Sadhana of Mahamudra

The Sadhana of Mahamudra is an important text composed by the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and a turning point in his presentation of the Buddhadharma in the West. The Sadhana of Mahamudra is practiced at the Shambhala Center on the new and full moon days.

The Sadhana of Mahamudra is one of the first practices that the Vidyadhara encouraged his students to do, and has a number of important characteristics. It is a binding factor for our community because students at all levels of practice can participate and receive a true experience or understanding of the spiritual path. Its essential teaching is that the nature of the practice itself undercuts any ideas of spiritual materialism.

Sadhana may be translated as "means of accomplishment." The Sadhana of Mahamudra was written in 1968 by Trungpa Rinpoche at Taktsang in Bhutan, in a cave where the great Tibetan Saint Padmasambhava meditated--a site held in great reverence in Buddhism. The Sadhana is the result of Trungpa Rinpoche's exposure to both Western spiritual materialism and the wisdom of the traditional Buddhist approach to reality. The Sadhana of Mahamudra has been acknowledged as terma, which is Tibetan for "treasure" and refers to authoritative religious literature said to have been preserved in hidden places to be recovered at a point in time when needed by the world.

The dedication at the end of the Sadhana expresses the following:

It is hoped that this sadhana will be practiced by those who are prepared to see the living Dharma within. The sadhana will help to purify the present degenerate state of philosophy and meditation practice. It will help to bring peace in the warfare waged by materialism.

These comments refer to our tendency toward greed, aggression and indifference. This sadhana invites the practitioner to grow accustomed to the insight into the nature of the indivisibility of space and energy, bringing together the Nyingma and Kagyü traditions.