this
acquired
body abides like a heap, piled up as a mass of things, such as the measure of flesh.
Thurman-Robert-a-F-Tr-Tsong-Khapa-Losang-Drakpa-Brilliant-Illumination-of-the-Lamp-of-the-Five-Stages
And as for others' systems' reasons for incor- porating other paths into this path, they seem uncertain and unestablished.
CHAPTER IV
Body Isolation
[8. \b. 6-107b. l ]
[VI. 8. 3. b. ii. c'3'd' - The import of the individual divisions (of the per-
? fection stage)I
The fourth has two parts: [i '] How to learn the samadhis of the
three isolations; and [ii '] How to learn the samadhis of the two realities. [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i' - How to learn the samadhis of the three isolations )
The first has three parts: [A"] How to learn the body isolation body vajra samadhi; [B"] How to learn the speech isolation ! 84a] speech vajra
[VI. 8. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A" - How to learn the body isolation body vajra samadhi]
The first has six parts: [1 "] Analysis of which of two stages has body isolation; [2 "] Sequence of creation stage and distinctive body iso- lation; [3") Identification of body isolation; [4"] Typology of body iso- lations; [5"] How it serves as retraction and contemplation branches [of the six branches]; and [6"] How to put the body isolation into practice.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"1 " - Analysis of which of two stages has body isolation)
The first has three parts: [a") Setting forth individual interpreta- tions; [b"] Analysis of their correctness and incorrectness; and [c"] Set- ting forth our own interpretation.
lVI. 8. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"1"a"- Setting forth individual interpretations!
There are disagreements about where to place body isolation on the two stages. While many such as Abhaya, Munishri, Lak? hmr, and Bhavya- krrti explain body isolation as [belonging to the] creation stage, both men- tors Tsunmojen and Abhijiia claim it to be [part of the] perfection stage,
179
? ? ? ? ? samadhi; and [c"] How to learn the mind isolation mind vajra samadhi.
180? BrilliantIlul mination oftheLamp
and Master Go reports in his [Great} Voidness Session that Knhua Samayavajra believes the body isolations of the hundred clans, the five clans, and the three clans to be creation stage and the body isolation of one clan to be perfection stage. Some of the Marpa tradition scholars say that Naropa considered [body isolation] to be creation stage; but this is not true, since the Concise Five Stages Elucidation explains those two [creation stage and body isolation] separately.
As for how such disagreements arose:
[First of all,] based on the Integrated Practices statements that
one remains in the beginner's samadhi when learning the yogas of conceptuality and single-mindedness and one learns body isolation after having already so remained . . .
and that
beginning from the creation stage up to the culmination
(IWbJ ofbody isolation. . .
wherein the two are treated as separate, [body isolation] is posited as [in- cluded in the] perfection stage. One is considered a "beginner" here in this system from beginning the creation stage meditation until complet- ing it; as Five Stages says:
By the yoga of the beginner, one will attain the eighth stage
and the Integrated Practices says:
In this Vajra Vehicle one trains in the creation stage and
attains the eighth stage.
Then again, on the strength of the Integrated Practices statements:
As for the just explained aggregates, elements, and media, one isolates the body; one sets a deity there, common to all, since it is a coarse yoga. . .
and just after that in the text:
. . . speech isolation is not creation stage, because it is extremely subtle . . .
-[here,] "common to all" indicates [body isolation] to be common to both stages; depending on which it is interpreted as having parts belong- ing to each stage. Those who posit it as creation stage seem to think its way of meditating the aggregates as deities has the same import as the pure meditation on the individual deities of the creation stage.
Abhaya accepts the mere visualization of the body of the creation- stage-generated vajradhara as the body isolation, stated in the context of creation stage, thus accepting it as the chief of visualizations. Though others do not explain clearly, when other visualized deities are set in the body, they must be imagined as indivisible from the aggregates and so forth [8Sa], so it seems that they interpret those [practices] as body isola- tion. As they explain them as generated by mere visualization, it seems they do not claim the body mandala created from seed [syllables] as body isolation. Munishri is not clear about the way in which body isolation is indicated, except for the statement that "the 'creation stage' mentioned in the Condensed [Siidhana] indicates the body isolation. "
The latter two pa1,1(1 its accept body isolation as creation stage be- cause they explain that one practices it after already learning the three samadhis of the Condensed [Siidhana], but they do not accept it as the [whole] creation stage explained in the Condensed [Siidhana] itself. Most Tibetan scholars of the Go tradition assert body isolation to belong to the perfection stage. Lan interprets the coarse body isolation which does not discriminate finely the five [buddhas] in the five aggregates and so forth
as observation, and interprets the body isolation which finely discrimi- nates from the hundred clans to the one clan as examination, holding the former to be a body isolation in common with the creation stage, since the creation stage [texts] also explain such meditation in the context of "extreme yoga," and holding the latter to be the perfection stage's dis- tinctive body isolation.
IVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"l "b" -
Chapter JV- Body Isolation ? 1 8 1
? rectness]
Which should we accept of those different interpretations?
If one wonders, "well, those who advocate body isolation as creation stage, in which context of that [stage] do they claim that body isolation is
being taught? "
Analysis of their correctness and incor-
1 82 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
If you accept the whole of body isolation as the creation stage ex- plained in the Condensed [Sadhana], you cannot avoid the contradiction with the Integrated Practices statement that one must train in body isola- tion after already having learned the beginner's samadhi. It is very incor- rect to not include body isolation within the three samadhis mentioned in the Condensed [Sadhana] and to locate it on a different creation stage:
because f85bl the three samadhis of the Condensed [Sadhana] indicate all the creation stages needed as preliminaries of the perfection stage, except for some creation stages [implemented] on the occasions of conducting ritual activities; because you cannot posit that "this is the way of learning the arisal of deity forms of the previously unexperienced body isolation creation stage, after completing both subtle and coarse creation stages of the Condensed [Sadhana]"; and because there do not appear [in those creation stages] any ways of meditating the body isolation other than meditating the forms of deity bodies.
It is incorrect to posit the whole of body isolation as perfection stage: because it is stated that "body isolation is common to all"; because speech isolation is specially picked out and stated "not to be in the province of creation stage [practice]"; and because you can understand [it is so] from the statement that coarse and subtle are the means of achieving the com- mon and the distinctive. Therefore, as "establishing the deities" refers to
the establishing of deities as the aggregates and so forth, which is common to both stages, you cannot explain that the body isolation is never said to be common [to both stages], and you should divide body isolation into two body isolations belonging to the two stages.
Such being the case, you should not interpret this according to the view of Damtsig Dorjey, since the Integrated Practices states that all body isolations, from the hundred-clan body isolation to the three-clan body isolation, are included in the one-clan body isolation, and it is improper for that included to be of the creation stage and that which includes to be of the perfection stage .
As this meditation of aggregates and so on as deities of body isola- tion is a meditation of the arisal of the deity form, and, since it is taught that [86uJ you meditate this after having found extreme stability of the vivid vision of the complete habitat and inhabitant mandalas within a mere mustard seed, you could not gain the experience of this without having already experienced the preceding, it would be incorrect to explain in some other way this stage of the path, [which must be] learned after
stages.
Some scholars say that while the creation stage is the new creation
[of a deity], the body isolation meditation of aggregates and so on as deities is the method of deity meditation of the perfection stage, which sees the deities as if primordially established. This seems to be an account based on failing to differentiate clearly between the two procedures of mantra body and wisdom body, [both used] on both stages. Just as, on the occa- sion of the perfection stage, drops and syllables and so on are indeed visualized in mind without existing as they are visualized, since they can create the nonartificial perfection stage without having to develop into other homogeneous visualizations, they are included in the perfection stage [in spite of involving conceptualization]. So you cannot achieve such [a nonartificial perfection stage] just by thinking "aggregates and so on are deities primordially," and such a method of deity meditation [as the perfection stage body isolation] seems greater than the creation stage with its method of mental imagination and artifice; so you cannot differ- entiate the two stages just by [equating them with] those two [86b l ways of viewing deities.
Similarly, even though the objectification of the mind which realizes voidness can be taken as the arisal of a deity, it cannot thereby be distin- guished from the creation stage; because that occurs even on the occasion of the creation stage; and because, while it is stated that one should purify [reality] in voidness by the [mantras] "shanyata. . . ," and so on, before creating a deity, it is improper to interpret its meaning as merely
the retraction from perception without any proper understanding of the view of voidness.
Setting forth our own interpretation!
Well, then what is the way to differentiate body isolations in terms of the two stages?
Chapter IV-Body Isolation ? 1 83
? having learned that [preceding stage]. Though there is no clear explanation in the context of the first stage concerning this division of each aggregate and so on into five, when you complete the coarse and subtle creation stages, you aim your mind at whatever arises and you can immediately generate stable vivid vision of the arisal of the deity, and you cannot say you cannot generate the division into fields; therefore, Lan does not seem to be correct in his way of differentiating the body isolations of the two
(VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"l "c" -
1 84 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
In regard to this body isolation which meditates aggregates and so on as deities, there are two ways of meditating it; one where the objec- tivity aspect [involved] in the realization of voidness arises as a deity, and one where it does not. When it does arise [as a deity], it has two varieties; one where it is a distinctive bliss that is realizing voidness, and one where it is not. And when it is the distinctive bliss that is realizing voidness,
there are again two kinds; one where it is the bliss arisen from the rasantl and /a/ana wind-energies penetrating and dissolving into the dhuti chan- nel, and one where it is not [the bliss] thus arisen.
Of those, on the creation stage there are body isolations where void- ness is realized in the second ways of the first two alternatives - voidness being realized without being realized by that bliss of melting, and where the aggregates and so forth are meditated as deities through the second ways of the last two alternatives. The body isolation that meditates the aggregates and so forth as deities through the first ways of the latter two alternatives is posited as being the perfection stage itself. 65 The creation
stage body isolation wherein aggregates and so on are meditated as deities is said to consist of the occasions of the visualization of one's own body mandala and the mandala retraction, and of the viewing of all objective appearances as Vajradhara; and this is indicated by the statement about how the creation stage employs the pure art and wisdom which views the five sense spheres as male and female deities. Therefore, [87aJ learning such a body isolation occurs on the same occasion as learning the creation stage. As for the statement that, "after having already learned the begin- ner's samadhi, one learns the body isolation," it refers to the perfection stage body isolation.
65This rather brilliant analysis deserves a schema:
Body isolation which meditates aggregates as deities
a) Seeing voidness as a deity
i) Seeing the void-deity through bliss
x) Central channel bliss
y) Non-central channel bliss
ii) Seeing the void-deity without involving bliss
b) Not seeing voidness as a deity
Creation stage body isolation (bold) = b, a-ii, a-i-y.
Perfection ? ? tage body isolation (italic) = a, a-i, a-i-x.
This way of differentiating shows distinctiveness while allowing overlap.
? Chapter IV-Body Isolation ? 1 85
Well then, if you wonder, "where is it taught that the body isolation
meditates the aggregates and so on as deities from the perspective of great
bliss? "
It is taught by the Integrated Practices' quote, in the context of
meditating the five clan body isolation, from the Equal to Space Tantra:
All this living world has the nature of five buddhas, Appearing like actors or like lovely paintings; Wherein "great bliss" itself alone,
Alone performs through many moods.
Here just as a single actor performs using different masks and costumes and a single color such as blue arises in many forms of color, so the single great bliss itself is stated to perform in many kinds of aesthetic mood. This is not to be understood as referring to such a performance by Buddha Vajradhara alone, but is used in terms of all great blisses of path and frui- tion times.
Thus in the occasion of body isolation, great bliss alone is medi- tated as arising in the manifold play of the five clans and so forth, and that is not in terms of visualizing the bliss of other beings without having that bliss in one's own continuum, but is so meditated having generated that bliss in one's own spiritual continuum. Therefore, in that context, the Integrated Practices states [quoting the Magic Supreme Bliss Tantra]:
The yoga will not arise
From a cast statue and so forth,
But striving in the spirit of enlightenment, [87bl The yogYniwill become a deity.
Oneself the nature of all buddhas !
Oneself the nature of all heroes !
Thus one joins the divine,
And thereby should realizes one's nature.
Thus one should not just visualize the form of an external deity but should establish oneself in unity with the deity through striving in the spirit of enlightenment; the "spirit of enlightenment" quoted [here] in the Magic Supreme Bliss [Tantra] is the bliss-void-indivisible spirit of enlighten-
ment.
I 86 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp The Hevajra Tantra also states:
Definitely the purity of all things is called "suchness"; Then distinguishing each one, one should call them deities.
And also:
Thus, three purities are stated: a general purity called "suchness purity," when you determine all outer and inner things to be void of intrinsic reality status; a purity of individual deities from meditating the matter aggregate and so on as deities; and a purity of natural awareness, the supreme bliss of each yogiini's natural awareness. The middle of these is said by the same text:
In the realm of the creation stage, This should purify the aggregates.
-that the purity of individual deities, lacking the great bliss deity medi- tation, is in the creation stage. Therefore, great bliss is the purity of the perfection process, and the suchness purity is common to both stages.
Therefore, if you do not know the above explained way of deity meditation of perfection stage body isolation, since in this context you will lack the way of deity meditation that creates the wisdom body [88a), though you posit it as perfection stage, it will show no difference from the way of creating the mantra body deity, and you have not understood the vital point of this.
Well then, one wonders, if this kind of great bliss is not posited on the creation stage, and its art of creation does not appear until the creation stage is perfected and body isolation arrived at, and moreover if even in the context of body isolation the way of producing this does not appear, how does great bliss emerge in this context?
By the reason that this seems to be one of the greatly difficult points, very hard to sort out, I will explain it in the context of the sequence [of the stages].
Oneself self-aware is purity, not freed by another purity, Objective things being pure, self-knowing, bliss supreme.
body isolation I
Generally, as for the complete meditation of the coarse and subtle creation stages, it is the means of developing the root of virtue that pro- duces all the perfection stages, so it also serves as the means of developing the arisal of the perfection stage body isolation. In particular, the medita- tion of the subtle [symbolic] implement or drop within the jewel is the method of collecting the rasanli and lalana wind-energies into the dhuti channel. Depending on that, when you develop the above-explained great bliss, it becomes the meditation of the actual body isolation, and that is how it is connected with the subtle creation stage.
One wonders here, "from what does one know that the meditation of the subtle at the lower door becomes the art of collecting the two wind- energies into the dhuti channel? "
Although life-energy control is taught in both the Action and Per- formance Tantras, it has previously been explained how these cannot col- lect the two wind-energies into the dhuti channel. As for the meditation of life-energy control taught in the Unexcelled [Yoga Tantras], "life- energy" means the rasanti and lalanti wind-energies and "control" means their insertion into the dhuti channel, having blocked their movement in
the rasanti and lalana [channels] [88bJ. Much has been said about this in the Time Machine literature. Though the Illumination of the Lamp does not so explain the meaning of "life-energy" and "control," it is similar [there] since the meditation of life-energy control accomplishes that very task. Therefore, the Persona/ Instruction [ofMafijushrl], commenting on the meaning of the Further Tantra statement that the meditation of the
subtle at the secret nose tip is life-energy control, states:
In the way of the strong-hearted, The drop falls from the heart lotus, And abides in the center
Ofone's vajrajewel;
Supreme form of five elements,
Reality of five wisdoms,
Visualized as the subtle sign of one ' s divine self, Ablaze with the five light rays.
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 87
? ( VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd TA "2 " -
Sequence of creation stage and distinctive
How do you ascertain the sequence of the creation stage and the
perfection stage body isolation?
1 88 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
That is stated more concisely as "stopping the breath is the branch of voidness," saying that this is the branch of creating the void by stop- ping the expanding and contracting of the breath exhaling and inhaling from the nostrils, showing that the life-energy control branch and the breath-stopping branch are the same in meaning. Tathagatavajra also states [in his Art ofAchievement (Liiyipa 's Sadhana) Commentary Auto- commentary]:
Having caused the life-energy wind with its nature of the five elements to move downward, by the way of enfold- ing it into a drop of spirit of enlightenment the mere size of a mustard seed, having it descend to the nose tip of the vajra, you should visualize with the previously explained process of retraction and the five branched contempla- tion. This is the drop yoga; for the sake of reversing the outward flow of life-energy [winds], because of that very reason, the Esoteric Community Further Tantra called this "life-energy control. " And this again is merely an illustration; the yoga of subtle ali and kali [letters] at the navel, or the contemplation of the yoga of drops and so on at the heart and so on [89aJ, whatever works toward
blocking the emission of life-energy is called "life-energy control. " Especially, on the strength of such contempla- tion as this, the control of the life-energy winds moves intensely into the central channel, having reversed their flow in the rasanii and lalanii channels; and this again is called "life-energy control. "
Thus the Further Tantra states that "life-energy control" is the meditation on the subtle [drop] of the lower door, as it blocks the inhala- tion and exhalation flowing in the nostril from the rasana and lalantl and injects them into the central channel. And that is merely a partial exam- ple. For this extremely clear explanation that life-energy control is what accomplishes that function, by meditating the visualization of drops and letters and so on at the navel and heart and so on, must be understood as applying to all statements about meditating the perfection stages which place letters and so on in whatever channel wheels there are. As for the statement about meditating [the yoga branches of] retraction and contem-
plation, as those two are accepted as creation stages, it means they should be meditated on by one who possesses [expertise in the] creation stage.
Some of the Indian treatises on the six yoga branches of the Jfiana- pada tradition also explain in this same way. The Sheaf of Instructions says there is an eight petalled channel wheel inside the jewel, and the Initiation Summary mentions "the lotus of the jewel" intending that. Thus, meditating the subtle [drop] therein, one can withdraw the wind- energies into the dhati channel. The [Vajra] Rosary statement "by seeing the place within the jewel" resembles the statement about changing [this place] into the lotus in a woman; one must understand [the statement in this context] as referring to that support, [the channel wheel in the jewel, or in the lotus]. 66
In the Noble system, it is said that first you become stable by
mandala, and you meditate the subtle drop or implement in the jewel, only after having injected the two wind-energies into the dhuti channel should you meditate the actuality of the body isolation, the union of bliss- void and so on.
As for the Further Tantra explanation of life-energy control which meditates the drop in the heart center and the lower door, its meaning explained by the Personal Instruction as a branch of stopping the breath is clearly elucidated by the two Indian treatises, especially explaining that all meditations of letters and drops in the places of the channel
wheels serve as methods for compressing the wind-energies into the dhati channel. This is a marvelously eloquent detailed explanation of life-energy control.
If you do not understand this, as your [understanding of] life-energy control will be too narrow, you will not understand the need to employ
66 I am uncertain about this; it refers to the need to be in a controlled sexual union posture with a consort to bring the drop into this position, and both partners in the union must be able to focus in this way, in the jewel for a male and in the lotus for a female.
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 89
? meditating the subtle in the jewel [89bl and [then] you can meditate the mandala within the expansion into the lotus of the mother. Thus, except for those of the type who can easily collect the wind-energies, even if you stably meditate the mandala of the subtle of the creation stage it is hard for the two wind-energies to dissolve into the dhati channel, so usually when you enter the body isolation having stabilized the subtle
1 90 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the life-energy control of the six branches in many of the Unexcelled [Yoga] perfection stages. And if you do not understand the vital point of meditating by having visualized channel wheels and having set letters and so on in them, you will not understand the vital points of the medi- tations of the two Community systems and GhaQ. tapa's [Supreme Bliss] Five Stages and so on, where drops and letters are set in those places without clearly visualizing the channel wheels. Thus it seems that the
great certainty about the ultimate points of the instruction will not arise. But if you understand this pattern, it seems that it can develop the won- drous certainty about the vital key points of the private instructions about all of these [practices] [90aJ.
If you still do not know properly the way of meditating the perfec- tion stage body isolation of this system, the problems lies in failing to know the way in which subtle drop meditation serves as the life-energy control which collects the two wind-energies and the way in which that develops the great bliss. Relying on the wisdom consort, having completed the subtle and coarse creation stage, you can bring your enlightenment spirit down from your crown to the tip of your secret place. You can stop it there with the PHAT letter, with extremely stable visualization, and
relying on that you can generate the four joys. But that cannot be posited as the perfection stage great bliss, since it does not arise from the dissolv- ing of the two wind-energies into the dhati channel. Therefore, even the meditation on the aggregates and so on as deities from the perspective of uniting voidness and such a bliss [of four joys derived from visualization of the wisdom consort without dissolving the wind-energies] is not accepted as perfection stage body isolation.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"3" - Identification of body isolation]
The third has two parts: [a"J Others' interpretations; and [b
interpretation.
[VI B
and [consider that the quote] from the Integrated Practices, from:
. . .
this acquired body abides like a heap, piled up as a mass of things, such as the measure of flesh. . .
? !
3
-
'
. .
I
b. n. . . c'3'd'1"'A"3"a" C)thcrs mtcrpretattOns
Many Tibetan mentors consider there to be four body isolations,
"
] My
? ?
,
up to:
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 9 1 . . . the eyes and limbs and so forth . . .
explains that the verbal meaning of body is "pile," a mass of thirty-six impure substances, and refers to the "material body isolation. which is an object also common to the disciples. since it is an "isolation" from the fundamentalists' and so on reifications of the body as pure and happy.
[They also consider that the Integrated Practices statement:]
. . . the five aggregates, four elements, six media, five objects, and five wisdoms, are called a 'heap,' just like calling many grains such as rice and barley and so on a 'heap,' and so the body [90bl is said to be a heap of a mass of limbs and members . . .
refers to the "natural body isolation," which is an object also common to the followers of the Transcendence [Vehicle], since it is "isolated" from the notion of the singular self, since it is composed of a multiplicity of aggregates, elements, and media and so on.
[They also consider that the Integrated Practices statement:]
. . . [the body-mind] is called an 'accumulation,' since, due to the meeting of [minds and] elements, it forms a continuum of intellligence, views, mentality, misknowl- edge, instinct, craving, and addiction, and this heap or mass of consciousnesses cannot be perceived [ulti-
mately] , since it is not located [spatially] . . .
refers to the "consciousness body isolation," since it is isolated from subject and object [dichotomy], consciousness not being perceived; which [isolation] is an object common also to the Idealists.
[And finally, they also consider that the Integrated Practices state- ment:]
. . . since aggregates, elements, and media have been pre- sent from the beginningless due to the pride of ordinari- ness,,they are shown to be a reality created from the subatomic particles of all transcendent buddhas . . .
refers to the "samadhi body isolation," since that body devoid of the two selves serves as an object of pride as created from the subatomic particles
192? BrilliantIlluminationoftheLamp
'
? My interpretation]
As for explaining the three first [types] as body isolations, it does not occur anywhere in the translated Indian treatises in the Noble tradi- tion literature, neither does it seem to be the intention of the Integrated Practices.
Well, then, how should we interpret the intention of the Integrated Practices?
You posit a body isolation only after having identified the body which is to be isolated, [9laJ and the verbal meaning of "body" is "heap," "pile," and "mass. " Thus, the first [Integrated Practices statement] shows it to be the mass of "the measure of the flesh element and so on," as that is the way of "piling" up many things such as rice and barley and so on, and among those three; and this statement is also made in the Vajra Rosary.
Then, as for the way of piling up shown in piling up the twenty- five [elements], such as the five aggregates, as one calls it a "pile" when many grains of rice or barley are piled up, he shows it to be a pile, a mass including the body's limbs and members. Among the twenty-five the mind and mental functions are also included, and the way they are piled up is different from the way grains of rice and so on, spatial objects each occupying its individual spatial location. So, [A ryadeva] mentions that "because of the meeting of the elements" in order to differentiate the [two ways of piling up]. Because the eyes and so on, the faculties, and
the objects such as form meet one another, the mentality and the sixfold assemblage of the mind and wisdom and so on, the mental functions, occur. And as for their way of accumulating, assembling, and piling up, it is through collecting many parts of an uninterrupted continuum of former and later moments. So he says it is not a collecting of many spatial ob- jects each occupying its location at the same time, since he specifies that "accumulation" refers to continua. While he says that the piling up of consciousnesses cannot be directly observed, as it does not stay still, and argues that consciousness is not embodied, by the reason that it does not reside in the eastern etc. spatial locations, and so is not a collection of
of a11 transcendent buddhas, manifested as the hundred clans and so on? and that is the uncommon object of [only] the Tantric practitioner.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"3"b" -
many objects occupying space, [9lbJ he does not refute substantial subject- object-dichotomy.
Now, as for what such a to-be-isolated body is to be isolated from, he indicates it by saying that it is present from the beginningless through the pride of ordinariness. As for what is meditated as the antidote of that, he indicates it by showing its reality as created from the subatomic parti- cles of all transcendent buddhas. And so it does not appear that the above explanations of the system of isolation, and also the many other [such] explanations, are in accord with the meaning.
The fourth has four parts: (a"] Body isolation of the holy hundred clans; [b"] Body isolation of the thatness five clans; (c"] Body isolation of the secret three clans; [d "] Body isolation of the great secret single clan.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"4"a" - Body isolation of the holy hundred dans]
The first has four parts: [i"] Body isolation of the five aggregates; [ii") Body isolation ofthe four elements; [iii"] Body isolation ofthe six faculties; [iv "] Body isolation of the five objects.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"4"a"i" - Body isolation of the five aggregates ! From the Root Tantra:
In short the five aggregates
Are well known as the five buddha clans.
Thus, the body [that is] isolable in the aggregate-body-isolation is stated to be the five, the matter aggregate etc. , and its "isolation" to be the per- ception of those five as the five buddhas.
If we analyze the matter aggregate Vairochana, there are five forms: internal and external shape forms, such as long and short of both; aspectual forms, such as self, other, and both; color forms, such as blue etc. of the internal and external; luminant forms, such as sun and moon of the internal and external; and non-informative forms. These are
[really] the five clans, respectively, Vairochana-Vairochana, Vairochana- Ratnasambhava, Vairochana-Amitabha, Vairochana-Amoghasiddhi, and Vairochana-Ak! ihobhya.
Chapter IV-Body Isolation ? 193
? ? ? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"4" - Typology of body isolations]
194 ? BrilliantIlluminationoftheLamp
If we analyze the sensation aggregate Ratnasambhava, there are five sensations: those of equality or neutrality: of phlegm-energy origin; of pleasure; of pain; and of bile and [92aJ combination origin. These [also] are the five clans, Ratnasambhava-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze the concept aggregate Amitabha, there are five con- cepts; those of the immovable unchanging; the four footed; the footless; the many-footed; and the two footed. These are respectively the five, Amitabha-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze the creation aggregate Amoghasiddhi, there are five creations; those of the body, the three realms, of speech, of liberation, and of mentality, which are respectively Amoghasiddhi-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze the consciousness aggregate Ak! ? hobhya, there are five consciousnesses; those of eye, [ear, nose, tongue,] and body, which are respectively, Ak! ? hobhya-Vairochana and so forth.
The Root Tantra states:
Earth is Lochana,
Water element is Mamaki,
Fire is Pandaravasini, Wind-energy is renowned as Tara.
The body isolable by the elemental body isolation is the [sum of the] four elements such as earth; and its isolation is explained as the realization of those four as the goddesses Lochanll and so forth.
If we analyze the earth [hardness] element Lochana, concerning the internal, out of internal and external, there are five essences; the hair-bone- excretion-liver-essence, the body-hair-nail-pus-essence, the teeth-skin- flesh-essence, the ligament-muscle-rib-essence, the excrement-intestine- bile-essence. The "five essences" in this context have their source in the Integrated Practices [quotation from the Vajra Rosary]:
[Lochana] definitely dwells in the five heart-essences, Emerging in the five processes,
Endowed with the five [dream] wind-energies, Causing the function of five desires.
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"4"a"ii" - Body isolation of the four elements]
to the statement from the Danna Tsondru translation of the Vajra Rosary, "Originating from the five senses"; due to the further statement, after the "causing the function. . . ," [namely:] "By the path of whatever sense-
Further, the Vajra Rosary states:
Stuff of bliss, staying in the heart center, Buddha, light of brilliant sun,
Through form of subject and object, That is the twelve light rays.
Here this states that twelve wind-energies come from the heart center, rely on the paths of the sense faculties, and become the wind-energies of the six subjectivities and six objectivities. Therefore, the interpretation of five "essences" is arrived at by analysis according to the fact that the support of the five sense wind-energies is the heart center.
As for the five external earths, they are Sumeru, and the continents of the south, west, north, and east. And the five external-internal classes [of buddha-clans] are Lochana-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze water [liquidity] Mamakr, the five internal waters are phlegm, including mucus, sweat, blood, saliva, and urine; the outer waters are waterfalls, streams, canals, pools, and oceans; and the five clans are Mamaki-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze fire [heat-energy] Pandaravasini, the inner are the heats of head, navel, all limbs, belly, and heart; the outer are stone fires, fire-crystal fires, wood fires, forest fires, and constant fires; and their clans are Pandaravasini-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze wind [motility] Tara, the inner are pervading, evacu- ating, ascending, metabolizing, and life-energy-holding; the outer are zenith, south, west, north, and east winds; and their clans are Tara- Vairochana and so forth. If outer and inner are separately counted for four elements there are two sets of twenty. However, they are taken as
one twenty, taking both outer and inner elements together in each ele- ment such as earth.
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 95
As for the meaning of the second line of this quote, it is according
faculty, 192hl the practitioner attains the object. "
1 96 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"4"a"iii" - Body isolation of the six faculties] [93aJ The Root Tantra states:
The vajra sense-media themselves
Are the supreme mandala of bodhisattvas.
This states that the six senses are the isolable body of the inner media body isolation, and their body isolation is the realization that they are the bodhisattvas.
If the eye Kshitigarbha is analyzed, there are the eye's perceiving threefold form, the white of the eyeball, the form of the eye glancing side- ways, eye movement, and the precisely grape-size eye sense; and their [clans are] Kshitigarbha-Vairochana and so forth.
If the ear Vajrapal). i is analyzed, there are the ear-nature, its per- ceiving threefold sound, the ear hole, the ear root, and the cut-twisted- birchbark-like ear sense; their clans are Vajrapal). i-Vairochana and so forth.
If the nose Akaihagarbha is analyzed, there are the nose's nature, the center of its inner part, its perceiving threefold smell, its nostril holes, and the fine eye-medicine-spqon-like nose sense; these are the clans of Khagarbha-Vairochana and so forth.
If the tongue Lokes hvara is analyzed, there are the tongue nature, its root, its tip, its perceiving threefold taste, the half-moon-shape tongue sense; these are the clans of Lokes hvara-Vairochana and so forth.
If the body Sarvanivaral). aviskambhin is analyzed, there are the body sense, the body's bones, the flesh nature, the skin nature, and the perceiv- ing of texture; and these are the clans of Sarvanivaranaviskambhin- Vairochana and so forth.
? If the mind sense faculty Mafijus hrl in which luminance, radiance, and imminence are collected, is analyzed, there are the mirror-like, equal- ity, individuating, all-accomplishing, and truth-realm wisdoms; and these are the clans of Mafijus hrJ. Vairochana and so forth.
In regard to these [five wisdoms], 193bJ (A ryadeva] in theInte- grated Practices describes them, after the purification of virtuous and nonvirtuous instincts, [respectively:] as the simultaneous knowledge of all things as reflections in a mirror; as the realization of all beings-of the four types, footless etc. -as being of the single aspect "merely mental"; as the abiding, doubt-free individual discernment of all inner and outer
things, knowing that if investigated "all have the nature of buddhas," yet distinguishing these "members of the class of all things" as separate, like the petals of a lotus; as the full accomplishment of self and other's duties of body, speech, and mind; and as the deliverance from affliction and evolution, purifying the obscurations of body, speech, and mind. These descriptions concern the fruitional stage of the wisdoms.
The [Stage of] Arrangement describes them - intending to accord with the explanation of the process of the dissolution of the four wisdoms -as the clear appearance of objects like clear reflections in a mirror, as the equality of class unity among the three sensations, as the individual remembrance of the individual names of beings such as father and mother, and as the mindfulness of mundane activities and necessities. These are the first four, and the fifth is the actuality of the mental sense, ready to be transformed upon abandonment of the taints.
Here, the Integrated Practices explains:
The samadhi ofMafijushrihas already been explained. . .
thinking that, after explaining also the five, Rupavajraand so forth, he explains the five wisdoms. So, to take the explanation of Mafijushrias incidental, then to additionally explain the five wisdoms would be incor- rect: because [the hundred clans] is [reached by] making each deity into five clans, leaving out of the thirty-two deities the ten terrifies and Sam- antabhadra and Maitreya; r94a] and because the five wisdoms counted as five clans of the hundred clans are collected in the mental consciousness;
and because, even in the context of the sense-media, though those sense- media are not openly there, many occasions of placing them in the clans of those contexts are [elsewhere] evident.
The Root Tantra states:
The mantrialways realizes
Form, sound, and so forth as deities.
Thus the isolable body of objective body isolation is the five objects, and their body isolation is their realization as the five vajras.
Now, if the visible form Ropavajra, associated with the seeing of forms through the moving energy operating through the eye, is analyzed:
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 97
? IYI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"4"a"iv" -
Body isolation of the five objects]
1 98 ? Brilliant lllumination of the Lamp
there are mere general form seen based on the assembly of three condi- tions; passionate form; pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral form; work- accomplishing form; and alluring-seductive, playful, and charming- form. These are the clans of Ropavajra-vairochana and so forth.
If the sound Shabdavajra, associated with the hearing of sounds through the permoving energy operating through the ear, is analyzed; there are sounds inside ear, head, and hair; sounds of songs and continuous sounds of palate and lips and speech; musical sounds of clay drum and so on; sounds of forest, streams, and palms clapping; and sounds of the mild and fierce HOM letter. These are the clans of the five, Shabdavajra- Vairochana and so forth.
If the smell experience Gandhavajra, associated with the smelling of scents based on the commoving energy operating through the nose, is analyzed; there are general smell, auxiliary scents, specifics of threefold smell, [94bl smells of tastes, and inexhaustible smells. These are the five clans of Gandhavajra-Vairochana and so forth.
If the taste experience Rasavajra, associated with the tasting of tastes based on the surmoving energy operating through the tongue, is analyzed; there are sweet, astringent, salty, hot and sour, and bitter tastes; these are the clans of Rasavajra-Vairochana and so forth.
If the texture experience Sparshavajra, associated with the experi- ence of textures based on the ultramoving energy operating through the body-sense, is analyzed; there are textures from staying in one seat, em- brace, sucking, kissing, and sexual union. These are the five clans of Sparshavajra-Vairochana and so forth.
As for the way in which those deities, thus taken as five for the twenty [above] arise as deities, if we use Vairochana as an example, the five [Ropavajra-Vairochana and so forth] are similar to Vairochana in number of faces and arms and implements, and yet become five by differ- ing in colors; by this the others can be understood.
If one wonders, "Well, having explained twenty out of thirty-two, why not elucidate the other twelve? "
The Root Tantra clearly explains the contemplation of each of the twenty from matter aggregate to texture as a deity, while the ten limbs, the joints, and the muscles and channels are not clearly explained to be meditated as the ten terrifies and the two bodhisattvas. Therefore, the Integrated Practices explanation was given in the same terms; because [Aryadeva] stated that, "If each of the four sets is completed, it explains
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 99
the meaning of this summary in the Root Tantra. " The Integrated Prac- tices quotes the Moon E. mteric Drop as the textual source of such a hundred clan [teaching], or its derivatives. the five clan practice. or the three clan practice. For example. in the Further Tamra:
Thatness [practice] is explained in five forms. Secretly it is explained in three forms:
The archetype deity is the great secret: l95nt The hundred clans are a hundred.
This statement shows the meaning.
The Explanatory Tantra Vajra Rosary also teaches the hundred
clans. Again in that Tantra. in the context of the body isolation explained in the hidden meaning manner in the preface, the ten limbs are explained as the ten terrifies: and in the actual explanation of eye Kshitigarbha and so forth. Maitreya and Samantabhadra are also picked out, so that all thirty-two deities are completely accounted for: because it is stated [in that way] in the context of meditating the body as a deity in other sections [of the text] ; because there is no difference on making each of the twenty deities suitable for analysis into five clans, while leaving the others un- suitable; and because they are equally used or not used in the body isola- tion [practice].
Therefore, even though one is concerned lest the hundred clans become too numerous if one applied the above explanation of the ten ter- rifies to the body isolation, it would not be correct to omit the complete explanation of the thirty-two deities, by not seeing how to arrange the passion-practice-concealing explanation, which had previously included them. Therefore all should be included in the section of the body isola-
tion. You practice your body isolation using those twenty and, since you rely on the deities of the five clans dividing out into the hundred parts, it is stated that "your own body becomes realized as made with the subtle atoms of all transcendent buddhas. " Here "subtle atoms" is a name of having divided [the body] into a hundred separate parts and realizing
them as a hundred deities.
CHAPTER IV
Body Isolation
[8. \b. 6-107b. l ]
[VI. 8. 3. b. ii. c'3'd' - The import of the individual divisions (of the per-
? fection stage)I
The fourth has two parts: [i '] How to learn the samadhis of the
three isolations; and [ii '] How to learn the samadhis of the two realities. [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i' - How to learn the samadhis of the three isolations )
The first has three parts: [A"] How to learn the body isolation body vajra samadhi; [B"] How to learn the speech isolation ! 84a] speech vajra
[VI. 8. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A" - How to learn the body isolation body vajra samadhi]
The first has six parts: [1 "] Analysis of which of two stages has body isolation; [2 "] Sequence of creation stage and distinctive body iso- lation; [3") Identification of body isolation; [4"] Typology of body iso- lations; [5"] How it serves as retraction and contemplation branches [of the six branches]; and [6"] How to put the body isolation into practice.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"1 " - Analysis of which of two stages has body isolation)
The first has three parts: [a") Setting forth individual interpreta- tions; [b"] Analysis of their correctness and incorrectness; and [c"] Set- ting forth our own interpretation.
lVI. 8. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"1"a"- Setting forth individual interpretations!
There are disagreements about where to place body isolation on the two stages. While many such as Abhaya, Munishri, Lak? hmr, and Bhavya- krrti explain body isolation as [belonging to the] creation stage, both men- tors Tsunmojen and Abhijiia claim it to be [part of the] perfection stage,
179
? ? ? ? ? samadhi; and [c"] How to learn the mind isolation mind vajra samadhi.
180? BrilliantIlul mination oftheLamp
and Master Go reports in his [Great} Voidness Session that Knhua Samayavajra believes the body isolations of the hundred clans, the five clans, and the three clans to be creation stage and the body isolation of one clan to be perfection stage. Some of the Marpa tradition scholars say that Naropa considered [body isolation] to be creation stage; but this is not true, since the Concise Five Stages Elucidation explains those two [creation stage and body isolation] separately.
As for how such disagreements arose:
[First of all,] based on the Integrated Practices statements that
one remains in the beginner's samadhi when learning the yogas of conceptuality and single-mindedness and one learns body isolation after having already so remained . . .
and that
beginning from the creation stage up to the culmination
(IWbJ ofbody isolation. . .
wherein the two are treated as separate, [body isolation] is posited as [in- cluded in the] perfection stage. One is considered a "beginner" here in this system from beginning the creation stage meditation until complet- ing it; as Five Stages says:
By the yoga of the beginner, one will attain the eighth stage
and the Integrated Practices says:
In this Vajra Vehicle one trains in the creation stage and
attains the eighth stage.
Then again, on the strength of the Integrated Practices statements:
As for the just explained aggregates, elements, and media, one isolates the body; one sets a deity there, common to all, since it is a coarse yoga. . .
and just after that in the text:
. . . speech isolation is not creation stage, because it is extremely subtle . . .
-[here,] "common to all" indicates [body isolation] to be common to both stages; depending on which it is interpreted as having parts belong- ing to each stage. Those who posit it as creation stage seem to think its way of meditating the aggregates as deities has the same import as the pure meditation on the individual deities of the creation stage.
Abhaya accepts the mere visualization of the body of the creation- stage-generated vajradhara as the body isolation, stated in the context of creation stage, thus accepting it as the chief of visualizations. Though others do not explain clearly, when other visualized deities are set in the body, they must be imagined as indivisible from the aggregates and so forth [8Sa], so it seems that they interpret those [practices] as body isola- tion. As they explain them as generated by mere visualization, it seems they do not claim the body mandala created from seed [syllables] as body isolation. Munishri is not clear about the way in which body isolation is indicated, except for the statement that "the 'creation stage' mentioned in the Condensed [Siidhana] indicates the body isolation. "
The latter two pa1,1(1 its accept body isolation as creation stage be- cause they explain that one practices it after already learning the three samadhis of the Condensed [Siidhana], but they do not accept it as the [whole] creation stage explained in the Condensed [Siidhana] itself. Most Tibetan scholars of the Go tradition assert body isolation to belong to the perfection stage. Lan interprets the coarse body isolation which does not discriminate finely the five [buddhas] in the five aggregates and so forth
as observation, and interprets the body isolation which finely discrimi- nates from the hundred clans to the one clan as examination, holding the former to be a body isolation in common with the creation stage, since the creation stage [texts] also explain such meditation in the context of "extreme yoga," and holding the latter to be the perfection stage's dis- tinctive body isolation.
IVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"l "b" -
Chapter JV- Body Isolation ? 1 8 1
? rectness]
Which should we accept of those different interpretations?
If one wonders, "well, those who advocate body isolation as creation stage, in which context of that [stage] do they claim that body isolation is
being taught? "
Analysis of their correctness and incor-
1 82 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
If you accept the whole of body isolation as the creation stage ex- plained in the Condensed [Sadhana], you cannot avoid the contradiction with the Integrated Practices statement that one must train in body isola- tion after already having learned the beginner's samadhi. It is very incor- rect to not include body isolation within the three samadhis mentioned in the Condensed [Sadhana] and to locate it on a different creation stage:
because f85bl the three samadhis of the Condensed [Sadhana] indicate all the creation stages needed as preliminaries of the perfection stage, except for some creation stages [implemented] on the occasions of conducting ritual activities; because you cannot posit that "this is the way of learning the arisal of deity forms of the previously unexperienced body isolation creation stage, after completing both subtle and coarse creation stages of the Condensed [Sadhana]"; and because there do not appear [in those creation stages] any ways of meditating the body isolation other than meditating the forms of deity bodies.
It is incorrect to posit the whole of body isolation as perfection stage: because it is stated that "body isolation is common to all"; because speech isolation is specially picked out and stated "not to be in the province of creation stage [practice]"; and because you can understand [it is so] from the statement that coarse and subtle are the means of achieving the com- mon and the distinctive. Therefore, as "establishing the deities" refers to
the establishing of deities as the aggregates and so forth, which is common to both stages, you cannot explain that the body isolation is never said to be common [to both stages], and you should divide body isolation into two body isolations belonging to the two stages.
Such being the case, you should not interpret this according to the view of Damtsig Dorjey, since the Integrated Practices states that all body isolations, from the hundred-clan body isolation to the three-clan body isolation, are included in the one-clan body isolation, and it is improper for that included to be of the creation stage and that which includes to be of the perfection stage .
As this meditation of aggregates and so on as deities of body isola- tion is a meditation of the arisal of the deity form, and, since it is taught that [86uJ you meditate this after having found extreme stability of the vivid vision of the complete habitat and inhabitant mandalas within a mere mustard seed, you could not gain the experience of this without having already experienced the preceding, it would be incorrect to explain in some other way this stage of the path, [which must be] learned after
stages.
Some scholars say that while the creation stage is the new creation
[of a deity], the body isolation meditation of aggregates and so on as deities is the method of deity meditation of the perfection stage, which sees the deities as if primordially established. This seems to be an account based on failing to differentiate clearly between the two procedures of mantra body and wisdom body, [both used] on both stages. Just as, on the occa- sion of the perfection stage, drops and syllables and so on are indeed visualized in mind without existing as they are visualized, since they can create the nonartificial perfection stage without having to develop into other homogeneous visualizations, they are included in the perfection stage [in spite of involving conceptualization]. So you cannot achieve such [a nonartificial perfection stage] just by thinking "aggregates and so on are deities primordially," and such a method of deity meditation [as the perfection stage body isolation] seems greater than the creation stage with its method of mental imagination and artifice; so you cannot differ- entiate the two stages just by [equating them with] those two [86b l ways of viewing deities.
Similarly, even though the objectification of the mind which realizes voidness can be taken as the arisal of a deity, it cannot thereby be distin- guished from the creation stage; because that occurs even on the occasion of the creation stage; and because, while it is stated that one should purify [reality] in voidness by the [mantras] "shanyata. . . ," and so on, before creating a deity, it is improper to interpret its meaning as merely
the retraction from perception without any proper understanding of the view of voidness.
Setting forth our own interpretation!
Well, then what is the way to differentiate body isolations in terms of the two stages?
Chapter IV-Body Isolation ? 1 83
? having learned that [preceding stage]. Though there is no clear explanation in the context of the first stage concerning this division of each aggregate and so on into five, when you complete the coarse and subtle creation stages, you aim your mind at whatever arises and you can immediately generate stable vivid vision of the arisal of the deity, and you cannot say you cannot generate the division into fields; therefore, Lan does not seem to be correct in his way of differentiating the body isolations of the two
(VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"l "c" -
1 84 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
In regard to this body isolation which meditates aggregates and so on as deities, there are two ways of meditating it; one where the objec- tivity aspect [involved] in the realization of voidness arises as a deity, and one where it does not. When it does arise [as a deity], it has two varieties; one where it is a distinctive bliss that is realizing voidness, and one where it is not. And when it is the distinctive bliss that is realizing voidness,
there are again two kinds; one where it is the bliss arisen from the rasantl and /a/ana wind-energies penetrating and dissolving into the dhuti chan- nel, and one where it is not [the bliss] thus arisen.
Of those, on the creation stage there are body isolations where void- ness is realized in the second ways of the first two alternatives - voidness being realized without being realized by that bliss of melting, and where the aggregates and so forth are meditated as deities through the second ways of the last two alternatives. The body isolation that meditates the aggregates and so forth as deities through the first ways of the latter two alternatives is posited as being the perfection stage itself. 65 The creation
stage body isolation wherein aggregates and so on are meditated as deities is said to consist of the occasions of the visualization of one's own body mandala and the mandala retraction, and of the viewing of all objective appearances as Vajradhara; and this is indicated by the statement about how the creation stage employs the pure art and wisdom which views the five sense spheres as male and female deities. Therefore, [87aJ learning such a body isolation occurs on the same occasion as learning the creation stage. As for the statement that, "after having already learned the begin- ner's samadhi, one learns the body isolation," it refers to the perfection stage body isolation.
65This rather brilliant analysis deserves a schema:
Body isolation which meditates aggregates as deities
a) Seeing voidness as a deity
i) Seeing the void-deity through bliss
x) Central channel bliss
y) Non-central channel bliss
ii) Seeing the void-deity without involving bliss
b) Not seeing voidness as a deity
Creation stage body isolation (bold) = b, a-ii, a-i-y.
Perfection ? ? tage body isolation (italic) = a, a-i, a-i-x.
This way of differentiating shows distinctiveness while allowing overlap.
? Chapter IV-Body Isolation ? 1 85
Well then, if you wonder, "where is it taught that the body isolation
meditates the aggregates and so on as deities from the perspective of great
bliss? "
It is taught by the Integrated Practices' quote, in the context of
meditating the five clan body isolation, from the Equal to Space Tantra:
All this living world has the nature of five buddhas, Appearing like actors or like lovely paintings; Wherein "great bliss" itself alone,
Alone performs through many moods.
Here just as a single actor performs using different masks and costumes and a single color such as blue arises in many forms of color, so the single great bliss itself is stated to perform in many kinds of aesthetic mood. This is not to be understood as referring to such a performance by Buddha Vajradhara alone, but is used in terms of all great blisses of path and frui- tion times.
Thus in the occasion of body isolation, great bliss alone is medi- tated as arising in the manifold play of the five clans and so forth, and that is not in terms of visualizing the bliss of other beings without having that bliss in one's own continuum, but is so meditated having generated that bliss in one's own spiritual continuum. Therefore, in that context, the Integrated Practices states [quoting the Magic Supreme Bliss Tantra]:
The yoga will not arise
From a cast statue and so forth,
But striving in the spirit of enlightenment, [87bl The yogYniwill become a deity.
Oneself the nature of all buddhas !
Oneself the nature of all heroes !
Thus one joins the divine,
And thereby should realizes one's nature.
Thus one should not just visualize the form of an external deity but should establish oneself in unity with the deity through striving in the spirit of enlightenment; the "spirit of enlightenment" quoted [here] in the Magic Supreme Bliss [Tantra] is the bliss-void-indivisible spirit of enlighten-
ment.
I 86 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp The Hevajra Tantra also states:
Definitely the purity of all things is called "suchness"; Then distinguishing each one, one should call them deities.
And also:
Thus, three purities are stated: a general purity called "suchness purity," when you determine all outer and inner things to be void of intrinsic reality status; a purity of individual deities from meditating the matter aggregate and so on as deities; and a purity of natural awareness, the supreme bliss of each yogiini's natural awareness. The middle of these is said by the same text:
In the realm of the creation stage, This should purify the aggregates.
-that the purity of individual deities, lacking the great bliss deity medi- tation, is in the creation stage. Therefore, great bliss is the purity of the perfection process, and the suchness purity is common to both stages.
Therefore, if you do not know the above explained way of deity meditation of perfection stage body isolation, since in this context you will lack the way of deity meditation that creates the wisdom body [88a), though you posit it as perfection stage, it will show no difference from the way of creating the mantra body deity, and you have not understood the vital point of this.
Well then, one wonders, if this kind of great bliss is not posited on the creation stage, and its art of creation does not appear until the creation stage is perfected and body isolation arrived at, and moreover if even in the context of body isolation the way of producing this does not appear, how does great bliss emerge in this context?
By the reason that this seems to be one of the greatly difficult points, very hard to sort out, I will explain it in the context of the sequence [of the stages].
Oneself self-aware is purity, not freed by another purity, Objective things being pure, self-knowing, bliss supreme.
body isolation I
Generally, as for the complete meditation of the coarse and subtle creation stages, it is the means of developing the root of virtue that pro- duces all the perfection stages, so it also serves as the means of developing the arisal of the perfection stage body isolation. In particular, the medita- tion of the subtle [symbolic] implement or drop within the jewel is the method of collecting the rasanli and lalana wind-energies into the dhuti channel. Depending on that, when you develop the above-explained great bliss, it becomes the meditation of the actual body isolation, and that is how it is connected with the subtle creation stage.
One wonders here, "from what does one know that the meditation of the subtle at the lower door becomes the art of collecting the two wind- energies into the dhuti channel? "
Although life-energy control is taught in both the Action and Per- formance Tantras, it has previously been explained how these cannot col- lect the two wind-energies into the dhuti channel. As for the meditation of life-energy control taught in the Unexcelled [Yoga Tantras], "life- energy" means the rasanti and lalanti wind-energies and "control" means their insertion into the dhuti channel, having blocked their movement in
the rasanti and lalana [channels] [88bJ. Much has been said about this in the Time Machine literature. Though the Illumination of the Lamp does not so explain the meaning of "life-energy" and "control," it is similar [there] since the meditation of life-energy control accomplishes that very task. Therefore, the Persona/ Instruction [ofMafijushrl], commenting on the meaning of the Further Tantra statement that the meditation of the
subtle at the secret nose tip is life-energy control, states:
In the way of the strong-hearted, The drop falls from the heart lotus, And abides in the center
Ofone's vajrajewel;
Supreme form of five elements,
Reality of five wisdoms,
Visualized as the subtle sign of one ' s divine self, Ablaze with the five light rays.
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 87
? ( VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd TA "2 " -
Sequence of creation stage and distinctive
How do you ascertain the sequence of the creation stage and the
perfection stage body isolation?
1 88 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
That is stated more concisely as "stopping the breath is the branch of voidness," saying that this is the branch of creating the void by stop- ping the expanding and contracting of the breath exhaling and inhaling from the nostrils, showing that the life-energy control branch and the breath-stopping branch are the same in meaning. Tathagatavajra also states [in his Art ofAchievement (Liiyipa 's Sadhana) Commentary Auto- commentary]:
Having caused the life-energy wind with its nature of the five elements to move downward, by the way of enfold- ing it into a drop of spirit of enlightenment the mere size of a mustard seed, having it descend to the nose tip of the vajra, you should visualize with the previously explained process of retraction and the five branched contempla- tion. This is the drop yoga; for the sake of reversing the outward flow of life-energy [winds], because of that very reason, the Esoteric Community Further Tantra called this "life-energy control. " And this again is merely an illustration; the yoga of subtle ali and kali [letters] at the navel, or the contemplation of the yoga of drops and so on at the heart and so on [89aJ, whatever works toward
blocking the emission of life-energy is called "life-energy control. " Especially, on the strength of such contempla- tion as this, the control of the life-energy winds moves intensely into the central channel, having reversed their flow in the rasanii and lalanii channels; and this again is called "life-energy control. "
Thus the Further Tantra states that "life-energy control" is the meditation on the subtle [drop] of the lower door, as it blocks the inhala- tion and exhalation flowing in the nostril from the rasana and lalantl and injects them into the central channel. And that is merely a partial exam- ple. For this extremely clear explanation that life-energy control is what accomplishes that function, by meditating the visualization of drops and letters and so on at the navel and heart and so on, must be understood as applying to all statements about meditating the perfection stages which place letters and so on in whatever channel wheels there are. As for the statement about meditating [the yoga branches of] retraction and contem-
plation, as those two are accepted as creation stages, it means they should be meditated on by one who possesses [expertise in the] creation stage.
Some of the Indian treatises on the six yoga branches of the Jfiana- pada tradition also explain in this same way. The Sheaf of Instructions says there is an eight petalled channel wheel inside the jewel, and the Initiation Summary mentions "the lotus of the jewel" intending that. Thus, meditating the subtle [drop] therein, one can withdraw the wind- energies into the dhati channel. The [Vajra] Rosary statement "by seeing the place within the jewel" resembles the statement about changing [this place] into the lotus in a woman; one must understand [the statement in this context] as referring to that support, [the channel wheel in the jewel, or in the lotus]. 66
In the Noble system, it is said that first you become stable by
mandala, and you meditate the subtle drop or implement in the jewel, only after having injected the two wind-energies into the dhuti channel should you meditate the actuality of the body isolation, the union of bliss- void and so on.
As for the Further Tantra explanation of life-energy control which meditates the drop in the heart center and the lower door, its meaning explained by the Personal Instruction as a branch of stopping the breath is clearly elucidated by the two Indian treatises, especially explaining that all meditations of letters and drops in the places of the channel
wheels serve as methods for compressing the wind-energies into the dhati channel. This is a marvelously eloquent detailed explanation of life-energy control.
If you do not understand this, as your [understanding of] life-energy control will be too narrow, you will not understand the need to employ
66 I am uncertain about this; it refers to the need to be in a controlled sexual union posture with a consort to bring the drop into this position, and both partners in the union must be able to focus in this way, in the jewel for a male and in the lotus for a female.
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 89
? meditating the subtle in the jewel [89bl and [then] you can meditate the mandala within the expansion into the lotus of the mother. Thus, except for those of the type who can easily collect the wind-energies, even if you stably meditate the mandala of the subtle of the creation stage it is hard for the two wind-energies to dissolve into the dhati channel, so usually when you enter the body isolation having stabilized the subtle
1 90 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the life-energy control of the six branches in many of the Unexcelled [Yoga] perfection stages. And if you do not understand the vital point of meditating by having visualized channel wheels and having set letters and so on in them, you will not understand the vital points of the medi- tations of the two Community systems and GhaQ. tapa's [Supreme Bliss] Five Stages and so on, where drops and letters are set in those places without clearly visualizing the channel wheels. Thus it seems that the
great certainty about the ultimate points of the instruction will not arise. But if you understand this pattern, it seems that it can develop the won- drous certainty about the vital key points of the private instructions about all of these [practices] [90aJ.
If you still do not know properly the way of meditating the perfec- tion stage body isolation of this system, the problems lies in failing to know the way in which subtle drop meditation serves as the life-energy control which collects the two wind-energies and the way in which that develops the great bliss. Relying on the wisdom consort, having completed the subtle and coarse creation stage, you can bring your enlightenment spirit down from your crown to the tip of your secret place. You can stop it there with the PHAT letter, with extremely stable visualization, and
relying on that you can generate the four joys. But that cannot be posited as the perfection stage great bliss, since it does not arise from the dissolv- ing of the two wind-energies into the dhati channel. Therefore, even the meditation on the aggregates and so on as deities from the perspective of uniting voidness and such a bliss [of four joys derived from visualization of the wisdom consort without dissolving the wind-energies] is not accepted as perfection stage body isolation.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"3" - Identification of body isolation]
The third has two parts: [a"J Others' interpretations; and [b
interpretation.
[VI B
and [consider that the quote] from the Integrated Practices, from:
. . .
this acquired body abides like a heap, piled up as a mass of things, such as the measure of flesh. . .
? !
3
-
'
. .
I
b. n. . . c'3'd'1"'A"3"a" C)thcrs mtcrpretattOns
Many Tibetan mentors consider there to be four body isolations,
"
] My
? ?
,
up to:
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 9 1 . . . the eyes and limbs and so forth . . .
explains that the verbal meaning of body is "pile," a mass of thirty-six impure substances, and refers to the "material body isolation. which is an object also common to the disciples. since it is an "isolation" from the fundamentalists' and so on reifications of the body as pure and happy.
[They also consider that the Integrated Practices statement:]
. . . the five aggregates, four elements, six media, five objects, and five wisdoms, are called a 'heap,' just like calling many grains such as rice and barley and so on a 'heap,' and so the body [90bl is said to be a heap of a mass of limbs and members . . .
refers to the "natural body isolation," which is an object also common to the followers of the Transcendence [Vehicle], since it is "isolated" from the notion of the singular self, since it is composed of a multiplicity of aggregates, elements, and media and so on.
[They also consider that the Integrated Practices statement:]
. . . [the body-mind] is called an 'accumulation,' since, due to the meeting of [minds and] elements, it forms a continuum of intellligence, views, mentality, misknowl- edge, instinct, craving, and addiction, and this heap or mass of consciousnesses cannot be perceived [ulti-
mately] , since it is not located [spatially] . . .
refers to the "consciousness body isolation," since it is isolated from subject and object [dichotomy], consciousness not being perceived; which [isolation] is an object common also to the Idealists.
[And finally, they also consider that the Integrated Practices state- ment:]
. . . since aggregates, elements, and media have been pre- sent from the beginningless due to the pride of ordinari- ness,,they are shown to be a reality created from the subatomic particles of all transcendent buddhas . . .
refers to the "samadhi body isolation," since that body devoid of the two selves serves as an object of pride as created from the subatomic particles
192? BrilliantIlluminationoftheLamp
'
? My interpretation]
As for explaining the three first [types] as body isolations, it does not occur anywhere in the translated Indian treatises in the Noble tradi- tion literature, neither does it seem to be the intention of the Integrated Practices.
Well, then, how should we interpret the intention of the Integrated Practices?
You posit a body isolation only after having identified the body which is to be isolated, [9laJ and the verbal meaning of "body" is "heap," "pile," and "mass. " Thus, the first [Integrated Practices statement] shows it to be the mass of "the measure of the flesh element and so on," as that is the way of "piling" up many things such as rice and barley and so on, and among those three; and this statement is also made in the Vajra Rosary.
Then, as for the way of piling up shown in piling up the twenty- five [elements], such as the five aggregates, as one calls it a "pile" when many grains of rice or barley are piled up, he shows it to be a pile, a mass including the body's limbs and members. Among the twenty-five the mind and mental functions are also included, and the way they are piled up is different from the way grains of rice and so on, spatial objects each occupying its individual spatial location. So, [A ryadeva] mentions that "because of the meeting of the elements" in order to differentiate the [two ways of piling up]. Because the eyes and so on, the faculties, and
the objects such as form meet one another, the mentality and the sixfold assemblage of the mind and wisdom and so on, the mental functions, occur. And as for their way of accumulating, assembling, and piling up, it is through collecting many parts of an uninterrupted continuum of former and later moments. So he says it is not a collecting of many spatial ob- jects each occupying its location at the same time, since he specifies that "accumulation" refers to continua. While he says that the piling up of consciousnesses cannot be directly observed, as it does not stay still, and argues that consciousness is not embodied, by the reason that it does not reside in the eastern etc. spatial locations, and so is not a collection of
of a11 transcendent buddhas, manifested as the hundred clans and so on? and that is the uncommon object of [only] the Tantric practitioner.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"3"b" -
many objects occupying space, [9lbJ he does not refute substantial subject- object-dichotomy.
Now, as for what such a to-be-isolated body is to be isolated from, he indicates it by saying that it is present from the beginningless through the pride of ordinariness. As for what is meditated as the antidote of that, he indicates it by showing its reality as created from the subatomic parti- cles of all transcendent buddhas. And so it does not appear that the above explanations of the system of isolation, and also the many other [such] explanations, are in accord with the meaning.
The fourth has four parts: (a"] Body isolation of the holy hundred clans; [b"] Body isolation of the thatness five clans; (c"] Body isolation of the secret three clans; [d "] Body isolation of the great secret single clan.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"4"a" - Body isolation of the holy hundred dans]
The first has four parts: [i"] Body isolation of the five aggregates; [ii") Body isolation ofthe four elements; [iii"] Body isolation ofthe six faculties; [iv "] Body isolation of the five objects.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"4"a"i" - Body isolation of the five aggregates ! From the Root Tantra:
In short the five aggregates
Are well known as the five buddha clans.
Thus, the body [that is] isolable in the aggregate-body-isolation is stated to be the five, the matter aggregate etc. , and its "isolation" to be the per- ception of those five as the five buddhas.
If we analyze the matter aggregate Vairochana, there are five forms: internal and external shape forms, such as long and short of both; aspectual forms, such as self, other, and both; color forms, such as blue etc. of the internal and external; luminant forms, such as sun and moon of the internal and external; and non-informative forms. These are
[really] the five clans, respectively, Vairochana-Vairochana, Vairochana- Ratnasambhava, Vairochana-Amitabha, Vairochana-Amoghasiddhi, and Vairochana-Ak! ihobhya.
Chapter IV-Body Isolation ? 193
? ? ? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"4" - Typology of body isolations]
194 ? BrilliantIlluminationoftheLamp
If we analyze the sensation aggregate Ratnasambhava, there are five sensations: those of equality or neutrality: of phlegm-energy origin; of pleasure; of pain; and of bile and [92aJ combination origin. These [also] are the five clans, Ratnasambhava-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze the concept aggregate Amitabha, there are five con- cepts; those of the immovable unchanging; the four footed; the footless; the many-footed; and the two footed. These are respectively the five, Amitabha-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze the creation aggregate Amoghasiddhi, there are five creations; those of the body, the three realms, of speech, of liberation, and of mentality, which are respectively Amoghasiddhi-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze the consciousness aggregate Ak! ? hobhya, there are five consciousnesses; those of eye, [ear, nose, tongue,] and body, which are respectively, Ak! ? hobhya-Vairochana and so forth.
The Root Tantra states:
Earth is Lochana,
Water element is Mamaki,
Fire is Pandaravasini, Wind-energy is renowned as Tara.
The body isolable by the elemental body isolation is the [sum of the] four elements such as earth; and its isolation is explained as the realization of those four as the goddesses Lochanll and so forth.
If we analyze the earth [hardness] element Lochana, concerning the internal, out of internal and external, there are five essences; the hair-bone- excretion-liver-essence, the body-hair-nail-pus-essence, the teeth-skin- flesh-essence, the ligament-muscle-rib-essence, the excrement-intestine- bile-essence. The "five essences" in this context have their source in the Integrated Practices [quotation from the Vajra Rosary]:
[Lochana] definitely dwells in the five heart-essences, Emerging in the five processes,
Endowed with the five [dream] wind-energies, Causing the function of five desires.
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"4"a"ii" - Body isolation of the four elements]
to the statement from the Danna Tsondru translation of the Vajra Rosary, "Originating from the five senses"; due to the further statement, after the "causing the function. . . ," [namely:] "By the path of whatever sense-
Further, the Vajra Rosary states:
Stuff of bliss, staying in the heart center, Buddha, light of brilliant sun,
Through form of subject and object, That is the twelve light rays.
Here this states that twelve wind-energies come from the heart center, rely on the paths of the sense faculties, and become the wind-energies of the six subjectivities and six objectivities. Therefore, the interpretation of five "essences" is arrived at by analysis according to the fact that the support of the five sense wind-energies is the heart center.
As for the five external earths, they are Sumeru, and the continents of the south, west, north, and east. And the five external-internal classes [of buddha-clans] are Lochana-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze water [liquidity] Mamakr, the five internal waters are phlegm, including mucus, sweat, blood, saliva, and urine; the outer waters are waterfalls, streams, canals, pools, and oceans; and the five clans are Mamaki-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze fire [heat-energy] Pandaravasini, the inner are the heats of head, navel, all limbs, belly, and heart; the outer are stone fires, fire-crystal fires, wood fires, forest fires, and constant fires; and their clans are Pandaravasini-Vairochana and so forth.
If we analyze wind [motility] Tara, the inner are pervading, evacu- ating, ascending, metabolizing, and life-energy-holding; the outer are zenith, south, west, north, and east winds; and their clans are Tara- Vairochana and so forth. If outer and inner are separately counted for four elements there are two sets of twenty. However, they are taken as
one twenty, taking both outer and inner elements together in each ele- ment such as earth.
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 95
As for the meaning of the second line of this quote, it is according
faculty, 192hl the practitioner attains the object. "
1 96 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTA"4"a"iii" - Body isolation of the six faculties] [93aJ The Root Tantra states:
The vajra sense-media themselves
Are the supreme mandala of bodhisattvas.
This states that the six senses are the isolable body of the inner media body isolation, and their body isolation is the realization that they are the bodhisattvas.
If the eye Kshitigarbha is analyzed, there are the eye's perceiving threefold form, the white of the eyeball, the form of the eye glancing side- ways, eye movement, and the precisely grape-size eye sense; and their [clans are] Kshitigarbha-Vairochana and so forth.
If the ear Vajrapal). i is analyzed, there are the ear-nature, its per- ceiving threefold sound, the ear hole, the ear root, and the cut-twisted- birchbark-like ear sense; their clans are Vajrapal). i-Vairochana and so forth.
If the nose Akaihagarbha is analyzed, there are the nose's nature, the center of its inner part, its perceiving threefold smell, its nostril holes, and the fine eye-medicine-spqon-like nose sense; these are the clans of Khagarbha-Vairochana and so forth.
If the tongue Lokes hvara is analyzed, there are the tongue nature, its root, its tip, its perceiving threefold taste, the half-moon-shape tongue sense; these are the clans of Lokes hvara-Vairochana and so forth.
If the body Sarvanivaral). aviskambhin is analyzed, there are the body sense, the body's bones, the flesh nature, the skin nature, and the perceiv- ing of texture; and these are the clans of Sarvanivaranaviskambhin- Vairochana and so forth.
? If the mind sense faculty Mafijus hrl in which luminance, radiance, and imminence are collected, is analyzed, there are the mirror-like, equal- ity, individuating, all-accomplishing, and truth-realm wisdoms; and these are the clans of Mafijus hrJ. Vairochana and so forth.
In regard to these [five wisdoms], 193bJ (A ryadeva] in theInte- grated Practices describes them, after the purification of virtuous and nonvirtuous instincts, [respectively:] as the simultaneous knowledge of all things as reflections in a mirror; as the realization of all beings-of the four types, footless etc. -as being of the single aspect "merely mental"; as the abiding, doubt-free individual discernment of all inner and outer
things, knowing that if investigated "all have the nature of buddhas," yet distinguishing these "members of the class of all things" as separate, like the petals of a lotus; as the full accomplishment of self and other's duties of body, speech, and mind; and as the deliverance from affliction and evolution, purifying the obscurations of body, speech, and mind. These descriptions concern the fruitional stage of the wisdoms.
The [Stage of] Arrangement describes them - intending to accord with the explanation of the process of the dissolution of the four wisdoms -as the clear appearance of objects like clear reflections in a mirror, as the equality of class unity among the three sensations, as the individual remembrance of the individual names of beings such as father and mother, and as the mindfulness of mundane activities and necessities. These are the first four, and the fifth is the actuality of the mental sense, ready to be transformed upon abandonment of the taints.
Here, the Integrated Practices explains:
The samadhi ofMafijushrihas already been explained. . .
thinking that, after explaining also the five, Rupavajraand so forth, he explains the five wisdoms. So, to take the explanation of Mafijushrias incidental, then to additionally explain the five wisdoms would be incor- rect: because [the hundred clans] is [reached by] making each deity into five clans, leaving out of the thirty-two deities the ten terrifies and Sam- antabhadra and Maitreya; r94a] and because the five wisdoms counted as five clans of the hundred clans are collected in the mental consciousness;
and because, even in the context of the sense-media, though those sense- media are not openly there, many occasions of placing them in the clans of those contexts are [elsewhere] evident.
The Root Tantra states:
The mantrialways realizes
Form, sound, and so forth as deities.
Thus the isolable body of objective body isolation is the five objects, and their body isolation is their realization as the five vajras.
Now, if the visible form Ropavajra, associated with the seeing of forms through the moving energy operating through the eye, is analyzed:
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 97
? IYI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'A"4"a"iv" -
Body isolation of the five objects]
1 98 ? Brilliant lllumination of the Lamp
there are mere general form seen based on the assembly of three condi- tions; passionate form; pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral form; work- accomplishing form; and alluring-seductive, playful, and charming- form. These are the clans of Ropavajra-vairochana and so forth.
If the sound Shabdavajra, associated with the hearing of sounds through the permoving energy operating through the ear, is analyzed; there are sounds inside ear, head, and hair; sounds of songs and continuous sounds of palate and lips and speech; musical sounds of clay drum and so on; sounds of forest, streams, and palms clapping; and sounds of the mild and fierce HOM letter. These are the clans of the five, Shabdavajra- Vairochana and so forth.
If the smell experience Gandhavajra, associated with the smelling of scents based on the commoving energy operating through the nose, is analyzed; there are general smell, auxiliary scents, specifics of threefold smell, [94bl smells of tastes, and inexhaustible smells. These are the five clans of Gandhavajra-Vairochana and so forth.
If the taste experience Rasavajra, associated with the tasting of tastes based on the surmoving energy operating through the tongue, is analyzed; there are sweet, astringent, salty, hot and sour, and bitter tastes; these are the clans of Rasavajra-Vairochana and so forth.
If the texture experience Sparshavajra, associated with the experi- ence of textures based on the ultramoving energy operating through the body-sense, is analyzed; there are textures from staying in one seat, em- brace, sucking, kissing, and sexual union. These are the five clans of Sparshavajra-Vairochana and so forth.
As for the way in which those deities, thus taken as five for the twenty [above] arise as deities, if we use Vairochana as an example, the five [Ropavajra-Vairochana and so forth] are similar to Vairochana in number of faces and arms and implements, and yet become five by differ- ing in colors; by this the others can be understood.
If one wonders, "Well, having explained twenty out of thirty-two, why not elucidate the other twelve? "
The Root Tantra clearly explains the contemplation of each of the twenty from matter aggregate to texture as a deity, while the ten limbs, the joints, and the muscles and channels are not clearly explained to be meditated as the ten terrifies and the two bodhisattvas. Therefore, the Integrated Practices explanation was given in the same terms; because [Aryadeva] stated that, "If each of the four sets is completed, it explains
Chapter IV- Body Isolation ? 1 99
the meaning of this summary in the Root Tantra. " The Integrated Prac- tices quotes the Moon E. mteric Drop as the textual source of such a hundred clan [teaching], or its derivatives. the five clan practice. or the three clan practice. For example. in the Further Tamra:
Thatness [practice] is explained in five forms. Secretly it is explained in three forms:
The archetype deity is the great secret: l95nt The hundred clans are a hundred.
This statement shows the meaning.
The Explanatory Tantra Vajra Rosary also teaches the hundred
clans. Again in that Tantra. in the context of the body isolation explained in the hidden meaning manner in the preface, the ten limbs are explained as the ten terrifies: and in the actual explanation of eye Kshitigarbha and so forth. Maitreya and Samantabhadra are also picked out, so that all thirty-two deities are completely accounted for: because it is stated [in that way] in the context of meditating the body as a deity in other sections [of the text] ; because there is no difference on making each of the twenty deities suitable for analysis into five clans, while leaving the others un- suitable; and because they are equally used or not used in the body isola- tion [practice].
Therefore, even though one is concerned lest the hundred clans become too numerous if one applied the above explanation of the ten ter- rifies to the body isolation, it would not be correct to omit the complete explanation of the thirty-two deities, by not seeing how to arrange the passion-practice-concealing explanation, which had previously included them. Therefore all should be included in the section of the body isola-
tion. You practice your body isolation using those twenty and, since you rely on the deities of the five clans dividing out into the hundred parts, it is stated that "your own body becomes realized as made with the subtle atoms of all transcendent buddhas. " Here "subtle atoms" is a name of having divided [the body] into a hundred separate parts and realizing
them as a hundred deities.
