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(b) Anu Yoga Tantra
The Anu Yoga Tantra is also known as the Mother Tantra (ma. rgyud) and in tantras of this classification, rather than the emphasis being placed on the skillful means involved in the development process, the practitioner meditates primarily on the completion process (rdzogs. rim). The practice thus emphasizes the cultivation of the discriminating wisdom which cognizes emptiness. This is done by means of the yoga of radiant clarity, and the method of integrating skillful means is to utilize the bliss attained through sexual prac- tice. From the four actions which may be undertaken in tantric prac- tice, namely that of pacification, expansion, power and wrathful- ness, here the emphasis is mainly on that of power. This tantra is directed more to an individual who has a predominance of desire and who likes the mind to be stabilized (sems. gnas. pa. la. dga'. ba) and who also has the ability to engage in the physical practices.
View: The practitioner perceives everything arising as the three maJ::t~alas. The maJ::t~ala of the nature of every- thing is spontaneously manifest and is seen as Samantabhadra, the masculine counterpart in the practice. That this is empty of attachment to extreme views is perceived as the primordial maJ::t~ala which has existed from the very beginning and is manifest as Samantabhadri, the female counterpart of the prac- tice. That both of them in nature abide in the essence of union without separation or joining is perceived as the maJ::t~ala of Bodhicitta. The outcome of this
? total integration is great bliss, and is conceived as the son of the mystical union.
Practice: The practice mainly centers on understanding the es- sence of oneness, or a holistic view.
Meditation: In meditation one cultivates the awareness that the world and all beings have been enlightened in the mai;tt;falas of deities from the very beginning. There is less emphasis on visualization and more on the per- fection of bliss, clarity and non-conceptuality by means of the yogas of the psychic veins, semen and
psychic energy (rtsa. thig. rlung. gi. rnal. 'byor).
There are two main aspects to meditation in Anu Yoga, the paths of liberation and skillful means. In the path of liberation one meditates on the ultimate significance of reality by cultivating the primordial awareness which is not disturbed by conceptualiz- ing thoughts (rnam. par. mi. rtog. pa'i. ye. shes). In ac- cordance with the "letter" one meditates by reciting the mantras for visualization and visualizing the world and the beings as mai;tt;falas of divinities, aris- ing within one's field of perception spontaneously like fish leaping out of the river. In the path of skillful means the meditation involves developing the co- emergent primordial awareness (lhan. skyes. kyi. ye. shes) by means of either using the four or six psy- chic centers ('khor. lo; cakras) of the "upper doors" of
the head, throat, heart, navel, stomach and sexual psychic centers, which is a gradual way, or by using the union of the "lower doors" which is the instanta- neous way.
Result The attainment of complete enlightenment within the space of one lifetime. '
Ati Yoga
This is also known as the Great Completion (rdzogs. pa. chen. po; Mahasandhi) and is specially characterized by being known as the great primordial wisdom of the equality of purity, the naturally arisen primordial wisdom free from assumptions and projections, the final nature of all things and the summit of all spiritual vehi- cles. This is considered the most fitting practice to discipline peo- ple of a greater predominance of ignorance and active mind.
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The practitioner concludes that everything within the realm of both cyclic existence and the state beyond sorrow, sai! 'Sara and nirvat:ta, is in the nature of the great primordial wisdom of the spontaneously aris- ing Dharmakaya or perfect body of truth. All things are only appearances in the mind. Their existence is false because in reality their apparent nature is non- existent. All things within the world are of the same nature without any discrimination. They have been this way from the beginning of time and are in the nature of the three perfect bodies (sku. gsum; trikaya). The empty essence of the mind itself is the Dharmakaya, the radiant, clear nature of the mind is the Saxp. bhogakaya and the unimpeded universal compassion of the mind is the Nirmat:takaya (ngo. bo. stong. pa. chos. sku; rang. bzhin. gsal. ba. longs. sku; thugs. rje. 'gags. med. sprul. sku)
The Dzog-chen practice encompasses the experience of everything without acceptance or rejection, by per- ceiving all that appears as activities of truth itself or the Dharma essence (chos. nyid;dharmata).
Dzog-chen is practiced according to three categories of teachings in the tantras: i) the Mind Category (sems. sde) mainly involves revealing, by means of analysis, the essential nature of the self-awareness of the Dharmakaya, ii) the Expansive Category (klong. sde) centers on showing the meditation of abid- ing effortlessly in the state of reality itself or the Dharma essence, iii) the Concealed Instruction Cat- egory (man. ngag. sde) concentrates on analyzing the primordial awareness of the self-existent lumines- cence, or radiant clarity, while remaining in the state of reality itself, a state of detachment from accept- ance or rejection which is free from the very begin- ning of time.
Long-chen Rab-jam-pa, in his Treasury of TenetS, divides the three categories of the Dzog-chen tantras in the following way:
In Sem-de all the various appearances are the play of the mind, just as in the single face of a
Practice:
Meditation:
? mirror various colors can appear. In Long-de the self-arising primordial awareness and all the various phenomena which arise from its manifestative power are liberated and pure from the beginning. Thus even the mind and the play of appearances of the mind do not exist in truth. In Man-ngag-de one is not to remain in mental analysis but is to make the nature spontaneously clear or self-evident, and to pierce to the point (to get to the very heart of the essential under- standing) like the fire-probe treatment.
Accordingly one should first make the mind recep- tive by following the preliminary practices. Then one should obtain the "introduction to intrinsic aware- ness" by means of the initiation of awareness (rig. pa'i. tsal. dbang). Following this one should prac- tice the actuai path which in Dzog-chen means first remaining without moving from the state of the ac- tual unmodified meaning of the originally pure "cut- ting to the essence" (khregs. chod). Secondly one fol- lows the method of "instantaneous arrival" or Tho- gal (thod. rgal), which involves six points of sponta-
neous accomplishment. These relate to the i} body, ii} speech, iii) mind, iv) the "rising door" or eyes, v) the "rising ground" or object, and vi) the "breathing awareness". In this practice the delusions are puri- fied into the original ground and the four visions are perfected. These are: i) the direct perception of truth itself, ii) the development of experiences and sensa- tions, iii} arriving at an understanding of the meas- ure of intrinsic awareness or Rig-pa, and iv) dissolv- ing everything into reality itself or Dharmata. One first perceives the meaning of the bare perception of pure awareness (rig. pa. mngon. sum), then enhances it, which will lead to the arrival at an understanding of the true state of being, until finally all delusory appearances of everything are exhausted or purified into the vast expanse of reality itself. Upon reaching this stage one will attain the four confidences, namely confidence of no fear of hell, no expectation of results,
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no expectation of attainment and purifying happiness and enjoyment in the essential sameness.
Result: From this point onwards all will be perfected and one will dwell in the state of spontaneous perfection (lhun. rdzogs), the state of the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, and one will be liberated in the state
of primordial purity.
? Notes
1. dkon. mchog. gswn; tri-ratna.
2. bDe. bar. gshegs. pa; Sugata.
3. rtsa. ba. gswn.
4. Physical channels (rsta; nac;ti); energy winds (rlung; vayu); seminal
essence (thig. le; hindu).
5. Essence (ngo. bo;svabhava); nature (rang. bzhin; pralq"iti); compassion
(thugs. rje; kanu:ta).
6. Byang. chub. snying. po; Bodhima~c;ta.
7. Ngal. gso. The anxiety-free state of Buddhahood.
8. Rang. rig. 'od. gsal.
9. Tshad. med. bzhi.
10. Long. spyod. rdzogs. pa'i. sku; Saf! lbhogakaya.
11. Khams. gsum; triloka or tridhatu. They are (1) the desire realm
('dod. khams; kamadhatu), (2) the form realm (gzugs. khams; rupadhatu), and (3) the formless realm (gzugs. med. khams; arupadhatu).
12. Khros. ma.
13. The body, speech and mind-in other words, the three media of ac-
tions.
14. All appearances are perfected as deities, all sounds are purified as
mantras and all thoughts are ripened into the Dharmakaya, the per-
fect body of truth.
15. Rig. pa'i. gdangs.
16. Chos. nyid; dharmata.
17. mngon. swn.
18. rig. stsal.
19. khregs. chod.
20. thod. rgal.
21. The five practi~s are those granting liberation through just seeing
the cakras, by hearing the mantra, by tasting the nectar, by touching the mudra, or by recollecting the po-wa transference of conscious- ness.
22. The five pure realms are the Vajra Realm in the east, the Padma in the west, the Ratna in the south, the Karma in the north and the Buddha in the center of the mandala.
23. The abode of Guru RinpOche, the Glorious Copper-colored Mountain.
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24. rD~ogs. smin. sbyang. gsum.
25. The practice of the "Chanc;tali" inner heat, the "tu-mo".
26. The alaya (kun.
gzhi) is the storehouse or the basis of the traces and
causation of virtuous and unvirtuous deeds which create one's births
in saipSira and liberation to nirva~a.
27. The jneyavarana (shes. sgrib), the obscurations of the traces of con-
flicting emotions, the final veil to the knowledge of everything.
28. The Sanskrit word yana, theg. pa in Tibetan, means something which supports goods on a journey. The journey in this context being the inner voyage to realization of our actual nature, covered by means to the "vehicle" of a specific spiritual tradition suited to our individual
capacity and inclination.
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