Eric Forgeng
This is a draft sent to Tsadra by Eric Forgeng on October 26th, 2011
རྗེ་བཙུན་རས་ཆུང་པ་ནས་བརྒྱུད་པའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡན་ལག་བདུན་ལྡན་གྱི་ཁྲིད་ཡིག་བཞུགས་སོ།།
The Seven-Branch Mahamudra Instructions from the Lineage of Venerable Rechungpa
གདམས་ངག་མཛོད་
8:489
Homage to Mahamudra!
The inability to locate the nature of mind and of all phenomena after a complete investigation is the foundation of Sunyata.
The inseparability of Awareness' creative energy and radiance is the completely pure, spontaneously arising, Original Awareness of Mind itself.
Other than that, there is not even the slightest existence of apparent phenomena.
1. The appearance of whatever forms and so on that are seen is Original Awareness. The expanse in which they appear is Emptiness. The inseparability of these aspects of appearance is co-emergent completely pure Original Awareness. Having thus been introduced to these two aspects: don't tighten the body, don't suppress the speech, don't bind the mind; abide in the Three Ordinary states.
2. Leave everything relaxed, leave everything to settle in its own place, carry on the path everything that the mind meets; never be separated from these Three Practices.
3. Don't block appearances, don't reject the Path of Skillful Means, don't abandon compassion. Practice these Three Enhancements on the path.
4. Don’t hope, don't fear, don't cling; these are mistakes. Remember these Three Obstructors clearly in the mind again and again.
5. Between sessions, generate longing for the Guru, meditate on Pure Appearance for everything, blend meditation and post-meditation in one; these are the Three Samayas that you should never be separated from.
6. Let everything settle itself spontaneously, meditate in the present moment, without any fixed point of reference; these are the Three Accomplishments.
7. The inseparability of Cause and Result, the inseparability of the Two Truths, the inseparability of Samsara and Nirvana, these are the Three Inseparables. This is the perfect understanding of the Original Foundation.
Understand the completely pure Original Awareness of Mahamudra in terms of these great threefold instructions in seven branches.
This instruction called the Seven Branches arose from the glorious great ones Lord Maitripa, Tipupa,and Vajrakirti [Ras chung rdo rje grags pa 1085-1161]. It was written down by Kachöpa [Zhva dmar II mkha' spyod pa dri med dpal ye shes 1350-1405]. Mangalam Bhavantu!