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The Royal Seal of Mahamudra, Volume One: A Guidebook for the Realization of Coemergence
An unusually detailed, clear, and complete instruction manual for the meditation practice of Mahamudra, by a renowned eighteenth-century Tibetan master in the Drukpa Kagyu lineage.
This guidance manual for the practice of Mahamudra offers detailed instructions for meditation practice from the beginning level to the culmination of the path. Widely regarded as one of the clearest and most comprehensive presentations of the practice of coemergence, or Mahamudra, it presents a step-by-step guide to spiritual exercises that bring the meditator to clear realization of the primordially pure, fully perfect, nondual nature of the mind.
This guidance manual for the practice of Mahamudra offers detailed instructions for meditation practice from the beginning level to the culmination of the path. Widely regarded as one of the clearest and most comprehensive presentations of the practice of coemergence, or Mahamudra, it presents a step-by-step guide to spiritual exercises that bring the meditator to clear realization of the primordially pure, fully perfect, nondual nature of the mind.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2015
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67 people want to read
About the author
Khamtrul Rinpoche III
2 books3 followersNgawang Kunga Tenzin (ནག་དབང་ཀུན་དགའ་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཁམས་སྤྲུལ་༣ nag dbang kun dga' bstan 'dzin, Khams sprul III, 1680–1728) was a lama of the Drukpa lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, held to be the third incarnation of Karma Tenphel, the first Khamtrul Rinpoche.
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September 14, 2020
Perfect Instructions
From a totally realized guru come these beloved instructions for the first time in a Western Language. Take the time for practicing every day four times a day. Fruit will come at its own pace, not yours, as it eventually will evaporate on its own.
From a totally realized guru come these beloved instructions for the first time in a Western Language. Take the time for practicing every day four times a day. Fruit will come at its own pace, not yours, as it eventually will evaporate on its own.
April 13, 2023
Excellent pithy profound book. Some excerpts:
"...Similarly, regarding whatever is in the field of the tactile sense organ,
such things as fabrics that are soft or rough to the touch, this tactile
sensation itself is your own mind. Avoid slipping into grasping or rejecting.
Whether soft or rough, do not try to find the mind anywhere apart
from the softness or roughness itself, but rest at ease right there without
distraction. If a pleasant or an unpleasant feeling arises, recognize it
and rest mindfully.
Likewise all thoughts arising in the field of the mental sense organ—
right or wrong, good or bad, subtle or coarse—are also your own mind.
Avoid liking the right ones and spurning the wrong ones. No matter
what thought arises—good, bad, or neutral; subtle, tangible, or gross—
recognize its identity through awareness and sustain it naturally. If any
fixation arises, such as thinking of this and that in regard to thoughts
of right and wrong, that itself is a fixating thought. So identify that
grasping thought and rest on it at ease. In short, even when it is not the
case of good or bad thoughts but is one of stillness and movement, avoid
making choices. Do not taint with blocking or pursuing. If the mind is
still, relax on the identity of that stillness. When it is dispersed, let loose
in the identity of that dispersion. When still or when anything arises,
relax on that. Keep to the very identity of what occurs, and sustain its
continuity without clinging elsewhere to good or bad.
In fact, no matter what perception of good or bad arises in the six
sense fields—forms in the field of the eyes, sounds in the field of the
ears, smells in the field of the nose, tastes in the field of the tongue,
tactile sensations in the field of the body, or thoughts in the field of
the mind—don’t judge as good or bad, and don’t indulge in likes and
dislikes. Whatever appears, whatever arises, first identify it, then relax
and rest in that state, and finally let it be released by itself.
For us, who have been in beginningless samsara all our lives due to
very strong habits formed long ago, there is no way for thoughts of
passion and aggression not to arise; these thoughts will no doubt occur!
Determined not to slip into delusion, you must identify these thoughts
and let go directly on them. Rest in the state of knowing the nature of
the very thoughts of attachment and aversion.
Lord Gotsangpa said:
"In general, the apparent myriad of phenomena is one’s own
mind. Since phenomena and emptiness have never been
abiding as two separate entities, there is no need to restrain
cognizance within."
Also:
"When there is an appearance of a form in the field of the eyes,
that appearance of form itself is one’s mind; the apparent
form and emptiness are not two. By resting gently right on
the form without grasping, subject and object become naturally
liberated. The same applies to sounds, smells, tastes,
textures, as well as mental occurrences: by resting on the
occurrence itself, it becomes self-liberated. That is to say,
instead of meditating on cognizance, by meditating without
grasping right on the outer objects of the six sense perceptions,
the six senses arise as meditation and enhancement
will ensue."
Siddha Orgyenpa said:
"Static or mobile things of the outer world that may be seen,
including any possible inanimate object—such as earth,
stones, mountains, rocks, houses, and estates—or the diversity
of beings, both high and low, in the three spheres of
existence—such as gods and asuras, and those in the three
miserable realms—no matter what is perceived, none of these
things has even a single hair of existence as an outer entity.
They are the natural luminosity arising from the radiance of
one’s own mind.
At the time of practicing this, proceed as follows. When
inanimate things such as earth, stones, mountains, or rocks
appear, don’t go into the fixation of perceiver-and-perceived
in relation to the inanimate object. No matter how it appears,
relax loosely right on it. Avoid tainting it with hopes for good
experiences and fear of bad ones. No matter what appears,
apply the central practice on that itself. Uninterrupted by any
other thought, in that state rest loosely and at ease. Resting
in this way, you do not need to block appearances, try to
accomplish emptiness, or search elsewhere for an antidote. A
vivid union of the inanimate object and awareness is what is
called “using phenomena as the path,” “merging phenomena
and mind into one,” and “seeing the essence of indivisibility.”
By doing so you are capturing the key point of practice.
If you don’t know how to relax right on phenomena in this
way, but instead indulge by means of thought activity in a lot
of corrections intended to improve the situation, phenomena
will not arise as meditation.
Also when seeing any of the six kinds of beings—high or
low, good or evil, happy or sad—whoever it is, practice as in
the case of an inanimate object. Recognize whoever appears,
and in a state of nonmeditation, barely undistracted, rest
loose right on it. By this, phenomena and mind are indivisible.
Do not regard present appearances in terms of fault or
virtue. Avoid fabricating or modifying. Do not taint with the
intention to reject or accomplish. Take them as the practice
exactly as they are."
The method of resting should not be limited just to what we have
seen. Using the six sense perceptions as the path should be carried
out all the time as the main practice. Otherwise, although you may
somehow maintain composure during formal meditation, later when
encountering outer desirable objects of form, sound, smell, taste, or
touch, you will respond with a total lack of determination, enjoy the
sense pleasures in an ordinary way, and slip into delusion. If you turn
the wheel of passion and aggression or hope and fear, the training we
discussed will not show up when needed. You would then be neglecting
the great objective, so the crucial point and main purpose would be
absent. Rather, during the main practice of meditative composure, and
especially at all times, you should learn to use all perceptions as they
are in their own nature.
To use the six sense perceptions as the path has many purposes. The
initial effect is that you will cease to slip under the influence of the six
senses thus giving them free rein, and phenomena will no longer negatively
affect your meditation; later, phenomena will arise as ornaments;
and finally, there will be no duality between phenomena and mind, and
you will have arrived at the expanse of the great pervasiveness of the
dharmakaya.
...
At that point, is the observer—awareness—other than the observed—stillness and movement—or is it actually that stillness and movement itself? By investigating with the gaze of your own awareness, you come to understand that that which is investigating itself is also no other than stillness and movement. Once this happens you will experience lucid emptiness as the naturally luminous self-knowing awareness. Ultimately, whether we say nature and radiance, undesirable and antidote, observer and observed, mindfulness and thoughts, stillness and movement, etc., you should know that the terms of each pair are no different from one another; by receiving the blessing of the guru, properly ascertain that they are inseparable. Ultimately, to arrive at the expanse free of observer and observed is the realization of the true meaning and the culmination of all analyses. This is called “the view transcending concepts,” which is free of conceptualization, or “the vajra mind view.”
...
Path vipashyana is the examination carried out by discerning prajña in the lucidity during shamatha. Fruition vipashyana is the correct realization of the final conviction of the nonduality of observer and observed.
...
To have completely cut off all misconceptions regarding the indivisibility of phenomena and mind, and to merge mind and phenomena free of hope and fear is said to happen at the time of the greater level of one taste.
~
Regarding the support of one’s mind, this mind is not supported by anything, whether outside, inside, or in between. The essence of the mind has no identifiable color or shape, it is inseparable from its radiance, and is free from the extremes of origination, abiding, and cessation.
Therefore, no matter how much or where one searches, nothing at all is found—this is the great emptiness free from all mind-made limitations, effort, and activity. Though it is not perceived as being an existing substantial thing, similarly it is neither nonexistent, both, nor neither—it is free from the four extremes. It is the sublime nature of mind and all phenomena. It is absolute space. It is not to be examined through discursive thought. In the perfect primordial essence, great emptiness, it occurs as spontaneously present awareness.
In fact, past obscurations due to reifying fixations have confused the truth, what is empty has not
been seen as empty, and what is without self has not been seen to be without self; due to this the truth became the chain of delusion. Here, by having practiced the heart of all teachings, the path of profound pith instructions, and through the power of the great blessings of a sacred guru, you come to unmistakably understand the natural condition of emptiness, the unoriginated basic nature of your mind, primordially free from obscurations.
Seeing what is—not as if beholding it before your eyes, but as it is—you find certainty. In this respect, other instructions teach:
What is seen is emptiness. What sees is emptiness. How it is seen is emptiness. The means or circumstances that bring about the seeing are also emptiness. This is connected with the fourfold pointing-out, namely “emptiness by emptiness as emptiness through emptiness.”
In this and other quotations, everything is linked to emptiness. Likewise the Buddha taught a great deal about sixteen, thirty, and other numbers of types of emptiness, such as outer emptiness, inner emptiness, outer and inner emptiness, emptiness of emptiness, and emptiness of all phenomena. There are numerous detailed explanations on the attainment of the true meaning of all these types of emptiness, but we do not need to discuss them here.
Actually, it is not enough to hold all these types of emptiness as merely empty space, we need to realize emptiness as a spontaneous presence. In other words, to give an example, the essence of the mind is utterly empty like space; it is dharmata. Without ever wavering from it even slightly, its unimpeded radiance arises as the myriad things. But no matter how these myriad things may arise, all that arises is spontaneously present in the great void.
In short, what are known as nondual
phenomena-emptiness, inseparable
awareness-emptiness, inseparable
clarity-emptiness, inseparable bliss-emptiness and so forth have to be understood intellectually, realized, and experienced.
In the sutras, tantras, and pith instructions it is clearly taught that all phenomena in samsara and nirvana are by essence utterly empty. It is only in emptiness that the manifested, unimpeded radiance arises as the myriad things and is spontaneously present. So if one is biased and says that this is spontaneously present in nirvana but not in samsara, one has not realized the genuine spontaneous presence and is thus gripped by the fixation on inherent characteristics.
Here, if you find certainty in the profound truth, the various fetters are completely released and due to this samsara and nirvana do not arise as good and bad; indeed you see the profound truth of the inseparability of good and bad. By implication, spontaneously present emptiness has a spontaneously present result. Furthermore, you understand that from the beginning, awareness, phenomena, clarity, and bliss are all indivisible from emptiness, this indivisibility being the natural condition of the great spontaneous presence.
Therefore, in the very natural condition of your mind, the state of things as they are, there is not even the slightest taint, obscuration, or anything considered impure that needs to be eliminated or expelled, nor is there even a hair of achievable qualities to be incorporated or attained. This is because of the vital point that from the beginning it is great enlightenment by nature. Thus, through the principle of nothing to remove and nothing to add, it is naturally self-liberated.
Without depending on other antidotes for even an instant, the fetter itself is the unsurpassable king of liberation. By corroborating this you actualize the essential point that all reifying fixations of hope and fear, adoption and rejection are self-liberated in their original state.
"...Similarly, regarding whatever is in the field of the tactile sense organ,
such things as fabrics that are soft or rough to the touch, this tactile
sensation itself is your own mind. Avoid slipping into grasping or rejecting.
Whether soft or rough, do not try to find the mind anywhere apart
from the softness or roughness itself, but rest at ease right there without
distraction. If a pleasant or an unpleasant feeling arises, recognize it
and rest mindfully.
Likewise all thoughts arising in the field of the mental sense organ—
right or wrong, good or bad, subtle or coarse—are also your own mind.
Avoid liking the right ones and spurning the wrong ones. No matter
what thought arises—good, bad, or neutral; subtle, tangible, or gross—
recognize its identity through awareness and sustain it naturally. If any
fixation arises, such as thinking of this and that in regard to thoughts
of right and wrong, that itself is a fixating thought. So identify that
grasping thought and rest on it at ease. In short, even when it is not the
case of good or bad thoughts but is one of stillness and movement, avoid
making choices. Do not taint with blocking or pursuing. If the mind is
still, relax on the identity of that stillness. When it is dispersed, let loose
in the identity of that dispersion. When still or when anything arises,
relax on that. Keep to the very identity of what occurs, and sustain its
continuity without clinging elsewhere to good or bad.
In fact, no matter what perception of good or bad arises in the six
sense fields—forms in the field of the eyes, sounds in the field of the
ears, smells in the field of the nose, tastes in the field of the tongue,
tactile sensations in the field of the body, or thoughts in the field of
the mind—don’t judge as good or bad, and don’t indulge in likes and
dislikes. Whatever appears, whatever arises, first identify it, then relax
and rest in that state, and finally let it be released by itself.
For us, who have been in beginningless samsara all our lives due to
very strong habits formed long ago, there is no way for thoughts of
passion and aggression not to arise; these thoughts will no doubt occur!
Determined not to slip into delusion, you must identify these thoughts
and let go directly on them. Rest in the state of knowing the nature of
the very thoughts of attachment and aversion.
Lord Gotsangpa said:
"In general, the apparent myriad of phenomena is one’s own
mind. Since phenomena and emptiness have never been
abiding as two separate entities, there is no need to restrain
cognizance within."
Also:
"When there is an appearance of a form in the field of the eyes,
that appearance of form itself is one’s mind; the apparent
form and emptiness are not two. By resting gently right on
the form without grasping, subject and object become naturally
liberated. The same applies to sounds, smells, tastes,
textures, as well as mental occurrences: by resting on the
occurrence itself, it becomes self-liberated. That is to say,
instead of meditating on cognizance, by meditating without
grasping right on the outer objects of the six sense perceptions,
the six senses arise as meditation and enhancement
will ensue."
Siddha Orgyenpa said:
"Static or mobile things of the outer world that may be seen,
including any possible inanimate object—such as earth,
stones, mountains, rocks, houses, and estates—or the diversity
of beings, both high and low, in the three spheres of
existence—such as gods and asuras, and those in the three
miserable realms—no matter what is perceived, none of these
things has even a single hair of existence as an outer entity.
They are the natural luminosity arising from the radiance of
one’s own mind.
At the time of practicing this, proceed as follows. When
inanimate things such as earth, stones, mountains, or rocks
appear, don’t go into the fixation of perceiver-and-perceived
in relation to the inanimate object. No matter how it appears,
relax loosely right on it. Avoid tainting it with hopes for good
experiences and fear of bad ones. No matter what appears,
apply the central practice on that itself. Uninterrupted by any
other thought, in that state rest loosely and at ease. Resting
in this way, you do not need to block appearances, try to
accomplish emptiness, or search elsewhere for an antidote. A
vivid union of the inanimate object and awareness is what is
called “using phenomena as the path,” “merging phenomena
and mind into one,” and “seeing the essence of indivisibility.”
By doing so you are capturing the key point of practice.
If you don’t know how to relax right on phenomena in this
way, but instead indulge by means of thought activity in a lot
of corrections intended to improve the situation, phenomena
will not arise as meditation.
Also when seeing any of the six kinds of beings—high or
low, good or evil, happy or sad—whoever it is, practice as in
the case of an inanimate object. Recognize whoever appears,
and in a state of nonmeditation, barely undistracted, rest
loose right on it. By this, phenomena and mind are indivisible.
Do not regard present appearances in terms of fault or
virtue. Avoid fabricating or modifying. Do not taint with the
intention to reject or accomplish. Take them as the practice
exactly as they are."
The method of resting should not be limited just to what we have
seen. Using the six sense perceptions as the path should be carried
out all the time as the main practice. Otherwise, although you may
somehow maintain composure during formal meditation, later when
encountering outer desirable objects of form, sound, smell, taste, or
touch, you will respond with a total lack of determination, enjoy the
sense pleasures in an ordinary way, and slip into delusion. If you turn
the wheel of passion and aggression or hope and fear, the training we
discussed will not show up when needed. You would then be neglecting
the great objective, so the crucial point and main purpose would be
absent. Rather, during the main practice of meditative composure, and
especially at all times, you should learn to use all perceptions as they
are in their own nature.
To use the six sense perceptions as the path has many purposes. The
initial effect is that you will cease to slip under the influence of the six
senses thus giving them free rein, and phenomena will no longer negatively
affect your meditation; later, phenomena will arise as ornaments;
and finally, there will be no duality between phenomena and mind, and
you will have arrived at the expanse of the great pervasiveness of the
dharmakaya.
...
At that point, is the observer—awareness—other than the observed—stillness and movement—or is it actually that stillness and movement itself? By investigating with the gaze of your own awareness, you come to understand that that which is investigating itself is also no other than stillness and movement. Once this happens you will experience lucid emptiness as the naturally luminous self-knowing awareness. Ultimately, whether we say nature and radiance, undesirable and antidote, observer and observed, mindfulness and thoughts, stillness and movement, etc., you should know that the terms of each pair are no different from one another; by receiving the blessing of the guru, properly ascertain that they are inseparable. Ultimately, to arrive at the expanse free of observer and observed is the realization of the true meaning and the culmination of all analyses. This is called “the view transcending concepts,” which is free of conceptualization, or “the vajra mind view.”
...
Path vipashyana is the examination carried out by discerning prajña in the lucidity during shamatha. Fruition vipashyana is the correct realization of the final conviction of the nonduality of observer and observed.
...
To have completely cut off all misconceptions regarding the indivisibility of phenomena and mind, and to merge mind and phenomena free of hope and fear is said to happen at the time of the greater level of one taste.
~
Regarding the support of one’s mind, this mind is not supported by anything, whether outside, inside, or in between. The essence of the mind has no identifiable color or shape, it is inseparable from its radiance, and is free from the extremes of origination, abiding, and cessation.
Therefore, no matter how much or where one searches, nothing at all is found—this is the great emptiness free from all mind-made limitations, effort, and activity. Though it is not perceived as being an existing substantial thing, similarly it is neither nonexistent, both, nor neither—it is free from the four extremes. It is the sublime nature of mind and all phenomena. It is absolute space. It is not to be examined through discursive thought. In the perfect primordial essence, great emptiness, it occurs as spontaneously present awareness.
In fact, past obscurations due to reifying fixations have confused the truth, what is empty has not
been seen as empty, and what is without self has not been seen to be without self; due to this the truth became the chain of delusion. Here, by having practiced the heart of all teachings, the path of profound pith instructions, and through the power of the great blessings of a sacred guru, you come to unmistakably understand the natural condition of emptiness, the unoriginated basic nature of your mind, primordially free from obscurations.
Seeing what is—not as if beholding it before your eyes, but as it is—you find certainty. In this respect, other instructions teach:
What is seen is emptiness. What sees is emptiness. How it is seen is emptiness. The means or circumstances that bring about the seeing are also emptiness. This is connected with the fourfold pointing-out, namely “emptiness by emptiness as emptiness through emptiness.”
In this and other quotations, everything is linked to emptiness. Likewise the Buddha taught a great deal about sixteen, thirty, and other numbers of types of emptiness, such as outer emptiness, inner emptiness, outer and inner emptiness, emptiness of emptiness, and emptiness of all phenomena. There are numerous detailed explanations on the attainment of the true meaning of all these types of emptiness, but we do not need to discuss them here.
Actually, it is not enough to hold all these types of emptiness as merely empty space, we need to realize emptiness as a spontaneous presence. In other words, to give an example, the essence of the mind is utterly empty like space; it is dharmata. Without ever wavering from it even slightly, its unimpeded radiance arises as the myriad things. But no matter how these myriad things may arise, all that arises is spontaneously present in the great void.
In short, what are known as nondual
phenomena-emptiness, inseparable
awareness-emptiness, inseparable
clarity-emptiness, inseparable bliss-emptiness and so forth have to be understood intellectually, realized, and experienced.
In the sutras, tantras, and pith instructions it is clearly taught that all phenomena in samsara and nirvana are by essence utterly empty. It is only in emptiness that the manifested, unimpeded radiance arises as the myriad things and is spontaneously present. So if one is biased and says that this is spontaneously present in nirvana but not in samsara, one has not realized the genuine spontaneous presence and is thus gripped by the fixation on inherent characteristics.
Here, if you find certainty in the profound truth, the various fetters are completely released and due to this samsara and nirvana do not arise as good and bad; indeed you see the profound truth of the inseparability of good and bad. By implication, spontaneously present emptiness has a spontaneously present result. Furthermore, you understand that from the beginning, awareness, phenomena, clarity, and bliss are all indivisible from emptiness, this indivisibility being the natural condition of the great spontaneous presence.
Therefore, in the very natural condition of your mind, the state of things as they are, there is not even the slightest taint, obscuration, or anything considered impure that needs to be eliminated or expelled, nor is there even a hair of achievable qualities to be incorporated or attained. This is because of the vital point that from the beginning it is great enlightenment by nature. Thus, through the principle of nothing to remove and nothing to add, it is naturally self-liberated.
Without depending on other antidotes for even an instant, the fetter itself is the unsurpassable king of liberation. By corroborating this you actualize the essential point that all reifying fixations of hope and fear, adoption and rejection are self-liberated in their original state.
July 19, 2025
The Royal Seal of Mahamudra Volume 1 is possibly the most informative and useful book there is on the subject of meditation. As an individual with no knowledge of meditation techniques previously, I spent a fair amount of time investigating the numerous books available on the subject before deciding on The Royal Seal of Mahamudra as the book that would guide me into the practice.
The book is written in an easy to approach way, although one should be fully awake and aware as they read it as there is so much information to process. The chapters begin with a list of subjects and subject points it will cover, and it will go through them in that order. It offers advice and techniques for physical posture, and walks through the processes of the mind. I would recommend it to anybody who has any interest or curiosity in the subject.
The book is written in an easy to approach way, although one should be fully awake and aware as they read it as there is so much information to process. The chapters begin with a list of subjects and subject points it will cover, and it will go through them in that order. It offers advice and techniques for physical posture, and walks through the processes of the mind. I would recommend it to anybody who has any interest or curiosity in the subject.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews