No More Learning

By the key of both father and sons explaining thus about the be- tween, you will attain understanding about how-since death and birth are the spinning on the wheel of the life cycle as the impulsive birth and death of the person who lacks the personal instruction, and yet for one who has the personal instruction, what becomes death arises as the truth body and what becomes impulsive birth-taking arises as the emanation body-[authors] might indicate the natural processes with the names of the two path-time bodies, and indicate the two path-time bodies with the names of the two natural processes. In the Stage of Arrangement, it is clearly taught that, having understood both stages of the mind objective through abiding in the vajra recitation-as it is explained that one real- izes the clear light in the processes of death by means of the two [holistic and dissolving] contemplations-one must generate in one's process the perfection stage paths according to the processes of death. Those follow- ing the system of the translator Go, though they explain the processes of
existential birth and death as the basis of purification of both stages, they do not employ the schemes of the three bodies and the five stages in the context of basic time. But those who follow the Marpa system, depend- ing on the Concise Five Stages quote:
The experience of becoming, [death,] and birth
Is taught to be combined in a single session in a day.
very excellently employ the terms of the three bodies for birth, death, and between, and the terms of the five stages for the basic time vajra recita- tion and so on. 164bl Such usage is necessary since it is for the purpose of
Chapter 11-Learning the Tantric Path ? 145
generating the path in one's process according to the processes of birth and death in natural existence.
Even though you use such terms, it will not be good if you do not know the purpose, and explain that the instructions about death as the truth body and so forth are to be practiced only at the time of death and the between, or if you use the terms of the ground time five stages in some way other than the above-explained. As for the meaning of imple- menting the five stages in a single day. a certain Marpa system follower says that one day's inhalation and exhalation is vajra recitation, the instinctual notions dissolving in the heart center is the mind objective, sleep is clear light, dream arisal is magic body, and waking is communion. As for his interpretation of the general sleep and dream instruction as the personal instruction of the Noble system, except for knowing how to explain depending on the Integrated Practices, a clear explanation is not explicit anywhere in the Noble system texts. Although the Illumination of the Lamp quotes one reference from that context in the Integrated Prac- tices, it is merely quoted [and not explained]. If we interpret according to the intention there, one can call the vajra recitation as above, the first three of the four voids that arise between the start of sleep and the arisal
of dream are called the mind objective, and this basic clear light is called the sleep truth body. Here not the mere arisal of dream but the existence of a specific body in the dream is the stage of magic body, called the dream beatific body. And this can represent the third stage and fifth stage magic bodies. Then, waking is the [6SaJ emanation body, this not being just mere waking but a specific kind of awakening. As for Indian [masters] other than the above mentioned followers of the five Noble father and sons, they don't explain the five stages of becoming, birth, and death, the
ground three bodies, and the single day five stages. Still, as for what emerges from the personal instructions of Naropa, it is definitely neces- sary, as being the intention of the above-explained texts. And I have explained them here since, if you know well such a way of determining the five stages in the natural, basic context, then you can discover a great
certainty about the keys of the personal instruction of the [nine] mergers.
146? BrilliantIlluminationoftheLamp
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. B'2'b'ii' - Explaining the art of penetrating the vital points
? in the body relying on that!
Such attainment of the two magic bodies from mere neural-wind- energy-mind, as it is attained in coorespondence with the [basic natural] between, the four voids preceding it must be achieved according to the four voids of the death time. In that regard, the Tantric Vajra Rosary states:
As for the wind-energies' supreme decline, Who truly understands it,
Knows the nature in an instant of death, And mutually truly condenses them, Dissolving [them] as in the process of birth.
Thus, according to the stages of emergence in the time of birth, at the time of death one dissolves through the ascending process. 57 Again the text [the Vajra Rosary] continues:
The addictive mind, the life-energy itself, Will always truly proceed.
First, at the time of transit,
It becomes like the form of a fish.
Thus, at the time of first transition, the life-energy-holding wind is created, and from it, gradually, there develop the nine [other] wind-energies, such as the evacuative energy. and so forth. "The life-energy wind abides in the heart center," it is said. I6SbJ Thus, as the life-energy wind is said to abide in the heart center, at the time of death the neural-wind-energy- mind dissolves into the heart center. This Tantra agrees with A rya Asanga also, in explaining that the heart center is the first place of entrance of the consciousness in the center of the father's and mother's semen and ovum, that the body develops from there up and down, and that finally at the time of death the consciousness exits from the heart center. This does not contradict the statements from the Samputa {Tantra} and so forth that at the time of death the consciousnesses transits from the nine doors such as
S7 Tib. mul' rim, i. e. " stages from below," i. e. ascending, though one thinks of the dissolu- tion at death as being a process of descending energies down from the brain and sense doors located in the head.
? Chapter //-Learning the Tantric Path ? 147
eye and ear. For, since the heart center is the chief support of the mind, consciousness cannot transit from any other door until it has emerged from the abode of the heart center indestructible [drop] ; and the personal instructions for death-transition in those sections of those Tantras are stated in the Sheaf of Instructions to require training in the yoga of eject- ing consciousness from the heart center.
Therefore, you should proceed according to the basic [natural] five stages. By meditating the indestructible in the heart center and by doing vajra recitation by inhaling, holding, and exhaling the energy while visu- alizing the heart center, finally you can stop the in and out of the energy and gradually dissolve it into the heart center and experience the dawn of the four voids, after which you will achieve the extremely subtle magic body from just the wind and mind abiding within the gross body. Then, you will achieve the magic body after the metaphoric clear light, and the communion body after the objective clear light. Since that beati-fic body cannot be seen by the ordinary eye, but can be seen by the flesh eye [only] when it upholds the body of gross aggregates, it then [can make itself into] an emanation body.
Thus in the Noble system the best spot [66aJ for penetrating the vital points in the body is the center of the channel wheel at the heart center; and so you should hold this as the import of "vital point. " And this ultimate personal instruction of expert liberative artistry for transforming this turning the wheel of the life cycle by the rosary of birth, death, and between of the natural basic time into the death truth body, between
beatific body, and birth emanation body-its liberative arts being such as this king of life-energy[-breath]-controls sufficiently [practiced by remem- bering to] identify the personal instruction within the very inhalation and exhalation of the energy through which each living being abides auto- matically. This is the personal instruction identifying the three bodies of the great Vajradhara, the noble Nagarjuna. I will explain below the way of penetrating the vital points in the body by practicing according to the
single-day-five-bodies.
CHAPTER [[/
Explanation ofthe Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra in Particular
( 66a. 3-83b. 6]
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c' -
The third, explaining the perfection stage of this Tantra in particular, has three parts: [ 1 '] Explanation of the way of thorough evaluation of the ultimate private instruction; [2'] The need to reconcile the other private instructions of the ancient mentors with this [ultimate private instruction] ; and [3'] The actual explanation of the stages of the path of the perfection stage .
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'l ' - Explanation of the way of thorough evaluation of the ultimate private instruction I
The ultimate location of the private instruction of the five stages is the Esoteric Community Root Tantra, so that is the ultimate treatise of that instruction. However, within that Tantra the five perfection stages are sealed, or [kept] inexplicit and concealed, and the Explanatory Tantras make statements that release those seals and explicate that hidden import. That being the case, it is declared that, if you do not [receive] personal explanation from a qualified mentor who knows how to fully explain the
meaning of the Tantra by connecting the Root and Explanatory Tantras, even the jewel-like person will not fully f66bl understand the import of the Tantra. Therefore, it must depend on the private instruction of the mentor. As the Five Stages states:
That truth stands well sealed
In the glorious Community Tantra; Following the Explanatory Tantras, Realize it from the mentor's speech.
Such is the import of the statement that one must understand from the mentor's speech the import sealed or concealed in the Root Tantra, which should not be interpreted as [condoning] the accepting of any oral tradi- tion of the mentors which, by their avoiding writing, is not established in
? ? 149
Explaining the perfection stage of this T:mtra in pm1icularl
1 50 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the Tantra. If you do interpret it in that way, it becomes an obstacle to gen- erating the unexcelled reverence for the Root and Explanatory Tantras. You will not discover the import of the Tantra and you will persist in the same tendency during future lives as well.
Such a type of concealment is one in which the import concealed is taught in the Tantra where it is hidden, but concealed by not being ex- plicit. As the Vajra Rosary Tantra states:
The very clear truth of Mantra,
That truth is supremely secret;
I do not explain it wheresoever, Considering those who lack the destiny; But what I have hidden in all the Tantras, Listen and that will I explain.
Thus, such a topic as the vajra recitation is concealed in the lower Tantras by not being taught at all, which is the type of concealment of not being taught [at all] in such a Tantra. In such a case, as the private instruction cannot be found therein at all, one must seek it elsewhere. One must un- derstand the difference between these two ways of concealment.
So, the Vajra Rosary declares:
Some people who do not know [the way], And who very much want to go
To the far shore of the four oceans,
Yet who do not inquire into the path I67al -
How are they going to get there?
In the same way, the practitioner
Who lacks the private instruction
Gotten with great difficulty,
Will remain without fruition.
Again even the wise practitioner
Can get angry ; that moment of anger
Destroys fruition and sends him to the Raurava hell.
Therefore, with all efforts, and with respect. One should learn the private instructions, From the lineage of mentors.
Here one might imagine that ''this declares the drawbacks of lack- ing the mentor's private instructions, even though one might be skilled in
Chapter Ill-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 151
the Root and Explanatory Tantras; so it is not correct to accept the Root and Explanatory Tantras as the ultimate private instruction. " But the "wise" [person] mentioned here is a person learned in the other sciences and lacking in the mentor's private instruction, and is not a person skilled in the Root and Explanatory Tantras. This is because lacking that private instruction precludes being skilled in the two [kinds of] Tantras; because the statement occurs in a context in that Tantra where, in response to Vajrapal)i's question about what is the private instruction, the Buddha clearly states that private instruction; and because there is no contradic- tion at all between the necessity of the instruction of the mentor who teaches connecting Root and Explanatory Tantras and the Root and Ex- planatory Tantras [themselves] being the supreme instruction.
In regard to those Tantric texts, it is shown that, after having sought the understanding which is thorough knowledge of the paths to be trav- eled from the beginner's stage up to buddhahood, if one then does not put into practice the instructions, but travels the path by sitting in stolid confusion, it is like the person who wants to cross over the ocean without learning the way from one who knows the way, but proceeding in total confusion. 167bl Thus, you should understand this reference as a source
[for the fact] that, before practicing the private instruction, you must develop a full insight about it. And the Noble father and sons, seeing that the above explained mentor's knowledge of teaching by connecting Root and Explanatory Tantras would be hard to find in the future, and that writing down the mentor's precept discovered by such mentors' connect- ing the Root and Explanatory Tantras would [cause it to] remain even for a long time, wrote many treatises on the instruction in the two stages such as the Five Stages and the Lamp of Integrated Practices. And those con- tain the ultimate keys of the precept that must be known from the mouth
of the mentor who has discovered the import of the Tantra.
As for their not being able to take much effect in contemporary persons even though in actuality they are the ultimate instructions, it is because of the key point that the powers of the mind in later times have been gradually diminished from [their level] in previous times, and is not because the ultimate keys of the precepts are not clear in those texts. I n
those texts, it is not only just that the import is not concealed and unclear. as it is in the Root Tantra, but also- 1out of awareness that I even though they explained the concealed meaning clearly. their treatises' would become unclear as the passage of time would make the persons minds
152? BrilliantIlluminationoftheLamp
unclear-as a method of generating such realization [in the minds of future disciples], they made commentaries which elucidated the verbal meaning extremely clearly. Also, as a way of providing realization of the import of that, even if they did not directly [write a commentary] they
wrote extra notes on the precept as well.
? in these two stages, and nowadays we see sixteen oral traditions of Naro- pa's instructions, descended through Master Marpa. Among these, there is the manual of the five stages [falsely] attributed to the mentor Marpa called Lama's Speech Light Rays Teaching, which takes as authority the apparitional Nondual Triumph Tantra, and agrees with the interpretations of that Tantra alone. Since it seems to disagree with the verifiable instruc-
Now the root word on this precept of the Marpa tradition is the Concise Five Stages Elucidation, as above explained, and it appears that Serdingpa also relied on that. In the writings of Serdingpa on the personal instruction of the Community, there are things from the Yogini Tantra such as the meditations of body-invasion, soul-ejection, and furor, which seem to have been put forth on some sort of a basis in the Concise Five Stages Elucidation. And the reason why that treatise teaches those things will be explained below.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '2 ' - The need to reconcile the other private instructions of the ancient mentors with that (ultimate private instruction)]
If you thoroughly evaluate the stages of the manuals composed by the Tibetan saints in the light of the instructions of this [Noble tradition], you must do it by long study of the way properly to connect I6SaJ Root
and Explanatory Tantras, of the treatises of the five father and sons along with their accessory [texts], and also by thorough study of all the addi- tional private instruction [texts]. The Master Go wrote a work known as the Great Voidness Session, which extensively elucidated the instructions
tions of the Marpa tradition, it would not seem to have been authored by that mentor. Of the manuals written by Serdingpa, who witnessed the two traditions in the succession from Tsurton to Geypawa, the contents are in agreement with the explanations of the Concise Five Stages Elucidation
of other lineages.
Chapter Ill-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 153
Although there seem to be many other gross and subtle (68hJ pre- cepts of the Community, the principal ones are the four [by Serdingpa (12th c. )],58 the Five Point Treatise on the Five Stages,59 the Four Point Treatise,60 the Five Stages Single Session, and the Wheel Endowed. These are manuals teaching completely the imports of the five stages of this tradi- tion. Thus it is not the case that the ancient mentors did not write com- plete manuals [of the private instructions] and only transmitted them orally.
Now, the first four subjects of the Five Point exist in the written annotation of the precepts, and so are not explained in that treatise except in subject outline. Thus the Five Point teaches just that instruction of meditating the two stages in a single session, in connection with the signs of the path. Therefore, it is the precept of meditating the five stages in a single session.
The Four Point teaches four subjects, the practitioner, the place, the companion, and the actual instruction, the content of which actual instruction is the same as in the above work.
The Five Stages Single Session is renowned [also] as the Father Tantra Quintessence. 61 As it says:
There are six points in the instruction;
Meditation of creation and perfection in one sitting, Investigating forward and reverse ignorance, Channeling bliss into the path,
Furor, soul-ejection, and invasion [yogas].
58 Ace. to the TBRC online database, Serdingpa (gser sdings pa gzhon nu 'od; 12th c. ) wrote the following five texts: (1) gsang 'dus don lnga ma; (2) gsang 'dus rim lnga 'khor lo'i can; (3) gsang 'dus rim lnga gdan rdzogs; (4) gsang 'dus rim lnga'i khrid skor; (5) gsangs 'dus 'khor lo med pa don bzhi ma. Presumably our Five Point Treatise on the Five Stages (rim lnga don lnga ma) = (1) gsang 'dus don lnga ma; our Four Point Treatise (don bzhi ma) = (5) gsangs 'dus 'khor lo med pa don bzhi ma; our Five Stages
59 rim lnga don lnga ma . 60 don bzhi ma .
61 Tsong Khapa refers to the Five Stages Single Session by this alternate name again below, Tib 83b.
? ? Single Session (rim lnga gdan rdzogs) = (3) gsang 'dus rim lnga gdan rdwgs; and our Wheel Endowed ( 'khor lo can) = (2) gsang 'dus rim lnga 'khor lo 'i can. These remain to
be investigated in more detail.
1 54 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Though this six-point teaching is the complete way of teaching the imports of the Marpa tradition literature on the Community precept, the main thing is the meditation of creation and perfection at one sitting.
The Wheel Endowed, though it teaches the five stages, gets its name [by concentrating] on the meditation of the mantra wheel in the heart center; in it also occurs the precept of the [way of] completion of the five
stages within the [mantra] wheel-possessing [heart center] in a single sitting. That instruction of meditating the mantra wheel in the heart [69aJ occurs in all four of the texts, from which point of view they can all be called "wheel endowed. " Since the complete meditation in the Wheel En- dowed of the five stages in a single session is called "complete sitting of the five stages," all four of the texts are the "instruction in the five stages
single session. "
In the Four Point, when expressing the number of instructions
transmitted by Geypawa to Jakangpa, while his head was aching, the above four texts are not mentioned, but the mentioned "Five Stages Single Session Vital Manuaf' refers to all those teachings. The reason why such a name is used is that they are interpreted as relying on the teaching of the meditation of five stages in a single session; as the Concise Five Stages states:
Various vehicles, transcendences,
Existence, birth, living, and so on,
As differentiated by differences of time,
Unite them in a single session and meditate on them.
The Master Naropa bestowed upon Mentor Marpa four distinctive instructions relying on four superb Tantras. Among them, he was said to have bestowed the "Instruction on meditating the five stages completely in a single session relying on the Glorious Esoteric Community"; and the above explained should be understood as just this.
? ? The more recent sages of Tibet say that the transmission concern- ing the instructions of the Marpa tradition of the Communitv is commit- ted to writing. Those who uphold the instructions of this tradition, except for just a few of them, some of them write miscellaneously about the
Community precept, some of them seem to arrange them in one section in the context of the six yogas of Naropa. And even if they do not set them forth in one section in writing by such an arrangement, J69bJ it is not that
C h a p t e r Il l - P e rfe c t i o n S t a g e of t h i . r; Ta n t r a ? 1 5 5
they do not write them down. And also it is not that they were not written down before those authoritative manuals of the Marpa tradition.
The above mentioned four [texts on] the precept of the complete sitting are from one author, but either represent the different statements of different or earlier and later mentors, or are [different] because of the various changes of the mind of the one author. For there seem to be many inconsistencies and many writing mistakes that are continued for some time. Therefore, their explanations of the import of the Concise Five Stages organize and combine the instructions transmitted from Naropa's disciple Jiianakara to Nagtso and the other instructions transmitted by Marpa, and some become and some do not become the import of the Concise Five Stages. All of them ground themselves on the Root and Explanatory Tantras and on the undisputable treatises of the five father and sons. From among them, some are openly upheld [as valid], some not, and even those correct ones not upheld, in a way are [preserved] there in that their meaning is attained [indirectly]. And if one explains that such are by reason of the errors of those somewhat not fulfilling the intention of the first instruction, due to the length of the transmission, [nevertheless], it seems that the potency of the Marpa tradition Commu- nity instructions came to be completely extracted; and that is how it is to be explained.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3' - The actual explanation of the stages of the path of the perfection stage]
The third has four parts: [a'] Categories of the perfection stage; [b'] Certification of their order; [c'] Certification of their number; and [d'] The import of the individual categories.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'a' -
The first has two parts: [i'] The actual categories; and [ii'] The way
to reconcile the five stages and the six branches.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'aT -
Here one wonders, "how many stages are included within the per- fection stage? " [70al The Root Tantra-Patsab translation, sixth chapter- states that:
? ? ? Categories of the perfection stage]
The actual categories]
1 56 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
In mantra [practice], by the visualized body,
And by speech which urges [Vajrasattva] in the mind, You attain the extreme and supreme acomplishment, The mind's delight, and [perfect] beatitude.
As for the meaning of this, "in mantra [practice], visualized" refers to speech isolation. "By body" refers to the body emanated as the means of attaining vajra recitation; that is, the body isolation. The "speech" isola- tion thereby attained, "which urges" the Vajrasattva who abides "in the mind," in the heart center. By precisely taking him as object, one should attain the four "extreme" and "supreme" [attainments, i. e. the voids and
joys of the mind objective] in the Yogi Tantras. The "extreme and supreme" is the mind isolation developed from the vajra recitation. "Accomplishment" refers to the self-consecration, [i. e. the creation of the magic body]. "The mind's delight" refers to the ultimate reality clear light that is the means of purifying the magic body. "Beatitude" is de- clared when one is liberated in the communion body of great Vajradhara. Thus, here there are said to be six stages such as body isolation and so forth.
As for the translations of both [Root] Tantra and commentaries in this context, the new translations are better. This verse is quoted in the Integrated Practices in the context of the single clan body isolation, and [our explanation above] does not contradict the explanation of its mean- ing there, as being that, having developed the body vajra, one engages with the speech vajra by connected in tongue, palate, and lips, while the mind vajra is the means of urging [Vajrasattva] therein; and by the union of these three [vajras], the mind is delighted and satisfied and one attains accomplishment. For some vajra words can be given many different ex- planations.
170bl For example, when the [Root Tantra] Seventh Chapter proclaims that one will attain the supreme accomplishment when one kills the host of transcendent lords, the Savior Nagarjuna interprets this as referring to the retraction of one's visualization into clear light, while Aryadeva explains it as referring to entrance into the perfection stage clear light.
In the Illumination of the Lamp on the first chapter, [Chandrakirti] makes the creation stage one stage and the perfection stage four stages from mind objective. In regard to that, from that same text, it states:
It is the condensed meaning of all Tantras. . .
Chapter Ill-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 157
so this is an interpretation that condenses all the main meanings, without putting into five stages a single element of the subjects of the Tantra. Though Master Bhavyakirti and company explain that "The mantra body is very much attained" refers to the vajra recitation, it is better to follow the Tibetan scholars who include body isolation and speech isolation within the mind objective, since that accords with the reference to the first two isolations in the context of the hiddenness of the mind in the Vajra Rosary, the Tantra of the hidden meaning explanation of the setting of the [main] Tantra.
In the Summary Teaching ofthe Five Stages, the Noble [Nagarjuna] makes the perfection stage into five stages, taking the vajra recitation as the first, which follows the system in the final chapter of the Explanatory Tantra Vajra Rosary. In the Integrated Practices, "That same thing is five! " is similar to those, while in its detailed explanation, it makes a whole chapter out of the body isolation and states six stages. In the Stage ofArrangement, [7lal the vajra recitation is interpreted as the first stage and the mind objective as the second, showing its preference of a system of five stages like the Summary Teaching.
That the Noble master does not explain body isolation clearly- except for a brief mention in the Third Stage [chapter of the Five Stages] -is extensively explained in the Integrated Practices. Here one might wonder about the reason why the Noble master does not speak of it in the way [A ryadeva] does in the Integrated Practices, putting it before the speech isolation. Concerning this, the Kashmiri Lak? hmi and Bhavyakirti explain that the expression "well abiding on the creation stage" refers to both the triple samadhi creation stage and to the body isolation, thereby claiming that the Noble master also indicates body isolation as prelimi- nary to speech isolation. As for "creation stage" referring to body isola-
tion, it must be accepted because of the explanations of body isolation as the creation stage in the Moonlight Commentary and so forth. As for the Five Point statement:
The Noble master did not interpret the creation stage as completing the magic body. . .
and the Four Point statement:
the creation stage preliminarily includes the magic body . . .
158 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
they consider the mode of deity creation of the body isolation and that of the creation of Vajradhara as the magic body to be the same; but as for saying that it seems that both are considered creation stage-including the magic body in the creation stage-it only refers to the body isolation magic body as included in creation stage, and does not refer to any body isolation apart from the creation stage. This does not accord with any of the treatises of the noble literature 17tbl and seems to be an explanation coming from not understanding the meaning of the Concise Five Stages
Elucidation.
As for my own interpretation, the Noble master did not mention the second stage body isolation, taken as the second part of a twofold body isolation, prior to the speech isolation, considering it contained within the varja recitation stage. Thus, the first two isolations can be contained within the mind objective stage and the perfection stage considered to have four stages overall. Or the vajra recitation can be
taken separately, subsuming the body isolation, and there are five stages. Or the body isolation can be taken separately and there can be six stages. All this is not contradictory, since it is [simply] a matter of separating or including.
Again, in the Community Further Tantra the perfection stage as the supreme service is proclaimed as the six branches of yoga such as retrac- tion :
Taking it as the six branches of service,
It is to be supremely achieved;
The practice of others will not bring forth The supreme accomplishment.
Retraction, contemplation,
Life-energy control, and endurance, Mindfulness and samadhi -
These are called the six branches of yoga.
This first verse states that if you do not attain the supreme by way of the six branches, you will not attain it: and so all Unexcelled Yoga Tantra accomplishments of the supreme must complete the six branches - but it is not necessary that one must do it exactly according to every system's interpretation of the six yogas. Otherwise, all perfection stages must be-
come the same. And since 172al the reasoning must equally apply to all
Chapter Ill-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 159
creation stages, [the Buddha's] teaching of infinite Tantras for the sake of different disciples would have been pointless, since the teaching of one Tantra would have sufficed. Therefore, though most creation stage visu- alization practices are similar in being contained within the three sama- dhis such as the primary application, there are many differing methods which must be interpreted as carrying the meaning of those three. Like- wise, although all perfection stages are similar in having to be interpreted as arrangements of the six yoga branches, they have many things of dis- similar meaning. Sometimes even [yoga branches] such as "retraction" and so on may have the same names [in different Tantras' perfection stages] and not need to be interpreted as synonymous. For there seem to be innu- merable cases in both Su tras and Tantras where the name is the same and the referents different, and where the same referent has different names.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'a'ii' - The way to reconcile the five stages and the six branches]
The second has two parts: [A"] Setting forth the various systems; and [B"] Analyzing their correctness and incorrectness.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'a'ii'A" - Setting forth the various systems]
The first has two parts: [1"] Setting forth the systems of the [Indian] commentators; and [2") Setting forth the systems of the Tibetan mentors.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'a'ii'A"l" - Setting forth the systems of the [Indian] commentators]
Here the means of inclusion are the six stages including body iso- lation, and those to be included are the six branches of yoga. Now there are many systems of these, similar in names but divergent in meaning; such as the six branch systems of the three Bodhisattva Commentaries,62
62 Namely, the famous Kalachakra commentary, Vima/aprabha (Stainless Light: Tl'ih. 1347) by Pul)4 ar1ka CAvalokiteshvara); VajrapBQi's Lak? ? abhidhanacl uddhrta-laghu- rantra-pit;U/llrtha-vivarw:za-nama (Supreme Hli. u Eulogy Commnztary; Tl'ih. 1402); and Vajragarbha'! ii Hevajrapir. uJarthatTka (Commentary on the Conci. \? e Mt'tming t? l thc He- vajra;Toh. 1180).
? ? ? ? 1 60 ? Brilliant lllumination of the Lamp
of the Personal Instruction of MafijushrT and its commentaries, of the Flower Bouquet, of the Sheaf of Instructions, and of the Tathagatavajra explanation based on the Lo yipaSupreme Bliss tradition, and so forth. l72bJ Here I am not going to describe all the ways of their being reconciled, but am going to show the way to reconcile the six branches as explained in the Illumination of the Lamp in elucidating the textual meaning of the
Further Tantra.
Here, the "retraction," which the Moonlight Commentary has in- cluded with "contemplation" in the abbreviated creation stage, is the deity meditation. With it go the fivefold contemplation branch, with the
judgement and discrimination which analyze in terms of superficial and ultimate, the joy and bliss from the confrontation with the immersion in thatness, and the one pointedness of mind from aiming the mind exclu- sively at voidness. Here, the compressing of the winds in the indomitable [central channel] is explained as "life-energy control," not included in these five stages [of "contemplation"]; and yet this reconciles with the vajra recitation. "Endurance" is explained as the magical vajradhara body, of the nature of clear light; so the "endurance" [branch] is reconciled with the magic body and the clear light. The instantaneous perfection of the vajradhara body after the clear light is reconciled with the "mindful- ness" [branch], and the same thing meditated as the nature of communion is the "samadhi" branch; the last two branches being reconciled with the communion stage. This is said by the followers of the Illumination ofthe
Lamp to be the explanation of the concise essence.
The Extreme Illumination of the Lamp explains that retraction and
contemplation are included in mind isolation, life-energy control in vajra recitation, endurance in clear light, and mindfulness and samadhi in com- munion; and the Heart Mirror is similar. But those two [texts] follow the Illumination ofthe Lamp system of reconciling the six yogas with the five stages. [73uJ
The Master Ekadashanirgho? ha63 explains that the [Further Tantra] verse "ten faculties" and so on mentions retraction as the foundation of body isolation and the four verses "five desires" and so forth, mention contemplation as body isolation [itself]. In this treatise the two lines
63 Toh. 1823, cited above, 30a, is the only text by this author in the entire Tengyur.
? Chapter Ill-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 161
"secret Tantra" and so on appear to be missing. Further, the two verses "of five wisdoms" and so forth are claimed to refer to life-energy control as speech isolation, and the two lines "then independence" and so forth to refer to the endurance branch as mind isolation. The magic body is mentioned by the line "produced from that interior illumination," and the explanation concludes that it is an arrangement hiding the fifth branch, in order to break the pride of the intelligent. As for the holistic meditation, the method of realizing clear light, "art and wisdom united" proclaims the union of art and wisdom as the joining of the vajra and lotus of father and mother. And as for the dissolvent meditation, it is shown by two lines "all things in summary are compressed in the way of a lump" and three and a half verses "then as the way of creating the five signs, the mind becomes the vajra of cessation" and so forth. And clear light, he says, as it is a great secret, is explained by confusing the fifth and sixth stages. That means that he is claiming that the "mind is cessation vajra" refers to the fifth branch and the three lines "art and" and so on are the text for the sixth branch. [73bJ He claims that communion is referred to by the five lines "becoming firm" and so on. He claims that magic body, clear light, and communion are all three apart from the mindfulness branch. And the three lines "from in the center" indicates the samadhi branch, explained as the path of spontaneous accomplishment. The three lines referring to the sixth branch were previously explained as referring to clear light, so he must believe one part of clear light to be in the sixth branch. Though this author does not directly quote the Illumination ofthe Lamp as source, he seems to be explaining the six branches depending on the Illumination
ofthe Lamp's explanation of the Further Tantra, and so that is his way of reconciling [the branches and stages].
IVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'a'ii'A"2" - mentors]
The scholar Lan of the Go tradition divided the six branches into two sections, the thatness samadhi and the deeds which conform to it, then saying that retraction corresponds to the deeds at the time of the magic body and the other five branches correspond to samadhi. He claims
that the contemplation branch with its judgement and discrimination becomes body isolation, joy becomes the benefit of body isolation, life- energy control becomes speech isolation, bliss its benefit, one pointedness
? Setting forth the systems of the Tibetan
1 62 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
becomes mind isolation, the benefit of contemplation "actuality of all buddhas" becomes magic body, endurance becomes clear light, and mindfulness and samadhi become communion; [he claims that] this also is the way the Illumination of the Lamp explains the division of the six yoga branches.
A certain scholar of the Marpa tradition claims that retraction corresponds to body isolation, contemplation to mind isolation, [74aJ life- energy control to vajra recitation, endurance to mind objective, mind- fulness to magic body, and samadhi corresponds to clear light and com- munion, seeming to say that the latter is included in the former two. He also believes this to be the way to reconcile [this system with] the six branches of the Time Machine.
A certain recent Tibetan scholar argued that Abhayakara's explana- tion of retraction and contemplation as creation stage [in his Moonlight commentary on Nagarjuna's Five Stages] is incorrect, since the Further Tantra explains that the four vajras of service connected with the creation stage are the means of achieving common accomplishments, stating that:
practicing by means other than the six branches, the supreme accomplishment will not be attained,
and so [Abhaya's interpretation] contradicts that the six branches must be the uncommon service, the means of achieving the supreme, and the creation stage is not the means of achieving the supreme. Also the [above scholar] Lan's statement that retraction corresponds to the conduct and contemplation to body isolation is very incorrect, since sequence is contradicted when the beginning of achieving the supreme involves the conduct, and since body isolation will not have the slightest benefits of knowledge and knowable. Therefore, since the Stainless Light states:
The pure self-consecration is the sign
Of beholding the three realms in the void . . .
and the VajrapaQi Praise Commentary states:
Here 'self-consecration' means that retraction beholds
the superficial reality such as smoke, and so on, . . .
retraction and contemplation are included in magic body, life-energy control in vajra recitation, endurance in clear light, and mindfulness, like the previous vision in the occasion of retraction and contemplation, in the
Chapter Ill-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 163
magic body in its aspect of beholding purified reflections and at the same time in mind isolation in its aspect of the path of the experience of the bliss of melting. (74hl For, mind isolation becomes the path of luminance. radiance, and imminence, and they are analogues of the three joys. And finally, he claims that samadhi is communion. Thereby. he explains the method of reconciling the Time Machine six branches with the five stages.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'a 'ii 'o " -
The second has two parts: [ I "l Analyzing the accuracy of the [Indian] commentators; and [2"] Analyzing the accuracy of the Tibetan explanations.
In regard to the Moonlight refutation of including retraction and contemplation in the creation stage, it is not contradicted by the statement that the creation stage is the means of achieving common accomplish- ments and the six branches are the means of achieving the supreme accomplishment. If it were, it would contradict the achievement of both accomplishments by a single path, in which case the perfection stage path could not lead to achievement of common accomplishments. The state-
ment that
indicates that the supreme accomplishment will not be achieved by other practices than those of the six branches, and definitely does not indicate that paths other than the six branches are never a means of achieving the supreme accomplishment. Though the supreme accomplishment is not achieved by the creation stage alone, how can that preclude the creation stage from being a cause of the supreme accomplishment? Otherwise, it would be the same for the perfection stage, and also, as each of the perfection stage's six branches do not [alone] lead to the achievement they would not become the path of achieving the supreme. If the creation stage were definitely unfit as means of achieving the supreme, how
would this not contradict his own explanation about the meaning of "common" in the context of mentioning common and supreme types of service, that a common cause is cause of both accomplishments? 175? ? 1
? ? practicing by other than the six branches practice, the supreme [accomplishment] will not be achieved
Analyzing their correctness and incorrectness I
IYI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'a'ii'B"1" -
Analyzing accuracy of findian I commentalnrs 1
1 64 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
The import of teaching the visualization practices of the Divine Lord Ak? hobhya and the [Buddha] Supreme Bliss Wheel and so on would become uncertain, and all statements that they are arts for attaining buddhahood in the context of the benefits of their meditations would become contradicted.
Here you may wonder that, if both paths are arts for both accom- plishments, why were they mentioned separately as means of achieving common and supreme [accomplishments, respectively]? Since without regard to the perfection stage it leads to achievement of common accom- plishments, the creation stage is a means of achieving common accom- plishments, at the same time it is the means of developing the root of
virtue needed to realize the perfection stage. The perfection stage is the chief path for achieving the supreme, and so is mentioned as the means for achieving the supreme. Thus, as means of achievement, the two are not mutually exclusive.
While retraction and contemplation are explained in terms of the perfection stage by other authoritative scholars, because that is the inten- tion of the Personal Instruction, it seems necessary to explain them also in terms of the creation stage; thus in general we should not interpret retraction and contemplation as wholly in either creation or perfection stages, but should accept both parts [of each of them] . In particular, we should interpret them according to the explanation in the context of whichever stage of the text is at hand. Thus, as according to the Noble tradition they are explained in their perfection stage context, I think it is
good [so to interpret them in that context].
It does not seem proper that endurance should refer to the magic
body, as I will explain below.
As for the correctness or incorrectness of the Extreme Illumination
ofthe Lamp's way of reconciling [the branches and stages], it will be easy to understand if I explain it in the context of explaining below the identification of the six branches. [7Shl
As for Master Ekadashanirgho? ha's explanation of retraction as the foundation of the body isolation, he is thinking of the import of the Illu- mination of the Lamp's explanation of retraction as that to be purified and of contemplation as the means of purification.
The claims that the two [lines] "independent" and so on indicate endurance to be the mind isolation, that "separately illuminated" refers to the magic body, that the three lines indicating the last branch refer to the
Chapter III-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 165
two contemplations, that communion is explained apart from the samadhi branch, and that the last three lines refer to a path of spontaneity different from communion-all these are not good. They will be easy to under- stand when I explain them below in the context of explaining the text on the six branches.
tions]
When we refute the claim of a certain Tibetan, [the scholar] Lan, that "retraction" refers to the conduct, the argument "the normal order is contradicted if the conduct comes at the beginning of achieving the supreme" can be applied equally well to our own position. Thus, it is incorrect for "retraction" and "contemplation" to refer to the magic body, because it is contradictory for the magic body to come at the beginning of achieving the supreme. By explaining "at the beginning," we are saying "it must not come at the beginning," and this is the same when used about the conduct. If we indicate the fault of contradicting the normal order, it applies the same way to either the six branches or the five stages, and it is very contradictory for a retraction and contemplation
[branch] magic body to develop before the life-energy-control vajra reci- tation, for there to be a mindfulness [branch] mind isolation after the endurance [branch] clear light, and for the [premature] arisal of the third stage magic body. Furthermore, since it is certain that there is a life- energy-control path in the five stages and that mind isolation and magic body arise developed in sequence, [76aJ in the Time Machine system also both the life-energy-control vajra recitation and the mindfulness mind isolation would have to come before the retraction and contemplation magic body, and one part of mindfulness would have to develop before
endurance; because they are accepted as synonymous.
Such faults are not properly explained as the same in meaning, so
we should not insist on explaining them as the same. Likewise, we our- selves assert that the magic body is the eleventh stage, and clear light the twelfth, or the thirteenth [stage]. if we count from the stage of faith. and the twelfth stage is the stage of becoming noble. Such being the case, it seems contradictory [to claim] such views as that the noble stage eleventh stage magic body will be attained through retraction in the beginning of the achievement of the supreme, that the Time Machine samadhi branch
? [ VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'a 'ii 'B "2 " -
Analyzing the accuracy of Tibetan explana-
1 66 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
will be attained from the alienated individual's stage, that it could be understood as communion and so forth.
As for the reason why it is incorrect for contemplation to refer to body isolation, to state that "it is because no benefit of the lessening of subject and object [dichotomy] will develop in body isolation," will not apply to that fault, since the opponent did not claim that, and it seems
that the opponent does claim that the one pointedness of mind of lessen- ing of subject and object is [a benefit of] mind isolation. Therefore, both "self-consecration" and "superficial reality," as explained by the Noble father and sons and by the Time Machine literature, are nominally the same but different in meaning. For example, there are many [differing interpretations of the two] such as when GhaiJtapada's [Supreme Bliss] Five Stages explains the self-consecration as the meditation on the drop in the heart center.
As for how other Tibetans seem to take the position that the Time Machine way of reconciling the six yoga branches with the six stages has the same meaning, their p(,bl incorrectness can be understood from what has already been explained.
Therefore, Naropa explained the texts on the six yogas of the Further Tantra according to the explanation of the Illumination of the Lamp, but in his Commentary on the Summary ofInitiations, he explained according to the Time Machine. Thus even though such things are not properly explained as the same in meaning, it is good to investigate what is the equivalent, since if you do that, you will determine the practical instructions of each individual Tantra.
To explain a little more, the Time Machine system's retraction and contemplation [branches] are the means of purifying the central channel preliminary to the life-energy-control branch's injection of the two [side channel] winds into that central channel. So even if you do not meditate according to how it is explained there, if [what you do meditate] seems to serve as a means of purification of the central channel to prepare for inserting the two winds there, it is the equivalent. Likewise, the Time Machine's life-energy-control [branch] is the means of inserting the winds into the central channel, and [its] endurance is the holding those inserted winds immobile in the hubs of the channel wheels; so even if you do not meditate life-energy control and endurance exactly as it is explained in that source, if [what you do meditate] seems a means to achieve that purpose, it is the equivalent of those two. Likewise, [the Time Machine's]
Chapter III-Perfection Stage ofthis Tantra ? 167
mindfulness is, by the art of meditating depending on the prior means, burning the furor-fire, melting the spirit of enlightenment, and experi- encing the joy of its falling to the tip of the secret place, and [its] samadhi is the changeless bliss of holding that enlightenment spirit with- out emission; so, even if you do not meditate exactly as explained from that source, if what you do serves as a path able to achieve that purpose, then it serves as the equivalent of those two. Therefore, from the perspec- tive of the ability to achieve a particular purpose, the five stages and so on can be matched with other paths and one can mutually reconcile the paths; (77uJ though you do not explain them as having the same meaning, the point of the context is accomplished, and you will attain fearlessness about where the keys of the paths of different Tantras fit. And such reasoning can also be understood to apply to other paths as well. So you should hold on to this exceptional way of analyzing of those of great genius .
As for Lan's interpretation of retraction as the conduct, though there is a mere similarity of definition, it does not work out since the Further Tantra mentions the conduct entirely apart from the six branches. There- fore, avoiding that, if you connect the six branches to the six stages of the perfection stage, it is better to follow Ekadashanirgho?