Jamgon Mipam His Life and Teachings

INTRODUCTION

THIS BOOK REVOLVES around one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of Tibet, Jamgun Mipam (1846 1912). Mipam (commonly written as Mipham but pronounced Mipam shaped the trajectory of the Nyingma school, a Buddhist tradition from Tibet that traces its history back to its early transmission from India in the eighth century. Mipam is a major figure in this tradition, and in terms of the breadth and depth of his writings, he is in a class of his own. His works live today as part of the curriculum of study at several contemporary monastic colleges in Tibet, India, and Nepal. Thus, Mipam is not simply a towering figure of historical importance; he continues to hold a central place in a flourishing Buddhist tradition. Although he lived quite late in the long history of Buddhist development in Tibet, his influence on the Nyingma school has been enormous.

This book is an introduction to [Mipams]] life and works. It is organized into three main sections: the first provides some general background; the second presents an overview of some of the main themes in his work; and the last offers translated excerpts from his writings. Using this framework, I hope to give a sense of who Mipam was and present a survey of the rich heritage he has passed on.

Part One gives a context for understanding Mipam and his writings. Not a lot of biographical information about Mipam is available which is surprising, considering the contribution he made to Buddhist thought and monastic education—but what we do know about his life and particularly from his works reveals that he was an extraordinary genius. He spent most of his life in meditation retreat, yet he was also actively involved in Buddhist scholarship. Mipam wrote extensively and not just on a few areas of Buddhist thought. He wrote on an incredibly wide range of scriptures and traditions, and his works address topics that extend well beyond the classic Buddhist scriptures. In addition to surveying these topics, Part One touches on some important features of Buddhist traditions in India and Tibet, providing a background for the tapestry of Mipam,s texts and allowing us to better appreciate his contribution.

Part Two gives an overview of Mipam,s interpretation of Buddhism. This section looks at major themes in his corpus to discover how he presents Buddhist theory and practice. In particular, this section looks more deeply into Mipam’s interpretation of emptiness, a central issue in Buddhist philosophy, and contrasts his interpretation with those of other prominent Tibetan figures.

Part Three contains a sample of his writings. Each of the excerpts includes a short introduction to provide a context and help the reader appreciate significant elements of the passage. The selections draw from a wide range of Mipamâ,s writings to illustrate the eloquent way in which he articulated the key issues explained in Parts One and Two. References to a number of these translations are provided in several chapters in Part Two, so the reader can immediately jump to the relevant selections to further explore the issues raised in the text.

Mipam was a sophisticated thinker who, in a grand synthesis, took on a number of difficult points in Buddhist thought. While this is an introductory book aimed at a general audience, it also deals with some tough issues in Buddhist philosophy, which is inevitable when dealing with someone like Mipam. For this reason, a person new to Buddhist philosophy may want to read slowly and even read some sections more than once. Taking time to assimilate ideas is crucial to the process of integrating the significance of philosophical texts, Buddhist or otherwise. Understanding Mipamâ,s works is certainly not easy, but to glimpse even part of the beauty of such a master,s compositions is well worth the effort. Given that he spent so much of his life in meditation retreat, his philosophical writings are deeply rooted in an experiential orientation and can be read as quintessential instructions for Buddhist practice.

ONE

Mipam’s Life

MIPAM WAS A descendent of the Ju (’ju) clan. Clans and family lines are an important part of Tibetan identity, and they occupy a central place in Tibetan culture. Mipamâ,s father, who was a doctor, belonged to this clan, which is said to have a divine ancestry. The Ju clan gets its name from the word ju, which is interpreted to mean “holding on to the rope of the luminous deities who descended from the sky.” His mother was also of high status; she was a daughter of a minister in the kingdom of Degé, where Mipam was born. His homeland was a region at the center of intellectual culture in eastern Tibet in the nineteenth century.

His name, Mipam Gyatso, (which literally means undefeatable ocean), was given to him by his uncle.1 From a very young age, he is said to have had a natural connection with the Great Vehicle of Buddhism; he was replete with innate qualities such as faith, renunciation, wisdom, and compassion. He is even said to have been able to recall everything that had happened since he was an infant!2 As is the case in the life stories of most prominent lamas in Tibet, Mipam is presented in his as a child prodigy. Yet given the momentous influence of such a recent figure as Mipam, we are left with relatively few details of his life.

His studies began when he was about six years old, and he memorized Ascertaining the Three Vows, an important Nyingma text on Buddhist vows.3 Committing texts to memory is a common practice in Tibet when studying classical texts in depth. The fact that Mipam first studied this text in particular is significant because the three vows (those of individual liberation, bodhisattva, and Secret Mantra) comprise the training of moral discipline the foundation of all Buddhist practices. Further, this text covers a wide range of Buddhist teachingsâ from the Lesser Vehicle all the way to Secret Mantra and shows how they all can be integrated without contradiction, which is a major theme throughout Mipams works.

When he was only ten, Mipam was said to be “unobstructed in reading and writing,” and he began to compose a few short texts. Some traditional Tibetan scholars claim that among his earliest compositions, at the age of seven, no less, was his famed Beacon of Certainty, a masterwork of philosophical poetry. This would be an amazing feat and is a testament to the high regard in which Mipam’s scholarship and intellect is held.

Mipam’s creative intellect was not restricted to mainstream Buddhist topics. While Gendün Chapel (1903–1951)—the famous Tibetan author, rebel, and iconoclastâ is known for his commentary on the Kāma Sutra (the famed sex manual of ancient India), Mipam was actually the first Tibetan to write a commentary on it.4 This shows both his originality and the eclectic character of his literary works.

According to his biography, he became a novice monk when he was twelve, following the local tradition of his homeland. He entered the monastery of Jumohor, which is a branch of the Nyingma monastery of Shechen. There he came to be known as the little scholar-monk Early in his life, when he was about fifteen or sixteen, he did a retreat on MañjuÅ›rÄ« in a hermitage at Junyung for a year and a half. MañjuÅ›rÄ« is a deity associated with wisdom, and throughout his life, Mipam had a special connection with this deity. Through successfully accomplishing this practice in his youth, it was said that he knew the Buddhist scriptures, as well as the arts, without studying. From then on, he did not need to study texts other than simply receiving a reading transmission” (lung). A reading transmission involves the formal authorization to study a text when a teacher imparts the blessings of the embodied meaning of the words by reading it aloud to a student. Oral transmission from teacher to student is an important part of the Buddhist tradition in Tibet.

When Mipam was about seventeen, his homeland of Deg was taken over in the midst of a regional conflict, which eventually led to the government of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in central Tibet sending troops to quell the insurgence. During the fighting, Mipam, accompanied by his uncle, went on a pilgrimage to Lhasa in central Tibet. He was around eighteen or nineteen at this time.

On the trip, he stayed at a Geluk monastery near Lhasa for about a month.6 Although his stay was not long, his time at this monastery was significant. Here he was exposed to the Geluk tradition of scholarship, which is famous in Tibet for setting the standard of monastic education. He quickly gained fluency in dominant features of the Geluk tradition’s interpretation of Buddhist thought, as well as the procedures of debate.

A large part of why Mipamâs work became so influential can be attributed to the fact that he was able to formulate a viable alternative to the dominant Geluk interpretation of Buddhist thought, which had come to monopolize intellectual traditions of Buddhism in central Tibet since the seventeenth century. As an articulate voice of Nyingma scholarship, his works directly challenged the Geluk hegemony on monastic education. While his writings contested central aspects distinctive to their interpretation, he also incorporated significant features of Geluk thought into his own work, as we will see later.

STUDY

When we look at Mipam’s scholarship across a range of diverse topics logic, poetics, the Middle Way, medicine, astrology, and tantra, among several others—we might think that he spent all his time writing. But despite his voluminous literary output, the story of his life reveals that he spent most of his time in meditation retreat and composed texts on breaks from those retreats. Moreover, he does not appear to have devoted much time to formal study, and the way he did study was quite extraordinary.

For instance, it is said that when he received teachings on Candrakirtis Introduction to the Middle Way with a Geshe (professor), he told his teacher that he need not bother with a detailed commentary. He asked him only for the reading transmission of this scripture. Introduction to the Middle Way is a text on the profound view of the Middle Way, and like most other Sanskrit verses composed in India more than a thousand years ago, it is exceptionally difficult to understand without commentary. Nevertheless, after hearing the teacher read the text just once, Mipam explained it all from the beginning. The teacher then responded, “Although I have the title of ‘Geshé,’ I donât have even a fraction of the intellect of this one!”7

He received reading transmissions of important Buddhist scriptures from teachers in both the early school of translation (Nyingma) and the later or “new schools” (Sarma).8 In the Tibetan tradition, a lineage of teachers has an all-important place. Receiving teachings from qualified teachers—a connection to a living lineage marks the authenticity of those teachings. Based simply on these reading transmissions, Mipam composed elaborate commentaries on the texts.

In his early career, Mipam studied the Way of the Bodhisattva with Patrul Rinpoche, the author of the famed Words of My Perfect Teacher. The teaching took five days, but apparently this was enough for Mipam to fully comprehend the words and meaning of this classic. He later composed an important commentary on the ninth chapter of this text, the Wisdom Chapter.9 This chapter is particularly important because wisdom is what makes a bodhisattva’s practice unique: it is wisdom through which emptiness is realized. Thus, it is wisdom, or insight, that makes the practices of a bodhisattva what they are, the transcendent perfections generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom. These comprise the practices undertaken by a bodhisattva to bring all beings to enlightenment. Among these six, wisdom elevates the other five virtues to the status of being “transcendent” or sublime, because it realizes the empty nature of reality and thus sees the illusory nature of all things.

Mipam studied a wide range of Buddhist scriptures with a number of prominent teachers of his day. He received instruction on the fundamentals of the Buddhist path and what are known as the common arts, such as grammar, from the famous scholar-practitioner, Jamgon Kongtrul (1813 1899). Jamgon, literally gentle protector, is an epithet for a consummate scholar who embodies wisdom. Mipam, along with two of his teachers, Jamgon Kongtrul and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820 1892), came to be known as “the three Jamgons of Kham Mipamâs main teacher, his root guru, was Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.

Mipam is said to have served his teacher in three ways: with material offerings, with service, and with practice. According to Jikme Phuntsok (1933 2004), an extraordinary devotee of Mipam and holder of his lineage, Mipam gave his teacher all his belongings seven times. This was his material offering. As for service, he humbly served his teacher like an ordinary attendant, serving food and cleaning up. His offering of practice, the supreme offering a student can give a teacher, was also exceptional given that he spent most of his life in meditation retreat.

On one occasion, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo had Mipam sit on a high throne in front of several volumes of Buddhist scriptures. He presented him with extensive offerings and said, I entrust these scriptures to you. From now on, uphold these teachings through exposition, debate, and composition. You are to illuminate the Buddha’s teachings in this world for a long time His teacher thus empowered him and gave him the name Mipam Jamyang Namgyel Gyatso (which literally means undefeatable ocean, gentle melody, victorious over all”). Later, he is reported to have said that there was no one on earth more learned than Mipam.

Mipams knowledge did not always come without effort. The first time he read the Vinaya Sutra, a central text outlining the essentials of Buddhist ethics, he had difficulty with some passages, but he then read the entire thirteen volumes of the Vinaya section of the Buddhist canon of scriptures. After that, there was nothing in the Vinaya Sutra that he did not understand. The Vinaya has an important place in monastic education in that it lays out the fundamentals of moral discipline, particularly for the monastic community. It is one of three sections of the Buddhist canon, the others being the Sutra, which comprises discourses attributed to the Buddha, and the Abhidharma, which contains systematic philosophy. Throughout his life, Mipam is said to have read the entire collection of the translated words of the Buddha (108 volumes) seven times.11

We are also told that in the beginning of his studies, Mipam found the texts of the new translations easy to understand, but that the texts of the old translations his own Nyingma school were difficult for him. Later, when he was able to comprehend them, he attributed this to the fact that he never doubted the profundity of these texts, crediting himself and not the texts as the source of his failed understanding.

Mipam studied not only his own Nyingma tradition, but other traditions as well. After all, engaging with other traditions is a prerequisite for someone to be called nonsectarian, a term with which he is commonly associated. It is significant that Mipam is reported to have said that he came to discover all the profound points to be found only within the lineage of the old translations, that is, the Nyingma lineage.13 Undeniably, we can find a strong sense of sectarian identity in his works. After all, it is not necessary to see all traditions as equal to be nonsectarian; we can respect other traditions but still must have a special relationship with the tradition in which we directly participate. While Mipam showed respect for the different sects in Tibet, he certainly did not gloss over differences.

Following his teacher’s request, Mipam wrote commentaries on classic Buddhist texts based on his Nyingma tradition. He stated clearly that he was not motivated by sectarianism in doing this, but rather by the feeling that most of the Nyingma followers were merely imitating the scholars of other traditions. He felt that the teachings of his tradition were on the verge of becoming like a painted butter lamp an artifact without much power. He said that few people even wonder about the philosophy of the Nyingma, much less ask about it. For these reasons, he composed texts to elucidate the Nyingma view.

By emphasizing a uniquely Nyingma interpretation, Mipams works sparked criticism from other schools, particularly from Geluk scholars. On several critical points of interpretation, Mipam diverged markedly from the prevailing interpretation given within the Geluk tradition, which had come to dominate institutional scholarship in Tibet. In particular, his commentary on the Wisdom Chapter from the Way of the Bodhisattva drew sharp criticism that spawned a polemical exchange with a number of prominent Geluk scholars. Mipam took up correspondence with one of his most perceptive critics from central Tibet, and they soon became friends, exchanging gifts along with arguments. The rich exchange between these two exceptional scholars came to be known as the meeting of the Sarma tiger and Nyingma lion.

DEBATE

There is a clever quote attributed to Mipam that is a pun on his name, which literally means undefeatable” (mi being un and pam, defeatable): The undefeatable one (mipam) being undefeatable (mipam), I am Mipam (the undefeatable). If sticks and stones donate defeat me (mipam), I cannot be defeated (mipam) by words! As both a strong debater and an elegant author, he certainly lived up to his name.

Debate is an important part of the way Tibetan monastic traditions define and refine their philosophical views; opposition provides contrast and a way for scholars to stake out the boundaries of their traditions. Indeed, dialectical exchange is at the heart of scholarship, and one way a scholar is defined in Tibet is as someone who is an expert in exposition, composition, and debate.

A significant moment in Mipamâs life came in a debate in which Patrul Rinpoche acted as moderator. Mipam and his opponent debated about the famously difficult Wisdom Chapter of the Way of the Bodhisattva. When the debate between the two appeared to be even, someone asked Patrul Rinpoche who was winning. Since Mipam was his student, he said, A son is not praised by his father, but by his enemy; a daughter is not praised by her mother, but by the community!” Instead of answering, Patrul Rinpoche suggested that they turn to a topic concerning the Great Perfection, the highest Nyingma view and practice, upon which Mipams opponent had written a commentary. It was during the debate on this topic (discussed in the next section on meditation) that Mipam won.16

It is significant that Mipam won the debate on the Great Perfection, as it testifies to his skill in engaging this subject within a rational, dialectical exchange. It also underscores that the view of the Great Perfection is not naive anti-intellectualism; rather, it involves a subtly profound view that, at least in Mipams presentation, incorporates reason and transcends it. Central to Mipams writing is the prominent place given to reasoned inquiry as a means to arrive at the view of the Great Perfection. This feature distinguishes the character of his works, and it is where we find his significant contribution to Nyingma philosophy. Indeed, the interplay and transcendence of reason is a central theme in his writings in general.

The story of Mipams debate carries a particular significance because his opponent was learned in the Geluk tradition. This debate between two great scholars of the Geluk and Nyingma schools, based solely on a topic related to sutra, at first appeared to be even. This is not surprising because each schoolsystem of interpretation has a sophisticated version of how the philosophy of sutra should be understood. However, when tantra is brought into the picture, we can see how the tide changes. For the Nyingma tradition, the Great Perfection embodies the culmination of tantra, and significantly, tantra is held to have a unique philosophical dimension that contrasts with the way it is considered in the Geluk school.

In general, Buddhist tantras are scriptures attributed to the Buddha or another enlightened being that involve extraordinary teachings in mythological settings. Tantra usually refers to a class of texts, like sutras, but it is used here as a synonym for the Vajrayana (in contrast with the path of sutra), which is a direct path to enlightenment.17 It is significant that the Geluk tradition holds that the distinction between sutra and tantra relates only to methods of meditation and not to a philosophical view, as the Nyingma school believes. For this reason, a Geluk scholar does not typically relate to tantra in the same philosophical way that he would to sutra. For Mipams Nyingma tradition, in contrast, the difference between sutra and tantra involves an important distinction in the philosophical view as well as method. Marking a critical difference, the Nyingma tradition considers the view in tantra to go further than sutra through a distinctive approach to the nature of experience and subjectivity, which will be addressed later. Besides his exceptional genius, this could have been a factor that tipped the scale for Mipam to win the debate.

Another story from Mipams life illustrates his mastery of the subject matter of both sutra and tantra. Once his teacher, Patrul Rinpoche, was asked, Who is more learned, you or Mipam Patrul Rinpoche replied that they were about even in sutra, but that Mipam was much better in tantra.18 This reply is noteworthy, because while Mipam wrote a considerable amount on sutra, he also wrote extensively on tantra. Significantly, his commentaries on sutra topics, such as the Middle Way, integrate aspects of tantra. In an important way, his writings on sutra and tantra draw from each other such that each illuminates the other.

Mipams writings on sutra (and the Middle Way in particular) sparked controversy not only from the Geluk school but from within his own tradition as well. He often emphasized the importance of logic and epistemology, topics that were generally not stressed in the Nyingma tradition. Some Nyingma followers were skeptical of the role, if any, that logic and Middle Way analyses had in the practices of tantra, which had historically defined their tradition. Since Mipam had explicitly stated that one must understand the Middle Way to understand the Great Perfection,19 those who were not inclined toward this kind of scholarship were apparently indifferent to his work or even regarded it with suspicion. Others in the Nyingma tradition who were actively involved in scholarship on sutra topics did not always agree with Mipams particular exposition of the Middle Way.

It is important to understand that before Mipam, there was no orthodox corpus of Nyingma commentaries on sutra topics. Also, monasteries had come to dominate the Tibetan landscape, and the subject matter of sutra had a central place in monastic education. As a result, many in the Nyingma tradition had adopted an interpretation of sutra topics from the Geluk (or Sakya) tradition for their new monastic institutions, while maintaining a Nyingma tantra practice. Mipam, however, advocated a uniquely Nyingma view of sutra. In his writings on the Middle Way and other works, he developed a platform for Nyingma monastic education by formulating a systematic presentation of sutra drawn from an interpretative framework based in the Great Perfection. This was his unique contribution to the Nyingma, but not everyone in the Nyingma tradition was ready or willing to adopt his interpretation. It did not take long, however, for this interpretative framework, forged for the Nyingma monastic colleges, to dominate the curriculum in these schools in Tibet, India, and Nepal. Mipam’s works continue to be widely studied in such institutions up to the present day.

MEDITATION

One of the greatest Tibetan scholars of the twentieth century, Gendun Chöpel, was reportedly asked who he thought was more learned, Mipam or Tsongkhapa (1357 1419), the renowned forefather of the Geluk tradition. He replied,

I have thought about this a lot. They both were emanations of the Buddhas mind and had visions of Mañjuśrī. If they were both here now, since Tsongkhapa had spent a lot of time around monks, he would probably win in a debate. Even so, Mipams force of reason, power of understanding, and manner of expression is more awesome. If others hear this, they may think it to be a contradiction, but I am serious.20

This statement highlights how debate is a major part of the curriculum in the Geluk tradition in which Gendün Chöpel was trained. It is noteworthy that Mipam was also learned in debate, but he often criticized a merely intellectual approach. He consistently emphasized the importance of overcoming theoretical understanding through meditative experience. While he certainly took part in debate and the scholarly traditions of the monastic colleges, he frequently appealed to meditative wisdom that is not confined to conceptual understanding.

Mipam valued meditative wisdom as the means to gain comprehensive understanding. His main meditation deity was MañjuÅ›rÄ«, the embodiment of wisdom. As mentioned earlier, from the time he was a young boy, he was said to have had a special connection to MañjuÅ›rÄ«, in both the peaceful form as well as the wrathful form of Yamantaka, who embodies wisdom’s vigorous activity. Meditations on various forms of MañjuÅ›rÄ« were a central part of Mipams meditation practice throughout his life. It is thus not surprising that many of his compositions begin with an invocation of praise to MañjuÅ›rÄ«.

image

Mañjuśrī

As already noted, Mipam spent much of his life in meditation retreat, as is evident from his life story and the numerous colophons of the texts he composed while on breaks from these retreats. He spent thirteen years in meditation retreat in a cave known as the “tiger den,” near the monastery of his teacher. Long meditation retreats follow a time-honored Tibetan tradition established by yogis like Milarepa. Far away from the distractions and hustle of ordinary life, the natural beauty and simplicity of a mountain retreat is an ideal place for cultivating the mind in meditation.

Once when Mipam came out of a retreat, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo asked him how his practice had gone. Mipam responded that when he studied, he tried to see if he could reach the completion of analysis, and when he practiced the generation stage of visualizing the deity, he did so with great diligence to see if he could perfect that practice too. His teacher replied, This is difficult. Longchenpa said to rest naturally without doing anything. By doing so, I never saw any natural face of mind with a white complexion and rosy cheeks, but if I were to die right now, I would not have the slightest fear. Ha!” He laughed, and Mipam took this to be a practical instruction from his teacher.21

Although all of one’s root teachers words are to be taken as practical instructions, the exchange between Mipam and his teacher is particularly significant. We can see how Jamyang Khyentse Wangpos words, taken as an instruction for practice, point to the uncontrived style of meditation in Great Perfection practice. In contrast to a gradual approach that seeks out conclusions through logical analysis or an approach that is focused on meditation practices of the generation stage that contrive a deity by visualization, the practice of the effortless and natural Great Perfection is the direct way to recognize the nature of mind. Mipams writings are permeated with the flavor of the natural Great Perfection, the highest practice in the Nyingma tradition. His teacher’s words here may have touched him deeply, because they accentuate the heart of Great Perfection practice.

The Great Perfection affirms that the nature of the mind is presently the Buddha and offers a direct means to actualize this reality. Since in a fundamental sense everyone is always already a buddha, no contrived effort is necessary to alter this natural state to produce some other buddha at some other time. In the end, contrived effort only gets in the way of actualizing our own true nature. Wisdom in the Great Perfection dawns from within; it springs forth naturally when let be. Wisdom and compassion shine forth as the natural outflow of the empty and aware ground of being, without the need for forcible creation or contrivance. Importantly for this tradition, anything forced by effort cannot possibly compare with the qualities of the natural state, because the natural is unrivaled; the natural is divine.

The Great Perfection, which was such an important part of Mipams life and work, embodies a textual and meditative tradition at the heart of his Nyingma lineage. In a significant way, the Great Perfection is the guiding principle of Mipams works. His writings were not ordinary compositions; they were inspired works that came to be considered “mind treasures.” He attributed the source of his natural revelations to the blessings of his meditation deity and his teacher. His will to write dawned naturally; he is reported to have said, I have no choice but to write. It is interesting to note that the rich depth and evocative beauty conveyed in his works, as well as the manner of their composition, reflect the style and content of the effortless Great Perfection. The view and practice of the Great Perfection is an important part, one could even say the most important part, of understanding what Mipam was up to in his life and work.

Mipam is a unique figure among prominent Tibetan Buddhist leaders, because he was not endorsed as an incarnate lama, a tulku—at least, not while he was alive. Also, unlike many other important figures of his day, he did not actively promote the new traditions of textual treasure revelations, known as terma. While these revelations gained widespread popularity in Tibet, particularly in the Nyingma tradition to which Mipam belonged, he neither discovered treasure texts publicly nor wrote extensive commentaries on them. Rather, he focused on elucidating the teachings that had been transmitted directly to Tibet from India.

Though he was not endorsed as an incarnate lama while alive, at the end of his life, he is said to have admitted to one of his students that he was not an ordinary being, that he was actually a bodhisattva. Mipam is also reported to have said that he would not take birth again in impure realms. Nevertheless, the continued recognition of his subsequent incarnations, which is a long-lived Tibetan Buddhist tradition, has continued. Given this, we may wonder how the tradition interprets Mipams statement that he would not be born in an impure realm. Was it a lie or a joke, or were those who recognized his subsequent incarnations mistaken? After all, how does his statement that he would not be born again in an impure realm concur with his being a bodhisattva, a being who vows to take birth in the world until all beings are completely free from suffering? Perhaps we may resolve this using the traditional device of pure perception: there are no impure realms, so Mipams incarnations would always be welcome here.