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Return to Buddhism, Vajrakilaya, Vajrakilaya - A Complete Guide by Garchen Rinpoche Table of Contents, Kyabje Garchen Rinpoche

“ (VkGarR) CHAPTER 10

Taking Up Accomplishments Instructions

As the taking up accomplishments text is drawn from the extensive sadhana, its ritual is a feature of the great accomplishment retreat. The consecrated kīlas should be used as supports for this ritual, which is ideally done at the break of day. If personal material kīlas have been kept inside the material mandala for the duration of the retreat, they should be removed and returned to the sādhakas before the ritual of taking up accomplishments. In the absence of a kīla, a māla may be used as a support.

The note at the beginning of the text mentions the vajra master and regents. Even though there is no need for regents in the secret accomplishment retreat, I wanted disciples to gain experience of the Empowerment known as “taking up accomplishments.” The purpose of this ritual is for sādhakas to gather up all the siddhis that have been generated during the course of the retreat.

When taking up the accomplishments, it is good to reflect on the connection between the wisdom Deities and practitioners. In general, the term mudrā kīla refers to the meditation on the Deity's form in the development stages. It is divided into two aspects: the natural, self-arisen kīla and the kīla of samādhi. As for the first, the natural, self-arisen kīla consists of the actual wisdom Deities who emanate from the Enlightened mind of the three times' Buddhas and abide in the Akaniṣṭha Dharmasphere. Thus, the qualities of the mind of all the Buddhas dwell within the dharmakāya. The forms of the principal, retinues, palace, mandala, and pure field that supports them all emerge within the dharmasphere. These wisdom Deities are the objects of sādhakas' meditation — the supports of accomplishment. Through the force of all the Buddhas' compassion interacting with the force of practitioners' faith and insight, the wisdom Deities' blessings actually come forth like rainfall from clouds.

The second aspect, the kīla of samādhi, becomes manifest when the common outer container and inner contents — all worldly realms and the beings therein — are known to be the very nature of purity according to the view of Secret Mantra. The kīla of samādhi seals all appearances with purity. Through the stages of development, impure perceptions are transformed into pure ones. In this way, the entirety of appearance-existence dawns as the mandala of the Deity. It is on this basis that one can attain the siddhis of accomplishing the Four Activities.

With this understanding, the sādhakas should begin by offering incense and reciting the charm of accomplishments a few times: OṀ VAJRAKĪLI KĪLAYA, SARVA VIGHNĀN VA HŪ PHAṬ! KĀYA SIDDHI OṀ, VĀK SIDDHI ĀḤ, CITTA SIDDHI HŪ, SARVA SIDDHI HRĪḤ. Then, with mudrā, music, melody, and a mind of devotion and longing, they should chant the verses, which call forth the yidam's commitment, and request desired accomplishments. Since the meaning of the text accords with the words for the most part, not much explanation is needed. However, the following lines are noteworthy:

HŪ. Knowledge holders of Vajra Youth, make

existence as vajra manifest!

You existence-Vajrakīla gods,

bring primordial wrathful wisdom forth!

Here, the sādhakas supplicate the assemblies of Vajraku[[māra to “make existence as vajra manifest” and to “bring primordial wrathful wisdom forth.” Although existence as vajra has already been explained, what makes primordial awareness wrathful? Consciousness is dualistic — always dividing phenomena into self and other. Dualistic grasping is ignorance; it is the lack of clarity. When one looks at the mind with the mind, that which appeared as two collapses into one and duality is suddenly rendered nonexistent. Since primordial awareness impartially slaughters dualistic mind, along with every thought and emotion arisen from it — gross or subtle, virtuous or unvirtuous — it is referred to as wrathful. The moment one recognizes the actual condition of the mind, this happens instantaneously.

The wrath of primordial awareness will be understood through ongoing practice. For example, when an affliction arises, the practitioner of individual Liberation blocks it. The practitioner of the Bodhisattva Vehicle transforms it. For the Secret Mantra meditator, the very instant it arises, the affliction is recognized as affliction. In this way, it ceases to be. Thus, the recognition itself is like killing. In this way, the nature of wisdom is wrathful.

For example, when anger arises, if the angry person glimpses the singular basis of his or her mind and the other person's mind, then the object of anger disappears. There is no one who becomes angry, nor is there anyone at whom to get angry. One's emotion becomes empty, as though one were trying to feel angry at a sketch on paper. At that instant, there is no dualistic grasping at all. Such awareness arises in a single moment. If one plants the kīla of primordial awareness-rigpa into mental arisings, they die and no longer elicit any feeling. When the mind becomes mirrorlike, one is left without any trace of aversion. The sensations of rage and anger are entirely absent. When the affliction suddenly disappears, its energy can transform into laughter. By training in this way, it becomes easy to let go of afflictions, because one begins to experience their illusory nature.

Incineration by fire and slaughter by wisdom-wrath have the same significance. Wisdom becomes like fire, which can instantly burn away afflictions. For example, the moment a flame and a piece of paper meet, they become one. The paper becomes the flame and is no more. All wrathful Deities are analogous to that fire. So, without need of relying on the methods of individual Liberation and the Bodhisattva Vehicle, one can immediately slaughter afflictions. In this way, wrathful wisdom should be understood as the kīla of primordial awareness-rigpa.

The next lines of the taking up accomplishments text are endowed with great meaning:

These days, as the dawn's first light appears,

Vajrarākṣasa's daybreak, too, dawns.

Although the first light of dawn is a fleeting phenomenon, it is referred to with the words “these days.” In order to understand the significance of this, one should know that this dawn has outer, inner, and secret aspects. On the outer level, it is the fresh propagation of the Buddha Dharma in so-called foreign lands. This has occurred through the ripening of the collective merit and aspirations of beings. Without a doubt, the pervasion of the Buddhas' Teachings throughout the world has been the most meaningful consequence of the Tibetan diaspora. Thus, the appearance of the first light of dawn is the emergence in foreign lands of the teachings that encompass the meaning of the three successive paths. This emergence is gradually destroying even the notion of primitive border areas where the sounds of Dharma teachings are unheard. Next, the inner dawn occurs when the beings who inhabit these lands actually enter the door of Dharma by receiving the vow of Refuge.

Together with this dawn, the teachings of the Secret Mantric Vajra Vehicle — the uncommon daybreak of Vajrarākṣasa, Adamantine Carnivore — have emerged. This is the secret dawn that occurs through the practice of extraordinary Mantric methods of accomplishment, whose ritual systems of practice are complete and grant especially great blessing. Whoever practices these methods will give rise to discriminating intelligence and authentic feeling in the mind. Through this daybreak, the flesh, blood, and bones of sentient ones' ignorance, desire, and aversion are consumed, laying them bare as the nature of primordial awareness. This uncommon daybreak, then, is nothing less than attainment of the Buddhas' status. Finally, the text concludes with these words:

From the glorious knot within your heart

dawns primordial wisdom's secret sun

on the bodies, speech, and minds of us

yogins, great sādhakas, SIDDHI HOḤ!

Through supplicating one-pointedly and meditating, one gives rise to great feeling when gathering the accomplishments. That feeling is characterized by utter freedom from doubt about the view. In other cases, it manifests as great devotion or as Great Compassion. At such junctures, one arrives at the ground of the Buddhas. This is the dawning of “primordial wisdom's secret sun.”

That sun is actual luminosity. It is the omniscient, primordial awareness of all the Buddhas. Why is it secret? It is something hidden — something not to be seen with the eye. Indeed, it is utterly beyond the senses of sight, hearing, recollection, or contact. Only through realization of the view will one be able to perceive it. If one has doubt about realizing the view, the doubt itself prevents one from seeing. It is through direct insight alone that this point can be settled. The wisdom that transcends rational mind is entirely outside the scope of rationality. Thus, when it comes to seeing this secret sun, inquiry and investigation, which are activities of the rational mind, cannot help. They merely perpetuate doubt. Manifest understanding will come only through one's own direct experience.

According to the phenomena of this material world, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. However, the sun mentioned in this verse has nothing to do with the way things appear on the four continents. Such outer appearances bear the hallmark of confusion. This sun, which is without waxing or waning, increase or decrease, remains invisible unless one has cleared away dualistic grasping through realizing the view. Since this sun neither rises nor sets, the word “dawn” in the text signifies the potential to become a Buddha in one lifetime. This perpetual dawn is the import of the term youth in Vajraku[[māra's name. The Yamāntaka texts refer to this extremely profound point with the words “Glimpsing but fragmented light rays of the Ārya's love.”[1] The meaning of these words is precisely the same as the dawning of the secret sun. The point is the realization of nondual awareness.

Although it is known by different names — the kīla of unfurled and pervasive primordial awareness, the kīla of primordial awareness-rigpa, and the symbolic kīla of blessing — its meaning is singular. This ultimate view is the fundamental oneness of Buddhas and sentient ones. For anyone who comprehends it, the sun of wisdom dawns. Beyond being an object of sight, hearing, memory, or physical contact, this secret sun is to be directly perceived. Subject to neither birth nor death, it is Vajraku[[māra, Vajra Youth, whose adamantine appearance can be seen only by the reflexive mind.

Like Samantabhadra and Vajradhara, he is the ground of all the Buddhas. Since his qualities are too numerous, they are inexpressible. They can be fathomed only by looking inward at one's own mind. Each one of us has a Vajradhara who can be perceived by the mind without reference point. Through seeing him, one will know Vajradhara's qualities and Vajraku[[māra's distinctive features. Since all phenomena have arisen from the mind, Milarepa taught, “Do not try to resolve phenomena; resolve the mind.”[2] By rooting out the mind and realizing the view, one can understand all phenomena as they truly are. This is the Kagyü system.

How is the root of mind to be recognized? Free of both subject and object, one should look at the mind — the Buddha nature — just as it is. Seeing the very essence of the inner mind, which is exemplified by the outer sky, one will recognize its nature. That nature is neither existent nor nonexistent. Since it is empty — beyond having any part of the minutest particle — it is said to lack existence. It has not even an atom of substance, yet since both Buddhas and sentient ones appear from it, it is also not nonexistent. So how should one identify it? The mind is endowed with a clear nature. The one that perceives the empty essence is the clarity aspect of the mind. So, that which is seen is the emptiness aspect; the seer is the clarity aspect. These two are called “the inseparable union of clarity and emptiness.”

When this essence has been perceived, one comprehends what is said in The Aspiration of Samantabhadra — that the entirety of samsara and Nirvana have been established from it. What are the qualities of Vajraku[[māra? All those who have departed to the pure grounds of the Buddhas dwell within the attributes of innumerable kāyas and pure Buddha Fields. The qualities of the Buddhas' Three Kāyas have arisen from Vajraku[[māra. As far as space extends and until samsara has been emptied out, this adamantine one will not abandon his Enlightened activities.

The dawning of the secret sun of primordial awareness from within his heart is the essence of all the methods for accomplishing Vajrakīla. It occurs but once. Thereafter, it is known to be stable and unchanging. After having dawned, this secret sun continues to shine throughout this life, the next, and the bardo.

Finally, while holding the consecrated support — the kīla or the māla — between one's hands, one should repeatedly touch it to the four places while reciting the Sanskrit syllables OṀ VAJRAKĪLI KĪLAYA, SARVA VIGHNĀN VA HŪ PHAṬ! KĀYA SIDDHI OṀ, VĀK SIDDHI ĀḤ, CITTA SIDDHI HŪ, SARVA SIDDHI HRĪḤ. Since the main point of this latter recitation is to bestow the Empowerment of actual accomplishments, it is extremely important to maintain the visualization at this juncture. One should imagine blessings in the form of brilliant light rays radiating from the three mandalas of the Deity — the Self-Generation, the facing generation, and the Foremost Prince, whom one holds in hand. These light rays are the essence of the Deities' blessings of loving kindness and compassion. Having filled the entire container and contents, the rays of light then subside into the four places of each of the gathered sādhakas, granting the Empowerments of body, speech, mind, and qualities conjoined with activities. One should visualize in this way while supplicating one-pointedly to receive Empowerment.

Those who have participated even once in the secret accomplishment have gained experience of the Deity's blessings. As devotion arises for the Deity, the mind's obscurations are cleared away. Thus, one naturally feels joy. Having gained this experience, one becomes like the seed of a flower that has sprouted. Although there are many different signs of accomplishment, such as never forgetting the yidam and the increase of joy and wisdom, the foremost sign of having received the Deity's blessings is the increase of love and compassion. This is the result that should come from practice. The greater one's love and compassion for beings, the greater one's receipt of the Deity's blessing. Taking up accomplishments is the means whereby sādhakas actively realize the yidam. This does not mean that one's gross physical body will morph into the Deity's form. Rather, it means that the Deity will be constantly present in the mind, and his or her love will take root in one's heart. When supplicating to receive Empowerment, one is actually praying with yearning to take up the love of the yidam. The practice of taking up the accomplishments should be understood in this way.

In Tibet, the ritual is done somewhat differently and is more extensive. As the entire assembly recites the charm of accomplishments, the vajra master bestows Empowerment on the sādhakas by touching his kīla to the four places of each of them. Thereafter, the ritual master distributes the accomplishment substances.

Following the taking up accomplishments are the Gaṇacakra and the concluding rituals of the secret accomplishment retreat.

” (VkGarR)

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• Vajrakilaya - A Complete Guide by Garchen Rinpoche