Rational Nation USA

  Oh, my Guru! The Exemplar of the View, Practice, and Action, Pray vouchsafe me your grace, and enable me To be absorbed in the realm of Self-nature! For the View, Practice, Action, and Accomplishment There are three Key-points you should know: All the manifestation, the Universe itself, is contained in the mind; The nature of Mind is the realm of illumination Which can neither be conceived nor touched. These are the Key-points of the View. Errant thoughts are liberated in the Dharmakaya; The awareness, the illumination, is always blissful; Meditate in a manner of non-doing and non-effort. These are the Key-points of Practice. In the action of naturalness The Ten Virtues spontaneously grow; All the Ten Vices are thus purified. By corrections or remedies The Illuminating Void is ne'er disturbed. These are the Key-points of Action. There is no Nirvana to attain beyond; There is no Samsara here to renounce; Truly to know the Self-mind It is to be the Buddha Himself. These are the Key...

  The Kagyu tradition is one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is famed as the school of meditation practice. One of its alternative names is ‘the practice lineage’. The translator The origins of the Kagyu tradition in Tibet go back nearly a thousand years. In the 11th century a layman called Marpa made three journeys to India in search of Buddhist teachings. There, he studied under famous Indian Buddhist masters, such as Naropa and Maitripa. Having brought their teachings back to Tibet, Marpa the Translator, as he became known, transmitted them to students who gathered around him. The mountain hermit Marpa’s chief student was a man called Milarepa. While still young Milarepa had been responsible for the deaths of many people in a family feud. Remorse for his actions led him to turn to the path of the Buddha. Under Marpa’s guidance he devoted his life to meditation. After years of solitary meditation in caves in the Himal...

Hearken, my sons! If you want To climb the mountain peak You should hold the Self-mind’s light, Tie it with a great “Knot,” And catch it with a firm “Hook.” If you practice thus You can climb the mountain peak To enjoy the view. Come, you gifted men and women, Drink the brew of Experience! Come “inside” to enjoy the scene — See it and enjoy it to the full! The Incapable remain outside; Those who cannot drink pure Beer may quaff small beer. He who cannot strive for Bodhi, Should strive for superior birth. –  Milarepa