Maintaining the View

“The natural, ordinary state has to be cultivated and worked with in three ways. The first way is by not preparing too much. It is by cutting off our preconceptions of the past. The second way is by not expecting a greater flash. It is by cutting off our preconceptions of the future. The third way is by not holding on to our present flash experience. It is by cutting our preconceptions of the present. We simply rest our mind, this very ordinary mind of nowness.”—Chögyam Trungpa, from The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness, Chapter 56: Ground Mahamudra

The word “mahamudra” can be translated as “great symbol”—but what is it a symbol of? We’ll begin this course by exploring this question, along with other key tenets of the mahamudra view. We’ll establish some context for the mahamudra teachings: its lineage holders, its place in the landscape of Tibetan Buddhism, and the particular approach of Chögyam Trungpa in presenting it to his Western students.

This lesson will help you…

• Identify some of the key tenets of mahamudra
• Establish or deepen in a daily shamatha-vipashyana practice
• Explore how our habitual mind functions in contrast to the open, sky-like mind of mahamudra
• Learn why a strong foundation in the hinayana and mahayana are essential for discovering mahamudra
• Learn about some of the lineage holders of mahamudra