The generation stage
Heading text
The Generation Stage
A detailed explanation of highest yoga tantra
The detailed explanation of the way to progress on the path of highest yoga tantra has two parts:
1. The system of mainstream highest yoga tantra
2. The system of Kālacakra tantra
The mainstream system includes the presentation of such tantras as Guhyasamāja, Heruka, and Yamāntaka. From among these, Guhyasamāja is taken as the primary tantra, and this explanation is based on Jé Rinpoché’s Lamp Illuminating the Five Stages of Guhyasamāja, which deals with the generation and completion stages of this tantra. The system of Kālacakra has its own unique characteristics and is explained separately.
The system of mainstream highest yoga tantra
This has four parts:
1. How to become a vessel suitable for meditating on the path
2. How to keep the vows and commitments purely
3. How to practice the path
4. How to manifest the fruits of practice
The system of highest yoga tantra is also explained through applying four main categories similar to how the three lower tantras were explained. But there is a fundamental difference in the third category regarding the way we practice the path. In the three lower tantras this refers to the practice of yoga with signs and yoga without signs but in highest yoga tantra this refers to the practice of the generation and completion stages.
How to become a vessel suitable for meditating on the path
You become a vessel suitable for meditating on the path by first entering any suitable maṇḍala of highest yoga tantra explained from within the authentic classes of tantra and elucidated by qualified mahāsiddhas, and then you obtain empowerment.
We may engage in meditating on these tantric paths by entering a suitable maṇḍala of any of the tantras of this class, receiving empowerment, 148 and taking certain vows and commitments. Such maṇḍalas and empowerments must be sourced in authentic traditions.
Further, from the perspective of fully practicing of the path, you must obtain the four empowerments.
The four empowerments bestowed in this context are
(1) the vase, (2) the secret,
(3) the pristine wisdom, and
(4) the fourth empowerment.
The first qualifies us to practice the generation stage. The remaining three qualify us to perform the completion-stage practices that, respectively, establish the illusory body, clear light, and the state of union.
A master who bestows empowerment should first examine prospective disciples to ascertain whether they are vessels suitable for receiving all or some of these empowerments.149 If after such examination certain disciples are deemed suitable to receive just the vase empowerment then this empowerment should be bestowed omitting the latter three initiations, empowering such students to practice the stage of generation. 151 Some individuals who do not qualify to receive the vase empowerment may be permitted to enter the maṇḍala without obtaining empowerment. The master must therefore ascertain whether candidates for empowerment qualify for one, some, or all of the empowerments.152
Types of maṇḍalas
There are three maṇḍalas where you obtain the vase empowerment:
(1) the painted-cloth maṇḍala,
(2) the colored-sand maṇḍala, and
(3) the body maṇḍala. For some special disciples there is also
(4) the absorption maṇḍala. Therefore in general there are four maṇḍalas.
It is common in highest yoga tantra for initiation to be conferred in a painted-cloth maṇḍala, in a colored-sand maṇḍala,153 or in a body maṇḍala.154 However, some special disciples, such as experienced meditators capable of visualizing the entire maṇḍala, may receive empowerment within an absorption maṇḍala.155
It is not suitable to confer empowerment in the body maṇḍala on those who have not obtained initiation previously. Body maṇḍala empowerment is conferred in the Drilbupa system of Heruka, but tantras such as Yamāntaka have no body maṇḍala, and tantras such as Guhyasamāja have a body maṇḍala but empowerment is not conferred there.
There are certain restrictions to conferring empowerment in a body maṇḍala. Firstly disciples must have initially received an empowerment in an external maṇḍala before being initiated in the body maṇḍala. Some highest yoga tantras, such as Yamāntaka, do not possess a body maṇḍala. Some tantras, such as Guhyasamāja, possess a body maṇḍala but it is not employed in the vase initiation. However, the Drilbupa lineage of Heruka is a tantra in which the body maṇḍala is employed during initiation but again only after the students have obtained empowerment in an external maṇḍala of that deity. It is said that the three higher empowerments are bestowed, respectively, in the relative-bodhicitta maṇḍala, the lotus maṇḍala, and the ultimate-bodhicitta maṇḍala.
The three remaining empowerments, called the three higher empowerments , employ different maṇḍalas. Therefore the secret empowerment156 is bestowed in the relative-bodhicitta maṇḍala, the pristine-wisdom empowerment is bestowed in the lotus maṇḍala, and the word empowerment158 is bestowed in the ultimate-bodhicitta maṇḍala.
How to keep the vows and commitments purely
Second, if while meditating on the path you guard the commitments and vows taken at the time of the empowerment, you will establish the actual siddhis. If you fail to guard your vows, however, it is said that though you may strive for eons, you will not establish the siddhis; [11a] even attaining a mere pleasant rebirth will be difficult. Therefore, having understood the advice you were given upon becoming a proper vessel after receiving empowerment, guard the
commitments and vows even at the cost of your life. In particular, strive intently to avoid root downfalls and remain untouched by other downfalls. Should they occur nonetheless, restore them by confessing according to the rite. For it is said that if you guard against downfalls having obtained complete empowerment, then even if you do not meditate on the path you will establish the supreme state within seven to sixteen lives. But if you neglect the vows you are meant to guard, you will fall into unpleasant rebirth no matter how hard you strive.
Having received empowerment we must guard our vows and commitments. 159 Vows include both bodhisattva and tantric vows, and the bodhisattva vows consist of the eighteen root and forty-six secondary downfalls enumerated in the Six-Session Guru Yoga. The tantric vows consist of fourteen vows common to all buddha lineages, nineteen vows that apply to individual lineages, and the gross infractions.
These may be understood in depth from the Explanation of the Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion and the explanation of the root downfalls in the Cluster of Siddhis. The bodhisattva vows are clearly presented in Tsongkhapa’s Central Path to Enlightenment. Further, the way to rely on a tantric master is found in Tsongkhapa’s explanation of Aśvaghoṣa’s Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion. More specifically, the root tantric downfalls are elucidated in Tsongkhapa’s Cluster of Siddhis.160
How to practice the path
This third section has two parts:
1. How to meditate on the two stages
2. The practice of enhancing these two stages
We practice the path in the three lower tantras by engaging in yoga with and without signs. In yoga with signs we engage in self-generation as the deity. In yoga without signs we first engage in meditation that visualizes the transformation of our body, speech, and mind into the body, speech, and mind of the deity, and then we meditate on the emptiness of the signs of inherent existence of that visualization. Highest yoga tantra employs different terminology, but in general, the types of practices in yoga with signs of the lower tantras are included in the generation stage of highest yoga tantra, and the types of practices in yoga without signs are included in the completion stage of highest yoga tantra.
How to meditate on the two stages
This has two sections:
1. How to meditate on the generation stage
2. How to meditate on the completion stage
How to meditate on the generation stage
Debating the definition of the generation stage
Paṇchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen states that the generation stage is defined as “a yoga that matures the mental continuum for its resultant completion stage that does not arise from causing the winds to enter, abide, and dissolve in the central channel due to meditation but newly investigates any aspect related to the three stages of birth, death, and the intermediate state.”
There are three parts to this definition. The first part indicates that the generation stage matures the practitioner’s mind for the stage of completion that will follow.162 The second part shows that the generation stage does not arise from the winds entering, abiding, and dissolving in the central channel by the strength of meditation.163 The third part establishes that it is a yoga that meditates on all or any of the three states of ordinary existence—birth, death, and the intermediate state. However, according to Mantric Stages this definition is not universally applicable, for it does not include every instance of generation-stage practice. Rather it only applies to the main father tantras, such as Yamāntaka and the system of Guhyasamāja according to Ārya Nāgārjuna. Reply: I think he means only the main generation stage because it is not logically necessary that the generation stage engages in meditation on any aspect related to birth, death, or the intermediate state.
Ngawang Palden takes issue with Paṇchen Rinpoché’s definition of the generation stage because not every practice of the generation stage takes birth, death, or the intermediate state as its object of meditation. He gives two reasons to support his argument:
For instance, yogas following union with a knowledge consort do not meditate on any aspect related to the three stages of birth, death, and the intermediate state. Likewise, meditation on the protection wheel is not meditation on any aspect related to these three.
We may initially meditate on aspects related to birth, death, and the intermediate state but when we engage in union with a knowledge consort or in other subsequent practices, such as the inner offering, we do not necessarily meditate on these three aspects, even though such union is part of the generation stage. The second reason, the meditation that establishes the protection wheel, also does not involve any aspect related to the three stages of birth, death, and the intermediate state.
Although the central practice of the generation stage involves meditation on death, intermediate state, and rebirth, these meditations do not immediately follow one after the other but are interspersed with other practices. In general the sequence of practices of the generation stage are as follows: • Establishing the field for the accumulation of merit
• Reciting the svabhāva mantra
• Meditating on taking death as the path for establishing the dharma body, the first of the three bodies
• Establishing first the common and then the uncommon wheel of protection
• Establishing the maṇḍala that is the basis of purification
• Generating the celestial mansion
• Meditating on taking the intermediate stage as the path for establishing the enjoyment body, the second of the three bodies
• Meditating on taking birth as the path for establishing the emanation body, the third of the three bodies. This involves arising in the aspect of the deity supported by the maṇḍalas of the sun, moon, and so forth. Only at this point have we taken all three ordinary states as paths for establishing the three bodies.
The first reason above refers to union with a knowledge consort, but this does not indicate the initial moment of self-generation as the male deity in union with a consort; that occurs later in the generation stage. For example, in the generation stage of Guhyasamāja, we first establish the celestial mansion, then the two main deities in union in the center of the mansion, and then we establish the remaining thirty-two deities thus accomplishing the supreme-conqueror maṇḍala. Then we engage in the activities of the supreme conqueror, visualizing rays of light radiating to the ten directions and so forth. When this is completed, we bless the secret places of the male and female deities, and it is this activity that constitutes union with the knowledge consort. Then we make offerings and continue with mantra recitation. These and other activities, such as blessing the inner offerings and mantra recitation, do not rely on previously meditating on the three stages of death, intermediate state, and rebirth.
The first reason is established because Explanation of the Graded Presentation [11b] states:
Those yogas following union with a knowledge consort are activities of a buddha; they are not stages of ordinary existence . . . and so on.164 Graded Presentation of Guhyasamāja was composed by Nāgabodhi, one of the five main disciples of Nāgārjuna.165 Later Jé Rinpoché composed the Explanation of the Graded Presentation as a commentary to Master Nāgabodhi’s Graded Presentation, and this text mentions instances of yogic practices of the stage of generation that occur after union with a consort.
The second reason is established because that text states:
The protection wheel is merely a branch or preliminary level of the generation stage that is cultivated in accordance with ordinary existence in the generation stage. Therefore you do not need to take them [the protection wheel meditations] as activities related to the stages of ordinary existence.166
In the same text the second reason, namely meditation on the protection wheel, is also discussed. Meditation on the protection wheel is not classified as one of the main practices of the generation stage but rather as a preliminary practice that does not need to be combined with meditation on birth, death, and the intermediate state.
Since neither union with a knowledge consort or meditation on the protection wheel are classified as main practices of the stage of generation, our author is presuming that Paṇchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen intended his definition to encompass only the main practices. Such a position is corroborated by the extensive explanation of these points in Paṇchen Rinpoché’s Essence of the Two Stages, and further reference to the main practices of the generation stage is found in the Guru Pūjā, which is also by Paṇchen Rinpoché. Verse 110 discusses meditation on aspects related to the three stages of birth, death, and the intermediate state:
Bless us to purify all stains of ordinary appearance and conception
through the first-stage yoga that transforms birth, death, and the intermediate state
into the three bodies of a conqueror,
so that all appearances arise as the body of the deity.
This description of the generation stage only applies to the main generation-stage practices of the principal tantras but not to the preparatory or subsidiary practices that are also included in the generation stage. Further, it does not apply to the generation stage of Kālacakra and its unique practices as explained by Jé Rinpoché.
The three bases, three agents, and three results of the generation stage Thus, the central practice of the generation stage is to meditate on three significant stages of ordinary existence that relate to the three bodies of a buddha. In ordinary existence an individual experiences the stages of death, intermediate state, and birth uncontrollably, due to the force of karma and affliction. But in the generation stage practitioners first meditate on states resembling
ordinary death, intermediate state, and rebirth in order to gain familiarity with this process. Then they link the three ordinary stages with the three resultant bodies through entering paths that purify the three ordinary stages. Therefore ordinary birth, death, and the intermediate state that must be purified are known as the three bodies of the basis, the various paths that act as their purifying agents are known as the three bodies of the path, and the three bodies of a buddha (namely the dharma body, the enjoyment body, and the emanation body) that are established by these paths are called the three bodies of the result. Although the term body (kāya) is used in the context of the basis and the path, the actual bodies only exist when the resultant state has manifested.
The process of purification relies on meditating on emptiness. Therefore meditation on the emptiness of ordinary death gradually weakens and eliminates the power of karma and affliction to generate uncontrolled death, and ultimately establishes the dharma body. Meditation on the emptiness of the ordinary intermediate state gradually weakens and eliminates the power of karma and affliction to generate the uncontrolled intermediate state, and ultimately establishes the enjoyment body. Meditation on the emptiness of ordinary birth gradually weakens and eliminates the power of karma and affliction to generate uncontrolled birth, and ultimately establishes the emanation body.
Verse 110 of the Guru Pūjā describes the three bases that must be purified as “birth, death, and the intermediate state,” the three purified results as “the three bodies of a conqueror,” and the purifying agents as “the first-stage yoga that transforms.” Finally it describes the purpose of this practice is “to purify all stains of ordinary appearance and conception.”
Further debate on the definition of the generation stage
Someone says: The protection wheel and yogas following union with a knowledge consort are not actual generation-stage practices because the generation stage engages in meditation that takes any of the three bodies as the path, and it is not logically necessary that any path in the mental continuum of someone on the generation stage must be a generation stage [[[path]]].
This scholar returns to the initial issue and asserts that meditation on the protection wheel and union with a knowledge consort are not truly generation-stage practices.
Reply: That is not logically necessary.
Our author rejects the logical necessity or pervasion expressed in the first reason that practices of the generation stage necessarily engage in meditation on aspects related to death, the intermediate stage, and birth.
However, your reason is established because there are many shared paths of the Perfection Vehicle and the lower tantras in the mental continuum [of someone on the generation stage].
Still the author accepts the second reason offered by the opponent in defense of his first reason. It is indeed true, he says, that there are many paths—such as shared Perfection Vehicle paths or shared lower-tantra paths—in the mental continuum of someone on the generation stage that are not generation-stage paths. Your first reason is unacceptable because it contradicts the explanation of the outlines of the four branches of approximation, the four yogas, the six branches, and the three concentrations in the general outline summarizing the generation stage. These may be understood by consulting the extensive presentation in Mantric Stages.
The term outline implies a framework that ties various elements together to form a coherent presentation. Just as a belt links and holds pieces of clothing together, so too the outline of a sādhana links and unites the various parts of practice into a common framework. The general outline of the four branches of approximation, which are applied in various sādhanas, are (1) approximation, (2) close accomplishment, (3) accomplishment, and (4) great accomplishment.
Jé Rinpoché enumerates the four yogas in the completion stage of the Lūipa system of Heruka that form the outline of the practice in that particular system. The first is yoga and it includes the preliminary practices; the second is subsequent yoga; the third is intensive yoga; and the fourth is great yoga, which refers to the concluding practices of the completion stage.
The six branches include practices related to the six buddha lineages. In particular they involve visualization of the celestial mansion manifesting as the purified aspects of Vairocana, Akṣobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitābha, Amoghasiddhi, and Vajrasattva.170 An example of this outline is found in the commentary to the generation stage of Gyalwa Gyatso by the second Paṇchen Lama, Losang Yeshé.
The next outline is the three types of concentration:
(1) the concentration of initial application,
(2) the concentration of the supreme-conqueror maṇḍala, and
(3) the concentration of the supreme-conqueror activities.
The first type of concentration involves a condensed deity practice.171 For example, if we are practicing the generation stage of Guhyasamāja and cannot visualize all thirty-two deities, we must first simplify the practice by meditating only on the principal male and female deities in union. The second type of concentration includes the visualization of all thirty-two deities in their respective places in the maṇḍala.172 The third type of concentration includes visualizing the various activities of the deities. By following the ritual as it appears in the sādhana, the meditator visualizes rays of light emanating from the heart of each of these deities, establishing the well-being of sentient beings, making offerings to buddhas, and finally reabsorbing them into the hearts of the deities from where the rays first emerged. Jé Rinpoché in his presentation of the generation stage of the Guhyasamāja tantra also provides an outline that includes forty-nine different phases,174 but that is not mentioned here.
The generation stage is classified in two parts:
1. The yoga of coarse single recall
2. The yoga of subtle investigation
The yoga of coarse single recall
First, the yoga of coarse single recall is equivalent to the coarse generation stage because Precious Bud of Final Resolution states:
It is not called single recall because it recalls a deity once or recalls just a single deity but because it recalls the deity alone or it recalls oneself and the deity as one.175 Though in general it engages both subtle and coarse deity meditation, here it refers to deity yoga of the coarse supporting maṇḍala and supported deities . . . [up to] . . . when you train in the generation stage, you first generate concentration possessing clear appearance of coarse objects up till the supreme-conqueror maṇḍala.
The text mentioned here is one of the four interrelated commentaries of Guhyasamāja tantra, three of which were composed by Jé Rinpoché. The four include the Root Tantra of Guhyasamāja (which includes the Later Guhyasamāja Tantra) and Tsongkhapa’s Commentary to the Bright Lamp (Candrakīrti’s explanation of the root tantra). The remaining two treatises are Annotations to Candrakīrti’s Bright Lamp and the Precious Bud of Final Resolution (which is also called Final Resolution of the Four Interrelated Commentaries). In these, Jé Rinpoché urges us to distinguish between the coarse and subtle generation stages. In the coarse generation stage we first meditate on the supporting celestial maṇḍala until we gain proficiency, and then we add all the supported deities. We should persist in this meditation until we stabilize the focal object.
The yoga of subtle investigation
The second is equivalent to the subtle generation stage because Precious Bud of Final Resolution states:
When you train in the generation stage, you train in conceptual yogas such as meditating on the maṇḍala inside a subtle drop. Although conceptual or contrived yoga are general names for the generation stage, in this context it is called subtle yoga.
After we have attained sufficient stability on the coarse focal object, we gradually reduce the size of the visualization of both the celestial mansion and its resident deities to the point where they fit inside a subtle drop the size of a mustard seed. Much training is required to achieve this. The term subtle yoga is applied to this particular phase of the generation stage because the size of the visualized focal object is reduced, making it more subtle.
In general, the first stage is called the generation stage because it generates the celestial mansion and its resident deities through the process of conception.178 It is also called contrived yoga since it fabricates or creates the celestial mansion and its resident deities through causing them to appear to the mind. The second stage is called the completion stage because the basis of practice—the channels, winds, and drops of white and red constituents of womb-born human beings endowed with six constituents179—are already complete at the time of birth. It is also called uncontrived yoga since we do not newly fabricate or create these channels, winds, and drops through yogic practice. Rather the purpose of practice is to bless that which is already complete.
The four levels of practitioners
Question: Do those training in the generation stage progress to more advanced focal objects after they have attained stable meditation on less advanced focal objects—as in the completion stage—or do they meditate on the entire sādhana from beginning to end in a single session?
Reply: There are four types of practitioners differentiated according to when the path is generated in their mental continua:
1. Beginners
2. Those attaining some pristine wisdom
3. Those attaining partial control over pristine wisdom
4. Those attaining perfect control over pristine wisdom
The author answers this question by referring to the four categories of practitioners, posited according to how they meditate and the objects they focus on. In brief beginners are those meditating for the first time on the stage of generation. Those attaining some pristine wisdom are slightly more advanced. Those attaining partial control over pristine wisdom include advanced practitioners of the generation stage and beginners with respect to the completion stage. Those attaining perfect control over pristine wisdom are advanced practitioners of the completion stage.
You must understand the different presentations of how long and in what way they meditate.
1. Beginners
The first, a beginner, must fully meditate on all the generation-stage rites in the sādhana. Further, all practitioners from those first meditating on the generation stage up to but not including those capable of generating the clear appearance of all aspects of the coarse maṇḍala in an instant are called beginners.
When beginners first meditate on the generation stage, they should follow the sādhana carefully and engage all the aspects of the practice as described. They are further advised to focus on the entire maṇḍala and its resident deities at a coarse level that is neither too detailed nor too small. Still, in the early stages, they will not be able to generate nor maintain the visualization. Once practitioners gain the capacity to hold the full visualization of the coarse focal objects for a moment, they progress to the next level.
2. Those attaining some pristine wisdom
Those attaining some pristine wisdom are those who when visualizing the celestial mansion and all the coarse deities arranged within it are capable of generating the clear and stable appearance of all the main and secondary limbs instantly, but are not yet capable of doing that for the deities of the bases—Kṣitigarbha and so on.
At this level practitioners still rely on reciting the words of the sādhana, but from time to time they are also capable of briefly holding the visualization of the entire maṇḍala and its resident deities. When they visualize the resident deities, they are capable of visualizing both their main and secondary limbs. For example, when visualizing the hands of a certain deity, they also see all of the fingers, or when visualizing the head they not only see the face in general but the eyes and so on as well.
The sādhana of Yamāntaka contains descriptions of how the bases—the five sense faculties and the mental sense faculty—are generated as deities. For example, the eye sense base is generated as Kṣitigarbha, the ear sense base as Vajrapāṇi, the nose sense base as Ākāśagarbha, the tongue sense base as Avalokiteśvara, the body sense base Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin, and the mind sense base as Samantabhadra. Practitioners of this level are still not capable of instantly visualizing the sense bases as deities; when they do attain this ability they move on to the next level.
There is a difference in the mode of meditation between beginners and those attaining some pristine wisdom. Beginners must visualize the entire supporting maṇḍala and supported deities slowly and in stages. Those attaining some pristine wisdom recall the coarse aspects instantly but then they must visualize the subtle aspects, [12b] such as the deities of the bases, in stages.
3. Those attaining partial control over pristine wisdom
Those attaining partial control over pristine wisdom includes all the practitioners from those capable of instantly generating clear and stable appearance of not only the coarse visualization but all the main and secondary limbs of the subtle deities of the bases up to but not including those capable of attaining perfect control.
Those attaining partial control over pristine wisdom are not only capable of visualizing the entire maṇḍala and its resident deities instantly, but they are also able to visualize the secondary, subtle deities existing within the bodies of the main deities. Moreover their visualization of the subtle deities is complete, since it includes the full detail of their main and secondary limbs. Despite such impressive powers of visualization, they have not yet attained the fourth level.
It is said that this person practices both the generation and completion stages. Moreover those who attain this level need not distinguish meditative sessions from post-sessions, for such practitioners are permitted to perform a single self-generation for each day. Having generated such a realization of themselves as the deity, they do not need to perform the self-generation again.
In the first two levels, it is important that meditation sessions are kept brief so that the mind does not become fatigued. It is for this reason that the day is divided into meditative sessions when deity yoga is practiced and post-sessions when it is not. This approach specifically counters the tendency of the mind to experience mental laxity or excitation during meditation sessions. However, once we attain partial control over pristine wisdom, we no longer need to divide the day in this way nor engage in multiple sessions to newly generate ourselves as the deity. Rather it is sufficient to generate ourselves as the deity once and maintain that visualization throughout the entire day.
Therefore Mantric Stages states:
You do not complete the stage of generation merely by reaching this point. You must complete the stage of generation first and then meditate on the stage of completion.
There are three phases of the practice of the generation stage: (1) initially establishing the fully qualified stage of generation, then (2) stabilizing that which has been established, and finally (3) completing that which has been stabilized. Here stability is defined as the ability to maintain calm abiding focusing on the maṇḍala and resident deities uninterruptedly for a period of four hours, without experiencing mental laxity or excitation. Such stability is accomplished by the practitioner consciously setting his intention to meditate for that period and then arising from calm abiding after four hours due to the force of that initial intention. Completion is defined as the ability to maintain such meditation for a period of months or years, according to our wish. However, those on the third level who attain partial control over pristine wisdom have not yet completed the generation stage, far less the practice of completion.
4. Those attaining perfect control over pristine wisdom
It is said that some who attain partial control over pristine wisdom are on the completion stage while those who attain perfect control over pristine wisdom reside on the higher levels of the completion stage.
Those who attain partial control over pristine wisdom include advanced practitioners of the generation stage and practitioners of the early stages of the completion stage. Those who attain perfect control over pristine wisdom include practitioners of the advanced stages of completion.181
Abandoning ordinary appearance and conception
The specific objects to be abandoned on the generation stage are ordinary appearance and conception.
The Guru Pūjā states that the specific objects of abandonment of the generation stage, called the first-stage yoga, are the “stains of ordinary appearance and conception.” The pure appearance of divine objects counters the tendency for objects to appear as ordinary. Holding the pure appearance of divine objects counters the tendency to conceive objects as ordinary.
The term abandonment is not applied here in the way it is to objects to be abandoned by the path of seeing or to afflictions that must be eliminated from the root and abandoned completely. Here the term abandonment indicates that we replace ordinary appearance with divine appearance, and we replace the mind that conceives objects as ordinary with the mind that conceives objects as the pure aspect of the divine.
Ordinary appearance is not the appearance of the environment and its inhabitants to sense awareness but rather the ordinary appearance of the environment and its inhabitants to mental awareness. The antidote to this ordinary appearance is the pure appearance of the supporting maṇḍala and supported deities. The antidote to the conception of objects as ordinary is meditating on the pride of the pure supported deity and its supporting maṇḍala.
At this point a distinction is made between what appears to and what is apprehended by either sense awareness or mental awareness. Ordinary appearance is not defined by what appears to a sensory awareness—eye consciousness, ear consciousness, and so on—but by what appears to ordinary mental awareness. Ordinary conception is not defined by what appears to mental awareness but by the way these images are apprehended by conception.
Moreover ordinary appearance consists of the environment, including the landscape, mountains, and so on, appearing as ordinary states to mental awareness, while the antidote countering ordinary appearance is the appearance of the environment as the maṇḍala of the celestial mansion of the deity established by pristine wisdom. Ordinary conception conceives the inhabitants of this environment, including ourselves, to be ordinary, while the antidote to that is conceiving the beings that inhabit the maṇḍala as pure. The ultimate justification for visualizing them as pure is that at the time of the result, the pristine wisdom realizing emptiness arises in the aspect of a deity.
There are two aspects to this practice: clear appearance and divine pride. Clear appearance refers to the clear appearance of divine attributes to our mental awareness. Divine pride is not the affliction of pride but the thought identifying oneself as a deity that must be cultivated as the antidote to holding things to be ordinary.184 It therefore takes the appearance of the divine being arising in our mind and identifies that appearance as ourself with the thought “I am this.”185 That in brief is the antidote to conceiving objects as ordinary.
Further, it is stated that divine pride is the main practice and meditation on appearance is a secondary branch of it. From these two aspects of deity yoga, the main practice that counters the conception of things as ordinary is the cultivation of divine pride. Clear appearance is considered a supportive condition for that.
How ordinary appearance is stopped
When equipoise in deity yoga is cultivated intently, other appearing objects do not affect eye awareness and so on, for it is said:
Consciousness that is attracted to something lacks the ability to apprehend other objects.
Here the author quotes the Pramāṇavārttika by Master Dharmakīrti. This passage explains that when mental awareness is attracted to a specific conceived object such as the appearance of the deity, sense awareness such as eye consciousness loses its ability to apprehend sensory objects, resulting in those objects appearing to but not being ascertained by sense awareness.
Thus, when mental awareness strongly engages its object, the capacity of the immediate condition to generate eye awareness and so on degenerates. For a time [13a] sense awareness may not be generated, but the generation stage does not stop appearance to sense awareness.
The author provides a clear explanation of this point. He indicates that due to strongly meditating on deity yoga in the generation stage, the function of sense awareness may temporarily decline, but it does not disappear since ordinary appearance may still arise for sense awareness occasionally. Thus meditation on deity yoga in the generation stage does not result in the complete annihilation of ordinary appearance to sense awareness.
Mantric Stages states:
Therefore, your purpose is accomplished when you obtain the capacity to stop ordinary appearance to mental awareness through causing exalted objects to appear. Though fuctional phenomena do not transform into deities, you accomplish your purpose when uncontrived divine pride is generated.
The generation of exalted appearance is accomplished when we can stop ordinary appearance to our mental awareness, though not necessarily to our sense awareness. The crucial factor in stopping ordinary appearance is to rely on special or exalted appearance, namely the appearance of the pure aspect of the deities. This implies that the primary function of the generation stage is to suppress ordinary appearance and conception and not necessarily to transform ourselves into the deity. The term fuctional phenomena can equally apply to external things such as the surrounding environment as well as to internal things such the visualized deities, including oneself and other beings generated as deities. Although we have not really become divine, we still cultivate the uncontrived pride that identifies ourselves as the essence of wisdom realizing emptiness manifesting as a deity.
Analytical and placement meditation
When meditating on clear appearance from among both clear appearance and divine pride, analytical meditation predominates since you need to practice analysis by frequently visualizing the various aspects of the supported deities and the supporting maṇḍala. After establishing clarity on those aspects, you practice both since you must generate divine pride thinking: “I am actually this deity.”
The practice of clear appearance and divine pride involve both analytical and placement meditation. In the generation of clear appearance, analytical meditation is predominant, for when we cultivate clear appearance, we must become familiar with all the details of the maṇḍala. Such familiarity arises through repeatedly analyzing the celestial mansion and its resident deities. In this respect the protector Maitreya has said that anything can be mastered through repeated contemplation.
Once clear appearance is established, practitioners must then cultivate divine pride. When cultivating divine pride, placement meditation is predominant, for we need to focus on the clear appearance of the maṇḍala and resident deities and firmly establish the pride contemplating “I am this.” Since this process must be repeated for the various aspects of the maṇḍala, both placement and analytical meditation are required.
The importance of calm abiding and insight
Also it is said that clear appearance is generated without your needing to first establish calm abiding focused on it, it is generated even if you do not become familiar with each deity in stages, and it is generated without your needing to become familiar with the meaning of reality.
The author now discusses some finer points. First, we do not need to establish calm abiding that focuses on the divine palace and its resident deities before developing clear appearance. In other words, although we may obtain calm abiding before obtaining clear appearance, they need not be generated in this order. Second, we may develop clear appearance even if we do not cultivate familiarity with each of the deities in stages. Although initially we may be able to hold
some coarse aspects of the appearing maṇḍala, it is possible that clear appearance may arise when the mind’s capacity to retain more detail increases. Third, although meditation on the meaning of reality, or emptiness, is necessary more generally, it is not the main practice when generating clear appearance. Indeed the mere frequent cultivation of attention focused on these aspects generates clear appearance, but it does not secure its stable abidance. You must secure stable abidance of clear appearance to stop ordinary appearance and conception.
Practitioners who generate attention focused on the various aspects of the maṇḍala on a regular basis will, in time, generate clear appearance. Such regular generation of clear appearance, however, does not itself ensure the continuous and stable abidance of clear appearance. This indicates that the process of overcoming ordinary appearance and conception has two stages—generating clear appearance and then stabilizing it. In other words, you need to establish calm abiding to stabilize clear appearance.
In the Sūtra Vehicle calm abiding is established through serially progressing through the nine stages of mental placement. At first the mind cannot hold the focal object for long and there is no stable abidance, but through familiarity, the capacity to hold the focal object is strengthened, the period that the object is held is increased, and stable abidance is gradually attained. In sūtra also it is insufficient to merely generate clear appearance of the focal object; we must develop progressively higher levels of stability.
The yoga of the subtle drop
Calm abiding is definitely established in the generation stage and achieved through the yoga of the subtle drop.
In highest yoga tantra, we must cultivate calm abiding in the generation stage. In the three lower tantras, we establish calm abiding in dependence on yoga with signs.
In sūtra-level practice, before developing calm abiding, we first identify which of the three afflictions—attachment, hatred, or delusion—dominates our mind and then apply the appropriate antidote to counter it. Unless we reduce the potency of the dominant affliction when first developing calm abiding, it will disrupt our practice. Therefore we must apply the appropriate antidote, whether one affliction is dominant or all three root afflictions are equally strong.
Having first reduced the influence of manifest afflictions, we then choose a focal object. First the object’s size is important. Although a large focal object may seem easier to visualize in the beginning, it may prove difficult to reduce later. Conversely, an overly small focal object may be difficult to hold in the beginning. The size of the focal object is ultimately determined by the constitution and predisposition of the individual practitioner, but as a general rule, it is said we should begin with one about four finger-widths in height. The process is similar to that of a thangka painter who must decide the size of the main figure in his painting in relation to the dimensions of the surrounding landscape. If we keep changing the size of our focal object at the outset, the mind cannot achieve stable abidance.
Once the mind has attained stability on that object, the size of the focal object may be reduced. The process of reducing the size of the focal object is mentioned in sūtra, but it is emphasized in tantra. Stability may be attained on a coarse focal object, but actual calm abiding is cultivated on a much smaller and finer focal object during the phase of the subtle drop.
Meditations involving the subtle drop and their purpose
Beginners and those attaining some pristine wisdom hold the mind on a subtle hand symbol or drop at the upper and lower opening. Those who have attained partial control over pristine wisdom and above meditate on the complete supporting maṇḍala and supported deities inside a hand symbol or subtle drop.
The yoga of the subtle drop involves meditation on a drop the size of a mustard seed placed either at the upper or lower opening of the central channel. The
drop contains within it the complete celestial mansion and its resident deities in their correct proportions. Since this visualization is an advanced practice, it is only found on higher levels of the generation stage, and it is not practiced by those on the first two levels—beginners and those attaining some pristine wisdom. This passage implies that while calm abiding may be achieved by focusing on a coarse focal object in sūtra, tantric practitioners on the third and fourth levels of the generation stage and the completion stage must adopt a subtle focal object to achieve calm abiding. Further, those on the first two levels mainly engage in meditation on the subtle drop for the purpose of countering mental laxity and excitation in realization meditation.
The yoga of meditating on a subtle drop also exists on the first two levels of the generation stage, namely for beginners and those who attain some pristine wisdom, but it is engaged to counter the mental laxity and excitation that must be eliminated in order to attain calm abiding. It is said that establishing the stabilization of mind contracted to a subtle drop is achieved from [13b] the third level. One on the third level of the generation stage who has attained partial control over pristine wisdom is able to maintain stable focus on the supporting maṇḍala and supported deities existing within a subtle drop.
Calm abiding is not established on the level of beginners. However, when they forcefully hold the mind on subtle letters, subtle drops, and so on at the upper or lower openings, the navel, or heart, this acts as a condition for the winds to gradually gather internally due to sustained meditation on the focal basis. Beginners do not obtain calm abiding, but in order to establish calm abiding they practice yoga focusing on a syllable or drop in the cakras at the upper and lower openings of the central channel, at the navel, or at the heart. This technique is a means for establishing calm abiding that is unique to tantra and not found in sūtra. Further, it utilizes the principle that wherever the mind focuses, the winds that support that mind also gather because the mind and its supportive winds move together. Moreover, once coarser levels of wind that support coarser levels of mind have subsided, a subtler mind that is supported by subtle wind is able to robustly hold the subtle drop at specific sites in the body. Such meditation has the potency to cause the winds to abide internally.191
A unique method for developing concentration
Though the focal objects of analytical meditation are numerous or conflated, this system of establishing concentration is different from that explained in the Perfection Vehicle and the lower classes of tantra. In this system you can quickly stop mental excitation when meditating on the supreme-conqueror maṇḍala and so on due to progressively taming the winds.
Highest yoga tantra employs the technique of inducing the winds to abide internally in order to prevent excitation when meditating on the many focal objects of the supreme-conqueror maṇḍala and so on. This method is not found in the Perfection Vehicle or the three lower tantras. Such practices are based on the presentation of three levels of wind and mind found in highest yoga tantra: coarse wind-mind, subtle wind-mind, and extremely subtle wind-mind. In the generation stage, practitioners utilize subtle levels of wind-mind in order to perfect concentration by taming the winds. In the completion stage, practitioners incorporate the extremely subtle wind-mind in their practice since the extremely subtle wind acts as the substantial cause of the form body of Buddha Vajradhara, and the extremely subtle mind acts as the substantial cause of the dharma body of Buddha Vajradhara.
There are five types of fundamental wind:
(1) the life-sustaining wind, (2) the equally abiding wind, (3) the ascending wind, (4) the downward-voiding wind, and (5) the pervading wind.
The fundamental life-sustaining wind possesses coarser and subtler aspects. The subtler aspect has existed from beginningless time as we have coursed through saṃsāra, and it will continue until we reach buddhahood, for it acts as the substantial cause of the form bodies of a buddha. In particular the extremely subtle life-sustaining wind has an array of five colors that gives rise to a buddha’s emanation body and a resonant tone that gives rise to a buddha’s
enjoyment body. Associated with the extremely subtle life-sustaining wind is the extremely subtle mind—by nature pristine wisdom realizing emptiness—which establishes a buddha’s dharma body. The emptiness of the five colors, the resonant tone, and pristine wisdom establishes a buddha’s nature body. In Tsongkhapa’s Great Stages of the Path, we find an exhaustive presentation of the method establishing calm abiding and insight in the context of sūtra. Yet, a presentation of the simultaneous attainment of these two is not to be found anywhere in the Sūtra Vehicle or in the lower classes of tantra, as far as I am aware. It is a unique feature of highest yoga tantra—and the deeper meaning of the assertion in the root text—that this method for developing concentration is different from any other.
Though you attain actual calm abiding in the Perfection Vehicle and the lower tantras, it is said that the component of stability declines if analysis is applied too strongly. However, even before obtaining calm abiding in this system, you can attain stable abidance when analytical meditation cultivates and integrates numerous objects. The point is further clarified here by stressing the unique characteristics and potency of the extremely subtle wind and mind.
The range of the coarse and subtle generation stage
It is said that the coarse generation stage is completed when you reach the third level, and meditation on the subtle generation stage occurs after attaining mental stability through contracting the maṇḍala in drop yoga. It is said that calm abiding is obtained when you attain stability on the subtle drop at the upper opening.
We complete the coarse generation stage when we have fully trained in the levels of a beginner and attain some pristine wisdom. We begin the subtle generation stage when we enter the level of partial control over pristine wisdom and engage in meditation on the subtle drop. We establish calm abiding when stability is attained by focusing on the subtle drop at the opening of the central channel between the eyebrows. Then you attain the peerless concentration uniting calm abiding and insight through the wisdom of individual investigation repeatedly emitting and reabsorbing its object, and the generation stage is completed when such yoga stabilizes. Mantric Stages states that this presentation conforms with both systems of Guhyasamāja.
After attaining calm abiding, we then attain the union of calm abiding and insight. The generation stage is completed when this realization achieves stability in accordance with the two traditions of the Guhyasamāja mentioned in Mantric Stages. The first is the tradition of Ārya Nāgārjuna that asserts thirty-two deities, with Akṣobhya as the main deity from among the six buddha lineages, and the second is the tradition of Ācārya Jñānapāda that asserts nineteen deities, with Mañjuśrī as the main deity.
Points of debate
When is calm abiding attained?
One scholar says: Calm abiding is attained when you complete the subtle generation stage.
Reply: But this statement does not teach when it is newly obtained. Understand the method of obtaining stability and the point of completion of the coarse and subtle generation stages through such training by consulting the Principles of Grounds and Paths of my guru, Yangchen Gawai Lodrö.
There are three levels in each of the coarse and subtle phases of the generation stage—initial attainment, obtainment of stability, and final completion.193 Although this text does not clearly explain when these levels are obtained, this information may be found in Ford of the Fortunate, Yangchen Gawai Lodrö’s work on the grounds and paths of Guhyasamāja tantra.194 Gawai Lodrö was also called Akya Yongzin since he was the tutor of Akya Rinpoché in Kumbum Monastery. This explanation of obtaining stability [14a] and the point of completion are formulated in accordance with Paṇchen Chögyen’s clear presentation of Khedrup Rinpoché’s thought.
The source of Gawai Lodrö’s presentation is the writings of Khedrup Rinpoché, and most probably General Classes of Tantra. The thought of Khedrup Rinpoché is then clarified by Paṇchen Lama Chökyi Gyaltsen. Gawai Lodrö, Paṇchen Chögyen, and Khedrup Rinpoché all state that there are three distinct levels to the coarse and subtle generation stage—initial attainment, obtaining stability, and final completion. However, these three levels remain contentious because other important authors do not posit them.
Still, there is a basis for further analysis because Mantric Stages states:
Both systems of Guhyasamāja posit that you complete the generation stage when you attain stability in such yoga.
And Illuminating Lamp states:
Beginner’s concentration is the yoga of the first stage, and abiding in that is stabilizing that or completing that.
Also Analysis of the Four Interrelated Commentaries states just that. However, except for these explanations, it does not appear that the terms stability and completion are clearly differentiated.
In the works of Jé Rinpoché, the terms stability and completion seem to be used interchangeably.
Is meditation on emptiness required during the three concentrations?
Here one says: It follows that the three concentrations, such as the concentration of initial application and so on, do not need to cultivate emptiness because the method of meditating on the appearance of the deity circle is explained as the main practice in the initial stages, apart from a few exceptions such as purification through pristine wisdom, or special resolution subsumed within clear light.
The three types of concentration discussed here are
(1) the concentration of initial application,
(2) the concentration of the supreme-conqueror maṇḍala, and
(3) the concentration of the supreme-conqueror activities.
The argument raised is that practitioners who cultivate them do not need to meditate on emptiness because in general the main practice on this level involves cultivating the clear appearance of the deities. Cases such as training in pristine wisdom or training in the special resolution, which are subsumed within clear light, are exceptions, for they are instances of meditation on emptiness.
Reply: That is not logically necessary because in the context of the three concentrations, the clear, profound, nondual yoga that ascertains the meaning of non-inherent existence by taking the deities as its focal object must be cultivated.
The author replies that although practitioners may focus on the clear appearance of the deities, this does not mean that they do not meditate on emptiness. As such what appears to their concentration is the appearance of the deity’s form, while what is ascertained by their concentration is the non-inherent existence of these deities. In the words of the author we cultivate “clear, profound, nondual yoga” where clear refers the clear appearance of the focal object—the maṇḍala and resident deities—while profound refers the emptiness of the maṇḍala. The author further quotes a passage from Mantric Stages to support his answer.
Mantric Stages states:
Śrīdhānyavajra197 explained that in general the three concentrations function as minds possessing the aspect of the deity circle and also as yogas engaging the reality of selflessness; this was also the opinion of Jñānapāda.198
Thus all three types of concentration combine two types of yoga:
(1) a mind possessing the appearance of deity maṇḍala along with
(2) the pristine wisdom of selflessness.
The Indian master Śrīdhānyavajra and the Tibetan master Jñānapāda are both well-known proponents of this view.
Indeed in the first stage you mainly meditate on the appearance of the deity circle, yet you train in everything arising as an illusion through powerfully ascertaining the non-inherent existence of all dharmas. Thus after meditating on the deity circle, the mind takes the deities as its focal object and ascertains non-inherent existence as its aspect. Such profound, clear, nondual yoga or realization meditation engages emptiness as its ascertained apprehended object while accessing its apprehended aspect,199 namely the appearance of the supporting maṇḍala and supported deities.
The main practice in the generation stage is visualization of the deity circle; meditation on emptiness is secondary. In the completion stage this order is reversed. In other words the appearing image200 is dominant in the generation stage while the ascertained image201 is dominant in the completion stage. Meditation on the appearing image engages the relative truth of the maṇḍala deities, and meditation on the ascertained image engages the ultimate truth of the deities; these two images are cultivated together. This is extensively explained in the Mantric Stages.
Why is yoga realizing emptiness superior in tantra?
The profound, clear, nondual yoga in the continuum of a practitioner of the generation stage and the yoga without signs of the lower tantras are more powerful than the path realizing emptiness in the Perfection Vehicle because in tantra method and wisdom are one in nature.
The lower tantras discuss nondual pristine wisdom of the clear and profound while highest yoga tantra talks about nondual pristine wisdom of bliss and emptiness. This is not merely a difference in the terms. In the lower tantras, clear refers to the appearing image—the celestial mansion and its resident deities—that appears clearly to nondual yoga, while profound refers to the ascertained image—the profound emptiness of the maṇḍala and its resident deities—that is comprehended by that nondual pristine wisdom. In highest yoga tantra, however, the term bliss and emptiness refers to the method of great bliss induced by love and compassion, which acts as an “object-possessor”—that is, a subject—ascertaining emptiness.
The author explains that such nondual yoga in the mind of someone practicing either the generation stage of highest yoga tantra or the yoga without signs of the lower tantras is stronger than the path realizing emptiness in the Perfection Vehicle. This superiority is because, in tantra, method and wisdom have the same essential nature. The author then supports this assertion by quoting the Khedrup Jé’s Ocean of Siddhis of the Generation Stage of Guhyasamāja. The Ocean of Siddhis of the Generation Stage states:
The mind that focuses on the maṇḍala circle and meditates on its non-inherent existence generates both the accumulation of merit (by means of focusing on the maṇḍala circle) and the accumulation of pristine wisdom (by means of apprehending its non-inherent existence).
There are two maṇḍala circles, namely (1) the circle of the supported deities of the maṇḍala and (2) the circle of the celestial mansion supporting these deities, and we focus on either of these circles and amass the two types of accumulation. The phrase “by means of” appears twice in this passage and indicates that different parts of the mind perform these two functions of accumulating merit and pristine wisdom. Merit is amassed through engaging the appearing image—either circle. Pristine wisdom is amassed through engaging the ascertained or apprehended object—their emptiness.
And:
The mind ascertaining non-inherent existence through taking the deity circle as its focal object is one hundred times more powerful as an antidote to grasping at true existence than the mind ascertaining the non-true existence of, say, a sprout.
This statement refers to a mind practicing the generation stage of highest yoga tantra, which focuses on the maṇḍala circle, but it can equally be applied to a mind practicing yoga without signs in the three lower tantras. Moreover tantric yogas on the emptiness of the maṇḍala circle are said to be far more effective antidotes to grasping at true existence than the contemplations described in sūtra-level texts on the emptiness of other objects, such as sprouts. This is because the particular focal objects adopted in tantra permit practitioners to simultaneously establish the two types of accumulation—merit is accumulated through the focal object, pristine wisdom through the ascertained object. The mind that simultaneously establishes both accumulations is a strong antidote to grasping at true existence.
Meditation on the deity circle and meditation on its emptiness both contribute to overcoming grasping at true existence. When we establish ourself as the central deity within the deity circle, we meditate on the various cakras within our divine body; due to that focus, the winds also proceed to our cakras, and such practices gradually purify our winds and mind. Meditating in this way eventually establishes the twin bodies of a buddha, the form body and the dharma body. Meditation on the emptiness of a sprout does not have such power.
The etymology of the generation stage, its method of cultivation, the attributes of its different deities, and each mahāsiddha’s distinct manner of explaining them should be understood from Mantric Stages alone, since they are not clearly explained in other texts.
Various scholars have sought to explain different issues related to the generation stage, such as its etymology, its different levels, the way we should meditate on its different deities, and so on, but their explanations do not compare to Jé Rinpoché’s Mantric Stages. Mantric Stages presents an explanation of the etymology of contrived yoga and uncontrived yoga of the generation and completion stages that surpasses the writings of others, for example. This is true for many other issues as well. Thus we should rely on Mantric Stages as the foremost authority on these topics.
