Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
As for the (topics of the] vital points of the body, which conducts are useful for meditation.
As for the (topics of the] vital points of the body, which conducts are useful for meditation.
Thurman-Robert-a-F-Tr-Tsong-Khapa-Losang-Drakpa-Brilliant-Illumination-of-the-Lamp-of-the-Five-Stages
" "Life-energy" means "life-energy wind.
" "Great" means "supreme.
" "No letter" means the "the indestructible does not exist in the form of a syllable.
" "Aban- doning verbal expression" means that "it does not have the actuality of expression.
" "The cause of expression" means " all wind-energies in general, but the chief cause is the indestructible.
" ''It illuminates all ex- pressions" means that when the wind-energies that come from there go to the throat they produce expressions that are articulated sound.
The door
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 277
of all teachings is the door of all contemplations [138b] because bliss-void clear light transparence is the essence of all samadhis.
In regard to the indestructible "A," when samadhi collects the wind- energies together, the naturally unproduced voidness is ascertained by the great bliss [awareness] ; that is the dawning of clear light transparence and that is what is "primally unproduced. " It is not merely the voidness of non-production with respect to intrinsic reality. That being so, as was explained before, about the three elements, "where it is attached etc. ," that [clear light] constitutes that very same import of short "A. " It is the supreme key point of the path to buddhahood; thus it said that all buddhas arise from "A. "
In summary, the heart indestructible [drop] is understood to be the root of all wind-energies which have the form of inner vowels and con- sonants. When the wind-energies dissolve into that [indestructible], you realize the manifestation of clear light transparence. This is the extraordi- nary way of understanding the reality of mantra in the context of the vajra recitation. This is said to mean that the definitive meaning, described as other than the literal meaning, of the statement "The short ["A"] becomes the totality of speech," has been discovered. Therefore, just as we ex- plained the meaning of the statement, "When somebody points something out to one with the tip of his finger, you should look at what is being
pointed out, and not become obsessed with the means of indication," it seems that many still persist in behaving in that way. Thus, do under- stand this thoroughly with wide analysis of the details, and do not be too easily satisfied. 88
88 This whole section on the ultimate reality of mantra, connecting the short A to voidness. clear light, and so revealing it to be the source of all language, meaning, creation itself, really, reminds me of the idea of voidness as enabling the functions of both the world and liberation from the world, as stated classically by Nagarjuna in his Wisdom, as "What works with voidness, works; what doesn't work with voidness, doesn't work"; and on the mantric level, the mysterious paradox of the part of the famous mantra, SHUNYATA-
JNANA-VAJRA, where the intuition of voidness is likened to an unbreakable diamond.
? 2 78 ? Brilliant Ilul mination of the Lamp
? In order to show how speech isolation serves as a branch of life- energy control of the six [branches of] yoga, [consider] how that branch is described in the Further Tantra:
Breath. with nature of the five wisdoms, Is the reality of the five elements, [ 139aJ Arising in the form of a lump,
Imagine it on the tip of a nose.
That five-colored jewel [drop]
Is called "life-energy" and "control. " Visualize your mantra in your heart center,
Place the life-energy changed into a drop.
The meaning of this is explained by [Chandraktti in] the Illumi- nation of the Lamp. The first four lines explain the meditation on the substance-drop on the nose-tip of the secret [wheel]. The first two lines [again] and the lines starting from "[That five-colored] jewel" etc. up to "your mantra" describe the meditation on the light drop, the practice of
vajra recitation in the upper nostril. The two and a half lines after "in the heart center" indicates the meditation on the indestructible drop at the nose tip of the heart [center indestructible], and its purpose. 89 These are meditations of three life-energy controls meditating on the three drops in the three "nose" tips. As for them, the breaths of the five wisdoms [are listed in passages] from "the pervading breath is the mirror-like wisdom" up to "the life-energy-holding wind is the truth realm [purity] wisdom. " The five elements, from earth to space, are [are also listed in passages] such as "the evacuative energy is of the nature of earth. " That very breath of five wisdoms which have the nature of earth, etc. , you should meditate it in the form of a lump-like drop of enlightenment spirit, emerging from the hole of your vajra into the nose tip of the lotus of the science-[consort].
The way in which the wind-energies become the actuality of the drop is explained in the Illumination of the Lamp Sixth Chapter as being
89 Tsong Khapa's text must have been slightly different from the versions available to us, which only have one and a half hemistiches after "in the heart center. "
? - The \Vay that speech isolaI ion becomes a
1\'I. B"'tb. ii. <:'3 d To "5" l? ompnncnt nf breath nmtroll
?
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 279
that, when the an [male] and the wisdom [female] unite, the life-energy control winds which dwell above are developed by the joy of entrance- ment in union and melted by the fire of passion, and thus become a drop. In all the translations where the Further Tantra is quoted, in the Illumi- nation of the Lamp Sixth Chapter. [ U9h J in the two new translations of the commentary on the Twelfth Chapter, and in the Five Stages and the Inte- grated Practices translated by Chag, all say "on the nose tip of the lotus. " In the two accurate old translations of the commentary on the Twelfth Chapter, and in the Further Tantra, the Five Stages, and the Integrated Practices, all as translated by the the Great Translator [Rinchen Zangpo] there is no "lotus. " Thus, it is clear that in the Indian texts there are both [those] with ["lotus"] and without it. This is clearly described by six lines in the Integrated Practices:
You perform the vajra recitation of the three letters on the wind-energies of the four elemental spheres at the upper nose tip. The five wisdoms etc. . . .
Therefore, it is clear that not mentioning "lotus" is correct. Though Kanha- pa explains that this means "In the nose tip of the lotus of the face," it is incorrect.
When you apply yourself to practice the vajra recitation in the face nostril, according to the statement of the Integrated Practices, the four wind-energies other than the pervading [wind] emerge at the nose tip- the upper "nose door"-in the form of a lump-each in turn moving as principle, enfolding the other three together with it. The Elixir Secret explains that the inhaling, exhaling, and abiding of these wind-energies emerge in the form of a lump and in the form of the three letters. Kalden Drakpa says that "meditating on the lotus nose tip" is just for illustration,
and meditation on the vajra nose tip is also taught; this being the system in which male and female each meditate on their respective nose tips. Here, you meditate on both your own and the science consort's nose tip, since meditating on each individual nose tip has already been explained in the contexts of the subtle creation stage and the body isolation. [ 1 411al In regard to the statement in the Integrated Practices Sixth Chapter which says that these verses teach the creation stage meditation on the subtle drop in the lower door, this shows that they have similar characteristics;
but the actual meaning concerns the perfection stage.
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Meditating on both nose tips is discussed in the Vajra Rosary:
Streaming down through the channels,
The spirit of enlightenment made firm,
In the moment of holding the wind-energies In the tips of the vajra and the lotus, Expressing the syllable in the palate
And expressing the syllable KSHMAM,
It is taught that supreme yoga will be achieved.
This means that the art-which will be explained-for melting the spirit of enlightenment which streams through the channels, having stabilized [that spirit] in the two nose tips, will accomplish the supreme yoga. As for the art for stabilizing that, according to the Commentary:
The "palate" is an extremely long channel in the center of the vagina, and to connect with that is to constrict it very tightly, meditate KSHMAM at the vajra tip, and at the instant of holding the wind-energy . . .
This statement explains that it will be attained by the supreme yoga of meditating on the life-energy wind. That being so, "connection with the palate" will be achieved. In other translations it says "Held by the energy. " This is good. "Application of the letter in the palate, and by the yoga of the mantra PU KSHMI! vf' is not good. Holding in this way in the vajra nose tip is also holding it in the nose tip of the lotus, as it is at the meeting
point of the two channels. Also, since in the Root Tantra it is stated: Enjoying all desire fulfillments,
Recite, not losing the mantra branches.
[I40bJ On this occasion also, as for certain great yogi/nis who have great distinction, it is not prohibited that they should rely on an evolutionary seal [consort]. Here also, some meditate on this relying on a wisdom con- sort. If you know how to apply this statement in the Illumination of the Lamp to the five stages practice manuals, it seems to be the supreme life- energy control for dissolving winds into the dhati channel. The Illumina- tion ofthe Lamp translation says:
The very thing, the breath which moves upward, has five colors.
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 28 1
Patsab's translation says "That breath itself," which is better. That very wind-energy, previously explained as the wisdom and elemental breaths, goes upwards to the door of the sense faculties. It is five-colored, thus having the nature of the five transcendent buddhas. Therefore, it is a precious jewel. "Life-energy" is translated in the old translations as "life" (jrva, 'tsho ba), and "control" (iiyiima, rtsol) as "long-radiating effort," but Patsab translates '"Life-energy control' causes extension and long expansion. " This is better. This means that the life-energy, the wind which causes one to sustain one's life for a long time, is called "life-energy control. " The linguistic equivalent of "control" is iiyiima, which means "effort," also "cessation," and it is also used for "length and breadth. " Here, it is the latter. The translation "life-energy and effort" is wrong, because it would be a redundancy, an equivalency compound, as the Tibetan experts say. In the Time Machine literature, it is taken in terms of the middle [of the above three meanings], as "life-energy control," ex- plained as "life-energy cessation. " In Tibetan the word "control" (rtsol ba) does not work well for both "terminating" and "sustaining," but due to its linguistic equivalents, [t41al those both do work. Likewise, in the Tibetan, the "retracting" of [literally] "concentrating together" (pratyii- hiira, sor sdud) can be used as "taking. " The "together" (prati, so sor) can mean "repeating," and though it does not apply here, it is not precluded as a linguistic equivalent. The reality of the entry, exit, and abiding of that very energy which goes into the upper door is your own mantra for natural recitation day and night.
In the two old translations of the Commentary on that it is stated:
Because you will do [vajra-] recitation day and night, you think of your mantra in your heart, i. e. , in the lotus in [your] heart center. . .
but in the the two new translations of the Commentary it is stated in a better way:
Because you will recite it, it is your mantra.
Here, "because" gives the reason, and but it is not the previous reason for energy being practiced as life-energy control, nor should it be employed for any other reason; because you must consider it I itself! to be the reason for your mantra, and because, the Illumination qfthe Lamp eleventh chap-
ter states that:
282 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
"Your mantra" consists of the three letters which have
the nature of inhaling, etc.
In this context, Naropa states in his Further Tantra Commentary: '"Life-energy and control' are thinking that one has short A in the lotus of one's heart center. " As for the fact that the quotations from the Illumi- nation ofthe Lamp, "The explanation of 'life-energy control'" and "recit- ing day and night, inhaling with the energy, etc. " and the expression
"your mantra" do not occur [in Naropa's text], this is an incorrect text or a flawed translation, because the other contexts of the six branches [of yoga explained by Naropa] appear just as they are in the Illumination of the Lamp. The teaching that you should think of the short A in the heart center [J4Jbl is either in certain Indian texts of the Illumination of the
Lamp or else does fulfill the intention of the Commentary. The explana- tion in the Illumination ofthe Lamp [of the short A] as "the indestructible drop" is good because it is in agreement with the explanation with the reference quoted in the Integrated Practices that says that "the short A is the indestructible [drop] in the heart center. "
In regard to the statement that "Life-energy should be set to become a drop," the Illumination of the Lamp states no more than: "you set it by attaching it to the indestructible. " That means that the drop is the inde- structible, to be considered present in the heart center. "Life- energy" con- sists of the wind-energies. "To set them to become. . . " means to focus
them to be incorporated in the indestructible. This refers to concentrating the wind-energies in the indestructible. This is the all-purpose function [accomplished] by meditating the three life-energy controls. Here, it is explained in the Elixir Secret that "Your mantra is the three letters . . . ," and "consider it as present at the heart center" refers to those three [letters] dissolving into the three-the exhaling, inhaling, and abiding wind- energies - and to those three [letters] dissolving into the life- energy.
As for the meditation of the life-energy wind dissolving into the indestructible drop, it is explained as the meaning of " setting the life- energy wind to become a drop. " Munis hrisays that:
Meditating your mantra at the heart center, you visualize the letter "HOM' there. The channel emerging from the "HOM' is "the indestructible. " [Here,] the subtle "A" letter is in the form of a drop. The mind is set to become
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 283 a drop, meaning that you should meditate the mind
having become that there. The Moonlight Commentary states:
In your heart center you visualize your mantra as the samadhi hero, and upon that as a drop, you should visu- alize the mind in the natural form of a channel as 1 t42al the actuality of the mentality.
And, Lak? hmTexplains that in the dhati channel in the center of the lotus of the heart, you visualize your mantra as the drop of the HOM letter with the cloud sound. Setting the life-energy in that, you should set [there also] your consciousness, which rides on the energy.
Here, other systems explain this otherwise, but in this system in this context, in the heart center it is suitable to meditate either a HOM or the letter A in the heart center. However, the meaning of "your mantra" is not those [letters]; but rather, the taking of the life-energy wind as the mind and aiming that at the drop atop that letter. Nor does this refer to "set the life-energy wind to become a drop. " [Rather,] this is the context of the distinctive purpose of meditating the three types of life-energy control; because it is to develop the four voids through concentrating and dissolving the other wind-energies into the heart center indestructible.
You might think that: "Allowing the other two types of life-energy control to be like that, still, as for the meditation on life-energy control in the lower door, if, as previously explained, you hold the spirit of enlight- enment when it descends to the tip of the genital, then this does not pro- duce the four voids which come from gradually concentrating the wind- energies in the heart center! "
This is true-but that is not a fault, since that [practice of focusing rather on the genital tip continues only] until you are steadily able to hold the drop on the tip of the secret place, and after that, even when you unite with [either of] the two [kinds of] consort, then still you must apply the distinctive instruction which serves as the art of concentrating the wind- energies in the heart center.
When it explains the meaning of the statement in the Root Tantra that you should meditate on the tip a five-colored jewel the size of a mus- tard seed, the Vajra Rosary refers to the three nose-tips and the three
Defining fl42bJ the three nose tips-
They are named secret, heart center, and face nose
And:
The three drops of energy, mantra,
And substance are unexcelled.
As for meditating the substance drop at the secret nose tip, this is indicated by the previous quote. As for meditating the mantra drop at the heart center nose tip, there is the statement:
At the center of the heart lotus hub, You establish a HOM.
After that, there is the statement:
This explains the mantra drop.
As for meditating the energy drop on the face nose tip, it is indicated by the statement:
The energy drop, the supreme yoga, The great clear light, of five colors, By the yoga of fixing it at the nose tip You should totally meditate.
And the yogiini should recite
The supreme mantra of such a kind.
Furthermore, [the half-verse]:
This very mantra drop is supreme;
The [other] two drops are light and substance
states that the mantra drop which is the heart center indestructible is supe- rior to the other two drops; and it refers to the energy drop as "the light drop. " As for meditating on the light drop. it is stated that "There is vajra recitation on the coming and going of the energy on the nose tip. " This is the yoga practiced and the life-energy control of the F11rther Tantra previ- ously explained, and does not have the meaning given by such as Kalden
Drakpa.
284 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
drops which are to be meditated there, [the energy drop, the substance drop, and the mantra drop] :
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 285
Here you might wonder: "Well, if the previously explained three life-energy controls are to be meditated by one person, then this does not seem to agree with the statement from the Vajra Rosary which says in answer to the question 'Should one yogi/ni meditate this or different yogi/nis? '" 'The answer is that one with great lust should meditate on the substance drop, one with great anger should meditate on the mantra drop, and one with great delusion should meditate on the light drop. "'
Rosary] cites three [types of persons] with regard to whom [meditation should be used] principally to lead them to the path. They are not stated to show that a single person should not meditate all three of them, saying only that these three paths, again, are for those disciples to achieve liberation in this lifetime, and that this is very quick for [achieving] libera- tion. Here, a "delusive" one is one whose passion and hatred are equal. When reciting your mantra, which is done by connecting the three letters with your inhaling, exhaling, and holding, you visualize the indestruc- tible drop in the lotus of your heart as you recite. However, even without that connection, you must meditate the mantra drop at the heart center. In this system, [the "life-energy" in] life-energy control is the energy which makes the life system endure. Just that does not make it a branch of the six branches of yoga; the term "life-energy control" only refers to the life- energy control yoga branch.
As for meditating on the two drops in the tips of the heart and the secret place, although it is not a direct meditation of life-energy control on wind, it does not preclude life-energy control, since it is still the dis- tinctive art of compressing the evolutionary wind-energies into the dhati channel. "Speech isolation" and "vajra recitation" are names which are designated from the perspective of the unique distinctiveness of the yoga of life-energy control. Their specific names may be erroneously desig- nated to the general, and so, in the context of vajra recitation, if the other
two life-energy control meditations are eliminated, it is a very great error. Therefore, you should understand thoroughly how you need to meditate on all three life-energy controls. [ 143b]
In general, the Esoteric Community is taught for the sake of the
person who has lust 1143aJ for the union of the two organs, mentioned as "For the sake of a lustful person. " Although all three kinds of meditation are applicable to this person, there are three subdivisions. [The Vajra
CHAPTER VI
Speech Isolation-How to Practice
I143b. l-176a. 6J
The sixth has three parts, explaining: [a"I The stage of meditating the three life-energy controls; [b") The uncommon function of vajra recitation; and (c") Having meditated life-energy control, the stage of generating experience.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"a" - The stage of meditating the three life- energy controls]
? ? ? ) Meditating life [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"a"i" - Meditating life-energy control of the
The first has three parts, explaining: [i
control of the mantra drop at the heart center nose tip; (ii"] Meditating life-energy control of the light drop at the face nose tip; [iii "] Meditating life-energy control of the subtance drop at the secret nose tip.
mantra drop at the heart center nose tip]
The first has two parts, explaining: [A'") The way to meditate the
partial mantra drop; (B"'] The way to meditate the mantra wheel.
The way to meditate the partial
mantra drop]
As for the place where to meditate, it is according to the Vajra Rosary statement:
A person will achieve the chief of mantras
In a solitary, divine place, without demon problems, Free of piercing sounds, and far from crowds, Delightful to the fortunate, a peaceful pleasure grove, While enjoying the five desires, full of great bliss.
A "divine place" here means a chapel and so forth. 287
"
-
energy
? ? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6" -
The way to put speech isolation into practice[
lVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"a"i"A'" -
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As for the (topics of the] vital points of the body, which conducts are useful for meditation. and the vital points of the wind-energies, they are. according to the same text:
The path of conduct is the place of great bliss, Whereby supreme accomplishment will develop; The practitioner sits upon a comfortable seat
And having aimed the two eyes to the nose tip And placed the nose in line with the navel, Keeps shoulders level, tongue pressed on palate, Teeth and lips left relaxed
Exhalation and inhalation loosened,
Bit by bit freed of control,
Breathing naturally,
And sits well in the spiritual hero posture. Maintaining such a path of conduct, r I44aJ
One should constantly recite the two letters.
Such statements made in the context of the two-syllable vajra recitation apply similarly to the three-syllable vajra recitation. Other translations have "the vajra [instead of 'spiritual hero'] posture. "
As for the key point of time, it is as previouslye explained.
As for the supporting embodiment, one should perform [vajra reci- tation] by visualizing [oneself] as the body isolation, great secret, single clan father-mother [in union]. In the Five Stages, quoting the Further Tantra, [Nagarjuna] states:
By visualizing the heart center, put the life-energy into dwelling in the drop.
The Illumination of the Lamp explains the meaning of this to be medita- ting on the indestructible drop in the heart center. And [other] Five Stages commentators also explain it as meditating the mantra drop in the heart center. Just after the Four Goddess Dialogue passage quoted in the Five Stages, such statements as "Supreme subtleness, the mere size of a split [pea]," like the above quotes, have the same meaning as the above refer- ence from the Further Tantra. In the Integrated Practices, [Aryadeva] also quotes a reference from the Vajra Mandala Ornament [Tantra], and states that the short A of the heart center indestructible and the indestruc-
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 289
tible [itself] are the places for compressing the wind-energies, in order to make the meditation on the heart-center indestructible understandable.
Further, in the Illumination of the Lamp Third Chapter, [Chandra- kirti] states:
The precious jewel of five colors with the nature of the five transcendent lords is reknowned as the indestructible, because it creates the precious jewel of buddhahood. It has the precise measure of a grain of mustard seed, because that is the form of the drop. "On the tip of the nose" indicates the hub of the heart center lotus. "Intensely" means that you should meditate constantly day and night by focusing on it and using the yogas of inhaling, holding, releasing, and compressing. l 144hl
Thus the text states that you should meditate the heart center indestruc- tible day and night through the yoga of inhaling and so on.
As for the sequence of the meditations of the indestructible and the vajra recitation, the following [Illumination of the Lamp passage, coming right after the one above, teaches, in commentary on a Root Tantra pas-
sage, namely,] "Having made the jewel stable, one radiates, and one does not radiate without its becoming stable"90-
"Stable" is constant. What is that? The indestructible. From it you should massively radiate "jewel," or five colored, light rays, and you should engage with it by inhaling, holding, and releasing. "Without its becoming stable" means that you should practice this yoga with [constant focus on] the realization of the thatness of the indestructible, and not otherwise.
The meaning of this is as follows. Meditating on the indestructible drop mentioned previously in the statement that "you should constantly meditate the indestructible by the yoga of inhaling and so on," you develop firmness. Thereby you should practice the yoga of making the
90 The Root Tantra passage and the commentary on it are in reverse order in the Tibetan texts, due no doubt to scribal error, so I have reversed the order back to make it clearer.
? 290 ? BrilliantIllumination oftheLamp
wind-energies enter. etc. within [the central channel]. Thus, by any other way than by having realized the natural experience of the thatness of the indestructible and developed stability in taking the indestructible as ob- ject, you should not perform this yoga of inhaling etc. Such being the meaning, first you must stabilize a constant and unchanging meditative indestructible, and after that you can practice vajra recitation.
This explanation is said by [Chandraktti in] the Illumination ofthe Lamp to be an ultimate [meaning] explanation. To that, a certain objector argues that this is the way of explaining the vajra recitation [only] for a person who has [already] embodied the ultimate communion. [145aJ Others do indeed explain the "indestructible" as the fourth stage clear light. However, from the extensive explanation of this point in the com- mentary on the [Root Tantra] Third Chapter, after explaining the wind-
energies of the four [elemental] spheres emerging from the indestruc- tible, the Chag translation has the statement:
By achieving such a body, speech, and mind, the body and so on are created; and "emerging from the vajra" refers to the creation of the divine circle which has the nature of the two realities arisen from clear light trans- parence.
Thus the explanation is said to be "ultimate" in terms of [its referring to] the objective of vajra recitation, which is the creation of communion by the wind-energies through the practice of vajra recitation. This is similar to the Seventeenth Chapter' s explanation of the three voids being called "ultimate. "
As for the place where the indestructible is meditated, its objective vital point is the hub of the heart center lotus; and it is the same in mean-
ing as the Vajra Rosary
hub of the eight-petalled Dharma wheel [of the heart center]. Lak? hmts statement that you should meditate within the center of the heart center's avadhati [channel] is good; and it does not mean the [same thing as] the Five Point' s mention of the black and white boundary in the heart, or the Four Point's mention of the empty space in the heart center. As for the dhati channel, it is stated in the Great Seal Drop and the Wisdom-Intuition Drop to be stabilized as the "staff of the life-energy wind" and the root of the life-energy wind. Since the hub of the heart center channel wheel is
'
s statement to meditate the mantra drop in the
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 291
in front of the life-energy wind channel at the height of. and in the center between, the two breasts, you should visualize it there.
In regard to such reasonable instructions as this [concerning] the meditations on the drops and so on as accurately penetrating the vital points of the body, if you know well the vital points of the body, when you aim the mind there, lt4Shl it will reach those vital points; and other- wise not.
As for the drop meditated in that place, the Vajra Rosary does not explicitly mention a drop other than the syllables, but the Illumination of the Lamp teaches the meditation on the indestructible in the form of a drop. In this context, some followers of the Go tradition wish to meditate the short A in the center of a drop which is an interlaced sun and moon. The Concise Five Stages teaches the meditation of the indestructible drop together with the short A In both of the personal instructions of Serding- pa, the drop is explained as white and the short A as black. In one, a half- white, half-black short A resides within a white drop; again in another a bar-shaped A resides within a half-black, half-white drop; yet another recommends meditating a white, reddish-tinged drop. As for a red-white- interfaced drop, it is in agreement with the great adept Kukuripa's state-
ment [in his Vajrasattva Sadhana] about the drop used as support for vajra recitation:
Visualizing in its hub
A sun disc, a drop, and a moon disc, Shaped like a closed [round] shrine-box, The sun of art, and the moon of wisdom.
However, here [in the Noble system], a syllable is used in place of the drop in the center of that [heart center]; the Personal Instruction explains it as a slightly reddish white. The heart center is explained to be the place where the between person's consciousness enters in the center of the semen and ovum of father and mother in the womb; and is also
explained as the support of the mind. And that is the key of the basic reality cultivation foundation of both those [Noble and Jfianapada] systems of meditation.
The measure of the drop is said to be just that of a mustard seed; for if you hold the mind on a subtle object, it is easy to eradicate thought constructions and compress the wind-energies.
292 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
As for the syllable, [146aJ the Vajra Rosary mentions both A and HOM as the syllable in the heart center, and the Integrated Practices mentions the A syllable; and they are meditated as representatives of the indestructible. Since there is something established there in the form of a syllable, there is indeed no certainty [about which one], so here one can meditate either A or HOM. In either case the color should be dark blue;
or the Vow Arisal also suggests white. Here, "wind-energy" stands for the indestructible, and the "white-red drop" stands for the indestructible enlightenment spirit. In this context the five-colored jewel is blazing with the five light rays, which is proper to connect with either syllable or drop. Other traditions explain the drop as being on top of a syllable itself located on a hand symbol; but here [in this Noble system] it is better as
above.
Thus one should focus the mind, practicing free of the faults of
holding the mind either much too tightly or much too loosely on the heart center indestructible.
This is highly praised in the Liberation Drop:
That brilliant form of the indestructible drop, Just the measure of a grain of mustard, Dripping and blazing with five light rays, Properly always stands in the heart center. Gazing on that, great wisdom will blaze up
In the yogi/ni in just an instant- There should be no doubt about it.
It is also praised in other Tantras, as in the Unexcelled Clear Articulation:
Always dwelling in the heart, Unchanging in the sole drop,
The person who meditates on that Will definitely generate wisdom.
And from that [Tantra's] meaning commentary [by Ghar:ttapada], called the Supreme Bliss Five Stages:
The mind which has the drop and the sound, 1146bl You should place it in the heart center:
This will dispel the fog of delusion -
You will become a master divine lord buddha.
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 293
Thus depending on the meditation of the indestructible drop in the heart center, the orgasmic [wisdom] that radically cuts off ignorance will arise. Also the Vow Arisal states:
The energy gone into the heart-center lotus,
In the likeness of a white HOM letter-
You should visualize and be entranced with that, And you will not be bound by objects.
The energy moving up into the life-cycle
Will progress downward into nirvana.
The totally non-local nirvana
Dwells in the heart-center lotus' anthers.
Thus, if you can collect, stop, and stabilize the energy - by the distinctive arts such as explained above-in the center of the heart-center channel- wheel, you cannot be bound any more by the mental constructions en- gaged with objects such as form and sound, and it will grant you the exalted state of nirvana not located in the extremes of existence and peace .
Again, as explained above, the twelve subject-object wind-energies are said to arise in the heart center. If you practice the art of penetrating the body's vital points and holding the mind therein, those wind-energies will compress back there, and by the key process of their dissolving there, you can easily cut off the constructions of subject and object. By such a procedure, you generate the great certitude about this that is praised in the many treatises of the great adepts and in many Tantras. Thus you
should strive to meditate the life-energy control of the mantra drop, the indestructible in the heart-center nose tip.
wheel]
The Concise Five Stages [attibuted to Naropa] states:
Since the various memories and mental constructions Arise from the mind as evolutionary actions,
Meditate the mantra wheel at the heart center, 1 147u]
The base where consciousness and life-energy converge.
? The way to meditate the mantra
lVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'o"6"a"i"B"' -
294 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Thus [it is explained that] the various mental constructs arise from the mind, and the place where the energy and mind gather together is the heart center, so the meditating of the mantra wheel should penetrate the vital [point] in the heart center. Further [the Concise Five Stages states] :
As for the wheel of mantra syllables; First, contemplate an eight petaled lotus Containing rows [of letters] ,
I n a pattern of outer, inner, and secret.
[This explains] the meditation of an eight-petaled lotus with three rows [of letters on it] in the heart center.
Further [the Concise Five Stages states]:
The outer row is marked by wisdom-vowels, The middle row by the art-consonants,
And the nondual letters stand within-
This samadhi of rows in cardinals and quarters, Has the nature of the three yogas,
With the indestructible drop in the center,
With its A-syllable which becomes life-energy, Essence of all, radiating and gathering back.
Thus, this teaches that you should meditate the outer [row on the] eight petals of the lotus as marked with the twelve vowels [which are] the actu- ality of wisdom; the middle [row on the] eight petals as marked with the consonants which are the actuality of art; and the inner [row] with the four neuter letters [. 8, 8, {. , Ll. which are the actuality of art and wisdom non- dual; and the center as the indestructible drop, together with a short A. 91
In this regard, three [texts by Serdingpa] explain that you should meditate the mantra wheel as a preliminary of the vajra recitation: the Five Point, the Wheel Endowed, and the Five Stages Single Session.
91 The way this commentary is written, one could think that this eight-petallede heart lotus is actually 24-petalled, since it seems as if the three rows are marked each on a different row of petals. 1 believe thut is because in the short-hand way of dictating, Tsong Khapa assumes everyone know the heart lotus has only eight petals, and the letters are arar nged in three rows on the eight petals, vowels near the tips of the petals, consonants in the middle, and the four neuter semi-vowels on the base of the four directional petals.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 295
three texts.
tions of the Marpa tradition, it is explained that on the channel having a
center for the drop which is the support of the vajra recitation, Kukuripa says that that lotus should be thought of as having the nature of the four elements, with four white petals and four red petals. This is to think of them as being the actuality of the four channels of the directions of the heart center. From some other treatises also, on the occasion of the per- fection stage, the lotuses in the navel etc. , whereon are established the drop and the letters etc. , are explained as "channel-petals," and that is how one should take them, or else one can also visualize that the lotus petals themselves are the actuality of the channels.
There being uncertainty about the color of the heart-center lotus, and there being many explanations of the eight-petaled [lotus] of the channel-wheel, it appears that there are two explanations; and a third explanation is not often found elsewhere. If you visualize it like a lotus- flower petal, then there is no point in [visualizing it] like a raised mirror. Serdingpa has the consonants established on the outer [rows on the] petals and the vowels on the middle [rows]; but this does not accord with the Root Text [of the Concise Five Stages]. Therefore, you should establish
[them] according to what appears elsewhere in the Marpa tradition, which accords with the Root Text, [Naropa 's Clarification of the Concise Five Stages], which says that the vowels are luminance, the consonants radi- ance, and the neuter syllables are imminence. That being the case, it is good if you make the outer letters white, the middle letters red, and the inner letters blue or black. The Root Text says "Twelve letters having d r o p s . . . , " m e a n i n g t h a t o n t h e e l e v e n v o w e l s , e x c l u d i n g t h e fo u r n e u t e r s . there is a drop, 1 14Hal so you should place a drop on the head of those
Though the Four Point [by Serdingpa] explains this in the context of mind isolation, in the Root Text [of the Concise Five Stages, attributed to Naropa] it explains that you do the vajra recitation after previously medi-
Serdingpa said that the lotus petals should be red, the shape should be [convex] like an upheld mirror. l 147b1 From some of the other instruc-
tating the mantra wheel; so you should do it according to the previous
form like a lotus and which is white with a reddish tinge, the letters are white. With regard to the lotus which is the place established in the heart
296 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
eleven. 92 It does not mean that you should accept that you place the drop in front of them, [or that] you establish them with no drop.
As for the way of setting the [syllables] up, you begin from the east; and in the four directions you put two-two, then starting from the south- east in each four quarters you do one each, or else you arrange them in continuous order from the east, according to Serdingpa's instruction. The
consonants are also like that.
As for setting up the consonants, the Root Text says:
From KA up to HA,
leaving out KSHA, having four.
This [is explained by some to] mean that one should start from the east, on five petals, and place the five sets [beginning with] KA CA TA TA PA. Then, on three petals put the YA and SHA sets [on two of them] , and then, on the last petal, put the four letters KLA BLA SLA SHLA, these four being called the "hidden," or "the four tongue-rooted letters. " But that comes from not knowing the meaning. What the text [actually] means is [that] on each of eight petals, leaving out KSHA from KA to HA, you put four. In this way, the five sets of four KA CA TA TA PA, the NGA NYA /:lA
NA set of four, and the two YA and SHA sets of four are eight [sets in total]. The MA letter is the drop on the vowels.
On the inner lotus petals of the four cardinal directions, 8 8. 1,. . L are placed, and the quarter petals are left empty. When you put them on the channel [of the] petals, and the letters are not alone [on that part of the petal], you set [the four consonants] sequentially in the channel [of the petal] from outer to inner, and have them standing up. If you set them in
the [circular] plane of the petal itself, put them in the form of the arrange- ment ofa garland. [14Hbl
As for setting the indestructible in the center together with its A, it is as already explained.
The Root Text says:
Present in the center of the realm of space,
You should visualize the brilliant mandala.
92 Tsong Khapa interprets the statement about twelve letters as referring to eleven letters, apparently meaning that the short A is in the center and not repeated in the outermost row.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 297
As for the meaning of this stated in the context of the mantra wheel. it does not mean, as some people assert, to meditate that. from within void- ness, awareness arises as a mere nada [channel] and transforms into the moondisk of the heart center. With regard to the definitive meaning of that statement in the Root Tantra, the Illumination of the Lamp says that the realm of space means clear light transparence and the moon disk which stands in its center is said to be the indestructible. That very [explanation] is to be applied here. because by that it is shown that the supporting body of the vajra recitation is the indestructible [drop].
As for meditating the mantra wheel in this way, except for the per- sonal instruction of Naropa. it does not occur in the treatises together with the personal instructions of the Noble tradition. In some of the instructions of the lineage from Jfianakara to Nagtso there are things disagreeing with this. Even in the instruction [manuals] of the Marpa tradition, dissimilar things sometimes appear. What is explained above, [coming from Naropa], is correct.
In regard to what Serdingpa says-that the Revelation ofthe Hidden Intention quotes cited in the Five Stages, "Five having truly five," and "Four definitely attached in threes," and "Sixteen abiding in parts, and so on," show the ways of establishing the letters on the petals - that is not what they mean; because, although those letters-OM A. Ij HO? are collected from the vowels, they do not show how you meditate when you place the vowels on the lotus petals.
In other Tantras there are statements [to the effect that one] sets up many letters in the wheels and then meditates; [ 1 49a l [thus,] they are taught in order to compress the wind-energies there; here it is similar. Thus, if, for the sake of compressing the wind-energies in the heart center, you
visualize setting up letters there in the cardinal and quarter directions, you do so in order to collect the wind-energies gradually into the inde- structible; so this is just the personal instruction for doing that.
In that context, first you visualize the lotus petals, and then gradually from without, in sequence, you visualize the letters of the directions and quarters and hold the mind [on them, until] the energy is collected in the indestructible. In this way, [the energies] easily go closer and closer [to the center]-that is the key to the way they teach. It is not definitely nec-
essary for the mantra wheel to be very elaborate. Just as in the five stages instruction manuals of the Marpa tradition there are explanations of prac- ticing vajra recitation by establishing no wheel at all, [by visualizing] the
2Q8 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
triply-nested spiritual heroes. all three simultaneously without any mantra wheel. [or visualizing) the indestructible drop with the short A and setting up the HOM syllable-according to [whichever of) these explanations, [you can perfonn) the vajra recitation.
Nevertheless, it is definitely necessary to meditate the indestruc- tible drop together with [its] letter as explained above, [but] whether the mantra wheel is necessary depends on whether one does it extensively or
briefly. For example
letters and petal letters in the four wheels, [although] a second way is [also] explained which requires the four letters only in the centers [of the wheels].
.
in the SheafofInstructions you establish both hub
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'B"6"a"ii" - Meditating life-energy control of the light drop at the face nose tip)
The second has two parts: [A"') In what place and with what wind- energy does one practice the vajra recitation; and [B"') The way of uniting wind-energy and mantra, showing the way to differentiate [various types of] vajra recitation.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTR"6"a"ii"A'" -
energy does one practice the vajra recitation]
Thus you meditate either the indestructible together with the man- tra wheel, or the indestructible together with the letter, [until you] become stable without vacillating; relying on that you should practice vajra recitation. Now, if the perfection stage practitioner performs the vajra recitation for the sake of the ritual actions of either pacification, prosperity, [I49bl dominion, or destruction, s/he performs them with the four root wind-energies; and if this perfection stage practioner performs the vajra recitation for the sake of the five higher knowledges of "divine eye" etc. , then s/he should do it with the five branch wind-energies. If the body isolation has preceded, and if one practices the vajra recitation for the sake of achieving the [four] voids of the mind isolation, first [you practice with] the four root wind-energies; and from the point when you discover the power there, you then practice with the five branch wind- energies. On the three occasions of practicing vajra recitation stated in the text, this refers to the latter.
? ? In what place and with what wind-
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 299
Here, one might inquire, "If that is the way you practice vajra reci- tation with regard to such-and-such wind-energies, is it certain or not about the place in the body about which one might say 'you should practice through this spot which is the vital point in the body"'?
In this regard, most people, except for their mere making the energy enter in and go out of the nostrils from the inner hollow of the body, have no certitude that they should practice from such and such a spot in the channel wheels of the body. Again, some people say that the four root wind-energies should be understood as residing in the four elemental spheres in the four [wheels], the throat, and so on.
In regard to the first of these [two opinions] : although it allows that there exist the union of the three letters with the three [processes] of the energy - exhaling, inhaling and abiding - if you lack the personal instruc- tion which says that "you should practice in this vital channel wheel of the body," however much you strive, it will not happen that the four voids will develop through the dissolving of the energy injected into the dhati. Otherwise, [if that were not the case,] you could not avoid the logical absurdity that by counting the exhalations and inhalations of the wind-energy as explained in the Disciples' Stages, you would get the same result.
In regard to the second opinion, though it has the idea that there is a mere penetration of the vital point of the channels, it has not discovered the import of the key of how the vajra recitation of this system penetrates the vital point in the body. Therefore, in our own system, the three- inhaling, exhaling and holding - are done from the I t SOa J indestructible drop, along with its letter, itself in the center of the heart.
So, to first establish this point with the [statements from] the Illu- mination of the Lamp; compared to the previous Illumination of the Lamp quotation, giving the meaning of the passage that you should medi- tate by the yoga of inhaling, exhaling and holding, the later passage makes it more clear, and states that it is from within that indestructible
drop that one should perform the exhaling, inhaling and holding of a mass of five colored light rays. Also the Illumination of the Lamp third
,
chapter
"you should draw a moon disc standing in the center of space. "" and "standing in the center of the sphere of clear light transparence, you should vizualise a wheel mandala and a lotus mandala and a jewel man- dala," and "you should draw a yoga mandala," Iit identifiesI "the sphere
when it explains the defin-itive meaning of the statements that
300 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
of clear transparence" as the indestructible, "standing in the center," and as arising from that; and it states that you should know the four elemental spheres that arise from that as the emerging four wind-energies of the four spheres of water, fire, earth, and wind, in that order. Again, in com- ment on the [Root] Tantra sixth chapter statement that you should medi- tate the four discs as standing in the middle of the realm of space-sun, clear light transparence, jewel, and light discs, "the realm of space" is the indestructible, ''standing in the middle" [means] emerging from there, and the four discs that are emerging are explained as, in order, the wind- energies of the four elements. [ISOb] It says that in those you should
practice the vajra recitation of the three letters, and also that you should command with vajra recitation the Vajrasattva who dwells in the heart center.
As for the explanation of the vajra recitation of the four wind- energies which is taught in the [Root Tantra] third chapter, [the Illumina- tion ofthe Lamp] explains it by quoting the Explanatory Tantra Revelation of the Hidden Intention. Especially to eliminate doubts arising from the Vajra Rosary's statement that you should perform going and coming of
the four wind-energies from these four places, "at the adam's apple, the heart center, the navel, and the lotus of the secret [center], manifest coming and going"; the Four Goddess Dialogue states that "the going and coming of the wind-energies" is from the indestructible of the heart, which fits with the above-explained meaning of the Illumination of the
Lamp; therefore you should understand that from the detailed analysis in the [Lamp 's] subcommentary.
From the Integrated Practices, it says:
In the context of the vajra recitation of the three letters, mantras such as "the snake," and so on, are those that arise from the vowels and consonants.
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 277
of all teachings is the door of all contemplations [138b] because bliss-void clear light transparence is the essence of all samadhis.
In regard to the indestructible "A," when samadhi collects the wind- energies together, the naturally unproduced voidness is ascertained by the great bliss [awareness] ; that is the dawning of clear light transparence and that is what is "primally unproduced. " It is not merely the voidness of non-production with respect to intrinsic reality. That being so, as was explained before, about the three elements, "where it is attached etc. ," that [clear light] constitutes that very same import of short "A. " It is the supreme key point of the path to buddhahood; thus it said that all buddhas arise from "A. "
In summary, the heart indestructible [drop] is understood to be the root of all wind-energies which have the form of inner vowels and con- sonants. When the wind-energies dissolve into that [indestructible], you realize the manifestation of clear light transparence. This is the extraordi- nary way of understanding the reality of mantra in the context of the vajra recitation. This is said to mean that the definitive meaning, described as other than the literal meaning, of the statement "The short ["A"] becomes the totality of speech," has been discovered. Therefore, just as we ex- plained the meaning of the statement, "When somebody points something out to one with the tip of his finger, you should look at what is being
pointed out, and not become obsessed with the means of indication," it seems that many still persist in behaving in that way. Thus, do under- stand this thoroughly with wide analysis of the details, and do not be too easily satisfied. 88
88 This whole section on the ultimate reality of mantra, connecting the short A to voidness. clear light, and so revealing it to be the source of all language, meaning, creation itself, really, reminds me of the idea of voidness as enabling the functions of both the world and liberation from the world, as stated classically by Nagarjuna in his Wisdom, as "What works with voidness, works; what doesn't work with voidness, doesn't work"; and on the mantric level, the mysterious paradox of the part of the famous mantra, SHUNYATA-
JNANA-VAJRA, where the intuition of voidness is likened to an unbreakable diamond.
? 2 78 ? Brilliant Ilul mination of the Lamp
? In order to show how speech isolation serves as a branch of life- energy control of the six [branches of] yoga, [consider] how that branch is described in the Further Tantra:
Breath. with nature of the five wisdoms, Is the reality of the five elements, [ 139aJ Arising in the form of a lump,
Imagine it on the tip of a nose.
That five-colored jewel [drop]
Is called "life-energy" and "control. " Visualize your mantra in your heart center,
Place the life-energy changed into a drop.
The meaning of this is explained by [Chandraktti in] the Illumi- nation of the Lamp. The first four lines explain the meditation on the substance-drop on the nose-tip of the secret [wheel]. The first two lines [again] and the lines starting from "[That five-colored] jewel" etc. up to "your mantra" describe the meditation on the light drop, the practice of
vajra recitation in the upper nostril. The two and a half lines after "in the heart center" indicates the meditation on the indestructible drop at the nose tip of the heart [center indestructible], and its purpose. 89 These are meditations of three life-energy controls meditating on the three drops in the three "nose" tips. As for them, the breaths of the five wisdoms [are listed in passages] from "the pervading breath is the mirror-like wisdom" up to "the life-energy-holding wind is the truth realm [purity] wisdom. " The five elements, from earth to space, are [are also listed in passages] such as "the evacuative energy is of the nature of earth. " That very breath of five wisdoms which have the nature of earth, etc. , you should meditate it in the form of a lump-like drop of enlightenment spirit, emerging from the hole of your vajra into the nose tip of the lotus of the science-[consort].
The way in which the wind-energies become the actuality of the drop is explained in the Illumination of the Lamp Sixth Chapter as being
89 Tsong Khapa's text must have been slightly different from the versions available to us, which only have one and a half hemistiches after "in the heart center. "
? - The \Vay that speech isolaI ion becomes a
1\'I. B"'tb. ii. <:'3 d To "5" l? ompnncnt nf breath nmtroll
?
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 279
that, when the an [male] and the wisdom [female] unite, the life-energy control winds which dwell above are developed by the joy of entrance- ment in union and melted by the fire of passion, and thus become a drop. In all the translations where the Further Tantra is quoted, in the Illumi- nation of the Lamp Sixth Chapter. [ U9h J in the two new translations of the commentary on the Twelfth Chapter, and in the Five Stages and the Inte- grated Practices translated by Chag, all say "on the nose tip of the lotus. " In the two accurate old translations of the commentary on the Twelfth Chapter, and in the Further Tantra, the Five Stages, and the Integrated Practices, all as translated by the the Great Translator [Rinchen Zangpo] there is no "lotus. " Thus, it is clear that in the Indian texts there are both [those] with ["lotus"] and without it. This is clearly described by six lines in the Integrated Practices:
You perform the vajra recitation of the three letters on the wind-energies of the four elemental spheres at the upper nose tip. The five wisdoms etc. . . .
Therefore, it is clear that not mentioning "lotus" is correct. Though Kanha- pa explains that this means "In the nose tip of the lotus of the face," it is incorrect.
When you apply yourself to practice the vajra recitation in the face nostril, according to the statement of the Integrated Practices, the four wind-energies other than the pervading [wind] emerge at the nose tip- the upper "nose door"-in the form of a lump-each in turn moving as principle, enfolding the other three together with it. The Elixir Secret explains that the inhaling, exhaling, and abiding of these wind-energies emerge in the form of a lump and in the form of the three letters. Kalden Drakpa says that "meditating on the lotus nose tip" is just for illustration,
and meditation on the vajra nose tip is also taught; this being the system in which male and female each meditate on their respective nose tips. Here, you meditate on both your own and the science consort's nose tip, since meditating on each individual nose tip has already been explained in the contexts of the subtle creation stage and the body isolation. [ 1 411al In regard to the statement in the Integrated Practices Sixth Chapter which says that these verses teach the creation stage meditation on the subtle drop in the lower door, this shows that they have similar characteristics;
but the actual meaning concerns the perfection stage.
280 ?
Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
Meditating on both nose tips is discussed in the Vajra Rosary:
Streaming down through the channels,
The spirit of enlightenment made firm,
In the moment of holding the wind-energies In the tips of the vajra and the lotus, Expressing the syllable in the palate
And expressing the syllable KSHMAM,
It is taught that supreme yoga will be achieved.
This means that the art-which will be explained-for melting the spirit of enlightenment which streams through the channels, having stabilized [that spirit] in the two nose tips, will accomplish the supreme yoga. As for the art for stabilizing that, according to the Commentary:
The "palate" is an extremely long channel in the center of the vagina, and to connect with that is to constrict it very tightly, meditate KSHMAM at the vajra tip, and at the instant of holding the wind-energy . . .
This statement explains that it will be attained by the supreme yoga of meditating on the life-energy wind. That being so, "connection with the palate" will be achieved. In other translations it says "Held by the energy. " This is good. "Application of the letter in the palate, and by the yoga of the mantra PU KSHMI! vf' is not good. Holding in this way in the vajra nose tip is also holding it in the nose tip of the lotus, as it is at the meeting
point of the two channels. Also, since in the Root Tantra it is stated: Enjoying all desire fulfillments,
Recite, not losing the mantra branches.
[I40bJ On this occasion also, as for certain great yogi/nis who have great distinction, it is not prohibited that they should rely on an evolutionary seal [consort]. Here also, some meditate on this relying on a wisdom con- sort. If you know how to apply this statement in the Illumination of the Lamp to the five stages practice manuals, it seems to be the supreme life- energy control for dissolving winds into the dhati channel. The Illumina- tion ofthe Lamp translation says:
The very thing, the breath which moves upward, has five colors.
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 28 1
Patsab's translation says "That breath itself," which is better. That very wind-energy, previously explained as the wisdom and elemental breaths, goes upwards to the door of the sense faculties. It is five-colored, thus having the nature of the five transcendent buddhas. Therefore, it is a precious jewel. "Life-energy" is translated in the old translations as "life" (jrva, 'tsho ba), and "control" (iiyiima, rtsol) as "long-radiating effort," but Patsab translates '"Life-energy control' causes extension and long expansion. " This is better. This means that the life-energy, the wind which causes one to sustain one's life for a long time, is called "life-energy control. " The linguistic equivalent of "control" is iiyiima, which means "effort," also "cessation," and it is also used for "length and breadth. " Here, it is the latter. The translation "life-energy and effort" is wrong, because it would be a redundancy, an equivalency compound, as the Tibetan experts say. In the Time Machine literature, it is taken in terms of the middle [of the above three meanings], as "life-energy control," ex- plained as "life-energy cessation. " In Tibetan the word "control" (rtsol ba) does not work well for both "terminating" and "sustaining," but due to its linguistic equivalents, [t41al those both do work. Likewise, in the Tibetan, the "retracting" of [literally] "concentrating together" (pratyii- hiira, sor sdud) can be used as "taking. " The "together" (prati, so sor) can mean "repeating," and though it does not apply here, it is not precluded as a linguistic equivalent. The reality of the entry, exit, and abiding of that very energy which goes into the upper door is your own mantra for natural recitation day and night.
In the two old translations of the Commentary on that it is stated:
Because you will do [vajra-] recitation day and night, you think of your mantra in your heart, i. e. , in the lotus in [your] heart center. . .
but in the the two new translations of the Commentary it is stated in a better way:
Because you will recite it, it is your mantra.
Here, "because" gives the reason, and but it is not the previous reason for energy being practiced as life-energy control, nor should it be employed for any other reason; because you must consider it I itself! to be the reason for your mantra, and because, the Illumination qfthe Lamp eleventh chap-
ter states that:
282 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
"Your mantra" consists of the three letters which have
the nature of inhaling, etc.
In this context, Naropa states in his Further Tantra Commentary: '"Life-energy and control' are thinking that one has short A in the lotus of one's heart center. " As for the fact that the quotations from the Illumi- nation ofthe Lamp, "The explanation of 'life-energy control'" and "recit- ing day and night, inhaling with the energy, etc. " and the expression
"your mantra" do not occur [in Naropa's text], this is an incorrect text or a flawed translation, because the other contexts of the six branches [of yoga explained by Naropa] appear just as they are in the Illumination of the Lamp. The teaching that you should think of the short A in the heart center [J4Jbl is either in certain Indian texts of the Illumination of the
Lamp or else does fulfill the intention of the Commentary. The explana- tion in the Illumination ofthe Lamp [of the short A] as "the indestructible drop" is good because it is in agreement with the explanation with the reference quoted in the Integrated Practices that says that "the short A is the indestructible [drop] in the heart center. "
In regard to the statement that "Life-energy should be set to become a drop," the Illumination of the Lamp states no more than: "you set it by attaching it to the indestructible. " That means that the drop is the inde- structible, to be considered present in the heart center. "Life- energy" con- sists of the wind-energies. "To set them to become. . . " means to focus
them to be incorporated in the indestructible. This refers to concentrating the wind-energies in the indestructible. This is the all-purpose function [accomplished] by meditating the three life-energy controls. Here, it is explained in the Elixir Secret that "Your mantra is the three letters . . . ," and "consider it as present at the heart center" refers to those three [letters] dissolving into the three-the exhaling, inhaling, and abiding wind- energies - and to those three [letters] dissolving into the life- energy.
As for the meditation of the life-energy wind dissolving into the indestructible drop, it is explained as the meaning of " setting the life- energy wind to become a drop. " Munis hrisays that:
Meditating your mantra at the heart center, you visualize the letter "HOM' there. The channel emerging from the "HOM' is "the indestructible. " [Here,] the subtle "A" letter is in the form of a drop. The mind is set to become
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 283 a drop, meaning that you should meditate the mind
having become that there. The Moonlight Commentary states:
In your heart center you visualize your mantra as the samadhi hero, and upon that as a drop, you should visu- alize the mind in the natural form of a channel as 1 t42al the actuality of the mentality.
And, Lak? hmTexplains that in the dhati channel in the center of the lotus of the heart, you visualize your mantra as the drop of the HOM letter with the cloud sound. Setting the life-energy in that, you should set [there also] your consciousness, which rides on the energy.
Here, other systems explain this otherwise, but in this system in this context, in the heart center it is suitable to meditate either a HOM or the letter A in the heart center. However, the meaning of "your mantra" is not those [letters]; but rather, the taking of the life-energy wind as the mind and aiming that at the drop atop that letter. Nor does this refer to "set the life-energy wind to become a drop. " [Rather,] this is the context of the distinctive purpose of meditating the three types of life-energy control; because it is to develop the four voids through concentrating and dissolving the other wind-energies into the heart center indestructible.
You might think that: "Allowing the other two types of life-energy control to be like that, still, as for the meditation on life-energy control in the lower door, if, as previously explained, you hold the spirit of enlight- enment when it descends to the tip of the genital, then this does not pro- duce the four voids which come from gradually concentrating the wind- energies in the heart center! "
This is true-but that is not a fault, since that [practice of focusing rather on the genital tip continues only] until you are steadily able to hold the drop on the tip of the secret place, and after that, even when you unite with [either of] the two [kinds of] consort, then still you must apply the distinctive instruction which serves as the art of concentrating the wind- energies in the heart center.
When it explains the meaning of the statement in the Root Tantra that you should meditate on the tip a five-colored jewel the size of a mus- tard seed, the Vajra Rosary refers to the three nose-tips and the three
Defining fl42bJ the three nose tips-
They are named secret, heart center, and face nose
And:
The three drops of energy, mantra,
And substance are unexcelled.
As for meditating the substance drop at the secret nose tip, this is indicated by the previous quote. As for meditating the mantra drop at the heart center nose tip, there is the statement:
At the center of the heart lotus hub, You establish a HOM.
After that, there is the statement:
This explains the mantra drop.
As for meditating the energy drop on the face nose tip, it is indicated by the statement:
The energy drop, the supreme yoga, The great clear light, of five colors, By the yoga of fixing it at the nose tip You should totally meditate.
And the yogiini should recite
The supreme mantra of such a kind.
Furthermore, [the half-verse]:
This very mantra drop is supreme;
The [other] two drops are light and substance
states that the mantra drop which is the heart center indestructible is supe- rior to the other two drops; and it refers to the energy drop as "the light drop. " As for meditating on the light drop. it is stated that "There is vajra recitation on the coming and going of the energy on the nose tip. " This is the yoga practiced and the life-energy control of the F11rther Tantra previ- ously explained, and does not have the meaning given by such as Kalden
Drakpa.
284 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
drops which are to be meditated there, [the energy drop, the substance drop, and the mantra drop] :
Chapter V-Speech Isolation in General ? 285
Here you might wonder: "Well, if the previously explained three life-energy controls are to be meditated by one person, then this does not seem to agree with the statement from the Vajra Rosary which says in answer to the question 'Should one yogi/ni meditate this or different yogi/nis? '" 'The answer is that one with great lust should meditate on the substance drop, one with great anger should meditate on the mantra drop, and one with great delusion should meditate on the light drop. "'
Rosary] cites three [types of persons] with regard to whom [meditation should be used] principally to lead them to the path. They are not stated to show that a single person should not meditate all three of them, saying only that these three paths, again, are for those disciples to achieve liberation in this lifetime, and that this is very quick for [achieving] libera- tion. Here, a "delusive" one is one whose passion and hatred are equal. When reciting your mantra, which is done by connecting the three letters with your inhaling, exhaling, and holding, you visualize the indestruc- tible drop in the lotus of your heart as you recite. However, even without that connection, you must meditate the mantra drop at the heart center. In this system, [the "life-energy" in] life-energy control is the energy which makes the life system endure. Just that does not make it a branch of the six branches of yoga; the term "life-energy control" only refers to the life- energy control yoga branch.
As for meditating on the two drops in the tips of the heart and the secret place, although it is not a direct meditation of life-energy control on wind, it does not preclude life-energy control, since it is still the dis- tinctive art of compressing the evolutionary wind-energies into the dhati channel. "Speech isolation" and "vajra recitation" are names which are designated from the perspective of the unique distinctiveness of the yoga of life-energy control. Their specific names may be erroneously desig- nated to the general, and so, in the context of vajra recitation, if the other
two life-energy control meditations are eliminated, it is a very great error. Therefore, you should understand thoroughly how you need to meditate on all three life-energy controls. [ 143b]
In general, the Esoteric Community is taught for the sake of the
person who has lust 1143aJ for the union of the two organs, mentioned as "For the sake of a lustful person. " Although all three kinds of meditation are applicable to this person, there are three subdivisions. [The Vajra
CHAPTER VI
Speech Isolation-How to Practice
I143b. l-176a. 6J
The sixth has three parts, explaining: [a"I The stage of meditating the three life-energy controls; [b") The uncommon function of vajra recitation; and (c") Having meditated life-energy control, the stage of generating experience.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"a" - The stage of meditating the three life- energy controls]
? ? ? ) Meditating life [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"a"i" - Meditating life-energy control of the
The first has three parts, explaining: [i
control of the mantra drop at the heart center nose tip; (ii"] Meditating life-energy control of the light drop at the face nose tip; [iii "] Meditating life-energy control of the subtance drop at the secret nose tip.
mantra drop at the heart center nose tip]
The first has two parts, explaining: [A'") The way to meditate the
partial mantra drop; (B"'] The way to meditate the mantra wheel.
The way to meditate the partial
mantra drop]
As for the place where to meditate, it is according to the Vajra Rosary statement:
A person will achieve the chief of mantras
In a solitary, divine place, without demon problems, Free of piercing sounds, and far from crowds, Delightful to the fortunate, a peaceful pleasure grove, While enjoying the five desires, full of great bliss.
A "divine place" here means a chapel and so forth. 287
"
-
energy
? ? [VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6" -
The way to put speech isolation into practice[
lVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTB"6"a"i"A'" -
188 ?
Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
As for the (topics of the] vital points of the body, which conducts are useful for meditation. and the vital points of the wind-energies, they are. according to the same text:
The path of conduct is the place of great bliss, Whereby supreme accomplishment will develop; The practitioner sits upon a comfortable seat
And having aimed the two eyes to the nose tip And placed the nose in line with the navel, Keeps shoulders level, tongue pressed on palate, Teeth and lips left relaxed
Exhalation and inhalation loosened,
Bit by bit freed of control,
Breathing naturally,
And sits well in the spiritual hero posture. Maintaining such a path of conduct, r I44aJ
One should constantly recite the two letters.
Such statements made in the context of the two-syllable vajra recitation apply similarly to the three-syllable vajra recitation. Other translations have "the vajra [instead of 'spiritual hero'] posture. "
As for the key point of time, it is as previouslye explained.
As for the supporting embodiment, one should perform [vajra reci- tation] by visualizing [oneself] as the body isolation, great secret, single clan father-mother [in union]. In the Five Stages, quoting the Further Tantra, [Nagarjuna] states:
By visualizing the heart center, put the life-energy into dwelling in the drop.
The Illumination of the Lamp explains the meaning of this to be medita- ting on the indestructible drop in the heart center. And [other] Five Stages commentators also explain it as meditating the mantra drop in the heart center. Just after the Four Goddess Dialogue passage quoted in the Five Stages, such statements as "Supreme subtleness, the mere size of a split [pea]," like the above quotes, have the same meaning as the above refer- ence from the Further Tantra. In the Integrated Practices, [Aryadeva] also quotes a reference from the Vajra Mandala Ornament [Tantra], and states that the short A of the heart center indestructible and the indestruc-
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 289
tible [itself] are the places for compressing the wind-energies, in order to make the meditation on the heart-center indestructible understandable.
Further, in the Illumination of the Lamp Third Chapter, [Chandra- kirti] states:
The precious jewel of five colors with the nature of the five transcendent lords is reknowned as the indestructible, because it creates the precious jewel of buddhahood. It has the precise measure of a grain of mustard seed, because that is the form of the drop. "On the tip of the nose" indicates the hub of the heart center lotus. "Intensely" means that you should meditate constantly day and night by focusing on it and using the yogas of inhaling, holding, releasing, and compressing. l 144hl
Thus the text states that you should meditate the heart center indestruc- tible day and night through the yoga of inhaling and so on.
As for the sequence of the meditations of the indestructible and the vajra recitation, the following [Illumination of the Lamp passage, coming right after the one above, teaches, in commentary on a Root Tantra pas-
sage, namely,] "Having made the jewel stable, one radiates, and one does not radiate without its becoming stable"90-
"Stable" is constant. What is that? The indestructible. From it you should massively radiate "jewel," or five colored, light rays, and you should engage with it by inhaling, holding, and releasing. "Without its becoming stable" means that you should practice this yoga with [constant focus on] the realization of the thatness of the indestructible, and not otherwise.
The meaning of this is as follows. Meditating on the indestructible drop mentioned previously in the statement that "you should constantly meditate the indestructible by the yoga of inhaling and so on," you develop firmness. Thereby you should practice the yoga of making the
90 The Root Tantra passage and the commentary on it are in reverse order in the Tibetan texts, due no doubt to scribal error, so I have reversed the order back to make it clearer.
? 290 ? BrilliantIllumination oftheLamp
wind-energies enter. etc. within [the central channel]. Thus, by any other way than by having realized the natural experience of the thatness of the indestructible and developed stability in taking the indestructible as ob- ject, you should not perform this yoga of inhaling etc. Such being the meaning, first you must stabilize a constant and unchanging meditative indestructible, and after that you can practice vajra recitation.
This explanation is said by [Chandraktti in] the Illumination ofthe Lamp to be an ultimate [meaning] explanation. To that, a certain objector argues that this is the way of explaining the vajra recitation [only] for a person who has [already] embodied the ultimate communion. [145aJ Others do indeed explain the "indestructible" as the fourth stage clear light. However, from the extensive explanation of this point in the com- mentary on the [Root Tantra] Third Chapter, after explaining the wind-
energies of the four [elemental] spheres emerging from the indestruc- tible, the Chag translation has the statement:
By achieving such a body, speech, and mind, the body and so on are created; and "emerging from the vajra" refers to the creation of the divine circle which has the nature of the two realities arisen from clear light trans- parence.
Thus the explanation is said to be "ultimate" in terms of [its referring to] the objective of vajra recitation, which is the creation of communion by the wind-energies through the practice of vajra recitation. This is similar to the Seventeenth Chapter' s explanation of the three voids being called "ultimate. "
As for the place where the indestructible is meditated, its objective vital point is the hub of the heart center lotus; and it is the same in mean-
ing as the Vajra Rosary
hub of the eight-petalled Dharma wheel [of the heart center]. Lak? hmts statement that you should meditate within the center of the heart center's avadhati [channel] is good; and it does not mean the [same thing as] the Five Point' s mention of the black and white boundary in the heart, or the Four Point's mention of the empty space in the heart center. As for the dhati channel, it is stated in the Great Seal Drop and the Wisdom-Intuition Drop to be stabilized as the "staff of the life-energy wind" and the root of the life-energy wind. Since the hub of the heart center channel wheel is
'
s statement to meditate the mantra drop in the
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 291
in front of the life-energy wind channel at the height of. and in the center between, the two breasts, you should visualize it there.
In regard to such reasonable instructions as this [concerning] the meditations on the drops and so on as accurately penetrating the vital points of the body, if you know well the vital points of the body, when you aim the mind there, lt4Shl it will reach those vital points; and other- wise not.
As for the drop meditated in that place, the Vajra Rosary does not explicitly mention a drop other than the syllables, but the Illumination of the Lamp teaches the meditation on the indestructible in the form of a drop. In this context, some followers of the Go tradition wish to meditate the short A in the center of a drop which is an interlaced sun and moon. The Concise Five Stages teaches the meditation of the indestructible drop together with the short A In both of the personal instructions of Serding- pa, the drop is explained as white and the short A as black. In one, a half- white, half-black short A resides within a white drop; again in another a bar-shaped A resides within a half-black, half-white drop; yet another recommends meditating a white, reddish-tinged drop. As for a red-white- interfaced drop, it is in agreement with the great adept Kukuripa's state-
ment [in his Vajrasattva Sadhana] about the drop used as support for vajra recitation:
Visualizing in its hub
A sun disc, a drop, and a moon disc, Shaped like a closed [round] shrine-box, The sun of art, and the moon of wisdom.
However, here [in the Noble system], a syllable is used in place of the drop in the center of that [heart center]; the Personal Instruction explains it as a slightly reddish white. The heart center is explained to be the place where the between person's consciousness enters in the center of the semen and ovum of father and mother in the womb; and is also
explained as the support of the mind. And that is the key of the basic reality cultivation foundation of both those [Noble and Jfianapada] systems of meditation.
The measure of the drop is said to be just that of a mustard seed; for if you hold the mind on a subtle object, it is easy to eradicate thought constructions and compress the wind-energies.
292 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
As for the syllable, [146aJ the Vajra Rosary mentions both A and HOM as the syllable in the heart center, and the Integrated Practices mentions the A syllable; and they are meditated as representatives of the indestructible. Since there is something established there in the form of a syllable, there is indeed no certainty [about which one], so here one can meditate either A or HOM. In either case the color should be dark blue;
or the Vow Arisal also suggests white. Here, "wind-energy" stands for the indestructible, and the "white-red drop" stands for the indestructible enlightenment spirit. In this context the five-colored jewel is blazing with the five light rays, which is proper to connect with either syllable or drop. Other traditions explain the drop as being on top of a syllable itself located on a hand symbol; but here [in this Noble system] it is better as
above.
Thus one should focus the mind, practicing free of the faults of
holding the mind either much too tightly or much too loosely on the heart center indestructible.
This is highly praised in the Liberation Drop:
That brilliant form of the indestructible drop, Just the measure of a grain of mustard, Dripping and blazing with five light rays, Properly always stands in the heart center. Gazing on that, great wisdom will blaze up
In the yogi/ni in just an instant- There should be no doubt about it.
It is also praised in other Tantras, as in the Unexcelled Clear Articulation:
Always dwelling in the heart, Unchanging in the sole drop,
The person who meditates on that Will definitely generate wisdom.
And from that [Tantra's] meaning commentary [by Ghar:ttapada], called the Supreme Bliss Five Stages:
The mind which has the drop and the sound, 1146bl You should place it in the heart center:
This will dispel the fog of delusion -
You will become a master divine lord buddha.
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 293
Thus depending on the meditation of the indestructible drop in the heart center, the orgasmic [wisdom] that radically cuts off ignorance will arise. Also the Vow Arisal states:
The energy gone into the heart-center lotus,
In the likeness of a white HOM letter-
You should visualize and be entranced with that, And you will not be bound by objects.
The energy moving up into the life-cycle
Will progress downward into nirvana.
The totally non-local nirvana
Dwells in the heart-center lotus' anthers.
Thus, if you can collect, stop, and stabilize the energy - by the distinctive arts such as explained above-in the center of the heart-center channel- wheel, you cannot be bound any more by the mental constructions en- gaged with objects such as form and sound, and it will grant you the exalted state of nirvana not located in the extremes of existence and peace .
Again, as explained above, the twelve subject-object wind-energies are said to arise in the heart center. If you practice the art of penetrating the body's vital points and holding the mind therein, those wind-energies will compress back there, and by the key process of their dissolving there, you can easily cut off the constructions of subject and object. By such a procedure, you generate the great certitude about this that is praised in the many treatises of the great adepts and in many Tantras. Thus you
should strive to meditate the life-energy control of the mantra drop, the indestructible in the heart-center nose tip.
wheel]
The Concise Five Stages [attibuted to Naropa] states:
Since the various memories and mental constructions Arise from the mind as evolutionary actions,
Meditate the mantra wheel at the heart center, 1 147u]
The base where consciousness and life-energy converge.
? The way to meditate the mantra
lVI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'o"6"a"i"B"' -
294 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Thus [it is explained that] the various mental constructs arise from the mind, and the place where the energy and mind gather together is the heart center, so the meditating of the mantra wheel should penetrate the vital [point] in the heart center. Further [the Concise Five Stages states] :
As for the wheel of mantra syllables; First, contemplate an eight petaled lotus Containing rows [of letters] ,
I n a pattern of outer, inner, and secret.
[This explains] the meditation of an eight-petaled lotus with three rows [of letters on it] in the heart center.
Further [the Concise Five Stages states]:
The outer row is marked by wisdom-vowels, The middle row by the art-consonants,
And the nondual letters stand within-
This samadhi of rows in cardinals and quarters, Has the nature of the three yogas,
With the indestructible drop in the center,
With its A-syllable which becomes life-energy, Essence of all, radiating and gathering back.
Thus, this teaches that you should meditate the outer [row on the] eight petals of the lotus as marked with the twelve vowels [which are] the actu- ality of wisdom; the middle [row on the] eight petals as marked with the consonants which are the actuality of art; and the inner [row] with the four neuter letters [. 8, 8, {. , Ll. which are the actuality of art and wisdom non- dual; and the center as the indestructible drop, together with a short A. 91
In this regard, three [texts by Serdingpa] explain that you should meditate the mantra wheel as a preliminary of the vajra recitation: the Five Point, the Wheel Endowed, and the Five Stages Single Session.
91 The way this commentary is written, one could think that this eight-petallede heart lotus is actually 24-petalled, since it seems as if the three rows are marked each on a different row of petals. 1 believe thut is because in the short-hand way of dictating, Tsong Khapa assumes everyone know the heart lotus has only eight petals, and the letters are arar nged in three rows on the eight petals, vowels near the tips of the petals, consonants in the middle, and the four neuter semi-vowels on the base of the four directional petals.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 295
three texts.
tions of the Marpa tradition, it is explained that on the channel having a
center for the drop which is the support of the vajra recitation, Kukuripa says that that lotus should be thought of as having the nature of the four elements, with four white petals and four red petals. This is to think of them as being the actuality of the four channels of the directions of the heart center. From some other treatises also, on the occasion of the per- fection stage, the lotuses in the navel etc. , whereon are established the drop and the letters etc. , are explained as "channel-petals," and that is how one should take them, or else one can also visualize that the lotus petals themselves are the actuality of the channels.
There being uncertainty about the color of the heart-center lotus, and there being many explanations of the eight-petaled [lotus] of the channel-wheel, it appears that there are two explanations; and a third explanation is not often found elsewhere. If you visualize it like a lotus- flower petal, then there is no point in [visualizing it] like a raised mirror. Serdingpa has the consonants established on the outer [rows on the] petals and the vowels on the middle [rows]; but this does not accord with the Root Text [of the Concise Five Stages]. Therefore, you should establish
[them] according to what appears elsewhere in the Marpa tradition, which accords with the Root Text, [Naropa 's Clarification of the Concise Five Stages], which says that the vowels are luminance, the consonants radi- ance, and the neuter syllables are imminence. That being the case, it is good if you make the outer letters white, the middle letters red, and the inner letters blue or black. The Root Text says "Twelve letters having d r o p s . . . , " m e a n i n g t h a t o n t h e e l e v e n v o w e l s , e x c l u d i n g t h e fo u r n e u t e r s . there is a drop, 1 14Hal so you should place a drop on the head of those
Though the Four Point [by Serdingpa] explains this in the context of mind isolation, in the Root Text [of the Concise Five Stages, attributed to Naropa] it explains that you do the vajra recitation after previously medi-
Serdingpa said that the lotus petals should be red, the shape should be [convex] like an upheld mirror. l 147b1 From some of the other instruc-
tating the mantra wheel; so you should do it according to the previous
form like a lotus and which is white with a reddish tinge, the letters are white. With regard to the lotus which is the place established in the heart
296 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
eleven. 92 It does not mean that you should accept that you place the drop in front of them, [or that] you establish them with no drop.
As for the way of setting the [syllables] up, you begin from the east; and in the four directions you put two-two, then starting from the south- east in each four quarters you do one each, or else you arrange them in continuous order from the east, according to Serdingpa's instruction. The
consonants are also like that.
As for setting up the consonants, the Root Text says:
From KA up to HA,
leaving out KSHA, having four.
This [is explained by some to] mean that one should start from the east, on five petals, and place the five sets [beginning with] KA CA TA TA PA. Then, on three petals put the YA and SHA sets [on two of them] , and then, on the last petal, put the four letters KLA BLA SLA SHLA, these four being called the "hidden," or "the four tongue-rooted letters. " But that comes from not knowing the meaning. What the text [actually] means is [that] on each of eight petals, leaving out KSHA from KA to HA, you put four. In this way, the five sets of four KA CA TA TA PA, the NGA NYA /:lA
NA set of four, and the two YA and SHA sets of four are eight [sets in total]. The MA letter is the drop on the vowels.
On the inner lotus petals of the four cardinal directions, 8 8. 1,. . L are placed, and the quarter petals are left empty. When you put them on the channel [of the] petals, and the letters are not alone [on that part of the petal], you set [the four consonants] sequentially in the channel [of the petal] from outer to inner, and have them standing up. If you set them in
the [circular] plane of the petal itself, put them in the form of the arrange- ment ofa garland. [14Hbl
As for setting the indestructible in the center together with its A, it is as already explained.
The Root Text says:
Present in the center of the realm of space,
You should visualize the brilliant mandala.
92 Tsong Khapa interprets the statement about twelve letters as referring to eleven letters, apparently meaning that the short A is in the center and not repeated in the outermost row.
? Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 297
As for the meaning of this stated in the context of the mantra wheel. it does not mean, as some people assert, to meditate that. from within void- ness, awareness arises as a mere nada [channel] and transforms into the moondisk of the heart center. With regard to the definitive meaning of that statement in the Root Tantra, the Illumination of the Lamp says that the realm of space means clear light transparence and the moon disk which stands in its center is said to be the indestructible. That very [explanation] is to be applied here. because by that it is shown that the supporting body of the vajra recitation is the indestructible [drop].
As for meditating the mantra wheel in this way, except for the per- sonal instruction of Naropa. it does not occur in the treatises together with the personal instructions of the Noble tradition. In some of the instructions of the lineage from Jfianakara to Nagtso there are things disagreeing with this. Even in the instruction [manuals] of the Marpa tradition, dissimilar things sometimes appear. What is explained above, [coming from Naropa], is correct.
In regard to what Serdingpa says-that the Revelation ofthe Hidden Intention quotes cited in the Five Stages, "Five having truly five," and "Four definitely attached in threes," and "Sixteen abiding in parts, and so on," show the ways of establishing the letters on the petals - that is not what they mean; because, although those letters-OM A. Ij HO? are collected from the vowels, they do not show how you meditate when you place the vowels on the lotus petals.
In other Tantras there are statements [to the effect that one] sets up many letters in the wheels and then meditates; [ 1 49a l [thus,] they are taught in order to compress the wind-energies there; here it is similar. Thus, if, for the sake of compressing the wind-energies in the heart center, you
visualize setting up letters there in the cardinal and quarter directions, you do so in order to collect the wind-energies gradually into the inde- structible; so this is just the personal instruction for doing that.
In that context, first you visualize the lotus petals, and then gradually from without, in sequence, you visualize the letters of the directions and quarters and hold the mind [on them, until] the energy is collected in the indestructible. In this way, [the energies] easily go closer and closer [to the center]-that is the key to the way they teach. It is not definitely nec-
essary for the mantra wheel to be very elaborate. Just as in the five stages instruction manuals of the Marpa tradition there are explanations of prac- ticing vajra recitation by establishing no wheel at all, [by visualizing] the
2Q8 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
triply-nested spiritual heroes. all three simultaneously without any mantra wheel. [or visualizing) the indestructible drop with the short A and setting up the HOM syllable-according to [whichever of) these explanations, [you can perfonn) the vajra recitation.
Nevertheless, it is definitely necessary to meditate the indestruc- tible drop together with [its] letter as explained above, [but] whether the mantra wheel is necessary depends on whether one does it extensively or
briefly. For example
letters and petal letters in the four wheels, [although] a second way is [also] explained which requires the four letters only in the centers [of the wheels].
.
in the SheafofInstructions you establish both hub
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'd'i'B"6"a"ii" - Meditating life-energy control of the light drop at the face nose tip)
The second has two parts: [A"') In what place and with what wind- energy does one practice the vajra recitation; and [B"') The way of uniting wind-energy and mantra, showing the way to differentiate [various types of] vajra recitation.
[VI. B. 3. b. ii. c'3'dTR"6"a"ii"A'" -
energy does one practice the vajra recitation]
Thus you meditate either the indestructible together with the man- tra wheel, or the indestructible together with the letter, [until you] become stable without vacillating; relying on that you should practice vajra recitation. Now, if the perfection stage practitioner performs the vajra recitation for the sake of the ritual actions of either pacification, prosperity, [I49bl dominion, or destruction, s/he performs them with the four root wind-energies; and if this perfection stage practioner performs the vajra recitation for the sake of the five higher knowledges of "divine eye" etc. , then s/he should do it with the five branch wind-energies. If the body isolation has preceded, and if one practices the vajra recitation for the sake of achieving the [four] voids of the mind isolation, first [you practice with] the four root wind-energies; and from the point when you discover the power there, you then practice with the five branch wind- energies. On the three occasions of practicing vajra recitation stated in the text, this refers to the latter.
? ? In what place and with what wind-
Chapter VI-Speech Isolation in Practice ? 299
Here, one might inquire, "If that is the way you practice vajra reci- tation with regard to such-and-such wind-energies, is it certain or not about the place in the body about which one might say 'you should practice through this spot which is the vital point in the body"'?
In this regard, most people, except for their mere making the energy enter in and go out of the nostrils from the inner hollow of the body, have no certitude that they should practice from such and such a spot in the channel wheels of the body. Again, some people say that the four root wind-energies should be understood as residing in the four elemental spheres in the four [wheels], the throat, and so on.
In regard to the first of these [two opinions] : although it allows that there exist the union of the three letters with the three [processes] of the energy - exhaling, inhaling and abiding - if you lack the personal instruc- tion which says that "you should practice in this vital channel wheel of the body," however much you strive, it will not happen that the four voids will develop through the dissolving of the energy injected into the dhati. Otherwise, [if that were not the case,] you could not avoid the logical absurdity that by counting the exhalations and inhalations of the wind-energy as explained in the Disciples' Stages, you would get the same result.
In regard to the second opinion, though it has the idea that there is a mere penetration of the vital point of the channels, it has not discovered the import of the key of how the vajra recitation of this system penetrates the vital point in the body. Therefore, in our own system, the three- inhaling, exhaling and holding - are done from the I t SOa J indestructible drop, along with its letter, itself in the center of the heart.
So, to first establish this point with the [statements from] the Illu- mination of the Lamp; compared to the previous Illumination of the Lamp quotation, giving the meaning of the passage that you should medi- tate by the yoga of inhaling, exhaling and holding, the later passage makes it more clear, and states that it is from within that indestructible
drop that one should perform the exhaling, inhaling and holding of a mass of five colored light rays. Also the Illumination of the Lamp third
,
chapter
"you should draw a moon disc standing in the center of space. "" and "standing in the center of the sphere of clear light transparence, you should vizualise a wheel mandala and a lotus mandala and a jewel man- dala," and "you should draw a yoga mandala," Iit identifiesI "the sphere
when it explains the defin-itive meaning of the statements that
300 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
of clear transparence" as the indestructible, "standing in the center," and as arising from that; and it states that you should know the four elemental spheres that arise from that as the emerging four wind-energies of the four spheres of water, fire, earth, and wind, in that order. Again, in com- ment on the [Root] Tantra sixth chapter statement that you should medi- tate the four discs as standing in the middle of the realm of space-sun, clear light transparence, jewel, and light discs, "the realm of space" is the indestructible, ''standing in the middle" [means] emerging from there, and the four discs that are emerging are explained as, in order, the wind- energies of the four elements. [ISOb] It says that in those you should
practice the vajra recitation of the three letters, and also that you should command with vajra recitation the Vajrasattva who dwells in the heart center.
As for the explanation of the vajra recitation of the four wind- energies which is taught in the [Root Tantra] third chapter, [the Illumina- tion ofthe Lamp] explains it by quoting the Explanatory Tantra Revelation of the Hidden Intention. Especially to eliminate doubts arising from the Vajra Rosary's statement that you should perform going and coming of
the four wind-energies from these four places, "at the adam's apple, the heart center, the navel, and the lotus of the secret [center], manifest coming and going"; the Four Goddess Dialogue states that "the going and coming of the wind-energies" is from the indestructible of the heart, which fits with the above-explained meaning of the Illumination of the
Lamp; therefore you should understand that from the detailed analysis in the [Lamp 's] subcommentary.
From the Integrated Practices, it says:
In the context of the vajra recitation of the three letters, mantras such as "the snake," and so on, are those that arise from the vowels and consonants.
