Tilopa

Examine Yourself

Lo! This is self-awareness! It surpasses all avenues of speech and thought. I, Tilopa, have nothing to reveal. You should know it yourself through inward examination. 

No Roots, No Home 

The clouds that wander through the sky have no roots, no home, Nor do the distinctive thoughts floating through the mind. Once the self-mind is seen, Discrimination stops. 

Mind Without Projection

Stop all physical activity: sit naturally at ease.
Do not talk or speak: let sound be empty, like an echo.
Do not think about anything: look at experience beyond thought.

Your body has no core, hollow like bamboo.
Your mind goes beyond thought, open like space.
Let go of control and rest right there.

Mind without projection is mahamudra.
Train and develop this and you will come to the deepest awakening.

No Hope No Fear 

If you are beyond all grasping at an object and at a subject,

that is the monarch of all views.

If there is no distraction,

it is the monarch of all meditations.

If there is no effort,

it is the monarch among all conducts.

When there is no hope and no fear,

that is the final result,

and the fruition has been attained or revealed.

The Truth Which is Natural to Awareness

Obsessive use of meditative disciplines or perennial study of scripture and philosophy will never bring forth this wonderful realization, this truth which is natural to awareness, because the mind that desperately desires to reach another realm or level of experience inadvertently ignores the basic light that constitutes all experience. 

Beholding Mind’s True Nature 

Gazing intently into the empty sky, vision ceases;

Likewise, when mind gazes into mind itself,

The train of discursive and conceptual thought ends

And supreme enlightenment is gained.

Like the morning mist that dissolves into thin air,

Going nowhere but ceasing to be,

Waves of conceptualization, all the mind’s creation, dissolve,

When you behold your mind’s true nature.

At Ease 

Like the state of space, the mind transcends thought. Set it at ease in its own nature, without rejecting it or maintaining it. When the mind is without objective content, it is Mahamudra. Through familiarisation with that, supreme enlightenment is achieved. 

Hey! 

Hey! This is self-knowing primordial wisdom. It is beyond articulation and it is not an experienced object of the mind. It is nothing that can be demonstrated by me, Tilopa. Know it by letting your own self-awareness indicate itself. 

Adhere to a Master 

The fool in his ignorance, disdaining mahamudra, Knows nothing but struggle in the flood of samsara. Have compassion for those who suffer constant anxiety! Sick of unrelenting pain and desiring release, adhere to a master, For when his blessing touches your heart, the mind is liberated.

Like Space 

Is space anywhere supported? Upon what does it rest? Like space, mahamudra is dependant upon nothing; Relax and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity, And, your bonds loosening, release is certain.

Fettered by Craving 

Child, it is not by appearances that you are fettered but by craving. 

Like Sesame Oil 

Sesame oil is the essence.

Although the ignorant know that it is in the sesame seed,

they do not understand the way of cause, effect and becoming,

and therefore are not able to extract the essence, the sesame oil.

Although innate coemergent wisdom abides in the heart of all beings,

if it is not shown by the guru, it cannot be realized.

Just like sesame oil that remains in the seed, it does not appear.

One removes the husk by beating the sesame, and the sesame oil, the essence appears.

In the same way, the guru shows the truth of tathata,

and all phenomena become indivisible in one essence.

Kye ho! The far-reaching, unfathomable meaning is apparent at this very moment.

O how wondrous!”

Six Words of Advice

Let go of what has passed. 

Let go of what may come.

Let go of what is happening now. 

Don’t try to figure anything out. 

Don’t try to make anything happen. 

Relax, right now, and rest.

Free of All Effort

If you sit, sit in the middle of the sky. If you sleep, sleep on the point of a spear. If you look, look upon the center of the sun. I Tilopa, who saw the ultimate, am the one who is free of all effort.

Samsara

Samsara is to see fault in others.

Yogi’s Mind 

At first a yogi feels his mind Is tumbling like a waterfall; In mid-course, like the Ganges It flows on slow and gentle; In the end, it is a great Vast ocean, where the Lights Of Son and Mother merge in one. 

Appearances 

Oh my Son! Appearances of phenomena do not bind you to samsara, but attachment to them does. So, Naropa, cut off attachment.