A Presentation of Instructions for the Development Stage Deity

A PRESENTATION OF INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT STAGE DEITY “A STAIRWAY LEADING TO AKANISHTHA” BY JIGMEY LINGPA ...

Author: Tony Duff | Jigmey Lingpa

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A PRESENTATION OF INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT STAGE DEITY “A STAIRWAY LEADING TO AKANISHTHA”

BY JIGMEY LINGPA

TONY DUFF PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

This text is secret and should not be shown to those who have not had an empowerment into Buddhist Secret Mantra. If you have not had that, reading this text can be harmful to your spiritual health! Copyright © 2011 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher. First edition, February 2011 ISBN: 978-9937-8386-3-4 Janson typeface with diacritical marks and Tibetan Classic typeface Designed and created by Tony Duff Tibetan Computer Company http://www.tibet.dk/tcc Produced, Printed, and Published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee P.O. Box 4957 Kathmandu NEPAL Committee members for this book: composition and translation, Lama Tony Duff; editorial, Tom Anderson; cover design, Christopher Duff. Web-site and e-mail contact through: http://www.tibet.dk/pktc or search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on the web.

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v A Presentation of Instructions for the Development Stage Deity, “A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha”, by Jigmey Lingpa . . . . . . 1 The Unmistaken Cause, the Ground of Entering Development Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What The Unconfused Circumstance, the Path of Meditation, is Like . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Way to Get the Rank of Unification, the Complete Purity Fruition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Supports for Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Tibetan Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

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This book presents a text called the A Presentation of Instructions for the Development Stage Deity, “A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha”, written by the Tibetan master Jigmey Lingpa. It is one of the core texts of the Longchen Nyingthig system of Great Completion dharma; therefore, we begin with an explanation of Great Completion and its Longchen Nyingthig transmission.

Great Completion The Great Completion system of dharma came from a land called Uddiyana, which early writings say was “north-west of the vajra seat” now at Bodhgaya. The name of the system of dharma in the language of Uddiyana was “mahåsaðdhi1”. The Tibetans translated this name with “rdzogs pa chen po”,

1

In general, diacritical markings have been used with Sanskrit terms throughout this book in deference to the technical nature of the text presented in the book. However, words which have entered the English language, such as samsara (saîsåra) and nirvana (nirvåïa) have had the diacriticals omitted. v

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A STAIRWAY LEADING TO AKANISHTHA

which in English is “great completion”. The words “juncture” and “completion” have the same meaning in this case; they refer to that one all-encompassing space, that one great juncture, in which all that there could be—whether enlightened or unenlightened, whether belonging to nirvana or samsara—is complete. The name Great Completion refers both to an all-inclusive space that beings including humans could realize and to a system of instruction designed to bring beings to the realization of it2. When a being does realize it, there is nothing more to be realized or done because all is complete within that being’s space of realization and the work of spiritual practice is complete. In a Buddhist way of talking, Great Completion is the final realization in which that being has manifested true and complete buddhahood. Great Completion is often called “Great Perfection” in English but that presents an incorrect understanding of the name. The final space of realization is not a state of perfection but one that contains both perfection and imperfection. The name is not intended to connect us with the idea of perfection but with the idea of the juncture of all things perfect and imperfect, to the idea of a state of realization in which all things are complete. There is also the problem that the incorrect translation “Great Perfection” feeds into the theistic habits of the West; it easily misleads people into thinking of a godly state of perfection.

2

For realization, see the glossary.

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There is also the unavoidable point that Longchen Rabjam’s definitive explanations in his revered text The Dharmadh¼tu Treasury3 make it clear beyond a doubt that the meaning of the name is Great Completion and not Great Perfection. He mentions in several places that the point of the name is the inclusion—just as the original name from Uddiyana states— of all dharmas within dharmadhåtu wisdom. Completion in the name means that all phenomena are included at once in a single space of realization. Great in the name is used to distinguish something known by wisdom in direct perception from the same thing known by dualistic mind as a concept. Thus Great Completion is not the completion understood through the use of concept, but the greater version of that, the actual state of completion known through wisdom.

Levels of Great Completion Teaching The Great Completion teaching is divided into sections, with each section being more profound than the previous one. The three main sections are Mind, Space, and Foremost Instruction sections, with the Foremost Instruction Section containing the most profound teaching of Great Completion. This final section is sometimes further divided and sometimes not but, simply stated, the most profound level of Foremost Instruction teaching has several names, the most common of

3

Tib. chos dbyings mdzod. This is one of the seven treasuries written by Longchenpa. It concerns the practice of Thorough Cut. An exceptionally large commentary to it is currently being translated by Padma Karpo Translation Committee.

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which are “Nyingthig” meaning quintessential, and “unsurpassed”, and “innermost” Great Completion. This level of teaching is the quintessential or most essential teaching of Great Completion—of reality—that has appeared in our current era of human society.

Longchen Rabjam’s Tradition of Nyingthig Great Completion The Nyingthig or Quintessential Great Completion teaching had several lines of transmission within Tibet. The one called Longchen Nyingthig is a transmission of the Nyingthig teaching which came through the Tibetan master Longchen Rabjam [1308–1363]4. Longchen Rabjam transmitted the teaching to Jigmey Lingpa [1730–1798] in a series of visions. A brief story of the transmission follows. At one point in his life, Jigmey Lingpa went into strict retreat near Samye Chimpu, and practised the guru yoga of Longchen Rabjam for a long time. In 1759, at the age of 31, he stayed in two different caves which had been named the Nyang Caves after Nyang Tingdzin Zangpo who had practised in them long before. It was in those two caves

4

The Tibetan term “longchen” literally means “an experienced vast space”. This sometimes results in the idea that “Longchen Nyingthig” means “the quintessential Great Completion that is like a vast space”. However, the Longchen Nyingthig tradition itself clearly explains that the “longchen” in Longchen Nyingthig is the first part of Longchen Rabjam’s name so that Longchen Nyingthig means “the quintessence Great Completion that comes down through Longchen Rabjam”.

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that Jigmey Lingpa met Longchenpa’s wisdom body in a series of three visions. The first vision occurred in the Upper Cave of Nyang and the two later visions in the Lower Cave of Nyang. Jigmey Lingpa later named the lower cave Flower Cave of Great Secrecy. The following description of Jigmey Lingpa’s three visions was given by the late Tulku Urgyen and translated by Andreas Kretschmar. It is a condensation of Jigmey Lingpa’s own record of his visionary experiences called The Water Moon Dancer, The Story of the Realizations that Appeared as Very Secret Experiences5. On the 16th day of the eighth month, after I had composed a praise to this great and holy practice place, while sleeping in a state of unchanging luminosity, ordinary fixations on the five sense objects were purified and rough object fixations dissolved into the ocean-like consciousness. In this non-conceptual state of the ålaya, the interdependent arising of phenomena subsided and the apparent luminosity of luminosity, rigpa wisdom arose. In this mirror-like state, I saw the glorious master from Samye, the All-Knowing Lord of Speech, like a magical apparition. His noble body was beautified with the threefold monk’s robes and he was a little advanced in age. As with the Buddha, one could see no imperfection in him. I heard him say in a clear voice, “May the mind transmission of the meaning be transferred to you! This autobiography is found in the Collected Works of Jigmey Lingpa.

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May it be transferred! May you perfect the transmission of words! May you perfect it!” At that moment an unbearable faith and devotion, similar to falling unconscious, was born in me and without wasting time to prostrate, I immediately grabbed both hands of the All-Knowing Lord and placed him on top of my head, the Great Bliss Chakra. Almost fainting with devotion, I prayed to him, “All-Knowing Dharma King, think of me! All-Knowing Dharma King, think of me! All-Knowing Dharma King, think of me!” He replied, “I knew that in later times someone saying this would come”. When I came back to my senses, I understood this to be an unhappy statement because when he was still dwelling in his physical body, beings of lesser merit had no faith and devotion toward him, and through the power of their bad practice they had brought sadness to his mind. I said to him, “Thinking of your great kindness and how you benefited the dharma and beings with your Seven Treasuries6 and the mind treasure of the Nyingthig alone, I have a constant devotion, seeing your outstanding qualities to be equal to those of buddha in person.’ He looked straight at me and said, “Son of noble family! Now I have transferred the realization of the transmission of meaning to you by means of 6

Longchen Rabjam wrote a set of seven expositions of Great Completion teachings which became known as The Seven Treasuries.

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aspiration and entrustment. Erect the life-fortress of practice and teach extensively to the destined ones! And, your songs are excellent.” As he said that, I thought of asking him for teachings but the vision of the three kåyas dissolved like a magical apparition into the expanse. After that, I thought unceasingly of the All-Knowing Lord. “I would have thought that, for a poor beggar yogin like me, who practises in caves and is young in age, such realization would be impossible. However, just by seeing your face, all my latencies, negativity, and obscurations are gone. Just by hearing your voice, the great expanse of realization has burst forth and, without having studied the words of the teaching but merely by seeing the writings, I understand all the key points of instruction. In one day, your kindness has transformed me from a sentient being into an enlightened one.” Thus I was blessed with the transmission of meaning through various symbolic methods: outwardly through the tamer of beings, the Great Hýîkara; internally through the master Mañjuùhrëmitra; and secretly through the dharmakåya of Longchenpa. This was the first vision, in which I was blessed with his body. At that time, I stayed in Nyang Tingdzin Zangpo’s practice cave, which in the old guide books to holy places is referred to as the Upper Cave of Nyang. It is an overhang type of cave and now, to the right side of the entrance there is a white bush growing out of a crack in the rock and on the side of the rock

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are the outlines of three stýpas, and the grass on the floor of the rock is moved by a continuous breeze. People of former generations have written about the southern cave, also known as the Lower Cave of Nyang, as the Nyang cave. Through a vision, I gained confidence in what was previously written about it and I remembered it to be the practice cave of the Dharma King Trisong Deutsen and Nyang Tingdzin Zangpo. Therefore, I gave the Lower Cave of Nyang the name Flower Cave of Great Secrecy. While I stayed in this holy place in very strict retreat, I felt strong renunciation in my mind and had a vision in which all concretized dualistic fixation collapsed. I met the All-Knowing One, the second buddha, Longchenpa, again. This time, he gave me a book with one chapter and said, “In this, all the hidden points of the Great Chariot7 are clarified”. At that time, he taught the cycle of Unravelling the Symbols of the Great Secret Treasury. Again he said, “This is a record of your former lives and predictions for the future”, and handed me a scroll. When I opened it, I found that it contained two lines, one above and one below. The upper one read, “In your previous life, you were the All-Knowing Dharma Lord8”. As I began to read the lower one, the vision faded out like a cloud within space. At the time of this vision, I had no The Great Chariot is one of a trilogy called the Three Chariots written by Longchenpa. This one is called Resting up in Mindness. 7

8

Longchenpa.

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gross fixations that would think, “His body shape is like this or that”. Thus he blessed me with his speech and I received the authorization to compose writings. This was the second vision. After a few months, I met the All-Knowing Lord again. He was magnificent, wearing the robe of a païçita. He had the body of a very youthful man aged twenty. On his head, he was wearing the païçita hat with long flaps. With the maïçala of his body and through the symbolic union of the five spontaneously existing male and female buddhas, he conferred the empowerment of infinite luminous purity upon me. Without saying anything at all and with a kind and joyous smile, the wisdom vision of great purity dissolved into the expanse. Thus he blessed me with his mind and I received authorization as a master who has realized the transmission of actual meaning. This was the third vision. At that time, my perception of objects became liberated, freed of all reference points, and my realization during meditation was without any restrictions. Internally, I was freed from the fixating mind stream and therefore, everything was purified into limitless natural liberation. In my postmeditative wisdom perception, I spent the time in a happy yet saddened state of mind. With devotion and powerful longing, I composed the praise to Longchenpa called the Longing Song of the Spring Queen. The meaning of Longchenpa’s Three Chariots and Seven Treasuries arose in my heart and I wrote many instructions concerning key points, and quintessential teachings on view and meditation, and on the

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essentials of practice. All were written in an easy-tounderstand way with an economy of words, for example, Words of the Omniscient One, White Lotus, Annihilating Deviations9, and so forth. Jigmey Lingpa transmitted this to many disciples and the teaching of Longchen Nyingthig flourished, especially in Eastern Tibet. Jigmey Lingpa was not learned at all before having these visions but the realization transmitted in them opened his mind fully and he was able to write brilliantly afterwards. He wrote extensively on many subjects and, as part of his writings, made a complete record of the stories of the three visions and all of the dharma that he received directly from Longchen Rabjam’s mind. All of his writings were later assembled into his Collected Works, with the texts that recorded the Longchen Nyingthig transmission taking up three volumes. These three volumes have since become known as the Root Volumes of Longchen Nyingthig10.

The Contents of The Root Volumes of Longchen Nyingthig The Root Volumes of Longchen Nyingthig contain all the texts needed to support the teaching of Nyingthig Great

These three are all found in the Root Volumes of Longchen Nyingtig which will be described just below. 9

10

The root volumes of Longchen Nyingtig are available on paper from a number of sources. An electronic edition is available from the Padma Karpo Translation Committee web-site.

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Completion as it came from Longchenpa to Jigmey Lingpa. They contain texts that urge the practitioner to practise, texts for doing the preliminary practices, texts for giving the empowerments of the deities of the system and for practising them, texts for doing the necessary supplications to the protectors of the system, a text with the Chod severance practice, texts explaining the channels and winds practices, and so on. One of the very important texts is one that explains deity practice; it is the text presented in this book, A Presentation of Instructions for the Development Stage Deity, “A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha”.

Importance of this Text It is taught within the Longchen Nyingtig teachings that this text is one of the more important ones among the core texts of the system because of the way that it covers the whole topic of Development Stage, as will be described below. Its importance can be known through the general oral teachings of the system as well as through comments made about it by Jigmey Lingpa in other core texts of the system; for instance, he says in the core text Approach Manual for Palchen: Then, sit on a comfortable seat and, for the preparatory section of the rites, do the visualizations for arranging the place, establish the boundary cairns, and so on but especially, while keeping a clear mind, recite A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha, a thorough explanation of the meaning of the actual Development Stage practice. Its importance is often mentioned in later writings of the lineage, too.

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About the Title The main part of the title of the text is self-explanatory; it is a presentation of instructions for the Development Stage level of practice, that is, for the practice of visualising a deity as the means for re-connecting with one’s own, innate wisdom. The title tells us that this is not a text that picks out and explains one of the many teachings on deity practice but one which explains many different instructions in a unified presentation. The poetic portion of the title, A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha indicates that the instructions to be presented have the effect of gradually leading a person up to a level called Akaniúhûha. The word akaniúhûha literally means “below none”. It is used in Buddhism to name those places which are the topmost place of existence in a certain locale or context, and conveys the sense of “heaven above all” for those places. For example, there is a place called Akaniúhûha Heaven in the form realms of samsara; it is the highest place that bodhisatvas11 dwelling on bodhisatva levels reside within three-realmed samsara. On the nirvana side, there are many akaniúhûhas, each being the highest possible level within a certain context. Thus, it has to be understood that, while “akaniúhûha” is used to name specific places, it is also widely used to mean “the topmost possibility” of any plane of existence, and that is how it is used not only in the title here but many times in the text. This text

11

For bodhisatva, see “satva and sattva” in the glossary.

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provides a stairway of instructions leading to the akaniúhûha level, the highest possible state of enlightened existence.

About the Instruction In the Text Levels of Instruction The teachings of Buddhism spread in Tibet in two waves, one called earlier and one called newer. The teachings here are from the earlier spread, also called the teachings of the earlier translations. The teachings of Buddhism are presented through what are called vehicles, with each vehicle being a coherent set of teachings that can take a practitioner of those teachings to a certain level of attainment. The teachings of the earlier spread present a set of nine vehicles altogether, the first three being sýtra teachings, the second three being lower tantras, and the third three being higher tantras. The three vehicles of the higher tantras in order from lowest to highest are: the Mahåyoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga or Mahå Ati vehicles. The Mahåyoga vehicle is concerned with deity practice as the means of connecting with the wisdom of enlightenment. Mahåyoga is the great place for deity practice; in fact its name means exactly that, with “mahå” meaning great and “yoga” referring to the practices of a deity done to reunite with the wisdom of enlightenment. Mahåyoga is based on a group of tantras, with one, Vajrasatva's Matrix of Illusory Display, the Root Tantra which is the Core of The Secret12, being the root of them all. The root tantra is commonly known by its short 12

For the spelling of Vajrasatva, see “satva and sattva” in the glossary.

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name “The Core of the Secret”, which in Sanskrit is Guhyagarbha, and in Tibetan is gsang ba snying po. Jigmey Lingpa uses it as a basis for his explanations throughout the text. The Anuyoga vehicle is concerned with what the subtle components of the physical body called channels, winds, and drops practice as the means of connecting with the wisdom of enlightenment. The Mahå Ati Vehicle is concerned with directly connecting with the wisdom of enlightenment. Mahå Ati is the great place of the final view of enlightenment; its name, as explained earlier, means the “great peak” practice. The main practices of Mahå Ati—Thorough Cut and Direct Crossing— do not specifically involve visualising oneself as a deity. Nonetheless, visualization of oneself as a deity is done at this level. Jigmey Lingpa’s text instructs by joining the Mahåyoga instructions for developing a deity with the views of Mahåyoga, Anuyoga, and Mahå Ati, though the emphasis is joining it with the Mahå Ati view.

Formulation of the Instruction Overall, the instructions are presented in the ground, path, and fruition formulation that is the lifeblood of practical presentations of the tantras. Within that, Jigmey Lingpa connects the Mahåyoga instructions for the development of a deity with the view primarily in the ground and fruition sections, though someone well-versed in the tantras of the early spread could go through the text and see which level of view is being presented where.

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For example, in the ground section, Jigmey Lingpa starts by explaining that there are four birthplaces and therefore four approaches to the visualization of a deity called the extremely elaborate, elaborate, unelaborate, and extremely unelaborate approaches. The first two correspond the approach of Mahåyoga, the third to Anuyoga, and the fourth to Mahå Ati. Jigmey Lingpa works backwards through these, connecting them to the persons of very best faculties, then best faculties, and finally those who have many thoughts. As he does so, he shows the style of visualization to be followed in each case and how the view is joined to it. He goes in this reverse order putting the Mahå Ati style first because he is presenting the development of a deity in a core text for Longchen Nyingthig Great Completion. In the fruition section, the explanations of internalized and externalized luminosity, for instance, are Mahå Ati view.

The Special Quality of the Instruction The text here is mainly about the practice of visualising a deity. Therefore, it strongly presents a level of teaching— that of the Mahåyoga tantras—which mainly depends on straightforward oral instruction. However, this is not just another teaching on deity practice presented through the oral instructions of the Mahåyoga tantras. It is a core text of the Longchen Nyingthig transmission, thoroughly ornamented with the teachings of Quintessential Great Completion which are only presented through a very special form of oral instruction called foremost instruction13.

13

Foremost instruction is “upadeùha” in the Sanskrit language, with “deùha” meaning “verbal instruction”, simple as that, and (continued...)

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The particular quality of a foremost type of instruction is that it goes right to the heart of the person being instructed and connects the person very directly to the meaning being presented. It is not just a “pith” or “key” or “oral” instruction as so often translated but specifically is the foremost of all types of instruction, the one that has the ability to get right into and move the mind of the person who is being instructed. This is one of the beauties of Jigmey Lingpa’s text: it enhances the oral instructions of Mahåyoga with the foremost instructions used to impart the view of Mahå Ati and of Quintessential Great Completion in particular.

An elaborate story Texts presenting Quintessential Great Completion are usually very unelaborate in nature. This text though creates a container of differing levels of teaching and types of instruction as laid out above then fills that container with many of the teachings on Development Stage practice. The result is a very elaborate story, one that contains many topics worthy of further consideration.

13

(...continued) “upa” meaning the one above the others, the one that is better in every way, the one that comes at the front of all other types of instruction. It was translated into the Tibetan language with “man ngag”, where ngag means the type of verbal instruction and man means the one that comes before all others. In English it is exactly, foremost instruction.

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The Ultimate Quality of the Instruction: A Text Filled with Nyingthig Blessings It would be normal in a book like this to use the introduction to pick out a number of the interesting topics and expand on them and, for the sake of the reader, that is done in most of our publications. However, I have not done that here for two reasons. Firstly, oral instruction obtained in person followed by practise is the backbone of these teachings. By not writing extensive explanations of the various topics in the book, I hope to create a circumstance that will guide the reader to obtaining these as oral instructions in person from a qualified teacher. Secondly, one of the essential features of this text is the blessings of the Longchen Nyingthig transmission that come with it. I have always found that studying Jigmey Lingpa’s writings leads to an interesting transmission of meaning and blessings. In this case, I was left with a strong feeling of the elaborate nature of the material but with no sense of confusion over it and in this got the sense of Jigmey Lingpa’s own mind and what he was trying to transmit. This then is the main point of this introduction and the most important thing to know about this text: it is more than a text on Mahåyoga deity practice—it has the strong blessings of the Longchen Nyingthig transmission of Quintessential Great Completion with it and there is a very real possibility of connecting with those blessing directly. I strongly encourage the reader to be open to that level of transmission.

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Points of Translation Staying True to Style In the story of Jigmey Lingpa given earlier in the introduction, he himself writes: I wrote many instructions … all …written in an easy-to-understand way with an economy of words. This causes a smile; it is well-known that Jigmey Lingpa’s works are not easy to read. As Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche once said, “He (Jigmey Lingpa) wrote in a way that suited his temperament”, a comment that went right to the heart of the matter. Jigmey Lingpa writes in a style that weaves a great deal of meaning together in ways that are not transparent and often uses an unexpected turn of phrase, a style which often leaves the reader wondering what he is saying and how he gets from one sentence to the next! An excellent example of this is shown and explained in footnote 127 in the text; it would be helpful to look at it now before continuing. When faced with this difficulty in other texts of Jigmey Lingpa, some translators have rewritten what he actually says and changed his vocabulary in order to make the text read easily. However, believing that to be neither desirable nor appropriate, I have rendered Jigmey Lingpa’s style and idiom as closely as possible into English. Another point is that long sentences are standard in Tibetan composition and Jigmey Lingpa often uses them in his composition. Unfortunately, breaking them down into shorter English sentences generally loses some of the meaning that has been expertly woven into them and also distorts the flow

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of the author’s presentation. Therefore, I have kept these longer sentences and their internal arrangement where possible both to retain the intended meaning and, again, to allow Jigmey Lingpa’s personal style of expression to come through as much as possible. Altogether, if you encounter something unclear in the English, you can be sure that it reads that way in the original and is part of Jigmey Lingpa’s expression. In addition, you should not expect the text to answer every question that is raised as you read it. The original does not have that quality; even Tibetans need a great deal of instruction on the text to be able to understand the many interesting and also profound points woven into it. Remember that Tibetan texts are not intended as do-it-yourself manuals; they are intended to be a basis for oral instruction.

Terminology The text uses a large amount of technical vocabulary. Over the past thirty years, I have gradually developed a complete vocabulary in English which does capture the unique vocabulary of the higher tantras and have used it consistently not only within each translation but across all of them. Readers have often remarked on the great value of this consistent use of technical vocabulary throughout all of our publications. A feature of our translations that knowledgeable Tibetan teachers have remarked on is that we do not take the simplistic approach seen in some other translations in which several important terms, each with its own specific shade of meaning, are translated with one English term. You will find that, just

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like in the original Tibetan, every single term has its own unique equivalent in the English translation, and that the equivalents are consistently used so that the reader really can follow the many and profound threads of meaning in the text. The vocabulary is well explained where its meaning is not obvious; an abundance of notes to explain these terms and an extensive glossary have also been provided.

Sanskrit and diacriticals Sanskrit terms are an important aspect of a technical book like this. They are properly rendered into English with diacritical marks, which has been done throughout this book. A number of terms, such as samsara, are sufficiently part of the English language that diacriticals were not used with them.

Further Study Generally speaking, Padma Karpo Translation Committee has amassed a range of materials to help those who are studying this and related topics. Please see the Supports for Study chapter at the end of the book for the details.

Help with difficult points in the text There are a number of places in the text where specific instructions are mentioned which will not known to the average practitioner; for example, there is the instruction on one’s own and other’s offspring. One of the very important early holders of the Longchen Nyingthig teachings, Dza Patrul, wrote a commentary called Difficult Points of the Instructions for the Development Stage Deity to elucidate just these points. Commentaries are usually much longer than the texts they

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elucidate but this one is much shorter because it comments not on the whole text but a few difficult points of the text. It did not seem helpful to include it in this book though PKTC might publish it later. The Tibetan text can be found in Dza Patrul’s Collected Works.

Help with the Four Nails Instruction A specific instruction for deity practice called the Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces is one of the most important of all instructions for deity practice. Accordingly, Jigmey Lingpa’s text emphasizes its importance and gives a concise presentation of it. It is sufficiently important that anyone studying this text needs to know more about it. Fortunately, Dza Patrul also wrote a text that thoroughly explains the Four Nails teaching. It should be read in conjunction with Jigmey Lingpa’s text so PKTC has published a translation of it in a book intended to be a companion to this one14.

What is Required to Read this Text The teachings of Secret Mantra say that the subjects discussed in this book are secret and should not be shown to those who have not been properly prepared for it. Although these days it is popular in the West to teach anything without observing these restrictions, the teachings themselves make the restrictions clear and, in the past, these restrictions were always observed.

Key Issues of Visualization: Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces, “A Melody of Brahma Playing Throughout the Three Realms”, by Dza Patrul, by Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee, 2011, ISBN: 978-9937-8386-5-8. 14

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Thus, the basic requirement for hearing these subjects is to have entered the Vajra Vehicle. Entrance into the Vajra Vehicle happens at the time of empowerment into the maïçala of a deity, so having been entered into a deity maïçala of the higher tantras is the minimum requirement for seeing these teachings. For example, there is a requirement in the Nyingma tradition in general that, before the Guhyagarbha Tantra which forms the basis of this book can be taught, all involved must have already received a Mahåyoga Vajrasatva empowerment. After empowerment, you must obtain the instructions for practise. It is not a requirement of the system that the instructions have been heard before a text like this can be read but this text delves into the technical details of Development and Completion Stages, so some knowledge of the instructions of deity practice will be needed in order to comprehend the text. Therefore, for the sake of your own spiritual health, please obtain a proper empowerment from a qualified teacher before reading this book. Empowerment and instruction Together open the doorway to Practising a deity in its maïçala; May opening the doorway, Then practising a deity return you To your pure vajra being, Vajrasatva. Tony Duff, Swayambhunath, Nepal, February 2011

Palchen Heruka Mural on the wall of Dzogchen Monastery, Tibet, 2007. Photograph by the author.

A Presentation of Instructions for the Development Stage Deity, “A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha” by Jigmey Lingpa

I prostrate to the bhagavat glorious Vajrasatva. The nature15 complete-purity16 obscuration-free pure side’s constituents17 as Unified appearance-emptiness wisdom’s illusory miracle is The three kåyas—in order to gain their rank with ease,

15

For nature, see the glossary under “the nature”.

16

For complete purity, see the glossary. Additionally, the two complete purities are defined later in this text.

17

“Constituents” are the elements of being. The fundamentally pure constituents of enlightened manifest as three kåya. Kåya is the honorific for body used only to indicate a body of the nirvanic side; it is translated in this book as body, enlightened body, or left untranslated. The impure form of the kåyas is a samsaric body. 1

2


I will give an explanation of the yoga of a deity in the form of meditation instruction18. Now the constituents of the side of purity just mentioned have, in the case of sentient beings, because of adventitious impurities ended up as chakras of confusion. I declare then that I will give a presentation of the instructions for the Development Stage deity that lead sentient beings from that confused condition back to the expanse of the inconceivable enlightened body, speech, and mind secrets of the tathågatas, called “Stairway Leading to Akaniúhûha”. It has three main headings: the unmistaken cause, the ground of entering Development Stage; what the unconfused circumstance, the path of meditation, is like; and the way to join with the rank of unification, the complete purity fruition.

18

In the literary system of Tibet, the ability to write verse that unfolds a story in a string of nouns, as done in the first three lines here, is regarded as a sign of an author’s poetic ability. This verse tells a story starting at the most primordial point then moving through to the result. Paraphrased, this verse says: “Luminosity is completely pure of all of samsara. The pure side, the side without the impurity of enlightenment. The elements of being belonging to this purity are the illusory miracle of the three kåyas, a miracle that is wisdom in which appearance and emptiness are unified. In order for practitioners easily to become the deities of the three kåyas, I will explain the yoga of—the way of joining with—the deity in the style of a meditation instruction”.

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1. The Unmistaken Cause, the Ground of Entering Development Stage You should attend well to the three ways of pleasing a vajra master who has eight natures, a person described in the Procedures Manual 19 as: Teacher: possessing treasuries; waters complete; Having pursuits; expert in tantras and in activities; Progress in foremost instructions; that is, bearing eight.20 Through doing so, externally there will be benefit, internally capability, and secretly the stages of empowerment into the profound will be fully completed with the result that your mindstream will be properly ripened. Then, while keeping the samayas and vows, the yoga of the Development Stage

19

In this text, Jigmey Lingpa primarily quotes from the root tantra of Mahåyoga. One of the main yidams of Mahåyoga, and the one to which he usually refers in this text, is Palchen Heruka, so he also quotes from one of the many Procedures Manuals for the practice of Panchen Heruka. Jamgon Kongtrul the Great in his Treasury of Knowledge explains that this set of eight is derived from a Great Completion level text and should be understood like this: having knowledge of each of the treasuries of Mahå, Anu, and Atiyoga counts as three; being fully trained and filled with empowerments (because abhiúheka means to be anointed with coronation water); pursuing others needs and helping them; being skilled in tantras; being skilled in activities for taming others; and having signs of progress in the practices of Atiyoga taught through foremost instructions.

20

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deity can be entered and the way to do that is as stated in the glorious Matrix of Illusion21: What is to be purified is the set of four birthplaces22, Because of which Development also is of four types: Extremely elaborate, elaborate, unelaborate, and extremely unelaborate23. In relation to that, those of the very best faculties24, because of throwing up a mind creation which is the liveliness25 of the

Vajrasatva's Matrix of Illusory Display, the Root Tantra which is the Core of The Secret, is the root tantra of the Mahåyoga tantras. It is commonly known by its short name The Core of the Secret—in Sanskrit Guhyagarbha, and in Tibetan gsang ba snying po. 21

22

There are four possible ways of taking birth in samsara according to the Buddhist system in general: womb-birth, egg-birth, warmth-moisture birth, and miraculous birth. Complete explanations of them can be found in the Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary.

23

These four types are also known as condensed, middling, extensive, and very extensive respectively. Jigmey Lingpa does not mention this but goes on to use some of these terms a little later in the current explanation, which can be confusing. Dza Patrul clarifies this in his Difficult Points text. 24

“Faculties” used in this way does not mean mental acumen but refers to the capabilities of a person as a whole, all of which depends on the person’s level of karmic fortune. Thus, here it means the level of capability of being as a whole.

25

For liveliness, see the glossary.

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view general of the Nature Supreme King of Vehicles26, do an extremely unelaborate Development Stage ritual and meditate on inseparable Development and Completion in which, without relating to word-based activities, mind’s nature is primally made visible and completed as the symbol of the deity, like a reflection abruptly appearing in a mirror. It is like this: In the deity oneself, oneself the deity Arises co-emergent with oneself; Samaya and jñåna27 are non-dual so Invitation, seating, and supplication are not necessary here. Manifesting from oneself and self-empowered, Self-knowing is present as the three roots. The deity’s nature being primally complete as a wisdom illusion is the Development Stage that cleanses miraculous birth; the All-Knowing One28 said: 26

The Mahå Ati vehicle, the ninth of the nine vehicles, teaches Nature Great Completion (for which see the glossary), therefore, is known as the Nature Vehicle; it is at the peak of all other vehicles, therefore is known as the supreme vehicle; and it rules over the other vehicles, therefore is known as the king of vehicles. Accordingly, its view exceeds and rules over those of the vehicles below it and is therefore known as the “view general” similar to the idea of a “secretary general” or “governor general”. This special language of great completion is well explained in the book Empowerment and Atiyoga by Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee 2010, ISBN: 978-9937-8244-5-3.

27

Samayasattva and jñånasattva.

28

With one obvious exception, All-Knowing in this text always (continued...)

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It appears instantly in the way of miraculous birth and while apparent There is nothing there, due to which the sequential type of Development and Completion meditation is not necessary. Then, those of the best faculties do not develop the deities which because of being turned out in non-dual expanse and wisdom are suddenly entered29 in elaboration-free Development Stage using words but complete them on remembering their essence. The gradually entered ones, appearing in Samantabhadri’s space, the great30 empty expanse of prajñå, selfshining forth as the deity’s symbol, rise up as the non-dual unification illusion-like deity’s body. The Self-Shining Forth31 says:

28

(...continued) refers to the All-Knowing One, Longchen Rabjam.

29

Entry is the standard term for entering into or becoming a deity and its world. It is used widely in this text. 30

“Great” is used in the tantric teachings in the normal sense of large or vast general but also has a special use. It is used to distinguish something known by wisdom in direct perception from the same thing known by dualistic mind as a concept. Thus, “great empty expanse” here does not mean “big (or wonderful) empty expanse” but the “empty expanse known by wisdom in direct perception”. This use of “great” appears throughout this text and it is important to recognize it, otherwise one can mistakenly think that it simply means wonderful or large.

31

Tib. rang shar. This is one of the seventeen root tantras of Great Completion.

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What is sudden entry32? The deities are not developed, they are completed by remembering their essence. What is gradual entry? Having gradually entered expanse and wisdom … In relation to that, the wholly complete visualization that comes through merely expressing the names or remembering the essence of a particular supporting immeasurable mansion33 and supported deity is identified as the Development Stage that cleanses the latencies34 of warmth-moisture birth, inseparable bliss-emptiness. Then, for those with thoughts, in the egg-birth cleansing, extremely elaborate, very extensive Development Stage, the causal Heruka is erected as the fruitional vajra holder then the

32

“Entry” is the standard term for entering into or becoming a deity and its world. 33

“Immeasurable mansion” is the general name in the tantras for the housing of a deity. In colloquial language, an immeasurable mansion means a palace of unbelievable excellence and that meaning does apply. However, immeasurable as explained in the tantras means that the mansion, because it belongs to a wisdom domain, cannot be estimated and understood through dualistic mind.

Support and supported are a pair of terms used heavily in these discussions. The support is the outer world of the deity, which is summed up by saying “immeasurable mansion” but includes more than just the housing of the deity, and what is supported by that is the deity itself. 34

For latency, see the glossary.

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meditations on the forms of one’s own offspring and other’s offspring35 according to the eight great command practices36 are done. In one’s own offspring there are five activities of other to be done: the causal seed’s emitting and absorbing develops the primary male-female; the buddhas of the ten directions are summonsed then dissolved into space; sentient beings are

35

The Mahåyoga tantras in general teach what are called one’s own offspring (Tib. bdag gi sras) and other’s offspring (Tib. gzhan gyi sras). Correspondingly, the two are explained in core texts of the Longchen Nyingtig that deal with visualization practice, such as this one. Dza Patrul states in his Difficult Points text mentioned in the introduction that their explanation in Jigmey Lingpa’s text is not clear. He also says that it is not easy to clarify what Jigmey Lingpa has written in this and the next few paragraphs but continues on with an explanation that reveals some of the many profound details hidden in these paragraphs. A paraphrase of the beginning of Dza Patrul’s explanation explains the two terms: “The fruition of every deity maïçala, which is achieved through one’s own practice, is one’s own offspring. The practitioner will supplicate and merge with the mind of another in order to enter the practice and, in doing so, becomes the offspring of that other”. In other words, other’s offspring is the result of empowerment and one’s own offspring is the fruition following that which comes through one’s own practice. For the details: very roughly speaking, the first phase corresponds to birth from the womb and the second to development of the person after that, and the details go on from there.

36

Tib. sgrub sde bka’ brgyad. The eight classes of yidams whose instructions are taught as commands that were obtained and practised by Padmasambhava.

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summonsed and have their obscurations cleansed; the greatness of non-duality is verbally expressed; and production from space is arranged into a maïçala. In other’s offspring there are eight activities of oneself to be done: the primary male-female is dissolved and becomes the causal seed; from that the male-female is developed; from the realization of the male, the letters are developed; from the female light is emitted and the deity is supplicated; all maïçalas are dissolved into oneself, the male-female, through which the pride of the jñåna37 is developed; the male-female’s unification is to be done and the maïçala to be developed in space; self’s forty-two thoughts become the deity and are expressed outwardly; and the jñånas38 are invited and sealing is done with them, and so on. At this point39, if we comply with the great Matrix of Illusion, after taking refuge and arousing the mind40, it goes as follows. In accordance with the two-party birth of those born from an egg, I visualise myself in an instant as the primary malefemale. Then the maïçala to be meditated on is invited into space before me; offerings and praises, and supplications are

37

Meaning jñånasattva.

38

Meaning jñånasattvas.

Dza Patrul’s Difficult Points explains this phrase to mean, “At this point, we arrive at the mode of extensive development, the the Five Manifest Enlightenments’ development stage”.

39

40

Arousing the mind is the standard phrase for “arousing the enlightenment mind”. For enlightenment mind, see the glossary.

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made; after daily laying aside41, and so on have been done, once again, with vajra muô, I just enter equipoise on the empty state, making that the definitive feature. Having done that, if the normal womb-birth cleansing, the extensive type, is joined to the middling type of Development Stage, then there are, given that method development’s stage is the principal thing, the two methods in the method for subduing a elephant drunk on wine—subduing by ornament and subduing by marketplace—and, in accordance with that, the supporting container world produced from various latencies is cleansed through the superfice of an immeasurable mansion and the supported body of manifest clinging produced from various latencies is cleansed through the superfice of the supported deity. Together with that, the method for keeping mindness42 stilled from elaborating into objects is that it is held pegged to a samådhi of the profound43. Then, it should also be joined to threefold purifying, completing, and ripening: being consistent with the aspect of samsara, becoming44 is cleansed and purified; being consistent with nirvana’s situation, the fruition is completed in the ground; and both turn into ripeners of Completion Stage.

41

“Daily laying aside, and so on” means the seven limbs of worship including laying aside which are normally done each day and similar such activities. For laying aside, see the glossary.

42

For mindness, see the glossary.

43

“Samådhi” is the general term for concentration or one-pointedness of mind. Samådhis of the profound are those concentrated on the empty side.

44

For becoming, see the glossary.

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That, which gets right at the overall meaning, should be treasured. The way to start the entry is to use the three samådhis. Of them, first, the suchness samådhi is as follows. Mindness being without supportive ground or developable root45 does not abide in the extremes of things46—male, female, neuter, colour, shape, and so on—and its nature of luminosity47 being unfixed does not fall into sides; the recall of this luminosity of mindness, the wisdom that knows dharmatå48 as-it-is, causes the cleansing of death-becoming49 into dharmakåya and the 45

Usually the phrase “without ground or root” is used to describe something which is altogether groundless. Here, the author cleverly defines the phrase “without ground or root” as he applies it.

46

Where things has the specific meaning of concepts of things.

47

For luminosity, see the glossary. The entity emptiness has a nature of luminosity.

48

For dharmatå, see the glossary. In this text, dharmatå is only ever used to mean the dharmatå of reality. Given that dharmatå roughly means nature of the situation, in this text it always means the nature of the situation at the empty side.

49

There is a set of four terms, the first of which is used here and the remainder of which are used in the text immediately following. “Death-becoming” is the death phase of samsaric existence; “bardo-becoming” is the bardo phase, the phase of being between death and the next samsaric existence; “birth-becoming” is that one moment when the bardo being’s consciousness enters the sperm and egg or other basis of birth; and “prior-time becoming” is the remaining time of that birth, from the second moment in (continued...)

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purification of viewing permanence and of the formless realm, thus, it is called “suchness samådhi”.50 Unifying that great51 empty luminosity with its natural complexion52 of great compassion that equally considers all migrators53 causes complete liberation from viewing nihilism and from the form realm, and, the inconceivable play of the liveliness of the ignited wisdom54 causes the ground to be on full display with bardo-becoming completed as the

49

(...continued) which the consciousness actually merges with the sperm and eggs, etcetera, up to death—it is the time prior to death, which is the first member of the sequence.

50

Mindness is the path experience of the essence of samsaric mind. It has an empty entity which never creates the elaborations of duality’s concepts and at the same time it has a luminous nature which is the empty wisdom that views the dharmatå of reality, seeing it as it is, that is, in its suchness. The recalling of it serves to cleanse the death phase of samsaric existence into dharmakåya, and it also functions to purify viewing permanence and also the formless realm. Note that this is the first of the three of purifying, completing, and ripening.

51

“Great” here has the special meaning of the actual one, not the conceived one, whereas great just following in great compassion has the usual meaning of big.

52

For complexion, see the glossary.

53

For migrators, see the glossary.

54

Ignited wisdom means that wisdom, which has previously been peacefully absorbed in the emptiness side has flared up into appearance.

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saîbhogakåya, thus, it is called “the all-illuminating samådhi”. Rigpa55 itself appearing from that as an òô or hĀø or hrõô or other letter provides what is called the “cause” or “root method”; it cleanses the having-just-entered-a-place becoming56 together with its awareness and cleanses the desire realm, and, it does the work of ripening birth, the manifestation of a body, into the manifestation of an enlightened body, a deity’s body, thus, it is the “causal samådhi”. In that way, the three samådhis create the framework for development, after which there is the way that the particular type of support and supported will be developed. According to the tantras of Development and Completion found in the early translation’s threefold great tantra sections57—such as glorious Core of the Secret, etcetera—the visualization coming from that causal or root method, of the immeasurable mansion together with seat, is the method of the base. There are presentations by the One From Samye, etcetera of the method of the meditation for completing the supported maïçala but, generally stated, in order to bless the container of impure nature into Akaniúhûha, there is the consistency of the

55

For rigpa, see the glossary.

56

This is another name for the prior becoming defined in footnote 49.

57

The Mahåyoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga tantras of the Nyingma tradition.

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supporting immeasurable mansion’s superfice58 being meditated on as an infinitude of space and, moreover, its entity connected with the purities of threefold ground, path, and fruition being the thirty-seven dharmas of enlightenment; the nature of that is shown in the commentary to the ninth chapter of the Great Chariot59. Here, the stage of developing the supported is primarily what is being shown. Thus, the way to accomplish the vajra body in connection with the Development Stage of cleanser and basis of cleansing is as follows. It says in the Important Points of Heruka: First, empty enlightenment mind; Second, the seed arising; Third, the form is completed; Fourth, the letters are arranged … That is to say: death-becoming and bardo-becoming together are the emptiness enlightenment mind60; gandharva’s appropriation consciousness61 having entered the midst of semen 58

For superfice, see the glossary. Superfice means the superficial appearance as opposed to the entity, what a thing actually is. In English, we would often say “form” or”appearance” for superfice but that does not work well in Buddhist texts where both form and appearance have their own, quite different, specific meanings.

Longchenpa’s own commentary to the ninth chapter of Resting up in Mindness, which is one of his three Great Chariots. 59

60

For enlightenment mind, see the glossary.

61

“Gandharva” means any being that has a fairy-like body. Thus (continued...)

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and blood is that the seed is assembled; the body being gradually developed by the ten winds is that the form is completed; having been born, that the faculties wake up to their objects is the arranging of letters; and so on. That explanation uses the terminology of the Four Manifest Enlightenments. However, in relation to the steps followed in conformance with the tantras in general, when both the development done by the Three Vajra Rites according to father tantra and the development done by the Five Manifest Enlightenments according to mother tantra are explained in connection with the purities of cleanser and basis of cleansing, this discussion follows.

A. The Three Vajra Rites The cleanser, the superfice of the sceptre of a five-pointed vajra, etcetera, is manifested by meditation and by that what is to be cleaned out, the mental mind, is purified into the enlightened mind vajra. That same sceptre, the cleanser, having appeared is then meditated on as having switched modes or as being marked with a hĀø letter, etcetera and by that the basis of cleansing, the ordinary speech, is completed

61

(...continued) it is used to refer to bardo-beings in the bardo of becoming as much as it is to several types of fairy-like beings within the desire realm. In this part of the text it is used in relation to bardo beings but it is also used later in the text with the other meaning. “Appropriation consciousness” means that a bardo-being in the bardo of becoming has connected with the consciousness of its next birth, a birth appropriated in the ninth appropriation link of twelve links during a previous birth.

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as the enlightened speech vajra. That cleanser performs the two purposes through the rite of emitting and absorbing light rays, which results in a transformation through which all superficies of the deity’s body including ornaments and dress are completed; by that meditation the basis of cleansing, the ordinary body, is ripened into the enlightened body vajra. That is the Three Vajra Rites. If that is given in connection with womb-birth, it is as follows. The first relates to the red and white assembling in the womb and the bardo consciousness entering the assemblage. The second relates to the three of semen, blood, and mind merging which is followed by the five phases of turning into an embryonic mass, and so on being experienced. The third relates to the spreading and localizing of physical elements, leading to full development of the body and completion of the faculties, followed by birth with delivery outside, which is the time of the cleansing’s fruition; the tathågatas having been erected in the bodies of taming nirmåïakåyas, they enter the vajra consort’s bhaga, etcetera, and all of which creates the interdependency for showing the deed of the womb.

B. The Five Manifest Enlightenments In conformance with Yogatantra there are Five Manifest Enlightenments which are external and in conformance with Mahåyoga there are Five Manifest Enlightenments62 which

62

“Manifest enlightenment” means that this is a method in which impurities of the ground are purified through application of the path with the result of total purity—which is enlightenment— becoming manifest. There are five manifest enlightenments (continued...)

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are internal; their nature explained in connection with the view that the fruition exists in the cause is as follows. As the Luminous Space63 says: Womb entry, the five types of enlightenment: Tenth month, the mode of the tenth level; Having been born, the nature nirmåïakåya; Spontaneous existence, the three kåyas personage. This is what that is saying. Seeking a body while in the bardo is the path of accumulation and the actual connection to that of taking a body in the womb is the path of connection. The time after entry into the womb is defined as the stage within the five manifest enlightenments of having entered the paths of seeing and meditation. The actual tenth month illustrative of ten is no-more-training’s unification, the mode of accomplishment as a nature manifested enlightened-body, a nature nirmåïakåya. From there, it is connected as follows with the ascertainments of threefold purifying, completing, and ripening in accordance with the four types of birthplace.

i) The first manifest enlightenment This is meditation on a moon disk. It cleanses and purifies the bases of cleansing which are: form skandha, space element; the body, ålaya consciousness; afflictedness, delusion;

62

(...continued) because of five luminosities: four luminosities related to the four steps of emptiness and a fifth which is their unification. These five contain the entire meaning of all the paths of Secret Mantra.

63

Tib. klong gsal. The name of one of the Foremost Instruction section tantras of Great Completion; it is not one of the seventeen root tantras.

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womb-birth’s father’s element; warmth-moisture birth’s moisture; egg-birth’s father; miraculous birth’s empty factor; and so on. At Completion Stage’s time, the first wisdom to shine forth as the nature of the method of the sixteen joys descending from above is mind completed as individually discriminating wisdom, and that transformed into the appearance of the path-making moon-disk and meditated on causes, at fruition’s time, ripening into the thirty-two excellent marks and enlightenment manifest as mirror-like wisdom.

b) The second manifest enlightenment This is meditation on a sun disk. It cleanses and purifies the bases of cleansing which are: feeling skandha, the earth element; the afflicted mind64 as avarice and pride; wombbirth’s fire element, red; egg-birth’s mother factor; warmthmoisture birth’s warmth; miraculous birth’s luminosity factor. At Completion Stage’s time, the second wisdom—the entity of co-emergent bliss-emptiness which is the complete purification of both sperm and blood, the nature of lower support prajñå, the five skandhas of form divided by the four physical elements to give the set of twenty dhåtus, the five wisdoms dharmadhåtu and so on divided by the twenty four limitless ones giving the twenty path emptinesses shining forth—is completed as enlightenment mind, and that transformed into the appearance of the path-making sun-disk and meditated on causes, at fruition’s time, ripening into the eighty excellent signs and enlightenment manifest as equality wisdom.

64

The afflicted mind is the seventh of the eight consciousnesses. He spells it out here and it should be understood to apply to the other four parts of this explanation.

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c) The third manifest enlightenment This is meditation on a seed with sceptre. It cleanses and purifies: up to the point of the two, semen and blood drop65, the gandharva appropriation mind entered into bardo consciousness; perception skandha, mother’s element; speech, mind consciousness; afflictedness, desire; bardo consciousness which has entered the four birthplaces. At Completion Stage’s time, after both semen and blood drop have been purified in the reverse order, karmic wind with connection time having been stopped, there is the third wisdom which is completed as a vajra showing the third wisdom, and that transformed into the appearance of the path-making seed in the mode of a sceptre and meditated on causes, at fruition’s time, ripening into the nature of the realization of all dharmas unmixed and enlightenment manifest as equality wisdom.

d) The fourth manifest enlightenment This is meditation on a seed with sceptre merged into one taste. It cleanses and purifies: the three of semen, blood drop, and mind merged into one taste; formatives’ skandha, wind element; the five activity doors of consciousness; afflictedness, jealousy; in terms of entry into the four birthplaces—merging of womb-birth and egg-birth’s bardo consciousness with semen and blood, merging of warmth-moisture birth’s consciousness with warmth-moisture, and merging of miraculous birth’s being merely visible yet empty with bardo-becoming. At Completion Stage’s time, the function of three of semen, 65

“Drop” in this context means the drop of blood which is considered in ancient Indian medicine to be the mother’s contribution to the embryo. It does not mean ovum as such.

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blood drop, and wind being complete purity66, the entity of the causal vajra-holder and the fourth wisdom of extents are completed in the vajra personage who pervades all knowables, and that transformed into the appearance of the path-making merged entity of a sphere or ball of light and meditated on causes, at fruition’s time, ripening into the personage of the deeds of all buddhas merged into one taste and enlightenment manifest as all-accomplishing wisdom.

e) The fifth manifest enlightenment This is, from that, the body being wholly completed. It cleanses and purifies the completed circumstance as follows into the nature nirmåïakåya: having been wholly completed in the womb circumstance, delivery outside; consciousness skandha, water element; mind consciousness, the factor of grasping at the dharmatå via eightfold mental consciousness; affliction, anger; completed åyatanas of body whose birth has been taken amongst the four birthplaces. The way of going on to be a Completion Stage ripener is that the three of semen, blood drop, and wind, together with mind, whose entity of extremely complete purity, the fruitional vajra holder and nature buddhas’ wisdom seeing as-it-is, complete liberation’s five fruitions, the tathågata’s personage is complete in one’s own mind, and that as the appearance of the path-making completed deity’s body with ornaments and dress meditated on causes, at fruition’s time, ripening into the personage of wisdom free of all obscuration, expanse and

66

This is the first of two purities, the naturally-occurring complete purity. The second, the extreme complete purity, appears in the next manifest enlightenment. These two purities are defined later in the text.

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nature merged into one taste, and enlightenment manifest as dharmadhåtu wisdom. The tantra says: Moon, mirror wisdom; Seven sevens, equality; One’s own deity’s seed sceptre which is Verbally expressed as individually discriminating, All become one, working assiduously67, Completion, and dharmadhåtu purities. Connecting them like that with the stages of the four birthplaces, they arise as the four modes of Development Stage meditation. Primarily though, they are to be connected with individuals’ latencies and degree of strength of familiarization68; as Lord of Conquerors Longchenpa said: In that way there are four modes of meditation but Primarily, the meditation is done through which birth has been assumed, and, In order to cleanse latencies, meditation will in the same way be done through all. 67

“Working assiduously” is another way of giving the name of the all-accomplishing wisdom. 68

Familiarization is a term similar to meditation. However, where meditation by definition in Buddhism means a process by which something that was not previously present is newly created, familiarization means a process of becoming fully re-acquainted with what was already there. In sýtra teachings, the term familiarization is not frequently used because the emphasis there is on the creation of new qualities by meditation which creates their causes. In the tantras though, familiarization is frequently used because the emphasis is on re-acquaintance with enlightened qualities that are innate and do not need to be created.

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Especially, beginners meditate according to eggbirth, then When they have gained a little stability, according to womb-birth, then When they have gained great stability, according to warmth-moisture birth, then When extreme familiarization has brought true stability, They will use Instantly Rousting Development69 concordant with miraculous birth.

2. What The Unconfused Circumstance, the Path of Meditation, is Like This has two parts: the path that cleanses from below elucidated at length in accordance with the levels of faculty; and the levels of attainment that result explained according to the way that the fruitions of the path contained in the four branches of approach-accomplishment connect with the ranks of the four vidyådharas70.

69

Tib. dkrong bskyed. “Rousting Development” is another name for instantaneous visualization. Its name comes from the image of hundreds of birds all of a sudden appearing up when a loud noise or movement rousts them from their perches. 70

Development Stage is categorized into four levels of accomplishment, two of them called approach and two called accomplishment. Approach has the meaning that one is approaching the peak situation but has not arrived yet; it has two levels. Accomplishment means that one has arrived at the peak in general but doing so still has degrees of finalization, so there are (continued...)

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A. The path that cleanses from below elucidated at length in accordance with the levels of faculty This has seven parts: holding the mind on the deity; fixing faults of change; tearing up the deity; the way to make the deity come as the path; mixing the deity with one’s mind; connecting with the deity’s meaning; bringing the domain to the path.

i. Holding the mind on the deity Someone of great mental ability can, right from the start, visualise vividly a wholly complete and un-blurred deity body with its particular appearance and ornamentation. Moreover, the bodily superfice belongs to the great development-completion unified wisdom which is beyond identifying the body’s characteristics as specific things71 so, while it is visible, it is empty of entity, and, while being empty dharmatå, its 70

(...continued) the levels of accomplishment and also great accomplishment The “four vidyådharas” is a set of four levels of development explained in the Nyingma system that cover all levels of development on the path, including the level of no more training. The four are: control over life, full-ripening, great symbol, and spontaneous existence. The discussion that follows will identify and define them. However, note that the third one, which has been called “Mahåmudrå” vidyådhara in many translations, actually means “great symbol” and for that reason is given here as such, rather than as Mahåmudrå.

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The characteristics of the deity’s bodily appearance are known by wisdom, they are not taken by dualistic mind and turned into conceived-of things corresponding to those characteristics.

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characteristics all the way up to the black pupils and whites of the eyes are visible; this person trains in a development stage free from grasping and clinging, in a deity’s body of inseparable luminosity-emptiness, like a water moon. Those of medium mental ability meditate by first popping up an appearance of the whole body. Then, they meditate on the central channel becoming visible. Then they meditate step by step to complete the deity—right arm, left arm, down to the waist, right and left leg, then wholly complete deity with its seat. Moreover, they have the key point that, by training in Development Stage in which the visualised superfice is illusion-like there is no deviation into the view of nihilism, and, when it becomes weak, by training its entity, the vajra-like samådhi that remembers its complete purity, there is no deviation into the view of permanence. The beginners of small mental ability who find it hard to have that sort of visualization will, with their lack of familiarization, train in relation to a permanent body. They obtain a cloth painting, clay image, etcetera of the yidam made by a skilled artisan that can be used as a model for the visualization and place it in a consecrated place before them. They do not meditate on it “as a cause of more thinking” as it is called, but look at it moving from head down to the feet, staring at it with eyes wide open. Doing this, at first masses of formative thought 72 can bubble up, so it is called “a temporary 72

Formatives are the items of the fourth skandha. They are, for the afflictions and other items all of which cause the formation of a future birth in samsara, hence their name. He speaks this way here to emphasize the fact that counter-productive rather than (continued...)

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experience of movement, like a stream crashing down a rocky mountain slope”. What happens from there? Latencies of how the appearance is will grow with the result that, even with the eyes closed, it will shine forth vividly visible as an object of mind. That is called “a temporary experience of obtainment”; it is similar to a thief getting a container that has something inside but not knowing exactly what it is. With that sort of visualization, the practice remains sealed with clinging at ordinary appearance so it is flat like the drawing of the deity’s body and does not have the sense of a tangible, rounded shape with projections and bumps on it. It should be trained in as free of all material such as flesh, blood, and inner organs, an apparent yet empty illusory body that has transparency, clarity, and brilliance like a crystal decanter or rainbow, as illustrated with the example of an image shining in a mirror. Moreover, first, the visualization support for the deity’s body must be looked at for a long time and meditation done for a short time, and then, when the visualization has become a little clear, training can be done with the length of looking being decreased and length of meditation increased.

ii. Fixing faults of change At that point, there can be these seven general faults: forgetting the visualization; laziness, doubts over whether one is accomplishing anything, sinking, agitation, and effort made when the visualization is clear due to not understanding that

72

(...continued) useful thoughts are produced at first.

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it is all right, and effort not made when, even though the visualization is not clear, one has adopted a neutral stance. There are also these twelve faults of change: indistinctness, paleness, shaded or darkened, change of body extent, change of dress, change of shape, change of count, change of stance, appearing as colour only, appearing as shape only, gradually waning, and appearance incomplete. These are the remedies for those faults. For forgetfulness, steady mindfulness; for laziness, faith and establishment of diligence; for doubts, aiming mind into space; if sinking, clearing and reliance on cooling; if agitated, generation of disenchantment and lowering the gaze; for over-exertion, relaxing the mind; for under-exertion, establishment of diligence. Similarly, for threefold indistinctness, paleness, and shadedness, cover the eyes with a rainbow-making prism or the like then look at the visualization support and examine its shape, then meditate on it in mind. For the four changes of body extent, dress, stance, and shape: meditate on that body being a material form which is extremely large, on the limbs and its extremities being the play of a gentle forest creature, on a pigeon being inhaled and exhaled from the nostrils, and so on73, and especially, turn these faults away by

73

The sense up to this point of the sentence is of him giving a sampling of the many oral instructions available for dealing with these various problems. Now he will give something that is part of the mainstream instruction in the tantras themselves.

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visualising their character which, for peaceful ones, is the nine modes—as the Fearsome Lightning74 says: Each one of such supreme bodies Having nine different modes— Pleasing, supple, taught, Flexible mind, youthful style, Clear, bright, imposing, and Blazing with magnificence—is how they are present. For the wrathful ones, meditate on them having the nine moods of dance; as the Important Points75 says: Charming, brave, not nice, Laughing, savage, fearsome, Compassionate, awesome, and peaceful They pose with the mode of the nine dances. For change of count, the sgyu ’phrul bla ma says: Many deity assemblies are emitted and absorbed but Are the state of the great mind miracle … meaning that you train by remembering the nature of it, which is that the superficies of the retinue are shining forth from the single principal. For appearing as colour only, visualise the form clearly. For appearing as shape only, shift it to a variety of colours. For gradually waning, meditate on

74

Tib. rngam glog. This is the name of a tantra which is one of the five tantras of actions which are a subset of the seventeen explanatory tantras of Mahåyoga and which is also one of the four root tantras of Anuyoga.

75

The Important Points of Heruka mentioned earlier.

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the face and hands being extremely coarse76. For being incomplete, visualise by paying attention to what is not complete.

iii. Tearing up the deity At intervals between working on those, do what is called “tearing up the deity”; in order to revive yourself through rest, stay in equipoise on no-thought while keeping up the deity meditation. When the deity has become visible without fault, deity and no-thought having met, the meditation only of the deity is done.

iv. Way to make the deity come as the path Having freshened like that, there is the method of making the deity come or be trained as the path. Meditate on that deity standing, seated, lying down, standing with head to the ground, lying supine, lying face down, far away, close, in mountain crevices, deep under the ocean, extremely big like Mt. Meru, extremely small like an atom. If you can do that while meditating as described earlier, called “the temporary experience of familiarization, like a river”, you will have made the deity come as the path.

v. Mixing the deity with one’s mind Then, there is what is called “mixing the deity”. In order to abandon grasping at the duality of that to be meditated on and meditator of it, the deity’s superfice is mixed inseparable with your own mind. By meditation on that, no thought at all

76

This means that one shifts the attention to the hands and feet and works strongly on visualising them above all other features.

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creates an interruption, so you will be able to stay with the wholly complete deity for as long as you wish and that is called “the temporary experience of stability, like Mt. Meru”. Going on from there, you arrive at a point where the hair pores and the black pupils and whites of the eyes are clearly visible and the training has been completed such that the great lord of whichever maïçala is always there night and day, never taken away by any circumstance of sense object. That has the four features of full measure of clarity—crystal clarity, pristine clearness, standing out, and fully present— and has the four features of full measure of stability—not wavering, not changing, overtly not changing, and not changing in any way at all. Having gained these eight full measures of clear and stable visualization, called “the temporary experience of finalization”, appearance and the deity’s maïçala have been merged.

vi. Connecting with the deity’s meaning That merging of itself is not sufficient. To connect with the deity’s meaning, your own mind with its eightfold consciousnesses must shine forth as the deity’s body with wisdom. If, in relation to the rigpa-bodhichitta deity-body, one just rehearses the path of the body of great Development-Completion inseparable wisdom that primally ripens many into one taste, it will only cause a growth of latencies of acting out Development Stage in one’s own mindstream, and that sits only at the rank of rudra and råkúhasis77. In order to leave

77

Rudra is the personification of ego and råkúhasis are totally untamed, flesh eating women demons. The point is that you (continued...)

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that behind and have instead the full backing of the path of complete liberation78, the treasured foremost instruction, Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces79, was taught. The thirty-ninth chapter of the Tantra of the Secret Complete says: For every wisdom world whatever, If the Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces is not applied, It will always remain a meaningless, lonely widow. By knowing this one method that steals away80 the life-forces of whole completion’s81 glories, All life-forces are obtained.

77

(...continued) make no progress by that method.

78

Buddhism refers to its path in general as the path of complete liberation.

79

See the Further Study section of the introduction to obtain this teaching. The four nails are: the samådhi of the deity nail, the essence mantra nail, the understanding unchanging nail; and the enlightened activity emission-absorption nail. The author now explains them in sequence.

80

“Steals away” is part of the wording of the Four Nails instruction. It means that the Four Nails draw together and hold every one of the life-forces of Development Stage practice so that the practitioner can conveniently get at all of those life-forces and bring them into his own practice. 81

“Whole completion” is the name for the visualized body of the deity being wholly complete. Its “glories” are all of the good qualities that go with the development of a deity.

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For example, the mouth of Råhula82 Seizes the sky’s one sun whereby All thousand water-servant suns83 Without being seized have their life-forces taken. Therefore, the Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces is to be treasured. Following on from that, the samådhi nail is to meditate, focussing the mind one-pointedly on something such as a visualization support having the form of the deity, whereby what is clung to as an ordinary body is completed as a deity’s body. The tantra says: The samådhi nail: to start the body Is held one-pointedly in undistracted mind. It becomes stronger in three objects And Palchen Heruka is actually met. The reverse is not to behave according to Heruka. If there is no nail of unchanging samådhi, The enlightened body will never be seen. The way there of becoming stronger in three objects is that First, it is visible as an object of thought, Then it is visible as an object of sight, Then it is visible as an object of contact. Through this, the deity which is the mind ripened into the deity’s body comes into contact with the deity because of

82

In ancient India it was believed that solar and lunar eclipses occurred when a cosmic being called Råhula opened his mouth and seized the sun or moon, hiding its appearance.

83

Water servant suns are suns seen reflected in a body of water.

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which it is referred to as “the visualization becoming stronger”; from The Words of Palchen84: All the wisdom deity’s symbols First are visible as mental objects Whose actual appearance grows in power until, By the power of thoroughly processed85 mindness, Its character becomes visible as the object of the faculties. Finally, the deity of the attainment of thoroughly processed body and mind Of inseparable two truths Is visible as a body object in direct perception. Through becoming stronger in three objects The actual appearance of the impure body is destroyed. Then, there is the essence mantra nail. Turning the whole attention to the enlightened mind life-force surrounded by the root mantra and to their carrier and giving rigpa to counting causes the three of inspiration, exhalation, and abiding to

This is another of the core texts found in the Root Volumes of Longchen Nyingthig. The full title is From Longchen Nyinggi Thigle: A General Summation of the Three Yogas, The Words of Palchen. 84

85

“Thorough processing” is the final result of practising onepointedness of mind. It is described under two headings: the effects on body and effects on mind. There are many desirable effects on the body, such as bliss, absence of sickness, and so on. Similarly for the mind, though there is the specific point that the mind can be put on any object and made to sit there effortlessly for as long as desired.

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be purified into the entity of enlightened speech. The tantra says: Essence mantra nail: the mantra of the principal of whole completion Is not purified and eliminated but recited. The enlightened mind life-force hĀø surrounded by the root mantra does The emission and absorption visualization and the mantra is counted. At that time, words of glory and wealth are also shown. To complete the training of the ability, there are surrounding deities. If there is no nail of approach-accomplishment86 done with the life-force essence, Deity and samaya’d ones cannot be improved. The understanding unchanging nail is that no matter which of the peaceful and wrathful deities such as Palchen is practised, realizing that there is no separating it from one’s own mind, deity and dharmatå are ripened into its essence in which the deity and dharmatå are great equal taste. The tantra says: The understanding nail: the peaceful and wrathful deities As wholly complete Palchen are not separable From one’s own mind; even rudra Cannot be parted from it. One’s own mind is Mindness—the empty dharmakåya 86

“Approach-accomplishment” here means the practice of recitation of the deity’s mantra.

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Luminous as the unmixed saîbhogakåya, Naturally shining forth as a variety, the manifested nirmåïakåya— And its appearance as male with empty female Is the appearance-emptiness inseparable wisdom kåya. The movement of thinking with its infinite discursive thought also Is whole completion’s glory, its retinue. This is inconceivable, primordial buddha from Whose nature there is no movement. If there is no nail of understanding unchanging, Though Palchen is practised, one will not achieve the shift from ordinary To supreme and will deviate into rudra. The emission-absorption nail is the great miracle of gaining control over all four types of enlightened activity87, and is cherished like white vermilion is cherished in the work of smelting88. The tantra says:

87

The four types of enlightened activity are: pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying. Note that the fourth is sometimes called “wrathful activity”. In fact, the original Sanskrit name and its meaning, too, is “destroying”. The Tibetan translators translated it into Tibetan with “wrathful activity” and literal translations of that lead to the mistaken translation.

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“White vermilion” is either mercury itself or mercuric oxide with an abundance of mercury in it, a substance important in processing gold and other metals. The point of the analogy is that mercury is indispensable for transforming base metals into their pure metallic form, just like this nail is indispensable for the (continued...)

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Emission-absorption nail: if directing Through visualization is known, the nine desires will be fulfilled89. By samådhi’s emission-absorption Mind’s ability is trained to completion; What is thought comes into appearance. By the power of mantra and mudrå’s blessings, All works, beneficial and harmful—pacifying, enriching, Magnetizing, actual performance90, and so on—are accomplished, For example, just as for a single gem The particular circumstances of supplication and offering According to what is desired individually are fulfilled.

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(...continued) work of gaining the enlightened activity of a buddha.

89

“Directing” is the term used in the Four Nails instruction itself. The practitioner learns to use emission and absorption as a means of producing the four enlightened activities within others’ zones of appearance and, in doing so, develops the capacity to direct or govern or steer their worlds through his enlightened activity. There are nine types of beings in samsara (three types in each of the desire, form, and formless realms) so the “nine desires” means that his enlightened activity will fulfil the desires of all sentient beings. 90

“Actual performance” is another name for destroying, given that it entails actually killing and doing certain other deeds as needed.

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If there is no nail of the variety91 being emitted and absorbed, A visualization with single focus will not accomplish the meaning. If one knows how to direct through emissionabsorption, Even the least of the Tedrangs92 Can accomplish all enlightened activity without hindrance. All of this is the magic of mind. If the foremost instructions of the four nails are made into key points, as described above, then93: actually seeing the body steals away the life-force of enlightened body; accomplishing truth in speech steals away the life-force of

91

“Nail of the variety” is another name for nail of emissionabsorption because emission-absorption ultimately results in a variety of enlightened activity.

92

The Tedrangs, also called Teurangs, are a type of low-life preta who suck up other people’s vitality. Even the very lowest of them could accomplish enlightened activity if it knew this means of directing the space of others through the means of emission and absorption.

93

The Four Nails themselves are headings which, because they collectively sum up all the key points of Development Stage practice, hold all of the life-forces of Development Stage practice. They can also be seen not only as headings for understanding but also as foremost instructions showing the key points of practice. He summarizes how that looks in the remainder of the paragraph; it is more fully explained in Padma Karpo Translation Committee’s book of Dza Patrul’s teaching on the Four Lines.

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enlightened speech; gaining control over dharmatå steals away the life-force of enlightened mind; merging many—the enlightened body, speech, and mind of the peaceful and wrathful tathågatas and one’s own three doors—into one taste steals away the thousands of life-forces of all of samsara and nirvana. This trains wisdom and brings mastery over the varieties of enlightened activity.

vii. Bringing the domain to the path This has two parts: the ten to be known and six topics of samaya.

1) Ten to be known These words “illusion, mirage” give rise to “a mode of ten to be known is how Secret Mantra is practised”. It is taught that in equipoise everything is the sphere of the deity and that in post attainment everything is to be practised as Secret Mantra’s ten to be known: • • • • •

94 95

all sådhanas should be known as illusion-like; all words and phrases should be known as essenceless, like a mirage that lures wild animals; all conduct should be known as dream-like; all things94 should be known as nature-less, like a mirror-image; all places should be known as a gandharva’s city95;

Things meaning things known through concept.

Gandharva here does not mean a bardo being, it means a fairylike being. Fairies will create great citadels of light which look very impressive seen from afar but which are simply their magic (continued...)

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• • • • •

all sounds should be known as empty of entity like echoes; all deity bodies should be known to be apparent yet not existing in nature, like a moon in water; samådhis should be known to be bubbles frothing up on water; all emission-absorption should be known as changing into a variety like an optical illusion; all miracles should be known as various superficies without character, like manifestations96.

2) Six topics of samaya • • • • • •

Not severing longing for the guru, the one who provides the foremost instructions; doing those things conducive to samådhi; rejecting those not conductive to it; not forsaking samådhi in any avenue of behaviour; not giving up on the yidam; and keeping the meaning of meditation and the conduct secret from those who are not vessels.

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(...continued) creations.

96

Manifestations here means things manifested that seem utterly real and can be touched and used but which are part of a giant illusion. Magicians of ancient India had this kind of ability.

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B. Explaining the uncommon path in which the ranks of the four vidyadharas are connected with the framework of the four branches of approach-accomplishment This has four parts: the approach branch; the close approach branch; the accomplishment branch; and the close accomplishment branch.

1. The approach branch In the approach branch, which was explained above, rational mind is put on the visualised three objects—the subtle samådhis of single symbol97, and so on—and meditation on that causes the good qualities of the paths of accumulation and connection to overtly appear as follows. Through the interdependency created with the four close applications of mindfulness98, and so on, the winds of the five elements experienced as knowables99 gradually enter the central channel, the signs of which—such as smoke, mirages, fireflies, cloudless sky—should be known as temporary experiences which are signs of the ignition of appearance. Similarly, there are omens of dreams—signs of cleansing of latencies such as always being naked; signs of attaining a level such as climbing up steps in space; signs of treading the levels

97

“Single symbol” is Development Stage jargon meaning “a solitary deity without consort”. 98 99

For the four close applications of mindfulness, see the glossary.

These are the winds that cause the five physical elements, which are the building blocks of the external physical world, to be known to consciousness.

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such as riding lions and elephants; and signs of gaining the prophecy such as a smiling form, and so on. In sum, as taught in the Vajra Layout, signs of the path arise in inconceivable ways and if an especially pleasing one occurs, you should, by viewing it as an opportunity for måra100, have no hopes for it meaning something good.101 For Progress102, outer signs can come during meditation of actually seeing atoms, letters, and sceptres, tiny bodies, and so on, and the colours of fire and water and wind, and so on. An inner sign of Progress during meditation on the deity is that the sensation of in and out movement of the breath can disappear. Secret103 signs of Progress are: knowing all domains as illusion-like; because of not relating to conceived effort104 with its cause and effect, realizing that all phenomena are buddha in the expanse and so one’s domain arising evident as wisdom.

100

For måra, see the glossary.

101

These were the signs on the path of accumulation.

102

The four levels of the path of connection are: Progress, Peak, Forbearance, and Supreme Dharma. He will present them sequentially. Supreme Dharma receives its name because it is the highest of all attainments within samsara. The next step after it is to traverse the path of seeing which results in exit from samsara.

103

“Secret” here means at the level of mind.

104

For conceived effort, see the glossary.

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There are outer signs of light, sounds, smells, smiling forms, butter lamps burning of themselves, bhandhas105 blazing in space, one’s being becoming at ease and clearer, and so on. There are inner signs of increase of compassion, decrease of attachment, loss of biases, increased consideration of samaya, longing for the guru and dharma companions, not hoping for a good result, not being concerned about samsara, not being apprehensive about experiencing the måras, and so on. Altogether there are many of them and, again, you should not be pleased over them. Then, by gaining control over Peak, the internal five afflictions do not arise as external objects and harmful actions of the external five elements do not affect the body, and so on— these are signs of merging mind and appearance. For Forbearance, appearances open up and become workable so that sand becomes fertile, dry places give water, and trees grow, and so on; signs of gaining control over appearance and mind appear and, though the body has not changed from being an ordinary body, mind has been ripened into the deity’s body so it is called “fully-ripened vidyådhara”—the Extensive Illusion says: However wide is the scales’ eye, Just that one having strength of completed superfice Does not contact the attainment of symbol.

105

A bhandha is a bowl or similar container usually used to make offerings. For example, it can refer to a skull-cup being used for the purpose.

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There, “scales’ eye” means body and “wide” means mind having obtained the symbol106. If this, which is not the attainment of Supreme Dharma, is exceeded, the great symbol will be obtained in the bardo. It is a corpse, like a carved wooden bowl and såccha107, because the body of full-ripening108 has been cast aside and the mind has been ripened into the deity’s body. The Procedures Manual says: At the point of sixteen months of approachaccomplishment, Even though it has not become the vajra body Because of small strength and weak circumstances and aspirations, It is found to be a special body originated from thought. It goes to Vajradhara’s level by rigpa.

106

“Symbol” in the verse means the third vidyådhara more fully called “great symbol”. “Scale’s eye” is the piece at the top of a balance-type scale used to suspend the scale. “Symbol” in the explanation just here means the symbol of the deity’s body, not the third vidyådhara. All in all, this verse is saying that, no matter how well this first vidyådhara can complete the visualization of the deity within mind, he still has not arrived at that attainment beyond samsara.

107

“Såccha” is the Sanskrit form. It is corrupted in Tibetan to “tsatsa”. It means a moulded clay image.

108

“Body of full-ripening” is a samsaric body. A samsaric body is obtained as the result of the particular karmic process called “fullripening”. It means that a karma is created in one life that is sufficiently strong to create a body in a future existence.

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By great strength of samådhi Supreme Dharma is obtained and then one actually connects with having control over life; this appears in the tantra: Control-over-life vidyådhara is obtained. In six, twelve, or sixteen months The holy level of the control-over type will be obtained.

2. The close approach branch In the close approach branch, the path of seeing is taught. The tantra says: Together with retinue the characteristics are completed and One works diligently according to the system of approach. This is saying that, however the meditation is done—from a single one of the great secret up through elaborated symbols109—because you have gained the experience of a stable and clear visualization merged with the fact of dharmatå great bliss, the good qualities of the seven limbs of enlightenment110 have become overtly apparent; because mind has given rise to the path of seeing, the five extraperceptions, four miraculous abilities, and so on have been

109

“Single one of the great secret” means a yidam-deity of the great Secret Mantra visualised as a single symbol. Beyond that, there can be a single deity with consort elaborated. In addition, various deities can be elaborated as a retinue.

110

The seven limbs of enlightenment are the twenty-third to twenty-ninth of the thirty-seven limbs of enlightenment.

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obtained, and you actually hear dharma from a nirmåïakåya; because fact has been manifested as such, you have finalized the great Supreme Dharma111; and because this defiled body has been accomplished as a vajra body, there is no birth and death, so this is called “control-over-life vidyådhara”. The Procedures Manual says: The body of the set of eight siddhis112 accomplished that comes with The finalization of entry into seeing fact113 Has exhausted the outflowed dhåtus and åyatanas114. The family at this time of having become a vajra body Is nirvana as a seen dharma115,

111

“Supreme Dharma” is the name of the highest of the four levels of the path of connection, so-named because it the highest worldly level of dharmic attainment. The step following it is the attainment of the path of seeing and arrival on the first of the bodhisatva levels, at which time samsara is exited irreversibly. He is calling the attainment of this step “great Supreme Dharma”.

112

These are the eight ordinary siddhis.

113

“Fact” here means the fact of superfact seen in direct perception; see superfact in the glossary.

114

See “outflowed” and “skandhas, dhåtus, and åyatanas” in the glossary. Anything having outflows has the discharges of ignorance with it so this is referring to the ending of a samsaric style of being.

115

“A seen dharma” is a result that is seen in one’s current lifetime. Thus, this person is the sort of person who sees nirvana in his current life rather than the sort who has to wait until the end (continued...)

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A conqueror’s level without having cast off the body, Free of all fears, all miracles complete. To give an concrete example of this, the great master Padma, in the cave at Måratika, engaged in practice with Mandåravå and, based on that secondary cause conduct116, gained the absence of birth and death.

3. The accomplishment branch In the accomplishment branch, completion of the path of meditation is taught. The tantra says: In accomplishment, effort at the path of meditation is made and The deity body is a rainbow great symbol. At this level117, the entity of equipoise, which is free of confusion as such, is equivalent to that of the buddhas. However, the post-attainment is different in that there is training in

115

(...continued) of life when nirvana is obtained together with the discarding of the life’s body.

116

Primary cause conduct is, for example, meditation done in relation to the fourth empowerment; secondary cause conduct is activity done in relation to the third empowerment, that is, the practice of karmamudrå.

117

The author does not explicitly state it in the explanatory paragraph that follows, presumably because it is self-evident, that this is the definition of the third of the three vidyådharas, the great symbol vidyådhara.

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dharmatå equality118; unmoving119, various miracles are accomplished within the state of samådhi on the supporting body maïçala, so the nature of the body maïçala appears rainbow-like; the wisdom which is free of concept tokens120 due to having cleansed the stains of the nine levels of mind121luminosity’s body, the dharmas of eightfold path of the noble ones122, is wholly completed whereby the hearing of dharma, through both mind and symbols, as a saîbhogakåya is also are accomplished. The tantra says: Ones’s own body, a conqueror’s symbol, A deity of familiarization become manifest, Ornamented with the marks and signs Is the vidyådhara of great symbol.

118

“Training in dharmatå equality” very roughly glossed means training in the phenomena that appear in connection with the dharmatå and which are equality given that all of them are marked with emptiness. There are many subtleties of meaning contained within these words.

119

… from the state of dharmatå …

120

For concept tokens, see the glossary.

121

The nine levels of mind are the nine levels of development of ùhamatha or equipoise. They all involve dualistic mind. Here, there is full ability at equipoise but it is in the context of the dharmatå of mind, mindness, rather than in the context of dualistic mind.

122

For noble one, see the glossary.

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This level has sub-divisions. The second up to the fifth levels123 are called “vajra vidyådhara” because their vajra-like realization causes the collapse of obscurations of their own level. On the sixth level, the primary activity is prajñå påramitå and there is turning of the wheel of dharma, so it is called the “wheel vidyådhara”. The seventh too, because skill in means causes a great wakening of a wheel-like124 plethora of miracles, is known that way. On the eighth, control is gained over no-thought wisdom, one’s own gem-like constituent of complete purity, so it is called the “precious vidyådhara”. On the ninth, because of, without attachment, preparing a field125 and working for others’ sakes, it is called the “lotus vidyådhara”126. The tenth, because of, out of perfection, working for sentient beings’ sakes, is called the “sword vidyådhara”. The Procedures Manual says: Those from the second are great symbol’s type: Becoming vajra, wheel, gem, Lotus, and sword vidyådharas. For example, the great master Padma at Yanglesho in Nepal based on glorious Yangdag Heruka’s maïçala showed the style of leaping up to great symbol vidyådhara, which was like

123

… of the ten bodhisatva levels, which correspond to the path of meditation and hence to the great symbol vidyådhara …

124

“Wheel” here has the sense of “non-stop universe full of”.

125

For field, see the glossary.

126

Attachment in Buddhist thought is a sort of defilement. Lotus’s grow up out of a filthy swamp and blossom having left all of the defilement of the swamp behind. Because the absence of defilement is being emphasized here, the name “lotus” is applied.

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having become a director of the four types of enlightened activity.

4. The great accomplishment branch In the great accomplishment branch, completion of the path of no-more-training is shown. It has been said in these words: The marks having become stable Will show great accomplishment. When those earlier paths have been finalized, because that is connected with enlightenment having one hundred thousand heaps, the type who is spontaneously existing in a maïçala principally of the accomplishing of accumulations, has, generally speaking, good qualities equal to the greater good qualities of a buddha. However, mantra has the means to bring all the particulars of the good qualities forth in an instant so in this case, it is a buddha who has reached the ultimate point of training at which there is no more training to be done of seeing the dharmakåya’s face, which is what Lord of Conquerors Padma explains as the spontaneous-existence vidyådhara of finalized abandonment and realization.127 127

In paraphrase: “Now, we have come to the person who has arrived at the end of training. In the sýtra system, this person has an enlightenment in which all good qualities are complete because they have been amassed already. In the mantra system, this person has an enlightenment in which the face of dharmakåya having been seen, all the good qualities of enlightenment are available on demand because there is full connection to their being spontaneously existing in the dharmadhåtu. Despite the difference, the extent of the good qualities is the same in both (continued...)

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Now, the Procedures Manual explains this matter in this way: By the power of completing the previous types According to what has been explained, the stains have been cleansed. The buddha levels of three utmost wisdoms Become the spontaneously existing type. Given that explanation, is there a contradiction in defining the spontaneously-existing type according to the terminology of a buddha’s level? No, that is an understanding of levels determined through mantra’s four vidyådharas then connected to the five sýtra paths; because it concerns a topic of the authentic, it has to be related to the understanding of tantra using the six limits and four modes. It is like this: because in the great accomplishment explained according to the process of the four branches of approach-accomplishment the contradiction of explaining something to be accomplished as no abandonment, no attainment, has been removed, it does have the needed understanding and the spontaneous existence

127

(...continued) cases. Finalized abandonment and realization is a term used in sutra to indicate what the attainment of the level of no-morelearning entails. Padmasambhava explains that the spontaneous existence type of vidyådhara has a level of finalized abandonment and realization in which, because of having seen the face of dharmakåya, all the good qualities of enlightenment are available in the spontaneous existence of dharmadhåtu.” This is a prime example of how Jigmey Lingpa expresses himself in a way that is hard to understand until his way of joining concepts together and his unusual idiom are penetrated but which is brilliant when understood.

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vidyådhara is included within what is counted as a buddha’s level. Still, the question remains, what is its nature?128 Only examining, as it does, with non-referencing prajñå, it is never covered by faults of wrong-doing, so it treads the supreme level With Undefiled Lotus and on the extra-ordinary level over that, the Great Assemblage of Wheel of Letters, which has unthinkable good qualities of thirty-two excellent marks and eighty excellent signs, and so on129. Then, in the wheel of ornamentation130 of unending enlightened body, speech, and mind, there is a thirteenth level enjoyed which is connected to the rank of Vajra Holder and whose presence 128

This leads into the explanation of the next paragraph in which he explains three special levels of wisdom which are enjoyed by the spontaneous vidyådhara, the “three utmost wisdoms” mentioned in the quote just above. There are many systems of levels above the tenth level of a buddha, which can cause confusion. The teaching with the most levels is Great Completion, with a total of sixteen levels, including the ones mentioned here: the eleven levels of sýtra; the twelfth level mentioned here of With Undefiled Lotus; the thirteenth level mentioned here of Great Assemblage of Wheel of Letters; the fourteenth level not mentioned here of Great Samådhi; the fifteenth level mentioned here of Vajra Holder; and the sixteenth level of Highest Wisdom which is unique to Great Completion. 129

This twelfth level, because of wisdom that has no attachment to the appearances of the previous level, has no coverings of outer and inner phenomena. Therefore it has the aspect of a lotus, which by definition is undefiled. The level above it is a further development of this lack of outer and inner appearance.

130

For enlightened body, speech, and mind’s unending wheel of ornamentation, see the glossary.

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can be understood through the teaching in the Densely Arrayed with Ornaments which says:131 In the enlightenment of a true buddha, Buddhahood does not happen in The supreme place Akaniúhûha and The deeds of a buddha are not enacted in the desire realm. The special levels of mantra are explained by these words and the explanation of them given just above accords with their meaning: they are domains travelled to instantly where the interdependent connections for showing buddhahood in Akaniúhûha 132 and for oneself doing the immeasurable enlightened activity of twelve deeds, and so on of unstopped method133 are established. The tantra says: Ultimate spontaneously existing’s Accomplishment was enacted by the regent being134; 131

Vajra Holder is the level from which a buddha manifests. It has to be present because of what is explained in the next quote. The quote is from a sýtra with the implication that this is not even a special teaching of mantra, so it has to apply.

132

Akaniúhûha here and in the above quote is not the name of a specific place but the name in general of a highest heaven, as explained in the introduction.

133

Unstopped method is a special way of talking that refers to the stoppageless quality of the nature. In Great Completion it is regarded as one of the most difficult to explain subjects. For unstopped, see the glossary. 134

The regent being means Maitreya and others like him who, because they will be the next buddha, are the regent of the (continued...)

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He shows dharma consistent with all— The secret’s wheel and the authentic retinue— And also shows the dharma of the twelve deeds. The example for that is the great master135 who, from the present time to the end of samsara, residing on the spontaneousexistence vidyådhara level which is non-dual with all buddhas, teaches dharma to his retinue of purity in Akaniúhûha Lotus Light and whose compassionate activity never wavers from working for the sake of sentient beings. As part of that, the great master verbally declared his attainments of both control-over-life and symbol vidyådharas, so, although the remaining levels had not opened up at that point, the light rays of that second buddha’s compassionate activity having opening the lotus of my mind, I have explained it according to how I have understood it. Now, one person who has asserted that great symbol is from first to seventh levels and spontaneous existence is the three levels of purity136 is mistaken; in support of the citation from

134

(...continued) current buddha, whoever that is.

135 136

… Padmasambhava …

The three levels of purity are the top three levels of the bodhisatva levels, so called because bodhisatvas on those levels have reached such a level of purity that it is not possible for them to regress to an earlier level, something that can happen with the bodhisatvas on the second to seventh levels.

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the last quotation given from the Procedures Manual, the All-Knowing One said: The master’s assertion of great symbol from first to seventh levels and spontaneous existence as the three levels of purity appears not to show the correct understanding. Why is that? Because, from the level of a beginner through to and including the level of a buddha, the four vidyådhara levels are travelled and included. Also, in terms of the Direct Crossing137 path, which requires a tremendous amount of the two accumulations to have been practised ahead of time and a great force of prajñå and samådhi to have been obtained, one person said that a person goes from connection path up through seeing and meditation to the path of finalization in one step and that there are also those of extremely great force of mind who go from the path of seeing to level of buddha. The tantra says: One person says that from the types who have gained control one goes to Completed five kåyas with the sixteen meanings. One person says from the great symbol one Will become unsurpassed Samantabhadra. Thus it is like this: if doubts arise about the sequence of the master, the second buddha138, the concrete examples given

137

For Direct Crossing, see the glossary.

138

The master, the second buddha, is Padmasambhava.

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above should change the mind but, aside from that, the Vairochana AbhisaÅbodhi139 and The Secret Moon Drop140 say: In the joyful mood of what is called “Akaniúhûha” A true buddha there has a single manifestation of buddha Here becoming buddha which should be understood to be equivalent to Ùhåkyamuni, who, having finalized abandonment and realization in the unfathomable past, showed, in the guise of a buddha here in this field, the twelve deeds.

3. The Way to Get the Rank of Unification, the Complete Purity Fruition This has two parts: a synopsis of the fruition; and special features of mantra expressed on need.

A. Synopsis of the fruition In that way, the wisdom of purity has been cleansed by the profound samådhi of emptiness; music-like samådhi visualizing it as a deity has cleansed the stains of entry into becoming;

139

Tib. rnam snang mngon byang. This is an important tantra of the Yogatantra section. 140

Tib. zla gsang thig le. One of the five root explanatory tantras of Mahåyoga. The five deal with the enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities respectively. This one is the tantra of enlightened speech.

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the nothing-but-thought141 latencies have been emptied out by realizing that the deity is part of the domain of wisdom’s own-appearance. Ålaya142 switched is dharmadhåtu’s wisdom or, as the SÔtra of Entering the Three K¼yas says: Ålaya consciousness subsided into the expanse is mirror-like wisdom. Likewise, mental consciousness subsiding into the expanse brings all-accomplishing wisdom. The afflicted mind subsiding into the expanse brings individually discriminating wisdom. The consciousnesses of the five doors subsided into the expanse is all-accomplishing wisdom. At that point in time, externally, appearance switches into being field realms143, internally, the skandhas switch into the deity’s body, and secretly eightfold consciousness switches into wisdom, whereby, as it is called, “all superficies are buddha”; the Seventy Verses on Refuge says: Because of clearing the sleep of ignorance and Because also of opening the mind to knowables,

141

“Nothing-but-thought” is the name of the three characters which form the basis of Mind Only and also tantric explanations of the two truths. Nothing-but-thought is that totally imaginary layer of reality that sentient beings create for themselves based on conceptualizing everything they meet. This is saying that the fictional level of samsaric existence are emptied by realizing that the deity’s appearance belong to the wisdom domain, not the concept-based domain of samsara.

142

For ålaya, see the glossary.

143

For field realms, see the glossary.

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Buddha, like the petals of a lotus, opens144. In regard to that, in this case With Undefiled Lotus and Great Accumulation of Wheel of Letters cause that to be manifested and, at the point they have, the set of five kåyas of glorious great Matrix of Illusion’s system are completed all at once, thus, here is a short presentation of natures of that set of five kåyas.

i. The body of the unchanging vajra From wisdom’s matrix expanse’s purity, the vajra body Unchanging, indestructible, beyond thought. It is described in those words because the primal expanse’s nature luminosity, the ultimate point of the path journeyed by all buddhas, is in its dharmatå shiftless145 and in its vajra nature uncompounded permanence. Also, being primordially free from stains it is in nature completely pure and more than that, having the factor of adventitious stains too, it is

144

This is an explanation of the word “buddha” according to the Tibetan word for buddha and how it was derived. The full import simply cannot be translated into English. A very complete explanation of the meaning of this verse can be found in Unending Auspiciousness, The SÔtra of the Recollection of the Noble Three Jewels, with Commentaries by Ju Mipham, T¼ran¼tha, and Tony Duff. Published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee, 2010, ISBN: 978-9937-8386-1-0. The point here is that buddhahood is waiting to happen; as one practises, the enlightenment existing in oneself is opened.

145

For shiftless, see the glossary.

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extremely completely pure, so it is also called “buddhahood having the two purities”.

ii. The body of manifest enlightenment That same text says: Because of being stain-free, it is pureness; Good qualities opened up, it is allcomprehending;146 Because of their being merged non-dual, it is unification, because of which It is expressed as body of manifest enlightenment. This is saying that mindness at the ultimate point of becoming luminous has been included within the factor of possessing the two purities, and that its good qualities, which are not merged with its appearance aspect—the ten strengths, four non-fears, eighteen un-mixed ones of the time of buddha, great compassionate activity, thirty-seven dharmas of enlightenment, and so on, in brief, the good qualities of threefold knowledge, love, and capacity—are inconceivable, so from these perspectives, it is called “the body of manifested complete enlightenment”, and it is present as the basis of shining forth of all of the unmerged good qualities.

iii. Peace, the dharmakaya body The dharmakåya is not asserted as a bare emptiness because then it would not be rigpa-wisdom. When dharmatå is asserted for the dharmakåya, it is the vajra body, which has already been explained above. When the aspect of its

146

The first line means the dharmatå free of all samsaric mentation and the second means the wisdom that knows all phenomena.

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appearing as many yet these not being merged with its entity is asserted for the dharmakåya, it is the manifest enlightenment body, which has been covered by the explanation given immediately above. What then is it to be identified as here? It is not permanent because it is beyond referencing thought; it is not nihilistic because it is personal, self-knowing wisdom; and it does not meet the bounds of being both or neither because it is not established as permanent or nihilistic. Therefore, within the space-like space of the expanse’s nature free of centre and fringe, it resides merged in one taste with an extremely subtle wisdom, like the analogy of the new moon not being visible when viewed. However, there is the knowing factor, unstopped wisdom, and its internalized luminosity, its equipoise aspect, is made into the essence of ignited externalized luminosity wisdom through which the conqueror’s sons abiding on the levels and the mass of sentient beings see the nirmåïakåya seen with their eyes, hear its speech with the ear, smell the perfume of the noble one’s discipline, experience the taste of dharma, touch the bliss of samådhi, and evaluate dharma with examining and analysing prajñå, all of which create the cause for it to be called “wisdom dissolved yet not darkened”. Although it is that way, the dualistic grasping involving object and subject is absent; it is wisdom outside the range of thought that is the domain only of a buddha, not of others. That is expressed in the unsurpassed Illusion in this way: Very subtle wisdom internalized luminosity,

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Referenceless147 basis of shining forth, the dharmakåya. This third body of expanse luminous as internalized luminosity is a subject that is extremely difficult to understand.148

iv. The sambhogakaya body The Illusion’s Procedures Manual says: Spontaneously completed rigpa own-appearance of Field, immeasurable, seat, throne, and ornaments Appears as many light rays which is saying that from the state of the expanse internalized luminosity dharmatå, just as the light of a fire-crystal149 becomes luminous through the condition of sunlight, so own appearance in the personage of the kåya of the five certainties with its ocean of marks and signs, the teachers of the five families of regents, is buddha itself appearing as empty form and perpetually living out the wheel of ornamentation. Others who are not extraordinary, even the lords of the tenth

147

For referencing, see the glossary.

148

The presentation of dharmakåya here is a Great Completion style presentation. In Great Completion this, as one of the subtopics of the larger subject, the ground, is considered to be incomprehensible without some attainment.

149

The name in Tibetan “man shel” means “best kind of crystal”. It is the best kind of crystal because, lens-like, it easily produces fire by focussing sunlight. Therefore, it is also called “firecrystal”.

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level150, do not see it. Why is that? Because they have not abandoned the entirety of obscurations and because they have not gained the mind’s eye which sees the entirety of good qualities of both depth and extent151; the Highest Continuum152 says that with these words: Because it is not an object of speech, because it is included within superfact, Because it is not a place of thought, because it is beyond example, Because it is unsurpassed, because it is not included within becoming-peace153, It is an object of the conquerors outside the range of thought even of the noble ones154.

150

“Lords of the tenth level” and not “lords of the ten levels” as is sometimes given, are those bodhisatvas who have entered and mastered the tenth level of the bodhisatvas. They are in line to become buddhas.

151

“Depth and extent” are the two wisdoms of a buddha: the wisdom that sees all phenomena as they are, meaning in their emptiness, and the wisdom that sees all phenomena as many as there are. These two wisdoms sum up all of the wisdoms of a buddha in their entirety.

152

The fifth of the five dharmas of Maitreya.

153

Becoming-peace effectively means the whole of samsara and nirvana.

154

Noble ones are all those beings who have exited samsara but who have not yet attained truly complete buddhahood.

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Its aspects of perfection, the immeasurable mansion and the rest, also exist from own appearance155 ground’s luminosity, similar to the shining forth of a pure dream. It is appearing in that place where obscurations in their entirety have been abandoned, and it is not as though it will be seen, existing as such, in some other places somewhere. It is like this: it is similar to the way that the empty forms that are the appearances for yogins who have inserted the winds into the central channel cannot simultaneously be seen by others who are together with the yogins in the same house. The difference between this and the internalized luminosity’s three kåyas is that the light having subsided into the crystal it remains there as the basis of shining forth of the five lights, a subtle wisdom resident in the expanse, and, the condition of the sun causes the five lights of the fire crystal to be externally luminous—own appearance having shone forth as an object, the externalized luminosity’s wisdom blazes forth as a body with marks and signs; this example makes it easy to understand.

v. The body of manifestation in every way It is famed as “the teacher, the holy captain who does the work of leading conqueror’s sons, noble ones, and the others to the island of peace” but also appears to the supreme ones among those to be tamed as a teacher in the form of the image saîbhogakåya teacher: it appears as an equivalent of the great saîbhogakåya of expanse known in own appearance but there is the difference that it is a facsimile, not the actual thing, like the difference between an actual thing and its

155

For own appearance, see the glossary.

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image appearing in a mirror. The marks, signs, and so on of the saîbhoga appear complete on this image but, because it other appears as field realms, retinue, and so on and is included within the appearances of the ten level ones, it is distinguished in the Union of the Sun and Moon Tantra156 as “semi-nirmåïa-saîbhogakåya”. It is like this: it is the own appearance’s nature manifest and that being the case, it is known as nature manifestation body157, in whose field realms the five worlds of Akaniúhûha, Abhirati, Padmavat, Padmakuûa or Sukhåvatë, and Utterly Perfected Activity, the buddhas of the five families, Vairochana, and so on, teach to the retinue of purity, the five families of the ten levels, the five dharmas, all of which is the five switched places nature become visible, then give empowerment through the Great Light which is the completion, the great deed of the buddhas. The Illusion’s Manifest Enlightenment says: For the ones who are masters of the levels of purity, There are five teachers and five uttermost dharmas, Through which five wisdoms are wholly completed because of which They go to the heart of complete enlightenment. From within that state, there is the structuring of bodies manifested to tame beings. It happens from the seed that fully increases the whiteness of sentient beings, and has the analogy of threefold water, moon forms, and actual

156

One of the seventeen root tantras of Great Completion.

157

Nature nirmåïakåya.

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moon-disk. Just as the moon has the ability to produce an image, so the moon-like saîbhogakåya has the ability to send manifestations into the entity of those to be tamed, and just as the interdependency needed to hold an image is present in water, so those to be tamed have the merit for the appearance of a manifestation. Therefore, when the two come together, just as the moon’s form appears without effort in water, so the image of the manifestation’s appearance arises wherever there is someone to be tamed. Additionally, each migrator being under the influence of his own karma—with high level types shown by head facing up, animals shown by head facing horizontally, and hell-beings and pretas shown by facing downwards158—migrators live out various sufferings in the six classes within which they appear, and, in order to work for their sakes accordingly, manifests in the six beings of rigpa, the six munis. Additionally, it tames some in the enlightened body of great merits through showing the twelve deeds, and so on; it tames some through the enlightened speech, with its sounds of words that are transcendent over ordinary wordsounds showing the various vehicles; it tames some through the enlightened mind using its six extra-perceptions of Samantabhadra’s conduct wholly complete, and so on; and it

This is a portion of the teaching in Jigmey Lingpa’s Guidebook Called “Highest Wisdom” (Triyig Yeshe Lama) concerning the bardo of becoming in which the signs of impending type of birth are laid out. The text is available in the book by Tony Duff, “Highest Wisdom” A Guidebook to The Stages of Path of the Prime Guardian According to Longchen Nyingtig Great Completion by Jigmey Lingpa, published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee, 2010, 9789937-8386-0-3. 158

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tames some through the inconceivable enlightened activity that acts directly in every way possible; the AvataÅsaka159 says: Oh, son of the family, the manifestations of the tathågata are immeasurable; for each migrator and each means needed to tame it, the work of benefiting that migrator will be done by this and that form, colour, and name. Of those bodies, the one that shows the twelve deeds is referred to as “the supreme manifestation body”. The other ones that tame by compassionate activity are called the “variety manifestation body” and they are produced as follows. There is manifestation in a body that will actually benefit sentient beings: at the time of famine, a great effigy; at the time of epidemic, a good being; on the island of råkúhasis, allknowing Bhalaha; and so on are how they work through manifestation to benefit. The artisan appears as matter: a drawing, an offering, a lotus, a wish-fulfilling tree, a pleasure garden, a delightful grove, an excellent house, a jewel, a boat, a bridge, a lamp, and so on; in short, all things provided for the benefit of sentient beings is a manifestation of blessings. Those things moreover have a mode of arising from the expanse and dissolving into it; the All-Knowing One160, whose words withstand the utmost analysis, said:

159

One of the great sýtras of the Great Vehicle.

160

Longchenpa.

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If there were no beings to be tamed, the tamer would subside into the expanse; Own appearance saîbhogakåya dissolves into the dharmakåya’s state. If there were no water container, the moon’s form would drain away into space; Because of the date, the moon has subsided into the expanse And the new moon is without increase or decrease; Likewise if there is someone to be tamed, then, as before, it will gradually appear. This is the fruition spontaneously existing. When there is no container with water in it, the moon’s image subsides of itself into the moon’s own space, and likewise, when there is no-one to be tamed, the buddha’s nirmåïakåya moon-form was appearing to the entity161, dissolves into simple peace in its own appearance saîbhogakåya’s state. That is the dissolution by example. However, when one thing comes out then on the other hand dissolves back into itself again, there is nothing at all; similarly, the saîbhogakåya also dissolves into internalized luminosity dharmakåya’s expanse, so it is called “wisdom draining back into the expanse”, which then is like the new moon present with internalized luminosity. Middle Way followers assert that in essence: they assert an equipoise in a state of holy cessation that comes with phenomena being pacified into the expanse and the enactment of others’ benefit in other’s appearance due to prayers of aspira-

161

“Appearing to the entity” means appearing to the entity of samsaric beings in other appearance.

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tion previously made. The Highest Continuum talks about that, asserting equipoise wisdom that is without movement but which in post-attainment enacts the purposes of fathomless sentient beings: No thought and its Post attainment are asserted as wisdom.

B. Special features of mantra expressed on need That there should not be an assertion of difference between the sýtra and mantra presentations of buddha in the state, like that, of the circumstance of finalized abandonment and realization, the great possession of the two purities, is the thought of my guru, All-Knowing Lord of Speech. However, in this case, when holy beings’ wisdom with its profound illusionlike play of understanding is used to evaluate the expanse’s good qualities, no matter which sort of individually discriminating prajñå is applied to topics of the inconceivable, none is a match for the sort behind the explanations of these subjects which concern the dharmatå given by Yungtong Dorje Pal, who, following the Zur gurus who practised Palchen, wrote a treatise that distinguished the differences between the buddhas of sýtra and tantra. There is no disputing this great Lord of Advocates but, if we put the haughty regimental banners to rest and say what needs to be said on this occasion, what follows, which has been seen to withstand examination by correct intellect, is explained according to that tantra commentary. There are three parts to this: first, there is the difference of entity of dharmakåya, then the difference in character, and then the difference in blessing.

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i. Causal characteristics’162 dharmakåya is emptiness free of elaboration whereas mantra’s dharmakåya is unified appearance-emptiness; the Extensive Illusion says: The worlds, the animate and inanimate, and so on In being appearance are without entity. ii. Causal’s163 dharmakåya falls into the extreme of being empty whereas mantra’s dharmakåya, being appearanceemptiness unified, does not fall into the extreme. iii. It is explained with this: For causal’s dharmakåya, the blessing of the two form kåyas does not shine forth whereas for mantra’s dharmakåya blessings of inseparable appearanceemptiness shine forth in every way as the five kåyas and so on.” If the first of the three is analysed, the ways of distinguishing the entity are seen to disagree; this is because the wisdom that dissolves yet does not darken is extremely subtle so there is no identification of appearance-emptiness. The citation from the Extensive Illusion, which makes its distinction from the perspective of characteristic, is extremely workable. If the second is analysed, the difference of the two form kåyas is further divided into three. The first is that causal characteristics’ two form kåyas arise from causes and conditions

162

See “vehicle of causal characteristics” in the glossary.

163

Causal’s is an abbreviation of causal characteristics’.

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whereas mantra’s form kåyas are not produced from causes and conditions; the Extensive Illusion says: Because it is not dependent on cause and condition. If the third is analysed, it has two parts: saîbhogakåya difference and nirmåïakåya difference. Saîbhogakåya difference further has two parts. For the difference of object to be enjoyed, characteristics says that the white side is enjoyed due to which the black side is not enjoyed; mantra says that both are enjoyed. For the difference of the method for doing the enjoyment, in characteristics there is no means for enjoying in the black side; in mantra there is the means for enjoying both black and white sides. Nirmåïakåya difference further has two parts. For the difference of object to be tamed, causal characteristics’ nirmåïakåya tames beings to be tamed of the white side due to which beings to be tamed of the black side are not tamed; mantra’s nirmåïakåya tames those to be tamed without bias. For the difference of method by which taming is done: causal characteristics’ nirmåïakåya is without means to tame the black side; mantra’s nirmåïakåya has the means to tame both white and black sides. Therefore, the two kåyas of inseparability, vajra and manifest enlightenment, should be known to be superior. That completes the instruction. Supreme unchanging great bliss’s expanse and the spiritual friend’s steady way of walking Are ornamented by earings of finely crafted foremost instructions of tantra’s meaning. Within the vehicles the supreme of vehicles able to carry the weight of the meaning of all words

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Provides massed clouds of fine explanation for a swift journey to Akaniúhûha. In regard to that, all-conquerors-in-fact Orgyan Lord, esteemed Panchen Vimalamitra, Dharma lord All-Knowing, the Early Translation’s life-forces—conquerors’ son Senior Zur, Senior Zur, and Younger Zur— Your ways of explanation relieve us who are living in the confined quarters of this the dregs of time and at this time The self-arisen vajra blazing with the light rays of knowledge and love illuminates all. The distilled essence of tantra and the foremost instructions of the practice place Totally unmistaken are a treasury of wish-fulfilling gems. Here on this stairway which leads to the level of the five kåyas, The climbers will be fortunate travellers—that cannot be disputed. A river of peace of unsullied collection of virtue, Accompanied by a string of waves of the three excellences— Through youthful Mañjuùhrë, the whole dedication of knowledge is accomplished, Please go to Samantabhadra’s level! This presentation of Development Stage called “Stairway Leading to Akaniúhûha” came about in this way. The iron bridge vidyådhara, a supreme nirmåïakåya, Yeshe Lhundrup Palzangpo, whose excellent eye of intellect has an encompassing view of those subjects connected with the good teachings

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of the tathågatas and who, without conceit, treasures the teaching and those who uphold it, asked me insistently to write it and, to go with his supplications, gave me a pair of divine scarves of red wastra cloth with coin designs embroidered in golden thread. A great miracle of glorious Orgyan and consort’s light rays of knowledge and love occurred due to this, suddenly opened the lotus of my intellect, causing me to naturally understand all dharmas and be fearless in regard to the subjects of the authentic. Thus, this Dzogchen practitioner Dorje Jigmey Lingpa, well-known by another name, Longchen Namkha’i Naljor, set forth this fine explanation in the Long Life Forest in the area of bodhi trees, at the beautiful practice place Padma Osel Thegchog Ling, in a house filled with the fragrance of being protected by the five tathågata families, at the age of thirty-nine years in the year of Khorlo Nachen, whose partner in the household dance was Ôiúhi Lha’i Lama Ozer Bar, at the time of Senge Tåtkala shining forth. The end. Virtue, Virtue, Virtue.

GLOSSARY

Adventitious, Tib. glo bur: This term has the connotations of popping up on the surface of something and of not being part of that thing. Therefore, even though it is often translated as “sudden”, that only conveys half of the meaning. In Buddhist literature, something adventitious comes up as a surface event and disappears again precisely because it is not actually part of the thing on whose surface it appeared. It is frequently used in relation to the afflictions because they pop up on the surface of the mind of buddha-nature but are not part of the buddha-nature itself. Affliction, Skt. kleùha, Tib. nyon mongs: This term is usually translated as emotion or disturbing emotion, etcetera, but the Buddha was very specific about the meaning of this word. When the Buddha referred to the emotions, meaning a movement of mind, he did not refer to them as such but called them “kleùha” in Sanskrit, meaning exactly “affliction”. It is a basic part of the Buddhist teaching that emotions afflict beings, giving them problems at the time and causing more problems in the future. Alaya, Skt. ålaya, Tib. kun gzhi: This term, if translated, is usually translated as all-base or thereabouts. It is a Sanskrit term that means a range that underlies and forms a basis for something

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else. In Buddhist teaching, it means a particular level of mind that sits beneath all other levels of mind. However, it is used in several different ways in the Buddhist teaching and changes to a different meaning in each case. There is a difference between ålaya alone and ålaya consciousness. All-Knowing One, Tib. kun mkhyen: Every century in Tibet, there were just a few people who seemed to know everything so were given the title “All-Knowing One”. One of them was Longchen Rabjam and throughout this text All-Knowing One always refers to him. Moreover, of all the All-Knowing ones, Longchenpa was regarded as the greatest, therefore, he is also frequently referred to as the “great” or “greatest” AllKnowing One. Note that “All-Knowing” does not mean “omniscient one” even though it is often translated that way. Appropriation, Skt. upådåna, Tib. nye bar len pa: This is the name of the ninth of the twelve links of interdependent origination. Tsongkhapa gives a good treatment of all twelve links in his interdependent origination section of the Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, a translation of which is available for free download from the PKTC web-site. It is the crucial point in the process at which a karma that has been previously planted is selected and activated as the karma that will propel the being into its next existence. In other words, it is the key point in a being’s existence when the next type of existence is selected. Awareness, Skt. jñå, Tib. shes pa. “Awareness” is always used in our translations to mean the basic knower of mind or, as Buddhist teaching itself defines it, “a general term for any registering mind”, whether dualistic or non-dualistic. Hence, it is used for both samsaric and nirvanic situations; for example, consciousness (Tib. “rnam par shes pa”) is a dualistic form of awareness, whereas rigpa, wisdom (Tib. “ye shes”), and so on are non-dualistic forms of awareness. See rigpa in the glossary for more.

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It is noteworthy that the key term “rigpa” is often mistakenly translated as “awareness”, even though it is not merely an awareness; this creates considerable confusion amongst practitioners of the higher tantras who are misled by it. Bardo, Tib. bar do: Literally, “interval” or “in-between place”. The general teachings of Buddhism teach this as the interval between one life and the next. Becoming, Skt. bhåvanå, Tib. srid pa: This is another name for samsaric existence. Beings in samsara have a samsaric existence but, more than that, they are constantly in a state of becoming—becoming this type of being or that type of being in this abode or that, as they are driven along without choice by the karmic process that drives samsaric existence. Bliss: Skt. sukha, Tib. bde: The Sanskrit term and its Tibetan translation are usually translated as “bliss” but in fact refer to the whole range of possibilities of everything on the side of good as opposed to bad. Thus, the term will mean pleasant, happy, good, nice, easy, comfortable, blissful, and so on, depending on context. Bodhicitta: see under enlightenment mind. Bodhisatva: A bodhisatva is a person who has engendered the bodhichitta, enlightenment mind, and, with that as a basis, has undertaken the path to the enlightenment of a truly complete buddha specifically for the welfare of other beings. See also under “satva and sattva”. Capable One, Skt. muni, Tib. thub pa. The term “muni” as for example in “Ùhåkyamuni” has long been thought to mean “sage” because of an entry in Monier-Williams excellent Sanskrit-English dictionary. In fact, it has been used by many Indian religions since the times of ancient India to mean in general, a religious practitioner “one who could do it”, one who has made progress on a spiritual path and there-

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by become able to restrain his three doors away from nonvirtue and affliction. Clinging, Tib. zhen pa: In Buddhism, this term refers specifically to the twofold process of dualistic mind mis-taking things that are not true, not pure, as true, pure, etcetera and then, because of seeing them as highly desirable even though they are not, attaching itself to or clinging to those things. This type of clinging acts as a kind of glue that keeps a person joined to the unsatisfactory things of cyclic existence because of mistakenly seeing them as desirable. Compassionate activity, Tib. thugs rje: This does not mean compassionate activity in general. Rather, it is a specific term of the most profound level of teachings of Mahåmudrå and Great Completion. These teachings describe innate wisdom as having three characteristics. The third characteristic is this compassionate activity. It refers to the fact that wisdom spontaneously does whatever needs to be done, throughout all reaches of time and space, for all beings. Although it includes the word “compassion” in its name, it is more primordial than that. It is the dynamic quality of enlightenment which choicelessly, ceaselessly, spontaneously, and pervasively acts to benefit others. The term is often used in discussions of Great Completion and essence Mahåmudrå. Complete purity, rnam dag: This term refers to the quality of a buddha’s mind, which is completely pure compared to a sentient being’s mind. The mind of a being in samsara has its primordially pure nature covered over by the muck of dualistic mind. If the being practises correctly, the impurity can be removed and mind can be returned to its original state of complete purity. Complexion, Tib. mdangs: In both Mahåmudrå and Great Completion there is the general term “gdangs” meaning what is given off or emitted by something in general, for example the sound given off by a loudspeaker or what the empty factor of

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mind emits. The Mahåmudrå teaching does not distinguish between “gdangs” and “mdangs” but the Great Completion teaching does. In Great Completion, this term has the more refined meaning of the “complexion” or “lustre” of thing. In this teaching, there is the “gdangs” offput or output of the empty aspect of mind in general, but there is also the more subtle “mdangs” complexion or lustre which is an aspect of the offput or output of that emptiness. Conceived effort, Tib. rtsol ba: In Buddhism, this term usually does not merely mean effort but has the specific connotation of effort of dualistic mind. In that case, it is effort that is produced by and functions specifically within the context of dualistic concept. For example, the term “mindfulness with effort” specifically means “a type of mindfulness that is occurring within the context of dualistic mind and its various operations”. The term “effortless” is often used in Mahåmudrå and Great Completion to mean a way of being in which dualistic mind has been abandoned and, therefore, in which there is none of the striving of ordinary people. Concept tokens, Tib. mtshan ma: This is the technical name for the structures or concepts which function as the words of conceptual mind’s language. For example, a table seen in direct visual perception will have no concept tokens involved with knowing it. However, when thought becomes involved and there is the thought “table” in an inferential or conceptual perception of the table, the name-tag “table” will be used to reference the table and that name tag is the concept token. Although we usually reference phenomena via these concepts, the phenomena are not the dualistically referenced things we think of them as being. The actual fact of the phenomena is quite different from the concept tokens used to discursively think about them and is known by wisdom rather than concept-based mind. Therefore, this term is often used in

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Buddhist literature to signify that samsaric mind is involved rather than non-dualistic wisdom. Confusion, Tib. ’khrul pa: In Buddhism, this term mostly refers to the fundamental confusion of taking things the wrong way that happens because of fundamental ignorance, although it can also have the more general meaning of having lots of thoughts and being confused about it. In the first case, it is defined like this “Confusion is the appearance to rational mind of something being present when it is not” and refers, for example, to seeing an object, such as a table, as being truly present, when in fact it is present only as mere, interdependent appearance. Cyclic existence: See under samsara. Dharmadhatu, Skt. dharmadhåtu, Tib. chos kyi dbyings: This is the name for the range or basic space in which all dharmas, meaning all phenomena, come into being. If a flower bed is the place where flowers grow and are found, the dharmadhåtu is the dharma or phenomena bed in which all phenomena come into being and are found. The term is used in all levels of Buddhist teaching with that basis meaning but the explanation of it becomes more profound as the teaching becomes more profound. Dharmakaya, Skt. dharmakåya, Tib. chos sku: In the general teachings of Buddhism, this refers to the mind of a buddha, with “dharma” meaning reality and “kåya” meaning body. Dharmata, Skt. dharmatå, Tib. chos nyid: This is a general term meaning the way that something is, and can be applied to anything at all; it is similar in meaning to “actuality” q.v. For example, the dharmatå of water is wetness and the dharmatå of the becoming bardo is a place where beings are in a samsaric, or becoming mode, prior to entering a nature bardo. It is used frequently in Tibetan Buddhism to mean “the dharmatå of reality” but that is a specific case of the much

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larger meaning of the term. To read texts which use this term successfully, one has to understand that the term has a general meaning and then see how that applies in context. Direct Crossing, Tib. thod rgal: The name of one of the two main practices of the innermost level of Great Completion. The other one is Thorough Cut q.v. Discursive thought, Skt. vikalpa, Tib. rnam rtog: This means more than just the superficial thought that is heard as a voice in the head. It includes the entirety of conceptual process that arises due to mind contacting any object of any of the senses. The Sanskrit and Tibetan literally mean “(dualistic) thought (that arises from the mind wandering among the) various (superficies q.v. perceived in the doors of the senses)”. Elaboration, Tib. spro ba: This is a general name for what is given off by dualistic mind as it goes about its conceptual process. In general, elaborations prevent a person from seeing emptiness directly. Freedom from elaborations implies direct sight of emptiness. Enlightened body, speech, and mind’s unending wheel of ornamentation, Tib. sku sung thugs mi zad pa’i rgyan gyi ’khor lo: This phrase is used to express the activity of enlightenment. All three secrets of the tathågatas perpetually engage in an limitless and massive expression of enlightened activity which is expressed throughout the entirety of the dharmadhåtu. It is like an unending universe bursting at the seams with the display of enlightened activity. Enlightenment mind, Skt. bodhicitta, Tib. byang chub sems: This is a key term of the Great Vehicle. It is the type of mind that is connected not with the lesser enlightenment of an arhat but the enlightenment of a truly complete buddha. As such, it is a mind which is connected with the aim of bringing all sentient beings to that same level of buddhahood. A person

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who has this mind has entered the Great Vehicle and is either a bodhisatva or a buddha. It is important to understand that “enlightenment mind” is used to refer equally to the minds of all levels of bodhisatva on the path to buddhahood and to the mind of a buddha who has completed the path. Therefore, it is not “mind striving for enlightenment” as is so often translated but “enlightenment mind”, meaning that kind of mind which is connected with the full enlightenment of a truly complete buddha and which is present in all those who belong to the Great Vehicle. The term is used in the conventional Great Vehicle and also in the Vajra Vehicle. In the Vajra Vehicle, there are some special uses of the term where substances of the pure aspect of the subtle physical body are understood to be manifestations of enlightenment mind. Entity, Tib. ngo bo: The entity of something is just exactly what that thing is. In English we would often simply say “thing” rather than entity. However, in Buddhism, “thing” has a very specific meaning rather than the general meaning that it has in English. It has become common to translate this term as “essence”. However, in most cases “entity”, meaning what a thing is rather than an essence of that thing, is the correct translation for this term. Equipoise and post-attainment, Tib. mnyam bzhag and rjes thob: Although often called “meditation and post-meditation”, the actual term is “equipoise and post-attainment”. There is great meaning in the actual wording which is lost by the looser translation. Expanse, Skt. dhåtu, Tib. dbyings: A Sanskrit term with over twenty meanings. Many of those meanings are also present in the Tibetan equivalent. In the Vajra Vehicle teachings it is used as a replacement for the term emptiness that conveys a non-theoretical sense of the experience of emptiness. When used this way, it has the sense “expanse” because

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emptiness is experienced as an expanse in which all phenomena appear. Fact, Skt. artha, Tib. don: “Fact” is that knowledge of an object that occurs to the surface of mind. It is not the object but what the mind understands as the object. Fictional and superfactual: Fictional and superfactual are our greatly improved translations for “relative” and “absolute” respectively. Briefly, the original Sanskrit word for fiction means a deliberately produced fiction and refers to the world projected by a mind controlled by ignorance. The original word for superfact means “that superior fact that appears on the surface of the mind of a noble one who has transcended samsara” and refers to reality seen as it actually is. Relative and absolute do not convey this meaning at all and, when they are used, the meaning being presented is simply lost. Field, Field realm, Tib. zhing, zhing khams: This term is often translated “buddha field” though there is no “buddha” in the term. There are many different types of “fields” in both samsara and nirvana. Thus there are fields that belong to enlightenment and ones that belong to ignorance. Moreover, just as there are “realms” of samsara—desire, form, and formless—so there are realms of nirvana—the fields dharmakåya, saîbhogakåya, and nirmåïakåya and these are therefore called “field realms”. Five paths, Tib. lam lnga: In the Prajñåpåramitå teachings of the Great Vehicle, the Buddha explained the entire Buddhist journey as a set of five paths called the paths of accumulation, connection, seeing, cultivation, and no more training. The first four paths are part of journeying to enlightenment; the fifth path is that one has actually arrived and has no more training to undergo. There are a set of five paths that describe the journey of the Lesser Vehicle and a set of five paths that describe the journey of the Greater Vehicle. The names

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are the same in each case but the details of what is accomplished at each stage are different. Four close placements of mindfulness, Tib. dran pa nyer gzhags pa bzhi: This is a set of four practices taught by the Buddha to develop mindfulness which, together with alertness, is the main cause of developing ùhamatha. They are mindfulness of body, feeling, effort, and mind. Foremost instruction, Skt. upadeùha, Tib. man ngag: There are several types of instruction mentioned in Buddhist literature: there is the general level of instruction which is the meaning contained in the words of the texts of the tradition; on a more personal and direct level there is oral instruction which has been passed down from teacher to student from the time of the buddha; and on the most profound level there are foremost instructions which are not only oral instructions provided by one’s guru but are special, core instructions that come out of personal experience and which convey the teaching concisely and with the full weight of personal experience. Foremost instructions or upadeùha are crucial to the Vajra Vehicle because these are the special way of passing on the profound instructions needed for the student’s realization. Fortune, fortunate person, Tib. skal ldan: To meet with any given dharma teaching, a person must have accumulated the karmic fortune needed for such a rare opportunity, and this kind of person is then called “a fortunate one” or “fortunate person”. This term is especially used in the Vajra Vehicle, whose teachings and practices are generally very hard to meet with. Great Bliss, Skt. mahåsukha, Tib. bde ba chen po: “Great bliss” is a standard but not good translation of this key term. The phrase actually means “the great state of satisfactoriness” that comes with entering an enlightened kind of existence. It is blissful in that it is totally satisfactory, a condition of perfect ease, in comparison to samsaric existence which is totally

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unsatisfactory and always with some kind of dis-ease. As Thrangu Rinpoche once observed, if samsara is thought of as “great suffering” then this is better thought of as the “great ease”. Similarly, if samsara is “total unsatisfactoriness” then this is the “great satisfactoriness”. Latency, Skt. våsanå, Tib. bag chags: The original Sanskrit has the meaning exactly of “latency”. The Tibetan term translates that inexactly with “something sitting there (Tib. chags) within the environment of mind (Tib. bag)”. Although it has become popular to translate this term into English with “habitual pattern”, that is not its meaning. The term refers to a karmic seed that has been imprinted on the mindstream and is present there as a latency, ready and waiting to come into manifestation. Lay aside, Tib. bshags pa: This term is usually translated as “confession” but that is not the meaning. The term literally means to cut something away and remove it from oneself. In Buddhism, it is used in the context of ridding oneself of the karmic seeds sown by bad karmic actions. Buddhism is a totally non-theistic religion, so it is very important to understand that one is not confessing wrongdoings to anyone, including oneself. There is no granting of absolution in this system. As the Buddha himself said, he has no ability to purify the karmic stains of sentient beings, he can only teach them how to do so. The practice that he taught for ridding oneself of karmic wrongdoings is the practice of realizing for oneself that they hold the seed of future suffering, rousing regret, and distancing oneself from them. In doing so, one lays them aside. There is a longer phrase that indicates the full practice of laying aside. The Tibetan phrase “mthol zhing shags pa” literally means “admitting and laying aside”. Note that “admitting” also does not entail confession; it refers to that fact that one first has to admit or acknowledge to oneself that

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one has done something wrong, karmically speaking, and that it will have undesirable consequences. Without this, one cannot effectively take the second step of distancing oneself from the actions. Therefore, it is explained that the process of “laying aside” has to be understood to include the practice of “admission” because, without that acknowledgement, the laying aside cannot be done. Liveliness, Tib. rtsal: A key term in both Mahåmudrå and Great Completion. The term is sometimes translated as “display” or “expression” but neither are correct. The primary meaning is the ability of something to express itself but in use, the actual expression of that ability is also included. Thus, in English it would not be “expression” but “expressivity” but that is too dry. This term is not at all dry; it is talking about the life of something and how that life comes into expression; “liveliness” fits the meaning of the original term very well. Luminosity or illumination, Skt. prabhåsvara, Tib. ’od gsal ba: The core of mind has two aspects: an emptiness factor and a knowing factor. The Buddha and many Indian religious teachers used “luminosity” as a metaphor for the knowing quality of the core of mind. If in English we would say “Mind has a knowing quality”, the teachers of ancient India would say, “Mind has an illuminative quality; it is like a source of light which illuminates what it knows”. This term been translated as “clear light” but that is a mistake that comes from not understanding the etymology of the word. It does not refer to a light that has the quality of clearness (something that makes no sense, actually!) but to the illuminative property which is the nature of the empty mind. Note also that in both Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist literature, this term is frequently abbreviated just to Skt. “vara” and Tib. “gsal ba” with no change of meaning. Unfortunately, this has been thought to be another word and it has

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then been translated with “clarity”, when in fact it is just this term in abbreviation. Maha Ati, Skt. mahåti, Tib. shin tu chen po: Mahå Ati or Ati Yoga is the name of the ninth and last of the nine vehicles taught in the Nyingma system of nine vehicles. The name “ati” literally means that it is the vehicle at the end of the sequence of all other vehicles. It is not only the final vehicle at the end of the sequence but the peak of all vehicles given that it presents reality more directly than any of the vehicles below it. It is therefore also called the king of vehicles. “Mahåsaðdhi”—“Dzogpa Chenpo” in the Tibetan language and “Great Completion” in the English language—is the name of the teachings on reality contained in the Mahå Ati vehicle and also of the reality itself. Great Completion and Mahå Ati are often used interchangeably even through their references are slightly different. See Great Completion in the glossary for more. Mara, Skt. måra, Tib. bdud: A Sanskrit term closely related to the word “death”. Buddha spoke of four classes of extremely negative influences that have the capacity to drag a sentient being deep into samsara. They are the “maras” or “kiss of death”: of having a samsaric set of five skandhas; of having afflictions; of death itself; and of the son of gods, which means being seduced and taken in totally by sensuality. Migrator, Tib. ’gro ba: Migrator is one of several terms that were commonly used by the Buddha to mean “sentient being”. It shows sentient beings from the perspective of their constantly being forced to go here and there from one rebirth to another by the power of karma. They are like flies caught in a jar, constantly buzzing back and forth. The term is often translated using “beings” which is another general term for sentient beings but doing so loses the meaning entirely: Buddhist authors who know the tradition do not use the word loosely but use it specifically to give the sense of beings who are

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constantly and helplessly going from one birth to another, and that is how the term should be read. Mind, Skt. chitta, Tib. sems: There are several terms for mind in the Buddhist tradition, each with its own, specific meaning. This term is the most general term for the samsaric type of mind. It refers to the type of mind that is produced because of fundamental ignorance of enlightened mind. Whereas the wisdom of enlightened mind lacks all complexity and knows in a non-dualistic way, this mind of un-enlightenment is a very complicated apparatus that only ever knows in a dualistic way. The teachings in this book use the term “mindness” to refer to what this complicated, samsaric mind is at core—the enlightened form of mind. Mindfulness, Skt. smôiti, Tib. dran pa: A particular mental event, one that has the ability to keep mind on its object. Together with alertness, it is one of the two causes of developing ùhamatha. See under alertness for an explanation. Mindness, Skt. chittatå, Tib. sems nyid: Mindness is a specific term of the tantras. It is one of many terms meaning the essence of mind or the nature of mind. It conveys the sense of “what mind is at its very core”. It has sometimes been translated as “mind itself” but that is a misunderstanding of the Tibetan word “nyid”. The term does not mean “that thing mind” where mind refers to dualistic mind. Rather, it means the very core of dualistic mind, what mind is at root, without all of the dualistic baggage. Mindness is a path term. It refers to exactly the same thing as “actuality” or “actuality of mind” which is a ground term but does so from the practitioner’s perspective. It conveys the sense to a practitioner that he has baggage of dualistic mind that has not yet been purified but that there is a core to that mind that he can work with. Muni: See under capable one.

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Nail, Tib. gzer: Nail is used to mean an instruction or a procedure by which a particular point of understanding or realization is “pegged” or “pinned” down so that it does not leave the practitioner’s experience. Nature Great Completion, Tib. rang bzhin rdzogs pa chen po: This is one of several names for Great Completion that emphasizes the path aspect of Great Completion. It is not “natural great completion” nor is it “the true nature Great Completion” as commonly seen. In terms of grammar, the first term is the noun “nature” not the adjective “natural”. In terms of meaning, the noun nature is used because it refers to the nature aspect in particular of the three characteristics of the essence of mind—entity, nature, and un-stopped compassionate activity—used to describe Great Completion as experienced by the practitioner. Thus, this name refers to the approach taken by Great Completion and does not refer at all to Great Completion being a “natural” practice or its being connected with a “natural reality” or any of the many other, incorrect meanings that arise from the mistaken translation “natural Great Completion”. Noble one, Skt. årya, Tib. ’phags pa: In Buddhism, a noble one is a being who has become spiritually advanced to the point that he has passed beyond cyclic existence. According to the Buddha, the beings in cyclic existence were ordinary beings, spiritual commoners, and the beings who had passed beyond it were special, the nobility. Outflow, Skt. åsråva, Tib. zag pa: The Sanskrit term means a bad discharge, like pus coming out of a wound. Outflows occur when wisdom loses its footing and falls into the elaborations of dualistic mind. Therefore, anything with duality also has outflows. This is sometimes translated as “defiled” or “conditioned” but these fail to capture the meaning. The idea is that wisdom can remain self-contained in its own unique sphere but, when it loses its ability to stay within

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itself, it starts to have leakages into dualism that are defilements on the wisdom. See also under un-outflowed. Own Appearance, Tib. rang snang: This is regarded as one of the more difficult terms to explain within Buddhist philosophy. It does not mean “self-appearance” in the sense of something coming into appearance of itself. Suffice it to say that it refers to a situation that is making its own appearances in accord with its own situation. Other appearance is the domain of experience of others. Post-attainment, Tib. rjes thob: See under equipoise and postattainment. Prajna, Skt. prajñå, Tib. shes rab: A Sanskrit term for the type of mind that makes good and precise distinctions between this and that and hence which arrives at correct understanding. It has been translated as “wisdom” but that is not correct because it is, generally speaking, a mental event belonging to dualistic mind where “wisdom” is used to refer to the nondualistic knower of a buddha. Moreover, the main feature of prajñå is its ability to distinguish correctly between one thing and another and hence to arrive at a correct understanding. Rational mind, Tib. blo: Rational mind is one of several terms for mind in Buddhist terminology. It specifically refers to a mind that judges this against that. With rare exception it is used to refer to samsaric mind, given that samsaric mind only works in the dualistic mode of comparing this versus that. Because of this, the term is mostly used in a pejorative sense to point out samsaric mind as opposed to an enlightened type of mind. The Gelugpa tradition does have a positive use for this mind and their documents will sometimes use this term in a positive sense; they claim that a buddha has an enlightened type of this mind. That is not wrong; one could refer to the ability of a buddha’s wisdom to make a distinction between this and that with the term “rational mind”. However, the Kagyu and

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Nyingma traditions in their Mahåmudrå and Great Completion teachings, reserve this term for the dualistic mind. In their teachings, it is the villain, so to speak, which needs to be removed from the practitioner’s being in order to obtain enlightenment. This term has been commonly translated simply as “mind” but that fails to identify this term properly and leaves it confused with the many other words that are also translated simply as “mind”. It is not just another mind but is specifically the sort of mind that creates the situation of this and that (ratio in Latin) and hence, at least in the teachings of Kagyu and Nyingma, upholds the duality of samsara. In that case, it is the very opposite of the essence of mind. Thus, this is a key term which should be noted and not just glossed over as “mind”. Realization, Tib. rtogs pa: Realization has a very specific meaning: it refers to correct knowledge that has been gained in such a way that the knowledge does not abate. There are two important points here. Firstly, realization is not absolute. It refers to the removal of obscurations, one at a time. Each time that a practitioner removes an obscuration, he gains a realization because of it. Therefore, there are as many levels of obscuration as there are obscurations. Maitreya, in the Ornament of Manifest Realizations, shows how the removal of the various obscurations that go with each of the three realms of samsaric existence produces realization. Secondly, realization is stable or, as the Tibetan wording says, “unchanging”. As Guru Rinpoche pointed out, “Intellectual knowledge is like a patch, it drops away; experiences on the path are temporary, they evaporate like mist; realization is unchanging”. Referencing, Tib. dmigs pa: This is the name for the process in which dualistic mind references an actual object by using a conceptual token instead of the actual object. The term

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referencing implies the presence of dualistic mind and the term non-referencing or without reference implies the presence of non-dualistic wisdom. Refuge, Skt. ùharaïaî, Tib. bskyab pa: The Sanskrit term means “shelter”, “protection from harm”. Everyone seeks a refuge from the unsatisfactoriness of life, even if it is a simple act like brushing the teeth to prevent the body from decaying unnecessarily. Buddhists, after having thought carefully about their situation and who could provide a refuge from it which would be thoroughly reliable, find that three things—buddha, dharma, and saðgha—are the only things that could provide that kind of refuge. Therefore, Buddhists take refuge in those Three Jewels of Refuge as they are called. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is clearly laid out as the one doorway to all Buddhist practice and realization. Rigpa, Tib. rig pa: This is the singularly most important term in the whole of Great Completion and Mahåmudrå. In particular, it is the key word of all words in the Great Completion system of the Thorough Cut. Rigpa literally means to know in the sense of “I see!” It is used at all levels of meaning from the coarsest everyday sense of knowing something to the deepest sense of knowing something as presented in the system of Thorough Cut. The system of Thorough Cut uses this term in a very special sense, though it still retains its basic meaning of “to know”. To translate it as “awareness”, which is common practice today, is a poor practice; there are many kinds of awareness but there is only one rigpa and besides, rigpa is substantially more than just awareness. Since this is such an important term and since it lacks an equivalent in English, I choose not to translate it. This is the term used to indicate enlightened mind as experienced by the practitioner on the path of these practices. The term itself specifically refers to the dynamic knowing quality of mind. It absolutely does not mean a simple registering, as

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implied by the word “awareness” which unfortunately is often used to translate this term. There is no word in English that exactly matches it, though the idea of “seeing” or “insight on the spot” is very close. Proof of this is found in the fact that the original Sanskrit term “vidyå” is actually the root of all words in English that start with “vid” and mean “to see”, for example, “video”, “vision”, and so on. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was particular skilled at getting Tibetan words into English, also stated that this term rigpa really did not have a good equivalent in English, though he thought that “insight” was the closest. My own conclusion after hearing extensive teaching on it is that rigpa is best left untranslated. Note that rigpa has both noun and verb forms. To get the verb form, I use “rigpa’ing”. Samsara, Skt. saîsåra, Tib. ’khor ba: This is the most general name for the type of existence in which sentient beings live. It refers to the fact that they continue on from one existence to another, always within the enclosure of births that are produced by ignorance and experienced as unsatisfactory. The original Sanskrit means to be constantly going about, here and there. The Tibetan term literally means “cycling”, because of which it is frequently translated into English with “cyclic existence” though that is not quite the meaning of the term. Satva and sattva: According to the Tibetan tradition established at the time of the great translation work done at Samye under the watch of Padmasambhava not to mention the one hundred and sixty-three of the greatest Buddhist scholars of Sanskrit-speaking India, there is a difference of meaning between the Sanskrit terms “satva” and “sativa”, with satva meaning “an heroic kind of being” and “sattva” meaning simply “a being”. According to the Tibetan tradition established under the advice of the Indian scholars mentioned above, satva is correct for the words Vajrasatva and bodhisatva, whereas sattva is correct for the words samayasattva,

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samådhisattva, and jñånasattva, and is also used alone to refer to any or all of these three satvas. Secret, Skt. gunya, Tib. sang ba: This term is used in Buddhist texts in a specific way. It does not mean that someone has made something secret but that something has a nature which is hidden from the view of ordinary sentient beings, that it is not obvious to them. Secret Mantra, Tib. gsang sngags: Another name for the Vajra Vehicle or the tantric teachings. Shiftless, Tib. ’pho ba med pa: Shiftless is in reference to a buddha’s wisdom. It means that the wisdom does not shift from being itself to being samsaric mind. For example, the common phrase “without shift into the three times” means “without shift from non-dual wisdom into the dualistic mind of samsara which operates within the context of there being past, present, and future. Shine forth, shining forth, Tib. shar ba: This term means “to dawn” or “to come forth into visibility” either in the outer physical world or in the inner world of mind. It is heavily used in texts on meditation to indicate the process of something coming forth into mind. There are other terms with this specific meaning but most of them also imply the process of dawning within a samsaric mind. “Shine forth” is special because it does not have that restricted meaning; it refers to the process of something dawning in any type of mind, un-enlightened and enlightened. It is an important term for the higher tantras of Mahåmudrå and Great Completion texts where there is a great need to refer to the simple fact of something dawning in mind especially in enlightened mind but also in un-enlightened mind. In the Tibetan language, this term stands out and immediately conveys the meaning explained above. There are words in English like “to appear” that might seem easier to read

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than “shine forth”, but they do not stand out and catch the attention sufficiently. Moreover, terms such as “appear” accurately translate other Tibetan terms which specifically indicate an un-enlightened context or a certain type of sensory appearance, so they do not convey the meaning of this term. There will be many times where this term’s specific meaning of something occurring in any type of mind is crucial to a full understanding of the expression under consideration. For example, “shining-forth liberation” means that some content of mind, such as a thought, comes forth in either un-enlightened or enlightened mind, and that, on coming forth, is liberated there in that mind. Skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas, Skt. skandha dhåtu åyatana, Tib. phung po khams skyed mched: The Buddha taught this set of three to show his disciples how samsara arises through samsaric perception. Skandhas are the “aggregates” that make up a samsaric being. Dhåtus are the items within a samsaric being’s makeup that are the “bases” of all samsaric perception; they are a detailed listing of the things that allow samsaric perception with all of its attendant problems. Åyatanas are the specific items within the dhåtus that are the igniters of samsaric consciousness. State, Tib. ngang: This is a key term in Mahåmudrå and Great Completion. Unfortunately it is often not translated and in so doing much meaning is lost. Alternatively, it is often translated as “within” which is incorrect. The term means a “state”. A state is a certain, ongoing situation. In Buddhist meditation in general, there are various states that a practitioner has to enter and remain in as part of developing the meditation. Superfactual, Skt. paramårtha,Tib. don dam: This term is paired with the term “fictional” q.v. Until now these two terms have been translated as “relative” and “absolute” but those translations are nothing like the original terms. These terms are

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extremely important in the Buddhist teaching so it is very important that their translations be corrected but, more than that, if the actual meaning of these terms is not presented, the teaching connected with them cannot be understood. The Sanskrit term literally means “a superior or holy kind of fact” and refers to the wisdom mind possessed by those who have developed themselves spiritually to the point of having transcended samsara. That wisdom is superior to an ordinary, un-developed person’s consciousness and the facts that appear on its surface are superior compared to the facts that appear on the ordinary person’s consciousness. Therefore, it is superfact or the holy fact, more literally. What this wisdom knows is true for the beings who have it, therefore what the wisdom sees is superfactual truth. Superfice, superficies, Tib. rnam pa: In discussions of mind, a distinction is made between the entity of mind which is a mere knower and the superficial things that appear on its surface and which are known by it. In other words, the superficies are the various things which pass over the surface of mind but which are not mind. Superficies are all the specifics that constitute appearance—for example, the colour white within a moment of visual consciousness, the sound heard within an ear consciousness, and so on. Temporary experience, Tib. nyams: The practice of meditation brings with it various experiences that happen simply because of the meditation. These experiences are temporary experiences and not the final, unchanging experience, of realization. The nature, Tib. rang bzhin: The nature is one of the three characteristics—entity, nature, and un-stopped compassionate activity—of the core of mind. Using this term emphasizes that the empty entity does have a nature. In other words, its use explicitly shows that the core of mind is not merely empty. If you ask “Well, what is that nature like?” The answer is that it is luminosity, it is wisdom.

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Unstopped, Tib. ma ’gags pa: An important path term in the teaching of both Mahåmudrå and Great Completion. There are two ways to explain this term: theoretically and from a practice perspective. The following explanation is of the latter type. The core of mind has two parts—emptiness and luminosity—which are in fact unified so must come that way in practice. However, a practitioner who is still on the path will fall into one extreme or the other and that results in “stoppage” of the expression of the luminosity. When emptiness and luminosity are unified in practice, there is no stoppage of the expression of the luminosity that comes from having fallen into one extreme or the other. Thus “nonstopped luminosity” is a term that indicates that there is the luminosity with all of its appearance yet that luminosity, for the practitioner, is not mistaken, is not stopped off. “Stopped luminosity” is an experience like luminosity but in which the appearances have, at least to some extent, not been mixed with emptiness. Thorough Cut, Tib. khregs chod: One of the two practices of the innermost level of Great Completion practice. The other is Direct Crossing. Thorough Cut is a practice in which the main point is to cut decisively through to Alpha Purity. Vehicle of Causal Characteristics, Tib. mtshan nyid theg pa: Another of many names for the conventional Great Vehicle; see under Great Vehicle. It is called the Vehicle of Causal Characteristics because the teachings in it rely on creating the causes for a future enlightenment and because they teach a conventional approach in which logic is used to find reality and in doing so, the characteristics of phenomena are a key part of the explanations of the system. Wisdom, Skt. jñåna, Tib. ye shes: This is a fruition term that refers to the kind of mind, the kind of knower possessed by a buddha. Sentient beings do have this kind of knower but it is covered over by a very complex apparatus for knowing,

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dualistic mind. If they practise the path to buddhahood, they will leave behind their obscuration and return to having this kind of knower. The Sanskrit term has the sense of knowing in the most simple and immediate way. This sort of knowing is present at the core of every being’s mind. Therefore, the Tibetans called it “the particular type of awareness which is there primordially”. Because of the Tibetan wording it has often been called “primordial wisdom” in English translations, but that goes too far; it is just “wisdom” in the sense of the most fundamental knowing possible.

SUPPORTS FOR STUDY

I have been encouraged over the years by all of my teachers to pass on the knowledge I have accumulated in a lifetime dedicated to study and practice, primarily in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism. On the one hand, they have encouraged me to teach. On the other, they are concerned that, while many general books on Buddhism have been and are being published, there are few books that present the actual texts of the tradition. Therefore they, together with a number of major figures in the Buddhist book publishing world, have also encouraged me to translate and publish high quality translations of individual texts of the tradition. My teachers always remark with great appreciation on the extraordinary amount of teaching that I have heard in this life. It allows for highly informed, accurate translations of a sort not usually seen. Briefly, I spent the 1970's studying, practising, then teaching the Gelugpa system at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, where I was a founding member and also the first Australian to be ordained as a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In 1980, I moved to the United States to study at the feet of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rin-

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poche. I stayed in his Vajradhatu community, now called Shambhala, where I studied and practised all the Karma Kagyu, Nyingma, and Shambhala teachings being presented there and was a senior member of the Nalanda Translation Committee. After the vidyadhara’s nirvana, I moved in 1992 to Nepal, where I have been continuously involved with the study, practise, translation, and teaching of the Kagyu system and especially of the Nyingma system of Great Completion. In recent years, I have spent extended times in Tibet with the greatest living Tibetan masters of Great Completion, receiving very pure transmissions of the ultimate levels of this teaching directly in Tibetan and practising them there in retreat. In that way, I have studied and practised extensively not in one Tibetan tradition as is usually done, but in three of the four Tibetan traditions—Gelug, Kagyu, and Nyingma— and also in the Theravada tradition, too. With that as a basis, I have taken a comprehensive and long term approach to the work of translation. For any language, one first must have the lettering needed to write the language. Therefore, as a member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, I spent some years in the 1980's making Tibetan wordprocessing software and high-quality Tibetan fonts. After that, reliable lexical works are needed. Therefore, during the 1990's I spent some years writing the Illuminator TibetanEnglish Dictionary and a set of treatises on Tibetan grammar, preparing a variety of key Tibetan reference works needed for the study and translation of Tibetan Buddhist texts, and giving our Tibetan software the tools needed to translate and research Tibetan texts. During this time, I also translated full-time for various Tibetan gurus and ran the Drukpa Kagyu Heritage Project—at the time the largest project in Asia for the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist texts. With the

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dictionaries, grammar texts, and specialized software in place, and a wealth of knowledge, I turned my attention in the year 2000 to the translation and publication of important texts of Tibetan Buddhist literature. Padma Karpo Translation Committee (PKTC) was set up to provide a home for the translation and publication work. The committee focusses on producing books containing the best of Tibetan literature, and, especially, books that meet the needs of practitioners. At the time of writing, PKTC has published a wide range of books that, collectively, make a complete program of study for those practising Tibetan Buddhism, and especially for those interested in the higher tantras. All in all, you will find many books both free and for sale on the PKTC web-site. Most are available both as paper editions and e-books. It would take up too much space here to present an extensive guide to our books and how they can be used as the basis for a study program. However, a guide of that sort is available on the PKTC web-site, whose address is on the copyright page of this book and we recommend that you read it to see how this book fits into the overall scheme of PKTC publications. In short, given that a main topic in the text is the Four Nails teaching, the book Key Issues of Visualization: Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces by Dza Patrul “A Melody of Brahma Playing Throughout the Three Realms” is essential reading. Furthermore, given that the text is one of the core texts of the Longchen Nyingthig system, the following books concerning

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the main practice of Thorough are also important to read in conjunction with it: • • • • • • • • • • •

The Feature of the Expert, Glorious King by Dza Patrul About the Three Lines by Dodrupchen III Relics of the Dharmakaya by Ontrul Tenpa’i Wangchuk Empowerment and AtiYoga by Tony Duff Peak Doorways to Emancipation by Shakya Shri Alchemy of Accomplishment by Dudjom Rinpoche The Way of the Realized Old Dogs by Ju Mipham The Method of Preserving the Face of Rigpa by Ju Mipham Essential Points of Practice by Zhechen Gyaltshab Words of the Old Dog Vijay by Zhechen Gyaltshab Hinting at Dzogchen by Tony Duff

These books on the core practice of Direct Crossing are available: • •

Key Points of Direct Crossing called Nectar of the Pure Part by Khenchen Padma Namgyal Jigmey Lingpa’s most important text Guidebook Called “Highest Wisdom” (Triyig Yeshe Lama)

We make a point of including, where possible, the relevant Tibetan texts in Tibetan script in our books. We also make them available in electronic editions that can be downloaded free from our web-site, as discussed below. The Tibetan text for this book is included at the back of the book and is available for download from the PKTC web-site.

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Electronic Resources PKTC has developed a complete range of electronic tools to facilitate the study and translation of Tibetan texts. For many years now, this software has been a prime resource for Tibetan Buddhist centres throughout the world, including in Tibet itself. It is available through the PKTC web-site. The wordprocessor TibetDoc has the only complete set of tools for creating, correcting, and formatting Tibetan text according to the norms of the Tibetan language. It can also be used to make texts with mixed Tibetan and English or other languages. Extremely high quality Tibetan fonts, based on the forms of Tibetan calligraphy learned from old masters from pre-Communist Chinese Tibet, are also available. Because of their excellence, these typefaces have achieved a legendary status amongst Tibetans. TibetDoc is used to prepare electronic editions of Tibetan texts in the PKTC text input office in Asia. Tibetan texts are often corrupt so the input texts are carefully corrected prior to distribution. After that, they are made available through the PKTC web-site. These electronic texts are not careless productions like so many of the Tibetan texts found on the web, but are highly reliable editions useful to non-scholars and scholars alike. Some of the larger collections of these texts are for purchase, but most are available for free download. The electronic texts can be read, searched, and even made into an electronic library using either TibetDoc or our other

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software, TibetD Reader. Like TibetDoc, TibetD Reader is advanced software with many capabilities made specifically to meet the needs of reading and researching Tibetan texts. PKTC software is for purchase but we make a free version of TibetD Reader available for free download on the PKTC web-site. A key feature of TibetDoc and Tibet Reader is that Tibetan terms in texts can be looked up on the spot using PKTC’s electronic dictionaries. PKTC also has several electronic dictionaries—some Tibetan-Tibetan and some Tibetan-English—and a number of other reference works. The Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary is renowned for its completeness and accuracy. This combination of software, texts, reference works, and dictionaries that work together seamlessly has become famous over the years. It has been the basis of many, large publishing projects within the Tibetan Buddhist community around the world for over thirty years and is popular amongst all those needing to work with Tibetan language or deepen their understanding of Buddhism through Tibetan texts.

TIBETAN TEXT

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