which is interesting due to his remark that this text is

specifically intended for those who follow Gampopa’s system of Mahāmudrā.115 As readers will

recall, in the first chapter it was noted that Gampopa made a rather sharp distinction between

112 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a2.

113 rnal ‘byor bla med kyi rgyud kyi dgongs pa . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In

gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a3.

114 Rheingans has already aptly noted that the use of the term blessings in this work indicates a strong connection to

Vajrayāna practice. See: Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 215.

115 Though the Tibetan edition reads phyin instead of phyir for this last term, phyir which means “for the sake of” or

“for the purpose of” makes more sense in this context than phyin which is normally understood as the past tense of

the verb ’gro ba (to go), and thus is likely a misspelling. sgos dwags skor ba’i phyag rgya pa yin phyir. Mi bskyod

rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 -

776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a1.

59

Vajrayāna and his system of Mahāmudrā, yet here Mikyö Dorjé seems to want to have his cake

and eat it too, in that he explicitly incorporates Vajrayāna elements into his explication of

Mahāmudrā while also claiming it is in line with Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā system, which itself

would imply Mahāmudrā’s supremacy over Vajrayāna systems. Given that Mikyö Dorjé was a

great scholar of the Kagyü tradition as well as his own explicit self-identification with the

tradition of Dagpo Rinpoche, it is fair to say that he was probably well aware of Gampopa’s

strict distinction between Mahāmudrā and Vajrayāna thought. Indeed, as Rheingans has pointed

out, the incorporation of tantra in this text even seems to contradict Mikyö Dorjé’s own thought

elsewhere.116 Yet, it is my view that Mikyö Dorjé is not here trying to show that Vajrayāna along

with its system of empowerments is an absolute necessity for Mahāmudrā, as Sakya Paṇḍita

claimed, but rather that Vajrayāna and its practices can be merely incorporated onto the path of

Mahāmudrā (re-appropriation), which would still allow him to maintain the supremacy of

Mahāmudrā’s realization over other systems (reaction). This idea will be expanded upon below

in this chapter.

To continue with our discussion of the ground, Mikyö Dorjé describes it in basic terms

such as possessing the qualities of clarity, emptiness, and bliss (gsal stong bde ba’i khyad chos

dang ldan), as being the nature (rang bzhin) that exists primordially (thog ma nas yod pa), and

that it represents simultaneously the intrinsic purity of (ngo bo nyid kyis dag) and freedom from

(bral) conditioned or worldly existence (srid pa).117 Essentially, Mikyö Dorjé is describing the

116 Rheingans analyzes a text by Mikyö Dorjé, the gLing drung pa la ’dor ba’i dris lan (Answer to a Question Asked

by gLing drung pa La ’dor ba), in which Mikyö Dorjé clearly expresses his view that the Mahāmudrā of Gampopa is

superior to the system of the four empowerments and all tantras except for the Kālacakra. This will be discussed in

more detail further on in this chapter. See: Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 200-203.

117 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a3-5.

60

sugatagarbha (bde gshegs snying po),118 although it is curious that he does not use this term at

all in the section on the ground nor anywhere else in this text. In other texts, such as his Beacon

That Properly Elucidates the Tradition of the Other-Empty Madhyamaka Proponents (dbu ma

gzhan stong smra ba’i srol legs par phye ba’i sgron me), he applies the term quite generously,

further raising questions as to why Mikyö Dorjé does not use it here. This issue may also be

related to why Mikyö Dorjé chose to say so little about the ground in this text, the discussion of

which takes up hardly a single folio. Instead he chooses to emphasize the path and to a lesser

extent the fruition (although of course, he reminds his audience again and again that these

aspects are all inseparable). It seems that Mikyö Dorjé is here much more concerned with

emphasizing the distinction between ordinary beings (those on the path) and the noble beings

(those who have attained realization), describing their disparate manners of perceiving reality.

The ground, meanwhile, is the fundamental state of reality that bridges the gap between these

two states of ignorance and enlightenment. It seems that within the context of the path that

Mikyö Dorjé takes this perspectival approach to be much more useful for his audience.

This perspectival approach becomes much more apparent in the context of the path: as

Buswell and Gimello have noted about Buddhist path theory in general,119 discussions of the

118 For example, Brunnhölzl also emphasizes the doctrine of sugatagarbha in Mikyö Dorjé’s formulation of the

ground which is equated with luminosity or clarity: “According to Mikyö Dorjé, the basis that is intended by this

statement [‘As for the mind, it is no-mind. The nature of the mind is luminosity’] is the luminous mind as it is

explained in the tantras. The purpose of saying that the actual nature of the mind (the six or eight consciousnesses) is

luminosity is to understand that one attains the buddhahood of the sūtra approach through the path of the sūtras.

Thus, the above quotation refers to the nondual wisdom mind that ‘is without the mind that consists of apprehender

and apprehended.’ The luminous mind of the tantras resides in all sentient beings in an unmanifest way. However,

when it is about to become manifest, gradually all eight consciousnesses, including their nature, completely vanish,

until finally the luminous mind as described in the tantras dawns. Thus, in the Kagyü lineage, in talking about

buddhahood in the sūtras and tantras, the same names are used for the ground based on which buddhahood is

accomplished, the path that accomplishes it, and the fruition that is accomplished. These names are ‘the Heart of the

Blissfully Gone Ones,’ ‘mind,’ and ‘luminosity,’ each one in terms of ground, path, and fruition.” See: Brunnhölzl,

The Center of Sunlit Sky, 61-62.

119 Robert E. Buswell and Robert M. Gimello, Paths to Liberation: The Marga and Its Transformations in Buddhist

Thought (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1994), 10-11.

61

path tend to mediate between the ideal and transcendental example of enlightened beings on the

one hand and the experiences of ordinary unenlightened spiritual practitioners on the other. In

the section on the path in Recognizing the Blessings, we see a marked bifurcation between these

two modes of experience,120 particularly in terms of consciousness (sems) and primordial

wisdom (ye shes), saṃsāra (’khor ba) and nirvāṇa (myang ngan ’das), and what constitutes the

experience of ordinary beings (skye bo tha mal pa) and the āryas (’phags pa) and/or the siddhas

(grub thob).121 Such a strong distinction between these two modes is very important for Mikyö

Dorjé, as is made evident by his critiques of Gelug views on emptiness and the two truths

discussed in the first chapter. In light of this, it is no wonder that Mikyö Dorjé strongly

emphasizes the path here to illustrate this distinction. That being said, it is critical to also note

that such a distinction is merely perspectival or empirical in its implications and so for Mikyö

Dorjé the experience of an ordinary being does not have any ontological implications for reality.

For the Gelugpas on the other hand, the empirical validity of conventional truth means that the

existential status of conventionally valid phenomena is in some sense equal to the existential

status of the level of ultimate reality. By contrast, Mikyö Dorjé does not claim that these two

perspectives actually exist in their own respective spheres, which would result in proclaiming a

duality and would contradict his project of a holistic and non-dual reality. Rather, though both

perspectives are operative on some empirical level, one perspective is ontologically false and the

other is correct. This allows him to uphold his theory of union while still emphasizing the

significance of maintaining this perspectival bifurcation on the path.

120 This is not to say however, that Mikyö Dorjé’s discussion of the path only involves this perspectival approach,

just that it is emphasized here where it is not at all found in discussions of the ground and the fruition.

121 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4b4-6.

62

Another important point to note here is that almost all of the scriptural citations occur in

this section of the text on the path; of the few quotations found in the last two sections of the

fruition and the concluding remarks, the only Indian sources,122 i.e. Nāgārjuna and Maitreya,

occur within the discussion of the fruition. The manner in which Mikyö Dorjé employs these

citations seems to be quite significant, in that it demonstrates his view that Mahāmudrā is able to

accomodate both tantra and sūtra. Within the path section, he variably employs quotes from the

Samādhirāja Sūtra, works by Maitreya, tantric sources, Āryadeva, Mahāmudrā siddhas such as

Saraha, Candrakīrti, the Sūtra Requested by Sagaramati, Nāgārjuna, and Asaṅga (with this last

figure demonstrating as well an affinity with Yogācāra thought). Considering how cautious and

reserved Gampopa was in relating Mahāmudrā to sūtra and tantra—instead professing its

superiority over both of those systems—it is interesting to see how freely Mikyö Dorjé here

makes these inter-doctrinal connections under the rubric of Mahāmudrā. Not only that, but he

explicitly makes it clear that what he is discussing is tantric in nature—for example, he begins

the section on the path by describing it as “the path Mahāmudrā of the tantras of the exceptional

methods.”123 However, he emphasizes that what he is describing is not necessarily exclusive to

the Vajrayāna path: for example, before launching into a series of sūtric quotes he prefaces them

by clarifying that what he is discussing regarding the purification of dualistic appearances is

“Not only [found] in the secret mantra…”124 This incorporation of both tantra and sūtra into his

122 I differentiate the Indian sources found in the section on the fruition from the Tibetan sources referenced in the

conclusion due to the general sense of authority the Indian sources carried in Tibetan exegesis. Reference to Tibetan

sources tended to be less compelling, especially in general discussions on sūtra and tantra. Therefore, it is significant

that Mikyö Dorjé employs the authority of Indian sources almost exclusively in the context of the path, thus

demonstrating that he felt it necessary to supply that section with more authority and a strong basis in sūtra and

tantra.

123 khyad can thabs kyi rgyud lam phyag chen . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In

gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2b2-3.

124 gsang sngags su ma zad. Ibid., 5a2.

63

vision of Mahāmudrā is a clear demonstration of Mikyö Dorjé’s attempts at re-appropriation,

showing that he wished to demonstrate that sūtra and tantra are indeed applicable on the path of

Mahāmudrā.

Regarding the compatibility between these three systems, it seems especially clear from

the text that Mikyö Dorjé feels that both Mahāmudrā and the Anuttarayoga tantras possess the

qualities of clarity, bliss, and emptiness.125 While he emphasizes these similarities, he also

cautions that in relation to the Mahāmudrā of the tantras of the exceptional methods, “it would be

insufficient on the path of Mahāmudrā merely to [engage in] the samādhis of bliss, clarity,

emptiness, and non-conceptuality which are dependent upon consciousness.”126 Since he feels

the need to qualify this form of tantric Mahāmudrā in such a manner, perhaps this suggests that

Mikyö Dorjé deems tantric practices, even in the context of Mahāmudrā, to still engage and

involve mundane consciousness and thus not fully possess the transcendental qualities of

Mahāmudrā proper. This point is supported by statements made by Mikyö Dorjé elsewhere

regarding the inferior methods of tantra, which will be discussed below, as well as other ways

that we may understand Mikyö Dorjé’s presentation of “tantric Mahāmudrā.” He mentions that

sūtra includes meditations on the non-elaborated and empty nature of appearances,127 with the

caveat that this alone does not complete the special qualities that Mahāmudrā possesses.128 Thus,

it is clear that Mikyö Dorjé is making connections in this manner between these three systems,

125 khyed par rnal ’byor bla med kyi rgyud kyi dgongs pa ni/ rgyu’i rgyud gsal stong bde ba’i khyed chos dang ldan .

Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a3.

126 thabs khyad can thabs kyi rgyud lam phyag chen ni/ sems kyi steng gi gsal ba’i ting ’dzin ni/ bde ba’i ting ’dzin/

mi rtog pa’i ting ’dzin tsam gyis ni lam phyag rgya chen po’i go mi chod . Ibid., 2b2-3.

127 snang ba’i rang bzhin spros bral stong par sgom pa. Ibid., 2b5.

128 phyag chen gyi khyad chos ma tshang . Ibid., 2b6.

64

re-appropriating Mahāmudrā so that it may involve aspects of sūtra and tantra, though this

incorporation does not seem to represent final Mahāmudrā for him.

Likewise, Mikyö Dorjé emphasizes Mahāmudrā’s supremacy at different points

throughout this discussion. For instance, he cautions that an inferior manner of combining

śamatha and vipaśyanā—which he implies would be too focused on the aspects of clarity of

mind and non-distraction, ignoring the empty aspect of mind—would lead to “the emergence of

many elaborate outer vehicles of dialectics.”129 This heavily implies not only the systems of the

Hīnayāna but also of the Mahāyāna which would fall under the influence of their own conceptual

proliferations as a result of their own incomplete manner of meditation. Elsewhere, he more

explicitly states that:

It is not appropriate to merely meditate on the non-elaborated and empty nature of appearances since it does not even arise as more profound or vaster than any of

those on the path of the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, nor even those of the Pāramitā, and therefore the special qualities of Mahāmudrā would be

incomplete.130

Therefore, even while Mikyö Dorjé claims that his presentation of Mahāmudrā here shares views

and doctrines in common with sūtra, such as possessing the teachings on the non-elaborated and

empty nature of appearances, the practice and attainments of those solely belonging to the

Sūtrayāna still do not compare with the transcendent realization of the nature of mind in the

context of Mahāmudrā. Specifically, there are special qualities such as transcendental bliss and

clarity present in Mahāmudrā that just cannot be found in sūtra.

129 phyi mtshan nyid kyi thek par zhib rgyas can mang po ’byung. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 3a5-6.

130 snang bar rang bzhin spros bral stong par sgom pa tsam gyis kyang mi chog ste/ nyen thos kyi lam ’ga’ zhig

dang pha rol tu phyin pa las kyang/ de lta bu’i zab cing rgya che ba du ma ’byung bas phyag chen gyi khyed chos

ma tshang. Ibid., 2b5-6.

65

However, the relationship expressed here between tantra and Mahāmudrā does not so

explicitly convey Mahāmudrā proper’s superiority. As has been mentioned, the Mahāmudrā here

is heavily tantric and Mikyö Dorjé makes explicit statements in this regard, despite the fact that

he makes strong statements elsewhere that seem to contradict this view. Such contradictory

statements can be found, for example, in the gLing drung pa la ’dor ba’i dris lan (Answer to a

Question Asked by gLing drung pa La ’dor ba), where Mikyö Dorjé is questioned about whether

or not the Mahāmudrā of Gampopa is the same or different than the fourth empowerment of the

Anuttarayoga adhered to by the Sakya tradition. He goes on to explain that there are two general

categorizations of tantra: mundane (’jig rten pa) and transcendental (’jig rten las ’das pa),131

with only the Kālacakratantra being included in the latter category as superior (mchog).132

Interestingly, Mikyö Dorjé then makes two somewhat contradictory statements regarding

Gampopa’s system in this regard. First, he seems to suggest that ultimately such distinctions do

not apply in the context of Kagyü Mahāmudrā, stating, “The Great Seal of the bKa' brgyud

Dwags po Lha rje cannot be harmonised with the question as either the same or different from

the supramundane and mundane fourth empowerment from the tantric scriptures.”133 Later,

however, he reveals rather bluntly his disapproval of ritualistic means for the attainment of

Mahāmudrā realization:

Apart from [settling the mind in the unfabricated nature], there is [no way] that one will realise the accomplishment of the Great Seal through tiresome [activities] such as to go and ask for empowerment, to ring the bell, to recite [mantra] while

meditating on a Buddha aspect, and to collect yam-wood and make fire offerings; or to carry out an [extensive] meditation ritual after having collected offering

131 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 198.

132 Ibid., 200.

133 Ibid., 200-201.

66

[substances].134

As should be fairly evident, these two statements seem to be somewhat at odds, claiming that

even though ultimately there can be said to be no distinction between tantric methods and

Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā, practically speaking there is a great difference. This demonstrates the

reaction aspect of the Karmapa’s thought—i.e. upholding the transcendence of Gampopa’s

Mahāmudrā over other systems—and the resolution aspect—i.e. such questions of distinction are

ultimately irrelevant for what is beyond all such divisions and demarcations.

What is lacking in this text is something that we find quite strongly in Recognizing the

Blessings, namely the re-appropriation of Mahāmudrā in demonstrating how the tantras can be

incorporated onto the path of Mahāmudrā. We can take a look at one particularly explicit

statement in this regard, where Mikyö Dorjé states, “Since the meditation of Mahāmudrā is the

path of the Anuttarayoga one must take up the practice which is replete with all of the qualities of

the direct path of the Vajrayāna.”135 It seems pretty clear here that Mikyö Dorjé is making a

strong connection between the higher tantras and Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā system. Yet, as noted

in the previous paragraph and implied throughout Recognizing the Blessings, he still ultimately

wishes to maintain Mahāmudrā’s supremacy over both inferential (sūtra) and ritualistic (tantra)

means in accord with Gampopa’s categorization of sūtra and tantra. For example, in Recognizing

the Blessings he implicitly refers to sūtra as the belonging to the “elaborate outer vehicles of

dialectics” (phyi mtshan nyid kyi thek par shib rgyas can),136 which is reminiscent of Gampopa’s

134 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 203.

135 phya rgya chen po sgom ni/ rnal ’byor bla na med pa’i lam yin pas/ rdo rje theg pa’i nye lam gyi khyad chos

rnams tshang bar nyams su len dgos pa yin . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In

gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 3a6.

136 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 3a5-6.

67

understanding of sūtra as the “dialectical path of the pāramitās,” (mtshan nyid lam pha rol tu

phyin pa) “which takes inference for its path” (rjes dpag lam du byed pa).137 Likewise, as just

cited previously from Answer to a Question Asked by gLing drung pa La ’dor ba, with regard to

tantra Mikyö Dorjé refers to practices such as “receiving empowerments” (dbang bskur zhur ‘gro

ba) and “meditative rituals” (sgrub mchod) as being inferior to Mahāmudrā,138 reminiscent of

Gampopa’s classification of mantra as the path of blessing (byin brlabs lam).139 Thus, we find

both reactionary trends of maintaining Mahāmudrā’s superiority in line with Gampopa’s

hierarchical classifications and attempts at re-appropriation to incorporate aspects of sūtra and

tantra onto the path of Mahāmudrā.

There seems to be a few inferences we can make to help resolve these conflicting

statements and ideas. First, in the above quotation Mikyö Dorjé generally describes Mahāmudrā

as the “path of the Anuttarayoga,” which would include for him both the mundane and

transcendental tantras previously mentioned in the Answer to a Question Asked by Ling Drung

pa La ’dor ba, and as this description is in the context of the path it would be progressively

divided up into stages from lower to higher. This allows for the path to include and encompass

all the tantras within their appropriate context leading up to Mahāmudrā realization. In other

words, it is not necessary to see this statement as contradictory in the sense of suggesting that

Mahāmudrā does not in fact surpass inferior forms of tantra. This is, for example, similar to a

view held by Mikyö Dorjé’s contemporary, Pema Karpo (1527-1592), who claimed that even

though Mahāmudrā is superior to the path of tantric means, it must be preceded by

137 Jackson, Enlightenment By a Single Means, 26.

138 Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 203.

139 Jackson, Enlightenment By a Single Means, 26.

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empowerment.140

An additional clarifying statement is found with Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (1511, 1512, or

1513–1587)—a contemporary and in fact a tutor of Mikyö Dorjé—who suggested in his famous

Mahāmudrā work, Moonlight of Proper Explanation Clarifying the Stages of Meditation of

Ultimate Mahāmudrā (Nges don phyag rgya chen po’i sgom rim gsal bar byed pa’i legs bshad

zla ba’i ’od zer), that the Sakyapas, in criticizing Kagyü Mahāmudrā, were actually mistaken in

upholding that a transient bliss which arises only from empowerment, which is contradictory to

the immutable great bliss described in the Kālacakra (which is equivalent to Mahāmudrā) must

be accomplished “by gaining perfect experience on the path with regard to that which lies hidden

in the existential foundation.”141 Likewise, in his discussion of the ground Mikyö Dorjé states

that, “Such bliss is not like the occurrence of a blissful feeling dependent on an awareness

contacting an attractive object. However, the nature that is primordially present which is

established and abides together (grub bde gcig pa) with the mind of clarity is [non-dual] like a

sugar cane and [its] sweetness.”142 Thus, we find that Mikyö Dorjé describes this great bliss in

the same terms as Dakpo Tashi Namgyal does when equating it with what is detailed in the

Kālacakra: as unproduced, independent, non-dualistic, and tantamount to the ground of

Mahāmudrā. Furthermore, by describing what this bliss is not, Mikyö Dorjé here also appears to

be implicitly responding to an opposing view, likely the Sakyapas, as suggested by Tashi

Namgyal’s remarks. This further suggests such a statement is in reaction to such alternative

140 Mathes, Blending of Sūtras with the Tantras, 204.

141 Lobsang P. Lhalungpa, trans., Mahāmudrā The Moonlight: Quintessence of Mind and Med itation, by Dakpo

Tashi Namgyal, (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006), 107-109.

142 de’i bde ba yang yul yid ’ong phrad pa’i rig pa la brten nas tshor ba bde ba ’byung ba lta bu ma yin gyi/ rang

bzhin ’od gsal gyi sems dang grub bde gcig par thog ma nas yod pa ste bu ram gyi shing dang mngar ba lta bu ste.

Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a4-5.

69

views of the Sakya scholars. We even find, shortly thereafter, Mikyö Dorjé describing this

ground as the Mahāmudrā of union which is “spoken of in a hidden manner of symbolic

means,”143 reminiscent of Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s elusion to what lies “hidden” in the ground.

All of this suggests that indeed, Mikyö Dorjé is eluding to final Mahāmudrā—which is also

discussed in the Kālacakra as opposed to inferior tantras—when he is speaking in ultimate terms

within Recognizing the Blessings. Referring to “final Mahāmudrā” here is for the purpose of

differentiating it from the merely provisional sense of Mahāmudrā, that which is re-appropriated

to accomodate tantric and sūtric practices and doctrines also endorsed by Mikyö Dorjé and

Dakpo Tashi Namgyal. Further below Mikyö Dorjé’s sense of what is final (mthar thug) and

what is provisional (gnas skabs) will become clearer in discussing his views expressed within A

Response on the Sugatagarbha and the Dharmakāya.

To continue discussing Mikyö Dorjé’s incorporation of tantra into Mahāmudrā, the

remark mentioned above from Recognizing the Blessings equating Mahāmudrā with Vajrayāna is

embedded within the discussion of the path, making it more perspectival. While Mahāmudrā is in

fact beyond all other systems, it is still applicable for those engaged in tantric practice, meaning

that one may still choose to incorporate tantric means onto the path of Mahāmudrā. Furthermore,

the path is the specific context in which the Mahāmudrā master and exegete relates to those on

the path, i.e. ordinary beings, and so it is an occasion for connecting to their experience using

skillful means which might not directly reflect the definitive meaning. In this regard it is notable

that Mikyö Dorjé makes no explicit mention of the tantras when he discusses the fruition, an

occasion for relating the actual realization of ultimate Mahāmudrā.

143 brda thabs kyi sbas pa'i tshul. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum

of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a6.

70

To further support the idea of a merely provisional tantric Mahāmudrā, in A Response on

Buddha Nature and the Dharmakāya, Mikyö Dorjé clarifies that there are two ways of discussing

the ultimate: the categorized (rnam grangs pa’i don dam pa) and the uncategorized (rnam grangs

min pa’i don dam) ultimate. Therein, his understanding of what applies to the categorized

ultimate employs heavily perspectival language similar to that found in his discussion of the path

in Recognizing the Blessings, specifically drawing upon the strict distinction between saṃsāra

and falsity on the one hand and nirvāṇa and truth on the other.144 Yet, in Recognizing the

Blessings we also find several statements that accord with Mikyö Dorjé’s understanding of the

final (mthar) uncategorized ultimate—which is essentially the unconditional and non-dual union

of bliss and emptiness145—suggesting that both forms of the ultimate are applicable when

emphasizing different aspects or stages of Mahāmudrā theory and practice. With this

understanding, it seems plausible that the lower forms of tantra are still appropriate for

144 “Well then, as for the empty nature of mind, when it arises as the various interdependent occurrences of

delusion—the fetters of the two obscurations—there is saṃsāra; when the empty nature of mind arises as the

various interdependent occurrences of accumulation and purification—the non-deluded liberation from the two

obscurations there is non-abiding nirvāṇa. Well then, as nirvāṇa is true and saṃsāra is untrue, delusive, and false it

therefore means that [saṃsāra] does not infiltrate objective reality (yul gyi gnas tshul). Since nirvāṇa is undeceiving

and non-deluded it is presented as the ultimate truth. Likewise, this presentation of the falsity of saṃsāra and the

truth of the ultimate, too, is not in the context of the uncategorized ultimate. However, it is within the context of

asserting the ultimate meaning of what is categorized.” ’o na sems rang bzhin stong pa nyid la sgrib gnyis kyi ’ching

ba ’khrul pa’i rten ’brel sna tshogs su shar ba’i tshe na ’khor ba/ sems rang bzhin stong pa nyid sgrib gnyis las grol

ba’i ’khrul med kyi bsags sbyang gi rten ’bral sna tshogs su shar ba’i tshe na mi gnas pa’i myang ’das yin la/ ’o na

myang ’das bden la ’khor ba mi bden pa’i ‘khor ba ’khrul pa dang brdzun pa yin pas yul gyi gnas tshul du ma zhugs

pa’i don gyis yin no/ myang ’das ni mi bslu ba dang ma ’khrul pas don dam bden par ’jog la/ de ltar ’khor ba rdzun

pa dang don dam lden par ’jog pa ’di yang rnam grangs min pa’i don dam pa’i skabs su ma yin gyi/ rnam grangs

pa’i don dam khas skabs su yin te. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i dris lan . In gsung 'bum

of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a2-5.

145 In particular, consider the following statement as found in the context of the fruition and notice its emphasis on

non-duality, which differs from other statements in Recognzing the Blessings that emphasize the perspectival

understanding of reality: “The primordial wisdom which is free from all conceptual elaborations of dualistic

phenomena—saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, self and other, acceptance and rejection, and so forth—is the dharmakāya, the

aspect devoid of any nature which is inseparable from the dharmadhātu, and is what fulfills one's own

benefit.” ’khor ’das bdag gzhan blang dor la sogs gnyis chos kyi spros pa thams cad dang dral ba’i ye shes/ chos kyi

dbyings dang dbyer med pa rang bzhin med pa’i yan lag chos kyi sku rang don rdzogs pa ’o. Mi bskyod rdo rje.

Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776.

Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 6a2-3.

71

presenting the categorized ultimate in terms of path Mahāmudrā, but not in the context of

presenting the uncategorized ultimate of the actual realization of Mahāmudrā. In a similar vein,

in his commentary on Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra, Mikyö Dorjé emphasizes the merely

conventional nature of the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness), and he then asserts in that

same spirit that:

In the same way that the Buddha taught using the words “I” and “mine,” he also taught that all things from form through omniscience exist, even though they

really have no inherent nature at all. He taught provisionally in this way in order to help the world understand the profound nature of reality. This understanding

should be applied to his explanations of the four truths, the two truths, the three natures, and so forth—to all the teachings that the Buddha gave.146

This statement clearly expresses a pedagogical and provisional understanding of all the Buddha’s

teachings, which would strongly suggest that Mikyö Dorjé presumes that this also applies to the

teachings of Mahāmudrā (what is categorized and provisional) but not to the actual realization of

Mahāmudrā (what is uncategorized and final). Understanding this can help us to make sense of

how Mikyö Dorjé could justify different applications and expressions of Mahāmudrā at the

conventional level while still refusing to imbue Mahāmudrā with such conventionalities at the

ultimate level.

To clarify how we can understand such an integration of Mahāmudrā, sūtra, and tantra,

Dakpo Tashi Namgyal wrote in the Moonlight of Proper Explanation Clarifying the Stages of

Meditation of Ultimate Mahāmudrā:

Concerning the manner of identifying the essence of the path, some of the

mystical songs and the transmission of symbolic Mahāmudrā recognize this system as belonging to the tantric tradition as opposed to the sūtra tradition, and specifically to the third subdivision of tantra—the path of directly perceiving

reality. The other two are the path of spiritual blessing and the path of giving inner solace. It is said that…one is required to receive either a short or an elaborate

146 Goldfield et al., The Moon of Wisdom, 121.

72

initiation as a means of germinating [the hidden seeds of illumination]. It is further said that—since the paths preceding esoteric mantra are

regarded as being stepping stones—one should meditate on any of the aspects of these paths and not ignore them. According to the tradition of the secret mystic

practice, since there are three levels of spiritual trainees—inferior, average, and superior—the path has been divided into three, viz.: the definitive vehicle of wisdom-gone beyond, the vehicle of innermost mystical formula, and the vehicle

of unsurpassed essence. Mahāmudrā is regarded as belonging to the third. It has been said that Mahāmudrā does not conform directly to the first, it is not in

conflict with the second, and while in accord with the third, it even surpasses all three. It is said that one…should receive a short or elaborate blessing and initiation and should also meditate on a meditate deity [yidam] at an appropriate

stage… At certain times Mahāmudrā was also designated as the path of spiritual

blessing. That is to say that an awakened guru is required to guide his predestined disciple…toward liberation through Mahāmudrā, the only path of instantaneous illumination that doesn’t depend on the path of the sūtras and tantras. In recent

times, meditators of Mahāmudrā sought to make adjustments according to both the sūtras and tantras. They have incorporated [in the Mahāmudrā tradition] many

practices that require preparations, such as the mystical empowerment that sows the seeds of a spiritual blossom, devotion to preliminary exercises, and methods of enhancing experiences. It is for that reason that it is not contradictory to regard

Mahāmudrā as identical with the common and profound path of the sūtras and tantras, due to the fact that many superior and inferior minds are going to benefit

from it.147

Here, we should understand that for Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, the realization of Mahāmudrā is still

something that transcends all other systems, as is evident by his remark that Mahāmudrā

“surpasses all three,” i.e. which includes systems of sūtra and tantra, yet the practice or path of

Mahāmudrā allows for these other systems to be utilized, thus making them in a provisional

sense “identical.” This statement also makes clear that during the time of Mikyö Dorjé, even

though there was a shift observed in how Mahāmudrā was being related to sūtra and tantra, this

was not viewed by its proponents as necessarily in contradiction with the transcendental spirit of

Mahāmudrā. Using citations, Tashi Namgyal even therein notes the strict separation that

147 Lhalungpa, Mahāmudrā The Moonlight, 109-112.

73

Gampopa used to distinguish Mahāmudrā from sūtra and tantra, yet still finds no fault with the

“incorporation” of these systems on the path of Mahāmudrā—or as I have been terming it, the re-

appropriation of Mahāmudrā. In particular, Tashi Namgyal states that even though Mahāmudrā

transcends all other systems, it is in harmony with (or at least does not contradict) the

Pāramitāyāna and the Mantrayāna. We may also notice here that the rhetoric of the path—i.e.

perspectivalism—is used to justify the re-appropriation of path Mahāmudrā. In other words,

since there are practitioners of lower and higher faculties, and since it may be of benefit for their

particular mindsets and capacities, the incorporation of sūtra and tantra on the path of

Mahāmudrā is indeed acceptable.

Also, a nineteenth century proponent of Kagyü Mahāmudrā, Karma Tashi Chöphel (Kar

ma bkra shis chos ’phel),148 in trying to reconcile three categories of Mahāmudrā (sūtra, mantra,

and essence) asserted that Mahāmudrā itself (associated with essence Mahāmudrā), being a

direct path for those of highest capacity, is dependent upon neither sūtra nor tantra. However, he

still maintained that it could be combined with either sūtra or tantra in order to be applicable for

many.149

148 I have been unable to locate a precise date of birth for this figure.

149 Rheingans. Communicating the Innate. (2012). 179.

Although Rheingans also notes this similarity between Mikyö Dorjé, Tashi Namgyal, and Karma Tashi Chöphel, he

emphasizes the contradictory nature of their approaches and that this suggests the pragmatic nature of Mikyö

Dorjé’s teachings with the guru being the basis of applying Mahāmudrā based on the context of the disciple.

However, I would like to stress that I am here emphasizing that it is not seen as contradictory by these figures

themselves (as suggested by the direct statements in that regard by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal cited above) but rather

reflects an understanding of the path as involving the bifurcation of distinct perspectives (t hose of ordinary beings

and āryas).

With Mikyö Dorjé in particular, conventional phenomena are inherently false and contradictory and need to

be resolved in the quietude of the ultimate. This being so, the conventional needs of particular beings can be ca tered

to in a conventional manner as necessary (re-appropriation), yet it is also crucial to recognize the limited nature of

any such conventional approaches (reaction) since ultimately everything must be resolved in accordance with the

transcendental wisdom of the āryas (resolution).

74

Since other proponents of Kagyü Mahāmudrā (contemporary and later) such as Dakpo

Tashi Namgyal and Karma Tashi Chöphel explicitly expressed views similar to what Mikyö

Dorjé seems to be demonstrating within Recognizing the Blessings—in brief that is, that

Mahāmudrā can be both transcendent and accommodating—it is not necessary to see this as in

contradiction with his views that Mahāmudrā surpasses sūtra and tantra (with the exception of

the Kālacakra tantra, of course). To put it another way, its ultimate transcendence over other

systems does not preclude the possibility and/or utility of its conventional re-appropriation in

terms of the path, incorporating other systems and practices onto the path of Mahāmudrā.

Furthermore, in this regard Mikyö Dorjé’s rhetoric of the union of seemingly dualistic

phenomena within this text makes it clear that one can understand conventional phenomena that

appear to be in contradiction with one another to be in essence Mahāmudrā, which would allow

for discrepancies in doctrinal context to be ultimately resolved.

Rheingans’ approach—emphasizing the pedagogical nature and “doctrinal flexibility” (243) of Mikyö

Dorjé’s approach—seems to belie the consistency of the Eighth Karmapa’s thought in general and his Mahāmudrā

interpretation in particular, which I argue will seem more consistent here when understanding his perspectival

rhetoric based in these two modes of apprehension. Indeed, even Mikyö Dorjé’s rhetoric of union here seems to

imply that he sees no contradiction in the various ways he is describing Mahāmudrā—that is to say that all of these

apparently disparate aspects are ultimately inseparable. Specifically, Rheingans comments that “these contradictions

suggest that at this stage of research it is hard to pin down the 'final' in terpretation or hierarchy of the Eighth

Karmapa's Great Seal. As it seems intrinsic to the study of Great Seal texts that it often evades classification, one

must ask oneself, whether such a research avenue does full justice to the material” (242). Yet, fo r example, in his

Response on Buddha Nature and the Dharmakāya , Mikyö Dorjé explicitly defines his final view (mthar ni) which is

consistent with statements made in Recognizing the Blessings, he defines the absolute in terms of being a “single

truth” (bden pa chig pa), “not something to be obtained” (rnyed pa ma yin), the “non-dual bliss and emptiness” (bde

stong gnyis med) of the “final mantric treatise(s)” (sngags gzhung mthar thug) and “Mahāmudrā” (phyag chen), with

all of this being the uncategorized ultimate (rnam grangs min pa’i don dam) in contradistinction with the

categorized ultimate (rnam grangs pa’i don dam) which “does not transcend conditionality” (’dus byas las ma ’das

pa); (See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje.

TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004., 2b1-3). This strongly suggests that we can find much more

consistency in Mikyö Dorjé’s thought than Rheingans claims.

In sum, though Rheingans makes important points regarding Mahāmudrā hermeneutics and sensitivity to

practical context and pragmatic concerns, which are certainly factors to be considered, we should understand that the

contextual nature of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā is based in a consistent emphasis on the futile and limited nature of

worldly conditions which ultimately must be resolved anyhow. Such an understanding provides a larger framework

to understand the Eighth Karmapa’s thought that is in fact more consistent than Rheingans seems to suggest. See:

Rheingans, “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life,” 228-229; 242-243.

75

To be sure, there is much more to be said about Mikyö Dorjé’s discussion of the path, but

due to the limited nature of this thesis, that is not possible here. However, some of the ideas

brought up therein will be discussed further on in this chapter in the context of Mikyö Dorjé’s

conception of union. In particular, there is much to be said about Mikyö Dorjé’s understanding of

śamatha and vipaśyanā, the formulation of the generation and completion stages, and the

incorporation of the four abhiṣekas into Mahāmudrā practice.

Mikyö Dorjé’s discussion of the fruition is based mainly on his conception of the three

kāyas (sku gsum) which are solely the realm of the āryas and is the place where he discusses their

qualities. The dharmakāya (chos kyi sku) is specifically equated with primordial wisdom (ye

shes) and is inseparable from the dharmadhātu (chos kyi dbyings dang dbyer med pa).150 It is

here in the context of the dharmakāya that Mikyö Dorjé exclusively employs the non-dualistic

language of the uncategorized ultimate, stating that it is “free from all conceptual elaborations of

dualistic phenomena—saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, self and other, acceptance and rejection, and so

forth,”151 and that it is “devoid of any nature” (rang bzhin med pa).152

Interestingly, however, Mikyö Dorjé seems to emphasize the sambhogakāya (generally

the second of the three kāyas) insofar as he lists it first. This could be due to the fact that at the

outset of the text Mikyö Dorjé identified the fruition as the union of the two kāyas, a concept

perhaps best represented by the sambhogakāya which is in a sense the intermediary between the

dharmakāya and the nirmāṇakāya. This seems correct in that the rhetoric of union is rather

strong here: Mikyö Dorjé identifies the sambhogakāya as “the union of bliss and emptiness” (bde

150 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 6a3.

151 ’khor ’das bdag gzhan blang dor la sogs gnyis chos kyi spros pa thams cad dang bral. Ibid., 6a2-3.

152 Ibid., 6a3.

76

stong zung ’jug), “the unified equality of primordial wisdom” (ye shes mnyam par sbyor ba), as

including “the aspect of coalescing” (kha sbyor gyi yan lag) and as “not wavering from [the state

of] great unchanging bliss” (’gyur med bde chen po las mi gyo ba).153

Additionally, the sambhogakāya represents the union of appearance and non-elaboration

for Mikyö Dorjé, as he makes clear in the previous section on the path when he says, “even

though the sambhogakāya of the buddhas is the svābhāvikakāya free from mental elaboration, it

still continues to appear.”154 This statement is particularly interesting in that it seems to be an

admonition for ordinary Mahāmudrā practitioners to not overemphasize the rhetoric of non-

duality and non-conceptuality, reminding them that there is still the ever-important aspect of

compassion—i.e. appearing to beings for their benefit. Indeed, this is preceded by a rather strong

statement appearing to condemn practitioners who “blather on about there being no such

distinctions as good or bad” (bzang ngan dang khyad par med pa’i cal col), which Mikyö Dorjé

seems to take as a denigration towards “the nature of all appearances” (snang ba tham cad ngo

bo la).155 To be sure, Mikyö Dorjé accepts that the nature of such appearances actually is non-

dual (recall his description of the dharmakāya in ultimate terms); again, however, this particular

admonition is in terms of the path and is directed at ordinary beings who lack the realization of

the ultimate and endanger their spiritual progress by denigrating appearances. In emphasizing the

sambhogakāya here, Mikyö Dorjé is using the clearest example of the union of appearance and

emptiness in order to quell any nihilistic or unethical interpretation of Mahāmudrā—likely a

direct response to figures like Lama Zhang (specifically, those who might emulate his brand of

153 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 6a1-2.

154 sangs rgyas kyi longs sku yang ngo bo nyid sku spros bral gyi snang bar byas gda’o. Ibid., 5b2.

155 Ibid., 5a6-5b1.

77

antinomian behavior justifying it in light of Mahāmudrā rhetoric), but also a response to figures

like Sakya Paṇḍita who openly criticized those figures—in other words, Mikyö Dorjé clarifies

that such behavior is not the ideal for and is not representative of Kagyü Mahamudra. In any

case, this is clearly an example of reaction: Mikyö Dorjé wants to emphasize that Mahāmudrā

does not advocate engaging in reckless behavior for those who are merely ordinary beings,

contrary to how it might be portrayed by certain charlatans posing as advanced practitioners.

This is made especially clear in his concluding remarks, when he says for example, “while one

has not gained resolve in the presence of the supreme nirmāṇakāya and one's mind-stream has

not been liberated, it is a grave mistake to pretend to be a destroyer of delusion and then engage

in the yogic discipline of dogs and pigs.”156

Finally, Mikyö Dorjé addresses the nirmāṇakāya, which he primarily discusses in terms

of its relationship to ordinary beings—i.e. as “being replete with compassion, the great

[enlightened] compassion which is expressed equally towards all sentient beings,” and as

including “the aspect of the perpetual engagement in enlightened activity in order to tame beings

in whatever way necessary until saṃsāra is emptied.”157 These two points also implicitly provide

a basis for Mikyö Dorjé’s eclectic Mahāmudrā approach—enlightened beings teach a variety of

methods and doctrines out of compassion for beings with varying inclinations and dispositions.

Taken together with what we discussed earlier regarding the statement found in the his

Madhyamakāvatāra commentary on the provisional nature of the Buddha’s teachings (as

opposed to the Buddha’s final realization), we find both an emphasis on the pedagogical nature

156 mchog gi sprul sku’i drung du gdar sha mi gcod par rang rgyud ma grol bzhin du ’khrul zhig ltar bcos nas khyi

phag gi brtul zhugs byed pa ’di nyes dmigs shin tu che . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos

'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 6b1.

157 sems can thams cad la mnyam par ’jug pa’i thugs rje chen po snying rje gang ba’i yan lag/ ’khor ba ma stong kyi

bar du gang la gang ’dul phrin las kyi ’jug pa rgyun mi ’chad pa’i yan lag . Ibid., 6a3-4.

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of the teachings, which is necessary in order to relate to needs of the disciple, as well as a taking

for granted of the conditional nature of anything semiotic in nature—including even the most

sacred of the Buddha’s teachings. Particularly, this latter point is supportive of Mikyö Dorjé’s

overall view of the limited nature of conditional existence—as noted in the first chapter when

discussing his qualms with the Gelugpa’s implication that the ultimate truth is relative to and on

par with the conventional truth. Understanding this ontological cynicism towards the

conventional helps us to understand why Mikyö Dorjé occasionally allows for seemingly

disparate and contradictory views and practices to be incorporated along the path to

enlightenment: it is not purely out of pedagogical or pragmatic concern (which is indeed part of

it), but also due to recognizing that such methods and teachings are intrinsically conditional and

limited no matter how they are presented, with the lot of them ultimately needing to be

abandoned in order to realize the transcendence of the absolute. Any discussion or formulation of

the path therefore necessitates involvement with limited causes and conditions, contradictory

though they may seem at times. In fact, by recognizing the contradictory nature of such teachings

Mikyö Dorjé enhances his cynical position towards the limited conditions of the world, allowing

him to finally emphasize the transcendent nature of the absolute. How Mikyö Dorjé finds

meaning and utility in contradiction is in stark contrast to the approach of Gelugpa scholars who

sought to strictly adhere to logical consistency throughout all their various presentations.

Once again, this has been a brief overview of Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of the fruition,

and there is a lot more that could (and should) be said. What we have found thus far is that

Mikyö Dorjé appears to be discussing two forms of Mahāmudrā throughout his explication of the

ground, path, and fruition: a categorized Mahāmudrā—so to speak—involving bifurcation

between ordinary and enlightened perspectives that is mainly applied to the path, and an

79

uncategorized Mahāmudrā that is completely non-dual and emphasized particularly within the

contexts of the ground and the fruition. What brings these two categories of Mahāmudrā together

is Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of union, which is what will be discussed in the following section.

2.2. Union as Reaction: Distinguishing Between Authentic and Inauthentic Union

In the previous section, I alluded to Mikyö Dorjé’s union as being a form of re-

appropriation, in that the use of the term ‘union’ provides at least a rhetorical basis for him to

incorporate sūtra and tantra into his Mahāmudrā system. In this section, we will emphasize how

this same conception of union is also reaction and resolution. Before discussing how Mikyö

Dorjé’s conception of union is a form of resolution, however, it is important to see how it is first

a form of reaction, which will also allow us to clarify precisely what he means by the term.

Tucked away in the form of an interlinear note (mchan bu) is one of the most intriguing

and perhaps significant lines found within Recognizing the Blessings. In discussing the fruition

as the attainment of the unified state of no-more learning (mi slob pa’i zung ’jug) of Vajradhāra

and the consummation of the two-fold benefit (don gnyis mthar phyin pa),158 Mikyö Dorjé

mentions two disparate manners of interpreting the term “yuganaddha” as follows: “there are

those who say the so-called ‘yuganaddha’ is not meant to be a non-duality, however in terms of

being coupled together they are the same, i.e. the pair is to be understood as unitary.”159 What

this tells us is that Mikyö Dorjé identifies two distinct interpretive trends for this critical term

158 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 5b6.

159 zung du gcig pa’am gnyis gcig gi go don yin gyi gnyis med pa’i don min ces smra ba rnams zer . Ibid., 5b6.

80

yuganaddha: one which is dualistic and one which is non-dualistic,160 with the latter being

deemed the correct interpretation. Since Mikyö Dorjé is being indirect here, the difficulty lies in

identifying who he considers to be adhering to an incorrect interpretive trend.

Michael Broido discusses the term yuganaddha at great length in his article “Padma

DKar-po on Integration as Ground, Path, and Fruition,” in which he also discusses Padma

Karpo’s critique of Tsongkhapa’s unique vision of yuganaddha, “For Tsong-kha-pa the notion

[of yuganaddha] is one of combination, the constituents being as it were primary and their

combination, as a product of those constituents, secondary….For Tsong-kha-pa (as Padma Dkar-

po sees him) what is primary are the components, say the two satya or the krama, and it is only

when these are known separately…that they can then be combined in yuganaddha.”161 This

understanding of yuganaddha is similar to the dualistic interpretation of the term that Mikyö

Dorjé refers to in Recognizing the Blessings. In his terms, an incorrect interpretation of

yuganaddha emphasizes union as a duality, as a separable combination of two parts in

dependence upon one another, and this understanding seems to match how Padma Karpo

characterizes Tsongkhapa’s conception of the important term.

David Seyfort Ruegg also identifies Tsongkhapa as adhering to a similar paired notion of

yuganaddha in the context of śamatha and vipaśyanā meditation specifically, “[Tsongkhapa]

observes that śamatha and vipaśyanā are realized separately, and are made to alternate (spel mar

160 This can be gathered from the phrase gnyis med pa’i don min, “[yuganaddha] is not meant to be a non-

duaity,”representing the dualistic position, and the phrase zung du gcig pa’am gnyis gcig gi go don , “in terms of

being coupled together they are the same, i.e. the pair is to be understood as unitary ,” which represents the non-

dualistic position. This latter phrasing may seem oxymoronic, as it literally states that “two are one,” but it

essentially points to the inseperability of any aspects that are present together, i.e. the sameness or non-duality of

these seemingly disparate aspects.

161 M. M. Broido, “Padma dKar-po on Integration as Ground, Path, and Goal,” Journal of the Tibet Society, 5

(1985): 25.

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byed pa) with each other, there being no rule at this [beginning] stage that Inspection and

Fixation should be realized [together] in a single mental continuum (rgyun gcig)…But in a later

stage there follows the yoking together [(zung du ’brel ba: yuganaddha)],162 or syzygy, of

śamatha and vipaśyanā, when they merge and operate together ([mnyam du ’jug pa]).”163

Furthermore, Ruegg explains that from Tsongkhapa’s point of view, “This Fixation-Bhāvanā that

initially alternates and then finally coincides with analytical Inspection, in the form of a regular

sequence and then of a syzygy of śamatha and vipaśyanā, is not, therefore, to be confused

‘Darkness-Bhāvanā’ (mun sgom) and with non-construction known as tsom ’jog gi mi rtog

pa…These last two expressions are used to describe that one-sided form of totally non-

analytical, and practically cataleptic, non-mentation [amanasikāra] and non-construction so

often attributed in the Tibetan treatises to [Hwashang]…”164 What this demonstrates is

Tsongkhapa did indeed emphasize a form of yuganaddha based in rather dualistic terms with an

insistence on analytical means for its attainment, which is contrasted with the system of

Hashang, of which the Kagyü Mahāmudrā tradition is accused of adhering to in some form or

another, particularly by the Gelugpa. What this suggests is that, similar to (and likely connected

to) the controversy over the term amanasikāra, the hermeneutics of the term yuganaddha had

also become a cause for debate between the various traditions—in this case between the Gelugpa

and the Kagyüpa.

It turns out, in fact, that Tsongkhapa wrote an extensive commentary on the Guhyasamāja

162 To be sure, the term employed by Tsongkhapa here “zung du ’brel ba” is not the same as that is used by Mikyö

Dorjé, “zung du ’jug pa”, however both are used to translate the Sanskrit term yuganaddha, and reflect the disparate

interpretations of the term.

163 Ruegg, Buddha-nature, Mind and the Problem of Gradualism, 115.

164 Ibid., 115.

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Tantra (which is heavily emphasized by Mikyö Dorjé in Recognizing the Blessings as well),

which heavily involves the concept of yuganaddha. It turns out as well, that Mikyö Dorjé was at

least aware of, if not familiar with, this commentary.165 Furthermore, both Tsongkhapa and

Mikyö Dorjé quote a verse from the Pañcakrama, a text attributed to Nāgārjuna on the five

stages of the Guhyasamāja,166 which suggests contention over the proper interpretation of this

verse. In Tsongkhapa’s Guhyasamāja commentary, A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages

(gsang ’dus rim lnga gsal sgron), Tsongkhapa defines the term yuganaddha thusly, “The Sanskrit

for union is yuganadva. Yuga means ‘pair’ and adva means ‘not two.’ This means that the

individual parts of the pair are not two in the manner of alternating but are together

simultaneously, and this, as explained above, is ‘union.’”167 To be sure, Tsongkhapa appears to be

advocating for a weak form of non-duality in his description of union, and indeed following this

statement he clarifies, “Nāgārjuna’s Five Stages speaks of many types of union where

conceptualization of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa and other pairs of dual phenomena are eliminated and

become a union of nonduality not separated by those conceptualizations…the nondual exalted

wisdom of having eliminated all holding-as-real conceptualizations, together with their seeds,

focused on persons and phenomena is this type of union.”168 To be fair to Tsongkhapa, he is

clearly advocating for a non-dual understanding of yuganaddha. However, his understanding of

non-duality in this sense must be qualified, and in contrasting his views from those of Gorampa

165 Ruegg, “A Karma bKa’ brgyud Work,” 345-346.

166 Of further interest, this verse is also quoted by Padma Karpo In his discussion of the term yuganaddha, Broido

suggests the doctrinal significance of this particular text in justifying one’s interpretation of the term itself. See:

Broido, “Padma dKar-po on the Two Satyas,” 30.

167 Gavin Kilty, trans., A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages: Teachings on Guhyasamaja Tantra , by Tsongkhapa,

ed. Thupten Jinpa, (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2013), 497.

168 Kilty, A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages, 497-498.

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Sönam Senge, Sonam Thakchoe reminds us that Tsongkhapa’s interpretation of non-duality is

unique insofar as is only an epistemic non-duality, and has no ontological implications:

Tsongkhapa regards the nondual realization of ultimate truth as an epistemic event. In his understanding nondual realization is possible, yet the apprehending consciousness—transcendent wisdom—retains its ontological distinctness as

subject, and the cognitive sphere—ultimate reality—likewise retains its ontological distinctness as object. Gorampa contends that nondual realizatio n

forms a single metaphysical reality—a total integration of subject and object. Only such a complete integration, according to him, resolves the problem of duality. Thus Tsongkhapa and Gorampa agree that, from the standpoint of

nondual wisdom, the meditator experiences a total dissolution of even the subtle duality between subject and object, but they disagree on the implications of this

nondual experience. Tsongkhapa does not hold the achievement of nondual wisdom as equivalent to the cessation of cognitive activity, whereas for Gorampa it means exactly that…Tsongkhapa holds that even the highest level of wisdom

preserves duality and diversity. He asserts that Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka draws our attention to empirical dualities—among them the duality of morality and

immorality—and takes them as the indispensable basis for any genuine search for liberating wisdom.169

Thus, for Tsongkhapa, the non-duality of yuganaddha is a purely epistemological state of union,

with no implications for the ontological status of phenomena (other than their lack of inherent

existence), and in fact the duality and diversity of phenomena is preserved. Bearing this in mind,

we see that Mikyö Dorjé’s critiques still apply: for although Tsongkhapa advocates for a kind of

epistemic non-duality in his yuganaddha, it lacks the metaphysical non-duality that Mikyö Dorjé

emphasizes as qualifying for an authentic kind of non-duality and union. Recall from the first

chapter how Mikyö Dorjé defined the Gelugpa version of emptiness as a limited categorical

169 For Gorampa, non-dual realization implies the complete dissolution of the knowing subject and apparently outer

objects, which are in fact merely the mind’s constructs (in accord with a Yogācāra interpretation of non-duality).

Thus, all of reality, whether conventional or ultimate, becomes a single entity in terms of ultimate reality and

ultimate wisdom, and the individuality of cognizing consciousness and objects of cognition cease. Thakchoe also

notes the similarity here between this theory of nondual wisdom and Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of it. For

Tsongkhapa, however, meditation on non-duality merely involves the meditator engaging with their own psycho-

physical aggregates and not engaging with the external world, thus resulting in a dissolution of subject and object in

terms of I and mine, thinker and thought, mind and body, etc. For Tsongkhapa, this is important in that it still allows

the ārya to engage with dualistic phenomena and engage with dualistic conventions in the post-meditative state.

Emphasis added. Thakchoe, The Two Truths Debate, 115-119.

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emptiness (nyi tshe ba’i rnam grangs pa’i stong nyid): in their attempt to preserve the ontological

status of conditioned phenomena themselves, the Gelugpas relativize the ultimate truth and

relegate it to the status of conventional and worldly phenomena, limited to particular conditions

and contexts, thus not qualifying as the unconditional and transcendent ultimate that Mikyö

Dorjé advocates for. With this in mind, it is clear how Mikyö Dorjé’s interpretation of the term

yuganaddha is a form of reaction: for Mikyö Dorjé, Tsongkhapa and his followers adhere to a

dualistic notion of union and thus denigrate the pure non-duality of union in its ultimate and

metaphysical sense. Thus, Mikyö Dorjé feels it necessary to distinguish his own view from that

of the Gelugpas in order to clarify his intention. Having contrasted Mikyö Dorjé’s understanding

of union from that of Tsongkhapa and his followers, i.e. clarifying how it is a reaction against

such views, we may now begin to analyze how it is a form of resolution.

2.3. Resolution in Union: The Non-Duality of the Conventional and Ultimate in Mahāmudrā

Throughout this thesis, I have alluded to the fact that within Recognizing the Blessings,

the idea of “union” or yuganaddha is pivotal for Mikyö Dorjé’s articulation of Mahāmudrā. I

have alluded to the fact that his conception of union is heavily reliant on his interpretation of the

two truths doctrine, and in turn his understanding of emptiness (i.e. of ultimate reality).

Furthermore, I have alluded to the fact that Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought is also based on

two different ways of understanding the absolute: as a categorized ultimate—which is highly

perspectival—and as an uncategorized ultimate—which is strictly non-dual and transcends all

such distinctions. Therefore, within this section we will draw out all of these connections and

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clarify how Mikyö Dorjé sees Mahāmudrā as a union that resolves all of the tension of

conceptual categories and transcends the limits of conditional and mundane phenomena.

As mentioned before, much of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought in Recognizing the

Blessings is reliant upon a theory of perspectivalism: the ground, path, and fruition can be

bifurcated into two distinct perspectives or experiences, that of ordinary beings and that of the

āryas. One particularly significant passage in Recognizing the Blessings, which occurs in the

context of the path after expressing the equality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa (a significant fact in

itself, which will be discussed further on), reads:

As for the meaning that is found within the tantras and songs of the siddhas, such

as the many texts [mentioned here] before, they refer to the appearances of the impure minds of ordinary beings that arise as external objects. Thus, that which

produces obscurations which prevent one from clearly seeing both subject and object as in essence the dharmakāya (chos kyi sku’i ngo bor) are the adventitious stains. That being so, from the point of view of the insight of the āryas who

perceive the truth of the dharmatā directly and the siddhas who obtain the supreme siddhis of Mahāmudrā, [such things] are an emanation of primordial

wisdom.170

Again, we see here a clear distinction between these two modes of experience, which is pivotal

for Mikyö Dorjé. This bifurcation between these two modes illustrates his cynicism towards the

conditional, dualistic, and conceptual phenomena of ordinary beings—which are described

negatively with such terms as impure (ma dag pa), ordinary (tha mal pa), and are tantamount to

the adventitious stains (glo bur gyi dri ma yin)—which is to be contrasted with the exalted

170 rgyud dang grub thob kyi glu du mar ’di ’dra’i lung mang po ’byung ba’i don ni ske bo tha mal pa’i sems ma dag

pa’i snang ba phi rol yul tu shar ba yin pas yul dang yul can gnyis ka chos kyi sku’i ngo bor gsal bar mthong ba la

sgrib byed glo bur gyi dri ma yin la/ chos nyid bden pa dngos su gzigs pa’i ’phags pa dang phyag rga chen po

mchog gi dngos grub brnyes pa’i grub thob rnams kyi gzigs ngo na ye shes kyi rnam ’phrul dang thabs khyad par

can gyis zin pa’i lam zab mos nyon mongs pa’i rang bzhin shes nas gnad du bsnun pas rgya mtsho la rlabs zhi bar

ltar nyon mongs pa gnas su dag cing/ yul dang yul can gyi snang ba thams ca d la bde stong phyag rgya chen pos

rgyas thebs pa’i snang ba zhig dgos te. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung

'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4b5-5a2.

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transcendence of the enlightened beings who solely experience what is true (bden pa)—i.e. the

dharmatā (chos nyid), which is the manifestation of primordial wisdom (ye shes rnam ’phrul).171

Such a bifurcation is also more poetically expressed in the introduction when Mikyö Dorjé

cynically laments such worldly trappings as his own disciples, offerings made to him, and even

his own seemingly reprehensible condition, and then praises encountering the Buddha and the

path to enlightenment itself. Thus, by clearly delineating the line between mundane and exalted

states of experience Mikyö Dorjé emphasizes renunciation (nge ’byung) and disillusionment

(skyo shas) towards worldly phenomena, a critical aspect of Buddhist soteriology.

For Mikyö Dorjé, this bifurcation is strongly related to the two truths, with the

perspective of ordinary beings relegated to conventional truth and the exalted position of

enlightened beings placed into the category of ultimate truth. This is how it is stated in Mikyö

Dorjé’s commentary on Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra:

Genuine truth is described as being simply the authentic object of the noble ones’ original wisdom that sees what is authentic and true; there is no identity actually established there for conceptual mind to find. Relative truth is the false object

seen from the perspective of the conceptual mind whose eye of wisdom is completely covered by the cataract of ignorance, as is the case with ordinary

beings. It is therefore posited as being this conceptual mind. The object perceived does not exist in the way that this mind perceives it to be.172

Notice here the similarity to the statement from Recognizing the Blessings that was just

discussed—specifically, ultimate truth is defined as being non-conceptual, authentic, true, and

171 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4b5-6.

172 don dam ni ’phags pa yang dag pa gzigs pa’i ye shes de ngor yul yang dag par ’jog go zhes brjod par zad kyi/

rang gi bdag nyid du grub pa zhig blos rnyed byar yod pa ma yin no/ kun rdzob ni so skye ma rig pa’i ling tog gis

blo mig ma lus khebs pa rnams kyi blo ngor yul brdzun pa mthong bay is blor ’jog go/ blo des mthong ba’i ’dzin stangs dang mthun par yul de ltar grub pa ni ma yin no . Goldfield et al., The Moon of Wisdom, 75

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the object of primordial wisdom; whereas the conventional truth is false, conceptual, and

ignorant.

Given such a strong bifurcation, it seems odd to stress that the two truths are in union, as

Mikyö Dorjé frequently does throughout Recognizing the Blessings. If the conventional truth—

the realm of ordinary beings—and the ultimate truth—the realm of enlightened beings—are as

distinct as Mikyö Dorjé makes them out to be, it seems antithetical to proclaim their union. In his

commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mikyö Dorjé makes it clear that there are two

perspectives with regard to this issue. In regard to the first case:

The nature of phenomena (ultimate reality) and the bearers of this nature (seeming reality) are not one because they have mutually exclusive features in that the

ultimate nature of phenomena exists in an undeceiving manner, while the seeming bearers of this nature are deceiving instances of nonvalid cognition, that is, they lack a nature. This excludes that the ultimate and the seeming are one.173

This passage again demonstrates the strong demarcation between these two modes that Mikyö

Dorjé emphasizes in his Mahāmudrā thought, and, to be blunt, this seems to precisely contradict

his idea of the union of the two truths. However, Mikyö Dorjé also stresses that, just as they are

not one, the two truths are not actually distinct either:

The nature of phenomena (ultimate reality) and the bearers of this nature (seeming reality) are not separate either for the following reasons. (a) The ultimately

existing nature of phenomena cannot be determined through being any superior “existence” that is other than being characterized through the seeming being nonexistent. Therefore, from the perspective that any “seeming” which is other

than the mere nonexistence of the seeming bearers of the nature of phenomena is not established, the two realities are not separate. Or they are not separate because

(b) a seeming that is other than the existence of the ultimate nature of phenomena is not established and thus there is no seeming that is different in nature from the nature of phenomena alone being really existent.174

173 Brunnhölzl, Gone Beyond, 154.

174 Brunnhölzl, Gone Beyond, 154.

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Thus, it is due the fact that characterizations of existence and non-existence are inextricably

linked as well as the fact that conventional reality is non-existent, and thus there is nothing to be

distinguished from ultimate truth anyhow. Thus, it seems that from this perspectival

interpretation of the two truths, there is at least some manner to understand the non-duality of the

two truths, largely based on the non-existence of conventional reality. Regardless, to divide the

two truths this way still seems antithetical to the entire project of union because of its dualistic

framework, in that it makes such a stark distinction between the two truths. Though it certainly

seems that way, it is important to remember that this bifurcation is based merely on perspective

and nothing more. Furthermore, these perspectives are both manifestations of the nature of mind,

as Mikyö Dorjé clarifies in his text, A Response on the Sugatagarbha and the Dharmakāya:

Well then, as for the empty nature of mind, when it arises as the various interdependent occurrences of delusion—the fetters of the two obscurations—

there is saṃsāra; when the empty nature of mind arises as the various interdependent occurrences of accumulation and purification—the non-deluded liberation from the two obscurations—there is non-abiding nirvāṇa. Well then, as

nirvāṇa is true and saṃsāra is untrue, delusive, and false it therefore means that [saṃsāra] does not infiltrate objective reality (yul gyi gnas tshul). Since nirvāṇa

is undeceiving and non-deluded it is presented as the ultimate truth.175

This statement clarifies that neither saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa is separate from the empty nature of

mind, which—following Saraha’s Mahāmudrā doctrine of the equality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa

as Mikyö Dorjé does—provides a basis for understanding the union of these dualistic pairs based

on the realization of the nature of mind. In fact, in Recognizing the Blessings, Mikyö Dorjé

175 ’o na sems rang bzhin stong pa nyid la sgrib gnyis kyi ’ching ba ’khrul pa’i rten ’brel sna tshogs su shar ba’i

tshe na ’khor ba/ sems rang bzhin stong pa nyid sgrib gnyis las grol ba’i ’khrul med kyi bsags sbyang gi rten ’bral

sna tshogs su shar ba’i tshe na mi gnas pa’i myang ’das yin la/ ’o na myang ’das bden la ’khor ba mi bden

pa’i ’khor ba ’khrul pa dang brdzun pa yin pas yul gyi gnas tshul du ma zhugs pa’i don gyis yin no/ myang ’das ni

mi bsul ba dang ma ’khrul pas don dam bden par ’jog la. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i

dris lan. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a2-4.

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quotes Saraha twice on this topic: “When it is realized, it is everything; Searching for something

other than this, it is not found,”176 and, “Whatever is saṃsāra is nirvāṇa.”177 Given that these

quotes precede his discussion of the two perspectives of ordinary and enlightened beings, it

seems that he emphasizes understanding that these disparate modes of experience, such as

saṃsāra or nirvāṇa, conventional or ultimaty reality, are simply manifestations of the nature of

mind which is itself empty.

In A Response on the Sugatagarbha and the Dharmakāya, Mikyö Dorjé elaborates that

any such dualistic discussion separating the two truths is not the final word on the matter:

Likewise, this presentation of the falsity of saṃsāra and the truth of the ultimate,

too, is not in the context of the uncategorized ultimate. However, it is within the context of asserting the ultimate meaning of what is categorized. As for the

context of presenting it as the conventional truth in the tradition of ‘Glorious Moon’ [Candrakīrti], it is not possible for both to be the final sense, and so it is presented provisionally as the truth of the ultimate itself and within that context it

is the subject being characterized (mtshan gzhi), which is exclusively the truth of nirvāṇa. Though this is how it is stated, even [this so-called] final nirvāṇa is not

the genuine absolute.178

Here we see that Mikyö Dorjé recognizes that emphasizing the falsity of the conventional and

the truth of the ultimate is merely provisional. He clarifies that it is the same kind of presentation

of the two truths that we find from Candrakīrti, which matches the definition that we cited earlier

from Mikyö Dorjé’s commentary on the Madhyamakāvatāra. Such a description emphasizing

176 rtogs par gyur na thams cad de yin te/ ’di las gzhan du btsal du rnyed ma yin . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya

chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N.,

2004. 4b4.

177 ’khor ba gang yin de nyid mya ngan ’das. Ibid., 4b4.

178 de ltar ’khor ba rdzun pa dang don dam bden par ’jog pa ’di yang rnam grangs min pa’i don dam pa ’i skabs su

ma yin gyi/ rnam grangs pa’i don dam khas len pa’i skabs su yin te/ dpal ldan zla ba’i rang lugs la kun rdzob bden

par ’jog pa’i skabs ni gnas skabs mthar thug gnyis kar mi srid la/ gnas skabs su ni don dam nyid bden par ’jog cing

de’i tshe de’i mthsan gzhi ni/ mya ngan ’das pa bden gcig bu’ shes gsungs kyang mthar thug myang ’das kyang don

dam mtshan nyid pa min te. Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i dris lan . In gsung 'bum of Mi

bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a4-2b1.

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distinction is merely an expression of the categorized ultimate (rnam grangs pa’i don dam), i.e.

framing the ultimate in definite terms that can be understood intellectually, which as he plainly

states is not itself the genuine absolute. Mikyö Dorjé goes on to explain why this is not the final

view:

Since that does not transcend compounded phenomena, what is final (mthar) is a

single truth and is not something to be attained (rnyed pa ma yin). The non-duality of bliss and emptiness taught in the final mantra treatise(s) and Mahāmudrā as well is what is meant by the inseparable, the union of bliss and

emptiness as a single flavor, as the emptiness of the enlightened mind of the ultimate sense that is free from elaboration and the bliss of the enlightened mind

of the conventional sense, which is the wisdom mind of love without reference, leading up to the noble minds of the Mantrayāna.179

It is because the bifurcated model of the two truths expresses compounded phenomena, rather

than transcending them, that it is not the final view; in other words, it does not reflect the

perspective of absolute union. At the same time, we must also remember that even the bifurcated

model, representing disparate yet empty modes of experience, is comprised of merely

interdependent occurences of the empty nature of mind, and as such does not in actuality imply

any separation from final absolute reality. Here it becomes clear that when Mikyö Dorjé

emphasizes union in Recognizing the Blessings, he is basing it on an understanding of the

uncategorized ultimate (rnam grangs min pa’i don dam), and this uncategorized ultimate

transcends compounded phenomena, is not something to be attained (since it is unfabricated),

and is holistically non-dual.

This also clarifies that, while not explicitly mentioned, Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of

179 de ni ’dus phyas las ma ’das pa’i phyir des na mthar ni bden pa gcig pa’ang rnyed pa ma yin/ sngags gzhung

mthar thug gi bde stong gnyis med phyag chen du bshad pa’i bde stong gnyis med de’ang rdo rje theg pa’i ’phags

rgyud yan chad kyi thugs rgyud dmigs med kyi brtse ba kun rdzob byang sems kyi bde ba dang spros bral don dam

byang sems stong nyid du ro gcig pa la bde stong zung ’jug bya ba dbyer med kyi don to . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde

gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i dris lan . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa:

S.N., 2004. 2b1-3.

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absolute union allows for the hermeneutical interpretation of an authentic conventional truth

(yang dag kun rdzob bden pa) which is non-dualistic in contrast with the incorrect conventional

truth (log pa’i kun rdzob bden pa) which is dualistic. Recalling how he defines the conventional

truth in The Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas, we can see how he would likely define the

incorrect conventional:

Relative truth is the false object seen from the perspective of the conceptual mind whose eye of wisdom is completely covered by the cataract of ignorance, as is the

case with ordinary beings. It is therefore posited as being this conceptual mind. The object perceived does not exist in the way that this mind perceives it to be.180

This is the way that conventional reality appears to ignorant beings with their dualistic mind, and

such beings would grasp at the duality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, for example. However, as we just

saw, Mikyö Dorjé describes the conventional differently in A Response on the Sugatagarbha and

the Dharmakāya as “the bliss of the enlightened mind of the conventional sense, which is the

wisdom mind of love without reference.”181 This conventional belongs to the realm of final

(mthar) enlightened realization which is free from any grasping at duality, and is thus an

authentic conventional.

As Mikyö Dorjé mentions in the quote above, this authentic conventional mode is

inseparable from the ultimate truth of unelaborated emptiness, and is the bliss of the enlightened

mind which is love without reference. We find this sentiment similarly expressed in Recognizing

the Blessings as well, for example, when Mikyö Dorjé discusses the conventional and ultimate

aspects of tantric deity practice and states that, “Since all the phases of the ground, path, and

fruition of those aspects are inseparable and in union, the emptiness of the manner of embrace is

180 Goldfield et al., The Moon of Wisdom, 75.

181 thugs rgyud dmigs med kyi brtse ba kun rdzob byang sems kyi bde ba . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde gshegs snying po

dang chos sku'i dris lan. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2b1-3.

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sealed with bliss, and the bliss being empty of nature is understood as the quintessence of a

single flavor.”182 Based on the similarity between these statements, it is clear that Mikyö Dorjé is

advocating for a similar understanding of absolute union in both cases.183

All things considered, it seems that we can condense the ideas presented in Recognizing

the Blessings in the following manner:

1) Ordinary beings are necessarily involved in conditions, conceptions, and duality which are false while enlightened beings transcend all of these and represent the

ultimate truth, which is truth proper. Conveying these two perspectives provisionally expresses the incorrect relative and the categorized ultimate.

2) Both of these are equal in being mere perspectives or manifestations of the nature of

mind: while not realized it is saṃsāra and when realized it is nirvāṇa. All distinctions

do not exist as such and are fabrications of mind.

3) The uncategorized ultimate which is absolute (as well as the authentic conventional of enlightened love and bliss inseperable from it) is the union of all conventional and ultimate aspects, which is holistically non-dual, unconditioned, and is the final

meaning of Mahāmudrā.184

From this, we can understand how Mikyö Dorjé’s theory of union is a form of resolution:

anything categorized, conditional, or dualistic is inherently problematic and limited. Yet, at the

same time these kinds of phenomena—being mere perspective, interdependent manifestations

182 de rnam gzhi lam ’bras bu’i gnas skabs thams cad dbyer med zung ’jug yin pas ’khyud pa’i tshul gyis stong

pa’ang bde bas rgyas ’debs bde ba’ang rang bzhin stong pa ro gcig pa’i bdag nyid du shes pa dang . Mi bskyod rdo

rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776.

Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4a1-2.

183 Refer to Appendix 3 for a chart of Mikyö Dorjé’s descriptions and qualifications of the two truths in their various

categories.

184 This formula is reminiscent of a statement made by Mipham Rinpoche which explains how such a process would

work sequentially in terms of advancement along the path. Thus, it may help explain th e pragmatic role and

soteriological purpose of such disparate models on reality. As stated by Dorji Wangchuk, “[Mipham Rinpoche]

explains, a beginner is required to generate ‘a sense of fear in the face of the suffering…associated with [saṃsāric]

existence’ (srid pa’i sdug bsngal la ’jigs pa’i yid) and ‘a sense of delight in [nirvāṇic] tranquility’ (zhi ba la dga’

ba’i yid), but once one becomes a highly advanced bodhisattva who realises the ‘homogeneity (or: equality) of

[saṃsāric] existence and [nirvāṇic] tranquility’ (srid zhi mnyam pa nyid), one should abandon both ‘fear and thirst

for, [respectively,] saṃsāra and nirvāṇa’ (’khor ’das la ’jigs sred)”. See: Dorji Wangchuk, “Was Mi-pham a

Dialectical Monist?” Indo-Iranian Journal 55 (2012): 33-34.

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that arise based on the empty nature of mind—are never separate from the absolute state of

Mahāmudrā which is not at all bound by such conditions or duality. Emphasizing this thoroughly

non-dual and inseparable form of union thereby allows Mikyö Dorjé to resolve all manner of

contradictions and dichotomous conditions, which are adventitious and limited, in the quietude

of the transcendent ultimate. Therefore, by advocating for this form of union as resolution,

Mikyö Dorjé is still able to provisionally engage in the project of re-appropration which allows

for sūtra and tantra to be incorporated into Mahāmudrā, while emphasizing adherence to ultimate

transcendence against such conventional phenomena as reaction against those who reify duality.

Dorji Wangchuk finds a similar use of the theory of union in the nineteenth century

Tibetan scholar Mipham Rinpoche’s thought, describing it as a form of “dialectical monism”:

If we understand the resolving of tension between any two opposed or juxtaposed poles by seeking one common substrate, or else a level (or dimension) that

transcends both, to be “dialectical monism,” then Mipham can justifiably be regarded as a dialectical monist. This observation is indeed crucial, not just for

understanding Mi-pham’s thought but also in understanding the fundamental doctrines of the rNying-ma school as perceived by him. Any potential semantic ambiguities of dialectical monism, at least in Mi-pham’s case, may be precluded

if we bear in mind that we are dealing here with how Mi-pham exploits and employs the concept of “unity” (zung ’jug: yuganaddha) to resolve Buddhist

philosophical or doctrinal tension, be it real or virtual. In fact, Mi-pham’s greatest contribution to the rNying-ma school seems to be his setting the entire spectrum of Buddhist doctrines into a yuganaddha framework, thereby furnishing his

school with the essential tools and techniques for explaining and accepting not only major Indian Buddhist (primarily Mahāyāna) philosophies but also their

various (and occasionally even diametrically opposed) Tibetan interpretations. It thus seems in my eyes to be fully justified to designate Mi-pham a “Yuganaddhavādin” (zung ’jug tu smra ba). Mi-pham maintains that his rNying-

ma school upholds the religio-philosophical system (grub pa’i mtha’: siddhānta) of yuganaddha, and it alone, at all levels, namely, the ground (gzhi), path (lam),

and result (’bras bu), which clearly suggests that he perceived or defined his rNying-ma school as a “Yuganaddhavādin” school.185

185 Wangchuk, “Was Mipham a Dialectical Monist?” 31-32.

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Whereas I do not find Mikyö Dorjé explicitly defining himself or his tradition as

Yuganaddhavādin in the same way that Mipham Rinpoche does, it is very clear based on the

textual evidence that he considers union (of the two truths, bliss and emptiness, etc.,) to be his

final view, which is tantamount to the realization of Mahāmudrā. It also seems clear that the

rhetoric of union allowed Mikyö Dorjé to resolve contradictions as well as bring together

disparate elements of Buddhist theory and doctrine. While his conception of union itself seems at

times to be slightly different from Mipham Rinpoche’s—Mikyö Dorjé frequently refers to it as

the union of bliss and emptiness (bde stong zung ’jug) which seems to imply a stronger relation

to tantra and specifically the Kālacakra186 than Mipham Rinpoche’s emphasis on the union of

appearance and emptiness (snang stong zung ’jug)187—it seems appropriate to understand Mikyö

Dorjé as a Yuganaddhavādin in the sense that Wangchuk is describing here, i.e. one who uses the

concept of yuganaddha to resolve doctrinal tension and maintains this concept at all levels of the

ground, path, and fruition. Again, Mikyö Dorjé is advocating for the inseparability of the two

truths (bliss and emptiness specifically), and the entire ground, path, and fruition via their

inseperable union. I would, of course, stress the importance of understanding the supremacy of

186 As Roger Jackson notes, “in the Kālacakra, Mahāmudrā is the inexpressible, unchanging bliss transcending other

mudras, as well as the empty-formed buddha-aspect in which one awakens…” See: Roger Jackson, “Mahāmudrā:

Natural Mind in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism,” Religion Compass 5 (2011): 289.

187 It is interesting that Mikyö Dorjé does not ever use the term “union of appearance and emptiness” explicitly in

Recognizing the Blessings. He chooses instead to proclaim the union of “bliss and emptiness ,” and once refers to the

ground as the “union of clarity and emptiness” (gzhi gsal stong zung ’jug)—and thereafter often implies that the

term clarity is interchangeable with the term bliss by using them in tandem. He on ly uses the term appearance

(snang ba) once in discussing the conventional and ultimate aspects of tantric practice, equating appearance with

method (thabs), clarity (gsal ba), and bliss (bde ba)—this implies that he ultimately sees appearance as aspects of

clarity and bliss, i.e. in union with emptiness. However, he generally seems to associate the term appearance (snang

ba) with the experience of ordinary beings, distinguishing this from the emanation (rnam ’phrul) of primordial

wisdom (ye shes) which is solely the domain of the āryas (’phags pa). This kind of distinction suggests to me that

Mikyö Dorjé—unlike Mipham Rinpoche—was generally uneasy with the idea of equating the dualistic appearances

of ordinary beings with the ultimate appearances of enlightened ones, though he at times concedes that ultimately

such distinctions do not apply. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum

of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2a2; 3b6-4a1; 4b5-6.

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Mahāmudrā in conveying and/or realizing union in Mikyö Dorjé’s conception of union, just as it

is important to understand Dzogchen as the pinnacle of Mipham’s union theory. For Mikyö

Dorjé then, union acts as the common basis for which all manner of controversies and

contradictions can be dealt with and ultimately resolved in Mahāmudrā. Since union is reality,

and nothing is separate from this reality of union, everything is embraced in union.

In closing, one pressing question seems unresolved at this point: If everything is truly and

inescapably in non-dual union, how is it possible to make any distinctions at all, even merely on

a temporal or conventional level, using such categories as ground, path, and fruition, or even

sūtra and tantra? This is, after all, a substantial reason why Gelug scholars wished to assert the

validity of conventionl truth itself, so that all of the relative categories of the path leading

towards enlightenment would remain valid and coherent as well. In his commentary on the

Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mikyö Dorjé raises a possible objection regarding the indivisibility of the

dharmadhātu (synonymous with ultimate reality), which for such interlocutors would preclude

the possibility of ever making such divisions as the three yānas and the like, which Mikyö Dorjé

clearly advocates for in his exegesis. To this, the he replies with a clever analogy of the space in

a jar:

For example, even though a jar (the foundation) is a single one, by virtue of the

divisions of the phenomena that are contained in it and founded on it (such as honey or ground sugar), the divisions of this foundation are expressed as it sometimes being “a honey jar” and sometimes “a sugar jar.” Likewise, though the

disposition to be realized is a single one, by way of being founded on it, different superior and inferior ways of realizing it occur. Therefore, it is divided in these

ways.188

Therefore, for Mikyö Dorjé, since the foundation (union) is unitary, whatever is based upon it is

188 Brunnhölzl, Gone Beyond, 291-292.

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also necessarily unitary in nature, though it is if course possible to base apparently different

things upon it. This helps clarify how Mahāmudrā may accomodate seemingly disparate

circumstances: all of the various paths, categories, and vehicles (though they may be understood

as superior and inferior) are founded upon ultimate union. It also clarifies how these disparate

categories are ultimately resolvable in union. Such things as perspectives of ignorance and

enlightened wisdom, and categories of false dualistic appearances of the incorrect conventional

and the authentic conventional experience of love and bliss, for example, are merely provisional

contents within the expanse of everlasting union. For critics of Mikyö Dorjé’s brand of non-

duality such as the Gelugpa, the existential status of such categories and perspectives needs to be

in some sense preserved in order for them to apply and remain coherent at all. Yet, for Mikyö

Dorjé, it is the totality of non-dual union which both accommodates all of these various

conventional expressions and allows them to be ultimately resolved. The finality and totality of

union accommodates for and binds together all of these various expressions, experiences, and

perspectives, which do not exist at all apart from that all-pervasive union. To denigrate this

holistic non-dual union or exaggerate the status of conventional dualistic phenomena would

leave dualistic and conceptual tensions unresolved for Mikyö Dorjé, perpetuating the delusions

of ordinary experience and preclude final liberation. Holistic and non-dual union is thus the

starting point, the final destination, and everything in between for Mikyö Dorjé: it is both the

ultimate basis and the final resolution for all.

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Chapter 3

Concluding Remarks

3.1. A Comparitive Analysis of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā Vision

In discussing Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā interpretation, much has been said here in terms

of how to understand it in relation to Sakya and Gelug critiques of the Kagyü tradition, as well as

in relation to Gampopa’s characterization of the hierarchy of Mahāmudrā, sūtra, and tantra. With

this in mind, at least a brief overview of how Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā compares and contrasts

with other scholars and masters of Kagyü Mahāmudrā seems in order. This will allow for a more

refined contextualization of the Eighth Karmapa’s Mahāmudrā thought, allowing us to appreciate

the distinct and unique aspects of his interpretation.

Padma Karpo (1527-1592) was a contemporary of Mikyö Dorjé, and as then head of the

Tibetan Drukpa Kagyü tradition his thought was quite influential and remains so to this day. One

interesting area of comparison here for the two figures is that Padma Karpo identifies two

manners of discussing Mahāmudrā: Mahāmudrā in its deluded form (’khrul lugs phyag chen)

and Mahāmudrā as it is (gnas lugs phyag chen).189 The former essentially represents the dualistic

mind and the latter the realization of the nature of mind, i.e. of non-dual reality. This is also

significant in that these categories are strongly related to Padma Karpo’s conception of

yuganaddha. This formulation seems to be compatible with Mikyö Dorjé’s own understanding of

Mahāmudrā, however at this point I am not aware of Mikyö Dorjé employing these terms

specifically. Whatever the case may be, this description seems to match his understanding of an

189 Broido, “Padma dKarpo on the Two Satyas,” 27.

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ultimate that is categorized (rnam grangs pa) and that which is not (rnam grangs min). In this

case, Mikyö Dorjé’s preference for the ‘categorized’ distinction may represent his penchant for

polemics—as the reader will recall he referred to the Gelugpa’s view of emptiness as a limited

categorical emptiness (nyi tshe ba’i rnam grangs pa’i stong nyid).190 Broido is quick to point out,

however, that for Padma Karpo these two forms of Mahāmudrā are inextricably united, with

neither one being “good” nor “bad.”191 As I have tried to clarify, Mikyö Dorjé ultimately agrees

with this idea. However, at least provisionally he seems much more cynical than Padma Karpo

about the conventional truth that is categorized or incorrect, which he has condemned as ‘falsity’

and ‘non-existence.’ This explicit cynicism towards the conventional seems to demonstrate the

soteriological significance of renunciation of such dualistic and conventional phenomena for

Mikyö Dorjé and its pivotal importance for those on the path, as I have mentioned before. In

other words, renunciation of such phenomena is not possible as long as one ascribes to them any

kind of validity (as the Gelugpas do, you may recall). This is just another form of grasping

embedded in conceptuality and mental elaborations. Thus, Mikyö Dorjé’s cynicism towards the

conventional aids in liberating one from grasping at truth where there is none. Yet even the

conventional truth in that sense is not ultimately divorced from the all-encompassing embrace of

union; if it were, then it would be antithetical to Mikyö Dorjé’s ultimate project of such union.

Recall that even these phenomena are interdependent manifestations of the empty nature of mind

for Mikyö Dorjé. In his Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas, he elaborates on the conventional

truth:

Bewilderment is that which causes sentient beings to be ignorant about the abiding nature of reality. Alternatively, it is that which imagines the abiding nature

of reality to be something other than what it actually is and in this way obscures 190 Williams, “Mi Bskyod Rdo Rje's Critique of Dge Lugs Pa Madhyamaka,” 133.

191 Broido, “Padma dKarpo on the Two Satyas,” 28.

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the view of its true nature. Such a phenomena is called relative...[For noble ones] the relative is of a nature that resembles fabricated things rather than being

something true, because they do not wrongly assume it to be true. Relative truth deceives immature beings, but the noble ones know it to be illusory, merely

relative, and of the essence of dependent arising.192 Here we can understand that the conventional is true in two ways for Mikyö Dorjé: that it

is true merely for ordinary beings who perceive phenomena in a deluded manner, i.e. it is

a commonly accepted “truth” which is in actuality false (in accord with his perspectival

theory), and that its essence is true as emptiness or dependent arising (in accord with his

vision of union), which describes how it is “true” epistemologically and ontologically,

respectively. In defining it as such, Mikyö Dorjé is keeping with the classical sense of the

term for the conventional or relative, kun rdzob, as something that conceals the true

nature (which can be contrasted to how the Gelugpa scholars understand the conventional

as a truth of equal ontological and epistemological status to the ultimate).193

Another important figure for our purposes here is Gö Lotsawa, particularly since

Mikyö Dorjé was at times critical of his ideas.194 As Ruegg has noted,195 Gö Lotsawa

192 gti mug ni sems can rnams gnas lugs la rmongs par byed pa’am/ gnas lugs las gzhan du sgro btags nas gnas lugs

kyi rang bzhin mthong ba la sgrib par byed pa’i phyir/ chos de lta bu la ni kun rdzob ces byar ’jog ste rgyu mthsan

bshad zin to/ gti mug gi rang bzhin kun rdzob des dngos po gang rang bzh in med bzhin yod par shen nas don la ma

zhugs kyang bcos mar btags pa’i rten ’brel gyi dbang gis bden par snang ba de ni kun rdzob kyi bden pa zhes thub

pa des gsungs so/ kun rdzob kyi bden pa de yang nyen thos dang rang sangs rgyas dang byang chub sems dp a’ nyon

mongs pa can gyi ma rig pa spangs pa ‘dus byed gzugs brnyan la sogs pa’i yod pa nyid dang ’dra bar gzigs pa

rnams la ni bcos mar gyur pa’i dngos po ta bur gyur pa ni rang bzhin yin gyi/ bden pa ma yin te bden par rlom pa

med pa’i phyir/ byis pa rnams la ni slu bar byed pa yin la/ ’phags pa rnams la ni sgyu ma ltar rten ’byung nyid kyi kun rdzob tsam du ’gyur ro. Goldfield et al., The Moon of Wisdom, 85.

193 Thakchoe explains, for example, “[Tsongkhapa] accords equal significance to both the epistemolo gical and

ontological issues involved in the relationship between the two truths. To say that they share a single ontological

identity with different conceptual identities does not mean, therefore, that the distinctions at issue are purely

epistemological. This is consistent with his position that the two truths have equal status and do not constitute an

ontological or epistemological hierarchy.” Thakchoe, The Two Truths Debate, 21.

194 See for example: Mathes, Direct Path to the Buddha Within , 51.

195 Ruegg, “A Karma bKa’ brgyud Work,” 348.

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made a strict distinction between Mantrayāna and Mahāmudrā by formulating a sutra-

based Mahāmudrā, resulting in a “radical separation” of Mantrayāna and Mahāmudrā

with which Mikyö Dorjé seemed uncomfortable. Considering the heavily tantric tone of

Recognizing the Blessings, I would say that Mikyö Dorjé’s favoring of a tantric

Mahāmudrā (which still may accommodate the sūtras) has been made evident, with the

caveat that according to this research Mikyö Dorjé did view Mahāmudrā as something

that ultimately transcends even the tantras, with the exception of the Kālacakra. For Gö

Lotsawa at least, his preference for sūtric Mahāmudrā perhaps demonstrates his affinity

for the sugatagarbha theory found in the Ratnagotravibhāga, which Gampopa designated

as a basic text for understanding Mahāmudrā .196 Mathes also explains that Gö Lotsawa

reads the gradual path of the four Mahāmudrā yogas into the Ratnagotravibhāga.197

Mikyö Dorjé’s preference for tantra seems to be based in his view that only the tantras

express the spontaneous and non-elaborated emptiness that is endowed with all qualities,

whereas sūtra only teaches the non-elaborated aspect198—a view which is similarly

expressed in Recognizing the Blessings. Mikyö Dorjé also strongly criticized Gö

Lotsawa’s sugatagarbha theory as treating buddha nature as a real cause (specifically as

being merely the six sense fields or āyatanas of sentient beings) and not as identical with

the all-pervading buddha kāyas.199 In sum, it seems that Gö Lotsawa emphasized a

gradualist understanding of Mahāmudrā via his particular sugatagarbha interpretation

196 See: Mathes, Direct Path to Buddha Within , 34.

197 Ibid., 45.

198 Broido, “Padma dKarpo on the Two Satyas,” 17.

199 Mathes, Direct Path to Buddha Within , 415-416.

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based on the sūtras, which Mikyö Dorjé took exception with since it would seem to

contradict his theory of the union of cause and result (i.e. the ground and fruition) based

on the tantras (specifically the Kālacakra).

As for the other Karmapas, Mathes has already done a fair amount of analysis on the

strong relationship between the thought of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorjé (1284-1339) and

Mikyö Dorjé,200 which I do not feel I have anything significant to add at this point. In brief,

Mathes demonstrates how Mikyö Dorjé followed the tathāgatagarbha thought of Rangjung

Dorjé rather closely. Mathes quotes Mikyö Dorjé in his commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra

as criticizing those who interpret the Third Karmapa as asserting that the tathāgatagarbha exists

inseparably within the dharmadhātu of the mind of sentient beings, and rather claims that mind

has an impure aspect, i.e. that which possesses consciousness (sems can) and does not possess

the dharmadhātu, which is tantamount to the adventitious stains that deviate from the

dharmadhātu due to false imagination. For Mikyö Dorjé and his interpretation of Rangjung

Dorjé, mind also has a pure aspect that possesses the manner of being inseparable from the

buddha qualities which is related to such Mahāmudrā terms as natural mind (tha mal gyi shes

pa).201 Accordng to Mathes, this clear-cut distinction between the pure and impure minds,

centering on a distinction between an ordinary ālaya consciousness (kun gzhi rnam shes) and an

exalted ālaya (kun gzhi),202 represents an essential part of Mikyö Dorjé’s other-emptiness

interpretation. Thus, according to Mathes’ research, it seems that Mikyö Dorjé held Rangjung

Dorjé’s theories in particularly high regard, and used his Yogācāra and Mahāmudrā

200 Mathes, Direct Path to Buddha Within , 51-74.

201 Ibid., 63.

202 Mikyö Dorjé terms the latter as a primordial wisdom-ālaya (kun gzhi ye shes). Ibid., 61.

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interpretations to complement his own thought.

It is of particular interest to make a comparison of Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought to

that of his successor the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorjé (1556–1603). It seems that Wangchuk

Dorjé was more systematic than Mikyö Dorjé regarding Mahāmudrā, and indeed it was the Ninth

Karmapa who formulated the popular four-fold pointing out instruction in his Ocean of the

Definitive Meaning (nges don rgya mtsho), which are in short: 1) Recognize appearances to be

mind (snang ba sems sun go ’phrod); 2) Recognize mind to be empty (sems stong par

ngo ’phrod); 3) Recognize emptiness to be spontaneously present (stong pa lhun grub tu

ngo ’phrod); 4) Recognize spontaneous presence to be self-liberating (lhun grub rang grol du

ngo ’phrod).203 While I am not aware of Mikyö Dorjé employing these phrases specifically,

particularly in such a methodical manner, we can find some analogues in his writings. For

example, when he discusses śamatha and vipaśyanā in Recognizing the Blessings, we find some

very similar ideas at play:

As for vipaśyanā, understanding that there are no phenomena apart from the

mind, since the mind’s aspects of clarity and awareness is this present mind that distinguishes between the three times [yet] is empty of a cause, fruition, and

essence, it is the wisdom of fully discerning phenomena: a bare (rjen lhag gi) awareness that is unconditioned, inconceivable, and cannot be expressed as anything whatsoever.204

To be sure, as I just mentioned, the terminology that Wangchuk Dorjé employed is not explicitly

mentioned here either. However, we can see some striking similarities. The first two of the

203 Anne Burchardi, “The Logic of Liberation: Epistemology as a Path to the Realization of Mahāmudrā,”

Himalayan Discoveries 1 (2013): 40.

204 lhag mthong ni sems las ma gtogs pa’i chos med par shes nas/ sems gsal rig gi cha de la dus gsum du bcad pa’i

da ltar gyi sems ’di la rgyu ’bras ngo bo gsum gyis stong zhing/ ’dus ma byas pa cing yang ma dmigs shing gang

du’ang brjod du med par rjen lhag gi shes pa’i chos rab tu rnam ’byed kyi shes rab yin la . Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag

rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa:

S.N., 2004. 3a3-5.

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pointing out instructions are clearly there, as in the statement to the effect that no phenomena is

separate from mind and that this mind is empty of cause, fruition, and essence. The last two of

the pointing out instructions are not so clearly illustrated here, however there are similar ideas

here. For instance, the idea of being ‘spontaneously present’—or more literally ‘spontaneously

accomplished’—can be compared to Mikyö Dorjé’s emphasis that this empty clarity and

awareness is none other than “this present mind” (da ltar gyi sems ’di), which while not

technically the same is similar in its subitist emphasis on immanence. The fourth instruction is

the least obvious within the text, though the idea here of bare awareness being unconditioned

does imply through the rhetoric of immanence that enlightenment is not fabricated, and hence

not “other-liberated”—and there is also a later instruction that subject and object are in essence

the dharmakāya (chos kyi sku’i ngo bor)205—both of these ideas at least implicitly accord with

the spirit of the final pointing-out instruction of Wangchuk Dorjé. This demonstrates, implicitly

though not explicitly, that Wangchuk Dorjé’s formulation of the four instructions has an

ideological precedent in his immediate predecessor. It is of course possible that these ideas are

more explicitly expressed elsewhere, though that is not clear at this time due to the limited

amount of research available on Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought.

In the previous chapter, I mentioned the nineteenth-century Mahāmudrā scholar Karma

Tashi Chöphel who adopted a tri-fold categorization of Mahāmudrā (phyag chen rnam pa gsum)

into sūtra (mdo’i phyag chen), mantra (sngags kyi phyag chen), and essence (snying po’i phyag

chan). This system was also popularized by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé (1813-1899) in his

text The Treasury of Universal Knowledge (shes bya kun khyab mdzod). Mantra Mahāmudrā is

205 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4b5.

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the generally accepted category of Mahāmudrā, and is transmitted via the Vajrayāna path of

means, involving tantric empowerment. Essence Mahāmudrā is the sudden realization of the

nature of mind via the empowerment of vajra-wisdom given by a realized guru to a qualified

disciple. Sūtra Mahāmudrā is based in the Sūtrayāna (sometimes even said to be hidden in the

sūtras), yet is also said to accord with mantra. It is different from standard Sūtrayāna in that it is

able to produce a direct realization of emptiness even for beginners who have not obtained the

first bhūmi. Many modern scholars have noted that such a classification of Mahāmudrā was not

extant at the time of Gampopa, though Gampopa did employ a similar formula—as was

mentioned previously in the first chapter—of a path of inference (rje dpag lam, i.e. sūtra), a path

of blessing (byin rlabs kyi lam, i.e. mantra), and a path of direct perception (mngon sum lam, i.e.

Mahāmudrā proper).206 The difference between these sets of categories lies in the fact that

Gampopa wanted to distinguish Mahāmudrā proper as a direct path apart from the general sūtra

and tantra approaches, while figures like Karma Tashi Chöphel and Jamgön Kongtrul wished to

distinguish between three different ways to apply Mahāmudrā which are appropriate in their

particular contexts.

As we have seen, Mikyö Dorjé’s approach seems to meet somewhere in the middle of

these: 1) he generally sees Mahāmudrā as superior to the Pāramitāyāna (even while according

with it); 2) Tantric Mahāmudrā is generally favored, though, only on a provisional basis (with the

exception of the Kālacakra); and 3) Ultimately, Mahāmudrā proper (which is presented in the

Kālacakra as well) transcends both the inferential means of sūtra and the ritualistic means of

tantra. This last point in particular accords with Gampopa’s vision.

206 For more on both Jamgön Kongtrul and Gampopa’s categorizations of Mahāmudrā, see: Mathes, “Blending o f

Sūtras and Tantras,” 201-203.

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In light of research available to date, Mikyö Dorjé’s approach to Mahāmudrā appears to

be less explicitly systematized than later approaches, which involve clear categorizations of

Mahāmudrā (such as Wangchuk Dorjé’s set of four pointing out instructions or Karma Tashi

Chöphel’s trifold classification of Mahāmudrā). Nevertheless, it does have a significant

hierarchical element (such as his emphasis on the inferiority of the sūtra approach as well as

tantras inferior to the Kālacakra), which is largely lacking in later formulations. Mikyö Dorjé’s

hierarchical approach here accords with Gampopa’s as well. The lack of hierarchical emphasis in

these later formulations may be due to the spirit of the non-sectarian (ris med) movement in Tibet

that arose shortly after Mikyö Dorjé’s time, though this is just speculation.

Thus, we may see Mikyö Dorjé as negotiating between the two poles of Gampopa’s

transcendental Mahāmudrā vision and the kind of inclusive vision emphasized by later figures.

Taken together with his contemporaries’ attempts at formulating or interpreting Mahāmudrā in

rather novel ways, we can understand Mikyö Dorjé’s time as a period of adaptation for

Mahāmudrā—with different proponents of Mahāmudrā adopting different formulas,

hermeneutics, and categorizations. Compared to figures like Gampopa, Lama Zhang, and

Chödrag Gyatso, in particular, Mikyö Dorjé’s approach is distinctive for its largely scholastic

and theoretical approach (though it should be noted that this approach is at all times with praxis

and soteriology in mind) that is based in his vision of union—distinguishing him from Gö

Lotsawa, for example—and is employed to justify both hierarchical categories of systems, tenets,

and views as well as how to explain their integration and fundamental commonalities. Though

figures like Padma Karpo also heavily emphasized union in their Mahāmudrā thought, Mikyö

Dorjé’s vision was unique in its strong cynicism towards conditional existence and conventional

approaches to the ultimate. Again, this demonstrates his Mahāmudrā thought as reaction to such

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elements, which nevertheless may be re-appropriated, though ultimately culminating in the

admonition that all conventional tension needs to be pacified via their resolution.

3.2. Conclusion: The Holistically Non-Dual Union of Mikyö Dorjé

Throughout this work, I have alluded to Mikyö Dorjé’s thought as reaction, re-

appropriation, and resolution. This interpretation is largely based on the Mahāmudrā thought

contained within his text Recognizing the Blessings, but also of course relies on relevant

statements and theories found elsewhere in his other works, as well as on the historical context of

pertinent doctrinal disputes. The element of reaction is demonstrated in Mikyö Dorjé’s

transcendental approach; it is his general cynicism towards merely conventional means limited

by worldly conditions and leads him to defend the subitist Mahāmudrā tradition of Gampopa

against critiques made by Sakya and Gelug scholars calling for more scholastic and doctrinal

consistency, as well as disputes about how to approach the interpretation of conventional and

ultimate truths. The element of re-appropriation is demonstrated in Mikyö Dorjé’s inclusive and

eclectic approach; it is his acknowledgement of the provisional usefulness of incorporating other

doctrines and practices onto the path of Mahāmudrā, and thus it is also an empowerment of

Mahāmudrā by answering critics who claimed that Kagyü Mahāmudrā is detrimentally divorced

from sūtra and tantra. This represents a rather distinct approach towards Mahāmudrā,

demonstrating how one may accommodate aspects of sūtra and tantra within the system of

Mahāmudrā.

Finally, the element of resolution represents Mikyö Dorjé’s ultimate view, and his desire

to resolve all tensions and distinctions (here in particular, those of the ground, path, and fruition)

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within the quietude of the unconditioned and non-dual reality of union. His union theory is both

holistic—it includes everything, both conventional and ultimate truths—and it is non-dual—it is

not a mere integration or connection of two (or more) elements, but the essential singularity of

all aspects, it is the substrate of all phenomena consisting of their unconditional inseparability

throughout all seemingly distinct and disparate phases and contexts. This holistically non-dual

union is based in Mikyö Dorjé’s nature of mind theory, which recognizes all perspectives on the

path as aspects of the empty nature of mind, and it is only by realizing the holistic and non-dual

union of all such aspects that one may attain final liberation. The perspectival and non-dual

modes are defined by Mikyö Dorjé as categorized and uncategorized, respectively, with the

former being provisionally useful on the path and the latter being ultimate reality as it is. This

demonstrates the pivotal importance of the theory of union in understanding Mikyö Dorjé’s final

view, and it suggests that all of Mikyö Dorjé’s views should be based on an appropriate

understanding of holistic and non-dual union which is the ultimate goal of all of his other

approaches—and in that sense, Mikyö Dorjé is a proponent of unity, a “Yuganaddhavādin”, as it

were. Mikyö Dorjé recognized the futile and contradictory nature of conventional approaches,

yet maintained their provisional utility along the path because such approaches ultimately lead to

his vision of unity which is the resolution of any and all tensions. Understanding this may aid

scholars of Mikyö Dorjé to reconcile the various (and at times, seemingly contradictory)

approaches that he employed, which would hopefully result in an appreciation of his grander

vision and the general consistency of his thought.

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110

Appendix 1: A Translation of Recognizing the Blessings of Mahāmudrā207

Homage

You who are not deluded, with your vast knowledge of the two scriptural traditions, you

are the one who bestows the jewel of the profound meaning; I bow to the feet of the great father

[Sangye] Nyenpa, the indisputable buddha Vajradhāra.

Introduction to the Blessings of Mahāmudrā

Such conventional terms—the black marks of my treatise—are comparable to an old dog

gnawing on dry bones.208 As there is no way for [such conventionalities] to enter into one’s

experience, those who understand this should focus on supplication. This heap of malignant

attendants and disciples of mine209 are like a hundred wicked sons assaulting their own mother.

207 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. http://tbrc.org/link?RID=O3LS12537|O3LS125373LS13592$W8039

A brief mention should be made here for the help that I received from Khenpo Gyurmé of Tergar Öseling Monastery

in Kathmandu, Nepal. Khenpo read through the entire text with me, providing a line by line explanation of this text

and answering any questions that I had as well. I would like to note, however, that I already had a rough translation

of the text by the time that I had met him, and his explanations were used only to supplement my own original

translation when there was something that I had not understood well o r noticed that I had misinterpreted based on

Khenpo’s commentary. Thus, my translation is not based entirely on what Khenpo explained to me, but only as I

deemed necessary to improve the accuracy of my interpretation. For more details on this, please see my discussion

of this in the introduction.

208 According to Khenpo Gyurmé, this metaphor plays on the image of an old dog that gnaws on dry, meatless

bones—even though the dog may enjoy the flavor and the activity, there is not much benefit for the dog, as th ere is

no meat there to provide sustenance. In fact, as the old dog probably does not have healthy teeth, or any teeth at all,

such activity could actually harm it. Likewise, one might enjoy reading the scriptures, but if there is no experience

of what is being explained then there is not much benefit and it could even be harmful or counterproductive for the

individual.

209 The text uses the agentive/instrumental case here with ngas but is probably an error (especially since there is no

verb that goes along with it), which should instead here be possessive, as in nga’i. There are other instances of this

basic error in the text, and this will be my only mention of it. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin

rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 1b2.

111

Since there is no way [for me] to ripen [their] mind-streams, those who understand this should

focus on aspiration. This food offered to me is like consuming boiling molten bronze, the food

and drink of hell-beings and hungry ghosts. Since I have no ability to return such favors (yon

sbyong ba), those who understand this should give without attachment. I, a heretical old man, am

like a shaman who sacrifices animals (gshen pa) for a sinful king. Since I have not been able to

liberate my mind-stream in accordance with the dharma, those who understand this should focus

solely on devotion. This undeluded (smyon med) meeting of mine with the buddha210 is like

passing over to the dense Akaniṣṭha pure land. Since there is no deviation (gol sa) on this path,

those who understand this should focus on joy and delight. Please look upon your son Mikyö

Dorje!

If one were to rely on a complete façade of the dharma, would its purpose be fulfilled?

For those who adhere to the Mahāmudrā tradition,211 especially those who follow the tradition of

Dagpo [i.e. Gampopa]—which is above all a tradition of practice—must they earnestly strive to

receive blessings? If one does not have a sense of such blessings, if one does not know what

“blessings” refer to, then there is no way to incorporate [Mahāmudrā] into one’s own experience.

The Ground of Mahāmudrā

As I understand it, the phases (‘gros) that seem to be necessary are those of the ground—

the union of clarity and emptiness—the path—the union of the two accumulations—and the

210 Here the term sangs rgyas is likely referring to his own root guru, sangs rgyas mnyan pa, playing on both the fact

that he considers him to be enlightened and that his name contains the term sangs rgyas. See: Ibid., 1b6.

211 The line reads: phyag rgya pa yin phyin but this last term phyin, normally understood as the past tense of the verb

‘gro ba (to go), is likely a misspelling in this edition of the term phyir, which can be translated as “for the sake of,”

or “for the purpose of,” and makes more sense in this context. See: Ibid., 2a1.

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fruition—the union of the two kāyas. As for the intention of the exceptional Anuttarayoga

tantras, it is necessary to be introduced to the causal principle212 which possesses the qualities of

clarity, bliss, and emptiness. Thus, the meaning of all the tantras without exception are

exemplified by the two syllables: 'E Vaṃ.'213 Such bliss is not like the occurrence of a blissful

feeling dependent on an awareness contacting an attractive object. However, the nature that is

primordially present which is established and abides together (grub bde gcig pa) with the mind

of clarity is [non-dual] like a sugar cane and [its] sweetness.214 From the perspective of this bliss,

the great being who is without beginning or end is said to be Vajrasattva of great joy; from the

perspective of emptiness, it is said that conditioned existence (srid pa) is intrinsically pure which

results in it being free of conditioned existence by its very essence. [What is referred to here] is

what abides primordially as method and wisdom; being represented by the vajra and bell it is a

demonstration of the coupling of the great vajra and bell that is graced by the vajra blessing. The

Mahāmudrā of union (zung 'jug phyag rgya chen po) is spoken of in that way; it is spoken of in a

hidden manner of symbolic means (brda thabs kyi sbas pa'i tshul).

Likewise, ground Mahāmudrā—the causal principle—is bliss, clarity, emptiness, and

perpetuality (rgyun mi ‘chad pa). [This] nature (ris)215 is unalterable, it is without beginning or

212rgyu'i rgyud: “The reality of mind that abides unchangeable like space within the minds of sentient beings and

Buddhas. According to sūtras this refers to the Tathāgata essence...According to the highest yoga tantra this

principle is known as the union of E-Vaṃ” Tsepak Rinzin, Tibetan-English Dictionary of Buddhist Terminology

(Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2008), 57.

213 The syllables E and Vaṃ refer to thabs (skillful means) and shes rab (wisdom) respectively.

214 As Khenpo Gyurmé explained, this example refers to the fact that sugar cane and sweetness exist in dependence

on one another, never existing apart. That is, if one were to disappear the other would be gone as well.

215 The text reads ris (usually translated as “bias”, “form”, “class”, or “division”) but it seems possible that this could

also be a misspelling for the term rigs (usually translated as “class”, “potential”, “division”, or “lineage”), which is a

common synonym for buddha nature. Even so, these two terms would seem to be similar in meaning here, meant to

denote something that is of its own kind or species. Khenpo Gyurmé did not seem to find issue with t he term ris,

however, and equated it with the term bde gshegs snying po (sugatagarbha) and so I am loosely translating it here as

“nature,” to both reflect its connotation to buddha-nature theory and the idea of something of its own kind, with its

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end, and it is not corrupted by the mental stream of ordinary consciousness, i.e. the mind, the

mental factors, and so forth. If one authentically refines that by means of the path, since the

fruition is Vajradhāra, the extraordinary being who has the power to appear as though re-

emerging, it expresses the ground, the pervasive lord Vajrasattva.

The Path of Mahāmudrā

As for the path Mahāmudrā of the tantras of the exceptional methods—the methods

which actualize [the ground]—it would be insufficient on the path of Mahāmudrā merely to

[engage in] the samādhis of bliss, clarity, emptiness, and non-conceptuality which are dependent

upon consciousness. Even with regard to the mere enjoyment of such things, there is the

potential for remaining in the middling kalpas (bskal pa'i bar gnas). In the Samādhirāja Sūtra it

says:

Though one may cultivate a worldly samādhi,

It will not eradicate the perception of a self. Due to the afflictions, conceptual signs arise in full force.

It would be like cultivating the samādhi of Utraka. [Such a samādhi] is explained in the commentaries of the tantras as a deviation into a formless

samādhi, [as in the case] of those who arrogantly assume that absolute nothingness is emptiness.

It is not appropriate to merely meditate on the non-elaborated and empty nature of

appearances since it does not even arise as more profound or vaster than any of those on the path

of the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, nor even those of the Pāramitās, and therefore the special

qualities of Mahāmudrā would be incomplete. Even in terms of the mere unification of śamatha

own special qualities. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi

bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 2b1.

114

and vipaśyanā it would not suffice. As the sublime regent Maitreya has said:

Due to resting the mind in terms of a mind based in genuine abiding, And due to fully discerning phenomena,

One has śamatha and vipaśyanā.

Since one rests in the single taste of mind within the clarity and awareness which are the defining

qualities of the mind, as if blending water and milk, it is the śamatha which pacifies all of the

afflictions. Here, the śamatha which apprehends (dmigs pa) external [objects] features the

apprehension of purity and impurity. By visualizing the form of the deity, meditating on your

own body as the form of the deity, and meditating on [forms of] skeletons, and then allowing the

imprints (rjes yel)216 of the variable mental states (sems byung gzhan rnams)217 to fade away, one

generates thoroughly purified mental states.

As for vipaśyanā, understanding that there is no phenomena apart from the mind, since

the mind’s aspects of clarity and awareness is this present mind that distinguishes between the

three times [yet] is empty of a cause, fruition, and essence, it is the wisdom of fully discerning

phenomena: a bare (rjen lhag gi) awareness that is unconditioned, inconceivable, and cannot be

expressed as anything whatsoever. That being the case, it would be ineffective to merely perceive

the clarity of mind while not being distracted by something else. One may unite śamatha and

vipaśyanā in such a manner, yet it would result in the emergence of many elaborate outer

vehicles of dialectics (phyi mtshan nyid kyi thek pa).218 Since the meditation of Mahāmudrā is the

path of the Anuttarayoga (rnal ‘byor bla na med pa’i lam), one must take up the practice which

216 The text reads rje yal, but this may be an error and so on Khenpo Gyurmé’s advice I have changed it to rjes yal

which seems more appropriate, the rjes here being similar to the terms zhabs rjes or rkang rjes (i.e. footprints)

according to Khenpo. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi

bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 3a3.

217 This probably refers to the sems byung gzhan ‘gyur bzhi, which are as follows: regret (‘gyod pa), sleep (gnyid),

coarse conceptual understanding (rtog pa), and refined conceptual understanding (dpyod pa). See: Ibid., 3a3.

218 I.e. Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna, and Bodhisattvayāna. See: Ibid., 3a5-6.

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is replete with all of the qualities of the direct path of the Vajrayāna.

Moreover, at the beginning one should bring about the maturation of one’s mind-stream

by properly obtaining abhiṣeka [from] a qualified spiritual master. Following that, concerning the

path of the vase abhiṣeka, the physical body and external objects mainly appear as obstructive

matter which is [in fact] nothing other than mind; this ordinary subject and object duality which

apprehends in that manner is purified through the illusion- like path of the generation stage. The

meaning is [contained within] the saying:

All things—anything and everything that appears—are the sovereign one, one’s own superior deity [i.e. one’s yidam]. Observe that all phenomena are of a completely pure nature, the primordial wisdom of buddhahood.

Moreover, it must be done by sealing it with emptiness. Thus, as it is said in the Mother Tantras:

Day is lord Vajradhāra; Night, likewise, is the yogini.219

Also, as it is said in the Father Tantras according to the Summary of Conduct220:

Whatever arises is the conventional truth. Whatever has the name of cessation is the ultimate truth.221

Through the spiritual master's kindness the two stages222 Are obtained which later results in buddhahood.

As the Brahmin Saraha said in the Sādhanā of the Buddha's Skullcup223:

219 According to Khenpo Gyurmé, Vajradhāra represents the aspect of the form or appearance of the deity ( lha yi

sku’i rnam pa) and the Yogini represents wisdom (shes rab) and emptiness (stong pa nyid), which must be realized

together.

220 Skt. Caryamelapakapradipa. Tib. sbyod bsdus. An esoteric Buddhist text attributed to one of the founding

Madhyamaka scholars Āryadeva.

221 Here, according to Khenpo Gyurmé, the conventional aspect is the conceptual aspect (rnam rtog) which relates to

the form of the deity (lha yi sku), and the ultimate aspect is the aspect of its non-established nature (rang bzhin ma

grub pa) and emptiness (stong pa nyid).

222 The two stages refers to the generation stage (bskyed rim) and completion stage (rdzogs rim).

223 The text reads bram ze sa ra has mdzad pa’i sangs rgyas thos pa’i sgrub thabs but on Khenpo Gyurmé’s advice I

have changed thos pa to thod pa. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung

'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 3b4-5.

116

Imagine the flavor224 of the quintessence of the dharmadhātu in the center of a hundred petaled lotus blossom. Heruka shines like the moon and radiates like a

jewel. The bliss of the various wisdom consorts consists of the embrace with Heruka, the spiritual family of total bliss.

Thus, while not wavering from the state of the empty dharmadhātu, the form of the male

consort, the method taught conventionally as day and arising consists of the aspects of

appearance, clarity, and bliss. The form of the female consort, the wisdom taught conventionally

as the womb, night-time, and cessation, consists of the aspects of emptiness, non-conceptuality,

and the uncompounded.

Since all the phases of the ground, path, and fruition of those aspects are inseparable and

in union, the emptiness of the manner of embrace is sealed with bliss, and the bliss being empty

of nature is understood as the quintessence of a single flavor. In brief, one must meditate by

properly joining the complete purity of the styles of the colors of their forms with their symbolic

implements. Whatever the case may be (ci yin), meditating on the male or female deities

individually when they are in fact inseparable (cha med) would never manifest as the path to

buddhahood.

Based on the path of the second and third abhiṣeka, the impurities of the defiled elements

of the body gradually dissipate, and following that the arising of the primordial wisdom of the

four joys (dga' ba bzhi)225 is sealed as the sense objects, sense faculties, and everything that

appears and exists. Thereby, the beginner meditates in the manner of conviction and [divine]

pride, incorporating them onto the path.

224 I translate ro here as “flavor” (as opposed to one of its other possible meanings such as “residue” or “elixir”),

which is likely a reference to the third yoga of Mahāmudrā, ro gchig “the single flavor”. Though it is not

immediately clear from the context of this quote that this interpretation is correct, the fact that shortly thereafter

Mikyö Dorje refers to the single flavor doctrine supports this understanding of the term. See: Ibid., 3b5.

225 The four joys are: joy (dga' ba), supreme joy (chog dga'), unique joy (khyad dga'), and spontaneous joy (lhan

skyes kyi dga' ba).

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With familiarity, one sustains the primordial wisdom which arises from what has been

sealed as being united by the path226 of the four abhiṣekas, and therefore one attains the siddhis

of supreme Mahāmudrā. Thus, as one becomes skilled in the higher tantras and the oral

instructions, by your own accord you will not have any doubt regarding the profound definitive

meaning. Thus, one must diligently rely on those who have the ability to guide disciples on the

authentic path. As it says in the Brilliant Lamp227:

Even the imaginatively constructed228 deity yoga [i.e. generation stage practice] transcends all concepts. It is the individual self-knowing awareness.229 It is the

domain of the buddhas. Abiding within the womb of the precious aggregates, it is free from all positions of existence and non-existence. It is not within the reach of those who adhere to words or philosophical speculation. It is to be realized based

exclusively on the instruction of the sacred spiritual master.

Therefore, as those who engage in ignorant meditations do not enter onto the path of

liberation, the completion stage that is based on such a profound generation stage is the complete

path of practice in terms of its union of bliss and emptiness. Following that, as the supreme lord

of siddhas [Maitrīpa?]230 has said:

Like a crane gliding in space, One is liberated within the expanse of the equality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa.

226 The text reads dbang bzhi pa’i las, but Khenpo Gyurmé read it as dbang bzhi pa’i lam, which makes sense given

that this is the section on the path, and more specifically the path of the vase abhiṣeka. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje.

Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776.

Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4a5.

227 Skt. Pradipoddyotana-namatika. Tib. sgron gsal. A text attributed to Candrakīrti, an extensive commentary on

the Guhyasamāja Tantra.

228 The text reads yong su brtags pa but should almost certainly read yongs su brtags pa. See: Ibid., 4a6.

229 The text reads so so rang rigs gis rig pa but is most likely a spelling error meant to read so so rang rig gis rig pa.

See: Ibid., 4b1.

230 Grub thob mchog gi lha. I am unsure whether or not this statement is actually attributable to Maitrīpa. I have not

been able to verify as of yet who “the supreme lord of siddhas” could refer to here. Khenpo Gyurmé was only able

to tell me that he remembered this quote as belonging to one of the Indian Mahāsiddhas. Given the loftiness of this

name and the importance of Maitrīpa to Mikyö Dorjé’s Mahāmudrā thought, however, it seems to me that Maitrīpa

is an appropriate guess. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin . In gsung 'bum of Mi

bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 4b3.

118

It is that which is free from all hope and fear.

As the Great Brahmin [Saraha] has said:

When it is realized, it is everything; Searching for something other than this, it is not found.

And:

Whatever is saṃsāra is nirvāṇa.

As for the meaning that is found within the tantras and songs of the siddhas, such as the

many texts [mentioned here] before, they refer to the appearances of the impure minds of

ordinary beings that arise as external objects. Thus, that which produces obscurations [which

prevent one from] clearly seeing both subject and object as in essence the dharmakāya (chos kyi

sku’i ngo bor) are the adventitious stains.

That being so, from the point of view of the insight of the āryas who perceive the truth of

the dharmatā directly and the siddhas who obtain the supreme siddhis of Mahāmudrā, [such

things] are an emanation of primordial wisdom. Thus, realizing the nature of the afflictions by

means of the profound path which is embraced by exceptional means, those who adhere to the

essential point naturally purify the afflictions, as if pacifying waves in an ocean. This being so,

some experience of sealing all appearances of subject and object through the Mahāmudrā of bliss

and emptiness is necessary.

Not only [is this spoken of] in the secret mantra; as it is said in the Sūtra Requested by

Sagaramati:

For example, there is no substance (gzugs su snang ba) which is not considered to be medicinal by the king of doctors. Likewise, there is no phenomena which is not considered to be enlightenment for the bodhisattvas that engage in the

Prajñāpāramitā.

119

And in the Ornament of Sūtras:

The childish obscure the true nature, Thus, [for them] falsity is all that appears.

Since [the true nature] is illuminated by231 the bodhisattvas, [For them] the true nature is all that appears.

As the protector Nāgārjuna has said:

Other than the precious and genuine mind, There is no other deity to be accomplished (lha gzhan sgrub bya). Since the mind is pure it is the supreme deity.

Ārya Asaṅga has said:

Even if the yogin has not put an end to the cognitive act of bifurcation (tha dad sems) which concerns the great conceptual marks of the outside world, based on

the immaculacy of seeing things which are pure, and that what the buddhas perceive is pure, the buddha-realms as well are completely pure.

It should be understood in accordance with these sayings.

Therefore, with respect to the essential nature of all appearances—[regardless of whether

or not they] are pure or impure, full or devoid of [one’s own] mental elaborations—I humbly

request that one not act like a vomiting dog,232 speaking [in such a way that] one mixes up the

fish and the turnips,233 applying the example of the hat to the foot,234 blathering on about there

231 The text here reads byang chub sems dpa’ de gsal nas, but it seems much more likely to me that the genitive

particle here should be an agentive, which would instead read as byang chub sems dpas de gsal nas. See: Mi bskyod

rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 -

776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 5a4.

232 It is fairly clear from the context that this metaphor refers to certain individuals who indiscriminately spew forth

any kind of nonsense, as if they were vomiting like a dog.

233nya dang nyung ma bsres pa literally means blending or mixing up the fish and the turnips. According to Khenpo

Gyurmé this phrase implies that someone is heedlessly or indiscriminately mixing things together (for example,

mixing meat into a vegetarian dish), and that for this context it implies that those who are discussing Mahāmudrā

should be much more careful in how they are defining or expressing it. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i

byin rlabs kyi ngos 'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 5b1.

234 zhwa dpe lham bkab In other words, according to Khenpo Gyurmé, this phrase means that if one were to hear an

example of something about a hat, one would try to apply it to the foot, which would be a misinterpretation of the

metaphor being given. See: Ibid., 5b1.

120

being no such distinctions as good or bad. According to Ārya Candrakīrti himself:

The embodiment of peace [i.e. the dharmakāya] is clear like a wish-fulfilling tree, It is non-conceptual like a wish-fulfilling jewel.

Remaining for as long as existence it endures to liberate beings, It appears while being free from conceptual elaborations.

[In other words,] even though the sambhogakāya of the buddhas is the svābhāvikakāya free from

mental elaboration, it still continues to appear.

The Fruition of Mahāmudrā

Concerning the principle of the fruition of Mahāmudrā, through gaining familiarity in the

path of bliss and emptiness which is based in the maṇḍala cakra, the [physical] body (lus) is

lucid like the colors of a rainbow and being unobstructed like the moon reflected in the water it

pervades all. The bliss and emptiness of the mind endowed with the three dharmas of the vajra

(rdo rje'i chos gsum)—which are as indestructible as a shadow—transforms into a single taste as

changeless, indivisible great bliss. Thus, the enlightenment that combines the conventional truth

of the generation stage with the ultimate truth of the completion stage is known as the supreme

siddhi. As Ārya Nāgārjuna has said:

By understanding the individual aspects

Of the conventional and ultimate truths, And truly merging them correctly That is said to be union.235

Thus, following the attainment of the unified stage of the path of training (slob pa'i zung

'jug) one perfects the stages gradually, and then on the thirteenth bhumi of the vajra holder,

endowed with the unified stage of no more learning, the three kāyas, and the seven factors [of

235 From the Pañcakrama (Tib. Rim pa lnga pa).

121

enlightenment]236 one obtains the consummation of the two-fold benefit [of self and other]; there

are those who say the so-called “yuganaddha” is not meant to be a non-duality, however in

terms of being coupled together they are the same, i.e. the pair is to be understood as unitary.237

Regarding that, there are three [aspects of the sambhogakāya]:

1) The aspect of enjoyment, with regard to the wealth of accomplishing the activities and

appearances of undefiled great bliss, the purity of the buddhafields;

2) The aspect of coalescing (kha sbyor) by means of the union of bliss and emptiness, as

well as the unified equality of primordial wisdom; and,

3) By not wavering from [the state of] great unchanging bliss, there is the aspect of great truth.

Due to these three aspects the sambhogakāya properly performs the benefit of those disciples to

be tamed.

The primordial wisdom which is free from all conceptual elaborations of dualistic

phenomena—saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, self and other, acceptance and rejection, and so forth—is the

dharmakāya, the aspect devoid of any nature which is inseparable from the dharmadhātu, and is

what fulfills one's own benefit.

The three aspects of the nirmāṇakāya are:

1) The aspect of being replete with compassion, the great [enlightened] compassion which is expressed equally (mnyam par 'jug pa) towards all sentient beings;

2) The aspect of the perpetual engagement in enlightened activity in order to tame

beings in whatever way necessary until saṃsāra is emptied; and,

236 1)The seven factors of enlightenment (byang chub kyi yan lag bdun pa):1) Pure recollection (dren pa yang dag);

2) Thorough discernment of phenomena (chos rab tu rnam ’phyed); 3) Pure diligence (brston ’grus yang dag); 4)

Pure joy (dga’ ba yang dag); 5) Pure ecstasy (shin tu sbyangs pa yang dag); 6) Samādhi (ting nge ’dzin); 7)

Equanimity (btang snyoms).

237 This is an interlinear note (mchan bu) in the text that reads: Zung du gcig pa’am gnyis gcig gi go don yin gyi

gnyis med pa’i don min ces smra ba rnams zer. See: Mi bskyod rdo rje. Phyag rgya chen po'i byin rlabs kyi ngos

'dzin. In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC W8039. 3: 765 - 776. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. 5b6.

122

3) Unlike the cessation of the ceasing kind of nirvāṇa that belongs to the Hīnayāna—likened to a butter lamp that has exhausted its wick and oil—there is the aspect of the

ceaseless nature of the five primordial wisdoms.

In this and future lives it performs the benefit of a majority of the classes [of beings], the impure

ones to be tamed. As the sublime regent Maitreya has said:

The nirmāṇakāya of the Capable One [i.e. the Buddha] is unceasing. Likewise, it is asserted to be unceasing From now until however long saṃsāra may last.

Thus, as it may be how you yourself understand it, do not think that somewhere beyond

some [other] supreme nirmāṇakāya exists besides the Vajra-ācārya who establishes us in

ripening and liberation.

Concluding Remarks

Therefore, while one has not gained resolve in the presence of the supreme nirmāṇakāya

and one's mind-stream has not been liberated, it is a grave mistake to pretend to be a destroyer of

delusion and then engage in the yogic discipline of dogs and pigs. For those who practice

Mahāmudrā, it is important to investigate just a bit of such sayings as these:

Not realizing suchness as it is,

Those who distort something so marvelous Will, after their death, Wander the infernal realms for as long as space remains!

And as the bodhisattva Ngülchu Chödzong has said:

Learn to subdue all thoughts arising from the three poisons in post-meditation.

For those in whom the dharmakāya of all thoughts and appearances does not dawn, This training is indispensable and it should be recalled whenever necessary.

Do not give free rein to deluded thoughts, mani-reciters!

123

As Wöntön Rinchen Gangpa has said:

Do not feel scorn for any spiritual system. To rush after the higher teachings would be

Like a small boy mounting a wild horse. What is most important is what is appropriate for one’s own mind.

Just a little bit of investigation into phrases such as these is quite important. This being so, this is

what recognizing the blessings of Mahāmudrā appears to be. Thus, having here assimilated the

virtue of striving with a mind for spiritual practice, please grant your blessings so that I and all

others may attain the state of the great Sangye Nyenpa. Shu Bhaṃ Satu Sarva Dzaga Taṃ!

124

125

Appendix 2: A Translation of A Response on the Sugatagarbha and the Dharmakāya238

In answer to your question, there is a context for which the fruition-sugatagarbha, and

the dharmatā-kāya (chos nyid kyi sku) are of the same nature. However, as the sugatagarbha [in

the context] of the cause is not the dharmakāya, the dharmakāya itself is the perfection of the

two accumulations, it is what brings about the final purification of the two obscurations, and it is

free from the obscurations of the five aggregates, the twelve sense sources, and the eighteen

elements. Consisting of enlightened activity, along with the five wisdoms and the three kāyas—

which are the transmutation of the eight consciousnesses—these are the features that are referred

to as “the dharmakāya.”

Thus, the fruition is sugatahood, which possesses both the ultimate aspect of the

svābhāvikakāya and the conventional aspect of the rūpakāya. Regarding that, the first topic—the

svābhāvikakāya [in the context] of the cause—does not abide as the essence of the afflictions of

the natural and primordial purity of the minds of all sentient beings. As for its name, it is called

the sugatagarbha in the context of the tantras of the naturally present affinity (rang bzhin du

gnas pa’i rgyud), in the treatises of mantra it is given names such as “original buddhahood”

(dang po’i sangs rgyes) and “Hevajra of the ground” (gzhi kye rdo rje).

As for the second topic—the cause of the rūpakāya—the existence of the eleven virtues

of love, faith, and so forth dependent upon the minds of all sentient beings are the habitual

tendencies of studying which are aroused based on other conditions, namely the appearance of

the buddha in the world.

238 Mi bskyod rdo rje. Bde gshegs snying po dang chos sku'i dris lan . In gsung 'bum of Mi bskyod rdo rje. TBRC

W8039. 3: 323 - 326. Lhasa: S.N., 2004. http://tbrc.org/link?RID=O3LS12537|O3LS125373LS13570$W8039

126

The awakening of virtuous habitual tendencies is the affinity of flourishing (rgyas ‘gyur

gyi rigs). As this, too, is the sugatagarbha in the context of the tantras, there are some terms

[employed therein] such as the distinctions of the six sense sources and the creation of the

habitual tendencies of studying.

Well then, as for the empty nature of mind, when it arises as the various interdependent

occurrences of delusion—the fetters of the two obscurations—there is saṃsāra; when the empty

nature of mind arises as the various interdependent occurrences of accumulation and

purification—the non-deluded liberation from the two obscurations—there is non-abiding

nirvāṇa.

Well then, as nirvāṇa is true and saṃsāra is untrue, delusive, and false it therefore means

that [saṃsāra] does not infiltrate objective reality (yul gyi gnas tshul). Since nirvāṇa is

undeceiving and non-deluded it is presented as the ultimate truth. Likewise, this presentation of

the falsity of saṃsāra and the truth of the ultimate is also not in the context of the uncategorized

ultimate. However, it is within the context of asserting the ultimate meaning of what is

categorized. As for the context of presenting it as the conventional truth in the tradition of

‘Glorious Moon’ [Candrakīrti], it is not possible for both to be the final sense, and so it is

presented provisionally as the truth of the ultimate itself and within that context it is the subject

being characterized (mtshan gzhi), which is exclusively the truth of nirvāṇa.

Though this is how it is stated, even [this so-called] final nirvāṇa is not the genuine

absolute. Since that does not transcend compounded phenomena, what is final (mthar) is a single

truth and is not something to be attained (rnyed pa ma yin). The non-duality of bliss and

emptiness taught in the final mantra treatise(s) and Mahāmudrā as well is what is meant by the

inseparable, the union of bliss and emptiness as a single flavor, as the emptiness of the

127

enlightened mind of the ultimate sense that is free from elaboration and the bliss of the

enlightened mind of the conventional sense, which is the wisdom mind of love without reference

that includes the noble minds of the Mantrayāna.

This was answered for Yung Chadrel.

128

129

Appendix 3: Mikyö Dorjé’s Two Truth Schema (In Recognizing the Blessings, A Response on the Sugatagarbha and the Dharmakāya, and the Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas)

Incorrect

Conventional

(log pa’i kun rdzob bden pa)

Authentic

Conventional

(yang dag kun rdzob)

Categorized

Ultimate

(rnam grangs pa’i don dam)

Uncategorized

Ultimate

(rnam grangs ma yin pa’i don

dam)

Ordinary

Beings

(so so

skye

bo/skye

bo tha

mal pa)

False object (yul brdzun pa)

Dualistic mind (blo)

Appearances of the impure

mind (sems ma dag pa’i

snang ba)

Adventitious stains (glo bur

gyi dri ma)

Ignorance (ma rig pa)

Deceptive for immature

beings (byis pa rnams la ni

slu bar byed pa)

The two obscurations (sgrib

gnyis)

Delusion (’khrul pa)

Saṃsāra (’khor ba)

Not perceived nor

known by ordinary

beings

Not perceived nor known by

ordinary beings

Not perceived nor known by

ordinary beings

Noble

Beings

(’phags

pa)

&

Siddhas

(grub

thob)

Perceived as a fabricated

entity (bcos mar gyur pa’i

dngos po)

Known to be untrue (bden pa

ma yin)

Appears as an illusion, a state

of interdependence, and

simply as concealing [what is

true] (’phags pa rnams la ni

sgyu ma ltar rten ’byung nyid

kyi kun rdzob tsam ’gyur)

The rūpakāya

(gzugs kyi sku)

Bliss of the

enlightened mind

(byang sems kyi

bde ba)

Love without

reference (dmigs

med kyi brtse ba)

Authentic object (yul

yang dag pa)

Authentic perception of

primordial wisdom (yang

dag pa gzigs pa’i ye shes)

Based on accumulation

and purification (bsags

sbyang)

True (bden pa)

Nirvāṇa (myang ’das)

Objective reality (yul gyi

gnas tshul)

Does not transcend

compounded phenomena

(’dus phyas las ma ’das)

Provisional presentation

of the ultimate (gnas

skabs su)

The svābhāvikakāya (ngo

bo nyid sku)

Union of bliss and

emptiness (bde stong zung

’jug)

Free from elaboration

(spros bral)

Single truth (bden pa gcig

pa)

Not to be attained (rnyed

pa ma yin)

Non-dual (gnyis med)

Mahāmudrā (phyag chen)

Accords with the final

mantra texts (sngags

gzhung mthar thug gi)

Final presentation of the

ultimate (mthar)

Meta-

physical

Basis In

Reality

Interdependent manifestation

(rten ’brel sna tshogs su shar ba)

of the empty nature of mind (sems

rang bzhin stong pa nyid)

Inseparable from the

ultimate

Interdependent manifestation

(rten ’brel sna tshogs su shar

ba) of the empty nature of

mind

(sems rang bzhin stong pa

nyid)

Primordial wisdom free from

all conceptual elaborations of

dualistic phenomena (gnyis

chos kyi spros pa thams cad

dang bral ba’i ye shes) i.e. the

dharmakāya, the aspect

devoid of any nature

inseparable from the

dharmadhātu (chos kyi

dbyings dang byer med pa

rang bzhin med pa’i yan lag

chos kyi kus)

130

131

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