No More Learning

Now the way of practicing in the fourth month, [the Vajra Rosary states] :
Then, you should discern the true sign
By the opening of its places,
And to the places which are individually noted, [167bJ You should strongly move 108 times.
The supreme practice that is thought-free,
Its nature being the abandoning of thought, Master of the natural instincts of all things, Move it strongly 108 times.
This is truly the supreme yoga,
Through which, during 27 days,
The yogi/ni who meditates its nature, Meditates intensely as it stands.
This states that, having individually determined the channels, the yogi/ni meditates the nature of the wind-energies as they stand, sees the 108 wind- energies moving in the channel in the fourth month, and so they are ascer- tained.
This teaches the supreme yoga of the vajra recitation that is the means of cutting off habitual thoughts, the art of entering into clear light
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 333
that abandons notions of the instinctual natures of all things, while men- tioning "conceptual thoughts" three times, and "this" once. 99
states]:
The yogi/ni who has instinctual thoughts, Then turns the yoga away from them, And the great energy of thoughtlessness Is moved into the channel wheel.
Then, having been fully bound by the addictions, S/he determines the ultimate reality [of energy], And during the twenty-seven days,
The intelligent [yogi/ni] should eliminate
The practices of the beginners.
Zhiwa Od's translation reads, "The intelligent one, through elimi- nating. . . . "
In the fifth month, depending on the consummation of the vajra recitation, the wind-energy yogas posited as [for] beginners are given up by intelligent yogi/nis, along with the wind-energy-driven instinctual thoughts, and they then make the great wind-energy that develops in- stinctual thoughtlessness move in the channel wheel. And this is the occasion when you begin to reverse the wind-energies [168aJ into the place of the indestructible.
As for "the ultimate reality of energy," you should add that the ascertainment of reality eliminates being driven by the binding addictions. As for the way of practice in the sixth month, [the Vajra Rosary
states] :
99 Tsong Khapa is perhaps suggesting here that the mention of "conceptual thoughts" (rnam rtog) three times (I can only count two in this quote, unless we take rang bzhin as rang bzin rtog pa) refer to the three states of the subtle mind - luminance, radiance, and imminence-and "this" to the clear light transparence.
Then those purifications,
By the power of true yoga,
Those conceptual notions of life-energy control Are totally abandoned,
? As for the way to practice in the fifth month, [the Vajra Rosary
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The reality of energy moves,
And you should meditate the supreme yoga. By this supreme nondual yoga,
During the twenty-seven days,
You stabilize the reality of energy.
And the vacillating mind is purified.
In the sixth month, by the power of meditating vajra recitation which has stability in its moving of the reality of energy, you abandon instinctual thoughts and the life-wind-energies and controls. And you also purify the mind bound by its instinctual thought, which gets distracted towards objects. As for those [procedures of the sixth month] they are
given the designations of [ 1 ] counting, [2] conforming, [3] notions of the difference of places, [4] notions of the difference of times, [5] reversal of the wind-energies, and [6] total purity.
As for [this statement about] the complete release of the heart center channel knot at the end of practicing the six months of vajra recitation, it is intending the disciple of extremely sharp faculties.
In many contexts in this Tantra, [the Buddha] does not mention holding [the breath], as other than just exhaling and inhaling. But when he mentions "teaching coming and going," the commentators explain that it refers to the going and the not going [of the breath]. Nevertheless, they [go on to say] cleary, "The yoga of the perfection stage is entering, hold- ing, and exiting. "
According to Master Go, the criterion for completing the training of the coarse wind-energies is the clarity of their movement; ( 168bJ which [amounts to] the clarity of the sense-faculty direct experience of the forms of the colors [of the wind-energies], the clarity of the lack of confusion and error in regard to the forms of the counting, the clarity in
the nature of the sounds of the form of the three letters [OM Al:l HO t:f, and the clarity about the nature of the places [in the body], and the degrees of subtlety, speed and of weight. The sign of completing it is that no sudden illness can occur.
The criterion of completing the training of the subtle wind-energies is that you become able to mix external and internal [worlds] by causing the wind-energies of the outer universe to enter through the hair-pores of your skin and fit within your body, and by causing the the inner wind-
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 335
energies to go out fill the universe; and that you feel contact and bliss by the mere touch of the outer wind-energies.
The criterion of completing your training of the branch wind- energies is said to be that you become able to project [all] your sense faculties through each sense door, and to bind them [there] in freedom from any harm, according to the system of Abhijiia. When the four wind- energies of wind, fire, earth and water move, and you bind them within without allowing them outside, respectively then, without any harm to yourself, you will fly in the sky, you will not be hurt by outer cold, you will not be pushed around even assaulted by a champion wrestler, and so on; and finally you will not be hurt by fire, etc.
How to make the wind-energies
As already explained, when you practiced the recitation that indi- visibly connects mantras and wind-energies, you experience not mere imagination, but an intense mind-transforming feeling where in your mind the wind-energies' tones resound as the three sylllables? just as, for example, [169aJ the creation stage practitioner first has to accustom him- self or herself to meditate by imagining the deity, but later his or her mind does not have to be expressly contrived but naturally transforms itself into the pride of the deity. When that happens [in vajra recitation], you can terminate both perception and conception of the difference between energy and mantra; and furthermore, having recited with the entry, exit
and holding at the level of the center of the dhati channel, by the key [practice] of the energy and mind functioning in unison, you can make the wind-energies move directly through the dhati channel. Here again, while first you have to construct this on purpose and make the wind- energies enter and exit in such a way, when you become accustomed to it, conditioned by your vajra recitation, you have experienced the properly defined injection of the wind-energies there [in the central dhati channel].
As for the sign of that [happening], when you have not practiced vajra recitation, the [wind-energies] move in each of the left and right nostils. When you practice vajra recitation, before very long the wind- energies definitely begin to be drawn into an equal flow, as the vajra recitation merely injects the wind-energies there [in the central channel].
You should understand that this also [happens] when you meditate on the
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'B"6"c"ii"B"' -
dissolve into the central dhuti channel by vajra recitationI
336 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
subtle [drops] in the lower [genital center] door and in the heart center. Although thus you may have the mere ability to inject the wind-energies into the dhati channel, the problem with having only a slight bit of practice is that before long it will migrate to each of the left or the right nostrils. If you have a practice. as already explained, of injecting [the energies there] and making them enter and exit, and the heart center channel knot little by little has become slightly looser, then finally you
become able to release the heart channel knot.
Now here you might suspect, "well, although it can happen that the
vajra recitation practiced within the dhuti channel depending upon the vital point of the heart center can allow the wind-energies to be injected into the dhati channel and the channel knot to become looser, the vajra recitation is incapable of stopping the energy in the central channel; because vajra recitation i s set u p a s having the function making the wind- energies go in and out without stopping. [169hl Therefore, if you lack the stopping of the exit and entry of the wind-energies by holding them compressed together within, your vajra recitation is unable to cause the
energy to dissolve into the dhuti channel. "100
It is true that such doubts arise for those who are satisfied with
some biased [understanding] of the perfection stage, who in general do not understand how to compress the wind-energies by the yogas of the drop etc. as explained in the authoritative treatises, and in particular who do not know the literature of the Community which explains all the keys of that [dissolution process] emphasizing vajra recitation. However, there is no such fault [in this system of vajra recitation]. When, as already
explained, you have become accustomed to the vajra recitation which equalizes the three [movements], entering, holding, and exiting, of the wind-energies, though you do not purposely cause them to hold still at a certain threshold, the wind-energies stand still on their own momentum. Their [stillness] gets longer and longer, and then, though you do not purposely block the inhalation and exhalation of the wind-energies, they become shorter and shorter. So when you first practice, in the process of
100 This refers to the vase breathing called kumbhaka. What it means is you take the up- ward energy and the lower energy and unite them at the navel center or heart center or wherever and hold them there, one pressing up and one pressing down in the central channel.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 337
breathing naturally you do not need to purposely lengthen exhaling and inhaling, but still, anyway, when you work on vajra recitation, the in and out movement of the wind-energies will eventually stop completely and [the wind-energies will] stay within.
declares:
By [such a] sign, [wind-]reality stays [all] three, The nature of natural recitation;
Nameless and inexpressible,
This is supreme enlightenment spirit.
Those very three become one, And neither go nor come.
This teaches that, after having practiced the recitation as wind-energies of the spirit of enlightenment, with the realities of mantra and energy indivisibly united, being the natural recitation inexpressible in naming words, the three [energy-movements], inhalation, exhalation and holding still, [I70aJ become a single experience without any separation; and then there are no more going out and coming in of wind-energies.
In that [same] Tantra, it states that "the spirit of enlightenment becomes wind-energy," and this means that here the spirit of enlighten- ment is wind-energy. In that Tantra, it states that the reality of wind- energies entering, exiting, and abiding becomes of one experiential taste,
and thus the other [Tantras] have a similar meaning. The Vajra Rosary also states:
By practicing vajra recitation,
Knowing its own nature,
You cut off the instinctual wind-energies.
This means that the vajra recitation stops the movement of wind-energies. And again:
At the nine sense doors,
All of them are totally bound,
Repeating HOM, become incomparable !
This states that vajra recitation binds the wind-energies within, not letting them move out from all doors such as the upper and lower nostrils, etc.
Thus, further, the Revelation of the Hidden Intention [Tantra]
. HR ? Brilliant Illumination oftht? Lamp
As for the meaning of those Vajra Rosary statements, the Per. mnal
fm;truction IofMaiijushrTJ states:
Then you exhale with HO M.
Collect with OM, hold with AH,
And holding still the reality therein,
You discover the intuitive wisdom,
Free from inhaling, exhaling and holding, And you need have no doubting ambivalence.
Thus it very clearly states that by practicing vajra recitation from the dis- solution of the wind-energies getting free of the threefold inhaling, ex- haling and holding, you attain wisdom, and about that there need be no doubt or ambivalence.
Here you might wonder, "Well, how do you get the energy to dis- solve within by the vajra recitation of two letters? "
By practicing that [vajra recitation], injecting the energy into the dhati channel and releasing the channel knot is similar to [the same pro- cess with] the three letters. So then the energy finds the path to go to its own root place, [I70bl and it enters into its own place, as in the time of death. The Tantra explains the two kinds of vajra recitation, while the Noble father and son set forth the vajra recitation with the three letters
just as an example. The Personal Instruction states that not only can you be liberated from both inhalation and exhalation, but also you are liber- ated from holding; what that means is that you need first to reverse the moving of the exhalation and inhalation and to hold the energy within, and then you have also to dissolve the holding within.
By practicing recitation of exiting and entering you reach the non- moving of energy, and since there is a type of non-moving under the influence of depression, you must be able to tell them apart. When you stop the nostril movement of energy, if it stays within without dissolving [into the central channel], then the body will seem to be inflated; but this is eradicated when it dissolves. As already explained, when the definite signs of the energy entering the dhati channel by its own force occur, and the energy naturally stays within for a long time and then dissolves into the dhati channel, what arises is like what is taught about [the four] voids. On dissimilar occasions, although there is an inner dissolution, it is not a dissolution into the dhati channel, and so [the experience] will
not match what is taught about the voids. In order for the wind-energies
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 339
to dissolve into the actual indestructible heart center, you need to have loosened the channel knot of that [heart center]; before that, even if you [seem to] compress [the energies] into the dhati channel by means of the art of compressing [energies] into the heart center, that is a dissolution into the near-dhati channel, but not into the dhati itself. 101 Similarly, although it can happen that your energy can dissolve into the dhati channel, you are unable to make it come and go from the dhati channel in the [exact] place of the channel knot. As the Vajra Rosary says: "Little by little, free of effort" - and what is meant there is that you should not make a strenuous effort [to force] the wind-energies to enter and exit [the heart center]. [t7ta]
The Personal Instruction also says that when you cause the energy to abide within, you should hold it very gently. The vajra recitation [should be] performed gently with the three, exhaling inhaling, and abid- ing wind-energies, as it is highly critical that, when the wind-energies begin slightly to stop, the elements of the body are not disturbed and remain balanced. The production of those excellent virtues which must be produced [only] through penetrating the vital points in the body is different from other [kinds of] productions. 102
Thus [penetrating the vital points precisely] is extremely necessary for extreme power in developing the voids, for ease of gaining greatly increasing impact from the moment of the first time of developing the voids, and for the great stability of your bliss and [furor] heat, and so on. Therefore, when you have had a whiff of the experience of the blaze of bliss and heat and have become enthusiastic and see the need for the ability etc. to cultivate positive practice, even if you practice even the system of cultivating forcefully, you must keep at it until you have achieved the
101 So there is a way of dissolving the energies into the dhati channel under or above the very central part of the heart center where the indestructible is, without them dissolving right into the indestructible, because that is still sealed off by the knot.
102 To be able to inject the energy and make it enter into the central channel in the navel or heart center, you have first to have a clear visualization of exactly where that center is and put your focus right on the spot in the various strategic places. Doing that is "pene- trating the vital point," and energy-pressure focused there produces the true dissolution experiences. Pressure aimed vaguely nearby can seriously disrupt the nervous system.
? 340 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
purpose [of penetrating the vital point precisely]; and if you follow the teaching of the treatises, it is [even more of] a joy.
Here also, though there is a bit of intensity [used in practicing] the wind-energy yoga of vajra recitation and in cultivating by aiming your visualization at the drop etc. , if you use the forceful yoga for such as meditating energy compression, it is said to cause untimely death. And
though it seems to have the benefit of slightly greater speed, you should be careful to keep it within bounds. 103 I previously quoted Kukuripa say- ing that the signs arise from meditating on the heart center drop, intend- ing the signs of the vajra recitation, so here the signs such as mirage will arise.
Until you have well released the heart-center channel knot, l17tbl you will not attain the actual voids of mind isolation. Nevertheless, it seems that those on lower stages will definitely experience voids con- forming to [those of the] mind isolation; so you should carefully differen- tiate these [two kinds, actual and conformative]. If you do not distinguish between them, you might hold the three voids developed by vajra recita- tion on the lower stages to be the actual mind isolation, the fourth void to be the fourth stage clear light, and the two arisals in deity bodies after
those two to be, [respectively,] the third stage magic body and the fifth stage communion body. Thus you will become excessively proud of such attainments when you have not really attained any of their excellent qualities, and you will lose your drive to attain the higher excellences not already attained. Then, since you have none of the distinctive transforma- tions coming from them, some of you might generate a false view and think, "I attained a path such as this, but did not experience any sort of benefit of that atainment such as light rays; so these teachings are just words! " And some of you might think, "Relying on the fact that, in the literal texts of the treatises of the [Noble] father and sons, not much is taught about the arisal of the voids of the path until the attainment of mind isolation, so until then the voids of the path will not arise [for me]"; and so you will not make effort in the methods of producing those and
you will lose out on the great purpose.
103 He emphasizes the gentleness of this practice with this warning, that if you do energy compression with a power yoga, it can be fatal; so even though it might be quicker, you should be skillful about knowing the limits.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 34 1
Therefore, by meditating the perfection stage and dissolving the wind-energies into the dhati channel, you generate the four joys and the four voids, without having to consider this a very advanced path. So you strive in order to generate them as already explained. tt72al When the energy dissolves and the three voids together with the metaphoric clear light arise, if you remember your [realistic] view and set yourself in that as long as it lasts, then when the wind-energies move and you arise from that again, you do vajra recitation again; and so you should increase your meditation on the method of compressing the wind-energies.
Now here someone says "well, even ifwe allow that the vajra reci- tation is able to inject the energy into the dhati channel and to cause that injected energy to dissolve there, this vajra recitation is not able to make the spirit of enlightenment melt by stimulating the furor, and it thus becomes unable to unify bliss and void; or, if it is able to do that, then please tell how it does it. "
Already, the Vajra Rosary taught how this [vajra recitation] devel- ops great bliss. And that great bliss is the bliss of the melting of the spirit of enlightenment of the crown center. And it is very true that melting that requires the navel furor-fire to blaze. As for how that is done, the Vajra Rosary says:
Since the 4 akini compresses,
She is the "pressure 4 akini. "
She always stays in the navel center, And has a light like a thousand suns. Emitting the fire of great wisdom She conquers all instinctual thoughts. By her arisal aggregate-notions bum, And the body becomes unobstructed. After that the element-notions
Are compressed, and again, naturally, The subject and object notions Afterward, are again compressed. Thus, when like a moth [by flames]
All bondages are consumed,
By the yoga of the reality of wind-energy,
? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'B"6"c"ii"c"'
- How to make the furor-fire ignite]
342 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
And by knowledge of the reality of mantra, The mere instinctual notions
Are doubtless [ 1 72 b l just consumed.
Now the first four feet of that [verse] show the actuality of the navel furor-fire, which is said to be the actuality of the union of all (,iak. inis. This is just like the statements of the Samputa [Tantra] calling it "Nairatmya" and the Spring Drop calling it "the actuality of Varahi," since those two
are the actuality that unites all yoginis such as Gauri and Pracandi; so mentioning any [particular goddess] is by way of example. Showing that the blood of the reddish furor is the actuality of the union of all (,iak. inis means that the activity of the science consorts is to develop the great bliss in the yogi/ni, and that is achieved by the blazing of the furor-fire.
Thereupon two feet [of the verse] show in general the burning of the conceptual notions by the blazing of the furor-fire. And then two feet, one and a half feet, and two and a half feet, respectively, discuss the sup- pression of the conceptual notions about the aggregates, the elements, and subject-object [dichotomy]. Here "suppression" means burning or conquering. "Unobstructed" here has the meaning of again and again or continuous. And "body" here means burning in the body. Now again two
feet unite the metaphor and the import of the burning of the conceptual notions. Then again two feet refer to that burning of conceptual notions by the blazing of furor-fire, and then again two feet explain how the knowledge of the union of the reality of mantra, the three or the two letters, with the reality of wind-energy, the three, exhalation, inhalation and abiding, or the two, inhalation and exhalation, is what accomplishes the burning of the notions by the blazing of furor-fire. [All this] thus
means that the vajra recitation accomplishes [the furor-fire] just like that. Again the last two feet state that even the subtlest conceptual notions are consumed without any doubt.
Again 1 173al the same text [the Vajra Rosary], saying:
Depending truly on the reality of energy, Exhorted by the syllable HO M.
The wheel of fire is very much awakened . . .
thus states that furor is made to awaken by the reality of mantra depend- ing upon the reality of energy. And HO Mhere expresses a single aspect of the vajra recitation of either two or of three syllables. Other translations
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 343
have the phrase "by the yoga of the body of mantra," and in the com- mentary the meaning of that is explained as being a meditation on the creation stage. In the Indian texts also it is clear that there were two dis- cordant readings, and so Darma Tsondru's translation, like the previous reading, is better.
The furor blazes moved by what sort of energy? The Personal Instruction {ofMafljushrr] says:
Vowed effort, by moving the bow-shaped, The wisdom fire blazes in the triangle, And the element melts. . . .
The bow-shaped located in a triangle is the wind-energy, which is stated to ignite the furor-fire, and it is the evacuative energy. Also the Great Seal Drop states:
The way being located in the navel, The limit of the way is the secret lotus; There the self-blazing energy Circulates and so refreshes.
By the union of the two organs
The energy ignites the fire.
declaring that the energy located in the lotus of the secret place ignites the furor-fire.
You might wonder, "If the furor-fire is ignited by a particular motion of the evacuative energy, how does that movement function? "
The Samputa [Tantra] says:
In the mandala of the navel furnace, Agitated by the evolutionary energy, The brahma-fire bums in the triangle.
Concerning that statement, the Sheaf of Instructions explains that 1 1 731> 1 [the furor-fire] is ignited by the energy impelled by the evolutionary force of the action of the union of the two organs and the action of the medita- tive entrancement. The first [action] refers to the meditation [either] on the energy or the drop and so on that have been injected into the vital point in the body. The second [action] is explained by the [union of the] two organs. As for the blood, the actuality of the fire-atom to be ignited,
though it abides in many parts of the body, the main ones are the blood of
? the na"W:I symbolized by the short A and the "1nhma-fire. . symbolized by the syllable K$HA. bolh dwelling below the navel in the secret place; and funber they abide within the dhilti cbannel. As for the evacuative wind-energiesthatignitethem. one kindenterswithinthedJIJllicbannel and one kind does not. and the former is the main one. As the \bjra
ROStJry says:
In the left descends the moon. enlightenment sp? In the right. blood and SUD descend.
Koo? -able in the center. the energy mov?
And you sbould know that wakens up the fire.
Thus it states tbat wben the wind-energies move through the central channel. they make furor fire awaken. From the threshold wben the vajra recitation injects ? ind-energies into the central channel. a slightly heated specialfuror-fire bums. When it increases, it melts the crown enlight- enment spiriL As the G? 01 Sui Drop says:
By the true burning of tbat fire, The great bliss wheel will meJL By melting. aU the channels
Will drip wilh the supreme nectar.
As for the meditation of blazing and dripping. it happens tbat there are many meltings of the spirit of enlightenment by the burning of furor- fire even without injecting energy into the central channel.
And even if
you meditate wind-energies and drops etc
way [as by penetrating the vital points). furor-fire can blaze and enlight- emnentspiritcan meltbeforetheenergyhasbeeninjectedintothedhiiti cbannel and dissolved there. IJ7-6aJ For example. it happens even in ordinary sexual union of the two organs. In those [experiences). as the ealightenmentspirit melts. justdue to its intensity it is bard to hold it without emission. whereas wben this occurs from the [wind-energies] dissolving in1o tbe dltilli cbaanel. it is very easy to hold iL
? as for the blazia& of warmth. there are two tinds. willa and widloul tbe Uility 10 melt dte spirit of enJi&btmneBL As for dte warmtb wbicb is . t. le 10 melt the spirit of eali&btemnen? dtere ue kinds arisin& from the wind-energiesbeingand not beinginjectedintothe dllilli dtan? 1. As for those when [wind-eoagies are] injec:tcd. tbele are kinds wiMft lbey dissolve ad do DOl dissolve tben:in. ABel even bliss bas a
. ?
without meditating in such a
? ? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 345
kind where bliss happens from the wind-energies merely becoming serv- iceable, which does not turn into melting bliss. And melting bliss also comes in many stages. Therefore, you should be very skillful in distin- guishing well these [various types of experiences] .
When the evacuative energy first ignites the main furor-fire, it ignites the two fires of secret place and navel, and as evacuative energy in the two lower doors goes in and out like [wind-energies do] in the two upper nostrils, those winds must be injected into the dhati channel. Just as the injected life-energy dissolves [therein] without going in and out of the upper nostrils, when the [evacuative energy] dissolves and does not go in and out of the lower doors, the powerful blazing of furor-fire in- creases the power of the melting of the spirit of enlightenment. 104 Even if such a thing should happen once, it frequently happens in alternation that the energy arises again and starts to go in and out; it is not the case that once it dissolves it does not arise again, as is the case when you eliminate seeds by transcendent paths.
As the Vajra Rosary teaches that the vajra recitation binds the wind- energies within all the nine doors of the senses, not only does it terminate the entry and exit of the upper nostril doors but it also terminates [174bJ the lower nostril door entry and exit. When you do this by pulling up with a fierce physical effort, although there is some slight speeding up of the blocking of the energy, it tends not to go to the vital point. It is better
if you stop the [wind-energies'] movement by gentle exertions such as vajra recitation; so you should know that [fact], even about holding the wind-energies in a compression lock.
You might wonder, "since the evacuative energy enters and exits the two lower doors, is it proper to use vajra recitation in relation with that entry and exit as you do in the two upper doors? "
Concerning this, Tibetan mentors give a personal instruction about the yoga of closing and opening the lower door as a way of generating bliss. Although this is not called "entry-exit recitation," if you know how
104 Just as the upper wind-energies dissolve in the dhati without the upper energy breathing in and out, this lower energy dissolves so there is no more going in and out of the lower doors. It thus becomes stronger in melting the enlightenment spirit.
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to discern its meaning, it is like performing [the vajra recitation] in the
upper door. About this way, from Atisha's Dharma Song:105
Conquer the progress of sun and moon - Otherwise in the door of the great sky, Berampa106 will not enter.
By the yoga of opening and closing,
You should compel that fierce goddess. The five buddhas and the four goddesses- You should bum them again and again. The ten directions' heroes and yogi/nis Gather and dissolve into Jalandhara. 107
The four drops in the four lotuses
Will generate the sixteen blisses.
The self-luminous wisdom dwells
In the center of the formful lotus navel. When enlightenment dwells in the jewel tip, You gain nirvana like a butter lamp.
When you win nirvana there
In the tip of the jewel,
The host of notions such as self and other,
105 This quote has not yet been identified in an original. Perhaps it is from an older version of Atisha: *Drpamkarasrrjnana-dharma-grtika (d'i pam ka 'a ra shr 'i dznya ' na 'i chos kyi glu) (Toh 2374; rGyud 'Grel, Zl, lOa-lOb); or Caryligfti (spyodpa'i glu) (Toh. 1496; rGyud 'Grel, ZHA. 215a-216b), wherein it was not found.
106 Berampa (be ram pa) = Vairambha[ka] = Berambha (be ram bha) = Bairambha (bai rambha). Toh. 1413 (lndrabhOti, Cakrasamvara-vrtti, fol. 1 15a. 3-. 4); Toh. 1427 (Loyipa, Bhagavad-abhisamaya, fol. 187a. 4-. 6); Toh. 1449 (Vanaratna, Vasantatilaka-tika, fol. 336a. 7-b. 4). These tests identify this term as referring to the bow-shaped wind-energy- disc that forms the base of the mandala universes of various Tantras, which can only be visualized or projected by the yogT/nT after having dissolved the ordinary universe by melting all energies into the central channel via its lower door, either navel or genital wheel. I am indebted to Paul Hackett for these references.
107 Jalandhara is one of the twenty-four holy places of the Chakrasamvara Tantra and also is the crown center of the yogic nervous center; the idea here being that the fire from the wind energy at the closing of the lower door of the central channel causes the furor fU"e from the navel center to blaze up and melt all heroes and yoginTs into the moon disc of hindu drops at the crown center.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 347
I no longer see them at all.
When the planet [Rahu] seizes sun and moon,
The mind and the Bera[m]pa do not proceed.
When all notions fully melt and dissolve,
The mind becomes pure experience of the [reality] realm.
l175aJ Here he declares the distinctive art of injecting the energy into the Drop :
By closing and opening [the lower doors] , The energy encompasses the fire.
With the wood of the organ of the truth, Thereby the furor-fire bums,
Consuming the body entirely,
And all materials of the heap of notions. And by the true burning of that fire. . .
So it declares just as before.
This enables you to understand that there is a [vajra-]recitation of
the exit and entry [of the wind-energy] through the path of water, and although the upper [body] vajra recitation accomplishes both these pur- poses, if you want to take it in terms of singling out the evacuative wind energy of the lower parts, you should perform it relying on your attain- ment of the already present base of personal instructions. If you perform the reversal of the evacuative energy by forceful methods, there are great hindrances such as the blocking of excrement and urine. But if you perform the gentle yoga with the skill in the vital points taught in the oral instruction and reverse the movement [of the energy], you need not lessen excrement and urine and have to eliminate them time and again. You will not experience the slightest discomfort, your furor fire will bum with much greater power, you will have a superlative bliss, and however intense your melting of the element, you will have no need of caution
about emission, and so on-such are the signs that will occur.
You might say, "Well, by meditating the heart indestructible and the vajra recitation etc. , and the spirit of enlightenment melts by the blazing of furor-fire, as is explained by the Yogini Tantras, and falls down to the jewel-relying on that, are the four joys developed? Or else
dhati channel. This same meaning is also expressed in the Great Seal
348 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
do you generate the four voids compressing [all wind-energies and drops] into the heart center from above and below? "
This I am going to explain ! 17Sbl in the section on mind isolation.
Here, many [yogi/nis] have performed the yoga of blocking the energy etc. with intense force, seeing that to be a bit quicker and not knowing how to discern well the differences of how the immediate and long term advantages are generated from gentle and rough yogas. Once they perform the arts of penetrating the vital points in the body, they meditate considering that they must practice with very intense force.
Now, some of them experience extremely great hindrances, and they then stop meditating those [methods]. Others, although their hindrances are also very great, accept the need to meditate with skill in the methods of dispelling them.
As for the way of dispelling hindrances, some might say "Well, when you compress the energy and it generates shooting pains before it becomes peaceful, you should meditate the yoga of many holes and thus expell them outside. And many others alleviate the shooting pains of energy compression with other methods. "
To that someone says, "When striving in order to compress the wind-energies, if you then quiet them without performing the method of entering them into the central channel, your efforts will be pointless, as you lack the personal instruction. " But our own system is that you enter
the [wind-energies] into the central channel by the yoga of the art of squeezing the two waves of enjoyment;108 and this is recommended also for pacifying shooting pains. Everyone seems to agree about using a forceful yoga at the beginning of meditation.
? 108 I have not previously encountered this expression longs spyod kyi rlabs gnyis 'tshir bai thabs kyi sbyor bas, and cannot quite yet figure it out.
Once you have meditated combining channels and wind-energies etc. , it is not certain that a great hindrance will arise which either will
deprive one's life-energy or come close to doing so. Such would the fault of not knowing decisively well how to cultivate at first, because if you do know [well the key points], [such dangers] will just not occur. Thus if you know well how to practice, ll76al and how to avoid great hindrances through meditating, you are an expert. If you stubbornly produce great
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 349
not expert.
When you compress the wind-energies with gentle yoga, in general,
hindrances are less. And if at first you compress the wind-energies with- out having first purified them, there is a way of clearing away slight shooting pains that may arise-I will explain this elsewhere. 109 Do not think that [these concerns] just have to do with pacifying the shooting pains. Rather they are to make sure that you know how not to let the compression of the wind-energies become difficult somewhat later, and moreover how to dispel any failure to inject the previously compressed wind-energies into the central dhati channel - this is then to be an expert.
Therefore if you practice according to the two former systems, it seems that while it might happen that you might alleviate the shooting pains of compressing wind-energies, it will not benefit your injecting the previously compressed energies into the dhati channel.
The third method of dispelling [obstructions] can still work well with the forceful yoga, but our own system is that you must perform [the practice] with the gentle yogas as the [best] method of dispelling [obstruc- tions], not using the forceful yogas at all.
Thus, as for [my composing] this detailed explanation of the vital points of the vajra recitation: though there seem to be very many ways to perform vajra recitation given in the oral instructions, nevertheless, since the literature of the Esoteric Community explains vajra recitation exhaus- tively in ways which are not present in other Tantras or treatises, since it seems that good explanations of the system of the Esoteric Community are rare, and since the Noble father and son do not explain the other
wind-energy yogas but explain this one quite a lot, [I have written this] in order to interpret decisively [their explanations] .
109One place in Tsong Khapa's Collected Works where this is somewhat explained is in the Zhu Lan bDud rTsis Snying po, a text recording the 1 399 CE conversations between Tsong Khapa and Lhodrak Namkha Gyaltsen, wherein the dispersal of the neuralgic pains that can come from some kinds of wind-energy meditations is extensively discussed. I translated this long ago and published in the Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa, LTWA,
Dharamsala, 1982.
? hindrances, even though you know ways of getting rid of them, you are
CHAPTER VII Mind Isolation
[ 1 76a. 6-20Jb. 5)
? samadhi l
The third has five parts: [ l
) The reason you must understand the reality of the mind; [ 176bl [2"] The way the natural pattern of that mind is
"
) Demonstration that the especially excellent ) Showing the dangers and the advantages of not
declared in the Sotras; [3
art for realizing the nature of the mind is the Unexcelled [Yoga] Tantra; [4") Teaching the Tantra's import, the three luminances and the instinc-
tual natures; and [5
knowing and knowing that [import] correctly.
"
of the mind]
The reason you must understand the real ity
"
? If you desire buddhahood, generally staying on the Vajra Vehicle and specifically learning and practicing the vajra recitation, you must seek to discover the actuality of your own mind. According to the Inte- grated Practices, the Reality Compendium states:
Noble child, with meditative absorption, you should intro- spectively realize your own mind.
The Vairochana Enlightenment states:
Enlightenment is the total understanding of the reality of
And;
your own mind.
Even as stated in Three Baskets ' Way, "Going alone, one wanders far,
Living in the cave of the bodiless Lord;
35 1
[Vl. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTc" -
How to learn the mind isolation mind vajra
[VI. 8. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'c"l , -
-'? . :! ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
But taming the mind so hard to tame-
[I say such a one is a Brahmin! ] 1 10 Who will be freed from the devil's chains. "
And then. [the Integrated Practices concludes, in words to the effect that]:
Wanting to realize the magic body, you abandon all five obstructions such as vacillation and sleep, you propitiate the teacher who has truly obtained the personal instruc- tion of all transcendent buddhas, you follow the Explana- tory Tantras such as Wisdom Vajra Compendium, and you should then experience the three consciousnesses of natural luminance.
All three references, cited as reasons why one who wants to learn the [I77aJ mind isolation must seek the reality of the mind, teach the need to experience the reality of the mind. Thus they refute certain Tibetan and Indian [scholars] who claim that the mind isolation wisdom knows the subjective mind and does not know the reality of the mind, since if it did, it would become indistinguishable from [the later stage of] clear light [wisdom]. While the fourth stage clear light wisdom directly experiences
the reality of the mind, mind isolation [wisdom] knows that ultimate reality without fully experiencing it; hence they are not indistinguishable. Although the [above] three supporting references from a Sutra and the two lower Tantras do not indicate the three mind isolation wisdoms, they still serve as reasons for the need to realize the reality of the mind.
You may wonder, "If I must investigate the reality of the mind, just what is it like? "
Here the Integrated Practices explains both Transcendence and Tantra Vehicle types of statement. First, it quotes the Mission to Lanka to
1 10 This seems to be a case of a Tantric commentary quoting a Sotric verse, perhaps one similar to one from the Dhammapada (Ch. 3, v. 5): "[The mind] travels far, moves alone, has no form, sleeps in a cave - those who restrain the mind will escape the bonds of evil. " (Thanks to Dr. Lozang Jamspal for noticing this. )
? ? The way the natural pattern of that mind is
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c '3 'd Tc "2 " -
declared in the Sotras]
Chapter VII-MindIsolation ? 353
the effect that your mind desires to know subject-object-constructed appearance as the sphere of buddhas, [then it] teaches that the obscura- tions such as gregariousness and sleep must be abandoned, and [finally] that mind, mentality, and consciousness are the root of the whole world of beings and environments. Though the old translation of the Integrated Practices says "sphere of mental construction," the Chag translation is better, translating "mental construction the sphere of buddhas. " [177b]
[The Integrated Practices] goes on to quote the Inquiry ofBhadra- pala, [the Consciousness Migrating Satra], showing that consciousness, even when taking a body and entering lower birth-places, is not polluted by their faults; that wherever consciousness migrates, its evolutionary fruition, the sensations of pleasure and pain, also migrates; and that one who does not see the truth does not know that consciousness, abbreviat- ing the meaning by saying that:
Thus consciousness has a nature free of color, sign, and shape, said to be sheer introspective wisdom in the Uni- versal Vehicle Siitras.
"The sphere of buddhas" refers to the ultimate reality of mind. The dem- onstration of its being the root of all refers to its natural pattern of sub- jectivity. It is taught as entering various birth-states without change in its reality, and as not experientially knowable by any non-noble person. Thus, that mind is declared ultimately to be devoid of all signs, conven- tionally colorless, shapeless, not depending on other means of knowing, and sheer knowledge, itself knowing its object.
As for the way it is described in the Vajra Vehicle, the same text [the Integrated Practices] continues:
The Divine Lord declared in words found in all the Tan- tras, "That mind investigated as the buddha-sphere is in reality rootless, placeless, groundless, signless, shapeless, colorless, transcending the senses, and beyond the scope of the dogmatists. "
This refers to ( J7tlal an import shared with the Transcendence Vehicle about the actuality of that mind, investigated in the context of learning mind isolation, and not to mind isolation [itself].
354 ?
Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp [Nagarjuna] states, in the Reason Sixty:
The world seems to be illusory, Placeless, imperceivable,
Rootless, non-enduring,
Originated from the cause of ignorance, Abandoning beginning, middle, or end, Coreless like a plantain tree,
Like a city of fairies,
An intolerable city of delusion.
And in the Commentary, [Chandrak. Irti] explains that "place" refers to the six media such as eye, "perception" refers to all things, "root" refers to the seed patterns of causal conditions, and "illusory" refers to its lack of intrinsically real existence by reason of its relativity. "Groundless" refers to its [ultimate] unperceivability.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'c"3" - Demonstration that the especially excellent art for realizing the nature of the mind is the Unexcelled (Yoga) Tantra)
The Integrated Practices states:
Without entering the great Yoga Tantras such as the Com- munity, you cannot realize the actual condition of your own mind, even if [you try] for as many eons as there are grains of sand in the Ganges riverbed; nor will you see even the superficial reality.
I have already explained that this does not teach that you cannot deter- mine the [authentic] view of the ground [reality] without entering into the Unexcelled [Yoga Tantras] ; nor does it mean that, having determined it and meditated on it, you cannot experience it. No reasonable person says that the Transcendence Vehicle does not enable you to attain the stage of nobility; 1 17HbJ because if you can attain that (stage], it precludes your not realizing actuality experientially. Nor does (Aryadeva] teach the ultimate actuality of the mind intending the truth body; since this is the context of the analysis of realizing the true import of the mind in terms of mind isolation, which you can also understand from the statement "nor can you see even the superficial reality. "
? Chapter VII-Mind Isolation ? 355
Therefore, the meaning is that the main subjectivity realizing the reality of the mind is orgasmic bliss, and, as for such intuitive wisdom realizing that object, it cannot be realized if you do not enter the door of
the Unexcelled [Yoga Tantras], but enter any other door of the transcen- dences or the lower Tantras. This exaltation must be attained through other paths [only] after many immeasurable eons, but is attained in a single lifetime on the path of the Unexcelled. As for this special distinctive speed, is because of [this path's] being practiced after orgasmic great bliss has ascertained the import of reality. As the Samputa [Tantraj states:
Thus what need is there for lengthy explanations. In brief, buddhahood is [usually] gained
After millions of immeasurable eons ;
[But] you, by means of noble bliss,
Will attain it in this very life.
As for the mere termination of addictive obscurations, it can be attained by some [Individual Vehicle] disciples in three lifetimes, and the experiential realization of the import of reality is common to both vehicles. Thus, this distinction of speed does not just concern the speed of liber- ation from the life cycle through the speed of experientially realizing voidness. Therefore, this path requires an extreme speed in terminating cognitive obscurations.
Inthatregard,[179a] accordingtotheTranscendenceVehicle,ifyou lack the dimension of art in practicing the infinite different clear catego- ries of the infinite stores [of merit and wisdom], even if you understand penetratingly the view of voidness and meditate however so much, except for becoming free from the life cycle, you cannot terminate the cognitive
obscurations. Hence, Universal Vehicle persons' developing such infinite stores over long times is for the sake of turning that realization which understands voidness into the means for terminating the cognitive obscu- rations. On the Unexcelled path, though you do not, as in the case of the Transcendence Vehicle practitioners, develop the infinite different clear categories of the stores, it is declared that your [progress] is extremely swift, since you meditate on the incisive import of voidness by means of the orgasmic bliss. Thus it is by the key point of the distinctive subjectiv- ity of great bliss that you can understand that the purification of the cognitive obscurations, which constitute the instinctive dualistic error about the realization of voidness, is so very accelerated. Therefore, in
356 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
this path's initiation and first stage with their auxiliary rites, the declara- tions of great praise about its excellence, distinctive from other paths, are not just gratuitous, but aim to establish receptivity for the path of the union of bliss and void and serve as means of developing the fulfilment ofthat [union].