No More Learning

Though the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices say that once you attain communion there is no more new learning on your own path, it is not that you do not meditate on what you have already learned. The Five Stages says:
The great yogi/ni, while still learning, Abiding in the state of communion, Should meditate it as communion, [275bl Also nondual with his or her conduct.
-that is, that you should perform the conduct while meditating com- munion and abiding within it. Nagabodhi also says:
Nonconceptual, profound,
Magnificent, the body of buddhas;
This is explained as the two realities,
The superficial and the ultimate in import; Having analytically known them separately, Having then merged them into one,
You should meditate the uncontaminated place.
And he also says, just after the above-cited passage:
Therefore, striving, you should realize, By the kindness of the foot of the mentor, When mentality comes clear by thatness, Then you should engage in the conduct.
As for the nominal synonyms of Ieamer' s and nonleamer's com- munions, the Five Stage. ? and the Integrated Practices mention them extensively, by such as "perfect buddhahood through the magic net. " "transcendence of the ocean of the life cycle," "the great yoga that has done its duty," and "living the way of the two realities. "
Chapter X- Communion ? 5 1 3
? 1 4 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
frlml the Further TantraI Explanation of the two hrandc? coming
As for the same way that the Five Stages and the Integrated Prac- tices explain the way of achieving communion, the Community Further Tantra teaches it in terms of the [last two of the six yoga] branches, mindfulness and samadhi. As it states:
When you meditate on mindfulness, You should delight like that !
Thus "mindfulness is explained- Individual illumination is born of that !
By uniting together the art and the wisdom, All things gathered into an epitome
Are concentrated in the pattern of a lump; Meditate the form in the middle.
In an instant, intuition is made perfect, And that is called "samadhi. "
Thus, the eminent person meditates, having entered into clear light. [276a] Having manifestly perceived it, then by the forms previously mind- fully recollected, the mirage-like [vision] and so on, it is like that attain- ment of clear light as the reality limit. Hence by the stages of thatness you should create delight. Those things just explained should be understood
as explaining the fifth branch known as mindfulness. Chag's translation:
Having meditated who remembers mindfully, Should delight in that way;
That should be understood as mindfulness.
here accords with the sequence of the commentary. Previously at the time of entering into clear light in the emerging order, like entering through the forms such as mirage and so forth, it is explained that one resurrects again with the same kind of process in the reverse order, which begins from creating imminence from clear light, and, after luminance, creating the signs of lamp-flame, fireflies, smoke, and mirage-likeness. "Individual illumination" refers to true endurance, "from which the mindfulness branch is produced, and not elsewhere. " This is how the two old translations translate it and also the Chag translation. Though the Patsab translation here translates, concerning "created from that individual illumination,"
? I \"1. 8. 3. b. ii. c . _, ? d 'ii 'K . ,2 "
Chapter X- Communion ? 5 1 5
"'from that' means that from the mindfulness branch, true insight, that is true experience, will be created"; the three previous translations are better, since this is the context of showing how the mindfulness [branch itself] is created from clear light.
In case you wonder, "well, since it is said 'mindfulness is thus explained,' and that completes the mindfulness branch, does this show how communion is produced from mindfulness? "
order of meaning, the third line follows the fourth.
Further, if you wonder, "Therefore, as for the insistence that the
true insight of mindfulness is produced from clear light, and not else- where, as there is emergent order and reverse order in the entering into clear light, in the context of which is mindfulness discussed? "
It must be that since it is explained in the order of resurrecting in the reverse order from clear light, [the phrase "it is not elsewhere"] is explained in order to make certain that this does not occur otherwise in the emergent order. So one must explain this instruction of the Illumina- tion of the Lamp in conformity with the explanation of the Integrated Practices.
"Art" is the magic body which is the purity of the superficial reality, and "wisdom" is stated to be the ultimate reality, it being the clear light intuition that is of one taste with that [reality]. "Uniting together" is uniting indivisibly in actuality. All things are stable and moving. Their epitome in the form of a lump is, having made them one in the form of the great seal deity body, in the center of that vessel and essence you should meditate the form of the communion vajradhara.
By this process, in a moment, that is a mere split second, the intui- tion body is made complete, which is explained as the samadhi branch, the sixth [yoga branch] , according to the intention of the Illumination of the Lamp. The two realities being the pair, and the indivisible uniting of
their actualities the communion-this is the main communion, which gives meaning to the other communions. As for the way in which all vessel and essence worlds are condensed into the single communion body, the root of all animate and inanimate things is no more than mere wind- energy and mind, 1277aJ and that is what arises as the single communion body. "This process" refers to resurrecting from clear light like a fish leaping from the water. The "mere" of "a mere split second" excludes
That (276bl is just the sequence of explanation; but if you follow the
5 1 6 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
any obstruction by any other thing [in arising] from clear light. This process of [universal] communion has already been explained.
By really understanding the commentarial explanations in this way, you can understand the incorrectness of the different explanations in such works as the Elixir Secret, since they do not explain this way. Here the Illumination of the Lamp cites the Magic Net as the source of the state- ment of the three deity yogas of blessing, constructively imagining, and completing the form, the first two being [constituted by] the means of instantaneous arisal in the deity body, the sequential arising by means of the seed-syllable and so on, and the intuition three bodies arising in the
communion body. Though Kunga Nyingpo 149indeed elucidates this Tantra as [authority for this interpretation of the Unexcelled] Yoga [form of communion], here that is not acceptable, according to the Esoteric Community. The first two of those, as above explained, are deity body arisals by means of mere imaginary mental formations, and are not deity body arisals like the [arisal of the] two forms of the magic body. Though the latter, [the third of the above,] is indeed the main pure magic body and also the third stage magic body, it still does not seem best to assert that all instantaneous arisals in deity bodies by those perfection stage practitioners capable of meditating the orgasmic great bliss have the meaning of the instantaneous completion of the intuition body stated by those two Tantras, [Magic Net and Esoteric Community,] and other Tantras like them. Rather, you should recognize that, although one can take as source the Vairochana Enlightenment statement about pure [277bl and impure deity bodies and interpret that they thus resemble the mantra and intuition bodies mentioned in the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras, insofar as they are impure and pure deity bodies; or one can posit that the Per- formance Tantras mention deity bodies intending with hinting intention
the deity bodies of the Unexcelled [Yoga Tantras]; the way of meditating the deity body of that [Esoteric Community] Tantra is not accessible from the literal meaning [of those other categories of Tantra], as previously explained.
? 149Presumably, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158), a great scholar and one of the five great patriarchs of the Sak. ya Order, especially known and appreciated as a practitioner
and commentator on the Mother Tantras.
CHAPTER XI
The Conduct, the Art ofHeightening Impact on the Two Stages
(277b. 2-. '\. 12a. 6]
[VI. B. 3. c. -
the two stagesI
Third, in explaining the conduct as the art of developing impact on the two stages, there are two: [i. ] The general arrangement of conducts; and [ii. ] Specific explanation of Unexcelled [Yoga Tantric] conduct.
[VI. B. 3. c. i. - The general arrangement of conducts]
The first has two parts: [A'] Explaining the divisions of conduct in general; and [B'] Eliminating scriptural contradictions with the distinc- tive conduct.
[VI. B. 3. c. i. A' - Explaining the divisions of conduct in general]
The Teacher descended to the human realm from Tushita heaven. Manifesting the four, continuum, context and so on, he emanated the dispassionate body. He caused those with aspirations for the Individual Vehicle to understand the four noble truths and [he manifested] the dis- passionate conduct. As for those with broader aspirations on the Universal Vehicle, he caused them to understand objective selflessness by teaching the eightfold assemblage of consciousness and so forth, manifesting the
conduct of the stages and the transcendences.
realities.
All paths going to liberation and omniscience that do not employ
passion for the objects of sense maintain the conduct that is dispassion- ate. The Integrated Practices' statement that the dispassionate conduct
517
? ? ? The conduct which is the method of heightening impact on
Additionally, he emanated himself in the form of an imperial chakra- varti monarch, and for those with intense aspiration toward the profound, he employed the passionate conduct, manifesting the conduct of the teaching of passion right up to the above-explained realization of the two
5 I 8 ? Brilliant lllumination ofthe Lamp
[27RaJ was taught for the Individual Vehicle person is just by way of example. Though the three lower Tantra categories do not teach union with the evolutionary consort or the visualized goddess, in general they do just use as the path the passion that perceives the five sense objects of the goddess visualized as present in front of you, and so their paths are included in just making a path of passion for sense objects.
For those disciples who totally engage with all objects of the extra- ordinary two realities and who delight in the supreme fruition of the great bliss, the dispassionate conduct appropriate for those of the Disciple Vehicle and the transcendence Siitras is not taught. The disciple tamed by those [vehicles] does not understand the perfection stage of great bliss of taking as the path the passion for sense objects, and though by means of the hard conduct of the twelve ascetical practices and so forth they may seek enlightenment for a long time, they have a conduct which cannot attain ultimate enlightenment without relying on another path.
Therefore, the Vajra Angel states:
To one who is an actual mendicant,
To anyone who likes various ideologies, To one who has become old,
Do not teach thatness to them.
A renunciate who is tamed by the dispassionate path is not capable of aspiring to the passionate path. An old person whose seeds have weakened is not capable of uniting bliss and voidness. A devotee of outsiders' ideolo- gies does not enter this teaching. Therefore, the text explains they are not vessels of the supreme path. [278bl Thus the distinctive fruition must arise from a distinctive cause, and the great bliss of the fruitional occasion should be understood as achieved from the distinctive bliss of engage- ment with the sense qualities in the occasion of the cause. Those who are ascetical, engaging with other things, will not obtain the one-pointedness of great bliss, since the melting bliss comes from the flourishing body, and those ascetical activities punish the body which has the five senses and their supports.
Thus again, the Vajra Angel says:
Illusory things
May create the distinctive enjoyment.
Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ?
5 1 9
While that bliss i s transforming.
One will attain the distinctive fruition - Why should one not desire it?
There are no animate or inanimate things, Their nature is mere appearance.
Who has that distinctive meditation,
The fruition of pleasurable bliss.
The power of the unexcelled clear mind Achieving the cause of ambition for fruition - There, who would turn away a goddess?
Therefore, by all efforts,
Make offerings of the ubiquitous. By intolerable ascetical vows The body dries out and suffers.
That suffering distracts the mind,
Causing accomplishments to go elsewhere. Having stabilized body and mind,
Always strengthen your bliss.
And the Root Tantra says:
You won't achieve by relying On unbearable ascetic vows - Relying on enjoying all desires, Very soon you will achieve.
As for asceticism, by yogas that wear out and tire the body one practices in a[n abandoned] temple, and so on. As for vows, [279aJ they are the twelve ascetical practices such as living at the foot of a tree, and so on. As for unbearable, it refers to hanging from cliffs and entering fire and so on. As for not attaining enlightenment while suffering by relying on those things, those things dessicate the body, oppress it and torment it. weaken the jasmine-like enlightenment spirit, divert the mind from great bliss samadhi to other states, and make sure that the supreme accomplish- ment will not be attained in this lifetime.
As for the meaning of the Integrated Practices quote of the Glori- ous Supreme Prime statement similar to the above, it should be taken as the meaning of the statement that intended a general explanation or an
520 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
explanation like the foregoing; since it is not explained as having a ver- bally literal meaning.
Again from the Root Tantra:
Keeping body, speech, and mind
In happiness, enlightenment is attained. Otherwise one will surely die an untimely death And will [eventually] be burned in hell.
Here the meaning of the previous [lines] , the benefits of blissful conduct, is implicitly shown by the last two [lines], while they explicitly indicate the dangers of maintaining ascetical conduct.
As for that, some part explains the faults of the ascetical conduct of the fundamentalists, and some part explains the faults of incurring the eighth root transgression of maintaining an ascetical conduct, abandon- ing what one understands of the reality, [after] having received initiations and taking vows.
As for the unexcelled path's affording enlightenment in this life- time, it depends on the union of bliss and void, and that bliss comes from the flourishing of the enlightenment spirit in one's body, and for that one must take care of one's body along with the senses and their supports. For that purpose is taught the conduct 1279bl wherein the five senses rely on the five objects as one desires.
The Illumination ofthe Lamp Seventeenth Chapter states that what- ever commitments exist, [are fulfilled through] women [or male] consorts such as the "lotusful," and so on. They are [essential] for the commit- ment of the three vajras, and you should respect and delight in them by all activities of body, speech, and mind. "Don't despise the mind vajra" intends that their minds should not separate from passion, since the mind is the root of the body, and since the body is the root of the spirit of enlightenment.
Relying on the body of the "lotusful," and so on, one's enlighten- ment spirit increases; and since the root of the body of that one is the mind of that, if that mind is eradicated, the cause of the root of great bliss is injured, and the text thus intends that this causes obstruction to the increase of the great bliss samadhi. Therefore it states that one should protect such a mind. And the infraction of the fourteenth root transgres- sion intends that same thing. By that reason you should understand not to
harm your body but to make it thrive. The two new translations of the
Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ? 52 1
Illumination of the Lamp are correct in explaining that the mind is the root of the body and the body is the root of the spirit of enlightenment. Should it be translated in the reverse it would be incorrect.
Thus, as stated, one should follow the conduct of the six transcen- dences, though there are statements that one's conduct should accord with one's path. Here, "conduct" refers to conduct from the perspective of knowing the nature of the five sense objects as the cause of great bliss. Therefore, if you do not live blissfully in body speech and mind through sense-enjoyments, you will not attain one-pointedness of mind, and your mentality will not become evenly entranced, and so you must keep [. :! . llllnJ a conduct of bliss for that purpose. And that statement is not just for achieving a mere stability of one-pointed mental equanimity, but is for the purpose of achieving the samadhi of orgasmic great bliss.
[VI. B. 3. c. i. B' - Eliminating scriptural contradictions with the distinctive conduct]
The second has two parts: [1 ') Setting forth the Integrated Prac- tices statements and explaining their meaning; and [2'] Rebutting others' objections to that.
I VI. B. 3. c. i. n 'l ' - Setting fmth the Integrated Practices statements and explaining their meaning]
Well, then, [someone objects,] if it is said that you attain buddha- hood by relying on sense objects as much as you want, how does it not contradict the statement [from the Glorious Supreme Prime] that passion for the five sense objects is a poison to be avoided:
Desire, hatred, and delusion,
These are the world's three poisons!
and the explanations from the Sotras that show the dangers of desire as the cause of the horrible migrations, since relying on the sense objects causes the production of addictions?
In answer to this objection, [Aryadeva] in the Integrated Practices says:
The addictive energies serve as condition for the addictions of those with objectifying views such as the disciples, since they do not understand the reality of the
? ? 522 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
addictions. If they know the reality, those energies could
become the cause for enlightenment. The Glorious Supreme Prime says:
Desire, hate, and delusion,
Holding them they become poisons. When the poisons are eradicated, Poison has been made poisonless. Relying on them with an elixir process, They become elixir itself.
The Jewel Heap Satra says that just as the city's manure enriches the fields of sugar cane, the manure of the bodhisattvas' addictions enrich their becoming enlightened. And [it also says that] just as poison com- bined with medicine and mantra is no longer able to kill, 1280b] so addictions combined with art and wisdom are not able to cause wrong downfalls. The Discipline Amoghasiddhi Tantra also says:
"That which binds the foolish person, Fully liberates the wise. "
When the bodhisattva meditates on this, All these wrong things,
Which imprison the confused,
Sending them to the howling hell,
The same things liberate [the bodhisattva] Who attains bliss by the power of wisdom.
By this reason, one enters into a delightful situation where there is a dis- tinctive incentive, a distinctive transformation, and a distinctive fruition, and one can achieve the goal of the fruition of the unexcelled great bliss-and not any other way. For the sake of that, by that very one, the pleasures of eating and living and so on cause the realization of omnis- cience that includes the eight masteries of excellent qualities and so on. The Magic Supreme Bliss [Tantra] also says:
Therefore, by bliss there is bliss itself And all buddhas thus attain themselves.
As for "serve as conditions for addictions," the two new transla- tions of the Integrated Practices are correct to translate "become the
Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ? 523
cause for the horrid states. " Concerning that, to the argument that "rely- ing on the five objects, addictions are produced, and that again leads to the bad migrations," he answers that in regard to the addictions produced by relying on sense objects, they are analyzed into two, a cause of bad migrations for those who do not understand reality, such as the disciples, and a cause of buddhahood for those who understand reality. He does not
answer that relying on sense objects 12Htal will not produce addictions.
In general as above explained, the person free from attachment to sense objects is not precluded from taking interest in getting desire ob- jects such as food and clothing. In regard to pleasant, unpleasant, and indifferent sense objects, they do not become addictive just by the five senses experiencing them or just by the mental sense's having an interest in sense objects. However, in this case, the main point is made in terms of not separating from passion for sense objects, and from among sense objects this is examining whether or not it is correct that one can take the passion for the union of the two sex organs as the path. If you are not free of passion for the desired, you do not have the realization of reality, and you still rely on sense objects as much as you want, you will feel the passionate addictions. Those [addictions] will also become the cause of your going to horrid migrations; thus the addictions will not at all be transformed into the cause even of liberation, and therefore they are not allowed. Neither does the individualist who does possess the understand- ing of reality have the ability to transform any addiction into a cause for enlightenment: since such a person does not have the art element of such a transformation which is taught in either the [exoteric] Transcendence or
the secret Mantra Universal Vehicle; and since such transformation requires both the distinctive art and [distinctive] wisdom. Therefore, the statement that understanding the thatness of addictions serves as the cause of enlightenment shows that in such a case the addictions can become a cause of enlightenment (28lbl and does not show that for all those who understand thatness, the addictions that rely on sense objects become the cause of enlightenment; otherwise the many statements of the necessity
of elements of art beyond the view of voidness would be meaningless. The reference quoted from the Glorious Supreme [Prime] shows that the three addictions can become either poisons or elixirs, which shows that the one-sided statements that the three addictions are only poisons to be eliminated are for the sake of a certain type of person and not for every- one. The previous reference from the Jewel Heap shows that some of the
524 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
addictions of bodhisattvas create the buddha qualities, which teaches that not all addictions obstruct the attainment of enlightenment. The second reference [from the Jewel Heap] shows that addictions combined with the distinctive art and wisdom cannot lead one into the wrong downfalls into the horrid migrations, showing that the same addictions that obstruct the higher rebirths for those not expert in [the distinctive] art cannot obstruct those who are so expert. As for the meaning of that Jewel Heap reference, it states that just, while the Transcendence Vehicle bodhi- sattvas could eliminate craving for the addictions that cause rebirth in existence, when they purposefully leave them uneliminated, those addic- tions become a cause of buddhahood by driving them to take rebirth with the ability to complete the magnificent bodhisattva deeds.
Elsewhere, there is the story about the addictive desire to commit sexual misconduct in the case of the distinctive embodiment of the brah- min boy "Star," where the point is that if he did not pursue his desire [for a certain woman] it would have the preventable consequence of [her] death; and if he did pursue his desire he could uphold virtue [282al as he wished. 150 This is completely different from such addiction becoming the cause of enlightenment and the system of making passion into the path in this [Tantric] path. Nevertheless, as this is a source for certain addictions combined with expertise in art becoming a cause of enlightenment, you can rebut the criticisms argued against [this path] that producing addictions from relying on sense objects must [inevitably] lead to horrid migrations, must become obstacles to enlightenment, and that various references are
mutually contradictory.
In the Dialogue with the Householder Ugra, while the Buddha did
recommend the deeds of the bodhisattva householder to one who could not eliminate the household desires, since there was no aspiration there to follow the path with the vehicle of passion, that [householder] was told to engage [in those deeds] with the idea of the dangers of relying on desires, which is different from the passionate discipline of the path of the unexcelled. The reference from the Yoga Tantra Glorious Supreme {Prime] is suitable for support here since, though it does not show that there is no fault [at all] in making passion into the path, [as it can be a
150 Have not yet been able to trace the source of this story about Bram ze? i khye'u skar rna.
? Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ?
525
problem for an ordinary person,] it does show in general that it is possible in certain cases to take as a path the three addictions, relying on sense objects combined with expertise in the arts in order to increase one's spirit of enlightenment relying on the body of another and to increase the spirit of enlightenment of one ' s own body.
Here you might wonder: "Well it might be conceded that it can be permitted to use desire, but how can there be permission for hate and delusion? "
As for hatred, when you practice fierce activities such as killing or banishing, there is no anger at the time of the causing motivation, yet it is said that a rough mind is developed [282bJ on the occasion of the continu- ing motivation. In the context of the initial [creation stage performance] meditation of the defense wheel and so on, compassion is developed in the time of the causal motivation, but in the time of the continuing moti- vation it is explained that a hateful mind and so forth is developed toward the obstructive demons. So there is some allowance for hatred and its associated patterns. Further, since every passion or hatred occurs in coor- dination with addictive delusion, delusion is permitted as incidental to the permitting of other addictions, though it is not by itself permitted expressly. As for "by what," it is the stupidity through passion for sense objects and specially passion for the union of the two sex organs; being a confusion about the meaning of thatness, it binds in the life cycle.
By that very passion that leads to the hells such as the howling hell, the expert in art can become liberated in great bliss by the power of wisdom that realizes thatness. Thus, when you meditate the enlighten- ment spirit of bliss-void[-indivisible], the artistically inept find a cause of bondage and the artistically expert become liberated.
The Hevajra Tantra says:
By passion the worldling is bound,
But by passion one becomes liberated.
Therefore there is cause both for bondage and for liberation in the same
addiction of passion for sense objects. As the Vajra Rosary says:
Abandoning duty and deviance,
But performing the prohibited,
Like the lotus unsullied by the mud. Understanding reality one is not infected.
526 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Even though there is passion for the desire objects, one is "not infected," that is not crushed by its faults; it is not that passion does not arise.
Here you might wonder: "Well, [283aJ if there is a way as that above in which other vehicles make addictions into a cause of enlightenment, and if the other types of Tantras make it into a path, making into a path
just the passion of visualizing the five objects in the goddess who is meditated without [actual] union, then what about the way of making passion for sense objects the path in the Unexcelled [Tantras] ? "
When your mind is attracted by intense faith from seeing clearly the exceptional excellence of the path that meditates on the decisively understood meaning of thatness by means of the intuition of the orgasmic bliss of melting, you then desire to develop the great bliss for the sake of meditating on thatness. That is to make a path out of the passion for the sense objects [involved in] uniting with the outer evolution consort or the [inner] intuition consort, as a means of developing that [great bliss] ; and
that is not only for that [purpose,] but is also in order to achieve the magic body. These I have already explained many times.
As for making a path out of passion for desire objects for the sake of developing the distinctive subjectivity for meditating on voidness, it does not exist in any other vehicle than [that of] the Unexcelled [Yoga Tantras]. "By this reason" and so forth is translated by Patsab as "By this way, [there is] a distinctive presumption, and," which conforms to the [related passage in] the Reality Accomplishment. The "meaning" is the creation of the deity as [desire-] object and support. "Abiding" is well [translated] as "transforming. " And all those [expressions] concisely
express the path of the [advanced Tantric] conduct.
By the art of penetrating the vital points in the outer and inner
body, one melts the spirit of enlightenment and produces the distinctive textures of the body as inner object, and by that serving as an objective condition you create a distinctive bliss of sensation in the body con- sciousness. With that serving as the immediately preceding condition, (283hl the mental consciousness then develops a superlative experiential bliss. At that time, just by remembering the meaning of the reality of thatness that has been ascertained, bliss and void become united. That is declared to be the meditation on voidness by the art of creating the men- tality as the experience of bliss. Relying on that, the discerning person can understand the key point of this path as being the distinctive subjec- tivity that [focuses on the] nondifferent [object of] voidness.
Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ? 527
As for that process of generating bliss in the sense consciousness and mental consciousness. it can be understood from the reasonings stated by the Lord of Reasoning [Dharmakirti, in his Treatise on Validat- ing Cognition]:
And :
When passions etc. , expanding, increase, They are produced from pleasure and pain; And again, elements being equal, and so on, From approaching the inner object. . . .
Because a mind arising from a special inner object, Can also be made to change it.
Therefore, you should understand that the sense consciousnesses arise in the actuality of bliss from the immediately preceding condition of the mentality becoming the actuality of great bliss. 1 5 1
[VI. B. 3. c. i. B'2' - Rebutting others' objections to that]
[Someone here might object,] "Since the Integrated Practices states that "disciples and so on, by being convinced about the object," and "causing those who aspire to the magnificent to realize objective selflessness," doesn't it contradict the [Dialecticist Centrists' distinc- tively special] statement that the followers of the Individual Vehicle can understand objective selflessness? "
Since among disciples there are both those who understand that- ness and those who do not, here mention of the "convinced about the object" disciple specifies which among them is being considered. As the Noble [Nagarjuna]'s statement was quoted [by Chandrak. Irti] in the Intro- duction [to the Central Wayj Commentary:
1 5 1 Tsong Khapa seeks the backing of the great epistemologist Dharmakirti to show how a mind that is dominated by the inner object of subliminally enlightenment-spirit-grounded deep bliss perception becomes a bliss-subjectivity that can transmute any sense experience into bliss, whether ordinarily pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral; a compelling epistemology of sublimation.
? ? 528 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
You said that without understanding signlessness, One will not attain liberation;
Therefore you completely taught [284aJ
That in the Universal Vehicle . . .
he was thinking that, although objective selflessness is explained in both canons, it is more extensively explained in the Universal Vehicle; thus he states that it is in the Universal Vehicle that one is caused to understand objective selflessness. Likewise, from the Disclosure of the Spirit of En- lightenment, [Nagarjuna] says:
Those who desire to benefit,
Explain to the disciples the five aggregates Of matter, sensation, conception,
Volition, and consciousness.
The supreme human always says That matter is like a ball of foam, Sensation like a water bubble, Conception like a mirage, Volition like a plantain tree,
And consciousness like an illusion. Teaching the aggregates in such a way, He explains them to the bodhisattvas.
Thus, he was intending that there are many explanations to the bodhi- sattvas of the intrinsic realitylessness of the aggregates by means of such examples, and not so many similar recitations in the Individual Vehicle canon. But, [he was] not [intending] that the Individual Vehicle follower was never taught the applicability of those five examples; since in the Introduction [to the Central Way] Commentary those five examples for the aggregates are stated, quoting from a Sotra taught to the disciples.
If it was the interpretation of [Nagarjuna] that the Individual Vehicle lacks the understanding of voidness as intrinsic realitylessness, he would have been incorrect in stating in that same [Disclosure ofthe Spirit ofEn- lightenment] text:
Who do not understand voidness, They do not approach liberation,
Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ? 529 And those confused persons will wander
In the prison of existence through the six migrations.
-since followers ofthe Individual Vehicle 1211-'hl do have liberation from the prison of existence. Likewise, the Integrated Practices statement that by teaching those aspiring to the magnificent they are made to understand the eightfold aggregate of consciousness and so on, is merely referring to what was stated in the Sotras, since in [Aryadeva's] own system he does not accept a fundamental consciousness apart from the sixfold aggregate of consciousness. According to the Noble system of the Esoteric Com- munity, the mind of death clear light universal voidness is the death mind and the mind of imminence arising therefrom in the reverse order is the birth mind, neither of which is suitable as the fundamental consciousness. Though [Nagarjuna] mentions the mere name "fundamental conscious- ness" in the Disclosure of the Spirit of Enlightenment, it is only for the sake of declaring that the mental consciousness is the root and founda- tion of all purifying things, as I have already explained extensively in my Wisdom Vajra Compendium Commentary.
One may here object, "By meditating on the import of thatness with the bliss from relying on the consort using passion for sense objects as a cause, are all addictions terminated or not? If it is the latter, then there is a contradiction between the realization of voidness progressing to the ex- treme ultimate and some addictions not being terminated. This is because, having terminated all truth habits, it is not appropriate that the termina- tion of the cause, the truth habits of misknowledge, would not eliminate the effect, passion and so forth; and because it is contradictory for libera- tion to be attained without terminating all addictions. If it is the former, [it is contradicted] since, as you need the passions as the cause of the path that terminates the passions, there is the absurd consequence that light serves as the cause of darkness; f2115aJ and it is contradictory for passion
to serve as the cause of that path's radical elimination of the truth habit misknowledge. This is because is it contradictory for the cause of radical termination of a cause to be affected by the effect of that [cause]; and all other addictions are made to arise by the truth habit mis-knowledge. "
This I have already explained extensively elsewhere. 152
152 Tsong Khapa has refuted this argument earlier in the context of self-consecration.
? 530 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Furthermore, you may wonder: "The 'passion' concerned in the con- text of wishing to make passion into a path, if [on the one hand,] it is just a matter of attaching the name 'passion' to some other virtuous quality, it contradicts the Integrated Practices proof with evidence of something serving as basis of addiction either becoming or not becoming a cause of enlightenment, and it makes the statement that for some other person such a passion serves as the cause of going to bad migrations. A virtuous quality will not become the cause of bad migrations and will be the cause of enlightenment, so where is the excellent artistic skill distinctive from other vehicles? If [on the other hand,] it is real passion involved here, you would have to clearly pronounce how it becomes a path; [which you cannot do,] since you cannot express how a means of destruction elimi-
nates its target from the perspective of being discordant in habit pattern, as for example, 'This becomes the remedy of this kind of addiction. ' Therefore, the artistic skill of the Unexcelled Vehicle is no more than a mere object of [unfounded] faith ! "
Here I should speak plainly. I do not accept the second alternative, but do accept the gist of the first. As for how the objection does no harm [to my position], the statement "addictions are terminated by meditating the import of thatness by means of the bliss of relying on the consort" [285bl refers to the termination of misknowledge, the cause of all other addictions. Eliminating that means eliminating all addictions, but there is no fault [of contradiction,] since it does not eliminate that through a path which is manifestly contradictory in habit pattern to the passion which is attached to sense objects. The causal truth habit is not terminated until
you attain the Ieamer's communion, so therefore there is no contradiction for a single continuum to alternate for a while the meditation of a path which is directly contradictory in habit pattern to the truth habit and the using as a path the attachment for sense objects [which is not contradic- tory in habit-pattern]. When you rely at will on a distinctive sense object without parting from attachment for sense objects, the two blisses, from passion for desire and from relying on a consort, are [related as] cause and effect; and as they are temporary cause and effect, if that attachment did not precede, such bliss [of contact with a consort] would be eliminated, though the mere bliss of relating to a consort would not be eliminated. For example, sweet myrobalan soaked in milk would not be produced without the milk, though the mere myrobalan would not be eliminated.
Chapter XI-Conduct Heightening Impact ? 53 1
Here, in tenninating addictions on this Unexcelled Vehicle, I have already established that there is the enjoyment of sense objects through the union of two sex organs. As the Sampura Further Tantra says, in answer to the argument that you must eliminate passion by meditating offensiveness, which has its contradictory habit pattern:
When you make use of the reality of passion, you separate from passion. Thus the Divine Lord says: "Noble child! Emaho! The buddhas' passion is without turbidity; con- quering dispassion by means of passion, 1 211tia J they grant the bestowal of all bliss. "
When the stream-winner experiences desire it does not become a natural transgression [for her or him]. When an incense-elephant eats the ketaka flower, the digested product becomes musk, while when an ordinary ele- phant eats the same flower its product becomes manure. Likewise, addic- tions such as passions, are explained to produce a distinctively excellent fruition from a distinctively pure continuum. Master Shantarak? hita also explained this point clearly in his Reality Accomplishment. Therefore, it is not a case of affixing the name "passion" to what is not real passion.
Though one engages in making a path out of passion for desire ob- jects, at the time of the causal motivation, through one's intention being captivated by the spirit of enlightenment and the orgasmic intui-tion, one
engages by perceiving [objects] for the sake of developing those [wis- doms] and one does not adulterate that [intention] with addictions. Since it not otherwise than that body and speech become virtuous and non- virtuous by the power of that [motivation being good or bad], when you engage in such activities with such an intention, acts such as self-creation are explained as happening without addictive intention; and this does not intend only the context of the time of motivation [but also the whole time
of action] .
When you make a path out of such a kind of passion, it does not
dislodge other addictions by way of maintaining a contradictory habit pattern.
Well then what [does it do] ?
One who has that distinctive embodiment makes it into a path with
a view [first] to suppress the dangers of being led into the bad migrations by those passions and [second] to cause the swift development of the excellences of the superior 1 211tibJ path.
532 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
In regard to the first, such [practitioners] have become suitable vessels by the power of the stability and purity of the twofold spirit of enlightenment of the ordinary vehicle. They then defend properly the vows and pledges. They inquire into the decisive meaning of the view of selflessness, thereby confirming their vision of the magical [nature of reality]. They create the deity body as the universal seal from within the
experiential nonperception of the three sectors of object and support. They thereby develop the potency of aspiration blessed by mantra and seal. [Such practitioners] have many [accomplishments], such as restrain- ing the tenfold nonvirtuous actions with regard to objects, purifying their continua by means of initiation, guarding properly their vows and pledges, cultivating the samadhi of the first stage, and being expert in the science of the control of passion.
In regard to the second, it is not enough to consider a meditation on voidness to be merely a thought-free stabilization of the mind that produces bliss derived from such passion. Rather, enlightenment is quickly bestowed by meditating on orgasmic wisdom intuition realized by placing the mind on the great bliss, above and beyond the view that is superlatively decisive about the import of selflessness. Further in that regard, it is not sufficient that the enlightenment spirit melted by the condition of the consort be made by other means not to emit; rather [it is required] that-since the orgasmic [great bliss] can only arise from such union causing the wind-energies of [right] rasanii and [left] lalanii channels first to be injected into the dhati channel and then to dissolve there, as the art of orgasmic bliss - it is necessary for the wind-energies to dissolve [into the dhati channel] and hold the melted jasmine-like spirit of enlightenment. In making such a sort of passion into the path, though there is no offensiveness meditation, (287aJ a habit pattern diamet- rically opposite to that of passion, finally passion is terminated [anyway] ; because [this orgasmic intuition] is a path that corresponds with a vali- dating knowledge of a habit pattern diametrically opposite to that of the root cause of [such passion, namely the deluded truth-habit]. 153
153The idea here seems to be that, in order to inject the life-energy and evacuative wind- energy into the central dhati channel, one has to unravel the sixfold heart knot, which can only be done by deep (meaning reaching to the instincts and their physical correlates in
? (cont'd)
Chapter XI-Conduct Heightening Impact ? 533
Without uniting with the void that is known as the voidness of the intrinsic reality of all of the samsaric life cycle and of nirvana, achieving the bliss of mere non-emission of the enlightenment spirit produced by the joining of the two sex organs does not at all damage the truth habit of misknowledge, the root of existence. Thus, however much you engage with such bliss, the craving derived from that truth habit only becomes more increased, just like a thirsty person plunging into the perceived
water of a mirage, such a thing is inferior. However, in the case of being able to unite the bliss and void as previously explained, without such an art [of restraining emission by injecting the energies into the central channel], one will not quickly attain the buddhahood that fulfills the hopes of the beings of the three realms. Thus, [that art] is praised from the angle of its being the swift path. As Saraha says [in an Enlightenment Song]:
Who does not fully know things' reality, Achieving great bliss when in sexual union
Is [still] like a thirsty person finding a mirage, Even dying, will the thirsty find water in space?
Playing with the bliss that dwells
Between the vajra and the lotus,
Relying on it without having the ability,
How will the hope of the three realms ever be fulfilled?
To quote the Reality Accomplishment:
Finely examining the well-considered, The wise should enter into that; Otherwise, entering into fire,
One will not succeed even a sixteenth !
Knowing thatness by thatness
Who relies on a goddess,
He will achieve; and otherwise,
He will fall into [287bJ the great hell!
the subtle nervous system) realization of the selflessness or intrinsic truthlessness of all things, which has a cognitive habit-pattern diametrically opposed to the truth habits.
? ? 534 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp Also from the Esoteric Accomplishment:
Even with thatness as the pure jewel self, One who has abandoned all faults- Should that one abandon the divine art,
Contradict one's commitments and so on, And come to practice in some other ways; That one will roast in hell and so on.
Just as there the fire will bum,
The heap of grass and wood
And tum it into ashes,
And from it sprouts will never grow. Likewise lacking [the wisdom of] thatness Even making a few great seeming wonders, Until one can dwell [aloft] in space,
After one's death, one will go to hell.
Thus the wise should engage [in the Tantric conduct,] having well investigated things in fine detail. If you have not become wise by deter- mining well the import of thatness and abandoning all elaborations, there are stated to be extremely heavy dangers in taking the general and dis- tinctive passion for sense objects as your path. However, if you cultivate well the subtle paths of reasoning of Nagarjuna and company in regard to the point of the profound definitive meaning scriptural references, [you will avoid those dangers. ] By the key point of the great rarity of such a
determination about this matter, those who claim to be Tantrics in this land seem to be very weak in dedication to this system [wherein deep in- sight into the profound must empower the focus on the path of passion]. Therefore those with keen discernment, as the Accomplishment [Ascer- taining] Wisdom and Art says:
Setting the mind in the reality of enlightenment,
Enjoying the bliss of objects, one achieves in this very life. All these are pure in intrinsic reality,
Ordinary objects being selfless and illusory,
Like 1 2HKu l hallucinations and optical illusions,
Nonlocal, delivered from thought conventions.
When noble persons totally realize,
The magnificent ambition and the habit-free mind,
Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ? 535 Then the orgasmic realization prevails,
And the power of these objects can no longer bind.
So it is stated that, from the perspective of ascertaining the two realities unerringly by the way of [experiencing both] the melting bliss arising from enjoying objects of desire and [the insight that] all dreamlike and illusory things are fittingly functional even though even their atoms lack intrinsic identifiability, if you lack the skill in the art of the bliss-void- union orgasmic intuition, you will be overwhelmed by objects that lead you to the great danger. Therefore, with open-minded intellect, subtle and acute, you should unceasingly investigate the art of producing the orgas- mic intuition of the union of bliss and void.
[VI. B. 3. c. ii. - Specific explanation of the Unexcelled (Yoga Tantric) conduct]
Second, the specific explanation of the Unexcelled [Yoga Tantric] conduct, has three parts: [A'] How the analysis of conduct is declared; [B'] The definition ofeach ofthe three conducts; and [C'] The method of learning the conducts.
[VI. B. 3. c. ii. A' - How the analysis of conduct is declared]
In the context of the titles of the Root Tantra's chapters five and seven, respectively "Supreme All-Around Conduct" and "Supreme Man- tric Conduct,"154 [Chandrakirti,] in the Illumination ofthe Lamp, explains the meanings as, [respectively,] the superlative conduct achieving all the aims of self and other and the three conducts of the mantric reciter. The former is a general name of all three [Tantric] conducts. [21111bl As [Chan- drakirti] says in the Illumination of the Lamp about the meaning of statements in the [Root Tantra} Ninth Chapter about the two conducts,
[those of] of bodhisattvas and of transcendent buddhas, the first is the mantri/ni engaging to the best of one's ability in whatever will fulfill the aims of beings, whether or not it contravenes mundane conventions, and the second is the jewel-like mantri/ni realizing the perfection stage and transforming one's own actuality in this very life by the engaged conduct
154 Samantacaryagra, and Mantracaryagra chapters, respectively.
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that is not withdrawn in meditative equipoise. The former is the general conduct of bodhisattvas, and the latter mentions the perfection stage by way of example only, intending chiefly the jewel-like person, but includes all the distinctive unexcelled conducts of engaging with the objects of desire.
As [Chandrakirti] says in Illumination ofthe Lamp about the mean- ing of statements in the Sixteenth Chapter about truly undertaking the discipline of the science consort, they refer to engaging in activities having transformed oneself and the science consort into the likeness of deities
dressed with the appropriate clothing.
As far as the supreme three conducts mentioned in the commentary
on the Sixth Chapter, though the two old translations and Patsab's transla- tion all take these as referring to enjoyment conducts and liberating conducts, Chag's translation is better in its "the supreme of these conducts is the conduct of eating, sleeping, and defecating [bhusuku]" as [this pas- sage] does not indicate other conducts. In the Further Tantra, when it mentions the "all-around conduct" and the "mantri/ni conduct," [it uses] the former as the general name for the three conducts and the latter for the Seventeenth Chapter's mention of maintaining the mundane and tran- scendental [289aJ commitments and vows.
[Aryadeva] in his Integrated Practices, states the division of the passion-developed bodhisattva's conduct into the three, elaborated, un- elaborated, and extremely unelaborated, and the Second Stage and the Illumination of the Lamp also mention the three. As for the chief desire object of the conducts, it is the desire object of the science consort, among whom there are actual sciences and sciences who are contemplative wisdom-seals. [Aryadeva] argues that the first of those is engaged with in the first two conducts and the latter is engaged with in the third conduct.
The mention in the Integrated Practices and in the Second Stage of the three conducts of the perfection stage practitioner is just by way of example, since each of the two stages has its own set of three conducts. As [Chandrakirti] says in the Illumination ofthe Lamp tenth chapter:
When the yogi/ni, while achieving the supreme and abid- ing in the ordinary, when, after experiencing her or his practice of the three conducts, the elaborated conduct and so forth, s/he does not reach any accomplishments, then s/he must compel the essence of her or his deity.
Chapter Xi- Conduct Heightening Impact ? 537
Thereby he states that the conducts of the two stages are undertaken in order to achieve accomplishments according to one's situation, and that if one does not achieve them one should compel the essence [of one's deity] particular to whichever of the two stages. In comment on the Seventh Chapter, when [ChandrakTrti] equates the elaborated [conduct] with general meaning, the unelaborated with hidden meaning, and the extremely unelaborated with ultimate meaning, he intends the meditation and aspiration of engaging in the conducts, and he is not arguing that general meaning conduct did not include the other conducts; 1289hl since he mentions in comment on the [Root Tantra] Fifteenth Chapter the un- elaborated conduct of the five transcendent buddhas of the creation stage, and since, though the extremely unelaborated [conduct] is not assigned to the creation stage practitioner in terms of its meditation and aspiration, it is assigned [to them] in terms of activities and so on.
In general, there are two kinds of conducts of those who make passion for desire objects into the path, conducts at the time of empower- ment making one a suitable vessel for meditating the two stages and conduct at the time of meditating the path, already having become a suit- able vessel. In the latter case there are again two [conducts], conducts to produce the path when it has not been produced, and conducts, having already produced the path, in order to intensify the impact. The former of these occurs from the beginning of first meditating the path for as long as one has not attained the non-learning state. As is stated in the Condensed [Sadhana], you should practice in such a way once you enter the creation
stage :
Regarding the second [kind of conducts, those focused to intensify the impact], Kr? hl). a Samayavajra states that one engages in conducts only at two times, since there are only two occasions of intensifying the impact [of realization]; intensifying impact to achieve ordinary accom- plishments, after you have completed the subtle and coarse creation stages, and intensifying impact to achieve the supreme accomplishment, once
you have achieved the perfection stage with the three isolations and the two realities.
Not suffering from the ascetic abandoning
Of the five desire objects,
Following the Yoga Tantra
You should achieve enlightenment through bliss.
538 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Tsunmojen, relying on statements such as "knowing the different types of instinctual natures and luminances," also says there are three occasions in general [290a 1 for performing the conducts, and two on the perfection stage, after you attain the magic body and after you attain the learner's union.
My own interpretation is that there are four occasions of intensi- fying impact on both the stages, as follows. First, on the occasion of the creation stage, it is as above [in the theory of Kr? hQa Samayavajra]. [Second,] I have already established the need to engage in the conducts
in order to achieve the magic body, having attained the mind isolation on the perfection stage. [Third,] having attained the magic body, you must practice the conducts in order to attain the goal of the learner's union and in order to terminate the abandonable addictions. As [Chandrakirti states] in comment on the Sixteenth Chapter' s statement of the benefits of engag- ing in the unelaborated conducts of the three clans:
The intuitive wisdom of the three vajras arises. . . [Chandrakirti comments:]
There is the creation here ofthe vajra body and so forth by means of the body vajra [OM] and so forth. The buddha enlightenment is the ultimate reality. To enter there is to attain. Clear light transparence causes the attainment of
the pure intuition body.
Thus [in this context] he explains the benefits of causing the attainment of the intuition body purified by clear light, since there is no [need for] purify- ing of the magic body by clear light after you have attained communion.
[Fourth,] as for engaging in the conducts having attained the learner's communion, you can understand it from the previous quotes from the Five Stages and Nagabodhi's [Stage ofArrangement]. You can also under- stand it from what [Aryadeva] explains in the Integrated Practices about the practitioner engaged in the conducts realizing the superficial reality; that being connected to the two embodiments of the superficial magic body of the third and the fifth stages. Furthermore, [Aryadeva] states in the Integrated Practices:
You cannot [290bJ terminate the instincts of beginningless addictions without the conducts of the discipline.
Chapter XI- Conduct Heightening Impact ? 539
Therefore, all the cognitive obscurations which are the actuality of the addictive instincts cannot be terminated without the disciplinary conducts, so you cannot terminate them in this life without those conducts. Since the very swift termination of those seeds of addictions called instincts depends on that, you can understand why you need to practice the con- ducts for the sake of the learner's and non-learner's communions.
If you wonder here, "if you are making desire for sense objects into the path from the time of taking empowerment, the chief three con- ducts are no more than just that; although you can engage in conducts outside of that [overall] situation, what is the need? "
The conducts needed to intensify impact on the perfection stage are for attaining enlightenment in this life.