the song of Tao

Tilopa (988 – 1069) was an indian mahasiddha of Vajrayana Buddhism and developer of the set of spiritual practices of the tibetan tantrism known as Mahamudra.
The Song of Mahamudra, addressed to his disciple Nāropā, expresses what is inexpressible - "beyond all words and symbols" - which represents the supreme understanding, where the subject which knows and the object which is known disappear and only knowledge remains:

Mahamudra is beyond all words and symbols,
but for you Naropa,
earnest and loyal,
must this be said:

The Void needs no reliance,
Mahamudra rest on nought.
Without making an effort,
but remaining loose and natural,
one can break the yoke -
thus gaining liberation.

If one sees naught when staring into space;
if with the mind one then observes the mind,
one destroys distinctions
and reaches buddahood.

The clouds that wander through the sky have no roots,
no home, nor do the distinctive thoughts
floating through the mind.
Once the Self-mind is seen,
discrimination stops.

In space shapes and colours form,
but neither by black nor white is space tinged.
From the Self-mind all things emerge,
the mind by virtues and by vices is not stained.

The darkness of ages
cannot shroud the glowing sun,
the long kalpas of samsara
never can hide the mind’s brilliant light.

Though words are spoken to explain the void,
the void as such can never be expressed.
Though we say “the mind is bright as light”,
it is beyond all words and symbols.
Although the mind is void in essence,
all things it embraces and contains.

Do nought with the body but relax;
shut firm the mouth and silent remain;
empty your mind and think of nought.
Like a hollow bamboo rest at ease with your body.
Giving not nor taking, put your mind at rest.
Mahamudra is like a mind that clings to nought.
Thus practicing, in time you will reach buddhahood.

The practice of mantra and pāramitā,
instruction in the sutras and precepts,
and teaching from the schools and scriptures,
will not bring realization of the innate truth.
For if the mind when filled with some desire
should seek a goal,
it only hides the light.

He who keeps tantric precepts, yet discriminates,
betrays the spirit of samaya.
Cease all activity, abandon all desire,
let thoughts rise and fall
as they will like ocean waves.
He who never harms the non-abiding,
nor the principle of non-distinction,
upholds the tantric precepts.

He who abandons craving
and clings not to this and that,
perceives the real meaning given in the scriptures.

In Mahamudra all one’s sins are burned;
in Mahamudra one is released
from the prison of this world.
This is the dharma’s supreme torch.
Those who disbelieve it are fools,
who ever wallow in misery and sorrow.

To strive for liberation
one should rely on a guru.
When our mind receives his blessings
emancipation is at hand.

Alas,all things in the world are meaningless,
they are but sorrow’s seeds.
Small teachings lead to acts -
one should only follow teachings that are great.

To transcend duality is the kingly view.
To conquer distractions is the royal practice.
The path of no-practice is the way of all the buddhas.
He who treads that path reaches buddhahood.

Transient is this world,
like phantoms and dreams, substance it has none.
Renounce it and forsake your kin,
cut the strings of lust and hatred,
and meditate in woods and mountains.

If without effort
you remain loosely in the natural state,
soon Mahamudra you will win
and attain the non-attainment.

Cut the root of a tree and the leaves will wither;
cut the root of your mind and samsara falls.
The light of any lamp dispels in a moment
the darkness of long kalpas;
the strong light of the Mind in but a flash
will burn the veil of ignorance.

Who ever clings to the mind
sees not the truth of what is beyond the mind.
Whoever strives to practice dharma
finds not the truth of beyond-practice.
To know what is beyond both mind and practice
one should cut cleanly through the root of the mind
and stare naked.
One should thus break away from all distinctions
and remain at ease.

One should not give or take,
but remain natural - for Mahamudra
is beyond all acceptance and rejection.
Since Alaya is not born,
no one can obstruct or soil it;
staying in the unborn realm
all appearance will dissolve into dharmata,
and self-will and pride will vanish into nought.

The Supreme Understanding
transcends all this and that;
The supreme action
embraces great resourcefulness without attachment.
The supreme accomplishment
is to realize immanence without hope.

At first a yogi feels his mind
is tumbling like a waterfall,
in mid-course, like the Ganges,
it flows on slow and gentle;
in the end it is a great vast ocean
where the lights of son and mother merge in one.

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The experience of the ultimate is not an experience at all – because the experiencer is lost. And when there is no experiencer, what can be said about it? Who will say it? Who will relate the experience? When there is no subject, the object also disappears – the banks disappear, only the river of experience remains. Knowledge is there, but the knower is not.

That has been the problem for all the mystics. They reach to the ultimate, but they cannot relate it to those who are following. They cannot relate it to others who would like to have an intellectual understanding. They have become one with it. Their whole being relates it, but no intellectual communication is possible. They can give it to you if you are ready to receive; they can allow it to happen in you if you also allow it, if you are receptive and open. But words won’t do, symbols won’t help; theories and doctrines are of no use at all.

The experience is such that it is more like an experiencing than like an experience. It is a process – and it begins, but it never ends. You enter into it, but you never possess it. It is like a drop dropping in the ocean, or, the ocean itself dropping into the drop. It is a deep merger, it is oneness, you simply melt away into it. Nothing is left behind, not even a trace, so who will communicate? Who will come back to the world of the valley? Who will come back to this dark night to tell you?

All the mystics all over the world have always felt impotent as far as communication is concerned. Communion is possible, but communication, no. This has to be understood from the very beginning. A communion is a totally different dimension: two hearts meet, it is a love affair. Communication is from head to head; communion is from heart to heart, communion is a feeling. Communication is knowledge: only words are given, only words are said, and only words are taken and understood. And words are such: the very nature of words is so dead that nothing alive can be related through them. Even in ordinary life, leave aside the ultimate, even in ordinary experiencing when you have a peak moment, an ecstatic moment, when you really feel something and become something, it becomes impossible to relate it in words.