Pointing-out instruction

The pointing-out instruction (Tibetan:

ངོ་སྤྲོད་, Wylie: ngo sprod, THL: ngo trö) 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:ངོ་སྤྲོད་ཀྱི་གདམས་པ་, Wylie: ngo sprod kyi gdams pa, THL: ngo-trö kyi dam-pa) is also referred to as "pointing out the nature of mind" (Tibetan:སེམས་ཀྱི་ངོ་སྤྲོད་, Wylie: sems kyi ngo sprod, THL: sem kyi ngo-trö), "pointing out transmission", or "introduction to the nature of mind". In the Dzogchen tradition, the pointing out instructions are often called the “introduction to awareness” (Tibetan:རིག་པའི་ངོ་སྤྲོད་, Wylie: rig pa'i ngo sprod, THL: rik-pé ngo-trö) or "sems khrid," pronounced "sem tri". 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 pa tamel gyi shépa, Sanskrit: *prākṛita-jñana). As the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche explains,

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

Sometimes the pointing-out instruction is referred to as "the empowerment of vajra wisdom," "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

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

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:ངོ་སྤྲོད་ཀྱི་གདམས་པ་, Wylie: ngo sprod kyi gdams pa, THL: ngo-trö kyi dam-pa) is also referred to as "pointing out the nature of mind" (Tibetan:སེམས་ཀྱི་ངོ་སྤྲོད་, Wylie: sems kyi ngo sprod, THL: sem kyi ngo-trö), "pointing out transmission", or "introduction to the nature of mind". 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."

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:

References

Citations

Works cited