The philosophical rationale behind meditative practices of the Nyingma school stems from the fundamental belief that ignorance of our true nature is the cause of the suffering of samsara; and at the root of ignorance itself is our mind's habitual inclination to distraction (Sogyal, 57). According to this line of reasoning, when a practitioner masters the elimination of distraction through meditation, he/she consequently ends samsara itself (57). In The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, an accomplished Buddhist teacher, Sogyal Rinpoche describes the meditative state as "a complete break with how we 'normally' operate" (57). He elaborates by explaining that

Meditation is a state free of all cares and concerns, in which there is no competition, no desire to possess or grasp at anything, no intense or anxious struggle, and no hunger to achieve: an ambitionless state when there is neither acceptance nor rejection, neither hope nor fear, a state in which we slowly begin to release all those emotions and concepts that have imprisoned us into the space of natural simplicity (58).

Mahayana meditation is founded on three sacred principles - the skillful motivation, the attitude of non-grasping, and the dedication of the practice to the benefit of all sentient beings (60). It is essential to practice mindfulness and to neutralize different aspects of his/her being within a state of "Calm Abiding" (61). This peaceful condition accomplishes three goals. Firstly, it dissolves and settles all the fragmented parts of one's mind; this state crystallizes aspects of his/her fundamental nature (61). Secondly, the practice of mindfulness dispels negativity and turbulent emotions (61). Thirdly, the practice unveils his/her essential "Good Heart", which is believed to be the nature of all beings (61).

The human mind is predisposed to interruption and diversion, thus meticulous training is required in order to redirect its focus (58). One needs to fully comprehend how the mind functions in order to 'tame' the mind and make it increasingly 'pliable' (58). Through teachings and personal experience in meditation, a practitioner attempts to master the mind and progress closer towards the ultimate state of enlightenment.

Lama Anagarika Govinda, who has been referred to as on of the world's leading interpreter of Tibetan mysticism, provides a thorough analysis of the purpose of meditation in Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness. He explains that its special function is reconnecting the inner world of spirituality with the material or outer world, rather than renouncing one for the sake of the other (103). Meditation is a means of exploring a deeper sphere of the world and not a means for its escape. Govinda indirectly distinguishes between the Hinayana vehicle from the Mahayana, to which Nyingma school belongs, by stating that despite our attempts to separate a piece of magnetized steel into multiple atoms it would be impossible to separate the positive from the negative pole; each fragment consists of both (103). "This shows that polarity is an aspect of unity, not an arbitrary duality but an inseparable whole" (103). Sogyal Rinpoche suggests that the purpose of meditation is to awaken in us the 'sky-like' nature of our mind, and to introduce to us our true essence, "our unchanging pure awareness, which underlines the whole of life and death" (59). Meditation has been described as the overcoming of outer perception and hindrances in favor of inner awareness (Godvida, 112). Dilgo Khyentse identifies the purpose of meditation as the means of gaining stability of one's perception and beginning to interpret the surrounding appearances in the deity's form (94).

It should be noted that due to the secret nature of many meditative practices within the Mahayana tradition, their academic analysis becomes rather problematic. Under these circumstances, extensive inquiry into the nature of secret teachings is largely unethical for privacy reasons. However, some general aspects of the practices are accessible and will be further discussed. The Nyingma school partakes in Tantric meditation. All Tantric practices share a commonality in that Guru Yoga is central to them. Despite the fact that Nyingma school includes all forms of the 84,000 meditations taught in Buddhism, what is unique to Nyingma tradition is that their Guru is Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche (Dudjom, 12). The Nyingma tradition encompasses nine sequences of the vehicle, six from Mahayana, and three from Hinayana (12). The practice of the Guru Yoga, the literal meaning of which is "union with the teacher's nature", is believed to arise wisdom within the practitioner, effortlessly and naturally (Khyentse, 77).

Before beginning to practice the path, you need to receive an initiation, or empowerment, which gives you permission to receive the teachings and practice them, and which make sure that your understanding of the practice matures properly until you can harvest the fruit. To practice the Vajrayana without having received an empowerment would be like trying to press oil from stones (Khyentise, 79).

This empowerment grants one the formal permission to study, hear, and practice the Nyingma teachings. There are four fundamental empowerments, which correspond to the four obscurations to be purified, "the four processes through which purification takes place, and the four aspect of accomplishment with result" (80). The body is purified through the vase empowerment, the speech is purified through the secret empowerment, and the defilements of body, speech, and mind are purified together through the symbolic empowerment (80). Through this blessing, one is meant to realize that body, speech, and mind are interconnected and are of one nature, "voidness and compassion inseparable" (81). Empowerment also enables one to practice various stages of the path.

One of the stages is referred to as the "development stage" (80). The central practice of this stage is visualization of oneself and all other beings as deities, and the entire universe as Buddha-field or a mandala (80). According to the Mahayana tradition, by thoroughly focusing on a practice of a single Buddha, the practitioner can discover the compassion and wisdom of them all (85). This involves the visualization of a given Buddha above one's head (80). The purpose of the visualization is to develop pure perception - that is to see oneself and all other beings as wisdom deities and one's surroundings as a Buddha-field (85).

The "developmental stage" also includes the recitation of mantras. Mantras are comprised of a combination of syllables that make up nonsensical acoustic groupings or phrases. An example of these is the six-syllable mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM. "It is the compassionate wisdom of all the Buddhas manifested as sound" (Patrul, 58). There are many different kids of mantras, including mantras of awareness, secret mantras, and dharanis (Khyentse, 85). Mantras are believed to contain mystic qualities, as their sound eliminates ignorance and subdues all forces of negativity. According to the Buddhist tradition, even the individual syllable of the mantra - OM, MA, carries the power to liberate sentient beings (Patrul, 58). The purpose of this stage is to realize the primordial purity of all material and immaterial phenomena (Khyentse, 85).

Throughout the meditative practice, the inner yogas, the Mahamudra, and the Great Perfections are practiced within the "completion stage" (Khyentse, 80). It is within this stage that one encounters the absolute nature of awareness (80). The progression of, and devotion to, the Nyingma practice, is thought to culminate in an eventual "fruit empowerment", which is simply the full realization of one's inherent Buddha-nature (82).

The blessings of the four empowerments are intensified and maintained by the practices of the "pure perception", which refers to the perception of the outer world as being inherently empty (82). Unless the practitioner has learned to perceive the existence as empty, he/she will not be empty themselves, meaning that he/she is still consumed by delusion and attachment (Kiyota, 177). "Once you realize that samsara is as void as a mirage, all the karmic patterns and negative emotions that lie at its root are severed" (Khyentse, 83). Upon full realization of this true voidness of phenomena, one will spontaneously experience a nonconceptual compassion for all sanctioned beings that are imprisoned in the cycle of samsara (83). This cycle is perpetuated by his/her attachment to an ego and the idea of an inherent "self".

Lama Anagarika Govinda mentions that according to the Abhidharma, various stages of meditation can be described as

In the beginning thinking, reflecting, inspiration, happiness, and one-pointedness are present; in the second stage the initial thought disappears; in the third stage the discursive thought process comes to an end, leaving only a feeling of inspiration, happiness, and one-pointedness. In the fourth stage only happiness and one-pointedness remain, and in the fifth stage, there is only the experience of oneness, whose bliss is beyond words (133).

This paper explored various aspects of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. After providing a brief overview of its history, the body of the essay was separated into three areas of focus. The first part dealt with the philosophical rationale behind its practices, the second addressed the purposes of meditation within the Nyingma tradition, and the third provided an analysis of the practices themselves. Upon consideration of this multifaceted tradition it became increasingly apparent that mere conceptualization of the practices and the philosophy behind them is as inherently empty as the idea of "self"; hence, while our academic pursuits are seemingly valuable to our personal development they are largely inconsequential within the continuity of voidness. This notion is reinforced by Dilgo Khyentse when he states that unless we achieve "inner realization" by applying the teachings and allowing our minds to be penetrated with their meaning, the acquired knowledge will remain strictly theoretical and will only perpetuate one's "self-inflation" (60).

Works Cited

Dorje, Gyurme, and Matthew Kapstein. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Reference Material. 1st ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991.

Dudjom, Rinpoche, and Jikdrel Y. Dorje. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: the Translations. Trans. Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein. 1st ed. Vol. 1. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991.

Govinda, Anagarika. Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness. Wheaton, Madras, London: The Theosophical House, 1990.

Khyentse, Dilgo. The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones. Boston, London: Shambhala, 1992.

Kiyota, Minoru, and Elvin W. Jones, eds. Mahayana Buddhism Meditation: Theory and Practice. Honolulu: University P of Hawaii, 1978.

Sogyal, Rinpoche. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Ed. Patrick Gaffney and Andrew Harvey. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.