No More Learning

Because Vajrasattva enters [your central channel] , The five signs arise, appearing
Mirage-like, like smoke,
Like a candle and like fireflies,
And like a cloudless sky.
Also, Kukuripa says [in his Vajrasattva Sadhana] :
With the intention of great effort, Regard the drop of shape itself. Again, entering into that,
The five or eight signs will emerge. Then you will abide in clear light, Abiding as long as you like,
A day, a month, a year, etc.
Then all your activities such as the aims of beings Will effortlessly be accomplished.
The five signs are the [usual] five, mirage, etc. The eight signs add the three luminances, [with signs of] moon, sun, and darkness, onto those. Since Vaidyapada explains that there are three signs [within each sign], as the false earth etc. are ready to be eliminated, slightly elimi- nated, and totally eliminated, [164bl you must understand that there are many degrees of these signs.
It is taught that these signs become more clear [as you progress] from the earlier to later [stages], being mirage-like, etc. However, among the three opinions of various persons, expressed as "It is not that they arise seeming just like them," "The consciousness which has the signs
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 327
has various degrees of stability or variability," or "The smoke-like, etc. , visions arise," the latter one is best.
Further, the visions of [the signs] like moon, sun, and darkness happen at the very time of the [states of] luminance, radiance, and immi- nence. The vision of a cloudless sky is the time of the universal void. The signs such as mirage-likeness, etc. , are the preliminary signals of the wisdoms of the four voids being produced in your mind-stream.
In the Tantras, infinite praises are lavished on the clear light of the universal void and the orgasmic joy, which, as explained above, is the yoga of bliss and void practiced by one who is expert in the way of indi- visibly uniting bliss and voidness. As for the first development of such distinctive bliss, it is definitely necessary that you gather the left and right wind-energies and dissolve them into the dhati channel.
As for that [development], you will never produce it no matter how long you practice, if you lack the direct meditation on the wind-energies in paths of outer and inner life-energy control, which is the art of pene- trating the vital points in the body, and the yogas of the drops, etc. , even though you have incisively determined the view of voidness and know how to cultivate it unerringly. Thus, you need definitely to meditate on what is taught in the authoritative treatises about the art of penetrating the vital points in the body. When you meditate on that, if you are one of those who wish your meditation to reach the vital point unerringly, you must definitely experience the signs which are the preliminary signals of the production of the orgasmic joy or the universal void wisdom. [16Sal
And that is the key point of why so much praise is lavished on those signs.
However, you should bear in mind that even when you practice only the settling of the mind in nonconceptuality, some simulation of those signs will arise. Thus it is extremely difficult to tell precisely the difference between such [simulations] and the signs which arise by medi- tating on the art of penetrating the vital points in the body - [so] you
must be skillful! As for the [genuine] signs which arise from penetrating the vital points in the body, they begin with the signs from the initial slight inward reversal of the wind-energies, which [usually] move totally outward from the doors of the senses, from their [actual] slight reversal. from their being slightly injected into the central channel. and so forth. There are many stages of distinctive [energyJ reversal signs and actual [energy] reversals on the occasions when the path has become advanced.
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So do not be content with thinking [wrongly] that all of the benefits explained for the true [signs] fully function with the [merely] simulated signs, and, even though you have the real signs, do not be content with just having found the tip of the nose [of the full experiences]. But, under- standing clearly the lower and higher stages, you must seek the distinc- tive excellences of the highest stage.
If you understand all of those procedures well, in the many treatises of the great adepts, such as the Personal Instruction of His Holiness [Maiji ushri], [and the treatises of] Nagarjunapada, Kukuripa, GhaQta- pada, etc. , there are statements regarding the perfection stage which explain the art of penetrating the vital points in the body such as energy,
drop, and letter visualizations, statements that you must definitely gener- ate wisdom meditating on the drop in the heart center, and statements that there is no doubt that you will blaze with wisdom. Finding the mar- vellous certitude from these, [I6SbJ you will develop the resolve from your heart to make these practices your essential [purpose]. People of inferior discrimination who don't understand this accurately, do not understand the key points of the Tantras by means of the instructions of the great adepts, practice the perfection stage as a partial meditation on voidness, and even though they might try out numerous samadhis properly described in those [treatises], they tend to think that "This is not the supreme perfection stage," and then, [tragically,] they take a false
path as the essence of their lives.
Therefore, since the unerring voidness is extremely difficult to real-
ize, and the Tantras and adepts' treatises are very deep when it concerns the extraordinary bliss, very hard to subtly understand, it seems that uniting bliss and void is extremely difficult. Nevertheless, if you know their vital points roughly and do not mistake their distinctive arts, you will correctly develop great bliss by the power of cultivating them. Even meditating only that is an extremely wondrous samadhi, very different from other things claimed to be profound.
About the vision of the cloudless sky, the fifth sign, two types arise; one from the meditation which depends on the personal instruc- tions on how to penetrate the vital points in the body and another from mere one-pointed samadhi meditation without those [instructions]. This is very difficult to differentiate for those unskilled in the key points of the Tantras. Even as for what is taught in the Tantras, there is one version [of the cloudless sky samadhi] explained in other Tantras concerning [its
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 329
arisal on] the occasion of slightly withdrawing the wind-energies within, and another here. [Here,] when we talk about the fifth sign, we are talking about the time of the universal voidness clear light that is the last of the four voids. Before that, it is necessary for there to be the three states of luminance, radiance and imminence which arise with the signs of moon- like, sun-like, and dark-like, and those can only arise by dissolving the wind-energies into the central channel. Thus, the meanings [of the two types of arisal] are different. I I M11 )
Now some followers of the Marpa school have said that there is no certainy about the precise arrangement of the eight signs and the aware- nesses holding the signs. Nevertheless, the intention of the treatises is that they should arise in a certain way. And it seems that they do arise in that way for those who have incorporated the vital points of the art of compressing the wind-energies. Now if you understand well the key point of meditating the indestructible in the heart center and you meditate on it for a long time, from the time when you first generate the wisdom of the four voids, it is called the "simulated mind isolation. " Thus from that point of view, though it is fine to call it "mind isolation," it is not mind isolation true to its definition.
Further, as for that, there are the two arisals of the four voids, in the emergent order and in the reverse order; and of those, the former is easier and the latter is a bit harder. As for that [arisal] of the four voids, you must let [the process run its course], just as long as you stay steady in each [void]. When you arise from them, you visualize your embodi- ment as before [you entered], which is to perceive [yourself] as just a drop. As Kukuripa says [in his Vajrasattva Siidhana]:
At the time you arise from that samadhi,
Do not think of some other thing,
But always hold [yourself as] that same drop.
By that artful method, once you compress the wind-energies and dissolve them into the dhati channel, you get the ability to generate the four voids. When you visualize [yourself as] a drop, compressing the wind-energies is very easy; without spending a long time at it, you are able to develop the four voids. By the very holding of the mind aimed at
the visualization of [yourself as] the drop, and so on, in the most greatly vital point of the body, you compress the wind-energies into the dhati channel and generate the orgasmic wisdom; and this seems to be the
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extremely wondrous point which fascinates the wise. So you should understand the qualities of the extremely great differences involved when you use forceful methods of compressing the wind-energies, such as being capable or not and being stable or not, depending on whether you [know well or] do not know well this key point of the wind-energy yoga-[I66bl which is not even [slightly] rivaled by any other ways of
holding the mind.
How to produce experience by medi-
The second has three parts: [A "'] How to generate month-by-month experience by practicing vajra recitation; [B'"] How to make the wind- energies dissolve into the central dhati channel by vajra recitation; and [c'"] How to make the furor-fire ignite.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"c"ii''A'" - How to generate month-by-month
When you have completed coarse and subtle creation stages and have practiced the body isolation, as for how you should practice vajra recitation in the first month, the Vajra Rosary states:
First, exhalations and the inhalations, Having the definite count of twenty-one Thousand and six hundred
In the course of a day and a night, Focusing 'til you achieve that count
Throughout twenty-seven days - That continuous yoga
Is considered [successful] counting.
As for the last part of this verse, the Zhiwa Od translation says "you should consider the number again and again. "
In a single day [and night], counting inhalations and exhalations as one, you have 2 1 ,600 breaths. Then, over twenty-seven days, until you gain the certainty of the count of just how much the wind-energies move in a day and night, it is taught that you should count them again and again, and that, during the count of each day and night period, you should keep [inhalation and exhalation] even, without increase or decrease, excluding
? ? ? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"c"ii" -
tating on the other life-energy control practices]
experience by practicing vajra recitation !
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 331
holding [the breath]. When the breaths of each time period are even, the great elements of the body become equalized, and when that happens, the virtues produced depending on the body are easily produced - that is the necessity [of this practice].
As for the way of practicing the second month, [the Vajra Rosary states] :
Then after that you should recite accordingly, [With] the vital life-wind-energies
In each session and break;
You should mark [your] control of them. l l67al Then, counting 2,700 [breaths],
You should hold them truly.
Then with the form of determination, Over twenty-seven days,
Dividing into the four wheels,
With certainty day and night . . .
Thus, in the second month, in each of eight time periods, you should keep [your breaths even] , using the procedure of [counting the] moving of the 2700 wind-energies. The former month's practice was easy; this one is difficult. Now the commentary explains that in each of the sessions there is a set of 900 breaths multiplied by three as they are inhaling, hold- ing or exhaling, that being how it derives 2700; but that is not a good [interpretation]. 97 Because then the [valid] teaching that in one day there are 24 [sets of] 900 breaths would be incorrect; because there are only eight sessions. 98 "You should make it definite in 27 [days]" means that you should practice the vajra recitation with the four wind-energies that
emerge from the four wheels.
As for the way of practice in the third month, [the Vajra Rosary
states] :
97 The correct interpretation is that each of the 2700 breaths include inhalation, exhala- tion, and retention.
9B This means that 900 times 24 is 2 1 ,600 and so each hour has 900 breaths, and each of the eight sessions is three-hours.
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By making effort staying with that, You should attend to it differently.
By moving in the channel wheel Ascertaining inhalation and exhalation, By the yoga of certain holding
You should investigate the channel wheel, And by opening the wheel channel During twenty-seven days . . .
From that kind of equalizing the energy in sessions, by the art of ascer- taining the moving of the energy of exhalation and inhalation in the channel wheel, the place where the energy moves, you should analyze the differences in the channel wheels during the 27 days. This means that you should clearly see individually the channels within the channel wheels.
Now the way of practicing in the fourth month, [the Vajra Rosary states] :
Then, you should discern the true sign
By the opening of its places,
And to the places which are individually noted, [167bJ You should strongly move 108 times.
The supreme practice that is thought-free,
Its nature being the abandoning of thought, Master of the natural instincts of all things, Move it strongly 108 times.
This is truly the supreme yoga,
Through which, during 27 days,
The yogi/ni who meditates its nature, Meditates intensely as it stands.
This states that, having individually determined the channels, the yogi/ni meditates the nature of the wind-energies as they stand, sees the 108 wind- energies moving in the channel in the fourth month, and so they are ascer- tained.
This teaches the supreme yoga of the vajra recitation that is the means of cutting off habitual thoughts, the art of entering into clear light
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 333
that abandons notions of the instinctual natures of all things, while men- tioning "conceptual thoughts" three times, and "this" once. 99
states]:
The yogi/ni who has instinctual thoughts, Then turns the yoga away from them, And the great energy of thoughtlessness Is moved into the channel wheel.
Then, having been fully bound by the addictions, S/he determines the ultimate reality [of energy], And during the twenty-seven days,
The intelligent [yogi/ni] should eliminate
The practices of the beginners.
Zhiwa Od's translation reads, "The intelligent one, through elimi- nating. . . . "
In the fifth month, depending on the consummation of the vajra recitation, the wind-energy yogas posited as [for] beginners are given up by intelligent yogi/nis, along with the wind-energy-driven instinctual thoughts, and they then make the great wind-energy that develops in- stinctual thoughtlessness move in the channel wheel. And this is the occasion when you begin to reverse the wind-energies [168aJ into the place of the indestructible.
As for "the ultimate reality of energy," you should add that the ascertainment of reality eliminates being driven by the binding addictions. As for the way of practice in the sixth month, [the Vajra Rosary
states] :
99 Tsong Khapa is perhaps suggesting here that the mention of "conceptual thoughts" (rnam rtog) three times (I can only count two in this quote, unless we take rang bzhin as rang bzin rtog pa) refer to the three states of the subtle mind - luminance, radiance, and imminence-and "this" to the clear light transparence.
Then those purifications,
By the power of true yoga,
Those conceptual notions of life-energy control Are totally abandoned,
? As for the way to practice in the fifth month, [the Vajra Rosary
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The reality of energy moves,
And you should meditate the supreme yoga. By this supreme nondual yoga,
During the twenty-seven days,
You stabilize the reality of energy.
And the vacillating mind is purified.
In the sixth month, by the power of meditating vajra recitation which has stability in its moving of the reality of energy, you abandon instinctual thoughts and the life-wind-energies and controls. And you also purify the mind bound by its instinctual thought, which gets distracted towards objects. As for those [procedures of the sixth month] they are
given the designations of [ 1 ] counting, [2] conforming, [3] notions of the difference of places, [4] notions of the difference of times, [5] reversal of the wind-energies, and [6] total purity.
As for [this statement about] the complete release of the heart center channel knot at the end of practicing the six months of vajra recitation, it is intending the disciple of extremely sharp faculties.
In many contexts in this Tantra, [the Buddha] does not mention holding [the breath], as other than just exhaling and inhaling. But when he mentions "teaching coming and going," the commentators explain that it refers to the going and the not going [of the breath]. Nevertheless, they [go on to say] cleary, "The yoga of the perfection stage is entering, hold- ing, and exiting. "
According to Master Go, the criterion for completing the training of the coarse wind-energies is the clarity of their movement; ( 168bJ which [amounts to] the clarity of the sense-faculty direct experience of the forms of the colors [of the wind-energies], the clarity of the lack of confusion and error in regard to the forms of the counting, the clarity in
the nature of the sounds of the form of the three letters [OM Al:l HO t:f, and the clarity about the nature of the places [in the body], and the degrees of subtlety, speed and of weight. The sign of completing it is that no sudden illness can occur.
The criterion of completing the training of the subtle wind-energies is that you become able to mix external and internal [worlds] by causing the wind-energies of the outer universe to enter through the hair-pores of your skin and fit within your body, and by causing the the inner wind-
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 335
energies to go out fill the universe; and that you feel contact and bliss by the mere touch of the outer wind-energies.
The criterion of completing your training of the branch wind- energies is said to be that you become able to project [all] your sense faculties through each sense door, and to bind them [there] in freedom from any harm, according to the system of Abhijiia. When the four wind- energies of wind, fire, earth and water move, and you bind them within without allowing them outside, respectively then, without any harm to yourself, you will fly in the sky, you will not be hurt by outer cold, you will not be pushed around even assaulted by a champion wrestler, and so on; and finally you will not be hurt by fire, etc.
How to make the wind-energies
As already explained, when you practiced the recitation that indi- visibly connects mantras and wind-energies, you experience not mere imagination, but an intense mind-transforming feeling where in your mind the wind-energies' tones resound as the three sylllables? just as, for example, [169aJ the creation stage practitioner first has to accustom him- self or herself to meditate by imagining the deity, but later his or her mind does not have to be expressly contrived but naturally transforms itself into the pride of the deity. When that happens [in vajra recitation], you can terminate both perception and conception of the difference between energy and mantra; and furthermore, having recited with the entry, exit
and holding at the level of the center of the dhati channel, by the key [practice] of the energy and mind functioning in unison, you can make the wind-energies move directly through the dhati channel. Here again, while first you have to construct this on purpose and make the wind- energies enter and exit in such a way, when you become accustomed to it, conditioned by your vajra recitation, you have experienced the properly defined injection of the wind-energies there [in the central dhati channel].
As for the sign of that [happening], when you have not practiced vajra recitation, the [wind-energies] move in each of the left and right nostils. When you practice vajra recitation, before very long the wind- energies definitely begin to be drawn into an equal flow, as the vajra recitation merely injects the wind-energies there [in the central channel].
You should understand that this also [happens] when you meditate on the
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'B"6"c"ii"B"' -
dissolve into the central dhuti channel by vajra recitationI
336 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
subtle [drops] in the lower [genital center] door and in the heart center. Although thus you may have the mere ability to inject the wind-energies into the dhati channel, the problem with having only a slight bit of practice is that before long it will migrate to each of the left or the right nostrils. If you have a practice. as already explained, of injecting [the energies there] and making them enter and exit, and the heart center channel knot little by little has become slightly looser, then finally you
become able to release the heart channel knot.
Now here you might suspect, "well, although it can happen that the
vajra recitation practiced within the dhuti channel depending upon the vital point of the heart center can allow the wind-energies to be injected into the dhati channel and the channel knot to become looser, the vajra recitation is incapable of stopping the energy in the central channel; because vajra recitation i s set u p a s having the function making the wind- energies go in and out without stopping. [169hl Therefore, if you lack the stopping of the exit and entry of the wind-energies by holding them compressed together within, your vajra recitation is unable to cause the
energy to dissolve into the dhuti channel. "100
It is true that such doubts arise for those who are satisfied with
some biased [understanding] of the perfection stage, who in general do not understand how to compress the wind-energies by the yogas of the drop etc. as explained in the authoritative treatises, and in particular who do not know the literature of the Community which explains all the keys of that [dissolution process] emphasizing vajra recitation. However, there is no such fault [in this system of vajra recitation]. When, as already
explained, you have become accustomed to the vajra recitation which equalizes the three [movements], entering, holding, and exiting, of the wind-energies, though you do not purposely cause them to hold still at a certain threshold, the wind-energies stand still on their own momentum. Their [stillness] gets longer and longer, and then, though you do not purposely block the inhalation and exhalation of the wind-energies, they become shorter and shorter. So when you first practice, in the process of
100 This refers to the vase breathing called kumbhaka. What it means is you take the up- ward energy and the lower energy and unite them at the navel center or heart center or wherever and hold them there, one pressing up and one pressing down in the central channel.
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breathing naturally you do not need to purposely lengthen exhaling and inhaling, but still, anyway, when you work on vajra recitation, the in and out movement of the wind-energies will eventually stop completely and [the wind-energies will] stay within.
declares:
By [such a] sign, [wind-]reality stays [all] three, The nature of natural recitation;
Nameless and inexpressible,
This is supreme enlightenment spirit.
Those very three become one, And neither go nor come.
This teaches that, after having practiced the recitation as wind-energies of the spirit of enlightenment, with the realities of mantra and energy indivisibly united, being the natural recitation inexpressible in naming words, the three [energy-movements], inhalation, exhalation and holding still, [I70aJ become a single experience without any separation; and then there are no more going out and coming in of wind-energies.
In that [same] Tantra, it states that "the spirit of enlightenment becomes wind-energy," and this means that here the spirit of enlighten- ment is wind-energy. In that Tantra, it states that the reality of wind- energies entering, exiting, and abiding becomes of one experiential taste,
and thus the other [Tantras] have a similar meaning. The Vajra Rosary also states:
By practicing vajra recitation,
Knowing its own nature,
You cut off the instinctual wind-energies.
This means that the vajra recitation stops the movement of wind-energies. And again:
At the nine sense doors,
All of them are totally bound,
Repeating HOM, become incomparable !
This states that vajra recitation binds the wind-energies within, not letting them move out from all doors such as the upper and lower nostrils, etc.
Thus, further, the Revelation of the Hidden Intention [Tantra]
. HR ? Brilliant Illumination oftht? Lamp
As for the meaning of those Vajra Rosary statements, the Per. mnal
fm;truction IofMaiijushrTJ states:
Then you exhale with HO M.
Collect with OM, hold with AH,
And holding still the reality therein,
You discover the intuitive wisdom,
Free from inhaling, exhaling and holding, And you need have no doubting ambivalence.
Thus it very clearly states that by practicing vajra recitation from the dis- solution of the wind-energies getting free of the threefold inhaling, ex- haling and holding, you attain wisdom, and about that there need be no doubt or ambivalence.
Here you might wonder, "Well, how do you get the energy to dis- solve within by the vajra recitation of two letters? "
By practicing that [vajra recitation], injecting the energy into the dhati channel and releasing the channel knot is similar to [the same pro- cess with] the three letters. So then the energy finds the path to go to its own root place, [I70bl and it enters into its own place, as in the time of death. The Tantra explains the two kinds of vajra recitation, while the Noble father and son set forth the vajra recitation with the three letters
just as an example. The Personal Instruction states that not only can you be liberated from both inhalation and exhalation, but also you are liber- ated from holding; what that means is that you need first to reverse the moving of the exhalation and inhalation and to hold the energy within, and then you have also to dissolve the holding within.
By practicing recitation of exiting and entering you reach the non- moving of energy, and since there is a type of non-moving under the influence of depression, you must be able to tell them apart. When you stop the nostril movement of energy, if it stays within without dissolving [into the central channel], then the body will seem to be inflated; but this is eradicated when it dissolves. As already explained, when the definite signs of the energy entering the dhati channel by its own force occur, and the energy naturally stays within for a long time and then dissolves into the dhati channel, what arises is like what is taught about [the four] voids. On dissimilar occasions, although there is an inner dissolution, it is not a dissolution into the dhati channel, and so [the experience] will
not match what is taught about the voids. In order for the wind-energies
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 339
to dissolve into the actual indestructible heart center, you need to have loosened the channel knot of that [heart center]; before that, even if you [seem to] compress [the energies] into the dhati channel by means of the art of compressing [energies] into the heart center, that is a dissolution into the near-dhati channel, but not into the dhati itself. 101 Similarly, although it can happen that your energy can dissolve into the dhati channel, you are unable to make it come and go from the dhati channel in the [exact] place of the channel knot. As the Vajra Rosary says: "Little by little, free of effort" - and what is meant there is that you should not make a strenuous effort [to force] the wind-energies to enter and exit [the heart center]. [t7ta]
The Personal Instruction also says that when you cause the energy to abide within, you should hold it very gently. The vajra recitation [should be] performed gently with the three, exhaling inhaling, and abid- ing wind-energies, as it is highly critical that, when the wind-energies begin slightly to stop, the elements of the body are not disturbed and remain balanced. The production of those excellent virtues which must be produced [only] through penetrating the vital points in the body is different from other [kinds of] productions. 102
Thus [penetrating the vital points precisely] is extremely necessary for extreme power in developing the voids, for ease of gaining greatly increasing impact from the moment of the first time of developing the voids, and for the great stability of your bliss and [furor] heat, and so on. Therefore, when you have had a whiff of the experience of the blaze of bliss and heat and have become enthusiastic and see the need for the ability etc. to cultivate positive practice, even if you practice even the system of cultivating forcefully, you must keep at it until you have achieved the
101 So there is a way of dissolving the energies into the dhati channel under or above the very central part of the heart center where the indestructible is, without them dissolving right into the indestructible, because that is still sealed off by the knot.
102 To be able to inject the energy and make it enter into the central channel in the navel or heart center, you have first to have a clear visualization of exactly where that center is and put your focus right on the spot in the various strategic places. Doing that is "pene- trating the vital point," and energy-pressure focused there produces the true dissolution experiences. Pressure aimed vaguely nearby can seriously disrupt the nervous system.
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purpose [of penetrating the vital point precisely]; and if you follow the teaching of the treatises, it is [even more of] a joy.
Here also, though there is a bit of intensity [used in practicing] the wind-energy yoga of vajra recitation and in cultivating by aiming your visualization at the drop etc. , if you use the forceful yoga for such as meditating energy compression, it is said to cause untimely death. And
though it seems to have the benefit of slightly greater speed, you should be careful to keep it within bounds. 103 I previously quoted Kukuripa say- ing that the signs arise from meditating on the heart center drop, intend- ing the signs of the vajra recitation, so here the signs such as mirage will arise.
Until you have well released the heart-center channel knot, l17tbl you will not attain the actual voids of mind isolation. Nevertheless, it seems that those on lower stages will definitely experience voids con- forming to [those of the] mind isolation; so you should carefully differen- tiate these [two kinds, actual and conformative]. If you do not distinguish between them, you might hold the three voids developed by vajra recita- tion on the lower stages to be the actual mind isolation, the fourth void to be the fourth stage clear light, and the two arisals in deity bodies after
those two to be, [respectively,] the third stage magic body and the fifth stage communion body. Thus you will become excessively proud of such attainments when you have not really attained any of their excellent qualities, and you will lose your drive to attain the higher excellences not already attained. Then, since you have none of the distinctive transforma- tions coming from them, some of you might generate a false view and think, "I attained a path such as this, but did not experience any sort of benefit of that atainment such as light rays; so these teachings are just words! " And some of you might think, "Relying on the fact that, in the literal texts of the treatises of the [Noble] father and sons, not much is taught about the arisal of the voids of the path until the attainment of mind isolation, so until then the voids of the path will not arise [for me]"; and so you will not make effort in the methods of producing those and
you will lose out on the great purpose.
103 He emphasizes the gentleness of this practice with this warning, that if you do energy compression with a power yoga, it can be fatal; so even though it might be quicker, you should be skillful about knowing the limits.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 34 1
Therefore, by meditating the perfection stage and dissolving the wind-energies into the dhati channel, you generate the four joys and the four voids, without having to consider this a very advanced path. So you strive in order to generate them as already explained. tt72al When the energy dissolves and the three voids together with the metaphoric clear light arise, if you remember your [realistic] view and set yourself in that as long as it lasts, then when the wind-energies move and you arise from that again, you do vajra recitation again; and so you should increase your meditation on the method of compressing the wind-energies.
Now here someone says "well, even ifwe allow that the vajra reci- tation is able to inject the energy into the dhati channel and to cause that injected energy to dissolve there, this vajra recitation is not able to make the spirit of enlightenment melt by stimulating the furor, and it thus becomes unable to unify bliss and void; or, if it is able to do that, then please tell how it does it. "
Already, the Vajra Rosary taught how this [vajra recitation] devel- ops great bliss. And that great bliss is the bliss of the melting of the spirit of enlightenment of the crown center. And it is very true that melting that requires the navel furor-fire to blaze. As for how that is done, the Vajra Rosary says:
Since the 4 akini compresses,
She is the "pressure 4 akini. "
She always stays in the navel center, And has a light like a thousand suns. Emitting the fire of great wisdom She conquers all instinctual thoughts. By her arisal aggregate-notions bum, And the body becomes unobstructed. After that the element-notions
Are compressed, and again, naturally, The subject and object notions Afterward, are again compressed. Thus, when like a moth [by flames]
All bondages are consumed,
By the yoga of the reality of wind-energy,
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'B"6"c"ii"c"'
- How to make the furor-fire ignite]
342 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
And by knowledge of the reality of mantra, The mere instinctual notions
Are doubtless [ 1 72 b l just consumed.
Now the first four feet of that [verse] show the actuality of the navel furor-fire, which is said to be the actuality of the union of all (,iak. inis. This is just like the statements of the Samputa [Tantra] calling it "Nairatmya" and the Spring Drop calling it "the actuality of Varahi," since those two
are the actuality that unites all yoginis such as Gauri and Pracandi; so mentioning any [particular goddess] is by way of example. Showing that the blood of the reddish furor is the actuality of the union of all (,iak. inis means that the activity of the science consorts is to develop the great bliss in the yogi/ni, and that is achieved by the blazing of the furor-fire.
Thereupon two feet [of the verse] show in general the burning of the conceptual notions by the blazing of the furor-fire. And then two feet, one and a half feet, and two and a half feet, respectively, discuss the sup- pression of the conceptual notions about the aggregates, the elements, and subject-object [dichotomy]. Here "suppression" means burning or conquering. "Unobstructed" here has the meaning of again and again or continuous. And "body" here means burning in the body. Now again two
feet unite the metaphor and the import of the burning of the conceptual notions. Then again two feet refer to that burning of conceptual notions by the blazing of furor-fire, and then again two feet explain how the knowledge of the union of the reality of mantra, the three or the two letters, with the reality of wind-energy, the three, exhalation, inhalation and abiding, or the two, inhalation and exhalation, is what accomplishes the burning of the notions by the blazing of furor-fire. [All this] thus
means that the vajra recitation accomplishes [the furor-fire] just like that. Again the last two feet state that even the subtlest conceptual notions are consumed without any doubt.
Again 1 173al the same text [the Vajra Rosary], saying:
Depending truly on the reality of energy, Exhorted by the syllable HO M.
The wheel of fire is very much awakened . . .
thus states that furor is made to awaken by the reality of mantra depend- ing upon the reality of energy. And HO Mhere expresses a single aspect of the vajra recitation of either two or of three syllables. Other translations
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 343
have the phrase "by the yoga of the body of mantra," and in the com- mentary the meaning of that is explained as being a meditation on the creation stage. In the Indian texts also it is clear that there were two dis- cordant readings, and so Darma Tsondru's translation, like the previous reading, is better.
The furor blazes moved by what sort of energy? The Personal Instruction {ofMafljushrr] says:
Vowed effort, by moving the bow-shaped, The wisdom fire blazes in the triangle, And the element melts. . . .
The bow-shaped located in a triangle is the wind-energy, which is stated to ignite the furor-fire, and it is the evacuative energy. Also the Great Seal Drop states:
The way being located in the navel, The limit of the way is the secret lotus; There the self-blazing energy Circulates and so refreshes.
By the union of the two organs
The energy ignites the fire.
declaring that the energy located in the lotus of the secret place ignites the furor-fire.
You might wonder, "If the furor-fire is ignited by a particular motion of the evacuative energy, how does that movement function? "
The Samputa [Tantra] says:
In the mandala of the navel furnace, Agitated by the evolutionary energy, The brahma-fire bums in the triangle.
Concerning that statement, the Sheaf of Instructions explains that 1 1 731> 1 [the furor-fire] is ignited by the energy impelled by the evolutionary force of the action of the union of the two organs and the action of the medita- tive entrancement. The first [action] refers to the meditation [either] on the energy or the drop and so on that have been injected into the vital point in the body. The second [action] is explained by the [union of the] two organs. As for the blood, the actuality of the fire-atom to be ignited,
though it abides in many parts of the body, the main ones are the blood of
? the na"W:I symbolized by the short A and the "1nhma-fire. . symbolized by the syllable K$HA. bolh dwelling below the navel in the secret place; and funber they abide within the dhilti cbannel. As for the evacuative wind-energiesthatignitethem. one kindenterswithinthedJIJllicbannel and one kind does not. and the former is the main one. As the \bjra
ROStJry says:
In the left descends the moon. enlightenment sp? In the right. blood and SUD descend.
Koo? -able in the center. the energy mov?
And you sbould know that wakens up the fire.
Thus it states tbat wben the wind-energies move through the central channel. they make furor fire awaken. From the threshold wben the vajra recitation injects ? ind-energies into the central channel. a slightly heated specialfuror-fire bums. When it increases, it melts the crown enlight- enment spiriL As the G? 01 Sui Drop says:
By the true burning of tbat fire, The great bliss wheel will meJL By melting. aU the channels
Will drip wilh the supreme nectar.
As for the meditation of blazing and dripping. it happens tbat there are many meltings of the spirit of enlightenment by the burning of furor- fire even without injecting energy into the central channel. And even if
you meditate wind-energies and drops etc
way [as by penetrating the vital points). furor-fire can blaze and enlight- emnentspiritcan meltbeforetheenergyhasbeeninjectedintothedhiiti cbannel and dissolved there. IJ7-6aJ For example. it happens even in ordinary sexual union of the two organs. In those [experiences). as the ealightenmentspirit melts. justdue to its intensity it is bard to hold it without emission. whereas wben this occurs from the [wind-energies] dissolving in1o tbe dltilli cbaanel. it is very easy to hold iL
? as for the blazia& of warmth. there are two tinds. willa and widloul tbe Uility 10 melt dte spirit of enJi&btmneBL As for dte warmtb wbicb is . t. le 10 melt the spirit of eali&btemnen? dtere ue kinds arisin& from the wind-energiesbeingand not beinginjectedintothe dllilli dtan? 1. As for those when [wind-eoagies are] injec:tcd. tbele are kinds wiMft lbey dissolve ad do DOl dissolve tben:in. ABel even bliss bas a
. ?
without meditating in such a
? ? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 345
kind where bliss happens from the wind-energies merely becoming serv- iceable, which does not turn into melting bliss. And melting bliss also comes in many stages. Therefore, you should be very skillful in distin- guishing well these [various types of experiences] .
When the evacuative energy first ignites the main furor-fire, it ignites the two fires of secret place and navel, and as evacuative energy in the two lower doors goes in and out like [wind-energies do] in the two upper nostrils, those winds must be injected into the dhati channel. Just as the injected life-energy dissolves [therein] without going in and out of the upper nostrils, when the [evacuative energy] dissolves and does not go in and out of the lower doors, the powerful blazing of furor-fire in- creases the power of the melting of the spirit of enlightenment. 104 Even if such a thing should happen once, it frequently happens in alternation that the energy arises again and starts to go in and out; it is not the case that once it dissolves it does not arise again, as is the case when you eliminate seeds by transcendent paths.
As the Vajra Rosary teaches that the vajra recitation binds the wind- energies within all the nine doors of the senses, not only does it terminate the entry and exit of the upper nostril doors but it also terminates [174bJ the lower nostril door entry and exit. When you do this by pulling up with a fierce physical effort, although there is some slight speeding up of the blocking of the energy, it tends not to go to the vital point. It is better
if you stop the [wind-energies'] movement by gentle exertions such as vajra recitation; so you should know that [fact], even about holding the wind-energies in a compression lock.
You might wonder, "since the evacuative energy enters and exits the two lower doors, is it proper to use vajra recitation in relation with that entry and exit as you do in the two upper doors? "
Concerning this, Tibetan mentors give a personal instruction about the yoga of closing and opening the lower door as a way of generating bliss. Although this is not called "entry-exit recitation," if you know how
104 Just as the upper wind-energies dissolve in the dhati without the upper energy breathing in and out, this lower energy dissolves so there is no more going in and out of the lower doors. It thus becomes stronger in melting the enlightenment spirit.
? 346 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
to discern its meaning, it is like performing [the vajra recitation] in the
upper door. About this way, from Atisha's Dharma Song:105
Conquer the progress of sun and moon - Otherwise in the door of the great sky, Berampa106 will not enter.
By the yoga of opening and closing,
You should compel that fierce goddess. The five buddhas and the four goddesses- You should bum them again and again. The ten directions' heroes and yogi/nis Gather and dissolve into Jalandhara. 107
The four drops in the four lotuses
Will generate the sixteen blisses.
The self-luminous wisdom dwells
In the center of the formful lotus navel. When enlightenment dwells in the jewel tip, You gain nirvana like a butter lamp.
When you win nirvana there
In the tip of the jewel,
The host of notions such as self and other,
105 This quote has not yet been identified in an original. Perhaps it is from an older version of Atisha: *Drpamkarasrrjnana-dharma-grtika (d'i pam ka 'a ra shr 'i dznya ' na 'i chos kyi glu) (Toh 2374; rGyud 'Grel, Zl, lOa-lOb); or Caryligfti (spyodpa'i glu) (Toh. 1496; rGyud 'Grel, ZHA. 215a-216b), wherein it was not found.
106 Berampa (be ram pa) = Vairambha[ka] = Berambha (be ram bha) = Bairambha (bai rambha). Toh. 1413 (lndrabhOti, Cakrasamvara-vrtti, fol. 1 15a. 3-. 4); Toh. 1427 (Loyipa, Bhagavad-abhisamaya, fol. 187a. 4-. 6); Toh. 1449 (Vanaratna, Vasantatilaka-tika, fol. 336a. 7-b. 4). These tests identify this term as referring to the bow-shaped wind-energy- disc that forms the base of the mandala universes of various Tantras, which can only be visualized or projected by the yogT/nT after having dissolved the ordinary universe by melting all energies into the central channel via its lower door, either navel or genital wheel. I am indebted to Paul Hackett for these references.
107 Jalandhara is one of the twenty-four holy places of the Chakrasamvara Tantra and also is the crown center of the yogic nervous center; the idea here being that the fire from the wind energy at the closing of the lower door of the central channel causes the furor fU"e from the navel center to blaze up and melt all heroes and yoginTs into the moon disc of hindu drops at the crown center.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 347
I no longer see them at all.
When the planet [Rahu] seizes sun and moon,
The mind and the Bera[m]pa do not proceed.
When all notions fully melt and dissolve,
The mind becomes pure experience of the [reality] realm.
l175aJ Here he declares the distinctive art of injecting the energy into the Drop :
By closing and opening [the lower doors] , The energy encompasses the fire.
With the wood of the organ of the truth, Thereby the furor-fire bums,
Consuming the body entirely,
And all materials of the heap of notions. And by the true burning of that fire. . .
So it declares just as before.
This enables you to understand that there is a [vajra-]recitation of
the exit and entry [of the wind-energy] through the path of water, and although the upper [body] vajra recitation accomplishes both these pur- poses, if you want to take it in terms of singling out the evacuative wind energy of the lower parts, you should perform it relying on your attain- ment of the already present base of personal instructions. If you perform the reversal of the evacuative energy by forceful methods, there are great hindrances such as the blocking of excrement and urine. But if you perform the gentle yoga with the skill in the vital points taught in the oral instruction and reverse the movement [of the energy], you need not lessen excrement and urine and have to eliminate them time and again. You will not experience the slightest discomfort, your furor fire will bum with much greater power, you will have a superlative bliss, and however intense your melting of the element, you will have no need of caution
about emission, and so on-such are the signs that will occur.
You might say, "Well, by meditating the heart indestructible and the vajra recitation etc. , and the spirit of enlightenment melts by the blazing of furor-fire, as is explained by the Yogini Tantras, and falls down to the jewel-relying on that, are the four joys developed? Or else
dhati channel. This same meaning is also expressed in the Great Seal
348 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
do you generate the four voids compressing [all wind-energies and drops] into the heart center from above and below? "
This I am going to explain ! 17Sbl in the section on mind isolation.
Here, many [yogi/nis] have performed the yoga of blocking the energy etc. with intense force, seeing that to be a bit quicker and not knowing how to discern well the differences of how the immediate and long term advantages are generated from gentle and rough yogas. Once they perform the arts of penetrating the vital points in the body, they meditate considering that they must practice with very intense force.
Now, some of them experience extremely great hindrances, and they then stop meditating those [methods]. Others, although their hindrances are also very great, accept the need to meditate with skill in the methods of dispelling them.
As for the way of dispelling hindrances, some might say "Well, when you compress the energy and it generates shooting pains before it becomes peaceful, you should meditate the yoga of many holes and thus expell them outside. And many others alleviate the shooting pains of energy compression with other methods. "
To that someone says, "When striving in order to compress the wind-energies, if you then quiet them without performing the method of entering them into the central channel, your efforts will be pointless, as you lack the personal instruction. " But our own system is that you enter
the [wind-energies] into the central channel by the yoga of the art of squeezing the two waves of enjoyment;108 and this is recommended also for pacifying shooting pains. Everyone seems to agree about using a forceful yoga at the beginning of meditation.