The essence of my practice is connecting with my pure mind, or my Buddha Nature. Teachers in the Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions have pointed the way for me. If you are unfamiliar with the terms, there’s no need to distinguish between these slightly different ways to reach that inherent Buddha Nature. Just find the teacher you’re comfortable with to help guide you.
Machig Labdrön (1055-1149) founded several lineages in the Mahamudra Chöd tradition. Chöd literally means cutting through. As a practice, it refers to cutting through the connection to your demons, especially the ego. Mahamudra refers to the clarity, wisdom, and emptiness of the pure mind, or Buddha Nature.
Machig lived to the age of 93 or 94. The teaching known as her “final instructions” or “Wisdom From an Old Lady” expresses, as well as anything else I’ve come across, the mindset and meditation practice that lead one closer to the inherent pure mind. For those who’d like to listen in meditation to Machig’s words, as translated by Tsem Rinpoche, I’ll read them slowly, leaving periods of silence.
…(M)ind itself has no support, has no object: let it rest in its natural expanse without any fabrication. When the bonds (of negative thoughts) are released, you will be free, there is no doubt. As when gazing into space, all other visual objects disappear, so it is for mind itself. When mind is looking at mind, all discursive thoughts cease and enlightenment is attained. As in the sky all clouds disappear into sky itself: wherever they go, they go nowhere, wherever they are, they are nowhere. This is the same for thoughts in the mind: when the mind looks at mind, the waves of conceptual thought disappear. This body of ours is impermanent, like a feather on a high mountain pass. This mind of ours is empty and clear like the depth of space. Relax in that natural state, free of fabrication. When mind is without any support, that is mahamudra. Becoming familiar with this, blending your mind with it — that is buddhahood. Supreme view is beyond all duality of subject and object. Supreme meditation is without distraction. Supreme activity is action without effort. Supreme fruition is without hope and fear. This old lady has no instructions more profound than this to give you.
May we all find our place of rest in the nature of mind.
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