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Clarity Equal to the Limit Chapter 13: Burning Wisdom

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Chapter 13: Burning Wisdom


Then Vital Essence of All Delight said:

Burning Wisdom[257] is the space of practice!

May the Lord of Secrets,

You who come from the twist of hair at the Teacher's heart,


Please explain!

The Blessed One gave instruction:

Listen, High Mind, you child of a deity!

Secret Wisdom is the treasury of the mind!

The key which discriminates it

Is the practice of Burning Wisdom.


The true wisdom of the mind itself

Has no place for a need to practice.

It is total playfulness,

While its experience is without activity.

This is what is called:

"No search;

No practice."

The practices of the three:

Body,

Speech,

And mind,

Do not look for a physical mudra.

The intrepid practice of the Great Ordinary:[258][259]

Things just as they are,

Is abundantly blissful.

That which is called: "practice"

Is not to give up on what this means,

Whether you practice

Going,

Walking,

Sleeping,

Or sitting;

And to hold the bliss of the ultimate

By its root.

The vital essence of Speech[259][260]


Cannot be recited or spoken.

The practice of uncontrived Speech

Is to practice blissfully,

No matter what you do.

The empty noise of the unhindered

Is unborn Speech,

As is the language of Bingka,

For example.

This is a practice

That does not bind or liberate.

The mind

Does not enact the karma

Of growing or shrinking.

It has remained from before time

In the space of self-clarity,

Neither memory nor thoughts

Are its cause.

The unembellished is blissful like the sky.'

Self-clarity arises as great wisdom.

This is a practice which transcends

The intellect.

It is without an origin.

When the inspiration that transcends the intellect

Is turned inward,

There is the practice of the Sky Vajra.[260]

The outer and inner secrets are like this:

External thoughts are gathered to the interior.

Inner thoughts dissolve into secrecy.

Secret thoughts are liberated into thusness.

The path of liberation is also taught after liberation!

Direct awareness,

Inferential knowledge,

And backward practices

Do not continue to be conceptual bondages

When one is liberated

Into the space of vital essences.

Foxes and monkeys do not interrupt

The quarrels of lions and elephants.[261]

Experts at slander will continually present themselves.

This is the precise moment

For the two enclosures[262]

To be closed back into a unity.

Thus he spoke.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the thirteenth chapter, Burning Wisdom.


Chapter 14: The One Level of Wisdom


Then that child of a deity said these words to the Lord of Secrets:

Please explain the one level of wisdom,

That which goes to the destination

Of all the Buddhas!

The Blessed One gave instruction:

The true level,

Which is unborn from the primeval,

Transcends the objects

Of all attainment

And all accomplishment.

It is completely liberated

From the mind-sets of hope and fear.

There is nothing to traverse

In the object of understanding.

Uncontrived wisdom,

The level of the guru,

Is not purified,

But has been realized since before time.

The All Good,

Self-Arising in complete purity,

Is indivisibility embodied as magnificent bliss.

This Body,[263]

Is the highest level presented

In the Sutra Section:

The Auditors have

The level of Arhat.

The Self-Victorious

Have the level of Wish-Fulfilling Bliss.[264]

Total Light,

Vajradhara,

The Dense Array,

Lotus Endowed,

The Great Mass of Letter Wheels,

And the indivisibile status of the All Good:

All these levels may be enumerated in the mind,

But secret wisdom is said to be one thing.

Six excellent understandings

Occur to one who understands

The one level[265][266]of the Great Perfection.


Self-arising clear light

Shines clear fortune

On the mandala of material things.

It is a wonder!

In the sound-mandala,

The awareness of empty sound

Has a clear light

Which is evoked without speech.

The mind of clear wisdom

Is self-arising,

And is found in many natural smells.

It is like a drop of ambrosia

Falling on one’s tongue

While in the mandala of Mukharo.


Bliss,

Found in the pure things one can touch

Must be heaved from the peaks

Of snow mountains!

In the all-containing Dharma Mandala

The king must be held in prison!

The nail-heads of the chariot

Must be cut off,[266]

According to these instructions,

By liberating yourself

From the six collections [of the senses].[267]

Thus gave he instruction.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the fourteenth chapter, The One Level of Wisdom.


Chapter 15: Teachings on the Three Bodies


Then that child of a deity made himself manifest, and said this to the Lord of Secrets, Vajradhara:

Please explain these Three Bodies

That go all the way to the end!

He said this, and the Lord of Secrets gave instruction:

The Dharmakaya is uncontrived appearance.

Perfect Enjoyment is unpurified awareness.

It arises as the compassionate Manifest Body.

The Dharmakaya encompasses

All the realms of the sky,

All the Buddha-fields of the apparent world,

And all the Buddhas of the three times.

Each and every one of the sentient beings

Of the three realms

Are gathered in the audience of

The uncontrived Dharmakaya.

The Dharmakaya is insubstantial wisdom itself.

It is liberated from the intellect.

It is not in the thoughts.

It is free from vocal conventionalities

Of all sorts.

The unchanging vajra is like the sky!

Enjoyment is self-aware wisdom.

Arising as the Manifest Body

It takes a body

Whose appearance has no true nature

And which is ornamented with Signs[268]

And exemplary markings.[269]

As with an image in a mirror,

Wisdom appears to be an illusion.


The Buddha-field of Perfect Enjoyment

Is where you can practice all the enjoyments of desire,

But enjoy them without attachment.

It is therefore ornamented with flowers.

The audience there is the audience of

Bodhisattvas.

They do not use words and letters.

They teach the Dharma properly,

Using symbols,

Founded on confidence

In samadhi’s awareness.

The Manifest Body of compassionate wisdom

Is the physical manifestation

Of all of the disciples

There to be disciplined.

The Úâkya Sage

Is the essence of the Six Sages.[270]

He disciplines disciples

Among the six [classes of] living beings

Throughout the universe

Of three thousand Buddha-fields.

His audience

Is the four kinds of self-appearance.

His teaching

Is the explanation of the Three Baskets.

Thus he spoke.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the fifteenth chapter, Teachings on the Three Bodies.


Chapter 16: Wisdom


Then High Mind, that child of a deity, said these words to the great Lord of Secrets:

Blessed One!

Please explain the playfulness of wisdom

From the mandala of your Mind!

The Lord of Secrets gave instruction:

The meaning of the vital essence of secret wisdom

Is the pure light of wisdom.

It transcends all things.

Compassionate wisdom

Emerges in no [particular] direction.

Images arise by themselves,

Without contrivance,

In the rust-free mirror of wisdom.

So mirror-like wisdom

Pervades all things,

Regardless of their clarity or obscurity.


The apparent world is clearly the Bodhicitta.

It is equanimous in its own place,

And pervades the ten directions.

It does not go or come,

So it dissolves into the Dharmadhatu.

This is the wisdom of equanimity.[271]

The mind of wisdom,

Which is self-clear awareness,

Is the unadulterated,

Completely perfect,

All Good.

This is wisdom that does not,

In fact,

Conceptualize individual things.

This is the unadulterated clear wisdom![272]

Self-arising activities will emerge,

In the Untranscended Great Mudra,[273][274]

No matter what.

They bring to fulfillment

All the deeds of disciples.

This, therefore, is the deed accomplishing wisdom.[274]

The reality of this uncontrived dimension

Is not something that awareness

That is based on grasping and conceptualizing

Can know.

The clear light of the mandala of the mind,

Therefore,

Is the wisdom of emptiness.[275]


The self-clarity of knowledge

Is not contrived.

To know what this means

Is wisdom.

Reality is the primordially pure

Clear light of the mind.

To understand what this means

Is wisdom.

Unhindered self-awareness is spontaneously realized.

A yogin who understands what this means

Frolics in the great space of wisdom.

The container of the Six Circles[276][277]

Is but one,

Yet it has possessed from before time

The Five Great Ones.[277]

To know what this means

Is wisdom.

The great sky of knowledge,

In its vast diffusion,

Frolics through the realms

Of the Nine Great Spaces.278

There is nothing that is not contained in this.

The All-Good Creator of All Things[279]

Explains secret wisdom

In a body of perseverance

To those without understanding,

Using the door of words,

And the ocean that transcends the Nine Spaces:

The space of composition

That uses letters,

And the space of the ocean

Of t


Chapter 15: Teachings on the Three Bodies


Then that child of a deity made himself manifest, and said this to the Lord of Secrets, Vajradhara:

Please explain these Three Bodies

That go all the way to the end!


He said this, and the Lord of Secrets gave instruction:

The Dharmakaya is uncontrived appearance.

Perfect Enjoyment is unpurified awareness.

It arises as the compassionate Manifest Body.

The Dharmakaya encompasses

All the realms of the sky,

All the Buddha-fields of the apparent world,

And all the Buddhas of the three times.

Each and every one of the sentient beings

Of the three realms

Are gathered in the audience of

The uncontrived Dharmakaya.

The Dharmakaya is insubstantial wisdom itself.

It is liberated from the intellect.

It is not in the thoughts.

It is free from vocal conventionalities

Of all sorts.


The unchanging vajra is like the sky!


Enjoyment is self-aware wisdom.

Arising as the Manifest Body

It takes a body

Whose appearance has no true nature

And which is ornamented with Signs[268]

And exemplary markings.[269]

As with an image in a mirror,

Wisdom appears to be an illusion.

The Buddha-field of Perfect Enjoyment

Is where you can practice all the enjoyments of desire,

But enjoy them without attachment.

It is therefore ornamented with flowers.

The audience there is the audience of

Bodhisattvas.

They do not use words and letters.

They teach the Dharma properly,

Using symbols,

Founded on confidence

In samadhi’s awareness.

The Manifest Body of compassionate wisdom

Is the physical manifestation

Of all of the disciples

There to be disciplined.


The Úâkya Sage

Is the essence of the Six Sages.[270]

He disciplines disciples

Among the six [classes of] living beings

Throughout the universe

Of three thousand Buddha-fields.

His audience

Is the four kinds of self-appearance.

His teaching

Is the explanation of the Three Baskets.

Thus he spoke.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the fifteenth chapter, Teachings on the Three Bodies.


Chapter 16: Wisdom


Then High Mind, that child of a deity, said these words to the great Lord of Secrets:

Blessed One!

Please explain the playfulness of wisdom

From the mandala of your Mind!

The Lord of Secrets gave instruction:

The meaning of the vital essence of secret wisdom

Is the pure light of wisdom.

It transcends all things.

Compassionate wisdom

Emerges in no [particular] direction.

Images arise by themselves,

Without contrivance,

In the rust-free mirror of wisdom.

So mirror-like wisdom

Pervades all things,

Regardless of their clarity or obscurity.

The apparent world is clearly the Bodhicitta.

It is equanimous in its own place,

And pervades the ten directions.

It does not go or come,

So it dissolves into the Dharmadhatu.

This is the wisdom of equanimity.[271]

The mind of wisdom,

Which is self-clear awareness,

Is the unadulterated,

Completely perfect,

All Good.

This is wisdom that does not,

In fact,

Conceptualize individual things.

This is the unadulterated clear wisdom![272]

Self-arising activities will emerge,

In the Untranscended Great Mudra,[273][274]

No matter what.

They bring to fulfillment

All the deeds of disciples.

This, therefore, is the deed accomplishing wisdom.[274]

The reality of this uncontrived dimension

Is not something that awareness

That is based on grasping and conceptualizing

Can know.

The clear light of the mandala of the mind,

Therefore,

Is the wisdom of emptiness.[275]


The self-clarity of knowledge

Is not contrived.

To know what this means

Is wisdom.

Reality is the primordially pure

Clear light of the mind.

To understand what this means

Is wisdom.


Unhindered self-awareness is spontaneously realized.

A yogin who understands what this means

Frolics in the great space of wisdom.

The container of the Six Circles[276][277]

Is but one,

Yet it has possessed from before time

The Five Great Ones.[277]

To know what this means

Is wisdom.

The great sky of knowledge,

In its vast diffusion,

Frolics through the realms

Of the Nine Great Spaces.278

There is nothing that is not contained in this.

The All-Good Creator of All Things[279]

Explains secret wisdom

In a body of perseverance

To those without understanding,

Using the door of words,

And the ocean that transcends the Nine Spaces:

The space of composition

That uses letters,

And the space of the ocean

Of the mirror of clear light.

Thus gave he instruction.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the sixteenth chapter, Wisdom.


he mirror of clear light.

Thus gave he instruction.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the sixteenth chapter, Wisdom.


Chapter 17: Showing the Transmission of the Vajra


Then Pure Mind, that child of a deity, said this to the Lord of Secrets, the Blessed One:

Please speak on

The demonstration of the transmission

Of the Vajra!

The Lord of Secrets gave instruction:

Listen, Vital Essence of All Delight, You!

Listen well, and keep this in your mind!

The holiness of secret wisdom

Had already appeared in past times.

The Buddha King of True Perfection[280]

Gave it to seven heart princes.

They reached the destination of their awareness

And became established in the Dharma,

That which cannot be sought.

This Vajradhara had a captain

Who understood the vehicle

Of awareness as being the mind itself,

And became famous in three divine abodes.


You, O Prince, O Emanated Emanation![281]

Spread this in the center of the Land of Jambhu

To qualified recipients for secrets

Who exceed kings!

Teach the ear lineage of the Tantra of Secret Awareness[282]

In the way of making it manifest compassionately!

Secret-holders

Who are qualified recipients for awareness

Will attain the result of total liberation

When they know the meaning

Of this uncontrived secret.

Awareness arises

At the precise moment

One has equanimous stability

Through knowing the meaning of equanimity.

Suitable receptacles for secrets,

Such as Vidyadharas,

Will come forth in future times

And [use different] words.

They will seize the treasury

Of the vital sap of the teaching

And abide on the level of Vidyadharas.

Even if this teaching of the Great Perfection,

The Ati,

Should be suppressed

It will not fail!

This is because its meaning does not change.

Like the sky,

It has no fear or violation.

Reality is free from embellishment

Since before time.

It will not fail

For any reason whatever.

If you do not possess the magical words[283][284]

Of the ear lineage,

And you practice according to sounds

You will be deluded,

And your view and practice

Will have a distorted pride.


It is a darkened mind

That does not discriminate the difference

Between the playfulness

Of uncontrived self-appearance

And the designations

Of desirous conceptual constructions.

The rash are mixed up,

So they speak perversely,

Like boulders falling into the sea.

Harahan is on the vajra needle,

So put all this in order

With the three:

Hearing,

Thinking,

And meditating.

Take it to mind!

Thus gave he instruction.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the seventeenth chapter, Showing the Transmission of the Vajra.



Chapter 18: Teaching by Means of Symbols and Signs


Then that child of a deity, High Mind, asked the Blessed One to explain signs and symbols.

The Lord of Secrets explained them in total purity:

A is the unborn.

Ti is the sign of the unhindered.

Yoga is the juice of the Dharma,

The Great Perfection.

The Atiyoga is the god of the gods.[284]

You, child of a deity,

It is like this:

When you are adept

At being without friends or enemies

You will be liberated both here

And in the intermediate state.[285]

The path of liberation is also taught after liberation!

The house of Vajrasattva

Is taught with the instructions

On the Three Encounters.

Undefiled wisdom is blissfully taught

By the instructions on the circle's interior.

The jewel ocean of the sky

Is taught by the experience of encountering

The Body, Speech, and Mind.

The symbol of controlling cognition

Is taught by the concentration

Which alters the imagination.


The meditation on trackless feelings

Is taught by the reversed symbol[286]

Of having no position.

The awareness of the four kinds of time

Is taught by the symbol

Of knowledge which must be heard.

The instructions of great equanimity

Are taught by the sign of the Dakini Tantras.[287]

The instructions on the unquivering vessel water

Are taught by the hand-symbol

Of remaining in the center of the circle.

The instructions which cut off

The continuum of memories

Are taught using the instructions

For the binding of the nine.

The instructions for taking stupidity on the path

Are taught by the symbol

Of the mirror of recollection.

The liberation of the six [sensory] concatenations

To their own place

Is taught by a variety of appropriate symbols.

The liberation of the five poisons to their own place

Is taught by the symbol

Of the white-silver mirror.

The dependence of the higher upon doors

Is taught by the sign

Of the wind, or a wheel.


The dependence of the lower upon doors

Is taught through Bolakakola.

The instructions on the six mandalas

Are taught by the symbols

Of the six domains.

The instructions on the unborn man

Are taught by the symbol

Of hoisting the mudra.


The instructions on unobstructed playfulness

Are taught by the symbol

Of the vajra throne.


The instructions on non-duality

Are taught by the symbol

Of the letter A.

Encountering signs throws out signs.

You must place yourself

In the space free from signs!

Vital Essence of All Delight,

It is like this:

The names given to what symbols mean

Are held to be eight.

The uncontrived,

Which is spontaneously realized,

Is profound.

The uncontrived Tantra of Secret Wisdom[288]

Snips off the rope

Of longing for the emotional obstructions.

Therefore The Tantra of Perfect Wisdom[289]

Is the All Good One’s Mind of Awareness.

That which is called The Tantra of Wisdom Light[290]

Is the great equanimity which contains all things.

The Tantra of Ocean-like Untroubled Equanimity[291]

Is the wisdom lamp which clarifies all Dharmas.

The Tantra which is Filthless Like the Sun and Moon[292]

Has no center or extreme.

The Tantra which is Equal to the Limit of the Sky[293]

Makes the beautiful ornament of great bliss.


The Tantra which is like an Unborn Jewel[294]

Is a treasure of awareness that contains all secrets.

These clear Tantras

Are to be explained

Later on!

E Ma!

This secret wisdom is the highest peak

Of all the vehicles!

It is the innermost of all inspirations.

This is the certain meaning

Of all the Proclamations

Of the King of All Transmissions!

All Tantras, without exception,

Are related in meaning.

This is the vital essence of the teaching

In its totality.

It goes to the boundaries of all things.

Like pouring the milk of a lioness

Into the golden vessel

During the transmission of Gulang,[295]

This secret

Which contains the vital sap of the instructions

Is given to qualified recipients

Who are in a good way of being.

Let it come into your mind,

O child of a deity!

Light rays of compassion

Emanate in the ten directions!


This must be kept secret

From unqualified recipients who lack commitment,

Even if they surround you like shadows.

As if it were the neck of a crocodile,[296]

Secret wisdom must not be taught to them.

This Tantra of Profound Secret Wisdom[297]

Is secret,

And concerns the intention to be free.

It is assigned to the divine Son of Good Protection.

For its abode:

Put it in rocks and water.

Thus he spoke.

From Clarity Equal to the Limit this is the eighteenth chapter, Teaching by Means of Tokens and Symbols.

The Tantra of Secrecy and Clarity Equal to the Limit[298] spoken by the Blessed One, Vajrapani, is finished.


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