No More Learning

etween the two, the translator [Ngok] Loden Sherap218 claims that implies that another meaning apart from the meaning thought
Y the speaker is understood by the listener from the speaker's words, and covert intention implies that the very meaning thought by the
222 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
speaker is [subsequently] understood by the listener. And it is said in the Exegetical Commentary on the Collection of the Greater Vehicle (A1ahayanasaytlgrahopanibandhana, T 4051):
Intention is not held to refer to apprehension by another party, but only to a determination in the mind. Covert inten- tion does refer to apprehension by another party.
These two are indeed known to be without contradiction. That which is partially explained with reference to something is intention, disregard- ing whether it is apprehended by another or not; and it is called intention because at times when it is questioned by others all incompletely [un- derstood] meanings still remain in the ground of the intention. That which is revealed in order to benefit others, relying somewhat on inti- mation, and in conformity with the perception of other persons is called
[the buddhas'] covert intention, because they understand the words of the speaker and, by entering thereafter [into the greater vehicle], now at last become receptive to the perfect understanding of other meanings and never turn to falsehood.
Such are the keys through which the scriptures are viewed. Since the profound texts possess many situations ofword, meaning, intention and purpose, it is extremely important to know that they are disclosed in this manner.
9 A Recapitulation of the Causal Vehicles
[121a. 4-121b. 1] Having outlined the overall meaning [of the causal vehicles], I shall recapitulate the meaning that is subsumed in their particular sections. It is said in the Tantra of the Secret Nucleus (Ch. 13, v. 2):
There are those of only partial realisation
And those who do not [fully] realise genuine reality.
Accordingly, the lesser vehicle confers only partial realisation of the approach to the truth of liberation; and the bodhisattva vehicle, while acting in accord with the approach to inconceivable liberation, does not [fully] confer realisation of the genuine reality because the meaning of the vehicle of indestructible reality (Vajrayana) is not understood therein. The former [the lesser vehicle or Hlnayana] includes both the pious attendants and the self-centred buddhas.
VEHICLE OF PIOUS A TTENDANTS
[121b. 1-124a. 6] Firstly, the vehicle of pious attendants is explained under the three headings ofessence, verbal definition and classifications. The essence is that with an intellect desirous of liberating itself from sarpsara one resorts to the means of realising selflessness with reference to the individual.
T. The verbal definition is that the [Sanskrit] sravaka is rendered [in ( Ibetan] as nyan-thos or pious attendant because it means both to listen and to hear attentively (thos-pa), while in one respect, it is so rendered as thos-sgrogs [or preacher of what has been attentively t eard] because, having attentively heard (thos-pa) one object [i. e. the
the pious attendant preaches (sgrags) to another.
. ThIrdly, [the vehicle of pious attendants] is classified according to topics, namely, its entrance, view, moral discipline, meditation, onduct and result. Concerning the entrance: The pious attendants,
224 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Recapitulation ofCausal Vehicles 225
being disillusioned by the suffering of sarpsara, enter through the four truths with the thought of aspiring towards their own peace and happi_ ness. As it is said in the Tantra ofthe Great Natural Arising ofAwareness:
Concerning the entrance, the four truths
Are the entrance for pious attendants in general.
Now the truth of suffering resembles a disease, the truth of its origi- nation resembles the cause of a disease, the truth of cessation resembles the happiness when one is freed from a disease, and the truth of the path resembles the medicine which is the antidote for a disease. There- fore:
Suffering is to be known,
Its origin is to be renounced, Cessation is to be obtained, And the path is to be relied on.
Therefore, the pious attendants enter by renouncing and accepting the causes and results to which the four truths refer.
Secondly, concerning the view: Selflessness with reference to the individual is realised [firstly] because the apprehended object which appears as coarse substances can be broken down and destroyed by an antidote or the intellect, [secondly] because the continuity of the ap- prehending subject which is the mind can be broken down by the three temporal dimensions, and [thirdly] because this coarse subject-object dichotomy has no independent existence apart from its mere relative appearance.
However, [the concept of] self with reference to phenomenal things is not understood because they hold that the substratum of indivisible atomic particles, which compose the objective appearance of coarse substances, cannot be destroyed by an antidote or by the intellect, and that the subjective mind is inseparable219 from the series of indivisible time moments. The subtle subject-object dichotomy is therefore held to be ultimately real. As it is said in the Garland of Views: A Collection of Esoteric Instructions:
All things are considered imaginary since they are exagger- ated and depreciated by eternalistic extremists and the like. The nihilist view of no origin and the views concerl1ing permanence and so forth are [considered] as non-existent as the snake which is perceived in place of a rope. Yet the indivisible atomic particles of the four gross elements, includ- ing the components, psychophysical bases and activity fields, and consciousness also, are viewed to have ultimate reality.
When [this view of the pious attendants] is classified, it is as KaWa Peltsek says in his SeventeenfoldAppearance ofthe Sequence ofthe View:
The pious attendants who consider merely phenomena Are both the Sautrantika and the Vaibhasika.
They dispute the nature of external
And agree that consciousness appears
As a series of time moments.
that though this coarse relative truth appears as
a aggre. gate In manner of an alpine meadow, ultimately it
conSIsts of mInute partIcles because indivisible atomic particles are
surrounded without intervening spaces. In his Turquoise Display, Nagar- . says·220
Concerning the relative, the central tenet is That these material substances composing the world
Are an association of atomic particles,
But that [undivided] they appear in the manner of an
alpine meadow.
[These coarse substances] are held to be compounded by the force or power of the active vital energy of sentient beings. Then:
Concerning the ultimate, consciousness is held To exist as a series of distinct time moments.
The Sautrantika, on the other hand, hold that indivisible atomic
are without cohesion but have no intervening spaces between
III the manner of a heap of grain. As the above text [the Turquoise Dzsplay] says:
Sautrantikas, concerning the atoms of relative appearance Hold them to form a single, compounded sensum. ' And they claim that ultimate reality is agreement of
consciousness [with its 0 bject].
Thus they are superior to the because they realise that the
conglomerate composed of atoms is indeed partless, and so are similar
Juna .
those who do not admit the existence of atoms on the grounds that t ey are not actually visible. 221
'. '.
d' h r '. one IS a pIOUS attendant If one VIews the subject-object
In sho t
lC otomy III relation to the self of phenomenal things to be ultimately
reaI and adh h "
' . eres to t e rejectIOn and acceptance of causes and results
by the four truths which refer to sarpsara and nirvana. As saId III the Sequence of the Path: .
If, without realising non-duality, Everything is viewed to exist substantially In terms of the four truths,
An? ? ne resorts to renunciation and non-renunciation, ThIS IS the level of the pious attendants.
226 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Recapitulation ofCausal Vehicles 227
Thirdly, concerning moral discipline, one should rely on the eight classes of priitimok$a vows, or particularly the supreme vows of a monk, because training which follows [the example of] the Buddha is essential. It says in the Treasury of the Abhidharma (Ch. 4, vv. 14-1S):
The eight classes [of vow] called pratimok$a Substantially refer to the four orders.
Since their titles vary, depending on the [adherent's]
sex,222
It is no error to differentiate [the four into eight]. Dependent on the vows which renounce Respectively five, eight, ten and all things that are
to be renounced 223
Are the lay vows (upasaka) and the vows of the
purificatory fast (upavasa),
The novitiate (srammJera) and the actual vows of
a monk (bhik$u).
Fourthly, concerning meditation, the same text says (Ch. 6, v. Sab):
One who abides in moral discipline And has studied and pondered
Should properly undertake meditation.
Relying in this way on the pure basis of moral discipline, one is required to study the pilaka of the pious attendants under [the guidance] of a spiritual benefactor. Then, the meaning that has been studied shoul? be pondered, and the meaning that has been pondered should be medI- tated upon.
Now, meditation initially requires that one makes the mind capable of action through tranquillity, which begins with meditation on ugliness as an antidote for attachment; and subsequently, one meditates with higher insight on the sixteen minor truths, four of which are differen- tiated in each of the four truths.
On this basis, one begins with renunciation by perceiving the ing emotions of the three realms, and then the mode of is effected in a succession of sixteen moments of pristine cogmtlOn. The sixteen minor truths are the four which are aspects of the truth of suffering, namely, impermanence, suffering, emptiness and selfless- ness; the four which are aspects of the truth of namelY,
causal basis, origin, production and condition; the four whIch are
pects of the truth of cessation, namely, cessation, quiescence, excellence
e and disillusionment with samara; and the four which are aspects of th
. 0f truth of the path, namely, the path, reason, attainment and the . act
becoming disillusioned with sarpsara; sixteen in all. Then, the SIxteen moments of pristine cognition are the perception of the doctrine (dhar-
a majiiiina), receptiveness to the perception of the doctrine (dharm -
"fiiinak$anti), the after-effect of this perception (anvayajfiiina) and recep- {iveness to the after-effect of this perception (anvayajiianak$anti), as
they apply to each of the four truths, making sixteen in all.
Fifth, concerning their conduct: Pious attendants perform acts which emphasise their own benefit by abiding in the twelve ascetic virtues.
It says in the Turquoise Display:
Their conduct is exclusively for their own benefit.
Sixth, as for the result: Pious attendants obtain the provisional results of entering the stream [to nirvaI). a], of being tied to a single rebirth and ofnot returning [to sarpsara]. And then, as the culmination, they become arhats either with or without a residue, who are endowed with the twofold pristine cognition, which perceives the cessation [of corruption] and perceives that it is not recreated.
There is also an enumeration of eight results when each of these four is distinguished according to those who enter it and those who are firmly established in it. It is said that there are four pairs of sacred beings with reference to the ground of this classification, and eight kinds of individual [pious attendant] with reference to the properties so classified. Of these, the Tantra of the Extensive Magical Net says:
One who is well pacified by training
In the sixteen-faceted pristine cognition,
Which understands the meaning,
And is well renounced in respect of the four truths, And who has been trained through the succession of
[results],
Such as entering the stream,
Proceeds to the level on which the enemy, Conflicting emotion, is pacified.
VEHICLE OF SELF-CENTRED BUDDHAS
[124a. 6-127a. 2] Secondly, the vehicle of self-centred buddhas is also classified under three headings of essence, verbal definition and classifi- cation. The essence is that, without relying on a master, during one's final life in the world, one meditates on the path of dependent origination as a means for attaining manifest enlightenment, through the realisation of one-and-a-half parts of [the concept of] selflessness. 224
Secondly, the verbal definition: The [Sanskrit] pratyekabuddha is fhendered as self-centred buddha [Tib. rang-rgyal] because it implies
t atone' l' h "
. s own en Ig tenment IS realised by oneself. The enlightenment
IS attained individually, that is, for oneself alone.
h Thirdly, there are six classifications as above, of which the first is
t
e entrance. The Tantra ofthe Great Natural Arising ofAwareness says:
228
Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Recapitulation ofCausal Vehicles 229
The entrance is through the twelvefold dependent origina- tion.
In this way, a self-centred buddha enters through the twelve modes of dependent origination. As for dependent origination, it says in the Heruka Galpo:
The doctrine of self-centred buddhas,
In order to purify the
Includes the doctrines of outer and inner Dependent origination.
Accordingly, the twelve modes of dependent origination are both out- ward and inward.
If one were to ask in what way these [twelve] revolve, the outward dependent origination [of physical elements] revolves quantitatively, and the inward dependent origination revolves as propensities in non- corporeal beings and concretely in respect of corporeal beings.
Concerning the procedure for entering therein: In general a self-
centred buddha of the highest acumen, in the [solitary] manner of a
rhinoceros, has accumulated the path of provisions over a period of
one hundred aeons. One of mediocre acumen and great conduct in
respect of the provisions has accumulated the provisions as far as the
J 25
middling degree of receptiveness (bzod- bringi over a hundred human lives. And one who is of inferior acumen and low in conduct relating to the provisions has accumulated the provisions subsumed by the fifteenth moment [of pristine cognition] on the path of insight over thirteen human lives. Knowing that there is no chance of attaining enlightenment on this basis [alone], with prayers of aspiration they take birth in a world which is entirely unoccupied by buddhas and pious attendants. As the Root Stanzas on the Madhyamaka (Ch. 18, v. 12) says:
If buddhas do not emerge
And pious attendants have ceased to be,
The pristine cognition of the self-centred buddha Is well developed without support.
On this basis and without preceptor or master, [the would-be self- centred buddhas] become natural monks. Going to a charnel ground, they become disillusioned with sarp. sara immediately after seeing bones, and when they investigate the source from which these bone originated, it is realised that they originated from old age and death that these in turn originated from birth, and in this way it is gradually: realised that the root of sarp. sara is ignorance. Then, wondering hoW to attain liberation from this, they enter by realising the trend in which dependent origination is reversed, namely, that if ignorance is
abolished, habitual tendencies cease and so on down to the cessation of old age and death.
Secondly, in their view [the self-centred buddhas] are similar to the piouS who to the individual, but in addItIon they realIse that the mdivisible atomIC particles which are the objective aspect of selfhood as it relates to phenomena do not independently exist. However, since they still regard the time moments forming the subjective mind to be ultimately real, and hold that the cause and result of sarp. sara and nirva1)a are found in dependent origi- nation, they are said to be realised in one-and-a-half parts of what is implied by selflessness. It says in the Ornament ofEmergent Realisation (Ch. 2, v. 8):
Since they renounce the idea of objects,
And since they do not renounce the subject,
One must know the path genuinely subsumed therein Is that of a rhinoceros-like recipient.
And in the Sequence of the View:
Similarly, the vehicle of the self-centred buddhas Concerns the mere illusion of the twelve outer
[links of dependent origination];
It is superior in holding atoms not to exist In any spatial dimension,226
But agrees that consciousness
Is a series of time moments.
So also in the Sequence of the Path:
If one does not perceive deeds and all the conflicting emotions
To be in fact sameness,
And entirely clings to the cause and result of
dependent origination,
This is the level of the self-centred buddhas.
this: object, contradicts t. he passage from the Thirty erses (Trzrrzszkakarzka, T 4055, v. 28d) WhICh says:
If there is no object, there is no subject.
! here is, however, no flaw. This passage explains that, if that which
IS by direct perception is realised to have no independent eXIstence th b· . 1 .
I . ' e su Ject IS a so necessanly understood [in the same way]. il ht. hlS [vehicle], on the other hand, it is said that the object is realised
toave . d d .
a no Ill. epen ent eXIstence because objects which conceptually
a to the mtellect are realised to be without independent existence,
because during such realisation, the ignorance which has become e root of the three poisons is reversed. 227
230 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Recapitulation ofCausal Vehicles 231
Thirdly, in moral discipline, [the self-centred buddhas] are to the pious attendants. It says in the Miraculous Key ofFurther Dzscern- ment (yang-'byed-'phrul-gyi Ide-mig, NGB Vol. 2):
The limits which pious attendants
And self-centred buddhas sustain
Are the two hundred and fifty disciplines of the Vinaya.
Fourth, on meditation, the Yogacara Level says:
It should be known to be just like that of the pious attendants,
Because these two are similar in the nature of their paths.
Despite this claim that the [self-centred buddhas] meditate on the path referring to the piJaka of the pious attendants, masters of the past have said that in the SzUra which Dispels the Grief of Ajatasatru (Ajatasat- rukaukrtyavinodanasutra, T 216) the piJaka of the are briefly and distinctly explained in contrast to the pIJaka of the pIOUS attendants. Also, in other texts, such as the Ornament of Emergent Realisation and its commentaries [Abhisamayalarrzkaravrtti, etc. T 3787- 9, 3791, 3793-6], their path is claimed to differ from that of the attendants. This is because, over and above the sixteen moments begm-
ning with impermanence such as apply to the four truths, centred buddhas] obstruct the trend in which dependent ongmatIon arises and meditate in the correct order on the twelve [antidotes], that is, the emptinesses belonging to the trend in which it
Fifth, in conduct, [the self-centred buddhas] commUnIcate WIth those who require training through symbolic gestures, which are through the miraculous abilities of their bodies, and without teachmg the doctrine by their speech. It says in the Ornament ofEmergent Real- isation (Ch. 2, v. 7):
To those respective persons
Who require training,
Whatever they wish to hear,
The respective meanings just appear, Without even a sound being uttered.
And in the Turquoise Display:
By conduct that is the miraculous ability of their bodies,
They variously act on behalf of others.
Sixth as for the result, the self-centred buddha of sharp acumen who in solitude like a rhinoceros, after perfecting the five in a single sitting, becomes manifest, through the supreme bliss of hIS
purpose, as an arhat who is conscious that the cessation [of corruption] has come about and that it will not be recreated. The Treasury of the Abhidhanna (Ch. 6, v. 24) says:
The Teacher and the self-centred buddha, similar to a rhinoceros,
Become entirely enlightened on the sole basis of the final contemplation,
And, before that, they are in accord with liberation.
Those of greater and lesser conduct with respect to the provisions, who flock together in the manner of parrots, respectively make manifest the first four and the first three paths. 228
Again, on the subject of these self-centred buddhas, the Extensive Magical Net says:
Knowing outer and inner dependent origination [To be] in the manner of an illusion and a mirage, They thoroughly penetrate substantial forms
without impediment,
They become realised through intrinsic awareness,
untaught by a spiritual benefactor,
And, with supreme bliss of purpose, proceed to an enlightened level.
VEHICLE OF
BODHISA TTV AS
[l27a. 2-131b. 2] The latter of the causal vehicles, the vehicle of bodhisattvas, is explained under two headings: its superiority over the lesser vehicle and the particular nature of this sublime vehicle. First, [the bodhisattva] is superior through an ability to realise the two kinds ? fselflessness as the fundamental nature by means of great discriminat- Ive awareness, and an ability to act exclusively on behalf of others by of great compassion. This is because these qualities are absent III the lesser vehicle. As stated in the Tantm of the Army of Pristine
Cognition (ye-shes rnam-par bkod-pa'i rgyud):
That which refers to sentient beings with compassion
And pervades the expanse of reality with discriminative awareness
Is explained to be the greater vehicle. The others are its opposite.
And the master Aro [Yeshe Jungnef29 has said:
The distinguishing features of the vehicles are Exclusively discriminative awareness and compassion;
232
Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Recapitulation ofCausal Vehicles 233
The distinction between the vehicles is made
In accordance with their greater or lesser extent.
And in the Verse Summation of the Transcendental Perfection of Dis- criminative Awareness:
One who has no skilful means
And is without discriminative awareness
Falls into the position of the pious attendants.
Secondly, the vehicle of bodhisattvas endowed with this particularly superior doctrine is explained under the three headings of essence, verbal definition and classification. The essence is that one realises all things to be without self and then firmly resorts to the means of perform- ing great benefits on behalf of others through great compassion.
As to the verbal definition, a bodhisattva [spiritual warrior set on enlightenment]23o is so called because the [Sanskrit] bodhisattva indicates one who is totally unafraid to attain the unsurpassed enlightenment by means of great mental power.
Thirdly, among the six aforementioned classifications, first the en- trance is effected through the two truths. The Tantra of the Great Natural Arising of Awareness says:
The vehicle of the bodhisattvas
Is entered through the two truths.
According to the texts of the Madhyamika, after the intellect, which perceives unanalysed and unexamined appearances to be without real essence in the manner of an illusion despite their appearance, has been grasped by the enlightened mind of loving kindness and compassion, [a bodhisattva] enters the relative truth by inducing virtue and opposing non-virtue. But when the abiding nature of ultimate, fundamental re- ality is known to be free from conceptual elaborations, the bodhisattva enters by means of the coalescence [of the two truths].
Concerning the two truths, the Heruka Galpo says: The doctrine revealed by the buddhas
Is genuinely gathered in the two truths.
Now, the extent of the knowable which forms the ground of this clas- sification is polarised between the apparitional mode or relative truth, and the abiding mode or ultimate truth. Therefore, the same text says:
In the appearances which form the knowable alone, The scope of the two truths indeed exists.
Of these, the relative truth refers to the symbolic apparition of reality which is the object perceived by the intellect. As [the Heruka GaZpoJ again says:
Deception and objectification of the intellect
Are the general characteristics of relative appearances.
Then, when classified, there is the correct relative which is causally effective in terms of phenomenal appearance, as when a man appears as a man, and the erroneous relative which is causally ineffective in terms of phenomenal appearance, as when a cairn of stones appears as a man. From the same text:
The divisions of relative appearance
Are called the correct and the erroneous relative. The characteristics of each should be well explained: The erroneous one is causally ineffective
In terms of what appears,
And the correct one is causally effective
In terms of what appears.
And also from the Analysis ofthe Two Truths (Satyadvayavibhangaktirikti, T 3881, v. 12):
Since they are similarly apparent
And since they are respectively
Causally effective and ineffective,
The classification of the correct and erroneous Relative has been made.
The ultimate truth, on the other hand, is free from all conceptual elaborations, as it is said in the Heruka Galpo:
Ultimate reality is characteristically Free from all conceptual elaborations.
And in ]etari'sAnalysis ofthe Sugata's Texts (Sugatamatavibhangaktirikti T 3899): '
Neither is it being, non-being,
Or neither being nor non-being,
Nor indeed an embodiment of them both
But it is genuinely liberated from the fou; extremes.
classified, there is the ultimate truth with synonyms which is
partIally free from conceptual elaboration, and the ultimate truth with-
O;:t synonyms which is free from all conceptual elaboration. As the eruka Galpo says:
Its are the ultimate truth with synonyms, And that WIthout synonyms which is free from the eight
extremes.
Then, one might ask, are these two truths the same or different? They
234 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
are identical in their nature but different in their aspects, conventionally similar to the moon and the reflections of the moon in water, respec- tively. It says in the Commentary on Enlightened Mind (Bodhicitta- vivara1J,a, T 1800, v. 57):
Just as molasses is naturally sweet And fire is naturally hot,
The nature of all things
Similarly abides in emptiness.
Yet the ultimate reality can be expressed as neither an identity nor a difference. The Dialogue with Maitreya (MaitreyapariPfcchii, T 85-6)
says:
The expanse, which cannot be expressed through the bolic forms of habitual tendencies, is not this at all, and It is not anything else.
Although the Madhyamika do not differ in their ofdetermin- ing the ultimate reality, with reference to the relatIve t? ere are the Svatantrika who hold appearances to exist as a mere IllUSIOn, and the Prasailgika who maintain that from the very moment of appearance there is freedom from conceptual elaborations. .
The Mind Only (Cittamiitra) system holds the objects and subjects which are dualistic appearances of the to be the relative truth, and the intrinsic awareness, mtnnsiC :adiance, or the consciousness which is without duality, to be the ultImate When they are classified, there are those holding sensa to be . vendlCal,
who hold the sensa through which external objects are perceIved to be
veridical, and those holding sensa to be false, who claim that the status
of appearances is exaggerated by . . . Secondly, the view [of the bodhisattva vehIcle] IS the realisation of the two kinds of selflessness. Although relatIvely thmgs appear in the manner of [the reflection of] the moon in water,
the abiding nature of the two truths is realised by quiescence of all conceptual elaborations. It says m the Garland Views: A Collection of Esoteric Instnlctions:
Ultimately all things, including all-conflicting and pure [phenomena], are without independent but relatively the attributes of each exist distinctly m the manner
of an illusion.
And in the Sequence of the Path:
Without knowing the meaning of sameness,
The relative and ultimate truths are polarised; But if there is no self with respect to individuals,
This is the level of enlightenment.
Thirdly, on the subject of moral discipline, there are three aspects: the moral discipline of gathering the virtuous doctrine; that of acting on behalf of sentient beings; and that of controlling malpractices.
The first refers to the attainment of the virtuous provisions of excellent conduct which are subsumed by the two provisions and six transcend- ental perfections; the second implies that all one's aspirations and ap- plications are acted upon for the benefit of sentient beings. As for the third, though in the Madhyamaka tradition the necessity of holding vows as a support for the cultivation of enlightened mind is uncertain, the moral discipline which controls malpractices on the level of the bodhisattvas includes the mind which aspires towards en- lightenment, and the mind which enters into union with the provisions and necessary actions for that enlightenment, in addition to a basis in which training according to the seven classes of vows231 is established.
These aspects of [moral discipline] are adopted by the proponents of Madhyamaka and Mind Only in their rites, and training in them is pursued. Mind Only holds that there are four root downfalls. As the Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Vow says:
These are to praise oneself and disparage others
Out of attachment to profit and fame;
Not to give the spiritual wealth of the doctrine, out of
avarice,
To one who suffers without protection;
To find fault with others out of anger, Without heeding the repentance of others; And to renounce the greater vehicle
And teach an imitation of the true doctrine.
According to the Madhyamika, on the other hand, nineteen or twenty precepts are upheld. It is explained in the Compendium of Lessons that according to the Sutra ofAkiisagarbha (Akiisagarbhasutra, T 260) there are nineteen root downfalls, namely, five which are certain for kings, five which are certain for ministers, eight which are certain for common and [the nineteenth] to abandon the mind of enlightened aspira- which is common to all. It is then said in the Pagoda of Precious liewels that . they number twenty when, in additi. on to these, en-
ghtened mmd of engagement is abandoned and VIrtue not applIed. ifConcerning these bodhisattvas, too, the Introduction to the Conduct
o a Bodhisattva (Ch. 5, v. 23) says:
I fold my hands in the prayer
That those wishing to protect the mind
or phenomena,
Recapitulation ofCausal Vehicles 235
236
Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Recapitulation ofCausal Vehicles 237
May guard mindfulness and awareness of the present Even at the cost of their lives.
Thus, a bodhisattva untiringly endeavours, with undiminished mindful- ness and awareness of the present, to sustain [the precepts] by renoun- cing the four negative doctrines, accepting the four positive doctrines and so forth.
Fourth, in meditation, a bodhisattva generally meditates on the thirty-
seven aspects of enlightenment during the four paths of learning.
Sixth, concerning the result, when a bodhisattva has gradually traversed the ten levels and five paths, on the eleventh level of Universal Light (Samantaprabhd) during the path of no-more-Iearning, he is lib- erated for his own sake in the buddha-body of reality, and relying on the twO buddha-bodies of form for the sake of others, he acts on behalf of sentient beings until sarpsara has been emptied.
Furthermore, on this topic the Extensive Magical Net says: The yogin who has perfected the transcendental
perfections,
Who has realised the two kinds of selflessness,
And who has gradually traversed the ten levels, Will excellently attain, by means of the two truths,
The path through which the buddha level is reached And its status is attained.
This completes the anthology which explains the definitive order of the causal vehicles of dialectics, the third part of this book, the Feast in which Eloquence Appears, which is a definitive ordering of the precious
teaching of the vehicle of indestructible reality according to the Ancient Translation School.
Thatis hemeditatesonthefouressentialrecollectionsduringthelesser
,.
path of provisions, upon the four correct trainings during the middling [path of provisions], on the four supports for miraculous ability during the greater [path of provisions], on the five faculties during the feeling of warmth and its climax on the path of connection, on the five powers during the feeling of receptiveness and the supreme phenomenon [on the path of connection],232 on the seven branches of enlightenment during the path of insight, and on the sublime eightfold path as far as the ninth level233 during the path of meditation.
In particular, with reference to experiential cultivation from the be- ginning [of the path], as it is revealed in the sutras of definitive meaning which belong to the final promulgation: When [a bodhisattva] has comprehended the nature of the nucleus of the tathagata, and developed his mind in supreme enlightenment, being of the enlightened family, he meditates by combining tranquillity and higher insight. These are, namely, the tranquillity born of contemplation in which subjective thoughts concerned with unimpeded objective appearances are and the higher insight which views appearances according to the eight similes of illusion. This higher insight determines both the subtle and coarse subject-object dichotomies to be empty and then inspects as emptiness itself. It also includes meditative equipoise and absorptlon in the meaning of the Madhyamaka, free from extremes. As the Intro- duction to the Conduct of a Bodhisattva (Ch. 8, v. 4) also says:
One should know that conflicting emotions are subdued By higher insight excellently endowed with tranquillity.
Fifth in conduct a bodhisattva acts on behalf of sentient beingsi
others as 'more dear than himself during the aftermath . [0
meditation]. As the natural expression of his conduct, he acts
to the six or ten transcendental perfections in the manner of a
illusion. The enumeration of six [transcendental 1
begins with liberality, and the enumeration of ten which adds . . d " . . 11 thered wlthlI1
means, power, asplratlOn an pnstme cogmtlon, are a ga . __ the transcendental perfection of discriminative awareness (pra}na- pdramitii) .
Part Four
Resultant Vehicles of Secret Mantra
Introduction
[131b. 2-131b. 4] Having briefly described the structure of the causal vehicles of dialectics, now the definitive order of the pitaka of the resultant secret mantra (gsang-sngags), the vehicles of indestructible reality, shall be expounded in two parts: the superiority [of the secret mantra] over the causal vehicles and an explanation of the nature of these extraordinary vehicles.
1 The Superiority of Secret Mantra
[131b. 4-143a. 6] This [vehicle] which makes the result into the path is
234
superior to the vehicle of the transcendental perfections
the cause into the path. There are adherents of the dialectical vehicle who object that, "When you proponents of the way of secret mantra make the result your path, it must either be a mature [result] which is made into the path, or an immature result which is made into the path. In the first case, this would lead to infinite regress because even after maturation, [the result] would be made into the path. You have accepted this logical entailment and it is proven that [the present instance] must be included therein, just as, for example, last year's fruit becomes the present's seed. So if this view is held, it is implied that the way of secret mantra is itself a long path. In the second case, it is not the result which is made into the path because this is immature. If this view were held, your own assertion would be refuted, and it is consistently proven that anything immature is not a conclusive result; witness for example a shoot and a stem. "
If this argument were raised, the reply would be that, from the standpoint of being, the genuine essence which is to be obtained abides intrinsically, and yet, because it is not understood from the standpoint of realisation, it is merely the means of realising it which is said to be made into the path. As it is said in the Sequence ofthe Path:
In this way, the pristine cognition
Which intrinsically abides
Is the essence of all the paths and results.
In order that the connection with it may be purified, The supreme means which make it manifest
emerge intrinsically.
b If it is sai? that when the intrinsically abiding result is manifested Ythe path, It must either have been produced on the basis of a previous result or not, then with reference to the essence, there is nothing to be produced. This is just as when a prince who wanders among the
which makes
244 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofSecret Mantra
populace is recognised as a prince his status does not essentially improve. Yet with reference to the manifest clarity [of the essence], it has been produced, just as when [the identity of] the prince has been confirmed he can hold sway over the populace. This vehicle of secret mantra should be known as such. It says in the Heruka Galpo:
Through the causal vehicle of dialectics
Mind-as-such is perceived as the cause of buddhahood. Through the resultant vehicle of mantras
Mind-as-such is meditated upon as buddhahood.
So, too, one should know well the tendency
Of any cause or result.
Therefore, in the vehicle of dialectics mind-as-such is merely perceived as the causal basis of buddhahood. Since it is held that buddhahood is obtained under the condition whereby the two provisions increasingly multiply, and since the purifying doctrines which form the causal basis of nirv31)a are made into the path, it is called the causal vehicle (rgyu'i theg-pa). Therein, a sequence in which cause precedes result is admitted.
According to the vehicle of mantras, on the other hand, mind-as-such abides primordially and intrinsically as the essence of the result, iden- tified in the buddha-bodies and pristine cognitions. Mind-as-such is thereby established as the ground which exists within oneself from the present moment as the object to be attained. It is then established as the path through its functions of bringing about recognition and remov- ing the provisional stains which suddenly arise by means of inducing the perception of just what is, and it is established as the result through its function of actualising this very ground. Since a sequence in which cause precedes result is not really distinguished therein, it is called the resultant vehicle ('bras-bu'i theg-pa) and the vehicle of indestructible reality (rdo-rje theg-pa). It is said in the Secret Nucleus (Ch. 12, v. 14):
From any of the four times and ten directions The perfect Buddha will not be found. Mind-as-such is the perfect Buddha.
Do not search for the Buddha elsewhere.
And (Ch. 13, v. 19):
The result, definitive and most secret, Has been turned into the path.
And also (Ch. 9, v. 29):
This wondrous, marvellous, amazing reality
Does not come into existence from elsewhere.
But it emerges in those dispositions
Which have the nature of discriminative awareness, Steadfast in skilful means.
Superiority ofSecret Mantra 245 Then, in the Tantra of the Extensive Magical Net it is said:
Since cause and result are primordially without sequence,
When the result has been turned into the path, They are simultaneously united.
Similarly, with reference to the outer tantras, the Sequence ofthe Path says:
Through discriminative awareness
And all branches of ritual
According to the tradition of Kriyatantra, The Sugata made the result into the path.
And with reference to the inner tantras, the same text says accordingly:
Other than this there is nothing to be obtained. When everything indeed has been ripened, There is nothing to be reached.
This reality is the essence of the path.
Our predecessors, too, have claimed that there exists a distinction be- tween [the resultant vehicle] which can make the relative appearances into the path and [the causal vehicle] which cannot. Through the tran- scendental perfections, the ultimate reality is to be attained and the relative appearances are to be renounced, but through the relative appearances are also made into the path without being re- nounced, since sameness with respect to all things is experienced.
! herefore, the mantra vehicles are superior because they do not fall mto biased tendencies with respect to the two truths. The Sequence of
the Path says:
Within the unsurpassed vehicle, there are those Holding ultimate reality to be indivisible
And relative appearances to include everything, Both the pure and the impure.
The great vehicle of skilful means, however, Does not divide even relative appearances According to purity and suffering.
The higher and lower views are just SO. 235
to this system [i. e. the vehicle of skilful means] also, the result IS made into the path because the essence of the result in which all are indivisible, is regarded as the buddha-body of reality in appearances and emptiness are coalesced, and experienced by skIlful means. It says in the Tantra of the Extensive Magical Net:
246
Fundamentals: Vehicles ofSecret Mantra
Superiority ofSecret Mantra 247
In the nature of appearances,
Including the animate and inanimate world, There is no inherent essence.
This itself is the great body of reality,
The way of secret mantra is verbally defined as that which makes the result into the path and as the vehicle of indestructible reality because, through the outer mantras, one meditates with to the body, speech and mind of the deity and, according to the mner
mantras all things are realised and then experienced as the natural of the maI). <;ialas of buddha-body, speech and mind. The Miraculous Key to the Storehouse says:
Concerning the resultant vehicle of indestructible reality:
Moreover, if a somewhat detailed explanation is given according to the intention of the uncommon, inner tantras in this [Nyingma tradi- tion]: When the profound and vast abiding nature of inconceivable realit/37 is appraised according to the dialectical vehicle, ultimate truth is established through the valid cognition of inference by means of perceptive judgements made according to logical syllogisms, and so is an intellectually created ground. Tranquillity is then secured by means of efforts directed to the birth of intellectual certainty, and it is the ideas and scrutiny in relation to that [ground] which are merely labelled as higher insight. The mere profundity [of this dialectical vehicle] refers to the result as that which lies in the direction of attainment through causes compounded of countless provisions over a long period of time, and its vastness comprises the components, psychophysical bases and activity fields. All of these, having been established as the relative truth, are nothing but the rigid ensnarement of the perception which accepts and rejects.
The mantra [vehicle], on the other hand, does not refer to logical syllogisms and the intellectually contrived discriminative awareness produced by thought. Pristine cognition uncreated by the intellect is established as the non-conceptualising reality or nucleus of the buddha- body of reality by the third empowerment,238 by the irresistible descent of pristine cognition,239 and by incisively applying oneself to [practices associated with] the energy channels, currents and seminal points which depend on the body of indestructible reality. Then enlightenment is actualised in one lifetime, and so forth, after the ultimate truth has been realised by the intellect abiding naturally in this state.
In this way, the continuum of the ground (gzhi'i rgyud) is established both through that actual development of profundity and also through the vastness which is the expanse [of reality], primordially abiding as a maI). <;iala of inner radiance. Subsequently, it is revealed that the con- tinua of the path (lam-kyi rgyud-rnams) are to be experientially cultivated by realising that the entire world and its contents, along with the com- psychophysical bases and activity fields, which are the osten- relative appearances dependent on that [ground], are an array of celestial mansions and buddha-fields free from acceptance and re)ectl,on. And the continuum of the result ('bras-bu'i rgyud) is thereby estabhshed, including the eight common accomplishments and the un- common accomplishments which extend from the path of insight as far as the path of no-more-Iearning. Therefore, [the way of mantras] is unobscured with respect to profound and vast meaning.
In respects also, the mantras are superior through their swift- blIss and skilful means. If one inquires into the quality of their it is that enlightenment is attained through them within this ,Ife, SIxteen rebirths, three aeons or eight aeons. And if one inquires Into the reasons for their swiftness, it is that the mantras possess merit
When the maI). <;iala of the seals
236
has been made into the
path,
The result itself is then carried on the path. One's own body, speech and mind
Are united in the indestructible reality of Buddha-body, speech and mind.
Such is indicative of the vehicle of indestructible reality.
Yet [the way of secret mantra] also has other distinctive features, as it
is said in the Lamp of the Three Modes (Nayatrayapradfpa, T 3707):
Though they are identical in purpose,
The vehicle of the mantras is superior;
For it is unobscured and endowed with many means, It is without difficulty
And refers to those of highest acumen.
Although both the causal and resultant phases of the greater vehicle are identical in their purpose of seeking enlightenment with the aim of benefitting sentient beings, the mantras are superior through four dis- tinctive features. [First,] they are unobscured in the area of skilful means which includes meditation on the deity and the recitation of
mantras. [Second,] they are manifold because there are limitless ap- proaches among the tantrapi! aka, beginning with the Kriyatantra and Caryatantra, which correspond to the degrees of acumen [in who require training], without being confined to a single methodIcal ap- proach. [Third,] they are without difficulty because they are easIly accomplished without requiring that three "countless" aeons and the
like be arduously passed as in the causal path. [Fourth,] they are taught with an intention directed towards those of highest acumen who actually require training through the vehicle of these very mantras. So the mantras are superior in these four ways.
248 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofSecret Mantra
Superiority ofSecret J\;[antra 249
which originates from total enjoyment because, through their special rites, the offerings which are made are actually accepted by the deities; it is that by the power of mantras even a single drop ofwater is multiplied to the extent of the sands of the River Ganges and gives rise to as many merits; and it is that the contemplation of purifying [lands into] buddha- fields in which impure appearances have ceased is actualised by a novice. Moreover, through each particular quality of the mantras and contemplations, those extraordinary causes which bring sentient beings to maturity exist even in one who has just entered this vehicle, and through their range of contemplation, [the mantras] possess, from first to last, the discriminative awareness which refers to form as an aspect of the result in terms of the two truths.
If one inquires into the quality of their bliss, it is the absence of coarse physical and mental sensations. And if one inquires into the reasons for their bliss, it is that in this [vehicle] even a body which endures for six aeons may be achieved, that many miraculous abilities and contemplations are obtained, that through the power of the mantras the buddhas become actually present, and that through the application of the mantras and the tantras all the wishes of sentient beings are attained.
Then, if one inquires into the nature of their skilful means, [the mantras] include the training in moral disciplines such as the unchang- ing bliss, the training in contemplations which are both symbolic and non-symbolic, the training in discriminative awareness through which the two truths are realised to be primordially of indivisible nature, and they include all else that enters the range of experience.
Moreover, it is revealed in the Tantra ofthe Inconceivable Rali Cakra- saJ'! 'lvara:
In the lesser vehicle which includes the pious attendants, There are no esoteric instructions.
The vehicle of the awareness-holders is superior Through fifteen· distinctive features:
The distinctions of its view, conduct and mind control, Of its cause, result, path and level,
Of its time, rapture and yoga,
Of its self- and other-oriented benefits, and its intention, Its renunciation of laborious extremes, and its ease,
And its accumulation of the provisions.
Concerning superiority [of the mantras] through the view, mind-as- such is essentially and spontaneously present from the beginning as the ultimate truth, which has seven aspects of spiritual wealth, as follows. Through its function of being the naturally pure essence, it is the ultimate truth of the expanse. Through its function of abiding as the ground in which all things of nirvaJ). a arise, clear and radiant without all obscurations and veils, it is the ultimate truth of pristine cognition.
Then, it is the ultimate truth of the result, which unimpededly abides, whatever enlightened attributes of buddha-body and pristine cognition arise. The resultant doctrines which are the great mystery of the buddha's fivefold body, speech, mind, enlightened attributes and ac- tivities, being spontaneously present within the latter, are the ultimate truth of natural, original cessation. 240
The expressive power of this ultimate reality which is mind-as-such, otherwise [known as] the apparitional array ofthe world and its contents which, to childish persons, are ostensible relative appearances, is mani- fest in and of itself as a great maJ). Q. ala of buddha-body and pristine cognition. Thus, the relative truth is perfect in that sameness where saqlsara and nirvaIfa or good and evil are not distinguished. It is the great, superior body of reality wherein the truth is indivisible, and in
which these two truths [both ultimate and relative] abide from the beginning as the identity of a single essence, coalesced in the manner of gold and the colour gold, or of a butter lamp and the light of a butter lamp, without alternating between acceptance and rejection. Only in conventional terms is [this body of reality] called the indivisible truth, transcending thought and expression. Indeed, it genuinely transcends
the thoughts and expressions which apprehend it. It is neither improved by buddhas, nor worsened by sentient beings, because this doctrine of primordial origin, not being a contrived doctrine which suddenly arises, abides in the fundamental, natural state of mind-as-such. It is said in the Sequence of the Path by Buddhaguhya:
Since it is neither created nor contrived
By the conquerors or living beings,
Its natural expression is intrinsically indivisible,
And in order to loosen attachment to its descriptions It is unthinkable and inexpressible
Within the two conventional truths.
Although this abiding mode of the two truths is the superior view of th. e mantras, certain scholars of Tibet hold that, in general, there is dIstinction between the view of the vehicle of transcendental perfec- hons and that of the way of secret mantra. In particular, they disapprove of relative appearances being held within the view, and profess instead [the pure divine appearances] are similar to meditations on loving kIndness, compassion, enlightened mind and so forth because they are
the conceptual aspects of meditation [performed] by a subject with to a relative object. This, however, is the prattle of minds are disinclined to the spiritual and philosophical systems of the vehIcle of indestructible reality. It is of crucial importance that the above explanation be known as the view of the mantras and it is also ;xcee. dingly important to . meditate it. This is becau;e, concerning he vIew, when the meanmg of the VIew appears to the unbewildered
250 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofSecret Mantra
Superiority ofSecret Mantra 251
pristine cognition of sublime beings, through the eye of discriminative awareness which accords with the primordial abiding nature of all things, it is the abiding nature of all things, the measure of the ultimate truth. This is also because the things which appear as the objects of consciousness, which is the bewildered intellect of sentient beings, are false in that they are the apparitional nature or relative truth. For example, the six classes of living beings perceive the same water in many apparitional modes, but to the buddhas it appears as the expanse of the consort MamakI. 241
The abiding nature [of reality] is also exclusively free from the con- ceptual elaboration of any objective referent. If it is said in this Context that there is no difference between the views of the sutras and mantra texts because the dialectics explained in the sutras are not erroneous, they are similar in the sense that it is the aspect of the buddha-body of reality, derived from the expanse free from all conceptual elabora- tions, which is made into the path according to the explanations in the causal phase of the greater vehicle. However, in that freedom from conceptual elaborations, which is exclusively one of explicit negation, the emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects, the ground in which all uncorrupted things arise, and also the enlightened attributes of supreme bliss distinguished by the way of mantras, are incomplete. Therefore it says in the Taintless Light:
The emptiness of all aspects in space and the things which are uncreated are genuinely perceived in the manner of im- ages on a mirror. This is remote from the emptiness of empty nihilism which scrutinises the properties of the self, compris- ing the aggregate of atomic particles, in order to equate the conceptual elaborations manifested by one's own mind with dreams. The inner bliss, a phenomenon of which one is intrinsically aware, is passionately adhered to, and the bliss- ful phenomena of which one is aware through the external sense organs are totally abandoned.
And so it is explained in the Brief Teaching on the Tenets of the View P 4610):
The emptiness which scrutinises the components, Coreless as a plantain tree,
242
to this emptiness
Which is endowed with all supreme aspects.
Uncreated and unceasing,
The knowable appearances discerned therein
Are emptiness in the sense that they are substantially
empty,
And not in the sense of a scrutiny of the components.
The proponent of dialectics, apart from merely establishing that the characteristics of relative appearance are non-existent, does not know the essence which abides from the beginning as great purity and same- ness; and by not knowing that, he does not know the meditation which makes the precise aspects of the auspicious coincidence of the two buddha-bodies of form into the path. 243 By not knowing that, in turn, he does not know the means of accumulating the extraordinary provi-
sions through which the desired qualities244 are rapturously experi- enced, so that, being bound by the antidote of renunciation, he is obliged to aspire to a goal within three "countless" aeons. In the way of mantras, however, this utterly pure, original abiding nature of reality, in which the truest of results - that of the non-dual essence of the expanse and pristine cognition, the coalescence of bliss and emptiness
- is spontaneously present from the beginning, is known as the object
of the view. And thereafter meditation is the training which relates to
this real disposition or enters into the experience of it. In this way, the
intellect is purified by making that reality and its aspects into the path
during the illusion-like creation stage (utpattikrama) and during the
extraordinary perfection stage (sampannakrama) in which [practices as-
sociated with] the energy channels, currents and seminal points are incisively applied.
When all the apparitional modes ofsuddenly arisen deluded thoughts,
originating from impure dependence - including the world, its contents,
components, psychophysical bases and activity fields - have gradually
:anished, the essence is present, in which the primordial abiding nature
IS actualised as a malfc;lala of utterly pure buddha-body and pristine
cognition. So, it is because the view and meditation of the mantras are
superior that it is proven to be the resultant vehicle. As it is said in the
Lotus Peak (Padmasekhara):
Concerning the natural expression of the taintless expanse, Along with the three bodies and four kinds ofpristine cognition: When, in that pure state,
An image of actualised intrinsic radiance Is made into the path,
It is correctly called the resultant vehicle.
r As for the meditations of loving kindness, compassion and en-
Ightened mind: There is no occasion to identify them with the uncom-
l11? n view and meditation of the mantras because the subjective con-
SCIOusness by which they refer to their appropriate appearances is a
sUddenly' . fi' I . ,
h" ,ansen, Impure IctlOn. t can be SImply realIsed even by
Intellects these are details ,concerning the
, elopment of enlIghtened mInd accordIng to the relatIve truth which ISt h' - ,
o aug t In the sutra texts. Therefore, as previously cited, the Sequence
if the Path of the Magical Net says:
Is dissimilar
252
Fundamentals: Vehicles ofSecret Mantra
Superiority ofSecret Mantra 253
Within the unsurpassed vehicle, there are those Holding ultimate reality to be perfect in sameness245 And relative appearances to include everything, Both the pure and the impure.
The great vehicle of skilful means, however,
Does not divide even relative appearances According to purity and suffering.
The higher and lower views are just so.
Still greater than that is the distinction between the following two kinds of view. First, there is the view that pristine cognition, the great intrinsic abiding reality which is the naturally pure inner radiance of the expanse, remains incontrovertibly as the abiding nature ofimmaculate awareness, transcending the three times and free from all conceptual elaborations, present as a naturally occurring fundamental nature, liberated from the bondage of created doctrines, and pure from the start without requiring to be artificially contrived by an intellectually applied analysis. The second view is laboriously created, adhering to extremes which accept or reject the mind and its mental events since, through the intellect and analysis, it claims to clarify eternalist and nihilist extremes. The distinction between these two views is similar to that between heaven and earth, and with reference to the abiding nature of the view, the former would appear to be genuine and the latter conventional.
Therefore, when a deity is observed [through the mantra vehicles]: according to the Kriyarantra, a deity of pure reality is realised; according to the Yogatantra, a deity blessed with great dynamic pristine cognition is additionally realised; and according to the Unsurpassed Yogatantra, in addition to both of these, [the deity] is realised within the spontane- ously present maJ). <;iala. Otherwise, there would be no basis for purifi- cation in the abiding nature of the ground, there would be no need for the coincidence of the object of purification and of the act of purification, and one would instead cling to that which does not exist as if it did. It would be equivalent to meditation on the horns of a hare.
Now this refers to the distinction of the view [in the way of mantras]. Yet the master Indrabhuti has also explained that:
There is a distinction of guru, a distinction of vessel, a dis- tinction of ritual, a distinction of ritual action, a distinction of commitment, a distinction of view and a distinction of conduct.
And [in his Point ofLiberation) Muktitilaka, T 1859], Buddhajiianapada has also said:
This vehicle is uncommon in three respects: the one who becomes accomplished through it, its path and its result.
In thi. s the latter, who explains that [mantras] have distinctions in theIr VIew result, also makes a distinction between the attainment of buddhahood m the causal and resultant [vehicles].
[the mantras] are revealed to be superior through three distInctIve. _These are elucidated in the Definitive Order of the Three Vehzcles (Trzyanavyavasthana, T 3712):
The vehicle pure in its visualisation,
Its power of assistance and level of conduct, To those who are endowed with intelligence Is well known to be the greatest.
Accordingly, [the mantras] are revealed to be superior because therein ? ne. three maJ). <;ialas246 in which all things are mdivisible, namely: a VIew pure in its visualisation, for it regards the natural and their utterly pure range of activity; a power endowed WIth the vows of uncommon commitment to assist it; and the deeds of the Tathagata as conduct.
Again, it is revealed in the Sublime Lasso ofSkilful Means (,phags-pa thabs-kyi zhags-pa, T 835):
The mantras are superior through four greatest qualities, namely, the greatest of visualisations, and similarly, the greatest of attainments, the greatest of pristine cognitions and the greatest of skilful means.
And 1)0mbI Heruka has also said:
In this [tradition], the vehicle of mantras is superior Through the distinction of its recipients,
Through the properties which mark its recipients, Through the distinction of its texts and paths,
And through the distinction of its results.
the resultant view is one which realises the abiding nature of
d d · · .