Reddit mentions of Essentials of Mahamudra: Looking Directly at the Mind

I'll start with one of the best books Moonbeams of Mahamudra. There is also an excellent commentary on that book by Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.

There is another real treasure available (atm, anyway): The Shenpen Ösel Magazine (From the web page:) "
Between the years of 1997 and 2003, Kagyu Shenpen Ösel Chöling published transcripted Buddhist teachings in the tri-annual magazine Shenpen Ösel.

The magazine sought to present the teachings of recognized and fully qualified lamas and teachers, with an emphasis on the Karma Kagyu and the Shangpa Kagyu lineages. The contents were derived from transcripts of teachings hosted by Kagyu Shenpen Ösel Chöling and other Kagyu Centers in North America." Just an great, great resource for teachings by Kagyu masters.

Another great Kagyu resource: The Mahamudra Meditation Center, also, not too surprisingly, created by a student of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Peter Barth. That site has a great Mahamudra Meditation Manual, which used to be available for free but now cost $5 on Amazon. Monks need to eat, too.

So, onto personal experience, which is all I can speak from. Buddhist teachers are definitely there for spiritual meditation questions. Your are correct that most answers on this forum are not even close to helpful. (There are some good ones and they are usually from the same people.) The best thing you can do is talk to meditation teachers. They will expect you to have read up on the material and be looking for clarifications or be asking about the correct direction to go, so to speak. Even with meditation teachers (monastics, non-monastics, etc.), quality of help can vary wildly. And the really good ones seem to get surrounded with people like us. :) So, one day at a time.

My experience has been that meditation is like learning to swim. There is no substitute for doing it. That $5 manual above is great for your practice. Also, as I also like the Gelukpa approach, the Intro to Meditation by FPMT (fpmt.org) is a great into to their meditation program. That course is free (after you register online), and the rest of that Discovering Buddhism course is not very expensive. As a "graduate" of that program, I can whole-heartedly recommend that program. (Lots of good guided meditation there.)

Hope that helps. Please do write or DM me if I can be of any more help. Good Luck!

Thanks for writing such a detailed reply, and I'm glad that sitting longer yielded productive results. :)

>The discursive mind isn't completely shut down though as thoughts and images do pop into consciousness but they are seen through if that makes sense?

For sure. IME, I relate to what you've said as thoughts feeling especially vaporous / whispery.

Regarding Mahamudra and Dzogchen: Essentials of Mahamudra is a fantastic and more traditional take on Mahamudra. That said, I cannot recommend Mahamudra for the Modern World) enough: it is a tremendous value for what's offered here, and the material provided will serve you indefinitely if taken on seriously. If the cost is prohibitive, consider reading The Awakening Body, which includes techniques from MftMW (you can check out free guided meditations here from the book.

Hope this material serves you well! Let me know if you have any questions regarding any of it, as I've focused exclusively on these practices for months.