"Six Words of Advice"

[Saijun]

(Well, actually more than six.)

Hello,

I was clicking and reading through the Buddhist section of Wikipedia, and somehow wound up on the Mahamudra page. While skimming through it, I found this little bit:

Tilopa was a Bengali mahasiddha who developed the mahāmudrā method around 1,000 C.E. Tilopa gave Naropa, his successor, a teaching on mahāmudrā meditation called the Six Words of Advice.

In the following chart a translation is given of the Tilopa's Six Words of Advice.^[20]

	First short, literal translation	Later long, explanatory translation	Tibetan (Wylie transliteration)
1	Don’t recall	Let go of what has passed	mi mno
2	Don’t imagine	Let go of what may come	mi bsam
3	Don’t think	Let go of what is happening now	mi shes
4	Don’t examine	Don’t try to figure anything out	mi dpyod
5	Don’t control	Don’t try to make anything happen	mi sgom
6	Rest	Relax, right now, and rest	rang sar bzhag

Source.

I just thought I'd share. Seems like a good set of things to remind oneself of frequently. I know that I'm going to be taping them to the inside of my apartment door in the near future.

Metta and Gassho,

Saijun

[Nindo]

In other words ... be right here now and "do what you are doing while you are doing it" (Daido Loori) - nice!

[Saijun]

In other words ... be right here now and "do what you are doing while you are doing it" (Daido Loori) - nice!

Hello Nindo,

'swat I got out of it anyway

Metta and Gassho,

Saijun

[Jundo]

Yes, Shikantaza!

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 control ... Don’t try to make anything happen (drop all goals) ... just relax, right now, and rest [alternate translation: Let the mind rest into one's natural state]

The paths are all just the same, though sometimes very different. Quite different, yet precisely the same.

Gassho, J

[Saijun]

Yes, Shikantaza!

Hello Jundo,

When I first found that page, I thought "hm...this sounds familiar." Then, laughter. It all really does come back, no?



Metta and Gassho,

Saijun

[Shingen]

Yes, Shikantaza!

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 control ... Don’t try to make anything happen (drop all goals) ... just relax, right now, and rest [alternate translation: Let the mind rest into one's natural state]

The paths are all just the same, though sometimes very different. Quite different, yet precisely the same.

Gassho, J

Beautiful Jundo, thank you!

Gassho
Michael