“If the aim is not to change our minds and gain some inner realisations then it is not that useful or beneficial. If we don’t change our minds, then reading scriptures is a waste of time, going on a three year three month retreat is a waste of time, whatever you do will be a waste of time. That is a very important point to understand.”
“The main thing is no matter how much listening and contemplation we have done, how peaceful and subdued have we become? Has our listening and contemplation been of benefit to our minds? Has our better understanding of the Dharma becomes such that we have greater consideration for karma, cause and effect in our daily lives? Do we have more faith and devotion for great gurus? Do we have more compassion for sentient beings? We need to look and see if this is happening. It is not a question of whether we can become more fluent with our tongues. It does not mean that.”
“If you want an instruction based on experience (nyung tri), then you need to get that from someone who is experienced. I cannot teach such an experiential instruction. It is something that should only be given to a small number of superior individuals of the three types, it is not like one can teach it to a whole load of people. If you teach an experiential explanation like that to a lot of people all over the world, then it will not work.” —17th Karmapa
For the new moon and Shakyamuni Buddha Day today, am happy to publish this new e-book on Seven Pointing Outs by Yangonpa (17th Karmapa 2024 teaching) , a free to download compilation of a three-day teaching given by the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje in January 2024 for the Kagyu Winter (Guncho) annual Dharma event.
The e-book is also accompanied with a new video clip (Tibetan with English subtitles) from the teaching on the meaning of ‘transmission’ (lung) in terms of its original purpose to memorise the teachings. A previous video clip from the same teaching, on Calm-Abiding/Shamatha, is here.
This year (2025) there was no Kagyu Guncho Teaching from the 17th Karmapa and no explanation was given why. Since 2017, the Karmapa has not been teaching in public in person, and online only[1]. Thus, as no explanation was given for the 17th Karmapa not teaching at the Kagyu Guncho this year, I decided it might be beneficial to check, edit and compile the teachings he gave last year (which I wrote about on this website). A contents outline of the book is below.
The 2024 teaching is from a text called The Instructions on the Seven Pointing Outs (ངོ་སྤྲོད་བདུན་མའི་ཁྲིད་ཡིག )[2] by the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje (1507-1554) , which is a commentary on a root text called The Seven Pointing Outs (ངོ་སྤྲོད་བདུན་མ) by the famous 13th century Drugpa Kagyu Tibetan yogi and master, Gyalwa Yangonpa Gyaltsen Pal (ཡང་དགོན་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ 1213–1258). Yangonpa’s tulku was said to be Barawa Gyeltsen Pelzang (རྗེ་འབའ་ར་བ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ་བཟང 1310-1391) who also wrote a commentary on the Seven Pointing Outs teaching, which the 17th Karmapa also refers to. According to the 17th Karmapa, it is a song that Yangonpa sang out of delight to some new students:
“During the year Yangonpa founded the monastery in Lhading, 25 new students came to receive instructions from him. They had never received any instructions before. Yet, before he had even taught the main instructions, five of these students developed realization upon just hearing the preliminary instructions. Also, all of the students who received the instructions were able to develop meditation such as shamatha. Yangonpa was absolutely delighted, and sang this song of the Seven Pointing Outs.”
Before discussing the text, the 17th Karmapa’s teaching began with an interesting explanation of what is meant by transmission (lung) and how reading transmissions were bestowed in India. As there were no written texts at that times, they were spoken orally by the Buddha and then recited many times by new students to memorise them. These days, the 17th Karmapa said the texts were written down in Tibetan, so there was no need to go through such difficulties, however, the distinction between transmission (lung) and instructions (tri) seemed to have continued in Tibet, even though there is no such clear distinction between them in the Sutras or Tantras. This explanation was followed by a brief account of Yangonpa’s life story, in particular his prodigious and unusual abilities and events during his childhood.
The 17th Karmapa only had time to give explanation of the first three ‘pointing outs’: Shamatha, Special Insight and Bringing Thoughts Onto the Path. This teaching gave some profound insights into how to meditate and not to alter the mind, or try to make it free of thoughts and elaborations. Rather to leave the nature of mind naturally as it is. To look at thoughts with mindfulness and awareness but not try to get rid of or abandon thoughts, likened to waves in an ocean. Also, about how the conceptual fixations in deity yoga practice, creation and completion stage connect with the mahāmudrā meditation and the practices known as the Three Sets of Four (Twelve Yogas) in mahāmudrā, a tradition said to be unique to the Kagyu lineages. The Karmapa then gave an oral reading transmission of the last four points.
The final day was an interesting, yet brief explanation of the necessity for revival of the Karma Kagyu teachings and heritage, with a powerful statement about how the Karma Kagyu shedras were all destroyed in central Tibet, by the Mongolian-Gelug forces in the 17th Century (for video clip of that teaching (Tibetan with English subtitles), see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86uqsV626Lg)
This was followed by a discussion of the point and purpose of Buddhist meditation and study, and integrating it into one’s being and mind, not just being ‘mere words’ or knowledge done for praise or a certificate or career.
The teachings in this compilation are based on the original Tibetan spoken by the 17th Karmapa, greatly assisted by the English oral interpretation of Karma David Chophel. The 8th Karmapa root text sections (in bold font) which the 17th Karmapa read quickly, I have typed up some as translated by Khenpo David, however, I did not have time to check his translation, against the root text by 8th Karmapa. If I get time in the future to do that, and translate those sections myself, I will do so.
May this compilation be of benefit in preserving the wisdom and activities of the Gyalwang Karmapas (8th and 17th) and the Karma Kagyu, as well as benefit to all beings and the Dharma teachings.
Compiled and translated by Adele Tomlin, January 2025.
Contents Outline: E-book
GYALWANG YANGONPA’S ‘SEVEN POINTING-OUTS’ (ངོ་སྤྲོད་བདུན་མ )
And SHORT INSTRUCTIONS BY 8TH KARMAPA, MIKYO DORJE (རྒྱལ་བ་ཡང་དགོན་པའི་ངོ་སྤྲོད་བདུན་མའི་ཁྲིད་ཡིག)
Introduction. 4
DAY ONE: The meaning of ‘reading’ transmission, liberation-story of Gyalwang Yangonpa and the outline and origin of his Seven Pointing Outs text. 7
Introduction. 7
The distinctions/categories of lung (oral transmission) and tri (guiding instructions). 8
Liberation-story of the great Drugpa Kagyu yogi, Gyalwang Yangonpa, student of Gotsangpa. 10
Introduction and Outline of the 8th Karmapa’s Instructions on the Seven Pointing Outs teaching, and in the commentary by Yangonpa’s tulku, Barawa Gyelwang Gyeltsen. 13
The Homage. 15
The Three Sets of Four (Twelve Yogas) of Mahāmudrā, and Stages and Paths in Yangonpa’s teaching 17
POINTING OUT ONE: CALM ABIDING/SHAMATHA.. 19
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- Placing the Mind. 20
- Maintaining an uncontrived state. 20
- Bringing Thoughts Onto the Path. 22
The connection between shamatha of the creation stage of deity yoga and the completion stage free of fabrication and conceptions. 23
Instructions based on experience (nyam-nyong) 24
The importance of doing fine and detailed research on Buddha Dharma but also in changing one’s own mind and not merely repeating the words of others in debates. 26
Endnotes. 28
Related Reading. 29
DAY TWO:“LIKE AN ANT ON A LEAF ON WATER, CALMLY REST THE MIND WHEREVER IT GOES”. Instructions on Calm-Abiding, Superior Insight and Carrying Thoughts Onto the Path. 30
Introduction. 30
- Placing the Mind (Calm-abiding I). 31
- Maintaining an uncontrived state (Calm-abiding II). 33
- ‘Bringing thoughts onto the path’ (Calm-abiding III) 36
POINTING OUT TWO: SPECIAL INSIGHT (Lhag-thong). 38
1) Teaching on the abiding reality. 39
2) Teaching on the way of looking/seeing. 41
POINTING OUT THREE: “THE WAY OF MEDITATION FREE FROM ELABORATIONS”. 43
1) Teaching on undistracted meditation. 43
2) Teaching that is ineffable, inconceivable and indescribable. 45
The obstacle Yangonpa faced early in his life, not meeting a qualified lama. 46
Founder of Tselpa Kagyu, Lama Zhang’s experience of distinguishing between thoughts and actual experience/realisations. 47
DAY THREE: Importance of both study and practice for the revival of Kagyu study communities. 52
Introduction. 53
The importance of listening and contemplation in order to transform our minds. 56
The total destruction of Kagyu study communities and shedras in central Tibet by the Mongol invading army in the 17th Century with Gelugpa support. 58
Teaching of Fifty Verses on the Guru for the Arya Kshema nuns’ event. 60
Endnotes
[1] The 17th Karmapa was recently seen publicly in August 2024, at a surprise meeting with the 14th Dalai Lama in Zurich, Switzerland. This meeting not only interrupted the 17th Karmapa’s long-awaited Summer teachings, but worse then led to their cancellation. The purpose and outcome of that meeting is still unknown but seems to have led to zero improvement in the 17th Karmapa’s ability to teach and travel freely to other countries such as India. For various reasons as to why the 17th Karmapa is not speaking and travelling publicly as before, see: https://dakinitranslations.com/2024/06/02/meeting-tsewang-rinpoche-reasons-for-the-ongoing-case-of-17th-karmapas-public-disappearance/
[2] Karma pa 08 mi bskyod rdo rje. “rGyal ba yang dgon paʼi ngo sprod bdun maʼi khrid yig.” dPal spungs dpe rnying gsar bskrun las khrid yig phyogs bsgrigs, vol. 2, dPal spungs gsung rab nyams gso khang, 2006, pp. 567–87. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1KG4336_3F7352.
Where is the actual e-book? Thanks
Hello Fred, there is a link to download the pdf in the article, did you manage to download it?