Mahamudra and Mindfulness Series, Part 1: Mindfulness

This is the first in a series of articles exploring how the practice of mindfulness can be guided by the Mahamudra teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Mahamudra refers to a body of teachings that represent the culmination of all the practices of the Sarma or New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism, which consider it to be the quintessential message of all their sacred texts and the ultimate goal of all meditation practice. Mahamudra, meaning “great seal”, points to how everything in existence bears two inseparable marks: first, the recognition that awareness and what it is aware of are not truly separate, and second, that nothing exists as a solid, independent thing but rather emerges within a vast web of interconnected processes. This series of articles is practice-based and intended to guide readers step-by-step through the stages of Mahamudra practice and how they can be applied in a modern context. …