Just to round out the great knowledge already presented here...
Urgyen Dorje wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:42 pm
Styles of practice tend to get more and more formal and monolithic over time.
The Drikung seem to do well at maintaining a variety of concise and extensive sadhanas for their main practices. The shortest one I know of is a text by Rinchen Phuntsok (probably the same one mentioned by Palzang Jangchub above, but the title I have from Eric Fry-Miller's translations is different), which is about 2 pages long in English. This sadhana was recently taught by Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen Rinpoche at the DNJ Center in Wesley Chapel, FL (you can watch these videos if you want on their YouTube page). The longest sadhana I've seen is around 100 pages, and there are sadhanas inbetween.
Urgyen Dorje wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:42 pm
Was the Fivefold Mahamudra as codified at the time of Jigten Sumgon as it is now, with all the recitations defined as in the texts available to us, and with the yidam presumed to be the five deity Chakrasamvara? or was the Fivefold Mahamudra seen more as a style or approach to practice, allowing one to apply whatever one's yidam was to the formula?
Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen (also the Drikung's current chief scholar) credits the seed idea for this approach to practicing Mahamudra to Milarepa. In the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, Cycle 3, Miscellaneous Stories; 48 Shendormo and Leksé Bum, Milarepa gives pith instructions to Leksé Bum. When she returns and shares her experience she tells him:
Though with undistracted body, speech, and mind
I do meditation that’s free of meditating,
Still, meditation continues to come.
Please give key instructions for clearing hindrances and enhancement.
Milarepa instructs her:
If there still is some kind of meditation,
(1) Meditate with compassion upon sentient beings.
(2) Meditate on your body as the Great Compassionate One.
(3) Meditate with the guru at the crown of your head.
(4) Extend the meditation on emptiness,
(5) Then afterward, seal it with dedication.
Understand this and practice the sublime dharma.
Here I'm referencing the recent Christ Stagg translation. This is the earliest reference I can find that has these five dharmas in this order.
The next breadcrumb in the trail that I've found is an excerpt from “The Questions of Phagmo Drupa And Replies of Gampopa“ where Gampopa gives the following instruction:
Phagmo Drupa offered,
Homage to you, precious guru. Guru Jewel, I have fully investigated both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa and request you to give me an introduction to dharmatā.
The guru said,
We say, “The two, buddhas and sentient beings”, so what does that mean? In mind, there are both rigpa and not rigpa; these are
present as recognizing rigpa and not recognizing it. If rigpa is recognized, it is called “buddha” so rigpa is to be introduced as the dharmatā."
You go to mountainous areas and so on, congenial places where disenchantment can be produced and experience can develop. There (1) you arouse the mind thinking, “For the purposes of sentient beings, I will attain buddhahood”. (2) You meditate on your body as the deity. (3) You meditate on the guru over your crown. (4) Then, not letting your mind be spoiled with thoughts, not altering this mind—because it is nothing whatsoever—in any way at all, set yourself in clarity which is pure, vividly present, clean-clear, wide-awake! ...
The remainder of this exchange is further instruction on Mahamudra meditation and Gampopa doesn't explicitly mention dedication, but apparently he makes clear that dedication is the fifth branch in other of his teachings.
From there it goes to Jigten Sumgon and the rest, as they say, is history.
With regard to whether or not this is a general framework or if the yidam must be Chakrasamvara, Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen emphasizes that this is a framework. However, in his presentation, he says the yidam is usually Chakrasamvara for the reason that this yidam has a special blessing connection with the Kagyu lineages. Drupon Thinley Ningpo Rinpoche echoes this point.
However, In Rinchen Phuntsok's condensed text, the deity is Avalokiteshvara. Khenchen Nyima gives several reasons why this is so, with the first being that it is MIlarepa's instruction (cited above). I've heard students question these masters about whether the yidam has to be Chakrasamvara or has to be Avalokiteshvara and they both said its okay if the yidam is different. However, Drupon's answer kind of implied (in my interpretation) that this practice is whole and complete, has blessings as it is, and why mess with success? ymmv
Again addressing the "framework vs fixed practice" issue, Khenchen Nyima says that although the Drikung have this special name for the practice, "Fivefold Mahamudra" really all Kagyu lineages that practice Mahamudra have these five elements in their path in one way or another.
My personal take on this emphasis after studying with the Drikung for a while is that this is about being complete. Khenchen Nyima taught that for the Drikung, the Fivefold Path of Mahamudra and the Gongchig are two pieces of one whole and you can't practice one without the other. The Gongchig is giving the view (or I guess we could say the "math") and the Fivefold Path is the practical application (like the applied science of that math). So for example, in the Gongchig, Jigten Sumgon teaches that there is a general view of other dharma systems that one practices all stages of the teachings and the path in succession. He then asserts that, "One practices all stages of the path in each single session." That's just one example.
Another example of how the Drikung are unique in their approach (as opposed to other Kagyu lineages of Mahamudra) is that the fifth limb, dedication, is not simply a dedication recited at the end of every session. It is actually a main practice which they accumulate (similar to accumulating vajrasattva mantras, for example).
Hope this is helpful.
James