1.

The Father Lineage: HE/HE

Qián

87
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
The Text:

The Father Lineage.

The Father Principle is the basis of the Father Lineage. It is described as
lineage because its expressions evolve from the unconditional into the
conditional.

Profoundly Unfathomable:
Radiating Brilliance;
Just, Fitting and Timely;
Powerful and Fruitful.
These four characters encompass the meaning of Heaven and Earth.

The Commentary:

How unfathomable is the profundity of the Father Lineage!

It empowers all things with their original nature;
Thus it is the root and sovereign of Heaven.
Clouds emerge and bestow rain;
Likewise, the myriad classes of beings flow into form.
The Father Lineage is unfathomable beyond thought. It is the root of all of the
lineages, patterns, and potentials of both Heaven and Earth. Out of the cosmic
mirror, the root of Heaven, all things arise as pure potential, and then flow into
beings as if a cloud were producing rain.
The “myriad classes of beings” are categories or potentials. Here the energy
of the ultimate court flows through drala ( shén) into embodiment.
88
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
Great clarity and intelligence from birth through death: 7
Fulfilled in six dignified stages, each accomplished and perfected according to
auspicious coincidence of the time and season.
Heavenly rule rides auspicious coincidence, guiding the imperial chariot of the six
inscrutable dragons.
The dao of the Father Lineage is magical becoming and dissolving.
The cycle of change, from birth to death, is fulfilled according to auspicious
coincidence (literally, the 'time' or the 'season'). How things come into being
and dissolve is the Dao of the Father Lineage. The six dragons correspond to
the six lines of the hexagram, and represent the six phases of being in accord
with auspicious coincidence. They are inscrutable because their root is too
profound to be inspected with mind; but at the same time they are the basis of
how events occur in the realms of Heaven, Earth and humankind.

Beings’ genuineness is upholding their original nature, Heaven’s command.

To cherish and protect this is to join with the supreme harmony,
Which [manifests as] Just and Powerful.
When beings follow the command of Heaven they are fulfilling their original
nature; at the same time, the command of Heaven is in itself their original
nature. When beings cherish and protect this command in the center of their
heart, their individual lives and actions are naturally synchronized with the will
of Heaven; therefore their relative circumstances manifest as fitting and timely
( ) and powerful and fruitful ( ).

89
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
When [such] a leader arises, all things and the ten thousand nations [constituencies]
are joined in harmony.8
These leaders uphold Heaven’s command, and therefore embody its lineage of
Profound and Unfathomable; Radiating Brilliance; Just, Fitting and Timely;
Powerful and Fruitful ( ). An enlightened ruler acts as a profound
catalyst that allows Heaven and Earth to unite.

The Image:

Heaven is the source of strength and power.

The warriors' inherent strength is unceasing.
Wise people and great leaders do not use personal strength and determination
to accomplish their ends, especially in joining Heaven and Earth. Their
strength comes from the ability to accept the command of Heaven and be deeply
synchronized with how circumstances arise out of unconditionality, the cosmic
mirror. Thus their strength arises from unconditional mind--Heaven--and is
unceasing.

90
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
2. The Mother Lineage: EA/EA

K'n

91
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
The Text:

The Mother Lineage

The character k!n is made up of 'Earth' ( ) and 'extend' ( ), evoking the
image the vast expanse of the plains. According to Trangu Rinpoche, the plains
are a metaphor for the dharmadhatu, the space that accommodates everything.4

Profound Brilliant Wakefulness

The virtuous power of the mare5 is beneficial.

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Enhancing the Practice of Mahamudra:

Without attachment to anything, enjoy in an uncontrived, spacious way the plain of luminous equality, your own mind. Doing this with diligence.
Without attachment to anything, causes or results, enjoy your own mind, the true nature of mind, luminous equality. The true nature of mind is equality,
and equality as the nature of luminosity. Here the metaphor is a plain, a vast plain is open and spacious, filled with flowers and other things. Your own
mind, luminous equality is described metaphorically as a plain. Enjoy this in an uncontrived spacious way. What is enjoyed in a spacious way? The plain
of luminous equality, your own mind, is enjoyed in an on a spacious way.
5

Trangu Rinpoche, Drala: (Banner, November, year?):

“The first of the five (external) dralas is klunga (silent k). Lungta means a “plain expanse.” One could have a great expansive plain with a river that flows
through it. On the plain there is a horse. The horse is free to run as far as it wants, it can run in any direction, at great speed. It is that kind of horse that is
meant by klungta in this system. It is not the windhorse but the horse of the great plains. The obstacles to this kind of klungta are the presence of
ignorance or stupidity which obscure wisdom. When ignorance is dispelled then the klungta is free to run wherever it wishes, as far as it wishes.
Ignorance has to be dispelled in order to set free klungta.

In the Vajrayana, the elimination of ignorance is called the dharmadhatu wisdom. Dharmadhatu means the nature of phenomenon, the nature of anything.
Dhatu means great expanse. It is like the klungta, the horse of the plains—the great expanse in which it is free to run like having the freedom to develop
one’s power, to develop one’s strength as much as one wishes. Because of ignorance or stupidity one’s mind is very narrow in that state. When one is
free from narrow-mindedness, one’s mind becomes very vast and free to develop all one’s potential or power. In Buddhist terms, this is the dharmadhatu
wisdom. On a more worldly level, this is described as klungta, the horse of the vast plains."

92
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
 Here the character lì is rendered as 'beneficial', rather than as 'Just, Fitting
and Timely'. The power of the mare is ‘just’ or ‘beneficial’ in that it is always
completely fitting and appropriate, and blessed by auspicious coincidence. Her
power to nurture and support beings is attuned to their original natures, and is
therefore fundamentally beneficial.
The virtue and purity of the mare’s power is that she is free of obscurations and
ignorance, or any kind of territoriality or bias. Thus the mare is able to travel
anywhere in the vast plains, without boundary or obstruction. The mare is the
“agent” of the vast plains. She is a metaphor for the Mother Lineage, which
has the capability to range over all of phenomena, her fertility and richness
nurturing all beings according to their needs and natures.
“The horse of the plains—the great expanse in which it is free to run like
having the freedom to develop one’s power, to develop one’s strength as
much as one wishes.” –Thrangu Rinpoche

The warrior's path begins in delusion

And leads to the attainment of nobility.
This translation relies on the subsidiary meaning of as ford, or place to
cross, leading to the meaning of y#u w"ng as a way to progress or go
ahead, to find a path through one’s life. Thus the wise or virtuous person has a
way of traversing his or her life that begins in confusion and leads to nobility.

In the Southwest it is fitting to find companions.

[The immature rely on external support]
In the Northeast, it is fitting to abandon companions.
[The mature do not depend on externals]
In the mandala of Later Heaven [ ) the southwest trigram is Earth , and
the northeast trigram is Mountain . When a being is born, he or she must be
educated and brought up. An immature person is humble, and a part of a
multitude, which is represented by the trigram Earth. The Earth is nourishing

93
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
 and supportive, and like the Earth, the immature individual is still basic and
undistinguished, and depends on the support and guidance of others of his or
her own kind.
Later in life, a person of virtue becomes accomplished, and his or her nature is
fulfilled by his or her way of being in society. A mature person of virtue is not
one of the multitude, but is alone in the unconditional expression of
warriorship. A genuine warrior or leader can see reality directly, and thus is
ruled by Heaven’s commands ( ) in fulfilling his or her duty in joining Heaven
and Earth. The warrior is without companions in the sense of not relying on
others for relative support and guidance. The mountain here represents the
accumulation of merit and wisdom, which is the body of the awake (bodhi)
being (sattva).9
On an inner level, at the beginning of the Bodhisattva warrior’s path, he or she
perceives sentient beings, and thus has many companions. At the end of the
Bodhisattva’s path, he or she does not see any true existence in beings, and in
this sense is without friends or companions.

Abiding peacefully is auspicious and powerful.

Generally we have emphasized the Shambhala connotation of by translating

it as “powerful and fruitful.” Here the meanings “correct, pure, loyal” are
also important. Peaceful abiding is like the practice of shamatha meditation,
which allows one to rest naturally in one’s present situation without struggle.
In the same sense, the warrior of the mother lineage ( ) finds power and
genuineness in not struggling with the makeup of his or her situation, but by
supporting it or being brought up by it, as the case may be. This is also
connected with the Shambhala dignity of Meek, where modesty allows one to go
beyond self-centered struggle.

The Commentary:

The profundity of the Mother Lineage is consummate indeed!10

The Mother Lineage’s depth and breadth are inconceivable. The root of the
Mother Lineage’s profundity is unfathomable.

It empowers the birth and supports the livelihood of all beings.11

94
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
 The nature of the mother lineage’s empowerment is subtle: it does not give
birth to beings’ individual existences as is assumed in common mind. Beings
arise in interdependence with all other dharmas. They cannot exist without the
support of all; they have no independent existence. This process of arising as a
whole is dependent on the space of dharmas, the potential for arising
altogether. Thus beings’ and dharmas’ existence and non-existence is not-two.
This is the Mother Lineage’s birthless birth. As beings emerge in this way, their
relation to each other defines their natural endowments and characteristics.

Thus it follows and supports Heaven.

The Mother Lineage and the Father Lineage, like Heaven and Earth, are co-
arising, and complete each other. Neither is more primordial than the other;
They cannot be understood as being separate things nor as being the same.

The Mother Lineage gives substance to and carries all beings.

Its boundless virtue
Is the embodiment of vast opulence.
These three lines discuss the feminine aspect of the three courts.
The magnanimity of the Mother Lineage is that which carries all beings across
the river of birth, sickness, old age and death. Resources, relationship,
ecosystems and society itself arise out of the cosmic mirror, providing the
matrix of support for the paths of beings.
This arising is co-emergent interdependence without boundary. As such its
virtue is boundless, and at the same time the nature of its virtue is its
boundlessness.
The accommodation of the Mother Lineage expresses the opulent brilliance of
the Great Eastern Sun.12

95
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
The mutually beneficial interdependence between the classes of beings and things is
radiating brilliance.
The mare is of the nature of Earth:
She roams the Earth without boundary.
Flexible and loyal, she is Just, Fitting and Timely [and]
Powerful and Fruitful.
The character xián, here translated as “mutually beneficial
interdependence” is also the name of Hexagram 31. It means the fitting
relationship between beings of a similar class based on the resonance of their
inherent qualities.
Here the primal virtues h'ng, lì, and zh'n, translated above as
'radiating brilliance', 'just, fitting and timely', and 'powerful and 'fruitful', must
be understood in their larger senses as well. Brilliance connotes harmony and
fruitfulness on many levels. This is more fully expressed in relation to the Great
Eastern Sun:
Radiating confidence, peaceful
Illuminating the way of discipline6
The qualities of lì (just, fitting and timely), and zh'n (powerful and
fruitful) express the fundamental integrity, appropriateness, longevity and
strength that lead to conquering degraded ways of being in the relative world:
Eternal ruler of the three worlds
May the Great Eastern Sun be victorious.
The mare is a metaphor for the feminine quality of Earth as it manifests in
beings: its sphere of activity is without boundary and her activity carries beings
without limit.
She is flexible and loyal because she always obeys the command of Heaven by
supporting the true natures of beings according to their natures.

Shambhala Chant

96
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey
The warrior’s path is
At first deluded, missing the Dao;
Afterwards, loyalty is constant and ordinary.
This section describes the path of the individual warrior. At first, the warrior
does not know nor trust his or her own nature, and thus does not follow the
Dao. When mature, the warrior’s loyalty to Heaven is natural and ongoing.
In the Southwest find companions and allies,
[The immature rely on external support]
Traveling [the path] through the mutual support of one’s own kind.
The immature identify strongly with their own kind—their species, family, clan
and nation. This is the context in which their development takes place.
In the Northeast abandon companionship.
[The mature do not depend on externals]
The mature transcend relying on external reality as a support.13
In the end there is rejoicing:
At peace and Powerfully Fruitful: [this is] auspicious.
The Earth's resonance is without boundary.
The fruition of warriorship is peace: resting in auspicious coincidence,
resonant with all of relative reality extending to space itself.

The Image:

The Mother Lineage is like Earth:

The depth of the Warriors' goodness and virtue carries all beings.
When the basic energy of the Mother Lineage is applied to the paths of
warriors, their confidence and trust in their basic natures is expressed as
virtuous activity that benefits beings.

97
Draft not for reproduction 5/7/10
Copyright Daniel Hessey