Counsel to Jampa Tsultrim

The Sanskrit translates as: Homage to Guru Vimalamitra!  ↩

"Dear student" here translates bu, "son." This is a common term of endearment used by the student toward the guru or deity (e.g., "Please think of me, your son/child") and by the guru toward the student. In the latter case, considering contemporary English usage, we prefer "dear student" to highlight the quality of endearment and to avoid unnecessary tones of condescension or the dynamics of Catholic ministry.  ↩

This investigation is one of three preliminary practices unique to the Dzogchen tradition. They are discussed in Pearcey (2018), 141–150 and Germano (1997), 325–326.  ↩

"Thoughts of yes and no" for btang bzhag gi rtog pa. The first term, btang ba, means "to send off/reject" and refers to thoughts one has in meditation that comment on what seems to be off, what one must stop doing etc. The second term, bzhag pa, "to put in place/settle into" and refers to the kind of thoughts one has in meditation that comment on what seems to be going well. "Cherry-picking thoughts" is an alternative.  ↩

"Flowing rhythm" for khrol le ba, a term associated with the sound of the damaru, or small hand drum, which has a clacketing resonance that trails off into space. The term is thus also used in the sense of "open and free flowing."  ↩

Pearcey comments, "The transition between the preliminaries and the main practices is sometimes described as a transition from a speculative analytical view (yid dpyod kyi lta ba) to one that is based on the wisdom born of meditative equipoise (mnyam bzhag ye shes kyi lta ba)" (Pearcey, A Greater Perfection, 137 n490).  ↩

The term rang babs is famously evocative, profound, and hard to translate adequately. Here we choose "naturally flowing," though it is common to translate it more literally as "naturally settled" (lit. "self-cascading") in the sense of meditative absorption having the feeling of being "vividly left alone."  ↩

"Three stillnesses" (mi g.yo gsum) ,"threefold motionlessness, or "three unmoving faculties." The Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group explains, "The three unmoving faculties (mi g.yo gsum ldan) are those of body, speech, and mind. The first, the body unmoving (lus mi g.yo ba), refers mainly to the eyes, held in a relaxed and natural way, focused in space at a level above the eyebrows, neither too open nor closed. one assumes the meditation posture and abandons all other physical activities. For the second, unmoving speech (ngag mi g.yo ba), one applies the essential points regarding speech as explained in the instructions of the three isolations. For the third, unmoving mind (yid mi g.yo ba), one applies the essential points regarding mind in accordance with the instructions of the three isolations. one focuses the mind sharply on the obscurity of space at the level where the eyes are focused, and remains without thoughts [a summary of Taranatha’s Meaningful to Behold: Manual of Instructions on the Indestructible Yoga’s Profound Path, ff. 11b7–12b3]" (Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group, The Elements of Tantric Practice, 336 n8).  ↩

cog bzhag rnam bzhi. Sangye Khandro and Lama Chönam translate these as "four modes of placement." In Yeshe Lama, Jigmé Lingpa explains these in the following way: "(a) Placement in the mountainlike view: After realizing the true nature—free of thoughts—as it is, remain in the naturally clear, great awareness that is not subject to mental efforts, grasping, or the usage of intentional meditation antidotes (against concepts). (b) Oceanlike meditation: Sit in the lotus posture. Look at space in a state of openness. Avoid grasping at the perceptions of the six consciousnesses. Clear your cognition like the ocean free of waves. (c) Skill in activities: Abruptly relax your three doors of body, speech, and mind. Break free of the cocoon of view and meditation. Just maintain your clear, naked wisdom naturally. (d) Unconditional result: Let the five mental objects remain naturally as they arc. Then natural clarity arises vividly within you" (Jigmed Lingpa, Yeshe Lama, 6). Erik Pema Kunsang translates them as the "fourfold freely resting." Tsele Natsok Rangdrol writes, "At all times, as the core of your practice, exert yourself in [1] The view of the freely resting mountain – the unchanging realization of decisiveness in the state of space and awareness [2] The meditation of the freely resting ocean – the inseparability of appearance and emptiness beyond the concepts of fixation. [3] The instruction of the freely resting awareness – dissolving the covers of habitual tendencies and deluded clinging through imprisoning the chain of awareness-display…[4] The practice of the freely resting experience – nondistraction from the nature of the directly perceived wisdom [display] which remains ungoverned by dullness and sluggishness, thought diffusion and agitation, and which is unfettered by the experiences of bliss, clarity and nonthought" (Tsele, Circle of the Sun, 52).  ↩