The One and Only Path of Mahamudra

by the peerless Lord Gampopa

I bow to my excellent teachers.

There are three points to this presentation of mahamudra:

  1. Nailing down how it is,
  2. Knowing how it comes to be, and
  3. Effective refinement in thatness

Nailing down how it is has five points:

  1. Mahamudra has no genesis,
  2. Mahamudra has no conditions,
  3. Mahamudra has no method,
  4. Mahamudra has no path, and
  5. Mahamudra has no result.

Knowing how it comes to be also has five points:

  1. Although mahamudra has no genesis, faith and devotion are its genesis.
  2. Although mahamudra has no conditions, excellent teachers are its conditions.
  3. Although mahamudra has no method, this unaffected mind is its method.
  4. Although mahamudra has no path, this undistracted mind is its path.
  5. Although mahamudra has no result, this mind freed in pure being is its result.

Effective refinement in thatness has four points:

  1. For groundwork, practice teacher-union with faith, reverence, and devotion, three times a day and three times at night;
  2. For the main matter, consistently place mind without distraction and rest without affectation.
  3. For the conclusion, once all that appears is experienced as mind, refine the vitality of awareness.
  4. As energy shifts arise, keep practice and meditation steady until any sense of mind is gone.

Energy shifts arise in two ways:

  1. Unconducive energy shifts and 
  2. Conducive energy shifts.

For the first, whatever the unconducive energy shifts — unstable attention, illness, panic attacks, doubts, and so on — they arise from your practice. Knowing all these are energy shifts, without suppressing them, settle in the outlook and practice of thatness and practice from there. When you do this, at some point a conducive energy shift suddenly arises.

For conducive energy shifts, first the shift into mind resting arises, then the shift into presence emptying, then the shift into knowing arriving, and then the shift into clinging unwinding. 

When these shifts arise, don’t be content with your practice. Keep moving forward steadily.

First, don’t be content with just mind resting.
Practice seeing presence emptying again and again. 

Don’t be content with just seeing presence emptying.
You need to practice coming into knowing arriving again and again.

Don’t be content with just coming into knowing arriving.
You need to practice clinging unwinding again and again.

Don’t be content with just clinging unwinding.
You need to practice until your mind is freed in pure being,
any sense of mind is gone, and you are completely awake.


This concludes The Pure Essence of Mind, The One and Only Path of Mahamudra translated by Ken McLeod in Windsor, CA in April 2025