The Ultimate Purpose of Practicing Buddhism

“Mahamudra: Essence and Practice” (Book  II)

The Ultimate Purpose of Practicing Buddhism

◎Yixin Chen：What’s the ultimate purpose of practicing Buddhism?

●Xue Mo：The ultimate purpose of practicing Buddhism is to be enlightened by Mahamudra brightness. To achieve complete liberation is to inosculate the obtained child brightness and the existing mother brightness as a whole. The union of child brightness with mother brightness is like a drop of water dropped into the sea. How shall we keep a drop of water from evaporating? The only way is to merge it with the sea. It is the same with liberation. Only by uniting child and mother brightnesses can you achieve liberation. The ultimate purpose of Mahamudra is to achieve the union of child and mother brightnesses. Seeing one’s nature is but seeing the brightness of emptiness, which is far from the consummated brightness. Thus, “seeing one’s nature, becoming Buddha” is not ultimate. Accomplishing Buddhahood implies seeing one’s nature, but seeing one’s nature does not necessarily lead to the accomplishment of Buddhahood. Seeing one’s nature is only seeing the brightness; you have to realize it directly. That would be a real achievement.

There are two kinds of union of child and mother brightnesses. One is the dharmata brightness realized before one’s death, which is equivalent to the acme of No Meditation Yoga. This is what we call “attainment of Buddhahood with this very body.” The other way to achieve ultimate fulfillment is by using the death brightness during the “eight phases of dying” to realize the union of child and mother brightnesses.

Let me use a metaphor. Seeing one’s own nature is seeing the sky through a window. You know what the sky looks like. By practicing, you approach the window step by step. You progress from the first stage to the second stage, then from the second to the third, etc. By continuous practicing, you will be closer and closer to the window. Finally, when you reach the window, with a powerful hit at it, you break it, and then, the brightness of your self-nature jumps out of the cage and melts itself with the sky outside. At this moment, you become one with emptiness and you are no different from the dharma realm, which means you have achieved the union of child and mother brightnesses.

You don’t know where to go and strive before you see the brightness out of the window. You can only make use of all kinds of skilful means to find the brightness. If you still haven’t found the brightness when dying, you have to be reborn into a dakini’ buddha-land or any other pure land to enlighten one’s mind and see one’s own nature and to realize the dharmata brightness under the blessings of a dakini or a buddha.

There are many ways to be enlightened into the dharmata brightness. One is to complete the meditation of both the creation and perfection stages. Another is to obtain blessings from a fully acquired guru with complete virtues. The latter might lead to sudden enlightenment and ultimate achievement in many cases. Nowadays, many disciples don’t understand this. They make too many efforts on external appearances while neglecting the mind-nature.

Now, many people are always taking the wrong path. Some are even obsessed with mere knowledge and stuff. To tell the truth, one who seeks the dharma outside of one’s mind can never achieve full realization. Some people don’t cherish the teaching of Mahamudra, mainly because they don’t understand it. They have no idea that without enlightenment into the brightness of Mahamudra, it is impossible to achieve ultimate liberation. Of course, there are many other skilful means in the teaching of Shangpa Kagyu, such as the method bringing about completion when the body is at the intermediate state, and being reborn into a dakini’s buddha-land, where one is enlightened into the brightness of Mahamudra by virtue of the blessings of the dakini. Being reborn is not ultimate liberation, for the buddha-land is only a transfer station in the process of accomplishing Buddhahood.

The most important thing in entering into the enlightenment of Mahamudra is to obtain blessings from one’s guru. After the entering, there are still many levels to be attained and still some subtle avidya to be eliminated. All these require the guidance of one’s guru. Sometimes, you also need your guru’s confirmation about whether or not you are really enlightened into Mahamudra and see the brightness.

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《光明大手印：实修心髓》下

修行的真正目的

◎陈亦新：修行的真正目的是什么？

●雪漠：修行的真正目的，是为了证得大手印光明。而实现真正的解脱，就是要将修来的子光明，跟本有的母光明会合。那子母光明会，就如同一滴水滴入大海。一滴水如何才能不干涸？唯一的办法就是将其融入大海。解脱也这样，只有达成了子母光明会，你才会有解脱。大手印的终极目的，就是子母光明会。见性只是见到空性光明，它距真正的证到光明尚有距离。所以，见性成佛之说并不究竟。成佛肯定是见了性，但见了性未必就会成佛。见性只是见到了那光明，你必须证得那光明，才算是真正的成就。

子母光明会有两种，一种是生前就证得了实相光明，也即达到了无修瑜伽的最高阶段，这便是真正的即身成就；一种利用“临死八相”中的死光明实现子母光明会，证得究竟成就。

我们举个例子：见性就等于你从窗户中看到了天空，你明白了天空是什么样子。而你的修，就是一步步靠近了窗户。你走一步，就从一地进入二地；再走一步，就进入了三地；你一步步精进地修，一步步靠近了窗户。当你终于靠近窗户时，你会用力一击，打碎玻璃，你的自性光明便跳出牢笼，融入外面的天空。这时，你与虚空合一，你与法界无别，就等于实现了子母光明会。

在你见不到窗户外的光明前，你是不知道该向哪个方向用力的。你只能利用各种方便道去发现那种光明。要是你在临命终时，仍然不能见到这个光明，你就只好往生空行佛国或是别的净土，在空行母或是佛陀的加持下去明心见性，去证得这个实相光明。

证得这种实相光明的方式有多种，一种是修生圆二次第，一种是得到具德具证上师的加持。而得到具德具证上师的加持，往往可能会顿悟顿证，究竟彻悟。现在好多弟子不明白这些，尽在一些外相上着力，不在心性上用功。

现在，好多人一直在走弯路，有的甚至仅仅追求一种知识性的东西。其实，心外求法者，是不会证悟的。有的人对大手印教法也不去珍惜，主要就是他们不懂。他们不明白，你要是证不到大手印光明，是不可能究竟解脱的。当然，香巴噶举教法里还有许多方便法门，比如中阴身成就法，或是往生空行佛国，在空行母的加持下再证得大手印光明，等等。往生不属于究竟解脱，那空行佛国仅仅是个成佛的中转站。

契入光明大手印最主要的是得到上师的加持，契入之后，还有许多层次，还需要破除一些细微无明。这一切，也需要上师指点。有时候，你是否真的进入了大手印，是否真的见到了光明，也需要上师印证。

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