THE GOLD -REFINERY BRINGING OUT THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE SUTRA AND TANTRA PATHS - 6
Praise to Guru Vajradhara !
My venerable Gurus 1, forbearing and without compare,
Who lead mankind as common men since in them they have gathered
The compassion of all Buddhas, rest For ever as a crown upon my head.
May I be watched over by Vajradhara 2 sublime, Tilopa , Naropa
And the others, each the Guru of the next in spiritual succession,
\iVith their peaceful and wrathful forms filling all the firmaments, Yet never parting from the sphere of purest radiancy.
Maiijughoa , in whom are manifested both Guru and Buddhahood,
An ideal inspiring in which is condensed the spirituality Of all the Buddhas in the infinite Buddha-realms, Resides for ever in the lotus of my heart.
If you want to emulate the former saints in order to make this life worthwhile, as presenting a unique occasion I, you must seek the path in which the Buddhas delight, without being attached to the riches of this world.
form he is the spititual forefather of those who developed the 'middle view' or the direct apprehension of the existentiality of all that is as being nothing in the sense that all that which we perceive cannot be reduced to an essence by virtue of which the things are what they are. It is an aethetic outlook rather than a theory about things. Although all the four major philosophical trends in Buddhism, the Vaibhaikas, Sautrantikas, Vijfianavadins, and Madhyamikas with their division into Svatantrikas and Prasangikas, claim to adopt a 'middle view', the most strictly unbiased viewpoint is represented by the Prasangikas who derive their tradition from Mafijughoa through Nagarjuna and Aryadeva.
In paying homage to Vajradhara and Mafijughoa. Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan indicates which line of thought he is to elucidate : the philosophical outlook of the Prasangikas and the enrichment by experience in Tantras.
1 'Unique occasion' is a comprehensive term which serves to indicate the absence of eight unfavourable conditions and to emphasize the importance of a life as a human being with its obligation to act in a human way. The eight unfavourable conditions which make the human way impossible are those of a denizen of hell, a spirit, an animal, a god, a savage, a man not in the full possession of his senses and faculties, a man with erroneous views, and a man disregarding the thoroughly humane doctrine of Buddhism. In Ktsh 73b seq. we are informed that "although, on the whole, these eight unfavourable conditions may not apply to us, they are nevertheless present in our minds and attitudes. That is to say, in spite of the fact that there are spiritual teachers and members of the Buddhist community, we are not different from savages, because we have no clear idea of what they stand for. Although we may be in the possession of the five senses, by not using them to practise true religion or by lacking in trust or in any other of the five faculties (a), we actually are not in the full possession of our senses and faculties. Although we may pretend to practise religion, apart from coming _under the sway of the eight worldly concerns (b), we harbour erroneous views because we do not cultivate real religion after having become confident about the correctness of the Buddha's words. Although the Buddha's words are there, they become
non-existent because we do not study and think about them. Because of the presence of great lust and passion we do not differ from spirits ; because of the presence of intense anger and malice we do not differ from denizens of hell; and because of the presence of great dullness we do not differ from animals. To desire a state of concentration in which intelligence is not operative, is to make us equal to a long-living god. For these reasons we should be apprehensive and take care that we do not adopt a way characteristic of any one of the eight unfavourable conditions".
a) Trust, perseverance, inspection, concentration, and intelligence. Intelligence is always 'existential', it discriminates and appreciates and cognizes that which is important for man's life. It is a function and not a quality.
b) Gain and loss, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, pleasure and pain.
At this time when you follow the precious teaching of the Perfectly Enlightened One - it is a rare chance to hear his name even in countless aeons - you should not defeat your good fortune. 1
Since there is no assurance that this life, which presents such a unique occasion once it has been won, will not end at any moment, you should dismiss all hopes and fears about a future and pledge yourself to realize true religion by focusing all your attention on it.
At this moment when you can still choose between (r) an ascent to either the higher forms of life 2 or to freedom, and (n) a descent into the depths of evil ways and forms of life 3, you should not remain in the dark about the chance you have.
Since in this evil age the life of .man does not last long and since it is impossible to reach the limits of all that can be known, you should strive to attend to that which is essential instead of dabbling in too many things.
If you want to follow the path in which the Buddhas delight, you must accept the Buddha's words ; emulate the true Buddha-sons 4 and follow the straight path of the Buddha's precepts.
In so far as in this evil age sentient beings, engulfed in utter darkness, often take to wrong ways, they first must find certainty about the uner ring way by examining critically and with subtle logic the meaning of the Buddha's words 5• On earth there was no greater sage than our incomparable teacher, Sakyamuni ; and since there also was none greater in compassion you should study the Buddha's words. Seeking unerring and firm certainty about the essential meaning of the Buddha's message, namely, the gradation of the path according to the three types of individuals, you must feel that upon which you concentrate.
1 According to Ktsh Sa, true religious feeling "does not refer to merely muttering one's prayers or practising some charlantry as do soothsayers and Bon priests, but to counteracting passion-lust, anger-hatred, and bewilderment within us".
2 The higher forms of life are those of a human being, a god, and a demon. Yet still higher is the realization of a deliverance from all forms of life and 'omniscience' which is the knowledge of the existentiality of all that is, the immediate apprehension and aesthetic appreciation of no-thing-ness.
3 The lower forms of life are those of a denizen of hell, a spirit, and an animal.
4 'Buddha-sons' are those beings who strive for enlightenment in order to assist others in finding their way. Another designation for them is the Indian term Bodhisattva.
5 Buddhism eschews any form of credulity. This it equates with stupidity. Although a Buddhist will have to accept the Buddha's words, he must do so critically. So The 'three types of individuals' does not refer to the unrelated practices of three different persons but to the progressive stages in the experiences of a single individual. Just as a human being after birth gradually grows up and in time reaches the stages of childhood, youth and old age, so also this term 'three types of individuals' relates to a single man's levels of lowness, mediocrity, and superiority. Further, by serving in a proper way by thought and deed spiritual friends 1 who are the undisputed source of all improvements, and by accomplishing what they tell you to do, you will prepare the ground for all achievements. When you imbibe the nectar of the instruction in true religion which is so profound and so profuse 2, streaming suitably from the lips of true spiritual friends, in devotion and steadfastness, your body and mind will feel invigorated. Again and again thinking about how difficult it is to obtain this human life as presenting a unique occasion and being an auspicious juncture 3,
1 A 'spiritual friend' is anyone who helps us to develop our positive side. To serve him by thought means to trust his capacity to help us and to be grateful about that which he is doing for us. To serve him by deeds is to give him presents, to perform even menial work for him, but the highest form is to accomplish that which his teaching aims at. All these points have been elaborated upon at length in the vast Lam-rim (Stages on the Path) literature.
2 'Profound' relates to the philosophical outlook, and 'profuse' to the Bedhi sattva activities.
3 'Auspicious juncture' refers to the five events which affect us directly and to another five accurring through others and thereby affecting us. The former are to be a human being, to be born in the central country (i.e., to live among educated persons), to be in the full possession of all one's senses, not to commit or instigate others to perpetrate heinous crimes, and to have confidence in the disciplinary code of the Buddha. See my jewel Ornament ofLiberation. London, Rider&Company 1959, pp. 15 seqq. According to Ktsh 70b their immediate profit to us is that "being present in him who follows the path they are the condition for his realization of realreligion". The five events occurring through others are the coming of a Buddha, the teaching of the doctrine, the continuation of that which has been taught, the readiness to assist others, and the dispensation of that which is necessary to us in compassion and kindness. According to Ktsh 71a the coming of a Buddha is to find and to continue in enlightenment. Finding enlightenment has a double significance, mentally it means to tear the veils of emotional instability and intellectual fog and to understand reality as it is; physically it relates to the event of the Buddha becoming the Englihtened One under the Bodhi-tree. The teaching of the doctrine is both the actual teaching and the study of it by any follower of Buddhism. The continuation of that which has been taught means that the path of seeing is born in him who
and how uncertain the time of death is, you must constantly keep alive the firm intention of not being preoccupied with this life and of concerning yourself with the hereafter. What can you do when you have been reborn in the three evil forms of life 1, no longer with the power to determine where to be born when you die ? Therefore, as long as you still have the power to choose you should strive to find the means to close the gates to evil births. If you cannot stand a little heat and cold now, what will you do when you are boiled in molten lead or frozen in a fierce blizzard 2 ? You must find shelter from such evil forces. There is no other refuge able to protect you than the Three Infallible Jewels 3• Therefore, take refuge in them from the depth of your heart.
makes a direct experience of that which has been taught and in particular it refers to the vividness and freshness of the experience of seeing reality divested of all that we are accustomed to heap upon it. The readiness to assist others means that he who has won the experience of reality becomes aware of the fact that others, like himself, have the capacity to win this experience and because of this awareness he protects and respects others. The dispensation of all that is necessary means the presence of patrons. "Although these features are not directly present in us, their likeness is available. There is the Guru who is like the Buddha; he teaches us religion, through him we practise it and an understanding of it is born in us ; when this understanding is born we can teach others; and so we all are and have patrons".
1 These are to be a denizen of hell, a spirit, or an animal. By this action man himself shapes his destiny. There is in Buddhism no transcendental hocus-pocus breaking into our life from somewhere in a manner we cannot and are not supposed to understand. The Buddha's claim upon the lives of men is that as a human being he has realized the uniqueness of man, his humanity. As is stated in Ktsh 7b : "Once we have fallen into evil forms of life even the Buddha has no chance to extract us. Man's action and Buddha-action are of equal strength."
2 This is an allusion to the experiences in the hot and cold hells, all of which are vividly described in the Lam-rim literature.
3 The Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Their infallibility is not decreed by some outer agency, but is attested by the fact that they provide everything that is necessary for man to go his way safely. Ktsh ggab states : "One has to take refuge in the Buddha, because he has all virtues and no defects. One has to take refuge in the Dharma in its aspect of revelation because it has been proclaimed by the Buddha, and in its aspect of a comprehensive understanding because even the Buddha achieved his goal through it. One has to take refuge in the Sangha, because they are the persons who will realize Buddhahood. In thus taking refuge two conditions must be fulfilled. We ourselves must be very frightened by the misery of evil forms of life, and there must be present the conviction that the power to protect us against this misery lies with the Three Jewels. The Pan-chen bLo-bzang chos-rgyan has stated the necessity of these two conditions being fulfilled, in the words :
Whatever there is of happiness and sorrow in the world has all come from your actions. At all times and on all occasions you should watch closely the gates to action, shun evil and do good.
When, through the formidable poison of the potentialities of the three basic emotional disturbances (passion-lust, aversion-hatred, and unknowing bewilderment), you act unwholesomely in body, speech and thought, you must purify yourself by the four expiatory vows which correspond to the four states of being afraid of evil, terrified by it, ashamed for it, and of being resolved to avoid it henceforth 1. When by so striving you see the hysteria of the world as the antics of a drunkard tumbling into an abyss, and when without being attached to this life, the thought of what will become of you in a future life has been firmly established in your mind day and night, then the mental level of an inferior human being has been reached.
To take refuge is a trust :
We speak of taking refuge
When we go to shelter in the knowledge that
The power to protect is with the Triple Gem.
If these conditions are not fulfilled, it is Like fire with naught to burn.
And the whole process is said to be as ineffective as a fire in a picture." The fact that the Buddha stands for the realization of knowledge and the abolishment of ignorance, both intellectual and emotional, the Dharma for that which makes this realization possible, and the Sangha for those who develop spiritually towards the goal, is clearly expressed in Zhdm 77ab : "For us the unfailing shelter which liberates us from our fear of Sarpsara and its evil forms of life, is the Jewel of the Buddha, the Exalted One, whose nature is that he has completely given up what is to be given up and has understood thoroughly what is to be understood so that he is perfect in the possession of infinite virtues and in the absence of any defects. This shelter also is the Jewel of the Dharma which is of the nature of Truth purifying by becoming free from that which has to be eliminated either by seeing Truth or by attending to Truth seen; and it is also the Jewel of the community of saintly persons (Sangha) in whom the path towards the end of all misery develops." 1 The four expiatory vows are related to the four powers of (r) making an atonement, (n) practising good as an antidote to evil, {III) desisting from evil, and (rv) the power of reliance. Although the order of these powers is enumerated in this way in the canonical texts (see my jewel Ornament of Liberation, p. rzr), Tsong-kha-pa makes the significant statement that in the practice of religion the last mentioned power comes first, as it implies the taking refuge in the Guru, the Buddha, the Darma, and the Sangha and the development of an enlightened attitude so important for following the Mahayana way. See Tskhp II r, zrsa seqq.
The same order is also insisted upon is Ktsh 47a and other works.
Through thinking again and again about the general plight of the world you must acquire a feeling of disgust with it, for if you do not feel disgusted with the world in general no interest in deliverance from it can grow. Since beginningless time you have roamed about in this world with its three spheres , fettered by your actions and emotional states, locked in the iron cage of the belief-in-an-ens 2 and harrassed by the tribulations of the three types of unsatisfactoriness • Even if once in a while, whilst otherwise carried away by the turbulent rivers of birth, old age, disease and death and sinking deep into evil forms of life, you should have acquired the status of a being in happy forms of life, you will fall again through the power of your actions and emotional states, like an arrow shot into the sky by a boy.
To have obtained a human life is not a boon. First, when in the womb, you live in a heap of excrement and in dreadful gloomy darkness, are fed by bad-smelling and foul substances and are tormented by unbearable agonies. When you pass from the womb through the uterine canal you feel pangs hard to bear. Then when you have reached the outer world and are touched, you suffer tortures as if being flayed and carved into pieces with a dagger. Therefore a child is always crying, and when gradually he grows up and his muscles develop, many diseases attack him and continually cause him suffering. The Buddha has said that whatever appears as a little happiness is but a change of misery. Therefore there is no real bliss in a human life.
Also to have been born as a god is not a boon. Being fettered by their actions and emotional states and urged on by their desires and lusts they find no rest. The stronger overpower the weaker; the armies of the demons trouble them and, in particular, when the five signs of death are felt, they foresee themselves being born in lower forms and feel unbearable distress, sorrow and fright, like a fish thrown on dry land. The Buddha has declared that the suffering of the gods afflicted by the signs of death is worse than the agonies in hell. Even if you have become a god of the world of pure forms or of the realms beyond form you remain firmly fettered by your actions and emotional states, and even if you stay in concentration for a long time as if in deep dreamless sleep, when the impetus for this concentration has run out, you go down into the lower forms of denizens of hell, unhappy spirits, beasts, demons and into servitude, roaming about · in these spheres. When you have become a demon your mind is tormented by unbearable jealousy about the prosperity and splendour of the gods ; you experience the misery of fights, quarrels, killings and mutilations, and there is no chance to see truth because of the thick veil of your actions. Among the denizens of hell, spirits, and beasts there is never any bliss.
There one is always tormented by hundreds of pains, by thirst, hunger, heat, and cold. There also one must carry burdens and endure many other hardships. When even to hear about this misery frightens you, what will you say when you actually see and experience it ? In brief, in all stations of Sarp.sara the deceiver 'belief-in-an-ens' has made his home in the hearts of all beings. Deluded by the mistaken idea of misery being bliss and by the fallacy of what does not exist in truth appearing to do so, you are imprisoned in an endless cycle of births. Fettered tightly by the craving for and clinging to objects, like a moth attracted by the light of a lamp, you roam about taking delight in places of misery that are your undoing.
Having entered this prison of the triple world 2, extending from the top of the universe to the hells at the bottom, and being heavily fettered by your actions and emotional states, you are continuously racked with the pain of potential misery.
Therefore the Victorious One has declared that all situations, all forms of existence, and all enjoyable riches of the world exemplify the Truth of Misery.
When you think thus about the status of the world and when, day and night, through dread, fear, disgust and a feeling of repulsion the intention to find deliverance has been firmly established in your mind, the level of a mediocre being has been reached.
Then, when again and again you think that, since beginningless time, sentient beings as infinite as the sky have been your mother 1 and are indeed your old mother to be treated with kindness, you must develop the noble intention that you surely will have to deliver all beings, like your old mother, from Sarp.sara through loving-kindness and compassion.
Since only the teaching of true religion can deliver beings, you must develop firmly a precious enlightened attitude which means that you must reach the citadel of Buddhahood in order to impart such religion to sentient beings.
When there is present this wondrous fortitude of a noble intention which has been brought into being by loving-kindness, compassion and
1 To think of sentient beings as being our mother is of particular importance and is one of the 'Sevenfold Cause-Effect Relation' topics that have first been formulated by Dipankara Srijfiana (Atisa). As Tsong-kha-pa in Tskhp XIII I8zb seq., and XIV I, 88b seqq., points out "Perfect Buddhahood derives from an attitude directed towards enlightenment, the latter from a noble intention, the latter from compassion, the latter from loving-kindness, the latter from repaying
one's indebtedness, the latter from gratefulness, and the last from seeing all beings as one's mother". He then declares that, while loving-kindness and compassion do not necessarliy stand in a cause-effect relation, the consideration of sentient beings as one's mother and all that which leads up to loving-kindness is causal to the noble intention of feeling for others and developing an enlightened attitude. Above all, "since the ultimate counteragent (of the aversion and indifference to sentient beings) is the feeling of motherliness, to think of all beings as mothers, remembering, being aware of and repaying their kindness, effect friendliness and esteem, and the result is a loving-kindness which holds sentient beings dear as a mother does her only child. And this leads to compassion" (XIV, I, gob). Tsongkha-pa stresses the active aspect of Buddhism when he continues : "When it is quite sufficient that one develops the desire to attain Buddhahood for the sake of sentient beings when compassion is felt after one has trained one's mind gradually in the above manner, why should one demand a noble intention in between ? The answer is that, while the Sravakas do have an unlimited feeling of kindness and compassion directed towards the desire that all sentient beings meet with happiness and be freed from misery, the obligation to make all sentient beings attain happiness and become free from misery is found only with a Mahayanist. Hence the necessity to develop a noble intention in fortitude" (ibid., fol. gob seq.).
an enlightened attitude, and when it never weakens in its endeavour to deliver sentient beings from the ocean of Sa:rpsara so that you continue to act as a son of Buddha with far-reaching effects, then the level of a superior man has been reached.
When you set out on the Mahayana path, you have been prompted by a precious enlightened attitude which never weakens in its care for others through the fortitude of the noble intention to consider them more important than yourself; moreover you do not fall a prey to selfishness by not being attached to this life. And so by thinking of what will become of you later, and by not being involved in this world but concerned with deliverance from such involvements it becomes importan't
for you to know the division into outlook, meditative practice, and conduct as well as into the starting point, path, and goal. In regard to the division into outlook, meditative practice, and conduct, there are many varieties due to the gradation of beings according to their temperaments, likings, tendencies and intellectual capacities, as well as to that of the spiritual courses. First of all, the Buddhas and wise Buddha-sons have extolled (I) the view which sees clearly all concrete things as impermanent, unstable and perishing each moment ; (n) the view which is absolutely certain that all affect-arousing processes are merely misery because they are controlled by actions and emotional states, while there is no Self ruling the psycho-somatic constituents, - for this problem has been investigated by clear and subtle reasoning; and (In) the 'correct worldly outlook'
which is the certainty that all concrete things in general, and whatever there is of happiness and sorrow in particular have come about through inherent causes and conditions. Since there is no effect without a cause the relation between cause and effect regarding our actions is infallible • When you have found this certainty of so seeing things, you must with an unswerving mind focus all your attention on this existential mode of
impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and non-entitativeness. Having found such certainty through trustworthy revelation and clear reasoning you must concentrate properly on the nature of the thirty-seven elements leading to enlightenment, what they refer to, what their observable qualities are, how to work with them, and what their outcome is. They are the four topics for inspection 1, the four attempts at rejection and acquisition 2, the four types of deep concentration 3, the five controlling powers and the five forces 4 such as confidence and the rest, the seven members of enlightenment S, and the eight sectors of the Noble Path 6• When you thus practise outlook and meditation you must watch the three gates to action 7 in all your ways of movement and rest by means of inspective techniques and remain indefatigable in avoiding evil and doing good. Our incomparable Teacher (the Buddha) has guarded like the apple of his eye the limits within which pitiful beings move. Hence, when the proper observance of the limits set by the Pratimoka 8, the foundation
1 'Inspection' stands here for keeping the perceptual situation as constant as possible and inspecting the objective constituent of this situation as equitably as possible. The four objective constituents of such a perceptual situation are : that which constitutes our physical existence, feeling, dispositions and that which we call the whole of reality taken entitatively.
2 They are : to give up the evil and unwholesome that has already arisen and not to allow more to rise, to create and then to increase the good and wholesome in opposition.
3 These are those which are prompted by strong interest, perseverance, disposition and investigation.
4 Confidence, perseverance, inspection, meditative discoursing and intelligence. The latter is always discriminative. It is an appreciative function bearing on man's existence with the active, temporal contingency that comes with it. The distinction between five controlling powers and five (stable) forces respectively emphasizes the nature of meditation as a modifiable process. The 'controlling powers' direct the course of contemplation and inform it, while the 'forces' make it continue by permeating it.
5 Inspection, intelligence, energy, enthusiasm, relaxation, meditative concentration and equanimity.
6 Right view, conception, speech, action, life, exertion, inspection and concentration.
8 The Pratimok!?a is part of the Buddhist Disciplinary Code and deals with the different status and obligations of the religious-minded. Mainly seven groups are counted (the eighth or those who keep a temporary vow of fasting for a day or so, being insignificant for practising religion) : monks and nuns, female religious
of the teaching, is made the starting point, the experience of that which you practise will become deeper and deeper; but when you disregard this foundation, whatever you try will fail. To hope that the experience will deepen and the practice proceed is like expecting branches to grow where no tree has been planted and to build a house without there being a foundation.
When you have laid a firm foundation for the path, you attempt to achieve the conduct of the Buddha-sons, which has far-reaching effects, the practice of outlook, meditation, and conduct being as follows: As to outlook you have to follow the 'middle path' which is unhampered by the extremist opinions of eternalism and nihilism 1. As to meditation you have to practise tranquillity and insight undisturbed by avidity and listlessness 2• As to conduct you have to learn about and practise the six perfections 3• In order to gain this outlook which a voids the extremes of eternalism and nihilism you must with the help of instruction by those who are in the spiritual tradition, critically and subtly examine the meaning of those Siitras which reveal the direct meaning propounded by the Buddha, after you have divided the scriptures into those revealing the direct meaning
students, novices, both male and female, and lay people, also male and female. In the Tibet of today (even before the Communist annexation) the tradition of the status of nuns and female religious students has long since been extinct. The so-called nuns are not full nuns, but female novices respecte dfor their way of life.
1 It is important to note this definition, because in gaining an unbiased outlook and viewpoint from which it is possible to see things as they are, apart from our appetites and conjectures, the gradation of the path or the intellectual training of Buddhism becomes most conspicuous. To put it somewhat simply, Buddhism passes from something like realism through idealism-mentalism to a beyond idealism.
2 Tsong-kha-pa in Tskhp XIV I, 147b seqq., quotes the definition of avidity in the A bhidharmasamuccaya, stating that it participates in the nature of the basic emotional tendency of passion-lust by following up that which is pleasant and agreeable and preventing the mind from coming to rest. For this reason it is an obstacle to tranquillity. Listlessness must be distinguished from that gloominess and despondency which participate in the basic intellectual emotion of bewilderment or the going astray of the mind, although listlessness springs from this state easily. While gloominess is thoroughly negative, listlessness may well occur in positive attitudes.
3 Liberality, ethics and manners, patience, strenuousness, meditative concentration and intelligence. On this latter term see also above note 4. p. 87. Sg and those suggesting it 1 • You must find an unerring and firm certainty, otherwise you will, as a rule, become confused and fall into the abyss of wrong views. Since that which has fettered the sentient beings of the three spheres in Sa11s1 ara since beginningless time, is the straying into the 'belief-inan-ens', you must recognize the real evil of this wandering which constitutes that belief. Having completely destroyed the mode of believing inherent in this erratic belief-in-an-ens, you must become certain that the existentiality of things 2 is not an entitative existence in truth. Whatever appears before the six senses does so because of its inherent causes and conditions. When you judge this appearance of infallible relatedness as being something nonexistent you fall into the nihilistic extreme ; and when through the un-knowing fallacy of the belief-in-an-ens you take things as they appear to exist as such, you fall into the eternalistic extreme. Whatever you try will fail when you fall into the abyss of either nihilism or eternalism. For instance, when you want to catch a poisonous snake you will succeed if you seize it by the tail and fling its vicious poisonous head backwards. But you endanger yourself if you grasp it by the head. Therefore, when you try to win an unbiased outlook you harm yourself if you fall into the nihilistic or eternalistic extremes. When you seek the middle path avoiding the extremes of eternalism and nihilism, the very moment you have found it the world crumbles and you are quickly delivered from the ocean of existence.
1 For the Madhyamikas those texts which deny the existence of things in truth state the direct meaning of the Buddha's message, while those which deal with various strata of the mind are merely suggestive. For the Vijfianavadins it is the other way round. Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan, of course, adopts the Madhyamika view.
2 The 'existentiality of things' is the fact that they do not exist in truth as absolute entities. Existentiality (gnas-lugs) is synonymous with the Sanskrit word sunyatii, which I translate by no-thing-ness in order to bring out its character of absolute negation (med-dgag) . For those of us who are geared to thinking in terms of things the idea that there should be no things and that we yet deal with them in everyday life is difficult to grasp. This raises the problem as to whether thinking in terms of things is not a peculiar kind of (cultural) conditioning that cannot claim validity for all. The distinction between a 'co-emergent belief in things' and a 'postulationally defined belief in things' which is concisely stated in Ktsh rg8a, bears a close resemblance to what C.D. Broad, The Mind and its Place in Nature, p. 215 discusses under the heading 'The quasi-Belief about the Sensum' and on pp. 216 seq. under 'The Categorical Factor in Sense-Perception'. 90 The two facts, firstly that all things from the beginning have been void of any eternal principle through which they become what they are, and secondly that the relation between cause and effect is infallible, are not contradictory but mutually compatible. Therefore all that which appears is nothing and that which is nothing appears. To find this middle path or the unity of appearance and no-thing-ness is to gain the outlook praised by the Buddha. \tVhen you have thus abolished all imputations through an unbiased outlook you must focus your attention indefatigably on the primal existentiality of all that is.
Since when meditating on the existentiality of mind-in-itself, avidity and listlessness, like enemies, create obstacles, you must keep firmly to inspection and reflection • If you do not stop thinking in terms of subject and object and of a naive attitude towards objects believed to exist in truth, you will not be able to see the existentiality of mind-in-itself. This may be illustrated as follows : If at night when you look at a wall-painting the flame of the lamp is violently shaken by the wind, you do not see the p1cture clearly, but if the flame is not stirred and shines steadily you see the figures in the picture clearly. The existentiality of mind-in-itself is clearly seen from a non-dichotomic, brilliantly clear and well-focused point of concentration. Therefore, during meditation there must be neither avidity nor listlessness. When you have overcome properly the slightest tendency to these two states by practising a state of clearness, which is brilliant, nondichotomic and well-focused, you ascend gradually through the nine
stages of mind 1• As soon as you begin to think effortlessly, you pass into a state of composure without strain or stress, like an eagle rising in the sky. Then, by gradually establishing the continuity of this status, your whole body becomes permeated by supple vibrations and body and mind become at ease and feel pleasant and happy. At this moment the tranquillity-meditation stage has been reached. On whatever positive object you may concentrate, it will stay unshakably, and when you let go of it, it will pass away like a wisp of cotton blown by the wind. Body and mind are continually supple and blissful. Such qualities as supersensible cognitions, deep concentrations and all types of understanding available on the higher paths and levels derive from this tranquillity-meditation stage.
1 The nine stages of the mind describe the process of concentrating. They are, as explained by Tsong-kha-pa in Tskhp XIV r, 153b seq., (I) to withdraw mind from the outer objects and direct it towards an inner object, an idea or image; (n) not to allow mind to stray away but to keep it with the inner object; (III) when mind is about to let the object slip from its inspection and turn to the outer objects, to become aware of it and tie the mind to the object of inspection; (Iv) to deepen the inspective awareness ; (v) to take delight in concentration by having thought about its virtues ; (vi) to calm any unhappiness about concentration by considering distraction as a defect ; (vn) to calm any tendency towards cupidity, unhappiness, gloominess, sleepiness and so on ; (vrn) to make efforts to let mind pass into a state of effortlessness ; and (rx) to continue in equanimity when one has entered a state of composure. The nine stages are related to six powers and four procedures. The six powers are (a) studying (lt. : hearing the instructions from a teacher) ; (b) thinking about
what one has heard ; (c) inspecting the object of one's thought situation ; (d) reflecting on what one inspects ; (e) persevering in this activity; and (f) becoming familiar with the subject-matter. The four procedures are (r) to force oneself to fix one's mind on the object of contemplation ; (2) occasionally to stop the fixing of the mind on its object; (3) as the case may be to have mind fixed on its object without interruption; and (4) to have mind automatically fixed on its object. The nine stages, six powers and four procedures are related to each other in the following way : }
When you have thus won an imperturbable tranquillity you must examine again and again with discriminative and appreciative acumen the existentiality of mind-in-itself and strengthen your certainty about iP. Then when, through the power of this discriminative acumen, physical and mental peace have been won, and when you have reached the most superb concentration that remains well-focused, you acquire the under standing and comprehension of the insight-meditation stage which sees the existentiality of mind-in-itself most clearly. This has been greatly praised by the Buddha as the meditation in which tranquillity and insight unite.
After that, by practising this meditation continuously, you reach the higher paths and levels with their non-dichotomic awareness which begins with the 'path of seeing' 2• While thus applying yourself to the practice of outlook and meditation you must lead a life which expresses itself in the fulfilment of the six perfections, the unique way travelled by all Buddha-sons. Each perfection is subdivided into six, and whilst diving into the ocean of the conduct of the Buddha-sons you must adopt a way of living which is salutary in every respect. Thus the experience of being prompted by an enlightened attitude and of delving into the conduct of the Buddha-sons, indicates the common road of all Buddha-sons whether they follow the auspicious path of the Sfitras or that of the Tantras. When you set out on the Vajrayana path after having made the above mentioned road of the Buddha-sons your starting point 3, the practice of outlook, meditation, and conduct is as follows :
1 This distinguishes Tibetan (and its source : Indian) Buddhism from the pecculiar Chinese form, the Hva shang meditation, as it is called in the Tibetan texts, where contemplation is said to consist in staring into empty space with a blank mind.
2 Although it may be claimed that Buddhism teaches one path, this path is subdivided into five stages, each being termed a path. These are : the path of preparation, the path of linking (that which one has learned with the supreme stage) the path of seeing, the path of attending to that which has been seen, and the path of no more learning. The last three 'paths' are the higher ones. These higher paths proceed through ten spiritual levels.
3 The Lam-rim literature is unanimous in asserting that the Vajrayana path has to be travelled, and it also insists that the practice of the 'common' path has to precede the study of Vajrayana. See for instance Zhdm 205b, Tskhp III 4oa, I 19b seqq. The idea that the Tantras can be understood without first having studied and comprehended the 'Sutra literature' properly - a claim put forward
A mode of seeing which is free from straying into the subject-object dichotomy with its belief in external objects as existing in truth, is outlook 1 ; The unity of profoundness and clarity is meditation; and Conduct is called the 'triple dalliance' ; that is, to conceive of your dwelling place, your food and clothes and whatever else you enjoy as a god's sacred vessel, clothes and enjoyments, none of them arousing emotionally tinged unbalancing responses.
This transfiguration of all that appears into vast purities is the practice of outlook, meditation, and conduct as detailed in the Kriya-, Carya-, and Yogatantras 2• When mind and body feel invigorated and when you set out on the Anuttarayoga path 3, the practice of outlook, meditation, and conduct is as follows : You have to find certainty as to the Mahamudra 4• This is the view in which the reality of all entities, initially free from the subject-object mode of thinking, and the naive belief about things as existing in truth, indivisibly unite with their cognition in great bliss. Meditation has to be done by focusing your attention on the pure radiant light. In contemplating the deities of the vast ma1J¢alas, in which
by many scholars - is as preposterous as the assumption that one can be an expert nuclear physicist without having studied physics and mathematics.
1 Although this statement looks like the idealist's claim which denies that there are external physical objects to cause our sensations, there is a marked difference between Buddhist and Western idealism. While Western idealists insist on the conclusion that all reality is mental, the Buddhists do not subscribe to this theory. It may be true that my experience of the world is a mental phenomenon, but this does not entail that the world itself is mental. seq. clearly
rejects the thesis that chairs and tables are 'mental' only. Here, however, the statement means that one grasps the fact clearly that neither a subject nor an object exist in truth.
2 These three Tantras are known as the 'Lower Tantras'. In a certain way they are preparatory of the Anuttarayogatantra, the 'Highest Form of an Integration Process'. In Buddhism yoga does not mean a union with the Absolute. It is true, yoga means 'union' also in Buddhism, but this 'union' is relational and cognitive, not substantial.
3 See the preceding note.
4 This is one of the few Eastern terms which I have left untranslated (and incidentally given in the Sanskrit form, because the Tibetan term phyag-rgya chen-po or phyag-rgya chen-mo might present some pronunciation difficulties). It is a term for 'noetic union' where the noetic act is grounded in the knowing agent and stretches forth as an empty relational form to be terminated by the object having its own ground. There is thus existential diversity with formal unity.
they (and you) reside, you have to feel the pride of being divine like them1• In this way both the coarser and subtler forms of the unifying process have to be practised. Conduct must be endowed with four purities ; the transfiguration of your dwelling place (into the Buddha realm) ; of your being (into that of a deity) ; of your possessions (into sacred vessels of worship) ; and of your actions (into modes of taking into consideration the actual needs of the moment). Thinking that whatever appears is a divine realm, you have to live in such a way that whatever you do expresses the knowledge of the fitness of action. The above mentioned triple way constitutes the practice of outlook, meditation, and conduct as done by a man occupied with the First Stage
1 In more precise terms this means that through meditation we overcome our dull complacency in which we take such a pride in ordinary life ('blunt facts and no fiddle-sticks') and become sensitively alive and aesthetically moved. The 'divine pride' (Zha'i nga-rgyal) is not just a higher form of 'common conceitedness' (thamal-pa'i nga-rgyal) . Rather it indicates the feeling of transfiguration and points to the dignity of man. If man wants to go his way to his humanity, he must be convinced of his dignity as man; to conceive of himself as somebody's chattel will never assist him in finding his way. Tsong-kha-pa is quite explicit on this point. See Tskhp III 46b; 376b.
When your ability to discriminate and appreciate has been perfected, you must, through an awareness which itself is great bliss, see the existentiality of all that is. This is the no-thing-ness in which all tendencies towards believing in the true existence of all sense objects have disappeared. Immersing yourself in your existentiality you must attune yourself to the existential norms (regulating your thoughts, communication with others, and living in the world) of the Dharma-, Sambhoga-, and Nirma!)akayas 1, when (I) you meditate on the semblance- and realityradiances together with the experiences like waking up, going to sleep, and dying, and when (n) you ordinarily go to sleep, dream, and wake up again. When your conduct is regulated by the three modes : (I) belief in that which is as existing in truth, (n) belief in that which is as not existing in truth, and (In) belief in that which is as utterly non-existing in truth, then the fact that you have reached the citadel of unity and integration indicates your status of the highest being, comparable to a precious jewel.
Having become the greatest on the great path and the foremost of the Buddha-sons, the spiritually advanced persons who occupy themselves with the Second Stage 2 practise keenly and energetically the conduct mentioned above because it guarantees enlightenment in one short life time during this evil age. In the division into a starting point, path, and goal, there are also many varieties according to the intellectual acumen and the intentions
from which he usually tries to escape in order to become submerged in an anonymous and amorphous mass. Under no circumstances is this First Stage to be considered as a kind of concretization. This is clearly evident from Tsong-kha-pa's statement in Tskhp III 375b seq.
1 Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirma:r;:takaya are technical terms describing structures that are relational rather than substantial. A distinction must be made between their ultimate relational forms and their apprehendable aspects belonging to the 'path' or developmental process. They are existential norms which we must try to live up to by following the path. Dharmakaya is a cognitive relation, Sambhogakaya a communicative one, and Nirma:r;:takaya is best described as a coming-into-the-world authentically.
2 The Second or Fulfilment Stage (rdzogs-rim) is the 'felt' knowledge in the First Stage. Its 'Fulfilment', which comes about through five phases, does not involve a concretization of that which has been developed. The god that has been developed is not idolized but, instead, is cognized as that for which he or she stand5 Se.- Tskhp III 37ob.
of individuals as well as to the gradation of the spiritual courses. Briefly they can be subsumed under (r) a general and (rr) a specific division. (r) In the general division the starting point is the unity of the two truths 1 ; the path the unity of fitness of action and intelligence 2; and the goal the unity of a dual pattern 3
The two truths relate to ultimate and conventional truths. The Buddha has declared that the ultimate truth is that all entities of reality since beginningless time have been void of any principle existing in truth through which they are what they are. He also insisted that whatever appears as an object to the senses of the sentient beings of the three spheres is a straying into the fallacious belief about things as really existing. This belief constitutes the conventional truth. The appearance of things in the accustomed way and their existentiality as being nothing because void of any truth-principle, are not two separate facts but one. If the two truths were separate, these entities of reality could never have been in a state of judgment suspension from their very beginning and whatever one would see would be make-belief. Thus the Buddha has said. And regarding this existentiality the Prajnaparamita texts have loudly voiced the statement : Non-dual, inseparable into two. The auspicious path on which fitness of action and intelligence unite, is the only path to be travelled by the Buddha-sons. If ever fitness of action and intelligence part you are unable to advance to the Buddhalevel, just as a bird with only one wing cannot fly up in the sky.
1 Ultimate and conventional. The former relates to seeing things as they really are, divested from our assumptions and appetites; the latter is the commonsense view.
2 Linguistic translations render the two technical terms, thabs and shes-rab (upaya and prafiia), by 'Means' and 'Wisdom'. These linguistic translation which follow a mechanical dictionary method completely and deliberately ignore that which the texts themselves have to say. Shes-rab (prajiia), like our 'intelligence', is analytical and when disciplined becomes capable of pursuing Truth and ascending the highest summits from where things may be seen as they really are. In this sense, it is more than mere intelligence. It is discriminative, appreciative, and always bears on man's existence as a whole. Above all it is a dynamic function, not a static quality. However, alone it is useless. It needs a moral frame. This is referred to by 'fitness of action'. It is not mere naive expediency, that is, to do what seems obvious, easy or convenient. It means to be aware of the actual situation and to use intelligence concerning that which needs to be done here and now.
3 Cognitive readiness and communicative relations.
The method utilized to unite fitness of action and intelligence is to practise the six perfections when you imitate the Buddha-sons. That is to say, prompted by an enlightened attitude you must practise liberality, observe ethics and manners, show patience, be assiduous, pass into a state of composure and then use your sense of critical appraisal. Whatever
you do in the above practice must be inspired by an enlightened attitude and supported by a cognition which sees all that appears as but an appa rition, and so is indirectly aware of its non-existence in truth. If there is no such support by an enlightened attitude there is no chance to set out on the Mahayana path, at best you will follow the Hinayana way. And so the lord of saints has taught that if we do not return the kindness which all sentient beings in the six modes of life have shown to us by having been our father and mother, we deviate into the Hinayana way. Therefore, when you strive to develop an enlightened attitude you must do so with great loving-kindness.
Since you are fettered by the ties of determinate characteristics 1 if you do not look at things from a viewpoint which understands the existentiality of all that is as not existing in truth, you are powerless to move and to set out on the path to freedom, like a bird to whose leg a stone has been tied. Inasmuch as through fitness of action the functional patterns, and through intelligence the existential-cognitive pattern, are realized, it is necessary to travel the path on which fitness of action and intelligence unite in order to find the unity of these patterns. The goal or the unity of the two patterns is the unity of the reality and manifestation patterns . The former is said to be both ultimate 4 and cognitive • Here, ultimate pattern means to have attained a status
that is of the nature of utter purity because emotional instability and intellectual fog have been abolished through the continued practice of outlook, meditation, and conduct by the Buddhas whilst on the path of learning . The cognitive pattern, on the other hand, denotes the immediate awareness of everything knowable by virtue of having travelled the path for countless aeons. Both these patterns are referred to as the Dharmakaya. The manifestation patterns are also twofold : communicative 2 and sensible 3• The former is the permanent presence of an ideal endowed with all major and minor symbols, continually voicing the message of true religion which resounds as long as the sky exists so as to impart the intention of the Buddha continuously to the excellent Buddha-sons who control the ten spiritual levels. This ideal never leaves the pure Buddha realms
which appear in their true nature (as not existing in truth as such), when through the power of the two piles of knowledge and merits, accumulated during countless aeons, the tendency towards straying into the belief in things as existing in truth has been abolished. The latter, namely, the sensible manifestation pattern, is the effortless manifestation on behalf of the aspirants, according to temperaments, likings and interests of countless beings. These two functional patterns (known as Sambhogakaya and Nirma l)akaya respectively) are not separate entities nor do they come about in succession. Just as through the concentration called the Diamond-like 99 One, the tendency towards the belief in things as existing in truth is completely overcome, so with the attainment of an immediate and aesthetically vivid awareness these two patterns arise simultaneously without any strain. They always shine together as freely as the sun and its rays.
This is the path common to all those who set out on the highest spiritual course.
(n) The specific division into a starting point, path, and goal is as follows :
The starting point constitutes the three emotively tainted phenomena of birth, death, and the intermediate state.
The path is followed when you make the three existential norms ideally and actually your way of development through a proper knowledge of the methods concerning the Two Stages. The goal is the effortless realization of the three norms. vVhen by your efforts you have satisfied your Guru who is well-versed in the methods and full of great compassion, and upon whom depends the whole training course of the Siitras and Tantras which in its completeness must be born, continue and grow in the disciple's mind ; and when you have become fit to receive the initiations, permissions and guidances, then you must at your initiation lay the foundation for the four norms to come to life within you and to dispel all imputations in order to grasp the essence of this experience. You must keep dearer than your life the commitments and observances which you have taken upon yourself in the presence of the supreme Guru and the deities of the ma1Jcjala.
Since, in particular, your downfall will be all the worse if you give up the Mantric discipline, you have to guard against the fourteen basic transgressions 1 at the risk of your life. You have to be apprehensive and
1 Those who have little or no knowledge of the Buddhist path as it develops from lower to higher levels as a graded process of integration, yet consider themselves as experts entitled to pass judgments, not only claim that the Tantras can be understood without first having studied that which is necessary for their understanding, but also dismiss the disciplinary character of the Tantras. It is important to distinguish between Tantrism as a hard, if not the strictest, discipline, and the Tantrism of those who claim their own fancies to be the substance of Buddhist Tantrism. The reluctance of the dge-lugs-pa teachers to propagate Tantric works is based on the sound principle that unless a person is fit to study them he should not be given them. To be fit means not only to be mentally mature but also capable of keeping the commitments and obeying the strict discipline en- roo watchful in guarding against the eight gross infractions 1, because they are worse than a violation of the rules of the Pratimoka. So you will not be able to avoid any such offences, however much you may try, unless you guard yourself against the chances for transgressions. At the same time you have to take specjal precautions against the four chances of wrong-doing: ignorance, listlessness, negligence, and giving way to your temper. Therefore you must always heed inspection, meticulousness, self-respect, and decorum. If the power of these counteragents is weak and that of your emotional states strong, so that you are likely to fail, you must meditate on Vajrasattva 2 in whom the knowledge of all Buddhas is found, purify
cumbent on any follower of Tantrism. The fourteen basic transgressions are :
(r) to be disrespectful towards the teacher;
(2) to overstep the Buddha's words ;
(3) to be angry with one's co-students ;
(4) to fail in showing loving-kindness to sentient beings;
(5) to forsake an enlightened attitude;
(6) to deprecate one's own or others' philosophical views;
(7) to divulge that which is secret to those who are not spiritually fit to understand it; (
8) to despise one's body-mind which is of the nature of Buddhahood ;
(9) to have doubts about that which is pure by nature ;
(ro) to pamper evil persons ;
(u) to have opinions about that which cannot be a content of mind and be given a name;
(12) to disgrace those who trust you ;
(I3) not to keep one's commitments; and
(14) to despise women whose nature is inspiration.
These fourteen transgressions are a gross disregard of the Three Jewels in which one has taken refuge and, in a sense, are the witnesses of our actions. Transgression no. 1 is directed against the Buddha from whom our teacher is indis tinguishable because he imparts knowledge to us and educates us. In proceeding towards our goal we are in need of spiritual friends whom we meet in the community of saintly persons or the Sangha. Transgressions nos. 3 and I2 are directed against true spiritual friends and no. IO is to succumb to evil friends who lead us astray. The teaching or the Dharma itself is disregarded : in its aspect of revelation by the Buddha by nos. 2, 6, and 7 ; in its aspect of being a means to realization in so far as the foundation of the path is concerned by nos. 4 and 5 ; in its two experiences of the First Stage by no. 8 and of the Second Stage by nos. 9 and I I ; and in its corollary of making a first start by no. 13 and of finding assistance by no. 14. See Tskhp I 1 1 ; Ngbl IV 2 ;, 9 seq. Spl III.
1 They are : (I) \Vilfully to take a woman who is not suited ; (2) to let oneself be influenced by such a woman; (3) not to keep that which is secret from those who are not fit to be told ; (4) to quarrel in the presence of saintly persons ; (5) to teach something different from the religion in which somebody has faith; (6) to stay for more than seven days with a follower of the Hinayana; (7) falsely to boast of psychic faculties ; and (8) to teach religion to those who have no faith in it. As to the literature regarding these infractions see the preceding note.
2 As Tsong-kha-pa in Tskhp I Io, 2b points out Vajrasattva is the symbol for the unity of the noetic or the Dharmakaya with the instrumental or the Rupakaya consisting of the Sambhogakaya and Nirma1,1akaya. See notes 2, 3 and 5, p. 97 ror yourself of all defilements and mend all broken commitments so making the stream of your cognitions clear and transparent. You have to accumulate infinite good by making a fourfold offering, an outer, inner, mystic and ultimate one, to the Buddha-sons whom you must imagine as having assembled in the sky at your invitation from the vast Buddha-realms. Just as a boat without a helmsman cannot cross the ocean, so without the help of Buddhahood manifest and present, the Tantric achievements cannot be effected, and therefore you have to pray intensely to Mafiju gho$a as the patron of your spiritual enterprise, the unique father of all Buddhas, through whose power even the Buddhas of the vast realms have attained their achievements.
The meditation is as follows : You become conversant with the process of dying and plant the seed for the realization of your highest spiritual norm at the time of winning your goal of Buddhahood, when you meditate on the great radiancy (i. e., of the non-existence of things as entities having an essence by means of which they are what they are) through which the darkness of (un-knowing' has been dispelled. This is the indivisibility of the pure sphere of no-thing-ness and its cognition in great bliss. This cognition arises after the appearances, in the shape of the stationary and movable, which are like a dense mass of clouds, have been scattered and dissolved in the sphere in which, since beginningless time, there has been no discursive thinking which leads to the belief in things as existing in truth.
You learn about the intermediate state and plant the seed for the realization of authentic communication when you meditate on the idea of Buddhahood as it becomes manifest in a mass of splendour glowing in the richness of its symbols, in the midst of a halo of five resplendent colours, as magnificently as if a mountain of saffron were to fill the sky, the path of the celestials; as if the light of the sun were to fall into an ocean of vermillion; as if the lustre of all the suns in the universe were to gather in a single sun ; as if a golden altar were rising higher and higher in the sky; or as this idea transforms itself into the letters of the alphabet conveying the spirituality of all Buddhas who are the lamps of the world, shining in the vast expanse of the sky in a brilliant light of greatest purity; as it fills the sky with its rays of light as if all the suns in the universe had
To achieve this unity 'fitness of action' and 'intelligence' must unite. In a certain way, therefore, the meditation on Vajrasattva as a purificatory process become a single sun ; as it dispels the spiritual darkness of sentient beings and makes them partake of the nature of ultimate stability; as it satisfies with untainted refreshing flavour the assembly of those who propound Truth 1 in the vast realms ; as it gathers everything and turns it into a mass of brilliance ; as it emits a five-coloured jewel lustre so intense that all the gems in the world appear as if collected and strung into a precious necklace ; or as it reveals its eternal reality in whatever symbolic form in which it may be conceived.
You learn about birth without stains and plant the seed for the realization of an authentic life in the world, when you meditate on the wrathful form 2, terrifying with the unending forms of terror, of Him who (through His awareness which sees directly all that can be known and looks upon sentient beings, infinite as the sky, with compassion) was moved by immense compassion. This was all the greater because He was shocked to see that the crowd of sentient beings in countless impure realms (were firmly fettered by the chains of their actions and emotional states and engulfed in the darkness of spiritual un-knowing so that they) had no chance of hearing the voice of the teaching and of seeing His glorious form so rich in symbols. It is He who shows to the aspirants in their darkness all that is necessary for lifting them out of their predicament and, especially, it is He who appears like a mountain of saffron in celestial space in order to educate the beings of this world and to subdue their deceiver, the belief-in-an-ens, as quickly as possible by
forcible means. By uttering the syllable HOJI.f, which resounds far and wide in a terrifying roar, He frightens all who are poisoned by emotional instability. Out of this indestructible HOJI.f in which all the powers of the po\verful Buddhas gather, He rises like a mountain resplendent in the colour of lapis lazuli, clad in the garment of the fire that burns when the world comes to an end, wearing the stars and planets as His ornaments, scattering the impure worlds by the breath from his nostrils and burning all the ugliness of Saq1sara in the flames that leap from the pores of His skin, and in an instant devouring all the three worlds by rolling His tongue like a streak of lightning over His radiant face. Thus by meditating on the wrathful form of Mafijughoa in his palatial mansion, you purify all the stains of the impure worlds and the sentient beings therein and turn them into pure realms and beings. In perfecting
the four kinds of J?uddha-activity (pacificatory, strength-increasing, attracting, and forcible), by using sacred utensils, mantras and concen trations, by speaking sacred formulas and engaging in other spiritually informed activities, and, in particular, by cutting asunder the appetitive web of fetters, the belief-in-an-ens, with the sword of discrimination and appreciation, you will quickly attain the highest achievements. When thus you have ripened all that is positive so that by means of the practice of the First Stage the sublime understanding of the Second or Fulfilment Stage will quickly be born, you must bring about this sublime understanding by immersing yourself in your existentiality after you have prayed intensily to your Guru in divine form whilst practising the unifi.catory process of the Second Stage.
Only from a competent Guru who is in the spiritual tradition, can you learn this subtle instruction in the Two Stages of the profound path, the essence of the ocean of the Anuttarayogatantra, the secret message of the spiritual heroes and I)akas 1 in the three worlds, the sphere more secret than the secret. May the heroes and I)akas of the three worlds always think kindly of me like a mother of her child, and not be angry with me for having shown the door to the ::Oakas' treasures by words which state clearly the secrets of their instruction.
1 :Pakas are symbols or, to use an expression by Karl Jaspers, 'ciphers of transcendence'. They express the mystery of an existent, of an occurrence, of an affective norm. The Tibetan term, mkha'-'gro (also used in the feminine form mkhagro-ma, Sanskrit rjlakini) is rendered literally : 'sky-walker'. The Tibetan explanation of the word is that 'sky', 'celestial space' is a term for 'no-thing-ness' and 'to go' means 'to understand'. The :Qaka or the :Qakini is therefore an understanding of no-thing-ness. It is a fine example of 'embodying' language.
