Editing Mahamudra (section)

==History==
[[File:Sharaha British Museum.jpg|upright|thumb|A scroll painting of Saraha, surrounded by other Mahāsiddhas, probably 18th century and now in the British Museum]]

The usage and meaning of the term ''mahāmudrā'' evolved over the course of hundreds of years of [[India]]n and [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]] history, and as a result, the term may refer variously to "[[mudra|a ritual hand-gesture]], one of a sequence of 'seals' in [[tantra|Tantric]] practice, the nature of reality as [[Shunyata|emptiness]], a [[meditation]] procedure focusing on the nature of Mind, an innate blissful [[gnosis]] cognizing emptiness [[Nonduality (spirituality)|nondually]], or the supreme attainment of [[buddhahood]] at the culmination of the Tantric path."{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}}

According to [[Jamgon Kongtrul]], the Indian theoretical sources of the mahāmudrā tradition are [[Yogacara]] and [[tathagatagarbha]] (buddha-nature) texts such as the [[Samdhinirmocana sutra|''Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra'']] and the [[Uttaratantra|''Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra'']].{{sfnp|Brown|2006|p=7}} The actual practice and lineage of mahāmudrā can be traced back to wandering [[mahasiddhas]] (great adepts) during the Indian [[Pala Dynasty]] (760-1142), beginning with the 8th century siddha [[Saraha]].{{sfnp|Brown|2006|p=16}}

[[Saraha|Saraha's]] ''[[Doha (poetry)|Dohas]]'' (songs or poems in rhyming couplets) are the earliest mahāmudrā literature extant, and promote some of the unique features of mahāmudrā such as the importance of [[pointing-out instruction]] by a [[guru]], the non-dual nature of mind, and the negation of conventional means of achieving enlightenment such as [[Samatha-vipassana|samatha-vipasyana]] meditation, [[monasticism]], rituals, [[Tibetan tantric practice|tantric practices]] and doctrinal study in favor of more the direct methods of mahāmudrā 'non-meditation' and 'non-action'.{{sfnp|Brown|2006|p=17}} These teachings also became the wellspring for the body of instructions eventually known as the [[mind teachings of Tibet]] associated with mahāmudrā of the Kagyu lineages.{{sfnp|Thrangu Rinpoche|2006|pp=1–6}} Later Indian and Tibetan masters such as Padmavajra, [[Tilopa]], and [[Gampopa]] incorporated mahāmudrā into tantric, monastic and traditional meditative frameworks.{{sfnp|Brown|2006|pp=18-22}}

===Etymology===
[[File:Guhyasamaja (Ming China), Asian Art Museum (6016444355).jpg|upright|thumb|Statue of the [[Guhyasamāja Tantra|Guhyasamāja]] deity in union with consort (his "mahāmudrā") performing various [[Mudra|mudrās]] (ritual hand gestures).]]
It has been speculated that the first use of the term was in the c. 7th century ''[[Mañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa|Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa]]'', in which it refers to a hand gesture.{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}}

The term is mentioned with increasing frequency as various [[Tantras (Buddhism)|Buddhist tantras]] developed further, particularly in the [[Yogatantra]]s, where it appears in ''[[Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra|Tattvasaṁgraha (Compendium of Reality)]]'' and the [[Vajrasekhara Sutra|''Vajraśekhara (Vajra-peak)''.]] In these sources, "mahāmudrā" also denotes a hand gesture, now linked to three other hand [[Mudra|mudrās]]—the action (''karma''), pledge (''samaya''), and ''dharma'' mudrās—but also involves "mantra recitations and visualizations that symbolize and help to effect one's complete identification with a deity's divine form or awakening Mind (bodhicitta)."{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}}

In [[Mahayoga|Mahāyoga]] tantras such as the ''[[Guhyasamāja tantra]]'', mahāmudrā "has multiple meanings, including a contemplation-recitation conducive to the adamantine body, speech, and Mind of the [[Tathāgata|tathāgatas]]; and the object—emptiness—through realization of which 'all is accomplished,'" and it is also used as a synonym for awakened Mind, which is said to be "primordially unborn, empty, unarisen, nonexistent, devoid of self, naturally luminous, and immaculate like the sky."{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}}

The idea of "mahāmudrā" emerges as a central Buddhist concept in the [[Anuttarayoga Tantra|''Anuttarayoga Tantras'']] (also known as ''Yoginītantras'') like the ''[[Hevajra]]'', ''[[Cakrasaṃvara Tantra|Cakrasaṁvara]]'', and ''[[Kalachakra|Kālacakra.]]''{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}} 

According to Roger Jackson, in these tantras, mahāmudrā has multiple referents. It can refer to [[Deity yoga|completion stage]] practices which work with forces in the [[subtle body]] (''sūkṣma śarīra'') to produce a divine form and "a luminous, blissful, nonconceptual gnosis." In this context, it is seen as the highest practice which transcends and perfects all previous ones and leads to a direct realization of the nature of mind.{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}}{{verify inline|date=September 2023|reason=Speculative fix for undefined reference}} In the context of sexual yoga, mahāmudrā can also refers to a yogi's female consort.{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}}{{verify inline|date=September 2023|reason=Speculative fix for undefined reference}} Furthermore, the term mahāmudrā can also refer to the ultimate truth and the ultimate realization (''mahāmudrā-siddhī'') in Buddhist tantra. As such, it is the "great seal" which marks all phenomena, i.e. [[Tathātā|Suchness (tathata)]], emptiness, the "unchanging bliss beyond object and subject, shape, thought, or expression".{{sfnp|Jackson|2005}}{{verify inline|date=September 2023|reason=Speculative fix for undefined reference}}

The tantric scholar Aryadeva summarises the meaning of mahāmudrā as: "the discussion of how to attain mahāmudrā entails methods for meditating on Mind itself as something having voidness as its nature".<ref>quoted in {{harvp|Dalai Lama|Berzin|1997|p=119}}.</ref>

According to [[Reginald Ray]], the term ''[[Mudra|Mudrā]]'' denotes that in an adept's experience of reality, each phenomenon appears vividly, while the term ''Mahā'' ("great") refers to the fact that it is beyond concept, imagination, and projection.{{sfnp|Ray|2001|p=261}}