The Mahamudra, Eliminating the Ignorance of Darkness, by the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje

Mahamudra, or the Great Seal, refers to a Mahayana Buddhist system of meditation on the nature of the mind and is undertaken for realizing Enlightenment. Taught by Buddha manifesting in the form of Vajradhara, its lineage was passed in India from Tilopa to Naropa to Marpa, and then in Tibet to Mila-repa and Gompa-pa, author of The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. The specific lineage represented here is that of the Karma Ka-gyu which passed from Gampo-pa to the First Karmapa and then through successive Gurus until the present day.

This text, by the Ninth Karmapa (1556-1603), is one of the most famous expositions of this meditational system. It covers both the preliminary practices as well as the actual Mahamudra meditations of mental quiescence (shamatha) and penetrative insight (vipasyana), Explaining the stages and paths as traveled in this system, it represents a complete path to Enlightenment.

Accompanying the root text is a commentary given orally by Beru Khyentze Rinpoche, based on the teachings of his guru, His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa.

As a proper relation with a Guru is essential for realizing Mahamudra, also included is the basic text on Guru-devotion by the first century B.C. Indian master Asvaghosa with an oral commentary by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey.