There are four major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism: the Kagyu, Sakya, Nyingma, and Gelug.

Each school
has its own particular approach. The Gelug school, for example, emphasizes learning and scholarship,
whereas the Kagyu school emphasizes practice and is known, therefore, as the drubgyu or “practice
lineage” school. The principle meditation of the Kagyu lineage is the Mahamudra1 or “great seal.” The
Mahamudra instructions came from Saraha (ninth to tenth century CE), Tilopa (928-1009 CE), and
Naropa (956-1040 CE). They taught through the method of pith spiritual songs or dohas. These spiritual
songs do not give a detailed presentation of Buddhism but use poetical imagery to introduce the listener
to the nature of the mind. Spiritual songs express these practice instructions in the form of poetry. They
are very brief and direct and are very beneficial to the mind. Although they contain actual Buddhist
philosophical teachings, the emphasis is on the recognition of the nature of the mind. Gampopa (1079-
1153 CE), the Tibetan master who founded the monastic order of the Kagyu school, unified the
teachings of the Mahamudra tradition with the scholastic and monastic Kadam tradition of Atisha (982-
1055 CE). Gampopa taught that the study of Maitreya’s Uttaratantra would be a great help for
comprehending the Mahamudra instructions on the direct experience of the nature of one’s mind.
Gampopa’s principal pupil, Düsum Khyenpa (1110-1193 CE), was the First Karmapa and founder of the
Karma Kagyu school, which has since been governed by successive Karmapa rebirths. The Third
Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), composed a text entitled The Profound Inner Meaning. In it he
described the subtle channels and subtle winds that exist within the body and how these winds and
channels are the basis for the practice of meditation.2 He also composed two other very short texts: The
Treatise Distinguishing Consciousness and Wisdom, which is the text we are concerned with here, and a
summary of the Uttaratantra entitled A Treatise Elucidating Buddha-nature. Rangjung Dorje said that if
we can understand the Uttaratantra with these two short texts, we will be able to comprehend
mahamudra meditation.