Eva rūpaṁ yaññaṁ yajitvā vā yājetvā vā kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā sugatiṁ saggaṁ lokaṁ uppajjita

"He who celebrates such a sacrifice, or causes it, to be celebrated, is reborn at the dissolution of the body, after death, into an state of happiness in heaven"

The Buddha in regards to the performance of the Mahayajña or Great Vedic Sacrifice

- Digha Nikaya 5: 4.6

"I cannot wash away your negativities and sins with water, nor can I remove your pain and suffering by my hand, nor can I transfer my realizations to you."

"The only way I can help you is through giving teaching, and you should strive to liberate yourself."

- Buddha Shakymuni

"The Indian monasteries taught not only Buddhism but, e.g., Hindu thought and other disciplines such as medicine. Monasteries like Nālandā and Vikramaśīla also trained missionaries in the skills needed in order to transmit Buddhism to Central Asia, China, and Tibet (Buddhism reached Korea and Vietnam via China, and Japan from China and Korea). More ominously for the history of Indian Buddhism, it is from the Gupta period that we can see the flowering of what has come to be called ‘Hinduism’ in its classical Purāṇic form, the form in which broadly speaking it is now familiar. It is admittedly difficult to show in detail the mutual influences of Hinduism and Buddhism at this time, although the influence of Buddhist thought on Gauḍapāda (seventh century), the founder of Advaita Vedānta, is quite clear. It is arguable that the positive influence of classical Hinduism on Buddhism was more often in the direction of practices – the forms of Mahāyāna devotionalism, for example – than directly on philosophical thought."

Paul Williams

Herambaṃ madhuraiḥ śivaṃ ca garalaiḥ śayairnavair nandinam|
ṣaḍvaktraṃ kadalīphalair ditisutāsṛgbhiś ca pañcānanam||
vyastā pūrayituṃ suśuṣkavadanā riktodarā bhadrike|
dṛṅmātraṃ mayi dehi bhikṣunikarair yasmād asi tvaṃ vṛtā||

"With sweets to Ganesha, with all kinds of intoxicants to Shiva, with new and fresh grass to Nandin, with banana fruits to Kumara, and with the blood of demons to your lion, you are very busy feeding them all, and so your face is dry and your belly empty. Oh Bhadrakali, all you have to do is give me a glance, as you are surrounded by a huge circle of beggars."

"Are there no asses and the like to whom home and forest are alike and who wander about naked without shame? Do they all become Yogins thereby?

If men could get liberated by smearing themselves with dust and ashes, are all the country folk, who live amidst dust and ashes, liberated?

Denizens of forest like deer and other animals subsist on grass, leaves, and water. Then, O Devi! do they become Yogins Thereby?

Frogs and fishes live all their lives in rivers like Ganges; do they acquire special merit thereby?

O Devi! Parrots and mynas recite before people the sacred words with delight; are they to be regarded great scholars from such recitations?

Pigeons eat nothing but stone; Cātakas; (the bird Cucculus Melanoleucus) does not drink earth-water; are these too, Yogins?

Animals like pigs, bear the winter cold and summer heat and for them food fit or unfit is alike; are they Yogins thereby?

Indeed, such privations and self denials are, O Kulésvarī; only for deceiving the world while direct Knowledge of Truth Alone is the means for Liberation."

Kaularnava Tantra

"Tantra, as a way of inner growth, makes us see more, so that we really become individuals rather than mere entities in an amorphous context. But tantra goes still further. It goes beyond the idea of a growth or a progress. There are further stages and subdivisions within the tradition, which deal with the fact that even after we have learned to relate properly to our problems, life still goes on. The idea here is that spiritual practice is a continual movement. It is only from the point of view of discursive thought that we begin somewhere, progress or develop, and then reach a certain goal. It is not as though, having found enlightenment, the process is completed and everything comes to an end. Rather, the fact is that we continue to live, so we must continually start anew.

Nevertheless, through the previous stages, we have found a way, a way of relating, a certain continuity. This continuity of a way of relating is the basic meaning of tantra. In a sense this is an extremely simple point. In general, however, we find that there is scarcely anything more difficult than this kind of simplicity."

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

"Dwelling or fixing comes from an attitude of trying to prove something, trying to maintain the "me" and "my" of ego's territory. One needs to prove that ego's thesis is secure. This is an attempt to ignore the samsaric circle, the samsaric whirlpool. This vicious circle is too painful a truth to accept, so one is seeking something else to replace it with. One seeks to replace the basic irritation or pain with the pleasure of a fixed belief in oneself by dwelling on something, a certain spiritual effort or just worldly things. It seems that, as something to be dwelled on, conceptualized ideas of religion or spiritual teachings or the domestic situations of life are extensions of the ego.

One does not simply see tables and chairs as they are; one sees my manifestation of table, my manifestation of chair. One sees constantly the "me" or "my" in these things; they are seen constantly in relationship to me and my security."

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

"I understood clearly that nothing dies. Citta certainly doesn't die; in fact, it becomes more pronounced. The more fully we investigate the four elements, dividing them into their original properties, the more distinctly pronounced citta appears. So where can death be found? And what is it that dies? The four elements - earth, water, wind and fire - they do not die. As for citta, how can it die? It becomes more visible, more aware and more insightful. This essential knowing nature never dies, so why is citta so afraid of death? Because it deceives itself. For ages and ages it has been deceiving itself into believing in death, when in fact nothing ever dies."

Ācariya Mahā Boowa Ñāṇasampanno Thera

It is clear that both the breath and substances can lead to altered states of consciousness. Both are associated with Soma (the nectar of the gods), Otherir (the mead of poetry) and Amrita (the resultant immortality). Vayu, the prana, or life of the world, was the first to drink soma, and Othinn is both the giver of Ond, the divine breath, and the claimer of the mead of poetry. But reliance on drugs, while useful for breaking down barriers, does not lead to sustained spiritual development. Breathing techniques, however, take some time and effort to master but are with one for the rest of one's life. The inner nectars of the breath, must eventually replace the outer nectars in order to return to the primordial state.

Having said that, even those who have strong experiences with the breath do not often become any sort of spiritual master. Clearly then, altered states in themselves are not sufficient to attain either the common or supreme siddhis or powers. Just as outer rituals of offering must be replaced by inner rituals of transformation in order to achieve personal insight, gnosis or prajna. One must link experience with correct views and lucid awareness. One must steadily dissolve subject and object dualism, and learn to rest in the natural state of awareness.

As with Bardo Yoga, the means of enlightenment in the journey between death and rebirth, one must recognise phenomena as the projections of one's own mind. This is not to say that phenomena are not real, rather that the nature of our minds transcends the common appearance of reality.

For a spiritual master, then, all sacred rites take place within the self, and while outer rites are still conducted, one uses one's inner realisations to make the rite beneficial to others, rather than seeking to benefit oneself.

This kind of mastery is not the result of intellectual knowledge, nor of simple devotion, but the disciplined practice of mindful awareness and inner alchemy, combined with devotion and compassion.

It is all well and good to gain a comprehensive understanding of the inner mythology of a religion, or even an understanding of such traditions as Platonic theurgy, but without a clear tradition of practice and attainment passed from master to disciple, self realisation is nigh impossible.

If one looks at myth and tradition and thinks that inner attainment is not spoken of and is therefore undesirable, then one has fallen into the trap of spiritual materialism, reducing the truth to mere impermanent forms, contingent manifestations with no inherent truth. In all Indo-European traditions the gods themselves, be they of the highest degree, are subject to the cycles of existence. One's gods, people and ancestors are indeed precious, but without transcendent understanding they are no more than a ripple on the the great ocean of beginningless being.

Even an unimaginably vast eon of bliss is nothing in the face of infinite time. One must find that which is beyond all sense of relativity or be forever adrift.

What then is beyond cyclic existence? Is it the blown-out state of Nirvana? No, that is but an expedient means of the Hinayana teachings, and is impossible in the first place. The only possible truth is the non-duality of relative phenomena and ultimate awareness, and through awakening to this one can experience all relative phenomena as the blissful ornaments of unobstructed ultimate space-like mind.

This is the nature of what Vajrayana Buddhists call Mahamudra, the great royal seal that is the proof of true perception. This is the goal beyond life and death for which even the highest gods would give their very lives to attain.

"There are no external forms.
It is one's own mind that appears as the external.
Since they do not comprehend the mind,
The childish conceive of conditioned phenomena."

Lankavatara sutra

"The learned understand the conditioned and the unconditioned.
When the perceptions of attributes has entirely collapsed,
And one remains beyond attributes,
All phenomena are perfectly understood to be empty."

"Existence" and "nonexistence" are both extremes.
"Clean" and "unclean" are extremes as well.
Hence, fully abandoning the extremes of both,
The learned do not even remain in the middle."

Samādhirājasūtra

It is not taught that the Lord of Yogis Milarepa

Perfected the exalted qualities

Through the austerity of eating only nettle soup

It was the result of meritorious accumulations

Towards the unsurpassed, sublime guru

When you are skilled in the methods of accumulating merit

There is no “large” or “small”, “good” or “bad”

The important thing is to delight the guru.

To innermost bliss, I pay homage!
Were I to explain Mahamudra, I would say

—

All phenomena? Your own mind!
If you look outside for meaning, you’ll get confused.
Phenomena are like a dream, empty of true nature,

And mind is merely the flux of awareness,
No self nature: just energy flow.
No true nature: just like the sky.
All phenomena are alike, sky-like.

That’s Mahamudra, as we call it.
It doesn’t have an identity to show;
For that reason, the nature of mind
Is itself the very state of Mahamudra
(Which is not made up, and does not change).
If you realize this basic reality
You recognize all that comes up, all that goes on, as Mahamudra,
The all-pervading dharma-body.

Rest in the true nature, free of fabrication.
Meditate without searching for dharma-body

—

It is devoid of thought.
If your mind searches, your meditation will be confused.

Because it’s like space, or like a magical show,
There is neither meditation or non-meditation,
How could you be separate or inseparable?
That’s how a yogi sees it!

Then, aware of all good and bad stuff as the basic reality,
You become liberated.
Neurotic emotions are great awareness,
They’re to a yogi as trees are to a fire— FUEL!

What are notions of going or staying?
Or, for that matter, “meditating” in solitude?
If you don’t get this,
You free yourself only on the surface.

But if you do get it, what can ever fetter you?
Abide in an undistracted state.
Trying to adjust body and mind won’t produce meditation.
Trying to apply techniques won’t produce meditation either.

See, nothing is ultimately established.
Know what appears to have no intrinsic nature.
Appearances perceived: reality’s realm, self-liberated.
Thought that perceives: spacious awareness, self-liberated.
Non-duality, sameness [of perceiver and perceived]: the dharma-body.

Like a wide stream flowing non-stop,
Whatever the phase, it has meaning
And is forever the awakened state
—
Great bliss without samsaric reference.

All phenomena are empty of intrinsic nature
And the mind that clings to emptiness dissolves in its own ground.
Freedom from conceptual activity
Is the path of all the Buddhas.

I’ve put together these lines
That they may last for aeons to come.
By this virtue, may all beings without exception

Abide in the great state of Mahamudra!

Essential Mahamudra Verses

by Mahasiddha Maitripa

"It is by making illusory offerings through illusory practice that we can complete the gathering of illusory accumulations. Through this cause—namely the accumulation of merit—we can gain the result, which is the perfection of wisdom. Four such methods which involve very little difficulty and yet are exceptionally meaningful and beneficial are the offerings of sang, water tormas, sur[ and one’s own body. The individual who practises these regularly and diligently will gather the accumulations, purify the obscurations, and, in particular, will pacify any obstacles and factors that prevent the accomplishment of the Dharma and awakening in the present lifetime, becoming free of them like the sun emerging from the clouds. Since they also support our progress along the path leading to the supreme attainment of Dzogpachenpo, it makes sense for us to put our energy into practising them."

Dodrupchen Jikmé Tenpé Nyima

“Since everything is but an illusion,
Perfect in being what it is,
Having nothing to do with good or bad,
Acceptance or rejection,
One might as well burst out laughing!”

Excerpt From, The Natural Freedom of the Nature of Mind (Tib. སེམས་ཉིད་རང་གྲོལ་, Semnyi Rangdrol, — part of Longchenpa's Trilogy of Natural Freedom. It has three chapters, related to the Ground, Path and Fruition, which contains these oft-quoted lines.

Artist: Nicholas Roerich

"Human life plants the seed
For going beyond cyclic existence,
The supreme seed of glorious enlightenment.
Human life is a stream of good qualities
Better than a wish-granting jewel.
Who here would attain it and then waste it?"

Āryaśūra