Mahamudra: How to Discover Our True Nature
Robina Courtin · 133 minutes · recorded October 29, 2024
Ven. Robina Courtin teaches from Lama Yeshe's book of that name, which she edited, and from the Panchen Lama's root text behind it. She sets out the two modes of meditation, shamatha and special insight, then the two routes to emptiness: the analytical one that learns the theory first, and the mahamudra one whose only object of concentration is the mind itself. A short practice on posture and watching whatever arises follows, and questions run throughout.
"The Universal Reality of Emptiness, of Nonduality" Recorded as part of a special event co-organised with Samadhi, in this video Venerable Robina Courtin shares teachings on Mahamudra meditation. According to Buddha’s amazing view about the human mind, we all have so much potential. The very word “buddha” in Tibetan – Sangye – expresses this potential. “Sang” implies the total eradication from our mind of all ego, all fears, attachment, anger, jealousy and other states of mind that cause us so much pain. “Gye” implies the development to perfection of all the goodness within us: love, compassion, wisdom, and confidence. In Lama Yeshe’s book, Mahamudra: How to Develop Our True Nature, of which Venerable Robina was an editor, Lama Yeshe explains so clearly, so simply, how to get in touch with our natural potential through meditation on the mind itself. Lama Yeshe tells us that Mahamudra is “the universal reality of emptiness, of nonduality” and its unique characteristic is its emphasis on meditation: “With Mahamudra meditation, there is no doctrine, no theology, no philosophy, no God, no Buddha. Mahamudra is only experience.” He relies on the First Panchen Lama’s well-known Root Text of Genden Mahamudra, which in a few short pages provides the pith instructions for, first, overcoming distraction and resting in meditative stillness on the clarity of one’s own mind, and then by using a subtle wisdom, penetrating its ultimate nature, its emptiness. As always, Lama Yeshe’s words are direct, funny, and incredibly encouraging.
Emptiness Mahamudra Shamatha (calm abiding)