About the book, Mind at Ease

In the first chapter of this extraordinary book, Mind at Ease, the author, Kyabje Traleg Rinpoche (Traleg Kyabgon), poses the question, "What is Mahamudra?" He quotes Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye, the great Kagyu master (1813-1899):
As for ground mahamudra:
There are both things as they are and the way of confusion.
It does not incline toward either samsara or nirvana,
And is free from the extremes of exaggeration and denigration.
Not produced by causes, not changed by conditions,
It is not spoiled by confusion
Nor exalted by realization.
It does not know either confusion or liberation.

Traleg Rinpoche explains further: "Ground Mahamudra [the ground of being] is an open state of being that is identical to our authentic condition. It is the ground from which all our experiences originate. Our liberating experiences arise from it, as do our experiences of imprisonment, constriction, and constraint. It is completely impartial in terms of both samsaric and nirvanic experiences--pain, pleasure, happiness, unhappiness, and so on. Our authentic condition is totally open and undifferentiated. As soon as we speak of our own authentic condition as being this or that, as inclining toward nirvana and away from nirvana, we introduce a dualism that simply does not exist in reality."

As he concludes: "Although the spiritual journey is a homecoming of sorts, it is still indispensable to proceed on the path in the first place." Mind at Ease (Shambhala Publications, 2004, pp. 15 and 226).

The founder of the Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institutes in Melbourne, and in Chatham, New York, Traleg Rinpoche provides what he calls "a practice manual" for realizing ground Mahamudra/fruition Mahamudra that is at once precise, authoritative, and unadorned. For clarity, never mind which "school" you come from, it doesn't get much better than this. No wonder Dogen-zenji felt impelled to travel to China.

Indeed, Pierre, dear Kuma-san, neither one nor two, and, I imagine, both one and two. As ever, my deepest thanks for your wonderful inspiration. With blessings and gassho.