Pointing-out instruction

Template:Short description Template:Quotations Template:Tibetan Buddhism Template:Vajrayana The pointing-out instruction (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: ngo sprod, THL: ngo tröTemplate:Main other) is an introduction to the nature of mind in the Tibetan Buddhist lineages of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. In these traditions, a lama gives the pointing-out instruction in such a way that the disciple successfully recognizes the nature of mind.

Terminology

In the Mahāmudrā tradition, pointing-out instruction (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: ngo sprod kyi gdams pa, THL: ngo-trö kyi dam-paTemplate:Main other) is also referred to as "pointing out the nature of mind" (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: sems kyi ngo sprod, THL: sem kyi ngo-tröTemplate:Main other), "pointing out transmission", or "introduction to the nature of mind".Template:Sfnp In the Dzogchen tradition, the pointing out instructions are often called the “introduction to awareness” (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: rig pa'i ngo sprod, THL: rik-pé ngo-tröTemplate:Main other) or "sems khrid," pronounced "sem tri".Template:Sfnp Senior Shambhala Buddhist teacher Jeremy Hayward describes this as

In the Mahāmudrā tradition, the mind pointed out is called "ordinary mind" (Wylie: tha mal gyi shes paTemplate:Main other tamel gyi shépa, Sanskrit: *prākṛita-jñana).Template:Sfnp As the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche explains,

In the Dzogchen tradition, knowledge of the basis pointed out is called rigpa (Wylie: rig paTemplate:Main other, Sanskrit: *vidya).

Sometimes the pointing-out instruction is referred to as "the empowerment of vajra wisdom,"Template:Sfnp "vajrayana transmission" or "esoteric transmission," although these terms can also be applied to formal abhiṣeka as well.

Mahāmudrā

As scholar David Jackson describes, the particular Kagyu tradition of pointing-out instruction outside the tantras was popularized, if not originated, by Gampopa.

Jackson reports that, according to a number of Kagyu historians, Gampopa put particular emphasis on pointing out the nature of Mind. Jackson writes Template:Quote

There is evidence that this practice derived from (unacknowledged) Chan influence, a controversial issue in Tibet. As scholar Matthew Kapstein writes, the Template:Quote

The mahāmudrā tradition also includes a "fourfold pointing-out instructions" (pointing out the nature of Mind on the basis of appearances) presented by Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje in his three texts on mahāmudrā.

Dzogchen

In Dzogchen tradition, pointing-out instruction (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: ngo sprod kyi gdams pa, THL: ngo-trö kyi dam-paTemplate:Main other) is also referred to as "pointing out the nature of mind" (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: sems kyi ngo sprod, THL: sem kyi ngo-tröTemplate:Main other), "pointing out transmission", or "introduction to the nature of mind".Template:Sfnp The pointing-out instruction (ngo sprod) is an introduction to the nature of mind. A lama gives the pointing-out instruction in such a way that the disciple successfully recognizes the nature of mind.

Efficacy

According to Dzogchen master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, "Once one has received the pointing-out instruction there is the chance of either recognizing it or not."Template:Sfnp

Bruce Newman, a long-time student of Tulku Urgyen's son, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, describes the possible responses of the student to the pointing out instruction:

According to Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, few contemporary disciples are capable of recognition, even when receiving pointing out instructions from superior masters:

The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche characterizes recognition as follows:

Secrecy

According to the Dalai Lama in The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra:

See also

• Esoteric transmission
• Subitism