Chapter IX-
Ultimate
Clear Light Transparence ?
Thurman-Robert-a-F-Tr-Tsong-Khapa-Losang-Drakpa-Brilliant-Illumination-of-the-Lamp-of-the-Five-Stages
According to that state- ment, if you practice the private instruction of [soul-]ejection again and
again, conditioned by such aspiration, it is stated [further in the Personal Instruction]:
When the self enters the mind-reality-realm,
You realize clear intense delight like the sky;
Then having the force of magical manifestation,
You achieve the form of a five year old boy,
And you realize incomparable perfect bliss.
Then when you project [your will] toward other births, You will truly realize an emanation [body] form.
Thus, by whatever wishes beings have,
Truly joining with the minds of humans,
You become just like what [they need],
Like the variegated jewel of the Siitra.
You will experience a truth body like the sky
Of intense delight, like death, fainting, [239aJ Falling asleep, yawning, or the moment of orgasm;
Intensely meditating on it, you cultivate The mentalities of embodied beings.
"You enter the mind-reality-realm" here means entering the death clear light, and realizing the thatness reality at that time. "When you achieve the form of a child" here means the time when you would other- wise achieve the [ordinary] between. "Then you realize incomparable perfection bliss" means that you attain the beatific body as previously explained. ? ? when you take another birth existence you attain an emana- tion body," indicates the two bodies of the path. Although this latter [point]
Chapter VIJJ- 1Wo Reality Perfection Stage ? 45 1
is not stated in the Integrated Practices, this fills in its intention. The one who achieves the magic body is capable of maintaining an emanation body that is perceived by the fleshly eye. "Therefore," [and following] is similar to the Integrated Practice. 'i' [quote above]. And the five lines from "truth body. . . " teach the taking as the path of the arisal of the ground clear light in the previous context of the ground reality. In this case where otherwise you would attain the between, as for this attain- ment of the beatific body, it refers to assuming the magic body without taking up the full-fledged between. Again from that same text, [the Per- sona/ Instruction ofMafljushrT]:
If you do not attain the three bodies,
You will [at least] become the chief of scientists, And gradually achieve the universal seal.
Thus, it states that, even if you do not attain the three bodies of the path, you will achieve a body of the chief of scientists, a distinctive em- bodiment for the mantric conduct; and it does not explain that one who does not achieve the three bodies then has a way of practicing the path in the between. Further, it is clear that such an embodiment [of chief scien- tist], without needing to take any further rebirth in another existence, is going to be born in a [celestial] buddhaverse. 1 32
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"l"b"ii"B"'2"' - The way of merging buddha- hood after becoming reborn]
Although the Root and Explanatory Tantras and the treatises of father and sons ! 239bl do not clearly explain the way of merging death and the between [with truth and beatific bodies] for one who attains buddha- hood after taking rebirth, that explanation of the Integrated Practices and
132 This whole section is fascinating in the context ofTsong Khapa's biography, as the Buddhajiianapada quote from the Maiijushrr Persona/ Instruction describes in a startlingly precise way the account given of Tsong Khapa's death in 1419, when his assembled disciples witnessed him transform into a small boy amid a dazzling explosion of light and energy. It is said he postponed his full body (as well as mind) buddhahood in his life for twenty-one years from his profound realization of 1398, because he could not engage in the Tantric conducts without resigning as a monk. So he then attained the magic body, clear light transparence, communion buddhahood at the time of death, 25th day of tenth
lunar month of 1419.
? ? 4? . :! ? Brilliant lllumination (? f the Lamp
the /1/umination ofthe Lamp can be applied to those two mergers illustra- tively [by interpolationl. and in this tradition, such an explanation from the private instructions of the mentors is excellent; just as in the case of the sleep and dream mergers.
If you wonder here. "in order to merge [the clear light with] the actuality of death, what sort of realization must you have right now? "
As for this. taking as a base the proper obtainment of initiation and the keeping of the vows and pledges, you then establish the foundation through practice of the creation stage. This is of extremely crucial impor- tance in all three of the patterns of buddhahood, in this life, in the between, and in the next life. Then by meditating on the methods of penetrating the vital points in the body, you compress the wind-energies into the dhuti and dissolve them, and then stabilize the development of the four voids. Then, if you are capable of applying the view that accurately realizes the import of selflessness, you are capable of merging [the clear light with] the voidnesses of death. Remembering the view at the time of the death clear light, you can also realize the import of the reality of thatness. If you have the former ability without the view, though you can merge the death voids, there is no realization of thatness. So there are two ways. If you can merge as in the former way, it develops with extremely great
effectiveness that you cut off the elaborations of coarse dualistic percep- tions, and the realization of the thatness reality develops with extremely great intensity. And if it is [only] as in the latter case, there is a very great difference. As for not gaining the ability even as much as that, if you from now remember in your mind again and again the stages that happen at death and constantly meditate on them, [240a] the force of such famili- arity clearly will enable you to recognize the death voids by being able to remember [the stages] on the point of death; since it is stated in the Stages of Yoga Practice that whatever you emphasize in mental habitua- tion in this life, you again will engage with the same thing on the point of death. In this regard further, by the influence of whether or not there is a connection with the [realistic] view, one does or does not realize the thatness reality when one recognizes the base clear light. And in regard to these again, as for the private instruction about the time of death, through the dissolving processes such as earth dissolving into water, you have the impressions from mirage up to candle-flame, then you should remember the private instructions about the three voids, and then you should meditate the private instructions about the two life-energy controls
Chapter VIII- Two Reality Perfection Stage ? 453
the path.
As Loyipa's Art ofAchievement, {Clear Realization ofthe Divine
Lord}, states:
the Qakinis.
This means that the yogi/nis at time of death are visited by heroes and heroines carrying various symbols in their hands and are led into the <;lakini paradise; that is, are plunged into the clear light, according to the three commentaries such as the Lawapa Commentary,133 stating that later [240bJ one should employ the arts of entering the clear light through such conditions. As to the meaning of the first two lines, "nirvana" refers to an ultimate death, which this is not, explaining that this is a restoration of the mind like going from house to house. Here the statement from the Supreme Bliss {Tantra} is just as an example; it is visibly evident in this life that being greeted by one's own chosen deity at the time of death is a benefit of those who have the intense devotion of keeping vows and pledges pure, revering the mentor, and meditating as archetype deity the creation stage of the chosen patron deity.
Here you might object, "If one who gets lost in the full-fledged between without attaining the magic body after the clear light of death does not attain buddhahood in the between, then what about the Concise Five Stages explanation? [As follows:]
Attaining the abode ofclear light, manifest buddhahood, The diligent will reach the supreme in this very life,
The indolent [will reach it] on the point of death,
And the worst one, in the existence between;
133 The three commentaries are by Tath! igatavajra (Toh. 1509); VIravajra (TOh. 4577); and
? The yogi/ni who restores the mind does not rely on
nirvana. At the time of migration, these yogi/nis, greeted
various flowers in their hands and various standards and banners, with the sound of cymbals and various delight-
and the two contemplations, the methods of developing the voids through
by such as the Glorious Heruka and the yogi/nis, carrying ful songs, recognize death, and are led to the paradise of
the one mentioned here by Lawapa (Toh. 4578).
454 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
And their supreme [emanation] bodies will accomplish the
aims of others.
[To answer,] this refers to attaining the supreme through that clear light of buddhahood from realizing clear light, realized at best in this life, at medium realized at the time of the death clear light, and at worst real- ized in the between. It does not refer to attaining buddhahood at the same time as the clear light of death or to attaining buddhahood in the actual between state; since the "worst" case must be interpreted as the one who attains buddhahood after another birth. Thus, as for the merging [the bea-
tific body] with the between, when you get the ability to merge [the truth body] with death, you will also get the ability to merge the between by the force of projecting the will as above explained in the between. How- ever, in that case one is practicing by using the imagination of self as a deity body after attaining the full-fledged between. [24tal As for the special method of recognizing the between, it can be developed properly by the force of meditating the four voids during the waking and sleep states. After that, there is the personal instruction for developing the illus- trative, metaphoric magic body; and even without that much ability, there is a good method in holding the dreams by will-power. Without any of those, when you impress in mind the private instruction of death, you must habituate yourself to impressing in mind the ways of achieving the
between after death and the meditations on the form of the magic body.
IVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"1"b"ii"s" '3, , - Demonstrating the analysis
As the Concise Five Stages explains "you should merge the three kinds of between," by that example you should understand the three deaths and the three births. Though these mergers' designations do not occur clearly in the treatises of father and sons, they are meaningful.
The three betweens are the existence between, the corresponding dream between, [and the path between]-and here many persons in the Marpa tradition interpret the meaning of the expression "birth-death between" as this present body from birth until death-however, taking the two base reality betweens and the one path betweenl34 as the third,
134This seems to be the third stage magic body itself.
? ? and the synthesis of the mergers]
Chapter VIII- Two Reality Perfection Stage ? 455
corresponds better with the father and sons' treatises. Further, in the Five Stages there are mentionings of the magic body as a between, in regard to which there are both actual and virtual understandings. As for the three deaths, there is the well-known death, there is the sleep-death, which is the sleep voids prior to the key explanation of the dream body as a between, and in the perfection stage there is the path death which is developed according to the base reality death dissolution process. 124lbJ Thus there are two base reality deaths and one path death. As for the three births [or lives], there is the birth maintained as womb-birth from the existence between, there is the waking-time birth when the dream betweener again enters into the coarse body, and there is the birth when the magic body betweener [re-enters and] maintains the coarse body. Thus there are two base births and one path birth.
As for the first of those sets of three, the merger of between and beatific body is the magic body merger. As for the middle three, the mer- ger of death and the truth body is the clear light merger. And as for the final three, the merger of birth and the emanation body [is the magic body entering the coarse body or any other emanation for the sake of beings]. 135 In regard to those, if you synthesize them, they are called "the three merger cycles. " If you separate them, they are called "the nine mergers. "
Here, relying on the explanation of the Concise Five Stages:
By the energy of the furor-fire yoga, The mind objective is great bliss. Uniting dream and magic as one;
You should merge the three betweens. Addictions become the path of wisdoms. The path of swift cutting is ejection,
And body-possession is a branch.
Serdingpa connected the furor meditation in the private instruction lit- erature of the Community with the five stages and also gave the private instructions of ejection and body possession. As for the explanation in
1 35 As TMJng Khapa out of reticence did not maintain the parallel of the previous two sets of three by equating a line of mergers (death-truth body etc. ) with a path. I supplied the bracketed emanation path from his immediately previous listing of the lhird hirth merger.
? 456 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the Concise Five Stages, in regard to meditating the furor-fire taught in the Yogini Tantras, it is claimed that it is taught in the terms substituted in the five stages of the Father Tantras. Doing it that way is in order to show how to synthesize all the paths of both types of Tantras, the actual five stages or their analogous [six branches or other stages]. Interpreting that way, the analogue of developing mind isolation by the wind-energies in vajra recitation [242al is the very same yoga of furor-fire. The analogue of mind isolation itself is the four joys of the great bliss derived from dissolving the wind-energies into the dhati channel depending on the meditation of furor-fire. Both of those do occur in the Mother Tantras. Thus the meaning <;>f that treatise is that one constitutes the five stages by adding [to the isolations' analogues] the Father Tantras' magic body, clear light, and communion; and it does not mean to explain things otherwise.
"Uniting dream and magic as one" means that the personal instruc- tions about dreams should be combined with the personal instructions about the magic body. "Between" refers to the three mergers of the magic body. As for this very merging of the two base reality time betweens with the path between, it is in order to purify the impure, the latter referred to as "addictions. " If you do not attain the supreme in this life or in the between, then, having attaining a distinctively excellent embodiment for practicing Mantra in another life, the way of not prolonging that path is soul-ejection yoga, and body-possession is a distinctively excellent branch of soul-ejection yoga. Those two are clear in the Yogini Tantras. Or else, body-possession is the branch of swift cutting the path by exchanging in
this life one's own embodiment with another's embodiment because of differences of their qualities of good and bad. The reason for mentioning these two here, is to say, "add those two to the Father Tantra. " Or, since, once you are capable of creating the illustrative, metaphoric magic body of the Father Tantra, if you meditate the personal instruction of body- possession, you can develop a specially excellent ability, [the two are mentioned] in order to make that understood.
Many ways of merging the nine mergers have been explained. Yet there seem to remain some vital points [242bl which are very hard to under- stand, and they seem to require some further determination.
CHAPTER /X
Ultimate Clear Light Transparence
I 242b. l -263b. J I
Second, the perfection stage of ultimate clear light, has two parts: [a"] The import explained in the Five Stages and the Integrated Prac- tices: and [b"] The import explained in the endurance branch statement of the Further Tantra.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd 'ii 'A "2 "a " -
and the Integrated Practices]
The first has three parts: (i"] Procedure to ascertain the sequence, along with how to become eligible; [ii "] Explaining the practical instruc- tion in clear light to such a person; and [iii"] The way that stage also reaches the end of other paths.
Procedure to ascertai n the sequence, along with how to become eligible]
Here you might wonder, "As previously explained in the context of confirming the sequence [of the stages] , what is the reason for the state- ment that you cannot attain the clear light of this stage if you do not previously create the superficial reality magic body? "
In general, since according to the system of the Noble father and sons the direct realization of the import of the thatness reality which is objective selflessness is shared in common with the noble disciples and hermit buddhas, what need is there to mention that there is a direct reali- zation of that ultimate reality on the joyous stage of the Transcendence Vehicle? Since the achievement of the magic body is the uncommon dis- tinctive excellence of the unexcelled Mantra Vehicle, it is not claimed that
such a magic body must be achieved merely as a prerequisite of the direct realization of the ultimate reality clear light. However, the claim is that the achievement of the magic body must precede that objective clear light
457
? ? ? IYI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2" -
The perfection stage of ultimate dear lightI
The import explained in the Five Stages
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"i" -
458 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
In that regard, according to the systems of other vehicles, the reali- zation of voidness, chief cause of the wisdom truth body, serves as an interactive condition for the matter body, and the infinite store of merit, chief cause of the matter body, (243a] serves as an interactive condition for the truth body. Nevertheless, you do not travel the path by taking these two chief causes as art and wisdom indivisible in actuality and combining them into one in a concentrated samadhi. In the context of this unexcelled vehicle, I have already explained the unerring union of bliss and void and their union in one actuality with the magic body. And I have also already
explained the import of how, though there is the similarity here in the mere general outline of the path of learning the six transcendences, having conceived the spirit of enlightenment, there is a distinctive way of learn- ing each of the separately categorized types of merit stores and there is a distinctive process wherein the realization of voidness is able to purify the objective obscurations.
According to that vital key point: the quickest Individual Vehicle [practice] causes the exhaustion of the addictions with their seeds in three lifetimes; and in the Transcendence Vehicle, there are very different long
and short timespans, such as the statements that it takes much time to attain the joyous stage where you directly realize the nature of reality, that the addictive obscurations are exhausted on the eighth stage, and that there are many different ways of abandoning and not abandoning addictions. Thus, in this path, the magic body is not created [only] in order to produce the intuitive wisdom which is just the direct realization of the reality of thatness by the orgasmic bliss. It is developed [also] in order to master the distinctive ability to purify the objective obscurations by the intuitive wisdom of objective clear light; since it is the chief cause of the uncommon matter body. Although when orgasmic (243b l bliss takes voidness as its object, there is a door for developing a distinctive ability to purify objective obscurations through that subjectivity, in this context of the perfection stage, the magic body is the substitute of the infinite stores of merit of the other vehicles. Recognizing the combination of those two is the ultimate vital key point.
Thus, though the [various ways of] achieving the matter body are similar in the sense of enhancing the distinctive ability of the chief cause of the wisdom truth body to purify the objective obscurations, there is a
which consists of the orgasmic bliss's direct realization of the extremely
subtle import of thatness. This will now be explained in detail.
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 459
very great difference in regard to what you take as the chief causes of the two bodies. Thereby you can understand the difference between how on the other vehicles you attain the body adorned with signs and with that support you meditate only voidness in concentrated samadhi, and then, aroused by the buddhas, you engage in gathering the magnificent stores in the aftermath; and how in this context when you attain the magic body you do not have to proceed in that way. In regard to these reasons for confirming the sequence, without easily being satisfied, you must deeply investigate the general arrangement of the procedures of the path in the other vehicles, in the other Tantra classes, and in the two [categories of Unexcelled] Tantras, and all the subtle vital key points of those. For, due to the extreme difficulty of understanding it, there are many likely but spurious explanations about the magic body such as "to purify the taints of holding magical illusion you must plunge it into the clear light! " and so on.
Therefore, the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] states:
This self-arisen Divine Lord,
Alone is just the greatest of divinities;
The vajra master is even greater,
Since s/he bestows the personal instructions.
Having truly pleased him or her, Over years or also months, Having satisfied that mentor, Worship [244al as much as you can.
Having well instructed the consort
With whom you join, she should be given away, And you should make offerings with proper rites Amid the mandala of the host.
It declares that, since s/he bestows the personal instructions about this. you should view the mentor as greater than the Buddha, and you should propitiate him or her for a long time. After that you should make offer- ings with the secret and other offerings to the mentor who teaches this. And [Aryadeva also in] the Lamp of Integrated Practices says that you will not realize clear light without the personal instruction of the mentor. and that, having obtained the verbal transmission from the mentor who teaches indivisibly the causal and the fruitional teachings. you should
460 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
make offerings to that mentor as before. Though this is said [previously] in the context of receiving initiation, it is just the same in the context of receiving the practical instructions. You should understand that these, even if you perform them by mental imagination, are praised as the causes of arranging the favorable auspicious conditions for the distinc- tively excellent path.
After that, as for the the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices declaration that the mentor confers the secret and third initiation pre- ceded by the nine initiations [of the vase initiation], if you have previ- ously attained once the initiation that makes you a fit vessel, a second initiation to become fit is not necessary. In the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] statement that, in the pre-dawn twilight136 of the night when the initiation was conferred at midnight, the disciple propitiates the
mentor by offerings and praise, the offerings are as before. The praises are the four and a half verses beginning with "Liberated from the three realms . . . " After that praise, it is stated that the disciple petitions the men- tor with the three verses from "Liberated from evolution and birth. . . . " [244b]
As for the reason behind the statement that you should praise and invite the mentor in harmony with the personal instructions in the con- texts of magic body and clear light, it is good to assert that you should meditate the mentor yoga, having also used it in the contexts of the other stages, and that you should pray with those procedures. Therefore, you should pray in that way not only on just the occasion of hearing the practical instructions but also on other occasions. Therefore, in general in all vehicles and in specific in this vehicle, you should not break your commitments to the mentor, you should make offerings while consider- ing him or her as a buddha, you should please him or her with all methods of propitiation and abandon all unpleasing things; this seems to be the superior vital point.
136 Here the PK verse Ch. IV, 7 mentions the pre-dawn twilight (Skt. praryusa. Tib. tho rangs) in connection with the attainment of clear light transparence, after praising and pleasing the mentor.
? manifest enlightenments; [B ' greatness.
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 46 1
"
? clear light to such a person] " The second has three parts: [A
') Explaining both outer and inner ) Explaining the two contemplations, the art of realizing them: [c'"] Explaining their synonyms, along with their
Explaining both outer and inner The first has two parts: [1'"] The actual meaning; and [2'"] Rebut-
ting objections.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"ii"A"'1"' - The actual meaning]
As for what is taught out of compassion to such a disciple who prays in that way, [Nagarjuna says] in the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] :
Luminance i s part of the night, day where bright sun-rays spread is luminant radiance,
Twilight [evening darkness] is luminant imminence, and gradually one's instinctual natures go [away].
Freedom from instincts is nor night, nor day, nor twilight dark,
It is just the instant of enlightenment taught by the best mentor, the goal of the yogi/nis themselves.
Twilight limit137 not ended, (24Sa) but its deep black darkness fully past,
Yet the sun not risen - this moment is proclaimed the taintless limit of reality.
137 Skt. samdhya-tejas (perhaps "energy of twilight") here oddly translated as Tib. mtshams kyi mtha, seems to mean that the ambiguous state between light and dark, "extreme twilight," so to speak, inconceivably bridges over into predawn dark-light-nondual clear light. See above, p. 367 n. I l l ; and again, see D. Kittay's translation of Jewel Rosary
Tantra, Twilight chapter 1 5.
? ? ? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"ii" - Explaining the practical instruction in
manifest enlightenments I
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"ii"A, -
462 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
The supreme master free of confusion shows the outer enlightenment to the disciple,
Who attains untroubled inner bliss by this instant of buddha enlightenment.
Thus both an outer and an inner enlightenment are taught. The Chag translation reads "Those are endowed all at once with freedom from instinctual natures," and "the end of darkness is finished and the splendor of twilight is entirely transcended, as long as the sun does not arise in that immaculate instant, here is taught the reality limit. "
Also [Aryadeva states] in the Integrated Practices, that
There are two kinds of manifest enlightenment. The outer manifest enlightenment is the clear light universal void- ness in the boundary-state of the predawn when the igno- rance luminance is transcended and the sun has not yet risen. Therein is the clear light universal voidness. 1 38
The import of this is explained as in the Five Stages, that passing beyond the times of imminence and the luminance night, while the sun has not yet risen, it is the predawn twilight [of clear light transparence] . [The Inte- grated Practices continues] :
When the sun rises it is radiance, When the sun sets it is ignorance, When the moon rises it is luminance.
As for teaching the inner manifest enlightenment: first, in the mirage-like state one sees an assemblage of five-colored light rays. Second, there is luminance like moon-rays. Third, there is luminance- radiance like sun-rays. Fourth, there is luminance-imminence like dark- ness. Then in the instant free from darkness, there is clear light transpar- ence, 1245bl extremely clear, having the nature of constant luminance, seen by the intuitive wisdom eye as the intrinsic identity of the ultimate reality.
138 Tsong Khapa abbreviates this quote from the CMP, especially the last phrases, but keeps the essential point .
? Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 463
Here you might wonder, "Here the mentor teaches the disciple the two enlightenments, outer and inner. As for the first, dividing an outer day into four parts, if you interpret separately the explanation of the four voids, it is incorrect that the fourth void is the instant of enlightenment and that it is the object of the yogT/nT him/herself. If I interpret him [or her] as explaining the four voids taking as example the four skies of those times, since the inner four voids are also like that I will not be able to differentiate the outer and the inner? since in the inner occasion also, they are taught using the examples of moon, sun, and darkness. If I interpret it as producing the four wisdoms of the four voids in the four times, it would happen that in the time of each of those four times the four voids would not develop in one time, and so how then would l distinguish the difference between the outer and inner enlightenments? "
In this regard, Master Go set forth two systems, the position of Naropa and the position of both Tsunmojen and Kr? hQa Samayavajra.
The first of these [systems] is the explanation of the four parts of the day as the four voids, which refers to the interpretable meaning, outer enlightenment, since it is the example of reality, the time, the sign, and the means of indication. The definitive meaning is the inner enlighten- ment; if you meditate by uniting with the consort, bringing the enlighten-
ment spirit into the root, shaft, and vase of the vajra and sealing those three blisses with voids, then ensue the three path luminances and the universal (246aJ void clear light, when there is the wisdom of the bliss that eliminates the reality [habit grounded] instinctual constructs at the time of two drops releasing and two drops abiding.
The second of these [systems] is the outer enlightenment [that occurs] when the four outer examples indicate the negandum from the part of the four freedoms from adventitious instinctual constructs, and the inner enlightenment is when that is shown from the side of the expe- rience of immersing the magic [body] in the clear light through the two
contemplations.
As for Lak? hmi explaining the four parts of the day as the four
voids, it is claimed that these are the four inner voids which have those names, and the inner enlightenment is explained as the four voids relying on the evolution consort and the four voids relying on the wisdom consort, or the four voids attained through the progression of the five signs such as mirage. The Moonlight Commentary, the Clear Meaning, the Samayavajra Commentary, and Munishri explain the four voids of
464 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
the outer occasion as the inner four voids, without clearly differentiating outer and inner voids. If you analyze as before explained, those who dif- ferentiate outer and inner have no cogent answer, neither do the explana- tions of those who do not differentiate seem to have a cogent answer.
This point is very hard to understand and seems to be important, so it must be investigated. It must be understood relying on the statements from the Illumination of the Lamp Fifteenth Chapter. The Root Tantra states:
[With] a girl from the priest, warrior, Merchant lord, and commoner classes,
You should practice as the vajra Dharma-lord.
This is the means to attain the secret.
When the vajra sun sets
You should initiate all achievements.
At the time when the dawn light arises,
It will be achieved by the supreme meditation.
Explaining the meaning of this, [246h] [Chandrak. Irti's] [Illumination of the Lamp] Commentary explains as follows: The perfection stage practi- tioner takes a female consort from either of the four castes; relying on her, the Dharma unbreakable as a vajra diamond is the perfection stage yoga. As for the nature of that, the practitioner endowed with that under- standing should achieve the means of attaining the vajra secret that is Vajradhara. And that must be perfected by means of the progression of manifest enlightenment. The method of that is shown by the four lines
beginning with [the one containing] "vajra. "
In that regard, as there are two processes of outer and inner enlight-
enment, as for explaining the first; the vajra sun is the actual sun. "When it sets" refers to the passing of the time when the red sun is cut off; you should propitiate the mentor with whatever possessions are at hand. Then when you have attained initiation by the kindness of the mentor at midnight, at the time of dawn, since the parts of the night that indicate luminance have passed, at the time just before sunrise, you are struck by the transmission of the process of clear enlightenment, and you will achieve it-meaning it will become pure. All this explains the process of the outer enlightenment. If one explains according to the process of inner enlightenment, the vajra sun emerges as the nature of union of the art
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 465
[male] with the intuitive wisdom [female], and its setting is its cessation as the reality of wisdom emerges. Thus when luminance and radiance have set, you should initiate the imminence, the means of achieving clear light-that is, it emerges. Dawn arising is ignorance; when that is passed, the practitioners, by the cause and condition of the three voids, realize the supreme meditation that is the clear light, and thereby they will achieve the universal seal [embrace]. Here the universal seal [embrace] is [247al the communion [stage].
Since this is stated as the means of the direct realization of clear light, both outer and inner enlightenments should be applied to objective clear light. As for the reliance on the external seal [consort] in the occa- sion of the proximate cause of realizing that, it is the meaning of the first verse. As for the way of reliance, at midnight the mentor confers the initiation relying on the evolution seal, as a means of indicating clear light. After that, when hit by the personal instructions of the way of meditating predawn clear light and of the system of achieving commun- ion after that, you will attain objective clear light, and after that achieve communion. Thus, since the realization of objective clear light specially relates to the predawn time, it is called the outer enlightenment, and since the realization is accomplished by the process of the four inner voids it is called the inner enlightenment. Therefore, having taken the other three segments of time in a day as the other three voids, explained above in the mind isolation context, it is indicated by the examples of the sky of those times, and so there is no fault of being unable to differentiate outer and inner. The nonleamer's communion is also stated [by Nagarjuna] in Five Stages and [Aryadeva] in Integrated Practices as being attained in the predawn time.
[Here, you might] object, "As for the fact that the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices, for the sake of that one who has achieved the magic body and aims for the clear light, state the private instructions of the predawn after midnight initiation [as] two enlightenments and two contemplations, is it that you can produce the objective clear light in that
very predawn, or not? If not, it contradicts what was said above from the Illumination ofthe Lamp. If so, 1247111 since before obtaining such ability. one would be unfit to be taught the personal instructions of clear light.
? Second - Rebutting objections]
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd 'ii 'A "2 "a "ii "A "'2 "'
466 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
though one fully attains all four initiations before achieving the magic body, one would become unfit to learn completely the perfection stage that explains the Tantra by the six parameters and four procedures. Or, if one were fit, then explain the intention of teaching as above the way of learning the personal instruction of clear light having completed the magic body! "
Let us explain. In regard to that statement in the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices, there are two contexts, one that of achieving basic fitness and the other that of having attained the magic body and having such an ability. The Illumination ofthe Lamp statement intends the latter context and is not made in terms of all such statements. A qualified dis- ciple will prepare for attaining the complete fitness initiation by develop- ing understanding from a complete explanation of the Tantra. A fully quali- fied mentor thoroughly develops in his spiritual process a realization of
each phase of the path and so will explain the personal instructions that are developed in the disciple ' s spiritual process by the stages of the path teachings. Now since that disciple must still rely [on the mentor] even more intensely, how could it be the case that the personal instruction on the clear light previously explained would not now have to be explained [more deeply]? Therefore, since there are naturally limitless disciples for achieving the magic body, and there are even more limitless persons worthy of being their mentors, it does not suffice to count them by the masters and disciples of nowadays. I39
Just having attained the magic body, you cannot develop the objec- tive clear light within a single day; [248aJ since the Wisdom Vajra Com-
pendium states in the context of ultimate clear light as follows:
"Divine Lord! What happens after the three voids and clear light? " The Divine Lord replied, "Just as fire bums wood to ashes, so in clear light, wisdom intuition causes purification over a long time. Just as the tala leaves become ashes, the art intuition causes purification. Just as the petals of cotton plants bum, so the intuition of lumi- nance attained causes purification supremely quickly. "
139This is a rather amazing statement, considering the usual view ofthen and now being ever deeper in a dark age.
? Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 467
And the Five Stages also states:
In a year or in a month, having propitiated that mentor. . .
Thus, even having attained the magic body, having heard the instruction of the clear light from the mentor, after having meditated many methods of entering into the clear light through the two contemplations, you should then do as the Illumination ofthe Lamp statement recommends. You must differentiate how orgasmic bliss becomes the objective clear light which directly realizes the import of the reality of thatness and how it well under- stands the qualities of the metaphoric clear light even when it does not [yet] become that [metaphoric clear light].
the art of realizing them]
As previously explained, one who has well achieved the magic body must strive to develop the objective clear light in her or his spiritual continuum. When objective clear light manifests for you, you must be taught the way the outer and inner enlightenments occur, and before 1248bJ that the way to meditate the two contemplations of the holistic holding and the serial dissolving. Of these, the former has already been explained; so here I will explain the two contemplations.
Nagarjuna explains these in the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] :
The disciple who has gotten the private instruction, Then learns the two kinds of yoga:
The processes of holistic holding
And of serial dissolving.
From the head or the feet,
Until it reaches the heart center,
The yogi/ni should enter the truth limit- That is called the holistic holding.
First having made animate and inanimate
Into clear light,
[The yogi/ni] should make [his own] nature such - That is the dissolving process.
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd 'ii 'A "2 "a "ii "B " '
- Explaining the two contemplations,
468 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
As breath on a mirror
Completely dissolves,
So the yogi/ni should enter the truth limit Again and again.
And [Aryadeva, in] the Integrated Practices:
Thus having realized directly universal voidness one should visualize the two contemplations through this stage. The procedure is as follows: As a lump [of snow] placed in an immaculate stream or pond, so the yogi/ni should gradually meditate a process of serial dissolving. S/he should regard it as like breath-vapor gradually fad- ing in a mirror. And also in the case of holding holisti-
cally, s/he should visualize also in this stage.
Here, as for "having realized the fourth void and accomplishing the visu- alization in the two contemplations," it describes the realizations of the two enlightenments and the two contemplations, after what has already been explained. The two verses beginning with "the disciple who has gotten the private instruction" [249aJ refers to one who has gotten the private instruction and is in training. For that person, holistic holding proceeds "reaching up to the heart center" by compressing down from your head and up from your feet, [bringing] both ends into your heart center. Kan- hapa explains that you compress everything between your head and your feet into your heart center seed and that into a drop and that into the void. Thus compressing into the heart center the yogi/ni enters into the truth limit clear light transparence. As for the example of that, it is given by the four lines beginning with "of the breath. . . . " As the vapor smudge left on a mirror by breath collects from all its limits into the center, so you compress into the center of the heart center from the up and down, left
and right, back and front of the body.
As for dissolving, first you compress animate and inanimate into
clear light and after that compress yourself into clear light. As for "accord- ing to your nature" is correctly explained by Kanhapa as performed in the same way as holistic holding. "Again and again" refers to the need for practicing those two repeatedly. The example of dissolving is the gradual melting of a ball of snow in a pond. Here the old Chag translation is more apt in mentioning "drops" (thigs pa).
? Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 469
Both these practices involve a gradual destruction of your aggre- gate, being distinguished merely by whether or not they first compress the rest of the animate and inanimate environment. The verbal meaning of "dissolving" is as [already] explained. Abhaya explains that "holistic" refers to the body and "holding" to its being held by voidness. The body enters, or is held, into clear light. [249b] That the two contemplations both realize the objective clear light having made the heart center the final place of compression is the marvellous position of the Noble father and sons, as you must understand according to the many reasons already
explained.
In regard to this visualization of a process of compression, though
it is not openly and clearly explained as a compression of wind-energy, you should understand that when you perform that visualization it in fact serves as the unexcelled wind-energy-compression process. Here, the Four Goddess Dialogue says:
Always abide in the center of the heart,
Endowed with the blaze of great light,
Up to reaching the nine,
Abiding in the forehead and down to the foot soles, Compress it all into that drop,
Abiding in the center of that hub.
Thus, from the "brow," that is the head, down to the soles of the feet, everything is compressed into that very heart center drop, which means it states that you should make it stay in the hub of the lotus of the heart center. Therefore, in the speech isolation context, you must understand that all three meditations of life-energy control are methods of develop- ing the four voids by compressing the energies and light-spirits into the heart center. By the force of habituation to that, here by the process of compressing the sphere of vision, you cause the energy and enlighten- ment spirit to compress into the heart center and enter into clear light; and that is the reason why the two contemplations are stated as the medi- tation that is the method for the magic body yogi/ni to enter into clear
light.
Moreover, the necessity of uniting with the outer seal is stated in the Wi. 'idom Vajra Compendium, since it has the same function (as the two contemplations ) . As for the statement that the two contemplations cause
the magic body to enter the clear light-having 12Sflul meditated on the
470 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
energy and mind again and again compressing into the heart center and developing the four voids-at the time when the objective clear light is manifest, it means that it serves to purify the magic body as well. As for the magic body person meditating the two contemplations, though the followers of the Marpa tradition do not teach the meditation of the triply stacked spiritual heroes of the three vajras, the private instructions of the Go system claim that the meditation of those three is the meaning of the Root [Tantra] and Commentaries of the Eleventh Chapter. Thus it is espe- cially excellent, in that something lying in the Tantra commentary is taken out and used as a private instruction. That again is stated in the Root Tantra:
Buddha abiding in the center of the mandala, Place Vairochana in my body.
Visualize the letter OM in the heart center, Meditate conscousness in the mantra.
The cessation vajra in the very mind, When it develops there,
Hold the supreme of all buddhas, Like the glorious wish-fullfiller.
Buddha abiding in the center of the mandala, Meditate Vajra Ak? hobhya,
Meditate the HOM letter in the heart center, Place the mind to become the drop.
Buddha abiding in the center of the mandala Meditate Amitayus.
Visualize the letter A/:1 in the heart center, Place the vajra in becoming the drop.
This is that supreme of supreme commitments- Meditating the three vajra unbreakables,
The cessation vow intuitive wisdom
You will attain the power of buddhahood.
Here "buddha" means "buddha-realization," what is to be realized, the mandala I2SObJ of knowable objects, the body, speech, and mind of the three realms. "In the center of that" means the reality of those things. "Abiding there" means you imagine the actuality of your body, speech,
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 47 1
and mind. As for meditating Vairochana. Ak? hobhya and Amitayus, it means meditating Vairochana as the inseparability of the two bodies. Ak? hobhya as the inseparability of the two minds. and Amitabha as the
inseparability of the two speeches
As for meditating the three, OM A/:1 HOM, in the heart centers of
the three meditated devotee heroes, they are the wisdom hero. As for the mantra, OM is assigned as consciousness, the samadhi hero drop, HOM is assigned as the natural mind of the samadhi hero become a drop. and Al:l is assigned as the vajra of the samadhi hero, the natural mind become a drop. The yogi/ni who meditates in that manner injects his/her natural mind into the center of the cessation vajra, the clear light. Thereby, when s/he abandons meditating the drop and the ultimate clear light is devel- oped, s/he holds or achieves the supreme of all buddhas, becoming like a wish-fulfilling gem which fulfills all aspirations, endowed with the glory of both stores [of wisdom and merit] . As for this meditation of the indivisi- bility of your own body, speech, and mind and the three vajras of body, speech, and mind of all beings, it is the supreme commitment, superior to the creation stage, generating the intuitive wisdom which is understood by the private instruction which holds the commitment to the clear light transparence of cessation. Therefore, the Buddha, [25 laJ that is the accom- plishments of the aggregates, free from the ordinary body, the profound, magnificent wisdom body, will be attained. Such is the explanation of the Illumination ofthe Lamp.
Thus, having attained the magic body, for the sake of immersing your body, speech, and mind into the clear light, first you meditate, as triply nested, the body vajra, then the speech vajra, and then the mind vajra. You truly meditate not only the first two heroes, but also the samadhi hero as the drop, and thereby cause your own immersion in the clear
light.
again, conditioned by such aspiration, it is stated [further in the Personal Instruction]:
When the self enters the mind-reality-realm,
You realize clear intense delight like the sky;
Then having the force of magical manifestation,
You achieve the form of a five year old boy,
And you realize incomparable perfect bliss.
Then when you project [your will] toward other births, You will truly realize an emanation [body] form.
Thus, by whatever wishes beings have,
Truly joining with the minds of humans,
You become just like what [they need],
Like the variegated jewel of the Siitra.
You will experience a truth body like the sky
Of intense delight, like death, fainting, [239aJ Falling asleep, yawning, or the moment of orgasm;
Intensely meditating on it, you cultivate The mentalities of embodied beings.
"You enter the mind-reality-realm" here means entering the death clear light, and realizing the thatness reality at that time. "When you achieve the form of a child" here means the time when you would other- wise achieve the [ordinary] between. "Then you realize incomparable perfection bliss" means that you attain the beatific body as previously explained. ? ? when you take another birth existence you attain an emana- tion body," indicates the two bodies of the path. Although this latter [point]
Chapter VIJJ- 1Wo Reality Perfection Stage ? 45 1
is not stated in the Integrated Practices, this fills in its intention. The one who achieves the magic body is capable of maintaining an emanation body that is perceived by the fleshly eye. "Therefore," [and following] is similar to the Integrated Practice. 'i' [quote above]. And the five lines from "truth body. . . " teach the taking as the path of the arisal of the ground clear light in the previous context of the ground reality. In this case where otherwise you would attain the between, as for this attain- ment of the beatific body, it refers to assuming the magic body without taking up the full-fledged between. Again from that same text, [the Per- sona/ Instruction ofMafljushrT]:
If you do not attain the three bodies,
You will [at least] become the chief of scientists, And gradually achieve the universal seal.
Thus, it states that, even if you do not attain the three bodies of the path, you will achieve a body of the chief of scientists, a distinctive em- bodiment for the mantric conduct; and it does not explain that one who does not achieve the three bodies then has a way of practicing the path in the between. Further, it is clear that such an embodiment [of chief scien- tist], without needing to take any further rebirth in another existence, is going to be born in a [celestial] buddhaverse. 1 32
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"l"b"ii"B"'2"' - The way of merging buddha- hood after becoming reborn]
Although the Root and Explanatory Tantras and the treatises of father and sons ! 239bl do not clearly explain the way of merging death and the between [with truth and beatific bodies] for one who attains buddha- hood after taking rebirth, that explanation of the Integrated Practices and
132 This whole section is fascinating in the context ofTsong Khapa's biography, as the Buddhajiianapada quote from the Maiijushrr Persona/ Instruction describes in a startlingly precise way the account given of Tsong Khapa's death in 1419, when his assembled disciples witnessed him transform into a small boy amid a dazzling explosion of light and energy. It is said he postponed his full body (as well as mind) buddhahood in his life for twenty-one years from his profound realization of 1398, because he could not engage in the Tantric conducts without resigning as a monk. So he then attained the magic body, clear light transparence, communion buddhahood at the time of death, 25th day of tenth
lunar month of 1419.
? ? 4? . :! ? Brilliant lllumination (? f the Lamp
the /1/umination ofthe Lamp can be applied to those two mergers illustra- tively [by interpolationl. and in this tradition, such an explanation from the private instructions of the mentors is excellent; just as in the case of the sleep and dream mergers.
If you wonder here. "in order to merge [the clear light with] the actuality of death, what sort of realization must you have right now? "
As for this. taking as a base the proper obtainment of initiation and the keeping of the vows and pledges, you then establish the foundation through practice of the creation stage. This is of extremely crucial impor- tance in all three of the patterns of buddhahood, in this life, in the between, and in the next life. Then by meditating on the methods of penetrating the vital points in the body, you compress the wind-energies into the dhuti and dissolve them, and then stabilize the development of the four voids. Then, if you are capable of applying the view that accurately realizes the import of selflessness, you are capable of merging [the clear light with] the voidnesses of death. Remembering the view at the time of the death clear light, you can also realize the import of the reality of thatness. If you have the former ability without the view, though you can merge the death voids, there is no realization of thatness. So there are two ways. If you can merge as in the former way, it develops with extremely great
effectiveness that you cut off the elaborations of coarse dualistic percep- tions, and the realization of the thatness reality develops with extremely great intensity. And if it is [only] as in the latter case, there is a very great difference. As for not gaining the ability even as much as that, if you from now remember in your mind again and again the stages that happen at death and constantly meditate on them, [240a] the force of such famili- arity clearly will enable you to recognize the death voids by being able to remember [the stages] on the point of death; since it is stated in the Stages of Yoga Practice that whatever you emphasize in mental habitua- tion in this life, you again will engage with the same thing on the point of death. In this regard further, by the influence of whether or not there is a connection with the [realistic] view, one does or does not realize the thatness reality when one recognizes the base clear light. And in regard to these again, as for the private instruction about the time of death, through the dissolving processes such as earth dissolving into water, you have the impressions from mirage up to candle-flame, then you should remember the private instructions about the three voids, and then you should meditate the private instructions about the two life-energy controls
Chapter VIII- Two Reality Perfection Stage ? 453
the path.
As Loyipa's Art ofAchievement, {Clear Realization ofthe Divine
Lord}, states:
the Qakinis.
This means that the yogi/nis at time of death are visited by heroes and heroines carrying various symbols in their hands and are led into the <;lakini paradise; that is, are plunged into the clear light, according to the three commentaries such as the Lawapa Commentary,133 stating that later [240bJ one should employ the arts of entering the clear light through such conditions. As to the meaning of the first two lines, "nirvana" refers to an ultimate death, which this is not, explaining that this is a restoration of the mind like going from house to house. Here the statement from the Supreme Bliss {Tantra} is just as an example; it is visibly evident in this life that being greeted by one's own chosen deity at the time of death is a benefit of those who have the intense devotion of keeping vows and pledges pure, revering the mentor, and meditating as archetype deity the creation stage of the chosen patron deity.
Here you might object, "If one who gets lost in the full-fledged between without attaining the magic body after the clear light of death does not attain buddhahood in the between, then what about the Concise Five Stages explanation? [As follows:]
Attaining the abode ofclear light, manifest buddhahood, The diligent will reach the supreme in this very life,
The indolent [will reach it] on the point of death,
And the worst one, in the existence between;
133 The three commentaries are by Tath! igatavajra (Toh. 1509); VIravajra (TOh. 4577); and
? The yogi/ni who restores the mind does not rely on
nirvana. At the time of migration, these yogi/nis, greeted
various flowers in their hands and various standards and banners, with the sound of cymbals and various delight-
and the two contemplations, the methods of developing the voids through
by such as the Glorious Heruka and the yogi/nis, carrying ful songs, recognize death, and are led to the paradise of
the one mentioned here by Lawapa (Toh. 4578).
454 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
And their supreme [emanation] bodies will accomplish the
aims of others.
[To answer,] this refers to attaining the supreme through that clear light of buddhahood from realizing clear light, realized at best in this life, at medium realized at the time of the death clear light, and at worst real- ized in the between. It does not refer to attaining buddhahood at the same time as the clear light of death or to attaining buddhahood in the actual between state; since the "worst" case must be interpreted as the one who attains buddhahood after another birth. Thus, as for the merging [the bea-
tific body] with the between, when you get the ability to merge [the truth body] with death, you will also get the ability to merge the between by the force of projecting the will as above explained in the between. How- ever, in that case one is practicing by using the imagination of self as a deity body after attaining the full-fledged between. [24tal As for the special method of recognizing the between, it can be developed properly by the force of meditating the four voids during the waking and sleep states. After that, there is the personal instruction for developing the illus- trative, metaphoric magic body; and even without that much ability, there is a good method in holding the dreams by will-power. Without any of those, when you impress in mind the private instruction of death, you must habituate yourself to impressing in mind the ways of achieving the
between after death and the meditations on the form of the magic body.
IVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"1"b"ii"s" '3, , - Demonstrating the analysis
As the Concise Five Stages explains "you should merge the three kinds of between," by that example you should understand the three deaths and the three births. Though these mergers' designations do not occur clearly in the treatises of father and sons, they are meaningful.
The three betweens are the existence between, the corresponding dream between, [and the path between]-and here many persons in the Marpa tradition interpret the meaning of the expression "birth-death between" as this present body from birth until death-however, taking the two base reality betweens and the one path betweenl34 as the third,
134This seems to be the third stage magic body itself.
? ? and the synthesis of the mergers]
Chapter VIII- Two Reality Perfection Stage ? 455
corresponds better with the father and sons' treatises. Further, in the Five Stages there are mentionings of the magic body as a between, in regard to which there are both actual and virtual understandings. As for the three deaths, there is the well-known death, there is the sleep-death, which is the sleep voids prior to the key explanation of the dream body as a between, and in the perfection stage there is the path death which is developed according to the base reality death dissolution process. 124lbJ Thus there are two base reality deaths and one path death. As for the three births [or lives], there is the birth maintained as womb-birth from the existence between, there is the waking-time birth when the dream betweener again enters into the coarse body, and there is the birth when the magic body betweener [re-enters and] maintains the coarse body. Thus there are two base births and one path birth.
As for the first of those sets of three, the merger of between and beatific body is the magic body merger. As for the middle three, the mer- ger of death and the truth body is the clear light merger. And as for the final three, the merger of birth and the emanation body [is the magic body entering the coarse body or any other emanation for the sake of beings]. 135 In regard to those, if you synthesize them, they are called "the three merger cycles. " If you separate them, they are called "the nine mergers. "
Here, relying on the explanation of the Concise Five Stages:
By the energy of the furor-fire yoga, The mind objective is great bliss. Uniting dream and magic as one;
You should merge the three betweens. Addictions become the path of wisdoms. The path of swift cutting is ejection,
And body-possession is a branch.
Serdingpa connected the furor meditation in the private instruction lit- erature of the Community with the five stages and also gave the private instructions of ejection and body possession. As for the explanation in
1 35 As TMJng Khapa out of reticence did not maintain the parallel of the previous two sets of three by equating a line of mergers (death-truth body etc. ) with a path. I supplied the bracketed emanation path from his immediately previous listing of the lhird hirth merger.
? 456 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the Concise Five Stages, in regard to meditating the furor-fire taught in the Yogini Tantras, it is claimed that it is taught in the terms substituted in the five stages of the Father Tantras. Doing it that way is in order to show how to synthesize all the paths of both types of Tantras, the actual five stages or their analogous [six branches or other stages]. Interpreting that way, the analogue of developing mind isolation by the wind-energies in vajra recitation [242al is the very same yoga of furor-fire. The analogue of mind isolation itself is the four joys of the great bliss derived from dissolving the wind-energies into the dhati channel depending on the meditation of furor-fire. Both of those do occur in the Mother Tantras. Thus the meaning <;>f that treatise is that one constitutes the five stages by adding [to the isolations' analogues] the Father Tantras' magic body, clear light, and communion; and it does not mean to explain things otherwise.
"Uniting dream and magic as one" means that the personal instruc- tions about dreams should be combined with the personal instructions about the magic body. "Between" refers to the three mergers of the magic body. As for this very merging of the two base reality time betweens with the path between, it is in order to purify the impure, the latter referred to as "addictions. " If you do not attain the supreme in this life or in the between, then, having attaining a distinctively excellent embodiment for practicing Mantra in another life, the way of not prolonging that path is soul-ejection yoga, and body-possession is a distinctively excellent branch of soul-ejection yoga. Those two are clear in the Yogini Tantras. Or else, body-possession is the branch of swift cutting the path by exchanging in
this life one's own embodiment with another's embodiment because of differences of their qualities of good and bad. The reason for mentioning these two here, is to say, "add those two to the Father Tantra. " Or, since, once you are capable of creating the illustrative, metaphoric magic body of the Father Tantra, if you meditate the personal instruction of body- possession, you can develop a specially excellent ability, [the two are mentioned] in order to make that understood.
Many ways of merging the nine mergers have been explained. Yet there seem to remain some vital points [242bl which are very hard to under- stand, and they seem to require some further determination.
CHAPTER /X
Ultimate Clear Light Transparence
I 242b. l -263b. J I
Second, the perfection stage of ultimate clear light, has two parts: [a"] The import explained in the Five Stages and the Integrated Prac- tices: and [b"] The import explained in the endurance branch statement of the Further Tantra.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd 'ii 'A "2 "a " -
and the Integrated Practices]
The first has three parts: (i"] Procedure to ascertain the sequence, along with how to become eligible; [ii "] Explaining the practical instruc- tion in clear light to such a person; and [iii"] The way that stage also reaches the end of other paths.
Procedure to ascertai n the sequence, along with how to become eligible]
Here you might wonder, "As previously explained in the context of confirming the sequence [of the stages] , what is the reason for the state- ment that you cannot attain the clear light of this stage if you do not previously create the superficial reality magic body? "
In general, since according to the system of the Noble father and sons the direct realization of the import of the thatness reality which is objective selflessness is shared in common with the noble disciples and hermit buddhas, what need is there to mention that there is a direct reali- zation of that ultimate reality on the joyous stage of the Transcendence Vehicle? Since the achievement of the magic body is the uncommon dis- tinctive excellence of the unexcelled Mantra Vehicle, it is not claimed that
such a magic body must be achieved merely as a prerequisite of the direct realization of the ultimate reality clear light. However, the claim is that the achievement of the magic body must precede that objective clear light
457
? ? ? IYI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2" -
The perfection stage of ultimate dear lightI
The import explained in the Five Stages
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"i" -
458 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
In that regard, according to the systems of other vehicles, the reali- zation of voidness, chief cause of the wisdom truth body, serves as an interactive condition for the matter body, and the infinite store of merit, chief cause of the matter body, (243a] serves as an interactive condition for the truth body. Nevertheless, you do not travel the path by taking these two chief causes as art and wisdom indivisible in actuality and combining them into one in a concentrated samadhi. In the context of this unexcelled vehicle, I have already explained the unerring union of bliss and void and their union in one actuality with the magic body. And I have also already
explained the import of how, though there is the similarity here in the mere general outline of the path of learning the six transcendences, having conceived the spirit of enlightenment, there is a distinctive way of learn- ing each of the separately categorized types of merit stores and there is a distinctive process wherein the realization of voidness is able to purify the objective obscurations.
According to that vital key point: the quickest Individual Vehicle [practice] causes the exhaustion of the addictions with their seeds in three lifetimes; and in the Transcendence Vehicle, there are very different long
and short timespans, such as the statements that it takes much time to attain the joyous stage where you directly realize the nature of reality, that the addictive obscurations are exhausted on the eighth stage, and that there are many different ways of abandoning and not abandoning addictions. Thus, in this path, the magic body is not created [only] in order to produce the intuitive wisdom which is just the direct realization of the reality of thatness by the orgasmic bliss. It is developed [also] in order to master the distinctive ability to purify the objective obscurations by the intuitive wisdom of objective clear light; since it is the chief cause of the uncommon matter body. Although when orgasmic (243b l bliss takes voidness as its object, there is a door for developing a distinctive ability to purify objective obscurations through that subjectivity, in this context of the perfection stage, the magic body is the substitute of the infinite stores of merit of the other vehicles. Recognizing the combination of those two is the ultimate vital key point.
Thus, though the [various ways of] achieving the matter body are similar in the sense of enhancing the distinctive ability of the chief cause of the wisdom truth body to purify the objective obscurations, there is a
which consists of the orgasmic bliss's direct realization of the extremely
subtle import of thatness. This will now be explained in detail.
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 459
very great difference in regard to what you take as the chief causes of the two bodies. Thereby you can understand the difference between how on the other vehicles you attain the body adorned with signs and with that support you meditate only voidness in concentrated samadhi, and then, aroused by the buddhas, you engage in gathering the magnificent stores in the aftermath; and how in this context when you attain the magic body you do not have to proceed in that way. In regard to these reasons for confirming the sequence, without easily being satisfied, you must deeply investigate the general arrangement of the procedures of the path in the other vehicles, in the other Tantra classes, and in the two [categories of Unexcelled] Tantras, and all the subtle vital key points of those. For, due to the extreme difficulty of understanding it, there are many likely but spurious explanations about the magic body such as "to purify the taints of holding magical illusion you must plunge it into the clear light! " and so on.
Therefore, the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] states:
This self-arisen Divine Lord,
Alone is just the greatest of divinities;
The vajra master is even greater,
Since s/he bestows the personal instructions.
Having truly pleased him or her, Over years or also months, Having satisfied that mentor, Worship [244al as much as you can.
Having well instructed the consort
With whom you join, she should be given away, And you should make offerings with proper rites Amid the mandala of the host.
It declares that, since s/he bestows the personal instructions about this. you should view the mentor as greater than the Buddha, and you should propitiate him or her for a long time. After that you should make offer- ings with the secret and other offerings to the mentor who teaches this. And [Aryadeva also in] the Lamp of Integrated Practices says that you will not realize clear light without the personal instruction of the mentor. and that, having obtained the verbal transmission from the mentor who teaches indivisibly the causal and the fruitional teachings. you should
460 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
make offerings to that mentor as before. Though this is said [previously] in the context of receiving initiation, it is just the same in the context of receiving the practical instructions. You should understand that these, even if you perform them by mental imagination, are praised as the causes of arranging the favorable auspicious conditions for the distinc- tively excellent path.
After that, as for the the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices declaration that the mentor confers the secret and third initiation pre- ceded by the nine initiations [of the vase initiation], if you have previ- ously attained once the initiation that makes you a fit vessel, a second initiation to become fit is not necessary. In the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] statement that, in the pre-dawn twilight136 of the night when the initiation was conferred at midnight, the disciple propitiates the
mentor by offerings and praise, the offerings are as before. The praises are the four and a half verses beginning with "Liberated from the three realms . . . " After that praise, it is stated that the disciple petitions the men- tor with the three verses from "Liberated from evolution and birth. . . . " [244b]
As for the reason behind the statement that you should praise and invite the mentor in harmony with the personal instructions in the con- texts of magic body and clear light, it is good to assert that you should meditate the mentor yoga, having also used it in the contexts of the other stages, and that you should pray with those procedures. Therefore, you should pray in that way not only on just the occasion of hearing the practical instructions but also on other occasions. Therefore, in general in all vehicles and in specific in this vehicle, you should not break your commitments to the mentor, you should make offerings while consider- ing him or her as a buddha, you should please him or her with all methods of propitiation and abandon all unpleasing things; this seems to be the superior vital point.
136 Here the PK verse Ch. IV, 7 mentions the pre-dawn twilight (Skt. praryusa. Tib. tho rangs) in connection with the attainment of clear light transparence, after praising and pleasing the mentor.
? manifest enlightenments; [B ' greatness.
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 46 1
"
? clear light to such a person] " The second has three parts: [A
') Explaining both outer and inner ) Explaining the two contemplations, the art of realizing them: [c'"] Explaining their synonyms, along with their
Explaining both outer and inner The first has two parts: [1'"] The actual meaning; and [2'"] Rebut-
ting objections.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"ii"A"'1"' - The actual meaning]
As for what is taught out of compassion to such a disciple who prays in that way, [Nagarjuna says] in the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] :
Luminance i s part of the night, day where bright sun-rays spread is luminant radiance,
Twilight [evening darkness] is luminant imminence, and gradually one's instinctual natures go [away].
Freedom from instincts is nor night, nor day, nor twilight dark,
It is just the instant of enlightenment taught by the best mentor, the goal of the yogi/nis themselves.
Twilight limit137 not ended, (24Sa) but its deep black darkness fully past,
Yet the sun not risen - this moment is proclaimed the taintless limit of reality.
137 Skt. samdhya-tejas (perhaps "energy of twilight") here oddly translated as Tib. mtshams kyi mtha, seems to mean that the ambiguous state between light and dark, "extreme twilight," so to speak, inconceivably bridges over into predawn dark-light-nondual clear light. See above, p. 367 n. I l l ; and again, see D. Kittay's translation of Jewel Rosary
Tantra, Twilight chapter 1 5.
? ? ? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"ii" - Explaining the practical instruction in
manifest enlightenments I
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'ii'A"2"a"ii"A, -
462 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
The supreme master free of confusion shows the outer enlightenment to the disciple,
Who attains untroubled inner bliss by this instant of buddha enlightenment.
Thus both an outer and an inner enlightenment are taught. The Chag translation reads "Those are endowed all at once with freedom from instinctual natures," and "the end of darkness is finished and the splendor of twilight is entirely transcended, as long as the sun does not arise in that immaculate instant, here is taught the reality limit. "
Also [Aryadeva states] in the Integrated Practices, that
There are two kinds of manifest enlightenment. The outer manifest enlightenment is the clear light universal void- ness in the boundary-state of the predawn when the igno- rance luminance is transcended and the sun has not yet risen. Therein is the clear light universal voidness. 1 38
The import of this is explained as in the Five Stages, that passing beyond the times of imminence and the luminance night, while the sun has not yet risen, it is the predawn twilight [of clear light transparence] . [The Inte- grated Practices continues] :
When the sun rises it is radiance, When the sun sets it is ignorance, When the moon rises it is luminance.
As for teaching the inner manifest enlightenment: first, in the mirage-like state one sees an assemblage of five-colored light rays. Second, there is luminance like moon-rays. Third, there is luminance- radiance like sun-rays. Fourth, there is luminance-imminence like dark- ness. Then in the instant free from darkness, there is clear light transpar- ence, 1245bl extremely clear, having the nature of constant luminance, seen by the intuitive wisdom eye as the intrinsic identity of the ultimate reality.
138 Tsong Khapa abbreviates this quote from the CMP, especially the last phrases, but keeps the essential point .
? Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 463
Here you might wonder, "Here the mentor teaches the disciple the two enlightenments, outer and inner. As for the first, dividing an outer day into four parts, if you interpret separately the explanation of the four voids, it is incorrect that the fourth void is the instant of enlightenment and that it is the object of the yogT/nT him/herself. If I interpret him [or her] as explaining the four voids taking as example the four skies of those times, since the inner four voids are also like that I will not be able to differentiate the outer and the inner? since in the inner occasion also, they are taught using the examples of moon, sun, and darkness. If I interpret it as producing the four wisdoms of the four voids in the four times, it would happen that in the time of each of those four times the four voids would not develop in one time, and so how then would l distinguish the difference between the outer and inner enlightenments? "
In this regard, Master Go set forth two systems, the position of Naropa and the position of both Tsunmojen and Kr? hQa Samayavajra.
The first of these [systems] is the explanation of the four parts of the day as the four voids, which refers to the interpretable meaning, outer enlightenment, since it is the example of reality, the time, the sign, and the means of indication. The definitive meaning is the inner enlighten- ment; if you meditate by uniting with the consort, bringing the enlighten-
ment spirit into the root, shaft, and vase of the vajra and sealing those three blisses with voids, then ensue the three path luminances and the universal (246aJ void clear light, when there is the wisdom of the bliss that eliminates the reality [habit grounded] instinctual constructs at the time of two drops releasing and two drops abiding.
The second of these [systems] is the outer enlightenment [that occurs] when the four outer examples indicate the negandum from the part of the four freedoms from adventitious instinctual constructs, and the inner enlightenment is when that is shown from the side of the expe- rience of immersing the magic [body] in the clear light through the two
contemplations.
As for Lak? hmi explaining the four parts of the day as the four
voids, it is claimed that these are the four inner voids which have those names, and the inner enlightenment is explained as the four voids relying on the evolution consort and the four voids relying on the wisdom consort, or the four voids attained through the progression of the five signs such as mirage. The Moonlight Commentary, the Clear Meaning, the Samayavajra Commentary, and Munishri explain the four voids of
464 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
the outer occasion as the inner four voids, without clearly differentiating outer and inner voids. If you analyze as before explained, those who dif- ferentiate outer and inner have no cogent answer, neither do the explana- tions of those who do not differentiate seem to have a cogent answer.
This point is very hard to understand and seems to be important, so it must be investigated. It must be understood relying on the statements from the Illumination of the Lamp Fifteenth Chapter. The Root Tantra states:
[With] a girl from the priest, warrior, Merchant lord, and commoner classes,
You should practice as the vajra Dharma-lord.
This is the means to attain the secret.
When the vajra sun sets
You should initiate all achievements.
At the time when the dawn light arises,
It will be achieved by the supreme meditation.
Explaining the meaning of this, [246h] [Chandrak. Irti's] [Illumination of the Lamp] Commentary explains as follows: The perfection stage practi- tioner takes a female consort from either of the four castes; relying on her, the Dharma unbreakable as a vajra diamond is the perfection stage yoga. As for the nature of that, the practitioner endowed with that under- standing should achieve the means of attaining the vajra secret that is Vajradhara. And that must be perfected by means of the progression of manifest enlightenment. The method of that is shown by the four lines
beginning with [the one containing] "vajra. "
In that regard, as there are two processes of outer and inner enlight-
enment, as for explaining the first; the vajra sun is the actual sun. "When it sets" refers to the passing of the time when the red sun is cut off; you should propitiate the mentor with whatever possessions are at hand. Then when you have attained initiation by the kindness of the mentor at midnight, at the time of dawn, since the parts of the night that indicate luminance have passed, at the time just before sunrise, you are struck by the transmission of the process of clear enlightenment, and you will achieve it-meaning it will become pure. All this explains the process of the outer enlightenment. If one explains according to the process of inner enlightenment, the vajra sun emerges as the nature of union of the art
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 465
[male] with the intuitive wisdom [female], and its setting is its cessation as the reality of wisdom emerges. Thus when luminance and radiance have set, you should initiate the imminence, the means of achieving clear light-that is, it emerges. Dawn arising is ignorance; when that is passed, the practitioners, by the cause and condition of the three voids, realize the supreme meditation that is the clear light, and thereby they will achieve the universal seal [embrace]. Here the universal seal [embrace] is [247al the communion [stage].
Since this is stated as the means of the direct realization of clear light, both outer and inner enlightenments should be applied to objective clear light. As for the reliance on the external seal [consort] in the occa- sion of the proximate cause of realizing that, it is the meaning of the first verse. As for the way of reliance, at midnight the mentor confers the initiation relying on the evolution seal, as a means of indicating clear light. After that, when hit by the personal instructions of the way of meditating predawn clear light and of the system of achieving commun- ion after that, you will attain objective clear light, and after that achieve communion. Thus, since the realization of objective clear light specially relates to the predawn time, it is called the outer enlightenment, and since the realization is accomplished by the process of the four inner voids it is called the inner enlightenment. Therefore, having taken the other three segments of time in a day as the other three voids, explained above in the mind isolation context, it is indicated by the examples of the sky of those times, and so there is no fault of being unable to differentiate outer and inner. The nonleamer's communion is also stated [by Nagarjuna] in Five Stages and [Aryadeva] in Integrated Practices as being attained in the predawn time.
[Here, you might] object, "As for the fact that the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices, for the sake of that one who has achieved the magic body and aims for the clear light, state the private instructions of the predawn after midnight initiation [as] two enlightenments and two contemplations, is it that you can produce the objective clear light in that
very predawn, or not? If not, it contradicts what was said above from the Illumination ofthe Lamp. If so, 1247111 since before obtaining such ability. one would be unfit to be taught the personal instructions of clear light.
? Second - Rebutting objections]
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd 'ii 'A "2 "a "ii "A "'2 "'
466 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
though one fully attains all four initiations before achieving the magic body, one would become unfit to learn completely the perfection stage that explains the Tantra by the six parameters and four procedures. Or, if one were fit, then explain the intention of teaching as above the way of learning the personal instruction of clear light having completed the magic body! "
Let us explain. In regard to that statement in the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices, there are two contexts, one that of achieving basic fitness and the other that of having attained the magic body and having such an ability. The Illumination ofthe Lamp statement intends the latter context and is not made in terms of all such statements. A qualified dis- ciple will prepare for attaining the complete fitness initiation by develop- ing understanding from a complete explanation of the Tantra. A fully quali- fied mentor thoroughly develops in his spiritual process a realization of
each phase of the path and so will explain the personal instructions that are developed in the disciple ' s spiritual process by the stages of the path teachings. Now since that disciple must still rely [on the mentor] even more intensely, how could it be the case that the personal instruction on the clear light previously explained would not now have to be explained [more deeply]? Therefore, since there are naturally limitless disciples for achieving the magic body, and there are even more limitless persons worthy of being their mentors, it does not suffice to count them by the masters and disciples of nowadays. I39
Just having attained the magic body, you cannot develop the objec- tive clear light within a single day; [248aJ since the Wisdom Vajra Com-
pendium states in the context of ultimate clear light as follows:
"Divine Lord! What happens after the three voids and clear light? " The Divine Lord replied, "Just as fire bums wood to ashes, so in clear light, wisdom intuition causes purification over a long time. Just as the tala leaves become ashes, the art intuition causes purification. Just as the petals of cotton plants bum, so the intuition of lumi- nance attained causes purification supremely quickly. "
139This is a rather amazing statement, considering the usual view ofthen and now being ever deeper in a dark age.
? Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 467
And the Five Stages also states:
In a year or in a month, having propitiated that mentor. . .
Thus, even having attained the magic body, having heard the instruction of the clear light from the mentor, after having meditated many methods of entering into the clear light through the two contemplations, you should then do as the Illumination ofthe Lamp statement recommends. You must differentiate how orgasmic bliss becomes the objective clear light which directly realizes the import of the reality of thatness and how it well under- stands the qualities of the metaphoric clear light even when it does not [yet] become that [metaphoric clear light].
the art of realizing them]
As previously explained, one who has well achieved the magic body must strive to develop the objective clear light in her or his spiritual continuum. When objective clear light manifests for you, you must be taught the way the outer and inner enlightenments occur, and before 1248bJ that the way to meditate the two contemplations of the holistic holding and the serial dissolving. Of these, the former has already been explained; so here I will explain the two contemplations.
Nagarjuna explains these in the Fourth Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] :
The disciple who has gotten the private instruction, Then learns the two kinds of yoga:
The processes of holistic holding
And of serial dissolving.
From the head or the feet,
Until it reaches the heart center,
The yogi/ni should enter the truth limit- That is called the holistic holding.
First having made animate and inanimate
Into clear light,
[The yogi/ni] should make [his own] nature such - That is the dissolving process.
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd 'ii 'A "2 "a "ii "B " '
- Explaining the two contemplations,
468 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
As breath on a mirror
Completely dissolves,
So the yogi/ni should enter the truth limit Again and again.
And [Aryadeva, in] the Integrated Practices:
Thus having realized directly universal voidness one should visualize the two contemplations through this stage. The procedure is as follows: As a lump [of snow] placed in an immaculate stream or pond, so the yogi/ni should gradually meditate a process of serial dissolving. S/he should regard it as like breath-vapor gradually fad- ing in a mirror. And also in the case of holding holisti-
cally, s/he should visualize also in this stage.
Here, as for "having realized the fourth void and accomplishing the visu- alization in the two contemplations," it describes the realizations of the two enlightenments and the two contemplations, after what has already been explained. The two verses beginning with "the disciple who has gotten the private instruction" [249aJ refers to one who has gotten the private instruction and is in training. For that person, holistic holding proceeds "reaching up to the heart center" by compressing down from your head and up from your feet, [bringing] both ends into your heart center. Kan- hapa explains that you compress everything between your head and your feet into your heart center seed and that into a drop and that into the void. Thus compressing into the heart center the yogi/ni enters into the truth limit clear light transparence. As for the example of that, it is given by the four lines beginning with "of the breath. . . . " As the vapor smudge left on a mirror by breath collects from all its limits into the center, so you compress into the center of the heart center from the up and down, left
and right, back and front of the body.
As for dissolving, first you compress animate and inanimate into
clear light and after that compress yourself into clear light. As for "accord- ing to your nature" is correctly explained by Kanhapa as performed in the same way as holistic holding. "Again and again" refers to the need for practicing those two repeatedly. The example of dissolving is the gradual melting of a ball of snow in a pond. Here the old Chag translation is more apt in mentioning "drops" (thigs pa).
? Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 469
Both these practices involve a gradual destruction of your aggre- gate, being distinguished merely by whether or not they first compress the rest of the animate and inanimate environment. The verbal meaning of "dissolving" is as [already] explained. Abhaya explains that "holistic" refers to the body and "holding" to its being held by voidness. The body enters, or is held, into clear light. [249b] That the two contemplations both realize the objective clear light having made the heart center the final place of compression is the marvellous position of the Noble father and sons, as you must understand according to the many reasons already
explained.
In regard to this visualization of a process of compression, though
it is not openly and clearly explained as a compression of wind-energy, you should understand that when you perform that visualization it in fact serves as the unexcelled wind-energy-compression process. Here, the Four Goddess Dialogue says:
Always abide in the center of the heart,
Endowed with the blaze of great light,
Up to reaching the nine,
Abiding in the forehead and down to the foot soles, Compress it all into that drop,
Abiding in the center of that hub.
Thus, from the "brow," that is the head, down to the soles of the feet, everything is compressed into that very heart center drop, which means it states that you should make it stay in the hub of the lotus of the heart center. Therefore, in the speech isolation context, you must understand that all three meditations of life-energy control are methods of develop- ing the four voids by compressing the energies and light-spirits into the heart center. By the force of habituation to that, here by the process of compressing the sphere of vision, you cause the energy and enlighten- ment spirit to compress into the heart center and enter into clear light; and that is the reason why the two contemplations are stated as the medi- tation that is the method for the magic body yogi/ni to enter into clear
light.
Moreover, the necessity of uniting with the outer seal is stated in the Wi. 'idom Vajra Compendium, since it has the same function (as the two contemplations ) . As for the statement that the two contemplations cause
the magic body to enter the clear light-having 12Sflul meditated on the
470 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
energy and mind again and again compressing into the heart center and developing the four voids-at the time when the objective clear light is manifest, it means that it serves to purify the magic body as well. As for the magic body person meditating the two contemplations, though the followers of the Marpa tradition do not teach the meditation of the triply stacked spiritual heroes of the three vajras, the private instructions of the Go system claim that the meditation of those three is the meaning of the Root [Tantra] and Commentaries of the Eleventh Chapter. Thus it is espe- cially excellent, in that something lying in the Tantra commentary is taken out and used as a private instruction. That again is stated in the Root Tantra:
Buddha abiding in the center of the mandala, Place Vairochana in my body.
Visualize the letter OM in the heart center, Meditate conscousness in the mantra.
The cessation vajra in the very mind, When it develops there,
Hold the supreme of all buddhas, Like the glorious wish-fullfiller.
Buddha abiding in the center of the mandala, Meditate Vajra Ak? hobhya,
Meditate the HOM letter in the heart center, Place the mind to become the drop.
Buddha abiding in the center of the mandala Meditate Amitayus.
Visualize the letter A/:1 in the heart center, Place the vajra in becoming the drop.
This is that supreme of supreme commitments- Meditating the three vajra unbreakables,
The cessation vow intuitive wisdom
You will attain the power of buddhahood.
Here "buddha" means "buddha-realization," what is to be realized, the mandala I2SObJ of knowable objects, the body, speech, and mind of the three realms. "In the center of that" means the reality of those things. "Abiding there" means you imagine the actuality of your body, speech,
Chapter IX- Ultimate Clear Light Transparence ? 47 1
and mind. As for meditating Vairochana. Ak? hobhya and Amitayus, it means meditating Vairochana as the inseparability of the two bodies. Ak? hobhya as the inseparability of the two minds. and Amitabha as the
inseparability of the two speeches
As for meditating the three, OM A/:1 HOM, in the heart centers of
the three meditated devotee heroes, they are the wisdom hero. As for the mantra, OM is assigned as consciousness, the samadhi hero drop, HOM is assigned as the natural mind of the samadhi hero become a drop. and Al:l is assigned as the vajra of the samadhi hero, the natural mind become a drop. The yogi/ni who meditates in that manner injects his/her natural mind into the center of the cessation vajra, the clear light. Thereby, when s/he abandons meditating the drop and the ultimate clear light is devel- oped, s/he holds or achieves the supreme of all buddhas, becoming like a wish-fulfilling gem which fulfills all aspirations, endowed with the glory of both stores [of wisdom and merit] . As for this meditation of the indivisi- bility of your own body, speech, and mind and the three vajras of body, speech, and mind of all beings, it is the supreme commitment, superior to the creation stage, generating the intuitive wisdom which is understood by the private instruction which holds the commitment to the clear light transparence of cessation. Therefore, the Buddha, [25 laJ that is the accom- plishments of the aggregates, free from the ordinary body, the profound, magnificent wisdom body, will be attained. Such is the explanation of the Illumination ofthe Lamp.
Thus, having attained the magic body, for the sake of immersing your body, speech, and mind into the clear light, first you meditate, as triply nested, the body vajra, then the speech vajra, and then the mind vajra. You truly meditate not only the first two heroes, but also the samadhi hero as the drop, and thereby cause your own immersion in the clear
light.
